Comus in the Congo

By CONOR CRUISE O'BRIEN rt is a good practice, in time of crisis, to re- read Milton's Comus. I tried this recently and I found, not at all to my surprise, that Milton had something relevant to say on the subject of the Congo and of a certain number of con- temporary figures.

Comics is a masque—that is to say, a sort of charade—performed at Ludlow Castle in 1637. The opening stage direction says: 'The first scene discovers a wild wood.'

It does indeed. Milton then makes a brief, but sympathetic, reference to the position of United Nations officials in the Congo: . . but their way

Lies through the perplex'd paths of this dread wood, The nodding horror of whose shady brows Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger.

The proceedings in this dread wood are consider- ably influenced by a wicked enchanter by the name of Comus. Comus is in the habit of hurling dazzling spells into the spungy air, cheat- ing the eye with blear illusion, giving false pre- sentments, and that sort of thing. In an early aside, he reveals, with abnormal candour, his real character:

I, under fair pretence of friendly ends, And well plac'd words of glazing courtesy Baited with reasons not Implausible. Wind me into the easy-hearted man And hug him into snares.

Mr. Macmillan, though he speaks well,.does not now express himself with quite this degree of felicity. I think, however, that at least one of his former colleagues, good easy-hearted man, Will have no difficulty in recognising the self- Portrait.

Wicked enchanters, as is well known, are liable to assume various shapes and Comus has Other avatars besides that of the present Prime Minister. Comus is the son of Circe, the lady in the Odyssey who liked to turn people into pigs. He, himself, suffers from a similar obsession and is in the habit of changing people's heads into those of beasts of various kinds. When he Comes in he has with him : a rout of mon- sters.. headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts but otherwise like men and women, their ap-

parel glistering; they come in making a riotous and unruly noise, with torches in their hands.

It is not a bad description of the Beaverbrook press, but there is better to come. The enchan- ter's use of his great powers for the purpose of deforming humanity prefigures the odd activities of some contemporary millionaires who use their money, not as good rich men do in order to do useful and attractive things, but, on the contrary, for purposes of degradation. It is their habit to hire people to do furtive and foolish things, and tell others about them, thereby loWering both themselves and those who listen to them. Milton describes the victims of this goddess more fully, from the point where they accept the drugged drink of Comus, the job with the Daily Express or the Daily Telegraph:

Soon as the potion works, their human

COUlle nance, Th. express resemblance of the Gods, is chang'd

Into some brutish form of wolf, or bear, Or ounce, or tiger, hog, or bearded goat, All other parts remaining as they were; And they, so perfect in their misery,

Not once perceive their foul disfigurement,

But boast themselves more comely than before.

John Gordon, how do you do? That beard hardly suits George Gale. And can that be Peregrine Worsthorne? He seems scarcely quite himself.

In this ominous wood, a lady is lost. The lady represents the spirit of Truth and Justice. Comus encounters her and, true to his obsession, would like her to drink from his glass. The lady does not, at first, perceive what Comus is at. But when he invites her to the place in Fleet Street, 'a stately palace set out with all manner of deliciousness,' she sees through his game. When she refuses the drink for the first time, he presses her again with the words:

This will restore all soon. The lady replies: Twill not, false traitor Twill not restore the truth and honesty That thou has' banished from thy tongue with lies.

Was this the cottage, and the safe abode Thou toldst me of? What grim aspects arc these. These ugly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me!

At these words, I can almost hear a susurrus of ambassadors. Comus had made a fair offer in a spirit of conciliation. The lady has refused, in a rather boorish way which seems altogether to close the path to further negotiation. That would, I think, be a rather widespread diplomatic reaction, certainly in the United Kingdom dele- gation. Most children, however, and many old people as well, will feel that this is the right way in which to answer wicked enchanters in ominous woods.

Two brothers are trying to go to the lady's rescue. They bear, to my mind, a strong re- semblance to my friends, Mr. George Ivan Smith and General Sean MacEoin. Comus, this time, has taken on the guise of Mr. Tshombe. The elder brother—the civilian representative--de- clares his policy in rather strong terms:

. . . you may Boldly assault the necromancer's hall,' Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood, And brandish'd blade rush on him.

Such a policy goes, of course, considerably beyond anything which could be countenanced by Her Majesty's Government. The same official makes an extremely indiscreet declaration to the press in violent and bombastic language, which proves him to be unfit to be in the wood at all. In this declaration he seems to be urging the use of force to impose a political solution, and even specifically the restoration to the central government of revenues derived from the export of copper:

But for that damn'd magician, let him be girt With all the grisly legions that troop Under the sooty flag of Acheron . . .

—an intemperate and exaggerated reference to the so-called mercenaries- . . . I'll find him out,

And force him to restore his purchase back, Or drag him by the curls to a foul death, Curs'd as his life.

' Statements of this kind, as Lord Home would say, can only d'scredit those who make therm The poet Wordsworth expressed himself per- haps unduly categorically and without proper reservations, but, on the whole, I think he was right: 'Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this hour: England Rath need of thee.'

don't think you need hold that any mare.'