Page:Max Havelaar Or The Coffee Sales of the Netherlands Trading Company Siebenhaar.djvu/117

 he scattered around him precious jewels which to him had cost nothing, and, when he ceased, how everyone would gaze at him open-mouthed, as though asking: “Great God, who is this speaking?”

It is true that he, who on such occasions spoke as an apostle, a seer, could not say afterwards how exactly he had spoken, and in reality his eloquence was more apt to astonish and move than to convince by terseness of reasoning. He might, as soon as Athens had resolved upon war against Philip, have fired the war-spirit of his compatriots to madness; but probably he would have been less successful in the task of moving them to such war by logical persuasion. His address to the chiefs of Lebak was of course in Malay, and this lent it an additional quality, as the simplicity of the Oriental languages gives to many expressions a force which in our idioms has been lost through literary artificiality, whilst on the other hand the melodious sweetness of the Malay language is difficult to reproduce in any other tongue. It must also be remembered that the greater number of his hearers consisted of simple but by no means ignorant people, and that besides they were Orientals, whose impressions differ greatly from ours.

Havelaar must have spoken somewhat like this:—

“Radhen Adhipatti, Regent of Bantan Kedool, and you, Radhens Dhemang, who are chiefs of the districts in this division, and you, Radhen Djaksa, whose office is that of justice, and you also, Radhen Klewon, who exercise authority at the head-centre, and you, Radhens Mantrees and all who are chiefs in the division of Bantan Kedool, I greet you!

“And I say to you that I feel joy in my heart at seeing you all here assembled, listening to the words of my mouth.

“I know that there are among you who excel in knowledge and in goodness of heart; I hope to augment my knowledge from yours, for my store thereof is not as large as I would wish it. And though I love goodness, yet often I become aware that in me there are faults that cast a shadow on my heart’s goodness, and hinder its