Karel Čapek

“ Hauk-Sendorf
What? What’s happened to you?
Emilia
If you could only understand what Bombita said to me! We old ones know altogether too much. But you have more than we, you fools! Infinitely more! You have everything. Why, you couldn’t wish for anything more. You live, but in us life has stopped. And it cannot go on! God, what loneliness!
Prus
Why did you come here—for the Makropoulos secret? Why do you want to live longer?
Emilia
[Quietly, almost in a whisper]
Because I am afraid to die.
Prus
So even an immortal isn’t spared that? ”

“ Emilia
There never was anything very noble. I know.
Vitek
But Danton?
Emilia
Just look at that—this man wants to quarrel with me.
Prus
Insolent!
Emilia
Oh, no. He’s quite harmless.
[Vitek draws back, muttering to himself]
Gregor
Shall I bring in some more people so you can be rude to them?
Emilia
Not necessary. They will come of their own accord—on all fours.
Kristina
Janek, let’s go.
Emilia
[Yawning]
Aren’t they a pair, those two? I wonder if they’ve reached paradise?
Vitek
I beg your pardon?
Emilia
I wonder if they have——
Vitek
Certainly not! ”

“ Janek
[On the throne beside her]
Who?
Kristina
She—Marty.
Janek
Marty? Of course.
Kristina
You know, I don’t understand. Why does she have to love someone when she’s so great and famous? You don’t know what it is when a woman loves. It is so degrading!
Janek
It is not!
Kristina
You don’t know anything about it! A woman doesn’t think of herself any more. She follows him like a slave. She can’t belong to herself. Oh, I could beat myself sometimes.
Janek
But——
Kristina
And then everybody’s crazy about Marty—everyone she looks at. ”

“ Shaw’s play is a classic example of optimism, and my own—a hopeless instance of pessimism.
“Whether I am called an optimist or a pessimist, will make me neither happier nor sadder; yet, ‘to be a pessimist’ implies, it would seem, a silent rebuke from the world for bad behavior. In this comedy I have striven to present something delightful and optimistic. Does the optimist believe that it is bad to live sixty years but good to live three hundred? I merely think that when I proclaim a life of the ordinary span of sixty years as good enough in this world. ”

“ Emilia
And that was all?
Hauk-Sendorf
Eh? Oh—You are quite like her! Dear lady, may I give you these flowers?
Emilia
Thanks.
Hauk-Sendorf
I could look at you forever.
Emilia
But sit down now, dear. Berti, a chair.
[She sits down on the throne]
Janek
I will get one.
[He runs after a chair]
Kristina
Not there!
[She runs after him]
Prus
[To Hauk-Sendorf]
Cher comte.
Hauk-Sendorf
[Steps across to him]
Well, well, well! Baron Prus! Pardon me—I didn’t see you. How pleased I am. How are you?
Prus
How are you? ”

“ One turns from bad to higher things: the other searches for something better and higher in ordinary existence. The one looks for paradise—there is not a loftier vision for the human soul—the other strives for recompense in life itself. ”

“ Emilia
My God! Don’t try to confuse me! Three hundred and thirty-nine.
Kolonaty
Why did you forge the handwriting of Ellian MacGregor?
Emilia
Why? I, myself, am Ellian MacGregor!
Kolonaty
Do not lie! You are Emilia Marty.
Emilia
Yes, but only for the last twelve years.
Kolonaty
Then do you confess that you stole the medallion of Eugenie Montez—Eh?
Emilia
Good Lord! That is not true. Eugenie Montez——
Kolonaty
It is in the accusation. You acknowledged it.
Emilia
That is not true!
Kolonaty
Who is your accomplice?
Emilia
There isn’t one. ”

“ Now, gentlemen, what shall we do with it?
Gregor
With what?
Kolonaty
With the Makropoulos secret. Somewhere here is a formula for a three-hundred-year life. Can we get hold of it?
Prus
She has it in her bosom.
Kolonaty
Good! Gentlemen, it is a thing of unimaginable importance. What shall we do with it?
Gregor
Nothing at all. The formula belongs to me. I am her heir.
Kolonaty
Keep your mouth shut! As long as she is alive, you are not her heir; and she can live for another three hundred years, if she wants to. Don’t you see, we must get hold of it.
Gregor
By trickery? ”

“ In the theater these trappings retort with spell against spell upon the wavering Emilia. Nay, with them as well as with his hands, the justiciar clutches her by the throat and bids her exude the secret.
The woman reveals it and the suspense of the play seems ended—only to renew itself. For what shall be done with life everlasting? And in the next room Elena-Emilia waits. There is debate, in which the debaters speak also in character and with emotion. There is human decision. For Elena-Emilia there is also human release. ”

“ Kristina
Come on, Papa.
Kolonaty
Well, Kristina, and how are you getting along? It’s nice to see you again.
Gregor
Tell me frankly, what are our chances?
Kolonaty
La, la.
Gregor
But?
Kolonaty
Listen, my friend. Did I ever give you any hopes?
Gregor
Then why are you——?
Kolonaty
Why am I carrying on this case for you? Why? Because I inherited you, my friend. You, Vitek, and that desk over there. What do you expect? Gregor vs. Prus is a family inheritance—like a disease. And it doesn’t cost you a cent.
Gregor
You’ll get paid after I win the case. ”

“ Another question—What do you know about Ellian MacGregor?
Emilia
You have her letters.
Prus
Perhaps you know more about it. Do you know anything else about that—courtesan?
Emilia
[In a cold fury]
I beg your pardon!
Prus
But, dear lady——
Emilia
How do you dare? How dare you talk that way?
Prus
What’s the matter? How can a woman of that sort, who lived a hundred years ago, concern you?
Emilia
That’s so—She doesn’t. [She sits down] She was a courtesan, then?
Prus
I read her letters. She was a remarkable type of woman.
Emilia
Oh, you shouldn’t have read them. ”

“ If we say that, at some future time, there will be no disease, misery, or poverty—that certainly is optimism. If we say that this daily life of ours, full of deprivation and sorrow, is not really so irreconcilable, but has in it something of immense value—is that pessimism? ”

“ Kolonaty
Vitek, it’s absurd. Our social system is founded on shortness of life. Take-contracts, mortgages, debts and all. No one will make a contract for three hundred years! And marriage—Why, nobody is going to stay married for three hundred years! Man, you’re an anarchist. You want to revise the entire social system.
Hauk-Sendorf
And—pardon—then after three hundred years each could make himself young again—
Kolonaty
—And live forever. ”

“ Vitek
Let’s give everyone a three-hundred-year life. It will be the biggest event since the creation of man; it will be the liberating and creating anew of man! God, what man will be able to do in three hundred years! ”

“ Kolonaty
Do you want to make me cry?
Vitek
We die like animals. What else is immortality of the soul but a protest against the shortness of life? A human being is something more than a turtle or a raven; a man needs more time to live. Sixty years—it’s not right. It’s weakness, it’s ignorance, and it’s animal-like.
Hauk-Sendorf ”

“ Come, Krista.
[He stalks off with Kristina]
Emilia
[She speaks off-stage]
Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. Please let me go. [She enters and sweeps down the stage to the throne. Seeing Prus] What, another one?
Prus
Oh, no, Mademoiselle Marty. I don’t dare to congratulate you. I came for something else.
Emilia
But you were in the theater last night?
Prus
To be sure.
Emilia
Well. [She sits on the throne] I don’t want to see anyone else. I’ve had enough of it. Is that your son?
Prus
Yes. Come here, Janek.
Emilia
Come here, Janek, I want to see you. ”

“ Prus
Please, I do not want to argue. The ordinary, small, stupid one surely does not die. He is everlasting. Littleness multiplies without ceasing, like flies and mice. Only greatness dies. Only strength and talent die—and cannot be replaced. ”

“ Prus
Nothing. But that is enough.
Emilia
Poor Gregor! You will keep Loukov now, won’t you?
Prus
At least, so long as Mr. Makropoulos doesn’t come to claim it.
Emilia
And the sealed envelope?
Prus
Oh, that will be put aside for him safely.
Emilia
And if Mr. Makropoulos does not come?
Prus
Then it will remain sealed and no one will get it. ”

“ When one lives that way—on his prospects—
Gregor
[Dropping back into the chair]
Oh, be quiet. I beg of you.
Vitek
Oh, you haven’t nerve enough for a big case. And such beautiful material, too. [He climbs up the ladder and takes out the Gregor papers] Just look at these briefs, Mr. Gregor. Eighteen twenty-seven, the oldest number in our office. Unique, Sir. It ought to be in a museum. And look at the beautiful handwriting of eighteen forty. Lord, that man had a hand! Why, Sir, I tell you it’s a pleasure to look at it.
Gregor
Oh, you are a fool—let me alone. ”

“ Kolonaty
Yes.
Emilia
Do you think they’ve been burned?
Kolonaty
Perhaps. It is quite possible.
Emilia
Well, will you find out?
Kolonaty
Of course, provided Mr. Prus will allow me.
Emilia
And if he doesn’t?
Kolonaty
What can we do?
Emilia
You will have to get the drawer open some other way. [She stands close to him, looking him straight in the eyes] Do you understand?
Kolonaty
Oh, yes, I suppose, at midnight with a rope ladder and a skeleton key and all that. My dear lady, you certainly have queer ideas about us lawyers.
Emilia
But you must get it. ”

“ A gray dawn. [She turns back to Prus] Well? [There is a pause in which neither moves] Give it to me. [There is another pause; then she speaks sharply to him] Do you hear? Give me that envelope.
[Prus reaches inside his coat for a leather wallet, takes out a sealed envelope and places it on the table. Emilia grabs the envelope and hurries to her dressing table. She sits down, lights a lamp, looks at the seal, hesitates, then quickly cuts it open with a hairpin and pulls out a faded yellow manuscript. With a gasp of joy she quickly folds and hides it in her bosom. She rises]
Emilia
Good! ”

“ To be a child and pupil for fifty years; fifty years to understand the world and its ways, and to see everything there is; and a hundred years to work in; and then a hundred years, when we have understood everything, to live in wisdom, to teach, and to give example. How valuable human life would be if it lasted for three hundred years! There would be no wars. There would be no fear, no selfishness. Everyone would be wise and dignified. [Wringing his hands] Give people life! Give them full human life!
Kolonaty ”

“ I don’t care a damn if you win. All I want is that secret.
Gregor
Why?
Emilia
Because I’m getting old. Because I’m at the end. I want to try it again. Feel, Berti, how I am getting. Feel my hands. Ah, God! My hands!
Hauk-Sendorf
What is the Makropoulos secret, if you please?
Emilia
It is written there how one does it.
Hauk-Sendorf
How one does what?
Emilia
How a human being can live for three hundred years. To be young for three hundred years. My father wrote that for Emperor Rudolph. You don’t know anything about it, do you?
Vitek
Only from history. ”

“ From mind and heart upon her lips is the tale, the burden, the penalty of this life everlasting, wherein all sensations, emotions, impulses, experiences, numb into an eternal monotony of repetition. She is as mirror to the woman unperturbed by the suicide of the boy, undismayed when the trap closes upon her. ”

“ I’m going to work terribly hard, Janek. To sing, to think, to learn and everything. You know, I’d love to be a great lady like Marty. Come here, you silly. There’s room enough for you beside me. Nobody’s looking. Do you think she loves someone? ”

“ Prus
No idiotic voting! The strongest would hand over life to the strongest. It would be—a dynasty of the strong.
Vitek
Until the time when the rabble would claim its own right to life.
Prus
Time would kill them off. Progress in the world would replace the small and weak despot with the strong and big despot. Privileged long life—that’s the despotism of the select. That is the rule of reason. Superhuman authority in knowledge and executive ability. You have it in your hands, gentlemen. You can abuse it. I’ve told you all.
[He sits down]
Kolonaty
Hm! ”

“ We can prolong the life of the aristocracy.
Vitek
Aristocracy! Do you hear that? Privilege on life!
Prus
Only the best are important in life. Only the chief, fertile and executive men. I am not mentioning women, but there are in this world about ten or twenty, perhaps a thousand, men who are irreplaceable. We can keep them. We can develop in them superhuman reason and supernatural power. We can breed ten, a hundred or a thousand supermen—masters and creators. So, I say, select those who have the right to unlimited life.
Kolonaty ”