Holy Fable Volume IV by Robert M. Price

Author:Robert M. Price [Price, Robert M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing
Published: 2020-04-21T03:00:00+00:00

Fragment 7

Concerning the Dead

Text: 1Many and multiform are the dim horrors of Earth, infesting her ways from the prime. 2They sleep beneath the unturned stone; they rise with the tree from its root; they move beneath the sea and in subterranean places; they dwell in the inmost adyta; 3they emerge betimes from the shutten sepulchre of haughty bronze and the low grave that is sealed with clay. 4There be some that are long known to man, and others as yet unknown that abide the terrible latter days of their revealing. 5Those which are the most dreadful and the loathliest of all are haply still to be declared. 6But among those that have revealed themselves aforetime and have made manifest their veritable presence, there is one which may not openly be named for its exceeding foulness. 71t is that spawn which the hidden dweller in the vaults has begotten upon mortality.67

Version: Unknown, though possibly Wormius’ Latin in light of the next fragment.

Commentary: With vv. 1–5, we seem to have the beginning of a new section, that grouping of material which led Philetas to give the work its Greek title Necronomicon, or “Book of the Dead.” The next passages all refer to matters of necrophagy and necromancy. Interestingly, it is apparent that Alhazred himself was revolted at the curiosities and practices he set before the reader.

The “horrors” seem, from the context, to be monsters or creatures which are “dim” to us, i.e., we neither perceive nor understand them at all clearly. There are many of them, and they come in many varieties. They have always dwelt unwholesomely (“infested” earth’s “ways”). The “ways” are the various channels and recesses of the planet. They are enumerated in the next verse. (Also, see commentary on 8:6.)

Like disgusting bugs and vermin, they hide beneath stones. Like root-rot disease, they seep into the trees alongside more wholesome nourishment from the soil. Some are sea-monsters prowling the knighted depths; others hibernate in unsuspected lairs far beneath earth’s surface. All in all, they are hidden away in the “adyta” or secret places.

“Betimes” is probably a mistranslation. It means “in good time” or “soon,” but the context seems to demand “sometimes.” At any rate, these particular “horrors” emerge from the tombs of rich as well as poor. Both grand and humble tombs are described as having been secured (“shutten” and “sealed”) but to no avail, since the monsters have appeared there. How? Perhaps via “the secret portal each tomb is known to have” (5:4). These “horrors” might be ghouls, though another possibility will concern us below, in verse 7.

Some of the many monsters are already familiar, such as those of the previous verse. Others are still unsuspected, at least to humanity by and large. Obviously, Alhazred is not ignorant of them or he would not be writing about them. The reference to “terrible latter days of their revealing” has a distinctly apocalyptic ring. We may wonder if the author is not making a sidelong reference to what most of mankind deems (or would deem if they knew) the ultimate horror—the coming of the Great Old Ones.

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