Words could not express that terrible cold.
Imagine a total absence of heat; a complete annihilation of life; the absolute cessation of all motion; death, as a form of being; and even then you could not conceive an idea of that dead world, or more than dead, as it neither corrupted, transformed nor gave pasture to the worms, manure to the plants, elements to the minerals, nor gases to the atmosphere.
It was chaos.
It was nothing, under the appearance of everlasting snows.
Nevertheless, Tito endured it, thanks to the protection of Death.
“Tito,” exclaimed he, in quiet and majestic accent, “the hour has arrived in which truth shines before thine eyes in all its magnificent nudity: I will review in a few words the history of our relations and reveal to thee the mystery of thy destiny.”
“Speak!” murmured Tito, resolutely.
“It is undeniable that thou wishest to live; that all my power, all my arguments, and all that I reveal to thee each moment are useless to extinguish the love of life in thy heart.”
“The love of Elena, you mean,” interrupted the youth.
“Love! love!” replied Death. “Love is life and life is love. Do not mistake that. And if not, think of a thing which thou mayst have comprehended perfectly in thy glorious career as a physician, and during the voyage that we have just made. What is man? Thou hast seen him sleep from sun to sun, and dream, sleeping. In the intervals of this dream he possessed twelve or fourteen hours of wakefulness which he knew not how to employ. On one side, thou foundest him in arms against his fellow-creatures; on the other, thou hast seen him crossing the seas to exchange products. There are those who toil to dress themselves in this or that color; and those who pierce the earth to extract metals with which to adorn themselves. Here hanging one; there blindly obeying another. On one side, virtue and justice consist in such and such a thing; while on the other, they consist in the reverse. These judge as truth, what those hold to be error. The same beauty will appear to thee conventional and imaginary, according as thou art Caucasian, Mongolian, African or Indian. It will be apparent to thee also, that science is a shallow experiment to obtain the nearest results, or an illogical conjecture of the most recondite causes; and that glory is an empty name, attached by accident (nothing but accident) to the name of this or that corpse.