 Anthem. Chapter 1. It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think, and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own, and we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven. But this is not the only sin upon us. We have committed a greater crime, and for this crime there is no name. What punishment awaits us if it be discovered we know not, for no such crime has come in the memory of men, and there are no laws to provide for it. It is dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in the air. Nothing moves in this tunnel save our hand on the paper. We are alone here under the earth. It is a fearful word alone. The laws say that none among us may be alone ever and at any time, for this is the great transgression in the root of all evil. But we have broken many laws, and now there is nothing here save our one body, and it is strange to see only two legs stretched out on the ground, and on the wall before us the shadow of our one head. The walls are cracked and the water runs down upon them in thin threads without sound. Black and glistening as blood. We stole the candle from the larder of the home of the street sweepers. We shall be sentenced to ten years in the palace of corrective detention if it be discovered. But this matters not. It matters only that the light is precious and that we should not waste it to write when we need it for that work which is our crime. Nothing matters save the work, our secret, our evil, our precious work. Still we must also write, for may the council have mercy upon us, we wish to speak for once to know ears but our own. Our name is Equality 72521, as it is written on the iron bracelet which all men wear on their left wrists with their names upon it. We are twenty-one years old. We are six feet tall, and this is a burden, for there are not many men who are six feet tall. Ever have the teachers and the leaders pointed to us and frowned and said, There is evil in your bones, Equality 72521, for your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers, but we cannot change our bones nor our body. We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no will in us and no power to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret fear that we know and do not resist. We strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be alike. Over the portals of the Palace of the World Council there are words cut in the marvel which we repeat to ourselves whenever we are tempted. We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great we, one, indivisible and forever. We repeat this to ourselves, but it helps us not. These words were cut long ago. There is green mold in the grooves of the letters and yellow streak on the marvel which come from more years than men could count. And these words are the truth, for they are written on the Palace of the World Council, and the World Council is the body of all truth. Thus it has been ever since the great rebirth, and farther back than that no memory can reach. But we must never speak of the times before the great rebirth. Else we are sentenced to three years in the Palace of Corrective Detention. It is only the old ones who whisper about it in the evenings, in the home of the useless. They whisper many strange things, of the towers which rose to the sky in those unmentionable times, into the wagons which moved without horses, into the lights which burned without flame. But those times were evil, and those times passed away when men saw the great truth which is this, that all men are one, and that there is no will save the will of all men together. All men are good and wise. It is only we, Equality 72521, we alone who were born with a curse. For we are not like our brothers, and as we look back upon our life we see that it has ever been thus, and that it has brought us to step by step to our last supreme transgression, our crime of crimes hidden here under the ground. We remember the home of the infants where we lived till we were five years old, together with all the children of the city who had been born in the same year. The sleeping halls there were white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds. We were just like all our brothers then, save for the one transgression, we fought with our brothers. There are few offenses blacker than to fight with our brothers at any age and for any cause whatsoever. The council of the home told us so, and of all the children of that year we were locked in the cellar most often. When we were five years old we were sent to the home of the students where there are ten wards for our ten years of learning. Men must learn till they reach their fifteenth year, then they go to work. In the home of the students we arose when the big bell rang in the tower, and we went to our beds when it rang again. Before we removed our garments we stood in the great sleeping hall, and we raised our right arms, and we sat all together with the three teachers at the head. We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by, and for our brothers, who are the state. Amen. Then we slept. The sleeping halls were white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds. We, Equality 72521, were not happy in those years in the home of the students. It was not that the learning was too hard for us. It was that the learning was too easy. This is a great sin to be born with a head which is too quick. It is not good to be different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them. The teachers told us so, and they frowned when they looked upon us. So we fought against this curse. We tried to forget our lessons, but we always remembered. We tried not to understand what the teachers taught, but we always understood it before the teachers had spoken. We looked upon Union 53992, who were a pale boy with only half a brain, and we tried to say and do as they did, that we might be like them, like Union 53992. But somehow the teachers knew that we were not, and we were lashed more often than all the other children. The teachers were just, for they had been appointed by the councils, and the councils are the voice of all justice, for they are the voice of all men. And if sometimes, in the secret darkness of our heart, we regret that which befell us on our fifteenth birthday, we know that it was through our own guilt. We had broken a law, for we had not paid heed to the words of our teachers. The teachers had said to us, dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do when you leave the home of the students. You shall do that which the council of vocations shall prescribe for you. For the council of vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed by your brother men, better than you can know it in your unworthy little minds. And if you are not needed by your brother man, there is no reason for you to burden the earth with your bodies. We knew this well in the years of our childhood, but our curse broke our will. We were guilty and we confess it here. We were guilty of the great transgression of preference. We preferred some work and some lessons to others. We did not listen well to the history of all the councils elected since the great rebirth. But we loved the science of things. We wished to know. We wished to know about all the things which make the earth around us. We asked so many questions that the teachers forbade it. We think that there are mysteries in the sky and under the water and in the plants which grow. But the council of scholars has said that there are no mysteries and the council of scholars knows all things. And we learned much from our teachers. We learned that the earth is flat and that the sun revolves around it, which causes the day and the night. We learned the names of all the winds which blow over the seas and push the sails of our great ships. We learned how to bleed men to cure them of all ailments. We loved the science of things and in the darkness in the secret hour when we awoke in the night and there were no brothers around us. But only their shapes in the beds and their snores. We closed our eyes and we held our lips shut and we stopped our breath that no shudder might let our brothers see or hear our guess. And we thought that we wished to be sent to the home of the scholars when our time would come. All the great modern inventions came from the home of the scholars, such as the newest one which was found only a hundred years ago, of how to make candles from wax and string, also how to make glass which is put in our windows to protect us from the rain. To find these things the scholars must study the earth and learn from the rivers, from the sands, from the winds and the rocks. And if we went to the home of the scholars we could learn from these also. We could ask questions of these for they do not forbid questions. And questions give us no rest. We know not why our curse makes us seek, we know not what, ever and ever. But we cannot resist it. It whispers to us that there are great things on this earth of ours and that we can know them if we try and that we must know them. We ask why must we know, but it has no answer to give us. We must know that we may know. So we wished to be sent to the home of the scholars. We wished it so much that our hands trembled under the blankets in the night and we bit our arm to stop the other pain which we could not endure. It was evil and we dared not face our brothers in the morning. For men may wish nothing for themselves and we were punished when the Council of Vocations came to give us our life mandates which tell those who reached their fifteenth year what their work is to be for the rest of their days. The Council of Vocations came on the first day of spring and they sat in the great hall and we who were fifteen and all the teachers came into the great hall. And the Council of Vocations sat on a high dais and they had but two words to speak to each of the students. They called the students names and when the students stepped before them one after another the Council said, Carpenter or Doctor or Cook or Leader. Then each student raised their right arm and said, The will of the brothers be done. Now if the Council has said Carpenter or Cook the students so assigned go to work and they do not study any further. But if the Council has said Leader then those students go into the home of the leaders which is the greatest house in the city for it has three stories. And there they study for many years so that they may become candidates and be elected to the City Council and the State Council and the World Council by a free and general vote of all men. But we wish not to be a leader even though it is a great honor we wish to be a scholar. So we awaited our turn in the great hall and then we heard the Council of Vocations call our name. Equality 72521. We walked to the dais and our legs did not tremble and we looked up at the Council. There were five members of the Council, three of the male gender and two of the female. Their hair was white and their faces were cracked as the clay of a dry riverbed. They were old. They seemed older than the marble of the Temple of the World Council. That before us and they did not move. And we saw no breath to stir the folds of their white togas. But we knew that they were alive. For a finger on the hand of the oldest rose pointed to us and fell down again. This was the only thing which moved. For the lips of the oldest did not move as they said. Street Sweeper. We felt the cords of our neck grow tight as our head rose higher to look upon the faces of the Council. And we were happy. We knew we had been guilty but now we had a way to atone for it. We would accept our life mandate and we would work for our brothers gladly and willingly. And we would erase our sin against them which they did not know but we knew. So we were happy and proud of ourselves and our victory over ourselves. We raised our right arm and we spoke and our voice was the clearest. The deadliest voice in the hall that day and we said the will of our brothers be done. And we looked straight into the eyes of the Council but their eyes were as cold blue glass buttons. So we went into the home of the Street Sweepers. It is a grey house on a narrow street. There is a sundial in its courtyard by which the Council of the Home can tell the hours of the day and when to ring the bell. In the bell rings we all arise from our beds. The sky is green and cold in our windows to the east. The shadow on the sundial marks off a half hour while we dress and eat our breakfast in the dining hall. Where there are five long tables with twenty clay plates and twenty clay cups on each table. Then we go to work in the streets of the city with our brooms and our rakes. In five hours when the sun is high we return to the home and we eat our midday meal for which one half hour is allowed. Then we go to work again. In five hours the shadows are blue on the pavements and the sky is blue with a deep brightness which is not bright. We come back to have our dinner which lasts one hour. Then the bell rings and we walk in a straight column to one of the city halls for the social meeting. Other columns of men arrive from the houses of different trades. The candles are lit and the councils of the different homes stand in the pulpit and they speak to us of our duties and of our brother men. Then visiting leaders mount the pulpit and they read to us the speeches which were made in the city council that day. For the city council represents all men and all men must know. Then we sing hymns, the hymn of the brotherhood and the hymn of equality and the hymn of the collective spirit. The sky is a soggy purple when we return to the home. Then the bell rings and we walk in a straight column to the city theater for three hours of social recreation. There a play is shown upon the stage with two great choruses from the home of the actors which speak and answer all together in two great voices. The plays are about toil and how good it is. Then we walk back to the home in a straight column. The sky is like a black sieve pierced by silver drops that tremble ready to burst through. The moths beat against the street lanterns. We go to our beds and we sleep till the bell rings again. The sleeping halls are white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds. Thus we have lived each day of four years until two springs ago when our crime happened. Thus must all men live until they are forty. At forty they are worn out. At forty they are sent to the home of the useless where the old ones live. The old ones do not work for the state takes care of them. They sit in the sun in the summer and they sit by the fire in the winter. They do not speak often for they are weary. The old ones know that they are soon to die. When a miracle happens and some live to be forty-five they are the ancient ones and the children stare at them when passing by the home of the useless such as to be our life as that of all our brothers and of the brothers who came before us. Such would have been our life had we not committed our crime which changed all things for us. And it was our curse which drove us to our crime. We had been a good street sweeper and like all our brother street sweepers save for our cursed wish to know. We looked too long at the stars at night and at the trees and the earth. And when we cleaned the yard of the home of the scholars we gathered the glass vials, the pieces of metal, the dried bones which they had discarded. We wished to keep these things and to study them but we had no place to hide them. So we carried them to the city cesspool and there we made the discovery. It was on a day of the spring before last. We street sweepers work in brigades of three and we were with Union 53992 they of the half brain and with International 48818. Now Union 53992 are a sickly lad and sometimes they are stricken with convulsions when their mouth frauds and their eyes turn white. But International 48818 are different. They are tall, strong, young and their eyes are like fireflies but there's laughter in their eyes. We cannot look upon International 48818 and not smile and answer. For this they were not liked in the home of the students as it is not proper to smile without reason. And also they were not liked because they took pieces of coal and they drew pictures upon the walls and they were pictures which made men laugh but is only our brothers in the home of the artists who were permitted to draw pictures. So International 48818 were sent to the home of the street sweepers like ourselves. International 48818 and we are friends. This is an evil thing to say for it is a transgression, a great transgression of preference to love any among men better than the others since we must love all men and all men are our friends. So International 48818 and we have never spoken of it but we know, we know when we look into each other's eyes and we look thus without words. We both know other things also, strange things for which there are no words and these things frighten us. So on that day of the spring before last Union 5 3992 were stricken with convulsions on the edge of the city near the city theater. We left them to lie in the shade of the theater tent and we went with International 48818 to finish our work. We came together to the great ravine behind the theater. It is empty saved for trees and weeds. Beyond the ravine there is a plain and beyond the plain there lies the uncharted forest about which men must not think. We were gathering the papers and the rags which the wind had blown from the theater when we saw an iron bar among the weeds. It was old and rusted by many rains. We pulled with all our strength but we could not move it. So we called International 48818 and together we scraped the earth around the bar. Of a sudden the earth fell in before us and we saw an old iron grill over a black hole. International 48818 stepped back but we pulled at the grill and it gave way and then we saw iron rings as steps leading down a shaft into a darkness without bottom. We shall go down, we said to International 48818. It is forbidden, they answered. We said the council does not know of this hole so it cannot be forbidden. And they answered, since the council does not know of this hole there can be no law permitting to enter it and if everything which is not permitted by law is forbidden. But we said we shall go nonetheless. They were frightened but they stood by and watched us go. We hung on the iron rings with our hands and our feet. We could see nothing below us and above us the hole opened upon the sky grew smaller and smaller till it came to be the size of a button. But still we went down. Then our foot touched the ground. We rubbed our eyes for we could not see. Then our eyes became used to the darkness but we could not believe what we saw. No man known to us could have built this place nor the men known to our brothers who lived before us. And yet it was built by men. It was a great tunnel. Its walls were hard and smooth to the touch. It felt like stone but it was not stone. On the ground there were long thin tracks of iron but it was not iron it felt smooth and cold as glass. We knelt and we crawled forward our hand groping along the iron line to see it where it would lead. But there was unbroken night ahead. Only the iron tracks glowed through it straight and white calling us to follow. But we could not follow for we were losing the puddle of light behind us. So we turned and we crawled back our hand on the iron line and our heart beat in our fingertips without reason and then we knew. We knew suddenly that this place was left from the unmentionable times. So it was true and those times had been and all the wonders of those times hundreds upon hundreds of years ago men knew secrets which we have lost. And we thought this is a foul place. They are damned to touch the things of the unmentionable times. But our hand which followed the track as we crawled clung to the iron as if it would not leave it as if the skin of our hand were thirsty and begging for the metal some secret fluid beating in its coldness. We returned to the earth. International 48818 looked upon us and stepped back. Equality 72521 they said your face is white but we could not speak and we stood looking upon them. They backed away as if they dared not touch us. Then they smiled but it was not a gay smile it was lost and pleading but still we could not speak. Then they said we shall report our fine to the city council and both of us will be rewarded. And then we spoke. Our voice was hard and there was no mercy in our voice. We said we shall not report our fine to the city council. We shall not report it to any men. They raised their hands to their ears for never had they heard such words as these. International 48818 we asked will you report us to the council and see us lash to death before your eyes? They stood straight all of a sudden and they answered rather would we die. Then we said keep silent this place is ours this place belongs to us. Equality 72521 and to no other men on earth. And if we ever surrender it we shall surrender our life with it also. Then we saw the eyes of International 48818 were full to the lids with tears they dared not drop. They whispered in their voice trembled so that their words lost all shape. The will of the council is above all things for it is the will of our brothers which is holy. But if you wish it so we shall obey you. Rather shall we be evil with you than good with all our brothers. May the council have mercy upon both our hearts. Then we walked away together and back to the home of the street sweepers. Then we walked in silence. Thus did it come to pass that each night when the stars were high and the street sweepers sit in the city theater we Equality 72521 steal out and run through the darkness to our place. It is easy to leave the theater when the candles are blown out and the actors come on to the stage no eyes can see us as we crawl under our seat and under the cloth of the tent. Later it is easy to steal through the shadows and fall in line next to International 48818 as the column leaves the theater. It is dark in the streets and there are no men about for no man may walk through the city when they have no mission to walk there. Each night we run to the ravine and we remove the stones which we have piled upon the iron grill to hide it from the men. Each night for three hours we are under the earth alone. We have stolen candles from the home of the street sweepers. We have stolen flints and knives and paper and we have brought them to this place. We have stolen glass vials and powders and acids from the home of the scholars. Now we sit in the tunnel for three hours each night and we study. We melt strange metals, we mix acids and we cut open the bodies of the animals which we find in the city cesspool. We have built an oven of the bricks we gathered in the streets. We burn the wood we find in the ravine. The fire flickers in the oven and blue shadows dance upon the walls and there is no sound of men to disturb us. We have stolen manuscripts. This is a great offense. Manuscripts are precious for our brothers in the home of the clerks spend one year to copy one single script in their clear handwriting. Manuscripts are rare and they are kept in the home of the scholars. So we sit under the earth and we read the stolen scripts. Two years have passed since we found this place and in these two years we have learned more than we learned in the ten years at this home of the students. We have learned things which are not in the scripts. We have solved secrets of which the scholars have no knowledge. We have come to see how great is the unexplored and many lifetimes will not bring us to the end of our quest. But we wish no end to our quest. We wish nothing, save to be alone and to learn and to feel as if with each day our sight were growing sharper than the hawks and clearer than the rock crystal. Strange are the ways of evil. We are false in the faces of our brothers. We are defying the will of our councils. We alone, of the thousands who walk this earth, we alone in this hour are doing a work which has no purpose, save that we wish to do it. The evil of our crime is not for the human mind to probe. The nature of our punishment, if it be discovered, is not for the human heart to ponder. Never, not in the memory of the ancient ones, never have men done that which we are doing. And yet there is no shame in us and no regret. We say to ourselves that we are a wretch and a traitor, but we feel no burden upon our spirits and no fear in our heart. And it seems to us that our spirit is clear as a lake troubled by no eyes save those of the sun. And in our heart strange are the ways of evil. In our heart there is the first piece we have known in twenty years. End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of Anthem by Ion Rand This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Liberty 53000 Liberty 53000 Liberty 53000 We wish to write this name. We wish to speak it, but we dare not speak it above a whisper. For men are forbidden to take notice of women, and women are forbidden to take notice of men. But we think of one among women, they whose name is Liberty 53000, and we think of no others. The women who have been assigned to work the soil live in the homes of the peasants beyond the city. Where the city ends there is a great road winding off to the north, and we street sweepers must keep this road clean to the first mile post. There is a hedge along the road, and beyond the hedge lies the fields. The fields are black and plowed, and they lie like a great fan before us, with their furrows gathered in some hand beyond the sky, spreading forth from that hand, opening wide apart as they come toward us, like black pleats that sparkle with thin green spangles. Women work in the fields, and their white tunics in the wind are like the wings of seagulls beating over the black soil. And there it was that we saw Liberty 53000 walking along the furrows. Their body was straight and thin as a blade of iron. Their eyes were dark and hard and glowing, with no fear in them, no kindness and no guilt. Their hair was golden as the sun, their hair flew in the wind, shining and wild, as if it defied men to restrain it. They threw seeds from their hand as if they'd deigned to fling a scornful gift, and the earth was a beggar under their feet. We stood still, for the first time did we know fear, and then pain. We stood still that we might not spill this pain more precious than pleasure. Then we heard a voice from the others call their name. Liberty 53000, and they turned and walked back. Thus we learned their name, and we stood watching them go, till their white tunic was lost in the blue mist. And the following day as we came to the northern road, we kept our eyes upon Liberty 53000 in the field. And each day thereafter we knew the illness of waiting for one hour on the northern road, and there we looked at Liberty 53000 each day. We know not whether they looked at us also, but we think they did. Then one day they came close to the hedge, and suddenly they turned to us. They turned in a whirl when the movement of their bodies stopped as if it slashed off as suddenly as if it had started. They stood still as a stone, and they looked straight upon us, straight into our eyes. There was no smile on their face and no welcome, but their face was hot, and their eyes were dark. Then they turned as swiftly, and they walked away from us. But the following day when we came to the road, they smiled. They smiled to us and for us. We smiled in answer. Their head fell back, and their arms fell as if their arms and their thin white neck were stricken suddenly with a great lassitude. They were not looking upon us, but upon the sky. They glanced at us over their shoulder as we felt as if a hand had touched our body, slipping softly from our lips to our feet. Every morning thereafter we greeted each other with our eyes. We dare not speak. It is a transgression to speak to men of other trades, save in groups at the social meetings. But once, standing at the hedge, we raised our hand to our forehead and then moved it slowly, palm down toward Liberty Five Three Thousand. Had the others seen it, they could have guessed nothing for it looked only as if we were shading our eyes from the sun. But Liberty Five Three Thousand saw it and understood. They raised their hand to their forehead and moved it as we had. Thus each day we greet Liberty Five Three Thousand and they answer, and no men can suspect. We do not wonder at this new sin of ours. It is our second transgression of preference, for we do not think of all our brothers as we must, but only of one, and their name is Liberty Five Three Thousand. We do not know why we think of them. We do not know why when we think of them we feel of a sudden that the earth is good and that it is not a burden to live. We do not think of them as Liberty Five Three Thousand any longer. We have given them a name in our thoughts. We call them the Golden One. But it is a sin to give men names which distinguish them from other men. Yet we call them the Golden One, for they are not like the others. The Golden One are not like the others. And we take no heed of the law which says that men may not think of women save at the time of mating. This is the time each spring when all the men older than twenty and all the women older than eighteen are sent for one night to the city palace of mating. And each of the men have one of the women assigned to them by the Council of Eugenics. Children are born each winter but women never see their children and children never know their parents. Twice have we been sent to the palace of mating but it is an ugly and shameful matter of which we do not like to think. We had broken so many laws and today we have broken one more. Today we spoke to the Golden One. The other women were far off in the field when we stopped at the hedge by the side of the road. The Golden One were kneeling alone at the moat which runs through the field and the drops of water falling from their hands as they raised the water to their lips were like sparks of fire in the sun. Then the Golden One saw us and they did not move kneeling there looking at us and circles of light played upon their white tunic from the sun and the water of the moat and one sparkling drop fell from a finger of their hand held as frozen in the air. Then the Golden One rose and walked to the hedge as if they had heard a command in our eyes. The two other sweet sweepers of our brigade were a hundred paces away down the road and four eight eight one eight would not betray us and Union Five Three Nine Nine Two would not understand. So we looked straight upon the Golden One and we saw the shadows of their lashes on their white cheeks and the sparks of sun on their lips and we said, you are beautiful Liberty Five Three Thousand. Their face did not move and they did not avert their eyes. Only their eyes grew wider and it was not a triumph in their eyes and it was not triumph over us but over things we could not guess. Then they asked, what is your name? Equality Seven Two Five Two One we answered. You are not one of our brothers equality Seven Two Five Two One for we do not wish you to be. We cannot say what they meant for there are no words for their meaning but we know it without words and we knew it then. No, we answered, nor are you one of our sisters. If you see us among scores of women, will you look upon us? We shall look upon you Liberty Five Three Thousand if we see you among all the women of the earth. Then they asked, are streets we percent to different parts of the city or do they always work in the same places? They always work in the same places we answered and will take this road away from us. Your eyes they said are not like the eyes of any among men and suddenly without cause for the thought which came to us we felt cold, cold to our stomach. How old are you we asked? They understood our thought for they lowered their eyes for the first time. Seventeen they whispered and we sighed as if a burden had been taken from us for we had been thinking without reason of the palace of mating and we thought that we would not let the golden one be sent to the palace how to prevent it, how to bar the will of the councils we knew not but we knew suddenly that we would only we do not know why such the thought came to us for these ugly matters bear no relation to us in the golden one. What relation can they bear? Still without reason we stood there by the hedge we felt our lips drawn tight with hatred, a sudden hatred for all our brother men and the golden one saw it and smiled slowly and there was in their smiles the first sadness we had seen in them we think that in the wisdom of women the golden one had understood more than we can understand. Then three of the sisters in the field appeared coming toward the road so the golden one walked away from us they took the bag of seeds and they threw the seeds into the furrows of the earth as they walked away but the seeds flew wildly for the hand of the golden one was trembling. Yet as we walked back to the home of the street sweepers we felt that we wanted to sing without reason so we were reprimanded tonight in the dining hall for without knowing it we had begun to sing aloud some tune we had never heard but it is not proper to sing without reason save at the social meetings we are singing because we are happy we answered the one of the home council who reprimanded us indeed you are happy they answered how else can men be when they live for their brothers and now sitting here in our tunnel we wonder about these words it is forbidden not to be happy for as it has been explained to us men are free and the earth belongs to them and all things on earth belong to all men and the will of all men together is good for all and so all men must be happy yet as we stand at night in the great hall removing our garments for sleep we look upon our brothers and we wonder the heads of our brothers are bowed the eyes of our brothers are dull and never do they look one another in the eyes the shoulders of our brothers are hunched and their muscles are drawn as if their bodies were shrinking and wished to shrink out of sight and a word steals into our mind as we look upon our brothers and that word is fear there is fear hanging in the air of the sleeping halls and in the air of the streets fear walks through the city fear without name without shape all men feel it and none dare to speak we feel it also when we were in the home of the street sweepers but here in our tunnel we feel it no longer the air is pure under the ground there is no odor of men and these three hours give us strength for our hours above the ground our body is betraying us for the council the home looks with suspicion upon us it is not good to feel too much joy nor to be glad that our body lives for we matter not and it must not matter to us whether we live or die which is to be as our brothers will it but we, equality 72521 are glad to be living if this is a vice then we wish no virtue yet our brothers are not like us all is not well with our brothers there are fraternity 25503 a quiet boy with wise kind eyes cries suddenly without reason in the midst of day or night and their body shakes with sobs they cannot explain there are solidarity 9 6 3 4 7 who are a bright youth without fear in the day but they scream in their sleep and they scream help us help us help us into the night in a voice which chills our bones but the doctors cannot cure solidarity 9 6 3 4 7 and as we all undress at night in the dim light of the candles our brothers are silent for they dare not speak the thoughts of their minds for all must agree with all and they cannot know if their thoughts are the thoughts of all and so they fear to speak and they are glad when the candles are blown out for the night but we, equality 72521 look through the window upon the sky and there is a peace in the sky and cleanliness and dignity and beyond the city there lies the plane and beyond the plane black upon the black sky there lies the uncharted forest we do not wish to look upon the uncharted forest we do not wish to think of it but ever do our eyes return to that black patch upon the sky men never enter the uncharted forest for there is no power to explore it and no path to lead among its ancient trees which stand as guards of fearful secrets it is whispered that once or twice in a hundred years one among the men of the city escape alone and run to the uncharted forest without call or reason these men do not return they perish from hunger and from the claws of the wild beasts which roam the forest but our council say that this is only a legend we heard that there are many uncharted forests over the land among the cities and it is whispered that they have grown over the ruins of many cities of the unmentionable times the trees have swallowed the ruins and the bones under the ruins and all the things which perished and as we look upon the uncharted forest far in the night we think of the secrets of the unmentionable times and we wonder how it came to pass that these secrets were lost to the world we have heard the legends of the great fighting in which many men fought on one side and only a few on the other these few were the evil ones and they were conquered then great fires raged over the land and in these fires the evil ones were burned and the fire which is called the dawn of the great rebirth was the script fire where all the scripts of the evil ones were burned with them all the words of the evil ones great mountains of flames stood in the squares of the cities for three months then came the great rebirth the words of the evil ones the words of the unmentionable times what are those words which we have lost may the council have mercy upon us we have no wish to write such a question and we knew not what we were doing till we had written it we shall not ask this question and we shall not think of it we shall not call death upon our head and yet and yet there is some word one single word which is not in the language of men but which had been and this is the unspeakable word which no men may speak nor hear but sometimes, and it is rare sometimes, somewhere one among men find that word they find it upon scraps of old manuscripts or cut into the fragments of ancient stones but when they speak it they are put to death there is no crime punished by death in this world save this one crime of speaking the unspeakable word we have seen one of such men burned alive in the square of the city and it was a sight which has stayed with us through the years and it haunts us and follows us and it gives us no rest we were a child then ten years old and we stood in the great square with all the children and all the men of the city sent to behold the burning they brought the transgressor out into the square and they led them to the pyre they had torn out the tongue of the transgressor so that they could speak no longer the transgressor were young and tall they had hair of gold and eyes blue as morning they walked to the pyre the trap did not falter and of all the faces on that square of all the faces which shrieked and screamed and spat curses upon them theirs was the calmest and the happiest face as the chains were wound over their body at the stake and the flames set to the pyre the transgressor looked upon the city there was a thin thread of blood running from the corner of their mouth but their lips were smiling and a monstrous thought came to us then which has never left us we had heard of saints there are the saints of labor and the saints of the councils and the saints of the great rebirth but we had never seen a saint nor what the likeness of a saint should be and we thought then standing in the square that the likeness of a saint was the face we saw before us in the flames the face of the transgressor of the unspeakable word as the flames rose a thing happened which no eyes saw but ours else we would not be living today perhaps it had only seemed to us but it seemed to us that the eyes of the transgressor had chosen us from the crowd and were looking straight upon us there was no pain in their eyes and no knowledge of the agony of their body there was only joy in them and pride a pride holier than his fit for human pride to be and it seemed as if these eyes were trying to tell us something through the flames to send into our eyes some word without sound and it seemed as if these eyes were begging us to gather that word and not to let it go from us and from the earth but the flames rose and we could not guess the word what even if we have to burn for it like the saint of the pyre what is the unspeakable word End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of Anthem by Ion Rand This LibriVox recording is in the public domain We, Equality 72521 have discovered a new power of nature and we've discovered it alone and we alone are to know it it is said now let us be lashed for it if we must the Council of Scholars has said that we all know the things which exist and therefore all of us are to know it it is said that all things which exist and therefore all the things which are not known by all do not exist but we think that the Council of Scholars is blind the secrets of this earth are not for all men to see but only for those who will seek them we know for we have found a secret unknown to all our brothers we know not what this power is nor whence it comes but we know its nature we have watched it and worked with it we saw it first two years ago one night we were cutting open the body of a dead frog when we saw its leg jerking it was dead yet it moved some power unknown to men was making it move we could not understand it then after many tests we found the answer the frog had been hanging on a wire of copper and it had been the metal of our knife which had sent the strange power to the copper through the brine of the frog's body we put a piece of copper and a piece of zinc into a jar of brine we touched a wire to them and there under our fingers was a miracle which had never occurred before a new miracle and a new power this discovery haunted us we followed it in preference to all our studies we worked with it we tested it in more ways we described and each step was another miracle unveiling before us we came to know that we had found the greatest power on earth for it defies all the laws known to men it makes the needle move and turn on the compass which we stole from the home of the scholars but we had been taught when still a child that the lodestone points to the north and that this is a law which nothing can change yet our new power defies all laws we found that it causes lightning and never have men known what causes lightning in thunderstorms we raised a tall rod of iron by the side of our hole and we watched it from below we have seen the lightning strike it again and again and now we know that the metal draws the power of the sky and that the metal can be made to give it forth we have built strange things with this discovery of ours we used for it the copper wires which we found here under the ground we have worked through the length of our tunnel with a candle lighting the way we could go no further than half a mile for earth and rock had fallen at both ends but we gathered all the things we found and we brought them to our workplace we found strange boxes with bars of metal inside with many cords and strands and coils of metal we found wires that led to strange little globes of glass on the walls they contained threads of metal thinner than a spider's web these things help us in our work we do not understand them but we think that the men of the unmentionable times had known our power of the sky and these things had some relation to it we do not know but we shall learn we cannot stop now even though it frightens us that we are alone in our knowledge no single one possess greater wisdom than the many scholars who are elected by all men for their wisdom yet we can we do we have fought against saying it but now it is said we do not care we forget all men, all laws and all things save our metals and our wires so much is still to be learned so long the road lies before us and what care we if we must travel it alone of Anthem by Iron Rand this Libra Fox recording is in the public domain many days passed before we could speak to the golden one again but then came the day when the sky turned white as if the sun had burst and it spread its flame in the air and the fields lay still without breath and the dust of the road was white in the glow so the women of the field were weary and they tarried over their work from the road when we came but the golden one stood alone at the hedge waiting we stopped and we saw their eyes so hard and scornful to the world we're looking at us as if they would obey any word we might speak and we said we have given you a name in our thoughts Liberty Five Three Thousand what is our name they asked the golden one nor do we call you quality 72521 when we think of you what name have you given us they look straight into our eyes and they held their head high and they answered the unconquered for a long time we could not speak then we said such thoughts are forbidden golden one but you think such thoughts as these and you wish us to think them we looked into their eyes and we could not lie yes we whispered and they smiled and then we said our dearest one do not obey us they stepped back and their eyes were wide and still speak those words again they whispered which words we asked but they did not answer and we knew it our dearest one we whispered never have men said this to women the head of the golden one bowed before us their arms at their sides the palms of their hands turned toward us as if their body were delivered and submission to our eyes and we could not speak then they raised their head and they spoke simply and gently as if they wished us to forget some anxiety of their own the day is hot they said and you have worked for many hours and you must be weary no we answered and there is water to drink are you thirsty yes we answered but we cannot cross the hedge we shall bring the water to you they said then they knelt by the moat they gathered water in their two hands and they rose and they held the water out to our lips we do not know if we drank that water we only knew suddenly that their hands were empty but we were still holding our lips to their hands and they knew it we did not move we raised our head and stepped back for we did not understand what had made us do this and we were afraid to understand it and the golden one stepped back and stood looking upon their hands in wonder then the golden one moved away even though no others were coming and they moved stepping back as if they could not turn away from us their arms bent before them as if they could not lower their hands End of Chapter 4 Chapter 5 of Anthem by Ion Rand this LibriVox recording is in the public domain we made it we created it we brought it forth from the night of the ages we alone our hands, our mind ours alone and only we know not what we are saying our head is reeling we look upon the light which we have made we shall be forgiven for anything we say tonight tonight after more days and trials than we can count we finish building a strange thing from the remains of the unmentionable times a box of glass devised to give forth the power of the sky of greater strength than we had ever achieved before and when we put our wires to this box when we closed the current we came to life it turned red in a circle of light lay on the stone before us we stood and we held our head in our hands we could not conceive of that which we had created we had touched no flint made no fire yet here was light light that came from nowhere light from the heart of metal we blew out the candle darkness swallowed us there was nothing left around us we saved night in a thin thread of flame in it as a crack in the wall of a prison when we stretched our hands to the wire and we saw our fingers in the red glow we could not see our body nor feel it and in that moment nothing existed save our two hands over a wire glowing in a black abyss then we thought of the meaning of that which lay before us we can light our tunnel in the city all the cities of the world with nothing save metal and wires we can give our brothers a new light cleaner and brighter than any that they have ever known the power of the sky can be made to do men's bidding there are no limits to its secrets and its might and it can be made to grant us anything if we but choose to ask then we knew what we must do our discovery is too great for us to waste our time in sweeping the streets we must not keep our secret to ourselves nor buried under the ground we must bring it into the sight of all men we need all our time we need the work rooms of the home of the scholars we want the help of our brother scholars and their wisdom join to ours there is so much work ahead for all of us for all the scholars of the world in a month the world council of scholars in our city it is a great council to which the wisest of all lands are elected and it meets once a year in the different cities of the earth we shall go to this council and we shall lay before them as our gift this glass box with the power of the sky we shall confess everything to them they will see understand and forgive for our gift is greater than our transgression they will explain it to the council of vocations and we shall be assigned to the home of the scholars this has never been done before but neither has such a gift as ours ever been offered to men we must wait we must guard our tunnel as we had never guarded it before for should any men save the scholars learn of our secret they would not understand it nor would they believe us they would see nothing save our crime and they would destroy us and our light we care not about our body but our light yes, we do care for the first time we do care about our body for this wire is as a part of our body as a vein torn from us glowing from our blood and are we proud of this thread of metal or our hands which made it or is there a line to divide the tube we stretch out our arms for the first time we do know how strong our arms are and a strange thought comes to us we wonder for the first time in our life what we look like men never see their own faces and never ask their brothers about it for it is evil to have a concern for their own faces or bodies but tonight for a reason we cannot fathom we wish it were possible to us to know the likeness of our own person Chapter 6 of Anthem by Ion Rand this LibriVox recording is in the public domain we have not written for 30 days for 30 days we have not been here in our tunnel we had been caught it happened on that night when we wrote last we forgot that night to watch the sand in the glass which tells us when three hours have passed and it is time to return to the city theater when we remembered it the sand had run out we hastened to the theater but the big tent stood gray and silent against the sky the streets of the city lay before us dark and empty if we went back to hide in our tunnel we would be found in our light found with us so we walked to the home of the street sweepers when the council of the home questioned us the council but there was no curiosity in those faces and no anger and no mercy so when the oldest of them asked us where have you been we thought of our glass box and of our light and we forgot all else and we answered we will not tell you the oldest did not question us further they turned to the two youngest and said to the palace of corrective detention lash them until they tell so we were taken to the stone room under the palace of corrective detention this room has no windows and it is empty save for an iron post two men stood by the post naked but for leather aprons and leather hoods over their faces those who had brought us departed leaving us to the two judges who stood in a corner of the room the judges were small, thin men gray and bent they gave the signal to the two strong hooded ones they tore the clothes from our body they threw us down upon our knees and they tied our hands to the iron post the first blow of the lash felt as if our spine had been cut in two the second blow stopped the first and for a second we felt nothing then the pain struck us in our throat and fire ran in our lungs without air but we did not cry out the lash whistled like a singing wind we tried to count the blows but we lost count we knew the blows were falling upon our back only we felt nothing upon our back any longer a flaming grill kept dancing before our eyes and we thought of nothing save that grill a grill, a grill of red squares and then we knew that we were looking at the squares of the iron grill in the door and there were also the squares of stone on the walls and the squares which the lash was cutting upon our back crossing and re-crossing itself in our flesh then we saw a fist before us it knocked our chin up and we saw the red froth of our mouth on the withered fingers and the judge asked, where have you been? but we jerked our head away hit our face upon our tied hands and bit our lips the lash whistled again we wondered who was sprinkling burning coal dust upon the floor for we saw drops of red twinkling on the stones around us then we knew nothing save two voices snarling steadily one after the other even though we knew they were speaking many minutes apart where have you been? where have you been? where have you been? where have you been? we moved but the sound trickled back into our throat and the sound was only the light the light then we knew nothing we opened our eyes lying on our stomach on the brick floor of a cell we looked upon two hands lying far before us on the bricks and we moved them and we knew that they were our hands but we could not move our body then we smiled with the light and that we had not betrayed it we lay in our cell for many days the door opened twice each day once for the men who brought us bread and water and once for the judges many judges came to our cell first the humblest and then the most honored judges of the city they stood before us in their white tobas and they asked are you ready to speak? but we shook our head lying on the floor and they departed we counted each day and each night as it passed then tonight we knew that we must escape for tomorrow the world council of scholars is to meet in our city it was easy to escape from the palace of corrective detention the locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about there is no reason to have guards for men have never defied the council from whatever place they were ordered to be our body is healthy and strength returns to it speedily we lunged against the door and it gave way we stole through the dark passages and through the dark streets and down into our tunnel we lit the candle and we saw that our place had not been found and nothing had been touched and our glass box stood before us on the cold oven as we had left it what matter they now there are no guards upon our back tomorrow in the full light of day we shall take our box and leave our tunnel open and walk through the streets to the home of the scholars we shall put before them the greatest gift ever offered to men we shall tell them the truth we shall hand to them as our confession these pages we have written we shall join our hands to theirs and we shall work together for the sake of mankind our blessing upon you, our brothers tomorrow you will take us back into your fold and we shall be an outcast no longer tomorrow we shall be one of you again tomorrow it is dark here in the forest the leaves rustle over our head black against the last gold of the sky the moss is soft and warm we shall sleep on this moss for many nights till the beasts of the forest come to tear our body we have no bed now save the moss and no future save the beasts we are old now yet we were young this morning when we carried our glass box through the streets of the city to the home of the scholars no man stopped us for there were none about the palace of corrective detention and the others knew nothing no man stopped us at the gate we walked through the empty passages and into the great hall where the world council of scholars sat in a solemn meeting we saw nothing as we entered save the sky in the great windows blue and glowing then we saw the scholars who sat around a long table in the great sky they were the men whose famous names we knew and others from distant lands whose names we had not heard we saw a great painting on the wall over their heads of the twenty illustrious men who had invented the candle all the heads of the council turned to us as we entered these great and wise of the earth did not know what to think of us and they looked upon us with wonder and curiosity as if we were a miracle it is true that our tunic was torn and stained with brown stains which had been blood we raised our right hand and we said our greeting to you our honored brothers of the world council of scholars then collective 00009 the oldest and wisest of the council spoke and asked who are you, our brother for you do not look like a scholar our name is equality 72521 we answered and we are a street sweeper of this city then it was as if a great wind had stricken the hall for all the scholars spoke at once and they were angry and frightened a street sweeper a street sweeper walking in upon the world council of scholars it is not to be believed it is against all the rules and all the laws but we knew how to stop them and we matter not nor are transgression it is only our brother men who matter give no thought to us for we are nothing but listen to our words for we bring you a gift such as has never been brought to men listen to us for we hold the future of mankind in our hands then they listened we placed our glass box upon the table before them and of our escape from the palace of corrective detention not a hand moved in the hall as we spoke nor an eye then we put the wires to the box and they all bent forward and sat still watching and we stood still our eyes upon the wire and slowly slowly as a flush of blood a red flame trembled in the wire then the wire glowed but terror struck the men of the council they leapt to their feet they ran from the table and they stood pressed against the wall huddled together seeking the warmth of one another's bodies to give them courage we looked upon them and we laughed and said fear nothing our brothers there is a great power in these wires but this power is tamed it is yours we give it to you still they would not move we give you the power of the sky we cried we give you the key to the earth let us be one of you the humblest among you let us all work together and harness this power and make it ease the toil of men let us throw away our candles and our torches let us flood our cities with light let us bring a new light to men but they looked upon us and suddenly we were afraid for their eyes were still and small and evil our brothers we cried have you nothing to say 009 moved forward they moved to the table and the others followed yes spoke collective 00009 we have much to say to you the sound of their voice brought silence to the hall and to the beat of our heart yes said collective 00009 we have much to say to a wretch who has broken all the laws and who boast of their infamy how dared you think that your mind held greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers and if the councils had decreed to you that you should be a street sweeper how dared you think that you could be of greater use to men than in sweeping the streets how dared you gutter cleaner spoke fraternity 93452 to hold yourself as one alone and with the thoughts of one and not of the many you shall be burned at the stake said democracy 4699 no they shall be last said unanimity 73304 till there is nothing left under the lashes no said collective 00009 we cannot decide upon this our brothers no such crime has ever been committed and it is not for us to judge nor for any small council we shall deliver this creature to the world council itself and let their will be done we looked upon them and we pleaded our brothers you are right let the will of the council be done upon our body we do not care but the light what will you do with the light collective 00009 looked upon us and they smiled so you think that you have found a new power said collective 00009 do you think all your brothers think that no we answered what is not thought of by all men cannot be true said collective 00009 you have worked on this alone ask international one 5537 yes we answered what is not done collectively cannot be good said international one 5537 many men in the homes of the scholars have had strange new ideas in the past said solidarity 811 said solidarity 811 said solidarity 811 64 but when the majority of their brothers voted against them they abandoned their ideas as all men must this box is useless said alliance 63439 should it be what they claim of it said harmony 92642 should it be what they claim of it said harmony 92642 then it would bring ruin to the department of candles the candle was a great boon to mankind as approved by all men before it cannot be destroyed by the whim of one this would wreck the plan of the world council said unanimity 29913 and without the plans of the world council the sun cannot rise it took 50 years to secure the approval of all the councils for the candle and to decide upon the number needed and to refit the plan so as to make candles instead of torches this touched upon thousands and thousands of men working in scores of states we cannot alter the plans again so soon and if this should lighten the toil of men said similarity 50306 then it is a great evil for men have no cause to exist save toiling for other men then collective 0009 rose and pointed at our box this thing they said must be destroyed and all the others cried as one it must be destroyed then we left to the table we seized our box we shoved them aside and we ran to the window we turned and we looked at them for the last time and in a rage such as it is not fit for humans to know choked our voice in our throat you fools we cried you fools you thrice damned fools we swung our fist through the window pane to a ringing rain of glass we fell but we never let the box fall from our hands then we ran we ran blindly and men in houses streak past us in a torrent without shape and the road seemed not to be flat before us but as if it were leaping up to meet us and we waited for the earth to rise and strike us in the face but we ran we knew not where we were going we knew only that we must run run to the end of the world to the end of our days then we knew suddenly that we were lying on a soft earth and that we had stopped trees taller than we had ever seen before stood over us in a great silence then we knew we were in the uncharted forest we had not thought of coming here but our legs had carried our wisdom and our legs had brought us to the uncharted forest against our will our glass box lay beside us we crawled to it and we fell upon it our face in our arms and we lay still we lay thus for a long time then we rose we took our box and walked on into the forest it mattered not where we went we knew that men would not follow us for they never entered the uncharted forest we had nothing to fear from them the forest disposes of its own victims this gave us no fear either only we wish to be away from the city and from the air that touches upon the air of the city so we walked on our box in our arms our heart empty we are doomed whatever days are left to us we shall spend them alone and we have heard of the corruption to be found in solitude we have torn ourselves from the truth which is our brother men and there is no road back for us we know these things but we do not care we care for nothing on earth we are tired only the glass box in our arms is like a living heart that gives us strength we have lied to ourselves we have not built this box for the good of our brothers we built it for its own sake it is above all our brothers to us and its truth above their truth why wonder about this we are walking to the fangs awaiting us somewhere amongst the great silent trees there is not a thing behind us to regret then a blow of pain struck us our first and our only we thought of the golden one we thought of the golden one whom we shall never see again then the pain passed it is best we are one of the damned it is best if the golden one forgot our name and the body which bore that name end of chapter 7 chapter 8 of Anthem by Ion Rand this LibriVox recording is in the public domain it has been a day of wonder this our first day in the forest we awoke when an array of sunlight fell across our face we wanted to leap to our feet as we have had to leap to our feet every morning of our life but we remembered suddenly that no bell had rung and that there was no bell to ring anywhere we lay on our back we threw our arms out and we looked up at the sky the leaves had edges of silver that trembled and rippled like a river of green and fire flowing high above us we did not wish to move we thought suddenly that we could lie thus as long as we wished and we laughed aloud at the thought we could also rise or run or leap or fall down again we were thinking that these were things without sense but before we knew it our body had risen in one leap our arms stretched out of their own will and our body whirled and whirled till it raised a wind to rustle through the leaves of the bushes then our hand seized a branch and swung us high into a tree with no aim saved the wonder of learning the strength of our body the branch snapped under us and we fell upon the moss that was soft as a cushion then our body, losing all sense rolled over and over on the moss dry leaves in our tunic in our hair, in our face and we suddenly heard that we were laughing laughing aloud laughing as if there were no power left in us save laughter then we took our glass box and we went on into the forest we went on cutting through the branches and it was as if we were swimming through a sea of leaves with the bushes as waves rising and falling and rising around us and flinging their green sprays high to the tree tops the trees parted before us calling us forward the forest seemed to welcome us we went on without thought without care with nothing to feel saved the song of our body we stopped when we felt hunger we saw birds in the tree branches and flying from under our footsteps we picked a stone and we sent it as an arrow at a bird it fell before us we made a fire we cooked the bird and we ate it and no meal had ever tasted better to us and we thought suddenly that there is a great satisfaction to be found in the food which we need and obtain by our own hand and we wish to be hungry again and soon that we might know again this strange new pride and eating then we walked on and we came to a stream which lay as a streak of glass among the trees it lay so still that we saw no water but only a cut in the earth in which the trees grew down and upturned and the sky lay at the bottom we knelt by the stream and we bent down to drink and then we stopped in the blue of the sky below us we saw our own face for the first time we sat still and we held our breath for our face and our body were beautiful our face was not like the faces of our brothers for we felt no pity when looking upon it our body was not like the bodies of our brothers for our limbs were straight and thin and hard and strong and we thought that we could trust this being who looked upon us from the stream and that we had nothing to fear from this being we walked on till the sun had set when the shadows gathered among the trees we stopped in a hollow between the roots where we shall sleep tonight and suddenly for the first time this day we remembered that we are the damned we remembered it and we laughed we are writing this on the paper we had hidden in our tunic together with the written papers by the council of scholars but never given to them we have much to speak of to ourselves and we hope we shall find the words for it in the days to come now we cannot speak for we cannot understand End of Chapter 8 Chapter 9 of Anthem by Ayn Rand this Librivox recording is in the public domain we have not written for many days we did not wish to speak for we needed no words to remember that which has happened to us it was on our second day in the forest that we heard steps behind us we hid in the bushes and we waited the steps came closer and then we saw the fold of the white tunic among the trees and a gleam of gold we leapt forward we ran to them and we stood looking upon the golden one they saw us and their hands closed into fists and the fists pulled their arms down as if they wished their arms to hold them while their body swayed and they could not speak we dare not come too close to them we asked and our voice trembled how did you come to be here golden one but they whispered only we have found you how did you come to be in the forest we asked they raised their head and there was a great pride in their voice they answered we have followed you then we could not speak and they said we heard that you had gone to the uncharted forest for the whole city is speaking of it so on the night of the day when we heard it we ran away from the home of the peasants we found the marks of your feet across the plain where no men walk so we followed them and we went into the forest and we followed the path where the branches were broken by your body their white tunic was torn and the branches had cut the skin of their arms but they spoke as if they had never taken notice of it nor of weariness nor of fear we have followed you they said and we shall follow you wherever you go if danger threatens you we shall face it also if it be death we shall die with you you are damned and we wish to share your damnation they looked upon us and their voice was low but there was bitterness and triumph in their voice your eyes are as a flame but our brothers have neither hope nor fire your mouth is cut of granite but our brothers are soft and humble your head is high but our brothers cringe you walk but our brothers crawl we wish to be damned with you rather than blessed with all our brothers do as you please with us we may not send us away from you then they knelt and bowed their golden head before us we had never thought of that which we did we bent to raise the golden one to their feet but when we touched them it was as if madness had struck in us we seized their body and pressed our lips to theirs the golden one breathed once and their breath was a moan and then their arms closed around us we stood together for a long time and we were frightened that we had lived for twenty one years and had never known what joy is possible to men then we said our dearest one fear nothing of the forest there is no danger in solitude we have no need of our brothers let us forget their good and our evil let us forget all things save that we are together and that there is joy as a bond between us give us your hand look ahead it is our own world golden one a strange unknown world but our own then we walked on into the forest their hand in ours and that night we knew that to hold the body of woman in our arms is neither ugly nor shameful but the one ecstasy granted to the race of men we have walked for many days the forest has no end and we seek no end today added to the chain of days between us and the city is like an added blessing we have made a bow in many arrows we can kill more birds than we need for food we find water and fruit in the forest at night we choose a clearing and we build a ring of fires around it we sleep in the midst of that ring and the beast dare not attack us we can see their eyes green and yellow as coals watching us from the tree branches beyond the fires smolder as a crown of jewels around us and smoke stands still in the air and columns made blue by the moonlight we sleep together in the midst of the ring the arms of the golden one around us their head upon our breast some day we shall stop and build a house when we shall have gone far enough but we do not have to hasten the days before us out and like the forest we cannot understand this new life which we have found yet it seems so clear and so simple when questions come to puzzle us we walk faster then turn and forget all things as we watch the golden one following the shadows of leaves fall upon their arms as they spread the branches apart but their shoulders are in the sun the skin of their arms is like a blue mist their shoulders are white and glowing as if the light fell not from above but rose from under their skin we watch the leaf which has fallen upon their shoulder and it lies on the curve of their neck and a drop of dew glistens upon it like a jewel they approach us and they stop laughing knowing what we think and they wait obediently without questions till it pleases us to turn and go we go on and bless the earth under our feet but questions come to us as we walk in silence if that which we have found is the corruption of solitude then what can men wish for save corruption if this is the great evil of being alone then what is good and what is evil everything which comes from the many is good everything which comes from the one is evil we have broken the law but we have never doubted it yet now as we walk through the forest we are learning to doubt there is no life for men save a useful toil for the good of all their brothers but we live not when we toil for our brothers we were only weary there is no joy for men save the joy shared with all our brothers but the only things which taught us joy were the power we created in our wires and the golden one and both these joys belong to us alone they come from us alone they bear no relation to our brothers and they do not concern our brothers in any way thus do we wonder there is some error one frightful error in the thinking of men what is that error we do not know but the knowledge struggles within us struggles to be born today the golden one stopped suddenly and said we love you but they frowned and shook their head and looked at us helplessly no, they whispered that is not what we wish to say they were silent then they spoke slowly and their words were halting like the words of a child learning to speak for the first time we are one alone alone and only we looked into each other's eyes and we knew that the breath of a miracle had touched us and fled and left us groping vainly and we felt torn torn for some word that we could not find end of chapter 9 chapter 10 of Anthem by I. N. Rand this LibriVox recording is in the public domain we were sitting at a table and we were writing this upon paper made thousands of years ago the light is dim and we cannot see the golden one only one lock of gold on the pillow of an ancient bed this is our home we came upon it today at sunrise for many days we have been crossing a chain of mountains the forest rose among the cliffs and whenever we walked out upon a barren stretch of rock we saw great peaks before us in the west and to the north of us and to the south as far as our eyes could see the peaks were red and brown with the green streaks of forests as veins upon them with blue mists as veils over their heads we had never heard of these mountains nor seen them marked on any map the uncharted forest has protected them from the cities and from the men of the cities we climbed where the wild goats dared not follow stones rolled from under our feet and we heard them striking the rocks below farther and farther down and the mountains rang with each stroke and long after the strokes had died but we went on for we knew that no men would ever follow our track nor reach us here then, today, at sunrise we saw a white flame among the trees high on a sheer peak before us we thought that it was a fire and we stopped but the flame was unmoving like blinding as liquid metal so we climbed toward it through the rocks and there, before us, on a broad summit with the mountains rising behind it stood a house such as we had never seen and the white fire came from the sun on the glass of its windows the house had two stories and a strange roof flat as a floor there was more window than wall upon its walls and the windows went on straight around the corners though how this kept the house standing we could not guess the walls were hard and smooth of that stone unlike stone which we had seen in our tunnel we both knew it without words this house was left from the unmentionable times the trees had protected it from time and weather and from men who had less pity than time and weather we turned to the golden one and we asked are you afraid but they shook their head so we walked to the door and we threw it open and we stepped together into the house of the unmentionable times we shall need the days and the years ahead to look and learn and to understand the things of this house today we could only look and try to believe the sight of our eyes we pulled the heavy curtains from the windows and we saw that the rooms were small and we thought that no more than 12 men could have lived here we thought it strange that men had been permitted to build a house for only 12 never had we seen rooms so full of light the sun rays danced upon the colors colors and more colors than we thought possible we who had seen no houses save the white ones the brown ones and the gray there were great pieces of glass on the wall but it was not glass for when we looked upon it we saw our own bodies and all the things behind us as on the face of a lake there were strange things which we had never seen in the use of which we do not know and there were globes of glass everywhere in each room the globes with the metal cobwebs inside such as we had seen in our tunnel we found a sleeping hall and we stood in awe upon its threshold for it was a small room and there were only two beds in it we found no other beds in the house and then we knew that only two had lived here and this passes understanding what kind of world did they have the men of the unmentionable times we found garments and the golden one gasped at the sight of them for they were not white tunics nor white togas they were of all colors like some crumbled to dust as we touched them but others were of heavier cloth and they felt soft and new in our fingers we found a room with walls made of shelves which had rows of manuscripts from the floor to the ceiling never had we seen such a number of them nor of such strange shape they were not soft and rolled they had hard shells of cloth and leather and the letters on the pages were so small and so even that we wondered at the men who had such handwriting we glanced through the pages and we saw that they were written in our language but we found many words which we could not understand tomorrow we shall begin to read these scripts when we had seen all the rooms of the house we looked at the golden one and we both knew the thought in our minds we shall never leave this house this is our home and the end of our journey this is your house golden one and ours and it belongs to no other men whatever as far as the earth may stretch we shall not share it with others as we share not our joy with them not our love, not our hunger so be it at the end of our days your will be done they said then we went out to gather wood for the great hearth of our home we brought water from the stream which runs among the trees under our windows we killed a mountain goat and we brought its flesh to be cooked in a strange copper pot we found in a place of wonders which must have been the cooking room of the house we did this work alone for no words of ours could take the golden one away from the big glass which is not glass they stood before it and they looked and looked upon their own body when the sun sank beyond the mountains the golden one fell asleep on the floor amidst jewels and bottles of crystal and flowers of silk we lifted the golden one in our arms and we carried them to a bed their head falling softly upon our shoulder then we lit a candle and we brought paper from the room of the manuscripts and we sat by the window for we knew that we could not sleep tonight and now we look upon the earth and sky this spread of naked rock and peaks and moonlight is like a world ready to be born a world that waits it seems to us it asks a sign from us a spark a first commandment we cannot know what word we are to give nor what great deed this earth expects to witness we know it waits it seems to say it has great gifts to lay before us we are able to speak we are able to give its goal its highest meaning to all this glowing space of rock and sky we look ahead we beg our heart for guidance and answering this call no voice has spoken yet we have heard we look upon our hands we see the dust of centuries the dust which hid the great secrets and perhaps great evils and yet it stirs no fear but only a silent reverence and pity may knowledge come to us what is this secret our heart has understood and yet will not reveal to us although it seems to beat as if it were endeavoring to tell it End of Chapter 10 Chapter 11 of Anthem by Iain Rand this LibriVox recording is in the public domain I am I think I will my hands my spirit my sky my forest this earth of mine what shall I say besides these are the words this is the answer I stand here on the summit of the mountain I lift my head and I spread my arms this my body and spirit this is the end of the quest I wish to know the meaning of things I am the meaning I wish to find a warrant for being I need no warrant for being and no word of sanction upon my being I am the warrant and the sanction it is my eyes which see and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth it is my ears which hear and my hearing of my ears gives its song to the world it is my mind which thinks and the judgment of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth it is my will which chooses and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect many words have been granted me and some are wise and some are false but only three are holy I will it whatever road I take the guiding star is within me the guiding star and the lodestone which point the way they point in but one direction they point to me I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity I know not and I care not for I know what happiness is possible to me on earth and my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it my happiness is not the means to any end it is its own goal it is its own purpose neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish I am not a tool for their use I am not a servant for their needs I am not a bandage for their wounds I am not a sacrifice on their alters I am a man this miracle of me is mine to own and keep and mine to guard and mine to use and mine to kneel before I do not surrender my treasures nor do I share them the fortune of my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit I guard my treasures my thought my will my freedom and the greatest of these is freedom I owe nothing to my brothers nor do I gather debts from them I ask none of them to live for me nor do I live for any others I covet no man's soul nor is my soul theirs to covet I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers but such as each of them shall deserve of me and to earn my love my brothers must do more than to have been born I do not grant my love without reason nor to any chance passer by who may wish to claim it I honor men with my love but honor is a thing to be earned I shall choose friends among men but neither slaves nor masters and I shall choose only such as please me and them I shall love and respect but neither command nor obey we shall join our hands when we wish or walk alone when we so desire for this is the temple of his spirit each man is alone let each man keep his temple untouched and undefiled then let him join hands with the others if he wishes but only beyond his holy threshold for the word we must never be spoken saved by one's choice and as a second thought this word must never be placed first within man's soul else it becomes a monster the root of all evils on earth and the root of men's torture by men is a despicable lie the word we is as lime poured over men which sets and hardens to stone and crushes all beneath it and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the gray of it it is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good by which the weak steal the might of the strong by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages what is my joy in my hands even the unclean can reach into it what is my wisdom if even the fools can dictate to me what is my freedom if all creatures even the botched and the impotent are my masters what is my life if I am but to bow and to agree and to obey but I am done with this creed of corruption I am done with the monster of we the word of serfdom of plunder of misery and falsehood and shame and now I see the face of God and I raise this God over the earth this God whom men have sought since men came into being this God who will grant them joy and peace and pride this God this one word I End of Chapter 11 Chapter 12 of Anthem by Ion Rand This LibriVox recording is in the public domain It was when I read the first of the books I found in my house that I saw the word I and when I understood this word the book fell from my hands and I wept I who had never known tears I wept in deliverance and in pity for all mankind I understood the blessed thing which I called my curse I understood why the best in me had been my sins and why I had never felt guilt in my sins I understood that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the spirit of man nor the sense of truth within him I read many books for many days then I called the golden one and I told her what I had read and what I had learned she looked at me and the first words she spoke were I love you then I said it was not proper for men to be without names there was a time when each man had a name of his own to distinguish him from all other men so let us choose our names I have read of a man who lived many thousands of years ago and of all the names in these books he is the one I wish to bear he took the light of the gods and he brought it to men and he taught men to be gods and he suffered for his deed as all bearers of light suffer his name was Prometheus his name was Prometheus it shall be your name said the golden one and I have read of a goddess I said who was the mother of the earth and of all the gods her name was Gaia let this be your name my golden one for you are to be the mother of a new kind of gods it shall be my name said the golden one now I look ahead he was clear before me the saint of the pyre had seen the future when he chose me as his heir as the heir of all the saints and all the martyrs who came before him and who died for the same cause for the same word no matter what name they gave their cause and their truth I shall live here in my house I shall take my food from the earth by the toil of my own hands I shall learn many secrets from my books through the years ahead I shall rebuild the achievements of the past and open the way to carry them further the achievements which are open to me but closed forever to my brothers for their minds are shackled to the weakest and dullest among them I have learned that my power of the sky was known to men long ago they called it electricity it was the power that moved their greatest inventions it lit this house a light which came from those globes of glass on the walls I have found the engine which produced this light I shall learn how to repair it and how to make it work again I shall learn how to use the wires which carry this power then I shall build a barrier of wires around my home and across the paths which leads my home a barrier light as a cobweb more impassable than a wall of granite a barrier my brothers will never be able to cross for they have nothing to fight me with save the brute force of their numbers I have my mind then here on this mountaintop with the world below me and nothing above me but the sun I shall live my own truth Gaia is pregnant with my child our son will be raised as a man he will be taught to say I and to bear the pride of it he will be taught to walk straight on his own feet he will be taught reverence for his own spirit when I shall have read all the books and learned my new way when my home will be ready and my earth tilled I shall steal one day for the last time into the cursed city of my birth I shall call to me my friend who has no name save International 48818 and all those like him who cries without reason and Solidarity 96347 who calls for help in the night and a few others I shall call to me all the men and the women whose spirit has not been killed within them and who suffer under the yoke of their brothers they will follow me and I shall lead them to my fortress and here in this uncharted wilderness I and they my chosen friends and no builders shall write the first chapter in the new history of man these are the last things before me and as I stand here at the door of glory I look behind me for the last time I look upon the history of men which I have learned from the books and I wonder it was a long story and the spirit which moved it was the spirit of man's freedom but what is freedom but what there is nothing to take a man's freedom away from him save other men to be free a man must be free of his brothers that is freedom that and nothing else at first man was enslaved by the gods but he broke their chains then he was enslaved by the kings but he broke their chains he was enslaved by his birth by his kin he broke their chains he declared to all his brothers that a man has rights which neither god nor king nor other men can take away from him no matter what their number for his is the right of man and there is no right on earth above this right and he stood on the threshold of freedom for which the blood of centuries behind him had been spilled but then he gave up all he had won and fell lower than his savage beginning what brought it to pass what disaster took their reason away from men what whip lashed them to their knees in shame and submission the worship of the word we when men accepted that worship the structure of centuries collapsed about them the structure whose every beam had come from the thought of some one man each in his day down the ages from the depths of some one spirit such spirit as existed but for its own sake those men who survived those eager to obey eager to live for one another since they had nothing else to vindicate them those men could neither carry on nor preserve what they had received thus did all thought all science all wisdom perish on earth thus did men men with nothing to offer the steel towers the flying ships the power wires all the things they had not created and could never keep perhaps later some men had been born with the mind and the courage to recover these things which were lost perhaps these men came before the councils of scholars they were answered as I have been answered and for the same reasons but I still wonder how it was possible for years of transition long ago that men did not see whether they were going and went on in blindness and cowardice to their fate I wonder for it has been hard for me to conceive how men who knew the word I could give it up and not know what they had lost but such has been the story for I have lived in the city of the damned and I know what horror men permitted to be brought upon them perhaps in those days there were a few among men a few of clear sight and clean soul who refused to surrender that word what agony must have been theirs before that which they saw coming and could not stop perhaps they cried out in protest and in warning but men paid no heed to their warning and they, these few fought a hopeless battle and they perished with their banners smeared by their own blood they refused to perish where they knew to them I send my salute across the centuries and my pity theirs is the banner in my hand and I wish I had the power to tell them that the despair of their hearts was not to be final and their night was not without hope for the battle they lost could never be lost for that which they died to save could never perish through all the darkness through all the shame of which men are capable the spirit of man will remain alive on this earth it may sleep but it will awaken it may wear chains but it will break through and man will go on man, not men here on this mountain I and my sons and my chosen friends shall build our new land in our fort and it will come as the heart of the earth lost and hidden at first but beating, beating louder each day and word of it will reach every corner of the earth and the roads of the world will become as veins which will carry the best of the world's blood to my threshold and all of my brothers and the councils of my brothers will hear of it but they will be impotent against me and the day will come when I shall break all the chains of the earth and raise the cities of the enslaved and my home will become the capital of a world and each man will be free to exist for his own sake for the coming of that day shall I fight I and my sons and my chosen friends for the freedom of man for his rights for his life, for his honor and here over the portals of my fort I shall cut in the stone the word which is to be my beacon and my banner the word which will not die should we all perish in battle the word which can never die on this earth for it is the heart of it and the meaning in the glory the sacred word ego