The Count of Monte Cristo

第三十一章 Italy: Sinbad the Sailor

Chapter 31 finds Franz dining with the mysterious Sinbad, who deflects Franz’s suggestion that he is a man seeking revenge against society and hints at an eventual incognito trip to Paris, where Franz promises to repay his host’s lavish hospitality. Over a splendid supper, Sinbad introduces Franz to a greenish paste in a silver cup, revealing it to be the purest hashish of Alexandria and tracing its lineage to the Old Man of the Mountain, whose followers were transported to an artificial paradise and thus became obedient assassins; Franz consents to taste it, though he finds the flavor initially unappealing. As the hashish takes effect, Franz is led into a round, richly furred chamber where he smokes a jasmine-tubed chibouque and drinks Turkish coffee before sinking into a luminous, airy vision in which Monte Cristo becomes an oasis, music swells around him, and he is surrounded by statues of Phryne, Cleopatra, and Messalina, whose marble beauty and serpentine embraces yield a dream of passion so overwhelming that he finally surrenders to its spell.

Franz and Sinbad Discuss Revenge and Travel Plans

Franz and Sinbad Discuss Revenge and Travel Plans

Supper and Hashish Reveal

During supper, Sinbad reveals to Franz a small silver cup containing a greenish paste he claims is an ambrosia capable of granting boundless happiness, imagination, and power; he then discloses that the substance is in fact hashish, tracing its legendary use to the Old Man of the Mountain, who fed it to his followers to seduce them into Paradise and into obedience. After Franz tastes the unpalatable preparation, the two men move into a richly appointed circular chamber hung and floored with luxurious furs, where they recline on a divan, smoke jasmine-tubed chibouques, and drink Turkish coffee as the hashish begins to take effect. Soon Franz feels his senses sharpen and his body grow light, and he passes into a vivid waking dream in which Monte Cristo becomes an oasis of music and fragrance, the grotto opens to receive him, and the marble statues of Phryne, Cleopatra, and Messalina come alive to torment and ravish him in a delirious struggle between virtue and voluptuousness from which he at last succumbs.