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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 52225 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 52225-h.htm or 52225-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/52225/52225-h/52225-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/52225/52225-h.zip)
+
+
+Note: Images of the original pages are available through
+      the Google Books Library Project. See
+      https://books.google.com/books?id=9g9EAAAAYAAJ
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      The o-e ligature is represented by [oe].
+
+
+
+
+
+THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY
+
+by
+
+GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
+
+Translated by Lafcadio Hearn
+
+Illustrations by Odilon Redon
+
+(Added especially for this PG e-book.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Alice Harriman Company
+New York and Seattle
+1910
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+It was at some period between 1875 and 1876 that Lafcadio Hearn--still
+a "cub" reporter on a daily paper in Cincinnati--began his translation
+of Flaubert's "Temptation of St. Anthony." The definitive edition of
+the work, over which the author had laboured for thirty years, had
+appeared in 1874.
+
+Hearn was, in his early youth, singularly indifferent to the work of
+the Englishmen of the Victorian period. Though he knew the English
+masterpieces of that epoch, their large, unacademic freedom of manner
+awakened no echoes in his spirit. His instinctive taste was for the
+exquisite in style: for "that peculiar kneading, heightening, and
+recasting" which Matthew Arnold thought necessary for perfection.
+Neither did the matter, more than the manner of the Victorians appeal
+to him. The circumstances of his life had at so many points set him
+out of touch with his fellows that the affectionate mockery of
+Thackeray's pictures of English society were alien to his interest.
+The laughing heartiness of Dickens' studies of the man in the street
+hardly touched him. Browning's poignant analyses of souls were too
+rudely robust of manner to move him. Before essaying journalism Hearn
+had served for a while as an assistant in the Public Library, and
+there he had found and fallen under the spell, of the great Frenchman
+of the Romantic School of the '30's--that period of rich flowering of
+the Gallic genius. Gautier's tales of ancient weirdnesses fired his
+imagination. The penetrating subtleties of his verse woke in the boy
+the felicitous emotions which the virtuoso knows in handling cameos
+and enamellings by hands which have long been dust. So, also, Hugo's
+revivals of the passions and terrors of the mediæval world stirred the
+young librarian's eager interest. But most of all his spirit leapt
+to meet the tremendous drama of the "Temptation." He comprehended at
+once its large significance, its great import, and in his enthusiastic
+recognition of its value and meaning he set at once about giving it a
+language understood of the people of his own tongue.
+
+Tunison tells of the little shy, shabby, half-blind boy--the long
+dull day of police reporting done--labouring at his desk into the
+small hours, with the flickering gas jet whistling overhead, and his
+myopic eyes bent close to the papers which he covered with beautiful,
+almost microscopic characters--escaping thus from the crass, raw world
+about him to delicately and painstakingly turn into English stories
+of Cleopatra's cruel, fantastic Egyptian Night's Entertainment.
+Withdrawing himself to transliterate tales of pallid beautiful vampires
+draining the veins of ardent boys: of lovely faded ghosts of great
+ladies descending from shadowy tapestries to coquette with romantic
+dreamers; or to find an English voice for the tragedy of the soul of
+the Alexandrian cenobite.
+
+It was in such dreams and labours that he found refuge from the
+environment that was so antipathetic to his tastes, and in his
+immersion in the works of these virtuosos of words, in his passionate
+search for equivalents of the subtle nuances of their phrases, he
+developed his own style. A style full of intricate assonances, of a
+texture close woven and iridescent.
+
+"One of Cleopatra's Night's"--a translation of some of Gautier's tales
+of glamour--was issued in 1882, but at "The Temptation of St. Anthony"
+the publishers altogether balked. The manuscript could not achieve even
+so much as a reading. America had in the '70's just begun to emerge
+from that state of provincial propriety in which we were accused of
+clothing even our piano legs in pantelettes. The very name of the work
+was sufficient to start modest shivers down the spine of all well
+regulated purveyors of books. It was largely due to the painters'
+conceptions of the nature of the hermit's trials that the story of
+Saint Anthony's spiritual struggle aroused instinctive terrors in all
+truly modest natures. The painters--who so dearly love to display their
+skill in drawing legs and busts--had been wont to push the poor old
+saint into the obscure of the background, and fill all the foreground
+with ladies of obviously the very lightest character, in garments
+still lighter, if possible. What had reputable American citizens to do
+with such as these jades? More especially such jades as seen through
+a French imagination! That Flaubert had brushed aside the gross and
+jejune conceptions of the painters the publishers would not even take
+the pains to learn.
+
+It is amusing now to recall the nervous, timid proprieties of those
+days. At the time Hearn failed to see the laughable side of it. He was
+then too young and earnest, too passionate and too melancholy to have a
+sense of its humours.
+
+He had brought his unfinished manuscript from Cincinnati to New
+Orleans, and had continued to work upon it in strange lodgings in
+gaunt, old half-ruined Creole houses; at the tables of odd little
+French cafés, or among the queer dishes in obscure Spanish and Chinese
+restaurants. He had snatched minutes for it amidst the reading and
+clipping of exchanges in a newspaper office; had toiled drippingly
+over it in the liquifying heats of tropic nights; had arisen from the
+"inexpungable langours" of yellow fever to complete its last astounding
+pages.
+
+I can remember applauding, with ardent youthful sympathy, his tirades
+against the stultifying influence of blind puritanism upon American
+literature. I recall his scornful mocking at the inconsistency which
+complacently accepted the vulgar seduction, and the theatrical Brocken
+revels of Faust, while shrinking piously from Flaubert's grim story of
+the soul of man struggling to answer the riddle of the universe. He
+had however an almost equal contempt for the author's countrymen, who
+received with eager interest and pleasure the deliberate analysis--in
+_Madame Bovary_--of a woman's degradation and ruin, while they yawned
+over the amazing history of humanity's tremendous spiritual adventures.
+Hearn's own sensitiveness shrank in pain from the cold insight which
+uncovered layer by layer the brutal squalour of a woman's moral
+disintegration. But he was moved and astounded by the revelation, in
+St. Anthony, of the tragedy and pathos of man's long search for some
+body of belief or philosophy by which he could explain to himself
+the strange great phenomena of life and death, and the inscrutable
+cruelties of Nature. The young translator was filled with a sort of
+astonished despair at his inability to make others see the book as
+he did--not realizing, in his youthful impatience, that the average
+mind clings to the concrete, and is puzzled and terrified by outlines
+of thought too large for its range of vision; that the commonplace
+intelligence cannot "see the wood for the trees," and becomes confused
+and over-weighted when confronted with the huge outlines of so great a
+picture as that drawn by Flaubert in his masterpiece.
+
+There were many points of resemblance between Lafcadio Hearn and the
+grandson of the French veterinary. A resemblance rather in certain
+qualities of the spirit than in social conditions and physical
+endowments. Flaubert, born in 1821, was the son of a surgeon. His
+father was long connected with the Hôtel Dieu of Rouen, in which the
+boy was born, and in which he lived until his eighteenth year, when he
+went to Paris to study law. One of the friends of his early Parisian
+days describes him as "a young Greek. Tall, supple, and as graceful as
+an athlete. He was charming, _mais un peu farouche._ Quite unconscious
+of his physical and mental gifts; very careless of the impression he
+produced, and entirely indifferent to formalities. His dress consisted
+of a red flannel shirt, trousers of heavy blue cloth, and a scarf of
+the same colour drawn tight about his slender waist. His hat was worn
+'any how' and often he abandoned it altogether. When I spoke to him of
+fame or influence.... he seemed superbly indifferent. He had no desire
+for glory or gain.... What was lacking in his nature was an interest in
+_les choses extérieures, choses utiles._" ...
+
+One who saw him in 1879 found the young Greek athlete--now close upon
+sixty, and having in the interval created some of the great classics
+of French literature--"a huge man, a tremendous old man. His long,
+straggling gray hair was brushed back. His red face was that of a
+soldier, or a sheik--divided by drooping white moustaches. A trumpet
+was his voice, and he gesticulated freely ... the colour of his eyes a
+bit of faded blue sky."
+
+The study of the law did not hold Flaubert long. It was one of those
+_choses extérieures, choses utiles_ to which he was so profoundly
+indifferent. Paris bored him. He longed for Rouen, and for his little
+student chamber. There he had lain upon his bed whole days at a time;
+apparently as lazy as a lizard; smoking, dreaming; pondering the large,
+inchoate, formless dreams of youth.
+
+In 1845 his father died, and in the following year he lost his sister
+Caroline, whom he had passionately loved, and for whom he grieved
+all his life. He rejoined his mother, and they established themselves
+at Croisset, near Rouen, upon a small inherited property. It was an
+agreeable house, pleasantly situated in sight of the Seine. Flaubert
+nourished with pleasure a local legend that Pascal had once inhabited
+the old Croisset homestead, and that the Abbé Prevost had written
+_Manon Lescaut_ within its walls. Near the house--now gone--he built
+for himself a pavilion to serve as a study, and in this he spent the
+greater portion of the following thirty-four years in passionate,
+unremitting labour.
+
+He made a voyage to Corsica in his youth; one to Brittany, with Maxime
+du Camp, in 1846; and spent some months in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey,
+and Greece in 1849. This Oriental experience gave him the most intense
+pleasure, and was the germ of _Salammbo_, and of the _Temptation of St.
+Anthony._ He never repeated it, though he constantly talked of doing
+so. He nursed a persistent, but unrealized dream of going as far as
+Ceylon, whose ancient name, Taprobana, he was never weary of repeating;
+utterance of its melifluous syllables becoming a positive _tic_
+with him. Despite these yearnings he remained at home. Despite his
+full-blooded physique he would take no more exercise than his terrace
+afforded, or an occasional swim in the Seine. He smoked incessantly,
+and for months at a stretch worked fifteen hours out of the twenty-four
+at his desk. Three hundred volumes might be annotated for a page of
+facts. He would write twenty pages, and reduce these by exquisite
+concisions, by fastidious rejections to three; would search for hours
+for the one word that perfectly conveyed the colour of his thought, and
+would--as in the case of the _Temptation_--wait fifteen years for a
+sense of satisfaction with a manuscript before allowing it to see the
+light. To Maxime du Camp, who urged him to hasten the completion of his
+book in order to take advantage of a favourable opportunity, he wrote
+angrily:
+
+"Tu me parais avoir à mon endroit un tic ou vice rédhibitoire. Il
+ne m'embête pas; n'aie aucune crainte; mon parti est pris là-dessus
+depuis long temps. Je te dirai seulement que tous ces mots; _se
+dépêcher, c'est le moment, place prise, se poser, ..._ sont pour moi un
+vocabulaire vide de sens...."
+
+In one of his letters he says that on occasion he worked violently for
+eight hours to achieve one page. He endeavoured never to repeat a word
+in that page, and tried to force every phrase to respond to a rhythmic
+law. Guy do Maupassant, his nephew and pupil, says that to ensure this
+rhythm Flaubert "prenait sa feuille de papier, relevait à la hauteur du
+regard et, s'appuyant sur un coude, déclaimait, d'une voix mordant et
+haute. Il écoutait la rythme de sa prose, s'arrêtait comme pour saisir
+une sonorité fuyant, combinait les tons, éloignait les assonances,
+disposait les virgules avec conscience, commes les haltes d'un long
+chemin." ...
+
+Flaubert said himself, "une phrase est viable quand elle correspond
+à toutes les nécessités de respiration. Je sais qu'elle est bonne
+lorsqu'elle peut être lu tout haut."
+
+Henry Irving used to say of himself that it was necessary he should
+work harder than other actors because nature had dowered him with
+flexibility of neither voice nor feature, and Faguet says that Flaubert
+was forced to this excessive toil and incessant watchfulness because
+he did not write well naturally. Nevertheless Flaubert's work did not
+smell of the lamp. Whatever shape his ideas may have worn at birth
+when full grown they moved with large classic grace and freedom,
+simple, sincere, and beautiful in form. François Coppée calls him "the
+Beethoven of French prose."
+
+So conscientious a workman, so laborious and self-sacrificing an artist
+had a natural attraction for Lafcadio Hearn, who even in boyhood began
+to feel his vocation as "a literary monk." The whole tendency of his
+tastes prepared him to understand the true importance of Flaubert's
+masterpiece, fitted him especially of all living writers to turn that
+masterpiece into its true English equivalent. The two men had much in
+common. Both were proud and timid. Both had a fundamental indifference
+to _choses extérieures, choses utiles._ Both were realists of the soul.
+Actions interested each but slightly; the emotions from which actions
+sprung very much. To both stupidity was even more antipathetic than
+wickedness, because each realized that nearly all cruelty and vice have
+their germ in ignorance and stupidity rather than in innate rascality.
+Flaubert declared, with a sort of rage, that "la bêtise entre dans
+mes pores." He might too have been speaking for Hearn when he said
+that the grotesque, the strange, and the monstrous had for him an
+inexplicable charm. "It corresponds," he says, "to the intimate needs
+of my nature--it does not cause me to laugh, but to dream long dreams."
+Hearn, however, mixed with this triste interest a quality that Flaubert
+seemed almost wholly to lack--a great tenderness for all things humble,
+feeble, ugly and helpless. Both from childhood were curious of poignant
+sensations, of the sad, the mysterious and the exotic. And for both the
+tropics had an irresistible fascination. Flaubert says, in one of his
+letters:
+
+"I carry with me the melancholy of the barbaric races, with their
+instincts of migration, and their innate distaste of life, which forced
+them to quit their homes in order to escape from themselves. They loved
+the sun, all those barbarians who came to die in Italy; they had a
+frenzied aspiration toward the light, toward the blue skies, toward an
+ardent existence.... Think that perhaps I will never see China, will
+never be rocked to sleep by the cadenced footsteps of camels ... will
+never see the shine of a tiger's eyes in the forest.... You can treat
+all this as little worthy of pity, but I suffer so much when I think of
+it ... as of something lamentable and irremediable."
+
+This is the nostalgia for the strange, for the unaccustomed, that all
+born wanderers know. Fate arranges it for many of them that their lives
+shall be uneventful, passed in dull, provincial narrowness; but behind
+these bars the clipped wings of their spirit are always flutteringly
+spread for flight. They know not what they seek, what desire drives
+them, but a sense of "the great adventure" unachieved keeps them
+restless until they die. It is such as these, these _voyageurs
+empassionés_, when condemned by fortune to a static existence--who find
+their outlet in mental wanderings amid the unusual, the grotesque,
+and the monstrous. Hearn and Flaubert both were at heart nomads,
+seekers of the unaccustomed; stretching toward immensities of space
+and time, toward the ghostly, the hidden, the unrealized. Like that
+wild fantastic _Chimera_ of the "Temptation" each such soul declares
+"_je cherche des parfums nouveaux, des fleurs plus large, des plaisirs
+inéprouvés._"
+
+Flaubert was but twenty-six when the first suggestion of his
+masterpiece came to him. For _La Tentation de St. Antoine_, it is
+coming to be understood, is his masterpiece; is one of the greatest
+literary achievements of the French mind. _Madame Bovary_ is more
+widely famous and popular, but Flaubert himself always deeply resented
+this preference, and was always astonished at the comparative
+indifference of the world to the "Temptation." He, too, found it
+difficult to realize how hardly the average mind is awakened to an
+interest in the incorporeal; how surely cosmic generalizations escape
+the grasp of the commonplace intelligence.
+
+Wagner waited a lifetime before the world was dragged reluctantly and
+resentfully up to a point from which it could discern the superiority
+of the tremendous finale of the Götterdämmerung to the Christmas-card
+chorus of angels chanting "_Âme chaste et pure_" to the beatified
+Marguerite. The whole prodigious structure of Wagner's dramatic and
+musical thought might have remained a mere adumbration in the soul of
+one German had chance not set a mad genius upon the throne of Bavaria.
+The bourgeoisie would--lacking this royal bullying--have continued to
+prefer Goethe and Gounod. Flaubert's great work unfortunately failed of
+such patronage.
+
+It was in 1845 that an old picture by Breughel, seen at Genoa, first
+inspired Flaubert to attempt the story of St. Anthony. He sought
+out an engraving of this conception of Peter the Younger (surnamed
+"Hell-Breughel" for his fondness for such subjects), hung it on his
+walls at Croisset, and after three years of brooding upon it began,
+May 24, 1848, _La Tentation de St. Antoine._ In twelve months he had
+finished the first draught of the work, which bulked to 540 pages. It
+was laid aside for "Bovary," and a second version of the "Temptation"
+was completed in 1856, but this time the manuscript had been reduced
+to 193 pages, and the "blazing phrases, the jewelled words, the
+turbulence, the comedy, the mysticism" of the first version had been
+superseded by a larger, more dramatic conception. In 1872 he made still
+a new draught, and by this time it had shrunk to 136 pages. He even
+then eliminated three chapters, and finally gave to the world in 1874
+"this wonderful coloured panorama of philosophy, this Gulliver-like
+travelling amid the master ideas of the antique and early Christian
+worlds."
+
+Faguet says, "In its primitive and legendary state the temptation
+of St. Anthony was nothing more than the story of a recluse tempted
+by the Devil through the flesh, by all the artifices at the Devil's
+disposal. In the definite thought of Flaubert the temptation of St.
+Anthony has become man's soul tempted by all the illusions of human
+thought and imagination. St. Anthony to the eyes of the first naive
+hagiologists is a second Adam, seduced by woman, who was inspired by
+Satan. St. Anthony conceived by Flaubert is a more thoughtful Faust; a
+Faust incapable of irony, not a Faust who could play with illusions and
+with himself--secretly persuaded that he could withdraw when he chose
+to give himself the trouble to do so--rather a Faust who approached,
+accosted, caressed all possible forms of universal illusions."
+
+Flaubert's studies for the "Temptation" were tremendous. For nearly
+thirty years he touched and retouched, altered, enlarged, condensed.
+He kneaded into its substance the knowledge, incessantly sought, of
+all religions and philosophies; of all the forms man's speculations
+had taken in his endless endeavours to explain to himself Life and
+Fate; humanity's untiring, passionate effort to find the meaning of its
+mysterious origin and purpose, and final destiny. How terrible, how
+naive, how fantastic, bloody, grovelling, and outrageous were most of
+the solutions accepted, the gigantic panorama of the book startlingly
+sets forth. What gory agonies, what mystic exaltations, what dark
+cruelties, frenzied abandons, and inhuman self denials have marked
+those puzzled gropings for light and truth are revealed as by lightning
+flashes in the crowding scenes of the epic. For the Temptation of St.
+Anthony is an epic. Not a drama of man's actions, as all previous
+epics have been, but a drama of the soul. All its movement is in the
+adventure and conflict of the spirit. St. Anthony remains always in
+the one place, almost as moveless as a mirror. His vision--clarified
+of the sensual and the actual by his fastings and macerations--becomes
+like the surface of an unruffled lake. A lake reflecting the aberrant
+forms of thoughts that, like clouds, drift between man and the infinite
+depths of knowledge. Clouds of illusion forever changing, melting,
+fusing; assuming forms grotesque, monstrous, intolerable; until at
+last the writhing mists of speculation and ignorance are drunk up
+by the widening light of wisdom and the fogs and phantasms vanish,
+leaving his consciousness aware, in poignant ecstasy, of the cloudless
+deeps of truth. The temptation of the flesh is but a passing episode.
+An eidolon of Sheba's queen offers him luxury, wealth, voluptuous
+beauty, power, dainty delights of eye and palate in vain. Man has never
+found his most dangerous seductions in the appetites. More lamentable
+disintegration has grown from his attempts to pierce beyond the
+body's veil. The parched and tortured saint is whirled by vertiginous
+visions through cycles of man's straining efforts to know why, whence,
+whither. He assists at the rites of Mithira, the prostrations of
+serpent-and-devil-worshippers, worshippers of fire, of light, of the
+Greeks' deified forces of nature; of the northern enthronement of brute
+force and war. He is swept by the soothing breath of Quietism, plunges
+into every heresy and philosophy, sees the orgies, the flagellations,
+the self mutilations, the battles and furies of sects, each convinced
+that it has found the answer at last to the Great Question, and
+endeavouring to constrain the rest of humanity to accept the answer.
+He meets the Sphinx--embodied interrogation--and the Chimera--the
+simulacrum of the fantasies of the imagination--dashing madly about the
+stolid querist.
+
+Lucifer--spirit of doubt of all dogmatic solutions--mounts with Anthony
+into illimitable space. They rise beyond these struggles and furies
+into the cold uttermost of the universe; among innumerable worlds;
+worlds yet vaguely forming in the womb of time, newly come to birth,
+lustily grown to maturity; worlds dying, decaying, crumbling again into
+atomic dust. Overcome by the intolerable Vast, Anthony sinks once more
+to his cell, and Lucifer, who has shown him the macrocosm, opens to
+him the equal immensity of the microcosm. Makes him see the swarming
+life that permeates the seas, the earth and atmosphere, the incredible
+numerousness of the invisible lives that people every drop of water,
+every grain of sand, every breath of air. The unity of life dawns upon
+him, and his heart, withered by dubiety, melts into joyousness and
+peace. As the day dawns in gold he beholds the face of Christ.
+
+Flaubert's Lucifer has no relation to the jejune Devil of
+man's early conception of material evil, nor does he resemble
+Goethe's Mephistopheles; embodiment of the Eighteenth Century's
+spirit of sneering disbeliefs and negation. He is rather our own
+tempter--Science. He is the spirit of Knowledge: Nature itself calling
+us to look into the immensities and read just our dogmas by this new
+and terrible widening of our mental and moral horizons. This last
+experience of the Saint reproduces the spiritual experiences of the
+modern man; cast loose from his ancient moorings, and yet finding at
+last in his new knowledge a truer conception of the brotherhood of all
+life in all its forms, and seeing still, in the growing light, the
+benignant eyes of God.
+
+It is not remarkable that Flaubert resented the banality, the dull
+grossness of the reception of his work, or that Hearn shared his
+amazement and bitterness. Even yet the world wakes but slowly to the
+true character of this masterpiece; this epic wrought with so great
+a care and patience, so instinct with genius, dealing perhaps more
+profoundly than any other mind has ever done with the Great Adventure
+of humanity's eternal search for Truth.
+
+ELIZABETH BISLAND.
+
+
+
+
+ARGUMENT
+
+
+
+
+FRAILTY
+
+
+Sunset in the desert. Enfeebled by prolonged fasting, the hermit
+finds himself unable to concentrate his mind upon holy things. His
+thoughts wonder; memories of youth evoke regrets that his relaxed will
+can no longer find strength to suppress,--and, remembrance begetting
+remembrance, his fancy leads him upon dangerous ground. He dreams of
+his flight from home,--of Ammonaria, his sister's playmate,--of his
+misery in the waste,--his visit to Alexandria with the blind monk
+Didymus,--the unholy sights of the luxurious city.
+
+Involuntarily he yields to the nervous dissatisfaction growing upon
+him. He laments his solitude, his joylessness, his poverty, the
+obscurity of his life; grace departs from him; hope burns low within
+his heart. Suddenly revolting against his weakness, he seeks refuge
+from distraction in the study of the Scriptures.
+
+Vain effort! An invisible hand turns the leaves, placing perilous
+texts before his eyes. He dreams of the Maccabees slaughtering
+their enemies, and desires that he might do likewise with the
+Arians of Alexandria;--he becomes inspired with admiration of King
+Nebuchadnezzar;--he meditates voluptuously upon the visit of Sheba's
+queen of Solomon;--discovers a text in the Acts of the Apostles
+antagonistic to principles of monkish ascetism,--indulges in reveries
+regarding the riches of Biblical kings and holy men. The Tempter comes
+to tempt him with evil hallucinations for which the Saint's momentary
+frailty has paved the way; and with the Evil One come also
+
+
+
+THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
+
+
+Phantom gold is piled up to excite Covetousness; shadowy banquets
+appear to evoke Gluttony. The scene shifts to aid the temptations of
+Anger and of Pride....
+
+Anthony finds himself in Alexandria, at the head of a wild army of
+monks slaughtering the heretics and the pagans, without mercy for
+age or sex. In fantastic obedience to the course of his fancy while
+reading the Scriptures a while before, and like an invisible echo of
+his evil thoughts, the scene changes again. Alexandria is transformed
+into Constantinople.
+
+Anthony finds himself the honoured of the Emperor. He beholds the
+vast circus in all its splendour, the ocean of faces, the tumult of
+excitement. Simultaneously he beholds his enemies degraded to the
+condition of slaves, toiling in the stables of Constantine. He feels
+joy in the degradation of the Fathers of Nicæa. Then all is transformed.
+
+It is no longer the splendour of Constantinople he beholds under the
+luminosity of a Greek day; but the prodigious palace of Nebuchadnezzar
+by night. He beholds the orgies, the luxuries, the abominations;--and
+the spirit of Pride enters triumphantly into him as the spirit of
+Nebuchadnezzar....
+
+Awaking as from a dream, he finds himself again before his hermitage.
+A vast caravan approaches, halts; and the Queen of Sheba descends to
+tempt the Saint with the deadliest of all temptations. Her beauty is
+enhanced by oriental splendour of adornment; her converse is a song of
+withcraft. The Saint remains firm.... The Seven Deadly Sins depart
+from him.
+
+
+
+THE HERESIARCHS
+
+
+But now the tempter assumes a subtler form. Under the guise of a former
+disciple of Anthony,--Hilarion,--the demon, while pretending to seek
+instruction, endeavours to poison the mind of Anthony with hatred of
+the fathers of the church. He repeats all the scandals amassed by
+ecclesiastical intriguers, all the calumnies created by malice;--he
+cites texts only to foment doubt, and quotes the evangels only to
+make confusion. Under the pretext of obtaining mental enlightenment
+from the wisest of men, he induces Anthony to enter with him into
+a spectral basilica, wherein are assembled all the Heresiarchs of
+the third century. The hermit is confounded by the multitude of
+tenets,--horrified by the blasphemies and abominations of Elkes,
+Corpocrates, Valentinus, Manes, Cerdo,--disgusted by the perversions of
+the Paternians, Marcosians, Montanists, Serptians,--bewildered by the
+apocryphal Gospels of Eve and of Judas, of the Lord, and of Thomas.
+
+And Hilarion grows taller.
+
+
+THE MARTYRS
+
+Anthony finds himself in the dungeons of a vast amphitheatre, among
+Christians condemned to the wild beasts. By this hallucination the
+tempter would prove to the Saint that martyrdom is not always suffered
+for purest motives. Anthony finds the martyrs possessed by bigotry and
+insincerity. He sees many compelled to die against their will; many
+who would forswear their faith could it avail them aught. He beholds
+heretics die for their heterodoxy more nobly than orthodox believers.
+
+And he finds himself transported to the tombs of the martyrs. He
+witnesses the meetings of Christian women at the sepulchres. He beholds
+the touching ceremonies of prayer, change into orgies,--lamentations
+give place to amorous dalliance.
+
+
+
+THE MAGICIANS
+
+
+Then the Tempter seeks to shake Anthony's faith in the excellence
+and evidence of miracles. He assumes the form of a Hindoo Brahmin,
+terminating a life of wondrous holiness by self-cremation;--he appears
+as Simon Magus and Helen of Tyre,--as Appollonius of Tyans, greatest of
+all thaumaturgists, who claims superiority to Christ. All the marvels
+related by Philostratus are embodied in the converse of Apollonius and
+Damis.
+
+
+
+THE GODS
+
+
+Hilarion reappears taller than ever, growing more gigantic in
+proportion to the increasing weakness of the Saint. Standing beside
+Anthony he evokes all the deities of the antique world. They defile
+before him in a marvellous panorama:--Gods of Egypt and India, Chaldea
+and Hellas, Babylon and Ultima Thule,--monstrous and multiform, phallic
+and ithyphallic, fantastic or obscene. Some intoxicate by their beauty;
+others appall by their foulness. The Buddha recounts the story of his
+wondrous life; Venus displays the rounded daintiness of her nudity;
+Isis utters awful soliloquy. Lastly the phantom of Jehovah appears, as
+the shadow of a god passing away forever.
+
+Suddenly the stature of Hilarion towers to the stars; he assumes the
+likeness and luminosity of Lucifer; he announces himself as
+
+
+
+SCIENCE
+
+
+And Anthony is lifted upon mighty wings and borne away beyond the
+world, above the solar system, above the starry arch of the Milky Way.
+All future discoveries of Astronomy are revealed to him. He is tempted
+by the revelation of innumerable worlds,--by the refutation of all
+his previous ideas of the nature of the Universe,--by the enigmas of
+infinity,--by all the marvels that conflict with faith. Even in the
+night of immensity the demon renews the temptation of reason: Anthony
+wavers upon the verge of pantheism.
+
+
+
+LUST AND DEATH
+
+
+Anthony abandoned by the spirit of Science comes to himself in the
+desert. Then the Tempter returns under a two-fold aspect: as the
+Spirit of Lust and the Spirit of Destruction. The latter urges him to
+suicide,--the former to indulgence of sense. They inspire him with
+strong fancies of palingenesis, of the illusion of death, of the
+continuity of life. The pantheistic temptation intensified.
+
+
+
+THE MONSTERS
+
+
+Anthony in reveries meditates upon the monstrous symbols painted upon
+the walls of certain ancient temples. Could he know their meaning
+he might learn also something of the secret lien between Matter and
+Thought. Forthwith a phantasmagoria of monsters commence to pass before
+his eyes:--the Sphinx and the Chimera, the Blemmyes and Astomi, the
+Cynocephali and all creatures of mythologie creation. He beholds the
+fabulous beings of Oriental imagining,--the abnormities described
+by Pliny and Herodotus, the fantasticalities to be later adopted by
+heraldry,--the grotesqueries of future medieval illumination made
+animate;--the goblinries and foulnesses of superstitious fancy,--the
+Witches' Sabbath of abominations.
+
+
+
+METAMORPHOSIS
+
+
+The multitude of monsters melts away; the land changes into an Ocean;
+the creatures of the briny abysses appear. And the waters in turn
+also change; seaweeds are transformed to herbs, forests of coral
+give place to forests of trees, polypous life changes to vegetation.
+Metals crystallize; frosts effloresce; plants become living things,
+inanimate matter takes animate form, monads vibrate, the pantheism of
+nature makes itself manifest. Anthony feels a delirious desire to unite
+himself with the Spirit of Universal Being....
+
+The vision vanishes. The sun arises. The face of Christ is revealed.
+The temptation has passed; Anthony kneels in prayer.
+
+L. H.
+
+
+
+
+THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY
+
+
+_It is in the Thebaid at the summit of a mountain, upon a platform,
+rounded off into the form of a demilune, and enclosed by huge stones._
+
+_The Hermit's cabin appears in the background. It is built of mud and
+reeds, it is flat-roofed and doorless. A pitcher and a loaf of black
+bread can be distinguished within also, in the middle of the apartment
+a large book resting on a wooden STELA; while here and there, fragments
+of basketwork, two or three mats, a basket, and a knife lie upon the
+ground._
+
+_Some ten paces from the hut, there is a long cross planted in the
+soil; and, at the other end of the platform, an aged and twisted
+palm tree leans over the abyss; for the sides of the mountain are
+perpendicular, and the Nile appears to form a lake at the foot of the
+cliff._
+
+_The view to right and left is broken by the barrier of rocks. But
+on the desert-side, like a vast succession of sandy beaches, immense
+undulations of an ashen-blonde color extend one behind the other,
+rising higher as they recede; and far in the distance, beyond the
+sands, the Libyan chain forms a chalk-colored wall, lightly shaded by
+violet mists. On the opposite side the sun is sinking. In the north the
+sky is of a pearl-gray tint, while at the zenith purple clouds disposed
+like the tufts of a gigantic mane, lengthen themselves against the blue
+vault. These streaks of flame take darker tones; the azure spots turn
+to a nacreous pallor; the shrubs, the pebbles, the earth, all now seem
+hard as bronze; and throughout space there floats a golden dust so fine
+as to become confounded with the vibrations of the light._
+
+_Saint Anthony, who has a long beard, long hair, and wears a tunic of
+goatskin, is seated on the ground cross-legged, and is occupied in
+weaving mats. As soon as the sun disappears, he utters a deep sigh,
+and, gazing upon the horizon, exclaims_:--
+
+"Another day! another day gone! Nevertheless formerly I used not to
+be so wretched. Before the end of the night I commenced my orisons;
+then I descended to the river to get water, and remounted the rugged
+pathway with the skin upon my shoulder, singing hymns on the way. Then
+I would amuse myself by arranging everything in my hut. I would make my
+tools; I tried to make all my mats exactly equal in size, and all my
+baskets light; for then my least actions seemed to me duties in nowise
+difficult or painful of accomplishment.
+
+"Then at regular hours I ceased working; and when I prayed with my arms
+extended, I felt as though a fountain of mercy were pouring from the
+height of heaven into my heart. That fountain is now dried up. Why?"
+
+(_He walks up and down slowly, within the circuit of the rocks._)
+
+"All blamed me when I left the house. My mother sank to the ground,
+dying; my sister from afar off made signs to me to return; and the
+other--wept, Ammonaria, the child whom I used to meet every evening
+at the cistern, when she took the oxen to drink. She ran after me. Her
+foot rings glittered in the dust; and her tunic, open at the hips,
+fluttered loosely in the wind. The aged anchorite who was leading me
+away called her vile names. Our two camels galloped forward without
+respite; and I have seen none of my people since that day.
+
+"At first, I selected for my dwelling place, the tomb of a Pharaoh. But
+an enchantment circulates through all those subterranean palaces, where
+the darkness seems to have been thickened by the ancient smoke of the
+aromatics. From the depths of Sarcophagi, I heard doleful voices arise,
+and call my name; or else, I suddenly beheld the abominable things
+painted upon the walls live and move; and I fled away to the shore
+of the Red Sea, and took refuge in a ruined citadel. There my only
+companions were the scorpions dragging themselves among the stones, and
+the eagles continually wheeling above my head, in the blue of heaven.
+At night I was torn by claws, bitten by beaks; soft wings brushed
+against me; and frightful demons, shrieking in my ears, flung me upon
+the ground. Once I was even rescued by the people of a caravan going
+to Alexandria; and they took me away with them.
+
+"Then I sought to obtain instruction from the good old man Didymus.
+Although blind, none equalled him in the knowledge of the Scriptures.
+When the lesson was finished, he used to ask me to give him my arm
+to lean upon, that we might walk together. Then I would conduct him
+to the Paneum, whence may be seen the Pharos and the open sea. Then
+we would return by way of the post, elbowing men of all nations,
+even Cimmerians clad in the skins of bears and Gymnosophists of the
+Ganges anointed with cow-dung. But there was always some fighting in
+the streets--either on account of the Jews refusing to pay taxes, or
+of seditious people who wished to drive the Romans from the city.
+Moreover, the city is full of heretics--followers of Manes; Valentinus,
+Basilides, Arius--all seeking to engross my attention in order to argue
+with me and to convince me.
+
+"Their discourses often come back to my memory. Vainly do I seek to
+banish them from my mind. They trouble me!
+
+"I took refuge at Colzin, and there lived a life of such penance that
+I ceased to fear God. A few men, desirous of becoming anchorites,
+gathered about me. I imposed a practical rule of life upon them,
+hating, as I did, the extravagance of Gnosus and the assertions of the
+philosophers. Messages were sent to me from all parts, and men came
+from afar off to visit me.
+
+"Meanwhile the people were torturing the confessors; and the thirst of
+martyrdom drew me to Alexandria. The persecution had ceased three days
+before I arrived there!
+
+"While returning thence, I was stopped by a great crowd assembled
+before the temple of Serapis. They told me it was a last example which
+the Governor had resolved to make. In the centre of the portico, under
+the sunlight, a naked woman was fettered to a column, and two soldiers
+were flogging her with thongs; at every blow her whole body writhed.
+She turned round, her mouth open; and over the heads of the crowd,
+through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought that I could
+recognize Ammonaria....
+
+[Illustration: ... through the long hair half hiding her face,
+I thought that I could recognize Ammonaria]
+
+"Nevertheless ... this one was taller ... and beautiful ...
+prodigiously beautiful!"
+
+(_He passes his hands over his forehead._)
+
+"No! no! I must not think of it!
+
+"Another time Athanasius summoned me to assist him against the Arians.
+The contest was limited to invectives and laughter. But since that
+time he has been calumniated, dispossessed of his see, obliged to fly
+for safety elsewhere. Where is he now? I do not know! The people give
+themselves very little trouble to bring me news. All my disciples have
+abandoned me--Hilarion like the rest.
+
+"He was perhaps fifteen years of age when he first came to me and his
+intelligence was so remarkable that he asked me questions incessantly.
+Then he used to listen to me with a pensive air, and whatever I needed
+he brought it to me without a murmur--nimbler than a kid, merry enough
+to make even the patriarchs laugh. He was a son to me."
+
+(_The sky is red; the earth completely black. Long drifts of sand
+follow the course of the gusts of wind, rising like great shrouds and
+falling again. Suddenly against a bright space in the sky a flock of
+birds pass, forming a triangular battalion, gleaming like one sheet of
+metal, of which the edges alone seem to quiver._
+
+_Anthony watches them._)
+
+"Ah, how I should like to follow them.
+
+"How often also have I enviously gazed upon those long vessels,
+whose sails resemble wings--and above all when they were bearing
+far away those I had received at my hermitage! What pleasant hours
+we passed!--what out-pourings of feeling! No one ever interested me
+more than Ammon: he told me of his voyage to Rome, of the Catacombs,
+the Coliseum, the piety of illustrious women, and a thousand other
+things!--and it grieved me to part with him! Wherefore my obstinacy
+in continuing to live such a life as this? I would have done well to
+remain with the monks of Nitria, inasmuch as they supplicated me to
+do so. They have cells apart, and nevertheless communicate with each
+other. On Sundays a trumpet summons them to assemble at the church,
+where one may see three scourges hanging up, which serve to punish
+delinquents, robbers, and intruders; for their discipline is severe.
+
+"Nevertheless they are not without some enjoyments. The faithful bring
+them eggs, fruits, and even instruments with which they can extract
+thorns from their feet. There are vineyards about Prisperi; those
+dwelling at Pabena have a raft on which they may journey when they go
+to seek provisions.
+
+"But I might have served my brethren better as a simple priest. As a
+priest one may aid the poor, administer the sacraments, and exercise
+authority over families.
+
+"Furthermore, all laics are not necessarily damned, and it only
+depended upon my own choice to become--for example--a grammarian, a
+philosopher. I would then have had in my chamber a sphere of reeds,
+and tablets always ready at hand, young men around me, and a wreath of
+laurel suspended above my door, as a sign.
+
+"But there is too much pride in triumphs such as those. A soldier's
+life would have been preferable. I was robust and bold: bold enough to
+fasten the cables of the military machines--to traverse dark forests,
+or to enter, armed and helmeted, into smoking cities.... Neither was
+there anything to have prevented me from purchasing with my money the
+position of publican at the toll-office of some bridge; and travellers
+would have taught me many strange things, and told me strange stories,
+the while showing me many curious objects packed up among their
+baggage....
+
+"The merchants of Alexandria sail upon the river Canopus on holidays,
+and drink wine in the chalices of lotus-flowers, to a music of
+tambourines which makes the taverns along the shore tremble! Beyond,
+trees, made cone-shaped by pruning, protect the quiet farms against
+the wind of the south. The roof of the lofty house leans upon thin
+colonettes placed as closely together as the laths of a lattice;
+and through their interspaces the master, reclining upon his long
+couch, beholds his plains stretching about him--the hunter among the
+wheat-fields--the winepress where the vintage is being converted into
+wine, the oxen treading out the wheat. His children play upon the floor
+around him; his wife bends down to kiss him."
+
+(_Against the grey dimness of the twilight, here and there appear
+pointed muzzles, with straight, pointed ears and bright eyes. Anthony
+advances toward them. There is a sound of gravel crumbling down; the
+animals take flight. It was a troop of jackals._
+
+_One still remains, rising upon his hinder legs, with his body half
+arched and head raised in an attitude full of defiance._)
+
+"How pretty he is! I would like to stroke his back gently!"
+
+(_Anthony whistles to coax him to approach. The jackal disappears._)
+
+"Ah! he is off to join the others. What solitude! what weariness!"
+(_Laughing bitterly._)
+
+"A happy life this indeed!--bending palm-branches in the fire to make
+shepherds' crooks, fashioning baskets, stitching mats together--and
+then exchanging these things with the Nomads for bread which breaks
+one's teeth! Ah! woe, woe is me! will this never end? Surely death were
+preferable! I can endure it no more! Enough! enough!"
+
+(_He stamps his foot upon the ground, and rushes frantically to and fro
+among the rocks; then pauses, out of breath, bursts into tears, and
+lies down upon the ground, on his side._
+
+_The night is calm; multitudes of stars are palpitating; only the
+crackling noise made by the tarantulas is audible._
+
+_The two arms of the cross make a shadow upon the sand; Anthony, who is
+weeping, observes it._)
+
+"Am I, then, so weak, O my God! Courage, let me rise from here!"
+
+(_He enters his hut, turns over a pile of cinders, finds a live ember,
+lights his torch and fixes it upon the wooden desk, so as to throw a
+light upon the great book._)
+
+"Suppose I take the Acts of the Apostles?--yes!--no matter where!"
+
+_'And he saw the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it
+were a great linen sheet let down by the four corners from heaven to
+the earth--wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping
+things of the earth and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to
+him: Arise, Peter! Kill and eat!'_[1]
+
+"Then the Lord desired that his apostle should eat of all things?...
+while I...."
+
+(_Anthony remains thoughtful, his chin resting against his breast. The
+rustling of the pages, agitated by the wind, causes him to lift his
+head again; and he reads_:)
+
+_'So the Jews made a great slaughter of their enemies with the sword,
+and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to
+them...._[2]
+
+"Then, comes the number of people slain by them--seventy-five thousand.
+They had suffered so much! Moreover, their enemies were the enemies of
+the true God. And how they must have delighted in avenging themselves
+thus by the massacre of idolaters! Doubtless the city must have been
+crammed with the dead! There must have been corpses at the thresholds
+of the garden gates, upon the stairways, in all the chambers, and piled
+up so high that the doors could no longer move upon their hinges!...
+But lo! here I am permitting my mind to dwell upon ideas of murder and
+of blood!..."
+
+(_He opens the book at another place._)
+
+_'Then King Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped
+Daniel...._'[3]
+
+"Ah! that was just! The _Most High_ exalts his prophets above Kings;
+yet that monarch spent his life in banqueting, perpetually drunk with
+pleasure and pride. But God, to punish him, changed him into a beast!
+He walked upon four feet!"
+
+(_Anthony begins to laugh; and in extending his arms, involuntarily
+disarranges the leaves of the book with the tips of his fingers. His
+eyes fell upon this phrase_:--)
+
+_'And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he showed them the house
+of his aromatical spices, and the gold and the silver, and divers
+precious odours and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all
+that he had in his treasures....'_[4]
+
+"I can imagine that spectacle; they must have beheld precious stones,
+diamonds and darics heaped up to the very roof. One who possesses so
+vast an accumulation of wealth is no longer like other men. While
+handling his riches he knows that he controls the total result of
+innumerable human efforts--as it were the life of nations drained by
+him and stored up, which he can pour forth at will. It is a commendable
+precaution on the part of Kings. Even the _Wisest_ of all did not
+neglect it. His navy brought him elephants' teeth and apes.... Where is
+that passage?"
+
+(_He turns the leaves over rapidly._)
+
+"Ah! here it is:"
+
+_'And the Queen of Saba, having heard of the fame of Solomon in the
+name of the Lord, came to try him with hard questions.'_[5]
+
+"How did she hope to tempt him? The _Devil_ indeed sought to tempt
+Jesus! But Jesus triumphed because he was God; and Solomon, perhaps,
+owing this knowledge of magic! It is sublime--that science! For the
+world--as a philosopher once explained it to me, forms a whole, of
+which all parts mutually influence one another, like the organs of one
+body. It is science which enables us to know the natural loves and
+natural repulsions of all things, and to play upon them?... Therefore,
+it is really possible to modify what appears to be the immutable order
+of the universe?"
+
+(_Then the two shadows formed behind him by the arms of the cross,
+suddenly lengthen and project themselves before him. They assume the
+form of two great horns. Anthony cries out_:--)
+
+"Help me! O my God!"
+
+[Illustration: Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God!]
+
+(_The shadows shrink back to their former place._)
+
+"Ah!... it was an illusion ... nothing more. It is needless for me to
+torment my mind further! I can do nothing!--absolutely nothing."
+
+(_He sits down and folds his arms._)
+
+"Nevertheless ... it seems to me that I felt the approach of.... But
+why should _He_ come? Besides, do I not know all his artifices? I
+repulsed the monstrous anchorite who laughingly offered me little
+loaves of warm, fresh bread, the centaur who sought to carry me away
+upon his croup, and that black child who appeared to me in the midst of
+the sands, who was very beautiful, and who told me that he was called
+the Spirit of Lust!"
+
+(_Anthony rises and walks rapidly up and down, first to the right, then
+to the left._)
+
+"It was by my order that this multitude of holy retreats was
+constructed--full of monks all wearing sackcloth of camel's hair
+beneath their garments of goatskin, and numerous enough to form an
+army. I have cured the sick from afar off; I have cast out demons;
+I have passed the river in the midst of crocodiles; the Emperor
+Constantine wrote me throe letters; Balacius, who had spat upon mine,
+was torn to pieces by his own horses; when I reappeared the people of
+Alexandria fought for the pleasure of seeing me, and Athanasius himself
+escorted me on the way back. But what works have I not accomplished
+Lo! for these thirty years and more I have been dwelling and groaning
+unceasingly in the desert! Like Eusebius, I have carried thirty-eight
+pounds of bronze upon my loins; like Macarius, I have exposed my body
+to the stings of insects; like Pacomus, I have passed fifty-three
+nights without closing my eyes; and those who are decapitated, tortured
+with red hot pincers, or burned alive, are perhaps less meritorious
+than I, seeing that my whole life is but one prolonged martyrdom."
+(_Anthony slackens his pace._)
+
+"Assuredly there is no human being in a condition of such unutterable
+misery! Charitable hearts are becoming scarcer. I no longer receive
+aught from any one. My mantle is worn out. I have no sandals--I have
+not even a porringer!--for I have distributed all I possessed to the
+poor and to my family, without retaining so much as one obolus. Yet
+surely I ought to have a little money to obtain the tools indispensable
+to my work? Oh, not much! a very small sum.... I would be very saving
+of it....
+
+"The fathers of Nicæa, clad in purple robes, sat like magi, upon
+thrones ranged along the walls; and they were entertained at a great
+banquet and overwhelmed with honours, especially Paphnutius, because he
+is one-eyed and lame, since the persecution of Diocletian! The Emperor
+kissed his blind eye several times; what foolishness! Besides, there
+were such infamous men members of that Council! A bishop of Scythia,
+Theophilus! another of Persia, John! a keeper of beasts, Spiridion!
+Alexander was too old. Athanasius ought to have shown more gentleness
+towards the Arians, so as to have obtained concessions from them.
+
+"Yet would they have made any? They would not hear me! The one who
+spoke against me--a tall young man with a curly beard--uttered the
+most captious objections to my argument; and while I was seeking words
+to express my views they all stared at me with their wicked faces,
+and barked like hyenas. Ah! why cannot I have them all exiled by the
+Emperor! or rather have them beaten, crushed, and see them suffer! I
+suffer enough myself."
+
+(_He leans against his cabin in a fainting condition._)
+
+"It is because I have fasted too long; my strength is leaving me. If I
+could eat--only once more--a piece of meat." (_He half closes his eyes
+with languor._)
+
+"Ah! some red flesh--a bunch of grapes to bite into ... curdled milk
+that trembles on a plate!...
+
+"But what has come upon me? What is the matter with me? I feel my heart
+enlarging like the sea, when it swells before the storm. An unspeakable
+feebleness weighs down upon me, and the warm air seems to waft me
+the perfume of a woman's hair. No woman has approached this place;
+nevertheless?--"
+
+(_He gazes toward the little pathway between the rocks._)
+
+"That is the path by which they come, rocked in their litters by the
+black arms of the eunuchs. They descend and joining their hands,
+heavy with rings, kneel down before me. They relate to me all their
+troubles. The desire of human pleasure tortures them; they would
+gladly die; they have seen in their dreams God calling to them ... and
+all the while the hems of their robes fall upon my feet. I repel them
+from me. 'Ah! no!' they cry, 'not yet! What shall I do?' They gladly
+accept any penitence I impose on them. They ask for the hardest of all;
+they beg to share mine and to live with me.
+
+"It is now a long time since I have seen any of them! Perhaps some of
+them will come! why not? If I could only hear again, all of a sudden,
+the tinkling of mule-bells among the mountains. It seems to me...."
+
+(_Anthony clambers upon a rock at the entrance of the pathway, and
+leans over, darting his eyes into the darkness._)
+
+"Yes! over there, far off I see a mass moving, like a band of
+travellers seeking the way. _She_ is there!... They are making a
+mistake." (_Calling._)
+
+"This way! Come! Come!"
+
+(_Echo repeats: Come! Come! he lets his arms fall, stupefied._)
+
+"What shame for me! Alas! poor Anthony."
+
+(_And all of a sudden he hears a whisper:--"Poor Anthony"!_)
+
+"Who is there? Speak!"
+
+(_The wind passing through the intervals between the rocks, makes
+modulations; and in those confused sonorities he distinguishes Voices,
+as though the air itself were speaking. They are low, insinuating,
+hissing._)
+
+_The First_: "Dost thou desire women?"
+
+_The Second_: "Great heaps of money, rather!"
+
+_The Third_: "A glittering sword?" (_and_)
+
+_The Others_: "All the people admire thee! Sleep!"
+
+"Thou shalt slay them all, aye, thou shalt slay them!"
+
+(_At the same moment objects become transformed. At the edge of the
+cliff, the old palm tree with its tuft of yellow leaves, changes into
+the torso of a woman leaning over the abyss, her long hair waving in
+the wind.
+
+Anthony turns toward his cabin; and the stool supporting the great book
+whose pages are covered with black letters, seems to him changed into a
+bush all covered with nightingales._)
+
+"It must be the torch which is making this strange play of light....
+Let us put it out!"
+
+(_He extinguishes it; the obscurity becomes deeper, the darkness
+profound._
+
+_And suddenly in the air above there appear and disappear
+successively--first, a stretch of water; then the figure of a
+prostitute; the corner of a temple, a soldier; a chariot with two white
+horses, prancing._
+
+_These images appear suddenly, as in flashes--outlined against the
+background of the night, like scarlet paintings executed upon ebony._
+
+_Their motion accelerates. They defile by with vertiginous rapidity.
+Sometimes again, they pause and gradually pale and melt away; or else
+float off out of sight, to be immediately succeeded by others._
+
+_Anthony closes his eyelids._
+
+_They multiply, surround him, besiege him. An unspeakable fear takes
+possession of him; and he feels nothing more of living sensation, save
+a burning contraction of the epigastrium. In spite of the tumult in
+his brain, he is aware of an enormous silence which separates him from
+the world. He tries to speak;--impossible! He feels as though all the
+bands of his life were breaking and dissolving;--and, no longer able to
+resist, Anthony falls prostrate upon his mat._)
+
+
+[1] Acts X: 11-13--T.
+
+[2] Esther IX: 5--T.
+
+[3] Daniel II: 46.--T.
+
+[4] Kings XX: 13 (Vulg.).--T.
+
+[5] III Kings X: I (Vulg.).--T.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+(_Then a great shadow, subtler than any natural shadow, and festooned
+by other shadows along its edges, defines itself upon the ground._
+
+_It is the Devil, leaning upon the roof of the hut, and bearing beneath
+his wings--like some gigantic bat suckling its little ones--the Seven
+Deadly Sins, whose grimacing heads are dimly distinguishable._
+
+_With eyes still closed, Anthony yields to the pleasure of inaction;
+and stretches his limbs upon the mat._
+
+_It seems to him quite soft, and yet softer--so that it becomes as if
+padded; it rises up; it becomes a bed. The bed becomes a shallop; water
+laps against its sides._
+
+_To right and left rise two long tongues of land, overlooking low
+cultivated plains, with a sycamore tree here and there. In the distance
+there is a tinkling of bells, a sound of drums and of singers. It is a
+party going to Canopus to sleep upon the temple of Serapis, in order
+to have dreams. Anthony knows this; and impelled by the wind, his boat
+glides along between the banks. Papyrus-leaves and the red flowers of
+the nymphæa, larger than the body of a man, bend over him. He is lying
+at the bottom of the boat; one oar at the stem, drags in the water.
+From time to time, a lukewarm wind blows; and the slender reeds rub one
+against the other, and rustle. Then the sobbing of the wavelets becomes
+indistinct. A heavy drowsiness falls upon him. He dreams that he is a
+Solitary of Egypt._
+
+_Then he awakes with a start._)
+
+"Did I dream? It was all so vivid that I can scarcely believe I was
+dreaming! My tongue burns. I am thirsty."
+
+(_He enters the cabin, and gropes at random in the dark._)
+
+"The ground is wet; can it have been raining? What can this mean! My
+pitcher is broken into atoms! But the goatskin?" (_He finds it._)
+
+"Empty!--completely empty! In order to get down to the river, I should
+have to walk for at least three hours; and the night is so dark that I
+could not see my way.
+
+"There is a gnawing in my entrails. Where is the bread!"
+
+(_After long searching, he picks up a crust not so large as an egg._)
+
+"What? Have the jackals taken it? Ah! malediction!"
+
+(_And he flings the bread upon the ground with fury._
+
+_No sooner has the action occurred than a table makes its appearance,
+covered with all things that are good to eat._
+
+_The byssus cloth, striated like the bandelets of the sphinx, produces
+of itself luminous undulations. Upon it are enormous quarters of red
+meats; huge fish; birds cooked in their plumage, and quadrupeds in
+their skins; fruits with colors and tints almost human in appearance;
+while fragments of cooling ice, and flagons of violet crystal reflect
+each other's glittering. Anthony notices in the middle of the table
+a boar smoking at every pore--with legs doubled up under its belly,
+and eyes half closed--and the idea of being able to eat so formidable
+an animal greatly delights him. Then many things appear which he has
+never seen before--black hashes, jellies, the color of gold, ragouts in
+which mushrooms float like nenuphars upon ponds, dishes of whipt cream
+light as clouds._
+
+_And the aroma of all this comes to him together with the salt smell of
+the ocean, the coolness of mountains, the great perfumes of the woods.
+He dilates his nostrils to their fullest extent; his mouth waters; he
+thinks to himself that he has enough before him for a year, for ten
+years, for his whole life!_
+
+_As he gazes with widely-opened eyes at all these viands, others
+appear; they accumulate, forming a pyramid crumbling at all its angles.
+The wines begin to flow over--the fish palpitate--the blood seethes in
+the dishes--the pulp of the fruit protrudes like amorous lips--and the
+table rises as high as his breast, up to his very chin at last--now
+bearing only one plate and a single loaf of bread, placed exactly in
+front of him._
+
+_He extends his hand to seize the loaf. Other loaves immediately
+present themselves to his grasp._)
+
+"For me!... all these! But ..." (_Anthony suddenly draws back._)
+
+"Instead of one which was there, lo! there are many! It must be a
+miracle, then, the same as our Lord wrought!
+
+"Yet for what purpose?... Ah! all the rest of these things are equally
+incomprehensible! Demon, begone from me! depart! begone!"
+
+(_He kicks the table from him. It disappears._)
+
+"Nothing more?--no!" (_He draws a lung breath._)
+
+"Ah! the temptation was strong! But how well I delivered myself from
+it!"
+
+(_He lifts his head, and at the same time stumbles over some sonorous
+object._)
+
+"Why! what can that be?" (_Anthony stoops down._)
+
+"How! a cup! Some traveller must have lost it here. There is nothing
+extraordinary...."
+
+(_He wets his finger, and rubs._)
+
+"It glitters!--metal! Still, I cannot see very clearly...."
+
+(_He lights his torch, and examines the cup._)
+
+"It is silver, ornamented with ovules about the rim, with a medal at
+the bottom of it."
+
+(_He detaches the medal with his nail!_)
+
+"It is a piece of money worth about seven or eight drachmas--not more!
+It matters not! even with that I could easily buy myself a sheepskin."
+
+(_A sudden flash of the torch lights up the cup._)
+
+"Impossible! gold? Yes, all gold, solid gold!"
+
+(_A still larger piece of money appears at the bottom. Under it he
+perceives several others._)
+
+"Why, this is a sum ... large enough to purchase three oxen ... and a
+little field!"
+
+(_The cup is now filled with pieces of gold._)
+
+"What! what!... a hundred slaves, soldiers, a host ... enough to
+buy...."
+
+(_The granulations of the rim, detaching themselves form a necklace of
+pearls._)
+
+"With such a marvel of jewelry as that, one could win even the wife of
+the Emperor!"
+
+(_By a sudden jerk, Anthony makes the necklace slip down over his
+wrist. He holds the cup in his left hand, and with his right lifts
+up the torch so as to throw the light upon it. As water streams
+overflowing from the basin of a fountain, so diamonds, carbuncles, and
+sapphires, all mingled with broad pieces of gold bearing the effigies
+of Kings, overflow from the cup in never ceasing streams, to form a
+glittering hillock upon the sand._)
+
+"What! how! Staters, cycles, dariacs, aryandics; Alexander, Demetrius,
+the Ptolemies, Cæsar!--yet not one of them all possessed so much!
+Nothing is now impossible! no more suffering for me! how these
+gleams dazzle my eyes! Ah! my heart overflows! how delightful it is!
+yes--yes!--more yet! never could there be enough! Vainly I might
+continually fling it into the sea, there would always be plenty
+remaining for me. Why should I lose any of it? I will keep all, and say
+nothing to any one about it; I will have a chamber hollowed out for me
+in the rock, and lined with plates of bronze, and I will come here from
+time to time to feel the gold sinking down under the weight of my heel;
+I will plunge my arms into it as into sacks of grain! I will rub my
+face with it, I will lie down upon it!"
+
+(_He flings down the torch in order to embrace the glittering heap, and
+falls flat upon the ground._
+
+_He rises to his feet. The place is wholly empty._)
+
+"What have I done!
+
+"Had I died during those moments, I should have gone to hell--to
+irrevocable damnation."
+
+(_He trembles in every limb._)
+
+"Am I, then, accursed? Ah! no; it is my own fault! I allow myself
+to be caught in every snare! No man could be more imbecile, more
+infamous! I should like to beat myself, or rather to tear myself out
+of my own body! I have restrained myself too long. I feel the want of
+vengeance--the necessity of striking, of killing!--as though I had a
+pack of wild beasts within me! Would that I could hew my way with an
+axe, through the midst of a multitude.... Ah, a poniard!..."
+
+(_He perceives his knife, and rushes to seize it. The knife slips from
+his hand; and Anthony remains leaning against the wall of his hut, with
+wide-open mouth, motionless, cataleptic._
+
+_Everything about him has disappeared._
+
+_He thinks himself at Alexandria, upon the Paneum--an artificial
+mountain in the centre of the city, encircled by a winding stairway._
+
+_Before him lies Lake Mareolis; on his right hand is the sea, on his
+left the country; and immediately beneath him a vast confusion of
+flat roofs, traversed from north to south and from east to west by
+two streets which intercross, and which offer throughout their entire
+length the spectacle of files of porticoes with Corinthian columns. The
+houses overhanging this double colonnade have windows of stained glass.
+Some of them support exteriorly enormous wooden cages, into which the
+fresh air rushes from without._
+
+_Monuments of various architecture tower up in close proximity.
+Egyptian pylons dominate Greek temples. Obelisks appear like lances
+above battlements of red brick. In the middle of public squares there
+are figures of Hermes with pointed ears, and of Anubis with the head of
+a dog. Anthony can distinguish the mosaic pavements of the courtyards,
+and tapestries suspended from the beams of ceilings._
+
+_He beholds at one glance, the two ports (the Great Port and the
+Eunostus), both round as circuses, and separated by a mole connecting
+Alexandria with the craggy island upon which the Pharos-tower
+rises--quadrangular, five hundred cubits high, nine storied, having at
+its summit a smoking heap of black coals._
+
+_Small interior ports open into the larger ones. The mole terminates at
+each end in a bridge supported upon marble columns planted in the sea.
+Sailing vessels pass beneath it, while heavy lighters overladen with
+merchandise, thalamegii[1] inlaid with ivory, gondolas covered with
+awnings, triremes, biremes, and all sorts of vessels are moving to and
+fro, or lie moored at the wharves._
+
+_About the Great Port extends an unbroken array of royal construction:
+the palace of the Ptolomies, the Museum, the Posidium, the Cæsareum,
+the Timonium where Mark Anthony sought refuge, the Soma which contains
+the tomb of Alexander; while at the other extremity of the city, beyond
+the Eunostus, the great glass factories, perfume factories, and papyrus
+factories may be perceived in a suburban quarter._
+
+_Strolling peddlers, porters, ass-drivers run and jostle together.
+Here and there one observes some priest of Isis wearing a panther skin
+on his shoulders, a Roman soldier with his bronze helmet, and many
+negroes. At the thresholds of the shops women pause, artisans ply their
+trades; and the grinding noise of chariot wheels puts to flight the
+birds that devour the detritus of the butcher-shops and the morsels of
+fish left upon the ground._
+
+_The general outline of the streets seems like a black network flung
+upon the white uniformity of the houses. The markets stocked with
+herbs make green bouquets in the midst of it; the drying-yards of the
+dyers, blotches of color; the golden ornaments of the temple-pediments,
+luminous points--all comprised within the oval enclosure of the grey
+ramparts, under the vault of the blue heaven, beside the motionless
+sea._
+
+_But suddenly the movement of the crowd ceases; all turn their
+eyes toward the west, whence enormous whirlwinds of dust are seen
+approaching._
+
+_It is the coming of the monks of the Thebaid, all clad in goatskins,
+armed with cudgels, roaring a canticle of battle and of faith with the
+refrain_:
+
+"Where are they? Where are they?"
+
+_Anthony understands that they are coming to kill the Arians._
+
+_The streets are suddenly emptied--only flying feet are visible._
+
+_The Solitaries are now in the city. Their formidable cudgels, studded
+with nails, whirl in the air like suns of steel. The crash of things
+broken in the houses is heard. There are intervals of silence. Then
+great screams arise._
+
+_From one end of the street to the other there is a continual eddy of
+terrified people._
+
+_Many grasp pikes. Sometimes two bands meet, rush into one; and this
+mass of men slips upon the pavement--fighting, disjointing, knocking
+down. But the men with the long hair always reappear._
+
+_Threads of smoke begin to escape from the corners of edifices! folding
+doors burst open. Portions of walls crumble down. Architraves fall._
+
+_Anthony finds all his enemies again, one after the other. He even
+recognizes some whom he had altogether forgotten; before killing them
+he outrages them. He disembowels--he severs throats--he fells as in
+a slaughter house--he hales old men by the beard, crushes children,
+smites the wounded. And vengeance is taken upon luxury, those who
+do not know how to read tear up hooks; others smash and deface the
+statues, paintings, furniture, caskets,--a thousand dainty things
+the use of which they do not know, and which simply for that reason
+exasperates them. At intervals they pause, out of breath, in the work
+of destruction; then they recommence._
+
+_The inhabitants moan in the courtyards where they have sought refuge.
+The women raise their tearful eyes and lift their naked arms to heaven.
+In hope of moving the Solitaries they embrace their knees; the men cast
+them off and fling them down, and the blood gushes to the ceilings,
+falls back upon the walls like sheets of rain, streams from the trunks
+of decapitated corpses, fills the aqueducts, forms huge red pools upon
+the ground._
+
+_Anthony is up to his knees in it. He wades in it; he sucks up the
+blood-spray on his lips; he is thrilled with joy as he feels it upon
+his limbs, under his hair-tunic which is soaked through with it._
+
+_Night comes. The immense uproar dies away._
+
+_The Solitaries have disappeared._
+
+_Suddenly, upon the outer galleries corresponding to each of the nine
+stories of the Pharos, Anthony observes thick black lines forming, like
+lines of crows perching. He hurries thither; and soon finds himself at
+the summit._
+
+_A huge mirror of brass turned toward the open sea, reflects the forms
+of the vessels in the offing._
+
+_Anthony amuses himself by watching them; and while he watches, their
+number increases._
+
+_They are grouped together within a gulf which has the form of a
+crescent. Upon a promontory in the background, towers a new city of
+Roman architecture, with cupolas of stone, conical roofs, gleams of
+pink and blue marbles, and a profusion of brazen ornamentation applied
+to the volutes of the capitals, to the angles of the cornices, to the
+summits of the edifices. A cypress-wood overhangs the city. The line of
+the sea is greener, the air colder. The mountains lining the horizon
+are capped with snow._
+
+_Anthony is trying to find his way, when a man approaches him, and
+says_:
+
+"Come! they are waiting for you."
+
+_He traverses a forum, enters a great court, stoops beneath a low
+door; and he arrives before the facade of the palace, decorated
+with a group in wax, representing Constantine overcoming a dragon.
+There is a porphyry basin, from the centre of which rises a golden
+conch-shell full of nuts. His guide tells him that he may take some of
+them. He does so. Then he is lost, as it were, in a long succession of
+apartments._
+
+_There are mosaics upon the walls representing generals presenting
+the Emperor with conquered cities, which they hold out upon the
+palms of their hands. And there are columns of basalt everywhere,
+trellis-work in silver filigree, ivory chairs, tapestries embroidered
+with pearls. The light falls from the vaults above; Anthony still
+proceeds. Warm exhalations circulate about him; occasionally he hears
+the discreet clapping sound of sandals upon the pavement. Posted in
+the anti-chambers are guards, who resemble automata, holding wands of
+vermillion upon their shoulders._
+
+[Illustration: And there are columns of basalt everywhere,... The
+light falls from the vaults above]
+
+_At last he finds himself in a great hall, with hyacinth-colored
+curtains at the further end. They part, and display the Emperor seated
+on a throne, clad in a violet tunic, and wearing red shoes striped with
+bands of black._
+
+_A diadem of pearls surround his head; his locks are arranged
+symmetrically in rouleaux. He has a straight nose, drooping eyelids,
+a heavy and cunning physiognomy. At the four corners of the dais
+stretched above his head are placed four golden doves; and at the foot
+of the throne are two lions in enamel crouching. The doves begin to
+sing, the lions to roar. The Emperor rolls his eyes; Anthony advances;
+and forthwith, without preamble, they commence to converse about
+recent events. In the cities of Antioch, Ephesus, and Alexandria,
+the temples have been sacked, and the statues of the gods converted
+into pots and cooking utensils; the Emperor laughs heartily about it.
+Anthony reproaches him with his tolerance toward the Novations. But the
+Emperor becomes vexed. Novations, Arians or Meletians--he is sick of
+them all! Nevertheless, he admires the episcopate; for inasmuch as the
+Christians maintain bishops, who depend for their position upon five or
+six important personages, it is only necessary to gain over the latter,
+in order to have all the rest on one's side. Therefore he did not fail
+to furnish them with large sums. But he detests the Fathers of the
+Council of Nicæa._
+
+"Let us go and see them!"
+
+_Anthony follows him._
+
+_And they find themselves on a terrace, upon the same floor._
+
+_It overlooks a hippodrome thronged with people, and surmounted by
+porticoes where other spectators are walking to and fro. From the
+centre of the race-course rises a narrow platform of hewn stone,
+supporting a little temple of Mercury, the statue of Constantine, and
+three serpents of brass twisted into a column; there are three huge
+wooden eggs at one end, and at the other a group of seven dolphins with
+their tails in the air._
+
+_Behind the imperial pavilion sit the Prefects of the Chambers, the
+Counts of the Domestics, and the Patricians--in ranks rising by tiers
+to the first story of a church whose windows are thronged with women.
+On the right is the tribune of the Blue Faction; on the left, that of
+the Green; below, a picket of soldiers is stationed; and on a level
+with the arena is a row of Corinthian arches, forming the entrances to
+the stables._
+
+_The races are about to commence; the horses are drawn up in line.
+Lofty plumes, fastened between their ears, bend to the wind like
+saplings; and with every restive bound, they shake their chariots
+violently, which are shell-shaped, and conducted by charioteers clad
+in a sort of multi-colored cuirass, having sleeves tight at the wrist
+and wide in the arms; their legs are bare; their beards, faces and
+foreheads are shaven after the manner of the Huns._
+
+_Anthony is at first deafened by the billowy sound of voices. From
+the summit of the hippodrome to its lowest tiers, he sees only faces
+painted with rouge, garments checkered and variegated with many colors,
+flashing jewelry; and the sand of the arena, all white, gleams like a
+mirror._
+
+_The Emperor entertains him. He confides to him many matters of high
+importance, many secrets; he confesses the assassination of his son
+Criopus, and even asks Anthony for advice regarding his health._
+
+_Meanwhile Anthony notices some slaves in the rear portion of the
+stables below. They are the Fathers of Nicæa, ragged and abject. The
+martyr Paphnutius is brushing the mane of one horse; Theophilus is
+washing the legs of another; John is painting the hoofs of a third;
+Alexander is collecting dung in a basket._
+
+_Anthony passes through the midst of them. They range themselves on
+either side respectfully; they beseech his intercession; they kiss his
+hands. The whole assemblage of spectators hoots at them; and he enjoys
+the spectacle with immeasurable pleasure. Lo! he is now one of the
+grandees of the Court--the Emperor's confidant--the prime minister!
+Constantine places his own diadem upon his brows. Anthony allows it to
+remain upon his head, thinking this honor quite natural._
+
+_And suddenly in the midst of the darkness a vast hall appears,
+illuminated by golden candelabra._
+
+_Candles so lofty that they are half lost in the darkness, stretch away
+in huge files beyond the lines of banquet-tables, which seem to extend
+to the horizon, where through a luminous haze loom superpositions of
+stairways, suites of arcades, colossi, towers, and beyond all a vague
+border of palace walls, above which rise the crests of cedars, making
+yet blacker masses of blackness against the darkness._
+
+_The guests, crowned with violet wreaths, recline upon very low couches
+and are leaning upon their elbows. Along the whole length of this
+double line of couches, wine is being poured out from amphoræ, and at
+the further end, all alone, coiffed with the tiara and blazing with
+carbuncles, King Nebuchadnezzar eats and drinks._
+
+_On his right and left, two bands of priests in pointed caps are
+swinging censers. On the pavement below crawl the captive kings whose
+hands and feet have been cut off; from time to time he flings them
+bones to gnaw. Further off sit his brothers, with bandages across their
+eyes, being all blind._
+
+_From the depths of the ergastula arise moans of ceaseless pain. Sweet
+slow sounds of a hydraulic organ alternate with choruses of song; and
+one feels that all about the palace without extends an immeasurable
+city--an ocean of human life whose waves break against the walls. The
+slaves run hither and thither carrying dishes. Women walk between the
+ranks of guests, offering drinks to all; the baskets groan under their
+burthen of loaves; and a dromedary, laden with perforated water-skins:
+passes and repasses through the hall, sprinkling and cooling the
+pavement with vervain._
+
+_Lion tamers are leading tamed lions about. Dancing girls--their
+hair confined in nets--balance themselves and turn upon their hands,
+emitting fire through their nostrils; negro boatmen are juggling; naked
+children pelt each other with pellets of snow, which burst against the
+bright silverware. There is an awful clamor as of a tempest; and a huge
+cloud hangs over the banquet--so numerous are the meats and breaths.
+Sometimes a flake of fire torn from the great flambeaux by the wind,
+traverses the night like a shooting star._
+
+_The king wipes the perfumes from his face with his arm. He eats from
+the sacred vessels--then breaks them; and secretly reckons up the
+number of his fleets, his armies, and his subjects. By and by, for a
+new caprice, he will burn his palace with all its guests. He dreams of
+rebuilding the tower of Babel, and dethroning God._
+
+_Anthony, from afar off, reads all these thoughts upon his brow. They
+penetrate his own brain, and he becomes Nebuchadnezzar. Immediately he
+is cloyed with orgiastic excesses, sated with fury of extermination;
+and a great desire comes upon him to wallow in vileness. For the
+degradation of that which terrifies men is an outrage inflicted upon
+their minds--it affords yet one more way to stupefy them; and as
+nothing is viler than a brute, Anthony goes upon the table on all
+fours, and bellows like a bull._
+
+_He feels a sudden pain in his hand--a pebble has accidentally wounded
+him--and he finds himself once more in front of his cabin._
+
+_The circle of the rocks is empty. The stars are glowing in the sky.
+All is hushed._)
+
+"Again have I allowed myself to be deceived! Why these things? They
+come from the rebellion of the flesh. Ah! wretch!"
+
+(_He rushes into his cabin, and seizes a bunch of thongs, with metallic
+hooks attached to their ends, strips himself to the waist and, lifting
+his eyes to heaven exclaims_:)
+
+"Accept my penance, O my God: disdain it not for its feebleness. Render
+it sharp, prolonged, excessive! It is time, indeed!--to the work!"
+
+(_He gives himself a vigorous lash--and shrieks._)
+
+"No! no!--without mercy it must be."
+
+(_He recommences._)
+
+"Oh! oh! oh! each lash tears my skin, rends my limbs! It burns me
+horribly!"
+
+"Nay!--it is not so very terrible after all!--one becomes accustomed to
+it. It even seems to me...."
+
+(_Anthony pauses._)
+
+"Continue, coward! continue! Good! good!--upon the arms, on the back,
+on the breast, on the belly--everywhere! Hiss, ye thongs! bite me!
+tear me! I would that my blood could spurt to the stars!--let my bones
+crack!--let my tendons be laid bare! O for pincers, racks, and melted
+lead! The martyrs have endured far worse; have they not, Ammonaria?"
+
+(_The shadow of the Devil's horns reappears._)
+
+"I might have been bound to the column opposite to thine,--face to
+face--under thy eyes--answering thy shrieks by my sighs; and our pangs
+might have been interblended, our souls intermingled."
+
+(_He lashes himself with fury._)
+
+"What! what! again. Take that!--But how strange a titillation thrills
+me! What punishment! what pleasure! I feel as though receiving
+invisible kisses; the very marrow of my bones seems to melt. I die...."
+
+_And he sees before him three cavaliers, mounted upon onagers, clad in
+robes of green--each holding a lily in his hand, and all resembling
+each other in feature._
+
+_Anthony turns round, and beholds three other cavaliers exactly
+similar, riding upon similar onagers, and preserving the same attitude._
+
+_He draws back. Then all the onagers advance one pace at the same time,
+and rub their noses against him, trying to bite his garment. Voices
+shout_:--
+
+"Here! here! this way!"
+
+_And between the clefts of the mountain, appear standards,--camels'
+heads with halters of red silk--mules laden with baggage, and women
+covered with yellow veils, bestriding piebald horses._
+
+_The panting beasts lie down; the slaves rush to the bales and
+packages, motley-striped carpets are unrolled; precious glimmering
+things are laid upon the ground._
+
+_A white elephant, caparisoned with a golden net, trots forward,
+shaking the tuft of ostrich plumes attached to his head-band._
+
+_Upon his back, perched on cushions of blue wool, with her legs
+crossed, her eyes half closed, her comely head sleepily nodding, is a
+woman so splendidly clad that she radiates light about her. The crowd
+falls prostrate; the elephant bends his knees; and_
+
+THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
+
+_letting herself glide down from his shoulder upon the carpets spread
+to receive her, approaches Saint Anthony._
+
+_Her robe of gold brocade, regularly divided by furbelows of pearls,
+of jet, and of sapphires, sheaths her figure closely with its
+tight-fitting bodice, set off by colored designs representing the
+twelve signs of the Zodiac. She wears very high pattens--one of which
+is black, and sprinkled with silver stars, with a moon crescent; the
+other, which is white, is sprinkled with a spray of gold, with a golden
+sun in the middle._
+
+_Her wide sleeves, decorated with emeralds and bird-plumes, leave
+exposed her little round bare arms, clasped at the wrist by ebony
+bracelets; and her hands, loaded with precious rings, are terminated by
+nails so sharply pointed that the ends of her fingers seem almost like
+needles._
+
+_A chain of dead gold, passing under her chin, is caught up on either
+side of her face, and spirally coiled about her coiffure, whence,
+redescending, it grazes her shoulders and is attached upon her bosom
+to a diamond scorpion, which protrudes a jewelled tongue between her
+breasts. Two immense blond pearls depend heavily from her ears. The
+borders of her eyelids are painted black. There is a natural brown spot
+upon her left cheek; and she opens her mouth in breathing, as if her
+corset inconvenienced her._
+
+_She shakes, as she approaches, a green parasol with an ivory handle,
+and silver-gilt bells attached to its rim; twelve little woolly-haired
+negro-boys support the long train of her robe, whereof an ape holds the
+extremity, which it raises up from time to time. She exclaims_:
+
+"Ah! handsome hermit! handsome hermit!--my heart swoons!
+
+"By dint of stamping upon the ground with impatience, callosities have
+formed upon my heel, and I have broken one of my nails. I sent out
+shepherds, who remained upon the mountain tops, shading their eyes with
+their hands--and hunters who shouted thy name in all the forests--and
+spies who travelled along the highways, asking every passer-by:
+
+"'Hast thou seen him?'
+
+"By night I wept, with my face turned to the wall. And at last my tears
+made two little holes in the mosaic, like two pools of water among the
+rocks;--for I love thee!--oh! how I love thee!"
+
+(_She takes him by the beard._)
+
+"Laugh now, handsome hermit! laugh! I am very joyous, very gay: thou
+shalt soon see! I play the lyre; I dance like a bee; and I know a host
+of merry tales to tell, each more diverting than the other.
+
+"Thou canst not even imagine how mighty a journey we have made. See!
+the onagers upon which the green couriers rode are dead with fatigue!"
+
+(_The onagers are lying motionless upon the ground._)
+
+"For three long moons they never ceased to gallop on with the same
+equal pace, holdings flints between their teeth to cut the wind, their
+tails ever streaming out behind them, their sinews perpetually strained
+to the uttermost, always galloping, galloping. Never can others be
+found like them. They were bequeathed me by my paternal grand-father,
+the Emperor Saharil, son of Iakhschab, son of Iaarab, son of Kastan.
+Ah! if they were still alive, we should harness them to a litter that
+they might bear us back speedily to the palace! But ... what ails
+thee?--of what art thou dreaming?"
+
+(_She stares at him, examines him closely._)
+
+"Ah, when thou shalt be my husband, I will robe thee, I will perfume
+thee, I will depilate thee."
+
+(_Anthony remains motionless, more rigid than a stake, more pallid
+than a corpse._)
+
+"Thou hast a sad look--is it because of leaving thy hermitage? Yet I
+have left everything for thee--even King Solomon, who, nevertheless,
+possesses much wisdom, twenty thousand chariots of war, and a beautiful
+beard. I have brought thee my wedding gifts. Choose!"
+
+(_She walks to and fro among the ranks of slaves and the piles of
+precious goods._)
+
+"Here is Genezareth balm, incense from Cape Gardefui, labdanum,
+cinnamon, and silphium--good to mingle with sauces. In that bale are
+Assyrian embroideries, ivory from the Ganges, purple from Elissa;
+and that box of snow contains a skin of chalybon, the wine, which
+is reserved for the Kings of Assyria, and which is drunk from the
+horn of a unicorn. Here are necklaces, brooches, nets for the hair,
+parasols, gold powder from Baasa, cassiteria from Tartessus, blue wood
+from Pandio, white furs from Issidonia, carbuncles from the Island
+Palæsimondus, and toothpicks made of the bristles of the tachas--that
+lost animal which is found under the earth. These cushions come from
+Emath, and these mantle-fringes from Palmyra. On this Babylonian carpet
+there is.... But come hither! come! come!"
+
+(_She pulls Saint Anthony by the sleeve. He resists. She continues_:)
+
+"This thin tissue which crackles under the finger with a sound as of
+sparks, is the famous yellow cloth which the merchants of Bactria bring
+us. I will have robes made of it for thee, which thou shalt wear in the
+house. Unfasten the hooks of that sycamore box, and hand me also the
+little ivory casket tied to my elephant's shoulder."
+
+(_They take something round out of a box--something covered with a
+cloth--and also bring a little ivory casket covered with carving._)
+
+"Dost thou desire the buckler of Dgian-ben-Dgian, who built the
+pyramids?--behold it!--It is formed of seven dragon-skins laid one over
+the other, tanned in the bile of parricides, and fastened together by
+adamantine screws. Upon one side are represented all the wars that have
+taken place since the invention of weapons; and upon the other, all the
+wars that will take place until the end of the world. The lightning
+itself rebounds from it like a ball of cork. I am going to place it
+upon thy arm; and thou wilt carry it during the chase.
+
+"But if thou didst only know what I have in this little box of mine!
+Turn it over and over again! try to open it! No one could ever succeed
+in doing that. Kiss me! and I will tell thee how to open it."
+
+(_She takes Saint Anthony by both cheeks. He pushes her away at arms'
+length._)
+
+"It was one night that King Solomon lost his head. At last we concluded
+a bargain. He arose, and stealing out on tiptoe...."
+
+(_She suddenly executes a pirouette._)
+
+"Ah, ah! comely hermit, thou shalt not know it! thou shalt not know!"
+
+(_She shakes her parasol, making all its little bells tinkle._)
+
+"And I possess many other strange things--oh! yes! I have treasures
+concealed in winding galleries where one would lose one's way, as
+in a forest. I have summer-palaces constructed in trellis-work of
+reeds, and winter-palaces all built of black marble. In the midst of
+lakes vast as seas, I have islands round as pieces of silver, and all
+covered with mother-of-pearl,--islands whose shores make music to
+the lapping of tepid waves upon the sand. The slaves of my kitchens
+catch birds in my aviaries, and fish in my fishponds. I have engravers
+continually seated at their benches to hollow out my likeness in hard
+jewel-stones, and panting molders forever casting statues of me, and
+perfumers incessantly mingling the sap of rare plants with vinegar,
+or preparing cosmetic pastes. I have female dressmakers cutting out
+patterns in richest material, goldsmiths cutting and mounting jewels of
+price, and careful painters pouring upon my palace wainscoting boiling
+resins, which they subsequently cool with fans. I have enough female
+attendants to form a harem, eunuchs enough to make an army. I have
+armies likewise; I have nations! In the vestibule of my palace I keep a
+guard of dwarfs--all bearing ivory trumpets at their backs." (_Anthony
+sighs._)
+
+"I have teams of trained gazelles; I have elephant quadrigæ; I have
+hundreds of pairs of camels, and mares whose manes are so long that
+their hoofs become entangled therein when they gallop, and herds of
+cattle with horns so broad that when they go forth to graze the woods
+have to be hewn down before them. I have giraffes wandering in my
+gardens; they stretch their heads over the edge of my roof, when I take
+the air after dinner.
+
+"Seated in a shell drawn over the waters by dolphins, I travel
+through the grottoes, listening lo the dropping of the water from the
+stalactites. I go down to the land of diamonds, where my friends the
+magicians allow me to choose the finest: then I reascend to earth and
+return to my home."
+
+(_She utters a sharp whistle; and a great bird, descending from the
+sky, alights upon her hair, from which it makes the blue powder fall._
+
+_Its orange-colored plumage seems formed of metallic scales. Its little
+head, crested with a silver tuft, has a human face._
+
+_It has four wings, the feet of a vulture, and an immense peacock's
+tail which it spreads open like a fan._
+
+_It seizes the Queen's parasol in its beak, reels a moment ere
+obtaining its balance; then it erects all its plumes, and remains
+motionless._)
+
+"Thanks! my beautiful Simorg-Anka!--thou didst tell me where the loving
+one was hiding! Thanks! thanks! my heart's messenger!
+
+"He flies swiftly as Desire! He circles the world in his flight. At eve
+he returns; he perches at the foot of my couch and tells me all he has
+seen--the seas that have passed far beneath him with all their fishes
+and ships, the great void deserts he has contemplated from the heights
+of the sky, the harvests that were bowing in the valleys, and the
+plants that were growing upon the walls of cities abandoned."
+
+(_She wrings her hands, languorously._)
+
+"Oh! if thou wast willing! if thou wast willing!... I have a pavilion
+on a promontory in the middle of an isthmus dividing two oceans. It is
+all wain-scoted with sheets of glass, and floored with tortoise shell,
+and open to the four winds of heaven. From its height I watch my fleets
+come in, and my nations toiling up the mountain-slopes with burthens
+upon their shoulders. There would we sleep upon downs softer than
+clouds; we would drink cool draughts from fruit-shells, and we would
+gaze at the sun through emeralds! Come!" ...
+
+(_Anthony draws back. She approaches him again, and exclaims in a tone
+of vexation_:--)
+
+"How? neither the rich, nor the coquettish, nor the amorous woman can
+charm thee: is it so? None but a lascivious woman, with a hoarse voice
+and lusty person, with fire-colored hair and superabundant flesh? Dost
+thou prefer a body cold as the skin of a serpent, or rather great dark
+eyes deeper than the mystic caverns?--behold them, my eyes!--look into
+them!"
+
+(_Anthony, in spite of him, gazes into her eyes._)
+
+"All the women thou hast ever met--from the leman of the cross-roads,
+singing under the light of her lantern, even to the patrician lady
+scattering rose-petals abroad from her litter,--all the forms thou hast
+ever obtained glimpses of--all the imaginations of thy desire thou hast
+only to ask for them! I am not a woman: I am a world! My cloak has only
+to fall in order that thou mayest discover a succession of mysteries."
+(_Anthony's teeth chatter._)
+
+"Place but thy finger upon my shoulder: it will be as though a stream
+of fire shot through all thy veins. The possession of the least part
+of me will fill thee with a joy more vehement than the conquest of an
+Empire could give thee! Approach thy lips: there is a sweetness in my
+kisses as of a fruit dissolving within thy heart. Ah! how thou wilt
+lose thyself beneath my long hair, inhale the perfume of my bosom,
+madden thyself with the beauty of my limbs: and thus, consumed by the
+fire of my eyes, clasped within my arms as in a whirlwind...."
+
+[Illustration: ... there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit
+dissolving within thy heart]
+
+(_Anthony makes the sign of the cross._)
+
+"Thou disdainest me! farewell!"
+
+(_She departs, weeping; then, suddenly turning round_:--)
+
+"Art quite sure?--so beautiful a woman...."
+
+(_She laughs, and the ape that bears her train, lifts it up._)
+
+"Thou wilt regret it, my comely hermit! thou wilt yet weep! thou wilt
+again feel weary of thy life; but I care not a whit! La! la! la!--oh!
+oh! oh!"
+
+(_She takes her departure, hopping upon one foot and covering her face
+with her hands._
+
+_All the slaves file off before Saint Anthony--the horses, the
+dromedaries, the elephant, the female attendants, the mules (which
+have been reloaded), the negro boys, the ape, the green couriers each
+holding his broken lily in his hand; and the Queen of Sheba departs,
+uttering a convulsive hiccough at intervals, which might be taken
+either for a sound of hysterical sobbing, or the half-suppressed
+laughter of mockery._)
+
+
+[1] _Thalamegii_--pleasure-boats having apartments.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+(_When she has disappeared in the distance, Anthony observes a child
+seated upon the threshold of his cabin._)
+
+"It is one of the Queen's servants, no doubt," (_he thinks_).
+
+(_This child is small like a dwarf, and nevertheless squat of build,
+like one of the Cabiri; deformed withal, and wretched of aspect. His
+prodigiously large head is covered with white hair; and he shivers
+under a shabby tunic, all the while clutching a roll of papyrus. The
+light of the moon passing through a cloud falls upon him._)
+
+ANTHONY
+
+(_watches him from a distance, and is afraid of him._) "Who art thou?"
+
+THE CHILD (_replies_). "Thy ancient disciple, Hilarion."
+
+ANTHONY. "Thou liest! Hilarion hath been dwelling in Palestine for
+many long years."
+
+HILARION. "I have returned! It is really I!"
+
+ANTHONY (_draws near and examines him closely_). "Yet his face was
+radiant as the dawn, candid, joyous. This face is the face of one
+gloomy and old."
+
+HILARION. "Long and arduous labor hath wearied me!"
+
+ANTHONY. "The voice is also different. It hath an icy tone."
+
+HILARION. "Because I have nourished me with bitter things!"
+
+ANTHONY. "And those white hairs?"
+
+HILARION. "I have endured many woes!"
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_). "Could it be possible?"
+
+HILARION. "I was not so far from thee as thou doest imagine. The hermit
+Paul visited thee this year, during the month of Schebar. It is just
+twenty days since the Nomads brought thee bread. Thou didst tell a
+sailor, the day before yesterday, to send thee three bodkins."
+
+ANTHONY. "He knows all!"
+
+HILARION. "Know further more that I have never left thee. But there are
+long periods during which thou hast no knowledge of my presence."
+
+ANTHONY. "How can that be? Yet it is true that my head is so much
+troubled--this night especially."
+
+HILARION. "All the Capital Sins came hither. But their wretched snares
+can avail nothing against such a Saint as thou."
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! no!--no! I fall at every moment! Why am I not of those
+whose souls are ever intrepid, whose minds are always firm,--for
+example, the great Athanasius?"
+
+HILARION. "He was illegally ordained by seven bishops."
+
+ANTHONY. "What matter if his virtue...."
+
+HILARION. "Go to!--a most vainglorious and cruel man, forever involved
+in intrigues, and exiled at last as a monopolist."[1]
+
+ANTHONY. "Calumny!"
+
+HILARION. "Thou wilt not deny that he sought to corrupt Eustates, the
+treasurer of largesses?"
+
+ANTHONY. "It is affirmed, I acknowledge."
+
+HILARION. "Through vengeance he burned down the house of Arsenius."
+
+ANTHONY. "Alas!"
+
+HILARION. "At the council of Nicæa he said in speaking of Jesus: 'The
+man of the Lord.'"
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! that is a blasphemy!"
+
+HILARION. "So limited in understanding, moreover, that he confesses he
+comprehends nothing of the nature of the "Word!"
+
+ANTHONY (_smiling with gratification_). "In sooth his intelligence is
+not ... very lofty."
+
+HILARION. "Hypocrite! burying thyself in solitude only in order the
+more fully to abandon thyself to the indulgence of thy envious desires!
+What if thou dost deprive thyself of meats, of wine, of warmth, of
+bath, of slaves, or honours?--dost thou not permit thy imagination to
+offer thee banquets, perfumes, women, and the applause of multitudes?
+Thy chastity is but a more subtle form of corruption, and thy contempt
+of this world is but the impotence of thy hatred against it! Either
+this it is that makes such as thyself so lugubrious, or else 'tis
+doubt. The possession of truth giveth joy. Was Jesus sad? Did he not
+travel in the company of friends, repose beneath the shade of olive
+trees, enter the house of the publican, drink many cups of wine, pardon
+the sinning woman, and assuage all sorrows? Thou!--thou hast no pity
+save for thine own misery! It is like a remorse that gnaws thee, a
+savage madness that impels thee to repel the caress of a dog or to
+frown upon the smile of a child."
+
+ANTHONY (_bursting into tears_). "Enough! enough! thou dost wound my
+heart deeply."
+
+HILARION. "Shake the vermin from thy rags! Rise up from thy filth! Thy
+God is not a Moloch who demands human flesh in sacrifice!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet suffering is blessed. The cherubim stoop to receive the
+blood of confessors."
+
+HILARION. "Admire, then, the Montanists!--they surpass all others."
+
+ANTHONY. "But it is the truth of the doctrine which makes the
+martyrdom."
+
+HILARION. "How can martyrdom prove the excellence of the doctrine,
+inasmuch as it bears equal witness for error?"
+
+HILARION. "Silence!--thou viper!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Perhaps martyrdom is not so difficult as thou dost imagine!
+The exhortations of friends, the pleasure of insulting the people,
+the oath one has taken, a certain dizzy excitement, a thousand
+circumstances all aid the resolution of the martyrs...."
+
+(_Anthony turns his back upon Hilarion, and moves away from him.
+Hilarion follows him._)
+
+" ... Moreover this manner of dying often brings about great disorders.
+Dionysius, Cyprian and Gregory fled from it. Peter of Alexandria has
+condemned it; and the council of Elvira...."
+
+ANTHONY (_stops his ears_). "I will listen to thee no longer!"
+
+HILARION (_raising his voice_). "Lo! thou fallest again into the
+habitual sin, which is sloth! Ignorance is the foam of pride. One says,
+forsoth:--'My conviction is formed! wherefore argue further?'--and one
+despises the doctors, the philosophers, tradition itself, and even the
+text of the law whereof one is ignorant! Dost thou imagine that thou
+dost hold all wisdom in the hollow of thy hand?"
+
+ANTHONY. "I hear him still! His loud words fill my brain."
+
+HILARION. "The efforts of others to comprehend God are mightier than
+all thy mortifications to move Him. We obtain merit only by our thirst
+for truth. Religion alone cannot explain all things; and the solution
+of problems ignored by thee can render faith still more invulnerable
+and noble. Therefore, for our salvation we must communicate with our
+brethren--otherwise the Church, the assembly of the faithful, would
+be a meaningless word--and we must listen to all reasoning, despising
+nothing, nor any person. The magician Balaam, the poet Aeschylus,
+and the Sybil of Cumæ--all foretold the Saviour. Dionysius, the
+Alexandrian, received from heaven the command to read all books. Saint
+Clement orders us to cultivate Greek letters. Hennas was converted by
+the illusion of a woman he had loved...."
+
+ANTHONY. "What an aspect of authority! It seems to me thou art growing
+taller...."
+
+(_And, in very truth, the stature of Hilarion is gradually increasing;
+and Anthony shuts his eyes, that he may not see him._)
+
+HILARION. "Reassure thyself, good Hermit. Let us seat ourselves there,
+upon that great stone, as we used to do in other years, when, at the
+first dawn of day, I was wont to salute thee with the appellation,
+'Clear star of morning'--and thou wouldst therewith commence to
+instruct me. Yet my instruction is not yet completed. The moon gives us
+light enough. I am prepared to hear thy words."
+
+(_He has drawn a calamus from his girdle, and seating himself
+cross-legged upon the ground, with the papyrus roll still in his hand,
+he lifts his face toward Saint Anthony, who sits near him, with head
+bowed down._
+
+_After a moment of silence Hilarion continues_:--)
+
+"Is not the word of God confirmed for us by miracles? Nevertheless
+the magicians of Pharaoh performed miracles; other imposters can
+perform them; one may be thereby deceived. What then is a miracle?
+An event which seems to us outside of nature. But do we indeed know
+all of Nature's powers; and because a common occurrence causes us no
+astonishment, does it therefore follow that we understand it."
+
+ANTHONY. "It matters little! We must believe the Scriptures!"
+
+HILARION. "Saint Paul, Origen, and many others did not understand
+the Scriptures in a literal sense: yet if Holy Writ be explained by
+allegories it becomes the portion of a small number, and the evidence
+of the truth disappears. What must we do?"
+
+ANTHONY. "We must rely upon the Church!"
+
+HILARION. "Then the Scriptures are useless?"
+
+ANTHONY. "No! no! although I acknowledge that in the Old Testament
+there are some ... some obscurities. But the New shines with purest
+light."
+
+HILARION. "Nevertheless, the Angel of the annunciation, in Matthew,
+appears to Joseph; while, in Luke, he appears to Mary. The anointing
+of Jesus by a woman takes place, according to the first Gospel, at the
+commencement of his public life; and, according to the other three, a
+few days before his death. The drink offered to him on the cross, is,
+in Matthew, vinegar mixed with gall; in Mark, it is wine and myrrh.
+According to Luke and Matthew, the apostles should take with them
+neither money nor scrip for their journey--not even sandals nor staff;
+in Mark, on the contrary, Jesus bids them take nothing with them,
+except sandals and a staff. I am thereby bewildered!"
+
+ANTHONY (_in amazement_). "Aye, indeed!... in fact...."
+
+HILARION. "At the contact of the woman who had an issue of blood, Jesus
+turned and said, 'Who hath touched my garments?' He did not know, then,
+who had touched him? That contradicts the omniscience of Jesus! If the
+tomb was watched by guards, the women need have felt no anxiety about
+finding help to roll away the stone from the tomb. Therefore there
+were no guards, or the holy women were not there. At Emmaus, he eats
+with his disciples and makes them feel his wounds. It is a human body,
+a material and ponderable object; and nevertheless it passes through
+walls! Is that possible?"
+
+ANTHONY. "It would require much time to answer thee properly!"
+
+HILARION. "Why did he receive the Holy Spirit, being himself Son of
+the Holy Spirit? What need had he of baptism if he was the Word? How
+could the Devil have tempted him, inasmuch as he was God? Have these
+thoughts never occurred to thee?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes!... often! Sometimes torpid, sometimes furious--they
+remain forever in my conscience. I crush them; they rise again, they
+stifle me; and sometimes I think that I am accursed."
+
+HILARION. "Then it is needless for thee to serve God?"
+
+ANTHONY. "I shall always need to adore Him."
+
+(_After a long silence Hilarion continues_:)
+
+"But aside from dogma, all researches are allowed us. Dost thou desire
+to know the hierarchy of the Angels, the virtue of the Numbers, the
+reason of germs and of metamorphoses?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes! yes! my thought struggles wildly to escape from its
+prison. It seems to me that by exerting all my force I might succeed.
+Sometimes, for an instant, brief as a lightning flash, I even feel
+myself as thought uplifted,--then I fall back again!"
+
+HILARION. "The secret thou wouldst obtain is guarded by sages. They
+dwell in a distant land; they are seated beneath giant trees; they
+are robed in white; they are calm as Gods! A warm air gives them
+sufficient nourishment. All about them, leopards tread upon grassy
+turf. The murmuring of fountains and the neighing of unicorns mingle
+with their voices. Thou shalt hear them; and the face of the Unknown
+shall be unveiled!"
+
+ANTHONY (_sighing_). "The way is long; and I am old."
+
+HILARION. "Oh! oh! wise men are not rare! there are some even very nigh
+thee!--here! Let us enter!"
+
+
+[1] Gibbon, a sincere admirer of Athanasius, gives a curious history of
+these charges, and expresses his disbelief in their truth. The story
+regarding the design to intercept the corn-fleet of Alexandria is
+referred to in the use of the word "monopolist."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+(_And Anthony beholds before him a vast basilica._
+
+_The light gushes from the further end, marvellous as a multi-colored
+sun. It illuminates the innumerable heads of the crowd that fills the
+nave, and that eddies about the columns toward the side-aisles--where
+can be perceived, in wooden compartments, altars, beds, little chains
+of blue stones linked together, and constellations painted upon the
+walls._
+
+_In the midst of the throng there are groups which remain motionless.
+Men standing upon stools harangue with fingers uplifted; others are
+praying, with arms outstretched in form of a cross; others are lying
+prostrate upon the pavement, or singing hymns, or drinking wine; others
+of the faithful, seated about a table, celebrate their agape;[1]
+martyrs are unbandaging their limbs in order to show their wounds; and
+aged men, leaning upon staffs, recount their voyages._
+
+_There are some from the country of the Germans, from Thrace also, and
+from the Gauls, from Scythia and from the Indies, with snow upon their
+beards, feathers in their hair; thorns in the fringe of their garments;
+the sandals of some are black with dust, their skins are burnt by the
+sun. There is a vast confusion of costumes, mantles of purple and
+robes of linen, embroidered dalmaticas, hair shirts, sailors' caps,
+bishops' mitres. Their eyes fulgurate strangely. They have the look of
+executioners, or the look of eunuchs._
+
+_Hilarion advances into their midst. All salute him. Anthony, shrinking
+closer to his shoulder, observes them. He remarks the presence of a
+great many women. Some of these are attired like men, and have their
+hair cut short. Anthony feels afraid of them._)
+
+HILARION. "Those are Christian women who have converted their husbands.
+Besides, the women were always upon the side of Jesus, even the
+idolatrous ones, for example, Procula, the wife of Pilate, and Poppæa,
+the concubine of Nero. Do not tremble!--come on."
+
+(_And others are continually arriving._
+
+_They seem to multiply, to double themselves by self-division, light
+as shadows--all the while making an immense clamour, in which yells of
+rage, cries of love, canticles and objurgations intermingle._)
+
+ANTHONY (_in a low voice_). "What do they desire?"
+
+HILARION. "The Lord said: 'I have yet many things to say to you....
+'[2] They possess the knowledge of those things."
+
+(_And he pushes Anthony forward to a golden throne approached by five
+steps, whereon--surrounded by ninety-five disciples, all very thin and
+pale, and anointed with oil--sits the prophet Manes. He is beautiful
+as an archangel, immobile as a statue; he is clad in an Indian robe;
+carbuncles gleam in his plaited hair; at his left hand lies a book of
+painted images; his right reposes upon a globe. The images represent
+the creatures that erst slumbered in Chaos. Anthony bends forward to
+look upon them. Then----_)
+
+MANES
+
+(_makes his globe revolve; and regulating the tone of his words by a
+lyre which gives forth crystalline sounds, exclaims_:--)
+
+"The celestial earth is at the superior extremity; the terrestrial
+earth at the inferior extremity. It is sustained by two angels--the
+Angel Splenditeneus, and Omophorus, whose faces are six.
+
+"At the summit of the highest heaven reigns the impassible Divinity;
+below, face to face, are the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness.
+
+"When the darkness had advanced even to his kingdom, God evolved from
+his own essence a virtue which produced the first man; and he environed
+him with the five elements. But the demons of darkness stole from him a
+part; and that part is the soul.
+
+"There is but one soul, universally diffused, even as the waters of
+a river divided into many branches. It is this universal soul that
+sighs in the wind--that shrieks in the marble under the teeth of the
+saw--that roars in the voice of the sea--that weeps tears of milk when
+the leaves of the fig tree are torn off.
+
+"The souls that leave this world emigrate to the stars, which are
+themselves animated beings."
+
+ANTHONY (_bursts into a laugh_). "Ah! ah! what an absurd imagination!"
+
+A MAN (_having no beard, and of a most austere aspect_). "Wherefore
+absurd?"
+
+(_Anthony is about to reply when Hilarion tells him in a low voice
+that the questioner is none other than the tremendous Origen himself;
+and_:--)
+
+MANES (_continues_). "But first they remain awhile in the Moon, where
+they are purified. Then they rise into the sun."
+
+ANTHONY (_slowly_). "I do not know of anything ... which prevents us
+... from believing it."
+
+MANES. "The proper aim of every creature is the deliverance of the ray
+of celestial light imprisoned within matter. It finds easier escape
+through the medium of perfumes, spices, the aroma of warmed wine, the
+light things which resemble thoughts. But the acts of life retain it
+within its prison. The murderer shall be born again in the form of a
+celephus; he that kills an animal shall become that animal; if thou
+plantest a vine, thou shalt be thyself bound within its boughs. Food
+absorbs the celestial light.... Therefore abstain! fast!"
+
+HILARION. "Thou seest, they are temperate!"
+
+MANES. "There is much of it in meats, less of it in herbs. Moreover
+the Pure Ones, by means of their great merits, despoil vegetation of
+this luminous essence; and, thus liberated, it reascends to its source.
+But through generation, animals keep it imprisoned within the flesh!
+Therefore, avoid women!"
+
+HILARION. "Admire their continence."
+
+MANES. "Or rather contrive that they shall not create..............[3]
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh--abomination!"
+
+HILARION. "What signifies the hierarchy of turpitudes? The Church has,
+forsooth, made marriage a sacrament!"
+
+SATURNINUS (_in Syrian costume_). "He teaches a most dismal system of
+the universe!... The Father, desiring to punish the angels who had
+revolted, ordered them to create the world. Christ came, in order that
+the God of the Jews, who was one of those angels...."
+
+ANTHONY. "He an angel! the Creator!"
+
+CERDO. "Did he not seek to kill Moses, to deceive his own prophets, to
+seduce nations?--did he not sow falsehood and idolatry broadcast?"
+
+MARCION. "Certainly, the Creator is not the true God!"
+
+SAINT CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. "Matter is eternal!"
+
+BARDESANES (_in the costume of the Babylonian magi_). "It was formed by
+the Seven Planetary Spirits."
+
+THE HERMIANS. "Souls were made by the angels."
+
+THE PRISCILLIANISTS. "It was the Devil who made the world."
+
+ANTHONY (_rushing back from the circle_). "Horror!"
+
+HILARION (_supporting him_). "Thou despairest too hastily!--thou dost
+misapprehend their doctrine! Here is one who received his teaching
+directly from Theodas, the friend of St. Paul. Hearken to him."
+
+(_And at a sign from Hilarion_
+
+VALENTINUS
+
+_appears in a tunic of cloth of silver; his skull is pointed at its
+summit; his voice has a wheezing sound._)
+
+"The world is the work of a God in delirium!"
+
+ANTHONY (_bending his head down_). "The work of a God in delirium!..."
+
+(_After a long silence_): "How can that be?"
+
+VALENTINE. "The most perfect of beings, and of the Æons, the Abyss;
+dwelt in the womb of the Deep together with Thought. By their union was
+begotten Intelligence, to whom Truth was given as a companion.
+
+"Intelligence and Truth engendered the Word and Life, who in their turn
+begat Man and the Church; and that doth make eight Æons!"
+
+(_He counts upon his fingers._)
+
+"The Word and Truth also produced ten other Æons--which is to say, five
+couples. Man and the Church had begotten twelve more--among these the
+Paraclete and Faith, Hope and Charity, Perfection and Wisdom--Sophia.
+
+"The union of these thirty Æons constitutes the Pleroma, or
+Universality of God. Thus, even as the echo of a passing voice, as the
+effluvia of a perfume evaporating, as the fires of the setting sun,
+the Powers that emanated from the Principle, forever continue to grow
+weaker.
+
+"But Sophia, desirous to know the Father, darted from the Pleroma;
+and the Word then made another couple, Christ and the Holy Ghost, who
+reunited all the Æons; and all together formed Jesus, the flower of the
+Pleroma.
+
+"But the effort of Sophia to flee away had left in the void an image of
+her--an evil substance, Acharamoth.[4] The Saviour took pity upon her,
+freed her from all passion; and from the smile of Acharamoth redeemed,
+light was born; her tears formed the waters; by her sorrow was dark
+matter begotten.
+
+"Of Acharamoth was born the Demiurgos,--the fabricator of worlds,
+the creator of the heaven and of the Devil. He dwells far below the
+Pleroma--so far that he cannot behold it--so that he deems himself to
+be the true God, and repeats by the mouths of his prophets--'There is
+no other God but I.' Then he made man, and instilled into his soul the
+immaterial Seed which was the Church--a reflection of the other Church
+established in the Pleroma.
+
+"One day Acharamoth shall reach the highest region and unite herself
+with the Saviour; the fire that is hidden in the world shall annihilate
+all matter, and shall even devour itself and men, becoming pure
+spirits, shall espouse the angels!"
+
+ORIGEN. "Then shall the Demon be over-thrown and the reign of God
+commence!"
+
+(_Anthony expresses a cry, and forthwith_)
+
+BASILIDES (_taking him by the elbow, exclaims_:--)
+
+"The Supreme Being with all the infinite emanations is called
+Abraxas; and the Saviour with all his virtues, Kaulakau--otherwise,
+line-upon-line, rectitude upon rectitude.
+
+"The power of Kaulakau is obtained by the aid of certain words, which
+are inscribed upon this chalcedony to help the memory."
+
+(_And he points to a little stone suspended at his neck, upon which
+stone fantastic characters are graven._)
+
+"Then thou wilt be transported into the Invisible and placed above all
+law; thou shalt contemn all things--even virtue!
+
+"We, the Pure, must flee from pain, after the example of Kaulakau."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! and the cross?"
+
+THE ELKHESAITES (_in robes of hyacinth answers him_). "The woe and
+the degradation, the condemnation and oppression of my fathers[5] are
+blotted out, through the mission which has come.
+
+"One may deny the inferior Christ, the man--Jesus; but the other Christ
+must be adored--whose personality was evolved under the brooding of the
+Dove's wings.
+
+"Honor marriage; the Holy Spirit is feminine!"
+
+(_Hilarion has disappeared; and Anthony, carried along by the crowd,
+arrives in the presence of_--)
+
+THE CARPOCRATIANS
+
+(_reclining with women upon scarlet cushions._)
+
+"Before entering into the Only thou shalt pass through a series of
+conditions and of actions. To free thyself from the powers of darkness,
+thou must at once accomplish their works. The husband shall say to the
+wife: 'Have charity for thy brother'--and she will kiss thee."
+
+THE NICOLAITANS
+
+(_gathered about a mass of smoking meats_:)
+
+"This is a portion of the meat offered to idols;--partake of it!
+Apostasy is permissible when the heart is pure. Gorge thy flesh with
+all that it demands. Seek to exterminate it by dint of debauchery!
+Prounikos, the Mother of Heaven, wallowed in ignominies."
+
+THE MARCOSIANS
+
+(_wearing rings of gold, and glistening with precious balm and
+unguents_:)
+
+"Enter among us that thou mayst unite thyself to the Spirit! Enter
+among us that thou mayst quaff the draught of immortality!"
+
+(_And one of them shows him, behind a tapestry-hanging, the body of a
+man terminated by the head of an ass. This represents Sabaoth, father
+of the Devil. He spits upon the image in token of detestation._
+
+_Another shows him a very low bed, strewn with flowers, exclaiming_:)
+
+"The spiritual marriage is about to be consummated."
+
+(_A third, who holds a cup of glass, utters an invocation;--blood
+suddenly appears in the cup_:)
+
+"Ah! behold it! behold it!--the blood of Christ!"
+
+(_Anthony withdraws, but finds himself be-spattered by water splashed
+from a cistern._)
+
+THE HELVIDIANS
+
+(_are flinging themselves into it head foremost, muttering_:--)
+
+"The man regenerated by baptism is impeccable!"
+
+(_Then he passes by a great fire at which the Adamites are warming
+themselves--all completely naked in imitation of the purity of
+Paradise; and he stumbles over_)
+
+THE MESSALINES
+
+(_wallowing upon the pavement, half-slumbering, stupid_:)
+
+"Oh! crush us if thou wilt! we shall not move! Work is crime; all
+occupation is evil."
+
+(_Behind these, the abject_)
+
+PATERNIANS
+
+(_--men, women, and children lying pell mell upon a heap of filth, lift
+their hideous faces, wine-besmeared, and they cry aloud_:)
+
+"The inferior parts of the body, which were created by the Devil,
+belong to him! Let us eat, drink, and sin!"
+
+ÆTIUS. "Crimes are necessities beneath the notice of God!"
+
+(_But suddenly_--)
+
+A MAN (--_clad in a Carthaginian mantle, bounds into their midst,
+brandishing a scourge of thongs in his hand; and strikes violently and
+indiscriminately at all in his path_:)
+
+"Ah! imposters! simonists, heretics and demons!--vermin of the
+schools!--dregs of hell! Marcion, there, is a sailor of Sinopus
+excommunicated for incest;--Carpocrates was banished for being a
+magician; Ætius stole his concubine; Nicholas prostituted his wife;
+and this Manes, who calls himself the Buddha, and whose real name is
+Cubricus, was flayed alive with the point of a reed, so that his skin
+even now hangs at the gates of Ctesiphon!"
+
+ANTHONY (_recognizing Tertullian, rushes to join him_): "Master! help!
+help!"
+
+TERTULLIAN (_continuing_):
+
+"Break the images! veil the virgins! Pray, fast, weep and mortify
+yourselves! No philosophy! no books! After Jesus, science is useless!"
+
+(_All have fled away; and Anthony beholds, in lieu of Tertullian, a
+woman seated upon a bench of stone._
+
+_She sobs; leaning her head against a column; her hair is loose; her
+body, weakened by grief, is clad in a long brown simar. Then they find
+themselves face to face and alone, far from the crowd; and a silence,
+an extraordinary stillness falls--as in the woods when the winds are
+lulled, and the leaves of the trees suddenly cease to whisper._
+
+_This woman is still very beautiful, although faded, and pale as a
+sepulcher. They look at one another; and their eyes send to each other
+waves, as it were, of thoughts, bearing drift of a thousand ancient
+things, confused, mysterious. At last_--)
+
+PRISCILLA (_speaks_:)
+
+"I was in the last chamber of the baths; and the rumbling sounds of the
+street caused a sleep to fall upon me.
+
+"Suddenly I heard a clamour of voices. Men were shouting--'It is a
+magician!--it is the Devil!' And the crowd stopped before our house, in
+front of the Temple Æsculapius. I drew myself up with my hands to the
+little window.
+
+"Upon the peristyle of the temple, there stood a man who wore about his
+neck a collar of iron. He took burning coals out of a chafing-dish, and
+with them drew lines across his breast, the while crying out--'Jesus!
+Jesus!' The people shouted--'This is not lawful! let us stone him!'
+But he continued. Oh! those were unheard of marvels--things which
+transported men who beheld them! Flowers broad as suns circled before
+my eyes, and I heard in the spaces above me the vibrations of a golden
+harp. Day died. My hands loosened their grasp of the window-bars; my
+body fell back, and when he had led me away to his house...."
+
+ANTHONY. "But of whom art thou speaking?"
+
+PRISCILLA. "Why, of Montanus!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Montanus is dead!"
+
+PRISCILLA. "It is not true!"
+
+A VOICE. "No: Montanus is not dead!"
+
+(_Anthony turns; and sees upon the bench near him, on the opposite
+side, another woman sitting; she is fair, and even paler than the
+other; there are swellings under her eyes, as though she had wept a
+long time. She speaks without being questioned_:)
+
+MAXIMILLA. "We were returning from Tarsus by way of the mountains,
+when, at a turn in the road, we saw a man under a fig tree.
+
+"He cried from afar off: 'Stop! stop!' and rushed toward us, uttering
+words of abuse. The slaves ran up; he burst into a loud laugh. The
+horses reared; the molossi all barked.
+
+"He stood before us. The sweat streamed from his forehead; his mantle
+napped in the wind.
+
+"And calling us each by our names, he reproached us with the vanity
+of our work, the infamy of our bodies; and he shook his fist at the
+dromedaries because of the silver bells hanging below their mouths.
+
+"His fury now filled my very entrails with fear and yet there was a
+strange pleasure in it which fascinated me, intoxicated me!
+
+"First the slaves came. 'Master,' they said, 'our animals are weary.'
+Then the women said, 'We are frightened,' and the slaves departed. Then
+the children began to weep,--'We are hungry.' And as the women were not
+answered, they disappeared also from our view.
+
+"He still spoke. I felt some one near me. It was my husband; but I
+listened only to the other. My husband crawled to me upon his knees
+among the stones, and cried--'Dost thou abandon me,' and I replied:
+'Yes! go thy way!' that I might accompany Montanus."
+
+ANTHONY. "A eunuch!"
+
+PRISCILLA. "Ah! does that astound thee, vulgar soul! Yet Magdalen,
+Johanna, Martha and Susannah did not share the couch of the Saviour.
+Souls may know the delirium of embrace better than bodies. That he
+might keep Eustolia with impunity, the bishop Leontius mutilated
+himself--loving his love more than his virility. And then, it was
+no fault of mine. Sotas could not cure me; a spirit constrained me.
+It is cruel, nevertheless! But what matter? I am the last of the
+prophetesses; and after me the end of the world shall come."
+
+MAXIMILLA. "He showered his gifts upon me. Moreover, no one loves him
+as I, nor is any other so well beloved by him!"
+
+PRISCILLA. "Thou liest! I am the most beloved!"
+
+MAXIMILLA. "No: it is I!"
+
+(_They fight. Between their shoulders suddenly appears the head of a
+negro._)
+
+MONTANUS (_clad in a black mantle, clasped by two cross-bones_):
+
+"Peace, my doves! Incapable of terrestrial happiness, we have obtained
+the celestial plentitude of our union. After the age of the Father,
+the age of the Son; and I inaugurate the third, which is that of the
+Paraclete. His light descended upon me during those forty nights when
+the heavenly Jerusalem appeared shining in the firmament, above my
+house at Pepuzza.
+
+"Ah, how ye cry out with anguish when the thongs of the scourge
+lacerate! how your suffering bodies submit to the ardor of my spiritual
+discipline! how ye languish with irrealizable longing! So strong has
+that desire become that it has enabled you to behold the invisible
+world; and ye can now perceive souls even with the eyes of the body!"
+
+ANTHONY. (_Makes a gesture of astonishment._)
+
+TERTULLIAN (_who appears again, standing beside Montanus_):
+
+"Without doubt; for the soul has a body, and that which is bodiless has
+no existence."
+
+MONTANUS. "In order to render it yet more subtle, I have instituted
+many mortifications, three Lents a year, and prayers to be uttered
+nightly by the mind only, keeping the mouth closed, lest breathing
+might tarnish thought. It is necessary to abstain from second
+marriages, or rather from all marriage! The Angels themselves have
+sinned with women!"
+
+THE ARCHONTICS (_wearing cilices of hair_):
+
+"The Saviour said: 'I come to destroy the work of the Woman!'"
+
+THE TATIANITES (_wearing cilices of reed_):
+
+"She is the tree of evil. Our bodies are but garments of skin."
+
+(_And continuing to advance along the same side, Anthony meets_:--)
+
+THE VALESIANS (_extended upon the ground, with red wounds below their
+bellies, and blood saturating their tunics. They offer him a knife._)
+
+"Do as Origen did and as we have done! Is it the pain that thou
+fearest, coward? Is it the love of thy flesh that restrains thee,
+hypocrite?"
+
+(_And while he watches them writhing upon their backs, in a pool of
+blood_--)
+
+THE CAINITES (_wearing knotted vipers as fillets about their hair, pass
+by, vociferating in his ear_):--
+
+"Glory to Cain! Glory to Sodom! Glory be to Judas!
+
+"Cain made the race of the strong; Sodom terrified the earth by her
+punishment, and it was by Judas that God saved the world! Yes! by
+Judas: without him there would have been no death and no redemption!"
+
+(_They disappear beneath the horde of the_--)
+
+CIRCUMCELLIONES (_all clad in the skins of wolves, crowned with thorns,
+and armed with maces of iron_).
+
+"Crush the fruit! befoul the spring! drown the child! Pillage the rich
+who are happy--who cat their fill! Beat the poor who envy the ass
+his saddle-cloth, the dog his meal, the bird his nest,--and who is
+wretched at knowing that others are not as miserable as himself.
+
+"We, the Saints, poison, burn, massacre, that we may hasten the end of
+the world.
+
+"Salvation may be obtained through martyrdom only. We give ourselves
+martyrdom. We tear the skin from our heads with pincers; we expose our
+members to the plough; we cast ourselves into the mouths of furnaces!
+
+"Out upon baptism! out upon the Eucharist! out upon marriage! universal
+damnation!"
+
+(_Then throughout all the basilica there is a redoubling of fury._
+
+_The Audians shoot arrows against the Devil; the Collyridians throw
+blue cloths toward the roof; the Ascites prostrate themselves before
+a waterskin; the Marcionites baptise a dead man with oil. A woman,
+standing near Appelles, exhibits a round loaf within a bottle, in order
+the better to explain her idea. Another, standing in the midst of an
+assembly of Sampseans distributes, as a sacrament, the dust of her
+own sandals. Upon the rose-strewn bed of the Marcosians, two lovers
+embrace. The Circumcellionites slaughter one another; the Valesians
+utter the death-rattle; Bardesanes sings; Carpocras dances; Maximilla
+and Priscilla moan; and the false prophetess of Cappadocia, completely
+naked, leaning upon a lion, and brandishing three torches, shrieks the
+Terrible Invocation._
+
+_The columns of the temple sway to and fro like the trunks of trees in a
+tempest; the amulets suspended about the necks of the Heresiarchs seem
+to cross each other in lines of fire; the constellations in the chapels
+palpitate; and the walls recoil with the ebb and flow of the crowd, in
+which each head is a wave that leaps and roars._
+
+_Nevertheless, from the midst of the clamor arises the sound of a song,
+in which the name of Jesus is often repeated, accompanied by bursts of
+laughter._
+
+_The singers belong to the rabble of the people; they all keep time to
+the song by clapping their hands. In their midst stands_--)
+
+ARTUS (_in a deacon's vestments_):
+
+"The fools who declaim against me pretend to explain the absurd; and in
+order to confound them utterly, I have composed ditties so droll that
+they are learned by heart in all the mills, in the taverns and along
+the ports.
+
+"No! a thousand times no!--the Son is not coeternal with the Father,
+nor of the same substance! Otherwise he would not have said: 'Father,
+remove this chalice from me! Why dost thou call me good? God alone is
+good! I go to my God, to your God!'--and many other things testifying
+to his character of creature. The fact is further demonstrated for
+us by all his names:--lamb, shepherd, fountain, wisdom, son-of-man,
+prophet; the way, the corner-stone!"
+
+SABELLIUS. "I hold that both are identical."
+
+ARIUS. "The Council of Antioch has decided the contrary."
+
+ANTHONY. "Then what is the Word?... What was Jesus?"
+
+THE VALENTINIANS. "He was the husband of Acharamoth repentant!"
+
+THE SETHIANIANS. "He was Shem, the son of Noah!"
+
+THE THEODOTIANS. "He was Melchisedech!"
+
+THE MERINTHIANS. "He was only a man!"
+
+THE APOLLINARISTS. "He assumed the appearance of one! He simulated the
+Passion!"
+
+MARCEL OF ANCYRA. "He was a development of the Father!"
+
+POPE CALIXTUS. "Father and Son are but two modes of one God's
+manifestation!"
+
+METHODIUS. "He was first in Adam, then in man!"
+
+CERINTHUS. "And He will rise again!"
+
+VALENTINUS. "Impossible--his body being celestial!"
+
+PAUL OF SAMOSATA. "He became God _only_ from the time of his baptism!"
+
+HERMOGENES. "He dwells in the sun!"
+
+(_And all the Heresiarchs form a circle about Anthony, who weeps,
+covering his face with his hands._)
+
+A JEW (_with a red beard, and spots of leprosy upon his shin,
+approaches close to Anthony, and, with a hideous sneer, exclaims_):
+
+"His soul was the soul of Esau! He suffered from the Bellephorentian
+sickness. Was not his mother, the seller of perfumes, seduced by a
+Roman soldier, one Pantherus?.......................... [6]
+
+ANTHONY (_suddenly raising his head, looks at them a moment in silence;
+then advancing boldly upon them, exclaims_):
+
+"Doctors, magicians, bishops, and deacons, men and phantoms, away from
+me! begone! Ye are all lies!"
+
+THE HERESIARCHS. "We have martyrs more martyrs than thine, prayers
+that are more difficult, outbursts of love more sublime, ecstasies as
+prolonged as thine are."
+
+ANTHONY. "But ye have no revelation! no proofs!"
+
+(_They all at once brandish in the air their rolls of papyrus, tablets
+of wood, scrolls of leather, rolls of woven stuff bearing inscriptions;
+and elbowing; and pushing each other, they all shout to Anthony._)
+
+THE CERINTHIANS. "Behold the Gospel of the Hebrews!"
+
+THE MARCIONITES. "Behold the Gospel of the Lord!"
+
+THE MARCOSIANS. "The Gospel of Eve!"
+
+THE EUCRATITES. "The Gospel of Thomas!"
+
+THE CAINITES. "The Gospel of Judas!"
+
+BASILIDES. "The Treatise upon the Destiny of the Soul!"
+
+MANES. "The Prophecy of Barkouf!"
+
+(_Anthony struggles, breaks from them, escapes them; and in a shadowy
+corner perceives_--)
+
+THE AGED EBIONITES
+
+(_withered as mummies, their eyes dull and dim, their eyebrows white as
+frost._
+
+_In tremulous voices they exclaim_:--)
+
+"We have known him, we have seen him! We knew the Carpenter's Son! We
+were then the same age as he; we dwelt in the same street. He used to
+amuse himself by modelling little birds of mud; aided his father at his
+work without fear of the sharp tools, or selected for his mother the
+skeins of dyed wool. Then he made a voyage to Egypt, from whence he
+brought back wondrous secrets. We were at Jericho when he came to find
+the Eater of Locusts. They talked together in a low voice, so that no
+one could hear what was said. But it was from that time that his name
+began to be noised abroad in Galilee, and that men began to relate many
+fables regarding him."
+
+(_They reiterate, tremulously_:)
+
+"We knew him! we others, we knew him!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah, speak on, speak! What was his face like?"
+
+TERTULLIAN. "His face was wild and repulsive; forasmuch as he
+had burthened himself with all the crimes, all the woes, all the
+deformities of mankind."
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! no, no! I imagine, on the contrary, that his entire
+person must have been glorious with a beauty greater than the beauty of
+man!"
+
+EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. "There is indeed, at Paneades, propped up against
+the walls of a crumbling edifice surrounded by a wilderness of weeds
+and creeping plants, a certain statue of stone which, some say, was
+erected by the Woman healed of the issue of blood. But time has gnawed
+the face of the statue, and the rains have worn the inscription away."
+
+(_A woman steps forward from the group of the Carpocratians._)
+
+MARCELLINA. "I was once a deaconess at Rome, in a little church, where
+I used to exhibit to the faithful, the silver images, of Saint Paul,
+Homer, Pythagoras and Jesus Christ.
+
+"I have only kept that of Jesus."
+
+(_She half opens her mantle._)
+
+"Dost thou desire it?"
+
+A VOICE. "He reappears himself when we call upon him! It is the
+hour!--come!"
+
+(_And Anthony feels a brutal hand seize him by the arm, and drag him
+away._
+
+_He mounts a stairway in complete darkness; and after having ascended
+many steps, he finds himself before a door._
+
+_Then the one who is leading him--(is it Hilarion?--he does not
+know)--whispers in the ear of another_: "The Lord is about to
+come!"--_and they are admitted into a chamber, with a very low ceiling,
+and without furniture._
+
+_The first object which attracts his attention is a long blood-colored
+chrysalis, with a human head surrounded by rays, and the word_ Knouphus
+_inscribed all around it in Greek characters. It is placed upon the
+shaft of a column, which is in turn supported by a broad pedestal.
+Hanging upon the walls of the chamber are medallions of polished iron
+representing the heads of various animals:--the head of an ox, the head
+of a lion, the head of an eagle, the head of a dog, and the head of an
+ass--again!_
+
+[Illustration: ... a long blood-colored chrysalis]
+
+_Earthen lamps, suspended below these images, create a vacillating
+light. Through a hole in the wall, Anthony can see the moon shining
+far off upon the waves; he can even hear the feeble regular sound of
+lapping water; together with the heavy thud occasionally caused by the
+bumping of a ship's hull against the stones of the mole._
+
+_There are men crouching down, with their faces hidden by their
+mantles. From time to time they utter sounds resembling a smothered
+bark. There are women also, sleeping with their foreheads resting upon
+their arms, and their arms supported by their knees; they are so hidden
+by their garments as to resemble heaps of cloth piled up at intervals
+against the wall. Near them are half naked children, whose persons
+swarm with vermin. They watch with idiotic stare the burning of the
+lamps; and nothing is done: all are waiting for something._
+
+_They talk in undertones about family matters, or recommend to each
+other various remedies for their ailments. Some of them must embark
+at earliest daylight; the persecution is becoming too terrible to be
+endured. Nevertheless, the pagans are easily enough deceived_:--"The
+fools imagine that we are really adoring Knouphus!"
+
+_But one of the brethren, feeling himself suddenly inspired, takes his
+place before the column, where a basket has already been placed, filled
+with fennel and aristolochia. On the top of the basket is placed a
+loaf._)
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER
+
+(_unrolling a placard covered with designs representing cylinders
+blending with and fitting into one another, commences to pray_:)
+
+"The ray of the Word descended upon the darknesses; and there arose a
+mighty cry, like unto the voice of Light."
+
+ALL (_swaying their bodies in unison, respond_):
+
+"Kyrie eleison!"
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "Then was Man created by the infamous
+God of Israel, aided by those who are these (_pointing to the
+medallions_)--Astophaios, Oraios, Sabaoth, Adonai, Eloi, Iao!
+
+"And Man, hideous, feeble, formless and thoughtless, lay upon the slime
+of the earth."
+
+ALL (_in plaintive accents_):
+
+"Kyrie eleison!"
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "But Sophia, compassionating him, vivified him
+with a spark of her own soul.
+
+"Then God, beholding Man so beautiful, waxed wroth; and imprisoned him
+within His own kingdom, forbidding him to touch the Tree of Knowledge.
+
+"Again did the other succor him. She sent to him the Serpent, who, by
+many long subterfuges, made him disobey that law of hate.
+
+"And Man, having tasted knowledge, understood celestial things."
+
+ALL (_raising their voices_):
+
+"Kyrie Eleison!"
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "But Iabdalaoth through vengeance cast down man
+into the world of matter, and the Serpent with him."
+
+ALL (_in a very low tone_):
+
+"Kyrie Eleison!"
+
+(_Then all hold their peace, and there is silence._
+
+_The odors of the port mingle with the smoke of the lamps in the warm
+air. The lamp-wicks crepitate; their flames are about to go out, long
+mosquitoes flit in rapid circlings about them. And Anthony groans
+in an agony of anguish, as with the feeling that a monstrosity is
+floating about him, as with the fear of a crime that is about to be
+accomplished._
+
+_But_--)
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER (_stamping his heel upon the floor, snapping his
+fingers, tossing his head wildly, suddenly chants to a furious rhythm,
+with accompaniment of cymbals and a shrill flute_:--)
+
+"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!
+
+"O swift one, who runneth without feet, captor who seizeth without hand!
+
+"Sinuous as the rivers, orbicular as the sun, black, with spots of
+gold, like the firmament star-besprinkled! Like unto the intertwinings
+of the vine, and the circumvolutions of entrails!
+
+"Unengendered! eater of earth! immortally young! unfailing
+perspicacious! honored at Epidaurus! Kindly to man! thou who didst heal
+King Ptolemy, and the warriors, of Moses, and Glaucus, son of Minos!
+
+"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!"
+
+ALL (_repeat_):
+
+"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!"
+
+(_Nevertheless, nothing yet appears._)
+
+"Why? What aileth him?"
+
+(_And they concert together, devise means._
+
+_An old man presents a clod of turf as an offering. Then something
+upheaves within the basket. The mass of verdure shakes; the flowers
+fall, and the head of a python appears._
+
+[Illustration: ... the flowers fall and the head of a python
+appears]
+
+_It passes slowly around the edge of the loaf, like a circle moving
+around an immovable disk;--then it unfolds itself, lengthens out; it is
+enormous and of great weight. Lest it should touch the floor, the men
+uphold it against their breasts, the women support it upon their heads,
+the children hold it up at arms' length; and its tail, issuing through
+the hole in the wall, stretches away indefinitely to the bottom of the
+sea. Its coils double; they fill the chamber; they enclose Anthony._)
+
+THE FAITHFUL (_press their mouths against its skin, snatch from one
+another the loaf which it has bitten, and cry aloud_:--)
+
+"It is thou! it is thou!
+
+"First raised up by Moses, broken by Ezechias, re-established by the
+Messiah. He drank thee in the waters of baptism; but thou didst leave
+him in the Garden of Olives; and then indeed he felt his own weakness!
+
+"Writhing about the arms of the cross, and above his head, while
+casting thy slime upon the crown of thorns, thou didst behold him die!
+For thou art not Jesus, thou!--thou art the Word! thou art the Christ!"
+
+(_Anthony faints with horror, and falls prostrate in front of his hut
+upon the splinters of wood, where the torch that had slipped from his
+hand, is burning low._
+
+_The shock arouses him. Opening his eyes again, he perceives the Nile,
+brightly undulating under the moon, like a vast serpent winding over
+the sands; so that the hallucination returns upon him again; he has not
+left the company of the Ophites; they surround him, call him; he sees
+them carrying baggage, descending to the port. He embarks along with
+them._
+
+_An inappreciable time elapses._
+
+_Then the vaults of a prison environ him. Iron bars in front of him
+make black lines against a background of blue; and in the darkness
+beside him people are praying and weeping surrounded by others who
+exhort and console._
+
+[Illustration: ... and in the darkness beside him people are
+praying]
+
+_Without, there is a murmur like the deep humming of a vast crowd, and
+there is splendour as of a summer's day._
+
+_Shrill voices announce watermelons for sale, iced drinks, and cushions
+of woven grass to sit upon. From time to time there are bursts of
+applause. He hears the sound of footsteps above his head._
+
+_Suddenly a long roar is heard, mighty and cavernous as the roar of
+water in an aqueduct._
+
+_And he sees, directly opposite, behind the bars of another compartment
+across the arena a lion walking to and fro, then a line of sandals,
+bare legs, and purple fringes. Beyond are the vast circling wreaths
+of people, in symmetrical tiers, enlarging as they rise, from the
+lowest which hems in the arena to the uppermost above which masts
+rise to sustain a hyacinth-colored awning, suspended in air by ropes.
+Stairways radiating toward the centre, divide these huge circles of
+stone at regular intervals. The benches disappear under a host of
+spectators--knights, senators, soldiers, plebeians, vestals, and
+courtesans--in woollen hoods, in silken maniples, in fallow-colored
+tunics; together with aigrettes of precious stones, plumes of feathers,
+the fasces of lictors; and all this swarming multitude deafens and
+stupefies Anthony with its shoutings, its tumultuous fury, as of an
+enormous boiling vat. In the middle of the arena, a vase of incense
+smokes upon an altar._
+
+_Anthony thus knows that the people with him are Christians condemned
+to be thrown to the wild beasts. The men wear the red mantle of the
+pontiffs of Saturn; the women, the bandellettes of Ceres. Their friends
+divide among themselves shreds of their garments, and rings. To obtain
+access to the prison, they say, costs a great deal of money. But what
+matter! They will remain until it is all over._
+
+_Anthony notices among these consolers, a certain bald-headed man,
+in a black tunic: Anthony has seen that face somewhere before. The
+consoler discourses to them concerning the nothingness of this world,
+and the felicity of the Elect. Anthony feels within him a transport of
+celestial love; he longs for the opportunity to lay down his life for
+the Saviour--not knowing as yet whether he himself is to be numbered
+among the martyrs._
+
+_But all--except a certain Phrygian, with long hair, who stands with
+his arms uplifted--have a look of woe. One old man is sobbing upon a
+bench; a youth standing close by, with drooping head, abandons himself
+to a reverie of sorrow._
+
+THE OLD MAN _had refused to pay the customary contribution before the
+statue of Minerva, erected at the angle of the cross-roads; and he
+gazes at his companions with a look that signifies_:--)
+
+"Ye ought to have succored me! Communities can sometimes so arrange
+matters as to insure their being left in peace. Some among ye also
+procured those letters which falsely allege that one has sacrificed to
+idols."
+
+(_He asks aloud_:--)
+
+"Was it not Petrus of Alexandria who laid down the rule concerning what
+should be done by those who have yielded to torture?"
+
+(_Then, to himself_:--)
+
+"Ah! how cruel this at my age! My infirmities make me so weak!
+Nevertheless, I might easily have lived until the coming winter, or
+longer!"
+
+(_The memory of his little garden makes him sad, and he gazes toward
+the altar._)
+
+THE YOUNG MAN (_who disturbed the festival of Apollo by violence and
+blows, murmurs_:--)
+
+"Yet it would have been easy for me to have fled to the mountains!"
+
+(_One of the brothers answers_:--)
+
+"But the soldiers would have captured thee!"
+
+THE YOUNG MAN. "Oh! I would have done as Cyprian did--I would have
+returned, and the second time I would surely have had more force!"
+
+(_Then he thinks of the innumerable days that he might have lived, of
+all the joys that he might have known, but will never know; and he
+gazes toward the altar._
+
+_But_--)
+
+THE MAN IN THE BLACK TUNIC (_rushes to his side._)
+
+"What scandal! What! Thou! a victim of God's own choice! And all these
+women here who are looking at thee! Nay, think what thou art doing!
+Moreover, remember that God sometimes vouchsafes to perform a miracle.
+Pionius numbed and made powerless the hands of his executioners; the
+blood of Polycarp extinguished the fire of the stake."
+
+(_Then he turns to the Old Man_:--)
+
+"Father, father! it behooves thee to edify us by thy death! By longer
+delaying it, thou wouldst doubtless commit some evil action that would
+lose thee the fruit of all thy good works. Remember, also, that the
+power of God is infinite; and it may come to pass that all the people
+will be converted by thy example."
+
+(_And in the great den opposite, the lions stride back and forth,
+ceaselessly, with a rapid continuous motion. The largest suddenly looks
+at Anthony and roars, and a vapour issues from his jaws._
+
+_The women are huddled against the men._)
+
+THE CONSOLER (_goes from one to the other._)
+
+"What would ye say, what wouldst thou say if thou wert to be burned
+with red-hot irons, if thou wert to be torn asunder by horses, if thou
+hadst been condemned to have thy body smeared with honey, and thus
+exposed to be devoured by flies! As it is, thou wilt only suffer the
+death of a hunter surprised by a beast in the woods."
+
+(_Anthony would prefer all those things to death by the fangs of the
+horrible wild beasts; he fancies already that he feels their teeth and
+their claws, that he hears his bones cracking between their jaws._
+
+_A keeper enters the dungeon; the martyrs tremble._
+
+_Only one remains impassable, the Phrygian, who prays standing apart
+from the rest. He has burned three temples; and he advances with arms
+uplifted, mouth open, face turned toward heaven, seeing nothing around
+him, like a somnambulist._)
+
+THE CONSOLER (_shouts_). "Back! back! lest the spirit of Montanus might
+come upon you."
+
+ALL (_recoil from the Phrygian, and vociferate_)
+
+"Damnation to the Montanist!"
+
+(_They insult him, spit upon him, excite each other to beat him._
+
+_The rearing lions bite each other's manes_;)
+
+THE PEOPLE "To the beasts with them, to the beasts."
+
+_The Martyrs burst into sobs, and embrace each other passionately. A
+cup of narcotic wine is offered them. It is passed from hand to hand,
+quickly._
+
+_Another keeper, standing at the door of the den, awaits the signal.
+The den opens; a lion comes out._
+
+_He crosses the arena with great oblique strides. Other lions follow in
+file after him; then a bear, three panthers, and some leopards. They
+scatter through the arena like a flock in a meadow._
+
+_The crack of a whip resounds. The Christians stagger forward; and
+their brethren push them, that it may be over the sooner._
+
+_Anthony closes his eyes._
+
+_He opens them again. But darkness envelopes him._
+
+_Soon the darkness brightens; and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated
+with knolls, such as might be seen about abandoned quarries._
+
+[Illustration: ... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated
+with knolls]
+
+_Here and there a tuft of shrubbery rises among the slabs of stone,
+level with the soil; and there are white figures, vaguer than clouds,
+bending over the slabs._
+
+_Others approach, softly, silently. Eyes gleam through the slits of
+long veils. By the easy indifference of their walk, and the perfumes
+exhaled from their garments, Anthony knows they are patrician women.
+There are men also, but of inferior condition; for their faces are at
+once simple-looking and coarse._
+
+(_One of the Women, taking a long breath_:)
+
+"Ah! how good the cool air of night is, among the sepulchers! I am so
+weary of the softness of beds, the turmoil of days, the heavy heat of
+the sun!"
+
+(_Her maid-servant takes from a canvas bag, a torch which she ignites.
+The faithful light other torches by it, and plant them upon the tombs._)
+
+A WOMAN (_panting_).
+
+"I am here at last! Oh how wearisome to be the wife of an idolator!"
+
+ANOTHER. "These visits to the prisons, interviews with our brethren,
+are all matters of suspicion to our husbands! And we must even hide
+ourselves in order to make the sign of the cross; they would take it
+for a magical conjuration!"
+
+ANOTHER. "With my husband it was a quarrel every day. I would not
+submit myself to his brutal exactions; therefore he has had me
+prosecuted as a Christian."
+
+ANOTHER. "Do you remember Lucius, that young man who was so beautiful,
+who was dragged like Hector, with his heels attached to a chariot,
+from the Esquiline Gate to the mountains of Tibur?--and how his blood
+spattered the bushes on either side of the road? I gathered up the
+drops of his blood. Behold it!"
+
+(_She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses, and
+flings herself down upon the slabs, crying aloud_:--)
+
+[Illustration: She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers
+it with kisses ...]
+
+"Ah! my friend! my friend!"
+
+A MAN. "It is just three years to-day since Domitilla died. They stoned
+her at the further end of the Grove of Proserpine. I gathered her
+bones, which shone like glowworms in the grass. The earth how covers
+them."
+
+(_He casts himself down upon a tomb._)
+
+"O my betrothed! my betrothed!"
+
+(_And all the others scattered over the plain_:--)
+
+"O my sister! O my brother! O my daughter! O my mother!"
+
+(_Some kneel, covering their faces with their hands; others lie down
+upon the ground with their arms extended; and the sobs they smother
+shake their breasts with such violence as though their hearts were
+breaking with grief. Sometimes they look up to heaven, exclaiming_:--)
+
+"Have mercy upon her soul, O my God! She languishes in the sojourn of
+Shades; vouchsafe to admit her to thy Resurrection, that she may enjoy
+Thy Light!"
+
+(_Or, with eyes fixed upon the gravestones, they murmur to the dead_:--)
+
+"Be at peace, beloved! and suffer not! I have brought thee wine and
+meats!"
+
+A WIDOW. "Here is pultis, made by my own hands, as he used to like it,
+with plenty of eggs and a double measure of flour! We are going to eat
+it together as in other days, are we not?"
+
+(_She lifts a little piece to her lips, and suddenly bursts into an
+extravagant and frenzied laugh._
+
+_The others also nibble a little bit as she does and drink a mouthful
+of wine._
+
+_They recount to each other the stories of their martyrs; grief becomes
+exalted! libations redouble. Their tear-swimming eyes are fixed upon
+each other's faces. They stammer with intoxication and grief; gradually
+hands touch hands, lips join themselves to lips, and they seek each
+other upon the tombs, between the cups and the torches._
+
+_The sky begins to whiten. The fog makes damp their garments; and,
+without appearing even to know one another, they depart by different
+ways and seek their homes._
+
+_The sun shines; the weeds and the grass have grown higher; the face of
+the plain is changed._
+
+_And Anthony, looking between tall bamboos, sees distinctly a forest of
+columns, of bluish-grey color. These are tree-trunks, all originating
+from one vast trunk. From each branch of the colossal tree descend
+other branches which may bury themselves in the soil; and the aspect of
+all these horizontal and perpendicular lines, indefinitely multiplied,
+would closely resemble a monstrous timber-work, were it not that they
+have small figs[7] growing upon them here and there, and a blackish
+foliage, like that of the sycamore._
+
+_He perceives in the forkings of their branches, hanging bunches of
+yellow flowers, violet flowers also, and ferns that resemble the plumes
+of splendid birds._
+
+_Under the lowest branches the horns of a bubalus gleam at intervals,
+and the bright eyes of antelopes are visible; there are hosts of
+parrots; there are butterflies flittering hither and thither; lizards
+lazily drag themselves up or down; flies buzz and hum; and in the midst
+of the silence, a sound is audible as of the palpitation of a deep and
+mighty life._
+
+_Seated upon a sort of pyre at the entrance of the wood is a strange
+being--a man--besmeared with cow-dung, completely naked, more withered
+than a mummy; his articulations form knots at the termination of bones
+that resemble sticks. He has bunches of shells suspended from his ears;
+his face is very long, and his nose like a vulture's beak. His left arm
+remains motionlessly erect in air, anchylosed, rigid as a stake; and he
+has been seated here so long that birds have made themselves a nest in
+his long hair._
+
+_At the four corners of his wooden pyre flame four fires. The sun is
+directly in front of him. He gazes steadily at it with widely-opened
+eyes; and, then without looking at Anthony, asks him_:--)
+
+"Brahmin from the shores of the Nile, what hast thou to say regarding
+these things?"
+
+(_Flames suddenly burst out on all sides of him, through the intervals
+between the logs of the pyre; and_--)
+
+THE GYMNOSOPHIST (_continues_).
+
+"Lo! I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I dwelt in
+the tree behind me."
+
+[Illustration: I have buried myself in solitude, like the
+rhinoceros. I dwelt in the tree behind me.]
+
+(_The vast fig-tree, indeed, shows in one of its groves, a natural
+excavation about the size of a man._)
+
+"And I nourished me with flowers and fruits, observing the precepts so
+rigidly that not even a dog ever beheld me eat.
+
+"Inasmuch as existence originates from corruption, corruption from
+desire, desire from sensation, sensation from contact, I have ever
+avoided all action, all contact, and perpetually--motionless as the
+stela of a tomb, exhaling my breath from my two nostrils, fixing my
+eyes upon my nose, and contemplating the ether in my mind, the world in
+my members, the moon in my heart--I dreamed of the essence of the great
+Soul whence continually escape the principles of life, even as sparks
+escape from fire.
+
+"Thus at last I found the supreme Soul in all beings, and all beings
+in the supreme Soul; and I have been able to make mine own soul all my
+senses.
+
+"I receive knowledge directly from heaven, like the bird Tchataka, who
+quenches his thirst from falling rain only.
+
+"Even by so much as things are known to me, things no longer exist.
+
+"For me now there is no more hope, no more anguish, there is neither
+happiness nor virtue, nor day nor night, nor Thou nor I--absolutely
+nothing!
+
+"My awful austerities have made me superior to the Powers. A single
+contraction of my thought would suffice to kill a hundred sons of
+kings, to dethrone gods, to overturn the world."
+
+(_He utters all these things in a monotonous voice._
+
+_The surrounding leaves shrivel up. Fleeing rats rush over the ground._
+
+_He slowly turns his eyes downward toward the rising flames, and then
+continues_:--)
+
+"I have loathed Form, I have loathed Perception, I have loathed even
+Knowledge itself, for the thought does not survive the transitory fact
+which caused it; and mind, like all else, is only an illusion.
+
+"All that is engendered will perish; all that is dead must live again;
+the beings that have even now disappeared shall sojourn again in wombs
+as yet unformed, and shall again return to earth to serve in woe other
+creatures.
+
+"But inasmuch as I have rolled through the revolution of an indefinite
+multitude of existences, under the envelopes of gods, of men, and of
+animals, I renounce further wanderings; I will endure this weariness
+no more! I abandon the filthy hostelry of this body of mine, built
+with flesh, reddened with blood, covered with a hideous skin, full of
+uncleanliness; and, for my recompense, I go at last to slumber in the
+deepest deeps of the Absolute--in Annihilation."
+
+(_The flames rise to his chest, then envelope him. His head rises
+through them as through a hole in the wall. His cavernous eyes still
+remain icicle open, gazing._)
+
+ANTHONY (_rises_).
+
+(_The torch, which had fallen to the ground, has ignited the splinters
+of wood; and the flames have singed his beard._
+
+_With a loud cry, Anthony tramples the fire out; and, when nothing
+remains but ashes, he exclaims_:--)
+
+"Where can Hilarion be? He was here a moment ago. I saw him!
+
+"What! No; it is impossible; I must have been mistaken!
+
+"Yet why?... Perhaps my cabin, these stones, this sand, have no real
+existence. I am becoming mad! Let me be calm! Where was I? What was it
+that happened?
+
+"Ah! the gymnosophist!... Such a death is frequent among the sages of
+India. Kalanos burned himself before Alexander; another did likewise
+in the time of Augustus. What hatred of life men must have to do thus!
+Unless, indeed, they are impelled by pride alone?... Yet in any event
+they have the intrepidity of martyrs.... As for the latter, I can now
+well believe what has been told me regarding the debauchery they cause.
+
+"And before that? Yes: I remember now! the host of the Heresiarchs!
+What outcries! What eyes! Yet why so much rebellion of the flesh, so
+much dissoluteness, so many aberrations of the intellect.
+
+"They claim, nevertheless, to seek God through all those ways! What
+right have I to curse them--I, who stumble so often in mine own path?
+I was perhaps about to learn more of them at the moment when they
+disappeared. Too rapid was the whirl; I had no time to answer. Now I
+feel as though there were more space, more light in my understanding. I
+am calm. I even feel myself able to.... What is this? I thought I had
+put out the fire!"
+
+(_A flame flits among the rocks; and soon there comes the sound of
+a voice--broken, convulsed as by sobs--from afar off, among the
+mountains._)
+
+"Can it be the cry of a hyena, or the lamentation of some traveler that
+has lost his way?"
+
+(_Anthony listens. The flame draws nearer._
+
+_And he beholds a weeping woman approach, leaning upon the shoulder of
+a white-bearded man._
+
+_She is covered with a purple robe in rags. He is bareheaded like lier,
+wears a tunic of the same color, and carries in his hands a brazen
+vase, whence arises a thin blue flame._
+
+_Anthony feels a fear come upon him, and wishes to know who this woman
+may be._)
+
+THE STRANGER SIMON. "It is a young girl, a poor child that I lead about
+with me everywhere."
+
+(_He uplifts the brazen vase._
+
+_Anthony contemplates the girl, by the light of its vacillating flame._
+
+_There are marks of bites upon her face, traces of blows upon her arms;
+her dishevelled hair entangles itself in the rents of her rags; her
+eyes appear to be insensible to light._)
+
+SIMON. "Sometimes she remains thus for a long, long time without
+speaking; then all at once she revives, and discourses of marvellous
+things."
+
+ANTHONY. "In truth?"
+
+SIMON. "Ennoia; Ennoia! Ennoia!--tell us what thou hast to say!"
+
+(_She rolls her eyes like one awaking from a dream, slowly passes her
+fingers over her brows, and in a mournful voice, speaks_:--)
+
+Helena[8] (_Ennoia_).
+
+[Illustration: Helena - Ennoia]
+
+"I remember a distant land, of the color of emerald. Only one tree
+grows there.
+
+(_Anthony starts_).
+
+"Upon each of its tiers of broad-extending arms, a pair of Spirits
+dwell in air. All about them the branches intercross, like the veins
+of a body; and they watch the eternal Life circulating, from the roots
+deep plunging into darkness even to the leafy summit that rises higher
+than the sun. I, dwelling upon the second branch, illuminated the
+nights of Summer with my face."
+
+ANTHONY, (_tapping his own forehead_:--)
+
+"Ah! ah! I comprehend! her head!..."
+
+SIMON (_placing his finger to his lips_:--)
+
+"Hush!"
+
+HELENA. "The sail remained well filled by the wind; the keel cleft the
+foam. He said to me: 'What though I afflict my country, though I lose
+my kingdom! Thou wilt belong to me, in my house!'
+
+"How sweet was the lofty chamber of his palace! Lying upon the ivory
+bed, he caressed my long hair, singing amorously the while.
+
+"Even at the close of the day I beheld the two camps, the watchfires
+being lighted, Ulysses at the entrance of his tent, armed Achilles
+driving a chariot along the sea-beach."
+
+ANTHONY. "Why! she is utterly mad! How came this to pass?..."
+
+SIMON. "Hush! hush!"
+
+HELENA. "They anointed me with unguents, and sold me to the people that
+I might amuse them.
+
+"One evening I was standing with the sistrum in my hand, making music
+for some Greek sailors who were dancing. The rain was falling upon the
+roof of the tavern like a cataract, and the cups of warm wine were
+smoking.
+
+"A man suddenly entered, although the door was not opened to let him
+pass."
+
+SIMON. "It was I! I found thee again!
+
+"Behold her, Anthony, she whom they call Sigeh, Ennoia, Barbelo,
+Prounikos! The Spirits governing the world were jealous of her; and
+they imprisoned her within the body of a woman.
+
+"She was that Helen of Troy, whose memory was cursed by the poet
+Stesichorus. She was Lucretia, the patrician woman violated by a king.
+She was Delilah, by whom Samson's locks were shorn.... She has loved
+adultery, idolatry, lying and foolishness. She has prostituted herself
+to all nations. She has sung at the angles of all cross-roads. She has
+kissed the faces of all men.
+
+"At Tyre, she, the Syrian, was the mistress of robbers. She caroused
+with them during the nights; and she concealed assassins amidst the
+vermin of her tepid bed."
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! what is this to me?..."
+
+SIMON (_with a furious look_:--)
+
+"I tell thee that I have redeemed her, and re-established her in her
+former splendor; insomuch that Caius Cæsar Caligula became enamoured of
+her, desiring to sleep with the Moon!"
+
+ANTHONY. "What then?..."
+
+SIMON. "Why this, that she herself is the Moon! Has not Pope Clement
+written how she was imprisoned in a tower? Three hundred persons
+surrounded the tower to watch it; and the moon was seen at each of the
+loop-holes at the same time, although there is not more than one moon
+in the world, nor more than one Ennoia!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes ... it seems to me that I remember...."
+
+(_He falls into a reverie._)
+
+SIMON. "Innocent as the Christ who died for men, so did she devote
+herself for women. For the impotence of Jehovah is proven by the
+transgression of Adama, and we must shake off the yoke of the old law,
+which is antipathetic to the order of things.[9]
+
+"I have preached the revival in Ephraim and in Issachar by the torrent
+of Bizor, beyond the Lake of Houleh, in the valley of Maggedo, further
+than the mountains, at Bostra and at Damascus. Let all come to me who
+are covered with wine, who are covered with filth, who are covered with
+blood! and I shall take away their uncleanliness with the Holy Spirit,
+called Minerva by the Greeks. She is Minerva! she is the Holy Spirit! I
+am Jupiter, Apollo, the Christ, the Paraclete, the great might of God,
+incarnated in the person of Simon!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! it is thou!... so it is thou! But I know thy crimes!
+
+"Thou wast born at Gittoi near Samaria, Dositheas, thy first master,
+drove thee from him. Thou didst execrate Saint Paul because he
+converted one of thy wives; and, vanquished by Saint Peter, in thy rage
+and terror thou didst cast into the waves the bag which contained thy
+artifices!"
+
+SIMON. "Dost thou desire them?"
+
+(_Anthony looks at him, and an interior voice whispers hi his
+heart:--"Why not?"_)
+
+SIMON (_continues_).
+
+"He who knows the forces of Nature and the essence of Spirits must be
+able to perform miracles. It has been the dream of all sages; it is the
+desire which even now gnaws thee!--confess it!"
+
+"In the sight of the multitude of the Romans, I flew in the air so
+high that none could behold me move. Nero ordered that I should be
+decapitated; but it was the head of a sheep which fell upon the ground
+in lieu of mine. At last they buried me alive; but I rose again upon
+the third day. The proof is that thou dost behold me before thee!"
+
+(_He presents his hands to Anthony to smell. They have the stench of
+corpse-flesh. Anthony recoils with loathing._)
+
+"I can make serpents of bronze writhe; I can make marble statues
+laugh; I can make dogs speak. I will show thee vast quantities of gold;
+I will reestablish kings; thou shalt see nations prostrate themselves
+in adoration before me! I can walk upon the clouds and upon the waves,
+I can pass through mountains, I can make myself appear as a youth, as
+an old man, as a tiger, or as an ant; I can assume thy features; I can
+give thee mine; I can make the thunder follow after me. Dost hear it?"
+
+(_The thunder rumbles; flashes of lightning succeed._)
+
+"It is the voice of the Most High; for 'the Lord thy God is a fire;'
+and all creations are accomplished by sparks from the fire-centre of
+all things.
+
+Thou shalt even now receive the baptism of it--that second baptism
+announced by Jesus, which fell upon the apostles on a day of tempest
+when the windows were open!"
+
+(_And stirring up the flame with his hand, slowly, as though preparing
+to sprinkle Anthony with it, he continues_:--)
+
+"Mother of mercies, thou who discoverest all secrets, in order that we
+may find rest in the eighth mansion...."
+
+ANTHONY (_cries out_:--)
+
+"Oh! that I had only some holy water!..."
+
+(_The flame goes out, producing much smoke._
+
+_Ennoia and Simon have disappeared._
+
+_An exceedingly cold, opaque and f[oe]tid mist fills the atmosphere._)
+
+ANTHONY (_groping with his hands like a blind man_:--)
+
+"Where am I?... I fear lest I fall into the abyss! And the cross,
+surely, is too far from me. Ah! what a night! what a terrible night!"
+
+(_The mist is parted by a gust of wind; and Anthony sees two men
+covered with long white tunics._
+
+_The first is of lofty stature, with a gentle face, and a grave mien.
+His blond hair, parted like that of Christ, falls upon his shoulders.
+He has cast aside a wand that he had been holding in his hand; his
+companion takes it up, making a reverence after the fashion of the
+Orientals._
+
+_The latter is small of stature, thick set, flat-nosed; his neck and
+shoulders expresses good natured simplicity._
+
+_Both are barefooted, bareheaded, and dusty, like persons who have made
+a long journey._)
+
+ANTHONY (_starting up_:--)
+
+"What do ye seek? Speak!... Begone from here!"
+
+DAMIS (_who is a little man_).
+
+"Nay! nay! be not angered, good hermit. As for that I seek, I know not
+myself what it is! Here is the Master!"
+
+(_He sits down. The other stranger remains standing. Silence._)
+
+ANTHONY (_asks_).
+
+"Then ye come?..."
+
+DAMIS. "Oh! from afar off--very far off!"
+
+ANTHONY. "And ye go?..."
+
+DAMIS (_pointing to the other_)
+
+"Whithersoever he shall desire!"
+
+ANTHONY. "But who may he be?"
+
+DAMIS. "Look well upon him!"
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_).
+
+"He looks like a saint! If I could only dare...."
+
+(_The mist is all gone. The night is very clear. The moon shines._)
+
+DAMIS. "Of what art thou dreaming, that thou dost not speak?"
+
+ANTHONY. "I was thinking.... Oh! nothing!"
+
+DAMIS (_approaches Apollonius, and walks all round him several times,
+bending himself as he walks, never raising his head_:--)
+
+"Master, here is a Galilean hermit who desires to know the beginnings
+of wisdom."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Let him approach!" (_Anthony hesitates._)
+
+DAMIS. "Approach!"
+
+APOLLONIUS (_in a voice of thunder_:--)
+
+"Approach! Thou wouldst know who I am, what I have done, and what I
+think,--is it not so, child?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Always supposing that these things can contribute to the
+salvation of my soul."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Rejoice! I am about to inform thee of them!"
+
+DAMIS (_in an undertone, to Anthony_:--)
+
+"Is it possible? He must surely have at the first glance discerned in
+thee extraordinary aptitude for philosophy. I shall also strive to
+profit by his instruction."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "First of all, I shall tell thee of the long course which
+I have followed in order to obtain the doctrine; and if thou canst
+discover in all my life one evil action, thou shalt bid me pause, for
+he who hath erred in his actions may well give scandal by his words."
+
+DAMIS (_to Anthony_).
+
+"How just a man? Is he not?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Indeed I believe him to be sincere."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Upon the night of my birth, my mother imagined that
+she was gathering flowers by the shore of a great lake. A flash of
+lightning appeared; and she brought me into the world to the music of
+the voices of swans singing to her in her dream.
+
+"Until I had reached the age of fifteen I was plunged thrice a day into
+the fountain, Asbadeus, whose waters make perjurers hydropical; and my
+body was rubbed with the leaves of the onyza, that I might be chaste.
+
+"A Palmyrian princess came one evening to seek me, offering me
+treasures that she knew to be in the tombs. A hierodule of the temple
+of Diana, slew herself in despair with the sacrificial knife; and the
+governor of Cilicia, finding all his promises of no avail, cried out in
+the presence of my family that he would cause my death; but it was he
+that died only three days after, assassinated by the Romans."
+
+DAMIS (_nudging Anthony with his elbow_).
+
+"Eh? did I not tell thee? What a man!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "For the space of four successive years I maintained the
+unbroken silence of the Pythagoreans. The most sudden and unexpected
+pain never extorted a sigh from me; and when I used to enter the
+theatre, all drew away from me, as from a phantom."
+
+DAMIS. "Wouldst thou have done so much?--thou?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "After the period of my trial had been accomplished, I
+undertook to instruct the priests regarding the tradition they had
+lost."
+
+ANTHONY. "What tradition?"
+
+DAMIS. "Interrupt him not! Be silent!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I have conversed with the Samaneans of the Ganges, with
+the astrologers of Chaldea, with the magi of Babylon, with the Gaulish
+Druids, with the priests of the negroes! I have ascended the fourteen
+Olympii; I have sounded the Scythian lakes; I have measured the breadth
+of the Desert!"
+
+DAMIS. "It is all true! I was with him the while!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "But first I had visited the Hyrcanian Sea; I made the tour
+of it; and descending by way of the country of the Baraomati, where
+Bucephalus is buried, I approached the city of Nineveh. At the gates of
+the city, a man drew near me...."
+
+DAMIS. "I--even I, good master! I loved thee from the first. Thou wert
+gentler than a girl and more beautiful than a god!"
+
+APOLLONIUS (_without hearing him_).
+
+"He asked me to accompany him, that he might serve as interpreter."
+
+DAMIS. "But thou didst reply that all languages were familiar to thee,
+and that thou couldst divine all thoughts. Then I kissed the hem of thy
+mantle, and proceeded to walk behind thee."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "After Ctesiphon, we entered upon the territory of Babylon."
+
+DAMIS. "And the Satrap cried aloud on beholding a man so pale."
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_).
+
+"What signifies this?..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "The king received me standing, near a throne of silver,
+in a hall constellated with stars; from the cupola hung suspended by
+invisible threads four great birds of gold, with wings extended."
+
+ANTHONY (_dreamily_).
+
+"Can there be such things in the world?"
+
+DAMIS. "Ah! that is a city! that Babylon! everybody there is rich! The
+houses, which are painted blue, have doors of bronze, and flights of
+steps descending to the river."
+
+(_Drawing lines upon the ground, with his stick_:)
+
+"Like that, seest thou? And then there are temples, there are squares,
+there are baths, there are aqueducts! The palaces are roofed with red
+brass; and the interior ... ah! if thou only knewest!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Upon the north wall rises a tower which supports a second,
+a third, a fourth, a fifth, and there are also three others! The eighth
+is a chapel containing a bed. No one enters it save the woman chosen by
+the priests for the God Belus. I was lodged there by order of the King
+of Babylon."
+
+DAMIS. "As for me, they hardly deigned to give me any attention! So I
+walked through the streets all by myself. I informed myself regarding
+the customs of the people; I visited the workshops; I examined the
+great machines that carry water to the gardens. But I soon wearied of
+being separated from the Master."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At last we left Babylon; and as we travelled by the light
+of the moon, we suddenly beheld an Empusa."
+
+DAMIS. "Aye, indeed! She leaped upon her iron hoof; she brayed like an
+ass; she galloped among the rocks. He shouted imprecations at her; she
+disappeared."
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_).
+
+"What can be their motive?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At Taxilla, the capital of five thousand fortresses,
+Phraortes, King of the Ganges, showed us his guard of black men, whose
+stature was five cubits, and under a pavilion of green brocade in his
+gardens, an enormous elephant, which the queens amused themselves by
+perfuming. It was the elephant of Porus which had taken flight after
+the death of Alexander."
+
+DAMIS. "And which had been found again in a forest."
+
+ANTHONY. "Their speech is superabundant, like that of drunken men!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Phraortes seated us at his own table."
+
+DAMIS. "How strange a country that was! During their drinking
+carousels, the lords used to amuse-themselves by shooting arrows under
+the feet of a dancing child. But I do not approve...."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "When I was ready to depart, the king gave me a parasol,
+and he said to me: 'I have a stud of white camels upon the Indus. When
+thou shalt have no further use for them, blow in their ears. They will
+come back.'
+
+"We descended along the river, marching at night by the light of the
+fire-flies, which glimmered among the bamboos. The slave whistled an
+air to drive away the serpents; and our camels bent down in passing
+below the branches of the trees, as if passing under low gates.
+
+"One day a black child, who held a golden caduceus in his hand,
+conducted us to the College of the Sages. Iarchas, their chief, spoke
+to me of my ancestors, told me of all my thoughts, of all my actions,
+of all my existences. In former time he had been the River Indus; and
+he reminded me that I had once been a boatman upon the Nile, in the
+time of King Sesostris."
+
+DAMIS. "As for me, they told me nothing; so that I know not who or what
+I have been."
+
+ANTHONY. "They have a vague look, like shadows!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Upon the shores of the sea we met with the milk-gorged
+Cynocephali, who were returning from their expedition to the Island
+Taprobana. The tepid waves rolled blond pearls to our feet. The amber
+crackled beneath our steps. Whale-skeletons were whitening in the
+crevasses of the cliffs. At last the land became narrow as a sandal;
+and after casting drops of ocean water toward the sun, we turned to the
+right to return.
+
+"So we returned through the Region of Aromatics, by way of the country
+of the Gangarides, the promontory of Comaria, the country of the
+Sachalites, of the Adramites and of the Homerites; then, across the
+Cassanian mountains, the Red Sea, and the Island Topazos, we penetrated
+into Ethiopia through the country of the Pygmies."
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_).
+
+"How vast the world is!"
+
+DAMIS. "And after we had returned home, we found that all those whom we
+used to know, were dead."
+
+(_Anthony lowers his head. Silence._)
+
+APOLLONIUS (_continues_).
+
+"Then men began to talk of me the world over.
+
+"The plague was ravaging Ephesus; I made them stone an old mendicant
+there."
+
+DAMIS. "And forthwith the plague departed."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! Does he drive away pestilence?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At Cnidos, I cured the man that had become enamored of
+Venus."
+
+DAMIS. "Aye! a fool who had even vowed to espouse her! To love a woman
+is at least comprehensible; but to love a statue--what madness! The
+Master placed his hand upon the young man's heart; and the fire of that
+love was at once extinguished."
+
+ANTHONY. "How! does he also cast out devils?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At Tarentum they were carrying the dead body of a young
+girl to the funeral pyre."
+
+DAMIS. "The Master touched her lips; and she arose and called her
+mother."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! he raises the dead!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I predicted to Vespasian his accession to power."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! he foretells the future!"
+
+DAMIS. "At Corinth there was a ..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "It was when I was at table with him, at the waters of
+Baia ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Excuse me, strangers--it is very late ..."
+
+DAMIS. "At Corinth there was a young man called Menippus ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "No! no!--go ye away!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "A dog came in, bearing a severed hand in his mouth."
+
+DAMIS. "One evening, in one of the suburbs, he met a woman."
+
+ANTHONY. "Do ye not hear me? Begone!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "He wandered in a bewildered way around the couches ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Enough!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "They sought to drive him out."
+
+DAMIS. "So Menippus went with her to her house; they loved one
+another."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "And gently beating the mosaic pavement with his tail, he
+laid the severed hand upon the knees of Flavius."
+
+DAMIS. "But next morning, during the lessons in the school, Menippus
+was pale."
+
+ANTHONY (_starting up in anger_).
+
+"Still continuing! Ah! then let them continue till they be weary,
+inasmuch as there is no ..."
+
+DAMIS. "The Master said to him: 'O beautiful youth, thou dost caress
+a serpent; by a serpent thou art caressed! And when shall be the
+nuptials?' We all went to the wedding."
+
+ANTHONY. "Assuredly I am doing wrong, to hearken to such a story!"
+
+DAMIS. "Servants were hurrying to and fro in the vestibule; doors were
+opening; nevertheless there was no sound made either by the fall of
+the footsteps nor the closing of the doors. The Master placed himself
+beside Menippus. And the bride forthwith became angered against the
+philosophers. But the vessels of gold, the cupbearers, the cooks, the
+panthers disappeared; the roof receded and vanished into air; the walls
+crumbled down; and Apollonius stood alone with the woman at his feet,
+all in tears. She was a vampire who satisfied the beautiful young men
+in order to devour their flesh, for nothing is more desirable for such
+phantoms than the blood of amorous youths."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "If thou shouldst desire to learn the art ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "I do not wish to learn anything!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "The same evening that we arrived at the gates of Rome ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! yes!--speak to me rather of the City of Popes!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "A drunken man accosted us, who was singing in a low voice.
+The song was an epithalamium of Nero; and he had the power to cause
+the death of whosoever should hear it with indifference. In a box upon
+his shoulders he carried a string taken from the Emperor's cithara. I
+shrugged my shoulders. He flung mud in our faces. Then I unfastened my
+girdle and placed it in this hand."
+
+DAMIS. "In sooth, thou wert most imprudent!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "During the night the Emperor summoned me to his house. He
+was playing at osselets with Sporus, supporting his left arm upon a
+table of agate. He turned and, knitting his brows, demanded: 'How comes
+it that thou dost not fear me?' 'Because,' I replied, 'the God who made
+thee terrible, also made me intrepid."
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_).
+
+"There is something inexplicable that terrifies me!"
+
+(_Silence._)
+
+DAMIS (_breaking the silence with his shrill voice_).
+
+"Moreover, all Asia can tell thee ..."
+
+ANTHONY (_starting up_).
+
+"I am ill! let me be!"
+
+DAMIS. "But listen! At Ephesus, he beheld them killing Domitian, who
+was at Rome."
+
+ANTHONY (_with a forced laugh_). "Is it possible?"
+
+DAMIS. "Yes: at the theatre at noon-day, the fourteenth of the Kalenda
+of October, he suddenly cried out: 'Cæsar is being murdered!' and
+from time to time he would continue to ejaculate: 'He rolls upon the
+pavement ... Oh! how he struggles ... He rises ... He tries to flee
+... The doors are fastened ... Ah! it is all over! He is dead!' And in
+fact Titus Flavius Domitianus was assassinated upon that very day, as
+thou knowest."
+
+ANTHONY. "Without the aid of the Devil ... certainly ..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "He had purposed putting me to death, that same Domitian!
+Damis had taken flight according to my order, and I remained alone in
+my prison."
+
+DAMIS. "A terrible hardihood on thy part, it must be confessed!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "About the fifth hour, the soldiers led me before the
+tribunal. I had my harangue all ready hidden beneath my mantle."
+
+DAMIS. "We others were then upon the shores of Puteoli, we believed
+thee dead; we were all weeping, when all of a sudden about the sixth
+hour, thou didst suddenly appear before us, exclaiming: 'It is I.'"
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_). "Even as He...!"
+
+DAMIS (_in a very loud voice_). "Precisely!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! no! ye lie! is it not so?--ye lie!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "He descended from heaven. I rise thither, by the power of
+my virtue that has lifted me up even to the height of the Principle of
+all things!"
+
+DAMIS. "Thyana, his natal city, has established in his honor a temple
+and a priesthood!"
+
+APOLLONIUS (_draws near Anthony, and shouts in his ear_:--)
+
+"It is because I know all gods, all rites, all prayers, all oracles!
+I have penetrated into the cave of Trophonius, son of Apollo! I
+have kneaded for Syracusan women the cakes which they carry to the
+mountains. I have endured the eighty tests of Mithra! I have pressed to
+my heart the serpent of Sabasius! I have received the scarf of Kabiri!
+I have laved Cybele in the waters of the Campanian gulfs! and I have
+passed three moons in the caverns of Samothracia!"
+
+DAMIS (_with a stupid laugh_).
+
+"Ah! ah! ah! at the mysteries of the good Goddess!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "And now we recommence our pilgrimage.
+
+"We go to the North to the land of Swans and of snows. Upon the vast
+white plains, the blind hippopodes break with the tips of their feet
+the ultramarine plant."
+
+DAMIS. "Hasten! it is already dawn. The cock has crowed, the horse has
+neighed, the sail is hoisted!"
+
+ANTHONY. "The cock has not crowed! I hear the locusts in the sands, and
+I see the moon still in her place."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "We go to the South, beyond the mountains and the mighty
+waters, to seek in perfumes the secret source of love. Thou shalt
+inhale the odor of myrrhodion which makes the weak die. Thou shalt
+bathe thy body in the lake of Rose-oil which is in the Island Junonia.
+Thou shalt see slumbering upon primroses that Lizard which awakes
+every hundred years when the carbuncle upon its forehead, arriving
+at maturity, falls to the ground. The stars palpitate like eyes; the
+cascades sing like the melody of lyres; strange intoxication is exhaled
+by blossoming flowers; thy mind shall grow vaster in that air; and thy
+heart shall change even as thy face."
+
+DAMIS. "Master! it is time! The wind has risen, the swallows awaken,
+the myrtle leaves are blown away."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Yes! let us go!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Nay! I remain here!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Shall I tell thee where grows the plant Balis, that
+resurrects the dead?"
+
+DAMIS "Nay; ask him rather for the audrodamas which attracts silver,
+iron and brass!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! how I suffer! how I suffer!"
+
+DAMIS. "Thou shalt comprehend the voices of all living creatures, the
+roarings, the cooings!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I shall enable thee to ride upon unicorns and upon
+dragons, upon hippocentaurs and dolphins!"
+
+ANTHONY (_weeping_). "Oh ... oh!... oh!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Thou shalt know the demons that dwell in the caverns, the
+demons that mutter in the woods, the demons that move in the waves, the
+demons that push the clouds!"
+
+DAMIS. "Tighten thy girdle, fasten thy sandals!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I shall explain to thee the reason of divine forms--why
+Apollo stands, why Jupiter is seated, why Venus is black, at Corinth,
+square-shaped at Athens, conical at Paphos."
+
+ANTHONY (_clasping his hands_).
+
+"Let them begone! let them begone!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "In thy presence I will tear down the panoplies of the
+Gods; we shall force open the sanctuaries, I will enable thee to
+violate the Pythoness!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Help! O my God!"
+
+(_He rushes to the cross._)
+
+APOLLONIUS. "What is thy desire? What is thy dream? Thou needst only
+devote the moment of time necessary to think of it ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Jesus! Jesus! Help me!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Dost thou wish me to make him appear, thy Jesus?"
+
+ANTHONY. "What? How!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "It shall be He!--no other! He will cast off his crown, and
+we shall converse face to face!"
+
+DAMIS (_in an undertone_).
+
+"Say thou dost indeed wish it! say thou dost desire it!"
+
+(_Anthony kneeling before the cross, murmurs prayers. Damis walks
+around him, with wheedling gestures._)
+
+"Nay, nay! good hermit. Be not horrified! These are only exaggerated
+forms of speech, borrowed from the Orientals. That need in no way ..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Let him alone, Damis!
+
+"He believes, like a brute, in the reality of things. The terror which
+he entertains of the Gods prevents him from comprehending them; and he
+debases his own God to the level of a jealous king!
+
+"But thou, my son, do not leave me!"
+
+(_He moves to the edge of the cliff, walking backward, passes beyond
+the verge of the precipice, and remains suspended in air._)
+
+"Above all forms, further than the ends of the earth, beyond the
+heavens themselves, lies the world of Idea, replete with the splendor
+of the Word! With one bound we shall traverse the impending spaces, and
+thou shalt behold in all his infinity, the Eternal, the Absolute, the
+Being! Come! give me thy hand! Let us rise."
+
+(_Side by side, both rise up through the air, slowly. Anthony, clinging
+to the cross, watches them rise. They disappear._)
+
+
+[1] Agape.--Love-feast of the primitive Christians.
+
+[2] John XVI: 12.--T.
+
+[3] See note at end.
+
+[4] Masheim gives _Achamoth._ I prefer to remain faithful to the
+orthography given by Flaubert.
+
+[5] The French text gives _mes pères_ not _nos pères._ Elxai, or
+Elkhai, who established his sect in the reign of Trajan, was a Jew.
+
+[6] See note.
+
+[7] The banyan is a fig-tree--the _Ficus indicus._--Trans.
+
+[8] Readers may remember Longfellow's exquisite poem "Helena of Tyre."
+
+[9] See the second part of "Faust," and _Kundry_ in "Parsifal."
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+
+ANTHONY (_walking to and fro, slowly_).
+
+"That one, indeed, seems in himself equal to all the powers of Hell!
+
+"Nebuchadnezzar did not so much dazzle me with his splendours;--the
+Queen of Sheba herself charmed me less deeply.
+
+"His manner of speaking of the gods compels one to feel a desire to
+know them.
+
+"I remember having beheld hundreds of them at one time, in the island
+of Elephantius, in the time of Diocletian. The emperor had ceded to the
+Nomads a great tract of country, upon the condition that they should
+guard the frontiers; and the treaty was concluded in the name of the
+'Powers Invisible.' For the gods of each people were unknown unto the
+other people.
+
+"The Barbarians had brought theirs with them. They occupied the
+sand-hills bordering the river. We saw them supporting their idols in
+their arms, like great paralytic children;--others, paddling through
+the cataracts upon trunks of palm tree, displayed from afar off the
+amulets hung about their necks, the tattooings upon their breasts; and
+these things were not more sinful than the religion of the Greeks, the
+Asiatics, and the Romans!
+
+"When I was dwelling in the temple of Heliopolis I would often consider
+the things I beheld upon the walls:--vultures bearing sceptres,
+crocodiles playing upon lyres, faces of men with the bodies of
+serpents, cow-headed women prostrating themselves before ithyphallic
+gods:--and their supernatural forms attracted my thoughts to other
+worlds. I longed to know that which drew the gaze of all those calm and
+mysterious eyes.
+
+"If matter can exert such power, it must surely contain a spirit. The
+souls of the Gods are attached to their images ...
+
+"Those possessing the beauty of forms might seduce. But the others
+... those of loathsome or terrible aspect ... how can men believe in
+them?..."
+
+(_And he beholds passing over the surface of the ground,--leaves,
+stones, shells, branches of trees,--then a variety of hydropical
+dwarfs: these are gods. He bursts into a laugh. He hears another laugh
+behind him;--and Hilarion appears, in the garb of a hermit, far taller
+than before, colossal._)
+
+ANTHONY (_who feels no surprise at seeing him_).
+
+"How stupid one must be to worship such things!"
+
+HILARION. "Aye!--exceedingly stupid!"
+
+(_Then idols of all nations and of all epochs--of wood, of metal, of
+granite, of feathers, of skins sewn together,--pass before them._
+
+_The most ancient of all anterior to the Deluge are hidden under masses
+of seaweed hanging down over them like manes. Some that are too long
+for their bases, crack in all their joints, and break their own backs
+in walking. Others have rents torn in their bellies through which sand
+trickles out._
+
+_Anthony and Hilarion are prodigiously amused. They hold their sides
+for laughter. Then appear sheep-headed idols. They totter upon their
+bandy-legs, half-open their eye-lids, and stutter like the dumb,_ "Ba!
+ba! ba!"
+
+_The more that the idols commence to resemble the human forms, the
+more they irritate Anthony. He strikes them with his fist, kicks them,
+attacks them with fury. They become frightful,--with lofty plumes, eyes
+like balls, fingers terminated by claws, the jaws of sharks._
+
+_And before these gods men are slaughtered upon altars of stone; others
+are brayed alive in huge mortars, crushed under chariots, nailed upon
+trees. There is one all of red-hot iron with the horns of a bull, who
+devours children._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Horror!"
+
+HILARION. "But the gods always demand tortures--and suffering. Even
+thine desired ..."
+
+ANTHONY (_weeping_). "Ah! say no more!--do not speak to me!"
+
+(_The space girdled by the rocks suddenly changes into a valley. A herd
+of cattle are feeding upon the short grass._
+
+_The herdman who leads them, observes a cloud;--and in a sharp voice,
+shouts out words of command, as if to heaven._)
+
+HILARION. "Because he needs rain, he seeks by certain chants to compel
+the King of heaven to open the fecund cloud."
+
+ANTHONY (_laughing_).
+
+"Verily, such pride is the extreme of foolishness!"
+
+HILARION. "Why dost thou utter exorcisms?"
+
+(_The valley changes into a sea of milk, motionless and infinite. In
+its midst floats a long cradle formed by the coils of a serpent, whose
+many curving heads shade, like a dais, the god slumbering upon its
+body._
+
+_He is beardless, young, more beautiful than a girl, and covered with
+diaphanous veils. The pearls of his tiara gleam softly like moons; a
+chaplet of stars is entwined many times about his breast, and with one
+hand beneath his head, he slumbers with the look of one who dreams
+after wine._
+
+_A woman crouching at his feet, awaits the moment of his awaking._)
+
+HILARION. "Such is the primordial duality of the Brahmans,--the
+Absolute being inexpressible by any form."
+
+(_From the navel of the god has grown the stem of a lotus flower; it
+blossoms, and within its chalice appears another god with three faces._)
+
+ANTHONY. "How strange an invention!"
+
+HILARION. "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but one and the same
+Person!"
+
+(_The three faces separate; and three great gods appear._
+
+_The first, who is pink, bites the end of his great toe._
+
+_The second, who is blue, uplifts his four arms._
+
+_The third, who is green, wears a necklace of human skulls._
+
+_Before them instantly arise three goddesses--one is enveloped in a
+net; another offers a cup; the third brandishes a bow._
+
+[Illustration: ... instantly arise three goddesses]
+
+_And these gods, these goddesses, decuple themselves, multiply. Arms
+grow from their shoulders; at the end of these arms hands appear
+bearing standards, axes, bucklers, swords, parasols and drums.
+Fountains gush from their heads, plants grow from their nostrils._
+
+_Riding upon birds rocked in palanquins, enthroned upon seats of gold,
+standing in ivory niches,--they dream, voyage, command, drink wine,
+respire the breath of flowers. Dancing girls whirl in the dance; giants
+pursue monsters; at the entrances of grottoes solitaries meditate. Eyes
+cannot be distinguished from stars; nor clouds from banderolles;
+peacocks quench their thirst at rivers of gold dust; the embroidery
+of pavilions seems to blend with the spots of leopards; coloured rays
+intercross in the blue air, together with flying arrows, and swinging
+censers._
+
+_And all this develops like a lofty frieze, resting its base upon the
+rocks, and rising to the sky._)
+
+ANTHONY (_dazzled by the sight_).
+
+"How vast is their number! What do they seek?"
+
+HILARION. "The god who rubs his abdomen with his elephant-trunk, is the
+solar Deity, the inspiring spirit of wisdom.
+
+"That other whose six heads are crowned with towers, and whose fourteen
+arms wield javelins,--is the prince of armies,--the Fire-Consumer.
+
+"The old man riding the crocodile washes the soul of the dead upon
+the shore. They will be tormented by that black woman with the putrid
+teeth, who is the Ruler of Hell.
+
+"That chariot drawn by red mares, driven by one who has no legs, bears
+the master of the sun through heaven's azure. The moon-god accompanies
+him, in a litter drawn by three gazelles.
+
+"Kneeling upon the back of a parrot, the Goddess of Beauty presents to
+Love, her son, her rounded breast. Behold her now, further off, leaping
+for joy in the meadows. Look! Look! Coiffed with dazzling mitre, she
+trips lightly over the ears of growing wheat, over the waves; she rises
+in air, extending her power over all elements.
+
+"And among these gods are the Genii of the winds, of the planets, of
+the months, of the days,--a hundred thousand others;--multiple are
+their aspects, rapid their transformations. Behold, there is one who
+changes from a fish into a tortoise: he assumes the form of a boar, the
+shape of a dwarf."
+
+ANTHONY. "Wherefore?"
+
+HILARION. "That he may preserve the equilibrium of the universe, and
+combat the works of evil. But life exhausts itself; forms wear away;
+and they must achieve progression in their metamorphoses."
+
+(_All upon a sudden appears a_ NAKED MAN _seated in the midst of the
+sand, with legs crossed._)
+
+(_A large halo vibrates, suspended in air behind him. The little
+ringlets of his black hair in which blueish tints shift symmetrically
+surround a protuberance upon the summit of his skull. His arms,
+which are very long, hang down against his sides. His two hands rest
+flat upon his thighs, with the palms open. The soles of his feet
+are like the faces of two blazing suns; and he remains completely
+motionless--before Anthony and Hilarion--with all the gods around him,
+rising in tiers above the rocks, as if upon the benches of some vast
+circus. His lips, half-open; and he speaks in a deep voice_):
+
+"I am the Master of great charities, the succor of all creatures; and
+not less to the profane than to believers, do I expound the law.
+
+"That I might deliver the world, I resolved to be born among men. The
+gods wept when I departed from them.
+
+"I sought me first a woman worthy to give me birth: a woman of warrior
+race, the wife of a king, exceedingly good, excessively beautiful,
+with body firm as adamant;--and at time of the full moon, without the
+auxiliation of any male, I entered her womb.
+
+"I issued from it by the right side. Stars stopped in their courses."
+
+HILARION (_murmurs between his teeth_).
+
+"And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy!"[1]
+
+(_Anthony watches more attentively._)
+
+THE BUDDHA[2] (_continuing_).
+
+"From the furthest recesses of the Himalayas, a holy man one hundred
+years of age, hurried to see me."
+
+HILARION. "A man named Simeon ... who should not see death, before he
+had seen the Christ of the Lord."[3]
+
+THE BUDDHA. "I was led unto the schools; and it was found that I knew
+more than the teachers."
+
+HILARION. "... In the midst of the doctors ... and all that heard him
+were astonished at his wisdom!"[4]
+
+(_Anthony makes a sign to Hilarion to be silent._)
+
+THE BUDDHA. "Continually did I meditate in the gardens. The shadows of
+the trees turned with the turning of the sun; but the shadow of that
+which sheltered me turned not.
+
+"None could equal me in the knowledge of the Scriptures, the
+enumeration of atoms, the conduct of elephants, the working of wax,
+astronomy, poetry, pugilism, all the exercises and all the arts!
+
+"In accordance with custom, I took to myself a wife; and I passed the
+days in my kingly palace;--clad in pearls, under a rain of perfumes,
+refreshed by the fans of thirty thousand women,--watching my peoples
+from the height of my terraces adorned with fringes of resonant bells.
+
+"But the sight of the miseries of the world turned me away from
+pleasure. I fled.
+
+"I begged my way upon the high roads, clad myself in rags gathered
+within the sepulchres;--and, hearing of a most learned hermit, I chose
+to become his slave. I guarded his gate! I washed his feet.
+
+"Thus I annihilated all sensation, all joy, all languor.
+
+"Then, concentrating my thoughts within vaster meditation, I learned to
+know the essence of things, the illusion of forms.
+
+"Soon I exhausted the science of the Brahmans. They are gnawed by
+covetousness and desire under their outward aspect of austerity; they
+daub themselves with filth, they live upon thorns,--hoping to arrive at
+happiness by the path of death!"
+
+HILARION.... "Pharisees, hypocrites, whited sepulchres, generation of
+vipers!"
+
+THE BUDDHA. "I also accomplished wondrous things,--eating but one
+grain of rice each day (and the grains of rice in those times were no
+larger than at present)--my hair fell off; my body became black; my
+eyes receding within their sockets, seemed even as stars beheld at the
+bottom of a well.
+
+"During six years I kept myself motionless, exposed to the flies, the
+lions and the serpents; and the great summer suns, the torrential
+rains, lightnings and snows, hails and tempests,--all of these I
+endured without even the shelter of my lifted hand.
+
+"The travellers who passed by, believing me dead, cast clods of earth
+upon me!
+
+"Only the temptation of the Devil remained!
+
+"I summoned him.
+
+"His sons came,--hideous, scale-covered, nauseous as
+charnel-houses,--shrieking, hissing, bellowing; interclashing their
+panoplies, rattling together the bones of dead men. Some belched
+flame through their nostrils; some made darkness about me with their
+wings; some wore chaplets of severed fingers; some drank serpent-venom
+from the hollows of their hands;--they were swine-headed; they were
+rhinoceros-headed or toad-headed; they assumed all forms that inspire
+loathing or affright."
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_).
+
+"I also endured all that in other days!"
+
+THE BUDDHA. "Then did he send me his daughters--beautiful with
+daintily painted faces, and wearing girdles of gold. Their teeth were
+whiter than the jasmine-flower; their thighs round as the trunk of
+an elephant. Some extended their arms and yawned, that they might so
+display the dimples of their elbows; some winked their eyes; some
+laughed; some half-opened their garments. There were blushing virgins,
+matrons replete with dignity, queens who came with great trains of
+baggage and of slaves."
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_). "Ah! he too ..."
+
+THE BUDDHA. "Having vanquished the Demon, I nourished myself for twelve
+years with perfumes only;--and as I had acquired the five virtues,
+the five faculties, the ten forces, the eighteen substances, and had
+entered into the four spheres of the invisible world, Intelligence
+became mine! I became the Buddha."
+
+[Illustration: Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha.]
+
+(_All the gods bow themselves down. Those having several heads, bend
+them all simultaneously. He lifts his mighty hand aloft, and resumes_:)
+
+"That I might effect the deliverance of beings, I have made hundreds
+of thousands of sacrifices! To the poor I gave robes of silk, beds,
+chariots, houses, heaps of gold and of diamonds. I gave my hands to the
+one-handed, my legs to the lame, my eyes to the blind;--even my head I
+severed for the sake of the decapitated. In the day that I was King, I
+gave away provinces;--when I was a Brahman I despised no one. When I
+was a solitary, I spake kindly words to the robber who slew me. When I
+was a tiger I allowed myself to die of hunger.
+
+"And having, in this last existence, preached the law, nothing now
+remains for me to do. The great period is accomplished! Men, animals,
+the gods, the bamboos, the oceans, the mountains, the sand-grains of
+the Ganges, together with the myriad myriads of the stars,--all shall
+die;--and until the time of the new births, a flame shall dance upon
+the wrecks of worlds destroyed!"
+
+(_Then a great dizziness comes upon the gods. They stagger, fall into
+convulsions, and vomit forth their existences. Their crowns burst
+apart; their banners fly away. They tear off their attributes, their
+sexes, fling over their shoulders the cups from which they quaffed
+immortality, strangle themselves with their serpents, vanish in
+smoke;--and when all have disappeared_ ...)
+
+HILARION (_solemnly exclaims_):
+
+"Thou hast even now beheld the belief of many hundreds of millions of
+men."
+
+(_Anthony is prostrate upon the ground, covering his face with his
+hands. Hilarion, with his back turned to the cross, stands near him and
+watches him._
+
+_A considerable time elapses._
+
+_Then a singular being appears--having the head of a man upon the body
+of a fish. He approaches through the air, upright, beating the sand
+from time to time with his tail; and the patriarchal aspect of his face
+by contrast with his puny little arms, causes Anthony to laugh._)
+
+OANNES (_in a plaintive voice_):
+
+"Respect me! I am the contemporary of beginnings.
+
+"I dwelt in that formless world where hermaphroditic creatures
+slumbered, under the weight of an opaque atmosphere, in the deeps of
+dark waters--when fingers, fins, and wings were blended, and eyes
+without heads were floating like mollusks, among human-headed bulls,
+and dog-footed serpents.
+
+[Illustration: ... and eyes without heads were floating like
+mollusks]
+
+"Above the whole of these beings, OMOROCA, bent like a hoop, extended
+her woman-body. But Belus cleft her in two halves; with one he made the
+earth; with the other, heaven;--and the two equal worlds do mutually
+contemplate each other.
+
+"I, the first consciousness of CHAOS, arose from the abyss that I might
+harden matter, and give a law unto forms:--also I taught men to fish
+and to sow: I gave them knowledge of writing, and of the history of the
+gods.
+
+[Illustration: I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose from
+the abyss that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms ...]
+
+"Since then I have dwelt in the deep pools left by the Deluge. But the
+desert grows vaster about them; the winds cast sand into them; the sun
+devours them;--and I die upon my couch of slime, gazing at the stars
+through the water. Thither I return!"
+
+(_He leaps and disappears in the Nile._)
+
+HILARION. "That is an ancient God of the Chaldæans!"
+
+ANTHONY (_ironically_). "What, then, were those of Babylon?"
+
+HILARION. "Thou canst behold them!"
+
+(_And they find themselves upon the platform of a lofty quadrangular
+tower dominating six other towers, which, narrowing as they rise, form
+one monstrous pyramid. Far below a great black mass is visible--the
+city, doubtless--extending over the plains. The air is cold; the sky
+darkly blue; multitudes of stars palpitate above._
+
+_In the midst of the platform rises a column of white stone. Priests
+in linen robes pass and repass around it, so as to describe by their
+evolutions a moving circle; and with faces uplifted, they gaze upon the
+stars._ ...)
+
+HILARION. (_pointing out several of these stars to Anthony_):
+
+"There are thirty principal stars. Fifteen look upon the upper side
+of the earth; fifteen below. At regular intervals one shoots from the
+upper regions to those below; while another abandons the inferior deeps
+to rise to sublime altitudes ...
+
+"Of the seven planets, two are beneficent; two evil; three
+ambiguous:--all things in the world depend upon the influence of these
+eternal fires. According to their position or movement presages may be
+drawn;--and here thou dost tread the most venerable place upon earth.
+Here Pythagoras and Zoroaster have met;--here for twelve thousand years
+these men have observed the skies that they might better learn to know
+the gods."
+
+ANTHONY. "The stars are not gods."
+
+HILARION. "Aye, they say the stars are gods; for all things about us
+pass away;--the heavens only remain immutable as eternity."
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet there is a master!"
+
+HILARION (_pointing to the column_):
+
+"He! Belus!--the first ray, the Sun, the Male! The Other, whom he
+fecundates, is beneath him!"
+
+(_Anthony beholds a garden, illuminated by lamps_: _He finds himself
+in the midst of the crowd, in an avenue of cypress-trees. To right and
+left are little pathways leading to huts constructed within a wood of
+pomegranate trees, and enclosed by treillages of bamboo._
+
+_Most of the men wear pointed caps, and garments bedizened like the
+plumage of a peacock. But there are also people from the North clad
+in bearskins, nomads wearing mantles of brown wool, pallid Gangarides
+with long earrings;--and there seems to be as much confusion of rank
+as there is confusion of nations; for sailors and stone-cutters elbow
+the princes who wear tiaras blazing with carbuncles and who carry
+long canes with carven knobs. All proceed upon their way with dilated
+nostrils, absorbed by the same desire._
+
+_From time to time, they draw aside to make way for some long covered
+wagon drawn by oxen, or some ass jolting upon his back a woman bundled
+up in thick veils, who finally disappears in the direction of the
+cabins._
+
+_Anthony feels afraid; he half-resolves to turn back. But an
+unutterable curiosity takes possession of him, and draws him on._
+
+_At the foot of the cypress-trees there are ranks of women squatting
+upon deerskins, all wearing in lieu of diadem, a plaited fillet of
+ropes. Some, magnificently attired, loudly call upon the passers-by.
+Others, more timid, seek to veil their faces with their arms, while
+some matron standing behind them, their mother doubtless, exhorts
+them. Others, their heads veiled with a black shawl, and their bodies
+entirely nude, seem from afar off to be statues of flesh. As soon as a
+man has thrown some money upon their knees, they arise._
+
+_And the sound of kisses is heard under the foliage,--sometimes a great
+sharp cry._)
+
+HILARION. "These are the virgins of Babylon, who prostitute themselves
+to the goddess."
+
+ANTHONY. "What goddess?"
+
+HILARION. "Behold her!"
+
+(_And he shows him at the further end of the avenue, upon the threshold
+of an illuminated grotto, a block of stone representing a woman._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Ignominy!--how abominable to give a sex to God!"
+
+HILARION. "Thou thyself dost figure him in thy mind as a living person!"
+
+(_Anthony again finds himself in darkness._
+
+_He beholds in the air a luminous circle, poised upon horizontal
+wings. This ring of light, girdles like a loose belt, the waist of a
+little man wearing a mitre upon his head and carrying a wreath in his
+hand. The lower part of his figure is completely concealed by immense
+feathers outspreading about him like a petticoat._
+
+_It is_--ORMUZD--_the God of the Persians. He hovers in the air above,
+crying aloud_:)
+
+"I fear! I can see his monstrous jaws! I did vanquish thee, O Ahriman!
+But again thou dost war against me.
+
+"First revolting against me, thou didst destroy the eldest of
+creatures, Kaiomortz, the Man-Bull. Then didst thou seduce the first
+human couple, Meschia and Meschiané; and thou didst fill all hearts
+with darkness, thou didst urge thy battalions against heaven!
+
+"I also had mine own, the people of the stars; and from the height of
+my throne I contemplated the marshalling of the astral hosts.
+
+"Mithra, my son, dwelt in heavens inaccessible. There he received
+souls, from thence did he send them forth; and he arose each morning to
+pour forth the abundance of his riches.
+
+"The earth reflected the splendour of the firmament. Fire blazed upon
+the crests of the mountains,--symbolizing that other fire of which
+I had created all creatures. And that the holy flame might not be
+polluted, the bodies of the dead were not burned; the beaks of birds
+carried them aloft toward heaven.
+
+"I gave to men the laws regulating pastures, labour, the choice of wood
+for the sacrifices, the form of cups, the words to be uttered in hours
+of sleeplessness;--and my priests unceasingly offered up prayers, so
+that worship might be as the eternity of God in its endlessness. Men
+purified themselves with water; loaves were offered upon the altars,
+sins were confessed aloud.
+
+"Homa[5] gave himself to men to be drank, that they might have his
+strength communicated to them while the Genii of heaven were combating
+the demons, the children of Iran were pursuing the serpents. The
+King, whom an innumerable host of courtiers served upon their knees,
+represented me in his person, and wore my coiffure. His gardens had the
+magnificence of a heaven upon earth; and his tomb represented him in
+the act of slaying a monster,--emblem of Good destroying Evil.
+
+"For it was destined that I should one day definitely conquer Ahriman,
+by the aid of Time-without-limits.
+
+"But the interval between us disappears;--the deep night rises! To
+me! ye Amschaspands, ye Izeds, ye Ferouers! Succor me, Mithra! seize
+thy sword! And thou, Kaosyac, who shall return for the universal
+deliverance, defend me! What!--none to aid! Ah! I die! Thou art the
+victor, Ahriman!"
+
+(_Hilarion, standing behind Anthony, restrains a cry of joy;--and_
+ORMUZD _is swallowed up in the darkness._)
+
+(_Then appears_:)
+
+THE GREAT DIANA OF EPHESUS
+
+(_black with enamelled eyes, her elbows pressed to her side, her
+forearms extended, with hands open._
+
+_Lions crawl upon her shoulders; fruits, flowers, and stars intercross
+upon her bosom; further down three rows of breasts appear; and from her
+belly to her feet she is covered with a tightly fitting sheath from
+which bulls, stags, griffins, and bees, seem about to spring, their
+bodies half-protruding from it. She is illuminated by the white light
+emanating from a disk of silver, round as the full moon, placed behind
+her head._)
+
+"Where is my temple? Where are my Amazons?
+
+"What is this I feel?--I, the Incorruptible!--a strange faintness comes
+upon me!"...
+
+(_Her flowers wither, her over-ripe fruits become detached and fall.
+The lions and the bulls hang their heads; the deer foam at the mouth,
+with a slimy foam, as though exhausted; the buzzing bees die upon the
+ground._
+
+_She presses her breasts, one after the other. All are empty! But under
+a desperate effort her sheath bursts. She seizes it by the bottom, like
+the skirt of a robe, throws her animals, her fruits, her flowers, into
+it,--then withdraws into the darkness._
+
+_And afar off there are voices, murmuring, growling, roaring,
+bellowing, belling. The density of the night is augmented by breaths.
+Drops of warm rain fall._)
+
+ANTHONY. "How sweet the odour of the palm trees, the trembling of
+leaves, the transparency of springs! I feel the desire to lie flat upon
+the Earth that I might feel her against my heart; and my life would be
+reinvigorated by her eternal youth!"
+
+(_He hears the sound of castanets and of cymbals; and men appear, clad
+in white tunics with red stripes,--leading through the midst of a
+rustic crowd an ass, richly harnessed, its tail decorated with knots of
+ribbons, and its hoofs painted._
+
+_A box, covered with a saddle-cloth[6] of yellow material shakes to
+and fro upon its back, between two baskets,--one receives the offerings
+contributed,--eggs, grapes, pears, cheeses, fowls, little coins; and
+the other basket is full of roses, which the leaders of the ass pluck
+to pieces as they walk before the animal, shedding the leaves upon the
+ground._
+
+_They wear earrings and large mantles; their locks are plaited, their
+cheeks painted, olive-wreaths are fastened upon their foreheads by
+medallions bearing figurines;--all wear poniards in their belts, and
+brandish ebony-handled whips, having three thongs to which osselets are
+attached._[7]
+
+_Those who form the rear of the procession, place upon the soil,--so as
+to remain upright as a candelabrum,--a tall pine, which burns at its
+summit, and shades under its lower branches a lamb._
+
+_The ass halts. The saddle-cloth is removed. Underneath appears a
+second covering of black felt. Then one of the men in white tunics
+begins to dance, rattling his crotali;--another, kneeling before the
+box, beats a tambourine and_--)
+
+THE OLDEST OF THE BAND, _begins_:--
+
+"Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains, the Great Mother
+of Syria! Come ye hither, good people all!
+
+[Illustration: Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains ...]
+
+"She gives joy to men, she heals the sick; she sends inheritances; she
+satisfies the hunger of love!
+
+"We bear her through the land, rain or shine, in fair weather, or in
+foul.
+
+"Oft times we lie in the open air, and our table is not always well
+served. Robbers dwell in the woods. Wild beasts rush from their
+caverns. Slippery paths border the precipices. Behold her! behold her!"
+
+(_They lift off the covering; and a box is seen, inlaid with little
+pebbles._)
+
+"Loftier than the cedars, she looks down from the blue ether. Vaster
+than the wind she encircles the world. Her breath is exhaled by the
+nostrils of tigers; the rumbling of her voice is heard beneath the
+volcanoes; her wrath is the tempest; the pallor of her face has
+whitened the moon. She ripens the harvest; by her the tree-bark swells
+with sap; she makes the beard to grow. Give her something; for she
+hates the avaricious!"
+
+(_The box opens; and under a little pavilion of blue silk appears a
+small image of Cybele--glittering with spangles, crowned with towers,
+and seated in a chariot of red stone, drawn by two lions, with uplifted
+paws._
+
+_The crowd presses forward to see._)
+
+THE ARCHIGALLUS (_continues_):
+
+"She loves the sound of resounding tympanums, the echo of dancing
+feet, the howling of wolves, the sonorous mountains and the deep
+gorges, the flower of the almond tree, the pomegranate and the green
+fig, the whirling dance, the snoring flute, the sugary sap, the salty
+tear,--blood! To thee, to thee!--Mother of the mountains!"
+
+(_They scourge themselves with their whips; and their chests resound
+with the blows;--the skins of the tambourines vibrate almost to
+bursting. They seize their knives; they gash their arms._)
+
+"She is sorrowful; let us be sorrowful! Thereby your sins will be
+remitted. Blood purifies all--fling its red drops abroad like blossoms!
+She, the Great Mother, demands the blood of another creature--of a pure
+being!"
+
+(_The Archigallus raises his knife above the head of a lamb._)
+
+ANTHONY (_seized with horror_):
+
+"Do not slay the lamb!"
+
+(_There is a gush of purple blood. The priest sprinkles the crowd
+with it; and all--including Anthony and Hilarion--standing around the
+burning tree, silently watch the last palpitations of the victim._
+
+_A Woman comes forth from the midst of the priests; she resembles
+exactly the image within the little box._
+
+_She pauses, perceiving before her a Young Man wearing a Phrygian
+cap. His thighs are covered with a pair of narrow trousers, with
+lozenge-shaped openings here and there at regular intervals, closed by
+bow knots of coloured material. He stands in an attitude of languor,
+resting his elbow against a branch of the tree, holding a flute in his
+hand._)
+
+CYBELE (_flinging her arms about his waist_).
+
+"I have traversed all regions of the earth to join thee--and famine
+ravaged the fields Thou hast deceived me! It matters not! I love thee!
+Warm my body in thine embrace! Let us be united!"
+
+ATYS. "The springtime will never again return, O eternal Mother!
+Despite my love, it is no longer possible for me to penetrate thy
+essence! Would that I might cover myself with a painted robe like
+thine! I envy thy breasts, swelling with milk, the length of thy
+tresses, thy vast flanks that have borne and brought forth all
+creatures! Why am I not thou?--Why am I not a woman?--No, never! depart
+from me! My virility fills me with horror!"
+
+(_With a sharp stone he dismembers himself, and runs furiously from
+her ..._
+
+_The priests imitate the god; the faithful do even as the priests. Men
+and women exchange garments, embrace;--and the tumult of bleeding flesh
+passes away, while the sound of voices remaining, becomes even more
+strident,--like the shrieking of mourners, like the voices heard at
+funerals._
+
+_ ... A huge catafalque, hung with purple, supports upon its summit an
+ebony bed, surrounded by torches and baskets of silver filagree, in
+which are verdant leaves of lettuce, mallow and fennel. Upon the steps
+of the construction, from summit to base, sit women all clad in black,
+with loosened girdles and bare feet, holding in their hands with a
+melancholy air, great bouquets of flowers._
+
+_At each corner of the estrade urns of alabaster, filled with myrrh,
+slowly send up their smoke._
+
+_Upon the bed can be perceived the corpse of a man. Blood flows from
+his thigh. One of his arms hangs down lifelessly;--and a dog licks his
+finger nails and howls._
+
+_The row of torches placed closely together, prevents his face from
+being seen; and Anthony feels a strange anguish within him. He fears
+lest he should recognize some one._
+
+_The sobs of the women cease--and after an interval of silence_,)
+
+ALL (_psalmody together_):
+
+"Fair! fair!--all fair he is! Thou hast slept enough!--lift thy
+head!--arise!
+
+"Inhale the perfume of our flowers--narcissus--blossoms and anemones,
+gathered in thine own gardens to please thee. Arouse thee! thou dost
+make us fear for thee!
+
+"Speak to us! What dost thou desire? Wilt thou drink wine?--wilt thou
+lie in our beds?--dost wish to eat the honeycakes which have the form
+of little birds?
+
+"Let us press his lips,--kiss his breast! Now!--now!--dost thou not
+feel our ring-laden fingers passing over thy body?--and our lips that
+seek thy mouth?--and our tresses that sweep thy thighs? O faint God,
+deaf to our prayers!"
+
+(_They cry aloud, and rend their faces with their nails; then all
+rush,--and the howling of the dog continues in the silence._)
+
+"Alas! alas! Woe!--the black blood trickles over his snowy flesh!
+See! his knees writhe!--his sides sink in! The bloom of his face hath
+dampened the purple. He is dead, dead! O weep for him! Lament for him!"
+
+(_In long procession they ascend to lay between the torches the
+offerings of their several tresses, that seem from afar off like
+serpents, black or blond;--and the catafalque is lowered gently to the
+level of, a grotto,--the opening of a shadowy sepulchre that yawns
+behind it._
+
+_Then_--)
+
+A WOMAN (_bends over the corpse. Her long hair, uncut, envelopes her
+from head to feet. She sheds tears so abundantly that her grief cannot
+be as that of the others, but more than human--infinite!_
+
+_Anthony dreams of the Mother of Jesus. She speaks_:--)
+
+"Thou didst emerge from the Orient, and didst take me, all trembling
+with the dew, into thy arms, O Sun! Doves fluttered upon the azure
+of thy mantle; our kisses evoked low breezes among the foliage; and I
+abandoned myself wholly to thy love, delighting in the pleasure of my
+weakness.
+
+"Alas! alas--Why didst thou depart, to run upon the mountains! A boar
+did wound thee at the time of the autumnal equinox!
+
+"Thou art dead; and the fountains weep,--the trees bend down. The wind
+of winter whistles through the naked brushwood.
+
+"My eyes are about to close, seeing that darkness covers them! Now thou
+dwellest in the underworld near the mightiest of my rivals.
+
+"O Persephone, all that is beautiful descends to thee, never to return!"
+
+(_Even while she speaks, her companions lift the dead, to place him
+within the sepulchre. He remains in their hands! It was only a waxen
+corpse._
+
+_Wherefore Anthony feels something resembling relief._
+
+_All vanish;--and the hut, the rocks, and the cross reappear._
+
+_But upon the other side of the Nile, Anthony beholds a Woman,
+standing in the midst of the desert._
+
+_She retains in her hand the lower part of a long black veil that hides
+all her face; supporting with her left arm a little child to whom she
+is giving suck. A great ape crouches down in the sand beside her._
+
+_She uplifts her head toward heaven; and in spite of the great
+distance, her voice is distinctly heard_:)
+
+ISIS. "O Neith, Beginning of all things! Ammon, Lord of Eternity;
+Pthah, demiurgos; Thoth, his intelligence; gods of the Amenthi,
+particular triads of the Nomes,--falcons in the azure of heaven,
+sphinxes before the temples, ibises perched between the horns of oxen,
+planets, constellations, shore, murmurs of the wind, gleams of the
+light,--tell me where I may find Osiris.
+
+"I have sought him in all the canals and all the lakes--aye, further
+yet, even to Ph[oe]nician Byblos. Anubis, with ears pricked up, leaped
+about me, and yelped, and thrust his muzzle searchingly into the tufts
+of the tamarinds.
+
+"Thanks, good Cynocephalos--thanks to thee!"
+
+(_She gives the ape two or three friendly little taps upon the head._)
+
+"Hideous Typhon, the red-haired slew him, tore him in pieces! We have
+found all his members. But I have not that which rendered me fecund!"
+
+(_She utters wild lamentations._)
+
+ANTHONY (_is filled with fury. He casts stones at her, reviles her._)
+
+"Begone! thou shameless one!--Begone!"
+
+HILARION. "Nay! respect her! Her religion was the faith of thy
+fathers!--thou didst wear her amulets when thou wert a child in the
+cradle!"
+
+ISIS. "In the summers of long ago, the inundation drove the impure
+beasts into the desert. The dykes were opened, the boats dashed against
+each other; the panting earth drank the river with the intoxication of
+joy. Then, O God, with the horns of the bull, thou didst lie upon my
+breast, and then was heard, the lowings of the Eternal Cow!
+
+"The seasons of sowing and reaping, of threshing and of vintage,
+followed each other in regular order with the years. In the eternal
+purity of the nights, broad stars beamed and glowed. The days were
+bathed in never-varying splendour. Like a royal couple the Sun and the
+Moon appeared simultaneously, at either end of the horizon.
+
+"Then did we both reign above a sublimer world, twin-monarchs, wedded
+within, the womb of eternity--he bearing a concupha-headed sceptre; I,
+the sceptre that is tipped with a lotus-flower; both of us erect with
+hands joined; and the crumblings of empires affected not our attitude.
+
+"Egypt extended, below us, monumental and awful, long-shaped like the
+corridor of a temple; with obelisks on the right, pyramids on the
+left, and its labyrinth in the midst. And everywhere were avenues
+of monsters, forests of columns, massive pylons flanking gates
+summit-crowned with the mysterious globe--the globe of the world,
+between two wings.
+
+"The animals of her Zodiac also existed in her pasture lands; and
+filled her mysterious writing with their forms and colours. Divided
+into twelve regions as the year is divided into-twelve months--each
+month, each day also having its own god--she reproduced the immutable
+order of heaven. And man even in dying changed not his face; but
+saturated with perfumes, invulnerable to decay, he lay down to sleep
+for three thousand years in another and silent Egypt.
+
+"And that Egypt, vaster than the Egypt of the living, extended beneath
+the earth.
+
+"Thither one descended by dark stairways leading into halls where were
+represented the joys of the good, the tortures of the wicked, all that
+passes in the third and invisible world. Ranged along the wall the dead
+in their painted coffins awaited their turn; and the soul, exempted
+from migrations, continued its heavy slumber until the awakening into a
+new life.
+
+"Nevertheless, Osiris sometimes came to see me. And by his ghost I
+became the mother of Harpocrates."
+
+(_She contemplates the child._)
+
+"Aye! it is he. Those are his eyes; those are his locks, plaited into
+ram horns! Thou shalt recommence his works. We shall bloom again like
+the lotus. I am still the Great Isis!--none has yet lifted my veil! My
+fruit is the Sun!
+
+[Illustration: I am still the Great Isis!—none has yet lifted
+my veil! My fruit is the Sun!]
+
+"Sim of Springtime, clouds now obscure thy face! The breath of Typhon
+devours the pyramids. But a little while ago I beheld the Sphinx flee
+away. He was galloping like a jackal.
+
+"I look for my priests,--my priests clad in mantles of linen, with
+their great harps, and bearing a mysterious bark, adorned with
+silver pateras. There are no more festivals upon the lakes!--no more
+illuminations in my delta!--no more cups of milk at Philæ! Apis has
+long ceased to reappear.
+
+"Egypt! Egypt! thy great motionless gods have their shoulders already
+whitened by the dung of birds; and the wind that passes over the desert
+rolls with it and the ashes of thy dead!--Anubis, guardian of ghosts,
+abandon me not!"
+
+(_The Cynocephalos has vanished. She shakes her child._)
+
+"But ... what ails thee ... thy hands are cold, thy head droops!"
+
+(_Harpocrates expires. Then she cries aloud with a cry so piercing,
+funereal, heart-rending, that Anthony answers it with another cry,
+extending his arms as to support her._
+
+_She is no longer there. He lowers his face, overwhelmed by shame._
+
+_All that he has seen becomes confused within his mind. It is like the
+bewilderment of travel, the illness of drunkenness. He wishes to hate;
+but a vague and vast pity fills his heart. He begins to weep, and weeps
+abundantly._)
+
+HILARION. "What makes thee sorrowful?"
+
+ANTHONY (_after having long sought within himself for a reply_):
+
+"I think of all the souls that have been lost through these false gods!"
+
+HILARION. "Dost thou not think that they ... sometimes ... bear much
+resemblance to the TRUE?"
+
+ANTHONY. "That is but a device of the Devil to seduce the faithful more
+easily. He attacks the strong through the mind, the weak through the
+flesh."
+
+HILARION. "But luxury, in its greatest fury, has all the
+disinterestedness of penitence. The frenzied love of the body
+accelerates the destruction thereof,--and proclaims the extent of the
+impossible by the exposition of the body's weakness."
+
+ANTHONY. "What signifies that to me! My heart sickens with disgust
+of these beautiful bestial gods, forever busied with carnages and
+incests!"
+
+HILARION. "Yet recollect all those things in the Scripture which
+scandalize thee because thou art unable to comprehend them! So also may
+these Gods conceal under their sinful forms some mighty truth. There
+are more of them yet to be seen. Look around!"
+
+ANTHONY. "No, no!--it is dangerous!"
+
+HILARION. "But a little while ago thou didst desire to know them! Is
+it because thy faith might vacillate in the presence of lies? What
+fearest thou?"
+
+(_The rocks fronting Anthony have become as a mountain. A line of
+clouds obscures the mountain half way between summit and base; and
+above the clouds appears another mountain, enormous, all green,
+unequally hollowed by valleys nestling in its slopes, and supporting at
+its summit, in the midst of laurel-groves a palace of bronze, roofed
+with tiles of gold, and supported by columns having capitals of ivory._
+
+_In the centre of the peristyle Jupiter,--colossal, with torso
+nude,--holds Victory in one hand, his thunderbolts in the other; and
+his eagle, perched between his feet, rears its head._
+
+_Juno, seated near him, rolls her large eyes, beneath a diadem whence
+her wind-blown veil escapes like a vapour._
+
+_Behind them, Minerva, standing upon a pedestal, leans on her spear.
+The skin of the Gorgon covers her breast, and a linen peplos falls in
+regular folds to the nails of her toes. Her glaucous eyes, which gleam
+beneath her vizor, gaze afar off, attentively._
+
+_On the right of the palace, the aged Neptune bestrides a dolphin
+beating with its fins a vast azure expanse which may be sea or sky, for
+the perspective of the Ocean seems a continuation of the blue ether:
+the two elements are interblended._
+
+_On the other side weird Pluto in night-black mantle, crowned with
+diamond tiara and bearing a sceptre of ebony, sits in the midst of an
+islet surrounded by the circumvolutions of the Styx;--and this river of
+shadow empties itself into the darknesses, which form a vast black gulf
+below the cliff,--a bottomless abyss!_
+
+_Mars, clad in brass, brandishes as in wrath his broad shield and his
+sword._
+
+_Hercules, leaning upon his club, gazes at him from below._
+
+_Apollo, his face ablaze with light, grasps with outstretched right
+arm the reins of four white horses urged to a gallop; and Ceres in her
+ox-drawn chariot advances toward him with a sickle in her hand._
+
+_Behind her comes Bacchus, riding in a very low chariot, gently drawn
+by lynxes. Plump and beardless, with vine leaves garlanding his brow,
+he passes by holding in his hand an overflowing cup of wine. Silenus
+riding beside him reels upon his ass. Pan of the pointed ears, blows
+upon his syrinx; the Mimalonæides beat drums; the Mænads strew
+flowers; the Bacchantes turn in the dance with heads thrown back and
+hair dishevelled._
+
+_Diana, with tunic tucked up, issues from the wood together with her
+nymphs._
+
+_At the further end of a cavern, Vulcan among his Cabiri, hammers the
+heated iron; here and there the aged Rivers leaning recumbent upon
+green rocks pour water from their urns; the Muses stand singing in the
+valleys_.
+
+_The Hours, all of equal stature, link hands; and Mercury poses
+obliquely upon a rainbow, with his caduceus, winged sandals, and winged
+petasus._
+
+_But at the summit of the stairway of the Gods,--among clouds soft
+as down, from whose turning volutes a rain of roses falls,--Venus
+Anadyomene stands gazing at herself in a mirror:--her eyes move
+languorously beneath their slumbrous lids._
+
+_She has masses of rich blond hair rolling down over her shoulders; her
+breasts are small; her waist is slender; her hips curve out like the
+sweeping curves of a lyre; her thighs are perfectly rounded; there are
+dimples about her knees; her feet are delicate: a butterfly hovers near
+her mouth. The splendour of her body makes a nacreous-tinted halo of
+bright light about her; while all the rest of Olympus is bathed in a
+pink dawn, rising gradually to the heights of the blue sky._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! my heart swells! A joy never known before thrills me to
+the depths of my soul! How beautiful, how beautiful it is!"
+
+HILARION. "They leaned from the heights of cloud to direct the way of
+swords; one used to meet them upon the high roads; men had them in
+their houses--and this familiarity divinized life.
+
+"Life's aim was only to be free and beautiful. Nobility of attitude was
+facilitated by the looseness of garments. The voice of the orator,
+trained by the sea, rolled its sonorous waves against the porticoes of
+marble. The ephebus, anointed with oil, wrestled all naked in the full
+light of the sun. The holiest of actions was to expose perfection of
+forms to all.
+
+"And these men respected wives, aged men, suppliants.
+
+"Behind the temple of Hercules there was an altar erected to Pity.
+
+"Victims were immolated with flowers wreathed about the fingers of the
+sacrificer. Even memory was exempted from thoughts of the rottenness
+of death. Nothing remained but a little pile of ashes. And the Soul,
+mingling with the boundless ether, rose up to God."
+
+(_Bending to whisper in Anthony's ear_:--)
+
+"And they still live! The Emperor Constantine adores Apollo. Thou wilt
+find the Trinity in Samothracian mysteries,--baptism in the religion of
+Isis,--redemption in the faith of Mithra,--a martyrdom of a God in the
+festivals of Bacchus. Prosperpine is the Virgin!... Aristæus is Jesus!"
+
+ANTHONY (_remains awhile with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought;
+then suddenly repeats aloud the Symbol of Jerusalem, as he remembers
+it, uttering a long sigh between each phrase_):--
+
+"I believe in one only God, the Father,--and in one only Lord, Jesus
+Christ,--the first born son of God, who was incarnated and made
+man,--who was crucified, and buried,--who ascended into Heaven,--who
+will come to judge the living and the dead,--of whose Kingdom there
+shall be no end;--and in one Holy Spirit,--and in one baptism of
+repentance,--and in one Holy Catholic Church,--and in the resurrection
+of the flesh,--and in the life everlasting!"
+
+(_Immediately the cross becomes loftier and loftier; it pierces the
+clouds, and casts its shadow upon the heaven of the gods._
+
+_All grow pale;--Olympus shudders._
+
+_And at its base Anthony beholds vast bodies enchained, sustaining the
+rocks upon their shoulders,--giant figures half buried in the deeps
+of caverns. These are the Titans, the Giants, the Hecatonchires, the
+Cyclops._)
+
+A VOICE
+
+(_rises, indistinct and awful, like the far roar of leaves, like the
+voice of forests in time of tempest, like the mighty moaning of the
+wind among the precipices_):
+
+"We knew these things!--we knew them! There must come an end even for
+the Gods! Uranus was mutilated by Saturn,--Saturn by Jupiter. And
+Jupiter himself shall be annihilated. Each in his turn;--it is Destiny!"
+
+(_And little by little they sink into the mountain, and disappear._
+
+_Meanwhile the golden tiles of the palace rise and fly away._)
+
+JUPITER (_has descended from his throne. At his feet the thunderbolts
+lie, smoking like burning coals about to expire;--and the great eagle
+bends its neck to pick up its falling feathers_):
+
+"Then I am no longer the master of all things,--most holy, most
+mighty, god of the phatrias and Greek peoples,--ancestor of all the
+Kings,--Agamemnon of heaven.
+
+"Eagle of apotheoses, what wind from Erebus has wafted thee to me? or,
+fleeing from the Campus Martins, dost thou bear me the soul of the last
+of the Emperors?
+
+"I no longer desire to receive those of men. Let the Earth keep them;
+and let them move upon the level of its baseness. Their hearts are now
+the hearts of slaves;--they forget injuries, forget their ancestors,
+forget their oaths,--and everywhere the folly of crowds, the mediocrity
+of individuals, the hideousness of races, hold sway!"
+
+(_He pants with such violence that his sides seem ready to burst
+asunder; he clenches his hands. Weeping_, HEBE _offers him a cup. He
+seizes it._)
+
+"No, no! So long as there shall be a brain enclosing a thought, in
+whatsoever part of the world;--so long as there shall exist a mind
+hating disorder, creating LAW,--so long will the spirit of Jupiter
+live!"
+
+(_But the cup is empty. He turns its edge down over his thumbnail._)
+
+"Not one drop left! When the ambrosia fails, the Immortals must indeed
+depart!"
+
+(_The cup drops from his hands; and he leans against a column, feeling
+himself about to die._)
+
+JUNO. "Thou shouldst not have had so many amours! Eagle, bull, swan,
+rain of gold, cloud and flame, thou didst assume all forms,--dissipate
+thy light in all elements,--lose thy hair upon all beds! This time
+the divorce is irrevocable; and our domination, our very existence,
+dissolved."
+
+(_She passes away in air._)
+
+MINERVA (_has no longer her spear; and the ravens nesting among the
+sculptures of the friezes, wheel about her, peeking at her helmet._)
+
+"Let me see whether my vessels cleave the bright sea, returning to my
+three ports,--let me discover why the fields are deserted, and learn
+what the daughters of Athens are now doing.
+
+"In the month of Hecatombeon my whole people came to worship me, under
+the guidance of their magistrates and priests. Then, all in white robes
+and wearing chitons of gold, they advanced the long line of virgins
+bearing cups, baskets, parasols; then the three hundred sacrificial
+oxen, and the old men having green boughs, the soldiers with clashing
+of armour, the ephebi singing hymns, flute players, lyre players,
+rhapsodists, dancing women;--and lastly attached to the mast of a
+trireme mounted upon wheel, my great veil embroidered by virgins who
+had been nourished in a particular way for a whole year. And when it
+had been displayed in all the streets, in all the squares, and before
+the temples, in the midst of the ever-chanting procession, it was borne
+step by step up the hill of the Acropolis, grazed the Propylæa, and
+entered the Parthenon....
+
+"But a strange feebleness comes upon me,--me the Industrious One! What!
+what! not one idea comes to me! Lo! I am trembling more than a woman!"
+
+(_She turns, beholds a ruin behind her, utters a cry, and stricken by a
+fallen fragment, falls backward upon the ground._)
+
+HERCULES (_has flung away his lion-skin; and with feet firmly braced,
+back arched, teeth clenched, he exhausts himself in immeasurable
+efforts to bear up the mass of crumbling Olympus._)
+
+"I vanquished the Cercopes, the Amazons, and the Centaurs. Many were
+the kings I slew. I broke the horn of the great river, Achelous. I cut
+the mountains asunder; I freed nations from slavery; and I peopled
+lands that were desolate. I travelled through the countries of Gaul;
+I traversed the deserts where thirst prevails. I defended the gods
+from their enemies; and I freed myself from Omphale. But the weight of
+Olympus is too great for me. My arms grow feebler:--I die!"
+
+(_He is crushed beneath the ruins._)
+
+PLUTO. "It is thy fault, Amphytrionad;--wherefore didst thou descend
+into my empire?
+
+"The vulture that gnaws the entrails of Tityus lifted its head;--the
+lips of Tantalus were moistened;--the wheel of Ixion stopped.
+
+"Meanwhile the Kæres extended their claws to snatch back the escaping
+ghosts; the Furies tore the serpents of their locks; and Cerberus
+fettered by thee with a chain, sounded the death rattle in his throat,
+and foamed at all his three mouths.
+
+"Thou didst leave the gate ajar; others have come. The daylight of men
+has entered into Tartarus!"
+
+(_He sinks into the darkness._)
+
+NEPTUNE. "My trident can no longer call up the tempests. The monsters
+that terrified of old, lie rotting at the bottom of the sea.
+
+"Amphitrite whose white feet tripped lightly over the foam, the green
+Nereids seen afar off in the horizon, the scaly Sirens who stopped
+the passing vessels to tell stories, and the ancient Tritons mightily
+blowing upon their shells, all have passed away. All is desolate and
+dead; the gaiety of the great Sea is no more!"
+
+(_He vanishes beneath the azure._)
+
+DIANA (_clad in black and surrounded by her dogs, which have been
+changed into wolves_).
+
+"The freedom of the deep forests once intoxicated me; the odours of the
+wild beasts and the exhalations of the marshes made me as one drank
+with joy. But the women whose maternity I protected, now bring dead
+children into the world. The moon trembles with the incantations of
+witches. Desires of violence, of immensity, seize me, fill me! I wish
+to drink poisons,--to lose myself in vapours, in dreams...!"
+
+(_And a passing cloud carries her away._)
+
+MARS (_unhelmed and covered with blood_).
+
+"At first I fought alone;--singlehanded I would provoke a whole army by
+my insults,--caring nothing for countries or nations, demanding battle
+for the pleasure of carnage alone.
+
+"Afterward I had comrades. They marched to the sound of flutes, in good
+order, with equal step, respiring above their bucklers, with plumes
+loftily nodding, lances oblique. Then on rushed to battle with mighty
+eagle cries. War was joyous as a banquet. Three hundred men strove
+against all Asia.
+
+"But the Barbarians are returning;--by myriads they come, by millions!
+Ah! since numbers, and engines, and cunning are stronger than valour,
+it were better that I die the death of the brave!"
+
+(_He kills himself._)
+
+VULCAN (_sponging the sweat from his limbs_):
+
+"The world is growing cold. The source of heat must be nourished, the
+volcanoes and rivers of flowing metal underground. Strike harder!--with
+full swing of the arms,--with might and main!"
+
+(_The Cabiri wound themselves with their hammers, blind themselves with
+sparks, and groping, lose themselves in the darkness._)
+
+CERES (_standing in her chariot, impelled by wheels having wings at
+their hubs_):
+
+"Stop! Stop! Ah! it was with good reason that the exclusion of
+strangers, atheists, Epicureans, and Christians was commended! Now the
+mystery of the basket has been unveiled; the sanctuary profaned: all is
+lost!"
+
+(_She descends a precipitous slope--shrieking, despairing, tearing her
+hair._)
+
+"Ah! lies, lies! Daira has not been restored to me. The voice of brass
+calls me to the dead. This is another Tartarus, whence there is no
+return! Horror!"
+
+(_The abyss engulfs her._)
+
+BACCHUS (_with a frenzied laugh_).
+
+"What matters it? The Archon's wife is my spouse! The law itself reels
+in drunkenness! To me the new song, the multiplied forms!
+
+"The fire by which my mother was devoured, flows in my veins! Let it
+burn yet more fiercely, even though I perish!
+
+"Male and female, complaisant to all, I abandon myself to you,
+Bacchantes! I abandon myself to you, Bacchanalians!--and the vine shall
+twine herself about the tree-trunks! Howl! dance! writhe! Loosen the
+tiger and the slave!--rend flesh with ferocious bitings!"
+
+(_And Pan, Silenus, the Bacchantes, the Mimalonæides, and the
+Mænads,--with their serpents, torches, sable masks,--cast flowers at
+each other ... shake their tympanums, strike their thyrsi, pelt each
+other with shells, devour grapes, strangle a goat, and tear Bacchus
+asunder._)
+
+APOLLO (_furiously whipping his coursers, while his blanching locks are
+falling from his head_):
+
+"I have left far behind me stony Delos, so pure that all now there
+seems dead; and I must strive to reach Delphi ere its inspiring vapour
+be wholly lost. The mules browse in its laurel groves. The Pythoness
+has wandered away, and cannot be found.
+
+"By a stronger concentration of my power, I will obtain sublime hymns,
+eternal monuments; and all matter will be penetrated by the vibrations
+of my cithara!"
+
+(_He strikes the strings of the instrument. They burst, lashing his
+face with their broken ends. He flings the cithara away; and furiously
+whipping his quadriga, cries_):
+
+"No! enough of forms!--Further, higher!--to the very summit!--to the
+realm of pure thought!"
+
+(_But the horses back, rear, dash the chariot to pieces. Entangled by
+the harness, caught by the fragments of the broken pole, he falls head
+foremost into the abyss._
+
+[Illustration: ... he falls head foremost into the abyss.]
+
+_The sky is darkened._)
+
+VENUS (_blue with cold, shivering_):
+
+"Once with my girdle I made all the horizon of Hellas.
+
+"Her fields glowed with the roses of my cheeks; her shores were
+outlined after the fashion of my lips; and her mountains, whiter than
+my doves, palpitated beneath the hands of the statuaries. My spirit's
+manifestation was found in the ordinances of the festivals, in the
+arrangement of coiffures, in the dialogues of philosophers, in the
+constitution of republics. But I have doted too much upon men! It is
+Love that has dishonoured me!"
+
+(_She casts herself back weeping_):
+
+"This world is abominable;--there is no air for me to breathe!
+
+"O Mercury, inventor of the lyre, conductor of souls, take me away!"
+
+(_She places one finger upon her lips, and describing an immense
+parabola, falls into the abyss._
+
+_Nothing is now visible. The darkness is complete._
+
+_Only, that from the eyes of Hilarion escape two flashes, two rays of
+lurid light._)
+
+ANTHONY (_begins at last to notice his immense stature_):
+
+"Already several times, while thou wert speaking, it seemed to me thou
+wert growing taller; and it was no illusion! How? Explain to me ... Thy
+aspect terrifies me!"
+
+(_Footsteps are heard approaching._)
+
+"What is that?"
+
+HILARION (_extending his arm_):
+
+"Look!"
+
+(_Then, under a pale beam of moonlight, Anthony distinguishes an
+interminable caravan defiling over the summit of the rocks;--and each
+voyager, one after the other, falls from the cliff into the gulf below._
+
+_First comes the three great gods of_ Samothrace,--AXIEROS, AXIOKEROS,
+AXIOKERSA,--_united together as in a fascia, purple-masked, all with
+hands uplifted._
+
+_Æsculapius advances with a melancholy air, not even perceiving
+Samos and Telesphorus, who question him with gestures of anguish._
+ELEAN SOSIPOLIS, _of python-form, rolls his coils toward the abyss._
+DOSIPOENA, _becomes dizzy, leaps in of her own accord._ BRITOMARTIS,
+_shrieking with fear, clutches fast the meshes of her net. The Centaurs
+come at a wild gallop, and roll pell-mell into the black gulf._
+
+_Behind them, all limping, advance the bands of the mourning Nymphs.
+Those of the meadows are covered with dust; those of the woods moan and
+bleed; wounded by the axes of the woodcutters._
+
+_The Gelludes, the Strygii, the Empusæ, all the infernal goddesses,
+form one pyramid of blended fangs, vipers, and torches;--and seated
+upon a vulture-skin at its summit, Eurynome, blue as the flies that
+corrupt meat, devours her own arms._
+
+_Then in one great whirl simultaneously disappear the bloody Orthia,
+Hymina of Orchomenus, the Laphria of the Patræns, Aphia of Agina,
+Bendis of Thrace, Stymphalia with thighs like a bird's. Triopas, in
+lieu of three eyes, has now but three empty orbits. Erichthonius, his
+legs paralysed, crawls upon his hands like a cripple._)
+
+HILARION. "What a pleasure, is it not!--to see them all in the
+abjection of their death-agony! Climb up here beside me, on this rock;
+and thou shalt be even as Xerxes, reviewing his army.
+
+"Beyond there, very far, dost thou behold that fair-bearded giant,
+who even now lets fall his sword crimsoned with blood?--that is
+the Scythian Zalmoxis between two planets,--Artimpasa, Venus, and
+Orsiloche, the Moon.
+
+"Still further away, now emerging from pallid clouds, are the gods whom
+the Cimmerians adore, even beyond Thule.
+
+"Their huge halls were warm, and by the gleam of swords that tapestried
+the vault, they drank their hydromel from horns of ivory. They ate the
+liver of the whale in dishes of brass wrought by the hammers of demons;
+or, betimes, they listened to captive sorcerers whose fingers played
+upon harps of stone.
+
+"They are feeble! They are cold! The snow makes heavy their bearskins;
+and their feet show through the rents in their sandals.
+
+"They weep for the vast fields upon whose grassy knolls they were
+wont to draw breath in pauses of battle; they weep for the long ships
+whose prows forced a way through the mountains of ice;--and the skates
+wherewith they followed the orb of the poles, upbearing at the length
+of their mighty arms all the firmament that turned with them."
+
+(_A gust of frosty wind carries them off. Anthony turns his eyes
+another way. And he perceives--outlined in black against a red
+background--certain strange personages, with chinbands and gauntlets,
+who throw balls at one another, leap over each other's heads, make
+grimaces, dance a frenzied dance._)
+
+HILARION. "Those are the divinities of Etruria, the innumerable Æsars.
+
+"There is Tages, by whom augury was invented. With one hand he seeks to
+augment the divisions of the sky; with the other he supports himself
+upon the earth: let him sink therein!
+
+"Nortia gazes at the wall into which she drave nails to mark the number
+of the passing years. Its whole surface is now covered; and the period
+is accomplished.
+
+"Like two travellers overtaken by a storm, Kastur and Pulutuk,
+trembling, seek to shelter themselves beneath the same mantle."
+
+ANTHONY (_closes his eyes_):
+
+"Enough! Enough!"
+
+(_But with a mighty noise of wings, all the Victories of the Capitol
+pass through the air,--hiding their faces with their hands, dropping
+the trophies hanging upon their arms._
+
+_Janus,--lord of crepuscules,--flees upon a black ram; and one of his
+two faces is already putrified; the other slumbers with fatigue._
+
+_Summanus, the headless god of the dark heavens, presses against his
+heart an odd cake shaped like a wheel._
+
+_Vesta, beneath a ruined cupola, tries to relight her extinguished
+lamp._
+
+_Bellona gashes her cheeks,--without being able to make that blood flow
+by which her devotees were purified._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Mercy!--they weary me!"
+
+HILARION. "Before, they amused thee!"
+
+(_And he shows him in a grove of bean-trees,_ A WOMAN, _naked....
+.........and a black man, holding in each hand a torch._[8])
+
+"It is the goddess of Aricia, with the demon Virbius. Her sacerdote,
+the King of the grove, had to be an assassin;[9] and the fugitive
+slaves, the despoilers of corpses, the brigands of the Via Salaria, the
+cripples of the Pons Sublicius, all the human vermin of the Suburra
+worshipped no deities so fervently.
+
+"In the time of Marcus Antonius the patrician women preferred Libitina."
+
+(_And he shows him under the shadow of cypresses and rose-trees_,
+ANOTHER WOMAN, _clad in gauze. Around her lie spades, litters, black
+hangings, all the paraphernalia of funerals. She smiles. Her diamonds
+shine afar off through spiders' webs. The Larvæ, like skeletons, show
+their bones through the branches; and the Lemures, who are phantoms,
+extend their bat-like wings._
+
+_At the end of a field lies the god Terminus, uprooted, and covered
+with ordures._
+
+_In the centre of a furrow, the great corpse of Vertumnus is being
+devoured by red dogs._
+
+_The rustic deities all depart, weeping:--Sartor, Sarrator, Vervactor,
+Collina, Vallona, Hostilinus--all wearing little hooded mantles, and
+carrying either a hoe, a pitchfork, a hurdle, or a boar-spear._)
+
+HILARION. "Their spirits made prosperous the villa,--with its dovecots,
+its parks of dormice, its poultry-yards protected by nets, its warm
+stables fragrant with odours of cedar.
+
+"Also they protected all the wretched population who dragged the irons
+upon their legs over the flinty ways of the Sabine country,--those who
+called the swine together by sound of horn,--those who were wont to
+gather the bunches at the very summits of the elms,--those who drove
+the asses, laden with manure, over the winding bypaths. The panting
+labourer, leaning over the handle of his plough, prayed them to give
+strength to his arms; and under the shade of the lindens, beside
+calabashes filled with milk, the cow-herds were wont, in turn, to sound
+their praises upon flutes of reed."
+
+ANTHONY (_sighs._)
+
+(_And in the centre of a chamber, upon a lofty estrade, an ivory bed is
+visible, surrounded by persons bearing torches of pine._)
+
+"Those are the deities of marriage. They await the coming of the bride.
+
+"Domiduca should lead her in,--Virgo unfasten her girdle,--Subigo place
+her in the bed,--and Præma open her arms, and whisper sweet words into
+her ear.
+
+"But she will not come!--and they dismiss the others:--Nona and Decima
+who watch by sick-beds; the three Nixii who preside over child-birth;
+the two nurses, Educa and Potina; and Carna, guardian of the cradle,
+whose bouquet of hawthorne keeps evil dreams from the child.
+
+"Afterwards, Ossipago should strengthen his knees;--Barbatus give him
+his first beard; Stimula inspire his first desires; Volupia grant him
+his first enjoyment; Fabulimus should have taught him to speak, Numera
+to count, Cam[oe]na to sing, Consus to reflect."
+
+(_This chamber is empty; and there remains only the centenarian Nænia
+beside the bed,--muttering to herself the dirge she was wont to howl at
+the funerals of aged men._
+
+_But her voice is soon drowned by sharp cries. These are uttered by_--
+
+_The_ LARES DOMESTICI, _crouching at the further end of the atrium,
+clad in dog-skins, with flowers wreathed about their bodies,--pressing
+their clenched hands against their cheeks, and weeping as loudly as
+they can._)
+
+"Where is the portion of food we received at each repast, the kindly
+care of the maid-servant, the smile of the matron, the merriment of
+the little boys playing at knuckle-bones on the mosaic pavement of the
+court-yard? When grown up, they used to hang about our necks their
+bullæ of gold or leather!
+
+"What happiness it was, when on the evening of a triumph, the master,
+entering, turned his humid eyes upon us! He would recount his combats;
+and the little house would be prouder than a palace; sacred as a temple!
+
+"How sweet were the family repasts, above all on the morrow of the
+Feralia! Tenderness for the dead appeased all discords; all kissed each
+other, while drinking to the glories of the past, and the hopes of the
+future.
+
+"But the ancestors, of painted wax, locked up behind us, are slowly
+becoming covered with mold. The new races, visiting their own
+deceptions upon us, have shattered our jaws; our wooden bodies are
+disappearing piece-meal under the teeth of rats."
+
+(_And the innumerable gods, watching over doors, kitchens, cellars,
+baths, disperse in every direction--under the form of enormous ants
+running over the pavement, or great butterflies soaring away._
+
+_Then a roll of thunder is heard._)
+
+
+A VOICE:
+
+"I was the God of Armies, the Lord, the Lord God! I pitched the tents
+of Jacob on the hills; and in the midst of the sands I nourished my
+chosen people in their flight.
+
+"It was I who consumed the city of Sodom with fire! It was I who
+overwhelmed the world with the waters of the Deluge! It was I that
+drowned Pharaoh, with all the princes, sons of Kings,--making the sea
+to swallow up his chariots of war, and his charioteers!
+
+"I, the Jealous God, held all other gods in abomination. I brayed the
+impure in my anger; the mighty I cast down; and swiftly the desolation
+of my wrath ran to the right and to the left, like a dromedary loosened
+in a field of maize.
+
+"I chose the humble to deliver Israel. Angels, flame-winged, spake to
+them from out the bushes.
+
+"Perfumed with spikenard, with cinnamon and myrrh, clad in transparent
+robes, and shod with high-heeled sandals,--women of valiant heart went
+forth to slay captains. The passing wind carried my prophets with it.
+
+"My law I graved upon tables of stone. Within that law my people were
+enclosed, as within a strong citadel. They were my people. I was their
+God! The land was mine; the men also belonged to me, together with
+their every thought, and all their works, and the tools they wrought
+with, and their prosperity.
+
+"My ark reposed within a triple sanctuary,--surrounded by curtains
+of purple and lighted candelabra. I had a whole tribe to serve me as
+servants, swinging censers; and the high-priest, robed in robes of
+hyacinth, wore upon his breast precious stones disposed in symmetrical
+order.
+
+"Woe! Woe! the Holy of Holies is open, the veil is rent, the perfumes
+of the holocaust are dissipated by all the winds of heaven! The jackal
+whines in the sepulchres; my temple is destroyed; my people dispersed!
+
+"The priests have been strangled with the girdles of their robes. The
+women languish in captivity; the holy vessels have all been melted!"
+
+(_The voice, becoming more distant_):
+
+"I was the God of Armies; the Lord, the Lord God!"
+
+(_An enormous silence follows,--and deepest night._)
+
+ANTHONY. "All have passed away!"
+
+SOME ONE (_replies_):
+
+"I remain!"
+
+(_And Hilarion stands before him--but transfigured wholly,--beautiful
+as an archangel, luminous as a sun, and so lofty that in order to
+behold his face_--
+
+ANTHONY
+
+_is compelled to throw back his head, to look up as though gazing as a
+star_):
+
+"Who art thou?"
+
+HILARION. "My kingdom is vast as the universe; and my desire knows no
+limits. I go on forever,--freeing minds, weighing worlds,--without
+hatred, without fear, without pity, without love, and without God. Men
+call me SCIENCE!"
+
+ANTHONY (_recoiling from him_):
+
+"Say, rather, that thou art ... the Devil!"
+
+HILARION (_fixing his eyes upon him_:)
+
+"Wouldst thou behold him?"
+
+ANTHONY (_cannot detach his eyes from that mighty gaze:--the curiosity
+of the Devil comes upon him. His terror augments; yet his wish grows
+even to boundlessness_):
+
+"Yet if I should see him ... if I were to see him!"
+
+(_Then in a sudden spasm of wrath_):
+
+"The horror that I have of him will free me from his presence
+forever!... Yes!"
+
+(_A cloven foot appears. Anthony regrets his wish._
+
+_But the Devil flings him upon his horns and bears him away._)
+
+
+
+[1] Matthew II: 10--T.
+
+[2] "Buddha, or more correctly, the Buddha, for Buddha is an
+appellative meaning Enlightened."--Max Müller (Chips, Vol. I., 206).
+
+[3] Luke II: 25-26.--T.
+
+[4] Ibid II: 46-47.--T.
+
+[5] Or, Haoma, also Hom, the sacred plant, whose fermented juice
+occupied an important place in the practical rites of Iran. Supposed
+to be the same plant known in botany as _Sarcostemma viminalis._
+Deified in Iranian worship, like the sacred drink _Soma_ in the Vedic
+hymns. The _Soma_ was the fermented extract of the _Asclepias acida_
+or _Sarcostemma ritalis._ See Marius Fontane, "L'Inde Védique," "Les
+Iraniens."--Trans.
+
+[6] Apuleius says, "a silken mantle."--Trans.
+
+[7] Apuleius says, "strung with knuckle-bones of sheep."--Trans.
+
+[8] This scene, like certain paintings in the Naples museum, is all
+suited for public exhibition.--Trans.
+
+[9] Readers will recollect the lines in Macaulay's _Lays of Ancient
+Rome_:
+
+"Beneath Aricia's trees,
+   Those trees in whose dim shadow
+ A ghastly priest doth reign,
+   The priest who slew the slayer,
+ And must himself be slain."
+
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+(_He flies beneath him, outstretched like a swimmer; his vast-spreading
+wings, wholly concealing him, seem like one huge cloud._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Whither do I go? But a little while ago I beheld in a glimpse
+the form of the Accurst. Nay!--'tis a cloud that upbears me! Perhaps I
+am dead, and am ascending to God....
+
+"How freely I respire. The immaculate air seems to vivify my soul. No
+sense of weight!--no more suffering.
+
+"Far below me the lightning breaks,--the horizon broadens, widens,--the
+rivers cross each other. That blond-bright spot is the desert; that
+pool of water the ocean!
+
+"And other oceans appear!--vast regions of which I knew nothing!
+There are the countries of the blacks, which seem to smoke like
+brasiers!--then is the zone of snows always made dim by fog! Would I
+might behold those mountains where the sun, each evening, sinks to
+rest!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "The sun never sinks to rest; the sun never rests!"
+
+(_Anthony is not surprised at this voice. It seems to him an echo of
+his own thought--a response made by his own memory._
+
+_Meanwhile the earth gradually assumes the shape of a ball; and he
+beholds it in the midst of the azure, turning upon its poles, and
+revolving with the sun._)
+
+THE DEVIL. "So it does not form the centre of the universe! Pride of
+man! humiliate thyself!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Now I can scarcely distinguish it. It mingles confusedly with
+other glowing worlds. The firmament itself is but one tissue of stars."
+
+(_And they still rise._)
+
+"No sound!--not even the hoarse cry of eagles! Nothing? I listen for
+the harmony of the spheres."
+
+THE DEVIL. "Thou wilt not hear them! Nor wilt thou behold the
+antichtonus of Plato,--or the central furnace of Philolaüs,--or the
+spheres of Aristotle, or the seven heavens of the Jews, with the great
+waters above the vault of crystal!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet from below the vault seemed solid as a wall!--on the
+contrary I penetrate it, I lose myself in it!"
+
+(_And he beholds the moon,--like a rounded fragment of ice filled with
+motionless light._)
+
+THE DEVIL. "Formerly it was the sojourn of souls! Even the good
+Pythagoras adorned it with magnificent flowers, populated it with
+birds!"
+
+ANTHONY. "I can see only desolate plains there, with extinct craters
+yawning under a black sky!
+
+"Let us go towards those milder-beaming stars, that we may contemplate
+the angels who uphold them at arms' length, like torches!"
+
+THE DEVIL (_bears him into the midst of the stars_):
+
+"They attract at the same time that they repel each other. The
+action of each one results from that of others, and contributes
+thereunto,--without the aid of any auxiliary, by the force of a law,
+the virtue of order alone!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes!...yes! My intelligence grasps the great truth! It is
+a joy greater than all tender pleasures! Breathless I find myself with
+astonishment at the enormity of God!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Even as the firmament ever rises as thou dost ascend, so
+with the expansion of thy thought will He become greater to thee; and
+after this discovery of the universe thou wilt feel thy joy augment
+with the broadening and deepening of the infinite."
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! higher!--higher still!--- forever higher!"
+
+(_Then the stars multiply, scintillate. The Milky Way develops in the
+zenith like a monstrous belt, with holes at intervals; through these
+rents in its brightness stretches of prolonged darkness are visible.
+There are rains of stars, long trains of golden dust, luminous vapours
+that float and dissolve.
+
+At times a comet suddenly passes by; then the tranquillity of
+innumerable lights recommences.
+
+Anthony, with outstretched arms, supports himself upon the Devil's
+horns, and thus occupies all the space between them.
+
+He remembers with disdain the ignorance of other days, the mediocrity
+of his dreams. And now those luminous globes he was wont to gaze upon
+from below, are close to him. He distinguishes the intercrossing of
+the lines of their orbits, the complexity of their courses. He beholds
+them coming from afar,--and, like stones suspended in a sling, describe
+their circles, form their hyperbolas.
+
+He perceives, all within the field of his vision at once, the Southern
+Cross and the Great Bear, the Lynx and the Centaur, the nebula of
+Dorado, the six suns in the constellation of Orion, Jupiter with his
+four satellites, and the triple ring of the monstrous Saturn!--all the
+planets, all the stars that men will discover in the future. He fills
+his eyes with their light; he over-burthens his mind with calculation
+of their distances: then, bowing his head, he murmurs_):
+
+"What is the purpose of all that?"
+
+THE DEVIL. "There is no purpose. How could God have a purpose? What
+experience could have instructed him?--what reflection determined him?
+
+[Illustration: Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The
+Devil: There is no purpose.]
+
+"Before the beginning he could not have acted;--and now his action
+would be useless."
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet he created the world, at one time, by his word only."
+
+THE DEVIL. "But the beings that people the earth come upon it
+successively. So also, in heaven, new stars arise--different effects of
+varying causes."
+
+ANTHONY. "The varying of causes is the will of God!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "But to admit several acts of will in God is to admit
+various causes, and therefore to deny his unity.
+
+"His will is inseparable from his essence. He can have but one will,
+having but one essence; and inasmuch as he externally exists, he acts
+eternally.
+
+"Contemplate the sun! From its surface leap vast jets of flame, casting
+forth sparks that disperse beyond to become worlds here-after;--and
+further than the last, far beyond those deeps where thou seest only
+night, whirl other suns,--and behind them others again, and beyond
+those yet others ... without end!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Enough! Enough! I fear!--I will fall into the abyss!"
+
+THE DEVIL (_pauses, and rocks Anthony gently in the midst of space_).
+
+"Nothingness is--not--there is no void! Everywhere and forever bodies
+move upon the immovable deeps of space! Were there boundaries to
+space, it would not be space, but a body only: it is limitless!"
+
+ANTHONY (_stupefied by wonder_):
+
+"Limitless!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Ascend skyward forever and forever,--yet thou wilt not
+attain the summit. Descend below the earth for billions of billions of
+centuries: never wilt thou reach the bottom. For there is no summit,
+there is no bottom; there is no Above, no Below--nor height, nor
+depth as signified by the terms of human utterance. And Space itself
+is comprised in God, who is not a portion thereof of such or such a
+size,--but is Immensity itself!"
+
+ANTHONY (_slowly_):
+
+"Matter ..., then, ... must be a part of God?"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Why not? Canst thou know the end of God?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Nay: on the contrary, I prostrate, I crush myself beneath his
+mightiness!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "And yet thou dost pretend to move him! Thou dost speak to
+him,--thou dost even adorn him with virtues,--with goodness, justice,
+mercy,--in lieu of recognising that all perfections are his!
+
+"To conceive aught beyond him is to conceive God above God, the Being
+above the Being. For He is the only being, the only substance.
+
+"If the Substance could be divided, it would not be the Substance, it
+would lose its nature: God could not exist. He is therefore indivisible
+as infinite;--and if he had a body, he would be composed of parts,
+he would not be One--he would not be infinite. Therefore he is not a
+Person!"
+
+ANTHONY. "What? my prayers, my sobs, my groans, the sufferings of my
+flesh, the transports of my love,--have all these things gone out to a
+lie,--to emptiness, unavailingly--like the cry of a bird, like a whirl
+of dead leaves?"
+
+(_Weeping_):
+
+"Oh, no!--there is Some One above all things,--a great Soul, a Lord, a
+Father whom my heart adores and who must love me!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Thou dost desire that God were not God;--for did he feel
+love, or anger, or pity,--he would abandon his perfection for a greater
+or a lesser perfection. He can stoop to no sentiment, nor be contained
+in any form."
+
+ANTHONY. "One day, nevertheless, I shall see him!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "With the blessed, is it not?--when the finite shall enjoy
+the infinite in some restricted place, containing the Absolute!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Matters not!--there must be a paradise for the good, as there
+is a hell for the wicked."
+
+THE DEVIL. "Can the desire of thy mind create the law of the universe?
+Without doubt evil is indifferent to God,--forasmuch as the Earth is
+covered with it!
+
+"Is it through impotence that he endures it, or through cruelty that he
+maintains it?
+
+"Dost thou fancy that he is eternally readjusting the world, like an
+imperfect machine?--that he is forever watching the movements of all
+beings, from the flight of a butterfly to the thought of a man?
+
+"If he have created the universe, his providence is superfluous. If
+Providence exists, then creation is defective.
+
+"But evil and good concern only thee--even like night and day, pleasure
+and pain, death and birth, which are relative only to one corner
+of space, to a special centre, to a particular interest. Since the
+Infinite is permanent, the Infinite is;--and that is all."
+
+(_The Devil's wings have been gradually expanding: now they cover all
+space._)
+
+ANTHONY (_now perceives nothing: a great faintness comes upon him_):
+
+"A hideous cold freezes me, even to the depths of my soul! This is
+beyond the extreme of pain! It is like a death that is deeper than
+death! I roll in the immensity of darkness; and the darkness itself
+enters within me. My consciousness bursts beneath this dilation of
+nothingness!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Yet the knowledge of things comes to thee only through the
+medium of thy mind. Even as a concave mirror, it deforms the objects
+it reflects; and thou hast no means whatever of verifying their
+exactitude."
+
+"Never canst thou know the universe in all its vastness; consequently
+it will never be possible for thee to obtain an idea of its cause,
+to have a just notion of God, nor even to say that the universe is
+infinite,--for thou must first be able to know what the Infinite is!"
+
+"May not Form be, perhaps, an error of thy senses,--Substance a figment
+of thy imagination?"
+
+"Unless, indeed, that the world being a perpetual flux[1] of things,
+appearance, on the contrary, be wholly true; illusion the only reality."
+
+"But art thou sure thou dost see?--art thou even sure thou dost live?
+Perhaps nothing exists!"
+
+(_The Devil has seized Anthony, and, holding him at arms' length,
+glares at him with mouth yawning as though to devour him_):
+
+"Adore me, then!--and curse the phantom thou callest God!"
+
+(_Anthony lifts his eyes with a last effort of hope._
+
+_The Devil abandons him._)
+
+
+[1] The original text seems to me slightly obscure. The idea of the
+universe being a perpetual ebb and flow of shapes, is that of forms
+passing away to reappear like waves, is that of the Nidana-Sutris:
+"Individuality is only a form ... _Everything is only a flux of
+aggregates_, interminably uniting and disuniting," as Barth observes in
+his "Religions of India."--Trans.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+ANTHONY (_finds himself lying upon his back, at the verge of the cliff._
+
+_The sky commences to blanch._)
+
+"Is it the glow of dawn, or only an effect of moonlight?"
+
+(_He tries to rise, falls back,--his teeth chattering_):
+
+"I feel such a helplessness of weakness, as though all my bones were
+broken!
+
+"Why?
+
+"Ah! the Devil!--I remember!--he even repeated to me all that I
+learned from the aged Didymus respecting the opinions of Xenophanes,
+Heraclitus, of Melissus, of Anaxagoras,--concerning the infinite, the
+creation, the impossibility of knowing anything!
+
+"And yet I believed that I could unite myself to God!"
+
+(_Laughing bitterly_):
+
+"Ah! madness! madness! Is the fault mine? Prayer has become
+intolerable to me! My heart is dry as a rock! Once, it was wont to
+overflow with love!...
+
+"The sand used to smoke of mornings like the odourous dust of a
+censer;--at sunset flowers of fire used to bloom upon the cross; and in
+the middle of the night, it often seemed as though all beings and all
+things, lying under the same awful silence, were adoring the Lord with
+me. O charms of prayer, felicities of ecstasy, gifts of heaven,--what
+have become of you?
+
+"I remember a voyage I made with Ammon in search of a solitary place
+suited for the establishment of a monastery. It was the last evening;
+we hastened our steps, walked side by side, murmuring hymns, without
+conversing. As the sun sank, the shadows of our bodies lengthened like
+two obelisks, continually growing taller, and moving before us. Here
+and there we planted crosses, made with fragments of our sticks, to
+mark the site of a future cell. Night was tardy in her coming; and
+waves of darkness overspread the earth, even while a vast rose-coloured
+light still glowed in heaven.
+
+"When I was a child, I used to amuse myself by building hermitages
+with pebbles. My mother sitting beside me would watch me so attentively!
+
+"Will she not have cursed me for having abandoned her?--will she not
+have plucked out her white hair by handfuls in the despair of her
+grief? And her corpse remains lying on the floor of the hut, under the
+roof of reeds, between the crumbling walls. Through an orifice a hyena,
+snuffing, thrusts his head, advances his mouth ... horror! horror!"
+
+(_Sobbing_):
+
+"No: Ammonaria will not have abandoned her! Where is she
+now,--Ammonaria?
+
+"Perhaps at the further end of a bathroom, she removes her garments
+one after the other: first the mantle, then the girdle, then the first
+tunic, the second lighter tunic, all her necklaces,--and the vapour
+of cinnamon envelops her naked limbs. At last she lies down upon the
+tepid mosaic. Her long hair spreading below the curve of her hips,
+seems like a sable fleece; and the oppressiveness of the heated air
+causes her to pant; her waist arched, her breasts standing out ...
+What! my flesh rebels again! Even in the midst of grief am I tortured
+by concupiscence. To be subjected thus unto two tortures at once is
+beyond endurance! I can no longer bear myself!"
+
+(_He leans over, and gazes into the abyss._)
+
+"The man who should fall would be killed. Nothing easier: it were only
+necessary to roll over upon my left side:--only one movement--one!"
+
+(_Then suddenly appears_--AN AGED WOMAN. _Anthony starts to his feet in
+affright. It seems to him that he beholds his mother arisen._
+
+_But this woman is far older, and prodigiously thin._
+
+_A shroud, knotted about her head, hangs down, together with her white
+hair, so as to cover her legs, slender as crutches. The brilliancy of
+her ivory-coloured teeth make her earthy skin darker still. The orbits
+of her eyes are full of shadow; and far back within them two flames
+vacillate, like the lamps of sepulchres._
+
+_She exclaims_):
+
+"Advance! What hinders thee?"
+
+ANTHONY (_stammering_):
+
+"I fear ... to commit a sin!"
+
+SHE (_replies_):
+
+"But King Saul killed himself! Razias, a just man, killed himself!
+Saint Pelagia of Antioch killed herself! Dommina of Aleppo and her two
+daughters--all three saints--killed themselves: and remember also how
+many confessors delivered themselves up to the executioner in their
+impatient longing for death! That they might enjoy death more speedily,
+the virgins of Miletus strangled themselves with their girdles. At
+Syracuse the philosopher Hegesias preached so eloquently upon death
+that men deserted the lupanars to go hang themselves in the fields. The
+patricians of Borne sought for death as a new form of debauch."
+
+ANTHONY. "Aye! the love of death is strong; and many a anchorite has
+succumbed to it."
+
+THE OLD WOMAN. "To do that which will make thee equal unto God--think!
+He created thee: thou wilt destroy his work--thou! and by thy
+courage,--of thy own free will! The enjoyment that Erostratus knew was
+not greater than this. And moreover thy body has so long mocked thy
+soul that it is full time thou shouldst take vengeance upon it. Thou
+wilt not suffer. It will soon be over. Of what art thou afraid?--a
+wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!"
+
+[Illustration: The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?—a wide,
+black hole! Perhaps it is a void!]
+
+(_Anthony hearkens without replying; and upon the other side appears_--
+
+ANOTHER WOMAN--_young and marvellously beautiful. At first he takes
+her to be Ammonaria. But she is taller, blond as honey, very plump,
+with paint upon her cheeks and roses upon her head. Her long robe,
+weighty with spangles, gleams with metallic lustre;--her fleshy lips
+are sanguinolent; and her somewhat heavy eyelids are so drowned with
+languor that one would almost take her to be blind._
+
+_She murmurs_):
+
+"Nay, live! enjoy! Solomon counsels joy! Follow the guiding of thy
+heart and the desire of thine eyes!"
+
+ANTHONY. "What joy is there for me? My heart is weary; my eyes are dim!"
+
+SHE (_answers_):
+
+"Seek the suburb of Racotis; push open a door that is painted
+blue;--and when thou shalt be in the atrium where a fountain jet
+murmurs unceasingly, a woman will present herself before thee--in
+peplos of white silk striped with gold; her hair is unloosed, her
+laugh like the clatter of crotali. She is skilful. In her caress thou
+wilt taste the pride of initiation and the appeasement of desire.
+
+"Hast ever pressed to thy bosom a virgin who loved thee? Dost remember
+the surrenders of her modesty,--the passing away of her remorse in a
+sweet flow of tears?
+
+"Thou canst even now imagine thyself walking with her--canst thou
+not?--in the wood by the light of the moon? At each pressure of your
+joined hands, a sweet shuddering passes through you both,--looking
+closely into each other your eyes seem to outpour into one another
+something like immaterial fluid;--and thy heart fills: it bursts: it is
+a suave whirl of eddying passion, an overflowing of intoxication...."
+
+THE OLD WOMAN. "One need not possess joys in order to taste their
+bitterness! Even to view them from afar off begets loathing of them.
+Thou must be fatigued by the monotony of the same actions, the length
+of the days, the hideousness of the world, the stupidity of the sun?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Aye, indeed!--I loathe all that he shines upon."
+
+THE YOUNG WOMAN. "Hermit! hermit! thou wilt find diamonds among the
+flints, fountains beneath the sand, a delectation in all the hazards
+thou dost despise; and there are even upon earth places of such beauty
+that the sight of them would make thee desire to press the whole world
+against thy heart with love!"
+
+THE OLD WOMAN. "Each evening that thou liest down upon the earth to
+slumber, thou dost hope that it may soon lie upon thee and cover thee."
+
+THE YOUNG WOMAN. "Yet thou dost believe in the resurrection of the
+flesh--which is but the translation of life into eternity!"
+
+(_Even as she speaks, the Old Woman becomes still more fleshless; and
+above her skull, from which the white hair has disappeared, a bat
+circles in the air._
+
+_The Young Woman has become fatter. Her robe gleams with shifting
+colours; her nostrils palpitate, her eyes roll softly._)
+
+THE FORMER (_opening her arms, exclaiming_):
+
+"Come to me!--I am Consolation, repose, oblivion, eternal calm!"
+
+THE OTHER.
+
+"I am the sleep-giver, life, happiness inexhaustible!"
+
+(_Anthony turns to fee from them. Each lays a hand on his shoulder._
+
+_The Shroud parts, exposes the Skeleton of Death._
+
+_The robe splits asunder, and leaves the whole body of Lust
+exposed:--her waist is slender; her long and undulating hair flutters
+in the wind._
+
+_Anthony stands motionless between the two, considering them_):
+
+DEATH (_says to him_):
+
+"What matters it, whether now or at another time! Thou art mine,--like
+suns, nations, cities, kings, mountain-snows, and the grasses of the
+fields. I fly higher than the hawks of heaven. I run more swiftly than
+the gazelle; I overtake even Hope; I vanquished the Son of God!"
+
+LUST. "Resist not! I am the Omnipotent! The forests re-echo with my
+sighs; the waters tremble with my agitations. Virtue, courage, piety,
+dissolve in the perfume of my mouth. Man I accompany in every step
+that he makes; and even from the threshold of the tomb he turns to me!"
+
+DEATH. "I will find for thee that which thou hast vainly sought for,
+by the gleam of torches, upon the faces of the dead,--or among those
+awful sands that are formed of human remains, where thou wast wont to
+wander beyond the Pyramids. From time to time, the fragment of a skull
+rolled under thy sandal. Thou didst take up the dust: thou didst let it
+trickle through thy fingers; and thy thought, blending with it, sank
+into nothingness."
+
+LUST. "My gulf is deeper! Marbles have inspired loves. Men rush to
+conjunctures that terrify. Fetters are riveted that the fettered curse.
+Whence the bewitchment of courtesans, the extravagance of dreams, the
+immensity of my sadness?"
+
+DEATH. "Mine irony depasseth all others! There are convulsions of
+delight at the funerals of kings, at the extermination of a whole
+people; and war is made with music, with plumes, with harness of
+gold,--with vast display of ceremony that my due of homage may be
+greater!"
+
+[Illustration: Death: Mine irony depasseth all others!]
+
+LUST. "My rage equals thine! I also yell; I bite! I, too, have sweats
+of agony, and aspects cadaverous!"
+
+DEATH. "It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!"
+
+[Illustration: Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us
+intertwine!]
+
+(_Death laughs mockingly; Lust roars. They clasp each other about the
+waist, and chant alternately_):
+
+"I hasten the dissolution of matter!"
+
+"I facilitate the dispersion of germs!"
+
+"Thou dost destroy for my renovations!"
+
+"Thou dost engender for my destructions!"
+
+"Ever-active my power!"
+
+"Fecund, my putrefaction!"
+
+(_And their voices, whose rolling echoes fill the horizon, deepen and
+become so mighty that Anthony falls backward as if thunder-stricken. A
+shock from time to time causes him to reopen his eyes; and he perceives
+in the midst of the darkness a manner of monster before him._
+
+_It is a skull, crowned with roses, dominating the torso of a woman
+nacreously white. Below, a shroud starred with specks of gold forms
+something like a tail; and the whole body undulates, after the fashion
+of a gigantic worm erect on end._
+
+_The vision attenuates,--disappears._)
+
+ANTHONY (_rising to his feet_):
+
+"The Devil yet again, and under his two-fold aspect: the spirit of
+fornication, and the spirit of destruction.
+
+"Neither affrights me! I repel happiness; and I know myself to be
+eternal.
+
+"Thus death is only an illusion, a veil-masking betimes the continuity
+of life.
+
+"But Substance being unique, wherefore should forms be varied?
+
+"Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose bodily forms are
+only symbols. Could I but see them, I would know the link between
+matter and thought; I would know in what Being consists.
+
+[Illustration: Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial
+figures, whose bodily forms are only symbols.]
+
+"Such were the figures painted at Babylon upon the walls of the
+temple of Belus; and others like them covered a mosaic in the port of
+Carthage. I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms
+of spirits. Those who cross the desert meet with animals surpassing all
+conception...."
+
+[Illustration: I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it
+were, forms of spirits.]
+
+(_And opposite, upon the further side of the Nile, suddenly appears
+the Sphinx.[1] He stretches his paws, shakes the bandelets upon his
+forehead, and crouches upon his belly._
+
+_Leaping, flying, spitting fire through her nostrils, lashing her
+winged sides with her dragon-tail, the green-eyed Chimera circles,
+barks._
+
+_The thick curls of her head tossed back upon one side mingle with
+the hair of her loins; on the other side they hang down to the sand,
+quivering with the swinging of her body, to and fro._)
+
+THE SPHINX (_remaining motionless, and gazing at the Chimera_):
+
+"Hither, Chimera! rest awhile!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "No! never!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Do not run so fast, do not fly so high, do not bark so
+loudly!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "DO not call me!--call me no more; since thou must remain
+forever dumb."
+
+THE SPHINX. "Cease casting thy flames in my face, and uttering thy
+yells in my ear: thou canst not melt my granite."
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Thou shalt not seize me, terrible sphinx!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Thou art too mad to dwell with me!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Thou art too heavy to follow me!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Yet whither goest thou, that thou shouldst run so fast?"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "I gallop in the corridors of the Labyrinth--I hover above
+the mountains--I graze the waves in my flight--I yelp at the bottom of
+precipices--I suspend myself with my mouth from the skirts of clouds--I
+sweep the shores with my dragging tail; and the curves of the hills
+have taken their form from the shape of my shoulders! But thee I find
+perpetually immobile, or perhaps making strange designs with thy claws
+upon the sand."
+
+THE SPHINX. "It is because I keep my secret;--I dream and calculate.
+
+"The sea returns to its bed; the wheat bends back and forth in the
+wind; the caravans pass by; the dust flies; cities crumble; and yet
+my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all
+intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach."
+
+[Illustration: The Sphinx: ... and yet my gaze, which naught
+can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all intervening
+things, upon a horizon that none may reach. The Chimera: I am
+light and joyous!]
+
+THE CHIMERA. "I am light and joyous! I offer to the eyes of men
+dazzling perspectives with Paradise in the clouds above, and
+unspeakable felicity afar off. Into their souls I pour the eternal
+madnesses; projects of happiness, plans for the future, dreams of glory
+and vows of love, and all virtuous resolutions.
+
+"I urge men to perilous voyages and great enterprises. I have chiselled
+with my claws the wonders of architecture. It was I who suspended the
+little bells above the tomb of Porsenna, and surrounded the quays of
+Atlantis with a wall of orichalcum.
+
+"I seek for new perfumes, for vaster flowers, for pleasures never felt
+before. If I perceive in any place a man whose mind reposes in wisdom,
+I fall upon him, and strangle him."
+
+THE SPHINX. "All those tormented by the desire of God, I have devoured.
+
+"In order to climb up to my royal brow, the strongest ascend upon the
+flutings of my bandelets as upon the steps of a stairway. Then a great
+lassitude comes upon them, and they fall backward."
+
+(_Anthony begins to tremble._
+
+_He is no longer before his cabin, but in the desert itself, with those
+two monsters beside him, whose breath is hot upon his shoulders._)
+
+THE SPHINX. "O thou Fantasy, bear me away upon thy wings that my
+sadness may be lightened!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "O thou Unknown, I am enamoured of thine eyes! Like a
+hyena in heat I turn about thee, soliciting those fecundations whereof
+the desires devour me!
+
+"Ope thy mouth, lift thy feet--mount upon my back!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "My feet, since they have been outstretched, can move no
+more. The lichen, like an eruption, has formed upon my jaws. By dint of
+long dreaming I have no longer aught to say."
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Thou liest, hypocrite Sphinx! Wherefore dost thou always
+call me and always disown me!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "It is thou, indomitable caprice, that dost forever pass
+and repass, whirling in thy course!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Is the fault mine? What? Let me be!"
+
+(_She barks._)
+
+THE SPHINX. "Thou movest away! thou dost escape me!"
+
+(_He growls._)
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Essay!--Thou crushest me!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Nay!--impossible!"
+
+(_And gradually sinking down he disappears in the sand; while the
+Chimera, ramping with tongue protruding, departs, describing circles on
+her way._
+
+_The breath of her mouth has produced a fog._
+
+_Through this mist Anthony perceives wreathings of clouds, undecided
+curves._
+
+_At last he can distinguish something like the appearance of human
+bodies._
+
+_And first_:--
+
+THE ASTOMI--_approach, like bubbles of air traversed by sunlight. They
+cry_):
+
+"Do not breathe too hard! The drops of rain bruise us, false notes
+excoriate us, darknesses blind us! Composed wholly of breezes and of
+perfumes, we float along, we roll along:--a little more than Dreams,
+yet not quite beings...."
+
+THE NISNAS
+
+(_have only one eye, one cheek, one hand, one leg, half a body, half a
+heart. They say_):
+
+"We live quite in our halves of houses, with our halves of wives and
+our halves of children!"
+
+THE BLEMMYES
+
+(_who have no head at all_):
+
+"Our shoulders are all the broader;--and there is no ox, rhinoceros, or
+elephant able to carry what we carry.
+
+"Something dimly resembling features--as it were a vague
+face--imprinted upon our breasts: that is all! We think digestions; we
+subtleize secretions. God, in our belief, floats peacefully within the
+interior chyles.
+
+"We go straight upon our way, through all mires, crossing all morasses,
+skirting the edges of all abysses: and we are the most laborious, the
+most happy, the most virtuous of all peoples!"
+
+THE PYGMIES:
+
+"We, good little men, swarm upon the world like vermin upon the hump of
+a dromedary.
+
+"We are burned, drowned, crushed; and we always reappear, more
+vivacious and countless than before--terrible by reason of our numbers!"
+
+THE SCIAPODS:
+
+"Fettered to the earth by our hair, long as lianas, we vegetate beneath
+the shelter of our feet, broad as parasols; and the light comes to us
+through the thickness of our heels. No annoyances for us, no work! The
+head as low as possible--That is the secret of happiness."
+
+[Illustration: The Sciapods: The head as low as possible—That is
+the secret of happiness.]
+
+(_Their lifted thighs,--resembling the trunks of trees,--multiply._
+
+_And a forest appears. Great apes clamber through it on all
+fours:--these are men with the heads of dogs._)
+
+THE CYNOCEPHALI:
+
+"We leap from branch to branch in search of eggs to suck; and we pluck
+the little fledglings alive; then we put their nests upon our heads in
+lieu of caps.
+
+"We tear off the teats of cows; and we put out the eyes of lynxes:
+we let fall our dung from the heights of the trees--we parade our
+turpitude in the full light of the sun.
+
+"Lacerating the flowers, crushing the fruits, befouling the springs,
+violating women, we are the masters of all,--by the strength of our
+arms, and the ferocity of our hearts.
+
+"Ho! companions!--gnash with your jaws!"
+
+(_Blood and milk pour down their chops. The rain streams over their
+hairy backs._
+
+_Anthony inhales the freshness of the green leaves._
+
+_There is a movement among them, a clashing of branches; and all of
+a sudden appears a huge black stag, with the head of a bull, having
+between his ears a thicket of white horns._)
+
+THE SADHUZAG:
+
+"My seventy-four antlers are hollow like flutes.
+
+"When I turn me toward the wind of the South, there issue from them
+sounds that draw all the ravished animals around me. The serpents twine
+about my legs; the wasps cluster in my nostrils; and the parrots, the
+doves, the ibises, alight upon the branches of my horns.
+
+"Listen!"
+
+(_He throws back his horns, whence issues a music of sweetness
+ineffable._
+
+_Anthony presses both hands upon his heart. It seems to him as though
+his soul were being borne away by the melody._)
+
+THE SADHUZAG:
+
+"But when I turn me toward the wind of the North, my antlers, more
+thickly bristling than a battalion of lances, give forth a sound of
+howlings: the forests are startled with fear; the rivers remount toward
+their sources; the husks of fruits burst open; and the bending grasses
+stand erect on end, like the hair of a coward.
+
+"Listen!"
+
+(_He bends his branching antlers forward: hideous and discordant cries
+proceed from them. Anthony feels as though his heart were torn asunder._
+
+_And his horror augments upon beholding_)--
+
+THE MARTICHORAS
+
+(_A gigantic red lion, with human face, and three rows of teeth_):
+
+"The gleam of my scarlet hair mingles with the reflection of the great
+sands. I breathe through my nostrils the terror of solitudes. I spit
+forth plague. I devour armies when they venture into the desert.
+
+"My claws are twisted like screws, my teeth shaped like saws; and my
+curving tail bristles with darts which I cast to right and left, before
+and behind!
+
+"See! see!"
+
+(_The Martichoras shoots forth the keen bristles of his tail, which
+irradiate in all directions like a volley of arrows. Drops of blood
+rain down, spattering upon the foliage._)
+
+THE CATOBLEPAS
+
+(_A black buffalo with a pig's head, falling to the ground, and
+attached to his shoulders by a neck long, thin, and flaccid as an empty
+gut._
+
+_He wallows flat upon the ground, and his feet entirely disappear
+beneath the enormous mane of coarse hair which covers his face_):
+
+"Fat, melancholy, fierce--thus I continually remain, feeling against
+my belly the warmth of the mud. So heavy is my skull that it is
+impossible for me to lift it. I roll it slowly all around me,
+open-mouthed; and with my tongue I tear up the venemous plants bedewed
+with my breath. Once, I even devoured my own feet without knowing it!
+
+"No one, Anthony, has ever beheld mine eyes,--or at least, those who
+have beheld them are dead. Were I to lift my eyelids--my pink and
+swollen eyelids, thou wouldst forthwith die!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh, that one! Ugh! As though I could desire it?--Yet his
+stupidity fascinates me! No, no! I will not!"
+
+(_He gazes fixedly upon the ground._
+
+_But the weeds take fire; and amidst the contorsions of the flames,
+arises_)--
+
+THE BASILISK
+
+(_A great violet serpent, with trilobate crest, and two fangs, one
+above, one below_):
+
+"Beware, lest thou fall into my jaws! I drink fire. I am fire!--and I
+inhale it from all things: from clouds, from flints, from dead trees,
+the fur of animals, the surface of marshes. My temperature maintains
+the volcanoes: I lend glitter to jewels: I give colours to metals!"
+
+THE GRIFFIN
+
+(_A lion with a vulture's beak, and white wings, red paws and blue
+neck_):
+
+"I am the master of deep splendours. I know the secrets of the tombs
+wherein the Kings of old do slumber.
+
+"A chain, issuing from the wall, maintains their heads upright. Near
+them, in basins of porphyry, the women they loved float upon the
+surfaces of black liquids. Their treasures are all arrayed in halls, in
+lozenge-shaped designs, in little heaps, in pyramids;--and down below,
+far below the tombs, and to be reached only after long travelling
+through stifling darkness, there are rivers of gold bordered by forests
+of diamonds, there are fields of carbuncles and lakes of mercury.
+
+"Addossed against the subterranean gate I remain with claws uplifted;
+and my flaming eyes spy out those who seek to approach. The vast and
+naked plain that stretches away to the end of the horizon is whitened
+with the bones of travellers. But for thee the gates of bronze shall
+open; and thou shalt inhale the vapour of the mines, thou shalt descend
+into the caverns.... Quick! quick!"
+
+(_He burrows into the earth with his paws, and crows like a cock._
+
+_A thousand voices answer him. The forest trembles._
+
+_And all manner of frightful creatures arise:--The Tragelaphus, half
+deer, half ox; the Myrmecoles, lion before-and ant behind, whose
+genitals are set reversely; the python Askar, sixty cubits long, that
+terrified Moses; the huge weasel Pastinaca, that kills the trees with
+her odour; the Presteros, that makes those who touch it imbecile;
+the Mirag, a horned hare, that dwells in the islands of the sea. The
+leopard Phalmant bursts his belly by roaring; the triple-headed bear
+Senad tears her young by licking them with her tongue; the dog Cepus
+pours out the blue milk of her teats upon the rocks. Mosquitoes begin
+to hum, toads commence to leap; serpents hiss. Lightnings flicker. Hail
+falls._
+
+_Then come gusts, bearing with them marvellous anatomies:--Heads of
+alligators with hoofs of deer; owls with serpent tails; swine with
+tiger-muzzles; goats with the crupper of an ass; frogs hairy as bears;
+chameleons huge as hippopotami; calves with two heads, one bellowing,
+the other weeping; winged bellies flitting hither and thither like
+gnats._
+
+_They rain from the sky, they rise from the earth, they pour from the
+rocks; everywhere eyes flame, mouths roar, breasts bulge, claws are
+extended, teeth gnash, flesh clacks against flesh. Some crouch; some
+devour each other at a mouthful._
+
+_Suffocating under their own numbers, multiplying by their own contact,
+they climb over one another; and move about Anthony with a surging
+motion as though the ground were the deck of a ship. He feels the trail
+of snails upon the calves of his legs, the chilliness of vipers upon
+his hands:--and spiders spinning about him enclose him within their
+network._
+
+_But the monstrous circle breaks, parts; the sky suddenly becomes blue;
+and_)--
+
+THE UNICORN (_appears_):
+
+"Gallop! Gallop!
+
+"I have hoofs of ivory, teeth of steel; my head is the colour of
+purple, my body the colour of snow; and the horn of my forehead is
+bestreaked with the tints of the rainbow.
+
+"I travel from Chaldea to the Tartar desert,--upon the shores of the
+Ganges and in Mesopotamia. I overtake the ostriches. I run so swiftly
+that I draw the wind after me. I rub my back against the palm-trees. I
+roll among the bamboos. I leap rivers with a single bound. Doves fly
+above me. Only a virgin can bridle me.
+
+"Gallop! Gallop!"
+
+(_Anthony watches him depart._
+
+_And as he gazes he beholds all the birds that nourish themselves
+with wind: the Gouith, the Ahuti, the Alphalim, the Iukneth, of the
+mountains of Kaf, the homai of the Arabs--which are the souls of
+murdered men. He hears the parrots that utter human speech; and the
+great Pelasgian palmipeds that sob like children or chuckle like old
+women._
+
+_A saline air strikes his nostrils. Now a vast beach stretches before
+him._
+
+_In the distance jets of water arise, spouted by whales; and from the
+very end of the horizon come_)--
+
+THE BEASTS OF THE SEA
+
+(_round as wineskins, flat as blades, denticulated like saws, dragging
+themselves over the sand as they approach_):
+
+[Illustration: The beasts of the sea round as wineskins ...]
+
+"Thou wilt accompany us to our immensities, whither as yet no one has
+descended.
+
+"Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean. Some dwell in the
+sojourn of tempests; others swim freely amid the transparency of chill
+waves;--or, like oxen, graze upon the coral plains, or suck in through
+their trunks the reflux of the tides,--or bear upon their shoulders the
+vast weight of the sources of the sea."
+
+[Illustration: Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean.]
+
+(_Phosphorences gleam in the moustaches of the seals, shift in the
+scales of fish. Echini whirl like wheels; ammonites uncoil like cables;
+oysters make their shell hinges squeak; polypi unfold their tentacles;
+medusæ quiver like balls of crystal suspended; sponges float hither and
+thither, anemones ejaculate water; wrack and sea-mosses have grown all
+about._
+
+_And all sorts of plants extend themselves into branches, twist
+themselves into screws, lengthen into points, round themselves out like
+fans. Gourds take the appearance of breasts; lianas interlace like
+serpents._
+
+_The Dedaims of Babylon, which are trees, bear human heads for fruit;
+Mandragoras sing;--the root Baaras runs through the grass._
+
+_And now the vegetables are no longer distinguishable from the animals.
+Polyparies that seem like trees, have arms upon their branches. Anthony
+thinks he sees a caterpillar between two leaves: it is a butterfly that
+takes flight. He is about to step on a pebble: a grey locust leaps
+away. One shrub is bedecked with insects that look like petals of
+roses; fragments of ephemerides form a snowy layer upon the soil._
+
+_And then the plants become confounded with the stones._
+
+_Flints assume the likeness of brains; stalactites of breasts; the
+flower of iron resembles a figured tapestry._[2]
+
+_He sees efflorescences in fragments of ice, imprints of shrubs and
+shells--yet so that one cannot detect whether they be imprints only, or
+the things themselves. Diamonds gleam like eyes; metals palpitate._
+
+_And all fear has departed from him! He throws himself down upon the
+ground, and leaning upon his elbows, watches breathlessly._
+
+_Insects that have no stomachs persistently eat; withered ferns bloom
+again and reflower; absent members grow again._
+
+_At last he perceives tiny globular masses, no larger than pinheads,
+with cilia all round them. They are agitated with a vibratile motion_):
+
+ANTHONY (_deliriously_):
+
+"O joy! O bliss! I have beheld the birth of life! I have seen the
+beginning of motion! My pulses throb even to the point of bursting!
+I long to fly, to swim, to bark, to bellow, to howl! Would that I
+had wings, a carapace, a shell,--that I could breathe out smoke,
+wield a trunk,--make my body writhe,--divide myself everywhere,--be
+in everything,--emanate with odours,--develop myself like the
+plants,--flow like water,--vibrate like sound--shine like light,
+squatting upon all forms--penetrate each atom--descend to the very
+bottom of matter,--be matter itself!"
+
+(_Day at last appears;--and, like tabernacle curtains uplifted, clouds
+of gold uprolling in broad volutes unveil the sky._
+
+_Even in the midst thereof, and in the very disk of the sun, beams the
+face of Jesus Christ._
+
+[Illustration: Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and
+in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.]
+
+_Anthony makes the sign of the cross, and resumes his devotions._)
+
+
+FINIS
+
+
+[1] Winkelmann claims to have been the first to discover that the
+Egyptian sphinxes were bisexual--females before--males otherwise. (See
+Book II, chap. I, § 25.) Flaubert speaks of the Sphinx in the masculine
+like Philemon. (See also Signor Carlo Fea's note upon the paragraph in
+Winkelmann, old French edition. An II, R. F.)--Trans.
+
+[2] Fleurs de fer, "flowers of iron." In mineralogy _flos ferri_, a
+form of Aragonite.--Trans.
+
+
+
+
+[NOTE
+
+Those who compare this translation with the original will observe the
+omission of some few paragraphs on pages 77, 96 and 211. They are
+speeches put in the mouths of certain Heresiarchs, or complaints of
+certain of the minor Roman household gods. The translator relegated
+these to an addenda, which the publishers have omitted as being
+unnecessary. Those who are familiar with the original will be able to
+supply them, and will realize that while they might be offensive to
+some persons, they are in no respect an integral or important part of
+the great drama.]
+
+
+
+
+ADDENDA (added by transcribers)
+
+
+A. Observation of Manes, pages 82-3, original text; page 89 of
+translation.
+
+
+MANES
+
+_Ou plutôt, faites si bien qu'elle ne soit pas fécondes. Mieux vaut
+pour l'ame tomber sur la terre que de languir dans des entraves
+charnelles._
+
+Probably a calumny against Manes; for the Eastern philosophy,
+especially that of Zoroaster, which is said to have inspired the tenets
+of Manichæism, advocated no such abominations.
+
+
+B. Page 105 of original; page 108 translation. The realistic
+phraseology of the original passage is rather brutal. The French text
+reads: "_Il souffrait de la maladie Bellerephontienne; et sa mère, la
+parfumeuse, s'est livrée à Pantherus, un soldat Romain, sur des gerbes
+de mais, un soir de moisson._" C. Descriptive text, page 237 original,
+partly suppressed on page 223 translation: "_Et il lui montre dans un
+bosquet d'aliziers Une Femme toute nue, à quatre pattes comme une bête,
+et saillie par un homme noir, tenant dans chaque main un flambeau._"
+
+D. Curious text of Crepitus, on page 228, pages 241-3 of original:
+
+CREPITUS
+
+(----se fait entendre):
+
+_Moi aussi l'on m'honora jadis. On me faisait des libations. Je fus un
+Dieu!_
+
+_L'Athénien me saluait comme un presage de fortune, tandis que le
+Romain dévot me maudissait les poings levés et que le pontife d'Egypte,
+s'abstinant des fèves, tremblait à ma voix et pâlissait à mon odeur._
+
+_Quand le vinaigre militaire coulait sur les barbes non rasées, qu'on
+se régalait de glands, de pois, et d'oignons crus, et que le bouc en
+morceau cuissait dans le beurre rance des pasteurs, sans souci du
+voisin, personne alors ne se gênait. Les nourritures solides faisaient
+digestions retentissantes. Au soleil de la campagne les hommes se
+soulageaient avec lenteur._
+
+_Ainsi, je passais sans scandale, comme les autres besoins de la vie,
+comme Mena, tourment des vierges, et la douce Rumina qui protège le
+sein de la nourrice, gonflé, des veines bleuâtres. J'étais joyeux. Je
+faisais rire. Et se dilatant d'aise à cause de moi, le convive exhalait
+toute sa gaieté par les ouvertures de son corps._
+
+_J'ai eu mes jours d'orgeuil. Le bon Aristophane me promena sur la
+scène, et l'empereur Claudius Drusus[1] me fit asseoir à sa table. Dans
+les laticlaves des patriciens j'ai circulé majestueusement! Les vases
+d'or, comme des tympanons, resonnaient sous moi; et, quand plein de
+murènes, de truffles, et de pâtés, l'intestin du maître se dégageait
+avec fracas, l'univers attentif apprenait que César avait diné!_
+
+_Mais à présent, je suis confiné dans la populace_[2] _et l'on se
+récrie, même à mon nom!_
+
+_Et Crepitus s'éloigne, en poussant un gémissement...._
+
+E. For descriptions of the Martichoras and other monsters, appearing
+page 287 in the original and 263 in the translation, see also Rabelais'
+Pantagruel, Book V, Chap. XXX.
+
+
+
+[1] Needless to refer to the comedies of Aristophanes, with which
+English readers have been familiarized through the Bohn translations.
+The reference to Claudius ius Drusus seems based upon the following
+lines in Suetonius: "_Dicitur etiam meditatus edictum, quo veniam daret
+flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi: cum periclitatum
+quemdam prae pudore ex continentia reperisset._" (_Suetonius-Tiberius
+Claudius Drusus_: 32.)
+
+[2] The so-called divinities, _Deus Crepitus, Dea Pertunda, Deus
+Stercutius, Dea Rumina_ (or _Rumilia_), _Dea Mena_, concerning whose
+curious attributes the reader may consult English or French classical
+encyclopedists, were doubtless regarded by the intelligent classes
+of antiquity much as certain religious superstitions are regarded by
+educated moderns. It is true that they furnished grotesque themes
+to artists; but many existing superstitions regarding elves and
+goblins have inspired modern sculptors, painters and designers.
+Certainly, seriously worshipped as deities, Priapus might seem equally
+contemptible as a divinity; but his worship, degenerate as it became
+in later years, was primitively symbolical. The obscene image merely
+typified the procreative Spirit of Nature. The eccentric gods and
+goddesses above referred to had no such excuse for being. As previously
+observed, however, Flaubert artistically represents these divinities
+not as they were really considered in the antique world, but rather as
+they would have appeared to the eyes of zealous Christians in the third
+century--infamous and loathsome.--Translator.
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+This translation of the "Tentation" by Lafcadio Hearn, still regarded
+by many as the best up until now in English, still misses some small
+fragments (of a couple of words) not deemed fit for the Anglo-Saxon
+temperament of that time. There is a contemporary version (2002) of
+this translation available, with introduction by Michel Foucault and
+the inclusion of some missing expressions. The original French by
+Gustave Flaubert is also available at Project Gutenberg--see
+http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 52225 ***
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-<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Temptation of St. Anthony, by Gustave

-Flaubert, Translated by Lafcadio Hearn, Illustrated by Odilon Redon</h1>

-<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States

-and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no

-restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it

-under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this

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-href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>.  If you are not

-located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the

-country where you are located before using this ebook.</p>

-<p>Title: The Temptation of St. Anthony</p>

-<p>Author: Gustave Flaubert</p>

-<p>Release Date: June 4, 2016  [eBook #52225]</p>

-<p>Language: English</p>

-<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p>

-<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***</p>

-<p>&nbsp;</p>

-<h4>E-text prepared by Laura Natal Rodriguez and Marc D'Hooghe<br />

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-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">

-<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="500" alt="" />

-</div>

-

-<h1>THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY</h1>

-

-<h3>BY</h3>

-

-<h2>GUSTAVE FLAUBERT</h2>

-

-<h4>TRANSLATED BY</h4>

-

-<h2>LAFCADIO HEARN</h2>

-

-<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS by ODILON REDON</h2>

-

-<p class="center" style="font-size: 0.8em;">(Added especially for this PG e-book.)</p>

-

-<h5>THE ALICE HARRIMAN COMPANY</h5>

-

-<h5>NEW YORK AND SEATTLE</h5>

-

-<h5>1910</h5>

-<hr class="full" />

-

-<p><a href="#CONTENTS">Contents</a></p>

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p>

-

-

-<h4><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></h4>

-

-

-<p>It was at some period between 1875 and 1876 that Lafcadio Hearn&mdash;still

-a "cub" reporter on a daily paper in Cincinnati&mdash;began his translation

-of Flaubert's "Temptation of St. Anthony." The definitive edition of

-the work, over which the author had laboured for thirty years, had

-appeared in 1874.</p>

-

-<p>Hearn was, in his early youth, singularly indifferent to the work of

-the Englishmen of the Victorian period. Though he knew the English

-masterpieces of that epoch, their large, unacademic freedom of manner

-awakened no echoes in his spirit. His instinctive taste was for the

-exquisite in style: for "that peculiar kneading, heightening, and

-recasting" which Matthew Arnold thought necessary for perfection.

-Neither did the matter, more than the manner of the Victorians appeal

-to him. The circumstances of his life had at so many points set him

-out of touch with his fellows that the affectionate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span> mockery of

-Thackeray's pictures of English society were alien to his interest.

-The laughing heartiness of Dickens' studies of the man in the street

-hardly touched him. Browning's poignant analyses of souls were too

-rudely robust of manner to move him. Before essaying journalism Hearn

-had served for a while as an assistant in the Public Library, and

-there he had found and fallen under the spell, of the great Frenchman

-of the Romantic School of the '30's&mdash;that period of rich flowering of

-the Gallic genius. Gautier's tales of ancient weirdnesses fired his

-imagination. The penetrating subtleties of his verse woke in the boy

-the felicitous emotions which the virtuoso knows in handling cameos

-and enamellings by hands which have long been dust. So, also, Hugo's

-revivals of the passions and terrors of the mediæval world stirred the

-young librarian's eager interest. But most of all his spirit leapt

-to meet the tremendous drama of the "Temptation." He comprehended at

-once its large significance, its great import, and in his enthusiastic

-recognition of its value and meaning he set at once about giving it a

-language understood of the people of his own tongue.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>Tunison tells of the little shy, shabby, half-blind boy&mdash;the long

-dull day of police reporting done&mdash;labouring at his desk into the

-small hours, with the flickering gas jet whistling overhead, and his

-myopic eyes bent close to the papers which he covered with beautiful,

-almost microscopic characters&mdash;escaping thus from the crass, raw world

-about him to delicately and painstakingly turn into English stories

-of Cleopatra's cruel, fantastic Egyptian Night's Entertainment.

-Withdrawing himself to transliterate tales of pallid beautiful vampires

-draining the veins of ardent boys: of lovely faded ghosts of great

-ladies descending from shadowy tapestries to coquette with romantic

-dreamers; or to find an English voice for the tragedy of the soul of

-the Alexandrian cenobite.</p>

-

-<p>It was in such dreams and labours that he found refuge from the

-environment that was so antipathetic to his tastes, and in his

-immersion in the works of these virtuosos of words, in his passionate

-search for equivalents of the subtle nuances of their phrases, he

-developed his own style. A style full of intricate assonances, of a

-texture close woven and iridescent.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"One of Cleopatra's Night's"&mdash;a translation of some of Gautier's tales

-of glamour&mdash;was issued in 1882, but at "The Temptation of St. Anthony"

-the publishers altogether balked. The manuscript could not achieve even

-so much as a reading. America had in the '70's just begun to emerge

-from that state of provincial propriety in which we were accused of

-clothing even our piano legs in pantelettes. The very name of the work

-was sufficient to start modest shivers down the spine of all well

-regulated purveyors of books. It was largely due to the painters'

-conceptions of the nature of the hermit's trials that the story of

-Saint Anthony's spiritual struggle aroused instinctive terrors in all

-truly modest natures. The painters&mdash;who so dearly love to display their

-skill in drawing legs and busts&mdash;had been wont to push the poor old

-saint into the obscure of the background, and fill all the foreground

-with ladies of obviously the very lightest character, in garments

-still lighter, if possible. What had reputable American citizens to do

-with such as these jades? More especially such jades as seen through

-a French imagination! That Flaubert had brushed aside the gross and

-jejune<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span> conceptions of the painters the publishers would not even take

-the pains to learn.</p>

-

-<p>It is amusing now to recall the nervous, timid proprieties of those

-days. At the time Hearn failed to see the laughable side of it. He was

-then too young and earnest, too passionate and too melancholy to have a

-sense of its humours.</p>

-

-<p>He had brought his unfinished manuscript from Cincinnati to New

-Orleans, and had continued to work upon it in strange lodgings in

-gaunt, old half-ruined Creole houses; at the tables of odd little

-French cafés, or among the queer dishes in obscure Spanish and Chinese

-restaurants. He had snatched minutes for it amidst the reading and

-clipping of exchanges in a newspaper office; had toiled drippingly

-over it in the liquifying heats of tropic nights; had arisen from the

-"inexpungable langours" of yellow fever to complete its last astounding

-pages.</p>

-

-<p>I can remember applauding, with ardent youthful sympathy, his tirades

-against the stultifying influence of blind puritanism upon American

-literature. I recall his scornful mocking at the inconsistency which

-complacently accepted the vulgar seduction, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> the theatrical Brocken

-revels of Faust, while shrinking piously from Flaubert's grim story of

-the soul of man struggling to answer the riddle of the universe. He

-had however an almost equal contempt for the author's countrymen, who

-received with eager interest and pleasure the deliberate analysis&mdash;in

-<i>Madame Bovary</i>&mdash;of a woman's degradation and ruin, while they yawned

-over the amazing history of humanity's tremendous spiritual adventures.

-Hearn's own sensitiveness shrank in pain from the cold insight which

-uncovered layer by layer the brutal squalour of a woman's moral

-disintegration. But he was moved and astounded by the revelation, in

-St. Anthony, of the tragedy and pathos of man's long search for some

-body of belief or philosophy by which he could explain to himself

-the strange great phenomena of life and death, and the inscrutable

-cruelties of Nature. The young translator was filled with a sort of

-astonished despair at his inability to make others see the book as

-he did&mdash;not realizing, in his youthful impatience, that the average

-mind clings to the concrete, and is puzzled and terrified by outlines

-of thought too large for its range of vision; that the commonplace<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span>

-intelligence cannot "see the wood for the trees," and becomes confused

-and over-weighted when confronted with the huge outlines of so great a

-picture as that drawn by Flaubert in his masterpiece.</p>

-

-<p>There were many points of resemblance between Lafcadio Hearn and the

-grandson of the French veterinary. A resemblance rather in certain

-qualities of the spirit than in social conditions and physical

-endowments. Flaubert, born in 1821, was the son of a surgeon. His

-father was long connected with the Hôtel Dieu of Rouen, in which the

-boy was born, and in which he lived until his eighteenth year, when he

-went to Paris to study law. One of the friends of his early Parisian

-days describes him as "a young Greek. Tall, supple, and as graceful as

-an athlete. He was charming, <i>mais un peu farouche.</i> Quite unconscious

-of his physical and mental gifts; very careless of the impression he

-produced, and entirely indifferent to formalities. His dress consisted

-of a red flannel shirt, trousers of heavy blue cloth, and a scarf of

-the same colour drawn tight about his slender waist. His hat was worn

-'any how' and often he abandoned it altogether. When I spoke to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> him of

-fame or influence.... he seemed superbly indifferent. He had no desire

-for glory or gain.... What was lacking in his nature was an interest in

-<i>les choses extérieures, choses utiles.</i>" ...</p>

-

-<p>One who saw him in 1879 found the young Greek athlete&mdash;now close upon

-sixty, and having in the interval created some of the great classics

-of French literature&mdash;"a huge man, a tremendous old man. His long,

-straggling gray hair was brushed back. His red face was that of a

-soldier, or a sheik&mdash;divided by drooping white moustaches. A trumpet

-was his voice, and he gesticulated freely ... the colour of his eyes a

-bit of faded blue sky."</p>

-

-<p>The study of the law did not hold Flaubert long. It was one of those

-<i>choses extérieures, choses utiles</i> to which he was so profoundly

-indifferent. Paris bored him. He longed for Rouen, and for his little

-student chamber. There he had lain upon his bed whole days at a time;

-apparently as lazy as a lizard; smoking, dreaming; pondering the large,

-inchoate, formless dreams of youth.</p>

-

-<p>In 1845 his father died, and in the following year he lost his sister

-Caroline, whom he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> passionately loved, and for whom he grieved

-all his life. He rejoined his mother, and they established themselves

-at Croisset, near Rouen, upon a small inherited property. It was an

-agreeable house, pleasantly situated in sight of the Seine. Flaubert

-nourished with pleasure a local legend that Pascal had once inhabited

-the old Croisset homestead, and that the Abbé Prevost had written

-<i>Manon Lescaut</i> within its walls. Near the house&mdash;now gone&mdash;he built

-for himself a pavilion to serve as a study, and in this he spent the

-greater portion of the following thirty-four years in passionate,

-unremitting labour.</p>

-

-<p>He made a voyage to Corsica in his youth; one to Brittany, with Maxime

-du Camp, in 1846; and spent some months in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey,

-and Greece in 1849. This Oriental experience gave him the most intense

-pleasure, and was the germ of <i>Salammbo</i>, and of the <i>Temptation of St.

-Anthony.</i> He never repeated it, though he constantly talked of doing

-so. He nursed a persistent, but unrealized dream of going as far as

-Ceylon, whose ancient name, Taprobana, he was never weary of repeating;

-utterance of its melifluous syllables becoming a positive <i>tic</i>

-with him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> Despite these yearnings he remained at home. Despite his

-full-blooded physique he would take no more exercise than his terrace

-afforded, or an occasional swim in the Seine. He smoked incessantly,

-and for months at a stretch worked fifteen hours out of the twenty-four

-at his desk. Three hundred volumes might be annotated for a page of

-facts. He would write twenty pages, and reduce these by exquisite

-concisions, by fastidious rejections to three; would search for hours

-for the one word that perfectly conveyed the colour of his thought, and

-would&mdash;as in the case of the <i>Temptation</i>&mdash;wait fifteen years for a

-sense of satisfaction with a manuscript before allowing it to see the

-light. To Maxime du Camp, who urged him to hasten the completion of his

-book in order to take advantage of a favourable opportunity, he wrote

-angrily:</p>

-

-<p>"Tu me parais avoir à mon endroit un tic ou vice rédhibitoire. Il

-ne m'embête pas; n'aie aucune crainte; mon parti est pris là-dessus

-depuis long temps. Je te dirai seulement que tous ces mots; <i>se

-dépêcher, c'est le moment, place prise, se poser, ...</i> sont pour moi un

-vocabulaire vide de sens...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>In one of his letters he says that on occasion he worked violently for

-eight hours to achieve one page. He endeavoured never to repeat a word

-in that page, and tried to force every phrase to respond to a rhythmic

-law. Guy do Maupassant, his nephew and pupil, says that to ensure this

-rhythm Flaubert "prenait sa feuille de papier, relevait à la hauteur du

-regard et, s'appuyant sur un coude, déclaimait, d'une voix mordant et

-haute. Il écoutait la rythme de sa prose, s'arrêtait comme pour saisir

-une sonorité fuyant, combinait les tons, éloignait les assonances,

-disposait les virgules avec conscience, commes les haltes d'un long

-chemin." ...</p>

-

-<p>Flaubert said himself, "une phrase est viable quand elle correspond

-à toutes les nécessités de respiration. Je sais qu'elle est bonne

-lorsqu'elle peut être lu tout haut."</p>

-

-<p>Henry Irving used to say of himself that it was necessary he should

-work harder than other actors because nature had dowered him with

-flexibility of neither voice nor feature, and Faguet says that Flaubert

-was forced to this excessive toil and incessant watchfulness because

-he did not write well naturally. Nevertheless Flaubert's work did not

-smell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> of the lamp. Whatever shape his ideas may have worn at birth

-when full grown they moved with large classic grace and freedom,

-simple, sincere, and beautiful in form. François Coppée calls him "the

-Beethoven of French prose."</p>

-

-<p>So conscientious a workman, so laborious and self-sacrificing an artist

-had a natural attraction for Lafcadio Hearn, who even in boyhood began

-to feel his vocation as "a literary monk." The whole tendency of his

-tastes prepared him to understand the true importance of Flaubert's

-masterpiece, fitted him especially of all living writers to turn that

-masterpiece into its true English equivalent. The two men had much in

-common. Both were proud and timid. Both had a fundamental indifference

-to <i>choses extérieures, choses utiles.</i> Both were realists of the soul.

-Actions interested each but slightly; the emotions from which actions

-sprung very much. To both stupidity was even more antipathetic than

-wickedness, because each realized that nearly all cruelty and vice have

-their germ in ignorance and stupidity rather than in innate rascality.

-Flaubert declared, with a sort of rage, that "la bêtise entre dans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span>

-mes pores." He might too have been speaking for Hearn when he said

-that the grotesque, the strange, and the monstrous had for him an

-inexplicable charm. "It corresponds," he says, "to the intimate needs

-of my nature&mdash;it does not cause me to laugh, but to dream long dreams."

-Hearn, however, mixed with this triste interest a quality that Flaubert

-seemed almost wholly to lack&mdash;a great tenderness for all things humble,

-feeble, ugly and helpless. Both from childhood were curious of poignant

-sensations, of the sad, the mysterious and the exotic. And for both the

-tropics had an irresistible fascination. Flaubert says, in one of his

-letters:</p>

-

-<p>"I carry with me the melancholy of the barbaric races, with their

-instincts of migration, and their innate distaste of life, which forced

-them to quit their homes in order to escape from themselves. They loved

-the sun, all those barbarians who came to die in Italy; they had a

-frenzied aspiration toward the light, toward the blue skies, toward an

-ardent existence.... Think that perhaps I will never see China, will

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span>never be rocked to sleep by the cadenced footsteps of camels ... will

-never see the shine of a tiger's eyes in the forest.... You can treat

-all this as little worthy of pity, but I suffer so much when I think of

-it ... as of something lamentable and irremediable."</p>

-

-<p>This is the nostalgia for the strange, for the unaccustomed, that all

-born wanderers know. Fate arranges it for many of them that their lives

-shall be uneventful, passed in dull, provincial narrowness; but behind

-these bars the clipped wings of their spirit are always flutteringly

-spread for flight. They know not what they seek, what desire drives

-them, but a sense of "the great adventure" unachieved keeps them

-restless until they die. It is such as these, these <i>voyageurs

-empassionés</i>, when condemned by fortune to a static existence&mdash;who find

-their outlet in mental wanderings amid the unusual, the grotesque,

-and the monstrous. Hearn and Flaubert both were at heart nomads,

-seekers of the unaccustomed; stretching toward immensities of space

-and time, toward the ghostly, the hidden, the unrealized. Like that

-wild fantastic <i>Chimera</i> of the "Temptation" each such soul declares

-"<i>je cherche des parfums<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span> nouveaux, des fleurs plus large, des plaisirs

-inéprouvés.</i>"</p>

-

-<p>Flaubert was but twenty-six when the first suggestion of his

-masterpiece came to him. For <i>La Tentation de St. Antoine</i>, it is

-coming to be understood, is his masterpiece; is one of the greatest

-literary achievements of the French mind. <i>Madame Bovary</i> is more

-widely famous and popular, but Flaubert himself always deeply resented

-this preference, and was always astonished at the comparative

-indifference of the world to the "Temptation." He, too, found it

-difficult to realize how hardly the average mind is awakened to an

-interest in the incorporeal; how surely cosmic generalizations escape

-the grasp of the commonplace intelligence.</p>

-

-<p>Wagner waited a lifetime before the world was dragged reluctantly and

-resentfully up to a point from which it could discern the superiority

-of the tremendous finale of the Götterdämmerung to the Christmas-card

-chorus of angels chanting "<i>Âme chaste et pure</i>" to the beatified

-Marguerite. The whole prodigious structure of Wagner's dramatic and

-musical thought might have remained a mere adumbration in the soul of

-one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span> German had chance not set a mad genius upon the throne of Bavaria.

-The bourgeoisie would&mdash;lacking this royal bullying&mdash;have continued to

-prefer Goethe and Gounod. Flaubert's great work unfortunately failed of

-such patronage.</p>

-

-<p>It was in 1845 that an old picture by Breughel, seen at Genoa, first

-inspired Flaubert to attempt the story of St. Anthony. He sought

-out an engraving of this conception of Peter the Younger (surnamed

-"Hell-Breughel" for his fondness for such subjects), hung it on his

-walls at Croisset, and after three years of brooding upon it began,

-May 24, 1848, <i>La Tentation de St. Antoine.</i> In twelve months he had

-finished the first draught of the work, which bulked to 540 pages. It

-was laid aside for "Bovary," and a second version of the "Temptation"

-was completed in 1856, but this time the manuscript had been reduced

-to 193 pages, and the "blazing phrases, the jewelled words, the

-turbulence, the comedy, the mysticism" of the first version had been

-superseded by a larger, more dramatic conception. In 1872 he made still

-a new draught, and by this time it had shrunk to 136 pages. He even

-then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span> eliminated three chapters, and finally gave to the world in 1874

-"this wonderful coloured panorama of philosophy, this Gulliver-like

-travelling amid the master ideas of the antique and early Christian

-worlds."</p>

-

-<p>Faguet says, "In its primitive and legendary state the temptation

-of St. Anthony was nothing more than the story of a recluse tempted

-by the Devil through the flesh, by all the artifices at the Devil's

-disposal. In the definite thought of Flaubert the temptation of St.

-Anthony has become man's soul tempted by all the illusions of human

-thought and imagination. St. Anthony to the eyes of the first naive

-hagiologists is a second Adam, seduced by woman, who was inspired by

-Satan. St. Anthony conceived by Flaubert is a more thoughtful Faust; a

-Faust incapable of irony, not a Faust who could play with illusions and

-with himself&mdash;secretly persuaded that he could withdraw when he chose

-to give himself the trouble to do so&mdash;rather a Faust who approached,

-accosted, caressed all possible forms of universal illusions."</p>

-

-<p>Flaubert's studies for the "Temptation" were tremendous. For nearly

-thirty years he touched and retouched, altered, enlarged,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span> condensed.

-He kneaded into its substance the knowledge, incessantly sought, of

-all religions and philosophies; of all the forms man's speculations

-had taken in his endless endeavours to explain to himself Life and

-Fate; humanity's untiring, passionate effort to find the meaning of its

-mysterious origin and purpose, and final destiny. How terrible, how

-naive, how fantastic, bloody, grovelling, and outrageous were most of

-the solutions accepted, the gigantic panorama of the book startlingly

-sets forth. What gory agonies, what mystic exaltations, what dark

-cruelties, frenzied abandons, and inhuman self denials have marked

-those puzzled gropings for light and truth are revealed as by lightning

-flashes in the crowding scenes of the epic. For the Temptation of St.

-Anthony is an epic. Not a drama of man's actions, as all previous

-epics have been, but a drama of the soul. All its movement is in the

-adventure and conflict of the spirit. St. Anthony remains always in

-the one place, almost as moveless as a mirror. His vision&mdash;clarified

-of the sensual and the actual by his fastings and macerations&mdash;becomes

-like the surface of an unruffled lake. A lake reflecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span> the aberrant

-forms of thoughts that, like clouds, drift between man and the infinite

-depths of knowledge. Clouds of illusion forever changing, melting,

-fusing; assuming forms grotesque, monstrous, intolerable; until at

-last the writhing mists of speculation and ignorance are drunk up

-by the widening light of wisdom and the fogs and phantasms vanish,

-leaving his consciousness aware, in poignant ecstasy, of the cloudless

-deeps of truth. The temptation of the flesh is but a passing episode.

-An eidolon of Sheba's queen offers him luxury, wealth, voluptuous

-beauty, power, dainty delights of eye and palate in vain. Man has never

-found his most dangerous seductions in the appetites. More lamentable

-disintegration has grown from his attempts to pierce beyond the

-body's veil. The parched and tortured saint is whirled by vertiginous

-visions through cycles of man's straining efforts to know why, whence,

-whither. He assists at the rites of Mithira, the prostrations of

-serpent-and-devil-worshippers, worshippers of fire, of light, of the

-Greeks' deified forces of nature; of the northern enthronement of brute

-force and war. He is swept by the soothing breath of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span> Quietism, plunges

-into every heresy and philosophy, sees the orgies, the flagellations,

-the self mutilations, the battles and furies of sects, each convinced

-that it has found the answer at last to the Great Question, and

-endeavouring to constrain the rest of humanity to accept the answer.

-He meets the Sphinx&mdash;embodied interrogation&mdash;and the Chimera&mdash;the

-simulacrum of the fantasies of the imagination&mdash;dashing madly about the

-stolid querist.</p>

-

-<p>Lucifer&mdash;spirit of doubt of all dogmatic solutions&mdash;mounts with Anthony

-into illimitable space. They rise beyond these struggles and furies

-into the cold uttermost of the universe; among innumerable worlds;

-worlds yet vaguely forming in the womb of time, newly come to birth,

-lustily grown to maturity; worlds dying, decaying, crumbling again into

-atomic dust. Overcome by the intolerable Vast, Anthony sinks once more

-to his cell, and Lucifer, who has shown him the macrocosm, opens to

-him the equal immensity of the microcosm. Makes him see the swarming

-life that permeates the seas, the earth and atmosphere, the incredible

-numerousness of the invisible lives that people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</a></span> every drop of water,

-every grain of sand, every breath of air. The unity of life dawns upon

-him, and his heart, withered by dubiety, melts into joyousness and

-peace. As the day dawns in gold he beholds the face of Christ.</p>

-

-<p>Flaubert's Lucifer has no relation to the jejune Devil of man's

-early conception of material evil, nor does he resemble Goethe's

-Mephistopheles; embodiment of the Eighteenth Century's spirit

-of sneering disbeliefs and negation. He is rather our own

-tempter&mdash;Science. He is the spirit of Knowledge: Nature itself calling

-us to look into the immensities and read just our dogmas by this new

-and terrible widening of our mental and moral horizons. This last

-experience of the Saint reproduces the spiritual experiences of the

-modern man; cast loose from his ancient moorings, and yet finding at

-last in his new knowledge a truer conception of the brotherhood of all

-life in all its forms, and seeing still, in the growing light, the

-benignant eyes of God.</p>

-

-<p>It is not remarkable that Flaubert resented the banality, the dull

-grossness of the reception of his work, or that Hearn shared his

-amazement and bitterness. Even yet the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</a></span> world wakes but slowly to the

-true character of this masterpiece; this epic wrought with so great

-a care and patience, so instinct with genius, dealing perhaps more

-profoundly than any other mind has ever done with the Great Adventure

-of humanity's eternal search for Truth.</p>

-

-<p style="margin-left: 70%; font-size: 0.8em;">ELIZABETH BISLAND.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">[Pg xxiii]</a></span></p>

-

-

-

-

-<h4><a name="ARGUMENT" id="ARGUMENT">ARGUMENT</a></h4>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h5>FRAILTY</h5>

-

-

-<p>Sunset in the desert. Enfeebled by prolonged fasting, the hermit

-finds himself unable to concentrate his mind upon holy things. His

-thoughts wonder; memories of youth evoke regrets that his relaxed will

-can no longer find strength to suppress,&mdash;and, remembrance begetting

-remembrance, his fancy leads him upon dangerous ground. He dreams of

-his flight from home,&mdash;of Ammonaria, his sister's playmate,&mdash;of his

-misery in the waste,&mdash;his visit to Alexandria with the blind monk

-Didymus,&mdash;the unholy sights of the luxurious city.</p>

-

-<p>Involuntarily he yields to the nervous dissatisfaction growing upon

-him. He laments his solitude, his joylessness, his poverty, the

-obscurity of his life; grace departs from him; hope burns low within

-his heart. Suddenly revolting against his weakness, he seeks refuge

-from distraction in the study of the Scriptures.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiv" id="Page_xxiv">[Pg xxiv]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>Vain effort! An invisible hand turns the leaves, placing perilous

-texts before his eyes. He dreams of the Maccabees slaughtering

-their enemies, and desires that he might do likewise with the

-Arians of Alexandria;&mdash;he becomes inspired with admiration of King

-Nebuchadnezzar;&mdash;he meditates voluptuously upon the visit of Sheba's

-queen of Solomon;&mdash;discovers a text in the Acts of the Apostles

-antagonistic to principles of monkish ascetism,&mdash;indulges in reveries

-regarding the riches of Biblical kings and holy men. The Tempter comes

-to tempt him with evil hallucinations for which the Saint's momentary

-frailty has paved the way; and with the Evil One come also</p>

-

-

-

-<h5>THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS</h5>

-

-

-<p>Phantom gold is piled up to excite Covetousness; shadowy banquets

-appear to evoke Gluttony. The scene shifts to aid the temptations of

-Anger and of Pride....</p>

-

-<p>Anthony finds himself in Alexandria, at the head of a wild army of

-monks slaughtering the heretics and the pagans, without mercy for

-age or sex. In fantastic obedience to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxv" id="Page_xxv">[Pg xxv]</a></span> course of his fancy while

-reading the Scriptures a while before, and like an invisible echo of

-his evil thoughts, the scene changes again. Alexandria is transformed

-into Constantinople.</p>

-

-<p>Anthony finds himself the honoured of the Emperor. He beholds the

-vast circus in all its splendour, the ocean of faces, the tumult of

-excitement. Simultaneously he beholds his enemies degraded to the

-condition of slaves, toiling in the stables of Constantine. He feels

-joy in the degradation of the Fathers of Nicæa. Then all is transformed.</p>

-

-<p>It is no longer the splendour of Constantinople he beholds under the

-luminosity of a Greek day; but the prodigious palace of Nebuchadnezzar

-by night. He beholds the orgies, the luxuries, the abominations;&mdash;and

-the spirit of Pride enters triumphantly into him as the spirit of

-Nebuchadnezzar....</p>

-

-<p>Awaking as from a dream, he finds himself again before his hermitage.

-A vast caravan approaches, halts; and the Queen of Sheba descends to

-tempt the Saint with the deadliest of all temptations. Her beauty is

-enhanced by oriental splendour of adornment; her converse is a song of

-withcraft. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvi" id="Page_xxvi">[Pg xxvi]</a></span> Saint remains firm.... The Seven Deadly Sins depart

-from him.</p>

-

-

-

-<h5>THE HERESIARCHS</h5>

-

-

-<p>But now the tempter assumes a subtler form. Under the guise of a former

-disciple of Anthony,&mdash;Hilarion,&mdash;the demon, while pretending to seek

-instruction, endeavours to poison the mind of Anthony with hatred of

-the fathers of the church. He repeats all the scandals amassed by

-ecclesiastical intriguers, all the calumnies created by malice;&mdash;he

-cites texts only to foment doubt, and quotes the evangels only to

-make confusion. Under the pretext of obtaining mental enlightenment

-from the wisest of men, he induces Anthony to enter with him into

-a spectral basilica, wherein are assembled all the Heresiarchs of

-the third century. The hermit is confounded by the multitude of

-tenets,&mdash;horrified by the blasphemies and abominations of Elkes,

-Corpocrates, Valentinus, Manes, Cerdo,&mdash;disgusted by the perversions of

-the Paternians, Marcosians, Montanists, Serptians,&mdash;bewildered by the

-apocryphal Gospels of Eve and of Judas, of the Lord, and of Thomas.</p>

-

-<p>And Hilarion grows taller.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvii" id="Page_xxvii">[Pg xxvii]</a></span></p>

-

-

-<h5>THE MARTYRS</h5>

-

-<p>Anthony finds himself in the dungeons of a vast amphitheatre, among

-Christians condemned to the wild beasts. By this hallucination the

-tempter would prove to the Saint that martyrdom is not always suffered

-for purest motives. Anthony finds the martyrs possessed by bigotry and

-insincerity. He sees many compelled to die against their will; many

-who would forswear their faith could it avail them aught. He beholds

-heretics die for their heterodoxy more nobly than orthodox believers.</p>

-

-<p>And he finds himself transported to the tombs of the martyrs. He

-witnesses the meetings of Christian women at the sepulchres. He beholds

-the touching ceremonies of prayer, change into orgies,&mdash;lamentations

-give place to amorous dalliance.</p>

-

-

-

-<h5>THE MAGICIANS</h5>

-

-

-<p>Then the Tempter seeks to shake Anthony's faith in the excellence

-and evidence of miracles. He assumes the form of a Hindoo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxviii" id="Page_xxviii">[Pg xxviii]</a></span> Brahmin,

-terminating a life of wondrous holiness by self-cremation;&mdash;he appears

-as Simon Magus and Helen of Tyre,&mdash;as Appollonius of Tyans, greatest of

-all thaumaturgists, who claims superiority to Christ. All the marvels

-related by Philostratus are embodied in the converse of Apollonius and

-Damis.</p>

-

-

-

-<h5>THE GODS</h5>

-

-

-<p>Hilarion reappears taller than ever, growing more gigantic in

-proportion to the increasing weakness of the Saint. Standing beside

-Anthony he evokes all the deities of the antique world. They defile

-before him in a marvellous panorama:&mdash;Gods of Egypt and India, Chaldea

-and Hellas, Babylon and Ultima Thule,&mdash;monstrous and multiform, phallic

-and ithyphallic, fantastic or obscene. Some intoxicate by their beauty;

-others appall by their foulness. The Buddha recounts the story of his

-wondrous life; Venus displays the rounded daintiness of her nudity;

-Isis utters awful soliloquy. Lastly the phantom of Jehovah appears, as

-the shadow of a god passing away forever.</p>

-

-<p>Suddenly the stature of Hilarion towers to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxix" id="Page_xxix">[Pg xxix]</a></span> the stars; he assumes the

-likeness and luminosity of Lucifer; he announces himself as</p>

-

-

-

-<h5>SCIENCE</h5>

-

-

-<p>And Anthony is lifted upon mighty wings and borne away beyond the

-world, above the solar system, above the starry arch of the Milky Way.

-All future discoveries of Astronomy are revealed to him. He is tempted

-by the revelation of innumerable worlds,&mdash;by the refutation of all

-his previous ideas of the nature of the Universe,&mdash;by the enigmas of

-infinity,&mdash;by all the marvels that conflict with faith. Even in the

-night of immensity the demon renews the temptation of reason: Anthony

-wavers upon the verge of pantheism.</p>

-

-

-

-<h5>LUST AND DEATH</h5>

-

-

-<p>Anthony abandoned by the spirit of Science comes to himself in the

-desert. Then the Tempter returns under a two-fold aspect: as the

-Spirit of Lust and the Spirit of Destruction. The latter urges him to

-suicide,&mdash;the former to indulgence of sense. They inspire him with

-strong fancies of palingenesis, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxx" id="Page_xxx">[Pg xxx]</a></span> the illusion of death, of the

-continuity of life. The pantheistic temptation intensified.</p>

-

-

-

-<h5>THE MONSTERS</h5>

-

-

-<p>Anthony in reveries meditates upon the monstrous symbols painted upon

-the walls of certain ancient temples. Could he know their meaning

-he might learn also something of the secret lien between Matter and

-Thought. Forthwith a phantasmagoria of monsters commence to pass before

-his eyes:&mdash;the Sphinx and the Chimera, the Blemmyes and Astomi, the

-Cynocephali and all creatures of mythologie creation. He beholds the

-fabulous beings of Oriental imagining,&mdash;the abnormities described

-by Pliny and Herodotus, the fantasticalities to be later adopted by

-heraldry,&mdash;the grotesqueries of future medieval illumination made

-animate;&mdash;the goblinries and foulnesses of superstitious fancy,&mdash;the

-Witches' Sabbath of abominations.</p>

-

-

-

-<h5>METAMORPHOSIS</h5>

-

-

-<p>The multitude of monsters melts away; the land changes into an Ocean;

-the creatures of the briny abysses appear. And the waters in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxxi" id="Page_xxxi">[Pg xxxi]</a></span> turn

-also change; seaweeds are transformed to herbs, forests of coral

-give place to forests of trees, polypous life changes to vegetation.

-Metals crystallize; frosts effloresce; plants become living things,

-inanimate matter takes animate form, monads vibrate, the pantheism of

-nature makes itself manifest. Anthony feels a delirious desire to unite

-himself with the Spirit of Universal Being....</p>

-

-<p>The vision vanishes. The sun arises. The face of Christ is revealed.

-The temptation has passed; Anthony kneels in prayer.</p>

-

-<p style="margin-left: 80%; font-size: 0.8em;">L. H.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxxii" id="Page_xxxii">[Pg xxxii]</a><br /><a name="Page_xxxiii" id="Page_xxxiii">[Pg xxxiii]</a><br /><a name="Page_xxxiv" id="Page_xxxiv">[Pg xxxiv]</a><br /><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>

-

-

-

-

-<h3><a name="THE_TEMPTATION_OF_ST_ANTHONY" id="THE_TEMPTATION_OF_ST_ANTHONY">THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY</a></h3>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-

-<h4><a id="I"></a>I</h4>

-

-

-<p><i>It is in the Thebaid at the summit of a mountain, upon a platform,

-rounded off into the form of a demilune, and enclosed by huge stones.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The Hermit's cabin appears in the background. It is built of mud and

-reeds, it is flat-roofed and doorless. A pitcher and a loaf of black

-bread can be distinguished within also, in the middle of the apartment

-a large book resting on a wooden stela; while here and there, fragments

-of basketwork, two or three mats, a basket, and a knife lie upon the

-ground.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Some ten paces from the hut, there is a long cross planted in the

-soil; and, at the other end of the platform, an aged and twisted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>

-palm tree leans over the abyss; for the sides of the mountain are

-perpendicular, and the Nile appears to form a lake at the foot of the

-cliff.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The view to right and left is broken by the barrier of rocks. But

-on the desert-side, like a vast succession of sandy beaches, immense

-undulations of an ashen-blonde color extend one behind the other,

-rising higher as they recede; and far in the distance, beyond the

-sands, the Libyan chain forms a chalk-colored wall, lightly shaded by

-violet mists. On the opposite side the sun is sinking. In the north the

-sky is of a pearl-gray tint, while at the zenith purple clouds disposed

-like the tufts of a gigantic mane, lengthen themselves against the blue

-vault. These streaks of flame take darker tones; the azure spots turn

-to a nacreous pallor; the shrubs, the pebbles, the earth, all now seem

-hard as bronze; and throughout space there floats a golden dust so fine

-as to become confounded with the vibrations of the light.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Saint Anthony, who has a long beard, long hair, and wears a tunic of

-goatskin, is seated on the ground cross-legged, and is occupied in

-weaving mats. As soon as the sun disappears,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> he utters a deep sigh,

-and, gazing upon the horizon, exclaims</i>:&mdash;</p>

-

-<p>"Another day! another day gone! Nevertheless formerly I used not to

-be so wretched. Before the end of the night I commenced my orisons;

-then I descended to the river to get water, and remounted the rugged

-pathway with the skin upon my shoulder, singing hymns on the way. Then

-I would amuse myself by arranging everything in my hut. I would make my

-tools; I tried to make all my mats exactly equal in size, and all my

-baskets light; for then my least actions seemed to me duties in nowise

-difficult or painful of accomplishment.</p>

-

-<p>"Then at regular hours I ceased working; and when I prayed with my arms

-extended, I felt as though a fountain of mercy were pouring from the

-height of heaven into my heart. That fountain is now dried up. Why?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He walks up and down slowly, within the circuit of the rocks.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"All blamed me when I left the house. My mother sank to the ground,

-dying; my sister from afar off made signs to me to return; and the

-other&mdash;wept, Ammonaria, the child<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> whom I used to meet every evening

-at the cistern, when she took the oxen to drink. She ran after me. Her

-foot rings glittered in the dust; and her tunic, open at the hips,

-fluttered loosely in the wind. The aged anchorite who was leading me

-away called her vile names. Our two camels galloped forward without

-respite; and I have seen none of my people since that day.</p>

-

-<p>"At first, I selected for my dwelling place, the tomb of a Pharaoh. But

-an enchantment circulates through all those subterranean palaces, where

-the darkness seems to have been thickened by the ancient smoke of the

-aromatics. From the depths of Sarcophagi, I heard doleful voices arise,

-and call my name; or else, I suddenly beheld the abominable things

-painted upon the walls live and move; and I fled away to the shore

-of the Red Sea, and took refuge in a ruined citadel. There my only

-companions were the scorpions dragging themselves among the stones, and

-the eagles continually wheeling above my head, in the blue of heaven.

-At night I was torn by claws, bitten by beaks; soft wings brushed

-against me; and frightful demons, shrieking in my ears, flung me upon

-the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> ground. Once I was even rescued by the people of a caravan going

-to Alexandria; and they took me away with them.</p>

-

-<p>"Then I sought to obtain instruction from the good old man Didymus.

-Although blind, none equalled him in the knowledge of the Scriptures.

-When the lesson was finished, he used to ask me to give him my arm

-to lean upon, that we might walk together. Then I would conduct him

-to the Paneum, whence may be seen the Pharos and the open sea. Then

-we would return by way of the post, elbowing men of all nations,

-even Cimmerians clad in the skins of bears and Gymnosophists of the

-Ganges anointed with cow-dung. But there was always some fighting in

-the streets&mdash;either on account of the Jews refusing to pay taxes, or

-of seditious people who wished to drive the Romans from the city.

-Moreover, the city is full of heretics&mdash;followers of Manes; Valentinus,

-Basilides, Arius&mdash;all seeking to engross my attention in order to argue

-with me and to convince me.</p>

-

-<p>"Their discourses often come back to my memory. Vainly do I seek to

-banish them from my mind. They trouble me!</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"I took refuge at Colzin, and there lived a life of such penance that

-I ceased to fear God. A few men, desirous of becoming anchorites,

-gathered about me. I imposed a practical rule of life upon them,

-hating, as I did, the extravagance of Gnosus and the assertions of the

-philosophers. Messages were sent to me from all parts, and men came

-from afar off to visit me.</p>

-

-<p>"Meanwhile the people were torturing the confessors; and the thirst of

-martyrdom drew me to Alexandria. The persecution had ceased three days

-before I arrived there!</p>

-

-<p>"While returning thence, I was stopped by a great crowd assembled

-before the temple of Serapis. They told me it was a last example which

-the Governor had resolved to make. In the centre of the portico, under

-the sunlight, a naked woman was fettered to a column, and two soldiers

-were flogging her with thongs; at every blow her whole body writhed.

-She turned round, her mouth open; and over the heads of the crowd,

-through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought that I could

-recognize Ammonaria....</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon201"></a>

-<img src="images/redon2_01.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>... through the long hair half hiding her face,

-I thought that I could recognize Ammonaria ...</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>

-

-<p class="p2">"Nevertheless ... this one was taller ... and beautiful ...

-prodigiously beautiful!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He passes his hands over his forehead.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"No! no! I must not think of it!</p>

-

-<p>"Another time Athanasius summoned me to assist him against the Arians.

-The contest was limited to invectives and laughter. But since that

-time he has been calumniated, dispossessed of his see, obliged to fly

-for safety elsewhere. Where is he now? I do not know! The people give

-themselves very little trouble to bring me news. All my disciples have

-abandoned me&mdash;Hilarion like the rest.</p>

-

-<p>"He was perhaps fifteen years of age when he first came to me and his

-intelligence was so remarkable that he asked me questions incessantly.

-Then he used to listen to me with a pensive air, and whatever I needed

-he brought it to me without a murmur&mdash;nimbler than a kid, merry enough

-to make even the patriarchs laugh. He was a son to me."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The sky is red; the earth completely black. Long drifts of sand

-follow the course of the gusts of wind, rising like great shrouds and

-falling again. Suddenly against a bright space in the sky a flock of

-birds pass, forming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> a triangular battalion, gleaming like one sheet of

-metal, of which the edges alone seem to quiver.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony watches them.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah, how I should like to follow them.</p>

-

-<p>"How often also have I enviously gazed upon those long vessels,

-whose sails resemble wings&mdash;and above all when they were bearing

-far away those I had received at my hermitage! What pleasant hours

-we passed!&mdash;what out-pourings of feeling! No one ever interested me

-more than Ammon: he told me of his voyage to Rome, of the Catacombs,

-the Coliseum, the piety of illustrious women, and a thousand other

-things!&mdash;and it grieved me to part with him! Wherefore my obstinacy

-in continuing to live such a life as this? I would have done well to

-remain with the monks of Nitria, inasmuch as they supplicated me to

-do so. They have cells apart, and nevertheless communicate with each

-other. On Sundays a trumpet summons them to assemble at the church,

-where one may see three scourges hanging up, which serve to punish

-delinquents, robbers, and intruders; for their discipline is severe.</p>

-

-<p>"Nevertheless they are not without some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> enjoyments. The faithful bring

-them eggs, fruits, and even instruments with which they can extract

-thorns from their feet. There are vineyards about Prisperi; those

-dwelling at Pabena have a raft on which they may journey when they go

-to seek provisions.</p>

-

-<p>"But I might have served my brethren better as a simple priest. As a

-priest one may aid the poor, administer the sacraments, and exercise

-authority over families.</p>

-

-<p>"Furthermore, all laics are not necessarily damned, and it only

-depended upon my own choice to become&mdash;for example&mdash;a grammarian, a

-philosopher. I would then have had in my chamber a sphere of reeds,

-and tablets always ready at hand, young men around me, and a wreath of

-laurel suspended above my door, as a sign.</p>

-

-<p>"But there is too much pride in triumphs such as those. A soldier's

-life would have been preferable. I was robust and bold: bold enough to

-fasten the cables of the military machines&mdash;to traverse dark forests,

-or to enter, armed and helmeted, into smoking cities.... Neither was

-there anything to have prevented me from purchasing with my money the

-position of publican at the toll-office<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> of some bridge; and travellers

-would have taught me many strange things, and told me strange stories,

-the while showing me many curious objects packed up among their

-baggage....</p>

-

-<p>"The merchants of Alexandria sail upon the river Canopus on holidays,

-and drink wine in the chalices of lotus-flowers, to a music of

-tambourines which makes the taverns along the shore tremble! Beyond,

-trees, made cone-shaped by pruning, protect the quiet farms against

-the wind of the south. The roof of the lofty house leans upon thin

-colonettes placed as closely together as the laths of a lattice;

-and through their interspaces the master, reclining upon his long

-couch, beholds his plains stretching about him&mdash;the hunter among the

-wheat-fields&mdash;the winepress where the vintage is being converted into

-wine, the oxen treading out the wheat. His children play upon the floor

-around him; his wife bends down to kiss him."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Against the grey dimness of the twilight, here and there appear

-pointed muzzles, with straight, pointed ears and bright eyes. Anthony

-advances toward them. There is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> sound of gravel crumbling down; the

-animals take flight. It was a troop of jackals.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>One still remains, rising upon his hinder legs, with his body half

-arched and head raised in an attitude full of defiance.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"How pretty he is! I would like to stroke his back gently!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony whistles to coax him to approach. The jackal disappears.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! he is off to join the others. What solitude! what weariness!"

-(<i>Laughing bitterly.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"A happy life this indeed!&mdash;bending palm-branches in the fire to make

-shepherds' crooks, fashioning baskets, stitching mats together&mdash;and

-then exchanging these things with the Nomads for bread which breaks

-one's teeth! Ah! woe, woe is me! will this never end? Surely death were

-preferable! I can endure it no more! Enough! enough!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He stamps his foot upon the ground, and rushes frantically to and fro

-among the rocks; then pauses, out of breath, bursts into tears, and

-lies down upon the ground, on his side.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The night is calm; multitudes of stars are palpitating; only the

-crackling noise made by the tarantulas is audible.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>The two arms of the cross make a shadow upon the sand; Anthony, who is

-weeping, observes it.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Am I, then, so weak, O my God! Courage, let me rise from here!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He enters his hut, turns over a pile of cinders, finds a live ember,

-lights his torch and fixes it upon the wooden desk, so as to throw a

-light upon the great book.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Suppose I take the Acts of the Apostles?&mdash;yes!&mdash;no matter where!"</p>

-

-<p><i>'And he saw the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it

-were a great linen sheet let down by the four corners from heaven to

-the earth&mdash;wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping

-things of the earth and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to

-him: Arise, Peter! Kill and eat!'</i><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>

-

-<p>"Then the Lord desired that his apostle should eat of all things?...

-while I...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony remains thoughtful, his chin resting against his breast. The

-rustling of the pages, agitated by the wind, causes him to lift his

-head again; and he reads</i>:)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>'So the Jews made a great slaughter of their enemies with the sword,

-and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to

-them....</i><a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>

-

-<p>"Then, comes the number of people slain by them&mdash;seventy-five thousand.

-They had suffered so much! Moreover, their enemies were the enemies of

-the true God. And how they must have delighted in avenging themselves

-thus by the massacre of idolaters! Doubtless the city must have been

-crammed with the dead! There must have been corpses at the thresholds

-of the garden gates, upon the stairways, in all the chambers, and piled

-up so high that the doors could no longer move upon their hinges!...

-But lo! here I am permitting my mind to dwell upon ideas of murder and

-of blood!..."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He opens the book at another place.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><i>'Then King Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped

-Daniel....</i>'<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>

-

-<p>"Ah! that was just! The <i>Most High</i> exalts his prophets above Kings;

-yet that monarch spent his life in banqueting, perpetually drunk with

-pleasure and pride. But God, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> punish him, changed him into a beast!

-He walked upon four feet!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony begins to laugh; and in extending his arms, involuntarily

-disarranges the leaves of the book with the tips of his fingers. His

-eyes fell upon this phrase</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><i>'And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he showed them the house

-of his aromatical spices, and the gold and the silver, and divers

-precious odours and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all

-that he had in his treasures....'</i><a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>

-

-<p>"I can imagine that spectacle; they must have beheld precious stones,

-diamonds and darics heaped up to the very roof. One who possesses so

-vast an accumulation of wealth is no longer like other men. While

-handling his riches he knows that he controls the total result of

-innumerable human efforts&mdash;as it were the life of nations drained by

-him and stored up, which he can pour forth at will. It is a commendable

-precaution on the part of Kings. Even the <i>Wisest</i> of all did not

-neglect it. His navy brought him elephants' teeth and apes.... Where is

-that passage?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>He turns the leaves over rapidly.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! here it is:"</p>

-

-<p><i>'And the Queen of Saba, having heard of the fame of Solomon in the

-name of the Lord, came to try him with hard questions.'</i><a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>

-

-<p>"How did she hope to tempt him? The <i>Devil</i> indeed sought to tempt

-Jesus! But Jesus triumphed because he was God; and Solomon, perhaps,

-owing this knowledge of magic! It is sublime&mdash;that science! For the

-world&mdash;as a philosopher once explained it to me, forms a whole, of

-which all parts mutually influence one another, like the organs of one

-body. It is science which enables us to know the natural loves and

-natural repulsions of all things, and to play upon them?... Therefore,

-it is really possible to modify what appears to be the immutable order

-of the universe?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then the two shadows formed behind him by the arms of the cross,

-suddenly lengthen and project themselves before him. They assume the

-form of two great horns. Anthony cries out</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Help me! O my God!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon02"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_02.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God!</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2">(<i>The shadows shrink back to their former place.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah!... it was an illusion ... nothing more. It is needless for me to

-torment my mind further! I can do nothing!&mdash;absolutely nothing."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He sits down and folds his arms.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Nevertheless ... it seems to me that I felt the approach of.... But

-why should <i>He</i> come? Besides, do I not know all his artifices? I

-repulsed the monstrous anchorite who laughingly offered me little

-loaves of warm, fresh bread, the centaur who sought to carry me away

-upon his croup, and that black child who appeared to me in the midst of

-the sands, who was very beautiful, and who told me that he was called

-the Spirit of Lust!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony rises and walks rapidly up and down, first to the right, then

-to the left.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"It was by my order that this multitude of holy retreats was

-constructed&mdash;full of monks all wearing sackcloth of camel's hair

-beneath their garments of goatskin, and numerous enough to form an

-army. I have cured the sick from afar off; I have cast out demons;

-I have passed the river in the midst of crocodiles;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> the Emperor

-Constantine wrote me throe letters; Balacius, who had spat upon mine,

-was torn to pieces by his own horses; when I reappeared the people of

-Alexandria fought for the pleasure of seeing me, and Athanasius himself

-escorted me on the way back. But what works have I not accomplished

-Lo! for these thirty years and more I have been dwelling and groaning

-unceasingly in the desert! Like Eusebius, I have carried thirty-eight

-pounds of bronze upon my loins; like Macarius, I have exposed my body

-to the stings of insects; like Pacomus, I have passed fifty-three

-nights without closing my eyes; and those who are decapitated, tortured

-with red hot pincers, or burned alive, are perhaps less meritorious

-than I, seeing that my whole life is but one prolonged martyrdom."

-(<i>Anthony slackens his pace.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Assuredly there is no human being in a condition of such unutterable

-misery! Charitable hearts are becoming scarcer. I no longer receive

-aught from any one. My mantle is worn out. I have no sandals&mdash;I have

-not even a porringer!&mdash;for I have distributed all I possessed to the

-poor and to my family, without retaining so much as one obolus. Yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>

-surely I ought to have a little money to obtain the tools indispensable

-to my work? Oh, not much! a very small sum.... I would be very saving

-of it....</p>

-

-<p>"The fathers of Nicæa, clad in purple robes, sat like magi, upon

-thrones ranged along the walls; and they were entertained at a great

-banquet and overwhelmed with honours, especially Paphnutius, because he

-is one-eyed and lame, since the persecution of Diocletian! The Emperor

-kissed his blind eye several times; what foolishness! Besides, there

-were such infamous men members of that Council! A bishop of Scythia,

-Theophilus! another of Persia, John! a keeper of beasts, Spiridion!

-Alexander was too old. Athanasius ought to have shown more gentleness

-towards the Arians, so as to have obtained concessions from them.</p>

-

-<p>"Yet would they have made any? They would not hear me! The one who

-spoke against me&mdash;a tall young man with a curly beard&mdash;uttered the

-most captious objections to my argument; and while I was seeking words

-to express my views they all stared at me with their wicked faces,

-and barked like hyenas. Ah! why cannot I have them all exiled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> by the

-Emperor! or rather have them beaten, crushed, and see them suffer! I

-suffer enough myself."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He leans against his cabin in a fainting condition.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"It is because I have fasted too long; my strength is leaving me. If I

-could eat&mdash;only once more&mdash;a piece of meat." (<i>He half closes his eyes

-with languor.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! some red flesh&mdash;a bunch of grapes to bite into ... curdled milk

-that trembles on a plate!...</p>

-

-<p>"But what has come upon me? What is the matter with me? I feel my heart

-enlarging like the sea, when it swells before the storm. An unspeakable

-feebleness weighs down upon me, and the warm air seems to waft me

-the perfume of a woman's hair. No woman has approached this place;

-nevertheless?&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He gazes toward the little pathway between the rocks.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"That is the path by which they come, rocked in their litters by the

-black arms of the eunuchs. They descend and joining their hands,

-heavy with rings, kneel down before me. They relate to me all their

-troubles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> The desire of human pleasure tortures them; they would

-gladly die; they have seen in their dreams God calling to them ... and

-all the while the hems of their robes fall upon my feet. I repel them

-from me. 'Ah! no!' they cry, 'not yet! What shall I do?' They gladly

-accept any penitence I impose on them. They ask for the hardest of all;

-they beg to share mine and to live with me.</p>

-

-<p>"It is now a long time since I have seen any of them! Perhaps some of

-them will come! why not? If I could only hear again, all of a sudden,

-the tinkling of mule-bells among the mountains. It seems to me...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony clambers upon a rock at the entrance of the pathway, and

-leans over, darting his eyes into the darkness.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Yes! over there, far off I see a mass moving, like a band of

-travellers seeking the way. <i>She</i> is there!... They are making a

-mistake." (<i>Calling.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"This way! Come! Come!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Echo repeats: Come! Come! he lets his arms fall, stupefied.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"What shame for me! Alas! poor Anthony."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>And all of a sudden he hears a whisper:&mdash;"Poor Anthony"!</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Who is there? Speak!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The wind passing through the intervals between the rocks, makes

-modulations; and in those confused sonorities he distinguishes Voices,

-as though the air itself were speaking. They are low, insinuating,

-hissing.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><i>The First</i>: "Dost thou desire women?"</p>

-

-<p><i>The Second</i>: "Great heaps of money, rather!"</p>

-

-<p><i>The Third</i>: "A glittering sword?" (<i>and</i>)</p>

-

-<p><i>The Others</i>: "All the people admire thee! Sleep!"</p>

-

-<p>"Thou shalt slay them all, aye, thou shalt slay them!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>At the same moment objects become transformed. At the edge of the

-cliff, the old palm tree with its tuft of yellow leaves, changes into

-the torso of a woman leaning over the abyss, her long hair waving in

-the wind.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony turns toward his cabin; and the stool supporting the great book

-whose pages are covered with black letters, seems to him changed into a

-bush all covered with nightingales.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"It must be the torch which is making this strange play of light....

-Let us put it out!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He extinguishes it; the obscurity becomes deeper, the darkness

-profound.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And suddenly in the air above there appear and disappear

-successively&mdash;first, a stretch of water; then the figure of a

-prostitute; the corner of a temple, a soldier; a chariot with two white

-horses, prancing.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>These images appear suddenly, as in flashes&mdash;outlined against the

-background of the night, like scarlet paintings executed upon ebony.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Their motion accelerates. They defile by with vertiginous rapidity.

-Sometimes again, they pause and gradually pale and melt away; or else

-float off out of sight, to be immediately succeeded by others.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony closes his eyelids.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>They multiply, surround him, besiege him. An unspeakable fear takes

-possession of him; and he feels nothing more of living sensation, save

-a burning contraction of the epigastrium. In spite of the tumult in

-his brain, he is aware of an enormous silence which separates him from

-the world. He tries to speak;&mdash;impossible!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> He feels as though all the

-bands of his life were breaking and dissolving;&mdash;and, no longer able to

-resist, Anthony falls prostrate upon his mat.</i>)</p>

-<hr class="r5" />

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Acts X: 11-13&mdash;T.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Esther IX: 5&mdash;T.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Daniel II: 46.&mdash;T.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Kings XX: 13 (Vulg.).&mdash;T.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> III Kings X: I (Vulg.).&mdash;T.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p></div>

-

-

-

-

-<h4><a name="II" id="II">II</a></h4>

-

-

-<p>(<i>Then a great shadow, subtler than any natural shadow, and festooned

-by other shadows along its edges, defines itself upon the ground.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>It is the Devil, leaning upon the roof of the hut, and bearing beneath

-his wings&mdash;like some gigantic bat suckling its little ones&mdash;the Seven

-Deadly Sins, whose grimacing heads are dimly distinguishable.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>With eyes still closed, Anthony yields to the pleasure of inaction;

-and stretches his limbs upon the mat.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>It seems to him quite soft, and yet softer&mdash;so that it becomes as if

-padded; it rises up; it becomes a bed. The bed becomes a shallop; water

-laps against its sides.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>To right and left rise two long tongues of land, overlooking low

-cultivated plains, with a sycamore tree here and there. In the distance

-there is a tinkling of bells, a sound of drums and of singers. It is a

-party going to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> Canopus to sleep upon the temple of Serapis, in order

-to have dreams. Anthony knows this; and impelled by the wind, his boat

-glides along between the banks. Papyrus-leaves and the red flowers of

-the nymphæa, larger than the body of a man, bend over him. He is lying

-at the bottom of the boat; one oar at the stem, drags in the water.

-From time to time, a lukewarm wind blows; and the slender reeds rub one

-against the other, and rustle. Then the sobbing of the wavelets becomes

-indistinct. A heavy drowsiness falls upon him. He dreams that he is a

-Solitary of Egypt.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Then he awakes with a start.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Did I dream? It was all so vivid that I can scarcely believe I was

-dreaming! My tongue burns. I am thirsty."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He enters the cabin, and gropes at random in the dark.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"The ground is wet; can it have been raining? What can this mean! My

-pitcher is broken into atoms! But the goatskin?" (<i>He finds it.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Empty!&mdash;completely empty! In order to get down to the river, I should

-have to walk for at least three hours; and the night is so dark that I

-could not see my way.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"There is a gnawing in my entrails. Where is the bread!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>After long searching, he picks up a crust not so large as an egg.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"What? Have the jackals taken it? Ah! malediction!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And he flings the bread upon the ground with fury.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>No sooner has the action occurred than a table makes its appearance,

-covered with all things that are good to eat.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The byssus cloth, striated like the bandelets of the sphinx, produces

-of itself luminous undulations. Upon it are enormous quarters of red

-meats; huge fish; birds cooked in their plumage, and quadrupeds in

-their skins; fruits with colors and tints almost human in appearance;

-while fragments of cooling ice, and flagons of violet crystal reflect

-each other's glittering. Anthony notices in the middle of the table

-a boar smoking at every pore&mdash;with legs doubled up under its belly,

-and eyes half closed&mdash;and the idea of being able to eat so formidable

-an animal greatly delights him. Then many things appear which he has

-never seen before&mdash;black hashes, jellies, the color of gold, ragouts in

-which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> mushrooms float like nenuphars upon ponds, dishes of whipt cream

-light as clouds.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And the aroma of all this comes to him together with the salt smell of

-the ocean, the coolness of mountains, the great perfumes of the woods.

-He dilates his nostrils to their fullest extent; his mouth waters; he

-thinks to himself that he has enough before him for a year, for ten

-years, for his whole life!</i></p>

-

-<p><i>As he gazes with widely-opened eyes at all these viands, others

-appear; they accumulate, forming a pyramid crumbling at all its angles.

-The wines begin to flow over&mdash;the fish palpitate&mdash;the blood seethes in

-the dishes&mdash;the pulp of the fruit protrudes like amorous lips&mdash;and the

-table rises as high as his breast, up to his very chin at last&mdash;now

-bearing only one plate and a single loaf of bread, placed exactly in

-front of him.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He extends his hand to seize the loaf. Other loaves immediately

-present themselves to his grasp.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"For me!... all these! But ..." (<i>Anthony suddenly draws back.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Instead of one which was there, lo! there are many! It must be a

-miracle, then, the same as our Lord wrought!</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"Yet for what purpose?... Ah! all the rest of these things are equally

-incomprehensible! Demon, begone from me! depart! begone!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He kicks the table from him. It disappears.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Nothing more?&mdash;no!" (<i>He draws a lung breath.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! the temptation was strong! But how well I delivered myself from

-it!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He lifts his head, and at the same time stumbles over some sonorous

-object.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Why! what can that be?" (<i>Anthony stoops down.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"How! a cup! Some traveller must have lost it here. There is nothing

-extraordinary...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He wets his finger, and rubs.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"It glitters!&mdash;metal! Still, I cannot see very clearly...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He lights his torch, and examines the cup.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"It is silver, ornamented with ovules about the rim, with a medal at

-the bottom of it."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He detaches the medal with his nail!</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"It is a piece of money worth about seven or eight drachmas&mdash;not more!

-It matters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> not! even with that I could easily buy myself a sheepskin."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>A sudden flash of the torch lights up the cup.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Impossible! gold? Yes, all gold, solid gold!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>A still larger piece of money appears at the bottom. Under it he

-perceives several others.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Why, this is a sum ... large enough to purchase three oxen ... and a

-little field!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The cup is now filled with pieces of gold.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"What! what!... a hundred slaves, soldiers, a host ... enough to

-buy...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The granulations of the rim, detaching themselves form a necklace of

-pearls.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"With such a marvel of jewelry as that, one could win even the wife of

-the Emperor!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>By a sudden jerk, Anthony makes the necklace slip down over his

-wrist. He holds the cup in his left hand, and with his right lifts

-up the torch so as to throw the light upon it. As water streams

-overflowing from the basin of a fountain, so diamonds, carbuncles, and

-sapphires, all mingled with broad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> pieces of gold bearing the effigies

-of Kings, overflow from the cup in never ceasing streams, to form a

-glittering hillock upon the sand.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"What! how! Staters, cycles, dariacs, aryandics; Alexander, Demetrius,

-the Ptolemies, Cæsar!&mdash;yet not one of them all possessed so much!

-Nothing is now impossible! no more suffering for me! how these

-gleams dazzle my eyes! Ah! my heart overflows! how delightful it is!

-yes&mdash;yes!&mdash;more yet! never could there be enough! Vainly I might

-continually fling it into the sea, there would always be plenty

-remaining for me. Why should I lose any of it? I will keep all, and say

-nothing to any one about it; I will have a chamber hollowed out for me

-in the rock, and lined with plates of bronze, and I will come here from

-time to time to feel the gold sinking down under the weight of my heel;

-I will plunge my arms into it as into sacks of grain! I will rub my

-face with it, I will lie down upon it!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He flings down the torch in order to embrace the glittering heap, and

-falls flat upon the ground.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He rises to his feet. The place is wholly empty.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"What have I done!</p>

-

-<p>"Had I died during those moments, I should have gone to hell&mdash;to

-irrevocable damnation."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He trembles in every limb.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Am I, then, accursed? Ah! no; it is my own fault! I allow myself

-to be caught in every snare! No man could be more imbecile, more

-infamous! I should like to beat myself, or rather to tear myself out

-of my own body! I have restrained myself too long. I feel the want of

-vengeance&mdash;the necessity of striking, of killing!&mdash;as though I had a

-pack of wild beasts within me! Would that I could hew my way with an

-axe, through the midst of a multitude.... Ah, a poniard!..."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He perceives his knife, and rushes to seize it. The knife slips from

-his hand; and Anthony remains leaning against the wall of his hut, with

-wide-open mouth, motionless, cataleptic.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Everything about him has disappeared.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He thinks himself at Alexandria, upon the Paneum&mdash;an artificial

-mountain in the centre of the city, encircled by a winding stairway.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Before him lies Lake Mareolis; on his right hand is the sea, on his

-left the country; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> immediately beneath him a vast confusion of

-flat roofs, traversed from north to south and from east to west by

-two streets which intercross, and which offer throughout their entire

-length the spectacle of files of porticoes with Corinthian columns. The

-houses overhanging this double colonnade have windows of stained glass.

-Some of them support exteriorly enormous wooden cages, into which the

-fresh air rushes from without.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Monuments of various architecture tower up in close proximity.

-Egyptian pylons dominate Greek temples. Obelisks appear like lances

-above battlements of red brick. In the middle of public squares there

-are figures of Hermes with pointed ears, and of Anubis with the head of

-a dog. Anthony can distinguish the mosaic pavements of the courtyards,

-and tapestries suspended from the beams of ceilings.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He beholds at one glance, the two ports (the Great Port and the

-Eunostus), both round as circuses, and separated by a mole connecting

-Alexandria with the craggy island upon which the Pharos-tower

-rises&mdash;quadrangular, five hundred cubits high, nine storied,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> having at

-its summit a smoking heap of black coals.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Small interior ports open into the larger ones. The mole terminates at

-each end in a bridge supported upon marble columns planted in the sea.

-Sailing vessels pass beneath it, while heavy lighters overladen with

-merchandise, thalamegii<a name="FNanchor_1_6" id="FNanchor_1_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_6" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> inlaid with ivory, gondolas covered with

-awnings, triremes, biremes, and all sorts of vessels are moving to and

-fro, or lie moored at the wharves.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>About the Great Port extends an unbroken array of royal construction:

-the palace of the Ptolomies, the Museum, the Posidium, the Cæsareum,

-the Timonium where Mark Anthony sought refuge, the Soma which contains

-the tomb of Alexander; while at the other extremity of the city, beyond

-the Eunostus, the great glass factories, perfume factories, and papyrus

-factories may be perceived in a suburban quarter.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Strolling peddlers, porters, ass-drivers run and jostle together.

-Here and there one observes some priest of Isis wearing a panther skin

-on his shoulders, a Roman soldier with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> his bronze helmet, and many

-negroes. At the thresholds of the shops women pause, artisans ply their

-trades; and the grinding noise of chariot wheels puts to flight the

-birds that devour the detritus of the butcher-shops and the morsels of

-fish left upon the ground.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The general outline of the streets seems like a black network flung

-upon the white uniformity of the houses. The markets stocked with

-herbs make green bouquets in the midst of it; the drying-yards of the

-dyers, blotches of color; the golden ornaments of the temple-pediments,

-luminous points&mdash;all comprised within the oval enclosure of the grey

-ramparts, under the vault of the blue heaven, beside the motionless

-sea.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>But suddenly the movement of the crowd ceases; all turn their

-eyes toward the west, whence enormous whirlwinds of dust are seen

-approaching.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>It is the coming of the monks of the Thebaid, all clad in goatskins,

-armed with cudgels, roaring a canticle of battle and of faith with the

-refrain</i>:</p>

-

-<p>"Where are they? Where are they?"</p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony understands that they are coming to kill the Arians.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>The streets are suddenly emptied&mdash;only flying feet are visible.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The Solitaries are now in the city. Their formidable cudgels, studded

-with nails, whirl in the air like suns of steel. The crash of things

-broken in the houses is heard. There are intervals of silence. Then

-great screams arise.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>From one end of the street to the other there is a continual eddy of

-terrified people.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Many grasp pikes. Sometimes two bands meet, rush into one; and this

-mass of men slips upon the pavement&mdash;fighting, disjointing, knocking

-down. But the men with the long hair always reappear.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Threads of smoke begin to escape from the corners of edifices! folding

-doors burst open. Portions of walls crumble down. Architraves fall.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony finds all his enemies again, one after the other. He even

-recognizes some whom he had altogether forgotten; before killing them

-he outrages them. He disembowels&mdash;he severs throats&mdash;he fells as in

-a slaughter house&mdash;he hales old men by the beard, crushes children,

-smites the wounded. And vengeance is taken upon luxury, those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> who

-do not know how to read tear up hooks; others smash and deface the

-statues, paintings, furniture, caskets,&mdash;a thousand dainty things

-the use of which they do not know, and which simply for that reason

-exasperates them. At intervals they pause, out of breath, in the work

-of destruction; then they recommence.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The inhabitants moan in the courtyards where they have sought refuge.

-The women raise their tearful eyes and lift their naked arms to heaven.

-In hope of moving the Solitaries they embrace their knees; the men cast

-them off and fling them down, and the blood gushes to the ceilings,

-falls back upon the walls like sheets of rain, streams from the trunks

-of decapitated corpses, fills the aqueducts, forms huge red pools upon

-the ground.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony is up to his knees in it. He wades in it; he sucks up the

-blood-spray on his lips; he is thrilled with joy as he feels it upon

-his limbs, under his hair-tunic which is soaked through with it.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Night comes. The immense uproar dies away.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The Solitaries have disappeared.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Suddenly, upon the outer galleries corresponding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> to each of the nine

-stories of the Pharos, Anthony observes thick black lines forming, like

-lines of crows perching. He hurries thither; and soon finds himself at

-the summit.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>A huge mirror of brass turned toward the open sea, reflects the forms

-of the vessels in the offing.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony amuses himself by watching them; and while he watches, their

-number increases.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>They are grouped together within a gulf which has the form of a

-crescent. Upon a promontory in the background, towers a new city of

-Roman architecture, with cupolas of stone, conical roofs, gleams of

-pink and blue marbles, and a profusion of brazen ornamentation applied

-to the volutes of the capitals, to the angles of the cornices, to the

-summits of the edifices. A cypress-wood overhangs the city. The line of

-the sea is greener, the air colder. The mountains lining the horizon

-are capped with snow.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony is trying to find his way, when a man approaches him, and

-says</i>:</p>

-

-<p>"Come! they are waiting for you."</p>

-

-<p><i>He traverses a forum, enters a great court, stoops beneath a low

-door; and he arrives before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> the facade of the palace, decorated

-with a group in wax, representing Constantine overcoming a dragon.

-There is a porphyry basin, from the centre of which rises a golden

-conch-shell full of nuts. His guide tells him that he may take some of

-them. He does so. Then he is lost, as it were, in a long succession of

-apartments.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>There are mosaics upon the walls representing generals presenting

-the Emperor with conquered cities, which they hold out upon the

-palms of their hands. And there are columns of basalt everywhere,

-trellis-work in silver filigree, ivory chairs, tapestries embroidered

-with pearls. The light falls from the vaults above; Anthony still

-proceeds. Warm exhalations circulate about him; occasionally he hears

-the discreet clapping sound of sandals upon the pavement. Posted in

-the anti-chambers are guards, who resemble automata, holding wands of

-vermillion upon their shoulders.</i></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon03"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_03.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>And there are columns of basalt everywhere,...

-The light falls from the vaults above</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2"><i>At last he finds himself in a great hall, with hyacinth-colored

-curtains at the further end. They part, and display the Emperor seated

-on a throne, clad in a violet tunic, and wearing red shoes striped with

-bands of black.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>A diadem of pearls surround his head; his locks are arranged

-symmetrically in rouleaux. He has a straight nose, drooping eyelids,

-a heavy and cunning physiognomy. At the four corners of the dais

-stretched above his head are placed four golden doves; and at the foot

-of the throne are two lions in enamel crouching. The doves begin to

-sing, the lions to roar. The Emperor rolls his eyes; Anthony advances;

-and forthwith, without preamble, they commence to converse about

-recent events. In the cities of Antioch, Ephesus, and Alexandria,

-the temples have been sacked, and the statues of the gods converted

-into pots and cooking utensils; the Emperor laughs heartily about it.

-Anthony reproaches him with his tolerance toward the Novations. But the

-Emperor becomes vexed. Novations, Arians or Meletians&mdash;he is sick of

-them all! Nevertheless, he admires the episcopate; for inasmuch as the

-Christians maintain bishops, who depend for their position upon five or

-six important personages, it is only necessary to gain over the latter,

-in order to have all the rest on one's side. Therefore he did not fail

-to furnish them with large<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> sums. But he detests the Fathers of the

-Council of Nicæa.</i></p>

-

-<p>"Let us go and see them!"</p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony follows him.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And they find themselves on a terrace, upon the same floor.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>It overlooks a hippodrome thronged with people, and surmounted by

-porticoes where other spectators are walking to and fro. From the

-centre of the race-course rises a narrow platform of hewn stone,

-supporting a little temple of Mercury, the statue of Constantine, and

-three serpents of brass twisted into a column; there are three huge

-wooden eggs at one end, and at the other a group of seven dolphins with

-their tails in the air.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Behind the imperial pavilion sit the Prefects of the Chambers, the

-Counts of the Domestics, and the Patricians&mdash;in ranks rising by tiers

-to the first story of a church whose windows are thronged with women.

-On the right is the tribune of the Blue Faction; on the left, that of

-the Green; below, a picket of soldiers is stationed; and on a level

-with the arena is a row of Corinthian arches, forming the entrances to

-the stables.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The races are about to commence; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> horses are drawn up in line.

-Lofty plumes, fastened between their ears, bend to the wind like

-saplings; and with every restive bound, they shake their chariots

-violently, which are shell-shaped, and conducted by charioteers clad

-in a sort of multi-colored cuirass, having sleeves tight at the wrist

-and wide in the arms; their legs are bare; their beards, faces and

-foreheads are shaven after the manner of the Huns.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony is at first deafened by the billowy sound of voices. From

-the summit of the hippodrome to its lowest tiers, he sees only faces

-painted with rouge, garments checkered and variegated with many colors,

-flashing jewelry; and the sand of the arena, all white, gleams like a

-mirror.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The Emperor entertains him. He confides to him many matters of high

-importance, many secrets; he confesses the assassination of his son

-Criopus, and even asks Anthony for advice regarding his health.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Meanwhile Anthony notices some slaves in the rear portion of the

-stables below. They are the Fathers of Nicæa, ragged and abject. The

-martyr Paphnutius is brushing the mane of one horse; Theophilus is

-washing the legs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> of another; John is painting the hoofs of a third;

-Alexander is collecting dung in a basket.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony passes through the midst of them. They range themselves on

-either side respectfully; they beseech his intercession; they kiss his

-hands. The whole assemblage of spectators hoots at them; and he enjoys

-the spectacle with immeasurable pleasure. Lo! he is now one of the

-grandees of the Court&mdash;the Emperor's confidant&mdash;the prime minister!

-Constantine places his own diadem upon his brows. Anthony allows it to

-remain upon his head, thinking this honor quite natural.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And suddenly in the midst of the darkness a vast hall appears,

-illuminated by golden candelabra.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Candles so lofty that they are half lost in the darkness, stretch away

-in huge files beyond the lines of banquet-tables, which seem to extend

-to the horizon, where through a luminous haze loom superpositions of

-stairways, suites of arcades, colossi, towers, and beyond all a vague

-border of palace walls, above which rise the crests of cedars, making

-yet blacker masses of blackness against the darkness.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>The guests, crowned with violet wreaths, recline upon very low couches

-and are leaning upon their elbows. Along the whole length of this

-double line of couches, wine is being poured out from amphoræ, and at

-the further end, all alone, coiffed with the tiara and blazing with

-carbuncles, King Nebuchadnezzar eats and drinks.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>On his right and left, two bands of priests in pointed caps are

-swinging censers. On the pavement below crawl the captive kings whose

-hands and feet have been cut off; from time to time he flings them

-bones to gnaw. Further off sit his brothers, with bandages across their

-eyes, being all blind.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>From the depths of the ergastula arise moans of ceaseless pain. Sweet

-slow sounds of a hydraulic organ alternate with choruses of song; and

-one feels that all about the palace without extends an immeasurable

-city&mdash;an ocean of human life whose waves break against the walls. The

-slaves run hither and thither carrying dishes. Women walk between the

-ranks of guests, offering drinks to all; the baskets groan under their

-burthen of loaves; and a dromedary, laden with perforated water-skins:

-passes and repasses through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> the hall, sprinkling and cooling the

-pavement with vervain.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Lion tamers are leading tamed lions about. Dancing girls&mdash;their

-hair confined in nets&mdash;balance themselves and turn upon their hands,

-emitting fire through their nostrils; negro boatmen are juggling; naked

-children pelt each other with pellets of snow, which burst against the

-bright silverware. There is an awful clamor as of a tempest; and a huge

-cloud hangs over the banquet&mdash;so numerous are the meats and breaths.

-Sometimes a flake of fire torn from the great flambeaux by the wind,

-traverses the night like a shooting star.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The king wipes the perfumes from his face with his arm. He eats from

-the sacred vessels&mdash;then breaks them; and secretly reckons up the

-number of his fleets, his armies, and his subjects. By and by, for a

-new caprice, he will burn his palace with all its guests. He dreams of

-rebuilding the tower of Babel, and dethroning God.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony, from afar off, reads all these thoughts upon his brow. They

-penetrate his own brain, and he becomes Nebuchadnezzar. Immediately he

-is cloyed with orgiastic excesses,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> sated with fury of extermination;

-and a great desire comes upon him to wallow in vileness. For the

-degradation of that which terrifies men is an outrage inflicted upon

-their minds&mdash;it affords yet one more way to stupefy them; and as

-nothing is viler than a brute, Anthony goes upon the table on all

-fours, and bellows like a bull.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He feels a sudden pain in his hand&mdash;a pebble has accidentally wounded

-him&mdash;and he finds himself once more in front of his cabin.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The circle of the rocks is empty. The stars are glowing in the sky.

-All is hushed.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Again have I allowed myself to be deceived! Why these things? They

-come from the rebellion of the flesh. Ah! wretch!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He rushes into his cabin, and seizes a bunch of thongs, with metallic

-hooks attached to their ends, strips himself to the waist and, lifting

-his eyes to heaven exclaims</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"Accept my penance, O my God: disdain it not for its feebleness. Render

-it sharp, prolonged, excessive! It is time, indeed!&mdash;to the work!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He gives himself a vigorous lash&mdash;and shrieks.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"No! no!&mdash;without mercy it must be."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>He recommences.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Oh! oh! oh! each lash tears my skin, rends my limbs! It burns me

-horribly!"</p>

-

-<p>"Nay!&mdash;it is not so very terrible after all!&mdash;one becomes accustomed to

-it. It even seems to me...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony pauses.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Continue, coward! continue! Good! good!&mdash;upon the arms, on the back,

-on the breast, on the belly&mdash;everywhere! Hiss, ye thongs! bite me!

-tear me! I would that my blood could spurt to the stars!&mdash;let my bones

-crack!&mdash;let my tendons be laid bare! O for pincers, racks, and melted

-lead! The martyrs have endured far worse; have they not, Ammonaria?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The shadow of the Devil's horns reappears.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"I might have been bound to the column opposite to thine,&mdash;face to

-face&mdash;under thy eyes&mdash;answering thy shrieks by my sighs; and our pangs

-might have been interblended, our souls intermingled."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He lashes himself with fury.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"What! what! again. Take that!&mdash;But how strange a titillation thrills

-me! What punishment! what pleasure! I feel as though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> receiving

-invisible kisses; the very marrow of my bones seems to melt. I die...."</p>

-

-<p><i>And he sees before him three cavaliers, mounted upon onagers, clad in

-robes of green&mdash;each holding a lily in his hand, and all resembling

-each other in feature.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony turns round, and beholds three other cavaliers exactly

-similar, riding upon similar onagers, and preserving the same attitude.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He draws back. Then all the onagers advance one pace at the same time,

-and rub their noses against him, trying to bite his garment. Voices

-shout</i>:&mdash;</p>

-

-<p>"Here! here! this way!"</p>

-

-<p><i>And between the clefts of the mountain, appear standards,&mdash;camels'

-heads with halters of red silk&mdash;mules laden with baggage, and women

-covered with yellow veils, bestriding piebald horses.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The panting beasts lie down; the slaves rush to the bales and

-packages, motley-striped carpets are unrolled; precious glimmering

-things are laid upon the ground.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>A white elephant, caparisoned with a golden net, trots forward,

-shaking the tuft of ostrich plumes attached to his head-band.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>Upon his back, perched on cushions of blue wool, with her legs

-crossed, her eyes half closed, her comely head sleepily nodding, is a

-woman so splendidly clad that she radiates light about her. The crowd

-falls prostrate; the elephant bends his knees; and</i></p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Queen of Sheba</p>

-

-<p><i>letting herself glide down from his shoulder upon the carpets spread

-to receive her, approaches Saint Anthony.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Her robe of gold brocade, regularly divided by furbelows of pearls,

-of jet, and of sapphires, sheaths her figure closely with its

-tight-fitting bodice, set off by colored designs representing the

-twelve signs of the Zodiac. She wears very high pattens&mdash;one of which

-is black, and sprinkled with silver stars, with a moon crescent; the

-other, which is white, is sprinkled with a spray of gold, with a golden

-sun in the middle.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Her wide sleeves, decorated with emeralds and bird-plumes, leave

-exposed her little round bare arms, clasped at the wrist by ebony

-bracelets; and her hands, loaded with precious rings, are terminated by

-nails so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> sharply pointed that the ends of her fingers seem almost like

-needles.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>A chain of dead gold, passing under her chin, is caught up on either

-side of her face, and spirally coiled about her coiffure, whence,

-redescending, it grazes her shoulders and is attached upon her bosom

-to a diamond scorpion, which protrudes a jewelled tongue between her

-breasts. Two immense blond pearls depend heavily from her ears. The

-borders of her eyelids are painted black. There is a natural brown spot

-upon her left cheek; and she opens her mouth in breathing, as if her

-corset inconvenienced her.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>She shakes, as she approaches, a green parasol with an ivory handle,

-and silver-gilt bells attached to its rim; twelve little woolly-haired

-negro-boys support the long train of her robe, whereof an ape holds the

-extremity, which it raises up from time to time. She exclaims</i>:</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! handsome hermit! handsome hermit!&mdash;my heart swoons!</p>

-

-<p>"By dint of stamping upon the ground with impatience, callosities have

-formed upon my heel, and I have broken one of my nails. I sent out

-shepherds, who remained upon the mountain tops, shading their eyes with

-their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> hands&mdash;and hunters who shouted thy name in all the forests&mdash;and

-spies who travelled along the highways, asking every passer-by:</p>

-

-<p>"'Hast thou seen him?'</p>

-

-<p>"By night I wept, with my face turned to the wall. And at last my tears

-made two little holes in the mosaic, like two pools of water among the

-rocks;&mdash;for I love thee!&mdash;oh! how I love thee!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She takes him by the beard.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Laugh now, handsome hermit! laugh! I am very joyous, very gay: thou

-shalt soon see! I play the lyre; I dance like a bee; and I know a host

-of merry tales to tell, each more diverting than the other.</p>

-

-<p>"Thou canst not even imagine how mighty a journey we have made. See!

-the onagers upon which the green couriers rode are dead with fatigue!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The onagers are lying motionless upon the ground.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"For three long moons they never ceased to gallop on with the same

-equal pace, holdings flints between their teeth to cut the wind, their

-tails ever streaming out behind them, their sinews perpetually strained

-to the uttermost, always galloping, galloping. Never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> can others be

-found like them. They were bequeathed me by my paternal grand-father,

-the Emperor Saharil, son of Iakhschab, son of Iaarab, son of Kastan.

-Ah! if they were still alive, we should harness them to a litter that

-they might bear us back speedily to the palace! But ... what ails

-thee?&mdash;of what art thou dreaming?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She stares at him, examines him closely.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah, when thou shalt be my husband, I will robe thee, I will perfume

-thee, I will depilate thee."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony remains motionless, more rigid than a stake, more pallid

-than a corpse.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Thou hast a sad look&mdash;is it because of leaving thy hermitage? Yet I

-have left everything for thee&mdash;even King Solomon, who, nevertheless,

-possesses much wisdom, twenty thousand chariots of war, and a beautiful

-beard. I have brought thee my wedding gifts. Choose!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She walks to and fro among the ranks of slaves and the piles of

-precious goods.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Here is Genezareth balm, incense from Cape Gardefui, labdanum,

-cinnamon, and silphium&mdash;good to mingle with sauces. In that bale are

-Assyrian embroideries, ivory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> from the Ganges, purple from Elissa;

-and that box of snow contains a skin of chalybon, the wine, which

-is reserved for the Kings of Assyria, and which is drunk from the

-horn of a unicorn. Here are necklaces, brooches, nets for the hair,

-parasols, gold powder from Baasa, cassiteria from Tartessus, blue wood

-from Pandio, white furs from Issidonia, carbuncles from the Island

-Palæsimondus, and toothpicks made of the bristles of the tachas&mdash;that

-lost animal which is found under the earth. These cushions come from

-Emath, and these mantle-fringes from Palmyra. On this Babylonian carpet

-there is.... But come hither! come! come!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She pulls Saint Anthony by the sleeve. He resists. She continues</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"This thin tissue which crackles under the finger with a sound as of

-sparks, is the famous yellow cloth which the merchants of Bactria bring

-us. I will have robes made of it for thee, which thou shalt wear in the

-house. Unfasten the hooks of that sycamore box, and hand me also the

-little ivory casket tied to my elephant's shoulder."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>They take something round out of a box&mdash;something covered with a

-cloth&mdash;and also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> bring a little ivory casket covered with carving.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Dost thou desire the buckler of Dgian-ben-Dgian, who built the

-pyramids?&mdash;behold it!&mdash;It is formed of seven dragon-skins laid one over

-the other, tanned in the bile of parricides, and fastened together by

-adamantine screws. Upon one side are represented all the wars that have

-taken place since the invention of weapons; and upon the other, all the

-wars that will take place until the end of the world. The lightning

-itself rebounds from it like a ball of cork. I am going to place it

-upon thy arm; and thou wilt carry it during the chase.</p>

-

-<p>"But if thou didst only know what I have in this little box of mine!

-Turn it over and over again! try to open it! No one could ever succeed

-in doing that. Kiss me! and I will tell thee how to open it."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She takes Saint Anthony by both cheeks. He pushes her away at arms'

-length.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"It was one night that King Solomon lost his head. At last we concluded

-a bargain. He arose, and stealing out on tiptoe...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She suddenly executes a pirouette.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"Ah, ah! comely hermit, thou shalt not know it! thou shalt not know!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She shakes her parasol, making all its little bells tinkle.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"And I possess many other strange things&mdash;oh! yes! I have treasures

-concealed in winding galleries where one would lose one's way, as

-in a forest. I have summer-palaces constructed in trellis-work of

-reeds, and winter-palaces all built of black marble. In the midst of

-lakes vast as seas, I have islands round as pieces of silver, and all

-covered with mother-of-pearl,&mdash;islands whose shores make music to

-the lapping of tepid waves upon the sand. The slaves of my kitchens

-catch birds in my aviaries, and fish in my fishponds. I have engravers

-continually seated at their benches to hollow out my likeness in hard

-jewel-stones, and panting molders forever casting statues of me, and

-perfumers incessantly mingling the sap of rare plants with vinegar,

-or preparing cosmetic pastes. I have female dressmakers cutting out

-patterns in richest material, goldsmiths cutting and mounting jewels of

-price, and careful painters pouring upon my palace wainscoting boiling

-resins, which they subsequently cool with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> fans. I have enough female

-attendants to form a harem, eunuchs enough to make an army. I have

-armies likewise; I have nations! In the vestibule of my palace I keep a

-guard of dwarfs&mdash;all bearing ivory trumpets at their backs." (<i>Anthony

-sighs.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"I have teams of trained gazelles; I have elephant quadrigæ; I have

-hundreds of pairs of camels, and mares whose manes are so long that

-their hoofs become entangled therein when they gallop, and herds of

-cattle with horns so broad that when they go forth to graze the woods

-have to be hewn down before them. I have giraffes wandering in my

-gardens; they stretch their heads over the edge of my roof, when I take

-the air after dinner.</p>

-

-<p>"Seated in a shell drawn over the waters by dolphins, I travel

-through the grottoes, listening lo the dropping of the water from the

-stalactites. I go down to the land of diamonds, where my friends the

-magicians allow me to choose the finest: then I reascend to earth and

-return to my home."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She utters a sharp whistle; and a great bird, descending from the

-sky, alights upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> her hair, from which it makes the blue powder fall.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Its orange-colored plumage seems formed of metallic scales. Its little

-head, crested with a silver tuft, has a human face.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>It has four wings, the feet of a vulture, and an immense peacock's

-tail which it spreads open like a fan.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>It seizes the Queen's parasol in its beak, reels a moment ere

-obtaining its balance; then it erects all its plumes, and remains

-motionless.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Thanks! my beautiful Simorg-Anka!&mdash;thou didst tell me where the loving

-one was hiding! Thanks! thanks! my heart's messenger!</p>

-

-<p>"He flies swiftly as Desire! He circles the world in his flight. At eve

-he returns; he perches at the foot of my couch and tells me all he has

-seen&mdash;the seas that have passed far beneath him with all their fishes

-and ships, the great void deserts he has contemplated from the heights

-of the sky, the harvests that were bowing in the valleys, and the

-plants that were growing upon the walls of cities abandoned."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She wrings her hands, languorously.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"Oh! if thou wast willing! if thou wast willing!... I have a pavilion

-on a promontory in the middle of an isthmus dividing two oceans. It is

-all wain-scoted with sheets of glass, and floored with tortoise shell,

-and open to the four winds of heaven. From its height I watch my fleets

-come in, and my nations toiling up the mountain-slopes with burthens

-upon their shoulders. There would we sleep upon downs softer than

-clouds; we would drink cool draughts from fruit-shells, and we would

-gaze at the sun through emeralds! Come!" ...</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony draws back. She approaches him again, and exclaims in a tone

-of vexation</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"How? neither the rich, nor the coquettish, nor the amorous woman can

-charm thee: is it so? None but a lascivious woman, with a hoarse voice

-and lusty person, with fire-colored hair and superabundant flesh? Dost

-thou prefer a body cold as the skin of a serpent, or rather great dark

-eyes deeper than the mystic caverns?&mdash;behold them, my eyes!&mdash;look into

-them!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony, in spite of him, gazes into her eyes.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"All the women thou hast ever met&mdash;from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> the leman of the cross-roads,

-singing under the light of her lantern, even to the patrician lady

-scattering rose-petals abroad from her litter,&mdash;all the forms thou hast

-ever obtained glimpses of&mdash;all the imaginations of thy desire thou hast

-only to ask for them! I am not a woman: I am a world! My cloak has only

-to fall in order that thou mayest discover a succession of mysteries."

-(<i>Anthony's teeth chatter.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Place but thy finger upon my shoulder: it will be as though a stream

-of fire shot through all thy veins. The possession of the least part

-of me will fill thee with a joy more vehement than the conquest of an

-Empire could give thee! Approach thy lips: there is a sweetness in my

-kisses as of a fruit dissolving within thy heart. Ah! how thou wilt

-lose thyself beneath my long hair, inhale the perfume of my bosom,

-madden thyself with the beauty of my limbs: and thus, consumed by the

-fire of my eyes, clasped within my arms as in a whirlwind...."</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em">

-<a id="redon04"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_04.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit

-dissolving within thy heart ...</p></div></div>

-

-<p class="p2">(<i>Anthony makes the sign of the cross.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Thou disdainest me! farewell!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She departs, weeping; then, suddenly turning round</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"Art quite sure?&mdash;so beautiful a woman...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She laughs, and the ape that bears her train, lifts it up.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Thou wilt regret it, my comely hermit! thou wilt yet weep! thou wilt

-again feel weary of thy life; but I care not a whit! La! la! la!&mdash;oh!

-oh! oh!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She takes her departure, hopping upon one foot and covering her face

-with her hands.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>All the slaves file off before Saint Anthony&mdash;the horses, the

-dromedaries, the elephant, the female attendants, the mules (which

-have been reloaded), the negro boys, the ape, the green couriers each

-holding his broken lily in his hand; and the Queen of Sheba departs,

-uttering a convulsive hiccough at intervals, which might be taken

-either for a sound of hysterical sobbing, or the half-suppressed

-laughter of mockery.</i>)</p>

-<hr class="r5" />

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_1_6" id="Footnote_1_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_6"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Thalamegii</i>&mdash;pleasure-boats having

-apartments.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p></div>

-

-

-

-

-<h4><a name="III" id="III">III</a></h4>

-

-

-<p>(<i>When she has disappeared in the distance, Anthony observes a child

-seated upon the threshold of his cabin.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"It is one of the Queen's servants, no doubt," (<i>he thinks</i>).</p>

-

-<p>(<i>This child is small like a dwarf, and nevertheless squat of build,

-like one of the Cabiri; deformed withal, and wretched of aspect. His

-prodigiously large head is covered with white hair; and he shivers

-under a shabby tunic, all the while clutching a roll of papyrus. The

-light of the moon passing through a cloud falls upon him.</i>)</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Anthony</p>

-

-<p>(<i>watches him from a distance, and is afraid of him.</i>) "Who art thou?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Child</span> (<i>replies</i>). "Thy ancient disciple, Hilarion."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Thou liest! Hilarion hath<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> been dwelling in Palestine for

-many long years."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "I have returned! It is really I!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>draws near and examines him closely</i>). "Yet his face was

-radiant as the dawn, candid, joyous. This face is the face of one

-gloomy and old."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Long and arduous labor hath wearied me!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The voice is also different. It hath an icy tone."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Because I have nourished me with bitter things!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "And those white hairs?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "I have endured many woes!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>). "Could it be possible?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "I was not so far from thee as thou doest imagine. The hermit

-Paul visited thee this year, during the month of Schebar. It is just

-twenty days since the Nomads brought thee bread. Thou didst tell a

-sailor, the day before yesterday, to send thee three bodkins."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "He knows all!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Know further more that I have never left thee. But there are

-long periods<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> during which thou hast no knowledge of my presence."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How can that be? Yet it is true that my head is so much

-troubled&mdash;this night especially."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "All the Capital Sins came hither. But their wretched snares

-can avail nothing against such a Saint as thou."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! no!&mdash;no! I fall at every moment! Why am I not of those

-whose souls are ever intrepid, whose minds are always firm,&mdash;for

-example, the great Athanasius?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "He was illegally ordained by seven bishops."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What matter if his virtue...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Go to!&mdash;a most vainglorious and cruel man, forever involved

-in intrigues, and exiled at last as a monopolist."<a name="FNanchor_1_7" id="FNanchor_1_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_7" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Calumny!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou wilt not deny that he sought to corrupt Eustates, the

-treasurer of largesses?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "It is affirmed, I acknowledge."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Through vengeance he burned down the house of Arsenius."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Alas!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "At the council of Nicæa he said in speaking of Jesus: 'The

-man of the Lord.'"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! that is a blasphemy!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "So limited in understanding, moreover, that he confesses he

-comprehends nothing of the nature of the "Word!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>smiling with gratification</i>). "In sooth his intelligence is

-not ... very lofty."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Hypocrite! burying thyself in solitude only in order the

-more fully to abandon thyself to the indulgence of thy envious desires!

-What if thou dost deprive thyself of meats, of wine, of warmth, of

-bath, of slaves, or honours?&mdash;dost thou not permit thy imagination to

-offer thee banquets, perfumes, women, and the applause of multitudes?

-Thy chastity is but a more subtle form of corruption, and thy contempt

-of this world is but the impotence of thy hatred against it! Either

-this it is that makes such as thyself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> so lugubrious, or else 'tis

-doubt. The possession of truth giveth joy. Was Jesus sad? Did he not

-travel in the company of friends, repose beneath the shade of olive

-trees, enter the house of the publican, drink many cups of wine, pardon

-the sinning woman, and assuage all sorrows? Thou!&mdash;thou hast no pity

-save for thine own misery! It is like a remorse that gnaws thee, a

-savage madness that impels thee to repel the caress of a dog or to

-frown upon the smile of a child."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>bursting into tears</i>). "Enough! enough! thou dost wound my

-heart deeply."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Shake the vermin from thy rags! Rise up from thy filth! Thy

-God is not a Moloch who demands human flesh in sacrifice!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet suffering is blessed. The cherubim stoop to receive the

-blood of confessors."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Admire, then, the Montanists!&mdash;they surpass all others."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But it is the truth of the doctrine which makes the

-martyrdom."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "How can martyrdom prove the excellence of the doctrine,

-inasmuch as it bears equal witness for error?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Silence!&mdash;thou viper!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Perhaps martyrdom is not so difficult as thou dost imagine!

-The exhortations of friends, the pleasure of insulting the people,

-the oath one has taken, a certain dizzy excitement, a thousand

-circumstances all aid the resolution of the martyrs...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony turns his back upon Hilarion, and moves away from him.

-Hilarion follows him.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>" ... Moreover this manner of dying often brings about great disorders.

-Dionysius, Cyprian and Gregory fled from it. Peter of Alexandria has

-condemned it; and the council of Elvira...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>stops his ears</i>). "I will listen to thee no longer!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>raising his voice</i>). "Lo! thou fallest again into the

-habitual sin, which is sloth! Ignorance is the foam of pride. One says,

-forsoth:&mdash;'My conviction is formed! wherefore argue further?'&mdash;and one

-despises the doctors, the philosophers, tradition itself, and even the

-text of the law whereof one is ignorant! Dost thou imagine that thou

-dost hold all wisdom in the hollow of thy hand?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I hear him still! His loud words fill my brain."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The efforts of others to comprehend God are mightier than

-all thy mortifications to move Him. We obtain merit only by our thirst

-for truth. Religion alone cannot explain all things; and the solution

-of problems ignored by thee can render faith still more invulnerable

-and noble. Therefore, for our salvation we must communicate with our

-brethren&mdash;otherwise the Church, the assembly of the faithful, would

-be a meaningless word&mdash;and we must listen to all reasoning, despising

-nothing, nor any person. The magician Balaam, the poet Aeschylus,

-and the Sybil of Cumæ&mdash;all foretold the Saviour. Dionysius, the

-Alexandrian, received from heaven the command to read all books. Saint

-Clement orders us to cultivate Greek letters. Hennas was converted by

-the illusion of a woman he had loved...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What an aspect of authority! It seems to me thou art growing

-taller...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And, in very truth, the stature of Hilarion is gradually increasing;

-and Anthony shuts his eyes, that he may not see him.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Reassure thyself, good Hermit. Let us seat ourselves there,

-upon that great stone, as we used to do in other years, when, at the

-first dawn of day, I was wont to salute thee with the appellation,

-'Clear star of morning'&mdash;and thou wouldst therewith commence to

-instruct me. Yet my instruction is not yet completed. The moon gives us

-light enough. I am prepared to hear thy words."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He has drawn a calamus from his girdle, and seating himself

-cross-legged upon the ground, with the papyrus roll still in his hand,

-he lifts his face toward Saint Anthony, who sits near him, with head

-bowed down.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>After a moment of silence Hilarion continues</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Is not the word of God confirmed for us by miracles? Nevertheless

-the magicians of Pharaoh performed miracles; other imposters can

-perform them; one may be thereby deceived. What then is a miracle?

-An event which seems to us outside of nature. But do we indeed know

-all of Nature's powers; and because a common occurrence causes us no

-astonishment, does it therefore follow that we understand it."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "It matters little! We must believe the Scriptures!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Saint Paul, Origen, and many others did not understand

-the Scriptures in a literal sense: yet if Holy Writ be explained by

-allegories it becomes the portion of a small number, and the evidence

-of the truth disappears. What must we do?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "We must rely upon the Church!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Then the Scriptures are useless?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "No! no! although I acknowledge that in the Old Testament

-there are some ... some obscurities. But the New shines with purest

-light."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Nevertheless, the Angel of the annunciation, in Matthew,

-appears to Joseph; while, in Luke, he appears to Mary. The anointing

-of Jesus by a woman takes place, according to the first Gospel, at the

-commencement of his public life; and, according to the other three, a

-few days before his death. The drink offered to him on the cross, is,

-in Matthew, vinegar mixed with gall; in Mark, it is wine and myrrh.

-According to Luke and Matthew, the apostles should take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> with them

-neither money nor scrip for their journey&mdash;not even sandals nor staff;

-in Mark, on the contrary, Jesus bids them take nothing with them,

-except sandals and a staff. I am thereby bewildered!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>in amazement</i>). "Aye, indeed!... in fact...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "At the contact of the woman who had an issue of blood, Jesus

-turned and said, 'Who hath touched my garments?' He did not know, then,

-who had touched him? That contradicts the omniscience of Jesus! If the

-tomb was watched by guards, the women need have felt no anxiety about

-finding help to roll away the stone from the tomb. Therefore there

-were no guards, or the holy women were not there. At Emmaus, he eats

-with his disciples and makes them feel his wounds. It is a human body,

-a material and ponderable object; and nevertheless it passes through

-walls! Is that possible?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "It would require much time to answer thee properly!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Why did he receive the Holy Spirit, being himself Son of

-the Holy Spirit? What need had he of baptism if he was the Word? How

-could the Devil have tempted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> him, inasmuch as he was God? Have these

-thoughts never occurred to thee?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes!... often! Sometimes torpid, sometimes furious&mdash;they

-remain forever in my conscience. I crush them; they rise again, they

-stifle me; and sometimes I think that I am accursed."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Then it is needless for thee to serve God?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I shall always need to adore Him."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>After a long silence Hilarion continues</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"But aside from dogma, all researches are allowed us. Dost thou desire

-to know the hierarchy of the Angels, the virtue of the Numbers, the

-reason of germs and of metamorphoses?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes! yes! my thought struggles wildly to escape from its

-prison. It seems to me that by exerting all my force I might succeed.

-Sometimes, for an instant, brief as a lightning flash, I even feel

-myself as thought uplifted,&mdash;then I fall back again!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The secret thou wouldst obtain is guarded by sages. They

-dwell in a distant land; they are seated beneath giant trees; they

-are robed in white; they are calm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> as Gods! A warm air gives them

-sufficient nourishment. All about them, leopards tread upon grassy

-turf. The murmuring of fountains and the neighing of unicorns mingle

-with their voices. Thou shalt hear them; and the face of the Unknown

-shall be unveiled!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>sighing</i>). "The way is long; and I am old."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Oh! oh! wise men are not rare! there are some even very nigh

-thee!&mdash;here! Let us enter!"</p>

-<hr class="r5" />

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_1_7" id="Footnote_1_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_7"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Gibbon, a sincere admirer of Athanasius, gives a curious

-history of these charges, and expresses his disbelief in their

-truth. The story regarding the design to intercept the corn-fleet of

-Alexandria is referred to in the use of the word "monopolist."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p></div>

-

-

-

-

-<h4><a name="IV" id="IV">IV</a></h4>

-

-

-<p>(<i>And Anthony beholds before him a vast basilica.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The light gushes from the further end, marvellous as a multi-colored

-sun. It illuminates the innumerable heads of the crowd that fills the

-nave, and that eddies about the columns toward the side-aisles&mdash;where

-can be perceived, in wooden compartments, altars, beds, little chains

-of blue stones linked together, and constellations painted upon the

-walls.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>In the midst of the throng there are groups which remain motionless.

-Men standing upon stools harangue with fingers uplifted; others are

-praying, with arms outstretched in form of a cross; others are lying

-prostrate upon the pavement, or singing hymns, or drinking wine; others

-of the faithful, seated about a table, celebrate their agape;<a name="FNanchor_1_8" id="FNanchor_1_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_8" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>

-martyrs are unbandaging their limbs in order to show their wounds; and

-aged men, leaning upon staffs, recount their voyages.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>There are some from the country of the Germans, from Thrace also, and

-from the Gauls, from Scythia and from the Indies, with snow upon their

-beards, feathers in their hair; thorns in the fringe of their garments;

-the sandals of some are black with dust, their skins are burnt by the

-sun. There is a vast confusion of costumes, mantles of purple and

-robes of linen, embroidered dalmaticas, hair shirts, sailors' caps,

-bishops' mitres. Their eyes fulgurate strangely. They have the look of

-executioners, or the look of eunuchs.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Hilarion advances into their midst. All salute him. Anthony, shrinking

-closer to his shoulder, observes them. He remarks the presence of a

-great many women. Some of these are attired like men, and have their

-hair cut short. Anthony feels afraid of them.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Those are Christian women who have converted their husbands.

-Besides, the women were always upon the side of Jesus, even the

-idolatrous ones, for example, Procula, the wife of Pilate, and Poppæa,

-the concubine of Nero. Do not tremble!&mdash;come on."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And others are continually arriving.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>They seem to multiply, to double themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> by self-division, light

-as shadows&mdash;all the while making an immense clamour, in which yells of

-rage, cries of love, canticles and objurgations intermingle.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>in a low voice</i>). "What do they desire?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The Lord said: 'I have yet many things to say to you....

-'<a name="FNanchor_2_9" id="FNanchor_2_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_9" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> They possess the knowledge of those things."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And he pushes Anthony forward to a golden throne approached by five

-steps, whereon&mdash;surrounded by ninety-five disciples, all very thin and

-pale, and anointed with oil&mdash;sits the prophet Manes. He is beautiful

-as an archangel, immobile as a statue; he is clad in an Indian robe;

-carbuncles gleam in his plaited hair; at his left hand lies a book of

-painted images; his right reposes upon a globe. The images represent

-the creatures that erst slumbered in Chaos. Anthony bends forward to

-look upon them. Then&mdash;&mdash;</i>)</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Manes</p>

-

-<p>(<i>makes his globe revolve; and regulating the tone of his words by a

-lyre which gives forth crystalline sounds, exclaims</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"The celestial earth is at the superior extremity; the terrestrial

-earth at the inferior extremity. It is sustained by two angels&mdash;the

-Angel Splenditeneus, and Omophorus, whose faces are six.</p>

-

-<p>"At the summit of the highest heaven reigns the impassible Divinity;

-below, face to face, are the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness.</p>

-

-<p>"When the darkness had advanced even to his kingdom, God evolved from

-his own essence a virtue which produced the first man; and he environed

-him with the five elements. But the demons of darkness stole from him a

-part; and that part is the soul.</p>

-

-<p>"There is but one soul, universally diffused, even as the waters of

-a river divided into many branches. It is this universal soul that

-sighs in the wind&mdash;that shrieks in the marble under the teeth of the

-saw&mdash;that roars in the voice of the sea&mdash;that weeps tears of milk when

-the leaves of the fig tree are torn off.</p>

-

-<p>"The souls that leave this world emigrate to the stars, which are

-themselves animated beings."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>bursts into a laugh</i>). "Ah! ah! what an absurd imagination!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">A Man</span> (<i>having no beard, and of a most austere aspect</i>). "Wherefore

-absurd?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony is about to reply when Hilarion tells him in a low voice

-that the questioner is none other than the tremendous Origen himself;

-and</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span> (<i>continues</i>). "But first they remain awhile in the Moon, where

-they are purified. Then they rise into the sun."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>slowly</i>). "I do not know of anything ... which prevents us

-... from believing it."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "The proper aim of every creature is the deliverance of the ray

-of celestial light imprisoned within matter. It finds easier escape

-through the medium of perfumes, spices, the aroma of warmed wine, the

-light things which resemble thoughts. But the acts of life retain it

-within its prison. The murderer shall be born again in the form of a

-celephus; he that kills an animal shall become that animal; if thou

-plantest a vine, thou shalt be thyself bound within its boughs. Food

-absorbs the celestial light.... Therefore abstain! fast!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou seest, they are temperate!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "There is much of it in meats, less of it in herbs. Moreover

-the Pure Ones, by means of their great merits, despoil vegetation of

-this luminous essence; and, thus liberated, it reascends to its source.

-But through generation, animals keep it imprisoned within the flesh!

-Therefore, avoid women!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Admire their continence."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "Or rather contrive that they shall not create..............<a name="FNanchor_3_10" id="FNanchor_3_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_10" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh&mdash;abomination!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "What signifies the hierarchy of turpitudes? The Church has,

-forsooth, made marriage a sacrament!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Saturninus</span> (<i>in Syrian costume</i>). "He teaches a most dismal system of

-the universe!... The Father, desiring to punish the angels who had

-revolted, ordered them to create the world. Christ came, in order that

-the God of the Jews, who was one of those angels...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "He an angel! the Creator!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Cerdo</span>. "Did he not seek to kill Moses, to deceive his own prophets, to

-seduce nations?&mdash;did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> he not sow falsehood and idolatry broadcast?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Marcion</span>. "Certainly, the Creator is not the true God!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Saint Clement of Alexandria</span>. "Matter is eternal!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Bardesanes</span> (<i>in the costume of the Babylonian magi</i>). "It was formed by

-the Seven Planetary Spirits."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Hermians</span>. "Souls were made by the angels."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Priscillianists</span>. "It was the Devil who made the world."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>rushing back from the circle</i>). "Horror!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>supporting him</i>). "Thou despairest too hastily!&mdash;thou dost

-misapprehend their doctrine! Here is one who received his teaching

-directly from Theodas, the friend of St. Paul. Hearken to him."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And at a sign from Hilarion</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Valentinus</span></p>

-

-<p><i>appears in a tunic of cloth of silver; his skull is pointed at its

-summit; his voice has a wheezing sound.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"The world is the work of a God in delirium!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>bending his head down</i>). "The work of a God in delirium!..."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>After a long silence</i>): "How can that be?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Valentine</span>. "The most perfect of beings, and of the Æons, the Abyss;

-dwelt in the womb of the Deep together with Thought. By their union was

-begotten Intelligence, to whom Truth was given as a companion.</p>

-

-<p>"Intelligence and Truth engendered the Word and Life, who in their turn

-begat Man and the Church; and that doth make eight Æons!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He counts upon his fingers.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"The Word and Truth also produced ten other Æons&mdash;which is to say, five

-couples. Man and the Church had begotten twelve more&mdash;among these the

-Paraclete and Faith, Hope and Charity, Perfection and Wisdom&mdash;Sophia.</p>

-

-<p>"The union of these thirty Æons constitutes the Pleroma, or

-Universality of God. Thus, even as the echo of a passing voice, as the

-effluvia of a perfume evaporating, as the fires of the setting sun,

-the Powers that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> emanated from the Principle, forever continue to grow

-weaker.</p>

-

-<p>"But Sophia, desirous to know the Father, darted from the Pleroma;

-and the Word then made another couple, Christ and the Holy Ghost, who

-reunited all the Æons; and all together formed Jesus, the flower of the

-Pleroma.</p>

-

-<p>"But the effort of Sophia to flee away had left in the void an image of

-her&mdash;an evil substance, Acharamoth.<a name="FNanchor_4_11" id="FNanchor_4_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_11" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> The Saviour took pity upon her,

-freed her from all passion; and from the smile of Acharamoth redeemed,

-light was born; her tears formed the waters; by her sorrow was dark

-matter begotten.</p>

-

-<p>"Of Acharamoth was born the Demiurgos,&mdash;the fabricator of worlds,

-the creator of the heaven and of the Devil. He dwells far below the

-Pleroma&mdash;so far that he cannot behold it&mdash;so that he deems himself to

-be the true God, and repeats by the mouths of his prophets&mdash;'There is

-no other God but I.' Then he made man, and instilled into his soul the

-immaterial Seed which was the Church&mdash;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> reflection of the other Church

-established in the Pleroma.</p>

-

-<p>"One day Acharamoth shall reach the highest region and unite herself

-with the Saviour; the fire that is hidden in the world shall annihilate

-all matter, and shall even devour itself and men, becoming pure

-spirits, shall espouse the angels!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Origen</span>. "Then shall the Demon be over-thrown and the reign of God

-commence!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony expresses a cry, and forthwith</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Basilides</span> (<i>taking him by the elbow, exclaims</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"The Supreme Being with all the infinite emanations is called

-Abraxas; and the Saviour with all his virtues, Kaulakau&mdash;otherwise,

-line-upon-line, rectitude upon rectitude.</p>

-

-<p>"The power of Kaulakau is obtained by the aid of certain words, which

-are inscribed upon this chalcedony to help the memory."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And he points to a little stone suspended at his neck, upon which

-stone fantastic characters are graven.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Then thou wilt be transported into the Invisible and placed above all

-law; thou shalt contemn all things&mdash;even virtue!</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"We, the Pure, must flee from pain, after the example of Kaulakau."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! and the cross?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Elkhesaites</span> (<i>in robes of hyacinth answers him</i>). "The woe and

-the degradation, the condemnation and oppression of my fathers<a name="FNanchor_5_12" id="FNanchor_5_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_12" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> are

-blotted out, through the mission which has come.</p>

-

-<p>"One may deny the inferior Christ, the man&mdash;Jesus; but the other Christ

-must be adored&mdash;whose personality was evolved under the brooding of the

-Dove's wings.</p>

-

-<p>"Honor marriage; the Holy Spirit is feminine!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Hilarion has disappeared; and Anthony, carried along by the crowd,

-arrives in the presence of</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Carpocratians</p>

-

-<p>(<i>reclining with women upon scarlet cushions.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Before entering into the Only thou shalt pass through a series of

-conditions and of actions. To free thyself from the powers of darkness,

-thou must at once accomplish their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> works. The husband shall say to the

-wife: 'Have charity for thy brother'&mdash;and she will kiss thee."</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Nicolaitans</p>

-

-<p>(<i>gathered about a mass of smoking meats</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"This is a portion of the meat offered to idols;&mdash;partake of it!

-Apostasy is permissible when the heart is pure. Gorge thy flesh with

-all that it demands. Seek to exterminate it by dint of debauchery!

-Prounikos, the Mother of Heaven, wallowed in ignominies."</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Marcosians</p>

-

-<p>(<i>wearing rings of gold, and glistening with precious balm and

-unguents</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"Enter among us that thou mayst unite thyself to the Spirit! Enter

-among us that thou mayst quaff the draught of immortality!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And one of them shows him, behind a tapestry-hanging, the body of a

-man terminated by the head of an ass. This represents Sabaoth, father

-of the Devil. He spits upon the image in token of detestation.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Another shows him a very low bed, strewn with flowers, exclaiming</i>:)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"The spiritual marriage is about to be consummated."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>A third, who holds a cup of glass, utters an invocation;&mdash;blood

-suddenly appears in the cup</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! behold it! behold it!&mdash;the blood of Christ!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony withdraws, but finds himself be-spattered by water splashed

-from a cistern.</i>)</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Helvidians</p>

-

-<p>(<i>are flinging themselves into it head foremost, muttering</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"The man regenerated by baptism is impeccable!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then he passes by a great fire at which the Adamites are warming

-themselves&mdash;all completely naked in imitation of the purity of

-Paradise; and he stumbles over</i>)</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Messalines</p>

-

-<p>(<i>wallowing upon the pavement, half-slumbering, stupid</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"Oh! crush us if thou wilt! we shall not move! Work is crime; all

-occupation is evil."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>Behind these, the abject</i>)</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Paternians</p>

-

-<p>(<i>&mdash;men, women, and children lying pell mell upon a heap of filth, lift

-their hideous faces, wine-besmeared, and they cry aloud</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"The inferior parts of the body, which were created by the Devil,

-belong to him! Let us eat, drink, and sin!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Ætius</span>. "Crimes are necessities beneath the notice of God!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>But suddenly</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">A Man</span> (&mdash;<i>clad in a Carthaginian mantle, bounds into their midst,

-brandishing a scourge of thongs in his hand; and strikes violently and

-indiscriminately at all in his path</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! imposters! simonists, heretics and demons!&mdash;vermin of the

-schools!&mdash;dregs of hell! Marcion, there, is a sailor of Sinopus

-excommunicated for incest;&mdash;Carpocrates was banished for being a

-magician; Ætius stole his concubine; Nicholas prostituted his wife;

-and this Manes, who calls himself the Buddha, and whose real name is

-Cubricus, was flayed alive with the point of a reed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> so that his skin

-even now hangs at the gates of Ctesiphon!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>recognizing Tertullian, rushes to join him</i>): "Master! help!

-help!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Tertullian</span> (<i>continuing</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Break the images! veil the virgins! Pray, fast, weep and mortify

-yourselves! No philosophy! no books! After Jesus, science is useless!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>All have fled away; and Anthony beholds, in lieu of Tertullian, a

-woman seated upon a bench of stone.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>She sobs; leaning her head against a column; her hair is loose; her

-body, weakened by grief, is clad in a long brown simar. Then they find

-themselves face to face and alone, far from the crowd; and a silence,

-an extraordinary stillness falls&mdash;as in the woods when the winds are

-lulled, and the leaves of the trees suddenly cease to whisper.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>This woman is still very beautiful, although faded, and pale as a

-sepulcher. They look at one another; and their eyes send to each other

-waves, as it were, of thoughts, bearing drift of a thousand ancient

-things, confused, mysterious. At last</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span> (<i>speaks</i>:)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"I was in the last chamber of the baths; and the rumbling sounds of the

-street caused a sleep to fall upon me.</p>

-

-<p>"Suddenly I heard a clamour of voices. Men were shouting&mdash;'It is a

-magician!&mdash;it is the Devil!' And the crowd stopped before our house, in

-front of the Temple Æsculapius. I drew myself up with my hands to the

-little window.</p>

-

-<p>"Upon the peristyle of the temple, there stood a man who wore about his

-neck a collar of iron. He took burning coals out of a chafing-dish, and

-with them drew lines across his breast, the while crying out&mdash;'Jesus!

-Jesus!' The people shouted&mdash;'This is not lawful! let us stone him!'

-But he continued. Oh! those were unheard of marvels&mdash;things which

-transported men who beheld them! Flowers broad as suns circled before

-my eyes, and I heard in the spaces above me the vibrations of a golden

-harp. Day died. My hands loosened their grasp of the window-bars; my

-body fell back, and when he had led me away to his house...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But of whom art thou speaking?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "Why, of Montanus!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Montanus is dead!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "It is not true!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">A Voice</span>. "No: Montanus is not dead!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony turns; and sees upon the bench near him, on the opposite

-side, another woman sitting; she is fair, and even paler than the

-other; there are swellings under her eyes, as though she had wept a

-long time. She speaks without being questioned</i>:)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Maximilla</span>. "We were returning from Tarsus by way of the mountains,

-when, at a turn in the road, we saw a man under a fig tree.</p>

-

-<p>"He cried from afar off: 'Stop! stop!' and rushed toward us, uttering

-words of abuse. The slaves ran up; he burst into a loud laugh. The

-horses reared; the molossi all barked.</p>

-

-<p>"He stood before us. The sweat streamed from his forehead; his mantle

-napped in the wind.</p>

-

-<p>"And calling us each by our names, he reproached us with the vanity

-of our work, the infamy of our bodies; and he shook his fist at the

-dromedaries because of the silver bells hanging below their mouths.</p>

-

-<p>"His fury now filled my very entrails with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> fear and yet there was a

-strange pleasure in it which fascinated me, intoxicated me!</p>

-

-<p>"First the slaves came. 'Master,' they said, 'our animals are weary.'

-Then the women said, 'We are frightened,' and the slaves departed. Then

-the children began to weep,&mdash;'We are hungry.' And as the women were not

-answered, they disappeared also from our view.</p>

-

-<p>"He still spoke. I felt some one near me. It was my husband; but I

-listened only to the other. My husband crawled to me upon his knees

-among the stones, and cried&mdash;'Dost thou abandon me,' and I replied:

-'Yes! go thy way!' that I might accompany Montanus."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "A eunuch!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "Ah! does that astound thee, vulgar soul! Yet Magdalen,

-Johanna, Martha and Susannah did not share the couch of the Saviour.

-Souls may know the delirium of embrace better than bodies. That he

-might keep Eustolia with impunity, the bishop Leontius mutilated

-himself&mdash;loving his love more than his virility. And then, it was

-no fault of mine. Sotas could not cure me; a spirit constrained me.

-It is cruel, nevertheless! But what matter? I am the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> last of the

-prophetesses; and after me the end of the world shall come."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Maximilla</span>. "He showered his gifts upon me. Moreover, no one loves him

-as I, nor is any other so well beloved by him!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "Thou liest! I am the most beloved!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Maximilla</span>. "No: it is I!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>They fight. Between their shoulders suddenly appears the head of a

-negro.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Montanus</span> (<i>clad in a black mantle, clasped by two cross-bones</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Peace, my doves! Incapable of terrestrial happiness, we have obtained

-the celestial plentitude of our union. After the age of the Father,

-the age of the Son; and I inaugurate the third, which is that of the

-Paraclete. His light descended upon me during those forty nights when

-the heavenly Jerusalem appeared shining in the firmament, above my

-house at Pepuzza.</p>

-

-<p>"Ah, how ye cry out with anguish when the thongs of the scourge

-lacerate! how your suffering bodies submit to the ardor of my spiritual

-discipline! how ye languish with irrealizable longing! So strong has

-that desire become that it has enabled you to behold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> the invisible

-world; and ye can now perceive souls even with the eyes of the body!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. (<i>Makes a gesture of astonishment.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Tertullian</span> (<i>who appears again, standing beside Montanus</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Without doubt; for the soul has a body, and that which is bodiless has

-no existence."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Montanus</span>. "In order to render it yet more subtle, I have instituted

-many mortifications, three Lents a year, and prayers to be uttered

-nightly by the mind only, keeping the mouth closed, lest breathing

-might tarnish thought. It is necessary to abstain from second

-marriages, or rather from all marriage! The Angels themselves have

-sinned with women!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Archontics</span> (<i>wearing cilices of hair</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"The Saviour said: 'I come to destroy the work of the Woman!'"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Tatianites</span> (<i>wearing cilices of reed</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"She is the tree of evil. Our bodies are but garments of skin."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And continuing to advance along the same side, Anthony meets</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Valesians</span> (<i>extended upon the ground, with red wounds below their

-bellies, and blood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> saturating their tunics. They offer him a knife.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Do as Origen did and as we have done! Is it the pain that thou

-fearest, coward? Is it the love of thy flesh that restrains thee,

-hypocrite?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And while he watches them writhing upon their backs, in a pool of

-blood</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Cainites</span> (<i>wearing knotted vipers as fillets about their hair, pass

-by, vociferating in his ear</i>):&mdash;</p>

-

-<p>"Glory to Cain! Glory to Sodom! Glory be to Judas!</p>

-

-<p>"Cain made the race of the strong; Sodom terrified the earth by her

-punishment, and it was by Judas that God saved the world! Yes! by

-Judas: without him there would have been no death and no redemption!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>They disappear beneath the horde of the</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Circumcelliones</span> (<i>all clad in the skins of wolves, crowned with thorns,

-and armed with maces of iron</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Crush the fruit! befoul the spring! drown the child! Pillage the rich

-who are happy&mdash;who cat their fill! Beat the poor who envy the ass

-his saddle-cloth, the dog his meal, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> bird his nest,&mdash;and who is

-wretched at knowing that others are not as miserable as himself.</p>

-

-<p>"We, the Saints, poison, burn, massacre, that we may hasten the end of

-the world.</p>

-

-<p>"Salvation may be obtained through martyrdom only. We give ourselves

-martyrdom. We tear the skin from our heads with pincers; we expose our

-members to the plough; we cast ourselves into the mouths of furnaces!</p>

-

-<p>"Out upon baptism! out upon the Eucharist! out upon marriage! universal

-damnation!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then throughout all the basilica there is a redoubling of fury.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The Audians shoot arrows against the Devil; the Collyridians throw

-blue cloths toward the roof; the Ascites prostrate themselves before

-a waterskin; the Marcionites baptise a dead man with oil. A woman,

-standing near Appelles, exhibits a round loaf within a bottle, in order

-the better to explain her idea. Another, standing in the midst of an

-assembly of Sampseans distributes, as a sacrament, the dust of her

-own sandals. Upon the rose-strewn bed of the Marcosians, two lovers

-embrace. The Circumcellionites<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> slaughter one another; the Valesians

-utter the death-rattle; Bardesanes sings; Carpocras dances; Maximilla

-and Priscilla moan; and the false prophetess of Cappadocia, completely

-naked, leaning upon a lion, and brandishing three torches, shrieks the

-Terrible Invocation.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The columns of the temple sway to and fro like the trunks of trees in a

-tempest; the amulets suspended about the necks of the Heresiarchs seem

-to cross each other in lines of fire; the constellations in the chapels

-palpitate; and the walls recoil with the ebb and flow of the crowd, in

-which each head is a wave that leaps and roars.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Nevertheless, from the midst of the clamor arises the sound of a song,

-in which the name of Jesus is often repeated, accompanied by bursts of

-laughter.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The singers belong to the rabble of the people; they all keep time to

-the song by clapping their hands. In their midst stands</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Artus</span> (<i>in a deacon's vestments</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"The fools who declaim against me pretend to explain the absurd; and in

-order to confound them utterly, I have composed ditties so droll that

-they are learned by heart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> in all the mills, in the taverns and along

-the ports.</p>

-

-<p>"No! a thousand times no!&mdash;the Son is not coeternal with the Father,

-nor of the same substance! Otherwise he would not have said: 'Father,

-remove this chalice from me! Why dost thou call me good? God alone is

-good! I go to my God, to your God!'&mdash;and many other things testifying

-to his character of creature. The fact is further demonstrated for

-us by all his names:&mdash;lamb, shepherd, fountain, wisdom, son-of-man,

-prophet; the way, the corner-stone!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Sabelliusés</span>. "I hold that both are identical."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Arius</span>. "The Council of Antioch has decided the contrary."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Then what is the Word?... What was Jesus?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Valentinians</span>. "He was the husband of Acharamoth repentant!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sethianians</span>. "He was Shem, the son of Noah!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Theodotians</span>. "He was Melchisedech!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Merinthians</span>. "He was only a man!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Apollinarists</span>. "He assumed the appearance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> of one! He simulated the

-Passion!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Marcel of Ancyra</span>. "He was a development of the Father!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Pope Calixtus</span>. "Father and Son are but two modes of one God's

-manifestation!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Methodius</span>. "He was first in Adam, then in man!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Cerinthus</span>. "And He will rise again!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Valentinus</span>. "Impossible&mdash;his body being celestial!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Paul of Samosata</span>. "He became God <i>only</i> from the time of his baptism!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hermogenes</span>. "He dwells in the sun!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And all the Heresiarchs form a circle about Anthony, who weeps,

-covering his face with his hands.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">A Jew</span> (<i>with a red beard, and spots of leprosy upon his shin,

-approaches close to Anthony, and, with a hideous sneer, exclaims</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"His soul was the soul of Esau! He suffered from the Bellephorentian

-sickness. Was not his mother, the seller of perfumes, seduced by a

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>Roman soldier, one Pantherus?.......................... <a name="FNanchor_6_13" id="FNanchor_6_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_13" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>suddenly raising his head, looks at them a moment in silence;

-then advancing boldly upon them, exclaims</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Doctors, magicians, bishops, and deacons, men and phantoms, away from

-me! begone! Ye are all lies!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Heresiarchs</span>. "We have martyrs more martyrs than thine, prayers

-that are more difficult, outbursts of love more sublime, ecstasies as

-prolonged as thine are."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But ye have no revelation! no proofs!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>They all at once brandish in the air their rolls of papyrus, tablets

-of wood, scrolls of leather, rolls of woven stuff bearing inscriptions;

-and elbowing; and pushing each other, they all shout to Anthony.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Cerinthians</span>. "Behold the Gospel of the Hebrews!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Marcionites</span>. "Behold the Gospel of the Lord!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Marcosians</span>. "The Gospel of Eve!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Eucratites</span>. "The Gospel of Thomas!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Cainites</span>. "The Gospel of Judas!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Basilides</span>. "The Treatise upon the Destiny of the Soul!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "The Prophecy of Barkouf!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony struggles, breaks from them, escapes them; and in a shadowy

-corner perceives</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Aged Ebionites</span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>withered as mummies, their eyes dull and dim, their eyebrows white as

-frost.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>In tremulous voices they exclaim</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"We have known him, we have seen him! We knew the Carpenter's Son! We

-were then the same age as he; we dwelt in the same street. He used to

-amuse himself by modelling little birds of mud; aided his father at his

-work without fear of the sharp tools, or selected for his mother the

-skeins of dyed wool. Then he made a voyage to Egypt, from whence he

-brought back wondrous secrets. We were at Jericho when he came to find

-the Eater of Locusts. They talked together in a low voice, so that no

-one could hear what was said. But it was from that time that his name

-began to be noised abroad in Galilee, and that men began to relate many

-fables regarding him."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>They reiterate, tremulously</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"We knew him! we others, we knew him!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah, speak on, speak! What was his face like?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Tertullian</span>. "His face was wild and repulsive; forasmuch as he

-had burthened himself with all the crimes, all the woes, all the

-deformities of mankind."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! no, no! I imagine, on the contrary, that his entire

-person must have been glorious with a beauty greater than the beauty of

-man!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Eusebius of Cæsarea</span>. "There is indeed, at Paneades, propped up against

-the walls of a crumbling edifice surrounded by a wilderness of weeds

-and creeping plants, a certain statue of stone which, some say, was

-erected by the Woman healed of the issue of blood. But time has gnawed

-the face of the statue, and the rains have worn the inscription away."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>A woman steps forward from the group of the Carpocratians.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Marcellina</span>. "I was once a deaconess at Rome, in a little church, where

-I used to exhibit to the faithful, the silver images, of Saint Paul,

-Homer, Pythagoras and Jesus Christ.</p>

-

-<p>"I have only kept that of Jesus."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She half opens her mantle.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"Dost thou desire it?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">A Voice</span>. "He reappears himself when we call upon him! It is the

-hour!&mdash;come!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And Anthony feels a brutal hand seize him by the arm, and drag him

-away.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He mounts a stairway in complete darkness; and after having ascended

-many steps, he finds himself before a door.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Then the one who is leading him&mdash;(is it Hilarion?&mdash;he does not

-know)&mdash;whispers in the ear of another</i>: "The Lord is about to

-come!"&mdash;<i>and they are admitted into a chamber, with a very low ceiling,

-and without furniture.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The first object which attracts his attention is a long blood-colored

-chrysalis, with a human head surrounded by rays, and the word</i> Knouphus

-<i>inscribed all around it in Greek characters. It is placed upon the

-shaft of a column, which is in turn supported by a broad pedestal.

-Hanging upon the walls of the chamber are medallions of polished iron

-representing the heads of various animals:&mdash;the head of an ox, the head

-of a lion, the head of an eagle, the head of a dog, and the head of an

-ass&mdash;again!</i></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em">

-<a id="redon202"></a>

-<img src="images/redon2_02.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>... a long blood-colored chrysalis</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2"><i>Earthen lamps, suspended below these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> images, create a vacillating

-light. Through a hole in the wall, Anthony can see the moon shining

-far off upon the waves; he can even hear the feeble regular sound of

-lapping water; together with the heavy thud occasionally caused by the

-bumping of a ship's hull against the stones of the mole.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>There are men crouching down, with their faces hidden by their

-mantles. From time to time they utter sounds resembling a smothered

-bark. There are women also, sleeping with their foreheads resting upon

-their arms, and their arms supported by their knees; they are so hidden

-by their garments as to resemble heaps of cloth piled up at intervals

-against the wall. Near them are half naked children, whose persons

-swarm with vermin. They watch with idiotic stare the burning of the

-lamps; and nothing is done: all are waiting for something.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>They talk in undertones about family matters, or recommend to each

-other various remedies for their ailments. Some of them must embark

-at earliest daylight; the persecution is becoming too terrible to be

-endured. Nevertheless, the pagans are easily enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> deceived</i>:&mdash;"The

-fools imagine that we are really adoring Knouphus!"</p>

-

-<p><i>But one of the brethren, feeling himself suddenly inspired, takes his

-place before the column, where a basket has already been placed, filled

-with fennel and aristolochia. On the top of the basket is placed a

-loaf.</i>)</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Inspired Brother</p>

-

-<p>(<i>unrolling a placard covered with designs representing cylinders

-blending with and fitting into one another, commences to pray</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"The ray of the Word descended upon the darknesses; and there arose a

-mighty cry, like unto the voice of Light."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>swaying their bodies in unison, respond</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Kyrie eleison!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span>. "Then was Man created by the infamous

-God of Israel, aided by those who are these (<i>pointing to the

-medallions</i>)&mdash;Astophaios, Oraios, Sabaoth, Adonai, Eloi, Iao!</p>

-

-<p>"And Man, hideous, feeble, formless and thoughtless, lay upon the slime

-of the earth."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>in plaintive accents</i>):</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"Kyrie eleison!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span>. "But Sophia, compassionating him, vivified him

-with a spark of her own soul.</p>

-

-<p>"Then God, beholding Man so beautiful, waxed wroth; and imprisoned him

-within His own kingdom, forbidding him to touch the Tree of Knowledge.</p>

-

-<p>"Again did the other succor him. She sent to him the Serpent, who, by

-many long subterfuges, made him disobey that law of hate.</p>

-

-<p>"And Man, having tasted knowledge, understood celestial things."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>raising their voices</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Kyrie Eleison!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span>. "But Iabdalaoth through vengeance cast down man

-into the world of matter, and the Serpent with him."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>in a very low tone</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Kyrie Eleison!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then all hold their peace, and there is silence.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The odors of the port mingle with the smoke of the lamps in the warm

-air. The lamp-wicks crepitate; their flames are about to go out, long

-mosquitoes flit in rapid circlings about them. And Anthony groans

-in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> an agony of anguish, as with the feeling that a monstrosity is

-floating about him, as with the fear of a crime that is about to be

-accomplished.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>But</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span> (<i>stamping his heel upon the floor, snapping his

-fingers, tossing his head wildly, suddenly chants to a furious rhythm,

-with accompaniment of cymbals and a shrill flute</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Come! come! come!&mdash;issue from thy cavern!</p>

-

-<p>"O swift one, who runneth without feet, captor who seizeth without hand!</p>

-

-<p>"Sinuous as the rivers, orbicular as the sun, black, with spots of

-gold, like the firmament star-besprinkled! Like unto the intertwinings

-of the vine, and the circumvolutions of entrails!</p>

-

-<p>"Unengendered! eater of earth! immortally young! unfailing

-perspicacious! honored at Epidaurus! Kindly to man! thou who didst heal

-King Ptolemy, and the warriors, of Moses, and Glaucus, son of Minos!</p>

-

-<p>"Come! come! come!&mdash;issue from thy cavern!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>repeat</i>):</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"Come! come! come!&mdash;issue from thy cavern!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Nevertheless, nothing yet appears.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Why? What aileth him?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And they concert together, devise means.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>An old man presents a clod of turf as an offering. Then something

-upheaves within the basket. The mass of verdure shakes; the flowers

-fall, and the head of a python appears.</i></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon05"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_05.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>... the flowers fall and the head of a python appears</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2"><i>It passes slowly around the edge of the loaf, like a circle moving

-around an immovable disk;&mdash;then it unfolds itself, lengthens out; it is

-enormous and of great weight. Lest it should touch the floor, the men

-uphold it against their breasts, the women support it upon their heads,

-the children hold it up at arms' length; and its tail, issuing through

-the hole in the wall, stretches away indefinitely to the bottom of the

-sea. Its coils double; they fill the chamber; they enclose Anthony.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Faithful</span> (<i>press their mouths against its skin, snatch from one

-another the loaf which it has bitten, and cry aloud</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"It is thou! it is thou!</p>

-

-<p>"First raised up by Moses, broken by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> Ezechias, re-established by the

-Messiah. He drank thee in the waters of baptism; but thou didst leave

-him in the Garden of Olives; and then indeed he felt his own weakness!</p>

-

-<p>"Writhing about the arms of the cross, and above his head, while

-casting thy slime upon the crown of thorns, thou didst behold him die!

-For thou art not Jesus, thou!&mdash;thou art the Word! thou art the Christ!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony faints with horror, and falls prostrate in front of his hut

-upon the splinters of wood, where the torch that had slipped from his

-hand, is burning low.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The shock arouses him. Opening his eyes again, he perceives the Nile,

-brightly undulating under the moon, like a vast serpent winding over

-the sands; so that the hallucination returns upon him again; he has not

-left the company of the Ophites; they surround him, call him; he sees

-them carrying baggage, descending to the port. He embarks along with

-them.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>An inappreciable time elapses.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Then the vaults of a prison environ him. Iron bars in front of him

-make black lines against a background of blue; and in the darkness

-beside him people are praying and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> weeping surrounded by others who

-exhort and console.</i></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon06"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_06.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>... and in the darkness beside him people are

-praying</p></div></div>

-

-<p class="p2"><i>Without, there is a murmur like the deep humming of a vast crowd, and

-there is splendour as of a summer's day.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Shrill voices announce watermelons for sale, iced drinks, and cushions

-of woven grass to sit upon. From time to time there are bursts of

-applause. He hears the sound of footsteps above his head.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Suddenly a long roar is heard, mighty and cavernous as the roar of

-water in an aqueduct.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And he sees, directly opposite, behind the bars of another compartment

-across the arena a lion walking to and fro, then a line of sandals,

-bare legs, and purple fringes. Beyond are the vast circling wreaths

-of people, in symmetrical tiers, enlarging as they rise, from the

-lowest which hems in the arena to the uppermost above which masts

-rise to sustain a hyacinth-colored awning, suspended in air by ropes.

-Stairways radiating toward the centre, divide these huge circles of

-stone at regular intervals. The benches disappear under a host of

-spectators&mdash;knights, senators, soldiers, plebeians, vestals, and

-courtesans&mdash;in woollen hoods, in silken maniples, in fallow-colored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>

-tunics; together with aigrettes of precious stones, plumes of feathers,

-the fasces of lictors; and all this swarming multitude deafens and

-stupefies Anthony with its shoutings, its tumultuous fury, as of an

-enormous boiling vat. In the middle of the arena, a vase of incense

-smokes upon an altar.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony thus knows that the people with him are Christians condemned

-to be thrown to the wild beasts. The men wear the red mantle of the

-pontiffs of Saturn; the women, the bandellettes of Ceres. Their friends

-divide among themselves shreds of their garments, and rings. To obtain

-access to the prison, they say, costs a great deal of money. But what

-matter! They will remain until it is all over.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony notices among these consolers, a certain bald-headed man,

-in a black tunic: Anthony has seen that face somewhere before. The

-consoler discourses to them concerning the nothingness of this world,

-and the felicity of the Elect. Anthony feels within him a transport of

-celestial love; he longs for the opportunity to lay down his life for

-the Saviour&mdash;not knowing as yet whether he himself is to be numbered

-among the martyrs.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>But all&mdash;except a certain Phrygian, with long hair, who stands with

-his arms uplifted&mdash;have a look of woe. One old man is sobbing upon a

-bench; a youth standing close by, with drooping head, abandons himself

-to a reverie of sorrow.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Old Man</span> <i>had refused to pay the customary contribution before the

-statue of Minerva, erected at the angle of the cross-roads; and he

-gazes at his companions with a look that signifies</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Ye ought to have succored me! Communities can sometimes so arrange

-matters as to insure their being left in peace. Some among ye also

-procured those letters which falsely allege that one has sacrificed to

-idols."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He asks aloud</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Was it not Petrus of Alexandria who laid down the rule concerning what

-should be done by those who have yielded to torture?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then, to himself</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! how cruel this at my age! My infirmities make me so weak!

-Nevertheless, I might easily have lived until the coming winter, or

-longer!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>The memory of his little garden makes him sad, and he gazes toward

-the altar.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Young Man</span> (<i>who disturbed the festival of Apollo by violence and

-blows, murmurs</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Yet it would have been easy for me to have fled to the mountains!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>One of the brothers answers</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"But the soldiers would have captured thee!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Young Man</span>. "Oh! I would have done as Cyprian did&mdash;I would have

-returned, and the second time I would surely have had more force!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then he thinks of the innumerable days that he might have lived, of

-all the joys that he might have known, but will never know; and he

-gazes toward the altar.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>But</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Man in the Black Tunic</span> (<i>rushes to his side.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"What scandal! What! Thou! a victim of God's own choice! And all these

-women here who are looking at thee! Nay, think what thou art doing!

-Moreover, remember that God sometimes vouchsafes to perform a miracle.

-Pionius numbed and made powerless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> the hands of his executioners; the

-blood of Polycarp extinguished the fire of the stake."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then he turns to the Old Man</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Father, father! it behooves thee to edify us by thy death! By longer

-delaying it, thou wouldst doubtless commit some evil action that would

-lose thee the fruit of all thy good works. Remember, also, that the

-power of God is infinite; and it may come to pass that all the people

-will be converted by thy example."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And in the great den opposite, the lions stride back and forth,

-ceaselessly, with a rapid continuous motion. The largest suddenly looks

-at Anthony and roars, and a vapour issues from his jaws.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The women are huddled against the men.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Consoler</span> (<i>goes from one to the other.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"What would ye say, what wouldst thou say if thou wert to be burned

-with red-hot irons, if thou wert to be torn asunder by horses, if thou

-hadst been condemned to have thy body smeared with honey, and thus

-exposed to be devoured by flies! As it is, thou wilt only suffer the

-death of a hunter surprised by a beast in the woods."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony would prefer all those things to death by the fangs of the

-horrible wild beasts; he fancies already that he feels their teeth and

-their claws, that he hears his bones cracking between their jaws.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>A keeper enters the dungeon; the martyrs tremble.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Only one remains impassable, the Phrygian, who prays standing apart

-from the rest. He has burned three temples; and he advances with arms

-uplifted, mouth open, face turned toward heaven, seeing nothing around

-him, like a somnambulist.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Consoler</span> (<i>shouts</i>). "Back! back! lest the spirit of Montanus might

-come upon you."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>recoil from the Phrygian, and vociferate</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Damnation to the Montanist!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>They insult him, spit upon him, excite each other to beat him.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The rearing lions bite each other's manes</i>;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The People</span> "To the beasts with them, to the beasts."</p>

-

-<p><i>The Martyrs burst into sobs, and embrace each other passionately. A

-cup of narcotic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> wine is offered them. It is passed from hand to hand,

-quickly.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Another keeper, standing at the door of the den, awaits the signal.

-The den opens; a lion comes out.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He crosses the arena with great oblique strides. Other lions follow in

-file after him; then a bear, three panthers, and some leopards. They

-scatter through the arena like a flock in a meadow.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The crack of a whip resounds. The Christians stagger forward; and

-their brethren push them, that it may be over the sooner.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony closes his eyes.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He opens them again. But darkness envelopes him.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Soon the darkness brightens; and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated

-with knolls, such as might be seen about abandoned quarries.</i></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon07"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_07.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated with knolls</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2"><i>Here and there a tuft of shrubbery rises among the slabs of stone,

-level with the soil; and there are white figures, vaguer than clouds,

-bending over the slabs.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Others approach, softly, silently. Eyes gleam through the slits of

-long veils. By the easy indifference of their walk, and the perfumes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>

-exhaled from their garments, Anthony knows they are patrician women.

-There are men also, but of inferior condition; for their faces are at

-once simple-looking and coarse.</i></p>

-

-<p>(<i>One of the Women, taking a long breath</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! how good the cool air of night is, among the sepulchers! I am so

-weary of the softness of beds, the turmoil of days, the heavy heat of

-the sun!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Her maid-servant takes from a canvas bag, a torch which she ignites.

-The faithful light other torches by it, and plant them upon the tombs.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">A Woman</span> (<i>panting</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"I am here at last! Oh how wearisome to be the wife of an idolator!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Another</span>. "These visits to the prisons, interviews with our brethren,

-are all matters of suspicion to our husbands! And we must even hide

-ourselves in order to make the sign of the cross; they would take it

-for a magical conjuration!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Another</span>. "With my husband it was a quarrel every day. I would not

-submit myself to his brutal exactions; therefore he has had me

-prosecuted as a Christian."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Another</span>. "Do you remember Lucius,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> that young man who was so beautiful,

-who was dragged like Hector, with his heels attached to a chariot,

-from the Esquiline Gate to the mountains of Tibur?&mdash;and how his blood

-spattered the bushes on either side of the road? I gathered up the

-drops of his blood. Behold it!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses, and

-flings herself down upon the slabs, crying aloud</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon08"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_08.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses ...</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2">"Ah! my friend! my friend!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">A Man</span>. "It is just three years to-day since Domitilla died. They stoned

-her at the further end of the Grove of Proserpine. I gathered her

-bones, which shone like glowworms in the grass. The earth how covers

-them."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He casts himself down upon a tomb.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"O my betrothed! my betrothed!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And all the others scattered over the plain</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"O my sister! O my brother! O my daughter! O my mother!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Some kneel, covering their faces with their hands; others lie down

-upon the ground with their arms extended; and the sobs they smother

-shake their breasts with such violence as though their hearts were

-breaking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> with grief. Sometimes they look up to heaven, exclaiming</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Have mercy upon her soul, O my God! She languishes in the sojourn of

-Shades; vouchsafe to admit her to thy Resurrection, that she may enjoy

-Thy Light!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Or, with eyes fixed upon the gravestones, they murmur to the dead</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Be at peace, beloved! and suffer not! I have brought thee wine and

-meats!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">A Widow</span>. "Here is pultis, made by my own hands, as he used to like it,

-with plenty of eggs and a double measure of flour! We are going to eat

-it together as in other days, are we not?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She lifts a little piece to her lips, and suddenly bursts into an

-extravagant and frenzied laugh.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The others also nibble a little bit as she does and drink a mouthful

-of wine.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>They recount to each other the stories of their martyrs; grief becomes

-exalted! libations redouble. Their tear-swimming eyes are fixed upon

-each other's faces. They stammer with intoxication and grief; gradually

-hands touch hands, lips join themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> to lips, and they seek each

-other upon the tombs, between the cups and the torches.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The sky begins to whiten. The fog makes damp their garments; and,

-without appearing even to know one another, they depart by different

-ways and seek their homes.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The sun shines; the weeds and the grass have grown higher; the face of

-the plain is changed.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And Anthony, looking between tall bamboos, sees distinctly a forest of

-columns, of bluish-grey color. These are tree-trunks, all originating

-from one vast trunk. From each branch of the colossal tree descend

-other branches which may bury themselves in the soil; and the aspect of

-all these horizontal and perpendicular lines, indefinitely multiplied,

-would closely resemble a monstrous timber-work, were it not that they

-have small figs<a name="FNanchor_7_14" id="FNanchor_7_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_14" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> growing upon them here and there, and a blackish

-foliage, like that of the sycamore.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He perceives in the forkings of their branches, hanging bunches of

-yellow flowers, violet flowers also, and ferns that resemble the plumes

-of splendid birds.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Under the lowest branches the horns of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> bubalus gleam at intervals,

-and the bright eyes of antelopes are visible; there are hosts of

-parrots; there are butterflies flittering hither and thither; lizards

-lazily drag themselves up or down; flies buzz and hum; and in the midst

-of the silence, a sound is audible as of the palpitation of a deep and

-mighty life.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Seated upon a sort of pyre at the entrance of the wood is a strange

-being&mdash;a man&mdash;besmeared with cow-dung, completely naked, more withered

-than a mummy; his articulations form knots at the termination of bones

-that resemble sticks. He has bunches of shells suspended from his ears;

-his face is very long, and his nose like a vulture's beak. His left arm

-remains motionlessly erect in air, anchylosed, rigid as a stake; and he

-has been seated here so long that birds have made themselves a nest in

-his long hair.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>At the four corners of his wooden pyre flame four fires. The sun is

-directly in front of him. He gazes steadily at it with widely-opened

-eyes; and, then without looking at Anthony, asks him</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Brahmin from the shores of the Nile,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> what hast thou to say regarding

-these things?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Flames suddenly burst out on all sides of him, through the intervals

-between the logs of the pyre; and</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Gymnosophist</span> (<i>continues</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Lo! I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I dwelt in

-the tree behind me."</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon09"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_09.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>I have buried myself in solitude, like the

-rhinoceros. I dwelt in the tree behind me </p></div></div>

-

-<p class="p2">(<i>The vast fig-tree, indeed, shows in one of its groves, a natural

-excavation about the size of a man.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"And I nourished me with flowers and fruits, observing the precepts so

-rigidly that not even a dog ever beheld me eat.</p>

-

-<p>"Inasmuch as existence originates from corruption, corruption from

-desire, desire from sensation, sensation from contact, I have ever

-avoided all action, all contact, and perpetually&mdash;motionless as the

-stela of a tomb, exhaling my breath from my two nostrils, fixing my

-eyes upon my nose, and contemplating the ether in my mind, the world in

-my members, the moon in my heart&mdash;I dreamed of the essence of the great

-Soul whence continually escape the principles of life, even as sparks

-escape from fire.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"Thus at last I found the supreme Soul in all beings, and all beings

-in the supreme Soul; and I have been able to make mine own soul all my

-senses.</p>

-

-<p>"I receive knowledge directly from heaven, like the bird Tchataka, who

-quenches his thirst from falling rain only.</p>

-

-<p>"Even by so much as things are known to me, things no longer exist.</p>

-

-<p>"For me now there is no more hope, no more anguish, there is neither

-happiness nor virtue, nor day nor night, nor Thou nor I&mdash;absolutely

-nothing!</p>

-

-<p>"My awful austerities have made me superior to the Powers. A single

-contraction of my thought would suffice to kill a hundred sons of

-kings, to dethrone gods, to overturn the world."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He utters all these things in a monotonous voice.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The surrounding leaves shrivel up. Fleeing rats rush over the ground.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He slowly turns his eyes downward toward the rising flames, and then

-continues</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"I have loathed Form, I have loathed Perception, I have loathed even

-Knowledge itself, for the thought does not survive the transitory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> fact

-which caused it; and mind, like all else, is only an illusion.</p>

-

-<p>"All that is engendered will perish; all that is dead must live again;

-the beings that have even now disappeared shall sojourn again in wombs

-as yet unformed, and shall again return to earth to serve in woe other

-creatures.</p>

-

-<p>"But inasmuch as I have rolled through the revolution of an indefinite

-multitude of existences, under the envelopes of gods, of men, and of

-animals, I renounce further wanderings; I will endure this weariness

-no more! I abandon the filthy hostelry of this body of mine, built

-with flesh, reddened with blood, covered with a hideous skin, full of

-uncleanliness; and, for my recompense, I go at last to slumber in the

-deepest deeps of the Absolute&mdash;in Annihilation."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The flames rise to his chest, then envelope him. His head rises

-through them as through a hole in the wall. His cavernous eyes still

-remain icicle open, gazing.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>rises</i>).</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The torch, which had fallen to the ground, has ignited the splinters

-of wood; and the flames have singed his beard.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></i></p>

-

-<p><i>With a loud cry, Anthony tramples the fire out; and, when nothing

-remains but ashes, he exclaims</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Where can Hilarion be? He was here a moment ago. I saw him!</p>

-

-<p>"What! No; it is impossible; I must have been mistaken!</p>

-

-<p>"Yet why?... Perhaps my cabin, these stones, this sand, have no real

-existence. I am becoming mad! Let me be calm! Where was I? What was it

-that happened?</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! the gymnosophist!... Such a death is frequent among the sages of

-India. Kalanos burned himself before Alexander; another did likewise

-in the time of Augustus. What hatred of life men must have to do thus!

-Unless, indeed, they are impelled by pride alone?... Yet in any event

-they have the intrepidity of martyrs.... As for the latter, I can now

-well believe what has been told me regarding the debauchery they cause.</p>

-

-<p>"And before that? Yes: I remember now! the host of the Heresiarchs!

-What outcries! What eyes! Yet why so much rebellion of the flesh, so

-much dissoluteness, so many aberrations of the intellect.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"They claim, nevertheless, to seek God through all those ways! What

-right have I to curse them&mdash;I, who stumble so often in mine own path?

-I was perhaps about to learn more of them at the moment when they

-disappeared. Too rapid was the whirl; I had no time to answer. Now I

-feel as though there were more space, more light in my understanding. I

-am calm. I even feel myself able to.... What is this? I thought I had

-put out the fire!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>A flame flits among the rocks; and soon there comes the sound of

-a voice&mdash;broken, convulsed as by sobs&mdash;from afar off, among the

-mountains.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Can it be the cry of a hyena, or the lamentation of some traveler that

-has lost his way?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony listens. The flame draws nearer.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And he beholds a weeping woman approach, leaning upon the shoulder of

-a white-bearded man.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>She is covered with a purple robe in rags. He is bareheaded like lier,

-wears a tunic of the same color, and carries in his hands a brazen

-vase, whence arises a thin blue flame.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony feels a fear come upon him, and wishes to know who this woman

-may be.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Stranger Simon</span>. "It is a young girl, a poor child that I lead about

-with me everywhere."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He uplifts the brazen vase.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony contemplates the girl, by the light of its vacillating flame.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>There are marks of bites upon her face, traces of blows upon her arms;

-her dishevelled hair entangles itself in the rents of her rags; her

-eyes appear to be insensible to light.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Sometimes she remains thus for a long, long time without

-speaking; then all at once she revives, and discourses of marvellous

-things."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "In truth?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Ennoia; Ennoia! Ennoia!&mdash;tell us what thou hast to say!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She rolls her eyes like one awaking from a dream, slowly passes her

-fingers over her brows, and in a mournful voice, speaks</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>Helena<a name="FNanchor_8_15" id="FNanchor_8_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_15" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> (<i>Ennoia</i>).</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon10"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_10.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>Helena - Ennoia</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2">"I remember a distant land, of the color of emerald. Only one tree

-grows there.</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony starts</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Upon each of its tiers of broad-extending arms, a pair of Spirits

-dwell in air. All about them the branches intercross, like the veins

-of a body; and they watch the eternal Life circulating, from the roots

-deep plunging into darkness even to the leafy summit that rises higher

-than the sun. I, dwelling upon the second branch, illuminated the

-nights of Summer with my face."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>, (<i>tapping his own forehead</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! ah! I comprehend! her head!..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span> (<i>placing his finger to his lips</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Hush!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Helena</span>. "The sail remained well filled by the wind; the keel cleft the

-foam. He said to me: 'What though I afflict my country, though I lose

-my kingdom! Thou wilt belong to me, in my house!'</p>

-

-<p>"How sweet was the lofty chamber of his palace! Lying upon the ivory

-bed, he caressed my long hair, singing amorously the while.</p>

-

-<p>"Even at the close of the day I beheld the two camps, the watchfires

-being lighted,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> Ulysses at the entrance of his tent, armed Achilles

-driving a chariot along the sea-beach."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Why! she is utterly mad! How came this to pass?..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Hush! hush!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Helena</span>. "They anointed me with unguents, and sold me to the people that

-I might amuse them.</p>

-

-<p>"One evening I was standing with the sistrum in my hand, making music

-for some Greek sailors who were dancing. The rain was falling upon the

-roof of the tavern like a cataract, and the cups of warm wine were

-smoking.</p>

-

-<p>"A man suddenly entered, although the door was not opened to let him

-pass."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "It was I! I found thee again!</p>

-

-<p>"Behold her, Anthony, she whom they call Sigeh, Ennoia, Barbelo,

-Prounikos! The Spirits governing the world were jealous of her; and

-they imprisoned her within the body of a woman.</p>

-

-<p>"She was that Helen of Troy, whose memory was cursed by the poet

-Stesichorus. She was Lucretia, the patrician woman violated by a king.

-She was Delilah, by whom Samson's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> locks were shorn.... She has loved

-adultery, idolatry, lying and foolishness. She has prostituted herself

-to all nations. She has sung at the angles of all cross-roads. She has

-kissed the faces of all men.</p>

-

-<p>"At Tyre, she, the Syrian, was the mistress of robbers. She caroused

-with them during the nights; and she concealed assassins amidst the

-vermin of her tepid bed."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! what is this to me?..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span> (<i>with a furious look</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"I tell thee that I have redeemed her, and re-established her in her

-former splendor; insomuch that Caius Cæsar Caligula became enamoured of

-her, desiring to sleep with the Moon!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What then?..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Why this, that she herself is the Moon! Has not Pope Clement

-written how she was imprisoned in a tower? Three hundred persons

-surrounded the tower to watch it; and the moon was seen at each of the

-loop-holes at the same time, although there is not more than one moon

-in the world, nor more than one Ennoia!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes ... it seems to me that I remember...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He falls into a reverie.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Innocent as the Christ who died for men, so did she devote

-herself for women. For the impotence of Jehovah is proven by the

-transgression of Adama, and we must shake off the yoke of the old law,

-which is antipathetic to the order of things.<a name="FNanchor_9_16" id="FNanchor_9_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_16" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>

-

-<p>"I have preached the revival in Ephraim and in Issachar by the torrent

-of Bizor, beyond the Lake of Houleh, in the valley of Maggedo, further

-than the mountains, at Bostra and at Damascus. Let all come to me who

-are covered with wine, who are covered with filth, who are covered with

-blood! and I shall take away their uncleanliness with the Holy Spirit,

-called Minerva by the Greeks. She is Minerva! she is the Holy Spirit! I

-am Jupiter, Apollo, the Christ, the Paraclete, the great might of God,

-incarnated in the person of Simon!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! it is thou!... so it is thou! But I know thy crimes!</p>

-

-<p>"Thou wast born at Gittoi near Samaria,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> Dositheas, thy first master,

-drove thee from him. Thou didst execrate Saint Paul because he

-converted one of thy wives; and, vanquished by Saint Peter, in thy rage

-and terror thou didst cast into the waves the bag which contained thy

-artifices!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Dost thou desire them?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony looks at him, and an interior voice whispers hi his

-heart:&mdash;"Why not?"</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span> (<i>continues</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"He who knows the forces of Nature and the essence of Spirits must be

-able to perform miracles. It has been the dream of all sages; it is the

-desire which even now gnaws thee!&mdash;confess it!"</p>

-

-<p>"In the sight of the multitude of the Romans, I flew in the air so

-high that none could behold me move. Nero ordered that I should be

-decapitated; but it was the head of a sheep which fell upon the ground

-in lieu of mine. At last they buried me alive; but I rose again upon

-the third day. The proof is that thou dost behold me before thee!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He presents his hands to Anthony to smell. They have the stench of

-corpse-flesh. Anthony recoils with loathing.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"I can make serpents of bronze writhe; I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> can make marble statues

-laugh; I can make dogs speak. I will show thee vast quantities of gold;

-I will reestablish kings; thou shalt see nations prostrate themselves

-in adoration before me! I can walk upon the clouds and upon the waves,

-I can pass through mountains, I can make myself appear as a youth, as

-an old man, as a tiger, or as an ant; I can assume thy features; I can

-give thee mine; I can make the thunder follow after me. Dost hear it?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The thunder rumbles; flashes of lightning succeed.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"It is the voice of the Most High; for 'the Lord thy God is a fire;'

-and all creations are accomplished by sparks from the fire-centre of

-all things.</p>

-

-<p>Thou shalt even now receive the baptism of it&mdash;that second baptism

-announced by Jesus, which fell upon the apostles on a day of tempest

-when the windows were open!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And stirring up the flame with his hand, slowly, as though preparing

-to sprinkle Anthony with it, he continues</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Mother of mercies, thou who discoverest all secrets, in order that we

-may find rest in the eighth mansion...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>cries out</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Oh! that I had only some holy water!..."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The flame goes out, producing much smoke.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Ennoia and Simon have disappeared.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>An exceedingly cold, opaque and fœtid mist fills the atmosphere.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>groping with his hands like a blind man</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Where am I?... I fear lest I fall into the abyss! And the cross,

-surely, is too far from me. Ah! what a night! what a terrible night!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The mist is parted by a gust of wind; and Anthony sees two men

-covered with long white tunics.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The first is of lofty stature, with a gentle face, and a grave mien.

-His blond hair, parted like that of Christ, falls upon his shoulders.

-He has cast aside a wand that he had been holding in his hand; his

-companion takes it up, making a reverence after the fashion of the

-Orientals.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The latter is small of stature, thick set, flat-nosed; his neck and

-shoulders expresses good natured simplicity.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>Both are barefooted, bareheaded, and dusty, like persons who have made

-a long journey.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>starting up</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"What do ye seek? Speak!... Begone from here!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>who is a little man</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Nay! nay! be not angered, good hermit. As for that I seek, I know not

-myself what it is! Here is the Master!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He sits down. The other stranger remains standing. Silence.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>asks</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Then ye come?..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Oh! from afar off&mdash;very far off!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "And ye go?..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>pointing to the other</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Whithersoever he shall desire!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But who may he be?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Look well upon him!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"He looks like a saint! If I could only dare...."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The mist is all gone. The night is very clear. The moon shines.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Of what art thou dreaming, that thou dost not speak?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I was thinking.... Oh! nothing!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>approaches Apollonius, and walks all round him several times,

-bending himself as he walks, never raising his head</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Master, here is a Galilean hermit who desires to know the beginnings

-of wisdom."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Let him approach!" (<i>Anthony hesitates.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Approach!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>in a voice of thunder</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Approach! Thou wouldst know who I am, what I have done, and what I

-think,&mdash;is it not so, child?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Always supposing that these things can contribute to the

-salvation of my soul."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Rejoice! I am about to inform thee of them!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>in an undertone, to Anthony</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Is it possible? He must surely have at the first glance discerned in

-thee extraordinary aptitude for philosophy. I shall also strive to

-profit by his instruction."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "First of all, I shall tell thee of the long course which

-I have followed in order to obtain the doctrine; and if thou canst<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>

-discover in all my life one evil action, thou shalt bid me pause, for

-he who hath erred in his actions may well give scandal by his words."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>to Anthony</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"How just a man? Is he not?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Indeed I believe him to be sincere."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Upon the night of my birth, my mother imagined that

-she was gathering flowers by the shore of a great lake. A flash of

-lightning appeared; and she brought me into the world to the music of

-the voices of swans singing to her in her dream.</p>

-

-<p>"Until I had reached the age of fifteen I was plunged thrice a day into

-the fountain, Asbadeus, whose waters make perjurers hydropical; and my

-body was rubbed with the leaves of the onyza, that I might be chaste.</p>

-

-<p>"A Palmyrian princess came one evening to seek me, offering me

-treasures that she knew to be in the tombs. A hierodule of the temple

-of Diana, slew herself in despair with the sacrificial knife; and the

-governor of Cilicia, finding all his promises of no avail, cried out in

-the presence of my family that he would cause my death; but it was he

-that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> died only three days after, assassinated by the Romans."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>nudging Anthony with his elbow</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Eh? did I not tell thee? What a man!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "For the space of four successive years I maintained the

-unbroken silence of the Pythagoreans. The most sudden and unexpected

-pain never extorted a sigh from me; and when I used to enter the

-theatre, all drew away from me, as from a phantom."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Wouldst thou have done so much?&mdash;thou?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "After the period of my trial had been accomplished, I

-undertook to instruct the priests regarding the tradition they had

-lost."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What tradition?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Interrupt him not! Be silent!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I have conversed with the Samaneans of the Ganges, with

-the astrologers of Chaldea, with the magi of Babylon, with the Gaulish

-Druids, with the priests of the negroes! I have ascended the fourteen

-Olympii; I have sounded the Scythian lakes; I have measured the breadth

-of the Desert!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "It is all true! I was with him the while!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "But first I had visited the Hyrcanian Sea; I made the tour

-of it; and descending by way of the country of the Baraomati, where

-Bucephalus is buried, I approached the city of Nineveh. At the gates of

-the city, a man drew near me...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "I&mdash;even I, good master! I loved thee from the first. Thou wert

-gentler than a girl and more beautiful than a god!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>without hearing him</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"He asked me to accompany him, that he might serve as interpreter."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "But thou didst reply that all languages were familiar to thee,

-and that thou couldst divine all thoughts. Then I kissed the hem of thy

-mantle, and proceeded to walk behind thee."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "After Ctesiphon, we entered upon the territory of Babylon."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And the Satrap cried aloud on beholding a man so pale."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"What signifies this?..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "The king received me standing, near a throne of silver,

-in a hall constellated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> with stars; from the cupola hung suspended by

-invisible threads four great birds of gold, with wings extended."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>dreamily</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Can there be such things in the world?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Ah! that is a city! that Babylon! everybody there is rich! The

-houses, which are painted blue, have doors of bronze, and flights of

-steps descending to the river."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Drawing lines upon the ground, with his stick</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"Like that, seest thou? And then there are temples, there are squares,

-there are baths, there are aqueducts! The palaces are roofed with red

-brass; and the interior ... ah! if thou only knewest!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Upon the north wall rises a tower which supports a second,

-a third, a fourth, a fifth, and there are also three others! The eighth

-is a chapel containing a bed. No one enters it save the woman chosen by

-the priests for the God Belus. I was lodged there by order of the King

-of Babylon."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "As for me, they hardly deigned to give me any attention! So I

-walked through the streets all by myself. I informed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> myself regarding

-the customs of the people; I visited the workshops; I examined the

-great machines that carry water to the gardens. But I soon wearied of

-being separated from the Master."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At last we left Babylon; and as we travelled by the light

-of the moon, we suddenly beheld an Empusa."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Aye, indeed! She leaped upon her iron hoof; she brayed like an

-ass; she galloped among the rocks. He shouted imprecations at her; she

-disappeared."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"What can be their motive?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At Taxilla, the capital of five thousand fortresses,

-Phraortes, King of the Ganges, showed us his guard of black men, whose

-stature was five cubits, and under a pavilion of green brocade in his

-gardens, an enormous elephant, which the queens amused themselves by

-perfuming. It was the elephant of Porus which had taken flight after

-the death of Alexander."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And which had been found again in a forest."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Their speech is superabundant, like that of drunken men!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Phraortes seated us at his own table."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "How strange a country that was! During their drinking

-carousels, the lords used to amuse-themselves by shooting arrows under

-the feet of a dancing child. But I do not approve...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "When I was ready to depart, the king gave me a parasol,

-and he said to me: 'I have a stud of white camels upon the Indus. When

-thou shalt have no further use for them, blow in their ears. They will

-come back.'</p>

-

-<p>"We descended along the river, marching at night by the light of the

-fire-flies, which glimmered among the bamboos. The slave whistled an

-air to drive away the serpents; and our camels bent down in passing

-below the branches of the trees, as if passing under low gates.</p>

-

-<p>"One day a black child, who held a golden caduceus in his hand,

-conducted us to the College of the Sages. Iarchas, their chief, spoke

-to me of my ancestors, told me of all my thoughts, of all my actions,

-of all my existences. In former time he had been the River Indus; and

-he reminded me that I had once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> been a boatman upon the Nile, in the

-time of King Sesostris."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "As for me, they told me nothing; so that I know not who or what

-I have been."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "They have a vague look, like shadows!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Upon the shores of the sea we met with the milk-gorged

-Cynocephali, who were returning from their expedition to the Island

-Taprobana. The tepid waves rolled blond pearls to our feet. The amber

-crackled beneath our steps. Whale-skeletons were whitening in the

-crevasses of the cliffs. At last the land became narrow as a sandal;

-and after casting drops of ocean water toward the sun, we turned to the

-right to return.</p>

-

-<p>"So we returned through the Region of Aromatics, by way of the country

-of the Gangarides, the promontory of Comaria, the country of the

-Sachalites, of the Adramites and of the Homerites; then, across the

-Cassanian mountains, the Red Sea, and the Island Topazos, we penetrated

-into Ethiopia through the country of the Pygmies."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"How vast the world is!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And after we had returned home, we found that all those whom we

-used to know, were dead."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony lowers his head. Silence.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>continues</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Then men began to talk of me the world over.</p>

-

-<p>"The plague was ravaging Ephesus; I made them stone an old mendicant

-there."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And forthwith the plague departed."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! Does he drive away pestilence?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At Cnidos, I cured the man that had become enamored of

-Venus."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Aye! a fool who had even vowed to espouse her! To love a woman

-is at least comprehensible; but to love a statue&mdash;what madness! The

-Master placed his hand upon the young man's heart; and the fire of that

-love was at once extinguished."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How! does he also cast out devils?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At Tarentum they were carrying the dead body of a young

-girl to the funeral pyre."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "The Master touched her lips; and she arose and called her

-mother."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! he raises the dead!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I predicted to Vespasian his accession to power."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! he foretells the future!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "At Corinth there was a ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "It was when I was at table with him, at the waters of Baia

-..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Excuse me, strangers&mdash;it is very late ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "At Corinth there was a young man called Menippus ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "No! no!&mdash;go ye away!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "A dog came in, bearing a severed hand in his mouth."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "One evening, in one of the suburbs, he met a woman."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Do ye not hear me? Begone!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "He wandered in a bewildered way around the couches ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Enough!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "They sought to drive him out."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "So Menippus went with her to her house; they loved one

-another."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "And gently beating the mosaic pavement with his tail, he

-laid the severed hand upon the knees of Flavius."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "But next morning, during the lessons in the school, Menippus

-was pale."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>starting up in anger</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Still continuing! Ah! then let them continue till they be weary,

-inasmuch as there is no ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "The Master said to him: 'O beautiful youth, thou dost caress

-a serpent; by a serpent thou art caressed! And when shall be the

-nuptials?' We all went to the wedding."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Assuredly I am doing wrong, to hearken to such a story!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Servants were hurrying to and fro in the vestibule; doors were

-opening; nevertheless there was no sound made either by the fall of

-the footsteps nor the closing of the doors. The Master placed himself

-beside Menippus. And the bride forthwith became angered against the

-philosophers. But the vessels of gold, the cupbearers, the cooks, the

-panthers disappeared; the roof receded and vanished into air; the walls

-crumbled down; and Apollonius stood alone with the woman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> at his feet,

-all in tears. She was a vampire who satisfied the beautiful young men

-in order to devour their flesh, for nothing is more desirable for such

-phantoms than the blood of amorous youths."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "If thou shouldst desire to learn the art ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I do not wish to learn anything!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "The same evening that we arrived at the gates of Rome ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! yes!&mdash;speak to me rather of the City of Popes!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "A drunken man accosted us, who was singing in a low voice.

-The song was an epithalamium of Nero; and he had the power to cause

-the death of whosoever should hear it with indifference. In a box upon

-his shoulders he carried a string taken from the Emperor's cithara. I

-shrugged my shoulders. He flung mud in our faces. Then I unfastened my

-girdle and placed it in this hand."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "In sooth, thou wert most imprudent!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "During the night the Emperor summoned me to his house. He

-was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> playing at osselets with Sporus, supporting his left arm upon a

-table of agate. He turned and, knitting his brows, demanded: 'How comes

-it that thou dost not fear me?' 'Because,' I replied, 'the God who made

-thee terrible, also made me intrepid."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"There is something inexplicable that terrifies me!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Silence.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>breaking the silence with his shrill voice</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Moreover, all Asia can tell thee ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>starting up</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"I am ill! let me be!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "But listen! At Ephesus, he beheld them killing Domitian, who

-was at Rome."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>with a forced laugh</i>). "Is it possible?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Yes: at the theatre at noon-day, the fourteenth of the Kalenda

-of October, he suddenly cried out: 'Cæsar is being murdered!' and

-from time to time he would continue to ejaculate: 'He rolls upon the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>pavement ... Oh! how he struggles ... He rises ... He tries to flee

-... The doors are fastened ... Ah! it is all over! He is dead!' And in

-fact Titus Flavius Domitianus was assassinated upon that very day, as

-thou knowest."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Without the aid of the Devil ... certainly ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "He had purposed putting me to death, that same Domitian!

-Damis had taken flight according to my order, and I remained alone in

-my prison."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "A terrible hardihood on thy part, it must be confessed!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "About the fifth hour, the soldiers led me before the

-tribunal. I had my harangue all ready hidden beneath my mantle."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "We others were then upon the shores of Puteoli, we believed

-thee dead; we were all weeping, when all of a sudden about the sixth

-hour, thou didst suddenly appear before us, exclaiming: 'It is I.'"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>). "Even as He...!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>in a very loud voice</i>). "Precisely!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! no! ye lie! is it not so?&mdash;ye lie!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "He descended from heaven. I rise thither, by the power of

-my virtue that has lifted me up even to the height of the Principle of

-all things!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Thyana, his natal city, has established in his honor a temple

-and a priesthood!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>draws near Anthony, and shouts in his ear</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"It is because I know all gods, all rites, all prayers, all oracles!

-I have penetrated into the cave of Trophonius, son of Apollo! I

-have kneaded for Syracusan women the cakes which they carry to the

-mountains. I have endured the eighty tests of Mithra! I have pressed to

-my heart the serpent of Sabasius! I have received the scarf of Kabiri!

-I have laved Cybele in the waters of the Campanian gulfs! and I have

-passed three moons in the caverns of Samothracia!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>with a stupid laugh</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! ah! ah! at the mysteries of the good Goddess!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "And now we recommence our pilgrimage.</p>

-

-<p>"We go to the North to the land of Swans and of snows. Upon the vast

-white plains,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> the blind hippopodes break with the tips of their feet

-the ultramarine plant."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Hasten! it is already dawn. The cock has crowed, the horse has

-neighed, the sail is hoisted!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The cock has not crowed! I hear the locusts in the sands, and

-I see the moon still in her place."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "We go to the South, beyond the mountains and the mighty

-waters, to seek in perfumes the secret source of love. Thou shalt

-inhale the odor of myrrhodion which makes the weak die. Thou shalt

-bathe thy body in the lake of Rose-oil which is in the Island Junonia.

-Thou shalt see slumbering upon primroses that Lizard which awakes

-every hundred years when the carbuncle upon its forehead, arriving

-at maturity, falls to the ground. The stars palpitate like eyes; the

-cascades sing like the melody of lyres; strange intoxication is exhaled

-by blossoming flowers; thy mind shall grow vaster in that air; and thy

-heart shall change even as thy face."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Master! it is time! The wind has risen, the swallows awaken,

-the myrtle leaves are blown away."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Yes! let us go!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Nay! I remain here!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Shall I tell thee where grows the plant Balis, that

-resurrects the dead?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> "Nay; ask him rather for the audrodamas which attracts silver,

-iron and brass!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! how I suffer! how I suffer!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Thou shalt comprehend the voices of all living creatures, the

-roarings, the cooings!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I shall enable thee to ride upon unicorns and upon

-dragons, upon hippocentaurs and dolphins!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>weeping</i>). "Oh ... oh!... oh!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Thou shalt know the demons that dwell in the caverns, the

-demons that mutter in the woods, the demons that move in the waves, the

-demons that push the clouds!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Tighten thy girdle, fasten thy sandals!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I shall explain to thee the reason of divine forms&mdash;why

-Apollo stands,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> why Jupiter is seated, why Venus is black, at Corinth,

-square-shaped at Athens, conical at Paphos."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>clasping his hands</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Let them begone! let them begone!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "In thy presence I will tear down the panoplies of the

-Gods; we shall force open the sanctuaries, I will enable thee to

-violate the Pythoness!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Help! O my God!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He rushes to the cross.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "What is thy desire? What is thy dream? Thou needst only

-devote the moment of time necessary to think of it ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Jesus! Jesus! Help me!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Dost thou wish me to make him appear, thy Jesus?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What? How!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "It shall be He!&mdash;no other! He will cast off his crown, and

-we shall converse face to face!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>in an undertone</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Say thou dost indeed wish it! say thou dost desire it!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony kneeling before the cross, murmurs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> prayers. Damis walks

-around him, with wheedling gestures.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Nay, nay! good hermit. Be not horrified! These are only exaggerated

-forms of speech, borrowed from the Orientals. That need in no way ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Let him alone, Damis!</p>

-

-<p>"He believes, like a brute, in the reality of things. The terror which

-he entertains of the Gods prevents him from comprehending them; and he

-debases his own God to the level of a jealous king!</p>

-

-<p>"But thou, my son, do not leave me!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He moves to the edge of the cliff, walking backward, passes beyond

-the verge of the precipice, and remains suspended in air.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Above all forms, further than the ends of the earth, beyond the

-heavens themselves, lies the world of Idea, replete with the splendor

-of the Word! With one bound we shall traverse the impending spaces, and

-thou shalt behold in all his infinity, the Eternal, the Absolute, the

-Being! Come! give me thy hand! Let us rise."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Side by side, both rise up through the air, slowly. Anthony, clinging

-to the cross, watches them rise. They disappear.</i>)</p>

-<hr class="r5" />

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_1_8" id="Footnote_1_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_8"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Agape.&mdash;Love-feast of the primitive Christians.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_2_9" id="Footnote_2_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_9"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> John XVI: 12.&mdash;T.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_3_10" id="Footnote_3_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_10"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See <a href="#NOTE">note</a> at end.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_4_11" id="Footnote_4_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_11"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Masheim gives <i>Achamoth.</i> I prefer to remain faithful to

-the orthography given by Flaubert.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_5_12" id="Footnote_5_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_12"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The French text gives <i>mes pères</i> not <i>nos pères.</i> Elxai,

-or Elkhai, who established his sect in the reign of Trajan, was a Jew.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_6_13" id="Footnote_6_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_13"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> See <a href="#NOTE">note</a>.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_7_14" id="Footnote_7_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_14"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The banyan is a fig-tree&mdash;the <i>Ficus indicus.</i>&mdash;Trans.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_8_15" id="Footnote_8_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_15"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Readers may remember Longfellow's exquisite poem "Helena

-of Tyre."</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_9_16" id="Footnote_9_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_16"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> See the second part of "Faust," and <i>Kundry</i> in

-"Parsifal."</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p></div>

-

-

-

-

-<h4><a name="V" id="V">V.</a></h4>

-

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>walking to and fro, slowly</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"That one, indeed, seems in himself equal to all the powers of Hell!</p>

-

-<p>"Nebuchadnezzar did not so much dazzle me with his splendours;&mdash;the

-Queen of Sheba herself charmed me less deeply.</p>

-

-<p>"His manner of speaking of the gods compels one to feel a desire to

-know them.</p>

-

-<p>"I remember having beheld hundreds of them at one time, in the island

-of Elephantius, in the time of Diocletian. The emperor had ceded to the

-Nomads a great tract of country, upon the condition that they should

-guard the frontiers; and the treaty was concluded in the name of the

-'Powers Invisible.' For the gods of each people were unknown unto the

-other people.</p>

-

-<p>"The Barbarians had brought theirs with them. They occupied the

-sand-hills bordering the river. We saw them supporting their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> idols in

-their arms, like great paralytic children;&mdash;others, paddling through

-the cataracts upon trunks of palm tree, displayed from afar off the

-amulets hung about their necks, the tattooings upon their breasts; and

-these things were not more sinful than the religion of the Greeks, the

-Asiatics, and the Romans!</p>

-

-<p>"When I was dwelling in the temple of Heliopolis I would often consider

-the things I beheld upon the walls:&mdash;vultures bearing sceptres,

-crocodiles playing upon lyres, faces of men with the bodies of

-serpents, cow-headed women prostrating themselves before ithyphallic

-gods:&mdash;and their supernatural forms attracted my thoughts to other

-worlds. I longed to know that which drew the gaze of all those calm and

-mysterious eyes.</p>

-

-<p>"If matter can exert such power, it must surely contain a spirit. The

-souls of the Gods are attached to their images ...</p>

-

-<p>"Those possessing the beauty of forms might seduce. But the others

-... those of loathsome or terrible aspect ... how can men believe in

-them?..."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And he beholds passing over the surface of the ground,&mdash;leaves,

-stones, shells,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> branches of trees,&mdash;then a variety of hydropical

-dwarfs: these are gods. He bursts into a laugh. He hears another laugh

-behind him;&mdash;and Hilarion appears, in the garb of a hermit, far taller

-than before, colossal.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>who feels no surprise at seeing him</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"How stupid one must be to worship such things!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Aye!&mdash;exceedingly stupid!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then idols of all nations and of all epochs&mdash;of wood, of metal, of

-granite, of feathers, of skins sewn together,&mdash;pass before them.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The most ancient of all anterior to the Deluge are hidden under masses

-of seaweed hanging down over them like manes. Some that are too long

-for their bases, crack in all their joints, and break their own backs

-in walking. Others have rents torn in their bellies through which sand

-trickles out.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony and Hilarion are prodigiously amused. They hold their sides

-for laughter. Then appear sheep-headed idols. They totter upon their

-bandy-legs, half-open their eye-lids, and stutter like the dumb,</i> "Ba!

-ba! ba!"</p>

-

-<p><i>The more that the idols commence to resemble<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> the human forms, the

-more they irritate Anthony. He strikes them with his fist, kicks them,

-attacks them with fury. They become frightful,&mdash;with lofty plumes, eyes

-like balls, fingers terminated by claws, the jaws of sharks.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And before these gods men are slaughtered upon altars of stone; others

-are brayed alive in huge mortars, crushed under chariots, nailed upon

-trees. There is one all of red-hot iron with the horns of a bull, who

-devours children.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Horror!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "But the gods always demand tortures&mdash;and suffering. Even

-thine desired ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>weeping</i>). "Ah! say no more!&mdash;do not speak to me!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The space girdled by the rocks suddenly changes into a valley. A herd

-of cattle are feeding upon the short grass.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The herdman who leads them, observes a cloud;&mdash;and in a sharp voice,

-shouts out words of command, as if to heaven.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Because he needs rain, he seeks by certain chants to compel

-the King of heaven to open the fecund cloud."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>laughing</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Verily, such pride is the extreme of foolishness!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Why dost thou utter exorcisms?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The valley changes into a sea of milk, motionless and infinite. In

-its midst floats a long cradle formed by the coils of a serpent, whose

-many curving heads shade, like a dais, the god slumbering upon its

-body.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He is beardless, young, more beautiful than a girl, and covered with

-diaphanous veils. The pearls of his tiara gleam softly like moons; a

-chaplet of stars is entwined many times about his breast, and with one

-hand beneath his head, he slumbers with the look of one who dreams

-after wine.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>A woman crouching at his feet, awaits the moment of his awaking.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Such is the primordial duality of the Brahmans,&mdash;the

-Absolute being inexpressible by any form."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>From the navel of the god has grown the stem of a lotus flower; it

-blossoms, and within its chalice appears another god with three faces.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How strange an invention!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but one and the same

-Person!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The three faces separate; and three great gods appear.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The first, who is pink, bites the end of his great toe.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The second, who is blue, uplifts his four arms.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The third, who is green, wears a necklace of human skulls.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Before them instantly arise three goddesses&mdash;one is enveloped in a

-net; another offers a cup; the third brandishes a bow.</i></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon11"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_11.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p> ... instantly arise three goddesses</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2"><i>And these gods, these goddesses, decuple themselves, multiply. Arms

-grow from their shoulders; at the end of these arms hands appear

-bearing standards, axes, bucklers, swords, parasols and drums.

-Fountains gush from their heads, plants grow from their nostrils.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Riding upon birds rocked in palanquins, enthroned upon seats of gold,

-standing in ivory niches,&mdash;they dream, voyage, command, drink wine,

-respire the breath of flowers. Dancing girls whirl in the dance; giants

-pursue monsters; at the entrances of grottoes solitaries meditate. Eyes

-cannot be distinguished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> from stars; nor clouds from banderolles;

-peacocks quench their thirst at rivers of gold dust; the embroidery

-of pavilions seems to blend with the spots of leopards; coloured rays

-intercross in the blue air, together with flying arrows, and swinging

-censers.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And all this develops like a lofty frieze, resting its base upon the

-rocks, and rising to the sky.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>dazzled by the sight</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"How vast is their number! What do they seek?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The god who rubs his abdomen with his elephant-trunk, is the

-solar Deity, the inspiring spirit of wisdom.</p>

-

-<p>"That other whose six heads are crowned with towers, and whose fourteen

-arms wield javelins,&mdash;is the prince of armies,&mdash;the Fire-Consumer.</p>

-

-<p>"The old man riding the crocodile washes the soul of the dead upon

-the shore. They will be tormented by that black woman with the putrid

-teeth, who is the Ruler of Hell.</p>

-

-<p>"That chariot drawn by red mares, driven by one who has no legs, bears

-the master of the sun through heaven's azure. The moon-god<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> accompanies

-him, in a litter drawn by three gazelles.</p>

-

-<p>"Kneeling upon the back of a parrot, the Goddess of Beauty presents to

-Love, her son, her rounded breast. Behold her now, further off, leaping

-for joy in the meadows. Look! Look! Coiffed with dazzling mitre, she

-trips lightly over the ears of growing wheat, over the waves; she rises

-in air, extending her power over all elements.</p>

-

-<p>"And among these gods are the Genii of the winds, of the planets, of

-the months, of the days,&mdash;a hundred thousand others;&mdash;multiple are

-their aspects, rapid their transformations. Behold, there is one who

-changes from a fish into a tortoise: he assumes the form of a boar, the

-shape of a dwarf."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Wherefore?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "That he may preserve the equilibrium of the universe, and

-combat the works of evil. But life exhausts itself; forms wear away;

-and they must achieve progression in their metamorphoses."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>All upon a sudden appears a</i> <span class="smcap">Naked Man</span> <i>seated in the midst of the

-sand, with legs crossed.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>(<i>A large halo vibrates, suspended in air behind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> him. The little

-ringlets of his black hair in which blueish tints shift symmetrically

-surround a protuberance upon the summit of his skull. His arms,

-which are very long, hang down against his sides. His two hands rest

-flat upon his thighs, with the palms open. The soles of his feet

-are like the faces of two blazing suns; and he remains completely

-motionless&mdash;before Anthony and Hilarion&mdash;with all the gods around him,

-rising in tiers above the rocks, as if upon the benches of some vast

-circus. His lips, half-open; and he speaks in a deep voice</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"I am the Master of great charities, the succor of all creatures; and

-not less to the profane than to believers, do I expound the law.</p>

-

-<p>"That I might deliver the world, I resolved to be born among men. The

-gods wept when I departed from them.</p>

-

-<p>"I sought me first a woman worthy to give me birth: a woman of warrior

-race, the wife of a king, exceedingly good, excessively beautiful,

-with body firm as adamant;&mdash;and at time of the full moon, without the

-auxiliation of any male, I entered her womb.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"I issued from it by the right side. Stars stopped in their courses."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>murmurs between his teeth</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy!"<a name="FNanchor_1_17" id="FNanchor_1_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_17" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony watches more attentively.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span><a name="FNanchor_2_18" id="FNanchor_2_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_18" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> (<i>continuing</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"From the furthest recesses of the Himalayas, a holy man one hundred

-years of age, hurried to see me."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "A man named Simeon ... who should not see death, before he

-had seen the Christ of the Lord."<a name="FNanchor_3_19" id="FNanchor_3_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_19" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "I was led unto the schools; and it was found that I knew

-more than the teachers."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "... In the midst of the doctors ... and all that heard him

-were astonished at his wisdom!"<a name="FNanchor_4_20" id="FNanchor_4_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_20" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony makes a sign to Hilarion to be silent.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "Continually did I meditate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> in the gardens. The shadows of

-the trees turned with the turning of the sun; but the shadow of that

-which sheltered me turned not.</p>

-

-<p>"None could equal me in the knowledge of the Scriptures, the

-enumeration of atoms, the conduct of elephants, the working of wax,

-astronomy, poetry, pugilism, all the exercises and all the arts!</p>

-

-<p>"In accordance with custom, I took to myself a wife; and I passed the

-days in my kingly palace;&mdash;clad in pearls, under a rain of perfumes,

-refreshed by the fans of thirty thousand women,&mdash;watching my peoples

-from the height of my terraces adorned with fringes of resonant bells.</p>

-

-<p>"But the sight of the miseries of the world turned me away from

-pleasure. I fled.</p>

-

-<p>"I begged my way upon the high roads, clad myself in rags gathered

-within the sepulchres;&mdash;and, hearing of a most learned hermit, I chose

-to become his slave. I guarded his gate! I washed his feet.</p>

-

-<p>"Thus I annihilated all sensation, all joy, all languor.</p>

-

-<p>"Then, concentrating my thoughts within vaster meditation, I learned to

-know the essence of things, the illusion of forms.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"Soon I exhausted the science of the Brahmans. They are gnawed by

-covetousness and desire under their outward aspect of austerity; they

-daub themselves with filth, they live upon thorns,&mdash;hoping to arrive at

-happiness by the path of death!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>.... "Pharisees, hypocrites, whited sepulchres, generation of

-vipers!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "I also accomplished wondrous things,&mdash;eating but one

-grain of rice each day (and the grains of rice in those times were no

-larger than at present)&mdash;my hair fell off; my body became black; my

-eyes receding within their sockets, seemed even as stars beheld at the

-bottom of a well.</p>

-

-<p>"During six years I kept myself motionless, exposed to the flies, the

-lions and the serpents; and the great summer suns, the torrential

-rains, lightnings and snows, hails and tempests,&mdash;all of these I

-endured without even the shelter of my lifted hand.</p>

-

-<p>"The travellers who passed by, believing me dead, cast clods of earth

-upon me!</p>

-

-<p>"Only the temptation of the Devil remained!</p>

-

-<p>"I summoned him.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"His sons came,&mdash;hideous, scale-covered, nauseous as

-charnel-houses,&mdash;shrieking, hissing, bellowing; interclashing their

-panoplies, rattling together the bones of dead men. Some belched

-flame through their nostrils; some made darkness about me with their

-wings; some wore chaplets of severed fingers; some drank serpent-venom

-from the hollows of their hands;&mdash;they were swine-headed; they were

-rhinoceros-headed or toad-headed; they assumed all forms that inspire

-loathing or affright."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"I also endured all that in other days!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha.</span> "Then did he send me his daughters&mdash;beautiful with

-daintily painted faces, and wearing girdles of gold. Their teeth were

-whiter than the jasmine-flower; their thighs round as the trunk of

-an elephant. Some extended their arms and yawned, that they might so

-display the dimples of their elbows; some winked their eyes; some

-laughed; some half-opened their garments. There were blushing virgins,

-matrons replete with dignity, queens who came with great trains of

-baggage and of slaves."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>). "Ah! he too ..."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "Having vanquished the Demon, I nourished myself for twelve

-years with perfumes only;&mdash;and as I had acquired the five virtues,

-the five faculties, the ten forces, the eighteen substances, and had

-entered into the four spheres of the invisible world, Intelligence

-became mine! I became the Buddha."</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon12"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_12.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha. </p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2">(<i>All the gods bow themselves down. Those having several heads, bend

-them all simultaneously. He lifts his mighty hand aloft, and resumes</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"That I might effect the deliverance of beings, I have made hundreds

-of thousands of sacrifices! To the poor I gave robes of silk, beds,

-chariots, houses, heaps of gold and of diamonds. I gave my hands to the

-one-handed, my legs to the lame, my eyes to the blind;&mdash;even my head I

-severed for the sake of the decapitated. In the day that I was King, I

-gave away provinces;&mdash;when I was a Brahman I despised no one. When I

-was a solitary, I spake kindly words to the robber who slew me. When I

-was a tiger I allowed myself to die of hunger.</p>

-

-<p>"And having, in this last existence, preached the law, nothing now

-remains for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> me to do. The great period is accomplished! Men, animals,

-the gods, the bamboos, the oceans, the mountains, the sand-grains of

-the Ganges, together with the myriad myriads of the stars,&mdash;all shall

-die;&mdash;and until the time of the new births, a flame shall dance upon

-the wrecks of worlds destroyed!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then a great dizziness comes upon the gods. They stagger, fall into

-convulsions, and vomit forth their existences. Their crowns burst

-apart; their banners fly away. They tear off their attributes, their

-sexes, fling over their shoulders the cups from which they quaffed

-immortality, strangle themselves with their serpents, vanish in

-smoke;&mdash;and when all have disappeared</i> ...)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>solemnly exclaims</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Thou hast even now beheld the belief of many hundreds of millions of

-men."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony is prostrate upon the ground, covering his face with his

-hands. Hilarion, with his back turned to the cross, stands near him and

-watches him.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>A considerable time elapses.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Then a singular being appears&mdash;having the head of a man upon the body

-of a fish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> He approaches through the air, upright, beating the sand

-from time to time with his tail; and the patriarchal aspect of his face

-by contrast with his puny little arms, causes Anthony to laugh.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Oannes</span> (<i>in a plaintive voice</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Respect me! I am the contemporary of beginnings.</p>

-

-<p>"I dwelt in that formless world where hermaphroditic creatures

-slumbered, under the weight of an opaque atmosphere, in the deeps of

-dark waters&mdash;when fingers, fins, and wings were blended, and eyes

-without heads were floating like mollusks, among human-headed bulls,

-and dog-footed serpents.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon13"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_13.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p> ... and eyes without heads were floating like mollusks

-</p></div></div>

-

-<p class="p2">"Above the whole of these beings, <span class="smcap">Omoroca</span>, bent like a hoop, extended

-her woman-body. But Belus cleft her in two halves; with one he made the

-earth; with the other, heaven;&mdash;and the two equal worlds do mutually

-contemplate each other.</p>

-

-<p>"I, the first consciousness of <span class="smcap">Chaos</span>, arose from the abyss that I might

-harden matter, and give a law unto forms:&mdash;also I taught men to fish

-and to sow: I gave them knowledge of writing, and of the history of the

-gods.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon14"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_14.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose

-from the abyss that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms

-</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2">"Since then I have dwelt in the deep pools left by the Deluge. But the

-desert grows vaster about them; the winds cast sand into them; the sun

-devours them;&mdash;and I die upon my couch of slime, gazing at the stars

-through the water. Thither I return!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He leaps and disappears in the Nile.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "That is an ancient God of the Chaldæans!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>ironically</i>). "What, then, were those of Babylon?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou canst behold them!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And they find themselves upon the platform of a lofty quadrangular

-tower dominating six other towers, which, narrowing as they rise, form

-one monstrous pyramid. Far below a great black mass is visible&mdash;the

-city, doubtless&mdash;extending over the plains. The air is cold; the sky

-darkly blue; multitudes of stars palpitate above.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>In the midst of the platform rises a column of white stone. Priests

-in linen robes pass and repass around it, so as to describe by their

-evolutions a moving circle; and with faces uplifted, they gaze upon the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>stars.</i> ...)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. (<i>pointing out several of these stars to Anthony</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"There are thirty principal stars. Fifteen look upon the upper side

-of the earth; fifteen below. At regular intervals one shoots from the

-upper regions to those below; while another abandons the inferior deeps

-to rise to sublime altitudes ...</p>

-

-<p>"Of the seven planets, two are beneficent; two evil; three

-ambiguous:&mdash;all things in the world depend upon the influence of these

-eternal fires. According to their position or movement presages may be

-drawn;&mdash;and here thou dost tread the most venerable place upon earth.

-Here Pythagoras and Zoroaster have met;&mdash;here for twelve thousand years

-these men have observed the skies that they might better learn to know

-the gods."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The stars are not gods."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Aye, they say the stars are gods; for all things about us

-pass away;&mdash;the heavens only remain immutable as eternity."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet there is a master!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>pointing to the column</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"He! Belus!&mdash;the first ray, the Sun, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> Male! The Other, whom he

-fecundates, is beneath him!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony beholds a garden, illuminated by lamps</i>: <i>He finds himself

-in the midst of the crowd, in an avenue of cypress-trees. To right and

-left are little pathways leading to huts constructed within a wood of

-pomegranate trees, and enclosed by treillages of bamboo.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Most of the men wear pointed caps, and garments bedizened like the

-plumage of a peacock. But there are also people from the North clad

-in bearskins, nomads wearing mantles of brown wool, pallid Gangarides

-with long earrings;&mdash;and there seems to be as much confusion of rank

-as there is confusion of nations; for sailors and stone-cutters elbow

-the princes who wear tiaras blazing with carbuncles and who carry

-long canes with carven knobs. All proceed upon their way with dilated

-nostrils, absorbed by the same desire.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>From time to time, they draw aside to make way for some long covered

-wagon drawn by oxen, or some ass jolting upon his back a woman bundled

-up in thick veils, who finally disappears in the direction of the

-cabins.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony feels afraid; he half-resolves to turn back. But an

-unutterable curiosity takes possession of him, and draws him on.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>At the foot of the cypress-trees there are ranks of women squatting

-upon deerskins, all wearing in lieu of diadem, a plaited fillet of

-ropes. Some, magnificently attired, loudly call upon the passers-by.

-Others, more timid, seek to veil their faces with their arms, while

-some matron standing behind them, their mother doubtless, exhorts

-them. Others, their heads veiled with a black shawl, and their bodies

-entirely nude, seem from afar off to be statues of flesh. As soon as a

-man has thrown some money upon their knees, they arise.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And the sound of kisses is heard under the foliage,&mdash;sometimes a great

-sharp cry.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "These are the virgins of Babylon, who prostitute themselves

-to the goddess."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What goddess?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Behold her!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And he shows him at the further end of the avenue, upon the threshold

-of an illuminated grotto, a block of stone representing a woman.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ignominy!&mdash;how abominable to give a sex to God!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou thyself dost figure him in thy mind as a living person!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony again finds himself in darkness.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He beholds in the air a luminous circle, poised upon horizontal

-wings. This ring of light, girdles like a loose belt, the waist of a

-little man wearing a mitre upon his head and carrying a wreath in his

-hand. The lower part of his figure is completely concealed by immense

-feathers outspreading about him like a petticoat.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>It is</i>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ormuzd</span>&mdash;<i>the God of the Persians. He hovers in the air above,

-crying aloud</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"I fear! I can see his monstrous jaws! I did vanquish thee, O Ahriman!

-But again thou dost war against me.</p>

-

-<p>"First revolting against me, thou didst destroy the eldest of

-creatures, Kaiomortz, the Man-Bull. Then didst thou seduce the first

-human couple, Meschia and Meschiané; and thou didst fill all hearts

-with darkness, thou didst urge thy battalions against heaven!</p>

-

-<p>"I also had mine own, the people of the stars; and from the height of

-my throne I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> contemplated the marshalling of the astral hosts.</p>

-

-<p>"Mithra, my son, dwelt in heavens inaccessible. There he received

-souls, from thence did he send them forth; and he arose each morning to

-pour forth the abundance of his riches.</p>

-

-<p>"The earth reflected the splendour of the firmament. Fire blazed upon

-the crests of the mountains,&mdash;symbolizing that other fire of which

-I had created all creatures. And that the holy flame might not be

-polluted, the bodies of the dead were not burned; the beaks of birds

-carried them aloft toward heaven.</p>

-

-<p>"I gave to men the laws regulating pastures, labour, the choice of wood

-for the sacrifices, the form of cups, the words to be uttered in hours

-of sleeplessness;&mdash;and my priests unceasingly offered up prayers, so

-that worship might be as the eternity of God in its endlessness. Men

-purified themselves with water; loaves were offered upon the altars,

-sins were confessed aloud.</p>

-

-<p>"Homa<a name="FNanchor_5_21" id="FNanchor_5_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_21" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> gave himself to men to be drank,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> that they might have his

-strength communicated to them while the Genii of heaven were combating

-the demons, the children of Iran were pursuing the serpents. The

-King, whom an innumerable host of courtiers served upon their knees,

-represented me in his person, and wore my coiffure. His gardens had the

-magnificence of a heaven upon earth; and his tomb represented him in

-the act of slaying a monster,&mdash;emblem of Good destroying Evil.</p>

-

-<p>"For it was destined that I should one day definitely conquer Ahriman,

-by the aid of Time-without-limits.</p>

-

-<p>"But the interval between us disappears;&mdash;the deep night rises! To

-me! ye Amschaspands, ye Izeds, ye Ferouers! Succor me, Mithra! seize

-thy sword! And thou, Kaosyac, who shall return for the universal

-deliverance, defend me! What!&mdash;none to aid! Ah! I die! Thou art the

-victor, Ahriman!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Hilarion, standing behind Anthony, restrains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> a cry of joy;&mdash;and</i>

-Ormuzd <i>is swallowed up in the darkness.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then appears</i>:)</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Great Diana of Ephesus</p>

-

-<p>(<i>black with enamelled eyes, her elbows pressed to her side, her

-forearms extended, with hands open.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Lions crawl upon her shoulders; fruits, flowers, and stars intercross

-upon her bosom; further down three rows of breasts appear; and from her

-belly to her feet she is covered with a tightly fitting sheath from

-which bulls, stags, griffins, and bees, seem about to spring, their

-bodies half-protruding from it. She is illuminated by the white light

-emanating from a disk of silver, round as the full moon, placed behind

-her head.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Where is my temple? Where are my Amazons?</p>

-

-<p>"What is this I feel?&mdash;I, the Incorruptible!&mdash;a strange faintness comes

-upon me!"...</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Her flowers wither, her over-ripe fruits become detached and fall.

-The lions and the bulls hang their heads; the deer foam at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> mouth,

-with a slimy foam, as though exhausted; the buzzing bees die upon the

-ground.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>She presses her breasts, one after the other. All are empty! But under

-a desperate effort her sheath bursts. She seizes it by the bottom, like

-the skirt of a robe, throws her animals, her fruits, her flowers, into

-it,&mdash;then withdraws into the darkness.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And afar off there are voices, murmuring, growling, roaring,

-bellowing, belling. The density of the night is augmented by breaths.

-Drops of warm rain fall.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How sweet the odour of the palm trees, the trembling of

-leaves, the transparency of springs! I feel the desire to lie flat upon

-the Earth that I might feel her against my heart; and my life would be

-reinvigorated by her eternal youth!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He hears the sound of castanets and of cymbals; and men appear, clad

-in white tunics with red stripes,&mdash;leading through the midst of a

-rustic crowd an ass, richly harnessed, its tail decorated with knots of

-ribbons, and its hoofs painted.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>A box, covered with a saddle-cloth<a name="FNanchor_6_22" id="FNanchor_6_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_22" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> yellow material shakes to

-and fro upon its back, between two baskets,&mdash;one receives the offerings

-contributed,&mdash;eggs, grapes, pears, cheeses, fowls, little coins; and

-the other basket is full of roses, which the leaders of the ass pluck

-to pieces as they walk before the animal, shedding the leaves upon the

-ground.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>They wear earrings and large mantles; their locks are plaited, their

-cheeks painted, olive-wreaths are fastened upon their foreheads by

-medallions bearing figurines;&mdash;all wear poniards in their belts, and

-brandish ebony-handled whips, having three thongs to which osselets are

-attached.</i><a name="FNanchor_7_23" id="FNanchor_7_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_23" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>

-

-<p><i>Those who form the rear of the procession, place upon the soil,&mdash;so as

-to remain upright as a candelabrum,&mdash;a tall pine, which burns at its

-summit, and shades under its lower branches a lamb.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The ass halts. The saddle-cloth is removed. Underneath appears a

-second covering of black felt. Then one of the men in white tunics

-begins to dance, rattling his crotali;&mdash;another, kneeling before the

-box, beats a tambourine and</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Oldest of the Band</span>, <i>begins</i>:&mdash;</p>

-

-<p>"Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains, the Great Mother

-of Syria! Come ye hither, good people all!</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon15"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_15.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains </p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2">"She gives joy to men, she heals the sick; she sends inheritances; she

-satisfies the hunger of love!</p>

-

-<p>"We bear her through the land, rain or shine, in fair weather, or in

-foul.</p>

-

-<p>"Oft times we lie in the open air, and our table is not always well

-served. Robbers dwell in the woods. Wild beasts rush from their

-caverns. Slippery paths border the precipices. Behold her! behold her!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>They lift off the covering; and a box is seen, inlaid with little

-pebbles.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Loftier than the cedars, she looks down from the blue ether. Vaster

-than the wind she encircles the world. Her breath is exhaled by the

-nostrils of tigers; the rumbling of her voice is heard beneath the

-volcanoes; her wrath is the tempest; the pallor of her face has

-whitened the moon. She ripens the harvest; by her the tree-bark swells

-with sap; she makes the beard to grow. Give her something; for she

-hates the avaricious!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The box opens; and under a little pavilion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> of blue silk appears a

-small image of Cybele&mdash;glittering with spangles, crowned with towers,

-and seated in a chariot of red stone, drawn by two lions, with uplifted

-paws.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The crowd presses forward to see.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap"><span class="smcap">THE ARCHIGALLUS</span></span> (<i>continues</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"She loves the sound of resounding tympanums, the echo of dancing

-feet, the howling of wolves, the sonorous mountains and the deep

-gorges, the flower of the almond tree, the pomegranate and the green

-fig, the whirling dance, the snoring flute, the sugary sap, the salty

-tear,&mdash;blood! To thee, to thee!&mdash;Mother of the mountains!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>They scourge themselves with their whips; and their chests resound

-with the blows;&mdash;the skins of the tambourines vibrate almost to

-bursting. They seize their knives; they gash their arms.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"She is sorrowful; let us be sorrowful! Thereby your sins will be

-remitted. Blood purifies all&mdash;fling its red drops abroad like blossoms!

-She, the Great Mother, demands the blood of another creature&mdash;of a pure

-being!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The Archigallus raises his knife above the head of a lamb.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>seized with horror</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Do not slay the lamb!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>There is a gush of purple blood. The priest sprinkles the crowd

-with it; and all&mdash;including Anthony and Hilarion&mdash;standing around the

-burning tree, silently watch the last palpitations of the victim.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>A Woman comes forth from the midst of the priests; she resembles

-exactly the image within the little box.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>She pauses, perceiving before her a Young Man wearing a Phrygian

-cap. His thighs are covered with a pair of narrow trousers, with

-lozenge-shaped openings here and there at regular intervals, closed by

-bow knots of coloured material. He stands in an attitude of languor,

-resting his elbow against a branch of the tree, holding a flute in his

-hand.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Cybele</span> (<i>flinging her arms about his waist</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"I have traversed all regions of the earth to join thee&mdash;and famine

-ravaged the fields Thou hast deceived me! It matters not! I love thee!

-Warm my body in thine embrace! Let us be united!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Atys</span>. "The springtime will never again return, O eternal Mother!

-Despite my love, it is no longer possible for me to penetrate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> thy

-essence! Would that I might cover myself with a painted robe like

-thine! I envy thy breasts, swelling with milk, the length of thy

-tresses, thy vast flanks that have borne and brought forth all

-creatures! Why am I not thou?&mdash;Why am I not a woman?&mdash;No, never! depart

-from me! My virility fills me with horror!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>With a sharp stone he dismembers himself, and runs furiously from her

-...</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The priests imitate the god; the faithful do even as the priests. Men

-and women exchange garments, embrace;&mdash;and the tumult of bleeding flesh

-passes away, while the sound of voices remaining, becomes even more

-strident,&mdash;like the shrieking of mourners, like the voices heard at

-funerals.</i></p>

-

-<p><i> ... A huge catafalque, hung with purple, supports upon its summit an

-ebony bed, surrounded by torches and baskets of silver filagree, in

-which are verdant leaves of lettuce, mallow and fennel. Upon the steps

-of the construction, from summit to base, sit women all clad in black,

-with loosened girdles and bare feet, holding in their hands with a

-melancholy air, great bouquets of flowers.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>At each corner of the estrade urns of alabaster,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> filled with myrrh,

-slowly send up their smoke.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Upon the bed can be perceived the corpse of a man. Blood flows from

-his thigh. One of his arms hangs down lifelessly;&mdash;and a dog licks his

-finger nails and howls.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The row of torches placed closely together, prevents his face from

-being seen; and Anthony feels a strange anguish within him. He fears

-lest he should recognize some one.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The sobs of the women cease&mdash;and after an interval of silence</i>,)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>psalmody together</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Fair! fair!&mdash;all fair he is! Thou hast slept enough!&mdash;lift thy

-head!&mdash;arise!</p>

-

-<p>"Inhale the perfume of our flowers&mdash;narcissus&mdash;blossoms and anemones,

-gathered in thine own gardens to please thee. Arouse thee! thou dost

-make us fear for thee!</p>

-

-<p>"Speak to us! What dost thou desire? Wilt thou drink wine?&mdash;wilt thou

-lie in our beds?&mdash;dost wish to eat the honeycakes which have the form

-of little birds?</p>

-

-<p>"Let us press his lips,&mdash;kiss his breast! Now!&mdash;now!&mdash;dost thou not

-feel our ring-laden fingers passing over thy body?&mdash;and our lips that

-seek thy mouth?&mdash;and our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> tresses that sweep thy thighs? O faint God,

-deaf to our prayers!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>They cry aloud, and rend their faces with their nails; then all

-rush,&mdash;and the howling of the dog continues in the silence.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Alas! alas! Woe!&mdash;the black blood trickles over his snowy flesh!

-See! his knees writhe!&mdash;his sides sink in! The bloom of his face hath

-dampened the purple. He is dead, dead! O weep for him! Lament for him!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>In long procession they ascend to lay between the torches the

-offerings of their several tresses, that seem from afar off like

-serpents, black or blond;&mdash;and the catafalque is lowered gently to the

-level of, a grotto,&mdash;the opening of a shadowy sepulchre that yawns

-behind it.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Then</i>&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">A Woman</span> (<i>bends over the corpse. Her long hair, uncut, envelopes her

-from head to feet. She sheds tears so abundantly that her grief cannot

-be as that of the others, but more than human&mdash;infinite!</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony dreams of the Mother of Jesus. She speaks</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"Thou didst emerge from the Orient, and didst take me, all trembling

-with the dew, into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> thy arms, O Sun! Doves fluttered upon the azure

-of thy mantle; our kisses evoked low breezes among the foliage; and I

-abandoned myself wholly to thy love, delighting in the pleasure of my

-weakness.</p>

-

-<p>"Alas! alas&mdash;Why didst thou depart, to run upon the mountains! A boar

-did wound thee at the time of the autumnal equinox!</p>

-

-<p>"Thou art dead; and the fountains weep,&mdash;the trees bend down. The wind

-of winter whistles through the naked brushwood.</p>

-

-<p>"My eyes are about to close, seeing that darkness covers them! Now thou

-dwellest in the underworld near the mightiest of my rivals.</p>

-

-<p>"O Persephone, all that is beautiful descends to thee, never to return!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Even while she speaks, her companions lift the dead, to place him

-within the sepulchre. He remains in their hands! It was only a waxen

-corpse.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Wherefore Anthony feels something resembling relief.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>All vanish;&mdash;and the hut, the rocks, and the cross reappear.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>But upon the other side of the Nile, Anthony<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> beholds a Woman,

-standing in the midst of the desert.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>She retains in her hand the lower part of a long black veil that hides

-all her face; supporting with her left arm a little child to whom she

-is giving suck. A great ape crouches down in the sand beside her.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>She uplifts her head toward heaven; and in spite of the great

-distance, her voice is distinctly heard</i>:)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Isis</span>. "O Neith, Beginning of all things! Ammon, Lord of Eternity;

-Pthah, demiurgos; Thoth, his intelligence; gods of the Amenthi,

-particular triads of the Nomes,&mdash;falcons in the azure of heaven,

-sphinxes before the temples, ibises perched between the horns of oxen,

-planets, constellations, shore, murmurs of the wind, gleams of the

-light,&mdash;tell me where I may find Osiris.</p>

-

-<p>"I have sought him in all the canals and all the lakes&mdash;aye, further

-yet, even to Phœnician Byblos. Anubis, with ears pricked up, leaped

-about me, and yelped, and thrust his muzzle searchingly into the tufts

-of the tamarinds.</p>

-

-<p>"Thanks, good Cynocephalos&mdash;thanks to thee!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>She gives the ape two or three friendly little taps upon the head.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Hideous Typhon, the red-haired slew him, tore him in pieces! We have

-found all his members. But I have not that which rendered me fecund!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She utters wild lamentations.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>is filled with fury. He casts stones at her, reviles her.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Begone! thou shameless one!&mdash;Begone!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Nay! respect her! Her religion was the faith of thy

-fathers!&mdash;thou didst wear her amulets when thou wert a child in the

-cradle!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Isis</span>. "In the summers of long ago, the inundation drove the impure

-beasts into the desert. The dykes were opened, the boats dashed against

-each other; the panting earth drank the river with the intoxication of

-joy. Then, O God, with the horns of the bull, thou didst lie upon my

-breast, and then was heard, the lowings of the Eternal Cow!</p>

-

-<p>"The seasons of sowing and reaping, of threshing and of vintage,

-followed each other in regular order with the years. In the eternal

-purity of the nights, broad stars beamed and glowed. The days were

-bathed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> in never-varying splendour. Like a royal couple the Sun and the

-Moon appeared simultaneously, at either end of the horizon.</p>

-

-<p>"Then did we both reign above a sublimer world, twin-monarchs, wedded

-within, the womb of eternity&mdash;he bearing a concupha-headed sceptre; I,

-the sceptre that is tipped with a lotus-flower; both of us erect with

-hands joined; and the crumblings of empires affected not our attitude.</p>

-

-<p>"Egypt extended, below us, monumental and awful, long-shaped like the

-corridor of a temple; with obelisks on the right, pyramids on the

-left, and its labyrinth in the midst. And everywhere were avenues

-of monsters, forests of columns, massive pylons flanking gates

-summit-crowned with the mysterious globe&mdash;the globe of the world,

-between two wings.</p>

-

-<p>"The animals of her Zodiac also existed in her pasture lands; and

-filled her mysterious writing with their forms and colours. Divided

-into twelve regions as the year is divided into-twelve months&mdash;each

-month, each day also having its own god&mdash;she reproduced the immutable

-order of heaven. And man even in dying changed not his face; but

-saturated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> with perfumes, invulnerable to decay, he lay down to sleep

-for three thousand years in another and silent Egypt.</p>

-

-<p>"And that Egypt, vaster than the Egypt of the living, extended beneath

-the earth.</p>

-

-<p>"Thither one descended by dark stairways leading into halls where were

-represented the joys of the good, the tortures of the wicked, all that

-passes in the third and invisible world. Ranged along the wall the dead

-in their painted coffins awaited their turn; and the soul, exempted

-from migrations, continued its heavy slumber until the awakening into a

-new life.</p>

-

-<p>"Nevertheless, Osiris sometimes came to see me. And by his ghost I

-became the mother of Harpocrates."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She contemplates the child.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Aye! it is he. Those are his eyes; those are his locks, plaited into

-ram horns! Thou shalt recommence his works. We shall bloom again like

-the lotus. I am still the Great Isis!&mdash;none has yet lifted my veil! My

-fruit is the Sun!</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon16"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_16.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>I am still the Great Isis!&mdash;none has yet

-lifted my veil! My fruit is the Sun!</p></div></div>

-

-<p class="p2">"Sim of Springtime, clouds now obscure thy face! The breath of Typhon

-devours the pyramids. But a little while ago I beheld<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> the Sphinx flee

-away. He was galloping like a jackal.</p>

-

-<p>"I look for my priests,&mdash;my priests clad in mantles of linen, with

-their great harps, and bearing a mysterious bark, adorned with

-silver pateras. There are no more festivals upon the lakes!&mdash;no more

-illuminations in my delta!&mdash;no more cups of milk at Philæ! Apis has

-long ceased to reappear.</p>

-

-<p>"Egypt! Egypt! thy great motionless gods have their shoulders already

-whitened by the dung of birds; and the wind that passes over the desert

-rolls with it and the ashes of thy dead!&mdash;Anubis, guardian of ghosts,

-abandon me not!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The Cynocephalos has vanished. She shakes her child.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"But ... what ails thee ... thy hands are cold, thy head droops!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Harpocrates expires. Then she cries aloud with a cry so piercing,

-funereal, heart-rending, that Anthony answers it with another cry,

-extending his arms as to support her.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>She is no longer there. He lowers his face, overwhelmed by shame.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>All that he has seen becomes confused<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> within his mind. It is like the

-bewilderment of travel, the illness of drunkenness. He wishes to hate;

-but a vague and vast pity fills his heart. He begins to weep, and weeps

-abundantly.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "What makes thee sorrowful?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>after having long sought within himself for a reply</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"I think of all the souls that have been lost through these false gods!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Dost thou not think that they ... sometimes ... bear much

-resemblance to the <span class="smcap">True</span>?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "That is but a device of the Devil to seduce the faithful more

-easily. He attacks the strong through the mind, the weak through the

-flesh."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "But luxury, in its greatest fury, has all the

-disinterestedness of penitence. The frenzied love of the body

-accelerates the destruction thereof,&mdash;and proclaims the extent of the

-impossible by the exposition of the body's weakness."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What signifies that to me! My heart sickens with disgust

-of these beautiful bestial gods, forever busied with carnages and

-incests!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Yet recollect all those things in the Scripture which

-scandalize thee because thou art unable to comprehend them! So also may

-these Gods conceal under their sinful forms some mighty truth. There

-are more of them yet to be seen. Look around!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "No, no!&mdash;it is dangerous!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "But a little while ago thou didst desire to know them! Is

-it because thy faith might vacillate in the presence of lies? What

-fearest thou?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The rocks fronting Anthony have become as a mountain. A line of

-clouds obscures the mountain half way between summit and base; and

-above the clouds appears another mountain, enormous, all green,

-unequally hollowed by valleys nestling in its slopes, and supporting at

-its summit, in the midst of laurel-groves a palace of bronze, roofed

-with tiles of gold, and supported by columns having capitals of ivory.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>In the centre of the peristyle Jupiter,&mdash;colossal, with torso

-nude,&mdash;holds Victory in one hand, his thunderbolts in the other; and

-his eagle, perched between his feet, rears its head.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Juno, seated near him, rolls her large eyes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> beneath a diadem whence

-her wind-blown veil escapes like a vapour.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Behind them, Minerva, standing upon a pedestal, leans on her spear.

-The skin of the Gorgon covers her breast, and a linen peplos falls in

-regular folds to the nails of her toes. Her glaucous eyes, which gleam

-beneath her vizor, gaze afar off, attentively.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>On the right of the palace, the aged Neptune bestrides a dolphin

-beating with its fins a vast azure expanse which may be sea or sky, for

-the perspective of the Ocean seems a continuation of the blue ether:

-the two elements are interblended.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>On the other side weird Pluto in night-black mantle, crowned with

-diamond tiara and bearing a sceptre of ebony, sits in the midst of an

-islet surrounded by the circumvolutions of the Styx;&mdash;and this river of

-shadow empties itself into the darknesses, which form a vast black gulf

-below the cliff,&mdash;a bottomless abyss!</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Mars, clad in brass, brandishes as in wrath his broad shield and his

-sword.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Hercules, leaning upon his club, gazes at him from below.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Apollo, his face ablaze with light, grasps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> with outstretched right

-arm the reins of four white horses urged to a gallop; and Ceres in her

-ox-drawn chariot advances toward him with a sickle in her hand.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Behind her comes Bacchus, riding in a very low chariot, gently drawn

-by lynxes. Plump and beardless, with vine leaves garlanding his brow,

-he passes by holding in his hand an overflowing cup of wine. Silenus

-riding beside him reels upon his ass. Pan of the pointed ears, blows

-upon his syrinx; the Mimalonæides beat drums; the Mænads strew

-flowers; the Bacchantes turn in the dance with heads thrown back and

-hair dishevelled.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Diana, with tunic tucked up, issues from the wood together with her

-nymphs.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>At the further end of a cavern, Vulcan among his Cabiri, hammers the

-heated iron; here and there the aged Rivers leaning recumbent upon

-green rocks pour water from their urns; the Muses stand singing in the

-valleys</i>.</p>

-

-<p><i>The Hours, all of equal stature, link hands; and Mercury poses

-obliquely upon a rainbow, with his caduceus, winged sandals, and winged

-petasus.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>But at the summit of the stairway of the Gods,&mdash;among clouds soft

-as down, from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> whose turning volutes a rain of roses falls,&mdash;Venus

-Anadyomene stands gazing at herself in a mirror:&mdash;her eyes move

-languorously beneath their slumbrous lids.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>She has masses of rich blond hair rolling down over her shoulders; her

-breasts are small; her waist is slender; her hips curve out like the

-sweeping curves of a lyre; her thighs are perfectly rounded; there are

-dimples about her knees; her feet are delicate: a butterfly hovers near

-her mouth. The splendour of her body makes a nacreous-tinted halo of

-bright light about her; while all the rest of Olympus is bathed in a

-pink dawn, rising gradually to the heights of the blue sky.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! my heart swells! A joy never known before thrills me to

-the depths of my soul! How beautiful, how beautiful it is!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "They leaned from the heights of cloud to direct the way of

-swords; one used to meet them upon the high roads; men had them in

-their houses&mdash;and this familiarity divinized life.</p>

-

-<p>"Life's aim was only to be free and beautiful. Nobility of attitude was

-facilitated by the looseness of garments. The voice of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> orator,

-trained by the sea, rolled its sonorous waves against the porticoes of

-marble. The ephebus, anointed with oil, wrestled all naked in the full

-light of the sun. The holiest of actions was to expose perfection of

-forms to all.</p>

-

-<p>"And these men respected wives, aged men, suppliants.</p>

-

-<p>"Behind the temple of Hercules there was an altar erected to Pity.</p>

-

-<p>"Victims were immolated with flowers wreathed about the fingers of the

-sacrificer. Even memory was exempted from thoughts of the rottenness

-of death. Nothing remained but a little pile of ashes. And the Soul,

-mingling with the boundless ether, rose up to God."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Bending to whisper in Anthony's ear</i>:&mdash;)</p>

-

-<p>"And they still live! The Emperor Constantine adores Apollo. Thou wilt

-find the Trinity in Samothracian mysteries,&mdash;baptism in the religion of

-Isis,&mdash;redemption in the faith of Mithra,&mdash;a martyrdom of a God in the

-festivals of Bacchus. Prosperpine is the Virgin!... Aristæus is Jesus!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>remains awhile with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought;

-then suddenly repeats<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> aloud the Symbol of Jerusalem, as he remembers

-it, uttering a long sigh between each phrase</i>):&mdash;</p>

-

-<p>"I believe in one only God, the Father,&mdash;and in one only Lord, Jesus

-Christ,&mdash;the first born son of God, who was incarnated and made

-man,&mdash;who was crucified, and buried,&mdash;who ascended into Heaven,&mdash;who

-will come to judge the living and the dead,&mdash;of whose Kingdom there

-shall be no end;&mdash;and in one Holy Spirit,&mdash;and in one baptism of

-repentance,&mdash;and in one Holy Catholic Church,&mdash;and in the resurrection

-of the flesh,&mdash;and in the life everlasting!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Immediately the cross becomes loftier and loftier; it pierces the

-clouds, and casts its shadow upon the heaven of the gods.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>All grow pale;&mdash;Olympus shudders.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And at its base Anthony beholds vast bodies enchained, sustaining the

-rocks upon their shoulders,&mdash;giant figures half buried in the deeps

-of caverns. These are the Titans, the Giants, the Hecatonchires, the

-Cyclops.</i>)</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">A Voice</p>

-

-<p>(<i>rises, indistinct and awful, like the far roar of leaves, like the

-voice of forests in time of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> tempest, like the mighty moaning of the

-wind among the precipices</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"We knew these things!&mdash;we knew them! There must come an end even for

-the Gods! Uranus was mutilated by Saturn,&mdash;Saturn by Jupiter. And

-Jupiter himself shall be annihilated. Each in his turn;&mdash;it is Destiny!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And little by little they sink into the mountain, and disappear.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Meanwhile the golden tiles of the palace rise and fly away.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Jupiter</span> (<i>has descended from his throne. At his feet the thunderbolts

-lie, smoking like burning coals about to expire;&mdash;and the great eagle

-bends its neck to pick up its falling feathers</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Then I am no longer the master of all things,&mdash;most holy, most

-mighty, god of the phatrias and Greek peoples,&mdash;ancestor of all the

-Kings,&mdash;Agamemnon of heaven.</p>

-

-<p>"Eagle of apotheoses, what wind from Erebus has wafted thee to me? or,

-fleeing from the Campus Martins, dost thou bear me the soul of the last

-of the Emperors?</p>

-

-<p>"I no longer desire to receive those of men. Let the Earth keep them;

-and let them move upon the level of its baseness. Their hearts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> are now

-the hearts of slaves;&mdash;they forget injuries, forget their ancestors,

-forget their oaths,&mdash;and everywhere the folly of crowds, the mediocrity

-of individuals, the hideousness of races, hold sway!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He pants with such violence that his sides seem ready to burst

-asunder; he clenches his hands. Weeping</i>, <span class="smcap">Hebe</span> <i>offers him a cup. He

-seizes it.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"No, no! So long as there shall be a brain enclosing a thought, in

-whatsoever part of the world;&mdash;so long as there shall exist a mind

-hating disorder, creating <span class="smcap">Law</span>,&mdash;so long will the spirit of Jupiter

-live!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>But the cup is empty. He turns its edge down over his thumbnail.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Not one drop left! When the ambrosia fails, the Immortals must indeed

-depart!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The cup drops from his hands; and he leans against a column, feeling

-himself about to die.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Juno</span>. "Thou shouldst not have had so many amours! Eagle, bull, swan,

-rain of gold, cloud and flame, thou didst assume all forms,&mdash;dissipate

-thy light in all elements,&mdash;lose thy hair upon all beds! This time

-the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> divorce is irrevocable; and our domination, our very existence,

-dissolved."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She passes away in air.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Minerva</span> (<i>has no longer her spear; and the ravens nesting among the

-sculptures of the friezes, wheel about her, peeking at her helmet.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Let me see whether my vessels cleave the bright sea, returning to my

-three ports,&mdash;let me discover why the fields are deserted, and learn

-what the daughters of Athens are now doing.</p>

-

-<p>"In the month of Hecatombeon my whole people came to worship me, under

-the guidance of their magistrates and priests. Then, all in white robes

-and wearing chitons of gold, they advanced the long line of virgins

-bearing cups, baskets, parasols; then the three hundred sacrificial

-oxen, and the old men having green boughs, the soldiers with clashing

-of armour, the ephebi singing hymns, flute players, lyre players,

-rhapsodists, dancing women;&mdash;and lastly attached to the mast of a

-trireme mounted upon wheel, my great veil embroidered by virgins who

-had been nourished in a particular way for a whole year. And when it

-had been displayed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> in all the streets, in all the squares, and before

-the temples, in the midst of the ever-chanting procession, it was borne

-step by step up the hill of the Acropolis, grazed the Propylæa, and

-entered the Parthenon....</p>

-

-<p>"But a strange feebleness comes upon me,&mdash;me the Industrious One! What!

-what! not one idea comes to me! Lo! I am trembling more than a woman!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She turns, beholds a ruin behind her, utters a cry, and stricken by a

-fallen fragment, falls backward upon the ground.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hercules</span> (<i>has flung away his lion-skin; and with feet firmly braced,

-back arched, teeth clenched, he exhausts himself in immeasurable

-efforts to bear up the mass of crumbling Olympus.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"I vanquished the Cercopes, the Amazons, and the Centaurs. Many were

-the kings I slew. I broke the horn of the great river, Achelous. I cut

-the mountains asunder; I freed nations from slavery; and I peopled

-lands that were desolate. I travelled through the countries of Gaul;

-I traversed the deserts where thirst prevails. I defended the gods

-from their enemies; and I freed myself from Omphale. But the weight of

-Olympus is too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> great for me. My arms grow feebler:&mdash;I die!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He is crushed beneath the ruins.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Pluto</span>. "It is thy fault, Amphytrionad;&mdash;wherefore didst thou descend

-into my empire?</p>

-

-<p>"The vulture that gnaws the entrails of Tityus lifted its head;&mdash;the

-lips of Tantalus were moistened;&mdash;the wheel of Ixion stopped.</p>

-

-<p>"Meanwhile the Kæres extended their claws to snatch back the escaping

-ghosts; the Furies tore the serpents of their locks; and Cerberus

-fettered by thee with a chain, sounded the death rattle in his throat,

-and foamed at all his three mouths.</p>

-

-<p>"Thou didst leave the gate ajar; others have come. The daylight of men

-has entered into Tartarus!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He sinks into the darkness.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Neptune</span>. "My trident can no longer call up the tempests. The monsters

-that terrified of old, lie rotting at the bottom of the sea.</p>

-

-<p>"Amphitrite whose white feet tripped lightly over the foam, the green

-Nereids seen afar off in the horizon, the scaly Sirens who stopped

-the passing vessels to tell stories, and the ancient Tritons mightily

-blowing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> upon their shells, all have passed away. All is desolate and

-dead; the gaiety of the great Sea is no more!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He vanishes beneath the azure.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Diana</span> (<i>clad in black and surrounded by her dogs, which have been

-changed into wolves</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"The freedom of the deep forests once intoxicated me; the odours of the

-wild beasts and the exhalations of the marshes made me as one drank

-with joy. But the women whose maternity I protected, now bring dead

-children into the world. The moon trembles with the incantations of

-witches. Desires of violence, of immensity, seize me, fill me! I wish

-to drink poisons,&mdash;to lose myself in vapours, in dreams...!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And a passing cloud carries her away.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Mars</span> (<i>unhelmed and covered with blood</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"At first I fought alone;&mdash;singlehanded I would provoke a whole army by

-my insults,&mdash;caring nothing for countries or nations, demanding battle

-for the pleasure of carnage alone.</p>

-

-<p>"Afterward I had comrades. They marched to the sound of flutes, in good

-order, with equal step, respiring above their bucklers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> with plumes

-loftily nodding, lances oblique. Then on rushed to battle with mighty

-eagle cries. War was joyous as a banquet. Three hundred men strove

-against all Asia.</p>

-

-<p>"But the Barbarians are returning;&mdash;by myriads they come, by millions!

-Ah! since numbers, and engines, and cunning are stronger than valour,

-it were better that I die the death of the brave!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He kills himself.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Vulcan</span> (<i>sponging the sweat from his limbs</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"The world is growing cold. The source of heat must be nourished, the

-volcanoes and rivers of flowing metal underground. Strike harder!&mdash;with

-full swing of the arms,&mdash;with might and main!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The Cabiri wound themselves with their hammers, blind themselves with

-sparks, and groping, lose themselves in the darkness.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Ceres</span> (<i>standing in her chariot, impelled by wheels having wings at

-their hubs</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Stop! Stop! Ah! it was with good reason that the exclusion of

-strangers, atheists, Epicureans, and Christians was commended!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> Now the

-mystery of the basket has been unveiled; the sanctuary profaned: all is

-lost!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She descends a precipitous slope&mdash;shrieking, despairing, tearing her

-hair.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! lies, lies! Daira has not been restored to me. The voice of brass

-calls me to the dead. This is another Tartarus, whence there is no

-return! Horror!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The abyss engulfs her.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Bacchus</span> (<i>with a frenzied laugh</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"What matters it? The Archon's wife is my spouse! The law itself reels

-in drunkenness! To me the new song, the multiplied forms!</p>

-

-<p>"The fire by which my mother was devoured, flows in my veins! Let it

-burn yet more fiercely, even though I perish!</p>

-

-<p>"Male and female, complaisant to all, I abandon myself to you,

-Bacchantes! I abandon myself to you, Bacchanalians!&mdash;and the vine shall

-twine herself about the tree-trunks! Howl! dance! writhe! Loosen the

-tiger and the slave!&mdash;rend flesh with ferocious bitings!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And Pan, Silenus, the Bacchantes, the Mimalonæides, and the

-Mænads,&mdash;with their serpents, torches, sable masks,&mdash;cast flowers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> at

-each other ... shake their tympanums, strike their thyrsi, pelt each

-other with shells, devour grapes, strangle a goat, and tear Bacchus

-asunder.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Apollo</span> (<i>furiously whipping his coursers, while his blanching locks are

-falling from his head</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"I have left far behind me stony Delos, so pure that all now there

-seems dead; and I must strive to reach Delphi ere its inspiring vapour

-be wholly lost. The mules browse in its laurel groves. The Pythoness

-has wandered away, and cannot be found.</p>

-

-<p>"By a stronger concentration of my power, I will obtain sublime hymns,

-eternal monuments; and all matter will be penetrated by the vibrations

-of my cithara!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He strikes the strings of the instrument. They burst, lashing his

-face with their broken ends. He flings the cithara away; and furiously

-whipping his quadriga, cries</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"No! enough of forms!&mdash;Further, higher!&mdash;to the very summit!&mdash;to the

-realm of pure thought!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>But the horses back, rear, dash the chariot to pieces. Entangled by

-the harness, caught<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> by the fragments of the broken pole, he falls head

-foremost into the abyss.</i></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon17"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_17.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p> ... he falls head foremost into the abyss</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2"><i>The sky is darkened.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Venus</span> (<i>blue with cold, shivering</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Once with my girdle I made all the horizon of Hellas.</p>

-

-<p>"Her fields glowed with the roses of my cheeks; her shores were

-outlined after the fashion of my lips; and her mountains, whiter than

-my doves, palpitated beneath the hands of the statuaries. My spirit's

-manifestation was found in the ordinances of the festivals, in the

-arrangement of coiffures, in the dialogues of philosophers, in the

-constitution of republics. But I have doted too much upon men! It is

-Love that has dishonoured me!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She casts herself back weeping</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"This world is abominable;&mdash;there is no air for me to breathe!</p>

-

-<p>"O Mercury, inventor of the lyre, conductor of souls, take me away!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She places one finger upon her lips, and describing an immense

-parabola, falls into the abyss.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Nothing is now visible. The darkness is complete.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>Only, that from the eyes of Hilarion escape two flashes, two rays of

-lurid light.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>begins at last to notice his immense stature</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Already several times, while thou wert speaking, it seemed to me thou

-wert growing taller; and it was no illusion! How? Explain to me ... Thy

-aspect terrifies me!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Footsteps are heard approaching.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"What is that?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>extending his arm</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Look!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then, under a pale beam of moonlight, Anthony distinguishes an

-interminable caravan defiling over the summit of the rocks;&mdash;and each

-voyager, one after the other, falls from the cliff into the gulf below.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>First comes the three great gods of</i> Samothrace,&mdash;<span class="smcap">Axieros</span>, <span class="smcap">Axiokeros</span>,

-<span class="smcap">Axiokersa</span>,&mdash;<i>united together as in a fascia, purple-masked, all with

-hands uplifted.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Æsculapius advances with a melancholy air, not even perceiving

-Samos and Telesphorus, who question him with gestures of anguish.</i>

-<span class="smcap">Elean Sosipolis</span>, <i>of python-form, rolls his coils toward the abyss.</i>

-<span class="smcap">Dosipoena</span>, <i>becomes dizzy, leaps in of her own accord.</i> <span class="smcap">Britomartis</span>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>

-<i>shrieking with fear, clutches fast the meshes of her net. The Centaurs

-come at a wild gallop, and roll pell-mell into the black gulf.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Behind them, all limping, advance the bands of the mourning Nymphs.

-Those of the meadows are covered with dust; those of the woods moan and

-bleed; wounded by the axes of the woodcutters.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The Gelludes, the Strygii, the Empusæ, all the infernal goddesses,

-form one pyramid of blended fangs, vipers, and torches;&mdash;and seated

-upon a vulture-skin at its summit, Eurynome, blue as the flies that

-corrupt meat, devours her own arms.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Then in one great whirl simultaneously disappear the bloody Orthia,

-Hymina of Orchomenus, the Laphria of the Patræns, Aphia of Agina,

-Bendis of Thrace, Stymphalia with thighs like a bird's. Triopas, in

-lieu of three eyes, has now but three empty orbits. Erichthonius, his

-legs paralysed, crawls upon his hands like a cripple.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "What a pleasure, is it not!&mdash;to see them all in the

-abjection of their death-agony! Climb up here beside me, on this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> rock;

-and thou shalt be even as Xerxes, reviewing his army.</p>

-

-<p>"Beyond there, very far, dost thou behold that fair-bearded giant,

-who even now lets fall his sword crimsoned with blood?&mdash;that is

-the Scythian Zalmoxis between two planets,&mdash;Artimpasa, Venus, and

-Orsiloche, the Moon.</p>

-

-<p>"Still further away, now emerging from pallid clouds, are the gods whom

-the Cimmerians adore, even beyond Thule.</p>

-

-<p>"Their huge halls were warm, and by the gleam of swords that tapestried

-the vault, they drank their hydromel from horns of ivory. They ate the

-liver of the whale in dishes of brass wrought by the hammers of demons;

-or, betimes, they listened to captive sorcerers whose fingers played

-upon harps of stone.</p>

-

-<p>"They are feeble! They are cold! The snow makes heavy their bearskins;

-and their feet show through the rents in their sandals.</p>

-

-<p>"They weep for the vast fields upon whose grassy knolls they were

-wont to draw breath in pauses of battle; they weep for the long ships

-whose prows forced a way through the mountains of ice;&mdash;and the skates

-wherewith<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> they followed the orb of the poles, upbearing at the length

-of their mighty arms all the firmament that turned with them."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>A gust of frosty wind carries them off. Anthony turns his eyes

-another way. And he perceives&mdash;outlined in black against a red

-background&mdash;certain strange personages, with chinbands and gauntlets,

-who throw balls at one another, leap over each other's heads, make

-grimaces, dance a frenzied dance.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Those are the divinities of Etruria, the innumerable Æsars.</p>

-

-<p>"There is Tages, by whom augury was invented. With one hand he seeks to

-augment the divisions of the sky; with the other he supports himself

-upon the earth: let him sink therein!</p>

-

-<p>"Nortia gazes at the wall into which she drave nails to mark the number

-of the passing years. Its whole surface is now covered; and the period

-is accomplished.</p>

-

-<p>"Like two travellers overtaken by a storm, Kastur and Pulutuk,

-trembling, seek to shelter themselves beneath the same mantle."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>closes his eyes</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Enough! Enough!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>But with a mighty noise of wings, all the Victories of the Capitol

-pass through the air,&mdash;hiding their faces with their hands, dropping

-the trophies hanging upon their arms.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Janus,&mdash;lord of crepuscules,&mdash;flees upon a black ram; and one of his

-two faces is already putrified; the other slumbers with fatigue.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Summanus, the headless god of the dark heavens, presses against his

-heart an odd cake shaped like a wheel.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Vesta, beneath a ruined cupola, tries to relight her extinguished

-lamp.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Bellona gashes her cheeks,&mdash;without being able to make that blood flow

-by which her devotees were purified.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Mercy!&mdash;they weary me!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Before, they amused thee!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And he shows him in a grove of bean-trees,</i> <span class="smcap">A Woman</span>,

-<i>naked ............. and a black man, holding in each hand a torch.</i><a name="FNanchor_8_24" id="FNanchor_8_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_24" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>)</p>

-

-<p>"It is the goddess of Aricia, with the demon Virbius. Her sacerdote,

-the King of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> the grove, had to be an assassin;<a name="FNanchor_9_25" id="FNanchor_9_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_25" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and the fugitive

-slaves, the despoilers of corpses, the brigands of the Via Salaria, the

-cripples of the Pons Sublicius, all the human vermin of the Suburra

-worshipped no deities so fervently.</p>

-

-<p>"In the time of Marcus Antonius the patrician women preferred Libitina."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And he shows him under the shadow of cypresses and rose-trees</i>,

-<span class="smcap">Another Woman</span>, <i>clad in gauze. Around her lie spades, litters, black

-hangings, all the paraphernalia of funerals. She smiles. Her diamonds

-shine afar off through spiders' webs. The Larvæ, like skeletons, show

-their bones through the branches; and the Lemures, who are phantoms,

-extend their bat-like wings.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>At the end of a field lies the god Terminus, uprooted, and covered

-with ordures.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>In the centre of a furrow, the great corpse of Vertumnus is being

-devoured by red dogs.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>The rustic deities all depart, weeping:&mdash;Sartor, Sarrator, Vervactor,

-Collina, Vallona, Hostilinus&mdash;all wearing little hooded mantles, and

-carrying either a hoe, a pitchfork, a hurdle, or a boar-spear.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Their spirits made prosperous the villa,&mdash;with its dovecots,

-its parks of dormice, its poultry-yards protected by nets, its warm

-stables fragrant with odours of cedar.</p>

-

-<p>"Also they protected all the wretched population who dragged the irons

-upon their legs over the flinty ways of the Sabine country,&mdash;those who

-called the swine together by sound of horn,&mdash;those who were wont to

-gather the bunches at the very summits of the elms,&mdash;those who drove

-the asses, laden with manure, over the winding bypaths. The panting

-labourer, leaning over the handle of his plough, prayed them to give

-strength to his arms; and under the shade of the lindens, beside

-calabashes filled with milk, the cow-herds were wont, in turn, to sound

-their praises upon flutes of reed."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>sighs.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And in the centre of a chamber, upon a lofty estrade, an ivory bed is

-visible, surrounded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> by persons bearing torches of pine.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Those are the deities of marriage. They await the coming of the bride.</p>

-

-<p>"Domiduca should lead her in,&mdash;Virgo unfasten her girdle,&mdash;Subigo place

-her in the bed,&mdash;and Præma open her arms, and whisper sweet words into

-her ear.</p>

-

-<p>"But she will not come!&mdash;and they dismiss the others:&mdash;Nona and Decima

-who watch by sick-beds; the three Nixii who preside over child-birth;

-the two nurses, Educa and Potina; and Carna, guardian of the cradle,

-whose bouquet of hawthorne keeps evil dreams from the child.</p>

-

-<p>"Afterwards, Ossipago should strengthen his knees;&mdash;Barbatus give him

-his first beard; Stimula inspire his first desires; Volupia grant him

-his first enjoyment; Fabulimus should have taught him to speak, Numera

-to count, Camœna to sing, Consus to reflect."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>This chamber is empty; and there remains only the centenarian Nænia

-beside the bed,&mdash;muttering to herself the dirge she was wont to howl at

-the funerals of aged men.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>But her voice is soon drowned by sharp cries. These are uttered by</i>&mdash;</p>

-

-<p><i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Lares Domestici</span>, <i>crouching at the further<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> end of the atrium,

-clad in dog-skins, with flowers wreathed about their bodies,&mdash;pressing

-their clenched hands against their cheeks, and weeping as loudly as

-they can.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Where is the portion of food we received at each repast, the kindly

-care of the maid-servant, the smile of the matron, the merriment of

-the little boys playing at knuckle-bones on the mosaic pavement of the

-court-yard? When grown up, they used to hang about our necks their

-bullæ of gold or leather!</p>

-

-<p>"What happiness it was, when on the evening of a triumph, the master,

-entering, turned his humid eyes upon us! He would recount his combats;

-and the little house would be prouder than a palace; sacred as a temple!</p>

-

-<p>"How sweet were the family repasts, above all on the morrow of the

-Feralia! Tenderness for the dead appeased all discords; all kissed each

-other, while drinking to the glories of the past, and the hopes of the

-future.</p>

-

-<p>"But the ancestors, of painted wax, locked up behind us, are slowly

-becoming covered with mold. The new races, visiting their own

-deceptions upon us, have shattered our jaws;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> our wooden bodies are

-disappearing piece-meal under the teeth of rats."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And the innumerable gods, watching over doors, kitchens, cellars,

-baths, disperse in every direction&mdash;under the form of enormous ants

-running over the pavement, or great butterflies soaring away.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Then a roll of thunder is heard.</i>)</p>

-

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">A Voice:</p>

-

-<p>"I was the God of Armies, the Lord, the Lord God! I pitched the tents

-of Jacob on the hills; and in the midst of the sands I nourished my

-chosen people in their flight.</p>

-

-<p>"It was I who consumed the city of Sodom with fire! It was I who

-overwhelmed the world with the waters of the Deluge! It was I that

-drowned Pharaoh, with all the princes, sons of Kings,&mdash;making the sea

-to swallow up his chariots of war, and his charioteers!</p>

-

-<p>"I, the Jealous God, held all other gods in abomination. I brayed the

-impure in my anger; the mighty I cast down; and swiftly the desolation

-of my wrath ran to the right and to the left, like a dromedary loosened

-in a field of maize.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"I chose the humble to deliver Israel. Angels, flame-winged, spake to

-them from out the bushes.</p>

-

-<p>"Perfumed with spikenard, with cinnamon and myrrh, clad in transparent

-robes, and shod with high-heeled sandals,&mdash;women of valiant heart went

-forth to slay captains. The passing wind carried my prophets with it.</p>

-

-<p>"My law I graved upon tables of stone. Within that law my people were

-enclosed, as within a strong citadel. They were my people. I was their

-God! The land was mine; the men also belonged to me, together with

-their every thought, and all their works, and the tools they wrought

-with, and their prosperity.</p>

-

-<p>"My ark reposed within a triple sanctuary,&mdash;surrounded by curtains

-of purple and lighted candelabra. I had a whole tribe to serve me as

-servants, swinging censers; and the high-priest, robed in robes of

-hyacinth, wore upon his breast precious stones disposed in symmetrical

-order.</p>

-

-<p>"Woe! Woe! the Holy of Holies is open, the veil is rent, the perfumes

-of the holocaust are dissipated by all the winds of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> heaven! The jackal

-whines in the sepulchres; my temple is destroyed; my people dispersed!</p>

-

-<p>"The priests have been strangled with the girdles of their robes. The

-women languish in captivity; the holy vessels have all been melted!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The voice, becoming more distant</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"I was the God of Armies; the Lord, the Lord God!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>An enormous silence follows,&mdash;and deepest night.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "All have passed away!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Some One</span> (<i>replies</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"I remain!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And Hilarion stands before him&mdash;but transfigured wholly,&mdash;beautiful

-as an archangel, luminous as a sun, and so lofty that in order to

-behold his face</i>&mdash;</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span></p>

-

-<p><i>is compelled to throw back his head, to look up as though gazing as a

-star</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Who art thou?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "My kingdom is vast as the universe; and my desire knows no

-limits. I go on forever,&mdash;freeing minds, weighing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> worlds,&mdash;without

-hatred, without fear, without pity, without love, and without God. Men

-call me <span class="smcap">Science</span>!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>recoiling from him</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Say, rather, that thou art ... the Devil!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>fixing his eyes upon him</i>:)</p>

-

-<p>"Wouldst thou behold him?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>cannot detach his eyes from that mighty gaze:&mdash;the curiosity

-of the Devil comes upon him. His terror augments; yet his wish grows

-even to boundlessness</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Yet if I should see him ... if I were to see him!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then in a sudden spasm of wrath</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"The horror that I have of him will free me from his presence

-forever!... Yes!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>A cloven foot appears. Anthony regrets his wish.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>But the Devil flings him upon his horns and bears him away.</i>)</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_1_17" id="Footnote_1_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_17"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Matthew II: 10&mdash;T.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_2_18" id="Footnote_2_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_18"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> "Buddha, or more correctly, the Buddha, for Buddha is an

-appellative meaning Enlightened."&mdash;Max Müller (Chips, Vol. I., 206).</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_3_19" id="Footnote_3_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_19"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Luke II: 25-26.&mdash;T.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_4_20" id="Footnote_4_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_20"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Ibid II: 46-47.&mdash;T.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_5_21" id="Footnote_5_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_21"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Or, Haoma, also Hom, the sacred plant, whose fermented

-juice occupied an important place in the practical rites of Iran.

-Supposed to be the same plant known in botany as <i>Sarcostemma

-viminalis.</i> Deified in Iranian worship, like the sacred drink <i>Soma</i> in

-the Vedic hymns. The <i>Soma</i> was the fermented extract of the <i>Asclepias

-acida</i> or <i>Sarcostemma ritalis.</i> See Marius Fontane, "L'Inde Védique,"

-"Les Iraniens."&mdash;Trans.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_6_22" id="Footnote_6_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_22"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Apuleius says, "a silken mantle."&mdash;Trans.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_7_23" id="Footnote_7_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_23"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Apuleius says, "strung with knuckle-bones of

-sheep."&mdash;Trans.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_8_24" id="Footnote_8_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_24"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> This scene, like certain paintings in the Naples museum,

-is all suited for public exhibition.&mdash;Trans.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_9_25" id="Footnote_9_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_25"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Readers will recollect the lines in Macaulay's <i>Lays of

-Ancient Rome</i>:

-</p>

-<p>

-"Beneath Aricia's trees,<br />

-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Those trees in whose dim shadow</span><br />

-<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">A ghastly priest doth reign,</span><br />

-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The priest who slew the slayer,</span><br />

-<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And must himself be slain."</span><br />

-</p></div>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>

-

-

-

-

-<h4><a name="VI" id="VI">VI</a></h4>

-

-

-<p>(<i>He flies beneath him, outstretched like a swimmer; his vast-spreading

-wings, wholly concealing him, seem like one huge cloud.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Whither do I go? But a little while ago I beheld in a glimpse

-the form of the Accurst. Nay!&mdash;'tis a cloud that upbears me! Perhaps I

-am dead, and am ascending to God....</p>

-

-<p>"How freely I respire. The immaculate air seems to vivify my soul. No

-sense of weight!&mdash;no more suffering.</p>

-

-<p>"Far below me the lightning breaks,&mdash;the horizon broadens, widens,&mdash;the

-rivers cross each other. That blond-bright spot is the desert; that

-pool of water the ocean!</p>

-

-<p>"And other oceans appear!&mdash;vast regions of which I knew nothing!

-There are the countries of the blacks, which seem to smoke like

-brasiers!&mdash;then is the zone of snows always made dim by fog! Would I

-might behold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> those mountains where the sun, each evening, sinks to

-rest!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "The sun never sinks to rest; the sun never rests!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony is not surprised at this voice. It seems to him an echo of

-his own thought&mdash;a response made by his own memory.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Meanwhile the earth gradually assumes the shape of a ball; and he

-beholds it in the midst of the azure, turning upon its poles, and

-revolving with the sun.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "So it does not form the centre of the universe! Pride of

-man! humiliate thyself!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Now I can scarcely distinguish it. It mingles confusedly with

-other glowing worlds. The firmament itself is but one tissue of stars."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And they still rise.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"No sound!&mdash;not even the hoarse cry of eagles! Nothing? I listen for

-the harmony of the spheres."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Thou wilt not hear them! Nor wilt thou behold the

-antichtonus of Plato,&mdash;or the central furnace of Philolaüs,&mdash;or the

-spheres of Aristotle, or the seven heavens of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> the Jews, with the great

-waters above the vault of crystal!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet from below the vault seemed solid as a wall!&mdash;on the

-contrary I penetrate it, I lose myself in it!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And he beholds the moon,&mdash;like a rounded fragment of ice filled with

-motionless light.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Formerly it was the sojourn of souls! Even the good

-Pythagoras adorned it with magnificent flowers, populated it with

-birds!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I can see only desolate plains there, with extinct craters

-yawning under a black sky!</p>

-

-<p>"Let us go towards those milder-beaming stars, that we may contemplate

-the angels who uphold them at arms' length, like torches!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span> (<i>bears him into the midst of the stars</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"They attract at the same time that they repel each other. The

-action of each one results from that of others, and contributes

-thereunto,&mdash;without the aid of any auxiliary, by the force of a law,

-the virtue of order alone!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes!... yes! My intelligence grasps the great truth! It is

-a joy greater than all tender pleasures! Breathless I find myself with

-astonishment at the enormity of God!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Even as the firmament ever rises as thou dost ascend, so

-with the expansion of thy thought will He become greater to thee; and

-after this discovery of the universe thou wilt feel thy joy augment

-with the broadening and deepening of the infinite."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! higher!&mdash;higher still!&mdash;- forever higher!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then the stars multiply, scintillate. The Milky Way develops in the

-zenith like a monstrous belt, with holes at intervals; through these

-rents in its brightness stretches of prolonged darkness are visible.

-There are rains of stars, long trains of golden dust, luminous vapours

-that float and dissolve.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>At times a comet suddenly passes by; then the tranquillity of

-innumerable lights recommences.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony, with outstretched arms, supports himself upon the Devil's

-horns, and thus occupies all the space between them.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He remembers with disdain the ignorance of other days, the mediocrity

-of his dreams.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> And now those luminous globes he was wont to gaze upon

-from below, are close to him. He distinguishes the intercrossing of

-the lines of their orbits, the complexity of their courses. He beholds

-them coming from afar,&mdash;and, like stones suspended in a sling, describe

-their circles, form their hyperbolas.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He perceives, all within the field of his vision at once, the Southern

-Cross and the Great Bear, the Lynx and the Centaur, the nebula of

-Dorado, the six suns in the constellation of Orion, Jupiter with his

-four satellites, and the triple ring of the monstrous Saturn!&mdash;all the

-planets, all the stars that men will discover in the future. He fills

-his eyes with their light; he over-burthens his mind with calculation

-of their distances: then, bowing his head, he murmurs</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"What is the purpose of all that?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "There is no purpose. How could God have a purpose? What

-experience could have instructed him?&mdash;what reflection determined him?</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon18"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_18.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p> Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The

-Devil: There is no purpose.</p></div></div>

-

-<p class="p2">"Before the beginning he could not have acted;&mdash;and now his action

-would be useless."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet he created the world, at one time, by his word only."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "But the beings that people the earth come upon it

-successively. So also, in heaven, new stars arise&mdash;different effects of

-varying causes."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The varying of causes is the will of God!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "But to admit several acts of will in God is to admit

-various causes, and therefore to deny his unity.</p>

-

-<p>"His will is inseparable from his essence. He can have but one will,

-having but one essence; and inasmuch as he externally exists, he acts

-eternally.</p>

-

-<p>"Contemplate the sun! From its surface leap vast jets of flame, casting

-forth sparks that disperse beyond to become worlds here-after;&mdash;and

-further than the last, far beyond those deeps where thou seest only

-night, whirl other suns,&mdash;and behind them others again, and beyond

-those yet others ... without end!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Enough! Enough! I fear!&mdash;I will fall into the abyss!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span> (<i>pauses, and rocks Anthony gently in the midst of space</i>).</p>

-

-<p>"Nothingness is&mdash;not&mdash;there is no void! Everywhere and forever bodies

-move upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> the immovable deeps of space! Were there boundaries to

-space, it would not be space, but a body only: it is limitless!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>stupefied by wonder</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Limitless!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Ascend skyward forever and forever,&mdash;yet thou wilt not

-attain the summit. Descend below the earth for billions of billions of

-centuries: never wilt thou reach the bottom. For there is no summit,

-there is no bottom; there is no Above, no Below&mdash;nor height, nor

-depth as signified by the terms of human utterance. And Space itself

-is comprised in God, who is not a portion thereof of such or such a

-size,&mdash;but is Immensity itself!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>slowly</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Matter..., then,... must be a part of God?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Why not? Canst thou know the end of God?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Nay: on the contrary, I prostrate, I crush myself beneath his

-mightiness!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "And yet thou dost pretend to move him! Thou dost speak to

-him,&mdash;thou dost even adorn him with virtues,&mdash;with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> goodness, justice,

-mercy,&mdash;in lieu of recognising that all perfections are his!</p>

-

-<p>"To conceive aught beyond him is to conceive God above God, the Being

-above the Being. For He is the only being, the only substance.</p>

-

-<p>"If the Substance could be divided, it would not be the Substance, it

-would lose its nature: God could not exist. He is therefore indivisible

-as infinite;&mdash;and if he had a body, he would be composed of parts,

-he would not be One&mdash;he would not be infinite. Therefore he is not a

-Person!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What? my prayers, my sobs, my groans, the sufferings of my

-flesh, the transports of my love,&mdash;have all these things gone out to a

-lie,&mdash;to emptiness, unavailingly&mdash;like the cry of a bird, like a whirl

-of dead leaves?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Weeping</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, no!&mdash;there is Some One above all things,&mdash;a great Soul, a Lord, a

-Father whom my heart adores and who must love me!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Thou dost desire that God were not God;&mdash;for did he feel

-love, or anger, or pity,&mdash;he would abandon his perfection for a greater

-or a lesser perfection. He can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> stoop to no sentiment, nor be contained

-in any form."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "One day, nevertheless, I shall see him!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "With the blessed, is it not?&mdash;when the finite shall enjoy

-the infinite in some restricted place, containing the Absolute!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Matters not!&mdash;there must be a paradise for the good, as there

-is a hell for the wicked."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Can the desire of thy mind create the law of the universe?

-Without doubt evil is indifferent to God,&mdash;forasmuch as the Earth is

-covered with it!</p>

-

-<p>"Is it through impotence that he endures it, or through cruelty that he

-maintains it?</p>

-

-<p>"Dost thou fancy that he is eternally readjusting the world, like an

-imperfect machine?&mdash;that he is forever watching the movements of all

-beings, from the flight of a butterfly to the thought of a man?</p>

-

-<p>"If he have created the universe, his providence is superfluous. If

-Providence exists, then creation is defective.</p>

-

-<p>"But evil and good concern only thee&mdash;even like night and day, pleasure

-and pain, death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> and birth, which are relative only to one corner

-of space, to a special centre, to a particular interest. Since the

-Infinite is permanent, the Infinite is;&mdash;and that is all."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The Devil's wings have been gradually expanding: now they cover all

-space.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>now perceives nothing: a great faintness comes upon him</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"A hideous cold freezes me, even to the depths of my soul! This is

-beyond the extreme of pain! It is like a death that is deeper than

-death! I roll in the immensity of darkness; and the darkness itself

-enters within me. My consciousness bursts beneath this dilation of

-nothingness!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Yet the knowledge of things comes to thee only through the

-medium of thy mind. Even as a concave mirror, it deforms the objects

-it reflects; and thou hast no means whatever of verifying their

-exactitude."</p>

-

-<p>"Never canst thou know the universe in all its vastness; consequently

-it will never be possible for thee to obtain an idea of its cause,

-to have a just notion of God, nor even to say that the universe is

-infinite,&mdash;for thou<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> must first be able to know what the Infinite is!"</p>

-

-<p>"May not Form be, perhaps, an error of thy senses,&mdash;Substance a figment

-of thy imagination?"</p>

-

-<p>"Unless, indeed, that the world being a perpetual flux<a name="FNanchor_1_26" id="FNanchor_1_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_26" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> of things,

-appearance, on the contrary, be wholly true; illusion the only reality."</p>

-

-<p>"But art thou sure thou dost see?&mdash;art thou even sure thou dost live?

-Perhaps nothing exists!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The Devil has seized Anthony, and, holding him at arms' length,

-glares at him with mouth yawning as though to devour him</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Adore me, then!&mdash;and curse the phantom thou callest God!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony lifts his eyes with a last effort of hope.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The Devil abandons him.</i>)</p>

-<hr class="r5" />

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_1_26" id="Footnote_1_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_26"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The original text seems to me slightly obscure. The

-idea of the universe being a perpetual ebb and flow of shapes, is

-that of forms passing away to reappear like waves, is that of the

-Nidana-Sutris: "Individuality is only a form ... <i>Everything is only

-a flux of aggregates</i>, interminably uniting and disuniting," as Barth

-observes in his "Religions of India."&mdash;Trans.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p></div>

-

-

-

-

-<h4><a name="VII" id="VII">VII</a></h4>

-

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>finds himself lying upon his back, at the verge of the cliff.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The sky commences to blanch.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"Is it the glow of dawn, or only an effect of moonlight?"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He tries to rise, falls back,&mdash;his teeth chattering</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"I feel such a helplessness of weakness, as though all my bones were

-broken!</p>

-

-<p>"Why?</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! the Devil!&mdash;I remember!&mdash;he even repeated to me all that I

-learned from the aged Didymus respecting the opinions of Xenophanes,

-Heraclitus, of Melissus, of Anaxagoras,&mdash;concerning the infinite, the

-creation, the impossibility of knowing anything!</p>

-

-<p>"And yet I believed that I could unite myself to God!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Laughing bitterly</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! madness! madness! Is the fault<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> mine? Prayer has become

-intolerable to me! My heart is dry as a rock! Once, it was wont to

-overflow with love!...</p>

-

-<p>"The sand used to smoke of mornings like the odourous dust of a

-censer;&mdash;at sunset flowers of fire used to bloom upon the cross; and in

-the middle of the night, it often seemed as though all beings and all

-things, lying under the same awful silence, were adoring the Lord with

-me. O charms of prayer, felicities of ecstasy, gifts of heaven,&mdash;what

-have become of you?</p>

-

-<p>"I remember a voyage I made with Ammon in search of a solitary place

-suited for the establishment of a monastery. It was the last evening;

-we hastened our steps, walked side by side, murmuring hymns, without

-conversing. As the sun sank, the shadows of our bodies lengthened like

-two obelisks, continually growing taller, and moving before us. Here

-and there we planted crosses, made with fragments of our sticks, to

-mark the site of a future cell. Night was tardy in her coming; and

-waves of darkness overspread the earth, even while a vast rose-coloured

-light still glowed in heaven.</p>

-

-<p>"When I was a child, I used to amuse myself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> by building hermitages

-with pebbles. My mother sitting beside me would watch me so attentively!</p>

-

-<p>"Will she not have cursed me for having abandoned her?&mdash;will she not

-have plucked out her white hair by handfuls in the despair of her

-grief? And her corpse remains lying on the floor of the hut, under the

-roof of reeds, between the crumbling walls. Through an orifice a hyena,

-snuffing, thrusts his head, advances his mouth ... horror! horror!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Sobbing</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"No: Ammonaria will not have abandoned her! Where is she

-now,&mdash;Ammonaria?</p>

-

-<p>"Perhaps at the further end of a bathroom, she removes her garments

-one after the other: first the mantle, then the girdle, then the first

-tunic, the second lighter tunic, all her necklaces,&mdash;and the vapour

-of cinnamon envelops her naked limbs. At last she lies down upon the

-tepid mosaic. Her long hair spreading below the curve of her hips,

-seems like a sable fleece; and the oppressiveness of the heated air

-causes her to pant; her waist arched, her breasts standing out ...

-What! my flesh rebels again! Even in the midst of grief am I tortured

-by concupiscence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> To be subjected thus unto two tortures at once is

-beyond endurance! I can no longer bear myself!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He leans over, and gazes into the abyss.</i>)</p>

-

-<p>"The man who should fall would be killed. Nothing easier: it were only

-necessary to roll over upon my left side:&mdash;only one movement&mdash;one!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Then suddenly appears</i>&mdash;<span class="smcap">An Aged Woman</span>. <i>Anthony starts to his feet in

-affright. It seems to him that he beholds his mother arisen.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>But this woman is far older, and prodigiously thin.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>A shroud, knotted about her head, hangs down, together with her white

-hair, so as to cover her legs, slender as crutches. The brilliancy of

-her ivory-coloured teeth make her earthy skin darker still. The orbits

-of her eyes are full of shadow; and far back within them two flames

-vacillate, like the lamps of sepulchres.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>She exclaims</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Advance! What hinders thee?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>stammering</i>):</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"I fear ... to commit a sin!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">She</span> (<i>replies</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"But King Saul killed himself! Razias, a just man, killed himself!

-Saint Pelagia of Antioch killed herself! Dommina of Aleppo and her two

-daughters&mdash;all three saints&mdash;killed themselves: and remember also how

-many confessors delivered themselves up to the executioner in their

-impatient longing for death! That they might enjoy death more speedily,

-the virgins of Miletus strangled themselves with their girdles. At

-Syracuse the philosopher Hegesias preached so eloquently upon death

-that men deserted the lupanars to go hang themselves in the fields. The

-patricians of Borne sought for death as a new form of debauch."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Aye! the love of death is strong; and many a anchorite has

-succumbed to it."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Old Woman</span>. "To do that which will make thee equal unto God&mdash;think!

-He created thee: thou wilt destroy his work&mdash;thou! and by thy

-courage,&mdash;of thy own free will! The enjoyment that Erostratus knew was

-not greater than this. And moreover thy body has so long mocked thy

-soul that it is full time thou shouldst take vengeance upon it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> Thou

-wilt not suffer. It will soon be over. Of what art thou afraid?&mdash;a

-wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!"</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon19"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_19.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?&mdash;a

-wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!</p></div></div>

-

-<p class="p2">(<i>Anthony hearkens without replying; and upon the other side appears</i>&mdash;</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Another Woman</span>&mdash;<i>young and marvellously beautiful. At first he takes

-her to be Ammonaria. But she is taller, blond as honey, very plump,

-with paint upon her cheeks and roses upon her head. Her long robe,

-weighty with spangles, gleams with metallic lustre;&mdash;her fleshy lips

-are sanguinolent; and her somewhat heavy eyelids are so drowned with

-languor that one would almost take her to be blind.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>She murmurs</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Nay, live! enjoy! Solomon counsels joy! Follow the guiding of thy

-heart and the desire of thine eyes!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What joy is there for me? My heart is weary; my eyes are dim!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">She</span> (<i>answers</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Seek the suburb of Racotis; push open a door that is painted

-blue;&mdash;and when thou shalt be in the atrium where a fountain jet

-murmurs unceasingly, a woman will present herself before thee&mdash;in

-peplos of white silk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> striped with gold; her hair is unloosed, her

-laugh like the clatter of crotali. She is skilful. In her caress thou

-wilt taste the pride of initiation and the appeasement of desire.</p>

-

-<p>"Hast ever pressed to thy bosom a virgin who loved thee? Dost remember

-the surrenders of her modesty,&mdash;the passing away of her remorse in a

-sweet flow of tears?</p>

-

-<p>"Thou canst even now imagine thyself walking with her&mdash;canst thou

-not?&mdash;in the wood by the light of the moon? At each pressure of your

-joined hands, a sweet shuddering passes through you both,&mdash;looking

-closely into each other your eyes seem to outpour into one another

-something like immaterial fluid;&mdash;and thy heart fills: it bursts: it is

-a suave whirl of eddying passion, an overflowing of intoxication...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Old Woman</span>. "One need not possess joys in order to taste their

-bitterness! Even to view them from afar off begets loathing of them.

-Thou must be fatigued by the monotony of the same actions, the length

-of the days, the hideousness of the world, the stupidity of the sun?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Aye, indeed!&mdash;I loathe all that he shines upon."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Young Woman</span>. "Hermit! hermit! thou wilt find diamonds among the

-flints, fountains beneath the sand, a delectation in all the hazards

-thou dost despise; and there are even upon earth places of such beauty

-that the sight of them would make thee desire to press the whole world

-against thy heart with love!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Old Woman</span>. "Each evening that thou liest down upon the earth to

-slumber, thou dost hope that it may soon lie upon thee and cover thee."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Young Woman</span>. "Yet thou dost believe in the resurrection of the

-flesh&mdash;which is but the translation of life into eternity!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Even as she speaks, the Old Woman becomes still more fleshless; and

-above her skull, from which the white hair has disappeared, a bat

-circles in the air.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The Young Woman has become fatter. Her robe gleams with shifting

-colours; her nostrils palpitate, her eyes roll softly.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Former</span> (<i>opening her arms, exclaiming</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Come to me!&mdash;I am Consolation, repose, oblivion, eternal calm!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Other</span>.</p>

-

-<p>"I am the sleep-giver, life, happiness inexhaustible!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony turns to fee from them. Each lays a hand on his shoulder.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The Shroud parts, exposes the Skeleton of Death.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The robe splits asunder, and leaves the whole body of Lust

-exposed:&mdash;her waist is slender; her long and undulating hair flutters

-in the wind.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony stands motionless between the two, considering them</i>):</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Death</span> (<i>says to him</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"What matters it, whether now or at another time! Thou art mine,&mdash;like

-suns, nations, cities, kings, mountain-snows, and the grasses of the

-fields. I fly higher than the hawks of heaven. I run more swiftly than

-the gazelle; I overtake even Hope; I vanquished the Son of God!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Lust</span>. "Resist not! I am the Omnipotent! The forests re-echo with my

-sighs; the waters tremble with my agitations. Virtue, courage, piety,

-dissolve in the perfume of my mouth. Man I accompany in every step<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>

-that he makes; and even from the threshold of the tomb he turns to me!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Death</span>. "I will find for thee that which thou hast vainly sought for,

-by the gleam of torches, upon the faces of the dead,&mdash;or among those

-awful sands that are formed of human remains, where thou wast wont to

-wander beyond the Pyramids. From time to time, the fragment of a skull

-rolled under thy sandal. Thou didst take up the dust: thou didst let it

-trickle through thy fingers; and thy thought, blending with it, sank

-into nothingness."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Lust</span>. "My gulf is deeper! Marbles have inspired loves. Men rush to

-conjunctures that terrify. Fetters are riveted that the fettered curse.

-Whence the bewitchment of courtesans, the extravagance of dreams, the

-immensity of my sadness?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Death</span>. "Mine irony depasseth all others! There are convulsions of

-delight at the funerals of kings, at the extermination of a whole

-people; and war is made with music, with plumes, with harness of

-gold,&mdash;with vast display of ceremony that my due of homage may be

-greater!"</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon203"></a>

-<img src="images/redon2_03.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>Death: Mine irony depasseth all others!</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2">Lust. "My rage equals thine! I also yell;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> I bite! I, too, have sweats

-of agony, and aspects cadaverous!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Death</span>. "It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!"</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon20"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_20.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2">(<i>Death laughs mockingly; Lust roars. They clasp each other about the

-waist, and chant alternately</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"I hasten the dissolution of matter!"</p>

-

-<p>"I facilitate the dispersion of germs!"</p>

-

-<p>"Thou dost destroy for my renovations!"</p>

-

-<p>"Thou dost engender for my destructions!"</p>

-

-<p>"Ever-active my power!"</p>

-

-<p>"Fecund, my putrefaction!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And their voices, whose rolling echoes fill the horizon, deepen and

-become so mighty that Anthony falls backward as if thunder-stricken. A

-shock from time to time causes him to reopen his eyes; and he perceives

-in the midst of the darkness a manner of monster before him.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>It is a skull, crowned with roses, dominating the torso of a woman

-nacreously white. Below, a shroud starred with specks of gold forms

-something like a tail; and the whole body undulates, after the fashion

-of a gigantic worm erect on end.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>The vision attenuates,&mdash;disappears.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>rising to his feet</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"The Devil yet again, and under his two-fold aspect: the spirit of

-fornication, and the spirit of destruction.</p>

-

-<p>"Neither affrights me! I repel happiness; and I know myself to be

-eternal.</p>

-

-<p>"Thus death is only an illusion, a veil-masking betimes the continuity

-of life.</p>

-

-<p>"But Substance being unique, wherefore should forms be varied?</p>

-

-<p>"Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose bodily forms are

-only symbols. Could I but see them, I would know the link between

-matter and thought; I would know in what Being consists.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon204"></a>

-<img src="images/redon2_04.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial

-figures, whose bodily forms are only symbols</p></div></div>

-

-<p class="p2">"Such were the figures painted at Babylon upon the walls of the

-temple of Belus; and others like them covered a mosaic in the port of

-Carthage. I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms

-of spirits. Those who cross the desert meet with animals surpassing all

-conception...."</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon21"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_21.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it

-were, forms of spirits</p></div></div>

-

-<p class="p2">(<i>And opposite, upon the further side of the Nile, suddenly appears

-the Sphinx.<a name="FNanchor_1_27" id="FNanchor_1_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_27" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> stretches his paws, shakes the bandelets upon his

-forehead, and crouches upon his belly.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Leaping, flying, spitting fire through her nostrils, lashing her

-winged sides with her dragon-tail, the green-eyed Chimera circles,

-barks.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The thick curls of her head tossed back upon one side mingle with

-the hair of her loins; on the other side they hang down to the sand,

-quivering with the swinging of her body, to and fro.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span> (<i>remaining motionless, and gazing at the Chimera</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Hither, Chimera! rest awhile!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "No! never!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Do not run so fast, do not fly so high, do not bark so

-loudly!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Do not call me!&mdash;call me no more; since thou must remain

-forever dumb."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Cease casting thy flames in my face, and uttering thy

-yells in my ear: thou canst not melt my granite."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Thou shalt not seize me, terrible sphinx!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Thou art too mad to dwell with me!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Thou art too heavy to follow me!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Yet whither goest thou, that thou shouldst run so fast?"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "I gallop in the corridors of the Labyrinth&mdash;I hover above

-the mountains&mdash;I graze the waves in my flight&mdash;I yelp at the bottom of

-precipices&mdash;I suspend myself with my mouth from the skirts of clouds&mdash;I

-sweep the shores with my dragging tail; and the curves of the hills

-have taken their form from the shape of my shoulders! But thee I find

-perpetually immobile, or perhaps making strange designs with thy claws

-upon the sand."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "It is because I keep my secret;&mdash;I dream and calculate.</p>

-

-<p>"The sea returns to its bed; the wheat bends back and forth in the

-wind; the caravans pass by; the dust flies; cities crumble; and yet

-my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all

-intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon205"></a>

-<img src="images/redon2_05.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>The Sphinx: ... and yet

-my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all

-intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach.

-The Chimera: I am light and joyous!</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "I am light and joyous! I offer to the eyes of men

-dazzling perspectives with Paradise in the clouds above, and

-unspeakable felicity afar off. Into their souls I pour the eternal

-madnesses; projects of happiness, plans for the future, dreams of glory

-and vows of love, and all virtuous resolutions.</p>

-

-<p>"I urge men to perilous voyages and great enterprises. I have chiselled

-with my claws the wonders of architecture. It was I who suspended the

-little bells above the tomb of Porsenna, and surrounded the quays of

-Atlantis with a wall of orichalcum.</p>

-

-<p>"I seek for new perfumes, for vaster flowers, for pleasures never felt

-before. If I perceive in any place a man whose mind reposes in wisdom,

-I fall upon him, and strangle him."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "All those tormented by the desire of God, I have devoured.</p>

-

-<p>"In order to climb up to my royal brow, the strongest ascend upon the

-flutings of my bandelets as upon the steps of a stairway. Then a great

-lassitude comes upon them, and they fall backward."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony begins to tremble.</i></p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><i>He is no longer before his cabin, but in the desert itself, with those

-two monsters beside him, whose breath is hot upon his shoulders.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "O thou Fantasy, bear me away upon thy wings that my

-sadness may be lightened!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "O thou Unknown, I am enamoured of thine eyes! Like a

-hyena in heat I turn about thee, soliciting those fecundations whereof

-the desires devour me!</p>

-

-<p>"Ope thy mouth, lift thy feet&mdash;mount upon my back!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "My feet, since they have been outstretched, can move no

-more. The lichen, like an eruption, has formed upon my jaws. By dint of

-long dreaming I have no longer aught to say."</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Thou liest, hypocrite Sphinx! Wherefore dost thou always

-call me and always disown me!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "It is thou, indomitable caprice, that dost forever pass

-and repass, whirling in thy course!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Is the fault mine? What? Let me be!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>She barks.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Thou movest away! thou dost escape me!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He growls.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Essay!&mdash;Thou crushest me!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Nay!&mdash;impossible!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>And gradually sinking down he disappears in the sand; while the

-Chimera, ramping with tongue protruding, departs, describing circles on

-her way.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The breath of her mouth has produced a fog.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Through this mist Anthony perceives wreathings of clouds, undecided

-curves.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>At last he can distinguish something like the appearance of human

-bodies.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And first</i>:&mdash;</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Astomi</span>&mdash;<i>approach, like bubbles of air traversed by sunlight. They

-cry</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Do not breathe too hard! The drops of rain bruise us, false notes

-excoriate us, darknesses blind us! Composed wholly of breezes and of

-perfumes, we float along, we roll along:&mdash;a little more than Dreams,

-yet not quite beings...."</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Nisnas</span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>have only one eye, one cheek, one hand, one leg, half a body, half a

-heart. They say</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"We live quite in our halves of houses, with our halves of wives and

-our halves of children!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Blemmyes</span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>who have no head at all</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Our shoulders are all the broader;&mdash;and there is no ox, rhinoceros, or

-elephant able to carry what we carry.</p>

-

-<p>"Something dimly resembling features&mdash;as it were a vague

-face&mdash;imprinted upon our breasts: that is all! We think digestions; we

-subtleize secretions. God, in our belief, floats peacefully within the

-interior chyles.</p>

-

-<p>"We go straight upon our way, through all mires, crossing all morasses,

-skirting the edges of all abysses: and we are the most laborious, the

-most happy, the most virtuous of all peoples!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Pygmies</span>:</p>

-

-<p>"We, good little men, swarm upon the world like vermin upon the hump of

-a dromedary.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"We are burned, drowned, crushed; and we always reappear, more

-vivacious and countless than before&mdash;terrible by reason of our numbers!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sciapods</span>:</p>

-

-<p>"Fettered to the earth by our hair, long as lianas, we vegetate beneath

-the shelter of our feet, broad as parasols; and the light comes to us

-through the thickness of our heels. No annoyances for us, no work! The

-head as low as possible&mdash;That is the secret of happiness."</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon206"></a>

-<img src="images/redon2_06.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>The Sciapods: The head as low as possible&mdash;That is the secret of happiness.</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2">(<i>Their lifted thighs,&mdash;resembling the trunks of trees,&mdash;multiply.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And a forest appears. Great apes clamber through it on all

-fours:&mdash;these are men with the heads of dogs.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Cynocephali</span>:</p>

-

-<p>"We leap from branch to branch in search of eggs to suck; and we pluck

-the little fledglings alive; then we put their nests upon our heads in

-lieu of caps.</p>

-

-<p>"We tear off the teats of cows; and we put out the eyes of lynxes:

-we let fall our dung<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> from the heights of the trees&mdash;we parade our

-turpitude in the full light of the sun.</p>

-

-<p>"Lacerating the flowers, crushing the fruits, befouling the springs,

-violating women, we are the masters of all,&mdash;by the strength of our

-arms, and the ferocity of our hearts.</p>

-

-<p>"Ho! companions!&mdash;gnash with your jaws!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Blood and milk pour down their chops. The rain streams over their

-hairy backs.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony inhales the freshness of the green leaves.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>There is a movement among them, a clashing of branches; and all of

-a sudden appears a huge black stag, with the head of a bull, having

-between his ears a thicket of white horns.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sadhuzag</span>:</p>

-

-<p>"My seventy-four antlers are hollow like flutes.</p>

-

-<p>"When I turn me toward the wind of the South, there issue from them

-sounds that draw all the ravished animals around me. The serpents twine

-about my legs; the wasps cluster in my nostrils; and the parrots, the

-doves, the ibises, alight upon the branches of my horns.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"Listen!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He throws back his horns, whence issues a music of sweetness

-ineffable.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Anthony presses both hands upon his heart. It seems to him as though

-his soul were being borne away by the melody.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Sadhuzag</span>:</p>

-

-<p>"But when I turn me toward the wind of the North, my antlers, more

-thickly bristling than a battalion of lances, give forth a sound of

-howlings: the forests are startled with fear; the rivers remount toward

-their sources; the husks of fruits burst open; and the bending grasses

-stand erect on end, like the hair of a coward.</p>

-

-<p>"Listen!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He bends his branching antlers forward: hideous and discordant cries

-proceed from them. Anthony feels as though his heart were torn asunder.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And his horror augments upon beholding</i>)&mdash;</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Martichoras</span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>A gigantic red lion, with human face, and three rows of teeth</i>):</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>"The gleam of my scarlet hair mingles with the reflection of the great

-sands. I breathe through my nostrils the terror of solitudes. I spit

-forth plague. I devour armies when they venture into the desert.</p>

-

-<p>"My claws are twisted like screws, my teeth shaped like saws; and my

-curving tail bristles with darts which I cast to right and left, before

-and behind!</p>

-

-<p>"See! see!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>The Martichoras shoots forth the keen bristles of his tail, which

-irradiate in all directions like a volley of arrows. Drops of blood

-rain down, spattering upon the foliage.</i>)</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Catoblepas</span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>A black buffalo with a pig's head, falling to the ground, and

-attached to his shoulders by a neck long, thin, and flaccid as an empty

-gut.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>He wallows flat upon the ground, and his feet entirely disappear

-beneath the enormous mane of coarse hair which covers his face</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Fat, melancholy, fierce&mdash;thus I continually remain, feeling against

-my belly the warmth of the mud. So heavy is my skull<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> that it is

-impossible for me to lift it. I roll it slowly all around me,

-open-mouthed; and with my tongue I tear up the venemous plants bedewed

-with my breath. Once, I even devoured my own feet without knowing it!</p>

-

-<p>"No one, Anthony, has ever beheld mine eyes,&mdash;or at least, those who

-have beheld them are dead. Were I to lift my eyelids&mdash;my pink and

-swollen eyelids, thou wouldst forthwith die!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh, that one! Ugh! As though I could desire it?&mdash;Yet his

-stupidity fascinates me! No, no! I will not!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>He gazes fixedly upon the ground.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>But the weeds take fire; and amidst the contorsions of the flames,

-arises</i>)&mdash;</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Basilisk</span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>A great violet serpent, with trilobate crest, and two fangs, one

-above, one below</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Beware, lest thou fall into my jaws! I drink fire. I am fire!&mdash;and I

-inhale it from all things: from clouds, from flints, from dead trees,

-the fur of animals, the surface of marshes. My temperature maintains

-the volcanoes: I lend glitter to jewels: I give colours to metals!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Griffin</span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>A lion with a vulture's beak, and white wings, red paws and blue

-neck</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"I am the master of deep splendours. I know the secrets of the tombs

-wherein the Kings of old do slumber.</p>

-

-<p>"A chain, issuing from the wall, maintains their heads upright. Near

-them, in basins of porphyry, the women they loved float upon the

-surfaces of black liquids. Their treasures are all arrayed in halls, in

-lozenge-shaped designs, in little heaps, in pyramids;&mdash;and down below,

-far below the tombs, and to be reached only after long travelling

-through stifling darkness, there are rivers of gold bordered by forests

-of diamonds, there are fields of carbuncles and lakes of mercury.</p>

-

-<p>"Addossed against the subterranean gate I remain with claws uplifted;

-and my flaming eyes spy out those who seek to approach. The vast and

-naked plain that stretches away to the end of the horizon is whitened

-with the bones of travellers. But for thee the gates of bronze shall

-open; and thou shalt inhale the vapour of the mines, thou shalt descend

-into the caverns.... Quick! quick!"</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>(<i>He burrows into the earth with his paws, and crows like a cock.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>A thousand voices answer him. The forest trembles.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And all manner of frightful creatures arise:&mdash;The Tragelaphus, half

-deer, half ox; the Myrmecoles, lion before-and ant behind, whose

-genitals are set reversely; the python Askar, sixty cubits long, that

-terrified Moses; the huge weasel Pastinaca, that kills the trees with

-her odour; the Presteros, that makes those who touch it imbecile;

-the Mirag, a horned hare, that dwells in the islands of the sea. The

-leopard Phalmant bursts his belly by roaring; the triple-headed bear

-Senad tears her young by licking them with her tongue; the dog Cepus

-pours out the blue milk of her teats upon the rocks. Mosquitoes begin

-to hum, toads commence to leap; serpents hiss. Lightnings flicker. Hail

-falls.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Then come gusts, bearing with them marvellous anatomies:&mdash;Heads of

-alligators with hoofs of deer; owls with serpent tails; swine with

-tiger-muzzles; goats with the crupper of an ass; frogs hairy as bears;

-chameleons huge as hippopotami; calves with two heads, one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> bellowing,

-the other weeping; winged bellies flitting hither and thither like

-gnats.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>They rain from the sky, they rise from the earth, they pour from the

-rocks; everywhere eyes flame, mouths roar, breasts bulge, claws are

-extended, teeth gnash, flesh clacks against flesh. Some crouch; some

-devour each other at a mouthful.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Suffocating under their own numbers, multiplying by their own contact,

-they climb over one another; and move about Anthony with a surging

-motion as though the ground were the deck of a ship. He feels the trail

-of snails upon the calves of his legs, the chilliness of vipers upon

-his hands:&mdash;and spiders spinning about him enclose him within their

-network.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>But the monstrous circle breaks, parts; the sky suddenly becomes blue;

-and</i>)&mdash;</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The Unicorn</span> (<i>appears</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"Gallop! Gallop!</p>

-

-<p>"I have hoofs of ivory, teeth of steel; my head is the colour of

-purple, my body the colour of snow; and the horn of my forehead is

-bestreaked with the tints of the rainbow.</p>

-

-<p>"I travel from Chaldea to the Tartar desert,&mdash;upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> the shores of the

-Ganges and in Mesopotamia. I overtake the ostriches. I run so swiftly

-that I draw the wind after me. I rub my back against the palm-trees. I

-roll among the bamboos. I leap rivers with a single bound. Doves fly

-above me. Only a virgin can bridle me.</p>

-

-<p>"Gallop! Gallop!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Anthony watches him depart.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And as he gazes he beholds all the birds that nourish themselves

-with wind: the Gouith, the Ahuti, the Alphalim, the Iukneth, of the

-mountains of Kaf, the homai of the Arabs&mdash;which are the souls of

-murdered men. He hears the parrots that utter human speech; and the

-great Pelasgian palmipeds that sob like children or chuckle like old

-women.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>A saline air strikes his nostrils. Now a vast beach stretches before

-him.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>In the distance jets of water arise, spouted by whales; and from the

-very end of the horizon come</i>)&mdash;</p>

-

-<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Beasts of the Sea</p>

-

-<p>(<i>round as wineskins, flat as blades, denticulated like saws, dragging

-themselves over the sand as they approach</i>):</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon22"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_22.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>The beasts of the sea round as wineskins</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2">"Thou wilt accompany us to our immensities, whither as yet no one has

-descended.</p>

-

-<p>"Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean. Some dwell in the

-sojourn of tempests; others swim freely amid the transparency of chill

-waves;&mdash;or, like oxen, graze upon the coral plains, or suck in through

-their trunks the reflux of the tides,&mdash;or bear upon their shoulders the

-vast weight of the sources of the sea."</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon23"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_23.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean </p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2">(<i>Phosphorences gleam in the moustaches of the seals, shift in the

-scales of fish. Echini whirl like wheels; ammonites uncoil like cables;

-oysters make their shell hinges squeak; polypi unfold their tentacles;

-medusæ quiver like balls of crystal suspended; sponges float hither and

-thither, anemones ejaculate water; wrack and sea-mosses have grown all

-about.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And all sorts of plants extend themselves into branches, twist

-themselves into screws, lengthen into points, round themselves out like

-fans. Gourds take the appearance of breasts; lianas interlace like

-serpents.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>The Dedaims of Babylon, which are trees, bear human heads for fruit;

-Mandragoras<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> sing;&mdash;the root Baaras runs through the grass.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And now the vegetables are no longer distinguishable from the animals.

-Polyparies that seem like trees, have arms upon their branches. Anthony

-thinks he sees a caterpillar between two leaves: it is a butterfly that

-takes flight. He is about to step on a pebble: a grey locust leaps

-away. One shrub is bedecked with insects that look like petals of

-roses; fragments of ephemerides form a snowy layer upon the soil.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And then the plants become confounded with the stones.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Flints assume the likeness of brains; stalactites of breasts; the

-flower of iron resembles a figured tapestry.</i><a name="FNanchor_2_28" id="FNanchor_2_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_28" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>

-

-<p><i>He sees efflorescences in fragments of ice, imprints of shrubs and

-shells&mdash;yet so that one cannot detect whether they be imprints only, or

-the things themselves. Diamonds gleam like eyes; metals palpitate.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>And all fear has departed from him! He throws himself down upon the

-ground, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> leaning upon his elbows, watches breathlessly.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Insects that have no stomachs persistently eat; withered ferns bloom

-again and reflower; absent members grow again.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>At last he perceives tiny globular masses, no larger than pinheads,

-with cilia all round them. They are agitated with a vibratile motion</i>):</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>deliriously</i>):</p>

-

-<p>"O joy! O bliss! I have beheld the birth of life! I have seen the

-beginning of motion! My pulses throb even to the point of bursting!

-I long to fly, to swim, to bark, to bellow, to howl! Would that I

-had wings, a carapace, a shell,&mdash;that I could breathe out smoke,

-wield a trunk,&mdash;make my body writhe,&mdash;divide myself everywhere,&mdash;be

-in everything,&mdash;emanate with odours,&mdash;develop myself like the

-plants,&mdash;flow like water,&mdash;vibrate like sound&mdash;shine like light,

-squatting upon all forms&mdash;penetrate each atom&mdash;descend to the very

-bottom of matter,&mdash;be matter itself!"</p>

-

-<p>(<i>Day at last appears;&mdash;and, like tabernacle curtains uplifted, clouds

-of gold uprolling in broad volutes unveil the sky.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Even in the midst thereof, and in the very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> disk of the sun, beams the

-face of Jesus Christ.</i></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">

-<a id="redon24"></a>

-<img src="images/redon_24.jpg" width="600" alt="" />

-<div class="caption"><p>Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof

-and in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ. </p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p class="p2"><i>Anthony makes the sign of the cross, and resumes his devotions.</i>)</p>

-

-

-<h4>FINIS</h4>

-

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_1_27" id="Footnote_1_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_27"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Winkelmann claims to have been the first to discover that

-the Egyptian sphinxes were bisexual&mdash;females before&mdash;males otherwise.

-(See Book II, chap. I, § 25.) Flaubert speaks of the Sphinx in the

-masculine like Philemon. (See also Signor Carlo Fea's note upon the

-paragraph in Winkelmann, old French edition. An II, R. F.)&mdash;Trans.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_2_28" id="Footnote_2_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_28"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Fleurs de fer, "flowers of iron." In mineralogy <i>flos

-ferri</i>, a form of Aragonite.&mdash;Trans.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p></div>

-

-

-

-

-<h5><a name="NOTE" id="NOTE">[NOTE</a></h5>

-

-<p>Those who compare this translation with the original will observe the

-omission of some few paragraphs on pages <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a> and <a href="#Page_211">211</a>. They are

-speeches put in the mouths of certain Heresiarchs, or complaints of

-certain of the minor Roman household gods. The translator relegated

-these to an addenda, which the publishers have omitted as being

-unnecessary. Those who are familiar with the original will be able to

-supply them, and will realize that while they might be offensive to

-some persons, they are in no respect an integral or important part of

-the great drama.]</p>

-

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<p>(added by transcribers)</p>

-<h5><a name="ADDENDA" id="ADDENDA">ADDENDA</a></h5>

-

-

-<p>A. Observation of Manes, pages 82-3, original text; page <a href="#Page_89">89</a> of

-translation.</p>

-

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span></p>

-

-<p><i>Ou plutôt, faites si bien qu'elle ne soit pas fécondes. Mieux vaut

-pour l'ame tomber sur la terre que de languir dans des entraves

-charnelles.</i></p>

-

-<p>Probably a calumny against Manes; for the Eastern philosophy,

-especially that of Zoroaster, which is said to have inspired the tenets

-of Manichæism, advocated no such abominations.</p>

-

-

-<p>B. Page 105 of original; <a href="#Page_108">page 108</a> translation. The realistic

-phraseology of the original passage is rather brutal. The French text

-reads: "<i>Il souffrait de la maladie Bellerephontienne; et sa mère, la

-parfumeuse, s'est livrée à Pantherus, un soldat Romain, sur des gerbes

-de mais, un soir de moisson.</i>" C. Descriptive text, page 237 original,

-partly suppressed on <a href="#Page_223">page 223</a> translation: "<i>Et il lui montre dans un

-bosquet d'aliziers Une Femme toute nue, à quatre pattes comme une bête,

-et saillie par un homme noir, tenant dans chaque main un flambeau.</i>"</p>

-

-<p>D. Curious text of Crepitus, on page <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, pages 241-3 of original:</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Crepitus</span></p>

-

-<p>(&mdash;&mdash;se fait entendre):</p>

-

-<p><i>Moi aussi l'on m'honora jadis. On me faisait des libations. Je fus un

-Dieu!</i></p>

-

-<p><i>L'Athénien me saluait comme un presage de fortune, tandis que le

-Romain dévot me maudissait les poings levés et que le pontife d'Egypte,

-s'abstinant des fèves, tremblait à ma voix et pâlissait à mon odeur.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Quand le vinaigre militaire coulait sur les barbes non rasées, qu'on

-se régalait de glands, de pois, et d'oignons crus, et que le bouc en

-morceau cuissait dans le beurre rance des pasteurs, sans souci du

-voisin, personne alors ne se gênait. Les nourritures solides faisaient

-digestions retentissantes. Au soleil de la campagne les hommes se

-soulageaient avec lenteur.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Ainsi, je passais sans scandale, comme les autres besoins de la vie,

-comme Mena, tourment des vierges, et la douce Rumina qui protège le

-sein de la nourrice, gonflé, des veines bleuâtres. J'étais joyeux. Je

-faisais rire. Et se dilatant d'aise à cause de moi, le convive exhalait

-toute sa gaieté par les ouvertures de son corps.</i></p>

-

-<p><i>J'ai eu mes jours d'orgeuil. Le bon Aristophane me promena sur la

-scène, et l'empereur Claudius Drusus<a name="FNanchor_1_29" id="FNanchor_1_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_29" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> me fit asseoir à sa table. Dans

-les laticlaves des patriciens j'ai circulé majestueusement! Les vases

-d'or, comme des tympanons, resonnaient sous moi; et, quand plein de

-murènes, de truffles, et de pâtés, l'intestin du maître se dégageait

-avec fracas, l'univers attentif apprenait que César avait diné!</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Mais à présent, je suis confiné dans la populace</i><a name="FNanchor_2_30" id="FNanchor_2_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_30" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> <i>et l'on se

-récrie, même à mon nom!</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Et Crepitus s'éloigne, en poussant un gémissement....</i></p>

-

-<p>E. For descriptions of the Martichoras and other monsters, appearing

-page 287 in the original and <a href="#Page_253">253</a> in the translation, see also Rabelais'

-Pantagruel, Book V, Chap. XXX.</p>

-

-

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_1_29" id="Footnote_1_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_29"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Needless to refer to the comedies of Aristophanes,

-with which English readers have been familiarized through the Bohn

-translations. The reference to Claudius ius Drusus seems based upon

-the following lines in Suetonius: "<i>Dicitur etiam meditatus edictum,

-quo veniam daret flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi:

-cum periclitatum quemdam prae pudore ex continentia reperisset.</i>"

-(<i>Suetonius-Tiberius Claudius Drusus</i>: 32.)</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_2_30" id="Footnote_2_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_30"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The so-called divinities, <i>Deus Crepitus, Dea Pertunda,

-Deus Stercutius, Dea Rumina</i> (or <i>Rumilia</i>), <i>Dea Mena</i>, concerning

-whose curious attributes the reader may consult English or French

-classical encyclopedists, were doubtless regarded by the intelligent

-classes of antiquity much as certain religious superstitions are

-regarded by educated moderns. It is true that they furnished grotesque

-themes to artists; but many existing superstitions regarding elves

-and goblins have inspired modern sculptors, painters and designers.

-Certainly, seriously worshipped as deities, Priapus might seem equally

-contemptible as a divinity; but his worship, degenerate as it became

-in later years, was primitively symbolical. The obscene image merely

-typified the procreative Spirit of Nature. The eccentric gods and

-goddesses above referred to had no such excuse for being. As previously

-observed, however, Flaubert artistically represents these divinities

-not as they were really considered in the antique world, but rather as

-they would have appeared to the eyes of zealous Christians in the third

-century&mdash;infamous and loathsome.&mdash;Translator.</p></div>

-

-<hr class="full" />

-

-<p>

-<a id="CONTENTS"></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">CONTENTS</span><br /><br />

-<a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a><br />

-<a href="#ARGUMENT">ARGUMENT</a><br />

-<a href="#THE_TEMPTATION_OF_ST_ANTHONY">THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY</a><br />

-<a href="#I">I</a><br />

-<a href="#II">II</a><br />

-<a href="#III">III</a><br />

-<a href="#IV">IV</a><br />

-<a href="#V">V</a><br />

-<a href="#VI">VI</a><br />

-<a href="#VII">VII</a><br />

-<a href="#NOTE">NOTE</a><br />

-<a href="#ADDENDA">ADDENDA</a><br />

-</p>

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h5>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h5>

-

-<p style="text-align: center;">(by Odilon Redon, which were added especially for this PG e-book.)</p>

-

-<blockquote>

-   <p> ... through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought

-    that I could recognize Ammonaria ... <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon201">6</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God! <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon02">16</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>And there are columns of basalt everywhere,... The light

-    falls from the vaults above <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon03">38</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit dissolving

-    within thy heart ... <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon04">58</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>... a long blood-colored chrysalis <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon202">100</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>... the flowers fall and the head of a python appears <span class="illnum">

-    <a href="#redon05">105</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>... and in the darkness beside him people are praying...

-    <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon06">107</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated with knolls

-    <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon07">113</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with

-    kisses ... <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon08">115</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I

-    dwelt in the tree behind me <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon09">119</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>Helena - Ennoia <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon10">125</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>... instantly arise three goddesses <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon11">157</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon12">165</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>... and eyes without heads were floating like mollusks <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon13">167</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose from the abyss

-    that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms <span class="illnum">

-    <a href="#redon14">168</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon15">178</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>I am still the Great Isis!&mdash;none has yet lifted my

-    veil! My fruit is the Sun! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon16">188</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>... he falls head foremost into the abyss <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon17">206</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The Devil: There

-    is no purpose. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon18">224</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?&mdash;a wide, black

-    hole! Perhaps it is a void! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon19">235</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>Death: Mine irony depasseth all others! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon203">240</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine! <span class="illnum">

-    <a href="#redon20">241</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose

-    bodily forms are only symbols <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon204">242</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms

-    of spirits <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon21">242</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>The Sphinx: ... and yet my gaze, which naught can deviate,

-    remains fixed, gazing through all intervening things, upon

-    a horizon that none may reach. The Chimera: I am light and

-    joyous! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon205">245</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>The Sciapods: The head as low as possible&mdash;That is the

-    secret of happiness. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon206">249</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>The beasts of the sea round as wineskins <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon22">258</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon23">258</a></span></p>

-

-    <p>Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and in the very

-    disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon24">260</a></span></p>

-</blockquote>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-<p>&nbsp;</p>

-<p class="transnote"><b>Transcribers' Note:</b><br />

-<br />

-This translation of the "Tentation" by Lafcadio Hearn, still regarded

-by many as the best up until now in English, still misses some small

-fragments (of a couple of words) not deemed fit for the Anglo-Saxon

-temperament of that time. There is a contemporary version (2002) of

-this translation available, with introduction by Michel Foucault and

-the inclusion of some missing expressions. The original French by

-Gustave Flaubert is also available at Project Gutenberg&mdash;

-<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982">http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982</a></p>

-

-<p>&nbsp;</p>

-<hr class="pg" />

-<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***</p>

-<p>******* This file should be named 52225-h.htm or 52225-h.zip *******</p>

-<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />

-<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/2/2/2/52225">http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/2/2/52225</a></p>

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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 52225 ***</div>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Temptation of St. Anthony, by Gustave
+Flaubert, Translated by Lafcadio Hearn, Illustrated by Odilon Redon</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      the Google Books Library Project. See
+      <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=9g9EAAAAYAAJ">
+      https://books.google.com/books?id=9g9EAAAAYAAJ</a>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="pg" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="500" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY</h1>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>GUSTAVE FLAUBERT</h2>
+
+<h4>TRANSLATED BY</h4>
+
+<h2>LAFCADIO HEARN</h2>
+
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS by ODILON REDON</h2>
+
+<p class="center" style="font-size: 0.8em;">(Added especially for this PG e-book.)</p>
+
+<h5>THE ALICE HARRIMAN COMPANY</h5>
+
+<h5>NEW YORK AND SEATTLE</h5>
+
+<h5>1910</h5>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><a href="#CONTENTS">Contents</a></p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></h4>
+
+
+<p>It was at some period between 1875 and 1876 that Lafcadio Hearn&mdash;still
+a "cub" reporter on a daily paper in Cincinnati&mdash;began his translation
+of Flaubert's "Temptation of St. Anthony." The definitive edition of
+the work, over which the author had laboured for thirty years, had
+appeared in 1874.</p>
+
+<p>Hearn was, in his early youth, singularly indifferent to the work of
+the Englishmen of the Victorian period. Though he knew the English
+masterpieces of that epoch, their large, unacademic freedom of manner
+awakened no echoes in his spirit. His instinctive taste was for the
+exquisite in style: for "that peculiar kneading, heightening, and
+recasting" which Matthew Arnold thought necessary for perfection.
+Neither did the matter, more than the manner of the Victorians appeal
+to him. The circumstances of his life had at so many points set him
+out of touch with his fellows that the affectionate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span> mockery of
+Thackeray's pictures of English society were alien to his interest.
+The laughing heartiness of Dickens' studies of the man in the street
+hardly touched him. Browning's poignant analyses of souls were too
+rudely robust of manner to move him. Before essaying journalism Hearn
+had served for a while as an assistant in the Public Library, and
+there he had found and fallen under the spell, of the great Frenchman
+of the Romantic School of the '30's&mdash;that period of rich flowering of
+the Gallic genius. Gautier's tales of ancient weirdnesses fired his
+imagination. The penetrating subtleties of his verse woke in the boy
+the felicitous emotions which the virtuoso knows in handling cameos
+and enamellings by hands which have long been dust. So, also, Hugo's
+revivals of the passions and terrors of the mediæval world stirred the
+young librarian's eager interest. But most of all his spirit leapt
+to meet the tremendous drama of the "Temptation." He comprehended at
+once its large significance, its great import, and in his enthusiastic
+recognition of its value and meaning he set at once about giving it a
+language understood of the people of his own tongue.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Tunison tells of the little shy, shabby, half-blind boy&mdash;the long
+dull day of police reporting done&mdash;labouring at his desk into the
+small hours, with the flickering gas jet whistling overhead, and his
+myopic eyes bent close to the papers which he covered with beautiful,
+almost microscopic characters&mdash;escaping thus from the crass, raw world
+about him to delicately and painstakingly turn into English stories
+of Cleopatra's cruel, fantastic Egyptian Night's Entertainment.
+Withdrawing himself to transliterate tales of pallid beautiful vampires
+draining the veins of ardent boys: of lovely faded ghosts of great
+ladies descending from shadowy tapestries to coquette with romantic
+dreamers; or to find an English voice for the tragedy of the soul of
+the Alexandrian cenobite.</p>
+
+<p>It was in such dreams and labours that he found refuge from the
+environment that was so antipathetic to his tastes, and in his
+immersion in the works of these virtuosos of words, in his passionate
+search for equivalents of the subtle nuances of their phrases, he
+developed his own style. A style full of intricate assonances, of a
+texture close woven and iridescent.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"One of Cleopatra's Night's"&mdash;a translation of some of Gautier's tales
+of glamour&mdash;was issued in 1882, but at "The Temptation of St. Anthony"
+the publishers altogether balked. The manuscript could not achieve even
+so much as a reading. America had in the '70's just begun to emerge
+from that state of provincial propriety in which we were accused of
+clothing even our piano legs in pantelettes. The very name of the work
+was sufficient to start modest shivers down the spine of all well
+regulated purveyors of books. It was largely due to the painters'
+conceptions of the nature of the hermit's trials that the story of
+Saint Anthony's spiritual struggle aroused instinctive terrors in all
+truly modest natures. The painters&mdash;who so dearly love to display their
+skill in drawing legs and busts&mdash;had been wont to push the poor old
+saint into the obscure of the background, and fill all the foreground
+with ladies of obviously the very lightest character, in garments
+still lighter, if possible. What had reputable American citizens to do
+with such as these jades? More especially such jades as seen through
+a French imagination! That Flaubert had brushed aside the gross and
+jejune<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span> conceptions of the painters the publishers would not even take
+the pains to learn.</p>
+
+<p>It is amusing now to recall the nervous, timid proprieties of those
+days. At the time Hearn failed to see the laughable side of it. He was
+then too young and earnest, too passionate and too melancholy to have a
+sense of its humours.</p>
+
+<p>He had brought his unfinished manuscript from Cincinnati to New
+Orleans, and had continued to work upon it in strange lodgings in
+gaunt, old half-ruined Creole houses; at the tables of odd little
+French cafés, or among the queer dishes in obscure Spanish and Chinese
+restaurants. He had snatched minutes for it amidst the reading and
+clipping of exchanges in a newspaper office; had toiled drippingly
+over it in the liquifying heats of tropic nights; had arisen from the
+"inexpungable langours" of yellow fever to complete its last astounding
+pages.</p>
+
+<p>I can remember applauding, with ardent youthful sympathy, his tirades
+against the stultifying influence of blind puritanism upon American
+literature. I recall his scornful mocking at the inconsistency which
+complacently accepted the vulgar seduction, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> the theatrical Brocken
+revels of Faust, while shrinking piously from Flaubert's grim story of
+the soul of man struggling to answer the riddle of the universe. He
+had however an almost equal contempt for the author's countrymen, who
+received with eager interest and pleasure the deliberate analysis&mdash;in
+<i>Madame Bovary</i>&mdash;of a woman's degradation and ruin, while they yawned
+over the amazing history of humanity's tremendous spiritual adventures.
+Hearn's own sensitiveness shrank in pain from the cold insight which
+uncovered layer by layer the brutal squalour of a woman's moral
+disintegration. But he was moved and astounded by the revelation, in
+St. Anthony, of the tragedy and pathos of man's long search for some
+body of belief or philosophy by which he could explain to himself
+the strange great phenomena of life and death, and the inscrutable
+cruelties of Nature. The young translator was filled with a sort of
+astonished despair at his inability to make others see the book as
+he did&mdash;not realizing, in his youthful impatience, that the average
+mind clings to the concrete, and is puzzled and terrified by outlines
+of thought too large for its range of vision; that the commonplace<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span>
+intelligence cannot "see the wood for the trees," and becomes confused
+and over-weighted when confronted with the huge outlines of so great a
+picture as that drawn by Flaubert in his masterpiece.</p>
+
+<p>There were many points of resemblance between Lafcadio Hearn and the
+grandson of the French veterinary. A resemblance rather in certain
+qualities of the spirit than in social conditions and physical
+endowments. Flaubert, born in 1821, was the son of a surgeon. His
+father was long connected with the Hôtel Dieu of Rouen, in which the
+boy was born, and in which he lived until his eighteenth year, when he
+went to Paris to study law. One of the friends of his early Parisian
+days describes him as "a young Greek. Tall, supple, and as graceful as
+an athlete. He was charming, <i>mais un peu farouche.</i> Quite unconscious
+of his physical and mental gifts; very careless of the impression he
+produced, and entirely indifferent to formalities. His dress consisted
+of a red flannel shirt, trousers of heavy blue cloth, and a scarf of
+the same colour drawn tight about his slender waist. His hat was worn
+'any how' and often he abandoned it altogether. When I spoke to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> him of
+fame or influence.... he seemed superbly indifferent. He had no desire
+for glory or gain.... What was lacking in his nature was an interest in
+<i>les choses extérieures, choses utiles.</i>" ...</p>
+
+<p>One who saw him in 1879 found the young Greek athlete&mdash;now close upon
+sixty, and having in the interval created some of the great classics
+of French literature&mdash;"a huge man, a tremendous old man. His long,
+straggling gray hair was brushed back. His red face was that of a
+soldier, or a sheik&mdash;divided by drooping white moustaches. A trumpet
+was his voice, and he gesticulated freely ... the colour of his eyes a
+bit of faded blue sky."</p>
+
+<p>The study of the law did not hold Flaubert long. It was one of those
+<i>choses extérieures, choses utiles</i> to which he was so profoundly
+indifferent. Paris bored him. He longed for Rouen, and for his little
+student chamber. There he had lain upon his bed whole days at a time;
+apparently as lazy as a lizard; smoking, dreaming; pondering the large,
+inchoate, formless dreams of youth.</p>
+
+<p>In 1845 his father died, and in the following year he lost his sister
+Caroline, whom he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> passionately loved, and for whom he grieved
+all his life. He rejoined his mother, and they established themselves
+at Croisset, near Rouen, upon a small inherited property. It was an
+agreeable house, pleasantly situated in sight of the Seine. Flaubert
+nourished with pleasure a local legend that Pascal had once inhabited
+the old Croisset homestead, and that the Abbé Prevost had written
+<i>Manon Lescaut</i> within its walls. Near the house&mdash;now gone&mdash;he built
+for himself a pavilion to serve as a study, and in this he spent the
+greater portion of the following thirty-four years in passionate,
+unremitting labour.</p>
+
+<p>He made a voyage to Corsica in his youth; one to Brittany, with Maxime
+du Camp, in 1846; and spent some months in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey,
+and Greece in 1849. This Oriental experience gave him the most intense
+pleasure, and was the germ of <i>Salammbo</i>, and of the <i>Temptation of St.
+Anthony.</i> He never repeated it, though he constantly talked of doing
+so. He nursed a persistent, but unrealized dream of going as far as
+Ceylon, whose ancient name, Taprobana, he was never weary of repeating;
+utterance of its melifluous syllables becoming a positive <i>tic</i>
+with him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> Despite these yearnings he remained at home. Despite his
+full-blooded physique he would take no more exercise than his terrace
+afforded, or an occasional swim in the Seine. He smoked incessantly,
+and for months at a stretch worked fifteen hours out of the twenty-four
+at his desk. Three hundred volumes might be annotated for a page of
+facts. He would write twenty pages, and reduce these by exquisite
+concisions, by fastidious rejections to three; would search for hours
+for the one word that perfectly conveyed the colour of his thought, and
+would&mdash;as in the case of the <i>Temptation</i>&mdash;wait fifteen years for a
+sense of satisfaction with a manuscript before allowing it to see the
+light. To Maxime du Camp, who urged him to hasten the completion of his
+book in order to take advantage of a favourable opportunity, he wrote
+angrily:</p>
+
+<p>"Tu me parais avoir à mon endroit un tic ou vice rédhibitoire. Il
+ne m'embête pas; n'aie aucune crainte; mon parti est pris là-dessus
+depuis long temps. Je te dirai seulement que tous ces mots; <i>se
+dépêcher, c'est le moment, place prise, se poser, ...</i> sont pour moi un
+vocabulaire vide de sens...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In one of his letters he says that on occasion he worked violently for
+eight hours to achieve one page. He endeavoured never to repeat a word
+in that page, and tried to force every phrase to respond to a rhythmic
+law. Guy do Maupassant, his nephew and pupil, says that to ensure this
+rhythm Flaubert "prenait sa feuille de papier, relevait à la hauteur du
+regard et, s'appuyant sur un coude, déclaimait, d'une voix mordant et
+haute. Il écoutait la rythme de sa prose, s'arrêtait comme pour saisir
+une sonorité fuyant, combinait les tons, éloignait les assonances,
+disposait les virgules avec conscience, commes les haltes d'un long
+chemin." ...</p>
+
+<p>Flaubert said himself, "une phrase est viable quand elle correspond
+à toutes les nécessités de respiration. Je sais qu'elle est bonne
+lorsqu'elle peut être lu tout haut."</p>
+
+<p>Henry Irving used to say of himself that it was necessary he should
+work harder than other actors because nature had dowered him with
+flexibility of neither voice nor feature, and Faguet says that Flaubert
+was forced to this excessive toil and incessant watchfulness because
+he did not write well naturally. Nevertheless Flaubert's work did not
+smell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> of the lamp. Whatever shape his ideas may have worn at birth
+when full grown they moved with large classic grace and freedom,
+simple, sincere, and beautiful in form. François Coppée calls him "the
+Beethoven of French prose."</p>
+
+<p>So conscientious a workman, so laborious and self-sacrificing an artist
+had a natural attraction for Lafcadio Hearn, who even in boyhood began
+to feel his vocation as "a literary monk." The whole tendency of his
+tastes prepared him to understand the true importance of Flaubert's
+masterpiece, fitted him especially of all living writers to turn that
+masterpiece into its true English equivalent. The two men had much in
+common. Both were proud and timid. Both had a fundamental indifference
+to <i>choses extérieures, choses utiles.</i> Both were realists of the soul.
+Actions interested each but slightly; the emotions from which actions
+sprung very much. To both stupidity was even more antipathetic than
+wickedness, because each realized that nearly all cruelty and vice have
+their germ in ignorance and stupidity rather than in innate rascality.
+Flaubert declared, with a sort of rage, that "la bêtise entre dans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span>
+mes pores." He might too have been speaking for Hearn when he said
+that the grotesque, the strange, and the monstrous had for him an
+inexplicable charm. "It corresponds," he says, "to the intimate needs
+of my nature&mdash;it does not cause me to laugh, but to dream long dreams."
+Hearn, however, mixed with this triste interest a quality that Flaubert
+seemed almost wholly to lack&mdash;a great tenderness for all things humble,
+feeble, ugly and helpless. Both from childhood were curious of poignant
+sensations, of the sad, the mysterious and the exotic. And for both the
+tropics had an irresistible fascination. Flaubert says, in one of his
+letters:</p>
+
+<p>"I carry with me the melancholy of the barbaric races, with their
+instincts of migration, and their innate distaste of life, which forced
+them to quit their homes in order to escape from themselves. They loved
+the sun, all those barbarians who came to die in Italy; they had a
+frenzied aspiration toward the light, toward the blue skies, toward an
+ardent existence.... Think that perhaps I will never see China, will
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span>never be rocked to sleep by the cadenced footsteps of camels ... will
+never see the shine of a tiger's eyes in the forest.... You can treat
+all this as little worthy of pity, but I suffer so much when I think of
+it ... as of something lamentable and irremediable."</p>
+
+<p>This is the nostalgia for the strange, for the unaccustomed, that all
+born wanderers know. Fate arranges it for many of them that their lives
+shall be uneventful, passed in dull, provincial narrowness; but behind
+these bars the clipped wings of their spirit are always flutteringly
+spread for flight. They know not what they seek, what desire drives
+them, but a sense of "the great adventure" unachieved keeps them
+restless until they die. It is such as these, these <i>voyageurs
+empassionés</i>, when condemned by fortune to a static existence&mdash;who find
+their outlet in mental wanderings amid the unusual, the grotesque,
+and the monstrous. Hearn and Flaubert both were at heart nomads,
+seekers of the unaccustomed; stretching toward immensities of space
+and time, toward the ghostly, the hidden, the unrealized. Like that
+wild fantastic <i>Chimera</i> of the "Temptation" each such soul declares
+"<i>je cherche des parfums<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span> nouveaux, des fleurs plus large, des plaisirs
+inéprouvés.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Flaubert was but twenty-six when the first suggestion of his
+masterpiece came to him. For <i>La Tentation de St. Antoine</i>, it is
+coming to be understood, is his masterpiece; is one of the greatest
+literary achievements of the French mind. <i>Madame Bovary</i> is more
+widely famous and popular, but Flaubert himself always deeply resented
+this preference, and was always astonished at the comparative
+indifference of the world to the "Temptation." He, too, found it
+difficult to realize how hardly the average mind is awakened to an
+interest in the incorporeal; how surely cosmic generalizations escape
+the grasp of the commonplace intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>Wagner waited a lifetime before the world was dragged reluctantly and
+resentfully up to a point from which it could discern the superiority
+of the tremendous finale of the Götterdämmerung to the Christmas-card
+chorus of angels chanting "<i>Âme chaste et pure</i>" to the beatified
+Marguerite. The whole prodigious structure of Wagner's dramatic and
+musical thought might have remained a mere adumbration in the soul of
+one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span> German had chance not set a mad genius upon the throne of Bavaria.
+The bourgeoisie would&mdash;lacking this royal bullying&mdash;have continued to
+prefer Goethe and Gounod. Flaubert's great work unfortunately failed of
+such patronage.</p>
+
+<p>It was in 1845 that an old picture by Breughel, seen at Genoa, first
+inspired Flaubert to attempt the story of St. Anthony. He sought
+out an engraving of this conception of Peter the Younger (surnamed
+"Hell-Breughel" for his fondness for such subjects), hung it on his
+walls at Croisset, and after three years of brooding upon it began,
+May 24, 1848, <i>La Tentation de St. Antoine.</i> In twelve months he had
+finished the first draught of the work, which bulked to 540 pages. It
+was laid aside for "Bovary," and a second version of the "Temptation"
+was completed in 1856, but this time the manuscript had been reduced
+to 193 pages, and the "blazing phrases, the jewelled words, the
+turbulence, the comedy, the mysticism" of the first version had been
+superseded by a larger, more dramatic conception. In 1872 he made still
+a new draught, and by this time it had shrunk to 136 pages. He even
+then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span> eliminated three chapters, and finally gave to the world in 1874
+"this wonderful coloured panorama of philosophy, this Gulliver-like
+travelling amid the master ideas of the antique and early Christian
+worlds."</p>
+
+<p>Faguet says, "In its primitive and legendary state the temptation
+of St. Anthony was nothing more than the story of a recluse tempted
+by the Devil through the flesh, by all the artifices at the Devil's
+disposal. In the definite thought of Flaubert the temptation of St.
+Anthony has become man's soul tempted by all the illusions of human
+thought and imagination. St. Anthony to the eyes of the first naive
+hagiologists is a second Adam, seduced by woman, who was inspired by
+Satan. St. Anthony conceived by Flaubert is a more thoughtful Faust; a
+Faust incapable of irony, not a Faust who could play with illusions and
+with himself&mdash;secretly persuaded that he could withdraw when he chose
+to give himself the trouble to do so&mdash;rather a Faust who approached,
+accosted, caressed all possible forms of universal illusions."</p>
+
+<p>Flaubert's studies for the "Temptation" were tremendous. For nearly
+thirty years he touched and retouched, altered, enlarged,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span> condensed.
+He kneaded into its substance the knowledge, incessantly sought, of
+all religions and philosophies; of all the forms man's speculations
+had taken in his endless endeavours to explain to himself Life and
+Fate; humanity's untiring, passionate effort to find the meaning of its
+mysterious origin and purpose, and final destiny. How terrible, how
+naive, how fantastic, bloody, grovelling, and outrageous were most of
+the solutions accepted, the gigantic panorama of the book startlingly
+sets forth. What gory agonies, what mystic exaltations, what dark
+cruelties, frenzied abandons, and inhuman self denials have marked
+those puzzled gropings for light and truth are revealed as by lightning
+flashes in the crowding scenes of the epic. For the Temptation of St.
+Anthony is an epic. Not a drama of man's actions, as all previous
+epics have been, but a drama of the soul. All its movement is in the
+adventure and conflict of the spirit. St. Anthony remains always in
+the one place, almost as moveless as a mirror. His vision&mdash;clarified
+of the sensual and the actual by his fastings and macerations&mdash;becomes
+like the surface of an unruffled lake. A lake reflecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span> the aberrant
+forms of thoughts that, like clouds, drift between man and the infinite
+depths of knowledge. Clouds of illusion forever changing, melting,
+fusing; assuming forms grotesque, monstrous, intolerable; until at
+last the writhing mists of speculation and ignorance are drunk up
+by the widening light of wisdom and the fogs and phantasms vanish,
+leaving his consciousness aware, in poignant ecstasy, of the cloudless
+deeps of truth. The temptation of the flesh is but a passing episode.
+An eidolon of Sheba's queen offers him luxury, wealth, voluptuous
+beauty, power, dainty delights of eye and palate in vain. Man has never
+found his most dangerous seductions in the appetites. More lamentable
+disintegration has grown from his attempts to pierce beyond the
+body's veil. The parched and tortured saint is whirled by vertiginous
+visions through cycles of man's straining efforts to know why, whence,
+whither. He assists at the rites of Mithira, the prostrations of
+serpent-and-devil-worshippers, worshippers of fire, of light, of the
+Greeks' deified forces of nature; of the northern enthronement of brute
+force and war. He is swept by the soothing breath of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span> Quietism, plunges
+into every heresy and philosophy, sees the orgies, the flagellations,
+the self mutilations, the battles and furies of sects, each convinced
+that it has found the answer at last to the Great Question, and
+endeavouring to constrain the rest of humanity to accept the answer.
+He meets the Sphinx&mdash;embodied interrogation&mdash;and the Chimera&mdash;the
+simulacrum of the fantasies of the imagination&mdash;dashing madly about the
+stolid querist.</p>
+
+<p>Lucifer&mdash;spirit of doubt of all dogmatic solutions&mdash;mounts with Anthony
+into illimitable space. They rise beyond these struggles and furies
+into the cold uttermost of the universe; among innumerable worlds;
+worlds yet vaguely forming in the womb of time, newly come to birth,
+lustily grown to maturity; worlds dying, decaying, crumbling again into
+atomic dust. Overcome by the intolerable Vast, Anthony sinks once more
+to his cell, and Lucifer, who has shown him the macrocosm, opens to
+him the equal immensity of the microcosm. Makes him see the swarming
+life that permeates the seas, the earth and atmosphere, the incredible
+numerousness of the invisible lives that people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</a></span> every drop of water,
+every grain of sand, every breath of air. The unity of life dawns upon
+him, and his heart, withered by dubiety, melts into joyousness and
+peace. As the day dawns in gold he beholds the face of Christ.</p>
+
+<p>Flaubert's Lucifer has no relation to the jejune Devil of man's
+early conception of material evil, nor does he resemble Goethe's
+Mephistopheles; embodiment of the Eighteenth Century's spirit
+of sneering disbeliefs and negation. He is rather our own
+tempter&mdash;Science. He is the spirit of Knowledge: Nature itself calling
+us to look into the immensities and read just our dogmas by this new
+and terrible widening of our mental and moral horizons. This last
+experience of the Saint reproduces the spiritual experiences of the
+modern man; cast loose from his ancient moorings, and yet finding at
+last in his new knowledge a truer conception of the brotherhood of all
+life in all its forms, and seeing still, in the growing light, the
+benignant eyes of God.</p>
+
+<p>It is not remarkable that Flaubert resented the banality, the dull
+grossness of the reception of his work, or that Hearn shared his
+amazement and bitterness. Even yet the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</a></span> world wakes but slowly to the
+true character of this masterpiece; this epic wrought with so great
+a care and patience, so instinct with genius, dealing perhaps more
+profoundly than any other mind has ever done with the Great Adventure
+of humanity's eternal search for Truth.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 70%; font-size: 0.8em;">ELIZABETH BISLAND.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">[Pg xxiii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="ARGUMENT" id="ARGUMENT">ARGUMENT</a></h4>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h5>FRAILTY</h5>
+
+
+<p>Sunset in the desert. Enfeebled by prolonged fasting, the hermit
+finds himself unable to concentrate his mind upon holy things. His
+thoughts wonder; memories of youth evoke regrets that his relaxed will
+can no longer find strength to suppress,&mdash;and, remembrance begetting
+remembrance, his fancy leads him upon dangerous ground. He dreams of
+his flight from home,&mdash;of Ammonaria, his sister's playmate,&mdash;of his
+misery in the waste,&mdash;his visit to Alexandria with the blind monk
+Didymus,&mdash;the unholy sights of the luxurious city.</p>
+
+<p>Involuntarily he yields to the nervous dissatisfaction growing upon
+him. He laments his solitude, his joylessness, his poverty, the
+obscurity of his life; grace departs from him; hope burns low within
+his heart. Suddenly revolting against his weakness, he seeks refuge
+from distraction in the study of the Scriptures.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiv" id="Page_xxiv">[Pg xxiv]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Vain effort! An invisible hand turns the leaves, placing perilous
+texts before his eyes. He dreams of the Maccabees slaughtering
+their enemies, and desires that he might do likewise with the
+Arians of Alexandria;&mdash;he becomes inspired with admiration of King
+Nebuchadnezzar;&mdash;he meditates voluptuously upon the visit of Sheba's
+queen of Solomon;&mdash;discovers a text in the Acts of the Apostles
+antagonistic to principles of monkish ascetism,&mdash;indulges in reveries
+regarding the riches of Biblical kings and holy men. The Tempter comes
+to tempt him with evil hallucinations for which the Saint's momentary
+frailty has paved the way; and with the Evil One come also</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS</h5>
+
+
+<p>Phantom gold is piled up to excite Covetousness; shadowy banquets
+appear to evoke Gluttony. The scene shifts to aid the temptations of
+Anger and of Pride....</p>
+
+<p>Anthony finds himself in Alexandria, at the head of a wild army of
+monks slaughtering the heretics and the pagans, without mercy for
+age or sex. In fantastic obedience to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxv" id="Page_xxv">[Pg xxv]</a></span> course of his fancy while
+reading the Scriptures a while before, and like an invisible echo of
+his evil thoughts, the scene changes again. Alexandria is transformed
+into Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p>Anthony finds himself the honoured of the Emperor. He beholds the
+vast circus in all its splendour, the ocean of faces, the tumult of
+excitement. Simultaneously he beholds his enemies degraded to the
+condition of slaves, toiling in the stables of Constantine. He feels
+joy in the degradation of the Fathers of Nicæa. Then all is transformed.</p>
+
+<p>It is no longer the splendour of Constantinople he beholds under the
+luminosity of a Greek day; but the prodigious palace of Nebuchadnezzar
+by night. He beholds the orgies, the luxuries, the abominations;&mdash;and
+the spirit of Pride enters triumphantly into him as the spirit of
+Nebuchadnezzar....</p>
+
+<p>Awaking as from a dream, he finds himself again before his hermitage.
+A vast caravan approaches, halts; and the Queen of Sheba descends to
+tempt the Saint with the deadliest of all temptations. Her beauty is
+enhanced by oriental splendour of adornment; her converse is a song of
+withcraft. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvi" id="Page_xxvi">[Pg xxvi]</a></span> Saint remains firm.... The Seven Deadly Sins depart
+from him.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>THE HERESIARCHS</h5>
+
+
+<p>But now the tempter assumes a subtler form. Under the guise of a former
+disciple of Anthony,&mdash;Hilarion,&mdash;the demon, while pretending to seek
+instruction, endeavours to poison the mind of Anthony with hatred of
+the fathers of the church. He repeats all the scandals amassed by
+ecclesiastical intriguers, all the calumnies created by malice;&mdash;he
+cites texts only to foment doubt, and quotes the evangels only to
+make confusion. Under the pretext of obtaining mental enlightenment
+from the wisest of men, he induces Anthony to enter with him into
+a spectral basilica, wherein are assembled all the Heresiarchs of
+the third century. The hermit is confounded by the multitude of
+tenets,&mdash;horrified by the blasphemies and abominations of Elkes,
+Corpocrates, Valentinus, Manes, Cerdo,&mdash;disgusted by the perversions of
+the Paternians, Marcosians, Montanists, Serptians,&mdash;bewildered by the
+apocryphal Gospels of Eve and of Judas, of the Lord, and of Thomas.</p>
+
+<p>And Hilarion grows taller.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvii" id="Page_xxvii">[Pg xxvii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h5>THE MARTYRS</h5>
+
+<p>Anthony finds himself in the dungeons of a vast amphitheatre, among
+Christians condemned to the wild beasts. By this hallucination the
+tempter would prove to the Saint that martyrdom is not always suffered
+for purest motives. Anthony finds the martyrs possessed by bigotry and
+insincerity. He sees many compelled to die against their will; many
+who would forswear their faith could it avail them aught. He beholds
+heretics die for their heterodoxy more nobly than orthodox believers.</p>
+
+<p>And he finds himself transported to the tombs of the martyrs. He
+witnesses the meetings of Christian women at the sepulchres. He beholds
+the touching ceremonies of prayer, change into orgies,&mdash;lamentations
+give place to amorous dalliance.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>THE MAGICIANS</h5>
+
+
+<p>Then the Tempter seeks to shake Anthony's faith in the excellence
+and evidence of miracles. He assumes the form of a Hindoo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxviii" id="Page_xxviii">[Pg xxviii]</a></span> Brahmin,
+terminating a life of wondrous holiness by self-cremation;&mdash;he appears
+as Simon Magus and Helen of Tyre,&mdash;as Appollonius of Tyans, greatest of
+all thaumaturgists, who claims superiority to Christ. All the marvels
+related by Philostratus are embodied in the converse of Apollonius and
+Damis.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>THE GODS</h5>
+
+
+<p>Hilarion reappears taller than ever, growing more gigantic in
+proportion to the increasing weakness of the Saint. Standing beside
+Anthony he evokes all the deities of the antique world. They defile
+before him in a marvellous panorama:&mdash;Gods of Egypt and India, Chaldea
+and Hellas, Babylon and Ultima Thule,&mdash;monstrous and multiform, phallic
+and ithyphallic, fantastic or obscene. Some intoxicate by their beauty;
+others appall by their foulness. The Buddha recounts the story of his
+wondrous life; Venus displays the rounded daintiness of her nudity;
+Isis utters awful soliloquy. Lastly the phantom of Jehovah appears, as
+the shadow of a god passing away forever.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the stature of Hilarion towers to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxix" id="Page_xxix">[Pg xxix]</a></span> the stars; he assumes the
+likeness and luminosity of Lucifer; he announces himself as</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>SCIENCE</h5>
+
+
+<p>And Anthony is lifted upon mighty wings and borne away beyond the
+world, above the solar system, above the starry arch of the Milky Way.
+All future discoveries of Astronomy are revealed to him. He is tempted
+by the revelation of innumerable worlds,&mdash;by the refutation of all
+his previous ideas of the nature of the Universe,&mdash;by the enigmas of
+infinity,&mdash;by all the marvels that conflict with faith. Even in the
+night of immensity the demon renews the temptation of reason: Anthony
+wavers upon the verge of pantheism.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>LUST AND DEATH</h5>
+
+
+<p>Anthony abandoned by the spirit of Science comes to himself in the
+desert. Then the Tempter returns under a two-fold aspect: as the
+Spirit of Lust and the Spirit of Destruction. The latter urges him to
+suicide,&mdash;the former to indulgence of sense. They inspire him with
+strong fancies of palingenesis, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxx" id="Page_xxx">[Pg xxx]</a></span> the illusion of death, of the
+continuity of life. The pantheistic temptation intensified.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>THE MONSTERS</h5>
+
+
+<p>Anthony in reveries meditates upon the monstrous symbols painted upon
+the walls of certain ancient temples. Could he know their meaning
+he might learn also something of the secret lien between Matter and
+Thought. Forthwith a phantasmagoria of monsters commence to pass before
+his eyes:&mdash;the Sphinx and the Chimera, the Blemmyes and Astomi, the
+Cynocephali and all creatures of mythologie creation. He beholds the
+fabulous beings of Oriental imagining,&mdash;the abnormities described
+by Pliny and Herodotus, the fantasticalities to be later adopted by
+heraldry,&mdash;the grotesqueries of future medieval illumination made
+animate;&mdash;the goblinries and foulnesses of superstitious fancy,&mdash;the
+Witches' Sabbath of abominations.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>METAMORPHOSIS</h5>
+
+
+<p>The multitude of monsters melts away; the land changes into an Ocean;
+the creatures of the briny abysses appear. And the waters in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxxi" id="Page_xxxi">[Pg xxxi]</a></span> turn
+also change; seaweeds are transformed to herbs, forests of coral
+give place to forests of trees, polypous life changes to vegetation.
+Metals crystallize; frosts effloresce; plants become living things,
+inanimate matter takes animate form, monads vibrate, the pantheism of
+nature makes itself manifest. Anthony feels a delirious desire to unite
+himself with the Spirit of Universal Being....</p>
+
+<p>The vision vanishes. The sun arises. The face of Christ is revealed.
+The temptation has passed; Anthony kneels in prayer.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 80%; font-size: 0.8em;">L. H.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxxii" id="Page_xxxii">[Pg xxxii]</a><br /><a name="Page_xxxiii" id="Page_xxxiii">[Pg xxxiii]</a><br /><a name="Page_xxxiv" id="Page_xxxiv">[Pg xxxiv]</a><br /><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="THE_TEMPTATION_OF_ST_ANTHONY" id="THE_TEMPTATION_OF_ST_ANTHONY">THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY</a></h3>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<h4><a id="I"></a>I</h4>
+
+
+<p><i>It is in the Thebaid at the summit of a mountain, upon a platform,
+rounded off into the form of a demilune, and enclosed by huge stones.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Hermit's cabin appears in the background. It is built of mud and
+reeds, it is flat-roofed and doorless. A pitcher and a loaf of black
+bread can be distinguished within also, in the middle of the apartment
+a large book resting on a wooden stela; while here and there, fragments
+of basketwork, two or three mats, a basket, and a knife lie upon the
+ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Some ten paces from the hut, there is a long cross planted in the
+soil; and, at the other end of the platform, an aged and twisted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
+palm tree leans over the abyss; for the sides of the mountain are
+perpendicular, and the Nile appears to form a lake at the foot of the
+cliff.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The view to right and left is broken by the barrier of rocks. But
+on the desert-side, like a vast succession of sandy beaches, immense
+undulations of an ashen-blonde color extend one behind the other,
+rising higher as they recede; and far in the distance, beyond the
+sands, the Libyan chain forms a chalk-colored wall, lightly shaded by
+violet mists. On the opposite side the sun is sinking. In the north the
+sky is of a pearl-gray tint, while at the zenith purple clouds disposed
+like the tufts of a gigantic mane, lengthen themselves against the blue
+vault. These streaks of flame take darker tones; the azure spots turn
+to a nacreous pallor; the shrubs, the pebbles, the earth, all now seem
+hard as bronze; and throughout space there floats a golden dust so fine
+as to become confounded with the vibrations of the light.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Saint Anthony, who has a long beard, long hair, and wears a tunic of
+goatskin, is seated on the ground cross-legged, and is occupied in
+weaving mats. As soon as the sun disappears,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> he utters a deep sigh,
+and, gazing upon the horizon, exclaims</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Another day! another day gone! Nevertheless formerly I used not to
+be so wretched. Before the end of the night I commenced my orisons;
+then I descended to the river to get water, and remounted the rugged
+pathway with the skin upon my shoulder, singing hymns on the way. Then
+I would amuse myself by arranging everything in my hut. I would make my
+tools; I tried to make all my mats exactly equal in size, and all my
+baskets light; for then my least actions seemed to me duties in nowise
+difficult or painful of accomplishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Then at regular hours I ceased working; and when I prayed with my arms
+extended, I felt as though a fountain of mercy were pouring from the
+height of heaven into my heart. That fountain is now dried up. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He walks up and down slowly, within the circuit of the rocks.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"All blamed me when I left the house. My mother sank to the ground,
+dying; my sister from afar off made signs to me to return; and the
+other&mdash;wept, Ammonaria, the child<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> whom I used to meet every evening
+at the cistern, when she took the oxen to drink. She ran after me. Her
+foot rings glittered in the dust; and her tunic, open at the hips,
+fluttered loosely in the wind. The aged anchorite who was leading me
+away called her vile names. Our two camels galloped forward without
+respite; and I have seen none of my people since that day.</p>
+
+<p>"At first, I selected for my dwelling place, the tomb of a Pharaoh. But
+an enchantment circulates through all those subterranean palaces, where
+the darkness seems to have been thickened by the ancient smoke of the
+aromatics. From the depths of Sarcophagi, I heard doleful voices arise,
+and call my name; or else, I suddenly beheld the abominable things
+painted upon the walls live and move; and I fled away to the shore
+of the Red Sea, and took refuge in a ruined citadel. There my only
+companions were the scorpions dragging themselves among the stones, and
+the eagles continually wheeling above my head, in the blue of heaven.
+At night I was torn by claws, bitten by beaks; soft wings brushed
+against me; and frightful demons, shrieking in my ears, flung me upon
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> ground. Once I was even rescued by the people of a caravan going
+to Alexandria; and they took me away with them.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I sought to obtain instruction from the good old man Didymus.
+Although blind, none equalled him in the knowledge of the Scriptures.
+When the lesson was finished, he used to ask me to give him my arm
+to lean upon, that we might walk together. Then I would conduct him
+to the Paneum, whence may be seen the Pharos and the open sea. Then
+we would return by way of the post, elbowing men of all nations,
+even Cimmerians clad in the skins of bears and Gymnosophists of the
+Ganges anointed with cow-dung. But there was always some fighting in
+the streets&mdash;either on account of the Jews refusing to pay taxes, or
+of seditious people who wished to drive the Romans from the city.
+Moreover, the city is full of heretics&mdash;followers of Manes; Valentinus,
+Basilides, Arius&mdash;all seeking to engross my attention in order to argue
+with me and to convince me.</p>
+
+<p>"Their discourses often come back to my memory. Vainly do I seek to
+banish them from my mind. They trouble me!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I took refuge at Colzin, and there lived a life of such penance that
+I ceased to fear God. A few men, desirous of becoming anchorites,
+gathered about me. I imposed a practical rule of life upon them,
+hating, as I did, the extravagance of Gnosus and the assertions of the
+philosophers. Messages were sent to me from all parts, and men came
+from afar off to visit me.</p>
+
+<p>"Meanwhile the people were torturing the confessors; and the thirst of
+martyrdom drew me to Alexandria. The persecution had ceased three days
+before I arrived there!</p>
+
+<p>"While returning thence, I was stopped by a great crowd assembled
+before the temple of Serapis. They told me it was a last example which
+the Governor had resolved to make. In the centre of the portico, under
+the sunlight, a naked woman was fettered to a column, and two soldiers
+were flogging her with thongs; at every blow her whole body writhed.
+She turned round, her mouth open; and over the heads of the crowd,
+through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought that I could
+recognize Ammonaria....</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon201"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_01.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>... through the long hair half hiding her face,
+I thought that I could recognize Ammonaria ...</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="p2">"Nevertheless ... this one was taller ... and beautiful ...
+prodigiously beautiful!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He passes his hands over his forehead.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"No! no! I must not think of it!</p>
+
+<p>"Another time Athanasius summoned me to assist him against the Arians.
+The contest was limited to invectives and laughter. But since that
+time he has been calumniated, dispossessed of his see, obliged to fly
+for safety elsewhere. Where is he now? I do not know! The people give
+themselves very little trouble to bring me news. All my disciples have
+abandoned me&mdash;Hilarion like the rest.</p>
+
+<p>"He was perhaps fifteen years of age when he first came to me and his
+intelligence was so remarkable that he asked me questions incessantly.
+Then he used to listen to me with a pensive air, and whatever I needed
+he brought it to me without a murmur&mdash;nimbler than a kid, merry enough
+to make even the patriarchs laugh. He was a son to me."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The sky is red; the earth completely black. Long drifts of sand
+follow the course of the gusts of wind, rising like great shrouds and
+falling again. Suddenly against a bright space in the sky a flock of
+birds pass, forming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> a triangular battalion, gleaming like one sheet of
+metal, of which the edges alone seem to quiver.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony watches them.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, how I should like to follow them.</p>
+
+<p>"How often also have I enviously gazed upon those long vessels,
+whose sails resemble wings&mdash;and above all when they were bearing
+far away those I had received at my hermitage! What pleasant hours
+we passed!&mdash;what out-pourings of feeling! No one ever interested me
+more than Ammon: he told me of his voyage to Rome, of the Catacombs,
+the Coliseum, the piety of illustrious women, and a thousand other
+things!&mdash;and it grieved me to part with him! Wherefore my obstinacy
+in continuing to live such a life as this? I would have done well to
+remain with the monks of Nitria, inasmuch as they supplicated me to
+do so. They have cells apart, and nevertheless communicate with each
+other. On Sundays a trumpet summons them to assemble at the church,
+where one may see three scourges hanging up, which serve to punish
+delinquents, robbers, and intruders; for their discipline is severe.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless they are not without some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> enjoyments. The faithful bring
+them eggs, fruits, and even instruments with which they can extract
+thorns from their feet. There are vineyards about Prisperi; those
+dwelling at Pabena have a raft on which they may journey when they go
+to seek provisions.</p>
+
+<p>"But I might have served my brethren better as a simple priest. As a
+priest one may aid the poor, administer the sacraments, and exercise
+authority over families.</p>
+
+<p>"Furthermore, all laics are not necessarily damned, and it only
+depended upon my own choice to become&mdash;for example&mdash;a grammarian, a
+philosopher. I would then have had in my chamber a sphere of reeds,
+and tablets always ready at hand, young men around me, and a wreath of
+laurel suspended above my door, as a sign.</p>
+
+<p>"But there is too much pride in triumphs such as those. A soldier's
+life would have been preferable. I was robust and bold: bold enough to
+fasten the cables of the military machines&mdash;to traverse dark forests,
+or to enter, armed and helmeted, into smoking cities.... Neither was
+there anything to have prevented me from purchasing with my money the
+position of publican at the toll-office<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> of some bridge; and travellers
+would have taught me many strange things, and told me strange stories,
+the while showing me many curious objects packed up among their
+baggage....</p>
+
+<p>"The merchants of Alexandria sail upon the river Canopus on holidays,
+and drink wine in the chalices of lotus-flowers, to a music of
+tambourines which makes the taverns along the shore tremble! Beyond,
+trees, made cone-shaped by pruning, protect the quiet farms against
+the wind of the south. The roof of the lofty house leans upon thin
+colonettes placed as closely together as the laths of a lattice;
+and through their interspaces the master, reclining upon his long
+couch, beholds his plains stretching about him&mdash;the hunter among the
+wheat-fields&mdash;the winepress where the vintage is being converted into
+wine, the oxen treading out the wheat. His children play upon the floor
+around him; his wife bends down to kiss him."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Against the grey dimness of the twilight, here and there appear
+pointed muzzles, with straight, pointed ears and bright eyes. Anthony
+advances toward them. There is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> sound of gravel crumbling down; the
+animals take flight. It was a troop of jackals.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>One still remains, rising upon his hinder legs, with his body half
+arched and head raised in an attitude full of defiance.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"How pretty he is! I would like to stroke his back gently!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony whistles to coax him to approach. The jackal disappears.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! he is off to join the others. What solitude! what weariness!"
+(<i>Laughing bitterly.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"A happy life this indeed!&mdash;bending palm-branches in the fire to make
+shepherds' crooks, fashioning baskets, stitching mats together&mdash;and
+then exchanging these things with the Nomads for bread which breaks
+one's teeth! Ah! woe, woe is me! will this never end? Surely death were
+preferable! I can endure it no more! Enough! enough!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He stamps his foot upon the ground, and rushes frantically to and fro
+among the rocks; then pauses, out of breath, bursts into tears, and
+lies down upon the ground, on his side.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The night is calm; multitudes of stars are palpitating; only the
+crackling noise made by the tarantulas is audible.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The two arms of the cross make a shadow upon the sand; Anthony, who is
+weeping, observes it.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Am I, then, so weak, O my God! Courage, let me rise from here!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He enters his hut, turns over a pile of cinders, finds a live ember,
+lights his torch and fixes it upon the wooden desk, so as to throw a
+light upon the great book.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose I take the Acts of the Apostles?&mdash;yes!&mdash;no matter where!"</p>
+
+<p><i>'And he saw the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it
+were a great linen sheet let down by the four corners from heaven to
+the earth&mdash;wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping
+things of the earth and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to
+him: Arise, Peter! Kill and eat!'</i><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Then the Lord desired that his apostle should eat of all things?...
+while I...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony remains thoughtful, his chin resting against his breast. The
+rustling of the pages, agitated by the wind, causes him to lift his
+head again; and he reads</i>:)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>'So the Jews made a great slaughter of their enemies with the sword,
+and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to
+them....</i><a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Then, comes the number of people slain by them&mdash;seventy-five thousand.
+They had suffered so much! Moreover, their enemies were the enemies of
+the true God. And how they must have delighted in avenging themselves
+thus by the massacre of idolaters! Doubtless the city must have been
+crammed with the dead! There must have been corpses at the thresholds
+of the garden gates, upon the stairways, in all the chambers, and piled
+up so high that the doors could no longer move upon their hinges!...
+But lo! here I am permitting my mind to dwell upon ideas of murder and
+of blood!..."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He opens the book at another place.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><i>'Then King Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped
+Daniel....</i>'<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Ah! that was just! The <i>Most High</i> exalts his prophets above Kings;
+yet that monarch spent his life in banqueting, perpetually drunk with
+pleasure and pride. But God, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> punish him, changed him into a beast!
+He walked upon four feet!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony begins to laugh; and in extending his arms, involuntarily
+disarranges the leaves of the book with the tips of his fingers. His
+eyes fell upon this phrase</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><i>'And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he showed them the house
+of his aromatical spices, and the gold and the silver, and divers
+precious odours and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all
+that he had in his treasures....'</i><a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I can imagine that spectacle; they must have beheld precious stones,
+diamonds and darics heaped up to the very roof. One who possesses so
+vast an accumulation of wealth is no longer like other men. While
+handling his riches he knows that he controls the total result of
+innumerable human efforts&mdash;as it were the life of nations drained by
+him and stored up, which he can pour forth at will. It is a commendable
+precaution on the part of Kings. Even the <i>Wisest</i> of all did not
+neglect it. His navy brought him elephants' teeth and apes.... Where is
+that passage?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>He turns the leaves over rapidly.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! here it is:"</p>
+
+<p><i>'And the Queen of Saba, having heard of the fame of Solomon in the
+name of the Lord, came to try him with hard questions.'</i><a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>"How did she hope to tempt him? The <i>Devil</i> indeed sought to tempt
+Jesus! But Jesus triumphed because he was God; and Solomon, perhaps,
+owing this knowledge of magic! It is sublime&mdash;that science! For the
+world&mdash;as a philosopher once explained it to me, forms a whole, of
+which all parts mutually influence one another, like the organs of one
+body. It is science which enables us to know the natural loves and
+natural repulsions of all things, and to play upon them?... Therefore,
+it is really possible to modify what appears to be the immutable order
+of the universe?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then the two shadows formed behind him by the arms of the cross,
+suddenly lengthen and project themselves before him. They assume the
+form of two great horns. Anthony cries out</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Help me! O my God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon02"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_02.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God!</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>The shadows shrink back to their former place.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!... it was an illusion ... nothing more. It is needless for me to
+torment my mind further! I can do nothing!&mdash;absolutely nothing."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He sits down and folds his arms.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless ... it seems to me that I felt the approach of.... But
+why should <i>He</i> come? Besides, do I not know all his artifices? I
+repulsed the monstrous anchorite who laughingly offered me little
+loaves of warm, fresh bread, the centaur who sought to carry me away
+upon his croup, and that black child who appeared to me in the midst of
+the sands, who was very beautiful, and who told me that he was called
+the Spirit of Lust!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony rises and walks rapidly up and down, first to the right, then
+to the left.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It was by my order that this multitude of holy retreats was
+constructed&mdash;full of monks all wearing sackcloth of camel's hair
+beneath their garments of goatskin, and numerous enough to form an
+army. I have cured the sick from afar off; I have cast out demons;
+I have passed the river in the midst of crocodiles;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> the Emperor
+Constantine wrote me throe letters; Balacius, who had spat upon mine,
+was torn to pieces by his own horses; when I reappeared the people of
+Alexandria fought for the pleasure of seeing me, and Athanasius himself
+escorted me on the way back. But what works have I not accomplished
+Lo! for these thirty years and more I have been dwelling and groaning
+unceasingly in the desert! Like Eusebius, I have carried thirty-eight
+pounds of bronze upon my loins; like Macarius, I have exposed my body
+to the stings of insects; like Pacomus, I have passed fifty-three
+nights without closing my eyes; and those who are decapitated, tortured
+with red hot pincers, or burned alive, are perhaps less meritorious
+than I, seeing that my whole life is but one prolonged martyrdom."
+(<i>Anthony slackens his pace.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Assuredly there is no human being in a condition of such unutterable
+misery! Charitable hearts are becoming scarcer. I no longer receive
+aught from any one. My mantle is worn out. I have no sandals&mdash;I have
+not even a porringer!&mdash;for I have distributed all I possessed to the
+poor and to my family, without retaining so much as one obolus. Yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+surely I ought to have a little money to obtain the tools indispensable
+to my work? Oh, not much! a very small sum.... I would be very saving
+of it....</p>
+
+<p>"The fathers of Nicæa, clad in purple robes, sat like magi, upon
+thrones ranged along the walls; and they were entertained at a great
+banquet and overwhelmed with honours, especially Paphnutius, because he
+is one-eyed and lame, since the persecution of Diocletian! The Emperor
+kissed his blind eye several times; what foolishness! Besides, there
+were such infamous men members of that Council! A bishop of Scythia,
+Theophilus! another of Persia, John! a keeper of beasts, Spiridion!
+Alexander was too old. Athanasius ought to have shown more gentleness
+towards the Arians, so as to have obtained concessions from them.</p>
+
+<p>"Yet would they have made any? They would not hear me! The one who
+spoke against me&mdash;a tall young man with a curly beard&mdash;uttered the
+most captious objections to my argument; and while I was seeking words
+to express my views they all stared at me with their wicked faces,
+and barked like hyenas. Ah! why cannot I have them all exiled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> by the
+Emperor! or rather have them beaten, crushed, and see them suffer! I
+suffer enough myself."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He leans against his cabin in a fainting condition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is because I have fasted too long; my strength is leaving me. If I
+could eat&mdash;only once more&mdash;a piece of meat." (<i>He half closes his eyes
+with languor.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! some red flesh&mdash;a bunch of grapes to bite into ... curdled milk
+that trembles on a plate!...</p>
+
+<p>"But what has come upon me? What is the matter with me? I feel my heart
+enlarging like the sea, when it swells before the storm. An unspeakable
+feebleness weighs down upon me, and the warm air seems to waft me
+the perfume of a woman's hair. No woman has approached this place;
+nevertheless?&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He gazes toward the little pathway between the rocks.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"That is the path by which they come, rocked in their litters by the
+black arms of the eunuchs. They descend and joining their hands,
+heavy with rings, kneel down before me. They relate to me all their
+troubles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> The desire of human pleasure tortures them; they would
+gladly die; they have seen in their dreams God calling to them ... and
+all the while the hems of their robes fall upon my feet. I repel them
+from me. 'Ah! no!' they cry, 'not yet! What shall I do?' They gladly
+accept any penitence I impose on them. They ask for the hardest of all;
+they beg to share mine and to live with me.</p>
+
+<p>"It is now a long time since I have seen any of them! Perhaps some of
+them will come! why not? If I could only hear again, all of a sudden,
+the tinkling of mule-bells among the mountains. It seems to me...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony clambers upon a rock at the entrance of the pathway, and
+leans over, darting his eyes into the darkness.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! over there, far off I see a mass moving, like a band of
+travellers seeking the way. <i>She</i> is there!... They are making a
+mistake." (<i>Calling.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"This way! Come! Come!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Echo repeats: Come! Come! he lets his arms fall, stupefied.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What shame for me! Alas! poor Anthony."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>And all of a sudden he hears a whisper:&mdash;"Poor Anthony"!</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Who is there? Speak!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The wind passing through the intervals between the rocks, makes
+modulations; and in those confused sonorities he distinguishes Voices,
+as though the air itself were speaking. They are low, insinuating,
+hissing.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><i>The First</i>: "Dost thou desire women?"</p>
+
+<p><i>The Second</i>: "Great heaps of money, rather!"</p>
+
+<p><i>The Third</i>: "A glittering sword?" (<i>and</i>)</p>
+
+<p><i>The Others</i>: "All the people admire thee! Sleep!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt slay them all, aye, thou shalt slay them!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>At the same moment objects become transformed. At the edge of the
+cliff, the old palm tree with its tuft of yellow leaves, changes into
+the torso of a woman leaning over the abyss, her long hair waving in
+the wind.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony turns toward his cabin; and the stool supporting the great book
+whose pages are covered with black letters, seems to him changed into a
+bush all covered with nightingales.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It must be the torch which is making this strange play of light....
+Let us put it out!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He extinguishes it; the obscurity becomes deeper, the darkness
+profound.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And suddenly in the air above there appear and disappear
+successively&mdash;first, a stretch of water; then the figure of a
+prostitute; the corner of a temple, a soldier; a chariot with two white
+horses, prancing.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>These images appear suddenly, as in flashes&mdash;outlined against the
+background of the night, like scarlet paintings executed upon ebony.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Their motion accelerates. They defile by with vertiginous rapidity.
+Sometimes again, they pause and gradually pale and melt away; or else
+float off out of sight, to be immediately succeeded by others.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony closes his eyelids.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They multiply, surround him, besiege him. An unspeakable fear takes
+possession of him; and he feels nothing more of living sensation, save
+a burning contraction of the epigastrium. In spite of the tumult in
+his brain, he is aware of an enormous silence which separates him from
+the world. He tries to speak;&mdash;impossible!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> He feels as though all the
+bands of his life were breaking and dissolving;&mdash;and, no longer able to
+resist, Anthony falls prostrate upon his mat.</i>)</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Acts X: 11-13&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Esther IX: 5&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Daniel II: 46.&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Kings XX: 13 (Vulg.).&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> III Kings X: I (Vulg.).&mdash;T.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="II" id="II">II</a></h4>
+
+
+<p>(<i>Then a great shadow, subtler than any natural shadow, and festooned
+by other shadows along its edges, defines itself upon the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is the Devil, leaning upon the roof of the hut, and bearing beneath
+his wings&mdash;like some gigantic bat suckling its little ones&mdash;the Seven
+Deadly Sins, whose grimacing heads are dimly distinguishable.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>With eyes still closed, Anthony yields to the pleasure of inaction;
+and stretches his limbs upon the mat.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It seems to him quite soft, and yet softer&mdash;so that it becomes as if
+padded; it rises up; it becomes a bed. The bed becomes a shallop; water
+laps against its sides.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>To right and left rise two long tongues of land, overlooking low
+cultivated plains, with a sycamore tree here and there. In the distance
+there is a tinkling of bells, a sound of drums and of singers. It is a
+party going to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> Canopus to sleep upon the temple of Serapis, in order
+to have dreams. Anthony knows this; and impelled by the wind, his boat
+glides along between the banks. Papyrus-leaves and the red flowers of
+the nymphæa, larger than the body of a man, bend over him. He is lying
+at the bottom of the boat; one oar at the stem, drags in the water.
+From time to time, a lukewarm wind blows; and the slender reeds rub one
+against the other, and rustle. Then the sobbing of the wavelets becomes
+indistinct. A heavy drowsiness falls upon him. He dreams that he is a
+Solitary of Egypt.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then he awakes with a start.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Did I dream? It was all so vivid that I can scarcely believe I was
+dreaming! My tongue burns. I am thirsty."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He enters the cabin, and gropes at random in the dark.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"The ground is wet; can it have been raining? What can this mean! My
+pitcher is broken into atoms! But the goatskin?" (<i>He finds it.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Empty!&mdash;completely empty! In order to get down to the river, I should
+have to walk for at least three hours; and the night is so dark that I
+could not see my way.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There is a gnawing in my entrails. Where is the bread!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>After long searching, he picks up a crust not so large as an egg.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What? Have the jackals taken it? Ah! malediction!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he flings the bread upon the ground with fury.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>No sooner has the action occurred than a table makes its appearance,
+covered with all things that are good to eat.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The byssus cloth, striated like the bandelets of the sphinx, produces
+of itself luminous undulations. Upon it are enormous quarters of red
+meats; huge fish; birds cooked in their plumage, and quadrupeds in
+their skins; fruits with colors and tints almost human in appearance;
+while fragments of cooling ice, and flagons of violet crystal reflect
+each other's glittering. Anthony notices in the middle of the table
+a boar smoking at every pore&mdash;with legs doubled up under its belly,
+and eyes half closed&mdash;and the idea of being able to eat so formidable
+an animal greatly delights him. Then many things appear which he has
+never seen before&mdash;black hashes, jellies, the color of gold, ragouts in
+which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> mushrooms float like nenuphars upon ponds, dishes of whipt cream
+light as clouds.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And the aroma of all this comes to him together with the salt smell of
+the ocean, the coolness of mountains, the great perfumes of the woods.
+He dilates his nostrils to their fullest extent; his mouth waters; he
+thinks to himself that he has enough before him for a year, for ten
+years, for his whole life!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>As he gazes with widely-opened eyes at all these viands, others
+appear; they accumulate, forming a pyramid crumbling at all its angles.
+The wines begin to flow over&mdash;the fish palpitate&mdash;the blood seethes in
+the dishes&mdash;the pulp of the fruit protrudes like amorous lips&mdash;and the
+table rises as high as his breast, up to his very chin at last&mdash;now
+bearing only one plate and a single loaf of bread, placed exactly in
+front of him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He extends his hand to seize the loaf. Other loaves immediately
+present themselves to his grasp.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"For me!... all these! But ..." (<i>Anthony suddenly draws back.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Instead of one which was there, lo! there are many! It must be a
+miracle, then, the same as our Lord wrought!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yet for what purpose?... Ah! all the rest of these things are equally
+incomprehensible! Demon, begone from me! depart! begone!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He kicks the table from him. It disappears.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing more?&mdash;no!" (<i>He draws a lung breath.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! the temptation was strong! But how well I delivered myself from
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He lifts his head, and at the same time stumbles over some sonorous
+object.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Why! what can that be?" (<i>Anthony stoops down.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"How! a cup! Some traveller must have lost it here. There is nothing
+extraordinary...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He wets his finger, and rubs.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It glitters!&mdash;metal! Still, I cannot see very clearly...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He lights his torch, and examines the cup.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is silver, ornamented with ovules about the rim, with a medal at
+the bottom of it."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He detaches the medal with his nail!</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is a piece of money worth about seven or eight drachmas&mdash;not more!
+It matters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> not! even with that I could easily buy myself a sheepskin."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A sudden flash of the torch lights up the cup.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible! gold? Yes, all gold, solid gold!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A still larger piece of money appears at the bottom. Under it he
+perceives several others.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this is a sum ... large enough to purchase three oxen ... and a
+little field!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The cup is now filled with pieces of gold.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What! what!... a hundred slaves, soldiers, a host ... enough to
+buy...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The granulations of the rim, detaching themselves form a necklace of
+pearls.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"With such a marvel of jewelry as that, one could win even the wife of
+the Emperor!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>By a sudden jerk, Anthony makes the necklace slip down over his
+wrist. He holds the cup in his left hand, and with his right lifts
+up the torch so as to throw the light upon it. As water streams
+overflowing from the basin of a fountain, so diamonds, carbuncles, and
+sapphires, all mingled with broad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> pieces of gold bearing the effigies
+of Kings, overflow from the cup in never ceasing streams, to form a
+glittering hillock upon the sand.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What! how! Staters, cycles, dariacs, aryandics; Alexander, Demetrius,
+the Ptolemies, Cæsar!&mdash;yet not one of them all possessed so much!
+Nothing is now impossible! no more suffering for me! how these
+gleams dazzle my eyes! Ah! my heart overflows! how delightful it is!
+yes&mdash;yes!&mdash;more yet! never could there be enough! Vainly I might
+continually fling it into the sea, there would always be plenty
+remaining for me. Why should I lose any of it? I will keep all, and say
+nothing to any one about it; I will have a chamber hollowed out for me
+in the rock, and lined with plates of bronze, and I will come here from
+time to time to feel the gold sinking down under the weight of my heel;
+I will plunge my arms into it as into sacks of grain! I will rub my
+face with it, I will lie down upon it!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He flings down the torch in order to embrace the glittering heap, and
+falls flat upon the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He rises to his feet. The place is wholly empty.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What have I done!</p>
+
+<p>"Had I died during those moments, I should have gone to hell&mdash;to
+irrevocable damnation."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He trembles in every limb.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Am I, then, accursed? Ah! no; it is my own fault! I allow myself
+to be caught in every snare! No man could be more imbecile, more
+infamous! I should like to beat myself, or rather to tear myself out
+of my own body! I have restrained myself too long. I feel the want of
+vengeance&mdash;the necessity of striking, of killing!&mdash;as though I had a
+pack of wild beasts within me! Would that I could hew my way with an
+axe, through the midst of a multitude.... Ah, a poniard!..."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He perceives his knife, and rushes to seize it. The knife slips from
+his hand; and Anthony remains leaning against the wall of his hut, with
+wide-open mouth, motionless, cataleptic.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Everything about him has disappeared.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He thinks himself at Alexandria, upon the Paneum&mdash;an artificial
+mountain in the centre of the city, encircled by a winding stairway.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Before him lies Lake Mareolis; on his right hand is the sea, on his
+left the country; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> immediately beneath him a vast confusion of
+flat roofs, traversed from north to south and from east to west by
+two streets which intercross, and which offer throughout their entire
+length the spectacle of files of porticoes with Corinthian columns. The
+houses overhanging this double colonnade have windows of stained glass.
+Some of them support exteriorly enormous wooden cages, into which the
+fresh air rushes from without.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Monuments of various architecture tower up in close proximity.
+Egyptian pylons dominate Greek temples. Obelisks appear like lances
+above battlements of red brick. In the middle of public squares there
+are figures of Hermes with pointed ears, and of Anubis with the head of
+a dog. Anthony can distinguish the mosaic pavements of the courtyards,
+and tapestries suspended from the beams of ceilings.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He beholds at one glance, the two ports (the Great Port and the
+Eunostus), both round as circuses, and separated by a mole connecting
+Alexandria with the craggy island upon which the Pharos-tower
+rises&mdash;quadrangular, five hundred cubits high, nine storied,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> having at
+its summit a smoking heap of black coals.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Small interior ports open into the larger ones. The mole terminates at
+each end in a bridge supported upon marble columns planted in the sea.
+Sailing vessels pass beneath it, while heavy lighters overladen with
+merchandise, thalamegii<a name="FNanchor_1_6" id="FNanchor_1_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_6" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> inlaid with ivory, gondolas covered with
+awnings, triremes, biremes, and all sorts of vessels are moving to and
+fro, or lie moored at the wharves.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>About the Great Port extends an unbroken array of royal construction:
+the palace of the Ptolomies, the Museum, the Posidium, the Cæsareum,
+the Timonium where Mark Anthony sought refuge, the Soma which contains
+the tomb of Alexander; while at the other extremity of the city, beyond
+the Eunostus, the great glass factories, perfume factories, and papyrus
+factories may be perceived in a suburban quarter.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Strolling peddlers, porters, ass-drivers run and jostle together.
+Here and there one observes some priest of Isis wearing a panther skin
+on his shoulders, a Roman soldier with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> his bronze helmet, and many
+negroes. At the thresholds of the shops women pause, artisans ply their
+trades; and the grinding noise of chariot wheels puts to flight the
+birds that devour the detritus of the butcher-shops and the morsels of
+fish left upon the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The general outline of the streets seems like a black network flung
+upon the white uniformity of the houses. The markets stocked with
+herbs make green bouquets in the midst of it; the drying-yards of the
+dyers, blotches of color; the golden ornaments of the temple-pediments,
+luminous points&mdash;all comprised within the oval enclosure of the grey
+ramparts, under the vault of the blue heaven, beside the motionless
+sea.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But suddenly the movement of the crowd ceases; all turn their
+eyes toward the west, whence enormous whirlwinds of dust are seen
+approaching.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is the coming of the monks of the Thebaid, all clad in goatskins,
+armed with cudgels, roaring a canticle of battle and of faith with the
+refrain</i>:</p>
+
+<p>"Where are they? Where are they?"</p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony understands that they are coming to kill the Arians.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The streets are suddenly emptied&mdash;only flying feet are visible.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Solitaries are now in the city. Their formidable cudgels, studded
+with nails, whirl in the air like suns of steel. The crash of things
+broken in the houses is heard. There are intervals of silence. Then
+great screams arise.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>From one end of the street to the other there is a continual eddy of
+terrified people.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Many grasp pikes. Sometimes two bands meet, rush into one; and this
+mass of men slips upon the pavement&mdash;fighting, disjointing, knocking
+down. But the men with the long hair always reappear.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Threads of smoke begin to escape from the corners of edifices! folding
+doors burst open. Portions of walls crumble down. Architraves fall.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony finds all his enemies again, one after the other. He even
+recognizes some whom he had altogether forgotten; before killing them
+he outrages them. He disembowels&mdash;he severs throats&mdash;he fells as in
+a slaughter house&mdash;he hales old men by the beard, crushes children,
+smites the wounded. And vengeance is taken upon luxury, those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> who
+do not know how to read tear up hooks; others smash and deface the
+statues, paintings, furniture, caskets,&mdash;a thousand dainty things
+the use of which they do not know, and which simply for that reason
+exasperates them. At intervals they pause, out of breath, in the work
+of destruction; then they recommence.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The inhabitants moan in the courtyards where they have sought refuge.
+The women raise their tearful eyes and lift their naked arms to heaven.
+In hope of moving the Solitaries they embrace their knees; the men cast
+them off and fling them down, and the blood gushes to the ceilings,
+falls back upon the walls like sheets of rain, streams from the trunks
+of decapitated corpses, fills the aqueducts, forms huge red pools upon
+the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony is up to his knees in it. He wades in it; he sucks up the
+blood-spray on his lips; he is thrilled with joy as he feels it upon
+his limbs, under his hair-tunic which is soaked through with it.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Night comes. The immense uproar dies away.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Solitaries have disappeared.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Suddenly, upon the outer galleries corresponding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> to each of the nine
+stories of the Pharos, Anthony observes thick black lines forming, like
+lines of crows perching. He hurries thither; and soon finds himself at
+the summit.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A huge mirror of brass turned toward the open sea, reflects the forms
+of the vessels in the offing.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony amuses himself by watching them; and while he watches, their
+number increases.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They are grouped together within a gulf which has the form of a
+crescent. Upon a promontory in the background, towers a new city of
+Roman architecture, with cupolas of stone, conical roofs, gleams of
+pink and blue marbles, and a profusion of brazen ornamentation applied
+to the volutes of the capitals, to the angles of the cornices, to the
+summits of the edifices. A cypress-wood overhangs the city. The line of
+the sea is greener, the air colder. The mountains lining the horizon
+are capped with snow.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony is trying to find his way, when a man approaches him, and
+says</i>:</p>
+
+<p>"Come! they are waiting for you."</p>
+
+<p><i>He traverses a forum, enters a great court, stoops beneath a low
+door; and he arrives before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> the facade of the palace, decorated
+with a group in wax, representing Constantine overcoming a dragon.
+There is a porphyry basin, from the centre of which rises a golden
+conch-shell full of nuts. His guide tells him that he may take some of
+them. He does so. Then he is lost, as it were, in a long succession of
+apartments.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>There are mosaics upon the walls representing generals presenting
+the Emperor with conquered cities, which they hold out upon the
+palms of their hands. And there are columns of basalt everywhere,
+trellis-work in silver filigree, ivory chairs, tapestries embroidered
+with pearls. The light falls from the vaults above; Anthony still
+proceeds. Warm exhalations circulate about him; occasionally he hears
+the discreet clapping sound of sandals upon the pavement. Posted in
+the anti-chambers are guards, who resemble automata, holding wands of
+vermillion upon their shoulders.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon03"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_03.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>And there are columns of basalt everywhere,...
+The light falls from the vaults above</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>At last he finds himself in a great hall, with hyacinth-colored
+curtains at the further end. They part, and display the Emperor seated
+on a throne, clad in a violet tunic, and wearing red shoes striped with
+bands of black.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>A diadem of pearls surround his head; his locks are arranged
+symmetrically in rouleaux. He has a straight nose, drooping eyelids,
+a heavy and cunning physiognomy. At the four corners of the dais
+stretched above his head are placed four golden doves; and at the foot
+of the throne are two lions in enamel crouching. The doves begin to
+sing, the lions to roar. The Emperor rolls his eyes; Anthony advances;
+and forthwith, without preamble, they commence to converse about
+recent events. In the cities of Antioch, Ephesus, and Alexandria,
+the temples have been sacked, and the statues of the gods converted
+into pots and cooking utensils; the Emperor laughs heartily about it.
+Anthony reproaches him with his tolerance toward the Novations. But the
+Emperor becomes vexed. Novations, Arians or Meletians&mdash;he is sick of
+them all! Nevertheless, he admires the episcopate; for inasmuch as the
+Christians maintain bishops, who depend for their position upon five or
+six important personages, it is only necessary to gain over the latter,
+in order to have all the rest on one's side. Therefore he did not fail
+to furnish them with large<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> sums. But he detests the Fathers of the
+Council of Nicæa.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Let us go and see them!"</p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony follows him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And they find themselves on a terrace, upon the same floor.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It overlooks a hippodrome thronged with people, and surmounted by
+porticoes where other spectators are walking to and fro. From the
+centre of the race-course rises a narrow platform of hewn stone,
+supporting a little temple of Mercury, the statue of Constantine, and
+three serpents of brass twisted into a column; there are three huge
+wooden eggs at one end, and at the other a group of seven dolphins with
+their tails in the air.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Behind the imperial pavilion sit the Prefects of the Chambers, the
+Counts of the Domestics, and the Patricians&mdash;in ranks rising by tiers
+to the first story of a church whose windows are thronged with women.
+On the right is the tribune of the Blue Faction; on the left, that of
+the Green; below, a picket of soldiers is stationed; and on a level
+with the arena is a row of Corinthian arches, forming the entrances to
+the stables.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The races are about to commence; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> horses are drawn up in line.
+Lofty plumes, fastened between their ears, bend to the wind like
+saplings; and with every restive bound, they shake their chariots
+violently, which are shell-shaped, and conducted by charioteers clad
+in a sort of multi-colored cuirass, having sleeves tight at the wrist
+and wide in the arms; their legs are bare; their beards, faces and
+foreheads are shaven after the manner of the Huns.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony is at first deafened by the billowy sound of voices. From
+the summit of the hippodrome to its lowest tiers, he sees only faces
+painted with rouge, garments checkered and variegated with many colors,
+flashing jewelry; and the sand of the arena, all white, gleams like a
+mirror.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Emperor entertains him. He confides to him many matters of high
+importance, many secrets; he confesses the assassination of his son
+Criopus, and even asks Anthony for advice regarding his health.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Meanwhile Anthony notices some slaves in the rear portion of the
+stables below. They are the Fathers of Nicæa, ragged and abject. The
+martyr Paphnutius is brushing the mane of one horse; Theophilus is
+washing the legs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> of another; John is painting the hoofs of a third;
+Alexander is collecting dung in a basket.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony passes through the midst of them. They range themselves on
+either side respectfully; they beseech his intercession; they kiss his
+hands. The whole assemblage of spectators hoots at them; and he enjoys
+the spectacle with immeasurable pleasure. Lo! he is now one of the
+grandees of the Court&mdash;the Emperor's confidant&mdash;the prime minister!
+Constantine places his own diadem upon his brows. Anthony allows it to
+remain upon his head, thinking this honor quite natural.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And suddenly in the midst of the darkness a vast hall appears,
+illuminated by golden candelabra.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Candles so lofty that they are half lost in the darkness, stretch away
+in huge files beyond the lines of banquet-tables, which seem to extend
+to the horizon, where through a luminous haze loom superpositions of
+stairways, suites of arcades, colossi, towers, and beyond all a vague
+border of palace walls, above which rise the crests of cedars, making
+yet blacker masses of blackness against the darkness.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The guests, crowned with violet wreaths, recline upon very low couches
+and are leaning upon their elbows. Along the whole length of this
+double line of couches, wine is being poured out from amphoræ, and at
+the further end, all alone, coiffed with the tiara and blazing with
+carbuncles, King Nebuchadnezzar eats and drinks.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>On his right and left, two bands of priests in pointed caps are
+swinging censers. On the pavement below crawl the captive kings whose
+hands and feet have been cut off; from time to time he flings them
+bones to gnaw. Further off sit his brothers, with bandages across their
+eyes, being all blind.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>From the depths of the ergastula arise moans of ceaseless pain. Sweet
+slow sounds of a hydraulic organ alternate with choruses of song; and
+one feels that all about the palace without extends an immeasurable
+city&mdash;an ocean of human life whose waves break against the walls. The
+slaves run hither and thither carrying dishes. Women walk between the
+ranks of guests, offering drinks to all; the baskets groan under their
+burthen of loaves; and a dromedary, laden with perforated water-skins:
+passes and repasses through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> the hall, sprinkling and cooling the
+pavement with vervain.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Lion tamers are leading tamed lions about. Dancing girls&mdash;their
+hair confined in nets&mdash;balance themselves and turn upon their hands,
+emitting fire through their nostrils; negro boatmen are juggling; naked
+children pelt each other with pellets of snow, which burst against the
+bright silverware. There is an awful clamor as of a tempest; and a huge
+cloud hangs over the banquet&mdash;so numerous are the meats and breaths.
+Sometimes a flake of fire torn from the great flambeaux by the wind,
+traverses the night like a shooting star.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The king wipes the perfumes from his face with his arm. He eats from
+the sacred vessels&mdash;then breaks them; and secretly reckons up the
+number of his fleets, his armies, and his subjects. By and by, for a
+new caprice, he will burn his palace with all its guests. He dreams of
+rebuilding the tower of Babel, and dethroning God.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony, from afar off, reads all these thoughts upon his brow. They
+penetrate his own brain, and he becomes Nebuchadnezzar. Immediately he
+is cloyed with orgiastic excesses,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> sated with fury of extermination;
+and a great desire comes upon him to wallow in vileness. For the
+degradation of that which terrifies men is an outrage inflicted upon
+their minds&mdash;it affords yet one more way to stupefy them; and as
+nothing is viler than a brute, Anthony goes upon the table on all
+fours, and bellows like a bull.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He feels a sudden pain in his hand&mdash;a pebble has accidentally wounded
+him&mdash;and he finds himself once more in front of his cabin.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The circle of the rocks is empty. The stars are glowing in the sky.
+All is hushed.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Again have I allowed myself to be deceived! Why these things? They
+come from the rebellion of the flesh. Ah! wretch!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He rushes into his cabin, and seizes a bunch of thongs, with metallic
+hooks attached to their ends, strips himself to the waist and, lifting
+his eyes to heaven exclaims</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Accept my penance, O my God: disdain it not for its feebleness. Render
+it sharp, prolonged, excessive! It is time, indeed!&mdash;to the work!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He gives himself a vigorous lash&mdash;and shrieks.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"No! no!&mdash;without mercy it must be."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>He recommences.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! oh! oh! each lash tears my skin, rends my limbs! It burns me
+horribly!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay!&mdash;it is not so very terrible after all!&mdash;one becomes accustomed to
+it. It even seems to me...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony pauses.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Continue, coward! continue! Good! good!&mdash;upon the arms, on the back,
+on the breast, on the belly&mdash;everywhere! Hiss, ye thongs! bite me!
+tear me! I would that my blood could spurt to the stars!&mdash;let my bones
+crack!&mdash;let my tendons be laid bare! O for pincers, racks, and melted
+lead! The martyrs have endured far worse; have they not, Ammonaria?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The shadow of the Devil's horns reappears.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"I might have been bound to the column opposite to thine,&mdash;face to
+face&mdash;under thy eyes&mdash;answering thy shrieks by my sighs; and our pangs
+might have been interblended, our souls intermingled."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He lashes himself with fury.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What! what! again. Take that!&mdash;But how strange a titillation thrills
+me! What punishment! what pleasure! I feel as though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> receiving
+invisible kisses; the very marrow of my bones seems to melt. I die...."</p>
+
+<p><i>And he sees before him three cavaliers, mounted upon onagers, clad in
+robes of green&mdash;each holding a lily in his hand, and all resembling
+each other in feature.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony turns round, and beholds three other cavaliers exactly
+similar, riding upon similar onagers, and preserving the same attitude.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He draws back. Then all the onagers advance one pace at the same time,
+and rub their noses against him, trying to bite his garment. Voices
+shout</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here! here! this way!"</p>
+
+<p><i>And between the clefts of the mountain, appear standards,&mdash;camels'
+heads with halters of red silk&mdash;mules laden with baggage, and women
+covered with yellow veils, bestriding piebald horses.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The panting beasts lie down; the slaves rush to the bales and
+packages, motley-striped carpets are unrolled; precious glimmering
+things are laid upon the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A white elephant, caparisoned with a golden net, trots forward,
+shaking the tuft of ostrich plumes attached to his head-band.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Upon his back, perched on cushions of blue wool, with her legs
+crossed, her eyes half closed, her comely head sleepily nodding, is a
+woman so splendidly clad that she radiates light about her. The crowd
+falls prostrate; the elephant bends his knees; and</i></p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Queen of Sheba</p>
+
+<p><i>letting herself glide down from his shoulder upon the carpets spread
+to receive her, approaches Saint Anthony.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Her robe of gold brocade, regularly divided by furbelows of pearls,
+of jet, and of sapphires, sheaths her figure closely with its
+tight-fitting bodice, set off by colored designs representing the
+twelve signs of the Zodiac. She wears very high pattens&mdash;one of which
+is black, and sprinkled with silver stars, with a moon crescent; the
+other, which is white, is sprinkled with a spray of gold, with a golden
+sun in the middle.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Her wide sleeves, decorated with emeralds and bird-plumes, leave
+exposed her little round bare arms, clasped at the wrist by ebony
+bracelets; and her hands, loaded with precious rings, are terminated by
+nails so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> sharply pointed that the ends of her fingers seem almost like
+needles.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A chain of dead gold, passing under her chin, is caught up on either
+side of her face, and spirally coiled about her coiffure, whence,
+redescending, it grazes her shoulders and is attached upon her bosom
+to a diamond scorpion, which protrudes a jewelled tongue between her
+breasts. Two immense blond pearls depend heavily from her ears. The
+borders of her eyelids are painted black. There is a natural brown spot
+upon her left cheek; and she opens her mouth in breathing, as if her
+corset inconvenienced her.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She shakes, as she approaches, a green parasol with an ivory handle,
+and silver-gilt bells attached to its rim; twelve little woolly-haired
+negro-boys support the long train of her robe, whereof an ape holds the
+extremity, which it raises up from time to time. She exclaims</i>:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! handsome hermit! handsome hermit!&mdash;my heart swoons!</p>
+
+<p>"By dint of stamping upon the ground with impatience, callosities have
+formed upon my heel, and I have broken one of my nails. I sent out
+shepherds, who remained upon the mountain tops, shading their eyes with
+their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> hands&mdash;and hunters who shouted thy name in all the forests&mdash;and
+spies who travelled along the highways, asking every passer-by:</p>
+
+<p>"'Hast thou seen him?'</p>
+
+<p>"By night I wept, with my face turned to the wall. And at last my tears
+made two little holes in the mosaic, like two pools of water among the
+rocks;&mdash;for I love thee!&mdash;oh! how I love thee!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She takes him by the beard.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Laugh now, handsome hermit! laugh! I am very joyous, very gay: thou
+shalt soon see! I play the lyre; I dance like a bee; and I know a host
+of merry tales to tell, each more diverting than the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou canst not even imagine how mighty a journey we have made. See!
+the onagers upon which the green couriers rode are dead with fatigue!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The onagers are lying motionless upon the ground.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"For three long moons they never ceased to gallop on with the same
+equal pace, holdings flints between their teeth to cut the wind, their
+tails ever streaming out behind them, their sinews perpetually strained
+to the uttermost, always galloping, galloping. Never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> can others be
+found like them. They were bequeathed me by my paternal grand-father,
+the Emperor Saharil, son of Iakhschab, son of Iaarab, son of Kastan.
+Ah! if they were still alive, we should harness them to a litter that
+they might bear us back speedily to the palace! But ... what ails
+thee?&mdash;of what art thou dreaming?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She stares at him, examines him closely.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, when thou shalt be my husband, I will robe thee, I will perfume
+thee, I will depilate thee."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony remains motionless, more rigid than a stake, more pallid
+than a corpse.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast a sad look&mdash;is it because of leaving thy hermitage? Yet I
+have left everything for thee&mdash;even King Solomon, who, nevertheless,
+possesses much wisdom, twenty thousand chariots of war, and a beautiful
+beard. I have brought thee my wedding gifts. Choose!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She walks to and fro among the ranks of slaves and the piles of
+precious goods.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Here is Genezareth balm, incense from Cape Gardefui, labdanum,
+cinnamon, and silphium&mdash;good to mingle with sauces. In that bale are
+Assyrian embroideries, ivory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> from the Ganges, purple from Elissa;
+and that box of snow contains a skin of chalybon, the wine, which
+is reserved for the Kings of Assyria, and which is drunk from the
+horn of a unicorn. Here are necklaces, brooches, nets for the hair,
+parasols, gold powder from Baasa, cassiteria from Tartessus, blue wood
+from Pandio, white furs from Issidonia, carbuncles from the Island
+Palæsimondus, and toothpicks made of the bristles of the tachas&mdash;that
+lost animal which is found under the earth. These cushions come from
+Emath, and these mantle-fringes from Palmyra. On this Babylonian carpet
+there is.... But come hither! come! come!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She pulls Saint Anthony by the sleeve. He resists. She continues</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"This thin tissue which crackles under the finger with a sound as of
+sparks, is the famous yellow cloth which the merchants of Bactria bring
+us. I will have robes made of it for thee, which thou shalt wear in the
+house. Unfasten the hooks of that sycamore box, and hand me also the
+little ivory casket tied to my elephant's shoulder."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They take something round out of a box&mdash;something covered with a
+cloth&mdash;and also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> bring a little ivory casket covered with carving.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou desire the buckler of Dgian-ben-Dgian, who built the
+pyramids?&mdash;behold it!&mdash;It is formed of seven dragon-skins laid one over
+the other, tanned in the bile of parricides, and fastened together by
+adamantine screws. Upon one side are represented all the wars that have
+taken place since the invention of weapons; and upon the other, all the
+wars that will take place until the end of the world. The lightning
+itself rebounds from it like a ball of cork. I am going to place it
+upon thy arm; and thou wilt carry it during the chase.</p>
+
+<p>"But if thou didst only know what I have in this little box of mine!
+Turn it over and over again! try to open it! No one could ever succeed
+in doing that. Kiss me! and I will tell thee how to open it."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She takes Saint Anthony by both cheeks. He pushes her away at arms'
+length.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It was one night that King Solomon lost his head. At last we concluded
+a bargain. He arose, and stealing out on tiptoe...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She suddenly executes a pirouette.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah, ah! comely hermit, thou shalt not know it! thou shalt not know!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She shakes her parasol, making all its little bells tinkle.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"And I possess many other strange things&mdash;oh! yes! I have treasures
+concealed in winding galleries where one would lose one's way, as
+in a forest. I have summer-palaces constructed in trellis-work of
+reeds, and winter-palaces all built of black marble. In the midst of
+lakes vast as seas, I have islands round as pieces of silver, and all
+covered with mother-of-pearl,&mdash;islands whose shores make music to
+the lapping of tepid waves upon the sand. The slaves of my kitchens
+catch birds in my aviaries, and fish in my fishponds. I have engravers
+continually seated at their benches to hollow out my likeness in hard
+jewel-stones, and panting molders forever casting statues of me, and
+perfumers incessantly mingling the sap of rare plants with vinegar,
+or preparing cosmetic pastes. I have female dressmakers cutting out
+patterns in richest material, goldsmiths cutting and mounting jewels of
+price, and careful painters pouring upon my palace wainscoting boiling
+resins, which they subsequently cool with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> fans. I have enough female
+attendants to form a harem, eunuchs enough to make an army. I have
+armies likewise; I have nations! In the vestibule of my palace I keep a
+guard of dwarfs&mdash;all bearing ivory trumpets at their backs." (<i>Anthony
+sighs.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"I have teams of trained gazelles; I have elephant quadrigæ; I have
+hundreds of pairs of camels, and mares whose manes are so long that
+their hoofs become entangled therein when they gallop, and herds of
+cattle with horns so broad that when they go forth to graze the woods
+have to be hewn down before them. I have giraffes wandering in my
+gardens; they stretch their heads over the edge of my roof, when I take
+the air after dinner.</p>
+
+<p>"Seated in a shell drawn over the waters by dolphins, I travel
+through the grottoes, listening lo the dropping of the water from the
+stalactites. I go down to the land of diamonds, where my friends the
+magicians allow me to choose the finest: then I reascend to earth and
+return to my home."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She utters a sharp whistle; and a great bird, descending from the
+sky, alights upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> her hair, from which it makes the blue powder fall.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Its orange-colored plumage seems formed of metallic scales. Its little
+head, crested with a silver tuft, has a human face.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It has four wings, the feet of a vulture, and an immense peacock's
+tail which it spreads open like a fan.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It seizes the Queen's parasol in its beak, reels a moment ere
+obtaining its balance; then it erects all its plumes, and remains
+motionless.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks! my beautiful Simorg-Anka!&mdash;thou didst tell me where the loving
+one was hiding! Thanks! thanks! my heart's messenger!</p>
+
+<p>"He flies swiftly as Desire! He circles the world in his flight. At eve
+he returns; he perches at the foot of my couch and tells me all he has
+seen&mdash;the seas that have passed far beneath him with all their fishes
+and ships, the great void deserts he has contemplated from the heights
+of the sky, the harvests that were bowing in the valleys, and the
+plants that were growing upon the walls of cities abandoned."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She wrings her hands, languorously.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh! if thou wast willing! if thou wast willing!... I have a pavilion
+on a promontory in the middle of an isthmus dividing two oceans. It is
+all wain-scoted with sheets of glass, and floored with tortoise shell,
+and open to the four winds of heaven. From its height I watch my fleets
+come in, and my nations toiling up the mountain-slopes with burthens
+upon their shoulders. There would we sleep upon downs softer than
+clouds; we would drink cool draughts from fruit-shells, and we would
+gaze at the sun through emeralds! Come!" ...</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony draws back. She approaches him again, and exclaims in a tone
+of vexation</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"How? neither the rich, nor the coquettish, nor the amorous woman can
+charm thee: is it so? None but a lascivious woman, with a hoarse voice
+and lusty person, with fire-colored hair and superabundant flesh? Dost
+thou prefer a body cold as the skin of a serpent, or rather great dark
+eyes deeper than the mystic caverns?&mdash;behold them, my eyes!&mdash;look into
+them!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony, in spite of him, gazes into her eyes.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"All the women thou hast ever met&mdash;from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> the leman of the cross-roads,
+singing under the light of her lantern, even to the patrician lady
+scattering rose-petals abroad from her litter,&mdash;all the forms thou hast
+ever obtained glimpses of&mdash;all the imaginations of thy desire thou hast
+only to ask for them! I am not a woman: I am a world! My cloak has only
+to fall in order that thou mayest discover a succession of mysteries."
+(<i>Anthony's teeth chatter.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Place but thy finger upon my shoulder: it will be as though a stream
+of fire shot through all thy veins. The possession of the least part
+of me will fill thee with a joy more vehement than the conquest of an
+Empire could give thee! Approach thy lips: there is a sweetness in my
+kisses as of a fruit dissolving within thy heart. Ah! how thou wilt
+lose thyself beneath my long hair, inhale the perfume of my bosom,
+madden thyself with the beauty of my limbs: and thus, consumed by the
+fire of my eyes, clasped within my arms as in a whirlwind...."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em">
+<a id="redon04"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_04.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit
+dissolving within thy heart ...</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>Anthony makes the sign of the cross.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Thou disdainest me! farewell!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She departs, weeping; then, suddenly turning round</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Art quite sure?&mdash;so beautiful a woman...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She laughs, and the ape that bears her train, lifts it up.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt regret it, my comely hermit! thou wilt yet weep! thou wilt
+again feel weary of thy life; but I care not a whit! La! la! la!&mdash;oh!
+oh! oh!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She takes her departure, hopping upon one foot and covering her face
+with her hands.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>All the slaves file off before Saint Anthony&mdash;the horses, the
+dromedaries, the elephant, the female attendants, the mules (which
+have been reloaded), the negro boys, the ape, the green couriers each
+holding his broken lily in his hand; and the Queen of Sheba departs,
+uttering a convulsive hiccough at intervals, which might be taken
+either for a sound of hysterical sobbing, or the half-suppressed
+laughter of mockery.</i>)</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_6" id="Footnote_1_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_6"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Thalamegii</i>&mdash;pleasure-boats having
+apartments.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="III" id="III">III</a></h4>
+
+
+<p>(<i>When she has disappeared in the distance, Anthony observes a child
+seated upon the threshold of his cabin.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is one of the Queen's servants, no doubt," (<i>he thinks</i>).</p>
+
+<p>(<i>This child is small like a dwarf, and nevertheless squat of build,
+like one of the Cabiri; deformed withal, and wretched of aspect. His
+prodigiously large head is covered with white hair; and he shivers
+under a shabby tunic, all the while clutching a roll of papyrus. The
+light of the moon passing through a cloud falls upon him.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Anthony</p>
+
+<p>(<i>watches him from a distance, and is afraid of him.</i>) "Who art thou?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Child</span> (<i>replies</i>). "Thy ancient disciple, Hilarion."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Thou liest! Hilarion hath<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> been dwelling in Palestine for
+many long years."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "I have returned! It is really I!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>draws near and examines him closely</i>). "Yet his face was
+radiant as the dawn, candid, joyous. This face is the face of one
+gloomy and old."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Long and arduous labor hath wearied me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The voice is also different. It hath an icy tone."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Because I have nourished me with bitter things!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "And those white hairs?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "I have endured many woes!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>). "Could it be possible?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "I was not so far from thee as thou doest imagine. The hermit
+Paul visited thee this year, during the month of Schebar. It is just
+twenty days since the Nomads brought thee bread. Thou didst tell a
+sailor, the day before yesterday, to send thee three bodkins."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "He knows all!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Know further more that I have never left thee. But there are
+long periods<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> during which thou hast no knowledge of my presence."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How can that be? Yet it is true that my head is so much
+troubled&mdash;this night especially."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "All the Capital Sins came hither. But their wretched snares
+can avail nothing against such a Saint as thou."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! no!&mdash;no! I fall at every moment! Why am I not of those
+whose souls are ever intrepid, whose minds are always firm,&mdash;for
+example, the great Athanasius?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "He was illegally ordained by seven bishops."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What matter if his virtue...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Go to!&mdash;a most vainglorious and cruel man, forever involved
+in intrigues, and exiled at last as a monopolist."<a name="FNanchor_1_7" id="FNanchor_1_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_7" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Calumny!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou wilt not deny that he sought to corrupt Eustates, the
+treasurer of largesses?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "It is affirmed, I acknowledge."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Through vengeance he burned down the house of Arsenius."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Alas!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "At the council of Nicæa he said in speaking of Jesus: 'The
+man of the Lord.'"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! that is a blasphemy!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "So limited in understanding, moreover, that he confesses he
+comprehends nothing of the nature of the "Word!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>smiling with gratification</i>). "In sooth his intelligence is
+not ... very lofty."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Hypocrite! burying thyself in solitude only in order the
+more fully to abandon thyself to the indulgence of thy envious desires!
+What if thou dost deprive thyself of meats, of wine, of warmth, of
+bath, of slaves, or honours?&mdash;dost thou not permit thy imagination to
+offer thee banquets, perfumes, women, and the applause of multitudes?
+Thy chastity is but a more subtle form of corruption, and thy contempt
+of this world is but the impotence of thy hatred against it! Either
+this it is that makes such as thyself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> so lugubrious, or else 'tis
+doubt. The possession of truth giveth joy. Was Jesus sad? Did he not
+travel in the company of friends, repose beneath the shade of olive
+trees, enter the house of the publican, drink many cups of wine, pardon
+the sinning woman, and assuage all sorrows? Thou!&mdash;thou hast no pity
+save for thine own misery! It is like a remorse that gnaws thee, a
+savage madness that impels thee to repel the caress of a dog or to
+frown upon the smile of a child."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>bursting into tears</i>). "Enough! enough! thou dost wound my
+heart deeply."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Shake the vermin from thy rags! Rise up from thy filth! Thy
+God is not a Moloch who demands human flesh in sacrifice!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet suffering is blessed. The cherubim stoop to receive the
+blood of confessors."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Admire, then, the Montanists!&mdash;they surpass all others."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But it is the truth of the doctrine which makes the
+martyrdom."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "How can martyrdom prove the excellence of the doctrine,
+inasmuch as it bears equal witness for error?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Silence!&mdash;thou viper!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Perhaps martyrdom is not so difficult as thou dost imagine!
+The exhortations of friends, the pleasure of insulting the people,
+the oath one has taken, a certain dizzy excitement, a thousand
+circumstances all aid the resolution of the martyrs...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony turns his back upon Hilarion, and moves away from him.
+Hilarion follows him.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>" ... Moreover this manner of dying often brings about great disorders.
+Dionysius, Cyprian and Gregory fled from it. Peter of Alexandria has
+condemned it; and the council of Elvira...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>stops his ears</i>). "I will listen to thee no longer!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>raising his voice</i>). "Lo! thou fallest again into the
+habitual sin, which is sloth! Ignorance is the foam of pride. One says,
+forsoth:&mdash;'My conviction is formed! wherefore argue further?'&mdash;and one
+despises the doctors, the philosophers, tradition itself, and even the
+text of the law whereof one is ignorant! Dost thou imagine that thou
+dost hold all wisdom in the hollow of thy hand?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I hear him still! His loud words fill my brain."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The efforts of others to comprehend God are mightier than
+all thy mortifications to move Him. We obtain merit only by our thirst
+for truth. Religion alone cannot explain all things; and the solution
+of problems ignored by thee can render faith still more invulnerable
+and noble. Therefore, for our salvation we must communicate with our
+brethren&mdash;otherwise the Church, the assembly of the faithful, would
+be a meaningless word&mdash;and we must listen to all reasoning, despising
+nothing, nor any person. The magician Balaam, the poet Aeschylus,
+and the Sybil of Cumæ&mdash;all foretold the Saviour. Dionysius, the
+Alexandrian, received from heaven the command to read all books. Saint
+Clement orders us to cultivate Greek letters. Hennas was converted by
+the illusion of a woman he had loved...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What an aspect of authority! It seems to me thou art growing
+taller...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And, in very truth, the stature of Hilarion is gradually increasing;
+and Anthony shuts his eyes, that he may not see him.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Reassure thyself, good Hermit. Let us seat ourselves there,
+upon that great stone, as we used to do in other years, when, at the
+first dawn of day, I was wont to salute thee with the appellation,
+'Clear star of morning'&mdash;and thou wouldst therewith commence to
+instruct me. Yet my instruction is not yet completed. The moon gives us
+light enough. I am prepared to hear thy words."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He has drawn a calamus from his girdle, and seating himself
+cross-legged upon the ground, with the papyrus roll still in his hand,
+he lifts his face toward Saint Anthony, who sits near him, with head
+bowed down.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>After a moment of silence Hilarion continues</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Is not the word of God confirmed for us by miracles? Nevertheless
+the magicians of Pharaoh performed miracles; other imposters can
+perform them; one may be thereby deceived. What then is a miracle?
+An event which seems to us outside of nature. But do we indeed know
+all of Nature's powers; and because a common occurrence causes us no
+astonishment, does it therefore follow that we understand it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "It matters little! We must believe the Scriptures!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Saint Paul, Origen, and many others did not understand
+the Scriptures in a literal sense: yet if Holy Writ be explained by
+allegories it becomes the portion of a small number, and the evidence
+of the truth disappears. What must we do?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "We must rely upon the Church!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Then the Scriptures are useless?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "No! no! although I acknowledge that in the Old Testament
+there are some ... some obscurities. But the New shines with purest
+light."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Nevertheless, the Angel of the annunciation, in Matthew,
+appears to Joseph; while, in Luke, he appears to Mary. The anointing
+of Jesus by a woman takes place, according to the first Gospel, at the
+commencement of his public life; and, according to the other three, a
+few days before his death. The drink offered to him on the cross, is,
+in Matthew, vinegar mixed with gall; in Mark, it is wine and myrrh.
+According to Luke and Matthew, the apostles should take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> with them
+neither money nor scrip for their journey&mdash;not even sandals nor staff;
+in Mark, on the contrary, Jesus bids them take nothing with them,
+except sandals and a staff. I am thereby bewildered!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>in amazement</i>). "Aye, indeed!... in fact...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "At the contact of the woman who had an issue of blood, Jesus
+turned and said, 'Who hath touched my garments?' He did not know, then,
+who had touched him? That contradicts the omniscience of Jesus! If the
+tomb was watched by guards, the women need have felt no anxiety about
+finding help to roll away the stone from the tomb. Therefore there
+were no guards, or the holy women were not there. At Emmaus, he eats
+with his disciples and makes them feel his wounds. It is a human body,
+a material and ponderable object; and nevertheless it passes through
+walls! Is that possible?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "It would require much time to answer thee properly!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Why did he receive the Holy Spirit, being himself Son of
+the Holy Spirit? What need had he of baptism if he was the Word? How
+could the Devil have tempted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> him, inasmuch as he was God? Have these
+thoughts never occurred to thee?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes!... often! Sometimes torpid, sometimes furious&mdash;they
+remain forever in my conscience. I crush them; they rise again, they
+stifle me; and sometimes I think that I am accursed."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Then it is needless for thee to serve God?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I shall always need to adore Him."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>After a long silence Hilarion continues</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"But aside from dogma, all researches are allowed us. Dost thou desire
+to know the hierarchy of the Angels, the virtue of the Numbers, the
+reason of germs and of metamorphoses?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes! yes! my thought struggles wildly to escape from its
+prison. It seems to me that by exerting all my force I might succeed.
+Sometimes, for an instant, brief as a lightning flash, I even feel
+myself as thought uplifted,&mdash;then I fall back again!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The secret thou wouldst obtain is guarded by sages. They
+dwell in a distant land; they are seated beneath giant trees; they
+are robed in white; they are calm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> as Gods! A warm air gives them
+sufficient nourishment. All about them, leopards tread upon grassy
+turf. The murmuring of fountains and the neighing of unicorns mingle
+with their voices. Thou shalt hear them; and the face of the Unknown
+shall be unveiled!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>sighing</i>). "The way is long; and I am old."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Oh! oh! wise men are not rare! there are some even very nigh
+thee!&mdash;here! Let us enter!"</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_7" id="Footnote_1_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_7"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Gibbon, a sincere admirer of Athanasius, gives a curious
+history of these charges, and expresses his disbelief in their
+truth. The story regarding the design to intercept the corn-fleet of
+Alexandria is referred to in the use of the word "monopolist."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="IV" id="IV">IV</a></h4>
+
+
+<p>(<i>And Anthony beholds before him a vast basilica.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The light gushes from the further end, marvellous as a multi-colored
+sun. It illuminates the innumerable heads of the crowd that fills the
+nave, and that eddies about the columns toward the side-aisles&mdash;where
+can be perceived, in wooden compartments, altars, beds, little chains
+of blue stones linked together, and constellations painted upon the
+walls.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the midst of the throng there are groups which remain motionless.
+Men standing upon stools harangue with fingers uplifted; others are
+praying, with arms outstretched in form of a cross; others are lying
+prostrate upon the pavement, or singing hymns, or drinking wine; others
+of the faithful, seated about a table, celebrate their agape;<a name="FNanchor_1_8" id="FNanchor_1_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_8" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
+martyrs are unbandaging their limbs in order to show their wounds; and
+aged men, leaning upon staffs, recount their voyages.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>There are some from the country of the Germans, from Thrace also, and
+from the Gauls, from Scythia and from the Indies, with snow upon their
+beards, feathers in their hair; thorns in the fringe of their garments;
+the sandals of some are black with dust, their skins are burnt by the
+sun. There is a vast confusion of costumes, mantles of purple and
+robes of linen, embroidered dalmaticas, hair shirts, sailors' caps,
+bishops' mitres. Their eyes fulgurate strangely. They have the look of
+executioners, or the look of eunuchs.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Hilarion advances into their midst. All salute him. Anthony, shrinking
+closer to his shoulder, observes them. He remarks the presence of a
+great many women. Some of these are attired like men, and have their
+hair cut short. Anthony feels afraid of them.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Those are Christian women who have converted their husbands.
+Besides, the women were always upon the side of Jesus, even the
+idolatrous ones, for example, Procula, the wife of Pilate, and Poppæa,
+the concubine of Nero. Do not tremble!&mdash;come on."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And others are continually arriving.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They seem to multiply, to double themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> by self-division, light
+as shadows&mdash;all the while making an immense clamour, in which yells of
+rage, cries of love, canticles and objurgations intermingle.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>in a low voice</i>). "What do they desire?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The Lord said: 'I have yet many things to say to you....
+'<a name="FNanchor_2_9" id="FNanchor_2_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_9" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> They possess the knowledge of those things."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he pushes Anthony forward to a golden throne approached by five
+steps, whereon&mdash;surrounded by ninety-five disciples, all very thin and
+pale, and anointed with oil&mdash;sits the prophet Manes. He is beautiful
+as an archangel, immobile as a statue; he is clad in an Indian robe;
+carbuncles gleam in his plaited hair; at his left hand lies a book of
+painted images; his right reposes upon a globe. The images represent
+the creatures that erst slumbered in Chaos. Anthony bends forward to
+look upon them. Then&mdash;&mdash;</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Manes</p>
+
+<p>(<i>makes his globe revolve; and regulating the tone of his words by a
+lyre which gives forth crystalline sounds, exclaims</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The celestial earth is at the superior extremity; the terrestrial
+earth at the inferior extremity. It is sustained by two angels&mdash;the
+Angel Splenditeneus, and Omophorus, whose faces are six.</p>
+
+<p>"At the summit of the highest heaven reigns the impassible Divinity;
+below, face to face, are the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"When the darkness had advanced even to his kingdom, God evolved from
+his own essence a virtue which produced the first man; and he environed
+him with the five elements. But the demons of darkness stole from him a
+part; and that part is the soul.</p>
+
+<p>"There is but one soul, universally diffused, even as the waters of
+a river divided into many branches. It is this universal soul that
+sighs in the wind&mdash;that shrieks in the marble under the teeth of the
+saw&mdash;that roars in the voice of the sea&mdash;that weeps tears of milk when
+the leaves of the fig tree are torn off.</p>
+
+<p>"The souls that leave this world emigrate to the stars, which are
+themselves animated beings."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>bursts into a laugh</i>). "Ah! ah! what an absurd imagination!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Man</span> (<i>having no beard, and of a most austere aspect</i>). "Wherefore
+absurd?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony is about to reply when Hilarion tells him in a low voice
+that the questioner is none other than the tremendous Origen himself;
+and</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span> (<i>continues</i>). "But first they remain awhile in the Moon, where
+they are purified. Then they rise into the sun."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>slowly</i>). "I do not know of anything ... which prevents us
+... from believing it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "The proper aim of every creature is the deliverance of the ray
+of celestial light imprisoned within matter. It finds easier escape
+through the medium of perfumes, spices, the aroma of warmed wine, the
+light things which resemble thoughts. But the acts of life retain it
+within its prison. The murderer shall be born again in the form of a
+celephus; he that kills an animal shall become that animal; if thou
+plantest a vine, thou shalt be thyself bound within its boughs. Food
+absorbs the celestial light.... Therefore abstain! fast!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou seest, they are temperate!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "There is much of it in meats, less of it in herbs. Moreover
+the Pure Ones, by means of their great merits, despoil vegetation of
+this luminous essence; and, thus liberated, it reascends to its source.
+But through generation, animals keep it imprisoned within the flesh!
+Therefore, avoid women!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Admire their continence."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "Or rather contrive that they shall not create..............<a name="FNanchor_3_10" id="FNanchor_3_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_10" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh&mdash;abomination!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "What signifies the hierarchy of turpitudes? The Church has,
+forsooth, made marriage a sacrament!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Saturninus</span> (<i>in Syrian costume</i>). "He teaches a most dismal system of
+the universe!... The Father, desiring to punish the angels who had
+revolted, ordered them to create the world. Christ came, in order that
+the God of the Jews, who was one of those angels...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "He an angel! the Creator!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cerdo</span>. "Did he not seek to kill Moses, to deceive his own prophets, to
+seduce nations?&mdash;did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> he not sow falsehood and idolatry broadcast?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marcion</span>. "Certainly, the Creator is not the true God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Saint Clement of Alexandria</span>. "Matter is eternal!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bardesanes</span> (<i>in the costume of the Babylonian magi</i>). "It was formed by
+the Seven Planetary Spirits."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Hermians</span>. "Souls were made by the angels."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Priscillianists</span>. "It was the Devil who made the world."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>rushing back from the circle</i>). "Horror!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>supporting him</i>). "Thou despairest too hastily!&mdash;thou dost
+misapprehend their doctrine! Here is one who received his teaching
+directly from Theodas, the friend of St. Paul. Hearken to him."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And at a sign from Hilarion</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Valentinus</span></p>
+
+<p><i>appears in a tunic of cloth of silver; his skull is pointed at its
+summit; his voice has a wheezing sound.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The world is the work of a God in delirium!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>bending his head down</i>). "The work of a God in delirium!..."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>After a long silence</i>): "How can that be?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Valentine</span>. "The most perfect of beings, and of the Æons, the Abyss;
+dwelt in the womb of the Deep together with Thought. By their union was
+begotten Intelligence, to whom Truth was given as a companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Intelligence and Truth engendered the Word and Life, who in their turn
+begat Man and the Church; and that doth make eight Æons!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He counts upon his fingers.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"The Word and Truth also produced ten other Æons&mdash;which is to say, five
+couples. Man and the Church had begotten twelve more&mdash;among these the
+Paraclete and Faith, Hope and Charity, Perfection and Wisdom&mdash;Sophia.</p>
+
+<p>"The union of these thirty Æons constitutes the Pleroma, or
+Universality of God. Thus, even as the echo of a passing voice, as the
+effluvia of a perfume evaporating, as the fires of the setting sun,
+the Powers that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> emanated from the Principle, forever continue to grow
+weaker.</p>
+
+<p>"But Sophia, desirous to know the Father, darted from the Pleroma;
+and the Word then made another couple, Christ and the Holy Ghost, who
+reunited all the Æons; and all together formed Jesus, the flower of the
+Pleroma.</p>
+
+<p>"But the effort of Sophia to flee away had left in the void an image of
+her&mdash;an evil substance, Acharamoth.<a name="FNanchor_4_11" id="FNanchor_4_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_11" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> The Saviour took pity upon her,
+freed her from all passion; and from the smile of Acharamoth redeemed,
+light was born; her tears formed the waters; by her sorrow was dark
+matter begotten.</p>
+
+<p>"Of Acharamoth was born the Demiurgos,&mdash;the fabricator of worlds,
+the creator of the heaven and of the Devil. He dwells far below the
+Pleroma&mdash;so far that he cannot behold it&mdash;so that he deems himself to
+be the true God, and repeats by the mouths of his prophets&mdash;'There is
+no other God but I.' Then he made man, and instilled into his soul the
+immaterial Seed which was the Church&mdash;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> reflection of the other Church
+established in the Pleroma.</p>
+
+<p>"One day Acharamoth shall reach the highest region and unite herself
+with the Saviour; the fire that is hidden in the world shall annihilate
+all matter, and shall even devour itself and men, becoming pure
+spirits, shall espouse the angels!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Origen</span>. "Then shall the Demon be over-thrown and the reign of God
+commence!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony expresses a cry, and forthwith</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Basilides</span> (<i>taking him by the elbow, exclaims</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"The Supreme Being with all the infinite emanations is called
+Abraxas; and the Saviour with all his virtues, Kaulakau&mdash;otherwise,
+line-upon-line, rectitude upon rectitude.</p>
+
+<p>"The power of Kaulakau is obtained by the aid of certain words, which
+are inscribed upon this chalcedony to help the memory."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he points to a little stone suspended at his neck, upon which
+stone fantastic characters are graven.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Then thou wilt be transported into the Invisible and placed above all
+law; thou shalt contemn all things&mdash;even virtue!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We, the Pure, must flee from pain, after the example of Kaulakau."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! and the cross?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Elkhesaites</span> (<i>in robes of hyacinth answers him</i>). "The woe and
+the degradation, the condemnation and oppression of my fathers<a name="FNanchor_5_12" id="FNanchor_5_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_12" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> are
+blotted out, through the mission which has come.</p>
+
+<p>"One may deny the inferior Christ, the man&mdash;Jesus; but the other Christ
+must be adored&mdash;whose personality was evolved under the brooding of the
+Dove's wings.</p>
+
+<p>"Honor marriage; the Holy Spirit is feminine!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Hilarion has disappeared; and Anthony, carried along by the crowd,
+arrives in the presence of</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Carpocratians</p>
+
+<p>(<i>reclining with women upon scarlet cushions.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Before entering into the Only thou shalt pass through a series of
+conditions and of actions. To free thyself from the powers of darkness,
+thou must at once accomplish their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> works. The husband shall say to the
+wife: 'Have charity for thy brother'&mdash;and she will kiss thee."</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Nicolaitans</p>
+
+<p>(<i>gathered about a mass of smoking meats</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"This is a portion of the meat offered to idols;&mdash;partake of it!
+Apostasy is permissible when the heart is pure. Gorge thy flesh with
+all that it demands. Seek to exterminate it by dint of debauchery!
+Prounikos, the Mother of Heaven, wallowed in ignominies."</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Marcosians</p>
+
+<p>(<i>wearing rings of gold, and glistening with precious balm and
+unguents</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Enter among us that thou mayst unite thyself to the Spirit! Enter
+among us that thou mayst quaff the draught of immortality!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And one of them shows him, behind a tapestry-hanging, the body of a
+man terminated by the head of an ass. This represents Sabaoth, father
+of the Devil. He spits upon the image in token of detestation.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Another shows him a very low bed, strewn with flowers, exclaiming</i>:)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The spiritual marriage is about to be consummated."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A third, who holds a cup of glass, utters an invocation;&mdash;blood
+suddenly appears in the cup</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! behold it! behold it!&mdash;the blood of Christ!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony withdraws, but finds himself be-spattered by water splashed
+from a cistern.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Helvidians</p>
+
+<p>(<i>are flinging themselves into it head foremost, muttering</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"The man regenerated by baptism is impeccable!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then he passes by a great fire at which the Adamites are warming
+themselves&mdash;all completely naked in imitation of the purity of
+Paradise; and he stumbles over</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Messalines</p>
+
+<p>(<i>wallowing upon the pavement, half-slumbering, stupid</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! crush us if thou wilt! we shall not move! Work is crime; all
+occupation is evil."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>Behind these, the abject</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Paternians</p>
+
+<p>(<i>&mdash;men, women, and children lying pell mell upon a heap of filth, lift
+their hideous faces, wine-besmeared, and they cry aloud</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"The inferior parts of the body, which were created by the Devil,
+belong to him! Let us eat, drink, and sin!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Ætius</span>. "Crimes are necessities beneath the notice of God!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>But suddenly</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Man</span> (&mdash;<i>clad in a Carthaginian mantle, bounds into their midst,
+brandishing a scourge of thongs in his hand; and strikes violently and
+indiscriminately at all in his path</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! imposters! simonists, heretics and demons!&mdash;vermin of the
+schools!&mdash;dregs of hell! Marcion, there, is a sailor of Sinopus
+excommunicated for incest;&mdash;Carpocrates was banished for being a
+magician; Ætius stole his concubine; Nicholas prostituted his wife;
+and this Manes, who calls himself the Buddha, and whose real name is
+Cubricus, was flayed alive with the point of a reed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> so that his skin
+even now hangs at the gates of Ctesiphon!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>recognizing Tertullian, rushes to join him</i>): "Master! help!
+help!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tertullian</span> (<i>continuing</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Break the images! veil the virgins! Pray, fast, weep and mortify
+yourselves! No philosophy! no books! After Jesus, science is useless!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>All have fled away; and Anthony beholds, in lieu of Tertullian, a
+woman seated upon a bench of stone.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She sobs; leaning her head against a column; her hair is loose; her
+body, weakened by grief, is clad in a long brown simar. Then they find
+themselves face to face and alone, far from the crowd; and a silence,
+an extraordinary stillness falls&mdash;as in the woods when the winds are
+lulled, and the leaves of the trees suddenly cease to whisper.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>This woman is still very beautiful, although faded, and pale as a
+sepulcher. They look at one another; and their eyes send to each other
+waves, as it were, of thoughts, bearing drift of a thousand ancient
+things, confused, mysterious. At last</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span> (<i>speaks</i>:)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I was in the last chamber of the baths; and the rumbling sounds of the
+street caused a sleep to fall upon me.</p>
+
+<p>"Suddenly I heard a clamour of voices. Men were shouting&mdash;'It is a
+magician!&mdash;it is the Devil!' And the crowd stopped before our house, in
+front of the Temple Æsculapius. I drew myself up with my hands to the
+little window.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon the peristyle of the temple, there stood a man who wore about his
+neck a collar of iron. He took burning coals out of a chafing-dish, and
+with them drew lines across his breast, the while crying out&mdash;'Jesus!
+Jesus!' The people shouted&mdash;'This is not lawful! let us stone him!'
+But he continued. Oh! those were unheard of marvels&mdash;things which
+transported men who beheld them! Flowers broad as suns circled before
+my eyes, and I heard in the spaces above me the vibrations of a golden
+harp. Day died. My hands loosened their grasp of the window-bars; my
+body fell back, and when he had led me away to his house...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But of whom art thou speaking?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "Why, of Montanus!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Montanus is dead!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "It is not true!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Voice</span>. "No: Montanus is not dead!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony turns; and sees upon the bench near him, on the opposite
+side, another woman sitting; she is fair, and even paler than the
+other; there are swellings under her eyes, as though she had wept a
+long time. She speaks without being questioned</i>:)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Maximilla</span>. "We were returning from Tarsus by way of the mountains,
+when, at a turn in the road, we saw a man under a fig tree.</p>
+
+<p>"He cried from afar off: 'Stop! stop!' and rushed toward us, uttering
+words of abuse. The slaves ran up; he burst into a loud laugh. The
+horses reared; the molossi all barked.</p>
+
+<p>"He stood before us. The sweat streamed from his forehead; his mantle
+napped in the wind.</p>
+
+<p>"And calling us each by our names, he reproached us with the vanity
+of our work, the infamy of our bodies; and he shook his fist at the
+dromedaries because of the silver bells hanging below their mouths.</p>
+
+<p>"His fury now filled my very entrails with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> fear and yet there was a
+strange pleasure in it which fascinated me, intoxicated me!</p>
+
+<p>"First the slaves came. 'Master,' they said, 'our animals are weary.'
+Then the women said, 'We are frightened,' and the slaves departed. Then
+the children began to weep,&mdash;'We are hungry.' And as the women were not
+answered, they disappeared also from our view.</p>
+
+<p>"He still spoke. I felt some one near me. It was my husband; but I
+listened only to the other. My husband crawled to me upon his knees
+among the stones, and cried&mdash;'Dost thou abandon me,' and I replied:
+'Yes! go thy way!' that I might accompany Montanus."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "A eunuch!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "Ah! does that astound thee, vulgar soul! Yet Magdalen,
+Johanna, Martha and Susannah did not share the couch of the Saviour.
+Souls may know the delirium of embrace better than bodies. That he
+might keep Eustolia with impunity, the bishop Leontius mutilated
+himself&mdash;loving his love more than his virility. And then, it was
+no fault of mine. Sotas could not cure me; a spirit constrained me.
+It is cruel, nevertheless! But what matter? I am the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> last of the
+prophetesses; and after me the end of the world shall come."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Maximilla</span>. "He showered his gifts upon me. Moreover, no one loves him
+as I, nor is any other so well beloved by him!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "Thou liest! I am the most beloved!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Maximilla</span>. "No: it is I!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They fight. Between their shoulders suddenly appears the head of a
+negro.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Montanus</span> (<i>clad in a black mantle, clasped by two cross-bones</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Peace, my doves! Incapable of terrestrial happiness, we have obtained
+the celestial plentitude of our union. After the age of the Father,
+the age of the Son; and I inaugurate the third, which is that of the
+Paraclete. His light descended upon me during those forty nights when
+the heavenly Jerusalem appeared shining in the firmament, above my
+house at Pepuzza.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, how ye cry out with anguish when the thongs of the scourge
+lacerate! how your suffering bodies submit to the ardor of my spiritual
+discipline! how ye languish with irrealizable longing! So strong has
+that desire become that it has enabled you to behold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> the invisible
+world; and ye can now perceive souls even with the eyes of the body!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. (<i>Makes a gesture of astonishment.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tertullian</span> (<i>who appears again, standing beside Montanus</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Without doubt; for the soul has a body, and that which is bodiless has
+no existence."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Montanus</span>. "In order to render it yet more subtle, I have instituted
+many mortifications, three Lents a year, and prayers to be uttered
+nightly by the mind only, keeping the mouth closed, lest breathing
+might tarnish thought. It is necessary to abstain from second
+marriages, or rather from all marriage! The Angels themselves have
+sinned with women!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Archontics</span> (<i>wearing cilices of hair</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"The Saviour said: 'I come to destroy the work of the Woman!'"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Tatianites</span> (<i>wearing cilices of reed</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"She is the tree of evil. Our bodies are but garments of skin."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And continuing to advance along the same side, Anthony meets</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Valesians</span> (<i>extended upon the ground, with red wounds below their
+bellies, and blood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> saturating their tunics. They offer him a knife.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Do as Origen did and as we have done! Is it the pain that thou
+fearest, coward? Is it the love of thy flesh that restrains thee,
+hypocrite?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And while he watches them writhing upon their backs, in a pool of
+blood</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Cainites</span> (<i>wearing knotted vipers as fillets about their hair, pass
+by, vociferating in his ear</i>):&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Glory to Cain! Glory to Sodom! Glory be to Judas!</p>
+
+<p>"Cain made the race of the strong; Sodom terrified the earth by her
+punishment, and it was by Judas that God saved the world! Yes! by
+Judas: without him there would have been no death and no redemption!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They disappear beneath the horde of the</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Circumcelliones</span> (<i>all clad in the skins of wolves, crowned with thorns,
+and armed with maces of iron</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Crush the fruit! befoul the spring! drown the child! Pillage the rich
+who are happy&mdash;who cat their fill! Beat the poor who envy the ass
+his saddle-cloth, the dog his meal, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> bird his nest,&mdash;and who is
+wretched at knowing that others are not as miserable as himself.</p>
+
+<p>"We, the Saints, poison, burn, massacre, that we may hasten the end of
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>"Salvation may be obtained through martyrdom only. We give ourselves
+martyrdom. We tear the skin from our heads with pincers; we expose our
+members to the plough; we cast ourselves into the mouths of furnaces!</p>
+
+<p>"Out upon baptism! out upon the Eucharist! out upon marriage! universal
+damnation!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then throughout all the basilica there is a redoubling of fury.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Audians shoot arrows against the Devil; the Collyridians throw
+blue cloths toward the roof; the Ascites prostrate themselves before
+a waterskin; the Marcionites baptise a dead man with oil. A woman,
+standing near Appelles, exhibits a round loaf within a bottle, in order
+the better to explain her idea. Another, standing in the midst of an
+assembly of Sampseans distributes, as a sacrament, the dust of her
+own sandals. Upon the rose-strewn bed of the Marcosians, two lovers
+embrace. The Circumcellionites<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> slaughter one another; the Valesians
+utter the death-rattle; Bardesanes sings; Carpocras dances; Maximilla
+and Priscilla moan; and the false prophetess of Cappadocia, completely
+naked, leaning upon a lion, and brandishing three torches, shrieks the
+Terrible Invocation.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The columns of the temple sway to and fro like the trunks of trees in a
+tempest; the amulets suspended about the necks of the Heresiarchs seem
+to cross each other in lines of fire; the constellations in the chapels
+palpitate; and the walls recoil with the ebb and flow of the crowd, in
+which each head is a wave that leaps and roars.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Nevertheless, from the midst of the clamor arises the sound of a song,
+in which the name of Jesus is often repeated, accompanied by bursts of
+laughter.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The singers belong to the rabble of the people; they all keep time to
+the song by clapping their hands. In their midst stands</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Artus</span> (<i>in a deacon's vestments</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"The fools who declaim against me pretend to explain the absurd; and in
+order to confound them utterly, I have composed ditties so droll that
+they are learned by heart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> in all the mills, in the taverns and along
+the ports.</p>
+
+<p>"No! a thousand times no!&mdash;the Son is not coeternal with the Father,
+nor of the same substance! Otherwise he would not have said: 'Father,
+remove this chalice from me! Why dost thou call me good? God alone is
+good! I go to my God, to your God!'&mdash;and many other things testifying
+to his character of creature. The fact is further demonstrated for
+us by all his names:&mdash;lamb, shepherd, fountain, wisdom, son-of-man,
+prophet; the way, the corner-stone!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sabelliusés</span>. "I hold that both are identical."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Arius</span>. "The Council of Antioch has decided the contrary."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Then what is the Word?... What was Jesus?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Valentinians</span>. "He was the husband of Acharamoth repentant!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sethianians</span>. "He was Shem, the son of Noah!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Theodotians</span>. "He was Melchisedech!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Merinthians</span>. "He was only a man!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Apollinarists</span>. "He assumed the appearance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> of one! He simulated the
+Passion!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marcel of Ancyra</span>. "He was a development of the Father!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pope Calixtus</span>. "Father and Son are but two modes of one God's
+manifestation!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Methodius</span>. "He was first in Adam, then in man!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cerinthus</span>. "And He will rise again!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Valentinus</span>. "Impossible&mdash;his body being celestial!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Paul of Samosata</span>. "He became God <i>only</i> from the time of his baptism!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hermogenes</span>. "He dwells in the sun!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And all the Heresiarchs form a circle about Anthony, who weeps,
+covering his face with his hands.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Jew</span> (<i>with a red beard, and spots of leprosy upon his shin,
+approaches close to Anthony, and, with a hideous sneer, exclaims</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"His soul was the soul of Esau! He suffered from the Bellephorentian
+sickness. Was not his mother, the seller of perfumes, seduced by a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>Roman soldier, one Pantherus?.......................... <a name="FNanchor_6_13" id="FNanchor_6_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_13" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>suddenly raising his head, looks at them a moment in silence;
+then advancing boldly upon them, exclaims</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Doctors, magicians, bishops, and deacons, men and phantoms, away from
+me! begone! Ye are all lies!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Heresiarchs</span>. "We have martyrs more martyrs than thine, prayers
+that are more difficult, outbursts of love more sublime, ecstasies as
+prolonged as thine are."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But ye have no revelation! no proofs!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They all at once brandish in the air their rolls of papyrus, tablets
+of wood, scrolls of leather, rolls of woven stuff bearing inscriptions;
+and elbowing; and pushing each other, they all shout to Anthony.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Cerinthians</span>. "Behold the Gospel of the Hebrews!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Marcionites</span>. "Behold the Gospel of the Lord!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Marcosians</span>. "The Gospel of Eve!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Eucratites</span>. "The Gospel of Thomas!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Cainites</span>. "The Gospel of Judas!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Basilides</span>. "The Treatise upon the Destiny of the Soul!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "The Prophecy of Barkouf!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony struggles, breaks from them, escapes them; and in a shadowy
+corner perceives</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Aged Ebionites</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>withered as mummies, their eyes dull and dim, their eyebrows white as
+frost.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In tremulous voices they exclaim</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"We have known him, we have seen him! We knew the Carpenter's Son! We
+were then the same age as he; we dwelt in the same street. He used to
+amuse himself by modelling little birds of mud; aided his father at his
+work without fear of the sharp tools, or selected for his mother the
+skeins of dyed wool. Then he made a voyage to Egypt, from whence he
+brought back wondrous secrets. We were at Jericho when he came to find
+the Eater of Locusts. They talked together in a low voice, so that no
+one could hear what was said. But it was from that time that his name
+began to be noised abroad in Galilee, and that men began to relate many
+fables regarding him."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They reiterate, tremulously</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"We knew him! we others, we knew him!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah, speak on, speak! What was his face like?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tertullian</span>. "His face was wild and repulsive; forasmuch as he
+had burthened himself with all the crimes, all the woes, all the
+deformities of mankind."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! no, no! I imagine, on the contrary, that his entire
+person must have been glorious with a beauty greater than the beauty of
+man!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Eusebius of Cæsarea</span>. "There is indeed, at Paneades, propped up against
+the walls of a crumbling edifice surrounded by a wilderness of weeds
+and creeping plants, a certain statue of stone which, some say, was
+erected by the Woman healed of the issue of blood. But time has gnawed
+the face of the statue, and the rains have worn the inscription away."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A woman steps forward from the group of the Carpocratians.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marcellina</span>. "I was once a deaconess at Rome, in a little church, where
+I used to exhibit to the faithful, the silver images, of Saint Paul,
+Homer, Pythagoras and Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p>"I have only kept that of Jesus."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She half opens her mantle.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou desire it?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Voice</span>. "He reappears himself when we call upon him! It is the
+hour!&mdash;come!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And Anthony feels a brutal hand seize him by the arm, and drag him
+away.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He mounts a stairway in complete darkness; and after having ascended
+many steps, he finds himself before a door.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then the one who is leading him&mdash;(is it Hilarion?&mdash;he does not
+know)&mdash;whispers in the ear of another</i>: "The Lord is about to
+come!"&mdash;<i>and they are admitted into a chamber, with a very low ceiling,
+and without furniture.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The first object which attracts his attention is a long blood-colored
+chrysalis, with a human head surrounded by rays, and the word</i> Knouphus
+<i>inscribed all around it in Greek characters. It is placed upon the
+shaft of a column, which is in turn supported by a broad pedestal.
+Hanging upon the walls of the chamber are medallions of polished iron
+representing the heads of various animals:&mdash;the head of an ox, the head
+of a lion, the head of an eagle, the head of a dog, and the head of an
+ass&mdash;again!</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em">
+<a id="redon202"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_02.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>... a long blood-colored chrysalis</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Earthen lamps, suspended below these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> images, create a vacillating
+light. Through a hole in the wall, Anthony can see the moon shining
+far off upon the waves; he can even hear the feeble regular sound of
+lapping water; together with the heavy thud occasionally caused by the
+bumping of a ship's hull against the stones of the mole.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>There are men crouching down, with their faces hidden by their
+mantles. From time to time they utter sounds resembling a smothered
+bark. There are women also, sleeping with their foreheads resting upon
+their arms, and their arms supported by their knees; they are so hidden
+by their garments as to resemble heaps of cloth piled up at intervals
+against the wall. Near them are half naked children, whose persons
+swarm with vermin. They watch with idiotic stare the burning of the
+lamps; and nothing is done: all are waiting for something.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They talk in undertones about family matters, or recommend to each
+other various remedies for their ailments. Some of them must embark
+at earliest daylight; the persecution is becoming too terrible to be
+endured. Nevertheless, the pagans are easily enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> deceived</i>:&mdash;"The
+fools imagine that we are really adoring Knouphus!"</p>
+
+<p><i>But one of the brethren, feeling himself suddenly inspired, takes his
+place before the column, where a basket has already been placed, filled
+with fennel and aristolochia. On the top of the basket is placed a
+loaf.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Inspired Brother</p>
+
+<p>(<i>unrolling a placard covered with designs representing cylinders
+blending with and fitting into one another, commences to pray</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"The ray of the Word descended upon the darknesses; and there arose a
+mighty cry, like unto the voice of Light."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>swaying their bodies in unison, respond</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Kyrie eleison!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span>. "Then was Man created by the infamous
+God of Israel, aided by those who are these (<i>pointing to the
+medallions</i>)&mdash;Astophaios, Oraios, Sabaoth, Adonai, Eloi, Iao!</p>
+
+<p>"And Man, hideous, feeble, formless and thoughtless, lay upon the slime
+of the earth."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>in plaintive accents</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Kyrie eleison!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span>. "But Sophia, compassionating him, vivified him
+with a spark of her own soul.</p>
+
+<p>"Then God, beholding Man so beautiful, waxed wroth; and imprisoned him
+within His own kingdom, forbidding him to touch the Tree of Knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>"Again did the other succor him. She sent to him the Serpent, who, by
+many long subterfuges, made him disobey that law of hate.</p>
+
+<p>"And Man, having tasted knowledge, understood celestial things."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>raising their voices</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Kyrie Eleison!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span>. "But Iabdalaoth through vengeance cast down man
+into the world of matter, and the Serpent with him."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>in a very low tone</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Kyrie Eleison!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then all hold their peace, and there is silence.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The odors of the port mingle with the smoke of the lamps in the warm
+air. The lamp-wicks crepitate; their flames are about to go out, long
+mosquitoes flit in rapid circlings about them. And Anthony groans
+in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> an agony of anguish, as with the feeling that a monstrosity is
+floating about him, as with the fear of a crime that is about to be
+accomplished.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span> (<i>stamping his heel upon the floor, snapping his
+fingers, tossing his head wildly, suddenly chants to a furious rhythm,
+with accompaniment of cymbals and a shrill flute</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Come! come! come!&mdash;issue from thy cavern!</p>
+
+<p>"O swift one, who runneth without feet, captor who seizeth without hand!</p>
+
+<p>"Sinuous as the rivers, orbicular as the sun, black, with spots of
+gold, like the firmament star-besprinkled! Like unto the intertwinings
+of the vine, and the circumvolutions of entrails!</p>
+
+<p>"Unengendered! eater of earth! immortally young! unfailing
+perspicacious! honored at Epidaurus! Kindly to man! thou who didst heal
+King Ptolemy, and the warriors, of Moses, and Glaucus, son of Minos!</p>
+
+<p>"Come! come! come!&mdash;issue from thy cavern!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>repeat</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Come! come! come!&mdash;issue from thy cavern!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Nevertheless, nothing yet appears.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Why? What aileth him?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And they concert together, devise means.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>An old man presents a clod of turf as an offering. Then something
+upheaves within the basket. The mass of verdure shakes; the flowers
+fall, and the head of a python appears.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon05"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_05.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>... the flowers fall and the head of a python appears</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>It passes slowly around the edge of the loaf, like a circle moving
+around an immovable disk;&mdash;then it unfolds itself, lengthens out; it is
+enormous and of great weight. Lest it should touch the floor, the men
+uphold it against their breasts, the women support it upon their heads,
+the children hold it up at arms' length; and its tail, issuing through
+the hole in the wall, stretches away indefinitely to the bottom of the
+sea. Its coils double; they fill the chamber; they enclose Anthony.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Faithful</span> (<i>press their mouths against its skin, snatch from one
+another the loaf which it has bitten, and cry aloud</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"It is thou! it is thou!</p>
+
+<p>"First raised up by Moses, broken by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> Ezechias, re-established by the
+Messiah. He drank thee in the waters of baptism; but thou didst leave
+him in the Garden of Olives; and then indeed he felt his own weakness!</p>
+
+<p>"Writhing about the arms of the cross, and above his head, while
+casting thy slime upon the crown of thorns, thou didst behold him die!
+For thou art not Jesus, thou!&mdash;thou art the Word! thou art the Christ!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony faints with horror, and falls prostrate in front of his hut
+upon the splinters of wood, where the torch that had slipped from his
+hand, is burning low.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The shock arouses him. Opening his eyes again, he perceives the Nile,
+brightly undulating under the moon, like a vast serpent winding over
+the sands; so that the hallucination returns upon him again; he has not
+left the company of the Ophites; they surround him, call him; he sees
+them carrying baggage, descending to the port. He embarks along with
+them.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>An inappreciable time elapses.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then the vaults of a prison environ him. Iron bars in front of him
+make black lines against a background of blue; and in the darkness
+beside him people are praying and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> weeping surrounded by others who
+exhort and console.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon06"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_06.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>... and in the darkness beside him people are
+praying</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Without, there is a murmur like the deep humming of a vast crowd, and
+there is splendour as of a summer's day.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Shrill voices announce watermelons for sale, iced drinks, and cushions
+of woven grass to sit upon. From time to time there are bursts of
+applause. He hears the sound of footsteps above his head.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Suddenly a long roar is heard, mighty and cavernous as the roar of
+water in an aqueduct.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And he sees, directly opposite, behind the bars of another compartment
+across the arena a lion walking to and fro, then a line of sandals,
+bare legs, and purple fringes. Beyond are the vast circling wreaths
+of people, in symmetrical tiers, enlarging as they rise, from the
+lowest which hems in the arena to the uppermost above which masts
+rise to sustain a hyacinth-colored awning, suspended in air by ropes.
+Stairways radiating toward the centre, divide these huge circles of
+stone at regular intervals. The benches disappear under a host of
+spectators&mdash;knights, senators, soldiers, plebeians, vestals, and
+courtesans&mdash;in woollen hoods, in silken maniples, in fallow-colored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+tunics; together with aigrettes of precious stones, plumes of feathers,
+the fasces of lictors; and all this swarming multitude deafens and
+stupefies Anthony with its shoutings, its tumultuous fury, as of an
+enormous boiling vat. In the middle of the arena, a vase of incense
+smokes upon an altar.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony thus knows that the people with him are Christians condemned
+to be thrown to the wild beasts. The men wear the red mantle of the
+pontiffs of Saturn; the women, the bandellettes of Ceres. Their friends
+divide among themselves shreds of their garments, and rings. To obtain
+access to the prison, they say, costs a great deal of money. But what
+matter! They will remain until it is all over.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony notices among these consolers, a certain bald-headed man,
+in a black tunic: Anthony has seen that face somewhere before. The
+consoler discourses to them concerning the nothingness of this world,
+and the felicity of the Elect. Anthony feels within him a transport of
+celestial love; he longs for the opportunity to lay down his life for
+the Saviour&mdash;not knowing as yet whether he himself is to be numbered
+among the martyrs.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>But all&mdash;except a certain Phrygian, with long hair, who stands with
+his arms uplifted&mdash;have a look of woe. One old man is sobbing upon a
+bench; a youth standing close by, with drooping head, abandons himself
+to a reverie of sorrow.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Old Man</span> <i>had refused to pay the customary contribution before the
+statue of Minerva, erected at the angle of the cross-roads; and he
+gazes at his companions with a look that signifies</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Ye ought to have succored me! Communities can sometimes so arrange
+matters as to insure their being left in peace. Some among ye also
+procured those letters which falsely allege that one has sacrificed to
+idols."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He asks aloud</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Was it not Petrus of Alexandria who laid down the rule concerning what
+should be done by those who have yielded to torture?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then, to himself</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! how cruel this at my age! My infirmities make me so weak!
+Nevertheless, I might easily have lived until the coming winter, or
+longer!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>The memory of his little garden makes him sad, and he gazes toward
+the altar.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Man</span> (<i>who disturbed the festival of Apollo by violence and
+blows, murmurs</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Yet it would have been easy for me to have fled to the mountains!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>One of the brothers answers</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"But the soldiers would have captured thee!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Man</span>. "Oh! I would have done as Cyprian did&mdash;I would have
+returned, and the second time I would surely have had more force!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then he thinks of the innumerable days that he might have lived, of
+all the joys that he might have known, but will never know; and he
+gazes toward the altar.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Man in the Black Tunic</span> (<i>rushes to his side.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What scandal! What! Thou! a victim of God's own choice! And all these
+women here who are looking at thee! Nay, think what thou art doing!
+Moreover, remember that God sometimes vouchsafes to perform a miracle.
+Pionius numbed and made powerless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> the hands of his executioners; the
+blood of Polycarp extinguished the fire of the stake."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then he turns to the Old Man</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Father, father! it behooves thee to edify us by thy death! By longer
+delaying it, thou wouldst doubtless commit some evil action that would
+lose thee the fruit of all thy good works. Remember, also, that the
+power of God is infinite; and it may come to pass that all the people
+will be converted by thy example."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And in the great den opposite, the lions stride back and forth,
+ceaselessly, with a rapid continuous motion. The largest suddenly looks
+at Anthony and roars, and a vapour issues from his jaws.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The women are huddled against the men.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Consoler</span> (<i>goes from one to the other.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What would ye say, what wouldst thou say if thou wert to be burned
+with red-hot irons, if thou wert to be torn asunder by horses, if thou
+hadst been condemned to have thy body smeared with honey, and thus
+exposed to be devoured by flies! As it is, thou wilt only suffer the
+death of a hunter surprised by a beast in the woods."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony would prefer all those things to death by the fangs of the
+horrible wild beasts; he fancies already that he feels their teeth and
+their claws, that he hears his bones cracking between their jaws.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A keeper enters the dungeon; the martyrs tremble.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Only one remains impassable, the Phrygian, who prays standing apart
+from the rest. He has burned three temples; and he advances with arms
+uplifted, mouth open, face turned toward heaven, seeing nothing around
+him, like a somnambulist.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Consoler</span> (<i>shouts</i>). "Back! back! lest the spirit of Montanus might
+come upon you."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>recoil from the Phrygian, and vociferate</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Damnation to the Montanist!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They insult him, spit upon him, excite each other to beat him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The rearing lions bite each other's manes</i>;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The People</span> "To the beasts with them, to the beasts."</p>
+
+<p><i>The Martyrs burst into sobs, and embrace each other passionately. A
+cup of narcotic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> wine is offered them. It is passed from hand to hand,
+quickly.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Another keeper, standing at the door of the den, awaits the signal.
+The den opens; a lion comes out.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He crosses the arena with great oblique strides. Other lions follow in
+file after him; then a bear, three panthers, and some leopards. They
+scatter through the arena like a flock in a meadow.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The crack of a whip resounds. The Christians stagger forward; and
+their brethren push them, that it may be over the sooner.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony closes his eyes.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He opens them again. But darkness envelopes him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Soon the darkness brightens; and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated
+with knolls, such as might be seen about abandoned quarries.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon07"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_07.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated with knolls</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Here and there a tuft of shrubbery rises among the slabs of stone,
+level with the soil; and there are white figures, vaguer than clouds,
+bending over the slabs.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Others approach, softly, silently. Eyes gleam through the slits of
+long veils. By the easy indifference of their walk, and the perfumes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+exhaled from their garments, Anthony knows they are patrician women.
+There are men also, but of inferior condition; for their faces are at
+once simple-looking and coarse.</i></p>
+
+<p>(<i>One of the Women, taking a long breath</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! how good the cool air of night is, among the sepulchers! I am so
+weary of the softness of beds, the turmoil of days, the heavy heat of
+the sun!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Her maid-servant takes from a canvas bag, a torch which she ignites.
+The faithful light other torches by it, and plant them upon the tombs.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Woman</span> (<i>panting</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"I am here at last! Oh how wearisome to be the wife of an idolator!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Another</span>. "These visits to the prisons, interviews with our brethren,
+are all matters of suspicion to our husbands! And we must even hide
+ourselves in order to make the sign of the cross; they would take it
+for a magical conjuration!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Another</span>. "With my husband it was a quarrel every day. I would not
+submit myself to his brutal exactions; therefore he has had me
+prosecuted as a Christian."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Another</span>. "Do you remember Lucius,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> that young man who was so beautiful,
+who was dragged like Hector, with his heels attached to a chariot,
+from the Esquiline Gate to the mountains of Tibur?&mdash;and how his blood
+spattered the bushes on either side of the road? I gathered up the
+drops of his blood. Behold it!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses, and
+flings herself down upon the slabs, crying aloud</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon08"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_08.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses ...</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Ah! my friend! my friend!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Man</span>. "It is just three years to-day since Domitilla died. They stoned
+her at the further end of the Grove of Proserpine. I gathered her
+bones, which shone like glowworms in the grass. The earth how covers
+them."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He casts himself down upon a tomb.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"O my betrothed! my betrothed!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And all the others scattered over the plain</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"O my sister! O my brother! O my daughter! O my mother!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Some kneel, covering their faces with their hands; others lie down
+upon the ground with their arms extended; and the sobs they smother
+shake their breasts with such violence as though their hearts were
+breaking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> with grief. Sometimes they look up to heaven, exclaiming</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Have mercy upon her soul, O my God! She languishes in the sojourn of
+Shades; vouchsafe to admit her to thy Resurrection, that she may enjoy
+Thy Light!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Or, with eyes fixed upon the gravestones, they murmur to the dead</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Be at peace, beloved! and suffer not! I have brought thee wine and
+meats!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Widow</span>. "Here is pultis, made by my own hands, as he used to like it,
+with plenty of eggs and a double measure of flour! We are going to eat
+it together as in other days, are we not?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She lifts a little piece to her lips, and suddenly bursts into an
+extravagant and frenzied laugh.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The others also nibble a little bit as she does and drink a mouthful
+of wine.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They recount to each other the stories of their martyrs; grief becomes
+exalted! libations redouble. Their tear-swimming eyes are fixed upon
+each other's faces. They stammer with intoxication and grief; gradually
+hands touch hands, lips join themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> to lips, and they seek each
+other upon the tombs, between the cups and the torches.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The sky begins to whiten. The fog makes damp their garments; and,
+without appearing even to know one another, they depart by different
+ways and seek their homes.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The sun shines; the weeds and the grass have grown higher; the face of
+the plain is changed.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And Anthony, looking between tall bamboos, sees distinctly a forest of
+columns, of bluish-grey color. These are tree-trunks, all originating
+from one vast trunk. From each branch of the colossal tree descend
+other branches which may bury themselves in the soil; and the aspect of
+all these horizontal and perpendicular lines, indefinitely multiplied,
+would closely resemble a monstrous timber-work, were it not that they
+have small figs<a name="FNanchor_7_14" id="FNanchor_7_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_14" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> growing upon them here and there, and a blackish
+foliage, like that of the sycamore.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He perceives in the forkings of their branches, hanging bunches of
+yellow flowers, violet flowers also, and ferns that resemble the plumes
+of splendid birds.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Under the lowest branches the horns of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> bubalus gleam at intervals,
+and the bright eyes of antelopes are visible; there are hosts of
+parrots; there are butterflies flittering hither and thither; lizards
+lazily drag themselves up or down; flies buzz and hum; and in the midst
+of the silence, a sound is audible as of the palpitation of a deep and
+mighty life.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Seated upon a sort of pyre at the entrance of the wood is a strange
+being&mdash;a man&mdash;besmeared with cow-dung, completely naked, more withered
+than a mummy; his articulations form knots at the termination of bones
+that resemble sticks. He has bunches of shells suspended from his ears;
+his face is very long, and his nose like a vulture's beak. His left arm
+remains motionlessly erect in air, anchylosed, rigid as a stake; and he
+has been seated here so long that birds have made themselves a nest in
+his long hair.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At the four corners of his wooden pyre flame four fires. The sun is
+directly in front of him. He gazes steadily at it with widely-opened
+eyes; and, then without looking at Anthony, asks him</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Brahmin from the shores of the Nile,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> what hast thou to say regarding
+these things?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Flames suddenly burst out on all sides of him, through the intervals
+between the logs of the pyre; and</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Gymnosophist</span> (<i>continues</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Lo! I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I dwelt in
+the tree behind me."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon09"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_09.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>I have buried myself in solitude, like the
+rhinoceros. I dwelt in the tree behind me </p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>The vast fig-tree, indeed, shows in one of its groves, a natural
+excavation about the size of a man.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"And I nourished me with flowers and fruits, observing the precepts so
+rigidly that not even a dog ever beheld me eat.</p>
+
+<p>"Inasmuch as existence originates from corruption, corruption from
+desire, desire from sensation, sensation from contact, I have ever
+avoided all action, all contact, and perpetually&mdash;motionless as the
+stela of a tomb, exhaling my breath from my two nostrils, fixing my
+eyes upon my nose, and contemplating the ether in my mind, the world in
+my members, the moon in my heart&mdash;I dreamed of the essence of the great
+Soul whence continually escape the principles of life, even as sparks
+escape from fire.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Thus at last I found the supreme Soul in all beings, and all beings
+in the supreme Soul; and I have been able to make mine own soul all my
+senses.</p>
+
+<p>"I receive knowledge directly from heaven, like the bird Tchataka, who
+quenches his thirst from falling rain only.</p>
+
+<p>"Even by so much as things are known to me, things no longer exist.</p>
+
+<p>"For me now there is no more hope, no more anguish, there is neither
+happiness nor virtue, nor day nor night, nor Thou nor I&mdash;absolutely
+nothing!</p>
+
+<p>"My awful austerities have made me superior to the Powers. A single
+contraction of my thought would suffice to kill a hundred sons of
+kings, to dethrone gods, to overturn the world."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He utters all these things in a monotonous voice.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The surrounding leaves shrivel up. Fleeing rats rush over the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He slowly turns his eyes downward toward the rising flames, and then
+continues</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"I have loathed Form, I have loathed Perception, I have loathed even
+Knowledge itself, for the thought does not survive the transitory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> fact
+which caused it; and mind, like all else, is only an illusion.</p>
+
+<p>"All that is engendered will perish; all that is dead must live again;
+the beings that have even now disappeared shall sojourn again in wombs
+as yet unformed, and shall again return to earth to serve in woe other
+creatures.</p>
+
+<p>"But inasmuch as I have rolled through the revolution of an indefinite
+multitude of existences, under the envelopes of gods, of men, and of
+animals, I renounce further wanderings; I will endure this weariness
+no more! I abandon the filthy hostelry of this body of mine, built
+with flesh, reddened with blood, covered with a hideous skin, full of
+uncleanliness; and, for my recompense, I go at last to slumber in the
+deepest deeps of the Absolute&mdash;in Annihilation."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The flames rise to his chest, then envelope him. His head rises
+through them as through a hole in the wall. His cavernous eyes still
+remain icicle open, gazing.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>rises</i>).</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The torch, which had fallen to the ground, has ignited the splinters
+of wood; and the flames have singed his beard.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></i></p>
+
+<p><i>With a loud cry, Anthony tramples the fire out; and, when nothing
+remains but ashes, he exclaims</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Where can Hilarion be? He was here a moment ago. I saw him!</p>
+
+<p>"What! No; it is impossible; I must have been mistaken!</p>
+
+<p>"Yet why?... Perhaps my cabin, these stones, this sand, have no real
+existence. I am becoming mad! Let me be calm! Where was I? What was it
+that happened?</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! the gymnosophist!... Such a death is frequent among the sages of
+India. Kalanos burned himself before Alexander; another did likewise
+in the time of Augustus. What hatred of life men must have to do thus!
+Unless, indeed, they are impelled by pride alone?... Yet in any event
+they have the intrepidity of martyrs.... As for the latter, I can now
+well believe what has been told me regarding the debauchery they cause.</p>
+
+<p>"And before that? Yes: I remember now! the host of the Heresiarchs!
+What outcries! What eyes! Yet why so much rebellion of the flesh, so
+much dissoluteness, so many aberrations of the intellect.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"They claim, nevertheless, to seek God through all those ways! What
+right have I to curse them&mdash;I, who stumble so often in mine own path?
+I was perhaps about to learn more of them at the moment when they
+disappeared. Too rapid was the whirl; I had no time to answer. Now I
+feel as though there were more space, more light in my understanding. I
+am calm. I even feel myself able to.... What is this? I thought I had
+put out the fire!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A flame flits among the rocks; and soon there comes the sound of
+a voice&mdash;broken, convulsed as by sobs&mdash;from afar off, among the
+mountains.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Can it be the cry of a hyena, or the lamentation of some traveler that
+has lost his way?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony listens. The flame draws nearer.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And he beholds a weeping woman approach, leaning upon the shoulder of
+a white-bearded man.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She is covered with a purple robe in rags. He is bareheaded like lier,
+wears a tunic of the same color, and carries in his hands a brazen
+vase, whence arises a thin blue flame.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony feels a fear come upon him, and wishes to know who this woman
+may be.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Stranger Simon</span>. "It is a young girl, a poor child that I lead about
+with me everywhere."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He uplifts the brazen vase.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony contemplates the girl, by the light of its vacillating flame.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>There are marks of bites upon her face, traces of blows upon her arms;
+her dishevelled hair entangles itself in the rents of her rags; her
+eyes appear to be insensible to light.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Sometimes she remains thus for a long, long time without
+speaking; then all at once she revives, and discourses of marvellous
+things."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "In truth?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Ennoia; Ennoia! Ennoia!&mdash;tell us what thou hast to say!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She rolls her eyes like one awaking from a dream, slowly passes her
+fingers over her brows, and in a mournful voice, speaks</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>Helena<a name="FNanchor_8_15" id="FNanchor_8_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_15" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> (<i>Ennoia</i>).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon10"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_10.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Helena - Ennoia</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">"I remember a distant land, of the color of emerald. Only one tree
+grows there.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony starts</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Upon each of its tiers of broad-extending arms, a pair of Spirits
+dwell in air. All about them the branches intercross, like the veins
+of a body; and they watch the eternal Life circulating, from the roots
+deep plunging into darkness even to the leafy summit that rises higher
+than the sun. I, dwelling upon the second branch, illuminated the
+nights of Summer with my face."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>, (<i>tapping his own forehead</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! ah! I comprehend! her head!..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span> (<i>placing his finger to his lips</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Helena</span>. "The sail remained well filled by the wind; the keel cleft the
+foam. He said to me: 'What though I afflict my country, though I lose
+my kingdom! Thou wilt belong to me, in my house!'</p>
+
+<p>"How sweet was the lofty chamber of his palace! Lying upon the ivory
+bed, he caressed my long hair, singing amorously the while.</p>
+
+<p>"Even at the close of the day I beheld the two camps, the watchfires
+being lighted,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> Ulysses at the entrance of his tent, armed Achilles
+driving a chariot along the sea-beach."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Why! she is utterly mad! How came this to pass?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Hush! hush!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Helena</span>. "They anointed me with unguents, and sold me to the people that
+I might amuse them.</p>
+
+<p>"One evening I was standing with the sistrum in my hand, making music
+for some Greek sailors who were dancing. The rain was falling upon the
+roof of the tavern like a cataract, and the cups of warm wine were
+smoking.</p>
+
+<p>"A man suddenly entered, although the door was not opened to let him
+pass."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "It was I! I found thee again!</p>
+
+<p>"Behold her, Anthony, she whom they call Sigeh, Ennoia, Barbelo,
+Prounikos! The Spirits governing the world were jealous of her; and
+they imprisoned her within the body of a woman.</p>
+
+<p>"She was that Helen of Troy, whose memory was cursed by the poet
+Stesichorus. She was Lucretia, the patrician woman violated by a king.
+She was Delilah, by whom Samson's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> locks were shorn.... She has loved
+adultery, idolatry, lying and foolishness. She has prostituted herself
+to all nations. She has sung at the angles of all cross-roads. She has
+kissed the faces of all men.</p>
+
+<p>"At Tyre, she, the Syrian, was the mistress of robbers. She caroused
+with them during the nights; and she concealed assassins amidst the
+vermin of her tepid bed."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! what is this to me?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span> (<i>with a furious look</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"I tell thee that I have redeemed her, and re-established her in her
+former splendor; insomuch that Caius Cæsar Caligula became enamoured of
+her, desiring to sleep with the Moon!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What then?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Why this, that she herself is the Moon! Has not Pope Clement
+written how she was imprisoned in a tower? Three hundred persons
+surrounded the tower to watch it; and the moon was seen at each of the
+loop-holes at the same time, although there is not more than one moon
+in the world, nor more than one Ennoia!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes ... it seems to me that I remember...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He falls into a reverie.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Innocent as the Christ who died for men, so did she devote
+herself for women. For the impotence of Jehovah is proven by the
+transgression of Adama, and we must shake off the yoke of the old law,
+which is antipathetic to the order of things.<a name="FNanchor_9_16" id="FNanchor_9_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_16" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I have preached the revival in Ephraim and in Issachar by the torrent
+of Bizor, beyond the Lake of Houleh, in the valley of Maggedo, further
+than the mountains, at Bostra and at Damascus. Let all come to me who
+are covered with wine, who are covered with filth, who are covered with
+blood! and I shall take away their uncleanliness with the Holy Spirit,
+called Minerva by the Greeks. She is Minerva! she is the Holy Spirit! I
+am Jupiter, Apollo, the Christ, the Paraclete, the great might of God,
+incarnated in the person of Simon!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! it is thou!... so it is thou! But I know thy crimes!</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wast born at Gittoi near Samaria,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> Dositheas, thy first master,
+drove thee from him. Thou didst execrate Saint Paul because he
+converted one of thy wives; and, vanquished by Saint Peter, in thy rage
+and terror thou didst cast into the waves the bag which contained thy
+artifices!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Dost thou desire them?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony looks at him, and an interior voice whispers hi his
+heart:&mdash;"Why not?"</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span> (<i>continues</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"He who knows the forces of Nature and the essence of Spirits must be
+able to perform miracles. It has been the dream of all sages; it is the
+desire which even now gnaws thee!&mdash;confess it!"</p>
+
+<p>"In the sight of the multitude of the Romans, I flew in the air so
+high that none could behold me move. Nero ordered that I should be
+decapitated; but it was the head of a sheep which fell upon the ground
+in lieu of mine. At last they buried me alive; but I rose again upon
+the third day. The proof is that thou dost behold me before thee!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He presents his hands to Anthony to smell. They have the stench of
+corpse-flesh. Anthony recoils with loathing.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"I can make serpents of bronze writhe; I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> can make marble statues
+laugh; I can make dogs speak. I will show thee vast quantities of gold;
+I will reestablish kings; thou shalt see nations prostrate themselves
+in adoration before me! I can walk upon the clouds and upon the waves,
+I can pass through mountains, I can make myself appear as a youth, as
+an old man, as a tiger, or as an ant; I can assume thy features; I can
+give thee mine; I can make the thunder follow after me. Dost hear it?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The thunder rumbles; flashes of lightning succeed.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is the voice of the Most High; for 'the Lord thy God is a fire;'
+and all creations are accomplished by sparks from the fire-centre of
+all things.</p>
+
+<p>Thou shalt even now receive the baptism of it&mdash;that second baptism
+announced by Jesus, which fell upon the apostles on a day of tempest
+when the windows were open!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And stirring up the flame with his hand, slowly, as though preparing
+to sprinkle Anthony with it, he continues</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Mother of mercies, thou who discoverest all secrets, in order that we
+may find rest in the eighth mansion...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>cries out</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! that I had only some holy water!..."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The flame goes out, producing much smoke.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Ennoia and Simon have disappeared.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>An exceedingly cold, opaque and fœtid mist fills the atmosphere.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>groping with his hands like a blind man</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Where am I?... I fear lest I fall into the abyss! And the cross,
+surely, is too far from me. Ah! what a night! what a terrible night!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The mist is parted by a gust of wind; and Anthony sees two men
+covered with long white tunics.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The first is of lofty stature, with a gentle face, and a grave mien.
+His blond hair, parted like that of Christ, falls upon his shoulders.
+He has cast aside a wand that he had been holding in his hand; his
+companion takes it up, making a reverence after the fashion of the
+Orientals.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The latter is small of stature, thick set, flat-nosed; his neck and
+shoulders expresses good natured simplicity.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Both are barefooted, bareheaded, and dusty, like persons who have made
+a long journey.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>starting up</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"What do ye seek? Speak!... Begone from here!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>who is a little man</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Nay! nay! be not angered, good hermit. As for that I seek, I know not
+myself what it is! Here is the Master!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He sits down. The other stranger remains standing. Silence.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>asks</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Then ye come?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Oh! from afar off&mdash;very far off!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "And ye go?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>pointing to the other</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Whithersoever he shall desire!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But who may he be?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Look well upon him!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"He looks like a saint! If I could only dare...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The mist is all gone. The night is very clear. The moon shines.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Of what art thou dreaming, that thou dost not speak?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I was thinking.... Oh! nothing!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>approaches Apollonius, and walks all round him several times,
+bending himself as he walks, never raising his head</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Master, here is a Galilean hermit who desires to know the beginnings
+of wisdom."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Let him approach!" (<i>Anthony hesitates.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Approach!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>in a voice of thunder</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Approach! Thou wouldst know who I am, what I have done, and what I
+think,&mdash;is it not so, child?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Always supposing that these things can contribute to the
+salvation of my soul."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Rejoice! I am about to inform thee of them!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>in an undertone, to Anthony</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible? He must surely have at the first glance discerned in
+thee extraordinary aptitude for philosophy. I shall also strive to
+profit by his instruction."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "First of all, I shall tell thee of the long course which
+I have followed in order to obtain the doctrine; and if thou canst<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+discover in all my life one evil action, thou shalt bid me pause, for
+he who hath erred in his actions may well give scandal by his words."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>to Anthony</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"How just a man? Is he not?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Indeed I believe him to be sincere."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Upon the night of my birth, my mother imagined that
+she was gathering flowers by the shore of a great lake. A flash of
+lightning appeared; and she brought me into the world to the music of
+the voices of swans singing to her in her dream.</p>
+
+<p>"Until I had reached the age of fifteen I was plunged thrice a day into
+the fountain, Asbadeus, whose waters make perjurers hydropical; and my
+body was rubbed with the leaves of the onyza, that I might be chaste.</p>
+
+<p>"A Palmyrian princess came one evening to seek me, offering me
+treasures that she knew to be in the tombs. A hierodule of the temple
+of Diana, slew herself in despair with the sacrificial knife; and the
+governor of Cilicia, finding all his promises of no avail, cried out in
+the presence of my family that he would cause my death; but it was he
+that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> died only three days after, assassinated by the Romans."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>nudging Anthony with his elbow</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Eh? did I not tell thee? What a man!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "For the space of four successive years I maintained the
+unbroken silence of the Pythagoreans. The most sudden and unexpected
+pain never extorted a sigh from me; and when I used to enter the
+theatre, all drew away from me, as from a phantom."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Wouldst thou have done so much?&mdash;thou?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "After the period of my trial had been accomplished, I
+undertook to instruct the priests regarding the tradition they had
+lost."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What tradition?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Interrupt him not! Be silent!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I have conversed with the Samaneans of the Ganges, with
+the astrologers of Chaldea, with the magi of Babylon, with the Gaulish
+Druids, with the priests of the negroes! I have ascended the fourteen
+Olympii; I have sounded the Scythian lakes; I have measured the breadth
+of the Desert!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "It is all true! I was with him the while!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "But first I had visited the Hyrcanian Sea; I made the tour
+of it; and descending by way of the country of the Baraomati, where
+Bucephalus is buried, I approached the city of Nineveh. At the gates of
+the city, a man drew near me...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "I&mdash;even I, good master! I loved thee from the first. Thou wert
+gentler than a girl and more beautiful than a god!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>without hearing him</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"He asked me to accompany him, that he might serve as interpreter."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "But thou didst reply that all languages were familiar to thee,
+and that thou couldst divine all thoughts. Then I kissed the hem of thy
+mantle, and proceeded to walk behind thee."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "After Ctesiphon, we entered upon the territory of Babylon."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And the Satrap cried aloud on beholding a man so pale."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"What signifies this?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "The king received me standing, near a throne of silver,
+in a hall constellated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> with stars; from the cupola hung suspended by
+invisible threads four great birds of gold, with wings extended."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>dreamily</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Can there be such things in the world?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Ah! that is a city! that Babylon! everybody there is rich! The
+houses, which are painted blue, have doors of bronze, and flights of
+steps descending to the river."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Drawing lines upon the ground, with his stick</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Like that, seest thou? And then there are temples, there are squares,
+there are baths, there are aqueducts! The palaces are roofed with red
+brass; and the interior ... ah! if thou only knewest!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Upon the north wall rises a tower which supports a second,
+a third, a fourth, a fifth, and there are also three others! The eighth
+is a chapel containing a bed. No one enters it save the woman chosen by
+the priests for the God Belus. I was lodged there by order of the King
+of Babylon."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "As for me, they hardly deigned to give me any attention! So I
+walked through the streets all by myself. I informed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> myself regarding
+the customs of the people; I visited the workshops; I examined the
+great machines that carry water to the gardens. But I soon wearied of
+being separated from the Master."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At last we left Babylon; and as we travelled by the light
+of the moon, we suddenly beheld an Empusa."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Aye, indeed! She leaped upon her iron hoof; she brayed like an
+ass; she galloped among the rocks. He shouted imprecations at her; she
+disappeared."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"What can be their motive?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At Taxilla, the capital of five thousand fortresses,
+Phraortes, King of the Ganges, showed us his guard of black men, whose
+stature was five cubits, and under a pavilion of green brocade in his
+gardens, an enormous elephant, which the queens amused themselves by
+perfuming. It was the elephant of Porus which had taken flight after
+the death of Alexander."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And which had been found again in a forest."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Their speech is superabundant, like that of drunken men!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Phraortes seated us at his own table."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "How strange a country that was! During their drinking
+carousels, the lords used to amuse-themselves by shooting arrows under
+the feet of a dancing child. But I do not approve...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "When I was ready to depart, the king gave me a parasol,
+and he said to me: 'I have a stud of white camels upon the Indus. When
+thou shalt have no further use for them, blow in their ears. They will
+come back.'</p>
+
+<p>"We descended along the river, marching at night by the light of the
+fire-flies, which glimmered among the bamboos. The slave whistled an
+air to drive away the serpents; and our camels bent down in passing
+below the branches of the trees, as if passing under low gates.</p>
+
+<p>"One day a black child, who held a golden caduceus in his hand,
+conducted us to the College of the Sages. Iarchas, their chief, spoke
+to me of my ancestors, told me of all my thoughts, of all my actions,
+of all my existences. In former time he had been the River Indus; and
+he reminded me that I had once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> been a boatman upon the Nile, in the
+time of King Sesostris."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "As for me, they told me nothing; so that I know not who or what
+I have been."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "They have a vague look, like shadows!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Upon the shores of the sea we met with the milk-gorged
+Cynocephali, who were returning from their expedition to the Island
+Taprobana. The tepid waves rolled blond pearls to our feet. The amber
+crackled beneath our steps. Whale-skeletons were whitening in the
+crevasses of the cliffs. At last the land became narrow as a sandal;
+and after casting drops of ocean water toward the sun, we turned to the
+right to return.</p>
+
+<p>"So we returned through the Region of Aromatics, by way of the country
+of the Gangarides, the promontory of Comaria, the country of the
+Sachalites, of the Adramites and of the Homerites; then, across the
+Cassanian mountains, the Red Sea, and the Island Topazos, we penetrated
+into Ethiopia through the country of the Pygmies."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"How vast the world is!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And after we had returned home, we found that all those whom we
+used to know, were dead."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony lowers his head. Silence.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>continues</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Then men began to talk of me the world over.</p>
+
+<p>"The plague was ravaging Ephesus; I made them stone an old mendicant
+there."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And forthwith the plague departed."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! Does he drive away pestilence?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At Cnidos, I cured the man that had become enamored of
+Venus."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Aye! a fool who had even vowed to espouse her! To love a woman
+is at least comprehensible; but to love a statue&mdash;what madness! The
+Master placed his hand upon the young man's heart; and the fire of that
+love was at once extinguished."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How! does he also cast out devils?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At Tarentum they were carrying the dead body of a young
+girl to the funeral pyre."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "The Master touched her lips; and she arose and called her
+mother."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! he raises the dead!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I predicted to Vespasian his accession to power."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! he foretells the future!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "At Corinth there was a ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "It was when I was at table with him, at the waters of Baia
+..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Excuse me, strangers&mdash;it is very late ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "At Corinth there was a young man called Menippus ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "No! no!&mdash;go ye away!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "A dog came in, bearing a severed hand in his mouth."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "One evening, in one of the suburbs, he met a woman."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Do ye not hear me? Begone!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "He wandered in a bewildered way around the couches ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Enough!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "They sought to drive him out."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "So Menippus went with her to her house; they loved one
+another."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "And gently beating the mosaic pavement with his tail, he
+laid the severed hand upon the knees of Flavius."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "But next morning, during the lessons in the school, Menippus
+was pale."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>starting up in anger</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Still continuing! Ah! then let them continue till they be weary,
+inasmuch as there is no ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "The Master said to him: 'O beautiful youth, thou dost caress
+a serpent; by a serpent thou art caressed! And when shall be the
+nuptials?' We all went to the wedding."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Assuredly I am doing wrong, to hearken to such a story!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Servants were hurrying to and fro in the vestibule; doors were
+opening; nevertheless there was no sound made either by the fall of
+the footsteps nor the closing of the doors. The Master placed himself
+beside Menippus. And the bride forthwith became angered against the
+philosophers. But the vessels of gold, the cupbearers, the cooks, the
+panthers disappeared; the roof receded and vanished into air; the walls
+crumbled down; and Apollonius stood alone with the woman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> at his feet,
+all in tears. She was a vampire who satisfied the beautiful young men
+in order to devour their flesh, for nothing is more desirable for such
+phantoms than the blood of amorous youths."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "If thou shouldst desire to learn the art ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I do not wish to learn anything!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "The same evening that we arrived at the gates of Rome ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! yes!&mdash;speak to me rather of the City of Popes!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "A drunken man accosted us, who was singing in a low voice.
+The song was an epithalamium of Nero; and he had the power to cause
+the death of whosoever should hear it with indifference. In a box upon
+his shoulders he carried a string taken from the Emperor's cithara. I
+shrugged my shoulders. He flung mud in our faces. Then I unfastened my
+girdle and placed it in this hand."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "In sooth, thou wert most imprudent!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "During the night the Emperor summoned me to his house. He
+was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> playing at osselets with Sporus, supporting his left arm upon a
+table of agate. He turned and, knitting his brows, demanded: 'How comes
+it that thou dost not fear me?' 'Because,' I replied, 'the God who made
+thee terrible, also made me intrepid."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"There is something inexplicable that terrifies me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Silence.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>breaking the silence with his shrill voice</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Moreover, all Asia can tell thee ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>starting up</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"I am ill! let me be!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "But listen! At Ephesus, he beheld them killing Domitian, who
+was at Rome."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>with a forced laugh</i>). "Is it possible?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Yes: at the theatre at noon-day, the fourteenth of the Kalenda
+of October, he suddenly cried out: 'Cæsar is being murdered!' and
+from time to time he would continue to ejaculate: 'He rolls upon the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>pavement ... Oh! how he struggles ... He rises ... He tries to flee
+... The doors are fastened ... Ah! it is all over! He is dead!' And in
+fact Titus Flavius Domitianus was assassinated upon that very day, as
+thou knowest."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Without the aid of the Devil ... certainly ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "He had purposed putting me to death, that same Domitian!
+Damis had taken flight according to my order, and I remained alone in
+my prison."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "A terrible hardihood on thy part, it must be confessed!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "About the fifth hour, the soldiers led me before the
+tribunal. I had my harangue all ready hidden beneath my mantle."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "We others were then upon the shores of Puteoli, we believed
+thee dead; we were all weeping, when all of a sudden about the sixth
+hour, thou didst suddenly appear before us, exclaiming: 'It is I.'"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>). "Even as He...!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>in a very loud voice</i>). "Precisely!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! no! ye lie! is it not so?&mdash;ye lie!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "He descended from heaven. I rise thither, by the power of
+my virtue that has lifted me up even to the height of the Principle of
+all things!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Thyana, his natal city, has established in his honor a temple
+and a priesthood!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>draws near Anthony, and shouts in his ear</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"It is because I know all gods, all rites, all prayers, all oracles!
+I have penetrated into the cave of Trophonius, son of Apollo! I
+have kneaded for Syracusan women the cakes which they carry to the
+mountains. I have endured the eighty tests of Mithra! I have pressed to
+my heart the serpent of Sabasius! I have received the scarf of Kabiri!
+I have laved Cybele in the waters of the Campanian gulfs! and I have
+passed three moons in the caverns of Samothracia!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>with a stupid laugh</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! ah! ah! at the mysteries of the good Goddess!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "And now we recommence our pilgrimage.</p>
+
+<p>"We go to the North to the land of Swans and of snows. Upon the vast
+white plains,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> the blind hippopodes break with the tips of their feet
+the ultramarine plant."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Hasten! it is already dawn. The cock has crowed, the horse has
+neighed, the sail is hoisted!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The cock has not crowed! I hear the locusts in the sands, and
+I see the moon still in her place."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "We go to the South, beyond the mountains and the mighty
+waters, to seek in perfumes the secret source of love. Thou shalt
+inhale the odor of myrrhodion which makes the weak die. Thou shalt
+bathe thy body in the lake of Rose-oil which is in the Island Junonia.
+Thou shalt see slumbering upon primroses that Lizard which awakes
+every hundred years when the carbuncle upon its forehead, arriving
+at maturity, falls to the ground. The stars palpitate like eyes; the
+cascades sing like the melody of lyres; strange intoxication is exhaled
+by blossoming flowers; thy mind shall grow vaster in that air; and thy
+heart shall change even as thy face."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Master! it is time! The wind has risen, the swallows awaken,
+the myrtle leaves are blown away."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Yes! let us go!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Nay! I remain here!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Shall I tell thee where grows the plant Balis, that
+resurrects the dead?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> "Nay; ask him rather for the audrodamas which attracts silver,
+iron and brass!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! how I suffer! how I suffer!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Thou shalt comprehend the voices of all living creatures, the
+roarings, the cooings!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I shall enable thee to ride upon unicorns and upon
+dragons, upon hippocentaurs and dolphins!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>weeping</i>). "Oh ... oh!... oh!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Thou shalt know the demons that dwell in the caverns, the
+demons that mutter in the woods, the demons that move in the waves, the
+demons that push the clouds!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Tighten thy girdle, fasten thy sandals!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I shall explain to thee the reason of divine forms&mdash;why
+Apollo stands,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> why Jupiter is seated, why Venus is black, at Corinth,
+square-shaped at Athens, conical at Paphos."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>clasping his hands</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Let them begone! let them begone!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "In thy presence I will tear down the panoplies of the
+Gods; we shall force open the sanctuaries, I will enable thee to
+violate the Pythoness!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Help! O my God!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He rushes to the cross.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "What is thy desire? What is thy dream? Thou needst only
+devote the moment of time necessary to think of it ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Jesus! Jesus! Help me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Dost thou wish me to make him appear, thy Jesus?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What? How!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "It shall be He!&mdash;no other! He will cast off his crown, and
+we shall converse face to face!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>in an undertone</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Say thou dost indeed wish it! say thou dost desire it!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony kneeling before the cross, murmurs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> prayers. Damis walks
+around him, with wheedling gestures.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, nay! good hermit. Be not horrified! These are only exaggerated
+forms of speech, borrowed from the Orientals. That need in no way ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Let him alone, Damis!</p>
+
+<p>"He believes, like a brute, in the reality of things. The terror which
+he entertains of the Gods prevents him from comprehending them; and he
+debases his own God to the level of a jealous king!</p>
+
+<p>"But thou, my son, do not leave me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He moves to the edge of the cliff, walking backward, passes beyond
+the verge of the precipice, and remains suspended in air.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Above all forms, further than the ends of the earth, beyond the
+heavens themselves, lies the world of Idea, replete with the splendor
+of the Word! With one bound we shall traverse the impending spaces, and
+thou shalt behold in all his infinity, the Eternal, the Absolute, the
+Being! Come! give me thy hand! Let us rise."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Side by side, both rise up through the air, slowly. Anthony, clinging
+to the cross, watches them rise. They disappear.</i>)</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_8" id="Footnote_1_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_8"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Agape.&mdash;Love-feast of the primitive Christians.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_9" id="Footnote_2_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_9"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> John XVI: 12.&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3_10" id="Footnote_3_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_10"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See <a href="#NOTE">note</a> at end.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4_11" id="Footnote_4_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_11"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Masheim gives <i>Achamoth.</i> I prefer to remain faithful to
+the orthography given by Flaubert.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5_12" id="Footnote_5_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_12"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The French text gives <i>mes pères</i> not <i>nos pères.</i> Elxai,
+or Elkhai, who established his sect in the reign of Trajan, was a Jew.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_6_13" id="Footnote_6_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_13"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> See <a href="#NOTE">note</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_7_14" id="Footnote_7_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_14"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The banyan is a fig-tree&mdash;the <i>Ficus indicus.</i>&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_8_15" id="Footnote_8_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_15"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Readers may remember Longfellow's exquisite poem "Helena
+of Tyre."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_9_16" id="Footnote_9_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_16"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> See the second part of "Faust," and <i>Kundry</i> in
+"Parsifal."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="V" id="V">V.</a></h4>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>walking to and fro, slowly</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"That one, indeed, seems in himself equal to all the powers of Hell!</p>
+
+<p>"Nebuchadnezzar did not so much dazzle me with his splendours;&mdash;the
+Queen of Sheba herself charmed me less deeply.</p>
+
+<p>"His manner of speaking of the gods compels one to feel a desire to
+know them.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember having beheld hundreds of them at one time, in the island
+of Elephantius, in the time of Diocletian. The emperor had ceded to the
+Nomads a great tract of country, upon the condition that they should
+guard the frontiers; and the treaty was concluded in the name of the
+'Powers Invisible.' For the gods of each people were unknown unto the
+other people.</p>
+
+<p>"The Barbarians had brought theirs with them. They occupied the
+sand-hills bordering the river. We saw them supporting their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> idols in
+their arms, like great paralytic children;&mdash;others, paddling through
+the cataracts upon trunks of palm tree, displayed from afar off the
+amulets hung about their necks, the tattooings upon their breasts; and
+these things were not more sinful than the religion of the Greeks, the
+Asiatics, and the Romans!</p>
+
+<p>"When I was dwelling in the temple of Heliopolis I would often consider
+the things I beheld upon the walls:&mdash;vultures bearing sceptres,
+crocodiles playing upon lyres, faces of men with the bodies of
+serpents, cow-headed women prostrating themselves before ithyphallic
+gods:&mdash;and their supernatural forms attracted my thoughts to other
+worlds. I longed to know that which drew the gaze of all those calm and
+mysterious eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"If matter can exert such power, it must surely contain a spirit. The
+souls of the Gods are attached to their images ...</p>
+
+<p>"Those possessing the beauty of forms might seduce. But the others
+... those of loathsome or terrible aspect ... how can men believe in
+them?..."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he beholds passing over the surface of the ground,&mdash;leaves,
+stones, shells,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> branches of trees,&mdash;then a variety of hydropical
+dwarfs: these are gods. He bursts into a laugh. He hears another laugh
+behind him;&mdash;and Hilarion appears, in the garb of a hermit, far taller
+than before, colossal.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>who feels no surprise at seeing him</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"How stupid one must be to worship such things!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Aye!&mdash;exceedingly stupid!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then idols of all nations and of all epochs&mdash;of wood, of metal, of
+granite, of feathers, of skins sewn together,&mdash;pass before them.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The most ancient of all anterior to the Deluge are hidden under masses
+of seaweed hanging down over them like manes. Some that are too long
+for their bases, crack in all their joints, and break their own backs
+in walking. Others have rents torn in their bellies through which sand
+trickles out.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony and Hilarion are prodigiously amused. They hold their sides
+for laughter. Then appear sheep-headed idols. They totter upon their
+bandy-legs, half-open their eye-lids, and stutter like the dumb,</i> "Ba!
+ba! ba!"</p>
+
+<p><i>The more that the idols commence to resemble<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> the human forms, the
+more they irritate Anthony. He strikes them with his fist, kicks them,
+attacks them with fury. They become frightful,&mdash;with lofty plumes, eyes
+like balls, fingers terminated by claws, the jaws of sharks.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And before these gods men are slaughtered upon altars of stone; others
+are brayed alive in huge mortars, crushed under chariots, nailed upon
+trees. There is one all of red-hot iron with the horns of a bull, who
+devours children.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Horror!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "But the gods always demand tortures&mdash;and suffering. Even
+thine desired ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>weeping</i>). "Ah! say no more!&mdash;do not speak to me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The space girdled by the rocks suddenly changes into a valley. A herd
+of cattle are feeding upon the short grass.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The herdman who leads them, observes a cloud;&mdash;and in a sharp voice,
+shouts out words of command, as if to heaven.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Because he needs rain, he seeks by certain chants to compel
+the King of heaven to open the fecund cloud."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>laughing</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Verily, such pride is the extreme of foolishness!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Why dost thou utter exorcisms?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The valley changes into a sea of milk, motionless and infinite. In
+its midst floats a long cradle formed by the coils of a serpent, whose
+many curving heads shade, like a dais, the god slumbering upon its
+body.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He is beardless, young, more beautiful than a girl, and covered with
+diaphanous veils. The pearls of his tiara gleam softly like moons; a
+chaplet of stars is entwined many times about his breast, and with one
+hand beneath his head, he slumbers with the look of one who dreams
+after wine.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A woman crouching at his feet, awaits the moment of his awaking.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Such is the primordial duality of the Brahmans,&mdash;the
+Absolute being inexpressible by any form."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>From the navel of the god has grown the stem of a lotus flower; it
+blossoms, and within its chalice appears another god with three faces.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How strange an invention!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but one and the same
+Person!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The three faces separate; and three great gods appear.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The first, who is pink, bites the end of his great toe.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The second, who is blue, uplifts his four arms.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The third, who is green, wears a necklace of human skulls.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Before them instantly arise three goddesses&mdash;one is enveloped in a
+net; another offers a cup; the third brandishes a bow.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon11"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_11.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p> ... instantly arise three goddesses</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>And these gods, these goddesses, decuple themselves, multiply. Arms
+grow from their shoulders; at the end of these arms hands appear
+bearing standards, axes, bucklers, swords, parasols and drums.
+Fountains gush from their heads, plants grow from their nostrils.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Riding upon birds rocked in palanquins, enthroned upon seats of gold,
+standing in ivory niches,&mdash;they dream, voyage, command, drink wine,
+respire the breath of flowers. Dancing girls whirl in the dance; giants
+pursue monsters; at the entrances of grottoes solitaries meditate. Eyes
+cannot be distinguished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> from stars; nor clouds from banderolles;
+peacocks quench their thirst at rivers of gold dust; the embroidery
+of pavilions seems to blend with the spots of leopards; coloured rays
+intercross in the blue air, together with flying arrows, and swinging
+censers.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And all this develops like a lofty frieze, resting its base upon the
+rocks, and rising to the sky.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>dazzled by the sight</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"How vast is their number! What do they seek?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The god who rubs his abdomen with his elephant-trunk, is the
+solar Deity, the inspiring spirit of wisdom.</p>
+
+<p>"That other whose six heads are crowned with towers, and whose fourteen
+arms wield javelins,&mdash;is the prince of armies,&mdash;the Fire-Consumer.</p>
+
+<p>"The old man riding the crocodile washes the soul of the dead upon
+the shore. They will be tormented by that black woman with the putrid
+teeth, who is the Ruler of Hell.</p>
+
+<p>"That chariot drawn by red mares, driven by one who has no legs, bears
+the master of the sun through heaven's azure. The moon-god<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> accompanies
+him, in a litter drawn by three gazelles.</p>
+
+<p>"Kneeling upon the back of a parrot, the Goddess of Beauty presents to
+Love, her son, her rounded breast. Behold her now, further off, leaping
+for joy in the meadows. Look! Look! Coiffed with dazzling mitre, she
+trips lightly over the ears of growing wheat, over the waves; she rises
+in air, extending her power over all elements.</p>
+
+<p>"And among these gods are the Genii of the winds, of the planets, of
+the months, of the days,&mdash;a hundred thousand others;&mdash;multiple are
+their aspects, rapid their transformations. Behold, there is one who
+changes from a fish into a tortoise: he assumes the form of a boar, the
+shape of a dwarf."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Wherefore?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "That he may preserve the equilibrium of the universe, and
+combat the works of evil. But life exhausts itself; forms wear away;
+and they must achieve progression in their metamorphoses."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>All upon a sudden appears a</i> <span class="smcap">Naked Man</span> <i>seated in the midst of the
+sand, with legs crossed.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A large halo vibrates, suspended in air behind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> him. The little
+ringlets of his black hair in which blueish tints shift symmetrically
+surround a protuberance upon the summit of his skull. His arms,
+which are very long, hang down against his sides. His two hands rest
+flat upon his thighs, with the palms open. The soles of his feet
+are like the faces of two blazing suns; and he remains completely
+motionless&mdash;before Anthony and Hilarion&mdash;with all the gods around him,
+rising in tiers above the rocks, as if upon the benches of some vast
+circus. His lips, half-open; and he speaks in a deep voice</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I am the Master of great charities, the succor of all creatures; and
+not less to the profane than to believers, do I expound the law.</p>
+
+<p>"That I might deliver the world, I resolved to be born among men. The
+gods wept when I departed from them.</p>
+
+<p>"I sought me first a woman worthy to give me birth: a woman of warrior
+race, the wife of a king, exceedingly good, excessively beautiful,
+with body firm as adamant;&mdash;and at time of the full moon, without the
+auxiliation of any male, I entered her womb.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I issued from it by the right side. Stars stopped in their courses."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>murmurs between his teeth</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy!"<a name="FNanchor_1_17" id="FNanchor_1_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_17" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony watches more attentively.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span><a name="FNanchor_2_18" id="FNanchor_2_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_18" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> (<i>continuing</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"From the furthest recesses of the Himalayas, a holy man one hundred
+years of age, hurried to see me."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "A man named Simeon ... who should not see death, before he
+had seen the Christ of the Lord."<a name="FNanchor_3_19" id="FNanchor_3_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_19" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "I was led unto the schools; and it was found that I knew
+more than the teachers."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "... In the midst of the doctors ... and all that heard him
+were astonished at his wisdom!"<a name="FNanchor_4_20" id="FNanchor_4_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_20" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony makes a sign to Hilarion to be silent.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "Continually did I meditate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> in the gardens. The shadows of
+the trees turned with the turning of the sun; but the shadow of that
+which sheltered me turned not.</p>
+
+<p>"None could equal me in the knowledge of the Scriptures, the
+enumeration of atoms, the conduct of elephants, the working of wax,
+astronomy, poetry, pugilism, all the exercises and all the arts!</p>
+
+<p>"In accordance with custom, I took to myself a wife; and I passed the
+days in my kingly palace;&mdash;clad in pearls, under a rain of perfumes,
+refreshed by the fans of thirty thousand women,&mdash;watching my peoples
+from the height of my terraces adorned with fringes of resonant bells.</p>
+
+<p>"But the sight of the miseries of the world turned me away from
+pleasure. I fled.</p>
+
+<p>"I begged my way upon the high roads, clad myself in rags gathered
+within the sepulchres;&mdash;and, hearing of a most learned hermit, I chose
+to become his slave. I guarded his gate! I washed his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Thus I annihilated all sensation, all joy, all languor.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, concentrating my thoughts within vaster meditation, I learned to
+know the essence of things, the illusion of forms.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Soon I exhausted the science of the Brahmans. They are gnawed by
+covetousness and desire under their outward aspect of austerity; they
+daub themselves with filth, they live upon thorns,&mdash;hoping to arrive at
+happiness by the path of death!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>.... "Pharisees, hypocrites, whited sepulchres, generation of
+vipers!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "I also accomplished wondrous things,&mdash;eating but one
+grain of rice each day (and the grains of rice in those times were no
+larger than at present)&mdash;my hair fell off; my body became black; my
+eyes receding within their sockets, seemed even as stars beheld at the
+bottom of a well.</p>
+
+<p>"During six years I kept myself motionless, exposed to the flies, the
+lions and the serpents; and the great summer suns, the torrential
+rains, lightnings and snows, hails and tempests,&mdash;all of these I
+endured without even the shelter of my lifted hand.</p>
+
+<p>"The travellers who passed by, believing me dead, cast clods of earth
+upon me!</p>
+
+<p>"Only the temptation of the Devil remained!</p>
+
+<p>"I summoned him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"His sons came,&mdash;hideous, scale-covered, nauseous as
+charnel-houses,&mdash;shrieking, hissing, bellowing; interclashing their
+panoplies, rattling together the bones of dead men. Some belched
+flame through their nostrils; some made darkness about me with their
+wings; some wore chaplets of severed fingers; some drank serpent-venom
+from the hollows of their hands;&mdash;they were swine-headed; they were
+rhinoceros-headed or toad-headed; they assumed all forms that inspire
+loathing or affright."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"I also endured all that in other days!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha.</span> "Then did he send me his daughters&mdash;beautiful with
+daintily painted faces, and wearing girdles of gold. Their teeth were
+whiter than the jasmine-flower; their thighs round as the trunk of
+an elephant. Some extended their arms and yawned, that they might so
+display the dimples of their elbows; some winked their eyes; some
+laughed; some half-opened their garments. There were blushing virgins,
+matrons replete with dignity, queens who came with great trains of
+baggage and of slaves."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>). "Ah! he too ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "Having vanquished the Demon, I nourished myself for twelve
+years with perfumes only;&mdash;and as I had acquired the five virtues,
+the five faculties, the ten forces, the eighteen substances, and had
+entered into the four spheres of the invisible world, Intelligence
+became mine! I became the Buddha."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon12"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_12.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha. </p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>All the gods bow themselves down. Those having several heads, bend
+them all simultaneously. He lifts his mighty hand aloft, and resumes</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"That I might effect the deliverance of beings, I have made hundreds
+of thousands of sacrifices! To the poor I gave robes of silk, beds,
+chariots, houses, heaps of gold and of diamonds. I gave my hands to the
+one-handed, my legs to the lame, my eyes to the blind;&mdash;even my head I
+severed for the sake of the decapitated. In the day that I was King, I
+gave away provinces;&mdash;when I was a Brahman I despised no one. When I
+was a solitary, I spake kindly words to the robber who slew me. When I
+was a tiger I allowed myself to die of hunger.</p>
+
+<p>"And having, in this last existence, preached the law, nothing now
+remains for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> me to do. The great period is accomplished! Men, animals,
+the gods, the bamboos, the oceans, the mountains, the sand-grains of
+the Ganges, together with the myriad myriads of the stars,&mdash;all shall
+die;&mdash;and until the time of the new births, a flame shall dance upon
+the wrecks of worlds destroyed!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then a great dizziness comes upon the gods. They stagger, fall into
+convulsions, and vomit forth their existences. Their crowns burst
+apart; their banners fly away. They tear off their attributes, their
+sexes, fling over their shoulders the cups from which they quaffed
+immortality, strangle themselves with their serpents, vanish in
+smoke;&mdash;and when all have disappeared</i> ...)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>solemnly exclaims</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast even now beheld the belief of many hundreds of millions of
+men."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony is prostrate upon the ground, covering his face with his
+hands. Hilarion, with his back turned to the cross, stands near him and
+watches him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A considerable time elapses.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then a singular being appears&mdash;having the head of a man upon the body
+of a fish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> He approaches through the air, upright, beating the sand
+from time to time with his tail; and the patriarchal aspect of his face
+by contrast with his puny little arms, causes Anthony to laugh.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Oannes</span> (<i>in a plaintive voice</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Respect me! I am the contemporary of beginnings.</p>
+
+<p>"I dwelt in that formless world where hermaphroditic creatures
+slumbered, under the weight of an opaque atmosphere, in the deeps of
+dark waters&mdash;when fingers, fins, and wings were blended, and eyes
+without heads were floating like mollusks, among human-headed bulls,
+and dog-footed serpents.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon13"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_13.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p> ... and eyes without heads were floating like mollusks
+</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Above the whole of these beings, <span class="smcap">Omoroca</span>, bent like a hoop, extended
+her woman-body. But Belus cleft her in two halves; with one he made the
+earth; with the other, heaven;&mdash;and the two equal worlds do mutually
+contemplate each other.</p>
+
+<p>"I, the first consciousness of <span class="smcap">Chaos</span>, arose from the abyss that I might
+harden matter, and give a law unto forms:&mdash;also I taught men to fish
+and to sow: I gave them knowledge of writing, and of the history of the
+gods.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon14"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_14.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose
+from the abyss that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms
+</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Since then I have dwelt in the deep pools left by the Deluge. But the
+desert grows vaster about them; the winds cast sand into them; the sun
+devours them;&mdash;and I die upon my couch of slime, gazing at the stars
+through the water. Thither I return!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He leaps and disappears in the Nile.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "That is an ancient God of the Chaldæans!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>ironically</i>). "What, then, were those of Babylon?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou canst behold them!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And they find themselves upon the platform of a lofty quadrangular
+tower dominating six other towers, which, narrowing as they rise, form
+one monstrous pyramid. Far below a great black mass is visible&mdash;the
+city, doubtless&mdash;extending over the plains. The air is cold; the sky
+darkly blue; multitudes of stars palpitate above.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the midst of the platform rises a column of white stone. Priests
+in linen robes pass and repass around it, so as to describe by their
+evolutions a moving circle; and with faces uplifted, they gaze upon the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>stars.</i> ...)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. (<i>pointing out several of these stars to Anthony</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"There are thirty principal stars. Fifteen look upon the upper side
+of the earth; fifteen below. At regular intervals one shoots from the
+upper regions to those below; while another abandons the inferior deeps
+to rise to sublime altitudes ...</p>
+
+<p>"Of the seven planets, two are beneficent; two evil; three
+ambiguous:&mdash;all things in the world depend upon the influence of these
+eternal fires. According to their position or movement presages may be
+drawn;&mdash;and here thou dost tread the most venerable place upon earth.
+Here Pythagoras and Zoroaster have met;&mdash;here for twelve thousand years
+these men have observed the skies that they might better learn to know
+the gods."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The stars are not gods."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Aye, they say the stars are gods; for all things about us
+pass away;&mdash;the heavens only remain immutable as eternity."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet there is a master!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>pointing to the column</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"He! Belus!&mdash;the first ray, the Sun, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> Male! The Other, whom he
+fecundates, is beneath him!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony beholds a garden, illuminated by lamps</i>: <i>He finds himself
+in the midst of the crowd, in an avenue of cypress-trees. To right and
+left are little pathways leading to huts constructed within a wood of
+pomegranate trees, and enclosed by treillages of bamboo.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Most of the men wear pointed caps, and garments bedizened like the
+plumage of a peacock. But there are also people from the North clad
+in bearskins, nomads wearing mantles of brown wool, pallid Gangarides
+with long earrings;&mdash;and there seems to be as much confusion of rank
+as there is confusion of nations; for sailors and stone-cutters elbow
+the princes who wear tiaras blazing with carbuncles and who carry
+long canes with carven knobs. All proceed upon their way with dilated
+nostrils, absorbed by the same desire.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>From time to time, they draw aside to make way for some long covered
+wagon drawn by oxen, or some ass jolting upon his back a woman bundled
+up in thick veils, who finally disappears in the direction of the
+cabins.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony feels afraid; he half-resolves to turn back. But an
+unutterable curiosity takes possession of him, and draws him on.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At the foot of the cypress-trees there are ranks of women squatting
+upon deerskins, all wearing in lieu of diadem, a plaited fillet of
+ropes. Some, magnificently attired, loudly call upon the passers-by.
+Others, more timid, seek to veil their faces with their arms, while
+some matron standing behind them, their mother doubtless, exhorts
+them. Others, their heads veiled with a black shawl, and their bodies
+entirely nude, seem from afar off to be statues of flesh. As soon as a
+man has thrown some money upon their knees, they arise.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And the sound of kisses is heard under the foliage,&mdash;sometimes a great
+sharp cry.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "These are the virgins of Babylon, who prostitute themselves
+to the goddess."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What goddess?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Behold her!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he shows him at the further end of the avenue, upon the threshold
+of an illuminated grotto, a block of stone representing a woman.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ignominy!&mdash;how abominable to give a sex to God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou thyself dost figure him in thy mind as a living person!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony again finds himself in darkness.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He beholds in the air a luminous circle, poised upon horizontal
+wings. This ring of light, girdles like a loose belt, the waist of a
+little man wearing a mitre upon his head and carrying a wreath in his
+hand. The lower part of his figure is completely concealed by immense
+feathers outspreading about him like a petticoat.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is</i>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ormuzd</span>&mdash;<i>the God of the Persians. He hovers in the air above,
+crying aloud</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"I fear! I can see his monstrous jaws! I did vanquish thee, O Ahriman!
+But again thou dost war against me.</p>
+
+<p>"First revolting against me, thou didst destroy the eldest of
+creatures, Kaiomortz, the Man-Bull. Then didst thou seduce the first
+human couple, Meschia and Meschiané; and thou didst fill all hearts
+with darkness, thou didst urge thy battalions against heaven!</p>
+
+<p>"I also had mine own, the people of the stars; and from the height of
+my throne I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> contemplated the marshalling of the astral hosts.</p>
+
+<p>"Mithra, my son, dwelt in heavens inaccessible. There he received
+souls, from thence did he send them forth; and he arose each morning to
+pour forth the abundance of his riches.</p>
+
+<p>"The earth reflected the splendour of the firmament. Fire blazed upon
+the crests of the mountains,&mdash;symbolizing that other fire of which
+I had created all creatures. And that the holy flame might not be
+polluted, the bodies of the dead were not burned; the beaks of birds
+carried them aloft toward heaven.</p>
+
+<p>"I gave to men the laws regulating pastures, labour, the choice of wood
+for the sacrifices, the form of cups, the words to be uttered in hours
+of sleeplessness;&mdash;and my priests unceasingly offered up prayers, so
+that worship might be as the eternity of God in its endlessness. Men
+purified themselves with water; loaves were offered upon the altars,
+sins were confessed aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"Homa<a name="FNanchor_5_21" id="FNanchor_5_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_21" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> gave himself to men to be drank,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> that they might have his
+strength communicated to them while the Genii of heaven were combating
+the demons, the children of Iran were pursuing the serpents. The
+King, whom an innumerable host of courtiers served upon their knees,
+represented me in his person, and wore my coiffure. His gardens had the
+magnificence of a heaven upon earth; and his tomb represented him in
+the act of slaying a monster,&mdash;emblem of Good destroying Evil.</p>
+
+<p>"For it was destined that I should one day definitely conquer Ahriman,
+by the aid of Time-without-limits.</p>
+
+<p>"But the interval between us disappears;&mdash;the deep night rises! To
+me! ye Amschaspands, ye Izeds, ye Ferouers! Succor me, Mithra! seize
+thy sword! And thou, Kaosyac, who shall return for the universal
+deliverance, defend me! What!&mdash;none to aid! Ah! I die! Thou art the
+victor, Ahriman!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Hilarion, standing behind Anthony, restrains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> a cry of joy;&mdash;and</i>
+Ormuzd <i>is swallowed up in the darkness.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then appears</i>:)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Great Diana of Ephesus</p>
+
+<p>(<i>black with enamelled eyes, her elbows pressed to her side, her
+forearms extended, with hands open.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Lions crawl upon her shoulders; fruits, flowers, and stars intercross
+upon her bosom; further down three rows of breasts appear; and from her
+belly to her feet she is covered with a tightly fitting sheath from
+which bulls, stags, griffins, and bees, seem about to spring, their
+bodies half-protruding from it. She is illuminated by the white light
+emanating from a disk of silver, round as the full moon, placed behind
+her head.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Where is my temple? Where are my Amazons?</p>
+
+<p>"What is this I feel?&mdash;I, the Incorruptible!&mdash;a strange faintness comes
+upon me!"...</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Her flowers wither, her over-ripe fruits become detached and fall.
+The lions and the bulls hang their heads; the deer foam at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> mouth,
+with a slimy foam, as though exhausted; the buzzing bees die upon the
+ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She presses her breasts, one after the other. All are empty! But under
+a desperate effort her sheath bursts. She seizes it by the bottom, like
+the skirt of a robe, throws her animals, her fruits, her flowers, into
+it,&mdash;then withdraws into the darkness.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And afar off there are voices, murmuring, growling, roaring,
+bellowing, belling. The density of the night is augmented by breaths.
+Drops of warm rain fall.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How sweet the odour of the palm trees, the trembling of
+leaves, the transparency of springs! I feel the desire to lie flat upon
+the Earth that I might feel her against my heart; and my life would be
+reinvigorated by her eternal youth!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He hears the sound of castanets and of cymbals; and men appear, clad
+in white tunics with red stripes,&mdash;leading through the midst of a
+rustic crowd an ass, richly harnessed, its tail decorated with knots of
+ribbons, and its hoofs painted.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A box, covered with a saddle-cloth<a name="FNanchor_6_22" id="FNanchor_6_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_22" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> yellow material shakes to
+and fro upon its back, between two baskets,&mdash;one receives the offerings
+contributed,&mdash;eggs, grapes, pears, cheeses, fowls, little coins; and
+the other basket is full of roses, which the leaders of the ass pluck
+to pieces as they walk before the animal, shedding the leaves upon the
+ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They wear earrings and large mantles; their locks are plaited, their
+cheeks painted, olive-wreaths are fastened upon their foreheads by
+medallions bearing figurines;&mdash;all wear poniards in their belts, and
+brandish ebony-handled whips, having three thongs to which osselets are
+attached.</i><a name="FNanchor_7_23" id="FNanchor_7_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_23" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p><i>Those who form the rear of the procession, place upon the soil,&mdash;so as
+to remain upright as a candelabrum,&mdash;a tall pine, which burns at its
+summit, and shades under its lower branches a lamb.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The ass halts. The saddle-cloth is removed. Underneath appears a
+second covering of black felt. Then one of the men in white tunics
+begins to dance, rattling his crotali;&mdash;another, kneeling before the
+box, beats a tambourine and</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Oldest of the Band</span>, <i>begins</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains, the Great Mother
+of Syria! Come ye hither, good people all!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon15"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_15.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains </p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">"She gives joy to men, she heals the sick; she sends inheritances; she
+satisfies the hunger of love!</p>
+
+<p>"We bear her through the land, rain or shine, in fair weather, or in
+foul.</p>
+
+<p>"Oft times we lie in the open air, and our table is not always well
+served. Robbers dwell in the woods. Wild beasts rush from their
+caverns. Slippery paths border the precipices. Behold her! behold her!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They lift off the covering; and a box is seen, inlaid with little
+pebbles.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Loftier than the cedars, she looks down from the blue ether. Vaster
+than the wind she encircles the world. Her breath is exhaled by the
+nostrils of tigers; the rumbling of her voice is heard beneath the
+volcanoes; her wrath is the tempest; the pallor of her face has
+whitened the moon. She ripens the harvest; by her the tree-bark swells
+with sap; she makes the beard to grow. Give her something; for she
+hates the avaricious!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The box opens; and under a little pavilion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> of blue silk appears a
+small image of Cybele&mdash;glittering with spangles, crowned with towers,
+and seated in a chariot of red stone, drawn by two lions, with uplifted
+paws.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The crowd presses forward to see.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"><span class="smcap">THE ARCHIGALLUS</span></span> (<i>continues</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"She loves the sound of resounding tympanums, the echo of dancing
+feet, the howling of wolves, the sonorous mountains and the deep
+gorges, the flower of the almond tree, the pomegranate and the green
+fig, the whirling dance, the snoring flute, the sugary sap, the salty
+tear,&mdash;blood! To thee, to thee!&mdash;Mother of the mountains!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They scourge themselves with their whips; and their chests resound
+with the blows;&mdash;the skins of the tambourines vibrate almost to
+bursting. They seize their knives; they gash their arms.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"She is sorrowful; let us be sorrowful! Thereby your sins will be
+remitted. Blood purifies all&mdash;fling its red drops abroad like blossoms!
+She, the Great Mother, demands the blood of another creature&mdash;of a pure
+being!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Archigallus raises his knife above the head of a lamb.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>seized with horror</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Do not slay the lamb!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>There is a gush of purple blood. The priest sprinkles the crowd
+with it; and all&mdash;including Anthony and Hilarion&mdash;standing around the
+burning tree, silently watch the last palpitations of the victim.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A Woman comes forth from the midst of the priests; she resembles
+exactly the image within the little box.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She pauses, perceiving before her a Young Man wearing a Phrygian
+cap. His thighs are covered with a pair of narrow trousers, with
+lozenge-shaped openings here and there at regular intervals, closed by
+bow knots of coloured material. He stands in an attitude of languor,
+resting his elbow against a branch of the tree, holding a flute in his
+hand.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cybele</span> (<i>flinging her arms about his waist</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"I have traversed all regions of the earth to join thee&mdash;and famine
+ravaged the fields Thou hast deceived me! It matters not! I love thee!
+Warm my body in thine embrace! Let us be united!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Atys</span>. "The springtime will never again return, O eternal Mother!
+Despite my love, it is no longer possible for me to penetrate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> thy
+essence! Would that I might cover myself with a painted robe like
+thine! I envy thy breasts, swelling with milk, the length of thy
+tresses, thy vast flanks that have borne and brought forth all
+creatures! Why am I not thou?&mdash;Why am I not a woman?&mdash;No, never! depart
+from me! My virility fills me with horror!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>With a sharp stone he dismembers himself, and runs furiously from her
+...</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The priests imitate the god; the faithful do even as the priests. Men
+and women exchange garments, embrace;&mdash;and the tumult of bleeding flesh
+passes away, while the sound of voices remaining, becomes even more
+strident,&mdash;like the shrieking of mourners, like the voices heard at
+funerals.</i></p>
+
+<p><i> ... A huge catafalque, hung with purple, supports upon its summit an
+ebony bed, surrounded by torches and baskets of silver filagree, in
+which are verdant leaves of lettuce, mallow and fennel. Upon the steps
+of the construction, from summit to base, sit women all clad in black,
+with loosened girdles and bare feet, holding in their hands with a
+melancholy air, great bouquets of flowers.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At each corner of the estrade urns of alabaster,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> filled with myrrh,
+slowly send up their smoke.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Upon the bed can be perceived the corpse of a man. Blood flows from
+his thigh. One of his arms hangs down lifelessly;&mdash;and a dog licks his
+finger nails and howls.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The row of torches placed closely together, prevents his face from
+being seen; and Anthony feels a strange anguish within him. He fears
+lest he should recognize some one.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The sobs of the women cease&mdash;and after an interval of silence</i>,)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>psalmody together</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Fair! fair!&mdash;all fair he is! Thou hast slept enough!&mdash;lift thy
+head!&mdash;arise!</p>
+
+<p>"Inhale the perfume of our flowers&mdash;narcissus&mdash;blossoms and anemones,
+gathered in thine own gardens to please thee. Arouse thee! thou dost
+make us fear for thee!</p>
+
+<p>"Speak to us! What dost thou desire? Wilt thou drink wine?&mdash;wilt thou
+lie in our beds?&mdash;dost wish to eat the honeycakes which have the form
+of little birds?</p>
+
+<p>"Let us press his lips,&mdash;kiss his breast! Now!&mdash;now!&mdash;dost thou not
+feel our ring-laden fingers passing over thy body?&mdash;and our lips that
+seek thy mouth?&mdash;and our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> tresses that sweep thy thighs? O faint God,
+deaf to our prayers!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They cry aloud, and rend their faces with their nails; then all
+rush,&mdash;and the howling of the dog continues in the silence.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! alas! Woe!&mdash;the black blood trickles over his snowy flesh!
+See! his knees writhe!&mdash;his sides sink in! The bloom of his face hath
+dampened the purple. He is dead, dead! O weep for him! Lament for him!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>In long procession they ascend to lay between the torches the
+offerings of their several tresses, that seem from afar off like
+serpents, black or blond;&mdash;and the catafalque is lowered gently to the
+level of, a grotto,&mdash;the opening of a shadowy sepulchre that yawns
+behind it.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Woman</span> (<i>bends over the corpse. Her long hair, uncut, envelopes her
+from head to feet. She sheds tears so abundantly that her grief cannot
+be as that of the others, but more than human&mdash;infinite!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony dreams of the Mother of Jesus. She speaks</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Thou didst emerge from the Orient, and didst take me, all trembling
+with the dew, into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> thy arms, O Sun! Doves fluttered upon the azure
+of thy mantle; our kisses evoked low breezes among the foliage; and I
+abandoned myself wholly to thy love, delighting in the pleasure of my
+weakness.</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! alas&mdash;Why didst thou depart, to run upon the mountains! A boar
+did wound thee at the time of the autumnal equinox!</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art dead; and the fountains weep,&mdash;the trees bend down. The wind
+of winter whistles through the naked brushwood.</p>
+
+<p>"My eyes are about to close, seeing that darkness covers them! Now thou
+dwellest in the underworld near the mightiest of my rivals.</p>
+
+<p>"O Persephone, all that is beautiful descends to thee, never to return!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Even while she speaks, her companions lift the dead, to place him
+within the sepulchre. He remains in their hands! It was only a waxen
+corpse.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Wherefore Anthony feels something resembling relief.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>All vanish;&mdash;and the hut, the rocks, and the cross reappear.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But upon the other side of the Nile, Anthony<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> beholds a Woman,
+standing in the midst of the desert.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She retains in her hand the lower part of a long black veil that hides
+all her face; supporting with her left arm a little child to whom she
+is giving suck. A great ape crouches down in the sand beside her.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She uplifts her head toward heaven; and in spite of the great
+distance, her voice is distinctly heard</i>:)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Isis</span>. "O Neith, Beginning of all things! Ammon, Lord of Eternity;
+Pthah, demiurgos; Thoth, his intelligence; gods of the Amenthi,
+particular triads of the Nomes,&mdash;falcons in the azure of heaven,
+sphinxes before the temples, ibises perched between the horns of oxen,
+planets, constellations, shore, murmurs of the wind, gleams of the
+light,&mdash;tell me where I may find Osiris.</p>
+
+<p>"I have sought him in all the canals and all the lakes&mdash;aye, further
+yet, even to Phœnician Byblos. Anubis, with ears pricked up, leaped
+about me, and yelped, and thrust his muzzle searchingly into the tufts
+of the tamarinds.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, good Cynocephalos&mdash;thanks to thee!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>She gives the ape two or three friendly little taps upon the head.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Hideous Typhon, the red-haired slew him, tore him in pieces! We have
+found all his members. But I have not that which rendered me fecund!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She utters wild lamentations.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>is filled with fury. He casts stones at her, reviles her.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Begone! thou shameless one!&mdash;Begone!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Nay! respect her! Her religion was the faith of thy
+fathers!&mdash;thou didst wear her amulets when thou wert a child in the
+cradle!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Isis</span>. "In the summers of long ago, the inundation drove the impure
+beasts into the desert. The dykes were opened, the boats dashed against
+each other; the panting earth drank the river with the intoxication of
+joy. Then, O God, with the horns of the bull, thou didst lie upon my
+breast, and then was heard, the lowings of the Eternal Cow!</p>
+
+<p>"The seasons of sowing and reaping, of threshing and of vintage,
+followed each other in regular order with the years. In the eternal
+purity of the nights, broad stars beamed and glowed. The days were
+bathed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> in never-varying splendour. Like a royal couple the Sun and the
+Moon appeared simultaneously, at either end of the horizon.</p>
+
+<p>"Then did we both reign above a sublimer world, twin-monarchs, wedded
+within, the womb of eternity&mdash;he bearing a concupha-headed sceptre; I,
+the sceptre that is tipped with a lotus-flower; both of us erect with
+hands joined; and the crumblings of empires affected not our attitude.</p>
+
+<p>"Egypt extended, below us, monumental and awful, long-shaped like the
+corridor of a temple; with obelisks on the right, pyramids on the
+left, and its labyrinth in the midst. And everywhere were avenues
+of monsters, forests of columns, massive pylons flanking gates
+summit-crowned with the mysterious globe&mdash;the globe of the world,
+between two wings.</p>
+
+<p>"The animals of her Zodiac also existed in her pasture lands; and
+filled her mysterious writing with their forms and colours. Divided
+into twelve regions as the year is divided into-twelve months&mdash;each
+month, each day also having its own god&mdash;she reproduced the immutable
+order of heaven. And man even in dying changed not his face; but
+saturated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> with perfumes, invulnerable to decay, he lay down to sleep
+for three thousand years in another and silent Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>"And that Egypt, vaster than the Egypt of the living, extended beneath
+the earth.</p>
+
+<p>"Thither one descended by dark stairways leading into halls where were
+represented the joys of the good, the tortures of the wicked, all that
+passes in the third and invisible world. Ranged along the wall the dead
+in their painted coffins awaited their turn; and the soul, exempted
+from migrations, continued its heavy slumber until the awakening into a
+new life.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, Osiris sometimes came to see me. And by his ghost I
+became the mother of Harpocrates."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She contemplates the child.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Aye! it is he. Those are his eyes; those are his locks, plaited into
+ram horns! Thou shalt recommence his works. We shall bloom again like
+the lotus. I am still the Great Isis!&mdash;none has yet lifted my veil! My
+fruit is the Sun!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon16"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_16.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>I am still the Great Isis!&mdash;none has yet
+lifted my veil! My fruit is the Sun!</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Sim of Springtime, clouds now obscure thy face! The breath of Typhon
+devours the pyramids. But a little while ago I beheld<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> the Sphinx flee
+away. He was galloping like a jackal.</p>
+
+<p>"I look for my priests,&mdash;my priests clad in mantles of linen, with
+their great harps, and bearing a mysterious bark, adorned with
+silver pateras. There are no more festivals upon the lakes!&mdash;no more
+illuminations in my delta!&mdash;no more cups of milk at Philæ! Apis has
+long ceased to reappear.</p>
+
+<p>"Egypt! Egypt! thy great motionless gods have their shoulders already
+whitened by the dung of birds; and the wind that passes over the desert
+rolls with it and the ashes of thy dead!&mdash;Anubis, guardian of ghosts,
+abandon me not!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Cynocephalos has vanished. She shakes her child.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"But ... what ails thee ... thy hands are cold, thy head droops!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Harpocrates expires. Then she cries aloud with a cry so piercing,
+funereal, heart-rending, that Anthony answers it with another cry,
+extending his arms as to support her.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She is no longer there. He lowers his face, overwhelmed by shame.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>All that he has seen becomes confused<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> within his mind. It is like the
+bewilderment of travel, the illness of drunkenness. He wishes to hate;
+but a vague and vast pity fills his heart. He begins to weep, and weeps
+abundantly.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "What makes thee sorrowful?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>after having long sought within himself for a reply</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I think of all the souls that have been lost through these false gods!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Dost thou not think that they ... sometimes ... bear much
+resemblance to the <span class="smcap">True</span>?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "That is but a device of the Devil to seduce the faithful more
+easily. He attacks the strong through the mind, the weak through the
+flesh."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "But luxury, in its greatest fury, has all the
+disinterestedness of penitence. The frenzied love of the body
+accelerates the destruction thereof,&mdash;and proclaims the extent of the
+impossible by the exposition of the body's weakness."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What signifies that to me! My heart sickens with disgust
+of these beautiful bestial gods, forever busied with carnages and
+incests!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Yet recollect all those things in the Scripture which
+scandalize thee because thou art unable to comprehend them! So also may
+these Gods conceal under their sinful forms some mighty truth. There
+are more of them yet to be seen. Look around!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "No, no!&mdash;it is dangerous!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "But a little while ago thou didst desire to know them! Is
+it because thy faith might vacillate in the presence of lies? What
+fearest thou?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The rocks fronting Anthony have become as a mountain. A line of
+clouds obscures the mountain half way between summit and base; and
+above the clouds appears another mountain, enormous, all green,
+unequally hollowed by valleys nestling in its slopes, and supporting at
+its summit, in the midst of laurel-groves a palace of bronze, roofed
+with tiles of gold, and supported by columns having capitals of ivory.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the centre of the peristyle Jupiter,&mdash;colossal, with torso
+nude,&mdash;holds Victory in one hand, his thunderbolts in the other; and
+his eagle, perched between his feet, rears its head.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Juno, seated near him, rolls her large eyes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> beneath a diadem whence
+her wind-blown veil escapes like a vapour.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Behind them, Minerva, standing upon a pedestal, leans on her spear.
+The skin of the Gorgon covers her breast, and a linen peplos falls in
+regular folds to the nails of her toes. Her glaucous eyes, which gleam
+beneath her vizor, gaze afar off, attentively.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>On the right of the palace, the aged Neptune bestrides a dolphin
+beating with its fins a vast azure expanse which may be sea or sky, for
+the perspective of the Ocean seems a continuation of the blue ether:
+the two elements are interblended.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>On the other side weird Pluto in night-black mantle, crowned with
+diamond tiara and bearing a sceptre of ebony, sits in the midst of an
+islet surrounded by the circumvolutions of the Styx;&mdash;and this river of
+shadow empties itself into the darknesses, which form a vast black gulf
+below the cliff,&mdash;a bottomless abyss!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Mars, clad in brass, brandishes as in wrath his broad shield and his
+sword.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Hercules, leaning upon his club, gazes at him from below.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Apollo, his face ablaze with light, grasps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> with outstretched right
+arm the reins of four white horses urged to a gallop; and Ceres in her
+ox-drawn chariot advances toward him with a sickle in her hand.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Behind her comes Bacchus, riding in a very low chariot, gently drawn
+by lynxes. Plump and beardless, with vine leaves garlanding his brow,
+he passes by holding in his hand an overflowing cup of wine. Silenus
+riding beside him reels upon his ass. Pan of the pointed ears, blows
+upon his syrinx; the Mimalonæides beat drums; the Mænads strew
+flowers; the Bacchantes turn in the dance with heads thrown back and
+hair dishevelled.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Diana, with tunic tucked up, issues from the wood together with her
+nymphs.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At the further end of a cavern, Vulcan among his Cabiri, hammers the
+heated iron; here and there the aged Rivers leaning recumbent upon
+green rocks pour water from their urns; the Muses stand singing in the
+valleys</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Hours, all of equal stature, link hands; and Mercury poses
+obliquely upon a rainbow, with his caduceus, winged sandals, and winged
+petasus.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But at the summit of the stairway of the Gods,&mdash;among clouds soft
+as down, from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> whose turning volutes a rain of roses falls,&mdash;Venus
+Anadyomene stands gazing at herself in a mirror:&mdash;her eyes move
+languorously beneath their slumbrous lids.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She has masses of rich blond hair rolling down over her shoulders; her
+breasts are small; her waist is slender; her hips curve out like the
+sweeping curves of a lyre; her thighs are perfectly rounded; there are
+dimples about her knees; her feet are delicate: a butterfly hovers near
+her mouth. The splendour of her body makes a nacreous-tinted halo of
+bright light about her; while all the rest of Olympus is bathed in a
+pink dawn, rising gradually to the heights of the blue sky.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! my heart swells! A joy never known before thrills me to
+the depths of my soul! How beautiful, how beautiful it is!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "They leaned from the heights of cloud to direct the way of
+swords; one used to meet them upon the high roads; men had them in
+their houses&mdash;and this familiarity divinized life.</p>
+
+<p>"Life's aim was only to be free and beautiful. Nobility of attitude was
+facilitated by the looseness of garments. The voice of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> orator,
+trained by the sea, rolled its sonorous waves against the porticoes of
+marble. The ephebus, anointed with oil, wrestled all naked in the full
+light of the sun. The holiest of actions was to expose perfection of
+forms to all.</p>
+
+<p>"And these men respected wives, aged men, suppliants.</p>
+
+<p>"Behind the temple of Hercules there was an altar erected to Pity.</p>
+
+<p>"Victims were immolated with flowers wreathed about the fingers of the
+sacrificer. Even memory was exempted from thoughts of the rottenness
+of death. Nothing remained but a little pile of ashes. And the Soul,
+mingling with the boundless ether, rose up to God."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Bending to whisper in Anthony's ear</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"And they still live! The Emperor Constantine adores Apollo. Thou wilt
+find the Trinity in Samothracian mysteries,&mdash;baptism in the religion of
+Isis,&mdash;redemption in the faith of Mithra,&mdash;a martyrdom of a God in the
+festivals of Bacchus. Prosperpine is the Virgin!... Aristæus is Jesus!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>remains awhile with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought;
+then suddenly repeats<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> aloud the Symbol of Jerusalem, as he remembers
+it, uttering a long sigh between each phrase</i>):&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I believe in one only God, the Father,&mdash;and in one only Lord, Jesus
+Christ,&mdash;the first born son of God, who was incarnated and made
+man,&mdash;who was crucified, and buried,&mdash;who ascended into Heaven,&mdash;who
+will come to judge the living and the dead,&mdash;of whose Kingdom there
+shall be no end;&mdash;and in one Holy Spirit,&mdash;and in one baptism of
+repentance,&mdash;and in one Holy Catholic Church,&mdash;and in the resurrection
+of the flesh,&mdash;and in the life everlasting!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Immediately the cross becomes loftier and loftier; it pierces the
+clouds, and casts its shadow upon the heaven of the gods.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>All grow pale;&mdash;Olympus shudders.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And at its base Anthony beholds vast bodies enchained, sustaining the
+rocks upon their shoulders,&mdash;giant figures half buried in the deeps
+of caverns. These are the Titans, the Giants, the Hecatonchires, the
+Cyclops.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">A Voice</p>
+
+<p>(<i>rises, indistinct and awful, like the far roar of leaves, like the
+voice of forests in time of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> tempest, like the mighty moaning of the
+wind among the precipices</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"We knew these things!&mdash;we knew them! There must come an end even for
+the Gods! Uranus was mutilated by Saturn,&mdash;Saturn by Jupiter. And
+Jupiter himself shall be annihilated. Each in his turn;&mdash;it is Destiny!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And little by little they sink into the mountain, and disappear.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Meanwhile the golden tiles of the palace rise and fly away.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Jupiter</span> (<i>has descended from his throne. At his feet the thunderbolts
+lie, smoking like burning coals about to expire;&mdash;and the great eagle
+bends its neck to pick up its falling feathers</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Then I am no longer the master of all things,&mdash;most holy, most
+mighty, god of the phatrias and Greek peoples,&mdash;ancestor of all the
+Kings,&mdash;Agamemnon of heaven.</p>
+
+<p>"Eagle of apotheoses, what wind from Erebus has wafted thee to me? or,
+fleeing from the Campus Martins, dost thou bear me the soul of the last
+of the Emperors?</p>
+
+<p>"I no longer desire to receive those of men. Let the Earth keep them;
+and let them move upon the level of its baseness. Their hearts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> are now
+the hearts of slaves;&mdash;they forget injuries, forget their ancestors,
+forget their oaths,&mdash;and everywhere the folly of crowds, the mediocrity
+of individuals, the hideousness of races, hold sway!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He pants with such violence that his sides seem ready to burst
+asunder; he clenches his hands. Weeping</i>, <span class="smcap">Hebe</span> <i>offers him a cup. He
+seizes it.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! So long as there shall be a brain enclosing a thought, in
+whatsoever part of the world;&mdash;so long as there shall exist a mind
+hating disorder, creating <span class="smcap">Law</span>,&mdash;so long will the spirit of Jupiter
+live!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>But the cup is empty. He turns its edge down over his thumbnail.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Not one drop left! When the ambrosia fails, the Immortals must indeed
+depart!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The cup drops from his hands; and he leans against a column, feeling
+himself about to die.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Juno</span>. "Thou shouldst not have had so many amours! Eagle, bull, swan,
+rain of gold, cloud and flame, thou didst assume all forms,&mdash;dissipate
+thy light in all elements,&mdash;lose thy hair upon all beds! This time
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> divorce is irrevocable; and our domination, our very existence,
+dissolved."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She passes away in air.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Minerva</span> (<i>has no longer her spear; and the ravens nesting among the
+sculptures of the friezes, wheel about her, peeking at her helmet.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see whether my vessels cleave the bright sea, returning to my
+three ports,&mdash;let me discover why the fields are deserted, and learn
+what the daughters of Athens are now doing.</p>
+
+<p>"In the month of Hecatombeon my whole people came to worship me, under
+the guidance of their magistrates and priests. Then, all in white robes
+and wearing chitons of gold, they advanced the long line of virgins
+bearing cups, baskets, parasols; then the three hundred sacrificial
+oxen, and the old men having green boughs, the soldiers with clashing
+of armour, the ephebi singing hymns, flute players, lyre players,
+rhapsodists, dancing women;&mdash;and lastly attached to the mast of a
+trireme mounted upon wheel, my great veil embroidered by virgins who
+had been nourished in a particular way for a whole year. And when it
+had been displayed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> in all the streets, in all the squares, and before
+the temples, in the midst of the ever-chanting procession, it was borne
+step by step up the hill of the Acropolis, grazed the Propylæa, and
+entered the Parthenon....</p>
+
+<p>"But a strange feebleness comes upon me,&mdash;me the Industrious One! What!
+what! not one idea comes to me! Lo! I am trembling more than a woman!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She turns, beholds a ruin behind her, utters a cry, and stricken by a
+fallen fragment, falls backward upon the ground.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hercules</span> (<i>has flung away his lion-skin; and with feet firmly braced,
+back arched, teeth clenched, he exhausts himself in immeasurable
+efforts to bear up the mass of crumbling Olympus.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"I vanquished the Cercopes, the Amazons, and the Centaurs. Many were
+the kings I slew. I broke the horn of the great river, Achelous. I cut
+the mountains asunder; I freed nations from slavery; and I peopled
+lands that were desolate. I travelled through the countries of Gaul;
+I traversed the deserts where thirst prevails. I defended the gods
+from their enemies; and I freed myself from Omphale. But the weight of
+Olympus is too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> great for me. My arms grow feebler:&mdash;I die!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He is crushed beneath the ruins.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pluto</span>. "It is thy fault, Amphytrionad;&mdash;wherefore didst thou descend
+into my empire?</p>
+
+<p>"The vulture that gnaws the entrails of Tityus lifted its head;&mdash;the
+lips of Tantalus were moistened;&mdash;the wheel of Ixion stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"Meanwhile the Kæres extended their claws to snatch back the escaping
+ghosts; the Furies tore the serpents of their locks; and Cerberus
+fettered by thee with a chain, sounded the death rattle in his throat,
+and foamed at all his three mouths.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou didst leave the gate ajar; others have come. The daylight of men
+has entered into Tartarus!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He sinks into the darkness.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Neptune</span>. "My trident can no longer call up the tempests. The monsters
+that terrified of old, lie rotting at the bottom of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>"Amphitrite whose white feet tripped lightly over the foam, the green
+Nereids seen afar off in the horizon, the scaly Sirens who stopped
+the passing vessels to tell stories, and the ancient Tritons mightily
+blowing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> upon their shells, all have passed away. All is desolate and
+dead; the gaiety of the great Sea is no more!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He vanishes beneath the azure.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Diana</span> (<i>clad in black and surrounded by her dogs, which have been
+changed into wolves</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"The freedom of the deep forests once intoxicated me; the odours of the
+wild beasts and the exhalations of the marshes made me as one drank
+with joy. But the women whose maternity I protected, now bring dead
+children into the world. The moon trembles with the incantations of
+witches. Desires of violence, of immensity, seize me, fill me! I wish
+to drink poisons,&mdash;to lose myself in vapours, in dreams...!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And a passing cloud carries her away.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mars</span> (<i>unhelmed and covered with blood</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"At first I fought alone;&mdash;singlehanded I would provoke a whole army by
+my insults,&mdash;caring nothing for countries or nations, demanding battle
+for the pleasure of carnage alone.</p>
+
+<p>"Afterward I had comrades. They marched to the sound of flutes, in good
+order, with equal step, respiring above their bucklers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> with plumes
+loftily nodding, lances oblique. Then on rushed to battle with mighty
+eagle cries. War was joyous as a banquet. Three hundred men strove
+against all Asia.</p>
+
+<p>"But the Barbarians are returning;&mdash;by myriads they come, by millions!
+Ah! since numbers, and engines, and cunning are stronger than valour,
+it were better that I die the death of the brave!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He kills himself.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vulcan</span> (<i>sponging the sweat from his limbs</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"The world is growing cold. The source of heat must be nourished, the
+volcanoes and rivers of flowing metal underground. Strike harder!&mdash;with
+full swing of the arms,&mdash;with might and main!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Cabiri wound themselves with their hammers, blind themselves with
+sparks, and groping, lose themselves in the darkness.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Ceres</span> (<i>standing in her chariot, impelled by wheels having wings at
+their hubs</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Stop! Stop! Ah! it was with good reason that the exclusion of
+strangers, atheists, Epicureans, and Christians was commended!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> Now the
+mystery of the basket has been unveiled; the sanctuary profaned: all is
+lost!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She descends a precipitous slope&mdash;shrieking, despairing, tearing her
+hair.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! lies, lies! Daira has not been restored to me. The voice of brass
+calls me to the dead. This is another Tartarus, whence there is no
+return! Horror!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The abyss engulfs her.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bacchus</span> (<i>with a frenzied laugh</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"What matters it? The Archon's wife is my spouse! The law itself reels
+in drunkenness! To me the new song, the multiplied forms!</p>
+
+<p>"The fire by which my mother was devoured, flows in my veins! Let it
+burn yet more fiercely, even though I perish!</p>
+
+<p>"Male and female, complaisant to all, I abandon myself to you,
+Bacchantes! I abandon myself to you, Bacchanalians!&mdash;and the vine shall
+twine herself about the tree-trunks! Howl! dance! writhe! Loosen the
+tiger and the slave!&mdash;rend flesh with ferocious bitings!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And Pan, Silenus, the Bacchantes, the Mimalonæides, and the
+Mænads,&mdash;with their serpents, torches, sable masks,&mdash;cast flowers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> at
+each other ... shake their tympanums, strike their thyrsi, pelt each
+other with shells, devour grapes, strangle a goat, and tear Bacchus
+asunder.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollo</span> (<i>furiously whipping his coursers, while his blanching locks are
+falling from his head</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I have left far behind me stony Delos, so pure that all now there
+seems dead; and I must strive to reach Delphi ere its inspiring vapour
+be wholly lost. The mules browse in its laurel groves. The Pythoness
+has wandered away, and cannot be found.</p>
+
+<p>"By a stronger concentration of my power, I will obtain sublime hymns,
+eternal monuments; and all matter will be penetrated by the vibrations
+of my cithara!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He strikes the strings of the instrument. They burst, lashing his
+face with their broken ends. He flings the cithara away; and furiously
+whipping his quadriga, cries</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"No! enough of forms!&mdash;Further, higher!&mdash;to the very summit!&mdash;to the
+realm of pure thought!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>But the horses back, rear, dash the chariot to pieces. Entangled by
+the harness, caught<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> by the fragments of the broken pole, he falls head
+foremost into the abyss.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon17"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_17.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p> ... he falls head foremost into the abyss</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>The sky is darkened.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Venus</span> (<i>blue with cold, shivering</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Once with my girdle I made all the horizon of Hellas.</p>
+
+<p>"Her fields glowed with the roses of my cheeks; her shores were
+outlined after the fashion of my lips; and her mountains, whiter than
+my doves, palpitated beneath the hands of the statuaries. My spirit's
+manifestation was found in the ordinances of the festivals, in the
+arrangement of coiffures, in the dialogues of philosophers, in the
+constitution of republics. But I have doted too much upon men! It is
+Love that has dishonoured me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She casts herself back weeping</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"This world is abominable;&mdash;there is no air for me to breathe!</p>
+
+<p>"O Mercury, inventor of the lyre, conductor of souls, take me away!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She places one finger upon her lips, and describing an immense
+parabola, falls into the abyss.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Nothing is now visible. The darkness is complete.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Only, that from the eyes of Hilarion escape two flashes, two rays of
+lurid light.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>begins at last to notice his immense stature</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Already several times, while thou wert speaking, it seemed to me thou
+wert growing taller; and it was no illusion! How? Explain to me ... Thy
+aspect terrifies me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Footsteps are heard approaching.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>extending his arm</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Look!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then, under a pale beam of moonlight, Anthony distinguishes an
+interminable caravan defiling over the summit of the rocks;&mdash;and each
+voyager, one after the other, falls from the cliff into the gulf below.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>First comes the three great gods of</i> Samothrace,&mdash;<span class="smcap">Axieros</span>, <span class="smcap">Axiokeros</span>,
+<span class="smcap">Axiokersa</span>,&mdash;<i>united together as in a fascia, purple-masked, all with
+hands uplifted.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Æsculapius advances with a melancholy air, not even perceiving
+Samos and Telesphorus, who question him with gestures of anguish.</i>
+<span class="smcap">Elean Sosipolis</span>, <i>of python-form, rolls his coils toward the abyss.</i>
+<span class="smcap">Dosipoena</span>, <i>becomes dizzy, leaps in of her own accord.</i> <span class="smcap">Britomartis</span>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
+<i>shrieking with fear, clutches fast the meshes of her net. The Centaurs
+come at a wild gallop, and roll pell-mell into the black gulf.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Behind them, all limping, advance the bands of the mourning Nymphs.
+Those of the meadows are covered with dust; those of the woods moan and
+bleed; wounded by the axes of the woodcutters.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Gelludes, the Strygii, the Empusæ, all the infernal goddesses,
+form one pyramid of blended fangs, vipers, and torches;&mdash;and seated
+upon a vulture-skin at its summit, Eurynome, blue as the flies that
+corrupt meat, devours her own arms.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then in one great whirl simultaneously disappear the bloody Orthia,
+Hymina of Orchomenus, the Laphria of the Patræns, Aphia of Agina,
+Bendis of Thrace, Stymphalia with thighs like a bird's. Triopas, in
+lieu of three eyes, has now but three empty orbits. Erichthonius, his
+legs paralysed, crawls upon his hands like a cripple.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "What a pleasure, is it not!&mdash;to see them all in the
+abjection of their death-agony! Climb up here beside me, on this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> rock;
+and thou shalt be even as Xerxes, reviewing his army.</p>
+
+<p>"Beyond there, very far, dost thou behold that fair-bearded giant,
+who even now lets fall his sword crimsoned with blood?&mdash;that is
+the Scythian Zalmoxis between two planets,&mdash;Artimpasa, Venus, and
+Orsiloche, the Moon.</p>
+
+<p>"Still further away, now emerging from pallid clouds, are the gods whom
+the Cimmerians adore, even beyond Thule.</p>
+
+<p>"Their huge halls were warm, and by the gleam of swords that tapestried
+the vault, they drank their hydromel from horns of ivory. They ate the
+liver of the whale in dishes of brass wrought by the hammers of demons;
+or, betimes, they listened to captive sorcerers whose fingers played
+upon harps of stone.</p>
+
+<p>"They are feeble! They are cold! The snow makes heavy their bearskins;
+and their feet show through the rents in their sandals.</p>
+
+<p>"They weep for the vast fields upon whose grassy knolls they were
+wont to draw breath in pauses of battle; they weep for the long ships
+whose prows forced a way through the mountains of ice;&mdash;and the skates
+wherewith<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> they followed the orb of the poles, upbearing at the length
+of their mighty arms all the firmament that turned with them."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A gust of frosty wind carries them off. Anthony turns his eyes
+another way. And he perceives&mdash;outlined in black against a red
+background&mdash;certain strange personages, with chinbands and gauntlets,
+who throw balls at one another, leap over each other's heads, make
+grimaces, dance a frenzied dance.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Those are the divinities of Etruria, the innumerable Æsars.</p>
+
+<p>"There is Tages, by whom augury was invented. With one hand he seeks to
+augment the divisions of the sky; with the other he supports himself
+upon the earth: let him sink therein!</p>
+
+<p>"Nortia gazes at the wall into which she drave nails to mark the number
+of the passing years. Its whole surface is now covered; and the period
+is accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>"Like two travellers overtaken by a storm, Kastur and Pulutuk,
+trembling, seek to shelter themselves beneath the same mantle."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>closes his eyes</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Enough! Enough!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>But with a mighty noise of wings, all the Victories of the Capitol
+pass through the air,&mdash;hiding their faces with their hands, dropping
+the trophies hanging upon their arms.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Janus,&mdash;lord of crepuscules,&mdash;flees upon a black ram; and one of his
+two faces is already putrified; the other slumbers with fatigue.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Summanus, the headless god of the dark heavens, presses against his
+heart an odd cake shaped like a wheel.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Vesta, beneath a ruined cupola, tries to relight her extinguished
+lamp.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Bellona gashes her cheeks,&mdash;without being able to make that blood flow
+by which her devotees were purified.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Mercy!&mdash;they weary me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Before, they amused thee!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he shows him in a grove of bean-trees,</i> <span class="smcap">A Woman</span>,
+<i>naked ............. and a black man, holding in each hand a torch.</i><a name="FNanchor_8_24" id="FNanchor_8_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_24" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is the goddess of Aricia, with the demon Virbius. Her sacerdote,
+the King of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> the grove, had to be an assassin;<a name="FNanchor_9_25" id="FNanchor_9_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_25" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and the fugitive
+slaves, the despoilers of corpses, the brigands of the Via Salaria, the
+cripples of the Pons Sublicius, all the human vermin of the Suburra
+worshipped no deities so fervently.</p>
+
+<p>"In the time of Marcus Antonius the patrician women preferred Libitina."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he shows him under the shadow of cypresses and rose-trees</i>,
+<span class="smcap">Another Woman</span>, <i>clad in gauze. Around her lie spades, litters, black
+hangings, all the paraphernalia of funerals. She smiles. Her diamonds
+shine afar off through spiders' webs. The Larvæ, like skeletons, show
+their bones through the branches; and the Lemures, who are phantoms,
+extend their bat-like wings.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At the end of a field lies the god Terminus, uprooted, and covered
+with ordures.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the centre of a furrow, the great corpse of Vertumnus is being
+devoured by red dogs.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The rustic deities all depart, weeping:&mdash;Sartor, Sarrator, Vervactor,
+Collina, Vallona, Hostilinus&mdash;all wearing little hooded mantles, and
+carrying either a hoe, a pitchfork, a hurdle, or a boar-spear.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Their spirits made prosperous the villa,&mdash;with its dovecots,
+its parks of dormice, its poultry-yards protected by nets, its warm
+stables fragrant with odours of cedar.</p>
+
+<p>"Also they protected all the wretched population who dragged the irons
+upon their legs over the flinty ways of the Sabine country,&mdash;those who
+called the swine together by sound of horn,&mdash;those who were wont to
+gather the bunches at the very summits of the elms,&mdash;those who drove
+the asses, laden with manure, over the winding bypaths. The panting
+labourer, leaning over the handle of his plough, prayed them to give
+strength to his arms; and under the shade of the lindens, beside
+calabashes filled with milk, the cow-herds were wont, in turn, to sound
+their praises upon flutes of reed."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>sighs.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And in the centre of a chamber, upon a lofty estrade, an ivory bed is
+visible, surrounded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> by persons bearing torches of pine.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Those are the deities of marriage. They await the coming of the bride.</p>
+
+<p>"Domiduca should lead her in,&mdash;Virgo unfasten her girdle,&mdash;Subigo place
+her in the bed,&mdash;and Præma open her arms, and whisper sweet words into
+her ear.</p>
+
+<p>"But she will not come!&mdash;and they dismiss the others:&mdash;Nona and Decima
+who watch by sick-beds; the three Nixii who preside over child-birth;
+the two nurses, Educa and Potina; and Carna, guardian of the cradle,
+whose bouquet of hawthorne keeps evil dreams from the child.</p>
+
+<p>"Afterwards, Ossipago should strengthen his knees;&mdash;Barbatus give him
+his first beard; Stimula inspire his first desires; Volupia grant him
+his first enjoyment; Fabulimus should have taught him to speak, Numera
+to count, Camœna to sing, Consus to reflect."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>This chamber is empty; and there remains only the centenarian Nænia
+beside the bed,&mdash;muttering to herself the dirge she was wont to howl at
+the funerals of aged men.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But her voice is soon drowned by sharp cries. These are uttered by</i>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Lares Domestici</span>, <i>crouching at the further<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> end of the atrium,
+clad in dog-skins, with flowers wreathed about their bodies,&mdash;pressing
+their clenched hands against their cheeks, and weeping as loudly as
+they can.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the portion of food we received at each repast, the kindly
+care of the maid-servant, the smile of the matron, the merriment of
+the little boys playing at knuckle-bones on the mosaic pavement of the
+court-yard? When grown up, they used to hang about our necks their
+bullæ of gold or leather!</p>
+
+<p>"What happiness it was, when on the evening of a triumph, the master,
+entering, turned his humid eyes upon us! He would recount his combats;
+and the little house would be prouder than a palace; sacred as a temple!</p>
+
+<p>"How sweet were the family repasts, above all on the morrow of the
+Feralia! Tenderness for the dead appeased all discords; all kissed each
+other, while drinking to the glories of the past, and the hopes of the
+future.</p>
+
+<p>"But the ancestors, of painted wax, locked up behind us, are slowly
+becoming covered with mold. The new races, visiting their own
+deceptions upon us, have shattered our jaws;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> our wooden bodies are
+disappearing piece-meal under the teeth of rats."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And the innumerable gods, watching over doors, kitchens, cellars,
+baths, disperse in every direction&mdash;under the form of enormous ants
+running over the pavement, or great butterflies soaring away.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then a roll of thunder is heard.</i>)</p>
+
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">A Voice:</p>
+
+<p>"I was the God of Armies, the Lord, the Lord God! I pitched the tents
+of Jacob on the hills; and in the midst of the sands I nourished my
+chosen people in their flight.</p>
+
+<p>"It was I who consumed the city of Sodom with fire! It was I who
+overwhelmed the world with the waters of the Deluge! It was I that
+drowned Pharaoh, with all the princes, sons of Kings,&mdash;making the sea
+to swallow up his chariots of war, and his charioteers!</p>
+
+<p>"I, the Jealous God, held all other gods in abomination. I brayed the
+impure in my anger; the mighty I cast down; and swiftly the desolation
+of my wrath ran to the right and to the left, like a dromedary loosened
+in a field of maize.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I chose the humble to deliver Israel. Angels, flame-winged, spake to
+them from out the bushes.</p>
+
+<p>"Perfumed with spikenard, with cinnamon and myrrh, clad in transparent
+robes, and shod with high-heeled sandals,&mdash;women of valiant heart went
+forth to slay captains. The passing wind carried my prophets with it.</p>
+
+<p>"My law I graved upon tables of stone. Within that law my people were
+enclosed, as within a strong citadel. They were my people. I was their
+God! The land was mine; the men also belonged to me, together with
+their every thought, and all their works, and the tools they wrought
+with, and their prosperity.</p>
+
+<p>"My ark reposed within a triple sanctuary,&mdash;surrounded by curtains
+of purple and lighted candelabra. I had a whole tribe to serve me as
+servants, swinging censers; and the high-priest, robed in robes of
+hyacinth, wore upon his breast precious stones disposed in symmetrical
+order.</p>
+
+<p>"Woe! Woe! the Holy of Holies is open, the veil is rent, the perfumes
+of the holocaust are dissipated by all the winds of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> heaven! The jackal
+whines in the sepulchres; my temple is destroyed; my people dispersed!</p>
+
+<p>"The priests have been strangled with the girdles of their robes. The
+women languish in captivity; the holy vessels have all been melted!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The voice, becoming more distant</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I was the God of Armies; the Lord, the Lord God!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>An enormous silence follows,&mdash;and deepest night.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "All have passed away!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Some One</span> (<i>replies</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I remain!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And Hilarion stands before him&mdash;but transfigured wholly,&mdash;beautiful
+as an archangel, luminous as a sun, and so lofty that in order to
+behold his face</i>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span></p>
+
+<p><i>is compelled to throw back his head, to look up as though gazing as a
+star</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Who art thou?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "My kingdom is vast as the universe; and my desire knows no
+limits. I go on forever,&mdash;freeing minds, weighing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> worlds,&mdash;without
+hatred, without fear, without pity, without love, and without God. Men
+call me <span class="smcap">Science</span>!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>recoiling from him</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Say, rather, that thou art ... the Devil!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>fixing his eyes upon him</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldst thou behold him?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>cannot detach his eyes from that mighty gaze:&mdash;the curiosity
+of the Devil comes upon him. His terror augments; yet his wish grows
+even to boundlessness</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Yet if I should see him ... if I were to see him!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then in a sudden spasm of wrath</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"The horror that I have of him will free me from his presence
+forever!... Yes!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A cloven foot appears. Anthony regrets his wish.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But the Devil flings him upon his horns and bears him away.</i>)</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_17" id="Footnote_1_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_17"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Matthew II: 10&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_18" id="Footnote_2_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_18"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> "Buddha, or more correctly, the Buddha, for Buddha is an
+appellative meaning Enlightened."&mdash;Max Müller (Chips, Vol. I., 206).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3_19" id="Footnote_3_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_19"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Luke II: 25-26.&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4_20" id="Footnote_4_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_20"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Ibid II: 46-47.&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5_21" id="Footnote_5_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_21"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Or, Haoma, also Hom, the sacred plant, whose fermented
+juice occupied an important place in the practical rites of Iran.
+Supposed to be the same plant known in botany as <i>Sarcostemma
+viminalis.</i> Deified in Iranian worship, like the sacred drink <i>Soma</i> in
+the Vedic hymns. The <i>Soma</i> was the fermented extract of the <i>Asclepias
+acida</i> or <i>Sarcostemma ritalis.</i> See Marius Fontane, "L'Inde Védique,"
+"Les Iraniens."&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_6_22" id="Footnote_6_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_22"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Apuleius says, "a silken mantle."&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_7_23" id="Footnote_7_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_23"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Apuleius says, "strung with knuckle-bones of
+sheep."&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_8_24" id="Footnote_8_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_24"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> This scene, like certain paintings in the Naples museum,
+is all suited for public exhibition.&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_9_25" id="Footnote_9_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_25"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Readers will recollect the lines in Macaulay's <i>Lays of
+Ancient Rome</i>:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Beneath Aricia's trees,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Those trees in whose dim shadow</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">A ghastly priest doth reign,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The priest who slew the slayer,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And must himself be slain."</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="VI" id="VI">VI</a></h4>
+
+
+<p>(<i>He flies beneath him, outstretched like a swimmer; his vast-spreading
+wings, wholly concealing him, seem like one huge cloud.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Whither do I go? But a little while ago I beheld in a glimpse
+the form of the Accurst. Nay!&mdash;'tis a cloud that upbears me! Perhaps I
+am dead, and am ascending to God....</p>
+
+<p>"How freely I respire. The immaculate air seems to vivify my soul. No
+sense of weight!&mdash;no more suffering.</p>
+
+<p>"Far below me the lightning breaks,&mdash;the horizon broadens, widens,&mdash;the
+rivers cross each other. That blond-bright spot is the desert; that
+pool of water the ocean!</p>
+
+<p>"And other oceans appear!&mdash;vast regions of which I knew nothing!
+There are the countries of the blacks, which seem to smoke like
+brasiers!&mdash;then is the zone of snows always made dim by fog! Would I
+might behold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> those mountains where the sun, each evening, sinks to
+rest!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "The sun never sinks to rest; the sun never rests!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony is not surprised at this voice. It seems to him an echo of
+his own thought&mdash;a response made by his own memory.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Meanwhile the earth gradually assumes the shape of a ball; and he
+beholds it in the midst of the azure, turning upon its poles, and
+revolving with the sun.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "So it does not form the centre of the universe! Pride of
+man! humiliate thyself!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Now I can scarcely distinguish it. It mingles confusedly with
+other glowing worlds. The firmament itself is but one tissue of stars."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And they still rise.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"No sound!&mdash;not even the hoarse cry of eagles! Nothing? I listen for
+the harmony of the spheres."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Thou wilt not hear them! Nor wilt thou behold the
+antichtonus of Plato,&mdash;or the central furnace of Philolaüs,&mdash;or the
+spheres of Aristotle, or the seven heavens of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> the Jews, with the great
+waters above the vault of crystal!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet from below the vault seemed solid as a wall!&mdash;on the
+contrary I penetrate it, I lose myself in it!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he beholds the moon,&mdash;like a rounded fragment of ice filled with
+motionless light.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Formerly it was the sojourn of souls! Even the good
+Pythagoras adorned it with magnificent flowers, populated it with
+birds!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I can see only desolate plains there, with extinct craters
+yawning under a black sky!</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go towards those milder-beaming stars, that we may contemplate
+the angels who uphold them at arms' length, like torches!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span> (<i>bears him into the midst of the stars</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"They attract at the same time that they repel each other. The
+action of each one results from that of others, and contributes
+thereunto,&mdash;without the aid of any auxiliary, by the force of a law,
+the virtue of order alone!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes!... yes! My intelligence grasps the great truth! It is
+a joy greater than all tender pleasures! Breathless I find myself with
+astonishment at the enormity of God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Even as the firmament ever rises as thou dost ascend, so
+with the expansion of thy thought will He become greater to thee; and
+after this discovery of the universe thou wilt feel thy joy augment
+with the broadening and deepening of the infinite."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! higher!&mdash;higher still!&mdash;- forever higher!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then the stars multiply, scintillate. The Milky Way develops in the
+zenith like a monstrous belt, with holes at intervals; through these
+rents in its brightness stretches of prolonged darkness are visible.
+There are rains of stars, long trains of golden dust, luminous vapours
+that float and dissolve.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At times a comet suddenly passes by; then the tranquillity of
+innumerable lights recommences.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony, with outstretched arms, supports himself upon the Devil's
+horns, and thus occupies all the space between them.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He remembers with disdain the ignorance of other days, the mediocrity
+of his dreams.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> And now those luminous globes he was wont to gaze upon
+from below, are close to him. He distinguishes the intercrossing of
+the lines of their orbits, the complexity of their courses. He beholds
+them coming from afar,&mdash;and, like stones suspended in a sling, describe
+their circles, form their hyperbolas.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He perceives, all within the field of his vision at once, the Southern
+Cross and the Great Bear, the Lynx and the Centaur, the nebula of
+Dorado, the six suns in the constellation of Orion, Jupiter with his
+four satellites, and the triple ring of the monstrous Saturn!&mdash;all the
+planets, all the stars that men will discover in the future. He fills
+his eyes with their light; he over-burthens his mind with calculation
+of their distances: then, bowing his head, he murmurs</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"What is the purpose of all that?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "There is no purpose. How could God have a purpose? What
+experience could have instructed him?&mdash;what reflection determined him?</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon18"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_18.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p> Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The
+Devil: There is no purpose.</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Before the beginning he could not have acted;&mdash;and now his action
+would be useless."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet he created the world, at one time, by his word only."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "But the beings that people the earth come upon it
+successively. So also, in heaven, new stars arise&mdash;different effects of
+varying causes."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The varying of causes is the will of God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "But to admit several acts of will in God is to admit
+various causes, and therefore to deny his unity.</p>
+
+<p>"His will is inseparable from his essence. He can have but one will,
+having but one essence; and inasmuch as he externally exists, he acts
+eternally.</p>
+
+<p>"Contemplate the sun! From its surface leap vast jets of flame, casting
+forth sparks that disperse beyond to become worlds here-after;&mdash;and
+further than the last, far beyond those deeps where thou seest only
+night, whirl other suns,&mdash;and behind them others again, and beyond
+those yet others ... without end!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Enough! Enough! I fear!&mdash;I will fall into the abyss!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span> (<i>pauses, and rocks Anthony gently in the midst of space</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Nothingness is&mdash;not&mdash;there is no void! Everywhere and forever bodies
+move upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> the immovable deeps of space! Were there boundaries to
+space, it would not be space, but a body only: it is limitless!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>stupefied by wonder</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Limitless!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Ascend skyward forever and forever,&mdash;yet thou wilt not
+attain the summit. Descend below the earth for billions of billions of
+centuries: never wilt thou reach the bottom. For there is no summit,
+there is no bottom; there is no Above, no Below&mdash;nor height, nor
+depth as signified by the terms of human utterance. And Space itself
+is comprised in God, who is not a portion thereof of such or such a
+size,&mdash;but is Immensity itself!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>slowly</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Matter..., then,... must be a part of God?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Why not? Canst thou know the end of God?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Nay: on the contrary, I prostrate, I crush myself beneath his
+mightiness!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "And yet thou dost pretend to move him! Thou dost speak to
+him,&mdash;thou dost even adorn him with virtues,&mdash;with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> goodness, justice,
+mercy,&mdash;in lieu of recognising that all perfections are his!</p>
+
+<p>"To conceive aught beyond him is to conceive God above God, the Being
+above the Being. For He is the only being, the only substance.</p>
+
+<p>"If the Substance could be divided, it would not be the Substance, it
+would lose its nature: God could not exist. He is therefore indivisible
+as infinite;&mdash;and if he had a body, he would be composed of parts,
+he would not be One&mdash;he would not be infinite. Therefore he is not a
+Person!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What? my prayers, my sobs, my groans, the sufferings of my
+flesh, the transports of my love,&mdash;have all these things gone out to a
+lie,&mdash;to emptiness, unavailingly&mdash;like the cry of a bird, like a whirl
+of dead leaves?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Weeping</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no!&mdash;there is Some One above all things,&mdash;a great Soul, a Lord, a
+Father whom my heart adores and who must love me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Thou dost desire that God were not God;&mdash;for did he feel
+love, or anger, or pity,&mdash;he would abandon his perfection for a greater
+or a lesser perfection. He can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> stoop to no sentiment, nor be contained
+in any form."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "One day, nevertheless, I shall see him!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "With the blessed, is it not?&mdash;when the finite shall enjoy
+the infinite in some restricted place, containing the Absolute!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Matters not!&mdash;there must be a paradise for the good, as there
+is a hell for the wicked."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Can the desire of thy mind create the law of the universe?
+Without doubt evil is indifferent to God,&mdash;forasmuch as the Earth is
+covered with it!</p>
+
+<p>"Is it through impotence that he endures it, or through cruelty that he
+maintains it?</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou fancy that he is eternally readjusting the world, like an
+imperfect machine?&mdash;that he is forever watching the movements of all
+beings, from the flight of a butterfly to the thought of a man?</p>
+
+<p>"If he have created the universe, his providence is superfluous. If
+Providence exists, then creation is defective.</p>
+
+<p>"But evil and good concern only thee&mdash;even like night and day, pleasure
+and pain, death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> and birth, which are relative only to one corner
+of space, to a special centre, to a particular interest. Since the
+Infinite is permanent, the Infinite is;&mdash;and that is all."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Devil's wings have been gradually expanding: now they cover all
+space.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>now perceives nothing: a great faintness comes upon him</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"A hideous cold freezes me, even to the depths of my soul! This is
+beyond the extreme of pain! It is like a death that is deeper than
+death! I roll in the immensity of darkness; and the darkness itself
+enters within me. My consciousness bursts beneath this dilation of
+nothingness!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Yet the knowledge of things comes to thee only through the
+medium of thy mind. Even as a concave mirror, it deforms the objects
+it reflects; and thou hast no means whatever of verifying their
+exactitude."</p>
+
+<p>"Never canst thou know the universe in all its vastness; consequently
+it will never be possible for thee to obtain an idea of its cause,
+to have a just notion of God, nor even to say that the universe is
+infinite,&mdash;for thou<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> must first be able to know what the Infinite is!"</p>
+
+<p>"May not Form be, perhaps, an error of thy senses,&mdash;Substance a figment
+of thy imagination?"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless, indeed, that the world being a perpetual flux<a name="FNanchor_1_26" id="FNanchor_1_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_26" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> of things,
+appearance, on the contrary, be wholly true; illusion the only reality."</p>
+
+<p>"But art thou sure thou dost see?&mdash;art thou even sure thou dost live?
+Perhaps nothing exists!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Devil has seized Anthony, and, holding him at arms' length,
+glares at him with mouth yawning as though to devour him</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Adore me, then!&mdash;and curse the phantom thou callest God!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony lifts his eyes with a last effort of hope.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Devil abandons him.</i>)</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_26" id="Footnote_1_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_26"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The original text seems to me slightly obscure. The
+idea of the universe being a perpetual ebb and flow of shapes, is
+that of forms passing away to reappear like waves, is that of the
+Nidana-Sutris: "Individuality is only a form ... <i>Everything is only
+a flux of aggregates</i>, interminably uniting and disuniting," as Barth
+observes in his "Religions of India."&mdash;Trans.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="VII" id="VII">VII</a></h4>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>finds himself lying upon his back, at the verge of the cliff.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The sky commences to blanch.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Is it the glow of dawn, or only an effect of moonlight?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He tries to rise, falls back,&mdash;his teeth chattering</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I feel such a helplessness of weakness, as though all my bones were
+broken!</p>
+
+<p>"Why?</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! the Devil!&mdash;I remember!&mdash;he even repeated to me all that I
+learned from the aged Didymus respecting the opinions of Xenophanes,
+Heraclitus, of Melissus, of Anaxagoras,&mdash;concerning the infinite, the
+creation, the impossibility of knowing anything!</p>
+
+<p>"And yet I believed that I could unite myself to God!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Laughing bitterly</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! madness! madness! Is the fault<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> mine? Prayer has become
+intolerable to me! My heart is dry as a rock! Once, it was wont to
+overflow with love!...</p>
+
+<p>"The sand used to smoke of mornings like the odourous dust of a
+censer;&mdash;at sunset flowers of fire used to bloom upon the cross; and in
+the middle of the night, it often seemed as though all beings and all
+things, lying under the same awful silence, were adoring the Lord with
+me. O charms of prayer, felicities of ecstasy, gifts of heaven,&mdash;what
+have become of you?</p>
+
+<p>"I remember a voyage I made with Ammon in search of a solitary place
+suited for the establishment of a monastery. It was the last evening;
+we hastened our steps, walked side by side, murmuring hymns, without
+conversing. As the sun sank, the shadows of our bodies lengthened like
+two obelisks, continually growing taller, and moving before us. Here
+and there we planted crosses, made with fragments of our sticks, to
+mark the site of a future cell. Night was tardy in her coming; and
+waves of darkness overspread the earth, even while a vast rose-coloured
+light still glowed in heaven.</p>
+
+<p>"When I was a child, I used to amuse myself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> by building hermitages
+with pebbles. My mother sitting beside me would watch me so attentively!</p>
+
+<p>"Will she not have cursed me for having abandoned her?&mdash;will she not
+have plucked out her white hair by handfuls in the despair of her
+grief? And her corpse remains lying on the floor of the hut, under the
+roof of reeds, between the crumbling walls. Through an orifice a hyena,
+snuffing, thrusts his head, advances his mouth ... horror! horror!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Sobbing</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"No: Ammonaria will not have abandoned her! Where is she
+now,&mdash;Ammonaria?</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps at the further end of a bathroom, she removes her garments
+one after the other: first the mantle, then the girdle, then the first
+tunic, the second lighter tunic, all her necklaces,&mdash;and the vapour
+of cinnamon envelops her naked limbs. At last she lies down upon the
+tepid mosaic. Her long hair spreading below the curve of her hips,
+seems like a sable fleece; and the oppressiveness of the heated air
+causes her to pant; her waist arched, her breasts standing out ...
+What! my flesh rebels again! Even in the midst of grief am I tortured
+by concupiscence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> To be subjected thus unto two tortures at once is
+beyond endurance! I can no longer bear myself!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He leans over, and gazes into the abyss.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"The man who should fall would be killed. Nothing easier: it were only
+necessary to roll over upon my left side:&mdash;only one movement&mdash;one!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then suddenly appears</i>&mdash;<span class="smcap">An Aged Woman</span>. <i>Anthony starts to his feet in
+affright. It seems to him that he beholds his mother arisen.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But this woman is far older, and prodigiously thin.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A shroud, knotted about her head, hangs down, together with her white
+hair, so as to cover her legs, slender as crutches. The brilliancy of
+her ivory-coloured teeth make her earthy skin darker still. The orbits
+of her eyes are full of shadow; and far back within them two flames
+vacillate, like the lamps of sepulchres.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She exclaims</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Advance! What hinders thee?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>stammering</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I fear ... to commit a sin!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">She</span> (<i>replies</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"But King Saul killed himself! Razias, a just man, killed himself!
+Saint Pelagia of Antioch killed herself! Dommina of Aleppo and her two
+daughters&mdash;all three saints&mdash;killed themselves: and remember also how
+many confessors delivered themselves up to the executioner in their
+impatient longing for death! That they might enjoy death more speedily,
+the virgins of Miletus strangled themselves with their girdles. At
+Syracuse the philosopher Hegesias preached so eloquently upon death
+that men deserted the lupanars to go hang themselves in the fields. The
+patricians of Borne sought for death as a new form of debauch."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Aye! the love of death is strong; and many a anchorite has
+succumbed to it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Old Woman</span>. "To do that which will make thee equal unto God&mdash;think!
+He created thee: thou wilt destroy his work&mdash;thou! and by thy
+courage,&mdash;of thy own free will! The enjoyment that Erostratus knew was
+not greater than this. And moreover thy body has so long mocked thy
+soul that it is full time thou shouldst take vengeance upon it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> Thou
+wilt not suffer. It will soon be over. Of what art thou afraid?&mdash;a
+wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon19"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_19.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?&mdash;a
+wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>Anthony hearkens without replying; and upon the other side appears</i>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Another Woman</span>&mdash;<i>young and marvellously beautiful. At first he takes
+her to be Ammonaria. But she is taller, blond as honey, very plump,
+with paint upon her cheeks and roses upon her head. Her long robe,
+weighty with spangles, gleams with metallic lustre;&mdash;her fleshy lips
+are sanguinolent; and her somewhat heavy eyelids are so drowned with
+languor that one would almost take her to be blind.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She murmurs</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, live! enjoy! Solomon counsels joy! Follow the guiding of thy
+heart and the desire of thine eyes!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What joy is there for me? My heart is weary; my eyes are dim!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">She</span> (<i>answers</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Seek the suburb of Racotis; push open a door that is painted
+blue;&mdash;and when thou shalt be in the atrium where a fountain jet
+murmurs unceasingly, a woman will present herself before thee&mdash;in
+peplos of white silk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> striped with gold; her hair is unloosed, her
+laugh like the clatter of crotali. She is skilful. In her caress thou
+wilt taste the pride of initiation and the appeasement of desire.</p>
+
+<p>"Hast ever pressed to thy bosom a virgin who loved thee? Dost remember
+the surrenders of her modesty,&mdash;the passing away of her remorse in a
+sweet flow of tears?</p>
+
+<p>"Thou canst even now imagine thyself walking with her&mdash;canst thou
+not?&mdash;in the wood by the light of the moon? At each pressure of your
+joined hands, a sweet shuddering passes through you both,&mdash;looking
+closely into each other your eyes seem to outpour into one another
+something like immaterial fluid;&mdash;and thy heart fills: it bursts: it is
+a suave whirl of eddying passion, an overflowing of intoxication...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Old Woman</span>. "One need not possess joys in order to taste their
+bitterness! Even to view them from afar off begets loathing of them.
+Thou must be fatigued by the monotony of the same actions, the length
+of the days, the hideousness of the world, the stupidity of the sun?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Aye, indeed!&mdash;I loathe all that he shines upon."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Woman</span>. "Hermit! hermit! thou wilt find diamonds among the
+flints, fountains beneath the sand, a delectation in all the hazards
+thou dost despise; and there are even upon earth places of such beauty
+that the sight of them would make thee desire to press the whole world
+against thy heart with love!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Old Woman</span>. "Each evening that thou liest down upon the earth to
+slumber, thou dost hope that it may soon lie upon thee and cover thee."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Woman</span>. "Yet thou dost believe in the resurrection of the
+flesh&mdash;which is but the translation of life into eternity!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Even as she speaks, the Old Woman becomes still more fleshless; and
+above her skull, from which the white hair has disappeared, a bat
+circles in the air.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Young Woman has become fatter. Her robe gleams with shifting
+colours; her nostrils palpitate, her eyes roll softly.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Former</span> (<i>opening her arms, exclaiming</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Come to me!&mdash;I am Consolation, repose, oblivion, eternal calm!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Other</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"I am the sleep-giver, life, happiness inexhaustible!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony turns to fee from them. Each lays a hand on his shoulder.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Shroud parts, exposes the Skeleton of Death.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The robe splits asunder, and leaves the whole body of Lust
+exposed:&mdash;her waist is slender; her long and undulating hair flutters
+in the wind.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony stands motionless between the two, considering them</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Death</span> (<i>says to him</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"What matters it, whether now or at another time! Thou art mine,&mdash;like
+suns, nations, cities, kings, mountain-snows, and the grasses of the
+fields. I fly higher than the hawks of heaven. I run more swiftly than
+the gazelle; I overtake even Hope; I vanquished the Son of God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lust</span>. "Resist not! I am the Omnipotent! The forests re-echo with my
+sighs; the waters tremble with my agitations. Virtue, courage, piety,
+dissolve in the perfume of my mouth. Man I accompany in every step<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>
+that he makes; and even from the threshold of the tomb he turns to me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Death</span>. "I will find for thee that which thou hast vainly sought for,
+by the gleam of torches, upon the faces of the dead,&mdash;or among those
+awful sands that are formed of human remains, where thou wast wont to
+wander beyond the Pyramids. From time to time, the fragment of a skull
+rolled under thy sandal. Thou didst take up the dust: thou didst let it
+trickle through thy fingers; and thy thought, blending with it, sank
+into nothingness."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lust</span>. "My gulf is deeper! Marbles have inspired loves. Men rush to
+conjunctures that terrify. Fetters are riveted that the fettered curse.
+Whence the bewitchment of courtesans, the extravagance of dreams, the
+immensity of my sadness?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Death</span>. "Mine irony depasseth all others! There are convulsions of
+delight at the funerals of kings, at the extermination of a whole
+people; and war is made with music, with plumes, with harness of
+gold,&mdash;with vast display of ceremony that my due of homage may be
+greater!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon203"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_03.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Death: Mine irony depasseth all others!</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">Lust. "My rage equals thine! I also yell;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> I bite! I, too, have sweats
+of agony, and aspects cadaverous!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Death</span>. "It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon20"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_20.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>Death laughs mockingly; Lust roars. They clasp each other about the
+waist, and chant alternately</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I hasten the dissolution of matter!"</p>
+
+<p>"I facilitate the dispersion of germs!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou dost destroy for my renovations!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou dost engender for my destructions!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ever-active my power!"</p>
+
+<p>"Fecund, my putrefaction!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And their voices, whose rolling echoes fill the horizon, deepen and
+become so mighty that Anthony falls backward as if thunder-stricken. A
+shock from time to time causes him to reopen his eyes; and he perceives
+in the midst of the darkness a manner of monster before him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is a skull, crowned with roses, dominating the torso of a woman
+nacreously white. Below, a shroud starred with specks of gold forms
+something like a tail; and the whole body undulates, after the fashion
+of a gigantic worm erect on end.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The vision attenuates,&mdash;disappears.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>rising to his feet</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"The Devil yet again, and under his two-fold aspect: the spirit of
+fornication, and the spirit of destruction.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither affrights me! I repel happiness; and I know myself to be
+eternal.</p>
+
+<p>"Thus death is only an illusion, a veil-masking betimes the continuity
+of life.</p>
+
+<p>"But Substance being unique, wherefore should forms be varied?</p>
+
+<p>"Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose bodily forms are
+only symbols. Could I but see them, I would know the link between
+matter and thought; I would know in what Being consists.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon204"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_04.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial
+figures, whose bodily forms are only symbols</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Such were the figures painted at Babylon upon the walls of the
+temple of Belus; and others like them covered a mosaic in the port of
+Carthage. I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms
+of spirits. Those who cross the desert meet with animals surpassing all
+conception...."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon21"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_21.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it
+were, forms of spirits</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>And opposite, upon the further side of the Nile, suddenly appears
+the Sphinx.<a name="FNanchor_1_27" id="FNanchor_1_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_27" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> stretches his paws, shakes the bandelets upon his
+forehead, and crouches upon his belly.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Leaping, flying, spitting fire through her nostrils, lashing her
+winged sides with her dragon-tail, the green-eyed Chimera circles,
+barks.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The thick curls of her head tossed back upon one side mingle with
+the hair of her loins; on the other side they hang down to the sand,
+quivering with the swinging of her body, to and fro.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span> (<i>remaining motionless, and gazing at the Chimera</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Hither, Chimera! rest awhile!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "No! never!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Do not run so fast, do not fly so high, do not bark so
+loudly!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Do not call me!&mdash;call me no more; since thou must remain
+forever dumb."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Cease casting thy flames in my face, and uttering thy
+yells in my ear: thou canst not melt my granite."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Thou shalt not seize me, terrible sphinx!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Thou art too mad to dwell with me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Thou art too heavy to follow me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Yet whither goest thou, that thou shouldst run so fast?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "I gallop in the corridors of the Labyrinth&mdash;I hover above
+the mountains&mdash;I graze the waves in my flight&mdash;I yelp at the bottom of
+precipices&mdash;I suspend myself with my mouth from the skirts of clouds&mdash;I
+sweep the shores with my dragging tail; and the curves of the hills
+have taken their form from the shape of my shoulders! But thee I find
+perpetually immobile, or perhaps making strange designs with thy claws
+upon the sand."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "It is because I keep my secret;&mdash;I dream and calculate.</p>
+
+<p>"The sea returns to its bed; the wheat bends back and forth in the
+wind; the caravans pass by; the dust flies; cities crumble; and yet
+my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all
+intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon205"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_05.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>The Sphinx: ... and yet
+my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all
+intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach.
+The Chimera: I am light and joyous!</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "I am light and joyous! I offer to the eyes of men
+dazzling perspectives with Paradise in the clouds above, and
+unspeakable felicity afar off. Into their souls I pour the eternal
+madnesses; projects of happiness, plans for the future, dreams of glory
+and vows of love, and all virtuous resolutions.</p>
+
+<p>"I urge men to perilous voyages and great enterprises. I have chiselled
+with my claws the wonders of architecture. It was I who suspended the
+little bells above the tomb of Porsenna, and surrounded the quays of
+Atlantis with a wall of orichalcum.</p>
+
+<p>"I seek for new perfumes, for vaster flowers, for pleasures never felt
+before. If I perceive in any place a man whose mind reposes in wisdom,
+I fall upon him, and strangle him."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "All those tormented by the desire of God, I have devoured.</p>
+
+<p>"In order to climb up to my royal brow, the strongest ascend upon the
+flutings of my bandelets as upon the steps of a stairway. Then a great
+lassitude comes upon them, and they fall backward."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony begins to tremble.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>He is no longer before his cabin, but in the desert itself, with those
+two monsters beside him, whose breath is hot upon his shoulders.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "O thou Fantasy, bear me away upon thy wings that my
+sadness may be lightened!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "O thou Unknown, I am enamoured of thine eyes! Like a
+hyena in heat I turn about thee, soliciting those fecundations whereof
+the desires devour me!</p>
+
+<p>"Ope thy mouth, lift thy feet&mdash;mount upon my back!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "My feet, since they have been outstretched, can move no
+more. The lichen, like an eruption, has formed upon my jaws. By dint of
+long dreaming I have no longer aught to say."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Thou liest, hypocrite Sphinx! Wherefore dost thou always
+call me and always disown me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "It is thou, indomitable caprice, that dost forever pass
+and repass, whirling in thy course!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Is the fault mine? What? Let me be!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She barks.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Thou movest away! thou dost escape me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He growls.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Essay!&mdash;Thou crushest me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Nay!&mdash;impossible!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And gradually sinking down he disappears in the sand; while the
+Chimera, ramping with tongue protruding, departs, describing circles on
+her way.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The breath of her mouth has produced a fog.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Through this mist Anthony perceives wreathings of clouds, undecided
+curves.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At last he can distinguish something like the appearance of human
+bodies.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And first</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Astomi</span>&mdash;<i>approach, like bubbles of air traversed by sunlight. They
+cry</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Do not breathe too hard! The drops of rain bruise us, false notes
+excoriate us, darknesses blind us! Composed wholly of breezes and of
+perfumes, we float along, we roll along:&mdash;a little more than Dreams,
+yet not quite beings...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Nisnas</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>have only one eye, one cheek, one hand, one leg, half a body, half a
+heart. They say</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"We live quite in our halves of houses, with our halves of wives and
+our halves of children!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Blemmyes</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>who have no head at all</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Our shoulders are all the broader;&mdash;and there is no ox, rhinoceros, or
+elephant able to carry what we carry.</p>
+
+<p>"Something dimly resembling features&mdash;as it were a vague
+face&mdash;imprinted upon our breasts: that is all! We think digestions; we
+subtleize secretions. God, in our belief, floats peacefully within the
+interior chyles.</p>
+
+<p>"We go straight upon our way, through all mires, crossing all morasses,
+skirting the edges of all abysses: and we are the most laborious, the
+most happy, the most virtuous of all peoples!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Pygmies</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"We, good little men, swarm upon the world like vermin upon the hump of
+a dromedary.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We are burned, drowned, crushed; and we always reappear, more
+vivacious and countless than before&mdash;terrible by reason of our numbers!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sciapods</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"Fettered to the earth by our hair, long as lianas, we vegetate beneath
+the shelter of our feet, broad as parasols; and the light comes to us
+through the thickness of our heels. No annoyances for us, no work! The
+head as low as possible&mdash;That is the secret of happiness."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon206"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_06.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>The Sciapods: The head as low as possible&mdash;That is the secret of happiness.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>Their lifted thighs,&mdash;resembling the trunks of trees,&mdash;multiply.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And a forest appears. Great apes clamber through it on all
+fours:&mdash;these are men with the heads of dogs.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Cynocephali</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"We leap from branch to branch in search of eggs to suck; and we pluck
+the little fledglings alive; then we put their nests upon our heads in
+lieu of caps.</p>
+
+<p>"We tear off the teats of cows; and we put out the eyes of lynxes:
+we let fall our dung<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> from the heights of the trees&mdash;we parade our
+turpitude in the full light of the sun.</p>
+
+<p>"Lacerating the flowers, crushing the fruits, befouling the springs,
+violating women, we are the masters of all,&mdash;by the strength of our
+arms, and the ferocity of our hearts.</p>
+
+<p>"Ho! companions!&mdash;gnash with your jaws!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Blood and milk pour down their chops. The rain streams over their
+hairy backs.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony inhales the freshness of the green leaves.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>There is a movement among them, a clashing of branches; and all of
+a sudden appears a huge black stag, with the head of a bull, having
+between his ears a thicket of white horns.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sadhuzag</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"My seventy-four antlers are hollow like flutes.</p>
+
+<p>"When I turn me toward the wind of the South, there issue from them
+sounds that draw all the ravished animals around me. The serpents twine
+about my legs; the wasps cluster in my nostrils; and the parrots, the
+doves, the ibises, alight upon the branches of my horns.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Listen!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He throws back his horns, whence issues a music of sweetness
+ineffable.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony presses both hands upon his heart. It seems to him as though
+his soul were being borne away by the melody.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sadhuzag</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"But when I turn me toward the wind of the North, my antlers, more
+thickly bristling than a battalion of lances, give forth a sound of
+howlings: the forests are startled with fear; the rivers remount toward
+their sources; the husks of fruits burst open; and the bending grasses
+stand erect on end, like the hair of a coward.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He bends his branching antlers forward: hideous and discordant cries
+proceed from them. Anthony feels as though his heart were torn asunder.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And his horror augments upon beholding</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Martichoras</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>A gigantic red lion, with human face, and three rows of teeth</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The gleam of my scarlet hair mingles with the reflection of the great
+sands. I breathe through my nostrils the terror of solitudes. I spit
+forth plague. I devour armies when they venture into the desert.</p>
+
+<p>"My claws are twisted like screws, my teeth shaped like saws; and my
+curving tail bristles with darts which I cast to right and left, before
+and behind!</p>
+
+<p>"See! see!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Martichoras shoots forth the keen bristles of his tail, which
+irradiate in all directions like a volley of arrows. Drops of blood
+rain down, spattering upon the foliage.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Catoblepas</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>A black buffalo with a pig's head, falling to the ground, and
+attached to his shoulders by a neck long, thin, and flaccid as an empty
+gut.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He wallows flat upon the ground, and his feet entirely disappear
+beneath the enormous mane of coarse hair which covers his face</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Fat, melancholy, fierce&mdash;thus I continually remain, feeling against
+my belly the warmth of the mud. So heavy is my skull<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> that it is
+impossible for me to lift it. I roll it slowly all around me,
+open-mouthed; and with my tongue I tear up the venemous plants bedewed
+with my breath. Once, I even devoured my own feet without knowing it!</p>
+
+<p>"No one, Anthony, has ever beheld mine eyes,&mdash;or at least, those who
+have beheld them are dead. Were I to lift my eyelids&mdash;my pink and
+swollen eyelids, thou wouldst forthwith die!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh, that one! Ugh! As though I could desire it?&mdash;Yet his
+stupidity fascinates me! No, no! I will not!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He gazes fixedly upon the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But the weeds take fire; and amidst the contorsions of the flames,
+arises</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Basilisk</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>A great violet serpent, with trilobate crest, and two fangs, one
+above, one below</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Beware, lest thou fall into my jaws! I drink fire. I am fire!&mdash;and I
+inhale it from all things: from clouds, from flints, from dead trees,
+the fur of animals, the surface of marshes. My temperature maintains
+the volcanoes: I lend glitter to jewels: I give colours to metals!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Griffin</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>A lion with a vulture's beak, and white wings, red paws and blue
+neck</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I am the master of deep splendours. I know the secrets of the tombs
+wherein the Kings of old do slumber.</p>
+
+<p>"A chain, issuing from the wall, maintains their heads upright. Near
+them, in basins of porphyry, the women they loved float upon the
+surfaces of black liquids. Their treasures are all arrayed in halls, in
+lozenge-shaped designs, in little heaps, in pyramids;&mdash;and down below,
+far below the tombs, and to be reached only after long travelling
+through stifling darkness, there are rivers of gold bordered by forests
+of diamonds, there are fields of carbuncles and lakes of mercury.</p>
+
+<p>"Addossed against the subterranean gate I remain with claws uplifted;
+and my flaming eyes spy out those who seek to approach. The vast and
+naked plain that stretches away to the end of the horizon is whitened
+with the bones of travellers. But for thee the gates of bronze shall
+open; and thou shalt inhale the vapour of the mines, thou shalt descend
+into the caverns.... Quick! quick!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>He burrows into the earth with his paws, and crows like a cock.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A thousand voices answer him. The forest trembles.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And all manner of frightful creatures arise:&mdash;The Tragelaphus, half
+deer, half ox; the Myrmecoles, lion before-and ant behind, whose
+genitals are set reversely; the python Askar, sixty cubits long, that
+terrified Moses; the huge weasel Pastinaca, that kills the trees with
+her odour; the Presteros, that makes those who touch it imbecile;
+the Mirag, a horned hare, that dwells in the islands of the sea. The
+leopard Phalmant bursts his belly by roaring; the triple-headed bear
+Senad tears her young by licking them with her tongue; the dog Cepus
+pours out the blue milk of her teats upon the rocks. Mosquitoes begin
+to hum, toads commence to leap; serpents hiss. Lightnings flicker. Hail
+falls.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then come gusts, bearing with them marvellous anatomies:&mdash;Heads of
+alligators with hoofs of deer; owls with serpent tails; swine with
+tiger-muzzles; goats with the crupper of an ass; frogs hairy as bears;
+chameleons huge as hippopotami; calves with two heads, one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> bellowing,
+the other weeping; winged bellies flitting hither and thither like
+gnats.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They rain from the sky, they rise from the earth, they pour from the
+rocks; everywhere eyes flame, mouths roar, breasts bulge, claws are
+extended, teeth gnash, flesh clacks against flesh. Some crouch; some
+devour each other at a mouthful.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Suffocating under their own numbers, multiplying by their own contact,
+they climb over one another; and move about Anthony with a surging
+motion as though the ground were the deck of a ship. He feels the trail
+of snails upon the calves of his legs, the chilliness of vipers upon
+his hands:&mdash;and spiders spinning about him enclose him within their
+network.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But the monstrous circle breaks, parts; the sky suddenly becomes blue;
+and</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Unicorn</span> (<i>appears</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Gallop! Gallop!</p>
+
+<p>"I have hoofs of ivory, teeth of steel; my head is the colour of
+purple, my body the colour of snow; and the horn of my forehead is
+bestreaked with the tints of the rainbow.</p>
+
+<p>"I travel from Chaldea to the Tartar desert,&mdash;upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> the shores of the
+Ganges and in Mesopotamia. I overtake the ostriches. I run so swiftly
+that I draw the wind after me. I rub my back against the palm-trees. I
+roll among the bamboos. I leap rivers with a single bound. Doves fly
+above me. Only a virgin can bridle me.</p>
+
+<p>"Gallop! Gallop!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony watches him depart.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And as he gazes he beholds all the birds that nourish themselves
+with wind: the Gouith, the Ahuti, the Alphalim, the Iukneth, of the
+mountains of Kaf, the homai of the Arabs&mdash;which are the souls of
+murdered men. He hears the parrots that utter human speech; and the
+great Pelasgian palmipeds that sob like children or chuckle like old
+women.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A saline air strikes his nostrils. Now a vast beach stretches before
+him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the distance jets of water arise, spouted by whales; and from the
+very end of the horizon come</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Beasts of the Sea</p>
+
+<p>(<i>round as wineskins, flat as blades, denticulated like saws, dragging
+themselves over the sand as they approach</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon22"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_22.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>The beasts of the sea round as wineskins</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Thou wilt accompany us to our immensities, whither as yet no one has
+descended.</p>
+
+<p>"Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean. Some dwell in the
+sojourn of tempests; others swim freely amid the transparency of chill
+waves;&mdash;or, like oxen, graze upon the coral plains, or suck in through
+their trunks the reflux of the tides,&mdash;or bear upon their shoulders the
+vast weight of the sources of the sea."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon23"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_23.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean </p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>Phosphorences gleam in the moustaches of the seals, shift in the
+scales of fish. Echini whirl like wheels; ammonites uncoil like cables;
+oysters make their shell hinges squeak; polypi unfold their tentacles;
+medusæ quiver like balls of crystal suspended; sponges float hither and
+thither, anemones ejaculate water; wrack and sea-mosses have grown all
+about.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And all sorts of plants extend themselves into branches, twist
+themselves into screws, lengthen into points, round themselves out like
+fans. Gourds take the appearance of breasts; lianas interlace like
+serpents.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Dedaims of Babylon, which are trees, bear human heads for fruit;
+Mandragoras<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> sing;&mdash;the root Baaras runs through the grass.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And now the vegetables are no longer distinguishable from the animals.
+Polyparies that seem like trees, have arms upon their branches. Anthony
+thinks he sees a caterpillar between two leaves: it is a butterfly that
+takes flight. He is about to step on a pebble: a grey locust leaps
+away. One shrub is bedecked with insects that look like petals of
+roses; fragments of ephemerides form a snowy layer upon the soil.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And then the plants become confounded with the stones.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Flints assume the likeness of brains; stalactites of breasts; the
+flower of iron resembles a figured tapestry.</i><a name="FNanchor_2_28" id="FNanchor_2_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_28" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p><i>He sees efflorescences in fragments of ice, imprints of shrubs and
+shells&mdash;yet so that one cannot detect whether they be imprints only, or
+the things themselves. Diamonds gleam like eyes; metals palpitate.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And all fear has departed from him! He throws himself down upon the
+ground, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> leaning upon his elbows, watches breathlessly.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Insects that have no stomachs persistently eat; withered ferns bloom
+again and reflower; absent members grow again.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At last he perceives tiny globular masses, no larger than pinheads,
+with cilia all round them. They are agitated with a vibratile motion</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>deliriously</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"O joy! O bliss! I have beheld the birth of life! I have seen the
+beginning of motion! My pulses throb even to the point of bursting!
+I long to fly, to swim, to bark, to bellow, to howl! Would that I
+had wings, a carapace, a shell,&mdash;that I could breathe out smoke,
+wield a trunk,&mdash;make my body writhe,&mdash;divide myself everywhere,&mdash;be
+in everything,&mdash;emanate with odours,&mdash;develop myself like the
+plants,&mdash;flow like water,&mdash;vibrate like sound&mdash;shine like light,
+squatting upon all forms&mdash;penetrate each atom&mdash;descend to the very
+bottom of matter,&mdash;be matter itself!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Day at last appears;&mdash;and, like tabernacle curtains uplifted, clouds
+of gold uprolling in broad volutes unveil the sky.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Even in the midst thereof, and in the very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> disk of the sun, beams the
+face of Jesus Christ.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon24"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_24.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof
+and in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ. </p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Anthony makes the sign of the cross, and resumes his devotions.</i>)</p>
+
+
+<h4>FINIS</h4>
+
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_27" id="Footnote_1_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_27"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Winkelmann claims to have been the first to discover that
+the Egyptian sphinxes were bisexual&mdash;females before&mdash;males otherwise.
+(See Book II, chap. I, § 25.) Flaubert speaks of the Sphinx in the
+masculine like Philemon. (See also Signor Carlo Fea's note upon the
+paragraph in Winkelmann, old French edition. An II, R. F.)&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_28" id="Footnote_2_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_28"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Fleurs de fer, "flowers of iron." In mineralogy <i>flos
+ferri</i>, a form of Aragonite.&mdash;Trans.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h5><a name="NOTE" id="NOTE">[NOTE</a></h5>
+
+<p>Those who compare this translation with the original will observe the
+omission of some few paragraphs on pages <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a> and <a href="#Page_211">211</a>. They are
+speeches put in the mouths of certain Heresiarchs, or complaints of
+certain of the minor Roman household gods. The translator relegated
+these to an addenda, which the publishers have omitted as being
+unnecessary. Those who are familiar with the original will be able to
+supply them, and will realize that while they might be offensive to
+some persons, they are in no respect an integral or important part of
+the great drama.]</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<p>(added by transcribers)</p>
+<h5><a name="ADDENDA" id="ADDENDA">ADDENDA</a></h5>
+
+
+<p>A. Observation of Manes, pages 82-3, original text; page <a href="#Page_89">89</a> of
+translation.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Ou plutôt, faites si bien qu'elle ne soit pas fécondes. Mieux vaut
+pour l'ame tomber sur la terre que de languir dans des entraves
+charnelles.</i></p>
+
+<p>Probably a calumny against Manes; for the Eastern philosophy,
+especially that of Zoroaster, which is said to have inspired the tenets
+of Manichæism, advocated no such abominations.</p>
+
+
+<p>B. Page 105 of original; <a href="#Page_108">page 108</a> translation. The realistic
+phraseology of the original passage is rather brutal. The French text
+reads: "<i>Il souffrait de la maladie Bellerephontienne; et sa mère, la
+parfumeuse, s'est livrée à Pantherus, un soldat Romain, sur des gerbes
+de mais, un soir de moisson.</i>" C. Descriptive text, page 237 original,
+partly suppressed on <a href="#Page_223">page 223</a> translation: "<i>Et il lui montre dans un
+bosquet d'aliziers Une Femme toute nue, à quatre pattes comme une bête,
+et saillie par un homme noir, tenant dans chaque main un flambeau.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>D. Curious text of Crepitus, on page <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, pages 241-3 of original:</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Crepitus</span></p>
+
+<p>(&mdash;&mdash;se fait entendre):</p>
+
+<p><i>Moi aussi l'on m'honora jadis. On me faisait des libations. Je fus un
+Dieu!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>L'Athénien me saluait comme un presage de fortune, tandis que le
+Romain dévot me maudissait les poings levés et que le pontife d'Egypte,
+s'abstinant des fèves, tremblait à ma voix et pâlissait à mon odeur.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Quand le vinaigre militaire coulait sur les barbes non rasées, qu'on
+se régalait de glands, de pois, et d'oignons crus, et que le bouc en
+morceau cuissait dans le beurre rance des pasteurs, sans souci du
+voisin, personne alors ne se gênait. Les nourritures solides faisaient
+digestions retentissantes. Au soleil de la campagne les hommes se
+soulageaient avec lenteur.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Ainsi, je passais sans scandale, comme les autres besoins de la vie,
+comme Mena, tourment des vierges, et la douce Rumina qui protège le
+sein de la nourrice, gonflé, des veines bleuâtres. J'étais joyeux. Je
+faisais rire. Et se dilatant d'aise à cause de moi, le convive exhalait
+toute sa gaieté par les ouvertures de son corps.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>J'ai eu mes jours d'orgeuil. Le bon Aristophane me promena sur la
+scène, et l'empereur Claudius Drusus<a name="FNanchor_1_29" id="FNanchor_1_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_29" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> me fit asseoir à sa table. Dans
+les laticlaves des patriciens j'ai circulé majestueusement! Les vases
+d'or, comme des tympanons, resonnaient sous moi; et, quand plein de
+murènes, de truffles, et de pâtés, l'intestin du maître se dégageait
+avec fracas, l'univers attentif apprenait que César avait diné!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Mais à présent, je suis confiné dans la populace</i><a name="FNanchor_2_30" id="FNanchor_2_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_30" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> <i>et l'on se
+récrie, même à mon nom!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Et Crepitus s'éloigne, en poussant un gémissement....</i></p>
+
+<p>E. For descriptions of the Martichoras and other monsters, appearing
+page 287 in the original and <a href="#Page_253">253</a> in the translation, see also Rabelais'
+Pantagruel, Book V, Chap. XXX.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_29" id="Footnote_1_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_29"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Needless to refer to the comedies of Aristophanes,
+with which English readers have been familiarized through the Bohn
+translations. The reference to Claudius ius Drusus seems based upon
+the following lines in Suetonius: "<i>Dicitur etiam meditatus edictum,
+quo veniam daret flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi:
+cum periclitatum quemdam prae pudore ex continentia reperisset.</i>"
+(<i>Suetonius-Tiberius Claudius Drusus</i>: 32.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_30" id="Footnote_2_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_30"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The so-called divinities, <i>Deus Crepitus, Dea Pertunda,
+Deus Stercutius, Dea Rumina</i> (or <i>Rumilia</i>), <i>Dea Mena</i>, concerning
+whose curious attributes the reader may consult English or French
+classical encyclopedists, were doubtless regarded by the intelligent
+classes of antiquity much as certain religious superstitions are
+regarded by educated moderns. It is true that they furnished grotesque
+themes to artists; but many existing superstitions regarding elves
+and goblins have inspired modern sculptors, painters and designers.
+Certainly, seriously worshipped as deities, Priapus might seem equally
+contemptible as a divinity; but his worship, degenerate as it became
+in later years, was primitively symbolical. The obscene image merely
+typified the procreative Spirit of Nature. The eccentric gods and
+goddesses above referred to had no such excuse for being. As previously
+observed, however, Flaubert artistically represents these divinities
+not as they were really considered in the antique world, but rather as
+they would have appeared to the eyes of zealous Christians in the third
+century&mdash;infamous and loathsome.&mdash;Translator.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p>
+<a id="CONTENTS"></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">CONTENTS</span><br /><br />
+<a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a><br />
+<a href="#ARGUMENT">ARGUMENT</a><br />
+<a href="#THE_TEMPTATION_OF_ST_ANTHONY">THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY</a><br />
+<a href="#I">I</a><br />
+<a href="#II">II</a><br />
+<a href="#III">III</a><br />
+<a href="#IV">IV</a><br />
+<a href="#V">V</a><br />
+<a href="#VI">VI</a><br />
+<a href="#VII">VII</a><br />
+<a href="#NOTE">NOTE</a><br />
+<a href="#ADDENDA">ADDENDA</a><br />
+</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h5>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h5>
+
+<p style="text-align: center;">(by Odilon Redon, which were added especially for this PG e-book.)</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+   <p> ... through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought
+    that I could recognize Ammonaria ... <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon201">6</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God! <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon02">16</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>And there are columns of basalt everywhere,... The light
+    falls from the vaults above <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon03">38</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit dissolving
+    within thy heart ... <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon04">58</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... a long blood-colored chrysalis <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon202">100</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... the flowers fall and the head of a python appears <span class="illnum">
+    <a href="#redon05">105</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... and in the darkness beside him people are praying...
+    <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon06">107</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated with knolls
+    <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon07">113</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with
+    kisses ... <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon08">115</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I
+    dwelt in the tree behind me <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon09">119</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Helena - Ennoia <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon10">125</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... instantly arise three goddesses <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon11">157</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon12">165</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... and eyes without heads were floating like mollusks <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon13">167</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose from the abyss
+    that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms <span class="illnum">
+    <a href="#redon14">168</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon15">178</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>I am still the Great Isis!&mdash;none has yet lifted my
+    veil! My fruit is the Sun! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon16">188</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... he falls head foremost into the abyss <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon17">206</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The Devil: There
+    is no purpose. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon18">224</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?&mdash;a wide, black
+    hole! Perhaps it is a void! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon19">235</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Death: Mine irony depasseth all others! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon203">240</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine! <span class="illnum">
+    <a href="#redon20">241</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose
+    bodily forms are only symbols <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon204">242</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms
+    of spirits <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon21">242</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>The Sphinx: ... and yet my gaze, which naught can deviate,
+    remains fixed, gazing through all intervening things, upon
+    a horizon that none may reach. The Chimera: I am light and
+    joyous! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon205">245</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>The Sciapods: The head as low as possible&mdash;That is the
+    secret of happiness. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon206">249</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>The beasts of the sea round as wineskins <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon22">258</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon23">258</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and in the very
+    disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon24">260</a></span></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="transnote"><b>Transcribers' Note:</b><br />
+<br />
+This translation of the "Tentation" by Lafcadio Hearn, still regarded
+by many as the best up until now in English, still misses some small
+fragments (of a couple of words) not deemed fit for the Anglo-Saxon
+temperament of that time. There is a contemporary version (2002) of
+this translation available, with introduction by Michel Foucault and
+the inclusion of some missing expressions. The original French by
+Gustave Flaubert is also available at Project Gutenberg&mdash;
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982">http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982</a></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 52225 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Temptation of St. Anthony, by Gustave

-Flaubert, Translated by Lafcadio Hearn, Illustrated by Odilon Redon

-

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

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-

-

-Title: The Temptation of St. Anthony

-

-

-Author: Gustave Flaubert

-

-

-

-Release Date: June 4, 2016  [eBook #52225]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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-

-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***

-

-

-E-text prepared by Laura Natal Rodriguez and Marc D'Hooghe

-(http://www.freeliterature.org) from page images generously made available

-by the Google Books Library Project (http://books.google.com) and

-illustrations generously made available by Bibliothèque nationale de

-France (http://gallica.bnf.fr)

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-Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this

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-Note: Images of the original pages are available through

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-Transcriber's note:

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-      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

-

-      The o-e ligature is represented by [oe].

-

-

-

-

-

-THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY

-

-by

-

-GUSTAVE FLAUBERT

-

-Translated by Lafcadio Hearn

-

-Illustrations by Odilon Redon

-

-(Added especially for this PG e-book.)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-The Alice Harriman Company

-New York and Seattle

-1910

-

-

-

-

-INTRODUCTION

-

-

-It was at some period between 1875 and 1876 that Lafcadio Hearn--still

-a "cub" reporter on a daily paper in Cincinnati--began his translation

-of Flaubert's "Temptation of St. Anthony." The definitive edition of

-the work, over which the author had laboured for thirty years, had

-appeared in 1874.

-

-Hearn was, in his early youth, singularly indifferent to the work of

-the Englishmen of the Victorian period. Though he knew the English

-masterpieces of that epoch, their large, unacademic freedom of manner

-awakened no echoes in his spirit. His instinctive taste was for the

-exquisite in style: for "that peculiar kneading, heightening, and

-recasting" which Matthew Arnold thought necessary for perfection.

-Neither did the matter, more than the manner of the Victorians appeal

-to him. The circumstances of his life had at so many points set him

-out of touch with his fellows that the affectionate mockery of

-Thackeray's pictures of English society were alien to his interest.

-The laughing heartiness of Dickens' studies of the man in the street

-hardly touched him. Browning's poignant analyses of souls were too

-rudely robust of manner to move him. Before essaying journalism Hearn

-had served for a while as an assistant in the Public Library, and

-there he had found and fallen under the spell, of the great Frenchman

-of the Romantic School of the '30's--that period of rich flowering of

-the Gallic genius. Gautier's tales of ancient weirdnesses fired his

-imagination. The penetrating subtleties of his verse woke in the boy

-the felicitous emotions which the virtuoso knows in handling cameos

-and enamellings by hands which have long been dust. So, also, Hugo's

-revivals of the passions and terrors of the mediæval world stirred the

-young librarian's eager interest. But most of all his spirit leapt

-to meet the tremendous drama of the "Temptation." He comprehended at

-once its large significance, its great import, and in his enthusiastic

-recognition of its value and meaning he set at once about giving it a

-language understood of the people of his own tongue.

-

-Tunison tells of the little shy, shabby, half-blind boy--the long

-dull day of police reporting done--labouring at his desk into the

-small hours, with the flickering gas jet whistling overhead, and his

-myopic eyes bent close to the papers which he covered with beautiful,

-almost microscopic characters--escaping thus from the crass, raw world

-about him to delicately and painstakingly turn into English stories

-of Cleopatra's cruel, fantastic Egyptian Night's Entertainment.

-Withdrawing himself to transliterate tales of pallid beautiful vampires

-draining the veins of ardent boys: of lovely faded ghosts of great

-ladies descending from shadowy tapestries to coquette with romantic

-dreamers; or to find an English voice for the tragedy of the soul of

-the Alexandrian cenobite.

-

-It was in such dreams and labours that he found refuge from the

-environment that was so antipathetic to his tastes, and in his

-immersion in the works of these virtuosos of words, in his passionate

-search for equivalents of the subtle nuances of their phrases, he

-developed his own style. A style full of intricate assonances, of a

-texture close woven and iridescent.

-

-"One of Cleopatra's Night's"--a translation of some of Gautier's tales

-of glamour--was issued in 1882, but at "The Temptation of St. Anthony"

-the publishers altogether balked. The manuscript could not achieve even

-so much as a reading. America had in the '70's just begun to emerge

-from that state of provincial propriety in which we were accused of

-clothing even our piano legs in pantelettes. The very name of the work

-was sufficient to start modest shivers down the spine of all well

-regulated purveyors of books. It was largely due to the painters'

-conceptions of the nature of the hermit's trials that the story of

-Saint Anthony's spiritual struggle aroused instinctive terrors in all

-truly modest natures. The painters--who so dearly love to display their

-skill in drawing legs and busts--had been wont to push the poor old

-saint into the obscure of the background, and fill all the foreground

-with ladies of obviously the very lightest character, in garments

-still lighter, if possible. What had reputable American citizens to do

-with such as these jades? More especially such jades as seen through

-a French imagination! That Flaubert had brushed aside the gross and

-jejune conceptions of the painters the publishers would not even take

-the pains to learn.

-

-It is amusing now to recall the nervous, timid proprieties of those

-days. At the time Hearn failed to see the laughable side of it. He was

-then too young and earnest, too passionate and too melancholy to have a

-sense of its humours.

-

-He had brought his unfinished manuscript from Cincinnati to New

-Orleans, and had continued to work upon it in strange lodgings in

-gaunt, old half-ruined Creole houses; at the tables of odd little

-French cafés, or among the queer dishes in obscure Spanish and Chinese

-restaurants. He had snatched minutes for it amidst the reading and

-clipping of exchanges in a newspaper office; had toiled drippingly

-over it in the liquifying heats of tropic nights; had arisen from the

-"inexpungable langours" of yellow fever to complete its last astounding

-pages.

-

-I can remember applauding, with ardent youthful sympathy, his tirades

-against the stultifying influence of blind puritanism upon American

-literature. I recall his scornful mocking at the inconsistency which

-complacently accepted the vulgar seduction, and the theatrical Brocken

-revels of Faust, while shrinking piously from Flaubert's grim story of

-the soul of man struggling to answer the riddle of the universe. He

-had however an almost equal contempt for the author's countrymen, who

-received with eager interest and pleasure the deliberate analysis--in

-_Madame Bovary_--of a woman's degradation and ruin, while they yawned

-over the amazing history of humanity's tremendous spiritual adventures.

-Hearn's own sensitiveness shrank in pain from the cold insight which

-uncovered layer by layer the brutal squalour of a woman's moral

-disintegration. But he was moved and astounded by the revelation, in

-St. Anthony, of the tragedy and pathos of man's long search for some

-body of belief or philosophy by which he could explain to himself

-the strange great phenomena of life and death, and the inscrutable

-cruelties of Nature. The young translator was filled with a sort of

-astonished despair at his inability to make others see the book as

-he did--not realizing, in his youthful impatience, that the average

-mind clings to the concrete, and is puzzled and terrified by outlines

-of thought too large for its range of vision; that the commonplace

-intelligence cannot "see the wood for the trees," and becomes confused

-and over-weighted when confronted with the huge outlines of so great a

-picture as that drawn by Flaubert in his masterpiece.

-

-There were many points of resemblance between Lafcadio Hearn and the

-grandson of the French veterinary. A resemblance rather in certain

-qualities of the spirit than in social conditions and physical

-endowments. Flaubert, born in 1821, was the son of a surgeon. His

-father was long connected with the Hôtel Dieu of Rouen, in which the

-boy was born, and in which he lived until his eighteenth year, when he

-went to Paris to study law. One of the friends of his early Parisian

-days describes him as "a young Greek. Tall, supple, and as graceful as

-an athlete. He was charming, _mais un peu farouche._ Quite unconscious

-of his physical and mental gifts; very careless of the impression he

-produced, and entirely indifferent to formalities. His dress consisted

-of a red flannel shirt, trousers of heavy blue cloth, and a scarf of

-the same colour drawn tight about his slender waist. His hat was worn

-'any how' and often he abandoned it altogether. When I spoke to him of

-fame or influence.... he seemed superbly indifferent. He had no desire

-for glory or gain.... What was lacking in his nature was an interest in

-_les choses extérieures, choses utiles._" ...

-

-One who saw him in 1879 found the young Greek athlete--now close upon

-sixty, and having in the interval created some of the great classics

-of French literature--"a huge man, a tremendous old man. His long,

-straggling gray hair was brushed back. His red face was that of a

-soldier, or a sheik--divided by drooping white moustaches. A trumpet

-was his voice, and he gesticulated freely ... the colour of his eyes a

-bit of faded blue sky."

-

-The study of the law did not hold Flaubert long. It was one of those

-_choses extérieures, choses utiles_ to which he was so profoundly

-indifferent. Paris bored him. He longed for Rouen, and for his little

-student chamber. There he had lain upon his bed whole days at a time;

-apparently as lazy as a lizard; smoking, dreaming; pondering the large,

-inchoate, formless dreams of youth.

-

-In 1845 his father died, and in the following year he lost his sister

-Caroline, whom he had passionately loved, and for whom he grieved

-all his life. He rejoined his mother, and they established themselves

-at Croisset, near Rouen, upon a small inherited property. It was an

-agreeable house, pleasantly situated in sight of the Seine. Flaubert

-nourished with pleasure a local legend that Pascal had once inhabited

-the old Croisset homestead, and that the Abbé Prevost had written

-_Manon Lescaut_ within its walls. Near the house--now gone--he built

-for himself a pavilion to serve as a study, and in this he spent the

-greater portion of the following thirty-four years in passionate,

-unremitting labour.

-

-He made a voyage to Corsica in his youth; one to Brittany, with Maxime

-du Camp, in 1846; and spent some months in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey,

-and Greece in 1849. This Oriental experience gave him the most intense

-pleasure, and was the germ of _Salammbo_, and of the _Temptation of St.

-Anthony._ He never repeated it, though he constantly talked of doing

-so. He nursed a persistent, but unrealized dream of going as far as

-Ceylon, whose ancient name, Taprobana, he was never weary of repeating;

-utterance of its melifluous syllables becoming a positive _tic_

-with him. Despite these yearnings he remained at home. Despite his

-full-blooded physique he would take no more exercise than his terrace

-afforded, or an occasional swim in the Seine. He smoked incessantly,

-and for months at a stretch worked fifteen hours out of the twenty-four

-at his desk. Three hundred volumes might be annotated for a page of

-facts. He would write twenty pages, and reduce these by exquisite

-concisions, by fastidious rejections to three; would search for hours

-for the one word that perfectly conveyed the colour of his thought, and

-would--as in the case of the _Temptation_--wait fifteen years for a

-sense of satisfaction with a manuscript before allowing it to see the

-light. To Maxime du Camp, who urged him to hasten the completion of his

-book in order to take advantage of a favourable opportunity, he wrote

-angrily:

-

-"Tu me parais avoir à mon endroit un tic ou vice rédhibitoire. Il

-ne m'embête pas; n'aie aucune crainte; mon parti est pris là-dessus

-depuis long temps. Je te dirai seulement que tous ces mots; _se

-dépêcher, c'est le moment, place prise, se poser, ..._ sont pour moi un

-vocabulaire vide de sens...."

-

-In one of his letters he says that on occasion he worked violently for

-eight hours to achieve one page. He endeavoured never to repeat a word

-in that page, and tried to force every phrase to respond to a rhythmic

-law. Guy do Maupassant, his nephew and pupil, says that to ensure this

-rhythm Flaubert "prenait sa feuille de papier, relevait à la hauteur du

-regard et, s'appuyant sur un coude, déclaimait, d'une voix mordant et

-haute. Il écoutait la rythme de sa prose, s'arrêtait comme pour saisir

-une sonorité fuyant, combinait les tons, éloignait les assonances,

-disposait les virgules avec conscience, commes les haltes d'un long

-chemin." ...

-

-Flaubert said himself, "une phrase est viable quand elle correspond

-à toutes les nécessités de respiration. Je sais qu'elle est bonne

-lorsqu'elle peut être lu tout haut."

-

-Henry Irving used to say of himself that it was necessary he should

-work harder than other actors because nature had dowered him with

-flexibility of neither voice nor feature, and Faguet says that Flaubert

-was forced to this excessive toil and incessant watchfulness because

-he did not write well naturally. Nevertheless Flaubert's work did not

-smell of the lamp. Whatever shape his ideas may have worn at birth

-when full grown they moved with large classic grace and freedom,

-simple, sincere, and beautiful in form. François Coppée calls him "the

-Beethoven of French prose."

-

-So conscientious a workman, so laborious and self-sacrificing an artist

-had a natural attraction for Lafcadio Hearn, who even in boyhood began

-to feel his vocation as "a literary monk." The whole tendency of his

-tastes prepared him to understand the true importance of Flaubert's

-masterpiece, fitted him especially of all living writers to turn that

-masterpiece into its true English equivalent. The two men had much in

-common. Both were proud and timid. Both had a fundamental indifference

-to _choses extérieures, choses utiles._ Both were realists of the soul.

-Actions interested each but slightly; the emotions from which actions

-sprung very much. To both stupidity was even more antipathetic than

-wickedness, because each realized that nearly all cruelty and vice have

-their germ in ignorance and stupidity rather than in innate rascality.

-Flaubert declared, with a sort of rage, that "la bêtise entre dans

-mes pores." He might too have been speaking for Hearn when he said

-that the grotesque, the strange, and the monstrous had for him an

-inexplicable charm. "It corresponds," he says, "to the intimate needs

-of my nature--it does not cause me to laugh, but to dream long dreams."

-Hearn, however, mixed with this triste interest a quality that Flaubert

-seemed almost wholly to lack--a great tenderness for all things humble,

-feeble, ugly and helpless. Both from childhood were curious of poignant

-sensations, of the sad, the mysterious and the exotic. And for both the

-tropics had an irresistible fascination. Flaubert says, in one of his

-letters:

-

-"I carry with me the melancholy of the barbaric races, with their

-instincts of migration, and their innate distaste of life, which forced

-them to quit their homes in order to escape from themselves. They loved

-the sun, all those barbarians who came to die in Italy; they had a

-frenzied aspiration toward the light, toward the blue skies, toward an

-ardent existence.... Think that perhaps I will never see China, will

-never be rocked to sleep by the cadenced footsteps of camels ... will

-never see the shine of a tiger's eyes in the forest.... You can treat

-all this as little worthy of pity, but I suffer so much when I think of

-it ... as of something lamentable and irremediable."

-

-This is the nostalgia for the strange, for the unaccustomed, that all

-born wanderers know. Fate arranges it for many of them that their lives

-shall be uneventful, passed in dull, provincial narrowness; but behind

-these bars the clipped wings of their spirit are always flutteringly

-spread for flight. They know not what they seek, what desire drives

-them, but a sense of "the great adventure" unachieved keeps them

-restless until they die. It is such as these, these _voyageurs

-empassionés_, when condemned by fortune to a static existence--who find

-their outlet in mental wanderings amid the unusual, the grotesque,

-and the monstrous. Hearn and Flaubert both were at heart nomads,

-seekers of the unaccustomed; stretching toward immensities of space

-and time, toward the ghostly, the hidden, the unrealized. Like that

-wild fantastic _Chimera_ of the "Temptation" each such soul declares

-"_je cherche des parfums nouveaux, des fleurs plus large, des plaisirs

-inéprouvés._"

-

-Flaubert was but twenty-six when the first suggestion of his

-masterpiece came to him. For _La Tentation de St. Antoine_, it is

-coming to be understood, is his masterpiece; is one of the greatest

-literary achievements of the French mind. _Madame Bovary_ is more

-widely famous and popular, but Flaubert himself always deeply resented

-this preference, and was always astonished at the comparative

-indifference of the world to the "Temptation." He, too, found it

-difficult to realize how hardly the average mind is awakened to an

-interest in the incorporeal; how surely cosmic generalizations escape

-the grasp of the commonplace intelligence.

-

-Wagner waited a lifetime before the world was dragged reluctantly and

-resentfully up to a point from which it could discern the superiority

-of the tremendous finale of the Götterdämmerung to the Christmas-card

-chorus of angels chanting "_Âme chaste et pure_" to the beatified

-Marguerite. The whole prodigious structure of Wagner's dramatic and

-musical thought might have remained a mere adumbration in the soul of

-one German had chance not set a mad genius upon the throne of Bavaria.

-The bourgeoisie would--lacking this royal bullying--have continued to

-prefer Goethe and Gounod. Flaubert's great work unfortunately failed of

-such patronage.

-

-It was in 1845 that an old picture by Breughel, seen at Genoa, first

-inspired Flaubert to attempt the story of St. Anthony. He sought

-out an engraving of this conception of Peter the Younger (surnamed

-"Hell-Breughel" for his fondness for such subjects), hung it on his

-walls at Croisset, and after three years of brooding upon it began,

-May 24, 1848, _La Tentation de St. Antoine._ In twelve months he had

-finished the first draught of the work, which bulked to 540 pages. It

-was laid aside for "Bovary," and a second version of the "Temptation"

-was completed in 1856, but this time the manuscript had been reduced

-to 193 pages, and the "blazing phrases, the jewelled words, the

-turbulence, the comedy, the mysticism" of the first version had been

-superseded by a larger, more dramatic conception. In 1872 he made still

-a new draught, and by this time it had shrunk to 136 pages. He even

-then eliminated three chapters, and finally gave to the world in 1874

-"this wonderful coloured panorama of philosophy, this Gulliver-like

-travelling amid the master ideas of the antique and early Christian

-worlds."

-

-Faguet says, "In its primitive and legendary state the temptation

-of St. Anthony was nothing more than the story of a recluse tempted

-by the Devil through the flesh, by all the artifices at the Devil's

-disposal. In the definite thought of Flaubert the temptation of St.

-Anthony has become man's soul tempted by all the illusions of human

-thought and imagination. St. Anthony to the eyes of the first naive

-hagiologists is a second Adam, seduced by woman, who was inspired by

-Satan. St. Anthony conceived by Flaubert is a more thoughtful Faust; a

-Faust incapable of irony, not a Faust who could play with illusions and

-with himself--secretly persuaded that he could withdraw when he chose

-to give himself the trouble to do so--rather a Faust who approached,

-accosted, caressed all possible forms of universal illusions."

-

-Flaubert's studies for the "Temptation" were tremendous. For nearly

-thirty years he touched and retouched, altered, enlarged, condensed.

-He kneaded into its substance the knowledge, incessantly sought, of

-all religions and philosophies; of all the forms man's speculations

-had taken in his endless endeavours to explain to himself Life and

-Fate; humanity's untiring, passionate effort to find the meaning of its

-mysterious origin and purpose, and final destiny. How terrible, how

-naive, how fantastic, bloody, grovelling, and outrageous were most of

-the solutions accepted, the gigantic panorama of the book startlingly

-sets forth. What gory agonies, what mystic exaltations, what dark

-cruelties, frenzied abandons, and inhuman self denials have marked

-those puzzled gropings for light and truth are revealed as by lightning

-flashes in the crowding scenes of the epic. For the Temptation of St.

-Anthony is an epic. Not a drama of man's actions, as all previous

-epics have been, but a drama of the soul. All its movement is in the

-adventure and conflict of the spirit. St. Anthony remains always in

-the one place, almost as moveless as a mirror. His vision--clarified

-of the sensual and the actual by his fastings and macerations--becomes

-like the surface of an unruffled lake. A lake reflecting the aberrant

-forms of thoughts that, like clouds, drift between man and the infinite

-depths of knowledge. Clouds of illusion forever changing, melting,

-fusing; assuming forms grotesque, monstrous, intolerable; until at

-last the writhing mists of speculation and ignorance are drunk up

-by the widening light of wisdom and the fogs and phantasms vanish,

-leaving his consciousness aware, in poignant ecstasy, of the cloudless

-deeps of truth. The temptation of the flesh is but a passing episode.

-An eidolon of Sheba's queen offers him luxury, wealth, voluptuous

-beauty, power, dainty delights of eye and palate in vain. Man has never

-found his most dangerous seductions in the appetites. More lamentable

-disintegration has grown from his attempts to pierce beyond the

-body's veil. The parched and tortured saint is whirled by vertiginous

-visions through cycles of man's straining efforts to know why, whence,

-whither. He assists at the rites of Mithira, the prostrations of

-serpent-and-devil-worshippers, worshippers of fire, of light, of the

-Greeks' deified forces of nature; of the northern enthronement of brute

-force and war. He is swept by the soothing breath of Quietism, plunges

-into every heresy and philosophy, sees the orgies, the flagellations,

-the self mutilations, the battles and furies of sects, each convinced

-that it has found the answer at last to the Great Question, and

-endeavouring to constrain the rest of humanity to accept the answer.

-He meets the Sphinx--embodied interrogation--and the Chimera--the

-simulacrum of the fantasies of the imagination--dashing madly about the

-stolid querist.

-

-Lucifer--spirit of doubt of all dogmatic solutions--mounts with Anthony

-into illimitable space. They rise beyond these struggles and furies

-into the cold uttermost of the universe; among innumerable worlds;

-worlds yet vaguely forming in the womb of time, newly come to birth,

-lustily grown to maturity; worlds dying, decaying, crumbling again into

-atomic dust. Overcome by the intolerable Vast, Anthony sinks once more

-to his cell, and Lucifer, who has shown him the macrocosm, opens to

-him the equal immensity of the microcosm. Makes him see the swarming

-life that permeates the seas, the earth and atmosphere, the incredible

-numerousness of the invisible lives that people every drop of water,

-every grain of sand, every breath of air. The unity of life dawns upon

-him, and his heart, withered by dubiety, melts into joyousness and

-peace. As the day dawns in gold he beholds the face of Christ.

-

-Flaubert's Lucifer has no relation to the jejune Devil of

-man's early conception of material evil, nor does he resemble

-Goethe's Mephistopheles; embodiment of the Eighteenth Century's

-spirit of sneering disbeliefs and negation. He is rather our own

-tempter--Science. He is the spirit of Knowledge: Nature itself calling

-us to look into the immensities and read just our dogmas by this new

-and terrible widening of our mental and moral horizons. This last

-experience of the Saint reproduces the spiritual experiences of the

-modern man; cast loose from his ancient moorings, and yet finding at

-last in his new knowledge a truer conception of the brotherhood of all

-life in all its forms, and seeing still, in the growing light, the

-benignant eyes of God.

-

-It is not remarkable that Flaubert resented the banality, the dull

-grossness of the reception of his work, or that Hearn shared his

-amazement and bitterness. Even yet the world wakes but slowly to the

-true character of this masterpiece; this epic wrought with so great

-a care and patience, so instinct with genius, dealing perhaps more

-profoundly than any other mind has ever done with the Great Adventure

-of humanity's eternal search for Truth.

-

-ELIZABETH BISLAND.

-

-

-

-

-ARGUMENT

-

-

-

-

-FRAILTY

-

-

-Sunset in the desert. Enfeebled by prolonged fasting, the hermit

-finds himself unable to concentrate his mind upon holy things. His

-thoughts wonder; memories of youth evoke regrets that his relaxed will

-can no longer find strength to suppress,--and, remembrance begetting

-remembrance, his fancy leads him upon dangerous ground. He dreams of

-his flight from home,--of Ammonaria, his sister's playmate,--of his

-misery in the waste,--his visit to Alexandria with the blind monk

-Didymus,--the unholy sights of the luxurious city.

-

-Involuntarily he yields to the nervous dissatisfaction growing upon

-him. He laments his solitude, his joylessness, his poverty, the

-obscurity of his life; grace departs from him; hope burns low within

-his heart. Suddenly revolting against his weakness, he seeks refuge

-from distraction in the study of the Scriptures.

-

-Vain effort! An invisible hand turns the leaves, placing perilous

-texts before his eyes. He dreams of the Maccabees slaughtering

-their enemies, and desires that he might do likewise with the

-Arians of Alexandria;--he becomes inspired with admiration of King

-Nebuchadnezzar;--he meditates voluptuously upon the visit of Sheba's

-queen of Solomon;--discovers a text in the Acts of the Apostles

-antagonistic to principles of monkish ascetism,--indulges in reveries

-regarding the riches of Biblical kings and holy men. The Tempter comes

-to tempt him with evil hallucinations for which the Saint's momentary

-frailty has paved the way; and with the Evil One come also

-

-

-

-THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS

-

-

-Phantom gold is piled up to excite Covetousness; shadowy banquets

-appear to evoke Gluttony. The scene shifts to aid the temptations of

-Anger and of Pride....

-

-Anthony finds himself in Alexandria, at the head of a wild army of

-monks slaughtering the heretics and the pagans, without mercy for

-age or sex. In fantastic obedience to the course of his fancy while

-reading the Scriptures a while before, and like an invisible echo of

-his evil thoughts, the scene changes again. Alexandria is transformed

-into Constantinople.

-

-Anthony finds himself the honoured of the Emperor. He beholds the

-vast circus in all its splendour, the ocean of faces, the tumult of

-excitement. Simultaneously he beholds his enemies degraded to the

-condition of slaves, toiling in the stables of Constantine. He feels

-joy in the degradation of the Fathers of Nicæa. Then all is transformed.

-

-It is no longer the splendour of Constantinople he beholds under the

-luminosity of a Greek day; but the prodigious palace of Nebuchadnezzar

-by night. He beholds the orgies, the luxuries, the abominations;--and

-the spirit of Pride enters triumphantly into him as the spirit of

-Nebuchadnezzar....

-

-Awaking as from a dream, he finds himself again before his hermitage.

-A vast caravan approaches, halts; and the Queen of Sheba descends to

-tempt the Saint with the deadliest of all temptations. Her beauty is

-enhanced by oriental splendour of adornment; her converse is a song of

-withcraft. The Saint remains firm.... The Seven Deadly Sins depart

-from him.

-

-

-

-THE HERESIARCHS

-

-

-But now the tempter assumes a subtler form. Under the guise of a former

-disciple of Anthony,--Hilarion,--the demon, while pretending to seek

-instruction, endeavours to poison the mind of Anthony with hatred of

-the fathers of the church. He repeats all the scandals amassed by

-ecclesiastical intriguers, all the calumnies created by malice;--he

-cites texts only to foment doubt, and quotes the evangels only to

-make confusion. Under the pretext of obtaining mental enlightenment

-from the wisest of men, he induces Anthony to enter with him into

-a spectral basilica, wherein are assembled all the Heresiarchs of

-the third century. The hermit is confounded by the multitude of

-tenets,--horrified by the blasphemies and abominations of Elkes,

-Corpocrates, Valentinus, Manes, Cerdo,--disgusted by the perversions of

-the Paternians, Marcosians, Montanists, Serptians,--bewildered by the

-apocryphal Gospels of Eve and of Judas, of the Lord, and of Thomas.

-

-And Hilarion grows taller.

-

-

-THE MARTYRS

-

-Anthony finds himself in the dungeons of a vast amphitheatre, among

-Christians condemned to the wild beasts. By this hallucination the

-tempter would prove to the Saint that martyrdom is not always suffered

-for purest motives. Anthony finds the martyrs possessed by bigotry and

-insincerity. He sees many compelled to die against their will; many

-who would forswear their faith could it avail them aught. He beholds

-heretics die for their heterodoxy more nobly than orthodox believers.

-

-And he finds himself transported to the tombs of the martyrs. He

-witnesses the meetings of Christian women at the sepulchres. He beholds

-the touching ceremonies of prayer, change into orgies,--lamentations

-give place to amorous dalliance.

-

-

-

-THE MAGICIANS

-

-

-Then the Tempter seeks to shake Anthony's faith in the excellence

-and evidence of miracles. He assumes the form of a Hindoo Brahmin,

-terminating a life of wondrous holiness by self-cremation;--he appears

-as Simon Magus and Helen of Tyre,--as Appollonius of Tyans, greatest of

-all thaumaturgists, who claims superiority to Christ. All the marvels

-related by Philostratus are embodied in the converse of Apollonius and

-Damis.

-

-

-

-THE GODS

-

-

-Hilarion reappears taller than ever, growing more gigantic in

-proportion to the increasing weakness of the Saint. Standing beside

-Anthony he evokes all the deities of the antique world. They defile

-before him in a marvellous panorama:--Gods of Egypt and India, Chaldea

-and Hellas, Babylon and Ultima Thule,--monstrous and multiform, phallic

-and ithyphallic, fantastic or obscene. Some intoxicate by their beauty;

-others appall by their foulness. The Buddha recounts the story of his

-wondrous life; Venus displays the rounded daintiness of her nudity;

-Isis utters awful soliloquy. Lastly the phantom of Jehovah appears, as

-the shadow of a god passing away forever.

-

-Suddenly the stature of Hilarion towers to the stars; he assumes the

-likeness and luminosity of Lucifer; he announces himself as

-

-

-

-SCIENCE

-

-

-And Anthony is lifted upon mighty wings and borne away beyond the

-world, above the solar system, above the starry arch of the Milky Way.

-All future discoveries of Astronomy are revealed to him. He is tempted

-by the revelation of innumerable worlds,--by the refutation of all

-his previous ideas of the nature of the Universe,--by the enigmas of

-infinity,--by all the marvels that conflict with faith. Even in the

-night of immensity the demon renews the temptation of reason: Anthony

-wavers upon the verge of pantheism.

-

-

-

-LUST AND DEATH

-

-

-Anthony abandoned by the spirit of Science comes to himself in the

-desert. Then the Tempter returns under a two-fold aspect: as the

-Spirit of Lust and the Spirit of Destruction. The latter urges him to

-suicide,--the former to indulgence of sense. They inspire him with

-strong fancies of palingenesis, of the illusion of death, of the

-continuity of life. The pantheistic temptation intensified.

-

-

-

-THE MONSTERS

-

-

-Anthony in reveries meditates upon the monstrous symbols painted upon

-the walls of certain ancient temples. Could he know their meaning

-he might learn also something of the secret lien between Matter and

-Thought. Forthwith a phantasmagoria of monsters commence to pass before

-his eyes:--the Sphinx and the Chimera, the Blemmyes and Astomi, the

-Cynocephali and all creatures of mythologie creation. He beholds the

-fabulous beings of Oriental imagining,--the abnormities described

-by Pliny and Herodotus, the fantasticalities to be later adopted by

-heraldry,--the grotesqueries of future medieval illumination made

-animate;--the goblinries and foulnesses of superstitious fancy,--the

-Witches' Sabbath of abominations.

-

-

-

-METAMORPHOSIS

-

-

-The multitude of monsters melts away; the land changes into an Ocean;

-the creatures of the briny abysses appear. And the waters in turn

-also change; seaweeds are transformed to herbs, forests of coral

-give place to forests of trees, polypous life changes to vegetation.

-Metals crystallize; frosts effloresce; plants become living things,

-inanimate matter takes animate form, monads vibrate, the pantheism of

-nature makes itself manifest. Anthony feels a delirious desire to unite

-himself with the Spirit of Universal Being....

-

-The vision vanishes. The sun arises. The face of Christ is revealed.

-The temptation has passed; Anthony kneels in prayer.

-

-L. H.

-

-

-

-

-THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY

-

-

-_It is in the Thebaid at the summit of a mountain, upon a platform,

-rounded off into the form of a demilune, and enclosed by huge stones._

-

-_The Hermit's cabin appears in the background. It is built of mud and

-reeds, it is flat-roofed and doorless. A pitcher and a loaf of black

-bread can be distinguished within also, in the middle of the apartment

-a large book resting on a wooden STELA; while here and there, fragments

-of basketwork, two or three mats, a basket, and a knife lie upon the

-ground._

-

-_Some ten paces from the hut, there is a long cross planted in the

-soil; and, at the other end of the platform, an aged and twisted

-palm tree leans over the abyss; for the sides of the mountain are

-perpendicular, and the Nile appears to form a lake at the foot of the

-cliff._

-

-_The view to right and left is broken by the barrier of rocks. But

-on the desert-side, like a vast succession of sandy beaches, immense

-undulations of an ashen-blonde color extend one behind the other,

-rising higher as they recede; and far in the distance, beyond the

-sands, the Libyan chain forms a chalk-colored wall, lightly shaded by

-violet mists. On the opposite side the sun is sinking. In the north the

-sky is of a pearl-gray tint, while at the zenith purple clouds disposed

-like the tufts of a gigantic mane, lengthen themselves against the blue

-vault. These streaks of flame take darker tones; the azure spots turn

-to a nacreous pallor; the shrubs, the pebbles, the earth, all now seem

-hard as bronze; and throughout space there floats a golden dust so fine

-as to become confounded with the vibrations of the light._

-

-_Saint Anthony, who has a long beard, long hair, and wears a tunic of

-goatskin, is seated on the ground cross-legged, and is occupied in

-weaving mats. As soon as the sun disappears, he utters a deep sigh,

-and, gazing upon the horizon, exclaims_:--

-

-"Another day! another day gone! Nevertheless formerly I used not to

-be so wretched. Before the end of the night I commenced my orisons;

-then I descended to the river to get water, and remounted the rugged

-pathway with the skin upon my shoulder, singing hymns on the way. Then

-I would amuse myself by arranging everything in my hut. I would make my

-tools; I tried to make all my mats exactly equal in size, and all my

-baskets light; for then my least actions seemed to me duties in nowise

-difficult or painful of accomplishment.

-

-"Then at regular hours I ceased working; and when I prayed with my arms

-extended, I felt as though a fountain of mercy were pouring from the

-height of heaven into my heart. That fountain is now dried up. Why?"

-

-(_He walks up and down slowly, within the circuit of the rocks._)

-

-"All blamed me when I left the house. My mother sank to the ground,

-dying; my sister from afar off made signs to me to return; and the

-other--wept, Ammonaria, the child whom I used to meet every evening

-at the cistern, when she took the oxen to drink. She ran after me. Her

-foot rings glittered in the dust; and her tunic, open at the hips,

-fluttered loosely in the wind. The aged anchorite who was leading me

-away called her vile names. Our two camels galloped forward without

-respite; and I have seen none of my people since that day.

-

-"At first, I selected for my dwelling place, the tomb of a Pharaoh. But

-an enchantment circulates through all those subterranean palaces, where

-the darkness seems to have been thickened by the ancient smoke of the

-aromatics. From the depths of Sarcophagi, I heard doleful voices arise,

-and call my name; or else, I suddenly beheld the abominable things

-painted upon the walls live and move; and I fled away to the shore

-of the Red Sea, and took refuge in a ruined citadel. There my only

-companions were the scorpions dragging themselves among the stones, and

-the eagles continually wheeling above my head, in the blue of heaven.

-At night I was torn by claws, bitten by beaks; soft wings brushed

-against me; and frightful demons, shrieking in my ears, flung me upon

-the ground. Once I was even rescued by the people of a caravan going

-to Alexandria; and they took me away with them.

-

-"Then I sought to obtain instruction from the good old man Didymus.

-Although blind, none equalled him in the knowledge of the Scriptures.

-When the lesson was finished, he used to ask me to give him my arm

-to lean upon, that we might walk together. Then I would conduct him

-to the Paneum, whence may be seen the Pharos and the open sea. Then

-we would return by way of the post, elbowing men of all nations,

-even Cimmerians clad in the skins of bears and Gymnosophists of the

-Ganges anointed with cow-dung. But there was always some fighting in

-the streets--either on account of the Jews refusing to pay taxes, or

-of seditious people who wished to drive the Romans from the city.

-Moreover, the city is full of heretics--followers of Manes; Valentinus,

-Basilides, Arius--all seeking to engross my attention in order to argue

-with me and to convince me.

-

-"Their discourses often come back to my memory. Vainly do I seek to

-banish them from my mind. They trouble me!

-

-"I took refuge at Colzin, and there lived a life of such penance that

-I ceased to fear God. A few men, desirous of becoming anchorites,

-gathered about me. I imposed a practical rule of life upon them,

-hating, as I did, the extravagance of Gnosus and the assertions of the

-philosophers. Messages were sent to me from all parts, and men came

-from afar off to visit me.

-

-"Meanwhile the people were torturing the confessors; and the thirst of

-martyrdom drew me to Alexandria. The persecution had ceased three days

-before I arrived there!

-

-"While returning thence, I was stopped by a great crowd assembled

-before the temple of Serapis. They told me it was a last example which

-the Governor had resolved to make. In the centre of the portico, under

-the sunlight, a naked woman was fettered to a column, and two soldiers

-were flogging her with thongs; at every blow her whole body writhed.

-She turned round, her mouth open; and over the heads of the crowd,

-through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought that I could

-recognize Ammonaria....

-

-[Illustration: ... through the long hair half hiding her face,

-I thought that I could recognize Ammonaria]

-

-"Nevertheless ... this one was taller ... and beautiful ...

-prodigiously beautiful!"

-

-(_He passes his hands over his forehead._)

-

-"No! no! I must not think of it!

-

-"Another time Athanasius summoned me to assist him against the Arians.

-The contest was limited to invectives and laughter. But since that

-time he has been calumniated, dispossessed of his see, obliged to fly

-for safety elsewhere. Where is he now? I do not know! The people give

-themselves very little trouble to bring me news. All my disciples have

-abandoned me--Hilarion like the rest.

-

-"He was perhaps fifteen years of age when he first came to me and his

-intelligence was so remarkable that he asked me questions incessantly.

-Then he used to listen to me with a pensive air, and whatever I needed

-he brought it to me without a murmur--nimbler than a kid, merry enough

-to make even the patriarchs laugh. He was a son to me."

-

-(_The sky is red; the earth completely black. Long drifts of sand

-follow the course of the gusts of wind, rising like great shrouds and

-falling again. Suddenly against a bright space in the sky a flock of

-birds pass, forming a triangular battalion, gleaming like one sheet of

-metal, of which the edges alone seem to quiver._

-

-_Anthony watches them._)

-

-"Ah, how I should like to follow them.

-

-"How often also have I enviously gazed upon those long vessels,

-whose sails resemble wings--and above all when they were bearing

-far away those I had received at my hermitage! What pleasant hours

-we passed!--what out-pourings of feeling! No one ever interested me

-more than Ammon: he told me of his voyage to Rome, of the Catacombs,

-the Coliseum, the piety of illustrious women, and a thousand other

-things!--and it grieved me to part with him! Wherefore my obstinacy

-in continuing to live such a life as this? I would have done well to

-remain with the monks of Nitria, inasmuch as they supplicated me to

-do so. They have cells apart, and nevertheless communicate with each

-other. On Sundays a trumpet summons them to assemble at the church,

-where one may see three scourges hanging up, which serve to punish

-delinquents, robbers, and intruders; for their discipline is severe.

-

-"Nevertheless they are not without some enjoyments. The faithful bring

-them eggs, fruits, and even instruments with which they can extract

-thorns from their feet. There are vineyards about Prisperi; those

-dwelling at Pabena have a raft on which they may journey when they go

-to seek provisions.

-

-"But I might have served my brethren better as a simple priest. As a

-priest one may aid the poor, administer the sacraments, and exercise

-authority over families.

-

-"Furthermore, all laics are not necessarily damned, and it only

-depended upon my own choice to become--for example--a grammarian, a

-philosopher. I would then have had in my chamber a sphere of reeds,

-and tablets always ready at hand, young men around me, and a wreath of

-laurel suspended above my door, as a sign.

-

-"But there is too much pride in triumphs such as those. A soldier's

-life would have been preferable. I was robust and bold: bold enough to

-fasten the cables of the military machines--to traverse dark forests,

-or to enter, armed and helmeted, into smoking cities.... Neither was

-there anything to have prevented me from purchasing with my money the

-position of publican at the toll-office of some bridge; and travellers

-would have taught me many strange things, and told me strange stories,

-the while showing me many curious objects packed up among their

-baggage....

-

-"The merchants of Alexandria sail upon the river Canopus on holidays,

-and drink wine in the chalices of lotus-flowers, to a music of

-tambourines which makes the taverns along the shore tremble! Beyond,

-trees, made cone-shaped by pruning, protect the quiet farms against

-the wind of the south. The roof of the lofty house leans upon thin

-colonettes placed as closely together as the laths of a lattice;

-and through their interspaces the master, reclining upon his long

-couch, beholds his plains stretching about him--the hunter among the

-wheat-fields--the winepress where the vintage is being converted into

-wine, the oxen treading out the wheat. His children play upon the floor

-around him; his wife bends down to kiss him."

-

-(_Against the grey dimness of the twilight, here and there appear

-pointed muzzles, with straight, pointed ears and bright eyes. Anthony

-advances toward them. There is a sound of gravel crumbling down; the

-animals take flight. It was a troop of jackals._

-

-_One still remains, rising upon his hinder legs, with his body half

-arched and head raised in an attitude full of defiance._)

-

-"How pretty he is! I would like to stroke his back gently!"

-

-(_Anthony whistles to coax him to approach. The jackal disappears._)

-

-"Ah! he is off to join the others. What solitude! what weariness!"

-(_Laughing bitterly._)

-

-"A happy life this indeed!--bending palm-branches in the fire to make

-shepherds' crooks, fashioning baskets, stitching mats together--and

-then exchanging these things with the Nomads for bread which breaks

-one's teeth! Ah! woe, woe is me! will this never end? Surely death were

-preferable! I can endure it no more! Enough! enough!"

-

-(_He stamps his foot upon the ground, and rushes frantically to and fro

-among the rocks; then pauses, out of breath, bursts into tears, and

-lies down upon the ground, on his side._

-

-_The night is calm; multitudes of stars are palpitating; only the

-crackling noise made by the tarantulas is audible._

-

-_The two arms of the cross make a shadow upon the sand; Anthony, who is

-weeping, observes it._)

-

-"Am I, then, so weak, O my God! Courage, let me rise from here!"

-

-(_He enters his hut, turns over a pile of cinders, finds a live ember,

-lights his torch and fixes it upon the wooden desk, so as to throw a

-light upon the great book._)

-

-"Suppose I take the Acts of the Apostles?--yes!--no matter where!"

-

-_'And he saw the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it

-were a great linen sheet let down by the four corners from heaven to

-the earth--wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping

-things of the earth and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to

-him: Arise, Peter! Kill and eat!'_[1]

-

-"Then the Lord desired that his apostle should eat of all things?...

-while I...."

-

-(_Anthony remains thoughtful, his chin resting against his breast. The

-rustling of the pages, agitated by the wind, causes him to lift his

-head again; and he reads_:)

-

-_'So the Jews made a great slaughter of their enemies with the sword,

-and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to

-them...._[2]

-

-"Then, comes the number of people slain by them--seventy-five thousand.

-They had suffered so much! Moreover, their enemies were the enemies of

-the true God. And how they must have delighted in avenging themselves

-thus by the massacre of idolaters! Doubtless the city must have been

-crammed with the dead! There must have been corpses at the thresholds

-of the garden gates, upon the stairways, in all the chambers, and piled

-up so high that the doors could no longer move upon their hinges!...

-But lo! here I am permitting my mind to dwell upon ideas of murder and

-of blood!..."

-

-(_He opens the book at another place._)

-

-_'Then King Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped

-Daniel...._'[3]

-

-"Ah! that was just! The _Most High_ exalts his prophets above Kings;

-yet that monarch spent his life in banqueting, perpetually drunk with

-pleasure and pride. But God, to punish him, changed him into a beast!

-He walked upon four feet!"

-

-(_Anthony begins to laugh; and in extending his arms, involuntarily

-disarranges the leaves of the book with the tips of his fingers. His

-eyes fell upon this phrase_:--)

-

-_'And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he showed them the house

-of his aromatical spices, and the gold and the silver, and divers

-precious odours and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all

-that he had in his treasures....'_[4]

-

-"I can imagine that spectacle; they must have beheld precious stones,

-diamonds and darics heaped up to the very roof. One who possesses so

-vast an accumulation of wealth is no longer like other men. While

-handling his riches he knows that he controls the total result of

-innumerable human efforts--as it were the life of nations drained by

-him and stored up, which he can pour forth at will. It is a commendable

-precaution on the part of Kings. Even the _Wisest_ of all did not

-neglect it. His navy brought him elephants' teeth and apes.... Where is

-that passage?"

-

-(_He turns the leaves over rapidly._)

-

-"Ah! here it is:"

-

-_'And the Queen of Saba, having heard of the fame of Solomon in the

-name of the Lord, came to try him with hard questions.'_[5]

-

-"How did she hope to tempt him? The _Devil_ indeed sought to tempt

-Jesus! But Jesus triumphed because he was God; and Solomon, perhaps,

-owing this knowledge of magic! It is sublime--that science! For the

-world--as a philosopher once explained it to me, forms a whole, of

-which all parts mutually influence one another, like the organs of one

-body. It is science which enables us to know the natural loves and

-natural repulsions of all things, and to play upon them?... Therefore,

-it is really possible to modify what appears to be the immutable order

-of the universe?"

-

-(_Then the two shadows formed behind him by the arms of the cross,

-suddenly lengthen and project themselves before him. They assume the

-form of two great horns. Anthony cries out_:--)

-

-"Help me! O my God!"

-

-[Illustration: Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God!]

-

-(_The shadows shrink back to their former place._)

-

-"Ah!... it was an illusion ... nothing more. It is needless for me to

-torment my mind further! I can do nothing!--absolutely nothing."

-

-(_He sits down and folds his arms._)

-

-"Nevertheless ... it seems to me that I felt the approach of.... But

-why should _He_ come? Besides, do I not know all his artifices? I

-repulsed the monstrous anchorite who laughingly offered me little

-loaves of warm, fresh bread, the centaur who sought to carry me away

-upon his croup, and that black child who appeared to me in the midst of

-the sands, who was very beautiful, and who told me that he was called

-the Spirit of Lust!"

-

-(_Anthony rises and walks rapidly up and down, first to the right, then

-to the left._)

-

-"It was by my order that this multitude of holy retreats was

-constructed--full of monks all wearing sackcloth of camel's hair

-beneath their garments of goatskin, and numerous enough to form an

-army. I have cured the sick from afar off; I have cast out demons;

-I have passed the river in the midst of crocodiles; the Emperor

-Constantine wrote me throe letters; Balacius, who had spat upon mine,

-was torn to pieces by his own horses; when I reappeared the people of

-Alexandria fought for the pleasure of seeing me, and Athanasius himself

-escorted me on the way back. But what works have I not accomplished

-Lo! for these thirty years and more I have been dwelling and groaning

-unceasingly in the desert! Like Eusebius, I have carried thirty-eight

-pounds of bronze upon my loins; like Macarius, I have exposed my body

-to the stings of insects; like Pacomus, I have passed fifty-three

-nights without closing my eyes; and those who are decapitated, tortured

-with red hot pincers, or burned alive, are perhaps less meritorious

-than I, seeing that my whole life is but one prolonged martyrdom."

-(_Anthony slackens his pace._)

-

-"Assuredly there is no human being in a condition of such unutterable

-misery! Charitable hearts are becoming scarcer. I no longer receive

-aught from any one. My mantle is worn out. I have no sandals--I have

-not even a porringer!--for I have distributed all I possessed to the

-poor and to my family, without retaining so much as one obolus. Yet

-surely I ought to have a little money to obtain the tools indispensable

-to my work? Oh, not much! a very small sum.... I would be very saving

-of it....

-

-"The fathers of Nicæa, clad in purple robes, sat like magi, upon

-thrones ranged along the walls; and they were entertained at a great

-banquet and overwhelmed with honours, especially Paphnutius, because he

-is one-eyed and lame, since the persecution of Diocletian! The Emperor

-kissed his blind eye several times; what foolishness! Besides, there

-were such infamous men members of that Council! A bishop of Scythia,

-Theophilus! another of Persia, John! a keeper of beasts, Spiridion!

-Alexander was too old. Athanasius ought to have shown more gentleness

-towards the Arians, so as to have obtained concessions from them.

-

-"Yet would they have made any? They would not hear me! The one who

-spoke against me--a tall young man with a curly beard--uttered the

-most captious objections to my argument; and while I was seeking words

-to express my views they all stared at me with their wicked faces,

-and barked like hyenas. Ah! why cannot I have them all exiled by the

-Emperor! or rather have them beaten, crushed, and see them suffer! I

-suffer enough myself."

-

-(_He leans against his cabin in a fainting condition._)

-

-"It is because I have fasted too long; my strength is leaving me. If I

-could eat--only once more--a piece of meat." (_He half closes his eyes

-with languor._)

-

-"Ah! some red flesh--a bunch of grapes to bite into ... curdled milk

-that trembles on a plate!...

-

-"But what has come upon me? What is the matter with me? I feel my heart

-enlarging like the sea, when it swells before the storm. An unspeakable

-feebleness weighs down upon me, and the warm air seems to waft me

-the perfume of a woman's hair. No woman has approached this place;

-nevertheless?--"

-

-(_He gazes toward the little pathway between the rocks._)

-

-"That is the path by which they come, rocked in their litters by the

-black arms of the eunuchs. They descend and joining their hands,

-heavy with rings, kneel down before me. They relate to me all their

-troubles. The desire of human pleasure tortures them; they would

-gladly die; they have seen in their dreams God calling to them ... and

-all the while the hems of their robes fall upon my feet. I repel them

-from me. 'Ah! no!' they cry, 'not yet! What shall I do?' They gladly

-accept any penitence I impose on them. They ask for the hardest of all;

-they beg to share mine and to live with me.

-

-"It is now a long time since I have seen any of them! Perhaps some of

-them will come! why not? If I could only hear again, all of a sudden,

-the tinkling of mule-bells among the mountains. It seems to me...."

-

-(_Anthony clambers upon a rock at the entrance of the pathway, and

-leans over, darting his eyes into the darkness._)

-

-"Yes! over there, far off I see a mass moving, like a band of

-travellers seeking the way. _She_ is there!... They are making a

-mistake." (_Calling._)

-

-"This way! Come! Come!"

-

-(_Echo repeats: Come! Come! he lets his arms fall, stupefied._)

-

-"What shame for me! Alas! poor Anthony."

-

-(_And all of a sudden he hears a whisper:--"Poor Anthony"!_)

-

-"Who is there? Speak!"

-

-(_The wind passing through the intervals between the rocks, makes

-modulations; and in those confused sonorities he distinguishes Voices,

-as though the air itself were speaking. They are low, insinuating,

-hissing._)

-

-_The First_: "Dost thou desire women?"

-

-_The Second_: "Great heaps of money, rather!"

-

-_The Third_: "A glittering sword?" (_and_)

-

-_The Others_: "All the people admire thee! Sleep!"

-

-"Thou shalt slay them all, aye, thou shalt slay them!"

-

-(_At the same moment objects become transformed. At the edge of the

-cliff, the old palm tree with its tuft of yellow leaves, changes into

-the torso of a woman leaning over the abyss, her long hair waving in

-the wind.

-

-Anthony turns toward his cabin; and the stool supporting the great book

-whose pages are covered with black letters, seems to him changed into a

-bush all covered with nightingales._)

-

-"It must be the torch which is making this strange play of light....

-Let us put it out!"

-

-(_He extinguishes it; the obscurity becomes deeper, the darkness

-profound._

-

-_And suddenly in the air above there appear and disappear

-successively--first, a stretch of water; then the figure of a

-prostitute; the corner of a temple, a soldier; a chariot with two white

-horses, prancing._

-

-_These images appear suddenly, as in flashes--outlined against the

-background of the night, like scarlet paintings executed upon ebony._

-

-_Their motion accelerates. They defile by with vertiginous rapidity.

-Sometimes again, they pause and gradually pale and melt away; or else

-float off out of sight, to be immediately succeeded by others._

-

-_Anthony closes his eyelids._

-

-_They multiply, surround him, besiege him. An unspeakable fear takes

-possession of him; and he feels nothing more of living sensation, save

-a burning contraction of the epigastrium. In spite of the tumult in

-his brain, he is aware of an enormous silence which separates him from

-the world. He tries to speak;--impossible! He feels as though all the

-bands of his life were breaking and dissolving;--and, no longer able to

-resist, Anthony falls prostrate upon his mat._)

-

-

-[1] Acts X: 11-13--T.

-

-[2] Esther IX: 5--T.

-

-[3] Daniel II: 46.--T.

-

-[4] Kings XX: 13 (Vulg.).--T.

-

-[5] III Kings X: I (Vulg.).--T.

-

-

-

-

-II

-

-

-(_Then a great shadow, subtler than any natural shadow, and festooned

-by other shadows along its edges, defines itself upon the ground._

-

-_It is the Devil, leaning upon the roof of the hut, and bearing beneath

-his wings--like some gigantic bat suckling its little ones--the Seven

-Deadly Sins, whose grimacing heads are dimly distinguishable._

-

-_With eyes still closed, Anthony yields to the pleasure of inaction;

-and stretches his limbs upon the mat._

-

-_It seems to him quite soft, and yet softer--so that it becomes as if

-padded; it rises up; it becomes a bed. The bed becomes a shallop; water

-laps against its sides._

-

-_To right and left rise two long tongues of land, overlooking low

-cultivated plains, with a sycamore tree here and there. In the distance

-there is a tinkling of bells, a sound of drums and of singers. It is a

-party going to Canopus to sleep upon the temple of Serapis, in order

-to have dreams. Anthony knows this; and impelled by the wind, his boat

-glides along between the banks. Papyrus-leaves and the red flowers of

-the nymphæa, larger than the body of a man, bend over him. He is lying

-at the bottom of the boat; one oar at the stem, drags in the water.

-From time to time, a lukewarm wind blows; and the slender reeds rub one

-against the other, and rustle. Then the sobbing of the wavelets becomes

-indistinct. A heavy drowsiness falls upon him. He dreams that he is a

-Solitary of Egypt._

-

-_Then he awakes with a start._)

-

-"Did I dream? It was all so vivid that I can scarcely believe I was

-dreaming! My tongue burns. I am thirsty."

-

-(_He enters the cabin, and gropes at random in the dark._)

-

-"The ground is wet; can it have been raining? What can this mean! My

-pitcher is broken into atoms! But the goatskin?" (_He finds it._)

-

-"Empty!--completely empty! In order to get down to the river, I should

-have to walk for at least three hours; and the night is so dark that I

-could not see my way.

-

-"There is a gnawing in my entrails. Where is the bread!"

-

-(_After long searching, he picks up a crust not so large as an egg._)

-

-"What? Have the jackals taken it? Ah! malediction!"

-

-(_And he flings the bread upon the ground with fury._

-

-_No sooner has the action occurred than a table makes its appearance,

-covered with all things that are good to eat._

-

-_The byssus cloth, striated like the bandelets of the sphinx, produces

-of itself luminous undulations. Upon it are enormous quarters of red

-meats; huge fish; birds cooked in their plumage, and quadrupeds in

-their skins; fruits with colors and tints almost human in appearance;

-while fragments of cooling ice, and flagons of violet crystal reflect

-each other's glittering. Anthony notices in the middle of the table

-a boar smoking at every pore--with legs doubled up under its belly,

-and eyes half closed--and the idea of being able to eat so formidable

-an animal greatly delights him. Then many things appear which he has

-never seen before--black hashes, jellies, the color of gold, ragouts in

-which mushrooms float like nenuphars upon ponds, dishes of whipt cream

-light as clouds._

-

-_And the aroma of all this comes to him together with the salt smell of

-the ocean, the coolness of mountains, the great perfumes of the woods.

-He dilates his nostrils to their fullest extent; his mouth waters; he

-thinks to himself that he has enough before him for a year, for ten

-years, for his whole life!_

-

-_As he gazes with widely-opened eyes at all these viands, others

-appear; they accumulate, forming a pyramid crumbling at all its angles.

-The wines begin to flow over--the fish palpitate--the blood seethes in

-the dishes--the pulp of the fruit protrudes like amorous lips--and the

-table rises as high as his breast, up to his very chin at last--now

-bearing only one plate and a single loaf of bread, placed exactly in

-front of him._

-

-_He extends his hand to seize the loaf. Other loaves immediately

-present themselves to his grasp._)

-

-"For me!... all these! But ..." (_Anthony suddenly draws back._)

-

-"Instead of one which was there, lo! there are many! It must be a

-miracle, then, the same as our Lord wrought!

-

-"Yet for what purpose?... Ah! all the rest of these things are equally

-incomprehensible! Demon, begone from me! depart! begone!"

-

-(_He kicks the table from him. It disappears._)

-

-"Nothing more?--no!" (_He draws a lung breath._)

-

-"Ah! the temptation was strong! But how well I delivered myself from

-it!"

-

-(_He lifts his head, and at the same time stumbles over some sonorous

-object._)

-

-"Why! what can that be?" (_Anthony stoops down._)

-

-"How! a cup! Some traveller must have lost it here. There is nothing

-extraordinary...."

-

-(_He wets his finger, and rubs._)

-

-"It glitters!--metal! Still, I cannot see very clearly...."

-

-(_He lights his torch, and examines the cup._)

-

-"It is silver, ornamented with ovules about the rim, with a medal at

-the bottom of it."

-

-(_He detaches the medal with his nail!_)

-

-"It is a piece of money worth about seven or eight drachmas--not more!

-It matters not! even with that I could easily buy myself a sheepskin."

-

-(_A sudden flash of the torch lights up the cup._)

-

-"Impossible! gold? Yes, all gold, solid gold!"

-

-(_A still larger piece of money appears at the bottom. Under it he

-perceives several others._)

-

-"Why, this is a sum ... large enough to purchase three oxen ... and a

-little field!"

-

-(_The cup is now filled with pieces of gold._)

-

-"What! what!... a hundred slaves, soldiers, a host ... enough to

-buy...."

-

-(_The granulations of the rim, detaching themselves form a necklace of

-pearls._)

-

-"With such a marvel of jewelry as that, one could win even the wife of

-the Emperor!"

-

-(_By a sudden jerk, Anthony makes the necklace slip down over his

-wrist. He holds the cup in his left hand, and with his right lifts

-up the torch so as to throw the light upon it. As water streams

-overflowing from the basin of a fountain, so diamonds, carbuncles, and

-sapphires, all mingled with broad pieces of gold bearing the effigies

-of Kings, overflow from the cup in never ceasing streams, to form a

-glittering hillock upon the sand._)

-

-"What! how! Staters, cycles, dariacs, aryandics; Alexander, Demetrius,

-the Ptolemies, Cæsar!--yet not one of them all possessed so much!

-Nothing is now impossible! no more suffering for me! how these

-gleams dazzle my eyes! Ah! my heart overflows! how delightful it is!

-yes--yes!--more yet! never could there be enough! Vainly I might

-continually fling it into the sea, there would always be plenty

-remaining for me. Why should I lose any of it? I will keep all, and say

-nothing to any one about it; I will have a chamber hollowed out for me

-in the rock, and lined with plates of bronze, and I will come here from

-time to time to feel the gold sinking down under the weight of my heel;

-I will plunge my arms into it as into sacks of grain! I will rub my

-face with it, I will lie down upon it!"

-

-(_He flings down the torch in order to embrace the glittering heap, and

-falls flat upon the ground._

-

-_He rises to his feet. The place is wholly empty._)

-

-"What have I done!

-

-"Had I died during those moments, I should have gone to hell--to

-irrevocable damnation."

-

-(_He trembles in every limb._)

-

-"Am I, then, accursed? Ah! no; it is my own fault! I allow myself

-to be caught in every snare! No man could be more imbecile, more

-infamous! I should like to beat myself, or rather to tear myself out

-of my own body! I have restrained myself too long. I feel the want of

-vengeance--the necessity of striking, of killing!--as though I had a

-pack of wild beasts within me! Would that I could hew my way with an

-axe, through the midst of a multitude.... Ah, a poniard!..."

-

-(_He perceives his knife, and rushes to seize it. The knife slips from

-his hand; and Anthony remains leaning against the wall of his hut, with

-wide-open mouth, motionless, cataleptic._

-

-_Everything about him has disappeared._

-

-_He thinks himself at Alexandria, upon the Paneum--an artificial

-mountain in the centre of the city, encircled by a winding stairway._

-

-_Before him lies Lake Mareolis; on his right hand is the sea, on his

-left the country; and immediately beneath him a vast confusion of

-flat roofs, traversed from north to south and from east to west by

-two streets which intercross, and which offer throughout their entire

-length the spectacle of files of porticoes with Corinthian columns. The

-houses overhanging this double colonnade have windows of stained glass.

-Some of them support exteriorly enormous wooden cages, into which the

-fresh air rushes from without._

-

-_Monuments of various architecture tower up in close proximity.

-Egyptian pylons dominate Greek temples. Obelisks appear like lances

-above battlements of red brick. In the middle of public squares there

-are figures of Hermes with pointed ears, and of Anubis with the head of

-a dog. Anthony can distinguish the mosaic pavements of the courtyards,

-and tapestries suspended from the beams of ceilings._

-

-_He beholds at one glance, the two ports (the Great Port and the

-Eunostus), both round as circuses, and separated by a mole connecting

-Alexandria with the craggy island upon which the Pharos-tower

-rises--quadrangular, five hundred cubits high, nine storied, having at

-its summit a smoking heap of black coals._

-

-_Small interior ports open into the larger ones. The mole terminates at

-each end in a bridge supported upon marble columns planted in the sea.

-Sailing vessels pass beneath it, while heavy lighters overladen with

-merchandise, thalamegii[1] inlaid with ivory, gondolas covered with

-awnings, triremes, biremes, and all sorts of vessels are moving to and

-fro, or lie moored at the wharves._

-

-_About the Great Port extends an unbroken array of royal construction:

-the palace of the Ptolomies, the Museum, the Posidium, the Cæsareum,

-the Timonium where Mark Anthony sought refuge, the Soma which contains

-the tomb of Alexander; while at the other extremity of the city, beyond

-the Eunostus, the great glass factories, perfume factories, and papyrus

-factories may be perceived in a suburban quarter._

-

-_Strolling peddlers, porters, ass-drivers run and jostle together.

-Here and there one observes some priest of Isis wearing a panther skin

-on his shoulders, a Roman soldier with his bronze helmet, and many

-negroes. At the thresholds of the shops women pause, artisans ply their

-trades; and the grinding noise of chariot wheels puts to flight the

-birds that devour the detritus of the butcher-shops and the morsels of

-fish left upon the ground._

-

-_The general outline of the streets seems like a black network flung

-upon the white uniformity of the houses. The markets stocked with

-herbs make green bouquets in the midst of it; the drying-yards of the

-dyers, blotches of color; the golden ornaments of the temple-pediments,

-luminous points--all comprised within the oval enclosure of the grey

-ramparts, under the vault of the blue heaven, beside the motionless

-sea._

-

-_But suddenly the movement of the crowd ceases; all turn their

-eyes toward the west, whence enormous whirlwinds of dust are seen

-approaching._

-

-_It is the coming of the monks of the Thebaid, all clad in goatskins,

-armed with cudgels, roaring a canticle of battle and of faith with the

-refrain_:

-

-"Where are they? Where are they?"

-

-_Anthony understands that they are coming to kill the Arians._

-

-_The streets are suddenly emptied--only flying feet are visible._

-

-_The Solitaries are now in the city. Their formidable cudgels, studded

-with nails, whirl in the air like suns of steel. The crash of things

-broken in the houses is heard. There are intervals of silence. Then

-great screams arise._

-

-_From one end of the street to the other there is a continual eddy of

-terrified people._

-

-_Many grasp pikes. Sometimes two bands meet, rush into one; and this

-mass of men slips upon the pavement--fighting, disjointing, knocking

-down. But the men with the long hair always reappear._

-

-_Threads of smoke begin to escape from the corners of edifices! folding

-doors burst open. Portions of walls crumble down. Architraves fall._

-

-_Anthony finds all his enemies again, one after the other. He even

-recognizes some whom he had altogether forgotten; before killing them

-he outrages them. He disembowels--he severs throats--he fells as in

-a slaughter house--he hales old men by the beard, crushes children,

-smites the wounded. And vengeance is taken upon luxury, those who

-do not know how to read tear up hooks; others smash and deface the

-statues, paintings, furniture, caskets,--a thousand dainty things

-the use of which they do not know, and which simply for that reason

-exasperates them. At intervals they pause, out of breath, in the work

-of destruction; then they recommence._

-

-_The inhabitants moan in the courtyards where they have sought refuge.

-The women raise their tearful eyes and lift their naked arms to heaven.

-In hope of moving the Solitaries they embrace their knees; the men cast

-them off and fling them down, and the blood gushes to the ceilings,

-falls back upon the walls like sheets of rain, streams from the trunks

-of decapitated corpses, fills the aqueducts, forms huge red pools upon

-the ground._

-

-_Anthony is up to his knees in it. He wades in it; he sucks up the

-blood-spray on his lips; he is thrilled with joy as he feels it upon

-his limbs, under his hair-tunic which is soaked through with it._

-

-_Night comes. The immense uproar dies away._

-

-_The Solitaries have disappeared._

-

-_Suddenly, upon the outer galleries corresponding to each of the nine

-stories of the Pharos, Anthony observes thick black lines forming, like

-lines of crows perching. He hurries thither; and soon finds himself at

-the summit._

-

-_A huge mirror of brass turned toward the open sea, reflects the forms

-of the vessels in the offing._

-

-_Anthony amuses himself by watching them; and while he watches, their

-number increases._

-

-_They are grouped together within a gulf which has the form of a

-crescent. Upon a promontory in the background, towers a new city of

-Roman architecture, with cupolas of stone, conical roofs, gleams of

-pink and blue marbles, and a profusion of brazen ornamentation applied

-to the volutes of the capitals, to the angles of the cornices, to the

-summits of the edifices. A cypress-wood overhangs the city. The line of

-the sea is greener, the air colder. The mountains lining the horizon

-are capped with snow._

-

-_Anthony is trying to find his way, when a man approaches him, and

-says_:

-

-"Come! they are waiting for you."

-

-_He traverses a forum, enters a great court, stoops beneath a low

-door; and he arrives before the facade of the palace, decorated

-with a group in wax, representing Constantine overcoming a dragon.

-There is a porphyry basin, from the centre of which rises a golden

-conch-shell full of nuts. His guide tells him that he may take some of

-them. He does so. Then he is lost, as it were, in a long succession of

-apartments._

-

-_There are mosaics upon the walls representing generals presenting

-the Emperor with conquered cities, which they hold out upon the

-palms of their hands. And there are columns of basalt everywhere,

-trellis-work in silver filigree, ivory chairs, tapestries embroidered

-with pearls. The light falls from the vaults above; Anthony still

-proceeds. Warm exhalations circulate about him; occasionally he hears

-the discreet clapping sound of sandals upon the pavement. Posted in

-the anti-chambers are guards, who resemble automata, holding wands of

-vermillion upon their shoulders._

-

-[Illustration: And there are columns of basalt everywhere,... The

-light falls from the vaults above]

-

-_At last he finds himself in a great hall, with hyacinth-colored

-curtains at the further end. They part, and display the Emperor seated

-on a throne, clad in a violet tunic, and wearing red shoes striped with

-bands of black._

-

-_A diadem of pearls surround his head; his locks are arranged

-symmetrically in rouleaux. He has a straight nose, drooping eyelids,

-a heavy and cunning physiognomy. At the four corners of the dais

-stretched above his head are placed four golden doves; and at the foot

-of the throne are two lions in enamel crouching. The doves begin to

-sing, the lions to roar. The Emperor rolls his eyes; Anthony advances;

-and forthwith, without preamble, they commence to converse about

-recent events. In the cities of Antioch, Ephesus, and Alexandria,

-the temples have been sacked, and the statues of the gods converted

-into pots and cooking utensils; the Emperor laughs heartily about it.

-Anthony reproaches him with his tolerance toward the Novations. But the

-Emperor becomes vexed. Novations, Arians or Meletians--he is sick of

-them all! Nevertheless, he admires the episcopate; for inasmuch as the

-Christians maintain bishops, who depend for their position upon five or

-six important personages, it is only necessary to gain over the latter,

-in order to have all the rest on one's side. Therefore he did not fail

-to furnish them with large sums. But he detests the Fathers of the

-Council of Nicæa._

-

-"Let us go and see them!"

-

-_Anthony follows him._

-

-_And they find themselves on a terrace, upon the same floor._

-

-_It overlooks a hippodrome thronged with people, and surmounted by

-porticoes where other spectators are walking to and fro. From the

-centre of the race-course rises a narrow platform of hewn stone,

-supporting a little temple of Mercury, the statue of Constantine, and

-three serpents of brass twisted into a column; there are three huge

-wooden eggs at one end, and at the other a group of seven dolphins with

-their tails in the air._

-

-_Behind the imperial pavilion sit the Prefects of the Chambers, the

-Counts of the Domestics, and the Patricians--in ranks rising by tiers

-to the first story of a church whose windows are thronged with women.

-On the right is the tribune of the Blue Faction; on the left, that of

-the Green; below, a picket of soldiers is stationed; and on a level

-with the arena is a row of Corinthian arches, forming the entrances to

-the stables._

-

-_The races are about to commence; the horses are drawn up in line.

-Lofty plumes, fastened between their ears, bend to the wind like

-saplings; and with every restive bound, they shake their chariots

-violently, which are shell-shaped, and conducted by charioteers clad

-in a sort of multi-colored cuirass, having sleeves tight at the wrist

-and wide in the arms; their legs are bare; their beards, faces and

-foreheads are shaven after the manner of the Huns._

-

-_Anthony is at first deafened by the billowy sound of voices. From

-the summit of the hippodrome to its lowest tiers, he sees only faces

-painted with rouge, garments checkered and variegated with many colors,

-flashing jewelry; and the sand of the arena, all white, gleams like a

-mirror._

-

-_The Emperor entertains him. He confides to him many matters of high

-importance, many secrets; he confesses the assassination of his son

-Criopus, and even asks Anthony for advice regarding his health._

-

-_Meanwhile Anthony notices some slaves in the rear portion of the

-stables below. They are the Fathers of Nicæa, ragged and abject. The

-martyr Paphnutius is brushing the mane of one horse; Theophilus is

-washing the legs of another; John is painting the hoofs of a third;

-Alexander is collecting dung in a basket._

-

-_Anthony passes through the midst of them. They range themselves on

-either side respectfully; they beseech his intercession; they kiss his

-hands. The whole assemblage of spectators hoots at them; and he enjoys

-the spectacle with immeasurable pleasure. Lo! he is now one of the

-grandees of the Court--the Emperor's confidant--the prime minister!

-Constantine places his own diadem upon his brows. Anthony allows it to

-remain upon his head, thinking this honor quite natural._

-

-_And suddenly in the midst of the darkness a vast hall appears,

-illuminated by golden candelabra._

-

-_Candles so lofty that they are half lost in the darkness, stretch away

-in huge files beyond the lines of banquet-tables, which seem to extend

-to the horizon, where through a luminous haze loom superpositions of

-stairways, suites of arcades, colossi, towers, and beyond all a vague

-border of palace walls, above which rise the crests of cedars, making

-yet blacker masses of blackness against the darkness._

-

-_The guests, crowned with violet wreaths, recline upon very low couches

-and are leaning upon their elbows. Along the whole length of this

-double line of couches, wine is being poured out from amphoræ, and at

-the further end, all alone, coiffed with the tiara and blazing with

-carbuncles, King Nebuchadnezzar eats and drinks._

-

-_On his right and left, two bands of priests in pointed caps are

-swinging censers. On the pavement below crawl the captive kings whose

-hands and feet have been cut off; from time to time he flings them

-bones to gnaw. Further off sit his brothers, with bandages across their

-eyes, being all blind._

-

-_From the depths of the ergastula arise moans of ceaseless pain. Sweet

-slow sounds of a hydraulic organ alternate with choruses of song; and

-one feels that all about the palace without extends an immeasurable

-city--an ocean of human life whose waves break against the walls. The

-slaves run hither and thither carrying dishes. Women walk between the

-ranks of guests, offering drinks to all; the baskets groan under their

-burthen of loaves; and a dromedary, laden with perforated water-skins:

-passes and repasses through the hall, sprinkling and cooling the

-pavement with vervain._

-

-_Lion tamers are leading tamed lions about. Dancing girls--their

-hair confined in nets--balance themselves and turn upon their hands,

-emitting fire through their nostrils; negro boatmen are juggling; naked

-children pelt each other with pellets of snow, which burst against the

-bright silverware. There is an awful clamor as of a tempest; and a huge

-cloud hangs over the banquet--so numerous are the meats and breaths.

-Sometimes a flake of fire torn from the great flambeaux by the wind,

-traverses the night like a shooting star._

-

-_The king wipes the perfumes from his face with his arm. He eats from

-the sacred vessels--then breaks them; and secretly reckons up the

-number of his fleets, his armies, and his subjects. By and by, for a

-new caprice, he will burn his palace with all its guests. He dreams of

-rebuilding the tower of Babel, and dethroning God._

-

-_Anthony, from afar off, reads all these thoughts upon his brow. They

-penetrate his own brain, and he becomes Nebuchadnezzar. Immediately he

-is cloyed with orgiastic excesses, sated with fury of extermination;

-and a great desire comes upon him to wallow in vileness. For the

-degradation of that which terrifies men is an outrage inflicted upon

-their minds--it affords yet one more way to stupefy them; and as

-nothing is viler than a brute, Anthony goes upon the table on all

-fours, and bellows like a bull._

-

-_He feels a sudden pain in his hand--a pebble has accidentally wounded

-him--and he finds himself once more in front of his cabin._

-

-_The circle of the rocks is empty. The stars are glowing in the sky.

-All is hushed._)

-

-"Again have I allowed myself to be deceived! Why these things? They

-come from the rebellion of the flesh. Ah! wretch!"

-

-(_He rushes into his cabin, and seizes a bunch of thongs, with metallic

-hooks attached to their ends, strips himself to the waist and, lifting

-his eyes to heaven exclaims_:)

-

-"Accept my penance, O my God: disdain it not for its feebleness. Render

-it sharp, prolonged, excessive! It is time, indeed!--to the work!"

-

-(_He gives himself a vigorous lash--and shrieks._)

-

-"No! no!--without mercy it must be."

-

-(_He recommences._)

-

-"Oh! oh! oh! each lash tears my skin, rends my limbs! It burns me

-horribly!"

-

-"Nay!--it is not so very terrible after all!--one becomes accustomed to

-it. It even seems to me...."

-

-(_Anthony pauses._)

-

-"Continue, coward! continue! Good! good!--upon the arms, on the back,

-on the breast, on the belly--everywhere! Hiss, ye thongs! bite me!

-tear me! I would that my blood could spurt to the stars!--let my bones

-crack!--let my tendons be laid bare! O for pincers, racks, and melted

-lead! The martyrs have endured far worse; have they not, Ammonaria?"

-

-(_The shadow of the Devil's horns reappears._)

-

-"I might have been bound to the column opposite to thine,--face to

-face--under thy eyes--answering thy shrieks by my sighs; and our pangs

-might have been interblended, our souls intermingled."

-

-(_He lashes himself with fury._)

-

-"What! what! again. Take that!--But how strange a titillation thrills

-me! What punishment! what pleasure! I feel as though receiving

-invisible kisses; the very marrow of my bones seems to melt. I die...."

-

-_And he sees before him three cavaliers, mounted upon onagers, clad in

-robes of green--each holding a lily in his hand, and all resembling

-each other in feature._

-

-_Anthony turns round, and beholds three other cavaliers exactly

-similar, riding upon similar onagers, and preserving the same attitude._

-

-_He draws back. Then all the onagers advance one pace at the same time,

-and rub their noses against him, trying to bite his garment. Voices

-shout_:--

-

-"Here! here! this way!"

-

-_And between the clefts of the mountain, appear standards,--camels'

-heads with halters of red silk--mules laden with baggage, and women

-covered with yellow veils, bestriding piebald horses._

-

-_The panting beasts lie down; the slaves rush to the bales and

-packages, motley-striped carpets are unrolled; precious glimmering

-things are laid upon the ground._

-

-_A white elephant, caparisoned with a golden net, trots forward,

-shaking the tuft of ostrich plumes attached to his head-band._

-

-_Upon his back, perched on cushions of blue wool, with her legs

-crossed, her eyes half closed, her comely head sleepily nodding, is a

-woman so splendidly clad that she radiates light about her. The crowd

-falls prostrate; the elephant bends his knees; and_

-

-THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

-

-_letting herself glide down from his shoulder upon the carpets spread

-to receive her, approaches Saint Anthony._

-

-_Her robe of gold brocade, regularly divided by furbelows of pearls,

-of jet, and of sapphires, sheaths her figure closely with its

-tight-fitting bodice, set off by colored designs representing the

-twelve signs of the Zodiac. She wears very high pattens--one of which

-is black, and sprinkled with silver stars, with a moon crescent; the

-other, which is white, is sprinkled with a spray of gold, with a golden

-sun in the middle._

-

-_Her wide sleeves, decorated with emeralds and bird-plumes, leave

-exposed her little round bare arms, clasped at the wrist by ebony

-bracelets; and her hands, loaded with precious rings, are terminated by

-nails so sharply pointed that the ends of her fingers seem almost like

-needles._

-

-_A chain of dead gold, passing under her chin, is caught up on either

-side of her face, and spirally coiled about her coiffure, whence,

-redescending, it grazes her shoulders and is attached upon her bosom

-to a diamond scorpion, which protrudes a jewelled tongue between her

-breasts. Two immense blond pearls depend heavily from her ears. The

-borders of her eyelids are painted black. There is a natural brown spot

-upon her left cheek; and she opens her mouth in breathing, as if her

-corset inconvenienced her._

-

-_She shakes, as she approaches, a green parasol with an ivory handle,

-and silver-gilt bells attached to its rim; twelve little woolly-haired

-negro-boys support the long train of her robe, whereof an ape holds the

-extremity, which it raises up from time to time. She exclaims_:

-

-"Ah! handsome hermit! handsome hermit!--my heart swoons!

-

-"By dint of stamping upon the ground with impatience, callosities have

-formed upon my heel, and I have broken one of my nails. I sent out

-shepherds, who remained upon the mountain tops, shading their eyes with

-their hands--and hunters who shouted thy name in all the forests--and

-spies who travelled along the highways, asking every passer-by:

-

-"'Hast thou seen him?'

-

-"By night I wept, with my face turned to the wall. And at last my tears

-made two little holes in the mosaic, like two pools of water among the

-rocks;--for I love thee!--oh! how I love thee!"

-

-(_She takes him by the beard._)

-

-"Laugh now, handsome hermit! laugh! I am very joyous, very gay: thou

-shalt soon see! I play the lyre; I dance like a bee; and I know a host

-of merry tales to tell, each more diverting than the other.

-

-"Thou canst not even imagine how mighty a journey we have made. See!

-the onagers upon which the green couriers rode are dead with fatigue!"

-

-(_The onagers are lying motionless upon the ground._)

-

-"For three long moons they never ceased to gallop on with the same

-equal pace, holdings flints between their teeth to cut the wind, their

-tails ever streaming out behind them, their sinews perpetually strained

-to the uttermost, always galloping, galloping. Never can others be

-found like them. They were bequeathed me by my paternal grand-father,

-the Emperor Saharil, son of Iakhschab, son of Iaarab, son of Kastan.

-Ah! if they were still alive, we should harness them to a litter that

-they might bear us back speedily to the palace! But ... what ails

-thee?--of what art thou dreaming?"

-

-(_She stares at him, examines him closely._)

-

-"Ah, when thou shalt be my husband, I will robe thee, I will perfume

-thee, I will depilate thee."

-

-(_Anthony remains motionless, more rigid than a stake, more pallid

-than a corpse._)

-

-"Thou hast a sad look--is it because of leaving thy hermitage? Yet I

-have left everything for thee--even King Solomon, who, nevertheless,

-possesses much wisdom, twenty thousand chariots of war, and a beautiful

-beard. I have brought thee my wedding gifts. Choose!"

-

-(_She walks to and fro among the ranks of slaves and the piles of

-precious goods._)

-

-"Here is Genezareth balm, incense from Cape Gardefui, labdanum,

-cinnamon, and silphium--good to mingle with sauces. In that bale are

-Assyrian embroideries, ivory from the Ganges, purple from Elissa;

-and that box of snow contains a skin of chalybon, the wine, which

-is reserved for the Kings of Assyria, and which is drunk from the

-horn of a unicorn. Here are necklaces, brooches, nets for the hair,

-parasols, gold powder from Baasa, cassiteria from Tartessus, blue wood

-from Pandio, white furs from Issidonia, carbuncles from the Island

-Palæsimondus, and toothpicks made of the bristles of the tachas--that

-lost animal which is found under the earth. These cushions come from

-Emath, and these mantle-fringes from Palmyra. On this Babylonian carpet

-there is.... But come hither! come! come!"

-

-(_She pulls Saint Anthony by the sleeve. He resists. She continues_:)

-

-"This thin tissue which crackles under the finger with a sound as of

-sparks, is the famous yellow cloth which the merchants of Bactria bring

-us. I will have robes made of it for thee, which thou shalt wear in the

-house. Unfasten the hooks of that sycamore box, and hand me also the

-little ivory casket tied to my elephant's shoulder."

-

-(_They take something round out of a box--something covered with a

-cloth--and also bring a little ivory casket covered with carving._)

-

-"Dost thou desire the buckler of Dgian-ben-Dgian, who built the

-pyramids?--behold it!--It is formed of seven dragon-skins laid one over

-the other, tanned in the bile of parricides, and fastened together by

-adamantine screws. Upon one side are represented all the wars that have

-taken place since the invention of weapons; and upon the other, all the

-wars that will take place until the end of the world. The lightning

-itself rebounds from it like a ball of cork. I am going to place it

-upon thy arm; and thou wilt carry it during the chase.

-

-"But if thou didst only know what I have in this little box of mine!

-Turn it over and over again! try to open it! No one could ever succeed

-in doing that. Kiss me! and I will tell thee how to open it."

-

-(_She takes Saint Anthony by both cheeks. He pushes her away at arms'

-length._)

-

-"It was one night that King Solomon lost his head. At last we concluded

-a bargain. He arose, and stealing out on tiptoe...."

-

-(_She suddenly executes a pirouette._)

-

-"Ah, ah! comely hermit, thou shalt not know it! thou shalt not know!"

-

-(_She shakes her parasol, making all its little bells tinkle._)

-

-"And I possess many other strange things--oh! yes! I have treasures

-concealed in winding galleries where one would lose one's way, as

-in a forest. I have summer-palaces constructed in trellis-work of

-reeds, and winter-palaces all built of black marble. In the midst of

-lakes vast as seas, I have islands round as pieces of silver, and all

-covered with mother-of-pearl,--islands whose shores make music to

-the lapping of tepid waves upon the sand. The slaves of my kitchens

-catch birds in my aviaries, and fish in my fishponds. I have engravers

-continually seated at their benches to hollow out my likeness in hard

-jewel-stones, and panting molders forever casting statues of me, and

-perfumers incessantly mingling the sap of rare plants with vinegar,

-or preparing cosmetic pastes. I have female dressmakers cutting out

-patterns in richest material, goldsmiths cutting and mounting jewels of

-price, and careful painters pouring upon my palace wainscoting boiling

-resins, which they subsequently cool with fans. I have enough female

-attendants to form a harem, eunuchs enough to make an army. I have

-armies likewise; I have nations! In the vestibule of my palace I keep a

-guard of dwarfs--all bearing ivory trumpets at their backs." (_Anthony

-sighs._)

-

-"I have teams of trained gazelles; I have elephant quadrigæ; I have

-hundreds of pairs of camels, and mares whose manes are so long that

-their hoofs become entangled therein when they gallop, and herds of

-cattle with horns so broad that when they go forth to graze the woods

-have to be hewn down before them. I have giraffes wandering in my

-gardens; they stretch their heads over the edge of my roof, when I take

-the air after dinner.

-

-"Seated in a shell drawn over the waters by dolphins, I travel

-through the grottoes, listening lo the dropping of the water from the

-stalactites. I go down to the land of diamonds, where my friends the

-magicians allow me to choose the finest: then I reascend to earth and

-return to my home."

-

-(_She utters a sharp whistle; and a great bird, descending from the

-sky, alights upon her hair, from which it makes the blue powder fall._

-

-_Its orange-colored plumage seems formed of metallic scales. Its little

-head, crested with a silver tuft, has a human face._

-

-_It has four wings, the feet of a vulture, and an immense peacock's

-tail which it spreads open like a fan._

-

-_It seizes the Queen's parasol in its beak, reels a moment ere

-obtaining its balance; then it erects all its plumes, and remains

-motionless._)

-

-"Thanks! my beautiful Simorg-Anka!--thou didst tell me where the loving

-one was hiding! Thanks! thanks! my heart's messenger!

-

-"He flies swiftly as Desire! He circles the world in his flight. At eve

-he returns; he perches at the foot of my couch and tells me all he has

-seen--the seas that have passed far beneath him with all their fishes

-and ships, the great void deserts he has contemplated from the heights

-of the sky, the harvests that were bowing in the valleys, and the

-plants that were growing upon the walls of cities abandoned."

-

-(_She wrings her hands, languorously._)

-

-"Oh! if thou wast willing! if thou wast willing!... I have a pavilion

-on a promontory in the middle of an isthmus dividing two oceans. It is

-all wain-scoted with sheets of glass, and floored with tortoise shell,

-and open to the four winds of heaven. From its height I watch my fleets

-come in, and my nations toiling up the mountain-slopes with burthens

-upon their shoulders. There would we sleep upon downs softer than

-clouds; we would drink cool draughts from fruit-shells, and we would

-gaze at the sun through emeralds! Come!" ...

-

-(_Anthony draws back. She approaches him again, and exclaims in a tone

-of vexation_:--)

-

-"How? neither the rich, nor the coquettish, nor the amorous woman can

-charm thee: is it so? None but a lascivious woman, with a hoarse voice

-and lusty person, with fire-colored hair and superabundant flesh? Dost

-thou prefer a body cold as the skin of a serpent, or rather great dark

-eyes deeper than the mystic caverns?--behold them, my eyes!--look into

-them!"

-

-(_Anthony, in spite of him, gazes into her eyes._)

-

-"All the women thou hast ever met--from the leman of the cross-roads,

-singing under the light of her lantern, even to the patrician lady

-scattering rose-petals abroad from her litter,--all the forms thou hast

-ever obtained glimpses of--all the imaginations of thy desire thou hast

-only to ask for them! I am not a woman: I am a world! My cloak has only

-to fall in order that thou mayest discover a succession of mysteries."

-(_Anthony's teeth chatter._)

-

-"Place but thy finger upon my shoulder: it will be as though a stream

-of fire shot through all thy veins. The possession of the least part

-of me will fill thee with a joy more vehement than the conquest of an

-Empire could give thee! Approach thy lips: there is a sweetness in my

-kisses as of a fruit dissolving within thy heart. Ah! how thou wilt

-lose thyself beneath my long hair, inhale the perfume of my bosom,

-madden thyself with the beauty of my limbs: and thus, consumed by the

-fire of my eyes, clasped within my arms as in a whirlwind...."

-

-[Illustration: ... there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit

-dissolving within thy heart]

-

-(_Anthony makes the sign of the cross._)

-

-"Thou disdainest me! farewell!"

-

-(_She departs, weeping; then, suddenly turning round_:--)

-

-"Art quite sure?--so beautiful a woman...."

-

-(_She laughs, and the ape that bears her train, lifts it up._)

-

-"Thou wilt regret it, my comely hermit! thou wilt yet weep! thou wilt

-again feel weary of thy life; but I care not a whit! La! la! la!--oh!

-oh! oh!"

-

-(_She takes her departure, hopping upon one foot and covering her face

-with her hands._

-

-_All the slaves file off before Saint Anthony--the horses, the

-dromedaries, the elephant, the female attendants, the mules (which

-have been reloaded), the negro boys, the ape, the green couriers each

-holding his broken lily in his hand; and the Queen of Sheba departs,

-uttering a convulsive hiccough at intervals, which might be taken

-either for a sound of hysterical sobbing, or the half-suppressed

-laughter of mockery._)

-

-

-[1] _Thalamegii_--pleasure-boats having apartments.

-

-

-

-

-III

-

-

-(_When she has disappeared in the distance, Anthony observes a child

-seated upon the threshold of his cabin._)

-

-"It is one of the Queen's servants, no doubt," (_he thinks_).

-

-(_This child is small like a dwarf, and nevertheless squat of build,

-like one of the Cabiri; deformed withal, and wretched of aspect. His

-prodigiously large head is covered with white hair; and he shivers

-under a shabby tunic, all the while clutching a roll of papyrus. The

-light of the moon passing through a cloud falls upon him._)

-

-ANTHONY

-

-(_watches him from a distance, and is afraid of him._) "Who art thou?"

-

-THE CHILD (_replies_). "Thy ancient disciple, Hilarion."

-

-ANTHONY. "Thou liest! Hilarion hath been dwelling in Palestine for

-many long years."

-

-HILARION. "I have returned! It is really I!"

-

-ANTHONY (_draws near and examines him closely_). "Yet his face was

-radiant as the dawn, candid, joyous. This face is the face of one

-gloomy and old."

-

-HILARION. "Long and arduous labor hath wearied me!"

-

-ANTHONY. "The voice is also different. It hath an icy tone."

-

-HILARION. "Because I have nourished me with bitter things!"

-

-ANTHONY. "And those white hairs?"

-

-HILARION. "I have endured many woes!"

-

-ANTHONY (_aside_). "Could it be possible?"

-

-HILARION. "I was not so far from thee as thou doest imagine. The hermit

-Paul visited thee this year, during the month of Schebar. It is just

-twenty days since the Nomads brought thee bread. Thou didst tell a

-sailor, the day before yesterday, to send thee three bodkins."

-

-ANTHONY. "He knows all!"

-

-HILARION. "Know further more that I have never left thee. But there are

-long periods during which thou hast no knowledge of my presence."

-

-ANTHONY. "How can that be? Yet it is true that my head is so much

-troubled--this night especially."

-

-HILARION. "All the Capital Sins came hither. But their wretched snares

-can avail nothing against such a Saint as thou."

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh! no!--no! I fall at every moment! Why am I not of those

-whose souls are ever intrepid, whose minds are always firm,--for

-example, the great Athanasius?"

-

-HILARION. "He was illegally ordained by seven bishops."

-

-ANTHONY. "What matter if his virtue...."

-

-HILARION. "Go to!--a most vainglorious and cruel man, forever involved

-in intrigues, and exiled at last as a monopolist."[1]

-

-ANTHONY. "Calumny!"

-

-HILARION. "Thou wilt not deny that he sought to corrupt Eustates, the

-treasurer of largesses?"

-

-ANTHONY. "It is affirmed, I acknowledge."

-

-HILARION. "Through vengeance he burned down the house of Arsenius."

-

-ANTHONY. "Alas!"

-

-HILARION. "At the council of Nicæa he said in speaking of Jesus: 'The

-man of the Lord.'"

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah! that is a blasphemy!"

-

-HILARION. "So limited in understanding, moreover, that he confesses he

-comprehends nothing of the nature of the "Word!"

-

-ANTHONY (_smiling with gratification_). "In sooth his intelligence is

-not ... very lofty."

-

-HILARION. "Hypocrite! burying thyself in solitude only in order the

-more fully to abandon thyself to the indulgence of thy envious desires!

-What if thou dost deprive thyself of meats, of wine, of warmth, of

-bath, of slaves, or honours?--dost thou not permit thy imagination to

-offer thee banquets, perfumes, women, and the applause of multitudes?

-Thy chastity is but a more subtle form of corruption, and thy contempt

-of this world is but the impotence of thy hatred against it! Either

-this it is that makes such as thyself so lugubrious, or else 'tis

-doubt. The possession of truth giveth joy. Was Jesus sad? Did he not

-travel in the company of friends, repose beneath the shade of olive

-trees, enter the house of the publican, drink many cups of wine, pardon

-the sinning woman, and assuage all sorrows? Thou!--thou hast no pity

-save for thine own misery! It is like a remorse that gnaws thee, a

-savage madness that impels thee to repel the caress of a dog or to

-frown upon the smile of a child."

-

-ANTHONY (_bursting into tears_). "Enough! enough! thou dost wound my

-heart deeply."

-

-HILARION. "Shake the vermin from thy rags! Rise up from thy filth! Thy

-God is not a Moloch who demands human flesh in sacrifice!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yet suffering is blessed. The cherubim stoop to receive the

-blood of confessors."

-

-HILARION. "Admire, then, the Montanists!--they surpass all others."

-

-ANTHONY. "But it is the truth of the doctrine which makes the

-martyrdom."

-

-HILARION. "How can martyrdom prove the excellence of the doctrine,

-inasmuch as it bears equal witness for error?"

-

-HILARION. "Silence!--thou viper!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Perhaps martyrdom is not so difficult as thou dost imagine!

-The exhortations of friends, the pleasure of insulting the people,

-the oath one has taken, a certain dizzy excitement, a thousand

-circumstances all aid the resolution of the martyrs...."

-

-(_Anthony turns his back upon Hilarion, and moves away from him.

-Hilarion follows him._)

-

-" ... Moreover this manner of dying often brings about great disorders.

-Dionysius, Cyprian and Gregory fled from it. Peter of Alexandria has

-condemned it; and the council of Elvira...."

-

-ANTHONY (_stops his ears_). "I will listen to thee no longer!"

-

-HILARION (_raising his voice_). "Lo! thou fallest again into the

-habitual sin, which is sloth! Ignorance is the foam of pride. One says,

-forsoth:--'My conviction is formed! wherefore argue further?'--and one

-despises the doctors, the philosophers, tradition itself, and even the

-text of the law whereof one is ignorant! Dost thou imagine that thou

-dost hold all wisdom in the hollow of thy hand?"

-

-ANTHONY. "I hear him still! His loud words fill my brain."

-

-HILARION. "The efforts of others to comprehend God are mightier than

-all thy mortifications to move Him. We obtain merit only by our thirst

-for truth. Religion alone cannot explain all things; and the solution

-of problems ignored by thee can render faith still more invulnerable

-and noble. Therefore, for our salvation we must communicate with our

-brethren--otherwise the Church, the assembly of the faithful, would

-be a meaningless word--and we must listen to all reasoning, despising

-nothing, nor any person. The magician Balaam, the poet Aeschylus,

-and the Sybil of Cumæ--all foretold the Saviour. Dionysius, the

-Alexandrian, received from heaven the command to read all books. Saint

-Clement orders us to cultivate Greek letters. Hennas was converted by

-the illusion of a woman he had loved...."

-

-ANTHONY. "What an aspect of authority! It seems to me thou art growing

-taller...."

-

-(_And, in very truth, the stature of Hilarion is gradually increasing;

-and Anthony shuts his eyes, that he may not see him._)

-

-HILARION. "Reassure thyself, good Hermit. Let us seat ourselves there,

-upon that great stone, as we used to do in other years, when, at the

-first dawn of day, I was wont to salute thee with the appellation,

-'Clear star of morning'--and thou wouldst therewith commence to

-instruct me. Yet my instruction is not yet completed. The moon gives us

-light enough. I am prepared to hear thy words."

-

-(_He has drawn a calamus from his girdle, and seating himself

-cross-legged upon the ground, with the papyrus roll still in his hand,

-he lifts his face toward Saint Anthony, who sits near him, with head

-bowed down._

-

-_After a moment of silence Hilarion continues_:--)

-

-"Is not the word of God confirmed for us by miracles? Nevertheless

-the magicians of Pharaoh performed miracles; other imposters can

-perform them; one may be thereby deceived. What then is a miracle?

-An event which seems to us outside of nature. But do we indeed know

-all of Nature's powers; and because a common occurrence causes us no

-astonishment, does it therefore follow that we understand it."

-

-ANTHONY. "It matters little! We must believe the Scriptures!"

-

-HILARION. "Saint Paul, Origen, and many others did not understand

-the Scriptures in a literal sense: yet if Holy Writ be explained by

-allegories it becomes the portion of a small number, and the evidence

-of the truth disappears. What must we do?"

-

-ANTHONY. "We must rely upon the Church!"

-

-HILARION. "Then the Scriptures are useless?"

-

-ANTHONY. "No! no! although I acknowledge that in the Old Testament

-there are some ... some obscurities. But the New shines with purest

-light."

-

-HILARION. "Nevertheless, the Angel of the annunciation, in Matthew,

-appears to Joseph; while, in Luke, he appears to Mary. The anointing

-of Jesus by a woman takes place, according to the first Gospel, at the

-commencement of his public life; and, according to the other three, a

-few days before his death. The drink offered to him on the cross, is,

-in Matthew, vinegar mixed with gall; in Mark, it is wine and myrrh.

-According to Luke and Matthew, the apostles should take with them

-neither money nor scrip for their journey--not even sandals nor staff;

-in Mark, on the contrary, Jesus bids them take nothing with them,

-except sandals and a staff. I am thereby bewildered!"

-

-ANTHONY (_in amazement_). "Aye, indeed!... in fact...."

-

-HILARION. "At the contact of the woman who had an issue of blood, Jesus

-turned and said, 'Who hath touched my garments?' He did not know, then,

-who had touched him? That contradicts the omniscience of Jesus! If the

-tomb was watched by guards, the women need have felt no anxiety about

-finding help to roll away the stone from the tomb. Therefore there

-were no guards, or the holy women were not there. At Emmaus, he eats

-with his disciples and makes them feel his wounds. It is a human body,

-a material and ponderable object; and nevertheless it passes through

-walls! Is that possible?"

-

-ANTHONY. "It would require much time to answer thee properly!"

-

-HILARION. "Why did he receive the Holy Spirit, being himself Son of

-the Holy Spirit? What need had he of baptism if he was the Word? How

-could the Devil have tempted him, inasmuch as he was God? Have these

-thoughts never occurred to thee?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yes!... often! Sometimes torpid, sometimes furious--they

-remain forever in my conscience. I crush them; they rise again, they

-stifle me; and sometimes I think that I am accursed."

-

-HILARION. "Then it is needless for thee to serve God?"

-

-ANTHONY. "I shall always need to adore Him."

-

-(_After a long silence Hilarion continues_:)

-

-"But aside from dogma, all researches are allowed us. Dost thou desire

-to know the hierarchy of the Angels, the virtue of the Numbers, the

-reason of germs and of metamorphoses?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yes! yes! my thought struggles wildly to escape from its

-prison. It seems to me that by exerting all my force I might succeed.

-Sometimes, for an instant, brief as a lightning flash, I even feel

-myself as thought uplifted,--then I fall back again!"

-

-HILARION. "The secret thou wouldst obtain is guarded by sages. They

-dwell in a distant land; they are seated beneath giant trees; they

-are robed in white; they are calm as Gods! A warm air gives them

-sufficient nourishment. All about them, leopards tread upon grassy

-turf. The murmuring of fountains and the neighing of unicorns mingle

-with their voices. Thou shalt hear them; and the face of the Unknown

-shall be unveiled!"

-

-ANTHONY (_sighing_). "The way is long; and I am old."

-

-HILARION. "Oh! oh! wise men are not rare! there are some even very nigh

-thee!--here! Let us enter!"

-

-

-[1] Gibbon, a sincere admirer of Athanasius, gives a curious history of

-these charges, and expresses his disbelief in their truth. The story

-regarding the design to intercept the corn-fleet of Alexandria is

-referred to in the use of the word "monopolist."

-

-

-

-

-IV

-

-

-(_And Anthony beholds before him a vast basilica._

-

-_The light gushes from the further end, marvellous as a multi-colored

-sun. It illuminates the innumerable heads of the crowd that fills the

-nave, and that eddies about the columns toward the side-aisles--where

-can be perceived, in wooden compartments, altars, beds, little chains

-of blue stones linked together, and constellations painted upon the

-walls._

-

-_In the midst of the throng there are groups which remain motionless.

-Men standing upon stools harangue with fingers uplifted; others are

-praying, with arms outstretched in form of a cross; others are lying

-prostrate upon the pavement, or singing hymns, or drinking wine; others

-of the faithful, seated about a table, celebrate their agape;[1]

-martyrs are unbandaging their limbs in order to show their wounds; and

-aged men, leaning upon staffs, recount their voyages._

-

-_There are some from the country of the Germans, from Thrace also, and

-from the Gauls, from Scythia and from the Indies, with snow upon their

-beards, feathers in their hair; thorns in the fringe of their garments;

-the sandals of some are black with dust, their skins are burnt by the

-sun. There is a vast confusion of costumes, mantles of purple and

-robes of linen, embroidered dalmaticas, hair shirts, sailors' caps,

-bishops' mitres. Their eyes fulgurate strangely. They have the look of

-executioners, or the look of eunuchs._

-

-_Hilarion advances into their midst. All salute him. Anthony, shrinking

-closer to his shoulder, observes them. He remarks the presence of a

-great many women. Some of these are attired like men, and have their

-hair cut short. Anthony feels afraid of them._)

-

-HILARION. "Those are Christian women who have converted their husbands.

-Besides, the women were always upon the side of Jesus, even the

-idolatrous ones, for example, Procula, the wife of Pilate, and Poppæa,

-the concubine of Nero. Do not tremble!--come on."

-

-(_And others are continually arriving._

-

-_They seem to multiply, to double themselves by self-division, light

-as shadows--all the while making an immense clamour, in which yells of

-rage, cries of love, canticles and objurgations intermingle._)

-

-ANTHONY (_in a low voice_). "What do they desire?"

-

-HILARION. "The Lord said: 'I have yet many things to say to you....

-'[2] They possess the knowledge of those things."

-

-(_And he pushes Anthony forward to a golden throne approached by five

-steps, whereon--surrounded by ninety-five disciples, all very thin and

-pale, and anointed with oil--sits the prophet Manes. He is beautiful

-as an archangel, immobile as a statue; he is clad in an Indian robe;

-carbuncles gleam in his plaited hair; at his left hand lies a book of

-painted images; his right reposes upon a globe. The images represent

-the creatures that erst slumbered in Chaos. Anthony bends forward to

-look upon them. Then----_)

-

-MANES

-

-(_makes his globe revolve; and regulating the tone of his words by a

-lyre which gives forth crystalline sounds, exclaims_:--)

-

-"The celestial earth is at the superior extremity; the terrestrial

-earth at the inferior extremity. It is sustained by two angels--the

-Angel Splenditeneus, and Omophorus, whose faces are six.

-

-"At the summit of the highest heaven reigns the impassible Divinity;

-below, face to face, are the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness.

-

-"When the darkness had advanced even to his kingdom, God evolved from

-his own essence a virtue which produced the first man; and he environed

-him with the five elements. But the demons of darkness stole from him a

-part; and that part is the soul.

-

-"There is but one soul, universally diffused, even as the waters of

-a river divided into many branches. It is this universal soul that

-sighs in the wind--that shrieks in the marble under the teeth of the

-saw--that roars in the voice of the sea--that weeps tears of milk when

-the leaves of the fig tree are torn off.

-

-"The souls that leave this world emigrate to the stars, which are

-themselves animated beings."

-

-ANTHONY (_bursts into a laugh_). "Ah! ah! what an absurd imagination!"

-

-A MAN (_having no beard, and of a most austere aspect_). "Wherefore

-absurd?"

-

-(_Anthony is about to reply when Hilarion tells him in a low voice

-that the questioner is none other than the tremendous Origen himself;

-and_:--)

-

-MANES (_continues_). "But first they remain awhile in the Moon, where

-they are purified. Then they rise into the sun."

-

-ANTHONY (_slowly_). "I do not know of anything ... which prevents us

-... from believing it."

-

-MANES. "The proper aim of every creature is the deliverance of the ray

-of celestial light imprisoned within matter. It finds easier escape

-through the medium of perfumes, spices, the aroma of warmed wine, the

-light things which resemble thoughts. But the acts of life retain it

-within its prison. The murderer shall be born again in the form of a

-celephus; he that kills an animal shall become that animal; if thou

-plantest a vine, thou shalt be thyself bound within its boughs. Food

-absorbs the celestial light.... Therefore abstain! fast!"

-

-HILARION. "Thou seest, they are temperate!"

-

-MANES. "There is much of it in meats, less of it in herbs. Moreover

-the Pure Ones, by means of their great merits, despoil vegetation of

-this luminous essence; and, thus liberated, it reascends to its source.

-But through generation, animals keep it imprisoned within the flesh!

-Therefore, avoid women!"

-

-HILARION. "Admire their continence."

-

-MANES. "Or rather contrive that they shall not create..............[3]

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh--abomination!"

-

-HILARION. "What signifies the hierarchy of turpitudes? The Church has,

-forsooth, made marriage a sacrament!"

-

-SATURNINUS (_in Syrian costume_). "He teaches a most dismal system of

-the universe!... The Father, desiring to punish the angels who had

-revolted, ordered them to create the world. Christ came, in order that

-the God of the Jews, who was one of those angels...."

-

-ANTHONY. "He an angel! the Creator!"

-

-CERDO. "Did he not seek to kill Moses, to deceive his own prophets, to

-seduce nations?--did he not sow falsehood and idolatry broadcast?"

-

-MARCION. "Certainly, the Creator is not the true God!"

-

-SAINT CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. "Matter is eternal!"

-

-BARDESANES (_in the costume of the Babylonian magi_). "It was formed by

-the Seven Planetary Spirits."

-

-THE HERMIANS. "Souls were made by the angels."

-

-THE PRISCILLIANISTS. "It was the Devil who made the world."

-

-ANTHONY (_rushing back from the circle_). "Horror!"

-

-HILARION (_supporting him_). "Thou despairest too hastily!--thou dost

-misapprehend their doctrine! Here is one who received his teaching

-directly from Theodas, the friend of St. Paul. Hearken to him."

-

-(_And at a sign from Hilarion_

-

-VALENTINUS

-

-_appears in a tunic of cloth of silver; his skull is pointed at its

-summit; his voice has a wheezing sound._)

-

-"The world is the work of a God in delirium!"

-

-ANTHONY (_bending his head down_). "The work of a God in delirium!..."

-

-(_After a long silence_): "How can that be?"

-

-VALENTINE. "The most perfect of beings, and of the Æons, the Abyss;

-dwelt in the womb of the Deep together with Thought. By their union was

-begotten Intelligence, to whom Truth was given as a companion.

-

-"Intelligence and Truth engendered the Word and Life, who in their turn

-begat Man and the Church; and that doth make eight Æons!"

-

-(_He counts upon his fingers._)

-

-"The Word and Truth also produced ten other Æons--which is to say, five

-couples. Man and the Church had begotten twelve more--among these the

-Paraclete and Faith, Hope and Charity, Perfection and Wisdom--Sophia.

-

-"The union of these thirty Æons constitutes the Pleroma, or

-Universality of God. Thus, even as the echo of a passing voice, as the

-effluvia of a perfume evaporating, as the fires of the setting sun,

-the Powers that emanated from the Principle, forever continue to grow

-weaker.

-

-"But Sophia, desirous to know the Father, darted from the Pleroma;

-and the Word then made another couple, Christ and the Holy Ghost, who

-reunited all the Æons; and all together formed Jesus, the flower of the

-Pleroma.

-

-"But the effort of Sophia to flee away had left in the void an image of

-her--an evil substance, Acharamoth.[4] The Saviour took pity upon her,

-freed her from all passion; and from the smile of Acharamoth redeemed,

-light was born; her tears formed the waters; by her sorrow was dark

-matter begotten.

-

-"Of Acharamoth was born the Demiurgos,--the fabricator of worlds,

-the creator of the heaven and of the Devil. He dwells far below the

-Pleroma--so far that he cannot behold it--so that he deems himself to

-be the true God, and repeats by the mouths of his prophets--'There is

-no other God but I.' Then he made man, and instilled into his soul the

-immaterial Seed which was the Church--a reflection of the other Church

-established in the Pleroma.

-

-"One day Acharamoth shall reach the highest region and unite herself

-with the Saviour; the fire that is hidden in the world shall annihilate

-all matter, and shall even devour itself and men, becoming pure

-spirits, shall espouse the angels!"

-

-ORIGEN. "Then shall the Demon be over-thrown and the reign of God

-commence!"

-

-(_Anthony expresses a cry, and forthwith_)

-

-BASILIDES (_taking him by the elbow, exclaims_:--)

-

-"The Supreme Being with all the infinite emanations is called

-Abraxas; and the Saviour with all his virtues, Kaulakau--otherwise,

-line-upon-line, rectitude upon rectitude.

-

-"The power of Kaulakau is obtained by the aid of certain words, which

-are inscribed upon this chalcedony to help the memory."

-

-(_And he points to a little stone suspended at his neck, upon which

-stone fantastic characters are graven._)

-

-"Then thou wilt be transported into the Invisible and placed above all

-law; thou shalt contemn all things--even virtue!

-

-"We, the Pure, must flee from pain, after the example of Kaulakau."

-

-ANTHONY. "What! and the cross?"

-

-THE ELKHESAITES (_in robes of hyacinth answers him_). "The woe and

-the degradation, the condemnation and oppression of my fathers[5] are

-blotted out, through the mission which has come.

-

-"One may deny the inferior Christ, the man--Jesus; but the other Christ

-must be adored--whose personality was evolved under the brooding of the

-Dove's wings.

-

-"Honor marriage; the Holy Spirit is feminine!"

-

-(_Hilarion has disappeared; and Anthony, carried along by the crowd,

-arrives in the presence of_--)

-

-THE CARPOCRATIANS

-

-(_reclining with women upon scarlet cushions._)

-

-"Before entering into the Only thou shalt pass through a series of

-conditions and of actions. To free thyself from the powers of darkness,

-thou must at once accomplish their works. The husband shall say to the

-wife: 'Have charity for thy brother'--and she will kiss thee."

-

-THE NICOLAITANS

-

-(_gathered about a mass of smoking meats_:)

-

-"This is a portion of the meat offered to idols;--partake of it!

-Apostasy is permissible when the heart is pure. Gorge thy flesh with

-all that it demands. Seek to exterminate it by dint of debauchery!

-Prounikos, the Mother of Heaven, wallowed in ignominies."

-

-THE MARCOSIANS

-

-(_wearing rings of gold, and glistening with precious balm and

-unguents_:)

-

-"Enter among us that thou mayst unite thyself to the Spirit! Enter

-among us that thou mayst quaff the draught of immortality!"

-

-(_And one of them shows him, behind a tapestry-hanging, the body of a

-man terminated by the head of an ass. This represents Sabaoth, father

-of the Devil. He spits upon the image in token of detestation._

-

-_Another shows him a very low bed, strewn with flowers, exclaiming_:)

-

-"The spiritual marriage is about to be consummated."

-

-(_A third, who holds a cup of glass, utters an invocation;--blood

-suddenly appears in the cup_:)

-

-"Ah! behold it! behold it!--the blood of Christ!"

-

-(_Anthony withdraws, but finds himself be-spattered by water splashed

-from a cistern._)

-

-THE HELVIDIANS

-

-(_are flinging themselves into it head foremost, muttering_:--)

-

-"The man regenerated by baptism is impeccable!"

-

-(_Then he passes by a great fire at which the Adamites are warming

-themselves--all completely naked in imitation of the purity of

-Paradise; and he stumbles over_)

-

-THE MESSALINES

-

-(_wallowing upon the pavement, half-slumbering, stupid_:)

-

-"Oh! crush us if thou wilt! we shall not move! Work is crime; all

-occupation is evil."

-

-(_Behind these, the abject_)

-

-PATERNIANS

-

-(_--men, women, and children lying pell mell upon a heap of filth, lift

-their hideous faces, wine-besmeared, and they cry aloud_:)

-

-"The inferior parts of the body, which were created by the Devil,

-belong to him! Let us eat, drink, and sin!"

-

-ÆTIUS. "Crimes are necessities beneath the notice of God!"

-

-(_But suddenly_--)

-

-A MAN (--_clad in a Carthaginian mantle, bounds into their midst,

-brandishing a scourge of thongs in his hand; and strikes violently and

-indiscriminately at all in his path_:)

-

-"Ah! imposters! simonists, heretics and demons!--vermin of the

-schools!--dregs of hell! Marcion, there, is a sailor of Sinopus

-excommunicated for incest;--Carpocrates was banished for being a

-magician; Ætius stole his concubine; Nicholas prostituted his wife;

-and this Manes, who calls himself the Buddha, and whose real name is

-Cubricus, was flayed alive with the point of a reed, so that his skin

-even now hangs at the gates of Ctesiphon!"

-

-ANTHONY (_recognizing Tertullian, rushes to join him_): "Master! help!

-help!"

-

-TERTULLIAN (_continuing_):

-

-"Break the images! veil the virgins! Pray, fast, weep and mortify

-yourselves! No philosophy! no books! After Jesus, science is useless!"

-

-(_All have fled away; and Anthony beholds, in lieu of Tertullian, a

-woman seated upon a bench of stone._

-

-_She sobs; leaning her head against a column; her hair is loose; her

-body, weakened by grief, is clad in a long brown simar. Then they find

-themselves face to face and alone, far from the crowd; and a silence,

-an extraordinary stillness falls--as in the woods when the winds are

-lulled, and the leaves of the trees suddenly cease to whisper._

-

-_This woman is still very beautiful, although faded, and pale as a

-sepulcher. They look at one another; and their eyes send to each other

-waves, as it were, of thoughts, bearing drift of a thousand ancient

-things, confused, mysterious. At last_--)

-

-PRISCILLA (_speaks_:)

-

-"I was in the last chamber of the baths; and the rumbling sounds of the

-street caused a sleep to fall upon me.

-

-"Suddenly I heard a clamour of voices. Men were shouting--'It is a

-magician!--it is the Devil!' And the crowd stopped before our house, in

-front of the Temple Æsculapius. I drew myself up with my hands to the

-little window.

-

-"Upon the peristyle of the temple, there stood a man who wore about his

-neck a collar of iron. He took burning coals out of a chafing-dish, and

-with them drew lines across his breast, the while crying out--'Jesus!

-Jesus!' The people shouted--'This is not lawful! let us stone him!'

-But he continued. Oh! those were unheard of marvels--things which

-transported men who beheld them! Flowers broad as suns circled before

-my eyes, and I heard in the spaces above me the vibrations of a golden

-harp. Day died. My hands loosened their grasp of the window-bars; my

-body fell back, and when he had led me away to his house...."

-

-ANTHONY. "But of whom art thou speaking?"

-

-PRISCILLA. "Why, of Montanus!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Montanus is dead!"

-

-PRISCILLA. "It is not true!"

-

-A VOICE. "No: Montanus is not dead!"

-

-(_Anthony turns; and sees upon the bench near him, on the opposite

-side, another woman sitting; she is fair, and even paler than the

-other; there are swellings under her eyes, as though she had wept a

-long time. She speaks without being questioned_:)

-

-MAXIMILLA. "We were returning from Tarsus by way of the mountains,

-when, at a turn in the road, we saw a man under a fig tree.

-

-"He cried from afar off: 'Stop! stop!' and rushed toward us, uttering

-words of abuse. The slaves ran up; he burst into a loud laugh. The

-horses reared; the molossi all barked.

-

-"He stood before us. The sweat streamed from his forehead; his mantle

-napped in the wind.

-

-"And calling us each by our names, he reproached us with the vanity

-of our work, the infamy of our bodies; and he shook his fist at the

-dromedaries because of the silver bells hanging below their mouths.

-

-"His fury now filled my very entrails with fear and yet there was a

-strange pleasure in it which fascinated me, intoxicated me!

-

-"First the slaves came. 'Master,' they said, 'our animals are weary.'

-Then the women said, 'We are frightened,' and the slaves departed. Then

-the children began to weep,--'We are hungry.' And as the women were not

-answered, they disappeared also from our view.

-

-"He still spoke. I felt some one near me. It was my husband; but I

-listened only to the other. My husband crawled to me upon his knees

-among the stones, and cried--'Dost thou abandon me,' and I replied:

-'Yes! go thy way!' that I might accompany Montanus."

-

-ANTHONY. "A eunuch!"

-

-PRISCILLA. "Ah! does that astound thee, vulgar soul! Yet Magdalen,

-Johanna, Martha and Susannah did not share the couch of the Saviour.

-Souls may know the delirium of embrace better than bodies. That he

-might keep Eustolia with impunity, the bishop Leontius mutilated

-himself--loving his love more than his virility. And then, it was

-no fault of mine. Sotas could not cure me; a spirit constrained me.

-It is cruel, nevertheless! But what matter? I am the last of the

-prophetesses; and after me the end of the world shall come."

-

-MAXIMILLA. "He showered his gifts upon me. Moreover, no one loves him

-as I, nor is any other so well beloved by him!"

-

-PRISCILLA. "Thou liest! I am the most beloved!"

-

-MAXIMILLA. "No: it is I!"

-

-(_They fight. Between their shoulders suddenly appears the head of a

-negro._)

-

-MONTANUS (_clad in a black mantle, clasped by two cross-bones_):

-

-"Peace, my doves! Incapable of terrestrial happiness, we have obtained

-the celestial plentitude of our union. After the age of the Father,

-the age of the Son; and I inaugurate the third, which is that of the

-Paraclete. His light descended upon me during those forty nights when

-the heavenly Jerusalem appeared shining in the firmament, above my

-house at Pepuzza.

-

-"Ah, how ye cry out with anguish when the thongs of the scourge

-lacerate! how your suffering bodies submit to the ardor of my spiritual

-discipline! how ye languish with irrealizable longing! So strong has

-that desire become that it has enabled you to behold the invisible

-world; and ye can now perceive souls even with the eyes of the body!"

-

-ANTHONY. (_Makes a gesture of astonishment._)

-

-TERTULLIAN (_who appears again, standing beside Montanus_):

-

-"Without doubt; for the soul has a body, and that which is bodiless has

-no existence."

-

-MONTANUS. "In order to render it yet more subtle, I have instituted

-many mortifications, three Lents a year, and prayers to be uttered

-nightly by the mind only, keeping the mouth closed, lest breathing

-might tarnish thought. It is necessary to abstain from second

-marriages, or rather from all marriage! The Angels themselves have

-sinned with women!"

-

-THE ARCHONTICS (_wearing cilices of hair_):

-

-"The Saviour said: 'I come to destroy the work of the Woman!'"

-

-THE TATIANITES (_wearing cilices of reed_):

-

-"She is the tree of evil. Our bodies are but garments of skin."

-

-(_And continuing to advance along the same side, Anthony meets_:--)

-

-THE VALESIANS (_extended upon the ground, with red wounds below their

-bellies, and blood saturating their tunics. They offer him a knife._)

-

-"Do as Origen did and as we have done! Is it the pain that thou

-fearest, coward? Is it the love of thy flesh that restrains thee,

-hypocrite?"

-

-(_And while he watches them writhing upon their backs, in a pool of

-blood_--)

-

-THE CAINITES (_wearing knotted vipers as fillets about their hair, pass

-by, vociferating in his ear_):--

-

-"Glory to Cain! Glory to Sodom! Glory be to Judas!

-

-"Cain made the race of the strong; Sodom terrified the earth by her

-punishment, and it was by Judas that God saved the world! Yes! by

-Judas: without him there would have been no death and no redemption!"

-

-(_They disappear beneath the horde of the_--)

-

-CIRCUMCELLIONES (_all clad in the skins of wolves, crowned with thorns,

-and armed with maces of iron_).

-

-"Crush the fruit! befoul the spring! drown the child! Pillage the rich

-who are happy--who cat their fill! Beat the poor who envy the ass

-his saddle-cloth, the dog his meal, the bird his nest,--and who is

-wretched at knowing that others are not as miserable as himself.

-

-"We, the Saints, poison, burn, massacre, that we may hasten the end of

-the world.

-

-"Salvation may be obtained through martyrdom only. We give ourselves

-martyrdom. We tear the skin from our heads with pincers; we expose our

-members to the plough; we cast ourselves into the mouths of furnaces!

-

-"Out upon baptism! out upon the Eucharist! out upon marriage! universal

-damnation!"

-

-(_Then throughout all the basilica there is a redoubling of fury._

-

-_The Audians shoot arrows against the Devil; the Collyridians throw

-blue cloths toward the roof; the Ascites prostrate themselves before

-a waterskin; the Marcionites baptise a dead man with oil. A woman,

-standing near Appelles, exhibits a round loaf within a bottle, in order

-the better to explain her idea. Another, standing in the midst of an

-assembly of Sampseans distributes, as a sacrament, the dust of her

-own sandals. Upon the rose-strewn bed of the Marcosians, two lovers

-embrace. The Circumcellionites slaughter one another; the Valesians

-utter the death-rattle; Bardesanes sings; Carpocras dances; Maximilla

-and Priscilla moan; and the false prophetess of Cappadocia, completely

-naked, leaning upon a lion, and brandishing three torches, shrieks the

-Terrible Invocation._

-

-_The columns of the temple sway to and fro like the trunks of trees in a

-tempest; the amulets suspended about the necks of the Heresiarchs seem

-to cross each other in lines of fire; the constellations in the chapels

-palpitate; and the walls recoil with the ebb and flow of the crowd, in

-which each head is a wave that leaps and roars._

-

-_Nevertheless, from the midst of the clamor arises the sound of a song,

-in which the name of Jesus is often repeated, accompanied by bursts of

-laughter._

-

-_The singers belong to the rabble of the people; they all keep time to

-the song by clapping their hands. In their midst stands_--)

-

-ARTUS (_in a deacon's vestments_):

-

-"The fools who declaim against me pretend to explain the absurd; and in

-order to confound them utterly, I have composed ditties so droll that

-they are learned by heart in all the mills, in the taverns and along

-the ports.

-

-"No! a thousand times no!--the Son is not coeternal with the Father,

-nor of the same substance! Otherwise he would not have said: 'Father,

-remove this chalice from me! Why dost thou call me good? God alone is

-good! I go to my God, to your God!'--and many other things testifying

-to his character of creature. The fact is further demonstrated for

-us by all his names:--lamb, shepherd, fountain, wisdom, son-of-man,

-prophet; the way, the corner-stone!"

-

-SABELLIUS. "I hold that both are identical."

-

-ARIUS. "The Council of Antioch has decided the contrary."

-

-ANTHONY. "Then what is the Word?... What was Jesus?"

-

-THE VALENTINIANS. "He was the husband of Acharamoth repentant!"

-

-THE SETHIANIANS. "He was Shem, the son of Noah!"

-

-THE THEODOTIANS. "He was Melchisedech!"

-

-THE MERINTHIANS. "He was only a man!"

-

-THE APOLLINARISTS. "He assumed the appearance of one! He simulated the

-Passion!"

-

-MARCEL OF ANCYRA. "He was a development of the Father!"

-

-POPE CALIXTUS. "Father and Son are but two modes of one God's

-manifestation!"

-

-METHODIUS. "He was first in Adam, then in man!"

-

-CERINTHUS. "And He will rise again!"

-

-VALENTINUS. "Impossible--his body being celestial!"

-

-PAUL OF SAMOSATA. "He became God _only_ from the time of his baptism!"

-

-HERMOGENES. "He dwells in the sun!"

-

-(_And all the Heresiarchs form a circle about Anthony, who weeps,

-covering his face with his hands._)

-

-A JEW (_with a red beard, and spots of leprosy upon his shin,

-approaches close to Anthony, and, with a hideous sneer, exclaims_):

-

-"His soul was the soul of Esau! He suffered from the Bellephorentian

-sickness. Was not his mother, the seller of perfumes, seduced by a

-Roman soldier, one Pantherus?.......................... [6]

-

-ANTHONY (_suddenly raising his head, looks at them a moment in silence;

-then advancing boldly upon them, exclaims_):

-

-"Doctors, magicians, bishops, and deacons, men and phantoms, away from

-me! begone! Ye are all lies!"

-

-THE HERESIARCHS. "We have martyrs more martyrs than thine, prayers

-that are more difficult, outbursts of love more sublime, ecstasies as

-prolonged as thine are."

-

-ANTHONY. "But ye have no revelation! no proofs!"

-

-(_They all at once brandish in the air their rolls of papyrus, tablets

-of wood, scrolls of leather, rolls of woven stuff bearing inscriptions;

-and elbowing; and pushing each other, they all shout to Anthony._)

-

-THE CERINTHIANS. "Behold the Gospel of the Hebrews!"

-

-THE MARCIONITES. "Behold the Gospel of the Lord!"

-

-THE MARCOSIANS. "The Gospel of Eve!"

-

-THE EUCRATITES. "The Gospel of Thomas!"

-

-THE CAINITES. "The Gospel of Judas!"

-

-BASILIDES. "The Treatise upon the Destiny of the Soul!"

-

-MANES. "The Prophecy of Barkouf!"

-

-(_Anthony struggles, breaks from them, escapes them; and in a shadowy

-corner perceives_--)

-

-THE AGED EBIONITES

-

-(_withered as mummies, their eyes dull and dim, their eyebrows white as

-frost._

-

-_In tremulous voices they exclaim_:--)

-

-"We have known him, we have seen him! We knew the Carpenter's Son! We

-were then the same age as he; we dwelt in the same street. He used to

-amuse himself by modelling little birds of mud; aided his father at his

-work without fear of the sharp tools, or selected for his mother the

-skeins of dyed wool. Then he made a voyage to Egypt, from whence he

-brought back wondrous secrets. We were at Jericho when he came to find

-the Eater of Locusts. They talked together in a low voice, so that no

-one could hear what was said. But it was from that time that his name

-began to be noised abroad in Galilee, and that men began to relate many

-fables regarding him."

-

-(_They reiterate, tremulously_:)

-

-"We knew him! we others, we knew him!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah, speak on, speak! What was his face like?"

-

-TERTULLIAN. "His face was wild and repulsive; forasmuch as he

-had burthened himself with all the crimes, all the woes, all the

-deformities of mankind."

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh! no, no! I imagine, on the contrary, that his entire

-person must have been glorious with a beauty greater than the beauty of

-man!"

-

-EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. "There is indeed, at Paneades, propped up against

-the walls of a crumbling edifice surrounded by a wilderness of weeds

-and creeping plants, a certain statue of stone which, some say, was

-erected by the Woman healed of the issue of blood. But time has gnawed

-the face of the statue, and the rains have worn the inscription away."

-

-(_A woman steps forward from the group of the Carpocratians._)

-

-MARCELLINA. "I was once a deaconess at Rome, in a little church, where

-I used to exhibit to the faithful, the silver images, of Saint Paul,

-Homer, Pythagoras and Jesus Christ.

-

-"I have only kept that of Jesus."

-

-(_She half opens her mantle._)

-

-"Dost thou desire it?"

-

-A VOICE. "He reappears himself when we call upon him! It is the

-hour!--come!"

-

-(_And Anthony feels a brutal hand seize him by the arm, and drag him

-away._

-

-_He mounts a stairway in complete darkness; and after having ascended

-many steps, he finds himself before a door._

-

-_Then the one who is leading him--(is it Hilarion?--he does not

-know)--whispers in the ear of another_: "The Lord is about to

-come!"--_and they are admitted into a chamber, with a very low ceiling,

-and without furniture._

-

-_The first object which attracts his attention is a long blood-colored

-chrysalis, with a human head surrounded by rays, and the word_ Knouphus

-_inscribed all around it in Greek characters. It is placed upon the

-shaft of a column, which is in turn supported by a broad pedestal.

-Hanging upon the walls of the chamber are medallions of polished iron

-representing the heads of various animals:--the head of an ox, the head

-of a lion, the head of an eagle, the head of a dog, and the head of an

-ass--again!_

-

-[Illustration: ... a long blood-colored chrysalis]

-

-_Earthen lamps, suspended below these images, create a vacillating

-light. Through a hole in the wall, Anthony can see the moon shining

-far off upon the waves; he can even hear the feeble regular sound of

-lapping water; together with the heavy thud occasionally caused by the

-bumping of a ship's hull against the stones of the mole._

-

-_There are men crouching down, with their faces hidden by their

-mantles. From time to time they utter sounds resembling a smothered

-bark. There are women also, sleeping with their foreheads resting upon

-their arms, and their arms supported by their knees; they are so hidden

-by their garments as to resemble heaps of cloth piled up at intervals

-against the wall. Near them are half naked children, whose persons

-swarm with vermin. They watch with idiotic stare the burning of the

-lamps; and nothing is done: all are waiting for something._

-

-_They talk in undertones about family matters, or recommend to each

-other various remedies for their ailments. Some of them must embark

-at earliest daylight; the persecution is becoming too terrible to be

-endured. Nevertheless, the pagans are easily enough deceived_:--"The

-fools imagine that we are really adoring Knouphus!"

-

-_But one of the brethren, feeling himself suddenly inspired, takes his

-place before the column, where a basket has already been placed, filled

-with fennel and aristolochia. On the top of the basket is placed a

-loaf._)

-

-THE INSPIRED BROTHER

-

-(_unrolling a placard covered with designs representing cylinders

-blending with and fitting into one another, commences to pray_:)

-

-"The ray of the Word descended upon the darknesses; and there arose a

-mighty cry, like unto the voice of Light."

-

-ALL (_swaying their bodies in unison, respond_):

-

-"Kyrie eleison!"

-

-THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "Then was Man created by the infamous

-God of Israel, aided by those who are these (_pointing to the

-medallions_)--Astophaios, Oraios, Sabaoth, Adonai, Eloi, Iao!

-

-"And Man, hideous, feeble, formless and thoughtless, lay upon the slime

-of the earth."

-

-ALL (_in plaintive accents_):

-

-"Kyrie eleison!"

-

-THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "But Sophia, compassionating him, vivified him

-with a spark of her own soul.

-

-"Then God, beholding Man so beautiful, waxed wroth; and imprisoned him

-within His own kingdom, forbidding him to touch the Tree of Knowledge.

-

-"Again did the other succor him. She sent to him the Serpent, who, by

-many long subterfuges, made him disobey that law of hate.

-

-"And Man, having tasted knowledge, understood celestial things."

-

-ALL (_raising their voices_):

-

-"Kyrie Eleison!"

-

-THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "But Iabdalaoth through vengeance cast down man

-into the world of matter, and the Serpent with him."

-

-ALL (_in a very low tone_):

-

-"Kyrie Eleison!"

-

-(_Then all hold their peace, and there is silence._

-

-_The odors of the port mingle with the smoke of the lamps in the warm

-air. The lamp-wicks crepitate; their flames are about to go out, long

-mosquitoes flit in rapid circlings about them. And Anthony groans

-in an agony of anguish, as with the feeling that a monstrosity is

-floating about him, as with the fear of a crime that is about to be

-accomplished._

-

-_But_--)

-

-THE INSPIRED BROTHER (_stamping his heel upon the floor, snapping his

-fingers, tossing his head wildly, suddenly chants to a furious rhythm,

-with accompaniment of cymbals and a shrill flute_:--)

-

-"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!

-

-"O swift one, who runneth without feet, captor who seizeth without hand!

-

-"Sinuous as the rivers, orbicular as the sun, black, with spots of

-gold, like the firmament star-besprinkled! Like unto the intertwinings

-of the vine, and the circumvolutions of entrails!

-

-"Unengendered! eater of earth! immortally young! unfailing

-perspicacious! honored at Epidaurus! Kindly to man! thou who didst heal

-King Ptolemy, and the warriors, of Moses, and Glaucus, son of Minos!

-

-"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!"

-

-ALL (_repeat_):

-

-"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!"

-

-(_Nevertheless, nothing yet appears._)

-

-"Why? What aileth him?"

-

-(_And they concert together, devise means._

-

-_An old man presents a clod of turf as an offering. Then something

-upheaves within the basket. The mass of verdure shakes; the flowers

-fall, and the head of a python appears._

-

-[Illustration: ... the flowers fall and the head of a python

-appears]

-

-_It passes slowly around the edge of the loaf, like a circle moving

-around an immovable disk;--then it unfolds itself, lengthens out; it is

-enormous and of great weight. Lest it should touch the floor, the men

-uphold it against their breasts, the women support it upon their heads,

-the children hold it up at arms' length; and its tail, issuing through

-the hole in the wall, stretches away indefinitely to the bottom of the

-sea. Its coils double; they fill the chamber; they enclose Anthony._)

-

-THE FAITHFUL (_press their mouths against its skin, snatch from one

-another the loaf which it has bitten, and cry aloud_:--)

-

-"It is thou! it is thou!

-

-"First raised up by Moses, broken by Ezechias, re-established by the

-Messiah. He drank thee in the waters of baptism; but thou didst leave

-him in the Garden of Olives; and then indeed he felt his own weakness!

-

-"Writhing about the arms of the cross, and above his head, while

-casting thy slime upon the crown of thorns, thou didst behold him die!

-For thou art not Jesus, thou!--thou art the Word! thou art the Christ!"

-

-(_Anthony faints with horror, and falls prostrate in front of his hut

-upon the splinters of wood, where the torch that had slipped from his

-hand, is burning low._

-

-_The shock arouses him. Opening his eyes again, he perceives the Nile,

-brightly undulating under the moon, like a vast serpent winding over

-the sands; so that the hallucination returns upon him again; he has not

-left the company of the Ophites; they surround him, call him; he sees

-them carrying baggage, descending to the port. He embarks along with

-them._

-

-_An inappreciable time elapses._

-

-_Then the vaults of a prison environ him. Iron bars in front of him

-make black lines against a background of blue; and in the darkness

-beside him people are praying and weeping surrounded by others who

-exhort and console._

-

-[Illustration: ... and in the darkness beside him people are

-praying]

-

-_Without, there is a murmur like the deep humming of a vast crowd, and

-there is splendour as of a summer's day._

-

-_Shrill voices announce watermelons for sale, iced drinks, and cushions

-of woven grass to sit upon. From time to time there are bursts of

-applause. He hears the sound of footsteps above his head._

-

-_Suddenly a long roar is heard, mighty and cavernous as the roar of

-water in an aqueduct._

-

-_And he sees, directly opposite, behind the bars of another compartment

-across the arena a lion walking to and fro, then a line of sandals,

-bare legs, and purple fringes. Beyond are the vast circling wreaths

-of people, in symmetrical tiers, enlarging as they rise, from the

-lowest which hems in the arena to the uppermost above which masts

-rise to sustain a hyacinth-colored awning, suspended in air by ropes.

-Stairways radiating toward the centre, divide these huge circles of

-stone at regular intervals. The benches disappear under a host of

-spectators--knights, senators, soldiers, plebeians, vestals, and

-courtesans--in woollen hoods, in silken maniples, in fallow-colored

-tunics; together with aigrettes of precious stones, plumes of feathers,

-the fasces of lictors; and all this swarming multitude deafens and

-stupefies Anthony with its shoutings, its tumultuous fury, as of an

-enormous boiling vat. In the middle of the arena, a vase of incense

-smokes upon an altar._

-

-_Anthony thus knows that the people with him are Christians condemned

-to be thrown to the wild beasts. The men wear the red mantle of the

-pontiffs of Saturn; the women, the bandellettes of Ceres. Their friends

-divide among themselves shreds of their garments, and rings. To obtain

-access to the prison, they say, costs a great deal of money. But what

-matter! They will remain until it is all over._

-

-_Anthony notices among these consolers, a certain bald-headed man,

-in a black tunic: Anthony has seen that face somewhere before. The

-consoler discourses to them concerning the nothingness of this world,

-and the felicity of the Elect. Anthony feels within him a transport of

-celestial love; he longs for the opportunity to lay down his life for

-the Saviour--not knowing as yet whether he himself is to be numbered

-among the martyrs._

-

-_But all--except a certain Phrygian, with long hair, who stands with

-his arms uplifted--have a look of woe. One old man is sobbing upon a

-bench; a youth standing close by, with drooping head, abandons himself

-to a reverie of sorrow._

-

-THE OLD MAN _had refused to pay the customary contribution before the

-statue of Minerva, erected at the angle of the cross-roads; and he

-gazes at his companions with a look that signifies_:--)

-

-"Ye ought to have succored me! Communities can sometimes so arrange

-matters as to insure their being left in peace. Some among ye also

-procured those letters which falsely allege that one has sacrificed to

-idols."

-

-(_He asks aloud_:--)

-

-"Was it not Petrus of Alexandria who laid down the rule concerning what

-should be done by those who have yielded to torture?"

-

-(_Then, to himself_:--)

-

-"Ah! how cruel this at my age! My infirmities make me so weak!

-Nevertheless, I might easily have lived until the coming winter, or

-longer!"

-

-(_The memory of his little garden makes him sad, and he gazes toward

-the altar._)

-

-THE YOUNG MAN (_who disturbed the festival of Apollo by violence and

-blows, murmurs_:--)

-

-"Yet it would have been easy for me to have fled to the mountains!"

-

-(_One of the brothers answers_:--)

-

-"But the soldiers would have captured thee!"

-

-THE YOUNG MAN. "Oh! I would have done as Cyprian did--I would have

-returned, and the second time I would surely have had more force!"

-

-(_Then he thinks of the innumerable days that he might have lived, of

-all the joys that he might have known, but will never know; and he

-gazes toward the altar._

-

-_But_--)

-

-THE MAN IN THE BLACK TUNIC (_rushes to his side._)

-

-"What scandal! What! Thou! a victim of God's own choice! And all these

-women here who are looking at thee! Nay, think what thou art doing!

-Moreover, remember that God sometimes vouchsafes to perform a miracle.

-Pionius numbed and made powerless the hands of his executioners; the

-blood of Polycarp extinguished the fire of the stake."

-

-(_Then he turns to the Old Man_:--)

-

-"Father, father! it behooves thee to edify us by thy death! By longer

-delaying it, thou wouldst doubtless commit some evil action that would

-lose thee the fruit of all thy good works. Remember, also, that the

-power of God is infinite; and it may come to pass that all the people

-will be converted by thy example."

-

-(_And in the great den opposite, the lions stride back and forth,

-ceaselessly, with a rapid continuous motion. The largest suddenly looks

-at Anthony and roars, and a vapour issues from his jaws._

-

-_The women are huddled against the men._)

-

-THE CONSOLER (_goes from one to the other._)

-

-"What would ye say, what wouldst thou say if thou wert to be burned

-with red-hot irons, if thou wert to be torn asunder by horses, if thou

-hadst been condemned to have thy body smeared with honey, and thus

-exposed to be devoured by flies! As it is, thou wilt only suffer the

-death of a hunter surprised by a beast in the woods."

-

-(_Anthony would prefer all those things to death by the fangs of the

-horrible wild beasts; he fancies already that he feels their teeth and

-their claws, that he hears his bones cracking between their jaws._

-

-_A keeper enters the dungeon; the martyrs tremble._

-

-_Only one remains impassable, the Phrygian, who prays standing apart

-from the rest. He has burned three temples; and he advances with arms

-uplifted, mouth open, face turned toward heaven, seeing nothing around

-him, like a somnambulist._)

-

-THE CONSOLER (_shouts_). "Back! back! lest the spirit of Montanus might

-come upon you."

-

-ALL (_recoil from the Phrygian, and vociferate_)

-

-"Damnation to the Montanist!"

-

-(_They insult him, spit upon him, excite each other to beat him._

-

-_The rearing lions bite each other's manes_;)

-

-THE PEOPLE "To the beasts with them, to the beasts."

-

-_The Martyrs burst into sobs, and embrace each other passionately. A

-cup of narcotic wine is offered them. It is passed from hand to hand,

-quickly._

-

-_Another keeper, standing at the door of the den, awaits the signal.

-The den opens; a lion comes out._

-

-_He crosses the arena with great oblique strides. Other lions follow in

-file after him; then a bear, three panthers, and some leopards. They

-scatter through the arena like a flock in a meadow._

-

-_The crack of a whip resounds. The Christians stagger forward; and

-their brethren push them, that it may be over the sooner._

-

-_Anthony closes his eyes._

-

-_He opens them again. But darkness envelopes him._

-

-_Soon the darkness brightens; and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated

-with knolls, such as might be seen about abandoned quarries._

-

-[Illustration: ... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated

-with knolls]

-

-_Here and there a tuft of shrubbery rises among the slabs of stone,

-level with the soil; and there are white figures, vaguer than clouds,

-bending over the slabs._

-

-_Others approach, softly, silently. Eyes gleam through the slits of

-long veils. By the easy indifference of their walk, and the perfumes

-exhaled from their garments, Anthony knows they are patrician women.

-There are men also, but of inferior condition; for their faces are at

-once simple-looking and coarse._

-

-(_One of the Women, taking a long breath_:)

-

-"Ah! how good the cool air of night is, among the sepulchers! I am so

-weary of the softness of beds, the turmoil of days, the heavy heat of

-the sun!"

-

-(_Her maid-servant takes from a canvas bag, a torch which she ignites.

-The faithful light other torches by it, and plant them upon the tombs._)

-

-A WOMAN (_panting_).

-

-"I am here at last! Oh how wearisome to be the wife of an idolator!"

-

-ANOTHER. "These visits to the prisons, interviews with our brethren,

-are all matters of suspicion to our husbands! And we must even hide

-ourselves in order to make the sign of the cross; they would take it

-for a magical conjuration!"

-

-ANOTHER. "With my husband it was a quarrel every day. I would not

-submit myself to his brutal exactions; therefore he has had me

-prosecuted as a Christian."

-

-ANOTHER. "Do you remember Lucius, that young man who was so beautiful,

-who was dragged like Hector, with his heels attached to a chariot,

-from the Esquiline Gate to the mountains of Tibur?--and how his blood

-spattered the bushes on either side of the road? I gathered up the

-drops of his blood. Behold it!"

-

-(_She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses, and

-flings herself down upon the slabs, crying aloud_:--)

-

-[Illustration: She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers

-it with kisses ...]

-

-"Ah! my friend! my friend!"

-

-A MAN. "It is just three years to-day since Domitilla died. They stoned

-her at the further end of the Grove of Proserpine. I gathered her

-bones, which shone like glowworms in the grass. The earth how covers

-them."

-

-(_He casts himself down upon a tomb._)

-

-"O my betrothed! my betrothed!"

-

-(_And all the others scattered over the plain_:--)

-

-"O my sister! O my brother! O my daughter! O my mother!"

-

-(_Some kneel, covering their faces with their hands; others lie down

-upon the ground with their arms extended; and the sobs they smother

-shake their breasts with such violence as though their hearts were

-breaking with grief. Sometimes they look up to heaven, exclaiming_:--)

-

-"Have mercy upon her soul, O my God! She languishes in the sojourn of

-Shades; vouchsafe to admit her to thy Resurrection, that she may enjoy

-Thy Light!"

-

-(_Or, with eyes fixed upon the gravestones, they murmur to the dead_:--)

-

-"Be at peace, beloved! and suffer not! I have brought thee wine and

-meats!"

-

-A WIDOW. "Here is pultis, made by my own hands, as he used to like it,

-with plenty of eggs and a double measure of flour! We are going to eat

-it together as in other days, are we not?"

-

-(_She lifts a little piece to her lips, and suddenly bursts into an

-extravagant and frenzied laugh._

-

-_The others also nibble a little bit as she does and drink a mouthful

-of wine._

-

-_They recount to each other the stories of their martyrs; grief becomes

-exalted! libations redouble. Their tear-swimming eyes are fixed upon

-each other's faces. They stammer with intoxication and grief; gradually

-hands touch hands, lips join themselves to lips, and they seek each

-other upon the tombs, between the cups and the torches._

-

-_The sky begins to whiten. The fog makes damp their garments; and,

-without appearing even to know one another, they depart by different

-ways and seek their homes._

-

-_The sun shines; the weeds and the grass have grown higher; the face of

-the plain is changed._

-

-_And Anthony, looking between tall bamboos, sees distinctly a forest of

-columns, of bluish-grey color. These are tree-trunks, all originating

-from one vast trunk. From each branch of the colossal tree descend

-other branches which may bury themselves in the soil; and the aspect of

-all these horizontal and perpendicular lines, indefinitely multiplied,

-would closely resemble a monstrous timber-work, were it not that they

-have small figs[7] growing upon them here and there, and a blackish

-foliage, like that of the sycamore._

-

-_He perceives in the forkings of their branches, hanging bunches of

-yellow flowers, violet flowers also, and ferns that resemble the plumes

-of splendid birds._

-

-_Under the lowest branches the horns of a bubalus gleam at intervals,

-and the bright eyes of antelopes are visible; there are hosts of

-parrots; there are butterflies flittering hither and thither; lizards

-lazily drag themselves up or down; flies buzz and hum; and in the midst

-of the silence, a sound is audible as of the palpitation of a deep and

-mighty life._

-

-_Seated upon a sort of pyre at the entrance of the wood is a strange

-being--a man--besmeared with cow-dung, completely naked, more withered

-than a mummy; his articulations form knots at the termination of bones

-that resemble sticks. He has bunches of shells suspended from his ears;

-his face is very long, and his nose like a vulture's beak. His left arm

-remains motionlessly erect in air, anchylosed, rigid as a stake; and he

-has been seated here so long that birds have made themselves a nest in

-his long hair._

-

-_At the four corners of his wooden pyre flame four fires. The sun is

-directly in front of him. He gazes steadily at it with widely-opened

-eyes; and, then without looking at Anthony, asks him_:--)

-

-"Brahmin from the shores of the Nile, what hast thou to say regarding

-these things?"

-

-(_Flames suddenly burst out on all sides of him, through the intervals

-between the logs of the pyre; and_--)

-

-THE GYMNOSOPHIST (_continues_).

-

-"Lo! I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I dwelt in

-the tree behind me."

-

-[Illustration: I have buried myself in solitude, like the

-rhinoceros. I dwelt in the tree behind me.]

-

-(_The vast fig-tree, indeed, shows in one of its groves, a natural

-excavation about the size of a man._)

-

-"And I nourished me with flowers and fruits, observing the precepts so

-rigidly that not even a dog ever beheld me eat.

-

-"Inasmuch as existence originates from corruption, corruption from

-desire, desire from sensation, sensation from contact, I have ever

-avoided all action, all contact, and perpetually--motionless as the

-stela of a tomb, exhaling my breath from my two nostrils, fixing my

-eyes upon my nose, and contemplating the ether in my mind, the world in

-my members, the moon in my heart--I dreamed of the essence of the great

-Soul whence continually escape the principles of life, even as sparks

-escape from fire.

-

-"Thus at last I found the supreme Soul in all beings, and all beings

-in the supreme Soul; and I have been able to make mine own soul all my

-senses.

-

-"I receive knowledge directly from heaven, like the bird Tchataka, who

-quenches his thirst from falling rain only.

-

-"Even by so much as things are known to me, things no longer exist.

-

-"For me now there is no more hope, no more anguish, there is neither

-happiness nor virtue, nor day nor night, nor Thou nor I--absolutely

-nothing!

-

-"My awful austerities have made me superior to the Powers. A single

-contraction of my thought would suffice to kill a hundred sons of

-kings, to dethrone gods, to overturn the world."

-

-(_He utters all these things in a monotonous voice._

-

-_The surrounding leaves shrivel up. Fleeing rats rush over the ground._

-

-_He slowly turns his eyes downward toward the rising flames, and then

-continues_:--)

-

-"I have loathed Form, I have loathed Perception, I have loathed even

-Knowledge itself, for the thought does not survive the transitory fact

-which caused it; and mind, like all else, is only an illusion.

-

-"All that is engendered will perish; all that is dead must live again;

-the beings that have even now disappeared shall sojourn again in wombs

-as yet unformed, and shall again return to earth to serve in woe other

-creatures.

-

-"But inasmuch as I have rolled through the revolution of an indefinite

-multitude of existences, under the envelopes of gods, of men, and of

-animals, I renounce further wanderings; I will endure this weariness

-no more! I abandon the filthy hostelry of this body of mine, built

-with flesh, reddened with blood, covered with a hideous skin, full of

-uncleanliness; and, for my recompense, I go at last to slumber in the

-deepest deeps of the Absolute--in Annihilation."

-

-(_The flames rise to his chest, then envelope him. His head rises

-through them as through a hole in the wall. His cavernous eyes still

-remain icicle open, gazing._)

-

-ANTHONY (_rises_).

-

-(_The torch, which had fallen to the ground, has ignited the splinters

-of wood; and the flames have singed his beard._

-

-_With a loud cry, Anthony tramples the fire out; and, when nothing

-remains but ashes, he exclaims_:--)

-

-"Where can Hilarion be? He was here a moment ago. I saw him!

-

-"What! No; it is impossible; I must have been mistaken!

-

-"Yet why?... Perhaps my cabin, these stones, this sand, have no real

-existence. I am becoming mad! Let me be calm! Where was I? What was it

-that happened?

-

-"Ah! the gymnosophist!... Such a death is frequent among the sages of

-India. Kalanos burned himself before Alexander; another did likewise

-in the time of Augustus. What hatred of life men must have to do thus!

-Unless, indeed, they are impelled by pride alone?... Yet in any event

-they have the intrepidity of martyrs.... As for the latter, I can now

-well believe what has been told me regarding the debauchery they cause.

-

-"And before that? Yes: I remember now! the host of the Heresiarchs!

-What outcries! What eyes! Yet why so much rebellion of the flesh, so

-much dissoluteness, so many aberrations of the intellect.

-

-"They claim, nevertheless, to seek God through all those ways! What

-right have I to curse them--I, who stumble so often in mine own path?

-I was perhaps about to learn more of them at the moment when they

-disappeared. Too rapid was the whirl; I had no time to answer. Now I

-feel as though there were more space, more light in my understanding. I

-am calm. I even feel myself able to.... What is this? I thought I had

-put out the fire!"

-

-(_A flame flits among the rocks; and soon there comes the sound of

-a voice--broken, convulsed as by sobs--from afar off, among the

-mountains._)

-

-"Can it be the cry of a hyena, or the lamentation of some traveler that

-has lost his way?"

-

-(_Anthony listens. The flame draws nearer._

-

-_And he beholds a weeping woman approach, leaning upon the shoulder of

-a white-bearded man._

-

-_She is covered with a purple robe in rags. He is bareheaded like lier,

-wears a tunic of the same color, and carries in his hands a brazen

-vase, whence arises a thin blue flame._

-

-_Anthony feels a fear come upon him, and wishes to know who this woman

-may be._)

-

-THE STRANGER SIMON. "It is a young girl, a poor child that I lead about

-with me everywhere."

-

-(_He uplifts the brazen vase._

-

-_Anthony contemplates the girl, by the light of its vacillating flame._

-

-_There are marks of bites upon her face, traces of blows upon her arms;

-her dishevelled hair entangles itself in the rents of her rags; her

-eyes appear to be insensible to light._)

-

-SIMON. "Sometimes she remains thus for a long, long time without

-speaking; then all at once she revives, and discourses of marvellous

-things."

-

-ANTHONY. "In truth?"

-

-SIMON. "Ennoia; Ennoia! Ennoia!--tell us what thou hast to say!"

-

-(_She rolls her eyes like one awaking from a dream, slowly passes her

-fingers over her brows, and in a mournful voice, speaks_:--)

-

-Helena[8] (_Ennoia_).

-

-[Illustration: Helena - Ennoia]

-

-"I remember a distant land, of the color of emerald. Only one tree

-grows there.

-

-(_Anthony starts_).

-

-"Upon each of its tiers of broad-extending arms, a pair of Spirits

-dwell in air. All about them the branches intercross, like the veins

-of a body; and they watch the eternal Life circulating, from the roots

-deep plunging into darkness even to the leafy summit that rises higher

-than the sun. I, dwelling upon the second branch, illuminated the

-nights of Summer with my face."

-

-ANTHONY, (_tapping his own forehead_:--)

-

-"Ah! ah! I comprehend! her head!..."

-

-SIMON (_placing his finger to his lips_:--)

-

-"Hush!"

-

-HELENA. "The sail remained well filled by the wind; the keel cleft the

-foam. He said to me: 'What though I afflict my country, though I lose

-my kingdom! Thou wilt belong to me, in my house!'

-

-"How sweet was the lofty chamber of his palace! Lying upon the ivory

-bed, he caressed my long hair, singing amorously the while.

-

-"Even at the close of the day I beheld the two camps, the watchfires

-being lighted, Ulysses at the entrance of his tent, armed Achilles

-driving a chariot along the sea-beach."

-

-ANTHONY. "Why! she is utterly mad! How came this to pass?..."

-

-SIMON. "Hush! hush!"

-

-HELENA. "They anointed me with unguents, and sold me to the people that

-I might amuse them.

-

-"One evening I was standing with the sistrum in my hand, making music

-for some Greek sailors who were dancing. The rain was falling upon the

-roof of the tavern like a cataract, and the cups of warm wine were

-smoking.

-

-"A man suddenly entered, although the door was not opened to let him

-pass."

-

-SIMON. "It was I! I found thee again!

-

-"Behold her, Anthony, she whom they call Sigeh, Ennoia, Barbelo,

-Prounikos! The Spirits governing the world were jealous of her; and

-they imprisoned her within the body of a woman.

-

-"She was that Helen of Troy, whose memory was cursed by the poet

-Stesichorus. She was Lucretia, the patrician woman violated by a king.

-She was Delilah, by whom Samson's locks were shorn.... She has loved

-adultery, idolatry, lying and foolishness. She has prostituted herself

-to all nations. She has sung at the angles of all cross-roads. She has

-kissed the faces of all men.

-

-"At Tyre, she, the Syrian, was the mistress of robbers. She caroused

-with them during the nights; and she concealed assassins amidst the

-vermin of her tepid bed."

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah! what is this to me?..."

-

-SIMON (_with a furious look_:--)

-

-"I tell thee that I have redeemed her, and re-established her in her

-former splendor; insomuch that Caius Cæsar Caligula became enamoured of

-her, desiring to sleep with the Moon!"

-

-ANTHONY. "What then?..."

-

-SIMON. "Why this, that she herself is the Moon! Has not Pope Clement

-written how she was imprisoned in a tower? Three hundred persons

-surrounded the tower to watch it; and the moon was seen at each of the

-loop-holes at the same time, although there is not more than one moon

-in the world, nor more than one Ennoia!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yes ... it seems to me that I remember...."

-

-(_He falls into a reverie._)

-

-SIMON. "Innocent as the Christ who died for men, so did she devote

-herself for women. For the impotence of Jehovah is proven by the

-transgression of Adama, and we must shake off the yoke of the old law,

-which is antipathetic to the order of things.[9]

-

-"I have preached the revival in Ephraim and in Issachar by the torrent

-of Bizor, beyond the Lake of Houleh, in the valley of Maggedo, further

-than the mountains, at Bostra and at Damascus. Let all come to me who

-are covered with wine, who are covered with filth, who are covered with

-blood! and I shall take away their uncleanliness with the Holy Spirit,

-called Minerva by the Greeks. She is Minerva! she is the Holy Spirit! I

-am Jupiter, Apollo, the Christ, the Paraclete, the great might of God,

-incarnated in the person of Simon!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah! it is thou!... so it is thou! But I know thy crimes!

-

-"Thou wast born at Gittoi near Samaria, Dositheas, thy first master,

-drove thee from him. Thou didst execrate Saint Paul because he

-converted one of thy wives; and, vanquished by Saint Peter, in thy rage

-and terror thou didst cast into the waves the bag which contained thy

-artifices!"

-

-SIMON. "Dost thou desire them?"

-

-(_Anthony looks at him, and an interior voice whispers hi his

-heart:--"Why not?"_)

-

-SIMON (_continues_).

-

-"He who knows the forces of Nature and the essence of Spirits must be

-able to perform miracles. It has been the dream of all sages; it is the

-desire which even now gnaws thee!--confess it!"

-

-"In the sight of the multitude of the Romans, I flew in the air so

-high that none could behold me move. Nero ordered that I should be

-decapitated; but it was the head of a sheep which fell upon the ground

-in lieu of mine. At last they buried me alive; but I rose again upon

-the third day. The proof is that thou dost behold me before thee!"

-

-(_He presents his hands to Anthony to smell. They have the stench of

-corpse-flesh. Anthony recoils with loathing._)

-

-"I can make serpents of bronze writhe; I can make marble statues

-laugh; I can make dogs speak. I will show thee vast quantities of gold;

-I will reestablish kings; thou shalt see nations prostrate themselves

-in adoration before me! I can walk upon the clouds and upon the waves,

-I can pass through mountains, I can make myself appear as a youth, as

-an old man, as a tiger, or as an ant; I can assume thy features; I can

-give thee mine; I can make the thunder follow after me. Dost hear it?"

-

-(_The thunder rumbles; flashes of lightning succeed._)

-

-"It is the voice of the Most High; for 'the Lord thy God is a fire;'

-and all creations are accomplished by sparks from the fire-centre of

-all things.

-

-Thou shalt even now receive the baptism of it--that second baptism

-announced by Jesus, which fell upon the apostles on a day of tempest

-when the windows were open!"

-

-(_And stirring up the flame with his hand, slowly, as though preparing

-to sprinkle Anthony with it, he continues_:--)

-

-"Mother of mercies, thou who discoverest all secrets, in order that we

-may find rest in the eighth mansion...."

-

-ANTHONY (_cries out_:--)

-

-"Oh! that I had only some holy water!..."

-

-(_The flame goes out, producing much smoke._

-

-_Ennoia and Simon have disappeared._

-

-_An exceedingly cold, opaque and f[oe]tid mist fills the atmosphere._)

-

-ANTHONY (_groping with his hands like a blind man_:--)

-

-"Where am I?... I fear lest I fall into the abyss! And the cross,

-surely, is too far from me. Ah! what a night! what a terrible night!"

-

-(_The mist is parted by a gust of wind; and Anthony sees two men

-covered with long white tunics._

-

-_The first is of lofty stature, with a gentle face, and a grave mien.

-His blond hair, parted like that of Christ, falls upon his shoulders.

-He has cast aside a wand that he had been holding in his hand; his

-companion takes it up, making a reverence after the fashion of the

-Orientals._

-

-_The latter is small of stature, thick set, flat-nosed; his neck and

-shoulders expresses good natured simplicity._

-

-_Both are barefooted, bareheaded, and dusty, like persons who have made

-a long journey._)

-

-ANTHONY (_starting up_:--)

-

-"What do ye seek? Speak!... Begone from here!"

-

-DAMIS (_who is a little man_).

-

-"Nay! nay! be not angered, good hermit. As for that I seek, I know not

-myself what it is! Here is the Master!"

-

-(_He sits down. The other stranger remains standing. Silence._)

-

-ANTHONY (_asks_).

-

-"Then ye come?..."

-

-DAMIS. "Oh! from afar off--very far off!"

-

-ANTHONY. "And ye go?..."

-

-DAMIS (_pointing to the other_)

-

-"Whithersoever he shall desire!"

-

-ANTHONY. "But who may he be?"

-

-DAMIS. "Look well upon him!"

-

-ANTHONY (_aside_).

-

-"He looks like a saint! If I could only dare...."

-

-(_The mist is all gone. The night is very clear. The moon shines._)

-

-DAMIS. "Of what art thou dreaming, that thou dost not speak?"

-

-ANTHONY. "I was thinking.... Oh! nothing!"

-

-DAMIS (_approaches Apollonius, and walks all round him several times,

-bending himself as he walks, never raising his head_:--)

-

-"Master, here is a Galilean hermit who desires to know the beginnings

-of wisdom."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Let him approach!" (_Anthony hesitates._)

-

-DAMIS. "Approach!"

-

-APOLLONIUS (_in a voice of thunder_:--)

-

-"Approach! Thou wouldst know who I am, what I have done, and what I

-think,--is it not so, child?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Always supposing that these things can contribute to the

-salvation of my soul."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Rejoice! I am about to inform thee of them!"

-

-DAMIS (_in an undertone, to Anthony_:--)

-

-"Is it possible? He must surely have at the first glance discerned in

-thee extraordinary aptitude for philosophy. I shall also strive to

-profit by his instruction."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "First of all, I shall tell thee of the long course which

-I have followed in order to obtain the doctrine; and if thou canst

-discover in all my life one evil action, thou shalt bid me pause, for

-he who hath erred in his actions may well give scandal by his words."

-

-DAMIS (_to Anthony_).

-

-"How just a man? Is he not?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Indeed I believe him to be sincere."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Upon the night of my birth, my mother imagined that

-she was gathering flowers by the shore of a great lake. A flash of

-lightning appeared; and she brought me into the world to the music of

-the voices of swans singing to her in her dream.

-

-"Until I had reached the age of fifteen I was plunged thrice a day into

-the fountain, Asbadeus, whose waters make perjurers hydropical; and my

-body was rubbed with the leaves of the onyza, that I might be chaste.

-

-"A Palmyrian princess came one evening to seek me, offering me

-treasures that she knew to be in the tombs. A hierodule of the temple

-of Diana, slew herself in despair with the sacrificial knife; and the

-governor of Cilicia, finding all his promises of no avail, cried out in

-the presence of my family that he would cause my death; but it was he

-that died only three days after, assassinated by the Romans."

-

-DAMIS (_nudging Anthony with his elbow_).

-

-"Eh? did I not tell thee? What a man!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "For the space of four successive years I maintained the

-unbroken silence of the Pythagoreans. The most sudden and unexpected

-pain never extorted a sigh from me; and when I used to enter the

-theatre, all drew away from me, as from a phantom."

-

-DAMIS. "Wouldst thou have done so much?--thou?"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "After the period of my trial had been accomplished, I

-undertook to instruct the priests regarding the tradition they had

-lost."

-

-ANTHONY. "What tradition?"

-

-DAMIS. "Interrupt him not! Be silent!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "I have conversed with the Samaneans of the Ganges, with

-the astrologers of Chaldea, with the magi of Babylon, with the Gaulish

-Druids, with the priests of the negroes! I have ascended the fourteen

-Olympii; I have sounded the Scythian lakes; I have measured the breadth

-of the Desert!"

-

-DAMIS. "It is all true! I was with him the while!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "But first I had visited the Hyrcanian Sea; I made the tour

-of it; and descending by way of the country of the Baraomati, where

-Bucephalus is buried, I approached the city of Nineveh. At the gates of

-the city, a man drew near me...."

-

-DAMIS. "I--even I, good master! I loved thee from the first. Thou wert

-gentler than a girl and more beautiful than a god!"

-

-APOLLONIUS (_without hearing him_).

-

-"He asked me to accompany him, that he might serve as interpreter."

-

-DAMIS. "But thou didst reply that all languages were familiar to thee,

-and that thou couldst divine all thoughts. Then I kissed the hem of thy

-mantle, and proceeded to walk behind thee."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "After Ctesiphon, we entered upon the territory of Babylon."

-

-DAMIS. "And the Satrap cried aloud on beholding a man so pale."

-

-ANTHONY (_aside_).

-

-"What signifies this?..."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "The king received me standing, near a throne of silver,

-in a hall constellated with stars; from the cupola hung suspended by

-invisible threads four great birds of gold, with wings extended."

-

-ANTHONY (_dreamily_).

-

-"Can there be such things in the world?"

-

-DAMIS. "Ah! that is a city! that Babylon! everybody there is rich! The

-houses, which are painted blue, have doors of bronze, and flights of

-steps descending to the river."

-

-(_Drawing lines upon the ground, with his stick_:)

-

-"Like that, seest thou? And then there are temples, there are squares,

-there are baths, there are aqueducts! The palaces are roofed with red

-brass; and the interior ... ah! if thou only knewest!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Upon the north wall rises a tower which supports a second,

-a third, a fourth, a fifth, and there are also three others! The eighth

-is a chapel containing a bed. No one enters it save the woman chosen by

-the priests for the God Belus. I was lodged there by order of the King

-of Babylon."

-

-DAMIS. "As for me, they hardly deigned to give me any attention! So I

-walked through the streets all by myself. I informed myself regarding

-the customs of the people; I visited the workshops; I examined the

-great machines that carry water to the gardens. But I soon wearied of

-being separated from the Master."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "At last we left Babylon; and as we travelled by the light

-of the moon, we suddenly beheld an Empusa."

-

-DAMIS. "Aye, indeed! She leaped upon her iron hoof; she brayed like an

-ass; she galloped among the rocks. He shouted imprecations at her; she

-disappeared."

-

-ANTHONY (_aside_).

-

-"What can be their motive?"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "At Taxilla, the capital of five thousand fortresses,

-Phraortes, King of the Ganges, showed us his guard of black men, whose

-stature was five cubits, and under a pavilion of green brocade in his

-gardens, an enormous elephant, which the queens amused themselves by

-perfuming. It was the elephant of Porus which had taken flight after

-the death of Alexander."

-

-DAMIS. "And which had been found again in a forest."

-

-ANTHONY. "Their speech is superabundant, like that of drunken men!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Phraortes seated us at his own table."

-

-DAMIS. "How strange a country that was! During their drinking

-carousels, the lords used to amuse-themselves by shooting arrows under

-the feet of a dancing child. But I do not approve...."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "When I was ready to depart, the king gave me a parasol,

-and he said to me: 'I have a stud of white camels upon the Indus. When

-thou shalt have no further use for them, blow in their ears. They will

-come back.'

-

-"We descended along the river, marching at night by the light of the

-fire-flies, which glimmered among the bamboos. The slave whistled an

-air to drive away the serpents; and our camels bent down in passing

-below the branches of the trees, as if passing under low gates.

-

-"One day a black child, who held a golden caduceus in his hand,

-conducted us to the College of the Sages. Iarchas, their chief, spoke

-to me of my ancestors, told me of all my thoughts, of all my actions,

-of all my existences. In former time he had been the River Indus; and

-he reminded me that I had once been a boatman upon the Nile, in the

-time of King Sesostris."

-

-DAMIS. "As for me, they told me nothing; so that I know not who or what

-I have been."

-

-ANTHONY. "They have a vague look, like shadows!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Upon the shores of the sea we met with the milk-gorged

-Cynocephali, who were returning from their expedition to the Island

-Taprobana. The tepid waves rolled blond pearls to our feet. The amber

-crackled beneath our steps. Whale-skeletons were whitening in the

-crevasses of the cliffs. At last the land became narrow as a sandal;

-and after casting drops of ocean water toward the sun, we turned to the

-right to return.

-

-"So we returned through the Region of Aromatics, by way of the country

-of the Gangarides, the promontory of Comaria, the country of the

-Sachalites, of the Adramites and of the Homerites; then, across the

-Cassanian mountains, the Red Sea, and the Island Topazos, we penetrated

-into Ethiopia through the country of the Pygmies."

-

-ANTHONY (_to himself_).

-

-"How vast the world is!"

-

-DAMIS. "And after we had returned home, we found that all those whom we

-used to know, were dead."

-

-(_Anthony lowers his head. Silence._)

-

-APOLLONIUS (_continues_).

-

-"Then men began to talk of me the world over.

-

-"The plague was ravaging Ephesus; I made them stone an old mendicant

-there."

-

-DAMIS. "And forthwith the plague departed."

-

-ANTHONY. "What! Does he drive away pestilence?"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "At Cnidos, I cured the man that had become enamored of

-Venus."

-

-DAMIS. "Aye! a fool who had even vowed to espouse her! To love a woman

-is at least comprehensible; but to love a statue--what madness! The

-Master placed his hand upon the young man's heart; and the fire of that

-love was at once extinguished."

-

-ANTHONY. "How! does he also cast out devils?"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "At Tarentum they were carrying the dead body of a young

-girl to the funeral pyre."

-

-DAMIS. "The Master touched her lips; and she arose and called her

-mother."

-

-ANTHONY. "What! he raises the dead!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "I predicted to Vespasian his accession to power."

-

-ANTHONY. "What! he foretells the future!"

-

-DAMIS. "At Corinth there was a ..."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "It was when I was at table with him, at the waters of

-Baia ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "Excuse me, strangers--it is very late ..."

-

-DAMIS. "At Corinth there was a young man called Menippus ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "No! no!--go ye away!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "A dog came in, bearing a severed hand in his mouth."

-

-DAMIS. "One evening, in one of the suburbs, he met a woman."

-

-ANTHONY. "Do ye not hear me? Begone!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "He wandered in a bewildered way around the couches ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "Enough!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "They sought to drive him out."

-

-DAMIS. "So Menippus went with her to her house; they loved one

-another."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "And gently beating the mosaic pavement with his tail, he

-laid the severed hand upon the knees of Flavius."

-

-DAMIS. "But next morning, during the lessons in the school, Menippus

-was pale."

-

-ANTHONY (_starting up in anger_).

-

-"Still continuing! Ah! then let them continue till they be weary,

-inasmuch as there is no ..."

-

-DAMIS. "The Master said to him: 'O beautiful youth, thou dost caress

-a serpent; by a serpent thou art caressed! And when shall be the

-nuptials?' We all went to the wedding."

-

-ANTHONY. "Assuredly I am doing wrong, to hearken to such a story!"

-

-DAMIS. "Servants were hurrying to and fro in the vestibule; doors were

-opening; nevertheless there was no sound made either by the fall of

-the footsteps nor the closing of the doors. The Master placed himself

-beside Menippus. And the bride forthwith became angered against the

-philosophers. But the vessels of gold, the cupbearers, the cooks, the

-panthers disappeared; the roof receded and vanished into air; the walls

-crumbled down; and Apollonius stood alone with the woman at his feet,

-all in tears. She was a vampire who satisfied the beautiful young men

-in order to devour their flesh, for nothing is more desirable for such

-phantoms than the blood of amorous youths."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "If thou shouldst desire to learn the art ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "I do not wish to learn anything!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "The same evening that we arrived at the gates of Rome ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh! yes!--speak to me rather of the City of Popes!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "A drunken man accosted us, who was singing in a low voice.

-The song was an epithalamium of Nero; and he had the power to cause

-the death of whosoever should hear it with indifference. In a box upon

-his shoulders he carried a string taken from the Emperor's cithara. I

-shrugged my shoulders. He flung mud in our faces. Then I unfastened my

-girdle and placed it in this hand."

-

-DAMIS. "In sooth, thou wert most imprudent!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "During the night the Emperor summoned me to his house. He

-was playing at osselets with Sporus, supporting his left arm upon a

-table of agate. He turned and, knitting his brows, demanded: 'How comes

-it that thou dost not fear me?' 'Because,' I replied, 'the God who made

-thee terrible, also made me intrepid."

-

-ANTHONY (_to himself_).

-

-"There is something inexplicable that terrifies me!"

-

-(_Silence._)

-

-DAMIS (_breaking the silence with his shrill voice_).

-

-"Moreover, all Asia can tell thee ..."

-

-ANTHONY (_starting up_).

-

-"I am ill! let me be!"

-

-DAMIS. "But listen! At Ephesus, he beheld them killing Domitian, who

-was at Rome."

-

-ANTHONY (_with a forced laugh_). "Is it possible?"

-

-DAMIS. "Yes: at the theatre at noon-day, the fourteenth of the Kalenda

-of October, he suddenly cried out: 'Cæsar is being murdered!' and

-from time to time he would continue to ejaculate: 'He rolls upon the

-pavement ... Oh! how he struggles ... He rises ... He tries to flee

-... The doors are fastened ... Ah! it is all over! He is dead!' And in

-fact Titus Flavius Domitianus was assassinated upon that very day, as

-thou knowest."

-

-ANTHONY. "Without the aid of the Devil ... certainly ..."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "He had purposed putting me to death, that same Domitian!

-Damis had taken flight according to my order, and I remained alone in

-my prison."

-

-DAMIS. "A terrible hardihood on thy part, it must be confessed!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "About the fifth hour, the soldiers led me before the

-tribunal. I had my harangue all ready hidden beneath my mantle."

-

-DAMIS. "We others were then upon the shores of Puteoli, we believed

-thee dead; we were all weeping, when all of a sudden about the sixth

-hour, thou didst suddenly appear before us, exclaiming: 'It is I.'"

-

-ANTHONY (_to himself_). "Even as He...!"

-

-DAMIS (_in a very loud voice_). "Precisely!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh! no! ye lie! is it not so?--ye lie!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "He descended from heaven. I rise thither, by the power of

-my virtue that has lifted me up even to the height of the Principle of

-all things!"

-

-DAMIS. "Thyana, his natal city, has established in his honor a temple

-and a priesthood!"

-

-APOLLONIUS (_draws near Anthony, and shouts in his ear_:--)

-

-"It is because I know all gods, all rites, all prayers, all oracles!

-I have penetrated into the cave of Trophonius, son of Apollo! I

-have kneaded for Syracusan women the cakes which they carry to the

-mountains. I have endured the eighty tests of Mithra! I have pressed to

-my heart the serpent of Sabasius! I have received the scarf of Kabiri!

-I have laved Cybele in the waters of the Campanian gulfs! and I have

-passed three moons in the caverns of Samothracia!"

-

-DAMIS (_with a stupid laugh_).

-

-"Ah! ah! ah! at the mysteries of the good Goddess!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "And now we recommence our pilgrimage.

-

-"We go to the North to the land of Swans and of snows. Upon the vast

-white plains, the blind hippopodes break with the tips of their feet

-the ultramarine plant."

-

-DAMIS. "Hasten! it is already dawn. The cock has crowed, the horse has

-neighed, the sail is hoisted!"

-

-ANTHONY. "The cock has not crowed! I hear the locusts in the sands, and

-I see the moon still in her place."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "We go to the South, beyond the mountains and the mighty

-waters, to seek in perfumes the secret source of love. Thou shalt

-inhale the odor of myrrhodion which makes the weak die. Thou shalt

-bathe thy body in the lake of Rose-oil which is in the Island Junonia.

-Thou shalt see slumbering upon primroses that Lizard which awakes

-every hundred years when the carbuncle upon its forehead, arriving

-at maturity, falls to the ground. The stars palpitate like eyes; the

-cascades sing like the melody of lyres; strange intoxication is exhaled

-by blossoming flowers; thy mind shall grow vaster in that air; and thy

-heart shall change even as thy face."

-

-DAMIS. "Master! it is time! The wind has risen, the swallows awaken,

-the myrtle leaves are blown away."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Yes! let us go!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Nay! I remain here!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Shall I tell thee where grows the plant Balis, that

-resurrects the dead?"

-

-DAMIS "Nay; ask him rather for the audrodamas which attracts silver,

-iron and brass!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh! how I suffer! how I suffer!"

-

-DAMIS. "Thou shalt comprehend the voices of all living creatures, the

-roarings, the cooings!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "I shall enable thee to ride upon unicorns and upon

-dragons, upon hippocentaurs and dolphins!"

-

-ANTHONY (_weeping_). "Oh ... oh!... oh!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Thou shalt know the demons that dwell in the caverns, the

-demons that mutter in the woods, the demons that move in the waves, the

-demons that push the clouds!"

-

-DAMIS. "Tighten thy girdle, fasten thy sandals!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "I shall explain to thee the reason of divine forms--why

-Apollo stands, why Jupiter is seated, why Venus is black, at Corinth,

-square-shaped at Athens, conical at Paphos."

-

-ANTHONY (_clasping his hands_).

-

-"Let them begone! let them begone!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "In thy presence I will tear down the panoplies of the

-Gods; we shall force open the sanctuaries, I will enable thee to

-violate the Pythoness!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Help! O my God!"

-

-(_He rushes to the cross._)

-

-APOLLONIUS. "What is thy desire? What is thy dream? Thou needst only

-devote the moment of time necessary to think of it ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "Jesus! Jesus! Help me!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Dost thou wish me to make him appear, thy Jesus?"

-

-ANTHONY. "What? How!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "It shall be He!--no other! He will cast off his crown, and

-we shall converse face to face!"

-

-DAMIS (_in an undertone_).

-

-"Say thou dost indeed wish it! say thou dost desire it!"

-

-(_Anthony kneeling before the cross, murmurs prayers. Damis walks

-around him, with wheedling gestures._)

-

-"Nay, nay! good hermit. Be not horrified! These are only exaggerated

-forms of speech, borrowed from the Orientals. That need in no way ..."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Let him alone, Damis!

-

-"He believes, like a brute, in the reality of things. The terror which

-he entertains of the Gods prevents him from comprehending them; and he

-debases his own God to the level of a jealous king!

-

-"But thou, my son, do not leave me!"

-

-(_He moves to the edge of the cliff, walking backward, passes beyond

-the verge of the precipice, and remains suspended in air._)

-

-"Above all forms, further than the ends of the earth, beyond the

-heavens themselves, lies the world of Idea, replete with the splendor

-of the Word! With one bound we shall traverse the impending spaces, and

-thou shalt behold in all his infinity, the Eternal, the Absolute, the

-Being! Come! give me thy hand! Let us rise."

-

-(_Side by side, both rise up through the air, slowly. Anthony, clinging

-to the cross, watches them rise. They disappear._)

-

-

-[1] Agape.--Love-feast of the primitive Christians.

-

-[2] John XVI: 12.--T.

-

-[3] See note at end.

-

-[4] Masheim gives _Achamoth._ I prefer to remain faithful to the

-orthography given by Flaubert.

-

-[5] The French text gives _mes pères_ not _nos pères._ Elxai, or

-Elkhai, who established his sect in the reign of Trajan, was a Jew.

-

-[6] See note.

-

-[7] The banyan is a fig-tree--the _Ficus indicus._--Trans.

-

-[8] Readers may remember Longfellow's exquisite poem "Helena of Tyre."

-

-[9] See the second part of "Faust," and _Kundry_ in "Parsifal."

-

-

-

-

-V.

-

-

-ANTHONY (_walking to and fro, slowly_).

-

-"That one, indeed, seems in himself equal to all the powers of Hell!

-

-"Nebuchadnezzar did not so much dazzle me with his splendours;--the

-Queen of Sheba herself charmed me less deeply.

-

-"His manner of speaking of the gods compels one to feel a desire to

-know them.

-

-"I remember having beheld hundreds of them at one time, in the island

-of Elephantius, in the time of Diocletian. The emperor had ceded to the

-Nomads a great tract of country, upon the condition that they should

-guard the frontiers; and the treaty was concluded in the name of the

-'Powers Invisible.' For the gods of each people were unknown unto the

-other people.

-

-"The Barbarians had brought theirs with them. They occupied the

-sand-hills bordering the river. We saw them supporting their idols in

-their arms, like great paralytic children;--others, paddling through

-the cataracts upon trunks of palm tree, displayed from afar off the

-amulets hung about their necks, the tattooings upon their breasts; and

-these things were not more sinful than the religion of the Greeks, the

-Asiatics, and the Romans!

-

-"When I was dwelling in the temple of Heliopolis I would often consider

-the things I beheld upon the walls:--vultures bearing sceptres,

-crocodiles playing upon lyres, faces of men with the bodies of

-serpents, cow-headed women prostrating themselves before ithyphallic

-gods:--and their supernatural forms attracted my thoughts to other

-worlds. I longed to know that which drew the gaze of all those calm and

-mysterious eyes.

-

-"If matter can exert such power, it must surely contain a spirit. The

-souls of the Gods are attached to their images ...

-

-"Those possessing the beauty of forms might seduce. But the others

-... those of loathsome or terrible aspect ... how can men believe in

-them?..."

-

-(_And he beholds passing over the surface of the ground,--leaves,

-stones, shells, branches of trees,--then a variety of hydropical

-dwarfs: these are gods. He bursts into a laugh. He hears another laugh

-behind him;--and Hilarion appears, in the garb of a hermit, far taller

-than before, colossal._)

-

-ANTHONY (_who feels no surprise at seeing him_).

-

-"How stupid one must be to worship such things!"

-

-HILARION. "Aye!--exceedingly stupid!"

-

-(_Then idols of all nations and of all epochs--of wood, of metal, of

-granite, of feathers, of skins sewn together,--pass before them._

-

-_The most ancient of all anterior to the Deluge are hidden under masses

-of seaweed hanging down over them like manes. Some that are too long

-for their bases, crack in all their joints, and break their own backs

-in walking. Others have rents torn in their bellies through which sand

-trickles out._

-

-_Anthony and Hilarion are prodigiously amused. They hold their sides

-for laughter. Then appear sheep-headed idols. They totter upon their

-bandy-legs, half-open their eye-lids, and stutter like the dumb,_ "Ba!

-ba! ba!"

-

-_The more that the idols commence to resemble the human forms, the

-more they irritate Anthony. He strikes them with his fist, kicks them,

-attacks them with fury. They become frightful,--with lofty plumes, eyes

-like balls, fingers terminated by claws, the jaws of sharks._

-

-_And before these gods men are slaughtered upon altars of stone; others

-are brayed alive in huge mortars, crushed under chariots, nailed upon

-trees. There is one all of red-hot iron with the horns of a bull, who

-devours children._)

-

-ANTHONY. "Horror!"

-

-HILARION. "But the gods always demand tortures--and suffering. Even

-thine desired ..."

-

-ANTHONY (_weeping_). "Ah! say no more!--do not speak to me!"

-

-(_The space girdled by the rocks suddenly changes into a valley. A herd

-of cattle are feeding upon the short grass._

-

-_The herdman who leads them, observes a cloud;--and in a sharp voice,

-shouts out words of command, as if to heaven._)

-

-HILARION. "Because he needs rain, he seeks by certain chants to compel

-the King of heaven to open the fecund cloud."

-

-ANTHONY (_laughing_).

-

-"Verily, such pride is the extreme of foolishness!"

-

-HILARION. "Why dost thou utter exorcisms?"

-

-(_The valley changes into a sea of milk, motionless and infinite. In

-its midst floats a long cradle formed by the coils of a serpent, whose

-many curving heads shade, like a dais, the god slumbering upon its

-body._

-

-_He is beardless, young, more beautiful than a girl, and covered with

-diaphanous veils. The pearls of his tiara gleam softly like moons; a

-chaplet of stars is entwined many times about his breast, and with one

-hand beneath his head, he slumbers with the look of one who dreams

-after wine._

-

-_A woman crouching at his feet, awaits the moment of his awaking._)

-

-HILARION. "Such is the primordial duality of the Brahmans,--the

-Absolute being inexpressible by any form."

-

-(_From the navel of the god has grown the stem of a lotus flower; it

-blossoms, and within its chalice appears another god with three faces._)

-

-ANTHONY. "How strange an invention!"

-

-HILARION. "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but one and the same

-Person!"

-

-(_The three faces separate; and three great gods appear._

-

-_The first, who is pink, bites the end of his great toe._

-

-_The second, who is blue, uplifts his four arms._

-

-_The third, who is green, wears a necklace of human skulls._

-

-_Before them instantly arise three goddesses--one is enveloped in a

-net; another offers a cup; the third brandishes a bow._

-

-[Illustration: ... instantly arise three goddesses]

-

-_And these gods, these goddesses, decuple themselves, multiply. Arms

-grow from their shoulders; at the end of these arms hands appear

-bearing standards, axes, bucklers, swords, parasols and drums.

-Fountains gush from their heads, plants grow from their nostrils._

-

-_Riding upon birds rocked in palanquins, enthroned upon seats of gold,

-standing in ivory niches,--they dream, voyage, command, drink wine,

-respire the breath of flowers. Dancing girls whirl in the dance; giants

-pursue monsters; at the entrances of grottoes solitaries meditate. Eyes

-cannot be distinguished from stars; nor clouds from banderolles;

-peacocks quench their thirst at rivers of gold dust; the embroidery

-of pavilions seems to blend with the spots of leopards; coloured rays

-intercross in the blue air, together with flying arrows, and swinging

-censers._

-

-_And all this develops like a lofty frieze, resting its base upon the

-rocks, and rising to the sky._)

-

-ANTHONY (_dazzled by the sight_).

-

-"How vast is their number! What do they seek?"

-

-HILARION. "The god who rubs his abdomen with his elephant-trunk, is the

-solar Deity, the inspiring spirit of wisdom.

-

-"That other whose six heads are crowned with towers, and whose fourteen

-arms wield javelins,--is the prince of armies,--the Fire-Consumer.

-

-"The old man riding the crocodile washes the soul of the dead upon

-the shore. They will be tormented by that black woman with the putrid

-teeth, who is the Ruler of Hell.

-

-"That chariot drawn by red mares, driven by one who has no legs, bears

-the master of the sun through heaven's azure. The moon-god accompanies

-him, in a litter drawn by three gazelles.

-

-"Kneeling upon the back of a parrot, the Goddess of Beauty presents to

-Love, her son, her rounded breast. Behold her now, further off, leaping

-for joy in the meadows. Look! Look! Coiffed with dazzling mitre, she

-trips lightly over the ears of growing wheat, over the waves; she rises

-in air, extending her power over all elements.

-

-"And among these gods are the Genii of the winds, of the planets, of

-the months, of the days,--a hundred thousand others;--multiple are

-their aspects, rapid their transformations. Behold, there is one who

-changes from a fish into a tortoise: he assumes the form of a boar, the

-shape of a dwarf."

-

-ANTHONY. "Wherefore?"

-

-HILARION. "That he may preserve the equilibrium of the universe, and

-combat the works of evil. But life exhausts itself; forms wear away;

-and they must achieve progression in their metamorphoses."

-

-(_All upon a sudden appears a_ NAKED MAN _seated in the midst of the

-sand, with legs crossed._)

-

-(_A large halo vibrates, suspended in air behind him. The little

-ringlets of his black hair in which blueish tints shift symmetrically

-surround a protuberance upon the summit of his skull. His arms,

-which are very long, hang down against his sides. His two hands rest

-flat upon his thighs, with the palms open. The soles of his feet

-are like the faces of two blazing suns; and he remains completely

-motionless--before Anthony and Hilarion--with all the gods around him,

-rising in tiers above the rocks, as if upon the benches of some vast

-circus. His lips, half-open; and he speaks in a deep voice_):

-

-"I am the Master of great charities, the succor of all creatures; and

-not less to the profane than to believers, do I expound the law.

-

-"That I might deliver the world, I resolved to be born among men. The

-gods wept when I departed from them.

-

-"I sought me first a woman worthy to give me birth: a woman of warrior

-race, the wife of a king, exceedingly good, excessively beautiful,

-with body firm as adamant;--and at time of the full moon, without the

-auxiliation of any male, I entered her womb.

-

-"I issued from it by the right side. Stars stopped in their courses."

-

-HILARION (_murmurs between his teeth_).

-

-"And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy!"[1]

-

-(_Anthony watches more attentively._)

-

-THE BUDDHA[2] (_continuing_).

-

-"From the furthest recesses of the Himalayas, a holy man one hundred

-years of age, hurried to see me."

-

-HILARION. "A man named Simeon ... who should not see death, before he

-had seen the Christ of the Lord."[3]

-

-THE BUDDHA. "I was led unto the schools; and it was found that I knew

-more than the teachers."

-

-HILARION. "... In the midst of the doctors ... and all that heard him

-were astonished at his wisdom!"[4]

-

-(_Anthony makes a sign to Hilarion to be silent._)

-

-THE BUDDHA. "Continually did I meditate in the gardens. The shadows of

-the trees turned with the turning of the sun; but the shadow of that

-which sheltered me turned not.

-

-"None could equal me in the knowledge of the Scriptures, the

-enumeration of atoms, the conduct of elephants, the working of wax,

-astronomy, poetry, pugilism, all the exercises and all the arts!

-

-"In accordance with custom, I took to myself a wife; and I passed the

-days in my kingly palace;--clad in pearls, under a rain of perfumes,

-refreshed by the fans of thirty thousand women,--watching my peoples

-from the height of my terraces adorned with fringes of resonant bells.

-

-"But the sight of the miseries of the world turned me away from

-pleasure. I fled.

-

-"I begged my way upon the high roads, clad myself in rags gathered

-within the sepulchres;--and, hearing of a most learned hermit, I chose

-to become his slave. I guarded his gate! I washed his feet.

-

-"Thus I annihilated all sensation, all joy, all languor.

-

-"Then, concentrating my thoughts within vaster meditation, I learned to

-know the essence of things, the illusion of forms.

-

-"Soon I exhausted the science of the Brahmans. They are gnawed by

-covetousness and desire under their outward aspect of austerity; they

-daub themselves with filth, they live upon thorns,--hoping to arrive at

-happiness by the path of death!"

-

-HILARION.... "Pharisees, hypocrites, whited sepulchres, generation of

-vipers!"

-

-THE BUDDHA. "I also accomplished wondrous things,--eating but one

-grain of rice each day (and the grains of rice in those times were no

-larger than at present)--my hair fell off; my body became black; my

-eyes receding within their sockets, seemed even as stars beheld at the

-bottom of a well.

-

-"During six years I kept myself motionless, exposed to the flies, the

-lions and the serpents; and the great summer suns, the torrential

-rains, lightnings and snows, hails and tempests,--all of these I

-endured without even the shelter of my lifted hand.

-

-"The travellers who passed by, believing me dead, cast clods of earth

-upon me!

-

-"Only the temptation of the Devil remained!

-

-"I summoned him.

-

-"His sons came,--hideous, scale-covered, nauseous as

-charnel-houses,--shrieking, hissing, bellowing; interclashing their

-panoplies, rattling together the bones of dead men. Some belched

-flame through their nostrils; some made darkness about me with their

-wings; some wore chaplets of severed fingers; some drank serpent-venom

-from the hollows of their hands;--they were swine-headed; they were

-rhinoceros-headed or toad-headed; they assumed all forms that inspire

-loathing or affright."

-

-ANTHONY (_to himself_).

-

-"I also endured all that in other days!"

-

-THE BUDDHA. "Then did he send me his daughters--beautiful with

-daintily painted faces, and wearing girdles of gold. Their teeth were

-whiter than the jasmine-flower; their thighs round as the trunk of

-an elephant. Some extended their arms and yawned, that they might so

-display the dimples of their elbows; some winked their eyes; some

-laughed; some half-opened their garments. There were blushing virgins,

-matrons replete with dignity, queens who came with great trains of

-baggage and of slaves."

-

-ANTHONY (_aside_). "Ah! he too ..."

-

-THE BUDDHA. "Having vanquished the Demon, I nourished myself for twelve

-years with perfumes only;--and as I had acquired the five virtues,

-the five faculties, the ten forces, the eighteen substances, and had

-entered into the four spheres of the invisible world, Intelligence

-became mine! I became the Buddha."

-

-[Illustration: Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha.]

-

-(_All the gods bow themselves down. Those having several heads, bend

-them all simultaneously. He lifts his mighty hand aloft, and resumes_:)

-

-"That I might effect the deliverance of beings, I have made hundreds

-of thousands of sacrifices! To the poor I gave robes of silk, beds,

-chariots, houses, heaps of gold and of diamonds. I gave my hands to the

-one-handed, my legs to the lame, my eyes to the blind;--even my head I

-severed for the sake of the decapitated. In the day that I was King, I

-gave away provinces;--when I was a Brahman I despised no one. When I

-was a solitary, I spake kindly words to the robber who slew me. When I

-was a tiger I allowed myself to die of hunger.

-

-"And having, in this last existence, preached the law, nothing now

-remains for me to do. The great period is accomplished! Men, animals,

-the gods, the bamboos, the oceans, the mountains, the sand-grains of

-the Ganges, together with the myriad myriads of the stars,--all shall

-die;--and until the time of the new births, a flame shall dance upon

-the wrecks of worlds destroyed!"

-

-(_Then a great dizziness comes upon the gods. They stagger, fall into

-convulsions, and vomit forth their existences. Their crowns burst

-apart; their banners fly away. They tear off their attributes, their

-sexes, fling over their shoulders the cups from which they quaffed

-immortality, strangle themselves with their serpents, vanish in

-smoke;--and when all have disappeared_ ...)

-

-HILARION (_solemnly exclaims_):

-

-"Thou hast even now beheld the belief of many hundreds of millions of

-men."

-

-(_Anthony is prostrate upon the ground, covering his face with his

-hands. Hilarion, with his back turned to the cross, stands near him and

-watches him._

-

-_A considerable time elapses._

-

-_Then a singular being appears--having the head of a man upon the body

-of a fish. He approaches through the air, upright, beating the sand

-from time to time with his tail; and the patriarchal aspect of his face

-by contrast with his puny little arms, causes Anthony to laugh._)

-

-OANNES (_in a plaintive voice_):

-

-"Respect me! I am the contemporary of beginnings.

-

-"I dwelt in that formless world where hermaphroditic creatures

-slumbered, under the weight of an opaque atmosphere, in the deeps of

-dark waters--when fingers, fins, and wings were blended, and eyes

-without heads were floating like mollusks, among human-headed bulls,

-and dog-footed serpents.

-

-[Illustration: ... and eyes without heads were floating like

-mollusks]

-

-"Above the whole of these beings, OMOROCA, bent like a hoop, extended

-her woman-body. But Belus cleft her in two halves; with one he made the

-earth; with the other, heaven;--and the two equal worlds do mutually

-contemplate each other.

-

-"I, the first consciousness of CHAOS, arose from the abyss that I might

-harden matter, and give a law unto forms:--also I taught men to fish

-and to sow: I gave them knowledge of writing, and of the history of the

-gods.

-

-[Illustration: I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose from

-the abyss that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms ...]

-

-"Since then I have dwelt in the deep pools left by the Deluge. But the

-desert grows vaster about them; the winds cast sand into them; the sun

-devours them;--and I die upon my couch of slime, gazing at the stars

-through the water. Thither I return!"

-

-(_He leaps and disappears in the Nile._)

-

-HILARION. "That is an ancient God of the Chaldæans!"

-

-ANTHONY (_ironically_). "What, then, were those of Babylon?"

-

-HILARION. "Thou canst behold them!"

-

-(_And they find themselves upon the platform of a lofty quadrangular

-tower dominating six other towers, which, narrowing as they rise, form

-one monstrous pyramid. Far below a great black mass is visible--the

-city, doubtless--extending over the plains. The air is cold; the sky

-darkly blue; multitudes of stars palpitate above._

-

-_In the midst of the platform rises a column of white stone. Priests

-in linen robes pass and repass around it, so as to describe by their

-evolutions a moving circle; and with faces uplifted, they gaze upon the

-stars._ ...)

-

-HILARION. (_pointing out several of these stars to Anthony_):

-

-"There are thirty principal stars. Fifteen look upon the upper side

-of the earth; fifteen below. At regular intervals one shoots from the

-upper regions to those below; while another abandons the inferior deeps

-to rise to sublime altitudes ...

-

-"Of the seven planets, two are beneficent; two evil; three

-ambiguous:--all things in the world depend upon the influence of these

-eternal fires. According to their position or movement presages may be

-drawn;--and here thou dost tread the most venerable place upon earth.

-Here Pythagoras and Zoroaster have met;--here for twelve thousand years

-these men have observed the skies that they might better learn to know

-the gods."

-

-ANTHONY. "The stars are not gods."

-

-HILARION. "Aye, they say the stars are gods; for all things about us

-pass away;--the heavens only remain immutable as eternity."

-

-ANTHONY. "Yet there is a master!"

-

-HILARION (_pointing to the column_):

-

-"He! Belus!--the first ray, the Sun, the Male! The Other, whom he

-fecundates, is beneath him!"

-

-(_Anthony beholds a garden, illuminated by lamps_: _He finds himself

-in the midst of the crowd, in an avenue of cypress-trees. To right and

-left are little pathways leading to huts constructed within a wood of

-pomegranate trees, and enclosed by treillages of bamboo._

-

-_Most of the men wear pointed caps, and garments bedizened like the

-plumage of a peacock. But there are also people from the North clad

-in bearskins, nomads wearing mantles of brown wool, pallid Gangarides

-with long earrings;--and there seems to be as much confusion of rank

-as there is confusion of nations; for sailors and stone-cutters elbow

-the princes who wear tiaras blazing with carbuncles and who carry

-long canes with carven knobs. All proceed upon their way with dilated

-nostrils, absorbed by the same desire._

-

-_From time to time, they draw aside to make way for some long covered

-wagon drawn by oxen, or some ass jolting upon his back a woman bundled

-up in thick veils, who finally disappears in the direction of the

-cabins._

-

-_Anthony feels afraid; he half-resolves to turn back. But an

-unutterable curiosity takes possession of him, and draws him on._

-

-_At the foot of the cypress-trees there are ranks of women squatting

-upon deerskins, all wearing in lieu of diadem, a plaited fillet of

-ropes. Some, magnificently attired, loudly call upon the passers-by.

-Others, more timid, seek to veil their faces with their arms, while

-some matron standing behind them, their mother doubtless, exhorts

-them. Others, their heads veiled with a black shawl, and their bodies

-entirely nude, seem from afar off to be statues of flesh. As soon as a

-man has thrown some money upon their knees, they arise._

-

-_And the sound of kisses is heard under the foliage,--sometimes a great

-sharp cry._)

-

-HILARION. "These are the virgins of Babylon, who prostitute themselves

-to the goddess."

-

-ANTHONY. "What goddess?"

-

-HILARION. "Behold her!"

-

-(_And he shows him at the further end of the avenue, upon the threshold

-of an illuminated grotto, a block of stone representing a woman._)

-

-ANTHONY. "Ignominy!--how abominable to give a sex to God!"

-

-HILARION. "Thou thyself dost figure him in thy mind as a living person!"

-

-(_Anthony again finds himself in darkness._

-

-_He beholds in the air a luminous circle, poised upon horizontal

-wings. This ring of light, girdles like a loose belt, the waist of a

-little man wearing a mitre upon his head and carrying a wreath in his

-hand. The lower part of his figure is completely concealed by immense

-feathers outspreading about him like a petticoat._

-

-_It is_--ORMUZD--_the God of the Persians. He hovers in the air above,

-crying aloud_:)

-

-"I fear! I can see his monstrous jaws! I did vanquish thee, O Ahriman!

-But again thou dost war against me.

-

-"First revolting against me, thou didst destroy the eldest of

-creatures, Kaiomortz, the Man-Bull. Then didst thou seduce the first

-human couple, Meschia and Meschiané; and thou didst fill all hearts

-with darkness, thou didst urge thy battalions against heaven!

-

-"I also had mine own, the people of the stars; and from the height of

-my throne I contemplated the marshalling of the astral hosts.

-

-"Mithra, my son, dwelt in heavens inaccessible. There he received

-souls, from thence did he send them forth; and he arose each morning to

-pour forth the abundance of his riches.

-

-"The earth reflected the splendour of the firmament. Fire blazed upon

-the crests of the mountains,--symbolizing that other fire of which

-I had created all creatures. And that the holy flame might not be

-polluted, the bodies of the dead were not burned; the beaks of birds

-carried them aloft toward heaven.

-

-"I gave to men the laws regulating pastures, labour, the choice of wood

-for the sacrifices, the form of cups, the words to be uttered in hours

-of sleeplessness;--and my priests unceasingly offered up prayers, so

-that worship might be as the eternity of God in its endlessness. Men

-purified themselves with water; loaves were offered upon the altars,

-sins were confessed aloud.

-

-"Homa[5] gave himself to men to be drank, that they might have his

-strength communicated to them while the Genii of heaven were combating

-the demons, the children of Iran were pursuing the serpents. The

-King, whom an innumerable host of courtiers served upon their knees,

-represented me in his person, and wore my coiffure. His gardens had the

-magnificence of a heaven upon earth; and his tomb represented him in

-the act of slaying a monster,--emblem of Good destroying Evil.

-

-"For it was destined that I should one day definitely conquer Ahriman,

-by the aid of Time-without-limits.

-

-"But the interval between us disappears;--the deep night rises! To

-me! ye Amschaspands, ye Izeds, ye Ferouers! Succor me, Mithra! seize

-thy sword! And thou, Kaosyac, who shall return for the universal

-deliverance, defend me! What!--none to aid! Ah! I die! Thou art the

-victor, Ahriman!"

-

-(_Hilarion, standing behind Anthony, restrains a cry of joy;--and_

-ORMUZD _is swallowed up in the darkness._)

-

-(_Then appears_:)

-

-THE GREAT DIANA OF EPHESUS

-

-(_black with enamelled eyes, her elbows pressed to her side, her

-forearms extended, with hands open._

-

-_Lions crawl upon her shoulders; fruits, flowers, and stars intercross

-upon her bosom; further down three rows of breasts appear; and from her

-belly to her feet she is covered with a tightly fitting sheath from

-which bulls, stags, griffins, and bees, seem about to spring, their

-bodies half-protruding from it. She is illuminated by the white light

-emanating from a disk of silver, round as the full moon, placed behind

-her head._)

-

-"Where is my temple? Where are my Amazons?

-

-"What is this I feel?--I, the Incorruptible!--a strange faintness comes

-upon me!"...

-

-(_Her flowers wither, her over-ripe fruits become detached and fall.

-The lions and the bulls hang their heads; the deer foam at the mouth,

-with a slimy foam, as though exhausted; the buzzing bees die upon the

-ground._

-

-_She presses her breasts, one after the other. All are empty! But under

-a desperate effort her sheath bursts. She seizes it by the bottom, like

-the skirt of a robe, throws her animals, her fruits, her flowers, into

-it,--then withdraws into the darkness._

-

-_And afar off there are voices, murmuring, growling, roaring,

-bellowing, belling. The density of the night is augmented by breaths.

-Drops of warm rain fall._)

-

-ANTHONY. "How sweet the odour of the palm trees, the trembling of

-leaves, the transparency of springs! I feel the desire to lie flat upon

-the Earth that I might feel her against my heart; and my life would be

-reinvigorated by her eternal youth!"

-

-(_He hears the sound of castanets and of cymbals; and men appear, clad

-in white tunics with red stripes,--leading through the midst of a

-rustic crowd an ass, richly harnessed, its tail decorated with knots of

-ribbons, and its hoofs painted._

-

-_A box, covered with a saddle-cloth[6] of yellow material shakes to

-and fro upon its back, between two baskets,--one receives the offerings

-contributed,--eggs, grapes, pears, cheeses, fowls, little coins; and

-the other basket is full of roses, which the leaders of the ass pluck

-to pieces as they walk before the animal, shedding the leaves upon the

-ground._

-

-_They wear earrings and large mantles; their locks are plaited, their

-cheeks painted, olive-wreaths are fastened upon their foreheads by

-medallions bearing figurines;--all wear poniards in their belts, and

-brandish ebony-handled whips, having three thongs to which osselets are

-attached._[7]

-

-_Those who form the rear of the procession, place upon the soil,--so as

-to remain upright as a candelabrum,--a tall pine, which burns at its

-summit, and shades under its lower branches a lamb._

-

-_The ass halts. The saddle-cloth is removed. Underneath appears a

-second covering of black felt. Then one of the men in white tunics

-begins to dance, rattling his crotali;--another, kneeling before the

-box, beats a tambourine and_--)

-

-THE OLDEST OF THE BAND, _begins_:--

-

-"Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains, the Great Mother

-of Syria! Come ye hither, good people all!

-

-[Illustration: Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains ...]

-

-"She gives joy to men, she heals the sick; she sends inheritances; she

-satisfies the hunger of love!

-

-"We bear her through the land, rain or shine, in fair weather, or in

-foul.

-

-"Oft times we lie in the open air, and our table is not always well

-served. Robbers dwell in the woods. Wild beasts rush from their

-caverns. Slippery paths border the precipices. Behold her! behold her!"

-

-(_They lift off the covering; and a box is seen, inlaid with little

-pebbles._)

-

-"Loftier than the cedars, she looks down from the blue ether. Vaster

-than the wind she encircles the world. Her breath is exhaled by the

-nostrils of tigers; the rumbling of her voice is heard beneath the

-volcanoes; her wrath is the tempest; the pallor of her face has

-whitened the moon. She ripens the harvest; by her the tree-bark swells

-with sap; she makes the beard to grow. Give her something; for she

-hates the avaricious!"

-

-(_The box opens; and under a little pavilion of blue silk appears a

-small image of Cybele--glittering with spangles, crowned with towers,

-and seated in a chariot of red stone, drawn by two lions, with uplifted

-paws._

-

-_The crowd presses forward to see._)

-

-THE ARCHIGALLUS (_continues_):

-

-"She loves the sound of resounding tympanums, the echo of dancing

-feet, the howling of wolves, the sonorous mountains and the deep

-gorges, the flower of the almond tree, the pomegranate and the green

-fig, the whirling dance, the snoring flute, the sugary sap, the salty

-tear,--blood! To thee, to thee!--Mother of the mountains!"

-

-(_They scourge themselves with their whips; and their chests resound

-with the blows;--the skins of the tambourines vibrate almost to

-bursting. They seize their knives; they gash their arms._)

-

-"She is sorrowful; let us be sorrowful! Thereby your sins will be

-remitted. Blood purifies all--fling its red drops abroad like blossoms!

-She, the Great Mother, demands the blood of another creature--of a pure

-being!"

-

-(_The Archigallus raises his knife above the head of a lamb._)

-

-ANTHONY (_seized with horror_):

-

-"Do not slay the lamb!"

-

-(_There is a gush of purple blood. The priest sprinkles the crowd

-with it; and all--including Anthony and Hilarion--standing around the

-burning tree, silently watch the last palpitations of the victim._

-

-_A Woman comes forth from the midst of the priests; she resembles

-exactly the image within the little box._

-

-_She pauses, perceiving before her a Young Man wearing a Phrygian

-cap. His thighs are covered with a pair of narrow trousers, with

-lozenge-shaped openings here and there at regular intervals, closed by

-bow knots of coloured material. He stands in an attitude of languor,

-resting his elbow against a branch of the tree, holding a flute in his

-hand._)

-

-CYBELE (_flinging her arms about his waist_).

-

-"I have traversed all regions of the earth to join thee--and famine

-ravaged the fields Thou hast deceived me! It matters not! I love thee!

-Warm my body in thine embrace! Let us be united!"

-

-ATYS. "The springtime will never again return, O eternal Mother!

-Despite my love, it is no longer possible for me to penetrate thy

-essence! Would that I might cover myself with a painted robe like

-thine! I envy thy breasts, swelling with milk, the length of thy

-tresses, thy vast flanks that have borne and brought forth all

-creatures! Why am I not thou?--Why am I not a woman?--No, never! depart

-from me! My virility fills me with horror!"

-

-(_With a sharp stone he dismembers himself, and runs furiously from

-her ..._

-

-_The priests imitate the god; the faithful do even as the priests. Men

-and women exchange garments, embrace;--and the tumult of bleeding flesh

-passes away, while the sound of voices remaining, becomes even more

-strident,--like the shrieking of mourners, like the voices heard at

-funerals._

-

-_ ... A huge catafalque, hung with purple, supports upon its summit an

-ebony bed, surrounded by torches and baskets of silver filagree, in

-which are verdant leaves of lettuce, mallow and fennel. Upon the steps

-of the construction, from summit to base, sit women all clad in black,

-with loosened girdles and bare feet, holding in their hands with a

-melancholy air, great bouquets of flowers._

-

-_At each corner of the estrade urns of alabaster, filled with myrrh,

-slowly send up their smoke._

-

-_Upon the bed can be perceived the corpse of a man. Blood flows from

-his thigh. One of his arms hangs down lifelessly;--and a dog licks his

-finger nails and howls._

-

-_The row of torches placed closely together, prevents his face from

-being seen; and Anthony feels a strange anguish within him. He fears

-lest he should recognize some one._

-

-_The sobs of the women cease--and after an interval of silence_,)

-

-ALL (_psalmody together_):

-

-"Fair! fair!--all fair he is! Thou hast slept enough!--lift thy

-head!--arise!

-

-"Inhale the perfume of our flowers--narcissus--blossoms and anemones,

-gathered in thine own gardens to please thee. Arouse thee! thou dost

-make us fear for thee!

-

-"Speak to us! What dost thou desire? Wilt thou drink wine?--wilt thou

-lie in our beds?--dost wish to eat the honeycakes which have the form

-of little birds?

-

-"Let us press his lips,--kiss his breast! Now!--now!--dost thou not

-feel our ring-laden fingers passing over thy body?--and our lips that

-seek thy mouth?--and our tresses that sweep thy thighs? O faint God,

-deaf to our prayers!"

-

-(_They cry aloud, and rend their faces with their nails; then all

-rush,--and the howling of the dog continues in the silence._)

-

-"Alas! alas! Woe!--the black blood trickles over his snowy flesh!

-See! his knees writhe!--his sides sink in! The bloom of his face hath

-dampened the purple. He is dead, dead! O weep for him! Lament for him!"

-

-(_In long procession they ascend to lay between the torches the

-offerings of their several tresses, that seem from afar off like

-serpents, black or blond;--and the catafalque is lowered gently to the

-level of, a grotto,--the opening of a shadowy sepulchre that yawns

-behind it._

-

-_Then_--)

-

-A WOMAN (_bends over the corpse. Her long hair, uncut, envelopes her

-from head to feet. She sheds tears so abundantly that her grief cannot

-be as that of the others, but more than human--infinite!_

-

-_Anthony dreams of the Mother of Jesus. She speaks_:--)

-

-"Thou didst emerge from the Orient, and didst take me, all trembling

-with the dew, into thy arms, O Sun! Doves fluttered upon the azure

-of thy mantle; our kisses evoked low breezes among the foliage; and I

-abandoned myself wholly to thy love, delighting in the pleasure of my

-weakness.

-

-"Alas! alas--Why didst thou depart, to run upon the mountains! A boar

-did wound thee at the time of the autumnal equinox!

-

-"Thou art dead; and the fountains weep,--the trees bend down. The wind

-of winter whistles through the naked brushwood.

-

-"My eyes are about to close, seeing that darkness covers them! Now thou

-dwellest in the underworld near the mightiest of my rivals.

-

-"O Persephone, all that is beautiful descends to thee, never to return!"

-

-(_Even while she speaks, her companions lift the dead, to place him

-within the sepulchre. He remains in their hands! It was only a waxen

-corpse._

-

-_Wherefore Anthony feels something resembling relief._

-

-_All vanish;--and the hut, the rocks, and the cross reappear._

-

-_But upon the other side of the Nile, Anthony beholds a Woman,

-standing in the midst of the desert._

-

-_She retains in her hand the lower part of a long black veil that hides

-all her face; supporting with her left arm a little child to whom she

-is giving suck. A great ape crouches down in the sand beside her._

-

-_She uplifts her head toward heaven; and in spite of the great

-distance, her voice is distinctly heard_:)

-

-ISIS. "O Neith, Beginning of all things! Ammon, Lord of Eternity;

-Pthah, demiurgos; Thoth, his intelligence; gods of the Amenthi,

-particular triads of the Nomes,--falcons in the azure of heaven,

-sphinxes before the temples, ibises perched between the horns of oxen,

-planets, constellations, shore, murmurs of the wind, gleams of the

-light,--tell me where I may find Osiris.

-

-"I have sought him in all the canals and all the lakes--aye, further

-yet, even to Ph[oe]nician Byblos. Anubis, with ears pricked up, leaped

-about me, and yelped, and thrust his muzzle searchingly into the tufts

-of the tamarinds.

-

-"Thanks, good Cynocephalos--thanks to thee!"

-

-(_She gives the ape two or three friendly little taps upon the head._)

-

-"Hideous Typhon, the red-haired slew him, tore him in pieces! We have

-found all his members. But I have not that which rendered me fecund!"

-

-(_She utters wild lamentations._)

-

-ANTHONY (_is filled with fury. He casts stones at her, reviles her._)

-

-"Begone! thou shameless one!--Begone!"

-

-HILARION. "Nay! respect her! Her religion was the faith of thy

-fathers!--thou didst wear her amulets when thou wert a child in the

-cradle!"

-

-ISIS. "In the summers of long ago, the inundation drove the impure

-beasts into the desert. The dykes were opened, the boats dashed against

-each other; the panting earth drank the river with the intoxication of

-joy. Then, O God, with the horns of the bull, thou didst lie upon my

-breast, and then was heard, the lowings of the Eternal Cow!

-

-"The seasons of sowing and reaping, of threshing and of vintage,

-followed each other in regular order with the years. In the eternal

-purity of the nights, broad stars beamed and glowed. The days were

-bathed in never-varying splendour. Like a royal couple the Sun and the

-Moon appeared simultaneously, at either end of the horizon.

-

-"Then did we both reign above a sublimer world, twin-monarchs, wedded

-within, the womb of eternity--he bearing a concupha-headed sceptre; I,

-the sceptre that is tipped with a lotus-flower; both of us erect with

-hands joined; and the crumblings of empires affected not our attitude.

-

-"Egypt extended, below us, monumental and awful, long-shaped like the

-corridor of a temple; with obelisks on the right, pyramids on the

-left, and its labyrinth in the midst. And everywhere were avenues

-of monsters, forests of columns, massive pylons flanking gates

-summit-crowned with the mysterious globe--the globe of the world,

-between two wings.

-

-"The animals of her Zodiac also existed in her pasture lands; and

-filled her mysterious writing with their forms and colours. Divided

-into twelve regions as the year is divided into-twelve months--each

-month, each day also having its own god--she reproduced the immutable

-order of heaven. And man even in dying changed not his face; but

-saturated with perfumes, invulnerable to decay, he lay down to sleep

-for three thousand years in another and silent Egypt.

-

-"And that Egypt, vaster than the Egypt of the living, extended beneath

-the earth.

-

-"Thither one descended by dark stairways leading into halls where were

-represented the joys of the good, the tortures of the wicked, all that

-passes in the third and invisible world. Ranged along the wall the dead

-in their painted coffins awaited their turn; and the soul, exempted

-from migrations, continued its heavy slumber until the awakening into a

-new life.

-

-"Nevertheless, Osiris sometimes came to see me. And by his ghost I

-became the mother of Harpocrates."

-

-(_She contemplates the child._)

-

-"Aye! it is he. Those are his eyes; those are his locks, plaited into

-ram horns! Thou shalt recommence his works. We shall bloom again like

-the lotus. I am still the Great Isis!--none has yet lifted my veil! My

-fruit is the Sun!

-

-[Illustration: I am still the Great Isis!—none has yet lifted

-my veil! My fruit is the Sun!]

-

-"Sim of Springtime, clouds now obscure thy face! The breath of Typhon

-devours the pyramids. But a little while ago I beheld the Sphinx flee

-away. He was galloping like a jackal.

-

-"I look for my priests,--my priests clad in mantles of linen, with

-their great harps, and bearing a mysterious bark, adorned with

-silver pateras. There are no more festivals upon the lakes!--no more

-illuminations in my delta!--no more cups of milk at Philæ! Apis has

-long ceased to reappear.

-

-"Egypt! Egypt! thy great motionless gods have their shoulders already

-whitened by the dung of birds; and the wind that passes over the desert

-rolls with it and the ashes of thy dead!--Anubis, guardian of ghosts,

-abandon me not!"

-

-(_The Cynocephalos has vanished. She shakes her child._)

-

-"But ... what ails thee ... thy hands are cold, thy head droops!"

-

-(_Harpocrates expires. Then she cries aloud with a cry so piercing,

-funereal, heart-rending, that Anthony answers it with another cry,

-extending his arms as to support her._

-

-_She is no longer there. He lowers his face, overwhelmed by shame._

-

-_All that he has seen becomes confused within his mind. It is like the

-bewilderment of travel, the illness of drunkenness. He wishes to hate;

-but a vague and vast pity fills his heart. He begins to weep, and weeps

-abundantly._)

-

-HILARION. "What makes thee sorrowful?"

-

-ANTHONY (_after having long sought within himself for a reply_):

-

-"I think of all the souls that have been lost through these false gods!"

-

-HILARION. "Dost thou not think that they ... sometimes ... bear much

-resemblance to the TRUE?"

-

-ANTHONY. "That is but a device of the Devil to seduce the faithful more

-easily. He attacks the strong through the mind, the weak through the

-flesh."

-

-HILARION. "But luxury, in its greatest fury, has all the

-disinterestedness of penitence. The frenzied love of the body

-accelerates the destruction thereof,--and proclaims the extent of the

-impossible by the exposition of the body's weakness."

-

-ANTHONY. "What signifies that to me! My heart sickens with disgust

-of these beautiful bestial gods, forever busied with carnages and

-incests!"

-

-HILARION. "Yet recollect all those things in the Scripture which

-scandalize thee because thou art unable to comprehend them! So also may

-these Gods conceal under their sinful forms some mighty truth. There

-are more of them yet to be seen. Look around!"

-

-ANTHONY. "No, no!--it is dangerous!"

-

-HILARION. "But a little while ago thou didst desire to know them! Is

-it because thy faith might vacillate in the presence of lies? What

-fearest thou?"

-

-(_The rocks fronting Anthony have become as a mountain. A line of

-clouds obscures the mountain half way between summit and base; and

-above the clouds appears another mountain, enormous, all green,

-unequally hollowed by valleys nestling in its slopes, and supporting at

-its summit, in the midst of laurel-groves a palace of bronze, roofed

-with tiles of gold, and supported by columns having capitals of ivory._

-

-_In the centre of the peristyle Jupiter,--colossal, with torso

-nude,--holds Victory in one hand, his thunderbolts in the other; and

-his eagle, perched between his feet, rears its head._

-

-_Juno, seated near him, rolls her large eyes, beneath a diadem whence

-her wind-blown veil escapes like a vapour._

-

-_Behind them, Minerva, standing upon a pedestal, leans on her spear.

-The skin of the Gorgon covers her breast, and a linen peplos falls in

-regular folds to the nails of her toes. Her glaucous eyes, which gleam

-beneath her vizor, gaze afar off, attentively._

-

-_On the right of the palace, the aged Neptune bestrides a dolphin

-beating with its fins a vast azure expanse which may be sea or sky, for

-the perspective of the Ocean seems a continuation of the blue ether:

-the two elements are interblended._

-

-_On the other side weird Pluto in night-black mantle, crowned with

-diamond tiara and bearing a sceptre of ebony, sits in the midst of an

-islet surrounded by the circumvolutions of the Styx;--and this river of

-shadow empties itself into the darknesses, which form a vast black gulf

-below the cliff,--a bottomless abyss!_

-

-_Mars, clad in brass, brandishes as in wrath his broad shield and his

-sword._

-

-_Hercules, leaning upon his club, gazes at him from below._

-

-_Apollo, his face ablaze with light, grasps with outstretched right

-arm the reins of four white horses urged to a gallop; and Ceres in her

-ox-drawn chariot advances toward him with a sickle in her hand._

-

-_Behind her comes Bacchus, riding in a very low chariot, gently drawn

-by lynxes. Plump and beardless, with vine leaves garlanding his brow,

-he passes by holding in his hand an overflowing cup of wine. Silenus

-riding beside him reels upon his ass. Pan of the pointed ears, blows

-upon his syrinx; the Mimalonæides beat drums; the Mænads strew

-flowers; the Bacchantes turn in the dance with heads thrown back and

-hair dishevelled._

-

-_Diana, with tunic tucked up, issues from the wood together with her

-nymphs._

-

-_At the further end of a cavern, Vulcan among his Cabiri, hammers the

-heated iron; here and there the aged Rivers leaning recumbent upon

-green rocks pour water from their urns; the Muses stand singing in the

-valleys_.

-

-_The Hours, all of equal stature, link hands; and Mercury poses

-obliquely upon a rainbow, with his caduceus, winged sandals, and winged

-petasus._

-

-_But at the summit of the stairway of the Gods,--among clouds soft

-as down, from whose turning volutes a rain of roses falls,--Venus

-Anadyomene stands gazing at herself in a mirror:--her eyes move

-languorously beneath their slumbrous lids._

-

-_She has masses of rich blond hair rolling down over her shoulders; her

-breasts are small; her waist is slender; her hips curve out like the

-sweeping curves of a lyre; her thighs are perfectly rounded; there are

-dimples about her knees; her feet are delicate: a butterfly hovers near

-her mouth. The splendour of her body makes a nacreous-tinted halo of

-bright light about her; while all the rest of Olympus is bathed in a

-pink dawn, rising gradually to the heights of the blue sky._)

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah! my heart swells! A joy never known before thrills me to

-the depths of my soul! How beautiful, how beautiful it is!"

-

-HILARION. "They leaned from the heights of cloud to direct the way of

-swords; one used to meet them upon the high roads; men had them in

-their houses--and this familiarity divinized life.

-

-"Life's aim was only to be free and beautiful. Nobility of attitude was

-facilitated by the looseness of garments. The voice of the orator,

-trained by the sea, rolled its sonorous waves against the porticoes of

-marble. The ephebus, anointed with oil, wrestled all naked in the full

-light of the sun. The holiest of actions was to expose perfection of

-forms to all.

-

-"And these men respected wives, aged men, suppliants.

-

-"Behind the temple of Hercules there was an altar erected to Pity.

-

-"Victims were immolated with flowers wreathed about the fingers of the

-sacrificer. Even memory was exempted from thoughts of the rottenness

-of death. Nothing remained but a little pile of ashes. And the Soul,

-mingling with the boundless ether, rose up to God."

-

-(_Bending to whisper in Anthony's ear_:--)

-

-"And they still live! The Emperor Constantine adores Apollo. Thou wilt

-find the Trinity in Samothracian mysteries,--baptism in the religion of

-Isis,--redemption in the faith of Mithra,--a martyrdom of a God in the

-festivals of Bacchus. Prosperpine is the Virgin!... Aristæus is Jesus!"

-

-ANTHONY (_remains awhile with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought;

-then suddenly repeats aloud the Symbol of Jerusalem, as he remembers

-it, uttering a long sigh between each phrase_):--

-

-"I believe in one only God, the Father,--and in one only Lord, Jesus

-Christ,--the first born son of God, who was incarnated and made

-man,--who was crucified, and buried,--who ascended into Heaven,--who

-will come to judge the living and the dead,--of whose Kingdom there

-shall be no end;--and in one Holy Spirit,--and in one baptism of

-repentance,--and in one Holy Catholic Church,--and in the resurrection

-of the flesh,--and in the life everlasting!"

-

-(_Immediately the cross becomes loftier and loftier; it pierces the

-clouds, and casts its shadow upon the heaven of the gods._

-

-_All grow pale;--Olympus shudders._

-

-_And at its base Anthony beholds vast bodies enchained, sustaining the

-rocks upon their shoulders,--giant figures half buried in the deeps

-of caverns. These are the Titans, the Giants, the Hecatonchires, the

-Cyclops._)

-

-A VOICE

-

-(_rises, indistinct and awful, like the far roar of leaves, like the

-voice of forests in time of tempest, like the mighty moaning of the

-wind among the precipices_):

-

-"We knew these things!--we knew them! There must come an end even for

-the Gods! Uranus was mutilated by Saturn,--Saturn by Jupiter. And

-Jupiter himself shall be annihilated. Each in his turn;--it is Destiny!"

-

-(_And little by little they sink into the mountain, and disappear._

-

-_Meanwhile the golden tiles of the palace rise and fly away._)

-

-JUPITER (_has descended from his throne. At his feet the thunderbolts

-lie, smoking like burning coals about to expire;--and the great eagle

-bends its neck to pick up its falling feathers_):

-

-"Then I am no longer the master of all things,--most holy, most

-mighty, god of the phatrias and Greek peoples,--ancestor of all the

-Kings,--Agamemnon of heaven.

-

-"Eagle of apotheoses, what wind from Erebus has wafted thee to me? or,

-fleeing from the Campus Martins, dost thou bear me the soul of the last

-of the Emperors?

-

-"I no longer desire to receive those of men. Let the Earth keep them;

-and let them move upon the level of its baseness. Their hearts are now

-the hearts of slaves;--they forget injuries, forget their ancestors,

-forget their oaths,--and everywhere the folly of crowds, the mediocrity

-of individuals, the hideousness of races, hold sway!"

-

-(_He pants with such violence that his sides seem ready to burst

-asunder; he clenches his hands. Weeping_, HEBE _offers him a cup. He

-seizes it._)

-

-"No, no! So long as there shall be a brain enclosing a thought, in

-whatsoever part of the world;--so long as there shall exist a mind

-hating disorder, creating LAW,--so long will the spirit of Jupiter

-live!"

-

-(_But the cup is empty. He turns its edge down over his thumbnail._)

-

-"Not one drop left! When the ambrosia fails, the Immortals must indeed

-depart!"

-

-(_The cup drops from his hands; and he leans against a column, feeling

-himself about to die._)

-

-JUNO. "Thou shouldst not have had so many amours! Eagle, bull, swan,

-rain of gold, cloud and flame, thou didst assume all forms,--dissipate

-thy light in all elements,--lose thy hair upon all beds! This time

-the divorce is irrevocable; and our domination, our very existence,

-dissolved."

-

-(_She passes away in air._)

-

-MINERVA (_has no longer her spear; and the ravens nesting among the

-sculptures of the friezes, wheel about her, peeking at her helmet._)

-

-"Let me see whether my vessels cleave the bright sea, returning to my

-three ports,--let me discover why the fields are deserted, and learn

-what the daughters of Athens are now doing.

-

-"In the month of Hecatombeon my whole people came to worship me, under

-the guidance of their magistrates and priests. Then, all in white robes

-and wearing chitons of gold, they advanced the long line of virgins

-bearing cups, baskets, parasols; then the three hundred sacrificial

-oxen, and the old men having green boughs, the soldiers with clashing

-of armour, the ephebi singing hymns, flute players, lyre players,

-rhapsodists, dancing women;--and lastly attached to the mast of a

-trireme mounted upon wheel, my great veil embroidered by virgins who

-had been nourished in a particular way for a whole year. And when it

-had been displayed in all the streets, in all the squares, and before

-the temples, in the midst of the ever-chanting procession, it was borne

-step by step up the hill of the Acropolis, grazed the Propylæa, and

-entered the Parthenon....

-

-"But a strange feebleness comes upon me,--me the Industrious One! What!

-what! not one idea comes to me! Lo! I am trembling more than a woman!"

-

-(_She turns, beholds a ruin behind her, utters a cry, and stricken by a

-fallen fragment, falls backward upon the ground._)

-

-HERCULES (_has flung away his lion-skin; and with feet firmly braced,

-back arched, teeth clenched, he exhausts himself in immeasurable

-efforts to bear up the mass of crumbling Olympus._)

-

-"I vanquished the Cercopes, the Amazons, and the Centaurs. Many were

-the kings I slew. I broke the horn of the great river, Achelous. I cut

-the mountains asunder; I freed nations from slavery; and I peopled

-lands that were desolate. I travelled through the countries of Gaul;

-I traversed the deserts where thirst prevails. I defended the gods

-from their enemies; and I freed myself from Omphale. But the weight of

-Olympus is too great for me. My arms grow feebler:--I die!"

-

-(_He is crushed beneath the ruins._)

-

-PLUTO. "It is thy fault, Amphytrionad;--wherefore didst thou descend

-into my empire?

-

-"The vulture that gnaws the entrails of Tityus lifted its head;--the

-lips of Tantalus were moistened;--the wheel of Ixion stopped.

-

-"Meanwhile the Kæres extended their claws to snatch back the escaping

-ghosts; the Furies tore the serpents of their locks; and Cerberus

-fettered by thee with a chain, sounded the death rattle in his throat,

-and foamed at all his three mouths.

-

-"Thou didst leave the gate ajar; others have come. The daylight of men

-has entered into Tartarus!"

-

-(_He sinks into the darkness._)

-

-NEPTUNE. "My trident can no longer call up the tempests. The monsters

-that terrified of old, lie rotting at the bottom of the sea.

-

-"Amphitrite whose white feet tripped lightly over the foam, the green

-Nereids seen afar off in the horizon, the scaly Sirens who stopped

-the passing vessels to tell stories, and the ancient Tritons mightily

-blowing upon their shells, all have passed away. All is desolate and

-dead; the gaiety of the great Sea is no more!"

-

-(_He vanishes beneath the azure._)

-

-DIANA (_clad in black and surrounded by her dogs, which have been

-changed into wolves_).

-

-"The freedom of the deep forests once intoxicated me; the odours of the

-wild beasts and the exhalations of the marshes made me as one drank

-with joy. But the women whose maternity I protected, now bring dead

-children into the world. The moon trembles with the incantations of

-witches. Desires of violence, of immensity, seize me, fill me! I wish

-to drink poisons,--to lose myself in vapours, in dreams...!"

-

-(_And a passing cloud carries her away._)

-

-MARS (_unhelmed and covered with blood_).

-

-"At first I fought alone;--singlehanded I would provoke a whole army by

-my insults,--caring nothing for countries or nations, demanding battle

-for the pleasure of carnage alone.

-

-"Afterward I had comrades. They marched to the sound of flutes, in good

-order, with equal step, respiring above their bucklers, with plumes

-loftily nodding, lances oblique. Then on rushed to battle with mighty

-eagle cries. War was joyous as a banquet. Three hundred men strove

-against all Asia.

-

-"But the Barbarians are returning;--by myriads they come, by millions!

-Ah! since numbers, and engines, and cunning are stronger than valour,

-it were better that I die the death of the brave!"

-

-(_He kills himself._)

-

-VULCAN (_sponging the sweat from his limbs_):

-

-"The world is growing cold. The source of heat must be nourished, the

-volcanoes and rivers of flowing metal underground. Strike harder!--with

-full swing of the arms,--with might and main!"

-

-(_The Cabiri wound themselves with their hammers, blind themselves with

-sparks, and groping, lose themselves in the darkness._)

-

-CERES (_standing in her chariot, impelled by wheels having wings at

-their hubs_):

-

-"Stop! Stop! Ah! it was with good reason that the exclusion of

-strangers, atheists, Epicureans, and Christians was commended! Now the

-mystery of the basket has been unveiled; the sanctuary profaned: all is

-lost!"

-

-(_She descends a precipitous slope--shrieking, despairing, tearing her

-hair._)

-

-"Ah! lies, lies! Daira has not been restored to me. The voice of brass

-calls me to the dead. This is another Tartarus, whence there is no

-return! Horror!"

-

-(_The abyss engulfs her._)

-

-BACCHUS (_with a frenzied laugh_).

-

-"What matters it? The Archon's wife is my spouse! The law itself reels

-in drunkenness! To me the new song, the multiplied forms!

-

-"The fire by which my mother was devoured, flows in my veins! Let it

-burn yet more fiercely, even though I perish!

-

-"Male and female, complaisant to all, I abandon myself to you,

-Bacchantes! I abandon myself to you, Bacchanalians!--and the vine shall

-twine herself about the tree-trunks! Howl! dance! writhe! Loosen the

-tiger and the slave!--rend flesh with ferocious bitings!"

-

-(_And Pan, Silenus, the Bacchantes, the Mimalonæides, and the

-Mænads,--with their serpents, torches, sable masks,--cast flowers at

-each other ... shake their tympanums, strike their thyrsi, pelt each

-other with shells, devour grapes, strangle a goat, and tear Bacchus

-asunder._)

-

-APOLLO (_furiously whipping his coursers, while his blanching locks are

-falling from his head_):

-

-"I have left far behind me stony Delos, so pure that all now there

-seems dead; and I must strive to reach Delphi ere its inspiring vapour

-be wholly lost. The mules browse in its laurel groves. The Pythoness

-has wandered away, and cannot be found.

-

-"By a stronger concentration of my power, I will obtain sublime hymns,

-eternal monuments; and all matter will be penetrated by the vibrations

-of my cithara!"

-

-(_He strikes the strings of the instrument. They burst, lashing his

-face with their broken ends. He flings the cithara away; and furiously

-whipping his quadriga, cries_):

-

-"No! enough of forms!--Further, higher!--to the very summit!--to the

-realm of pure thought!"

-

-(_But the horses back, rear, dash the chariot to pieces. Entangled by

-the harness, caught by the fragments of the broken pole, he falls head

-foremost into the abyss._

-

-[Illustration: ... he falls head foremost into the abyss.]

-

-_The sky is darkened._)

-

-VENUS (_blue with cold, shivering_):

-

-"Once with my girdle I made all the horizon of Hellas.

-

-"Her fields glowed with the roses of my cheeks; her shores were

-outlined after the fashion of my lips; and her mountains, whiter than

-my doves, palpitated beneath the hands of the statuaries. My spirit's

-manifestation was found in the ordinances of the festivals, in the

-arrangement of coiffures, in the dialogues of philosophers, in the

-constitution of republics. But I have doted too much upon men! It is

-Love that has dishonoured me!"

-

-(_She casts herself back weeping_):

-

-"This world is abominable;--there is no air for me to breathe!

-

-"O Mercury, inventor of the lyre, conductor of souls, take me away!"

-

-(_She places one finger upon her lips, and describing an immense

-parabola, falls into the abyss._

-

-_Nothing is now visible. The darkness is complete._

-

-_Only, that from the eyes of Hilarion escape two flashes, two rays of

-lurid light._)

-

-ANTHONY (_begins at last to notice his immense stature_):

-

-"Already several times, while thou wert speaking, it seemed to me thou

-wert growing taller; and it was no illusion! How? Explain to me ... Thy

-aspect terrifies me!"

-

-(_Footsteps are heard approaching._)

-

-"What is that?"

-

-HILARION (_extending his arm_):

-

-"Look!"

-

-(_Then, under a pale beam of moonlight, Anthony distinguishes an

-interminable caravan defiling over the summit of the rocks;--and each

-voyager, one after the other, falls from the cliff into the gulf below._

-

-_First comes the three great gods of_ Samothrace,--AXIEROS, AXIOKEROS,

-AXIOKERSA,--_united together as in a fascia, purple-masked, all with

-hands uplifted._

-

-_Æsculapius advances with a melancholy air, not even perceiving

-Samos and Telesphorus, who question him with gestures of anguish._

-ELEAN SOSIPOLIS, _of python-form, rolls his coils toward the abyss._

-DOSIPOENA, _becomes dizzy, leaps in of her own accord._ BRITOMARTIS,

-_shrieking with fear, clutches fast the meshes of her net. The Centaurs

-come at a wild gallop, and roll pell-mell into the black gulf._

-

-_Behind them, all limping, advance the bands of the mourning Nymphs.

-Those of the meadows are covered with dust; those of the woods moan and

-bleed; wounded by the axes of the woodcutters._

-

-_The Gelludes, the Strygii, the Empusæ, all the infernal goddesses,

-form one pyramid of blended fangs, vipers, and torches;--and seated

-upon a vulture-skin at its summit, Eurynome, blue as the flies that

-corrupt meat, devours her own arms._

-

-_Then in one great whirl simultaneously disappear the bloody Orthia,

-Hymina of Orchomenus, the Laphria of the Patræns, Aphia of Agina,

-Bendis of Thrace, Stymphalia with thighs like a bird's. Triopas, in

-lieu of three eyes, has now but three empty orbits. Erichthonius, his

-legs paralysed, crawls upon his hands like a cripple._)

-

-HILARION. "What a pleasure, is it not!--to see them all in the

-abjection of their death-agony! Climb up here beside me, on this rock;

-and thou shalt be even as Xerxes, reviewing his army.

-

-"Beyond there, very far, dost thou behold that fair-bearded giant,

-who even now lets fall his sword crimsoned with blood?--that is

-the Scythian Zalmoxis between two planets,--Artimpasa, Venus, and

-Orsiloche, the Moon.

-

-"Still further away, now emerging from pallid clouds, are the gods whom

-the Cimmerians adore, even beyond Thule.

-

-"Their huge halls were warm, and by the gleam of swords that tapestried

-the vault, they drank their hydromel from horns of ivory. They ate the

-liver of the whale in dishes of brass wrought by the hammers of demons;

-or, betimes, they listened to captive sorcerers whose fingers played

-upon harps of stone.

-

-"They are feeble! They are cold! The snow makes heavy their bearskins;

-and their feet show through the rents in their sandals.

-

-"They weep for the vast fields upon whose grassy knolls they were

-wont to draw breath in pauses of battle; they weep for the long ships

-whose prows forced a way through the mountains of ice;--and the skates

-wherewith they followed the orb of the poles, upbearing at the length

-of their mighty arms all the firmament that turned with them."

-

-(_A gust of frosty wind carries them off. Anthony turns his eyes

-another way. And he perceives--outlined in black against a red

-background--certain strange personages, with chinbands and gauntlets,

-who throw balls at one another, leap over each other's heads, make

-grimaces, dance a frenzied dance._)

-

-HILARION. "Those are the divinities of Etruria, the innumerable Æsars.

-

-"There is Tages, by whom augury was invented. With one hand he seeks to

-augment the divisions of the sky; with the other he supports himself

-upon the earth: let him sink therein!

-

-"Nortia gazes at the wall into which she drave nails to mark the number

-of the passing years. Its whole surface is now covered; and the period

-is accomplished.

-

-"Like two travellers overtaken by a storm, Kastur and Pulutuk,

-trembling, seek to shelter themselves beneath the same mantle."

-

-ANTHONY (_closes his eyes_):

-

-"Enough! Enough!"

-

-(_But with a mighty noise of wings, all the Victories of the Capitol

-pass through the air,--hiding their faces with their hands, dropping

-the trophies hanging upon their arms._

-

-_Janus,--lord of crepuscules,--flees upon a black ram; and one of his

-two faces is already putrified; the other slumbers with fatigue._

-

-_Summanus, the headless god of the dark heavens, presses against his

-heart an odd cake shaped like a wheel._

-

-_Vesta, beneath a ruined cupola, tries to relight her extinguished

-lamp._

-

-_Bellona gashes her cheeks,--without being able to make that blood flow

-by which her devotees were purified._)

-

-ANTHONY. "Mercy!--they weary me!"

-

-HILARION. "Before, they amused thee!"

-

-(_And he shows him in a grove of bean-trees,_ A WOMAN, _naked....

-.........and a black man, holding in each hand a torch._[8])

-

-"It is the goddess of Aricia, with the demon Virbius. Her sacerdote,

-the King of the grove, had to be an assassin;[9] and the fugitive

-slaves, the despoilers of corpses, the brigands of the Via Salaria, the

-cripples of the Pons Sublicius, all the human vermin of the Suburra

-worshipped no deities so fervently.

-

-"In the time of Marcus Antonius the patrician women preferred Libitina."

-

-(_And he shows him under the shadow of cypresses and rose-trees_,

-ANOTHER WOMAN, _clad in gauze. Around her lie spades, litters, black

-hangings, all the paraphernalia of funerals. She smiles. Her diamonds

-shine afar off through spiders' webs. The Larvæ, like skeletons, show

-their bones through the branches; and the Lemures, who are phantoms,

-extend their bat-like wings._

-

-_At the end of a field lies the god Terminus, uprooted, and covered

-with ordures._

-

-_In the centre of a furrow, the great corpse of Vertumnus is being

-devoured by red dogs._

-

-_The rustic deities all depart, weeping:--Sartor, Sarrator, Vervactor,

-Collina, Vallona, Hostilinus--all wearing little hooded mantles, and

-carrying either a hoe, a pitchfork, a hurdle, or a boar-spear._)

-

-HILARION. "Their spirits made prosperous the villa,--with its dovecots,

-its parks of dormice, its poultry-yards protected by nets, its warm

-stables fragrant with odours of cedar.

-

-"Also they protected all the wretched population who dragged the irons

-upon their legs over the flinty ways of the Sabine country,--those who

-called the swine together by sound of horn,--those who were wont to

-gather the bunches at the very summits of the elms,--those who drove

-the asses, laden with manure, over the winding bypaths. The panting

-labourer, leaning over the handle of his plough, prayed them to give

-strength to his arms; and under the shade of the lindens, beside

-calabashes filled with milk, the cow-herds were wont, in turn, to sound

-their praises upon flutes of reed."

-

-ANTHONY (_sighs._)

-

-(_And in the centre of a chamber, upon a lofty estrade, an ivory bed is

-visible, surrounded by persons bearing torches of pine._)

-

-"Those are the deities of marriage. They await the coming of the bride.

-

-"Domiduca should lead her in,--Virgo unfasten her girdle,--Subigo place

-her in the bed,--and Præma open her arms, and whisper sweet words into

-her ear.

-

-"But she will not come!--and they dismiss the others:--Nona and Decima

-who watch by sick-beds; the three Nixii who preside over child-birth;

-the two nurses, Educa and Potina; and Carna, guardian of the cradle,

-whose bouquet of hawthorne keeps evil dreams from the child.

-

-"Afterwards, Ossipago should strengthen his knees;--Barbatus give him

-his first beard; Stimula inspire his first desires; Volupia grant him

-his first enjoyment; Fabulimus should have taught him to speak, Numera

-to count, Cam[oe]na to sing, Consus to reflect."

-

-(_This chamber is empty; and there remains only the centenarian Nænia

-beside the bed,--muttering to herself the dirge she was wont to howl at

-the funerals of aged men._

-

-_But her voice is soon drowned by sharp cries. These are uttered by_--

-

-_The_ LARES DOMESTICI, _crouching at the further end of the atrium,

-clad in dog-skins, with flowers wreathed about their bodies,--pressing

-their clenched hands against their cheeks, and weeping as loudly as

-they can._)

-

-"Where is the portion of food we received at each repast, the kindly

-care of the maid-servant, the smile of the matron, the merriment of

-the little boys playing at knuckle-bones on the mosaic pavement of the

-court-yard? When grown up, they used to hang about our necks their

-bullæ of gold or leather!

-

-"What happiness it was, when on the evening of a triumph, the master,

-entering, turned his humid eyes upon us! He would recount his combats;

-and the little house would be prouder than a palace; sacred as a temple!

-

-"How sweet were the family repasts, above all on the morrow of the

-Feralia! Tenderness for the dead appeased all discords; all kissed each

-other, while drinking to the glories of the past, and the hopes of the

-future.

-

-"But the ancestors, of painted wax, locked up behind us, are slowly

-becoming covered with mold. The new races, visiting their own

-deceptions upon us, have shattered our jaws; our wooden bodies are

-disappearing piece-meal under the teeth of rats."

-

-(_And the innumerable gods, watching over doors, kitchens, cellars,

-baths, disperse in every direction--under the form of enormous ants

-running over the pavement, or great butterflies soaring away._

-

-_Then a roll of thunder is heard._)

-

-

-A VOICE:

-

-"I was the God of Armies, the Lord, the Lord God! I pitched the tents

-of Jacob on the hills; and in the midst of the sands I nourished my

-chosen people in their flight.

-

-"It was I who consumed the city of Sodom with fire! It was I who

-overwhelmed the world with the waters of the Deluge! It was I that

-drowned Pharaoh, with all the princes, sons of Kings,--making the sea

-to swallow up his chariots of war, and his charioteers!

-

-"I, the Jealous God, held all other gods in abomination. I brayed the

-impure in my anger; the mighty I cast down; and swiftly the desolation

-of my wrath ran to the right and to the left, like a dromedary loosened

-in a field of maize.

-

-"I chose the humble to deliver Israel. Angels, flame-winged, spake to

-them from out the bushes.

-

-"Perfumed with spikenard, with cinnamon and myrrh, clad in transparent

-robes, and shod with high-heeled sandals,--women of valiant heart went

-forth to slay captains. The passing wind carried my prophets with it.

-

-"My law I graved upon tables of stone. Within that law my people were

-enclosed, as within a strong citadel. They were my people. I was their

-God! The land was mine; the men also belonged to me, together with

-their every thought, and all their works, and the tools they wrought

-with, and their prosperity.

-

-"My ark reposed within a triple sanctuary,--surrounded by curtains

-of purple and lighted candelabra. I had a whole tribe to serve me as

-servants, swinging censers; and the high-priest, robed in robes of

-hyacinth, wore upon his breast precious stones disposed in symmetrical

-order.

-

-"Woe! Woe! the Holy of Holies is open, the veil is rent, the perfumes

-of the holocaust are dissipated by all the winds of heaven! The jackal

-whines in the sepulchres; my temple is destroyed; my people dispersed!

-

-"The priests have been strangled with the girdles of their robes. The

-women languish in captivity; the holy vessels have all been melted!"

-

-(_The voice, becoming more distant_):

-

-"I was the God of Armies; the Lord, the Lord God!"

-

-(_An enormous silence follows,--and deepest night._)

-

-ANTHONY. "All have passed away!"

-

-SOME ONE (_replies_):

-

-"I remain!"

-

-(_And Hilarion stands before him--but transfigured wholly,--beautiful

-as an archangel, luminous as a sun, and so lofty that in order to

-behold his face_--

-

-ANTHONY

-

-_is compelled to throw back his head, to look up as though gazing as a

-star_):

-

-"Who art thou?"

-

-HILARION. "My kingdom is vast as the universe; and my desire knows no

-limits. I go on forever,--freeing minds, weighing worlds,--without

-hatred, without fear, without pity, without love, and without God. Men

-call me SCIENCE!"

-

-ANTHONY (_recoiling from him_):

-

-"Say, rather, that thou art ... the Devil!"

-

-HILARION (_fixing his eyes upon him_:)

-

-"Wouldst thou behold him?"

-

-ANTHONY (_cannot detach his eyes from that mighty gaze:--the curiosity

-of the Devil comes upon him. His terror augments; yet his wish grows

-even to boundlessness_):

-

-"Yet if I should see him ... if I were to see him!"

-

-(_Then in a sudden spasm of wrath_):

-

-"The horror that I have of him will free me from his presence

-forever!... Yes!"

-

-(_A cloven foot appears. Anthony regrets his wish._

-

-_But the Devil flings him upon his horns and bears him away._)

-

-

-

-[1] Matthew II: 10--T.

-

-[2] "Buddha, or more correctly, the Buddha, for Buddha is an

-appellative meaning Enlightened."--Max Müller (Chips, Vol. I., 206).

-

-[3] Luke II: 25-26.--T.

-

-[4] Ibid II: 46-47.--T.

-

-[5] Or, Haoma, also Hom, the sacred plant, whose fermented juice

-occupied an important place in the practical rites of Iran. Supposed

-to be the same plant known in botany as _Sarcostemma viminalis._

-Deified in Iranian worship, like the sacred drink _Soma_ in the Vedic

-hymns. The _Soma_ was the fermented extract of the _Asclepias acida_

-or _Sarcostemma ritalis._ See Marius Fontane, "L'Inde Védique," "Les

-Iraniens."--Trans.

-

-[6] Apuleius says, "a silken mantle."--Trans.

-

-[7] Apuleius says, "strung with knuckle-bones of sheep."--Trans.

-

-[8] This scene, like certain paintings in the Naples museum, is all

-suited for public exhibition.--Trans.

-

-[9] Readers will recollect the lines in Macaulay's _Lays of Ancient

-Rome_:

-

-"Beneath Aricia's trees,

-   Those trees in whose dim shadow

- A ghastly priest doth reign,

-   The priest who slew the slayer,

- And must himself be slain."

-

-

-

-

-

-VI

-

-

-(_He flies beneath him, outstretched like a swimmer; his vast-spreading

-wings, wholly concealing him, seem like one huge cloud._)

-

-ANTHONY. "Whither do I go? But a little while ago I beheld in a glimpse

-the form of the Accurst. Nay!--'tis a cloud that upbears me! Perhaps I

-am dead, and am ascending to God....

-

-"How freely I respire. The immaculate air seems to vivify my soul. No

-sense of weight!--no more suffering.

-

-"Far below me the lightning breaks,--the horizon broadens, widens,--the

-rivers cross each other. That blond-bright spot is the desert; that

-pool of water the ocean!

-

-"And other oceans appear!--vast regions of which I knew nothing!

-There are the countries of the blacks, which seem to smoke like

-brasiers!--then is the zone of snows always made dim by fog! Would I

-might behold those mountains where the sun, each evening, sinks to

-rest!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "The sun never sinks to rest; the sun never rests!"

-

-(_Anthony is not surprised at this voice. It seems to him an echo of

-his own thought--a response made by his own memory._

-

-_Meanwhile the earth gradually assumes the shape of a ball; and he

-beholds it in the midst of the azure, turning upon its poles, and

-revolving with the sun._)

-

-THE DEVIL. "So it does not form the centre of the universe! Pride of

-man! humiliate thyself!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Now I can scarcely distinguish it. It mingles confusedly with

-other glowing worlds. The firmament itself is but one tissue of stars."

-

-(_And they still rise._)

-

-"No sound!--not even the hoarse cry of eagles! Nothing? I listen for

-the harmony of the spheres."

-

-THE DEVIL. "Thou wilt not hear them! Nor wilt thou behold the

-antichtonus of Plato,--or the central furnace of Philolaüs,--or the

-spheres of Aristotle, or the seven heavens of the Jews, with the great

-waters above the vault of crystal!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yet from below the vault seemed solid as a wall!--on the

-contrary I penetrate it, I lose myself in it!"

-

-(_And he beholds the moon,--like a rounded fragment of ice filled with

-motionless light._)

-

-THE DEVIL. "Formerly it was the sojourn of souls! Even the good

-Pythagoras adorned it with magnificent flowers, populated it with

-birds!"

-

-ANTHONY. "I can see only desolate plains there, with extinct craters

-yawning under a black sky!

-

-"Let us go towards those milder-beaming stars, that we may contemplate

-the angels who uphold them at arms' length, like torches!"

-

-THE DEVIL (_bears him into the midst of the stars_):

-

-"They attract at the same time that they repel each other. The

-action of each one results from that of others, and contributes

-thereunto,--without the aid of any auxiliary, by the force of a law,

-the virtue of order alone!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yes!...yes! My intelligence grasps the great truth! It is

-a joy greater than all tender pleasures! Breathless I find myself with

-astonishment at the enormity of God!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "Even as the firmament ever rises as thou dost ascend, so

-with the expansion of thy thought will He become greater to thee; and

-after this discovery of the universe thou wilt feel thy joy augment

-with the broadening and deepening of the infinite."

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah! higher!--higher still!--- forever higher!"

-

-(_Then the stars multiply, scintillate. The Milky Way develops in the

-zenith like a monstrous belt, with holes at intervals; through these

-rents in its brightness stretches of prolonged darkness are visible.

-There are rains of stars, long trains of golden dust, luminous vapours

-that float and dissolve.

-

-At times a comet suddenly passes by; then the tranquillity of

-innumerable lights recommences.

-

-Anthony, with outstretched arms, supports himself upon the Devil's

-horns, and thus occupies all the space between them.

-

-He remembers with disdain the ignorance of other days, the mediocrity

-of his dreams. And now those luminous globes he was wont to gaze upon

-from below, are close to him. He distinguishes the intercrossing of

-the lines of their orbits, the complexity of their courses. He beholds

-them coming from afar,--and, like stones suspended in a sling, describe

-their circles, form their hyperbolas.

-

-He perceives, all within the field of his vision at once, the Southern

-Cross and the Great Bear, the Lynx and the Centaur, the nebula of

-Dorado, the six suns in the constellation of Orion, Jupiter with his

-four satellites, and the triple ring of the monstrous Saturn!--all the

-planets, all the stars that men will discover in the future. He fills

-his eyes with their light; he over-burthens his mind with calculation

-of their distances: then, bowing his head, he murmurs_):

-

-"What is the purpose of all that?"

-

-THE DEVIL. "There is no purpose. How could God have a purpose? What

-experience could have instructed him?--what reflection determined him?

-

-[Illustration: Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The

-Devil: There is no purpose.]

-

-"Before the beginning he could not have acted;--and now his action

-would be useless."

-

-ANTHONY. "Yet he created the world, at one time, by his word only."

-

-THE DEVIL. "But the beings that people the earth come upon it

-successively. So also, in heaven, new stars arise--different effects of

-varying causes."

-

-ANTHONY. "The varying of causes is the will of God!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "But to admit several acts of will in God is to admit

-various causes, and therefore to deny his unity.

-

-"His will is inseparable from his essence. He can have but one will,

-having but one essence; and inasmuch as he externally exists, he acts

-eternally.

-

-"Contemplate the sun! From its surface leap vast jets of flame, casting

-forth sparks that disperse beyond to become worlds here-after;--and

-further than the last, far beyond those deeps where thou seest only

-night, whirl other suns,--and behind them others again, and beyond

-those yet others ... without end!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Enough! Enough! I fear!--I will fall into the abyss!"

-

-THE DEVIL (_pauses, and rocks Anthony gently in the midst of space_).

-

-"Nothingness is--not--there is no void! Everywhere and forever bodies

-move upon the immovable deeps of space! Were there boundaries to

-space, it would not be space, but a body only: it is limitless!"

-

-ANTHONY (_stupefied by wonder_):

-

-"Limitless!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "Ascend skyward forever and forever,--yet thou wilt not

-attain the summit. Descend below the earth for billions of billions of

-centuries: never wilt thou reach the bottom. For there is no summit,

-there is no bottom; there is no Above, no Below--nor height, nor

-depth as signified by the terms of human utterance. And Space itself

-is comprised in God, who is not a portion thereof of such or such a

-size,--but is Immensity itself!"

-

-ANTHONY (_slowly_):

-

-"Matter ..., then, ... must be a part of God?"

-

-THE DEVIL. "Why not? Canst thou know the end of God?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Nay: on the contrary, I prostrate, I crush myself beneath his

-mightiness!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "And yet thou dost pretend to move him! Thou dost speak to

-him,--thou dost even adorn him with virtues,--with goodness, justice,

-mercy,--in lieu of recognising that all perfections are his!

-

-"To conceive aught beyond him is to conceive God above God, the Being

-above the Being. For He is the only being, the only substance.

-

-"If the Substance could be divided, it would not be the Substance, it

-would lose its nature: God could not exist. He is therefore indivisible

-as infinite;--and if he had a body, he would be composed of parts,

-he would not be One--he would not be infinite. Therefore he is not a

-Person!"

-

-ANTHONY. "What? my prayers, my sobs, my groans, the sufferings of my

-flesh, the transports of my love,--have all these things gone out to a

-lie,--to emptiness, unavailingly--like the cry of a bird, like a whirl

-of dead leaves?"

-

-(_Weeping_):

-

-"Oh, no!--there is Some One above all things,--a great Soul, a Lord, a

-Father whom my heart adores and who must love me!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "Thou dost desire that God were not God;--for did he feel

-love, or anger, or pity,--he would abandon his perfection for a greater

-or a lesser perfection. He can stoop to no sentiment, nor be contained

-in any form."

-

-ANTHONY. "One day, nevertheless, I shall see him!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "With the blessed, is it not?--when the finite shall enjoy

-the infinite in some restricted place, containing the Absolute!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Matters not!--there must be a paradise for the good, as there

-is a hell for the wicked."

-

-THE DEVIL. "Can the desire of thy mind create the law of the universe?

-Without doubt evil is indifferent to God,--forasmuch as the Earth is

-covered with it!

-

-"Is it through impotence that he endures it, or through cruelty that he

-maintains it?

-

-"Dost thou fancy that he is eternally readjusting the world, like an

-imperfect machine?--that he is forever watching the movements of all

-beings, from the flight of a butterfly to the thought of a man?

-

-"If he have created the universe, his providence is superfluous. If

-Providence exists, then creation is defective.

-

-"But evil and good concern only thee--even like night and day, pleasure

-and pain, death and birth, which are relative only to one corner

-of space, to a special centre, to a particular interest. Since the

-Infinite is permanent, the Infinite is;--and that is all."

-

-(_The Devil's wings have been gradually expanding: now they cover all

-space._)

-

-ANTHONY (_now perceives nothing: a great faintness comes upon him_):

-

-"A hideous cold freezes me, even to the depths of my soul! This is

-beyond the extreme of pain! It is like a death that is deeper than

-death! I roll in the immensity of darkness; and the darkness itself

-enters within me. My consciousness bursts beneath this dilation of

-nothingness!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "Yet the knowledge of things comes to thee only through the

-medium of thy mind. Even as a concave mirror, it deforms the objects

-it reflects; and thou hast no means whatever of verifying their

-exactitude."

-

-"Never canst thou know the universe in all its vastness; consequently

-it will never be possible for thee to obtain an idea of its cause,

-to have a just notion of God, nor even to say that the universe is

-infinite,--for thou must first be able to know what the Infinite is!"

-

-"May not Form be, perhaps, an error of thy senses,--Substance a figment

-of thy imagination?"

-

-"Unless, indeed, that the world being a perpetual flux[1] of things,

-appearance, on the contrary, be wholly true; illusion the only reality."

-

-"But art thou sure thou dost see?--art thou even sure thou dost live?

-Perhaps nothing exists!"

-

-(_The Devil has seized Anthony, and, holding him at arms' length,

-glares at him with mouth yawning as though to devour him_):

-

-"Adore me, then!--and curse the phantom thou callest God!"

-

-(_Anthony lifts his eyes with a last effort of hope._

-

-_The Devil abandons him._)

-

-

-[1] The original text seems to me slightly obscure. The idea of the

-universe being a perpetual ebb and flow of shapes, is that of forms

-passing away to reappear like waves, is that of the Nidana-Sutris:

-"Individuality is only a form ... _Everything is only a flux of

-aggregates_, interminably uniting and disuniting," as Barth observes in

-his "Religions of India."--Trans.

-

-

-

-

-VII

-

-

-ANTHONY (_finds himself lying upon his back, at the verge of the cliff._

-

-_The sky commences to blanch._)

-

-"Is it the glow of dawn, or only an effect of moonlight?"

-

-(_He tries to rise, falls back,--his teeth chattering_):

-

-"I feel such a helplessness of weakness, as though all my bones were

-broken!

-

-"Why?

-

-"Ah! the Devil!--I remember!--he even repeated to me all that I

-learned from the aged Didymus respecting the opinions of Xenophanes,

-Heraclitus, of Melissus, of Anaxagoras,--concerning the infinite, the

-creation, the impossibility of knowing anything!

-

-"And yet I believed that I could unite myself to God!"

-

-(_Laughing bitterly_):

-

-"Ah! madness! madness! Is the fault mine? Prayer has become

-intolerable to me! My heart is dry as a rock! Once, it was wont to

-overflow with love!...

-

-"The sand used to smoke of mornings like the odourous dust of a

-censer;--at sunset flowers of fire used to bloom upon the cross; and in

-the middle of the night, it often seemed as though all beings and all

-things, lying under the same awful silence, were adoring the Lord with

-me. O charms of prayer, felicities of ecstasy, gifts of heaven,--what

-have become of you?

-

-"I remember a voyage I made with Ammon in search of a solitary place

-suited for the establishment of a monastery. It was the last evening;

-we hastened our steps, walked side by side, murmuring hymns, without

-conversing. As the sun sank, the shadows of our bodies lengthened like

-two obelisks, continually growing taller, and moving before us. Here

-and there we planted crosses, made with fragments of our sticks, to

-mark the site of a future cell. Night was tardy in her coming; and

-waves of darkness overspread the earth, even while a vast rose-coloured

-light still glowed in heaven.

-

-"When I was a child, I used to amuse myself by building hermitages

-with pebbles. My mother sitting beside me would watch me so attentively!

-

-"Will she not have cursed me for having abandoned her?--will she not

-have plucked out her white hair by handfuls in the despair of her

-grief? And her corpse remains lying on the floor of the hut, under the

-roof of reeds, between the crumbling walls. Through an orifice a hyena,

-snuffing, thrusts his head, advances his mouth ... horror! horror!"

-

-(_Sobbing_):

-

-"No: Ammonaria will not have abandoned her! Where is she

-now,--Ammonaria?

-

-"Perhaps at the further end of a bathroom, she removes her garments

-one after the other: first the mantle, then the girdle, then the first

-tunic, the second lighter tunic, all her necklaces,--and the vapour

-of cinnamon envelops her naked limbs. At last she lies down upon the

-tepid mosaic. Her long hair spreading below the curve of her hips,

-seems like a sable fleece; and the oppressiveness of the heated air

-causes her to pant; her waist arched, her breasts standing out ...

-What! my flesh rebels again! Even in the midst of grief am I tortured

-by concupiscence. To be subjected thus unto two tortures at once is

-beyond endurance! I can no longer bear myself!"

-

-(_He leans over, and gazes into the abyss._)

-

-"The man who should fall would be killed. Nothing easier: it were only

-necessary to roll over upon my left side:--only one movement--one!"

-

-(_Then suddenly appears_--AN AGED WOMAN. _Anthony starts to his feet in

-affright. It seems to him that he beholds his mother arisen._

-

-_But this woman is far older, and prodigiously thin._

-

-_A shroud, knotted about her head, hangs down, together with her white

-hair, so as to cover her legs, slender as crutches. The brilliancy of

-her ivory-coloured teeth make her earthy skin darker still. The orbits

-of her eyes are full of shadow; and far back within them two flames

-vacillate, like the lamps of sepulchres._

-

-_She exclaims_):

-

-"Advance! What hinders thee?"

-

-ANTHONY (_stammering_):

-

-"I fear ... to commit a sin!"

-

-SHE (_replies_):

-

-"But King Saul killed himself! Razias, a just man, killed himself!

-Saint Pelagia of Antioch killed herself! Dommina of Aleppo and her two

-daughters--all three saints--killed themselves: and remember also how

-many confessors delivered themselves up to the executioner in their

-impatient longing for death! That they might enjoy death more speedily,

-the virgins of Miletus strangled themselves with their girdles. At

-Syracuse the philosopher Hegesias preached so eloquently upon death

-that men deserted the lupanars to go hang themselves in the fields. The

-patricians of Borne sought for death as a new form of debauch."

-

-ANTHONY. "Aye! the love of death is strong; and many a anchorite has

-succumbed to it."

-

-THE OLD WOMAN. "To do that which will make thee equal unto God--think!

-He created thee: thou wilt destroy his work--thou! and by thy

-courage,--of thy own free will! The enjoyment that Erostratus knew was

-not greater than this. And moreover thy body has so long mocked thy

-soul that it is full time thou shouldst take vengeance upon it. Thou

-wilt not suffer. It will soon be over. Of what art thou afraid?--a

-wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!"

-

-[Illustration: The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?—a wide,

-black hole! Perhaps it is a void!]

-

-(_Anthony hearkens without replying; and upon the other side appears_--

-

-ANOTHER WOMAN--_young and marvellously beautiful. At first he takes

-her to be Ammonaria. But she is taller, blond as honey, very plump,

-with paint upon her cheeks and roses upon her head. Her long robe,

-weighty with spangles, gleams with metallic lustre;--her fleshy lips

-are sanguinolent; and her somewhat heavy eyelids are so drowned with

-languor that one would almost take her to be blind._

-

-_She murmurs_):

-

-"Nay, live! enjoy! Solomon counsels joy! Follow the guiding of thy

-heart and the desire of thine eyes!"

-

-ANTHONY. "What joy is there for me? My heart is weary; my eyes are dim!"

-

-SHE (_answers_):

-

-"Seek the suburb of Racotis; push open a door that is painted

-blue;--and when thou shalt be in the atrium where a fountain jet

-murmurs unceasingly, a woman will present herself before thee--in

-peplos of white silk striped with gold; her hair is unloosed, her

-laugh like the clatter of crotali. She is skilful. In her caress thou

-wilt taste the pride of initiation and the appeasement of desire.

-

-"Hast ever pressed to thy bosom a virgin who loved thee? Dost remember

-the surrenders of her modesty,--the passing away of her remorse in a

-sweet flow of tears?

-

-"Thou canst even now imagine thyself walking with her--canst thou

-not?--in the wood by the light of the moon? At each pressure of your

-joined hands, a sweet shuddering passes through you both,--looking

-closely into each other your eyes seem to outpour into one another

-something like immaterial fluid;--and thy heart fills: it bursts: it is

-a suave whirl of eddying passion, an overflowing of intoxication...."

-

-THE OLD WOMAN. "One need not possess joys in order to taste their

-bitterness! Even to view them from afar off begets loathing of them.

-Thou must be fatigued by the monotony of the same actions, the length

-of the days, the hideousness of the world, the stupidity of the sun?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Aye, indeed!--I loathe all that he shines upon."

-

-THE YOUNG WOMAN. "Hermit! hermit! thou wilt find diamonds among the

-flints, fountains beneath the sand, a delectation in all the hazards

-thou dost despise; and there are even upon earth places of such beauty

-that the sight of them would make thee desire to press the whole world

-against thy heart with love!"

-

-THE OLD WOMAN. "Each evening that thou liest down upon the earth to

-slumber, thou dost hope that it may soon lie upon thee and cover thee."

-

-THE YOUNG WOMAN. "Yet thou dost believe in the resurrection of the

-flesh--which is but the translation of life into eternity!"

-

-(_Even as she speaks, the Old Woman becomes still more fleshless; and

-above her skull, from which the white hair has disappeared, a bat

-circles in the air._

-

-_The Young Woman has become fatter. Her robe gleams with shifting

-colours; her nostrils palpitate, her eyes roll softly._)

-

-THE FORMER (_opening her arms, exclaiming_):

-

-"Come to me!--I am Consolation, repose, oblivion, eternal calm!"

-

-THE OTHER.

-

-"I am the sleep-giver, life, happiness inexhaustible!"

-

-(_Anthony turns to fee from them. Each lays a hand on his shoulder._

-

-_The Shroud parts, exposes the Skeleton of Death._

-

-_The robe splits asunder, and leaves the whole body of Lust

-exposed:--her waist is slender; her long and undulating hair flutters

-in the wind._

-

-_Anthony stands motionless between the two, considering them_):

-

-DEATH (_says to him_):

-

-"What matters it, whether now or at another time! Thou art mine,--like

-suns, nations, cities, kings, mountain-snows, and the grasses of the

-fields. I fly higher than the hawks of heaven. I run more swiftly than

-the gazelle; I overtake even Hope; I vanquished the Son of God!"

-

-LUST. "Resist not! I am the Omnipotent! The forests re-echo with my

-sighs; the waters tremble with my agitations. Virtue, courage, piety,

-dissolve in the perfume of my mouth. Man I accompany in every step

-that he makes; and even from the threshold of the tomb he turns to me!"

-

-DEATH. "I will find for thee that which thou hast vainly sought for,

-by the gleam of torches, upon the faces of the dead,--or among those

-awful sands that are formed of human remains, where thou wast wont to

-wander beyond the Pyramids. From time to time, the fragment of a skull

-rolled under thy sandal. Thou didst take up the dust: thou didst let it

-trickle through thy fingers; and thy thought, blending with it, sank

-into nothingness."

-

-LUST. "My gulf is deeper! Marbles have inspired loves. Men rush to

-conjunctures that terrify. Fetters are riveted that the fettered curse.

-Whence the bewitchment of courtesans, the extravagance of dreams, the

-immensity of my sadness?"

-

-DEATH. "Mine irony depasseth all others! There are convulsions of

-delight at the funerals of kings, at the extermination of a whole

-people; and war is made with music, with plumes, with harness of

-gold,--with vast display of ceremony that my due of homage may be

-greater!"

-

-[Illustration: Death: Mine irony depasseth all others!]

-

-LUST. "My rage equals thine! I also yell; I bite! I, too, have sweats

-of agony, and aspects cadaverous!"

-

-DEATH. "It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!"

-

-[Illustration: Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us

-intertwine!]

-

-(_Death laughs mockingly; Lust roars. They clasp each other about the

-waist, and chant alternately_):

-

-"I hasten the dissolution of matter!"

-

-"I facilitate the dispersion of germs!"

-

-"Thou dost destroy for my renovations!"

-

-"Thou dost engender for my destructions!"

-

-"Ever-active my power!"

-

-"Fecund, my putrefaction!"

-

-(_And their voices, whose rolling echoes fill the horizon, deepen and

-become so mighty that Anthony falls backward as if thunder-stricken. A

-shock from time to time causes him to reopen his eyes; and he perceives

-in the midst of the darkness a manner of monster before him._

-

-_It is a skull, crowned with roses, dominating the torso of a woman

-nacreously white. Below, a shroud starred with specks of gold forms

-something like a tail; and the whole body undulates, after the fashion

-of a gigantic worm erect on end._

-

-_The vision attenuates,--disappears._)

-

-ANTHONY (_rising to his feet_):

-

-"The Devil yet again, and under his two-fold aspect: the spirit of

-fornication, and the spirit of destruction.

-

-"Neither affrights me! I repel happiness; and I know myself to be

-eternal.

-

-"Thus death is only an illusion, a veil-masking betimes the continuity

-of life.

-

-"But Substance being unique, wherefore should forms be varied?

-

-"Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose bodily forms are

-only symbols. Could I but see them, I would know the link between

-matter and thought; I would know in what Being consists.

-

-[Illustration: Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial

-figures, whose bodily forms are only symbols.]

-

-"Such were the figures painted at Babylon upon the walls of the

-temple of Belus; and others like them covered a mosaic in the port of

-Carthage. I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms

-of spirits. Those who cross the desert meet with animals surpassing all

-conception...."

-

-[Illustration: I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it

-were, forms of spirits.]

-

-(_And opposite, upon the further side of the Nile, suddenly appears

-the Sphinx.[1] He stretches his paws, shakes the bandelets upon his

-forehead, and crouches upon his belly._

-

-_Leaping, flying, spitting fire through her nostrils, lashing her

-winged sides with her dragon-tail, the green-eyed Chimera circles,

-barks._

-

-_The thick curls of her head tossed back upon one side mingle with

-the hair of her loins; on the other side they hang down to the sand,

-quivering with the swinging of her body, to and fro._)

-

-THE SPHINX (_remaining motionless, and gazing at the Chimera_):

-

-"Hither, Chimera! rest awhile!"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "No! never!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "Do not run so fast, do not fly so high, do not bark so

-loudly!"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "DO not call me!--call me no more; since thou must remain

-forever dumb."

-

-THE SPHINX. "Cease casting thy flames in my face, and uttering thy

-yells in my ear: thou canst not melt my granite."

-

-THE CHIMERA. "Thou shalt not seize me, terrible sphinx!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "Thou art too mad to dwell with me!"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "Thou art too heavy to follow me!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "Yet whither goest thou, that thou shouldst run so fast?"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "I gallop in the corridors of the Labyrinth--I hover above

-the mountains--I graze the waves in my flight--I yelp at the bottom of

-precipices--I suspend myself with my mouth from the skirts of clouds--I

-sweep the shores with my dragging tail; and the curves of the hills

-have taken their form from the shape of my shoulders! But thee I find

-perpetually immobile, or perhaps making strange designs with thy claws

-upon the sand."

-

-THE SPHINX. "It is because I keep my secret;--I dream and calculate.

-

-"The sea returns to its bed; the wheat bends back and forth in the

-wind; the caravans pass by; the dust flies; cities crumble; and yet

-my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all

-intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach."

-

-[Illustration: The Sphinx: ... and yet my gaze, which naught

-can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all intervening

-things, upon a horizon that none may reach. The Chimera: I am

-light and joyous!]

-

-THE CHIMERA. "I am light and joyous! I offer to the eyes of men

-dazzling perspectives with Paradise in the clouds above, and

-unspeakable felicity afar off. Into their souls I pour the eternal

-madnesses; projects of happiness, plans for the future, dreams of glory

-and vows of love, and all virtuous resolutions.

-

-"I urge men to perilous voyages and great enterprises. I have chiselled

-with my claws the wonders of architecture. It was I who suspended the

-little bells above the tomb of Porsenna, and surrounded the quays of

-Atlantis with a wall of orichalcum.

-

-"I seek for new perfumes, for vaster flowers, for pleasures never felt

-before. If I perceive in any place a man whose mind reposes in wisdom,

-I fall upon him, and strangle him."

-

-THE SPHINX. "All those tormented by the desire of God, I have devoured.

-

-"In order to climb up to my royal brow, the strongest ascend upon the

-flutings of my bandelets as upon the steps of a stairway. Then a great

-lassitude comes upon them, and they fall backward."

-

-(_Anthony begins to tremble._

-

-_He is no longer before his cabin, but in the desert itself, with those

-two monsters beside him, whose breath is hot upon his shoulders._)

-

-THE SPHINX. "O thou Fantasy, bear me away upon thy wings that my

-sadness may be lightened!"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "O thou Unknown, I am enamoured of thine eyes! Like a

-hyena in heat I turn about thee, soliciting those fecundations whereof

-the desires devour me!

-

-"Ope thy mouth, lift thy feet--mount upon my back!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "My feet, since they have been outstretched, can move no

-more. The lichen, like an eruption, has formed upon my jaws. By dint of

-long dreaming I have no longer aught to say."

-

-THE CHIMERA. "Thou liest, hypocrite Sphinx! Wherefore dost thou always

-call me and always disown me!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "It is thou, indomitable caprice, that dost forever pass

-and repass, whirling in thy course!"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "Is the fault mine? What? Let me be!"

-

-(_She barks._)

-

-THE SPHINX. "Thou movest away! thou dost escape me!"

-

-(_He growls._)

-

-THE CHIMERA. "Essay!--Thou crushest me!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "Nay!--impossible!"

-

-(_And gradually sinking down he disappears in the sand; while the

-Chimera, ramping with tongue protruding, departs, describing circles on

-her way._

-

-_The breath of her mouth has produced a fog._

-

-_Through this mist Anthony perceives wreathings of clouds, undecided

-curves._

-

-_At last he can distinguish something like the appearance of human

-bodies._

-

-_And first_:--

-

-THE ASTOMI--_approach, like bubbles of air traversed by sunlight. They

-cry_):

-

-"Do not breathe too hard! The drops of rain bruise us, false notes

-excoriate us, darknesses blind us! Composed wholly of breezes and of

-perfumes, we float along, we roll along:--a little more than Dreams,

-yet not quite beings...."

-

-THE NISNAS

-

-(_have only one eye, one cheek, one hand, one leg, half a body, half a

-heart. They say_):

-

-"We live quite in our halves of houses, with our halves of wives and

-our halves of children!"

-

-THE BLEMMYES

-

-(_who have no head at all_):

-

-"Our shoulders are all the broader;--and there is no ox, rhinoceros, or

-elephant able to carry what we carry.

-

-"Something dimly resembling features--as it were a vague

-face--imprinted upon our breasts: that is all! We think digestions; we

-subtleize secretions. God, in our belief, floats peacefully within the

-interior chyles.

-

-"We go straight upon our way, through all mires, crossing all morasses,

-skirting the edges of all abysses: and we are the most laborious, the

-most happy, the most virtuous of all peoples!"

-

-THE PYGMIES:

-

-"We, good little men, swarm upon the world like vermin upon the hump of

-a dromedary.

-

-"We are burned, drowned, crushed; and we always reappear, more

-vivacious and countless than before--terrible by reason of our numbers!"

-

-THE SCIAPODS:

-

-"Fettered to the earth by our hair, long as lianas, we vegetate beneath

-the shelter of our feet, broad as parasols; and the light comes to us

-through the thickness of our heels. No annoyances for us, no work! The

-head as low as possible--That is the secret of happiness."

-

-[Illustration: The Sciapods: The head as low as possible—That is

-the secret of happiness.]

-

-(_Their lifted thighs,--resembling the trunks of trees,--multiply._

-

-_And a forest appears. Great apes clamber through it on all

-fours:--these are men with the heads of dogs._)

-

-THE CYNOCEPHALI:

-

-"We leap from branch to branch in search of eggs to suck; and we pluck

-the little fledglings alive; then we put their nests upon our heads in

-lieu of caps.

-

-"We tear off the teats of cows; and we put out the eyes of lynxes:

-we let fall our dung from the heights of the trees--we parade our

-turpitude in the full light of the sun.

-

-"Lacerating the flowers, crushing the fruits, befouling the springs,

-violating women, we are the masters of all,--by the strength of our

-arms, and the ferocity of our hearts.

-

-"Ho! companions!--gnash with your jaws!"

-

-(_Blood and milk pour down their chops. The rain streams over their

-hairy backs._

-

-_Anthony inhales the freshness of the green leaves._

-

-_There is a movement among them, a clashing of branches; and all of

-a sudden appears a huge black stag, with the head of a bull, having

-between his ears a thicket of white horns._)

-

-THE SADHUZAG:

-

-"My seventy-four antlers are hollow like flutes.

-

-"When I turn me toward the wind of the South, there issue from them

-sounds that draw all the ravished animals around me. The serpents twine

-about my legs; the wasps cluster in my nostrils; and the parrots, the

-doves, the ibises, alight upon the branches of my horns.

-

-"Listen!"

-

-(_He throws back his horns, whence issues a music of sweetness

-ineffable._

-

-_Anthony presses both hands upon his heart. It seems to him as though

-his soul were being borne away by the melody._)

-

-THE SADHUZAG:

-

-"But when I turn me toward the wind of the North, my antlers, more

-thickly bristling than a battalion of lances, give forth a sound of

-howlings: the forests are startled with fear; the rivers remount toward

-their sources; the husks of fruits burst open; and the bending grasses

-stand erect on end, like the hair of a coward.

-

-"Listen!"

-

-(_He bends his branching antlers forward: hideous and discordant cries

-proceed from them. Anthony feels as though his heart were torn asunder._

-

-_And his horror augments upon beholding_)--

-

-THE MARTICHORAS

-

-(_A gigantic red lion, with human face, and three rows of teeth_):

-

-"The gleam of my scarlet hair mingles with the reflection of the great

-sands. I breathe through my nostrils the terror of solitudes. I spit

-forth plague. I devour armies when they venture into the desert.

-

-"My claws are twisted like screws, my teeth shaped like saws; and my

-curving tail bristles with darts which I cast to right and left, before

-and behind!

-

-"See! see!"

-

-(_The Martichoras shoots forth the keen bristles of his tail, which

-irradiate in all directions like a volley of arrows. Drops of blood

-rain down, spattering upon the foliage._)

-

-THE CATOBLEPAS

-

-(_A black buffalo with a pig's head, falling to the ground, and

-attached to his shoulders by a neck long, thin, and flaccid as an empty

-gut._

-

-_He wallows flat upon the ground, and his feet entirely disappear

-beneath the enormous mane of coarse hair which covers his face_):

-

-"Fat, melancholy, fierce--thus I continually remain, feeling against

-my belly the warmth of the mud. So heavy is my skull that it is

-impossible for me to lift it. I roll it slowly all around me,

-open-mouthed; and with my tongue I tear up the venemous plants bedewed

-with my breath. Once, I even devoured my own feet without knowing it!

-

-"No one, Anthony, has ever beheld mine eyes,--or at least, those who

-have beheld them are dead. Were I to lift my eyelids--my pink and

-swollen eyelids, thou wouldst forthwith die!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh, that one! Ugh! As though I could desire it?--Yet his

-stupidity fascinates me! No, no! I will not!"

-

-(_He gazes fixedly upon the ground._

-

-_But the weeds take fire; and amidst the contorsions of the flames,

-arises_)--

-

-THE BASILISK

-

-(_A great violet serpent, with trilobate crest, and two fangs, one

-above, one below_):

-

-"Beware, lest thou fall into my jaws! I drink fire. I am fire!--and I

-inhale it from all things: from clouds, from flints, from dead trees,

-the fur of animals, the surface of marshes. My temperature maintains

-the volcanoes: I lend glitter to jewels: I give colours to metals!"

-

-THE GRIFFIN

-

-(_A lion with a vulture's beak, and white wings, red paws and blue

-neck_):

-

-"I am the master of deep splendours. I know the secrets of the tombs

-wherein the Kings of old do slumber.

-

-"A chain, issuing from the wall, maintains their heads upright. Near

-them, in basins of porphyry, the women they loved float upon the

-surfaces of black liquids. Their treasures are all arrayed in halls, in

-lozenge-shaped designs, in little heaps, in pyramids;--and down below,

-far below the tombs, and to be reached only after long travelling

-through stifling darkness, there are rivers of gold bordered by forests

-of diamonds, there are fields of carbuncles and lakes of mercury.

-

-"Addossed against the subterranean gate I remain with claws uplifted;

-and my flaming eyes spy out those who seek to approach. The vast and

-naked plain that stretches away to the end of the horizon is whitened

-with the bones of travellers. But for thee the gates of bronze shall

-open; and thou shalt inhale the vapour of the mines, thou shalt descend

-into the caverns.... Quick! quick!"

-

-(_He burrows into the earth with his paws, and crows like a cock._

-

-_A thousand voices answer him. The forest trembles._

-

-_And all manner of frightful creatures arise:--The Tragelaphus, half

-deer, half ox; the Myrmecoles, lion before-and ant behind, whose

-genitals are set reversely; the python Askar, sixty cubits long, that

-terrified Moses; the huge weasel Pastinaca, that kills the trees with

-her odour; the Presteros, that makes those who touch it imbecile;

-the Mirag, a horned hare, that dwells in the islands of the sea. The

-leopard Phalmant bursts his belly by roaring; the triple-headed bear

-Senad tears her young by licking them with her tongue; the dog Cepus

-pours out the blue milk of her teats upon the rocks. Mosquitoes begin

-to hum, toads commence to leap; serpents hiss. Lightnings flicker. Hail

-falls._

-

-_Then come gusts, bearing with them marvellous anatomies:--Heads of

-alligators with hoofs of deer; owls with serpent tails; swine with

-tiger-muzzles; goats with the crupper of an ass; frogs hairy as bears;

-chameleons huge as hippopotami; calves with two heads, one bellowing,

-the other weeping; winged bellies flitting hither and thither like

-gnats._

-

-_They rain from the sky, they rise from the earth, they pour from the

-rocks; everywhere eyes flame, mouths roar, breasts bulge, claws are

-extended, teeth gnash, flesh clacks against flesh. Some crouch; some

-devour each other at a mouthful._

-

-_Suffocating under their own numbers, multiplying by their own contact,

-they climb over one another; and move about Anthony with a surging

-motion as though the ground were the deck of a ship. He feels the trail

-of snails upon the calves of his legs, the chilliness of vipers upon

-his hands:--and spiders spinning about him enclose him within their

-network._

-

-_But the monstrous circle breaks, parts; the sky suddenly becomes blue;

-and_)--

-

-THE UNICORN (_appears_):

-

-"Gallop! Gallop!

-

-"I have hoofs of ivory, teeth of steel; my head is the colour of

-purple, my body the colour of snow; and the horn of my forehead is

-bestreaked with the tints of the rainbow.

-

-"I travel from Chaldea to the Tartar desert,--upon the shores of the

-Ganges and in Mesopotamia. I overtake the ostriches. I run so swiftly

-that I draw the wind after me. I rub my back against the palm-trees. I

-roll among the bamboos. I leap rivers with a single bound. Doves fly

-above me. Only a virgin can bridle me.

-

-"Gallop! Gallop!"

-

-(_Anthony watches him depart._

-

-_And as he gazes he beholds all the birds that nourish themselves

-with wind: the Gouith, the Ahuti, the Alphalim, the Iukneth, of the

-mountains of Kaf, the homai of the Arabs--which are the souls of

-murdered men. He hears the parrots that utter human speech; and the

-great Pelasgian palmipeds that sob like children or chuckle like old

-women._

-

-_A saline air strikes his nostrils. Now a vast beach stretches before

-him._

-

-_In the distance jets of water arise, spouted by whales; and from the

-very end of the horizon come_)--

-

-THE BEASTS OF THE SEA

-

-(_round as wineskins, flat as blades, denticulated like saws, dragging

-themselves over the sand as they approach_):

-

-[Illustration: The beasts of the sea round as wineskins ...]

-

-"Thou wilt accompany us to our immensities, whither as yet no one has

-descended.

-

-"Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean. Some dwell in the

-sojourn of tempests; others swim freely amid the transparency of chill

-waves;--or, like oxen, graze upon the coral plains, or suck in through

-their trunks the reflux of the tides,--or bear upon their shoulders the

-vast weight of the sources of the sea."

-

-[Illustration: Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean.]

-

-(_Phosphorences gleam in the moustaches of the seals, shift in the

-scales of fish. Echini whirl like wheels; ammonites uncoil like cables;

-oysters make their shell hinges squeak; polypi unfold their tentacles;

-medusæ quiver like balls of crystal suspended; sponges float hither and

-thither, anemones ejaculate water; wrack and sea-mosses have grown all

-about._

-

-_And all sorts of plants extend themselves into branches, twist

-themselves into screws, lengthen into points, round themselves out like

-fans. Gourds take the appearance of breasts; lianas interlace like

-serpents._

-

-_The Dedaims of Babylon, which are trees, bear human heads for fruit;

-Mandragoras sing;--the root Baaras runs through the grass._

-

-_And now the vegetables are no longer distinguishable from the animals.

-Polyparies that seem like trees, have arms upon their branches. Anthony

-thinks he sees a caterpillar between two leaves: it is a butterfly that

-takes flight. He is about to step on a pebble: a grey locust leaps

-away. One shrub is bedecked with insects that look like petals of

-roses; fragments of ephemerides form a snowy layer upon the soil._

-

-_And then the plants become confounded with the stones._

-

-_Flints assume the likeness of brains; stalactites of breasts; the

-flower of iron resembles a figured tapestry._[2]

-

-_He sees efflorescences in fragments of ice, imprints of shrubs and

-shells--yet so that one cannot detect whether they be imprints only, or

-the things themselves. Diamonds gleam like eyes; metals palpitate._

-

-_And all fear has departed from him! He throws himself down upon the

-ground, and leaning upon his elbows, watches breathlessly._

-

-_Insects that have no stomachs persistently eat; withered ferns bloom

-again and reflower; absent members grow again._

-

-_At last he perceives tiny globular masses, no larger than pinheads,

-with cilia all round them. They are agitated with a vibratile motion_):

-

-ANTHONY (_deliriously_):

-

-"O joy! O bliss! I have beheld the birth of life! I have seen the

-beginning of motion! My pulses throb even to the point of bursting!

-I long to fly, to swim, to bark, to bellow, to howl! Would that I

-had wings, a carapace, a shell,--that I could breathe out smoke,

-wield a trunk,--make my body writhe,--divide myself everywhere,--be

-in everything,--emanate with odours,--develop myself like the

-plants,--flow like water,--vibrate like sound--shine like light,

-squatting upon all forms--penetrate each atom--descend to the very

-bottom of matter,--be matter itself!"

-

-(_Day at last appears;--and, like tabernacle curtains uplifted, clouds

-of gold uprolling in broad volutes unveil the sky._

-

-_Even in the midst thereof, and in the very disk of the sun, beams the

-face of Jesus Christ._

-

-[Illustration: Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and

-in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.]

-

-_Anthony makes the sign of the cross, and resumes his devotions._)

-

-

-FINIS

-

-

-[1] Winkelmann claims to have been the first to discover that the

-Egyptian sphinxes were bisexual--females before--males otherwise. (See

-Book II, chap. I, § 25.) Flaubert speaks of the Sphinx in the masculine

-like Philemon. (See also Signor Carlo Fea's note upon the paragraph in

-Winkelmann, old French edition. An II, R. F.)--Trans.

-

-[2] Fleurs de fer, "flowers of iron." In mineralogy _flos ferri_, a

-form of Aragonite.--Trans.

-

-

-

-

-[NOTE

-

-Those who compare this translation with the original will observe the

-omission of some few paragraphs on pages 77, 96 and 211. They are

-speeches put in the mouths of certain Heresiarchs, or complaints of

-certain of the minor Roman household gods. The translator relegated

-these to an addenda, which the publishers have omitted as being

-unnecessary. Those who are familiar with the original will be able to

-supply them, and will realize that while they might be offensive to

-some persons, they are in no respect an integral or important part of

-the great drama.]

-

-

-

-

-ADDENDA (added by transcribers)

-

-

-A. Observation of Manes, pages 82-3, original text; page 89 of

-translation.

-

-

-MANES

-

-_Ou plutôt, faites si bien qu'elle ne soit pas fécondes. Mieux vaut

-pour l'ame tomber sur la terre que de languir dans des entraves

-charnelles._

-

-Probably a calumny against Manes; for the Eastern philosophy,

-especially that of Zoroaster, which is said to have inspired the tenets

-of Manichæism, advocated no such abominations.

-

-

-B. Page 105 of original; page 108 translation. The realistic

-phraseology of the original passage is rather brutal. The French text

-reads: "_Il souffrait de la maladie Bellerephontienne; et sa mère, la

-parfumeuse, s'est livrée à Pantherus, un soldat Romain, sur des gerbes

-de mais, un soir de moisson._" C. Descriptive text, page 237 original,

-partly suppressed on page 223 translation: "_Et il lui montre dans un

-bosquet d'aliziers Une Femme toute nue, à quatre pattes comme une bête,

-et saillie par un homme noir, tenant dans chaque main un flambeau._"

-

-D. Curious text of Crepitus, on page 228, pages 241-3 of original:

-

-CREPITUS

-

-(----se fait entendre):

-

-_Moi aussi l'on m'honora jadis. On me faisait des libations. Je fus un

-Dieu!_

-

-_L'Athénien me saluait comme un presage de fortune, tandis que le

-Romain dévot me maudissait les poings levés et que le pontife d'Egypte,

-s'abstinant des fèves, tremblait à ma voix et pâlissait à mon odeur._

-

-_Quand le vinaigre militaire coulait sur les barbes non rasées, qu'on

-se régalait de glands, de pois, et d'oignons crus, et que le bouc en

-morceau cuissait dans le beurre rance des pasteurs, sans souci du

-voisin, personne alors ne se gênait. Les nourritures solides faisaient

-digestions retentissantes. Au soleil de la campagne les hommes se

-soulageaient avec lenteur._

-

-_Ainsi, je passais sans scandale, comme les autres besoins de la vie,

-comme Mena, tourment des vierges, et la douce Rumina qui protège le

-sein de la nourrice, gonflé, des veines bleuâtres. J'étais joyeux. Je

-faisais rire. Et se dilatant d'aise à cause de moi, le convive exhalait

-toute sa gaieté par les ouvertures de son corps._

-

-_J'ai eu mes jours d'orgeuil. Le bon Aristophane me promena sur la

-scène, et l'empereur Claudius Drusus[1] me fit asseoir à sa table. Dans

-les laticlaves des patriciens j'ai circulé majestueusement! Les vases

-d'or, comme des tympanons, resonnaient sous moi; et, quand plein de

-murènes, de truffles, et de pâtés, l'intestin du maître se dégageait

-avec fracas, l'univers attentif apprenait que César avait diné!_

-

-_Mais à présent, je suis confiné dans la populace_[2] _et l'on se

-récrie, même à mon nom!_

-

-_Et Crepitus s'éloigne, en poussant un gémissement...._

-

-E. For descriptions of the Martichoras and other monsters, appearing

-page 287 in the original and 263 in the translation, see also Rabelais'

-Pantagruel, Book V, Chap. XXX.

-

-

-

-[1] Needless to refer to the comedies of Aristophanes, with which

-English readers have been familiarized through the Bohn translations.

-The reference to Claudius ius Drusus seems based upon the following

-lines in Suetonius: "_Dicitur etiam meditatus edictum, quo veniam daret

-flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi: cum periclitatum

-quemdam prae pudore ex continentia reperisset._" (_Suetonius-Tiberius

-Claudius Drusus_: 32.)

-

-[2] The so-called divinities, _Deus Crepitus, Dea Pertunda, Deus

-Stercutius, Dea Rumina_ (or _Rumilia_), _Dea Mena_, concerning whose

-curious attributes the reader may consult English or French classical

-encyclopedists, were doubtless regarded by the intelligent classes

-of antiquity much as certain religious superstitions are regarded by

-educated moderns. It is true that they furnished grotesque themes

-to artists; but many existing superstitions regarding elves and

-goblins have inspired modern sculptors, painters and designers.

-Certainly, seriously worshipped as deities, Priapus might seem equally

-contemptible as a divinity; but his worship, degenerate as it became

-in later years, was primitively symbolical. The obscene image merely

-typified the procreative Spirit of Nature. The eccentric gods and

-goddesses above referred to had no such excuse for being. As previously

-observed, however, Flaubert artistically represents these divinities

-not as they were really considered in the antique world, but rather as

-they would have appeared to the eyes of zealous Christians in the third

-century--infamous and loathsome.--Translator.

-

-

-

-

-      *      *      *      *      *      *

-

-

-

-

-Transcriber's note:

-

-This translation of the "Tentation" by Lafcadio Hearn, still regarded

-by many as the best up until now in English, still misses some small

-fragments (of a couple of words) not deemed fit for the Anglo-Saxon

-temperament of that time. There is a contemporary version (2002) of

-this translation available, with introduction by Michel Foucault and

-the inclusion of some missing expressions. The original French by

-Gustave Flaubert is also available at Project Gutenberg--see

-http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982

-

-

-

-***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***

-

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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Temptation of St. Anthony, by Gustave
+Flaubert, Translated by Lafcadio Hearn, Illustrated by Odilon Redon
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Temptation of St. Anthony
+
+
+Author: Gustave Flaubert
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 4, 2016  [eBook #52225]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Laura Natal Rodriguez and Marc D'Hooghe
+(http://www.freeliterature.org) from page images generously made available
+by the Google Books Library Project (http://books.google.com) and
+illustrations generously made available by Bibliothèque nationale de
+France (http://gallica.bnf.fr)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 52225-h.htm or 52225-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/52225/52225-h/52225-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/52225/52225-h.zip)
+
+
+Note: Images of the original pages are available through
+      the Google Books Library Project. See
+      https://books.google.com/books?id=9g9EAAAAYAAJ
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      The o-e ligature is represented by [oe].
+
+
+
+
+
+THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY
+
+by
+
+GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
+
+Translated by Lafcadio Hearn
+
+Illustrations by Odilon Redon
+
+(Added especially for this PG e-book.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Alice Harriman Company
+New York and Seattle
+1910
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+It was at some period between 1875 and 1876 that Lafcadio Hearn--still
+a "cub" reporter on a daily paper in Cincinnati--began his translation
+of Flaubert's "Temptation of St. Anthony." The definitive edition of
+the work, over which the author had laboured for thirty years, had
+appeared in 1874.
+
+Hearn was, in his early youth, singularly indifferent to the work of
+the Englishmen of the Victorian period. Though he knew the English
+masterpieces of that epoch, their large, unacademic freedom of manner
+awakened no echoes in his spirit. His instinctive taste was for the
+exquisite in style: for "that peculiar kneading, heightening, and
+recasting" which Matthew Arnold thought necessary for perfection.
+Neither did the matter, more than the manner of the Victorians appeal
+to him. The circumstances of his life had at so many points set him
+out of touch with his fellows that the affectionate mockery of
+Thackeray's pictures of English society were alien to his interest.
+The laughing heartiness of Dickens' studies of the man in the street
+hardly touched him. Browning's poignant analyses of souls were too
+rudely robust of manner to move him. Before essaying journalism Hearn
+had served for a while as an assistant in the Public Library, and
+there he had found and fallen under the spell, of the great Frenchman
+of the Romantic School of the '30's--that period of rich flowering of
+the Gallic genius. Gautier's tales of ancient weirdnesses fired his
+imagination. The penetrating subtleties of his verse woke in the boy
+the felicitous emotions which the virtuoso knows in handling cameos
+and enamellings by hands which have long been dust. So, also, Hugo's
+revivals of the passions and terrors of the mediæval world stirred the
+young librarian's eager interest. But most of all his spirit leapt
+to meet the tremendous drama of the "Temptation." He comprehended at
+once its large significance, its great import, and in his enthusiastic
+recognition of its value and meaning he set at once about giving it a
+language understood of the people of his own tongue.
+
+Tunison tells of the little shy, shabby, half-blind boy--the long
+dull day of police reporting done--labouring at his desk into the
+small hours, with the flickering gas jet whistling overhead, and his
+myopic eyes bent close to the papers which he covered with beautiful,
+almost microscopic characters--escaping thus from the crass, raw world
+about him to delicately and painstakingly turn into English stories
+of Cleopatra's cruel, fantastic Egyptian Night's Entertainment.
+Withdrawing himself to transliterate tales of pallid beautiful vampires
+draining the veins of ardent boys: of lovely faded ghosts of great
+ladies descending from shadowy tapestries to coquette with romantic
+dreamers; or to find an English voice for the tragedy of the soul of
+the Alexandrian cenobite.
+
+It was in such dreams and labours that he found refuge from the
+environment that was so antipathetic to his tastes, and in his
+immersion in the works of these virtuosos of words, in his passionate
+search for equivalents of the subtle nuances of their phrases, he
+developed his own style. A style full of intricate assonances, of a
+texture close woven and iridescent.
+
+"One of Cleopatra's Night's"--a translation of some of Gautier's tales
+of glamour--was issued in 1882, but at "The Temptation of St. Anthony"
+the publishers altogether balked. The manuscript could not achieve even
+so much as a reading. America had in the '70's just begun to emerge
+from that state of provincial propriety in which we were accused of
+clothing even our piano legs in pantelettes. The very name of the work
+was sufficient to start modest shivers down the spine of all well
+regulated purveyors of books. It was largely due to the painters'
+conceptions of the nature of the hermit's trials that the story of
+Saint Anthony's spiritual struggle aroused instinctive terrors in all
+truly modest natures. The painters--who so dearly love to display their
+skill in drawing legs and busts--had been wont to push the poor old
+saint into the obscure of the background, and fill all the foreground
+with ladies of obviously the very lightest character, in garments
+still lighter, if possible. What had reputable American citizens to do
+with such as these jades? More especially such jades as seen through
+a French imagination! That Flaubert had brushed aside the gross and
+jejune conceptions of the painters the publishers would not even take
+the pains to learn.
+
+It is amusing now to recall the nervous, timid proprieties of those
+days. At the time Hearn failed to see the laughable side of it. He was
+then too young and earnest, too passionate and too melancholy to have a
+sense of its humours.
+
+He had brought his unfinished manuscript from Cincinnati to New
+Orleans, and had continued to work upon it in strange lodgings in
+gaunt, old half-ruined Creole houses; at the tables of odd little
+French cafés, or among the queer dishes in obscure Spanish and Chinese
+restaurants. He had snatched minutes for it amidst the reading and
+clipping of exchanges in a newspaper office; had toiled drippingly
+over it in the liquifying heats of tropic nights; had arisen from the
+"inexpungable langours" of yellow fever to complete its last astounding
+pages.
+
+I can remember applauding, with ardent youthful sympathy, his tirades
+against the stultifying influence of blind puritanism upon American
+literature. I recall his scornful mocking at the inconsistency which
+complacently accepted the vulgar seduction, and the theatrical Brocken
+revels of Faust, while shrinking piously from Flaubert's grim story of
+the soul of man struggling to answer the riddle of the universe. He
+had however an almost equal contempt for the author's countrymen, who
+received with eager interest and pleasure the deliberate analysis--in
+_Madame Bovary_--of a woman's degradation and ruin, while they yawned
+over the amazing history of humanity's tremendous spiritual adventures.
+Hearn's own sensitiveness shrank in pain from the cold insight which
+uncovered layer by layer the brutal squalour of a woman's moral
+disintegration. But he was moved and astounded by the revelation, in
+St. Anthony, of the tragedy and pathos of man's long search for some
+body of belief or philosophy by which he could explain to himself
+the strange great phenomena of life and death, and the inscrutable
+cruelties of Nature. The young translator was filled with a sort of
+astonished despair at his inability to make others see the book as
+he did--not realizing, in his youthful impatience, that the average
+mind clings to the concrete, and is puzzled and terrified by outlines
+of thought too large for its range of vision; that the commonplace
+intelligence cannot "see the wood for the trees," and becomes confused
+and over-weighted when confronted with the huge outlines of so great a
+picture as that drawn by Flaubert in his masterpiece.
+
+There were many points of resemblance between Lafcadio Hearn and the
+grandson of the French veterinary. A resemblance rather in certain
+qualities of the spirit than in social conditions and physical
+endowments. Flaubert, born in 1821, was the son of a surgeon. His
+father was long connected with the Hôtel Dieu of Rouen, in which the
+boy was born, and in which he lived until his eighteenth year, when he
+went to Paris to study law. One of the friends of his early Parisian
+days describes him as "a young Greek. Tall, supple, and as graceful as
+an athlete. He was charming, _mais un peu farouche._ Quite unconscious
+of his physical and mental gifts; very careless of the impression he
+produced, and entirely indifferent to formalities. His dress consisted
+of a red flannel shirt, trousers of heavy blue cloth, and a scarf of
+the same colour drawn tight about his slender waist. His hat was worn
+'any how' and often he abandoned it altogether. When I spoke to him of
+fame or influence.... he seemed superbly indifferent. He had no desire
+for glory or gain.... What was lacking in his nature was an interest in
+_les choses extérieures, choses utiles._" ...
+
+One who saw him in 1879 found the young Greek athlete--now close upon
+sixty, and having in the interval created some of the great classics
+of French literature--"a huge man, a tremendous old man. His long,
+straggling gray hair was brushed back. His red face was that of a
+soldier, or a sheik--divided by drooping white moustaches. A trumpet
+was his voice, and he gesticulated freely ... the colour of his eyes a
+bit of faded blue sky."
+
+The study of the law did not hold Flaubert long. It was one of those
+_choses extérieures, choses utiles_ to which he was so profoundly
+indifferent. Paris bored him. He longed for Rouen, and for his little
+student chamber. There he had lain upon his bed whole days at a time;
+apparently as lazy as a lizard; smoking, dreaming; pondering the large,
+inchoate, formless dreams of youth.
+
+In 1845 his father died, and in the following year he lost his sister
+Caroline, whom he had passionately loved, and for whom he grieved
+all his life. He rejoined his mother, and they established themselves
+at Croisset, near Rouen, upon a small inherited property. It was an
+agreeable house, pleasantly situated in sight of the Seine. Flaubert
+nourished with pleasure a local legend that Pascal had once inhabited
+the old Croisset homestead, and that the Abbé Prevost had written
+_Manon Lescaut_ within its walls. Near the house--now gone--he built
+for himself a pavilion to serve as a study, and in this he spent the
+greater portion of the following thirty-four years in passionate,
+unremitting labour.
+
+He made a voyage to Corsica in his youth; one to Brittany, with Maxime
+du Camp, in 1846; and spent some months in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey,
+and Greece in 1849. This Oriental experience gave him the most intense
+pleasure, and was the germ of _Salammbo_, and of the _Temptation of St.
+Anthony._ He never repeated it, though he constantly talked of doing
+so. He nursed a persistent, but unrealized dream of going as far as
+Ceylon, whose ancient name, Taprobana, he was never weary of repeating;
+utterance of its melifluous syllables becoming a positive _tic_
+with him. Despite these yearnings he remained at home. Despite his
+full-blooded physique he would take no more exercise than his terrace
+afforded, or an occasional swim in the Seine. He smoked incessantly,
+and for months at a stretch worked fifteen hours out of the twenty-four
+at his desk. Three hundred volumes might be annotated for a page of
+facts. He would write twenty pages, and reduce these by exquisite
+concisions, by fastidious rejections to three; would search for hours
+for the one word that perfectly conveyed the colour of his thought, and
+would--as in the case of the _Temptation_--wait fifteen years for a
+sense of satisfaction with a manuscript before allowing it to see the
+light. To Maxime du Camp, who urged him to hasten the completion of his
+book in order to take advantage of a favourable opportunity, he wrote
+angrily:
+
+"Tu me parais avoir à mon endroit un tic ou vice rédhibitoire. Il
+ne m'embête pas; n'aie aucune crainte; mon parti est pris là-dessus
+depuis long temps. Je te dirai seulement que tous ces mots; _se
+dépêcher, c'est le moment, place prise, se poser, ..._ sont pour moi un
+vocabulaire vide de sens...."
+
+In one of his letters he says that on occasion he worked violently for
+eight hours to achieve one page. He endeavoured never to repeat a word
+in that page, and tried to force every phrase to respond to a rhythmic
+law. Guy do Maupassant, his nephew and pupil, says that to ensure this
+rhythm Flaubert "prenait sa feuille de papier, relevait à la hauteur du
+regard et, s'appuyant sur un coude, déclaimait, d'une voix mordant et
+haute. Il écoutait la rythme de sa prose, s'arrêtait comme pour saisir
+une sonorité fuyant, combinait les tons, éloignait les assonances,
+disposait les virgules avec conscience, commes les haltes d'un long
+chemin." ...
+
+Flaubert said himself, "une phrase est viable quand elle correspond
+à toutes les nécessités de respiration. Je sais qu'elle est bonne
+lorsqu'elle peut être lu tout haut."
+
+Henry Irving used to say of himself that it was necessary he should
+work harder than other actors because nature had dowered him with
+flexibility of neither voice nor feature, and Faguet says that Flaubert
+was forced to this excessive toil and incessant watchfulness because
+he did not write well naturally. Nevertheless Flaubert's work did not
+smell of the lamp. Whatever shape his ideas may have worn at birth
+when full grown they moved with large classic grace and freedom,
+simple, sincere, and beautiful in form. François Coppée calls him "the
+Beethoven of French prose."
+
+So conscientious a workman, so laborious and self-sacrificing an artist
+had a natural attraction for Lafcadio Hearn, who even in boyhood began
+to feel his vocation as "a literary monk." The whole tendency of his
+tastes prepared him to understand the true importance of Flaubert's
+masterpiece, fitted him especially of all living writers to turn that
+masterpiece into its true English equivalent. The two men had much in
+common. Both were proud and timid. Both had a fundamental indifference
+to _choses extérieures, choses utiles._ Both were realists of the soul.
+Actions interested each but slightly; the emotions from which actions
+sprung very much. To both stupidity was even more antipathetic than
+wickedness, because each realized that nearly all cruelty and vice have
+their germ in ignorance and stupidity rather than in innate rascality.
+Flaubert declared, with a sort of rage, that "la bêtise entre dans
+mes pores." He might too have been speaking for Hearn when he said
+that the grotesque, the strange, and the monstrous had for him an
+inexplicable charm. "It corresponds," he says, "to the intimate needs
+of my nature--it does not cause me to laugh, but to dream long dreams."
+Hearn, however, mixed with this triste interest a quality that Flaubert
+seemed almost wholly to lack--a great tenderness for all things humble,
+feeble, ugly and helpless. Both from childhood were curious of poignant
+sensations, of the sad, the mysterious and the exotic. And for both the
+tropics had an irresistible fascination. Flaubert says, in one of his
+letters:
+
+"I carry with me the melancholy of the barbaric races, with their
+instincts of migration, and their innate distaste of life, which forced
+them to quit their homes in order to escape from themselves. They loved
+the sun, all those barbarians who came to die in Italy; they had a
+frenzied aspiration toward the light, toward the blue skies, toward an
+ardent existence.... Think that perhaps I will never see China, will
+never be rocked to sleep by the cadenced footsteps of camels ... will
+never see the shine of a tiger's eyes in the forest.... You can treat
+all this as little worthy of pity, but I suffer so much when I think of
+it ... as of something lamentable and irremediable."
+
+This is the nostalgia for the strange, for the unaccustomed, that all
+born wanderers know. Fate arranges it for many of them that their lives
+shall be uneventful, passed in dull, provincial narrowness; but behind
+these bars the clipped wings of their spirit are always flutteringly
+spread for flight. They know not what they seek, what desire drives
+them, but a sense of "the great adventure" unachieved keeps them
+restless until they die. It is such as these, these _voyageurs
+empassionés_, when condemned by fortune to a static existence--who find
+their outlet in mental wanderings amid the unusual, the grotesque,
+and the monstrous. Hearn and Flaubert both were at heart nomads,
+seekers of the unaccustomed; stretching toward immensities of space
+and time, toward the ghostly, the hidden, the unrealized. Like that
+wild fantastic _Chimera_ of the "Temptation" each such soul declares
+"_je cherche des parfums nouveaux, des fleurs plus large, des plaisirs
+inéprouvés._"
+
+Flaubert was but twenty-six when the first suggestion of his
+masterpiece came to him. For _La Tentation de St. Antoine_, it is
+coming to be understood, is his masterpiece; is one of the greatest
+literary achievements of the French mind. _Madame Bovary_ is more
+widely famous and popular, but Flaubert himself always deeply resented
+this preference, and was always astonished at the comparative
+indifference of the world to the "Temptation." He, too, found it
+difficult to realize how hardly the average mind is awakened to an
+interest in the incorporeal; how surely cosmic generalizations escape
+the grasp of the commonplace intelligence.
+
+Wagner waited a lifetime before the world was dragged reluctantly and
+resentfully up to a point from which it could discern the superiority
+of the tremendous finale of the Götterdämmerung to the Christmas-card
+chorus of angels chanting "_Âme chaste et pure_" to the beatified
+Marguerite. The whole prodigious structure of Wagner's dramatic and
+musical thought might have remained a mere adumbration in the soul of
+one German had chance not set a mad genius upon the throne of Bavaria.
+The bourgeoisie would--lacking this royal bullying--have continued to
+prefer Goethe and Gounod. Flaubert's great work unfortunately failed of
+such patronage.
+
+It was in 1845 that an old picture by Breughel, seen at Genoa, first
+inspired Flaubert to attempt the story of St. Anthony. He sought
+out an engraving of this conception of Peter the Younger (surnamed
+"Hell-Breughel" for his fondness for such subjects), hung it on his
+walls at Croisset, and after three years of brooding upon it began,
+May 24, 1848, _La Tentation de St. Antoine._ In twelve months he had
+finished the first draught of the work, which bulked to 540 pages. It
+was laid aside for "Bovary," and a second version of the "Temptation"
+was completed in 1856, but this time the manuscript had been reduced
+to 193 pages, and the "blazing phrases, the jewelled words, the
+turbulence, the comedy, the mysticism" of the first version had been
+superseded by a larger, more dramatic conception. In 1872 he made still
+a new draught, and by this time it had shrunk to 136 pages. He even
+then eliminated three chapters, and finally gave to the world in 1874
+"this wonderful coloured panorama of philosophy, this Gulliver-like
+travelling amid the master ideas of the antique and early Christian
+worlds."
+
+Faguet says, "In its primitive and legendary state the temptation
+of St. Anthony was nothing more than the story of a recluse tempted
+by the Devil through the flesh, by all the artifices at the Devil's
+disposal. In the definite thought of Flaubert the temptation of St.
+Anthony has become man's soul tempted by all the illusions of human
+thought and imagination. St. Anthony to the eyes of the first naive
+hagiologists is a second Adam, seduced by woman, who was inspired by
+Satan. St. Anthony conceived by Flaubert is a more thoughtful Faust; a
+Faust incapable of irony, not a Faust who could play with illusions and
+with himself--secretly persuaded that he could withdraw when he chose
+to give himself the trouble to do so--rather a Faust who approached,
+accosted, caressed all possible forms of universal illusions."
+
+Flaubert's studies for the "Temptation" were tremendous. For nearly
+thirty years he touched and retouched, altered, enlarged, condensed.
+He kneaded into its substance the knowledge, incessantly sought, of
+all religions and philosophies; of all the forms man's speculations
+had taken in his endless endeavours to explain to himself Life and
+Fate; humanity's untiring, passionate effort to find the meaning of its
+mysterious origin and purpose, and final destiny. How terrible, how
+naive, how fantastic, bloody, grovelling, and outrageous were most of
+the solutions accepted, the gigantic panorama of the book startlingly
+sets forth. What gory agonies, what mystic exaltations, what dark
+cruelties, frenzied abandons, and inhuman self denials have marked
+those puzzled gropings for light and truth are revealed as by lightning
+flashes in the crowding scenes of the epic. For the Temptation of St.
+Anthony is an epic. Not a drama of man's actions, as all previous
+epics have been, but a drama of the soul. All its movement is in the
+adventure and conflict of the spirit. St. Anthony remains always in
+the one place, almost as moveless as a mirror. His vision--clarified
+of the sensual and the actual by his fastings and macerations--becomes
+like the surface of an unruffled lake. A lake reflecting the aberrant
+forms of thoughts that, like clouds, drift between man and the infinite
+depths of knowledge. Clouds of illusion forever changing, melting,
+fusing; assuming forms grotesque, monstrous, intolerable; until at
+last the writhing mists of speculation and ignorance are drunk up
+by the widening light of wisdom and the fogs and phantasms vanish,
+leaving his consciousness aware, in poignant ecstasy, of the cloudless
+deeps of truth. The temptation of the flesh is but a passing episode.
+An eidolon of Sheba's queen offers him luxury, wealth, voluptuous
+beauty, power, dainty delights of eye and palate in vain. Man has never
+found his most dangerous seductions in the appetites. More lamentable
+disintegration has grown from his attempts to pierce beyond the
+body's veil. The parched and tortured saint is whirled by vertiginous
+visions through cycles of man's straining efforts to know why, whence,
+whither. He assists at the rites of Mithira, the prostrations of
+serpent-and-devil-worshippers, worshippers of fire, of light, of the
+Greeks' deified forces of nature; of the northern enthronement of brute
+force and war. He is swept by the soothing breath of Quietism, plunges
+into every heresy and philosophy, sees the orgies, the flagellations,
+the self mutilations, the battles and furies of sects, each convinced
+that it has found the answer at last to the Great Question, and
+endeavouring to constrain the rest of humanity to accept the answer.
+He meets the Sphinx--embodied interrogation--and the Chimera--the
+simulacrum of the fantasies of the imagination--dashing madly about the
+stolid querist.
+
+Lucifer--spirit of doubt of all dogmatic solutions--mounts with Anthony
+into illimitable space. They rise beyond these struggles and furies
+into the cold uttermost of the universe; among innumerable worlds;
+worlds yet vaguely forming in the womb of time, newly come to birth,
+lustily grown to maturity; worlds dying, decaying, crumbling again into
+atomic dust. Overcome by the intolerable Vast, Anthony sinks once more
+to his cell, and Lucifer, who has shown him the macrocosm, opens to
+him the equal immensity of the microcosm. Makes him see the swarming
+life that permeates the seas, the earth and atmosphere, the incredible
+numerousness of the invisible lives that people every drop of water,
+every grain of sand, every breath of air. The unity of life dawns upon
+him, and his heart, withered by dubiety, melts into joyousness and
+peace. As the day dawns in gold he beholds the face of Christ.
+
+Flaubert's Lucifer has no relation to the jejune Devil of
+man's early conception of material evil, nor does he resemble
+Goethe's Mephistopheles; embodiment of the Eighteenth Century's
+spirit of sneering disbeliefs and negation. He is rather our own
+tempter--Science. He is the spirit of Knowledge: Nature itself calling
+us to look into the immensities and read just our dogmas by this new
+and terrible widening of our mental and moral horizons. This last
+experience of the Saint reproduces the spiritual experiences of the
+modern man; cast loose from his ancient moorings, and yet finding at
+last in his new knowledge a truer conception of the brotherhood of all
+life in all its forms, and seeing still, in the growing light, the
+benignant eyes of God.
+
+It is not remarkable that Flaubert resented the banality, the dull
+grossness of the reception of his work, or that Hearn shared his
+amazement and bitterness. Even yet the world wakes but slowly to the
+true character of this masterpiece; this epic wrought with so great
+a care and patience, so instinct with genius, dealing perhaps more
+profoundly than any other mind has ever done with the Great Adventure
+of humanity's eternal search for Truth.
+
+ELIZABETH BISLAND.
+
+
+
+
+ARGUMENT
+
+
+
+
+FRAILTY
+
+
+Sunset in the desert. Enfeebled by prolonged fasting, the hermit
+finds himself unable to concentrate his mind upon holy things. His
+thoughts wonder; memories of youth evoke regrets that his relaxed will
+can no longer find strength to suppress,--and, remembrance begetting
+remembrance, his fancy leads him upon dangerous ground. He dreams of
+his flight from home,--of Ammonaria, his sister's playmate,--of his
+misery in the waste,--his visit to Alexandria with the blind monk
+Didymus,--the unholy sights of the luxurious city.
+
+Involuntarily he yields to the nervous dissatisfaction growing upon
+him. He laments his solitude, his joylessness, his poverty, the
+obscurity of his life; grace departs from him; hope burns low within
+his heart. Suddenly revolting against his weakness, he seeks refuge
+from distraction in the study of the Scriptures.
+
+Vain effort! An invisible hand turns the leaves, placing perilous
+texts before his eyes. He dreams of the Maccabees slaughtering
+their enemies, and desires that he might do likewise with the
+Arians of Alexandria;--he becomes inspired with admiration of King
+Nebuchadnezzar;--he meditates voluptuously upon the visit of Sheba's
+queen of Solomon;--discovers a text in the Acts of the Apostles
+antagonistic to principles of monkish ascetism,--indulges in reveries
+regarding the riches of Biblical kings and holy men. The Tempter comes
+to tempt him with evil hallucinations for which the Saint's momentary
+frailty has paved the way; and with the Evil One come also
+
+
+
+THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
+
+
+Phantom gold is piled up to excite Covetousness; shadowy banquets
+appear to evoke Gluttony. The scene shifts to aid the temptations of
+Anger and of Pride....
+
+Anthony finds himself in Alexandria, at the head of a wild army of
+monks slaughtering the heretics and the pagans, without mercy for
+age or sex. In fantastic obedience to the course of his fancy while
+reading the Scriptures a while before, and like an invisible echo of
+his evil thoughts, the scene changes again. Alexandria is transformed
+into Constantinople.
+
+Anthony finds himself the honoured of the Emperor. He beholds the
+vast circus in all its splendour, the ocean of faces, the tumult of
+excitement. Simultaneously he beholds his enemies degraded to the
+condition of slaves, toiling in the stables of Constantine. He feels
+joy in the degradation of the Fathers of Nicæa. Then all is transformed.
+
+It is no longer the splendour of Constantinople he beholds under the
+luminosity of a Greek day; but the prodigious palace of Nebuchadnezzar
+by night. He beholds the orgies, the luxuries, the abominations;--and
+the spirit of Pride enters triumphantly into him as the spirit of
+Nebuchadnezzar....
+
+Awaking as from a dream, he finds himself again before his hermitage.
+A vast caravan approaches, halts; and the Queen of Sheba descends to
+tempt the Saint with the deadliest of all temptations. Her beauty is
+enhanced by oriental splendour of adornment; her converse is a song of
+withcraft. The Saint remains firm.... The Seven Deadly Sins depart
+from him.
+
+
+
+THE HERESIARCHS
+
+
+But now the tempter assumes a subtler form. Under the guise of a former
+disciple of Anthony,--Hilarion,--the demon, while pretending to seek
+instruction, endeavours to poison the mind of Anthony with hatred of
+the fathers of the church. He repeats all the scandals amassed by
+ecclesiastical intriguers, all the calumnies created by malice;--he
+cites texts only to foment doubt, and quotes the evangels only to
+make confusion. Under the pretext of obtaining mental enlightenment
+from the wisest of men, he induces Anthony to enter with him into
+a spectral basilica, wherein are assembled all the Heresiarchs of
+the third century. The hermit is confounded by the multitude of
+tenets,--horrified by the blasphemies and abominations of Elkes,
+Corpocrates, Valentinus, Manes, Cerdo,--disgusted by the perversions of
+the Paternians, Marcosians, Montanists, Serptians,--bewildered by the
+apocryphal Gospels of Eve and of Judas, of the Lord, and of Thomas.
+
+And Hilarion grows taller.
+
+
+THE MARTYRS
+
+Anthony finds himself in the dungeons of a vast amphitheatre, among
+Christians condemned to the wild beasts. By this hallucination the
+tempter would prove to the Saint that martyrdom is not always suffered
+for purest motives. Anthony finds the martyrs possessed by bigotry and
+insincerity. He sees many compelled to die against their will; many
+who would forswear their faith could it avail them aught. He beholds
+heretics die for their heterodoxy more nobly than orthodox believers.
+
+And he finds himself transported to the tombs of the martyrs. He
+witnesses the meetings of Christian women at the sepulchres. He beholds
+the touching ceremonies of prayer, change into orgies,--lamentations
+give place to amorous dalliance.
+
+
+
+THE MAGICIANS
+
+
+Then the Tempter seeks to shake Anthony's faith in the excellence
+and evidence of miracles. He assumes the form of a Hindoo Brahmin,
+terminating a life of wondrous holiness by self-cremation;--he appears
+as Simon Magus and Helen of Tyre,--as Appollonius of Tyans, greatest of
+all thaumaturgists, who claims superiority to Christ. All the marvels
+related by Philostratus are embodied in the converse of Apollonius and
+Damis.
+
+
+
+THE GODS
+
+
+Hilarion reappears taller than ever, growing more gigantic in
+proportion to the increasing weakness of the Saint. Standing beside
+Anthony he evokes all the deities of the antique world. They defile
+before him in a marvellous panorama:--Gods of Egypt and India, Chaldea
+and Hellas, Babylon and Ultima Thule,--monstrous and multiform, phallic
+and ithyphallic, fantastic or obscene. Some intoxicate by their beauty;
+others appall by their foulness. The Buddha recounts the story of his
+wondrous life; Venus displays the rounded daintiness of her nudity;
+Isis utters awful soliloquy. Lastly the phantom of Jehovah appears, as
+the shadow of a god passing away forever.
+
+Suddenly the stature of Hilarion towers to the stars; he assumes the
+likeness and luminosity of Lucifer; he announces himself as
+
+
+
+SCIENCE
+
+
+And Anthony is lifted upon mighty wings and borne away beyond the
+world, above the solar system, above the starry arch of the Milky Way.
+All future discoveries of Astronomy are revealed to him. He is tempted
+by the revelation of innumerable worlds,--by the refutation of all
+his previous ideas of the nature of the Universe,--by the enigmas of
+infinity,--by all the marvels that conflict with faith. Even in the
+night of immensity the demon renews the temptation of reason: Anthony
+wavers upon the verge of pantheism.
+
+
+
+LUST AND DEATH
+
+
+Anthony abandoned by the spirit of Science comes to himself in the
+desert. Then the Tempter returns under a two-fold aspect: as the
+Spirit of Lust and the Spirit of Destruction. The latter urges him to
+suicide,--the former to indulgence of sense. They inspire him with
+strong fancies of palingenesis, of the illusion of death, of the
+continuity of life. The pantheistic temptation intensified.
+
+
+
+THE MONSTERS
+
+
+Anthony in reveries meditates upon the monstrous symbols painted upon
+the walls of certain ancient temples. Could he know their meaning
+he might learn also something of the secret lien between Matter and
+Thought. Forthwith a phantasmagoria of monsters commence to pass before
+his eyes:--the Sphinx and the Chimera, the Blemmyes and Astomi, the
+Cynocephali and all creatures of mythologie creation. He beholds the
+fabulous beings of Oriental imagining,--the abnormities described
+by Pliny and Herodotus, the fantasticalities to be later adopted by
+heraldry,--the grotesqueries of future medieval illumination made
+animate;--the goblinries and foulnesses of superstitious fancy,--the
+Witches' Sabbath of abominations.
+
+
+
+METAMORPHOSIS
+
+
+The multitude of monsters melts away; the land changes into an Ocean;
+the creatures of the briny abysses appear. And the waters in turn
+also change; seaweeds are transformed to herbs, forests of coral
+give place to forests of trees, polypous life changes to vegetation.
+Metals crystallize; frosts effloresce; plants become living things,
+inanimate matter takes animate form, monads vibrate, the pantheism of
+nature makes itself manifest. Anthony feels a delirious desire to unite
+himself with the Spirit of Universal Being....
+
+The vision vanishes. The sun arises. The face of Christ is revealed.
+The temptation has passed; Anthony kneels in prayer.
+
+L. H.
+
+
+
+
+THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY
+
+
+_It is in the Thebaid at the summit of a mountain, upon a platform,
+rounded off into the form of a demilune, and enclosed by huge stones._
+
+_The Hermit's cabin appears in the background. It is built of mud and
+reeds, it is flat-roofed and doorless. A pitcher and a loaf of black
+bread can be distinguished within also, in the middle of the apartment
+a large book resting on a wooden STELA; while here and there, fragments
+of basketwork, two or three mats, a basket, and a knife lie upon the
+ground._
+
+_Some ten paces from the hut, there is a long cross planted in the
+soil; and, at the other end of the platform, an aged and twisted
+palm tree leans over the abyss; for the sides of the mountain are
+perpendicular, and the Nile appears to form a lake at the foot of the
+cliff._
+
+_The view to right and left is broken by the barrier of rocks. But
+on the desert-side, like a vast succession of sandy beaches, immense
+undulations of an ashen-blonde color extend one behind the other,
+rising higher as they recede; and far in the distance, beyond the
+sands, the Libyan chain forms a chalk-colored wall, lightly shaded by
+violet mists. On the opposite side the sun is sinking. In the north the
+sky is of a pearl-gray tint, while at the zenith purple clouds disposed
+like the tufts of a gigantic mane, lengthen themselves against the blue
+vault. These streaks of flame take darker tones; the azure spots turn
+to a nacreous pallor; the shrubs, the pebbles, the earth, all now seem
+hard as bronze; and throughout space there floats a golden dust so fine
+as to become confounded with the vibrations of the light._
+
+_Saint Anthony, who has a long beard, long hair, and wears a tunic of
+goatskin, is seated on the ground cross-legged, and is occupied in
+weaving mats. As soon as the sun disappears, he utters a deep sigh,
+and, gazing upon the horizon, exclaims_:--
+
+"Another day! another day gone! Nevertheless formerly I used not to
+be so wretched. Before the end of the night I commenced my orisons;
+then I descended to the river to get water, and remounted the rugged
+pathway with the skin upon my shoulder, singing hymns on the way. Then
+I would amuse myself by arranging everything in my hut. I would make my
+tools; I tried to make all my mats exactly equal in size, and all my
+baskets light; for then my least actions seemed to me duties in nowise
+difficult or painful of accomplishment.
+
+"Then at regular hours I ceased working; and when I prayed with my arms
+extended, I felt as though a fountain of mercy were pouring from the
+height of heaven into my heart. That fountain is now dried up. Why?"
+
+(_He walks up and down slowly, within the circuit of the rocks._)
+
+"All blamed me when I left the house. My mother sank to the ground,
+dying; my sister from afar off made signs to me to return; and the
+other--wept, Ammonaria, the child whom I used to meet every evening
+at the cistern, when she took the oxen to drink. She ran after me. Her
+foot rings glittered in the dust; and her tunic, open at the hips,
+fluttered loosely in the wind. The aged anchorite who was leading me
+away called her vile names. Our two camels galloped forward without
+respite; and I have seen none of my people since that day.
+
+"At first, I selected for my dwelling place, the tomb of a Pharaoh. But
+an enchantment circulates through all those subterranean palaces, where
+the darkness seems to have been thickened by the ancient smoke of the
+aromatics. From the depths of Sarcophagi, I heard doleful voices arise,
+and call my name; or else, I suddenly beheld the abominable things
+painted upon the walls live and move; and I fled away to the shore
+of the Red Sea, and took refuge in a ruined citadel. There my only
+companions were the scorpions dragging themselves among the stones, and
+the eagles continually wheeling above my head, in the blue of heaven.
+At night I was torn by claws, bitten by beaks; soft wings brushed
+against me; and frightful demons, shrieking in my ears, flung me upon
+the ground. Once I was even rescued by the people of a caravan going
+to Alexandria; and they took me away with them.
+
+"Then I sought to obtain instruction from the good old man Didymus.
+Although blind, none equalled him in the knowledge of the Scriptures.
+When the lesson was finished, he used to ask me to give him my arm
+to lean upon, that we might walk together. Then I would conduct him
+to the Paneum, whence may be seen the Pharos and the open sea. Then
+we would return by way of the post, elbowing men of all nations,
+even Cimmerians clad in the skins of bears and Gymnosophists of the
+Ganges anointed with cow-dung. But there was always some fighting in
+the streets--either on account of the Jews refusing to pay taxes, or
+of seditious people who wished to drive the Romans from the city.
+Moreover, the city is full of heretics--followers of Manes; Valentinus,
+Basilides, Arius--all seeking to engross my attention in order to argue
+with me and to convince me.
+
+"Their discourses often come back to my memory. Vainly do I seek to
+banish them from my mind. They trouble me!
+
+"I took refuge at Colzin, and there lived a life of such penance that
+I ceased to fear God. A few men, desirous of becoming anchorites,
+gathered about me. I imposed a practical rule of life upon them,
+hating, as I did, the extravagance of Gnosus and the assertions of the
+philosophers. Messages were sent to me from all parts, and men came
+from afar off to visit me.
+
+"Meanwhile the people were torturing the confessors; and the thirst of
+martyrdom drew me to Alexandria. The persecution had ceased three days
+before I arrived there!
+
+"While returning thence, I was stopped by a great crowd assembled
+before the temple of Serapis. They told me it was a last example which
+the Governor had resolved to make. In the centre of the portico, under
+the sunlight, a naked woman was fettered to a column, and two soldiers
+were flogging her with thongs; at every blow her whole body writhed.
+She turned round, her mouth open; and over the heads of the crowd,
+through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought that I could
+recognize Ammonaria....
+
+[Illustration: ... through the long hair half hiding her face,
+I thought that I could recognize Ammonaria]
+
+"Nevertheless ... this one was taller ... and beautiful ...
+prodigiously beautiful!"
+
+(_He passes his hands over his forehead._)
+
+"No! no! I must not think of it!
+
+"Another time Athanasius summoned me to assist him against the Arians.
+The contest was limited to invectives and laughter. But since that
+time he has been calumniated, dispossessed of his see, obliged to fly
+for safety elsewhere. Where is he now? I do not know! The people give
+themselves very little trouble to bring me news. All my disciples have
+abandoned me--Hilarion like the rest.
+
+"He was perhaps fifteen years of age when he first came to me and his
+intelligence was so remarkable that he asked me questions incessantly.
+Then he used to listen to me with a pensive air, and whatever I needed
+he brought it to me without a murmur--nimbler than a kid, merry enough
+to make even the patriarchs laugh. He was a son to me."
+
+(_The sky is red; the earth completely black. Long drifts of sand
+follow the course of the gusts of wind, rising like great shrouds and
+falling again. Suddenly against a bright space in the sky a flock of
+birds pass, forming a triangular battalion, gleaming like one sheet of
+metal, of which the edges alone seem to quiver._
+
+_Anthony watches them._)
+
+"Ah, how I should like to follow them.
+
+"How often also have I enviously gazed upon those long vessels,
+whose sails resemble wings--and above all when they were bearing
+far away those I had received at my hermitage! What pleasant hours
+we passed!--what out-pourings of feeling! No one ever interested me
+more than Ammon: he told me of his voyage to Rome, of the Catacombs,
+the Coliseum, the piety of illustrious women, and a thousand other
+things!--and it grieved me to part with him! Wherefore my obstinacy
+in continuing to live such a life as this? I would have done well to
+remain with the monks of Nitria, inasmuch as they supplicated me to
+do so. They have cells apart, and nevertheless communicate with each
+other. On Sundays a trumpet summons them to assemble at the church,
+where one may see three scourges hanging up, which serve to punish
+delinquents, robbers, and intruders; for their discipline is severe.
+
+"Nevertheless they are not without some enjoyments. The faithful bring
+them eggs, fruits, and even instruments with which they can extract
+thorns from their feet. There are vineyards about Prisperi; those
+dwelling at Pabena have a raft on which they may journey when they go
+to seek provisions.
+
+"But I might have served my brethren better as a simple priest. As a
+priest one may aid the poor, administer the sacraments, and exercise
+authority over families.
+
+"Furthermore, all laics are not necessarily damned, and it only
+depended upon my own choice to become--for example--a grammarian, a
+philosopher. I would then have had in my chamber a sphere of reeds,
+and tablets always ready at hand, young men around me, and a wreath of
+laurel suspended above my door, as a sign.
+
+"But there is too much pride in triumphs such as those. A soldier's
+life would have been preferable. I was robust and bold: bold enough to
+fasten the cables of the military machines--to traverse dark forests,
+or to enter, armed and helmeted, into smoking cities.... Neither was
+there anything to have prevented me from purchasing with my money the
+position of publican at the toll-office of some bridge; and travellers
+would have taught me many strange things, and told me strange stories,
+the while showing me many curious objects packed up among their
+baggage....
+
+"The merchants of Alexandria sail upon the river Canopus on holidays,
+and drink wine in the chalices of lotus-flowers, to a music of
+tambourines which makes the taverns along the shore tremble! Beyond,
+trees, made cone-shaped by pruning, protect the quiet farms against
+the wind of the south. The roof of the lofty house leans upon thin
+colonettes placed as closely together as the laths of a lattice;
+and through their interspaces the master, reclining upon his long
+couch, beholds his plains stretching about him--the hunter among the
+wheat-fields--the winepress where the vintage is being converted into
+wine, the oxen treading out the wheat. His children play upon the floor
+around him; his wife bends down to kiss him."
+
+(_Against the grey dimness of the twilight, here and there appear
+pointed muzzles, with straight, pointed ears and bright eyes. Anthony
+advances toward them. There is a sound of gravel crumbling down; the
+animals take flight. It was a troop of jackals._
+
+_One still remains, rising upon his hinder legs, with his body half
+arched and head raised in an attitude full of defiance._)
+
+"How pretty he is! I would like to stroke his back gently!"
+
+(_Anthony whistles to coax him to approach. The jackal disappears._)
+
+"Ah! he is off to join the others. What solitude! what weariness!"
+(_Laughing bitterly._)
+
+"A happy life this indeed!--bending palm-branches in the fire to make
+shepherds' crooks, fashioning baskets, stitching mats together--and
+then exchanging these things with the Nomads for bread which breaks
+one's teeth! Ah! woe, woe is me! will this never end? Surely death were
+preferable! I can endure it no more! Enough! enough!"
+
+(_He stamps his foot upon the ground, and rushes frantically to and fro
+among the rocks; then pauses, out of breath, bursts into tears, and
+lies down upon the ground, on his side._
+
+_The night is calm; multitudes of stars are palpitating; only the
+crackling noise made by the tarantulas is audible._
+
+_The two arms of the cross make a shadow upon the sand; Anthony, who is
+weeping, observes it._)
+
+"Am I, then, so weak, O my God! Courage, let me rise from here!"
+
+(_He enters his hut, turns over a pile of cinders, finds a live ember,
+lights his torch and fixes it upon the wooden desk, so as to throw a
+light upon the great book._)
+
+"Suppose I take the Acts of the Apostles?--yes!--no matter where!"
+
+_'And he saw the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it
+were a great linen sheet let down by the four corners from heaven to
+the earth--wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping
+things of the earth and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to
+him: Arise, Peter! Kill and eat!'_[1]
+
+"Then the Lord desired that his apostle should eat of all things?...
+while I...."
+
+(_Anthony remains thoughtful, his chin resting against his breast. The
+rustling of the pages, agitated by the wind, causes him to lift his
+head again; and he reads_:)
+
+_'So the Jews made a great slaughter of their enemies with the sword,
+and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to
+them...._[2]
+
+"Then, comes the number of people slain by them--seventy-five thousand.
+They had suffered so much! Moreover, their enemies were the enemies of
+the true God. And how they must have delighted in avenging themselves
+thus by the massacre of idolaters! Doubtless the city must have been
+crammed with the dead! There must have been corpses at the thresholds
+of the garden gates, upon the stairways, in all the chambers, and piled
+up so high that the doors could no longer move upon their hinges!...
+But lo! here I am permitting my mind to dwell upon ideas of murder and
+of blood!..."
+
+(_He opens the book at another place._)
+
+_'Then King Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped
+Daniel...._'[3]
+
+"Ah! that was just! The _Most High_ exalts his prophets above Kings;
+yet that monarch spent his life in banqueting, perpetually drunk with
+pleasure and pride. But God, to punish him, changed him into a beast!
+He walked upon four feet!"
+
+(_Anthony begins to laugh; and in extending his arms, involuntarily
+disarranges the leaves of the book with the tips of his fingers. His
+eyes fell upon this phrase_:--)
+
+_'And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he showed them the house
+of his aromatical spices, and the gold and the silver, and divers
+precious odours and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all
+that he had in his treasures....'_[4]
+
+"I can imagine that spectacle; they must have beheld precious stones,
+diamonds and darics heaped up to the very roof. One who possesses so
+vast an accumulation of wealth is no longer like other men. While
+handling his riches he knows that he controls the total result of
+innumerable human efforts--as it were the life of nations drained by
+him and stored up, which he can pour forth at will. It is a commendable
+precaution on the part of Kings. Even the _Wisest_ of all did not
+neglect it. His navy brought him elephants' teeth and apes.... Where is
+that passage?"
+
+(_He turns the leaves over rapidly._)
+
+"Ah! here it is:"
+
+_'And the Queen of Saba, having heard of the fame of Solomon in the
+name of the Lord, came to try him with hard questions.'_[5]
+
+"How did she hope to tempt him? The _Devil_ indeed sought to tempt
+Jesus! But Jesus triumphed because he was God; and Solomon, perhaps,
+owing this knowledge of magic! It is sublime--that science! For the
+world--as a philosopher once explained it to me, forms a whole, of
+which all parts mutually influence one another, like the organs of one
+body. It is science which enables us to know the natural loves and
+natural repulsions of all things, and to play upon them?... Therefore,
+it is really possible to modify what appears to be the immutable order
+of the universe?"
+
+(_Then the two shadows formed behind him by the arms of the cross,
+suddenly lengthen and project themselves before him. They assume the
+form of two great horns. Anthony cries out_:--)
+
+"Help me! O my God!"
+
+[Illustration: Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God!]
+
+(_The shadows shrink back to their former place._)
+
+"Ah!... it was an illusion ... nothing more. It is needless for me to
+torment my mind further! I can do nothing!--absolutely nothing."
+
+(_He sits down and folds his arms._)
+
+"Nevertheless ... it seems to me that I felt the approach of.... But
+why should _He_ come? Besides, do I not know all his artifices? I
+repulsed the monstrous anchorite who laughingly offered me little
+loaves of warm, fresh bread, the centaur who sought to carry me away
+upon his croup, and that black child who appeared to me in the midst of
+the sands, who was very beautiful, and who told me that he was called
+the Spirit of Lust!"
+
+(_Anthony rises and walks rapidly up and down, first to the right, then
+to the left._)
+
+"It was by my order that this multitude of holy retreats was
+constructed--full of monks all wearing sackcloth of camel's hair
+beneath their garments of goatskin, and numerous enough to form an
+army. I have cured the sick from afar off; I have cast out demons;
+I have passed the river in the midst of crocodiles; the Emperor
+Constantine wrote me throe letters; Balacius, who had spat upon mine,
+was torn to pieces by his own horses; when I reappeared the people of
+Alexandria fought for the pleasure of seeing me, and Athanasius himself
+escorted me on the way back. But what works have I not accomplished
+Lo! for these thirty years and more I have been dwelling and groaning
+unceasingly in the desert! Like Eusebius, I have carried thirty-eight
+pounds of bronze upon my loins; like Macarius, I have exposed my body
+to the stings of insects; like Pacomus, I have passed fifty-three
+nights without closing my eyes; and those who are decapitated, tortured
+with red hot pincers, or burned alive, are perhaps less meritorious
+than I, seeing that my whole life is but one prolonged martyrdom."
+(_Anthony slackens his pace._)
+
+"Assuredly there is no human being in a condition of such unutterable
+misery! Charitable hearts are becoming scarcer. I no longer receive
+aught from any one. My mantle is worn out. I have no sandals--I have
+not even a porringer!--for I have distributed all I possessed to the
+poor and to my family, without retaining so much as one obolus. Yet
+surely I ought to have a little money to obtain the tools indispensable
+to my work? Oh, not much! a very small sum.... I would be very saving
+of it....
+
+"The fathers of Nicæa, clad in purple robes, sat like magi, upon
+thrones ranged along the walls; and they were entertained at a great
+banquet and overwhelmed with honours, especially Paphnutius, because he
+is one-eyed and lame, since the persecution of Diocletian! The Emperor
+kissed his blind eye several times; what foolishness! Besides, there
+were such infamous men members of that Council! A bishop of Scythia,
+Theophilus! another of Persia, John! a keeper of beasts, Spiridion!
+Alexander was too old. Athanasius ought to have shown more gentleness
+towards the Arians, so as to have obtained concessions from them.
+
+"Yet would they have made any? They would not hear me! The one who
+spoke against me--a tall young man with a curly beard--uttered the
+most captious objections to my argument; and while I was seeking words
+to express my views they all stared at me with their wicked faces,
+and barked like hyenas. Ah! why cannot I have them all exiled by the
+Emperor! or rather have them beaten, crushed, and see them suffer! I
+suffer enough myself."
+
+(_He leans against his cabin in a fainting condition._)
+
+"It is because I have fasted too long; my strength is leaving me. If I
+could eat--only once more--a piece of meat." (_He half closes his eyes
+with languor._)
+
+"Ah! some red flesh--a bunch of grapes to bite into ... curdled milk
+that trembles on a plate!...
+
+"But what has come upon me? What is the matter with me? I feel my heart
+enlarging like the sea, when it swells before the storm. An unspeakable
+feebleness weighs down upon me, and the warm air seems to waft me
+the perfume of a woman's hair. No woman has approached this place;
+nevertheless?--"
+
+(_He gazes toward the little pathway between the rocks._)
+
+"That is the path by which they come, rocked in their litters by the
+black arms of the eunuchs. They descend and joining their hands,
+heavy with rings, kneel down before me. They relate to me all their
+troubles. The desire of human pleasure tortures them; they would
+gladly die; they have seen in their dreams God calling to them ... and
+all the while the hems of their robes fall upon my feet. I repel them
+from me. 'Ah! no!' they cry, 'not yet! What shall I do?' They gladly
+accept any penitence I impose on them. They ask for the hardest of all;
+they beg to share mine and to live with me.
+
+"It is now a long time since I have seen any of them! Perhaps some of
+them will come! why not? If I could only hear again, all of a sudden,
+the tinkling of mule-bells among the mountains. It seems to me...."
+
+(_Anthony clambers upon a rock at the entrance of the pathway, and
+leans over, darting his eyes into the darkness._)
+
+"Yes! over there, far off I see a mass moving, like a band of
+travellers seeking the way. _She_ is there!... They are making a
+mistake." (_Calling._)
+
+"This way! Come! Come!"
+
+(_Echo repeats: Come! Come! he lets his arms fall, stupefied._)
+
+"What shame for me! Alas! poor Anthony."
+
+(_And all of a sudden he hears a whisper:--"Poor Anthony"!_)
+
+"Who is there? Speak!"
+
+(_The wind passing through the intervals between the rocks, makes
+modulations; and in those confused sonorities he distinguishes Voices,
+as though the air itself were speaking. They are low, insinuating,
+hissing._)
+
+_The First_: "Dost thou desire women?"
+
+_The Second_: "Great heaps of money, rather!"
+
+_The Third_: "A glittering sword?" (_and_)
+
+_The Others_: "All the people admire thee! Sleep!"
+
+"Thou shalt slay them all, aye, thou shalt slay them!"
+
+(_At the same moment objects become transformed. At the edge of the
+cliff, the old palm tree with its tuft of yellow leaves, changes into
+the torso of a woman leaning over the abyss, her long hair waving in
+the wind.
+
+Anthony turns toward his cabin; and the stool supporting the great book
+whose pages are covered with black letters, seems to him changed into a
+bush all covered with nightingales._)
+
+"It must be the torch which is making this strange play of light....
+Let us put it out!"
+
+(_He extinguishes it; the obscurity becomes deeper, the darkness
+profound._
+
+_And suddenly in the air above there appear and disappear
+successively--first, a stretch of water; then the figure of a
+prostitute; the corner of a temple, a soldier; a chariot with two white
+horses, prancing._
+
+_These images appear suddenly, as in flashes--outlined against the
+background of the night, like scarlet paintings executed upon ebony._
+
+_Their motion accelerates. They defile by with vertiginous rapidity.
+Sometimes again, they pause and gradually pale and melt away; or else
+float off out of sight, to be immediately succeeded by others._
+
+_Anthony closes his eyelids._
+
+_They multiply, surround him, besiege him. An unspeakable fear takes
+possession of him; and he feels nothing more of living sensation, save
+a burning contraction of the epigastrium. In spite of the tumult in
+his brain, he is aware of an enormous silence which separates him from
+the world. He tries to speak;--impossible! He feels as though all the
+bands of his life were breaking and dissolving;--and, no longer able to
+resist, Anthony falls prostrate upon his mat._)
+
+
+[1] Acts X: 11-13--T.
+
+[2] Esther IX: 5--T.
+
+[3] Daniel II: 46.--T.
+
+[4] Kings XX: 13 (Vulg.).--T.
+
+[5] III Kings X: I (Vulg.).--T.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+(_Then a great shadow, subtler than any natural shadow, and festooned
+by other shadows along its edges, defines itself upon the ground._
+
+_It is the Devil, leaning upon the roof of the hut, and bearing beneath
+his wings--like some gigantic bat suckling its little ones--the Seven
+Deadly Sins, whose grimacing heads are dimly distinguishable._
+
+_With eyes still closed, Anthony yields to the pleasure of inaction;
+and stretches his limbs upon the mat._
+
+_It seems to him quite soft, and yet softer--so that it becomes as if
+padded; it rises up; it becomes a bed. The bed becomes a shallop; water
+laps against its sides._
+
+_To right and left rise two long tongues of land, overlooking low
+cultivated plains, with a sycamore tree here and there. In the distance
+there is a tinkling of bells, a sound of drums and of singers. It is a
+party going to Canopus to sleep upon the temple of Serapis, in order
+to have dreams. Anthony knows this; and impelled by the wind, his boat
+glides along between the banks. Papyrus-leaves and the red flowers of
+the nymphæa, larger than the body of a man, bend over him. He is lying
+at the bottom of the boat; one oar at the stem, drags in the water.
+From time to time, a lukewarm wind blows; and the slender reeds rub one
+against the other, and rustle. Then the sobbing of the wavelets becomes
+indistinct. A heavy drowsiness falls upon him. He dreams that he is a
+Solitary of Egypt._
+
+_Then he awakes with a start._)
+
+"Did I dream? It was all so vivid that I can scarcely believe I was
+dreaming! My tongue burns. I am thirsty."
+
+(_He enters the cabin, and gropes at random in the dark._)
+
+"The ground is wet; can it have been raining? What can this mean! My
+pitcher is broken into atoms! But the goatskin?" (_He finds it._)
+
+"Empty!--completely empty! In order to get down to the river, I should
+have to walk for at least three hours; and the night is so dark that I
+could not see my way.
+
+"There is a gnawing in my entrails. Where is the bread!"
+
+(_After long searching, he picks up a crust not so large as an egg._)
+
+"What? Have the jackals taken it? Ah! malediction!"
+
+(_And he flings the bread upon the ground with fury._
+
+_No sooner has the action occurred than a table makes its appearance,
+covered with all things that are good to eat._
+
+_The byssus cloth, striated like the bandelets of the sphinx, produces
+of itself luminous undulations. Upon it are enormous quarters of red
+meats; huge fish; birds cooked in their plumage, and quadrupeds in
+their skins; fruits with colors and tints almost human in appearance;
+while fragments of cooling ice, and flagons of violet crystal reflect
+each other's glittering. Anthony notices in the middle of the table
+a boar smoking at every pore--with legs doubled up under its belly,
+and eyes half closed--and the idea of being able to eat so formidable
+an animal greatly delights him. Then many things appear which he has
+never seen before--black hashes, jellies, the color of gold, ragouts in
+which mushrooms float like nenuphars upon ponds, dishes of whipt cream
+light as clouds._
+
+_And the aroma of all this comes to him together with the salt smell of
+the ocean, the coolness of mountains, the great perfumes of the woods.
+He dilates his nostrils to their fullest extent; his mouth waters; he
+thinks to himself that he has enough before him for a year, for ten
+years, for his whole life!_
+
+_As he gazes with widely-opened eyes at all these viands, others
+appear; they accumulate, forming a pyramid crumbling at all its angles.
+The wines begin to flow over--the fish palpitate--the blood seethes in
+the dishes--the pulp of the fruit protrudes like amorous lips--and the
+table rises as high as his breast, up to his very chin at last--now
+bearing only one plate and a single loaf of bread, placed exactly in
+front of him._
+
+_He extends his hand to seize the loaf. Other loaves immediately
+present themselves to his grasp._)
+
+"For me!... all these! But ..." (_Anthony suddenly draws back._)
+
+"Instead of one which was there, lo! there are many! It must be a
+miracle, then, the same as our Lord wrought!
+
+"Yet for what purpose?... Ah! all the rest of these things are equally
+incomprehensible! Demon, begone from me! depart! begone!"
+
+(_He kicks the table from him. It disappears._)
+
+"Nothing more?--no!" (_He draws a lung breath._)
+
+"Ah! the temptation was strong! But how well I delivered myself from
+it!"
+
+(_He lifts his head, and at the same time stumbles over some sonorous
+object._)
+
+"Why! what can that be?" (_Anthony stoops down._)
+
+"How! a cup! Some traveller must have lost it here. There is nothing
+extraordinary...."
+
+(_He wets his finger, and rubs._)
+
+"It glitters!--metal! Still, I cannot see very clearly...."
+
+(_He lights his torch, and examines the cup._)
+
+"It is silver, ornamented with ovules about the rim, with a medal at
+the bottom of it."
+
+(_He detaches the medal with his nail!_)
+
+"It is a piece of money worth about seven or eight drachmas--not more!
+It matters not! even with that I could easily buy myself a sheepskin."
+
+(_A sudden flash of the torch lights up the cup._)
+
+"Impossible! gold? Yes, all gold, solid gold!"
+
+(_A still larger piece of money appears at the bottom. Under it he
+perceives several others._)
+
+"Why, this is a sum ... large enough to purchase three oxen ... and a
+little field!"
+
+(_The cup is now filled with pieces of gold._)
+
+"What! what!... a hundred slaves, soldiers, a host ... enough to
+buy...."
+
+(_The granulations of the rim, detaching themselves form a necklace of
+pearls._)
+
+"With such a marvel of jewelry as that, one could win even the wife of
+the Emperor!"
+
+(_By a sudden jerk, Anthony makes the necklace slip down over his
+wrist. He holds the cup in his left hand, and with his right lifts
+up the torch so as to throw the light upon it. As water streams
+overflowing from the basin of a fountain, so diamonds, carbuncles, and
+sapphires, all mingled with broad pieces of gold bearing the effigies
+of Kings, overflow from the cup in never ceasing streams, to form a
+glittering hillock upon the sand._)
+
+"What! how! Staters, cycles, dariacs, aryandics; Alexander, Demetrius,
+the Ptolemies, Cæsar!--yet not one of them all possessed so much!
+Nothing is now impossible! no more suffering for me! how these
+gleams dazzle my eyes! Ah! my heart overflows! how delightful it is!
+yes--yes!--more yet! never could there be enough! Vainly I might
+continually fling it into the sea, there would always be plenty
+remaining for me. Why should I lose any of it? I will keep all, and say
+nothing to any one about it; I will have a chamber hollowed out for me
+in the rock, and lined with plates of bronze, and I will come here from
+time to time to feel the gold sinking down under the weight of my heel;
+I will plunge my arms into it as into sacks of grain! I will rub my
+face with it, I will lie down upon it!"
+
+(_He flings down the torch in order to embrace the glittering heap, and
+falls flat upon the ground._
+
+_He rises to his feet. The place is wholly empty._)
+
+"What have I done!
+
+"Had I died during those moments, I should have gone to hell--to
+irrevocable damnation."
+
+(_He trembles in every limb._)
+
+"Am I, then, accursed? Ah! no; it is my own fault! I allow myself
+to be caught in every snare! No man could be more imbecile, more
+infamous! I should like to beat myself, or rather to tear myself out
+of my own body! I have restrained myself too long. I feel the want of
+vengeance--the necessity of striking, of killing!--as though I had a
+pack of wild beasts within me! Would that I could hew my way with an
+axe, through the midst of a multitude.... Ah, a poniard!..."
+
+(_He perceives his knife, and rushes to seize it. The knife slips from
+his hand; and Anthony remains leaning against the wall of his hut, with
+wide-open mouth, motionless, cataleptic._
+
+_Everything about him has disappeared._
+
+_He thinks himself at Alexandria, upon the Paneum--an artificial
+mountain in the centre of the city, encircled by a winding stairway._
+
+_Before him lies Lake Mareolis; on his right hand is the sea, on his
+left the country; and immediately beneath him a vast confusion of
+flat roofs, traversed from north to south and from east to west by
+two streets which intercross, and which offer throughout their entire
+length the spectacle of files of porticoes with Corinthian columns. The
+houses overhanging this double colonnade have windows of stained glass.
+Some of them support exteriorly enormous wooden cages, into which the
+fresh air rushes from without._
+
+_Monuments of various architecture tower up in close proximity.
+Egyptian pylons dominate Greek temples. Obelisks appear like lances
+above battlements of red brick. In the middle of public squares there
+are figures of Hermes with pointed ears, and of Anubis with the head of
+a dog. Anthony can distinguish the mosaic pavements of the courtyards,
+and tapestries suspended from the beams of ceilings._
+
+_He beholds at one glance, the two ports (the Great Port and the
+Eunostus), both round as circuses, and separated by a mole connecting
+Alexandria with the craggy island upon which the Pharos-tower
+rises--quadrangular, five hundred cubits high, nine storied, having at
+its summit a smoking heap of black coals._
+
+_Small interior ports open into the larger ones. The mole terminates at
+each end in a bridge supported upon marble columns planted in the sea.
+Sailing vessels pass beneath it, while heavy lighters overladen with
+merchandise, thalamegii[1] inlaid with ivory, gondolas covered with
+awnings, triremes, biremes, and all sorts of vessels are moving to and
+fro, or lie moored at the wharves._
+
+_About the Great Port extends an unbroken array of royal construction:
+the palace of the Ptolomies, the Museum, the Posidium, the Cæsareum,
+the Timonium where Mark Anthony sought refuge, the Soma which contains
+the tomb of Alexander; while at the other extremity of the city, beyond
+the Eunostus, the great glass factories, perfume factories, and papyrus
+factories may be perceived in a suburban quarter._
+
+_Strolling peddlers, porters, ass-drivers run and jostle together.
+Here and there one observes some priest of Isis wearing a panther skin
+on his shoulders, a Roman soldier with his bronze helmet, and many
+negroes. At the thresholds of the shops women pause, artisans ply their
+trades; and the grinding noise of chariot wheels puts to flight the
+birds that devour the detritus of the butcher-shops and the morsels of
+fish left upon the ground._
+
+_The general outline of the streets seems like a black network flung
+upon the white uniformity of the houses. The markets stocked with
+herbs make green bouquets in the midst of it; the drying-yards of the
+dyers, blotches of color; the golden ornaments of the temple-pediments,
+luminous points--all comprised within the oval enclosure of the grey
+ramparts, under the vault of the blue heaven, beside the motionless
+sea._
+
+_But suddenly the movement of the crowd ceases; all turn their
+eyes toward the west, whence enormous whirlwinds of dust are seen
+approaching._
+
+_It is the coming of the monks of the Thebaid, all clad in goatskins,
+armed with cudgels, roaring a canticle of battle and of faith with the
+refrain_:
+
+"Where are they? Where are they?"
+
+_Anthony understands that they are coming to kill the Arians._
+
+_The streets are suddenly emptied--only flying feet are visible._
+
+_The Solitaries are now in the city. Their formidable cudgels, studded
+with nails, whirl in the air like suns of steel. The crash of things
+broken in the houses is heard. There are intervals of silence. Then
+great screams arise._
+
+_From one end of the street to the other there is a continual eddy of
+terrified people._
+
+_Many grasp pikes. Sometimes two bands meet, rush into one; and this
+mass of men slips upon the pavement--fighting, disjointing, knocking
+down. But the men with the long hair always reappear._
+
+_Threads of smoke begin to escape from the corners of edifices! folding
+doors burst open. Portions of walls crumble down. Architraves fall._
+
+_Anthony finds all his enemies again, one after the other. He even
+recognizes some whom he had altogether forgotten; before killing them
+he outrages them. He disembowels--he severs throats--he fells as in
+a slaughter house--he hales old men by the beard, crushes children,
+smites the wounded. And vengeance is taken upon luxury, those who
+do not know how to read tear up hooks; others smash and deface the
+statues, paintings, furniture, caskets,--a thousand dainty things
+the use of which they do not know, and which simply for that reason
+exasperates them. At intervals they pause, out of breath, in the work
+of destruction; then they recommence._
+
+_The inhabitants moan in the courtyards where they have sought refuge.
+The women raise their tearful eyes and lift their naked arms to heaven.
+In hope of moving the Solitaries they embrace their knees; the men cast
+them off and fling them down, and the blood gushes to the ceilings,
+falls back upon the walls like sheets of rain, streams from the trunks
+of decapitated corpses, fills the aqueducts, forms huge red pools upon
+the ground._
+
+_Anthony is up to his knees in it. He wades in it; he sucks up the
+blood-spray on his lips; he is thrilled with joy as he feels it upon
+his limbs, under his hair-tunic which is soaked through with it._
+
+_Night comes. The immense uproar dies away._
+
+_The Solitaries have disappeared._
+
+_Suddenly, upon the outer galleries corresponding to each of the nine
+stories of the Pharos, Anthony observes thick black lines forming, like
+lines of crows perching. He hurries thither; and soon finds himself at
+the summit._
+
+_A huge mirror of brass turned toward the open sea, reflects the forms
+of the vessels in the offing._
+
+_Anthony amuses himself by watching them; and while he watches, their
+number increases._
+
+_They are grouped together within a gulf which has the form of a
+crescent. Upon a promontory in the background, towers a new city of
+Roman architecture, with cupolas of stone, conical roofs, gleams of
+pink and blue marbles, and a profusion of brazen ornamentation applied
+to the volutes of the capitals, to the angles of the cornices, to the
+summits of the edifices. A cypress-wood overhangs the city. The line of
+the sea is greener, the air colder. The mountains lining the horizon
+are capped with snow._
+
+_Anthony is trying to find his way, when a man approaches him, and
+says_:
+
+"Come! they are waiting for you."
+
+_He traverses a forum, enters a great court, stoops beneath a low
+door; and he arrives before the facade of the palace, decorated
+with a group in wax, representing Constantine overcoming a dragon.
+There is a porphyry basin, from the centre of which rises a golden
+conch-shell full of nuts. His guide tells him that he may take some of
+them. He does so. Then he is lost, as it were, in a long succession of
+apartments._
+
+_There are mosaics upon the walls representing generals presenting
+the Emperor with conquered cities, which they hold out upon the
+palms of their hands. And there are columns of basalt everywhere,
+trellis-work in silver filigree, ivory chairs, tapestries embroidered
+with pearls. The light falls from the vaults above; Anthony still
+proceeds. Warm exhalations circulate about him; occasionally he hears
+the discreet clapping sound of sandals upon the pavement. Posted in
+the anti-chambers are guards, who resemble automata, holding wands of
+vermillion upon their shoulders._
+
+[Illustration: And there are columns of basalt everywhere,... The
+light falls from the vaults above]
+
+_At last he finds himself in a great hall, with hyacinth-colored
+curtains at the further end. They part, and display the Emperor seated
+on a throne, clad in a violet tunic, and wearing red shoes striped with
+bands of black._
+
+_A diadem of pearls surround his head; his locks are arranged
+symmetrically in rouleaux. He has a straight nose, drooping eyelids,
+a heavy and cunning physiognomy. At the four corners of the dais
+stretched above his head are placed four golden doves; and at the foot
+of the throne are two lions in enamel crouching. The doves begin to
+sing, the lions to roar. The Emperor rolls his eyes; Anthony advances;
+and forthwith, without preamble, they commence to converse about
+recent events. In the cities of Antioch, Ephesus, and Alexandria,
+the temples have been sacked, and the statues of the gods converted
+into pots and cooking utensils; the Emperor laughs heartily about it.
+Anthony reproaches him with his tolerance toward the Novations. But the
+Emperor becomes vexed. Novations, Arians or Meletians--he is sick of
+them all! Nevertheless, he admires the episcopate; for inasmuch as the
+Christians maintain bishops, who depend for their position upon five or
+six important personages, it is only necessary to gain over the latter,
+in order to have all the rest on one's side. Therefore he did not fail
+to furnish them with large sums. But he detests the Fathers of the
+Council of Nicæa._
+
+"Let us go and see them!"
+
+_Anthony follows him._
+
+_And they find themselves on a terrace, upon the same floor._
+
+_It overlooks a hippodrome thronged with people, and surmounted by
+porticoes where other spectators are walking to and fro. From the
+centre of the race-course rises a narrow platform of hewn stone,
+supporting a little temple of Mercury, the statue of Constantine, and
+three serpents of brass twisted into a column; there are three huge
+wooden eggs at one end, and at the other a group of seven dolphins with
+their tails in the air._
+
+_Behind the imperial pavilion sit the Prefects of the Chambers, the
+Counts of the Domestics, and the Patricians--in ranks rising by tiers
+to the first story of a church whose windows are thronged with women.
+On the right is the tribune of the Blue Faction; on the left, that of
+the Green; below, a picket of soldiers is stationed; and on a level
+with the arena is a row of Corinthian arches, forming the entrances to
+the stables._
+
+_The races are about to commence; the horses are drawn up in line.
+Lofty plumes, fastened between their ears, bend to the wind like
+saplings; and with every restive bound, they shake their chariots
+violently, which are shell-shaped, and conducted by charioteers clad
+in a sort of multi-colored cuirass, having sleeves tight at the wrist
+and wide in the arms; their legs are bare; their beards, faces and
+foreheads are shaven after the manner of the Huns._
+
+_Anthony is at first deafened by the billowy sound of voices. From
+the summit of the hippodrome to its lowest tiers, he sees only faces
+painted with rouge, garments checkered and variegated with many colors,
+flashing jewelry; and the sand of the arena, all white, gleams like a
+mirror._
+
+_The Emperor entertains him. He confides to him many matters of high
+importance, many secrets; he confesses the assassination of his son
+Criopus, and even asks Anthony for advice regarding his health._
+
+_Meanwhile Anthony notices some slaves in the rear portion of the
+stables below. They are the Fathers of Nicæa, ragged and abject. The
+martyr Paphnutius is brushing the mane of one horse; Theophilus is
+washing the legs of another; John is painting the hoofs of a third;
+Alexander is collecting dung in a basket._
+
+_Anthony passes through the midst of them. They range themselves on
+either side respectfully; they beseech his intercession; they kiss his
+hands. The whole assemblage of spectators hoots at them; and he enjoys
+the spectacle with immeasurable pleasure. Lo! he is now one of the
+grandees of the Court--the Emperor's confidant--the prime minister!
+Constantine places his own diadem upon his brows. Anthony allows it to
+remain upon his head, thinking this honor quite natural._
+
+_And suddenly in the midst of the darkness a vast hall appears,
+illuminated by golden candelabra._
+
+_Candles so lofty that they are half lost in the darkness, stretch away
+in huge files beyond the lines of banquet-tables, which seem to extend
+to the horizon, where through a luminous haze loom superpositions of
+stairways, suites of arcades, colossi, towers, and beyond all a vague
+border of palace walls, above which rise the crests of cedars, making
+yet blacker masses of blackness against the darkness._
+
+_The guests, crowned with violet wreaths, recline upon very low couches
+and are leaning upon their elbows. Along the whole length of this
+double line of couches, wine is being poured out from amphoræ, and at
+the further end, all alone, coiffed with the tiara and blazing with
+carbuncles, King Nebuchadnezzar eats and drinks._
+
+_On his right and left, two bands of priests in pointed caps are
+swinging censers. On the pavement below crawl the captive kings whose
+hands and feet have been cut off; from time to time he flings them
+bones to gnaw. Further off sit his brothers, with bandages across their
+eyes, being all blind._
+
+_From the depths of the ergastula arise moans of ceaseless pain. Sweet
+slow sounds of a hydraulic organ alternate with choruses of song; and
+one feels that all about the palace without extends an immeasurable
+city--an ocean of human life whose waves break against the walls. The
+slaves run hither and thither carrying dishes. Women walk between the
+ranks of guests, offering drinks to all; the baskets groan under their
+burthen of loaves; and a dromedary, laden with perforated water-skins:
+passes and repasses through the hall, sprinkling and cooling the
+pavement with vervain._
+
+_Lion tamers are leading tamed lions about. Dancing girls--their
+hair confined in nets--balance themselves and turn upon their hands,
+emitting fire through their nostrils; negro boatmen are juggling; naked
+children pelt each other with pellets of snow, which burst against the
+bright silverware. There is an awful clamor as of a tempest; and a huge
+cloud hangs over the banquet--so numerous are the meats and breaths.
+Sometimes a flake of fire torn from the great flambeaux by the wind,
+traverses the night like a shooting star._
+
+_The king wipes the perfumes from his face with his arm. He eats from
+the sacred vessels--then breaks them; and secretly reckons up the
+number of his fleets, his armies, and his subjects. By and by, for a
+new caprice, he will burn his palace with all its guests. He dreams of
+rebuilding the tower of Babel, and dethroning God._
+
+_Anthony, from afar off, reads all these thoughts upon his brow. They
+penetrate his own brain, and he becomes Nebuchadnezzar. Immediately he
+is cloyed with orgiastic excesses, sated with fury of extermination;
+and a great desire comes upon him to wallow in vileness. For the
+degradation of that which terrifies men is an outrage inflicted upon
+their minds--it affords yet one more way to stupefy them; and as
+nothing is viler than a brute, Anthony goes upon the table on all
+fours, and bellows like a bull._
+
+_He feels a sudden pain in his hand--a pebble has accidentally wounded
+him--and he finds himself once more in front of his cabin._
+
+_The circle of the rocks is empty. The stars are glowing in the sky.
+All is hushed._)
+
+"Again have I allowed myself to be deceived! Why these things? They
+come from the rebellion of the flesh. Ah! wretch!"
+
+(_He rushes into his cabin, and seizes a bunch of thongs, with metallic
+hooks attached to their ends, strips himself to the waist and, lifting
+his eyes to heaven exclaims_:)
+
+"Accept my penance, O my God: disdain it not for its feebleness. Render
+it sharp, prolonged, excessive! It is time, indeed!--to the work!"
+
+(_He gives himself a vigorous lash--and shrieks._)
+
+"No! no!--without mercy it must be."
+
+(_He recommences._)
+
+"Oh! oh! oh! each lash tears my skin, rends my limbs! It burns me
+horribly!"
+
+"Nay!--it is not so very terrible after all!--one becomes accustomed to
+it. It even seems to me...."
+
+(_Anthony pauses._)
+
+"Continue, coward! continue! Good! good!--upon the arms, on the back,
+on the breast, on the belly--everywhere! Hiss, ye thongs! bite me!
+tear me! I would that my blood could spurt to the stars!--let my bones
+crack!--let my tendons be laid bare! O for pincers, racks, and melted
+lead! The martyrs have endured far worse; have they not, Ammonaria?"
+
+(_The shadow of the Devil's horns reappears._)
+
+"I might have been bound to the column opposite to thine,--face to
+face--under thy eyes--answering thy shrieks by my sighs; and our pangs
+might have been interblended, our souls intermingled."
+
+(_He lashes himself with fury._)
+
+"What! what! again. Take that!--But how strange a titillation thrills
+me! What punishment! what pleasure! I feel as though receiving
+invisible kisses; the very marrow of my bones seems to melt. I die...."
+
+_And he sees before him three cavaliers, mounted upon onagers, clad in
+robes of green--each holding a lily in his hand, and all resembling
+each other in feature._
+
+_Anthony turns round, and beholds three other cavaliers exactly
+similar, riding upon similar onagers, and preserving the same attitude._
+
+_He draws back. Then all the onagers advance one pace at the same time,
+and rub their noses against him, trying to bite his garment. Voices
+shout_:--
+
+"Here! here! this way!"
+
+_And between the clefts of the mountain, appear standards,--camels'
+heads with halters of red silk--mules laden with baggage, and women
+covered with yellow veils, bestriding piebald horses._
+
+_The panting beasts lie down; the slaves rush to the bales and
+packages, motley-striped carpets are unrolled; precious glimmering
+things are laid upon the ground._
+
+_A white elephant, caparisoned with a golden net, trots forward,
+shaking the tuft of ostrich plumes attached to his head-band._
+
+_Upon his back, perched on cushions of blue wool, with her legs
+crossed, her eyes half closed, her comely head sleepily nodding, is a
+woman so splendidly clad that she radiates light about her. The crowd
+falls prostrate; the elephant bends his knees; and_
+
+THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
+
+_letting herself glide down from his shoulder upon the carpets spread
+to receive her, approaches Saint Anthony._
+
+_Her robe of gold brocade, regularly divided by furbelows of pearls,
+of jet, and of sapphires, sheaths her figure closely with its
+tight-fitting bodice, set off by colored designs representing the
+twelve signs of the Zodiac. She wears very high pattens--one of which
+is black, and sprinkled with silver stars, with a moon crescent; the
+other, which is white, is sprinkled with a spray of gold, with a golden
+sun in the middle._
+
+_Her wide sleeves, decorated with emeralds and bird-plumes, leave
+exposed her little round bare arms, clasped at the wrist by ebony
+bracelets; and her hands, loaded with precious rings, are terminated by
+nails so sharply pointed that the ends of her fingers seem almost like
+needles._
+
+_A chain of dead gold, passing under her chin, is caught up on either
+side of her face, and spirally coiled about her coiffure, whence,
+redescending, it grazes her shoulders and is attached upon her bosom
+to a diamond scorpion, which protrudes a jewelled tongue between her
+breasts. Two immense blond pearls depend heavily from her ears. The
+borders of her eyelids are painted black. There is a natural brown spot
+upon her left cheek; and she opens her mouth in breathing, as if her
+corset inconvenienced her._
+
+_She shakes, as she approaches, a green parasol with an ivory handle,
+and silver-gilt bells attached to its rim; twelve little woolly-haired
+negro-boys support the long train of her robe, whereof an ape holds the
+extremity, which it raises up from time to time. She exclaims_:
+
+"Ah! handsome hermit! handsome hermit!--my heart swoons!
+
+"By dint of stamping upon the ground with impatience, callosities have
+formed upon my heel, and I have broken one of my nails. I sent out
+shepherds, who remained upon the mountain tops, shading their eyes with
+their hands--and hunters who shouted thy name in all the forests--and
+spies who travelled along the highways, asking every passer-by:
+
+"'Hast thou seen him?'
+
+"By night I wept, with my face turned to the wall. And at last my tears
+made two little holes in the mosaic, like two pools of water among the
+rocks;--for I love thee!--oh! how I love thee!"
+
+(_She takes him by the beard._)
+
+"Laugh now, handsome hermit! laugh! I am very joyous, very gay: thou
+shalt soon see! I play the lyre; I dance like a bee; and I know a host
+of merry tales to tell, each more diverting than the other.
+
+"Thou canst not even imagine how mighty a journey we have made. See!
+the onagers upon which the green couriers rode are dead with fatigue!"
+
+(_The onagers are lying motionless upon the ground._)
+
+"For three long moons they never ceased to gallop on with the same
+equal pace, holdings flints between their teeth to cut the wind, their
+tails ever streaming out behind them, their sinews perpetually strained
+to the uttermost, always galloping, galloping. Never can others be
+found like them. They were bequeathed me by my paternal grand-father,
+the Emperor Saharil, son of Iakhschab, son of Iaarab, son of Kastan.
+Ah! if they were still alive, we should harness them to a litter that
+they might bear us back speedily to the palace! But ... what ails
+thee?--of what art thou dreaming?"
+
+(_She stares at him, examines him closely._)
+
+"Ah, when thou shalt be my husband, I will robe thee, I will perfume
+thee, I will depilate thee."
+
+(_Anthony remains motionless, more rigid than a stake, more pallid
+than a corpse._)
+
+"Thou hast a sad look--is it because of leaving thy hermitage? Yet I
+have left everything for thee--even King Solomon, who, nevertheless,
+possesses much wisdom, twenty thousand chariots of war, and a beautiful
+beard. I have brought thee my wedding gifts. Choose!"
+
+(_She walks to and fro among the ranks of slaves and the piles of
+precious goods._)
+
+"Here is Genezareth balm, incense from Cape Gardefui, labdanum,
+cinnamon, and silphium--good to mingle with sauces. In that bale are
+Assyrian embroideries, ivory from the Ganges, purple from Elissa;
+and that box of snow contains a skin of chalybon, the wine, which
+is reserved for the Kings of Assyria, and which is drunk from the
+horn of a unicorn. Here are necklaces, brooches, nets for the hair,
+parasols, gold powder from Baasa, cassiteria from Tartessus, blue wood
+from Pandio, white furs from Issidonia, carbuncles from the Island
+Palæsimondus, and toothpicks made of the bristles of the tachas--that
+lost animal which is found under the earth. These cushions come from
+Emath, and these mantle-fringes from Palmyra. On this Babylonian carpet
+there is.... But come hither! come! come!"
+
+(_She pulls Saint Anthony by the sleeve. He resists. She continues_:)
+
+"This thin tissue which crackles under the finger with a sound as of
+sparks, is the famous yellow cloth which the merchants of Bactria bring
+us. I will have robes made of it for thee, which thou shalt wear in the
+house. Unfasten the hooks of that sycamore box, and hand me also the
+little ivory casket tied to my elephant's shoulder."
+
+(_They take something round out of a box--something covered with a
+cloth--and also bring a little ivory casket covered with carving._)
+
+"Dost thou desire the buckler of Dgian-ben-Dgian, who built the
+pyramids?--behold it!--It is formed of seven dragon-skins laid one over
+the other, tanned in the bile of parricides, and fastened together by
+adamantine screws. Upon one side are represented all the wars that have
+taken place since the invention of weapons; and upon the other, all the
+wars that will take place until the end of the world. The lightning
+itself rebounds from it like a ball of cork. I am going to place it
+upon thy arm; and thou wilt carry it during the chase.
+
+"But if thou didst only know what I have in this little box of mine!
+Turn it over and over again! try to open it! No one could ever succeed
+in doing that. Kiss me! and I will tell thee how to open it."
+
+(_She takes Saint Anthony by both cheeks. He pushes her away at arms'
+length._)
+
+"It was one night that King Solomon lost his head. At last we concluded
+a bargain. He arose, and stealing out on tiptoe...."
+
+(_She suddenly executes a pirouette._)
+
+"Ah, ah! comely hermit, thou shalt not know it! thou shalt not know!"
+
+(_She shakes her parasol, making all its little bells tinkle._)
+
+"And I possess many other strange things--oh! yes! I have treasures
+concealed in winding galleries where one would lose one's way, as
+in a forest. I have summer-palaces constructed in trellis-work of
+reeds, and winter-palaces all built of black marble. In the midst of
+lakes vast as seas, I have islands round as pieces of silver, and all
+covered with mother-of-pearl,--islands whose shores make music to
+the lapping of tepid waves upon the sand. The slaves of my kitchens
+catch birds in my aviaries, and fish in my fishponds. I have engravers
+continually seated at their benches to hollow out my likeness in hard
+jewel-stones, and panting molders forever casting statues of me, and
+perfumers incessantly mingling the sap of rare plants with vinegar,
+or preparing cosmetic pastes. I have female dressmakers cutting out
+patterns in richest material, goldsmiths cutting and mounting jewels of
+price, and careful painters pouring upon my palace wainscoting boiling
+resins, which they subsequently cool with fans. I have enough female
+attendants to form a harem, eunuchs enough to make an army. I have
+armies likewise; I have nations! In the vestibule of my palace I keep a
+guard of dwarfs--all bearing ivory trumpets at their backs." (_Anthony
+sighs._)
+
+"I have teams of trained gazelles; I have elephant quadrigæ; I have
+hundreds of pairs of camels, and mares whose manes are so long that
+their hoofs become entangled therein when they gallop, and herds of
+cattle with horns so broad that when they go forth to graze the woods
+have to be hewn down before them. I have giraffes wandering in my
+gardens; they stretch their heads over the edge of my roof, when I take
+the air after dinner.
+
+"Seated in a shell drawn over the waters by dolphins, I travel
+through the grottoes, listening lo the dropping of the water from the
+stalactites. I go down to the land of diamonds, where my friends the
+magicians allow me to choose the finest: then I reascend to earth and
+return to my home."
+
+(_She utters a sharp whistle; and a great bird, descending from the
+sky, alights upon her hair, from which it makes the blue powder fall._
+
+_Its orange-colored plumage seems formed of metallic scales. Its little
+head, crested with a silver tuft, has a human face._
+
+_It has four wings, the feet of a vulture, and an immense peacock's
+tail which it spreads open like a fan._
+
+_It seizes the Queen's parasol in its beak, reels a moment ere
+obtaining its balance; then it erects all its plumes, and remains
+motionless._)
+
+"Thanks! my beautiful Simorg-Anka!--thou didst tell me where the loving
+one was hiding! Thanks! thanks! my heart's messenger!
+
+"He flies swiftly as Desire! He circles the world in his flight. At eve
+he returns; he perches at the foot of my couch and tells me all he has
+seen--the seas that have passed far beneath him with all their fishes
+and ships, the great void deserts he has contemplated from the heights
+of the sky, the harvests that were bowing in the valleys, and the
+plants that were growing upon the walls of cities abandoned."
+
+(_She wrings her hands, languorously._)
+
+"Oh! if thou wast willing! if thou wast willing!... I have a pavilion
+on a promontory in the middle of an isthmus dividing two oceans. It is
+all wain-scoted with sheets of glass, and floored with tortoise shell,
+and open to the four winds of heaven. From its height I watch my fleets
+come in, and my nations toiling up the mountain-slopes with burthens
+upon their shoulders. There would we sleep upon downs softer than
+clouds; we would drink cool draughts from fruit-shells, and we would
+gaze at the sun through emeralds! Come!" ...
+
+(_Anthony draws back. She approaches him again, and exclaims in a tone
+of vexation_:--)
+
+"How? neither the rich, nor the coquettish, nor the amorous woman can
+charm thee: is it so? None but a lascivious woman, with a hoarse voice
+and lusty person, with fire-colored hair and superabundant flesh? Dost
+thou prefer a body cold as the skin of a serpent, or rather great dark
+eyes deeper than the mystic caverns?--behold them, my eyes!--look into
+them!"
+
+(_Anthony, in spite of him, gazes into her eyes._)
+
+"All the women thou hast ever met--from the leman of the cross-roads,
+singing under the light of her lantern, even to the patrician lady
+scattering rose-petals abroad from her litter,--all the forms thou hast
+ever obtained glimpses of--all the imaginations of thy desire thou hast
+only to ask for them! I am not a woman: I am a world! My cloak has only
+to fall in order that thou mayest discover a succession of mysteries."
+(_Anthony's teeth chatter._)
+
+"Place but thy finger upon my shoulder: it will be as though a stream
+of fire shot through all thy veins. The possession of the least part
+of me will fill thee with a joy more vehement than the conquest of an
+Empire could give thee! Approach thy lips: there is a sweetness in my
+kisses as of a fruit dissolving within thy heart. Ah! how thou wilt
+lose thyself beneath my long hair, inhale the perfume of my bosom,
+madden thyself with the beauty of my limbs: and thus, consumed by the
+fire of my eyes, clasped within my arms as in a whirlwind...."
+
+[Illustration: ... there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit
+dissolving within thy heart]
+
+(_Anthony makes the sign of the cross._)
+
+"Thou disdainest me! farewell!"
+
+(_She departs, weeping; then, suddenly turning round_:--)
+
+"Art quite sure?--so beautiful a woman...."
+
+(_She laughs, and the ape that bears her train, lifts it up._)
+
+"Thou wilt regret it, my comely hermit! thou wilt yet weep! thou wilt
+again feel weary of thy life; but I care not a whit! La! la! la!--oh!
+oh! oh!"
+
+(_She takes her departure, hopping upon one foot and covering her face
+with her hands._
+
+_All the slaves file off before Saint Anthony--the horses, the
+dromedaries, the elephant, the female attendants, the mules (which
+have been reloaded), the negro boys, the ape, the green couriers each
+holding his broken lily in his hand; and the Queen of Sheba departs,
+uttering a convulsive hiccough at intervals, which might be taken
+either for a sound of hysterical sobbing, or the half-suppressed
+laughter of mockery._)
+
+
+[1] _Thalamegii_--pleasure-boats having apartments.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+(_When she has disappeared in the distance, Anthony observes a child
+seated upon the threshold of his cabin._)
+
+"It is one of the Queen's servants, no doubt," (_he thinks_).
+
+(_This child is small like a dwarf, and nevertheless squat of build,
+like one of the Cabiri; deformed withal, and wretched of aspect. His
+prodigiously large head is covered with white hair; and he shivers
+under a shabby tunic, all the while clutching a roll of papyrus. The
+light of the moon passing through a cloud falls upon him._)
+
+ANTHONY
+
+(_watches him from a distance, and is afraid of him._) "Who art thou?"
+
+THE CHILD (_replies_). "Thy ancient disciple, Hilarion."
+
+ANTHONY. "Thou liest! Hilarion hath been dwelling in Palestine for
+many long years."
+
+HILARION. "I have returned! It is really I!"
+
+ANTHONY (_draws near and examines him closely_). "Yet his face was
+radiant as the dawn, candid, joyous. This face is the face of one
+gloomy and old."
+
+HILARION. "Long and arduous labor hath wearied me!"
+
+ANTHONY. "The voice is also different. It hath an icy tone."
+
+HILARION. "Because I have nourished me with bitter things!"
+
+ANTHONY. "And those white hairs?"
+
+HILARION. "I have endured many woes!"
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_). "Could it be possible?"
+
+HILARION. "I was not so far from thee as thou doest imagine. The hermit
+Paul visited thee this year, during the month of Schebar. It is just
+twenty days since the Nomads brought thee bread. Thou didst tell a
+sailor, the day before yesterday, to send thee three bodkins."
+
+ANTHONY. "He knows all!"
+
+HILARION. "Know further more that I have never left thee. But there are
+long periods during which thou hast no knowledge of my presence."
+
+ANTHONY. "How can that be? Yet it is true that my head is so much
+troubled--this night especially."
+
+HILARION. "All the Capital Sins came hither. But their wretched snares
+can avail nothing against such a Saint as thou."
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! no!--no! I fall at every moment! Why am I not of those
+whose souls are ever intrepid, whose minds are always firm,--for
+example, the great Athanasius?"
+
+HILARION. "He was illegally ordained by seven bishops."
+
+ANTHONY. "What matter if his virtue...."
+
+HILARION. "Go to!--a most vainglorious and cruel man, forever involved
+in intrigues, and exiled at last as a monopolist."[1]
+
+ANTHONY. "Calumny!"
+
+HILARION. "Thou wilt not deny that he sought to corrupt Eustates, the
+treasurer of largesses?"
+
+ANTHONY. "It is affirmed, I acknowledge."
+
+HILARION. "Through vengeance he burned down the house of Arsenius."
+
+ANTHONY. "Alas!"
+
+HILARION. "At the council of Nicæa he said in speaking of Jesus: 'The
+man of the Lord.'"
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! that is a blasphemy!"
+
+HILARION. "So limited in understanding, moreover, that he confesses he
+comprehends nothing of the nature of the "Word!"
+
+ANTHONY (_smiling with gratification_). "In sooth his intelligence is
+not ... very lofty."
+
+HILARION. "Hypocrite! burying thyself in solitude only in order the
+more fully to abandon thyself to the indulgence of thy envious desires!
+What if thou dost deprive thyself of meats, of wine, of warmth, of
+bath, of slaves, or honours?--dost thou not permit thy imagination to
+offer thee banquets, perfumes, women, and the applause of multitudes?
+Thy chastity is but a more subtle form of corruption, and thy contempt
+of this world is but the impotence of thy hatred against it! Either
+this it is that makes such as thyself so lugubrious, or else 'tis
+doubt. The possession of truth giveth joy. Was Jesus sad? Did he not
+travel in the company of friends, repose beneath the shade of olive
+trees, enter the house of the publican, drink many cups of wine, pardon
+the sinning woman, and assuage all sorrows? Thou!--thou hast no pity
+save for thine own misery! It is like a remorse that gnaws thee, a
+savage madness that impels thee to repel the caress of a dog or to
+frown upon the smile of a child."
+
+ANTHONY (_bursting into tears_). "Enough! enough! thou dost wound my
+heart deeply."
+
+HILARION. "Shake the vermin from thy rags! Rise up from thy filth! Thy
+God is not a Moloch who demands human flesh in sacrifice!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet suffering is blessed. The cherubim stoop to receive the
+blood of confessors."
+
+HILARION. "Admire, then, the Montanists!--they surpass all others."
+
+ANTHONY. "But it is the truth of the doctrine which makes the
+martyrdom."
+
+HILARION. "How can martyrdom prove the excellence of the doctrine,
+inasmuch as it bears equal witness for error?"
+
+HILARION. "Silence!--thou viper!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Perhaps martyrdom is not so difficult as thou dost imagine!
+The exhortations of friends, the pleasure of insulting the people,
+the oath one has taken, a certain dizzy excitement, a thousand
+circumstances all aid the resolution of the martyrs...."
+
+(_Anthony turns his back upon Hilarion, and moves away from him.
+Hilarion follows him._)
+
+" ... Moreover this manner of dying often brings about great disorders.
+Dionysius, Cyprian and Gregory fled from it. Peter of Alexandria has
+condemned it; and the council of Elvira...."
+
+ANTHONY (_stops his ears_). "I will listen to thee no longer!"
+
+HILARION (_raising his voice_). "Lo! thou fallest again into the
+habitual sin, which is sloth! Ignorance is the foam of pride. One says,
+forsoth:--'My conviction is formed! wherefore argue further?'--and one
+despises the doctors, the philosophers, tradition itself, and even the
+text of the law whereof one is ignorant! Dost thou imagine that thou
+dost hold all wisdom in the hollow of thy hand?"
+
+ANTHONY. "I hear him still! His loud words fill my brain."
+
+HILARION. "The efforts of others to comprehend God are mightier than
+all thy mortifications to move Him. We obtain merit only by our thirst
+for truth. Religion alone cannot explain all things; and the solution
+of problems ignored by thee can render faith still more invulnerable
+and noble. Therefore, for our salvation we must communicate with our
+brethren--otherwise the Church, the assembly of the faithful, would
+be a meaningless word--and we must listen to all reasoning, despising
+nothing, nor any person. The magician Balaam, the poet Aeschylus,
+and the Sybil of Cumæ--all foretold the Saviour. Dionysius, the
+Alexandrian, received from heaven the command to read all books. Saint
+Clement orders us to cultivate Greek letters. Hennas was converted by
+the illusion of a woman he had loved...."
+
+ANTHONY. "What an aspect of authority! It seems to me thou art growing
+taller...."
+
+(_And, in very truth, the stature of Hilarion is gradually increasing;
+and Anthony shuts his eyes, that he may not see him._)
+
+HILARION. "Reassure thyself, good Hermit. Let us seat ourselves there,
+upon that great stone, as we used to do in other years, when, at the
+first dawn of day, I was wont to salute thee with the appellation,
+'Clear star of morning'--and thou wouldst therewith commence to
+instruct me. Yet my instruction is not yet completed. The moon gives us
+light enough. I am prepared to hear thy words."
+
+(_He has drawn a calamus from his girdle, and seating himself
+cross-legged upon the ground, with the papyrus roll still in his hand,
+he lifts his face toward Saint Anthony, who sits near him, with head
+bowed down._
+
+_After a moment of silence Hilarion continues_:--)
+
+"Is not the word of God confirmed for us by miracles? Nevertheless
+the magicians of Pharaoh performed miracles; other imposters can
+perform them; one may be thereby deceived. What then is a miracle?
+An event which seems to us outside of nature. But do we indeed know
+all of Nature's powers; and because a common occurrence causes us no
+astonishment, does it therefore follow that we understand it."
+
+ANTHONY. "It matters little! We must believe the Scriptures!"
+
+HILARION. "Saint Paul, Origen, and many others did not understand
+the Scriptures in a literal sense: yet if Holy Writ be explained by
+allegories it becomes the portion of a small number, and the evidence
+of the truth disappears. What must we do?"
+
+ANTHONY. "We must rely upon the Church!"
+
+HILARION. "Then the Scriptures are useless?"
+
+ANTHONY. "No! no! although I acknowledge that in the Old Testament
+there are some ... some obscurities. But the New shines with purest
+light."
+
+HILARION. "Nevertheless, the Angel of the annunciation, in Matthew,
+appears to Joseph; while, in Luke, he appears to Mary. The anointing
+of Jesus by a woman takes place, according to the first Gospel, at the
+commencement of his public life; and, according to the other three, a
+few days before his death. The drink offered to him on the cross, is,
+in Matthew, vinegar mixed with gall; in Mark, it is wine and myrrh.
+According to Luke and Matthew, the apostles should take with them
+neither money nor scrip for their journey--not even sandals nor staff;
+in Mark, on the contrary, Jesus bids them take nothing with them,
+except sandals and a staff. I am thereby bewildered!"
+
+ANTHONY (_in amazement_). "Aye, indeed!... in fact...."
+
+HILARION. "At the contact of the woman who had an issue of blood, Jesus
+turned and said, 'Who hath touched my garments?' He did not know, then,
+who had touched him? That contradicts the omniscience of Jesus! If the
+tomb was watched by guards, the women need have felt no anxiety about
+finding help to roll away the stone from the tomb. Therefore there
+were no guards, or the holy women were not there. At Emmaus, he eats
+with his disciples and makes them feel his wounds. It is a human body,
+a material and ponderable object; and nevertheless it passes through
+walls! Is that possible?"
+
+ANTHONY. "It would require much time to answer thee properly!"
+
+HILARION. "Why did he receive the Holy Spirit, being himself Son of
+the Holy Spirit? What need had he of baptism if he was the Word? How
+could the Devil have tempted him, inasmuch as he was God? Have these
+thoughts never occurred to thee?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes!... often! Sometimes torpid, sometimes furious--they
+remain forever in my conscience. I crush them; they rise again, they
+stifle me; and sometimes I think that I am accursed."
+
+HILARION. "Then it is needless for thee to serve God?"
+
+ANTHONY. "I shall always need to adore Him."
+
+(_After a long silence Hilarion continues_:)
+
+"But aside from dogma, all researches are allowed us. Dost thou desire
+to know the hierarchy of the Angels, the virtue of the Numbers, the
+reason of germs and of metamorphoses?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes! yes! my thought struggles wildly to escape from its
+prison. It seems to me that by exerting all my force I might succeed.
+Sometimes, for an instant, brief as a lightning flash, I even feel
+myself as thought uplifted,--then I fall back again!"
+
+HILARION. "The secret thou wouldst obtain is guarded by sages. They
+dwell in a distant land; they are seated beneath giant trees; they
+are robed in white; they are calm as Gods! A warm air gives them
+sufficient nourishment. All about them, leopards tread upon grassy
+turf. The murmuring of fountains and the neighing of unicorns mingle
+with their voices. Thou shalt hear them; and the face of the Unknown
+shall be unveiled!"
+
+ANTHONY (_sighing_). "The way is long; and I am old."
+
+HILARION. "Oh! oh! wise men are not rare! there are some even very nigh
+thee!--here! Let us enter!"
+
+
+[1] Gibbon, a sincere admirer of Athanasius, gives a curious history of
+these charges, and expresses his disbelief in their truth. The story
+regarding the design to intercept the corn-fleet of Alexandria is
+referred to in the use of the word "monopolist."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+(_And Anthony beholds before him a vast basilica._
+
+_The light gushes from the further end, marvellous as a multi-colored
+sun. It illuminates the innumerable heads of the crowd that fills the
+nave, and that eddies about the columns toward the side-aisles--where
+can be perceived, in wooden compartments, altars, beds, little chains
+of blue stones linked together, and constellations painted upon the
+walls._
+
+_In the midst of the throng there are groups which remain motionless.
+Men standing upon stools harangue with fingers uplifted; others are
+praying, with arms outstretched in form of a cross; others are lying
+prostrate upon the pavement, or singing hymns, or drinking wine; others
+of the faithful, seated about a table, celebrate their agape;[1]
+martyrs are unbandaging their limbs in order to show their wounds; and
+aged men, leaning upon staffs, recount their voyages._
+
+_There are some from the country of the Germans, from Thrace also, and
+from the Gauls, from Scythia and from the Indies, with snow upon their
+beards, feathers in their hair; thorns in the fringe of their garments;
+the sandals of some are black with dust, their skins are burnt by the
+sun. There is a vast confusion of costumes, mantles of purple and
+robes of linen, embroidered dalmaticas, hair shirts, sailors' caps,
+bishops' mitres. Their eyes fulgurate strangely. They have the look of
+executioners, or the look of eunuchs._
+
+_Hilarion advances into their midst. All salute him. Anthony, shrinking
+closer to his shoulder, observes them. He remarks the presence of a
+great many women. Some of these are attired like men, and have their
+hair cut short. Anthony feels afraid of them._)
+
+HILARION. "Those are Christian women who have converted their husbands.
+Besides, the women were always upon the side of Jesus, even the
+idolatrous ones, for example, Procula, the wife of Pilate, and Poppæa,
+the concubine of Nero. Do not tremble!--come on."
+
+(_And others are continually arriving._
+
+_They seem to multiply, to double themselves by self-division, light
+as shadows--all the while making an immense clamour, in which yells of
+rage, cries of love, canticles and objurgations intermingle._)
+
+ANTHONY (_in a low voice_). "What do they desire?"
+
+HILARION. "The Lord said: 'I have yet many things to say to you....
+'[2] They possess the knowledge of those things."
+
+(_And he pushes Anthony forward to a golden throne approached by five
+steps, whereon--surrounded by ninety-five disciples, all very thin and
+pale, and anointed with oil--sits the prophet Manes. He is beautiful
+as an archangel, immobile as a statue; he is clad in an Indian robe;
+carbuncles gleam in his plaited hair; at his left hand lies a book of
+painted images; his right reposes upon a globe. The images represent
+the creatures that erst slumbered in Chaos. Anthony bends forward to
+look upon them. Then----_)
+
+MANES
+
+(_makes his globe revolve; and regulating the tone of his words by a
+lyre which gives forth crystalline sounds, exclaims_:--)
+
+"The celestial earth is at the superior extremity; the terrestrial
+earth at the inferior extremity. It is sustained by two angels--the
+Angel Splenditeneus, and Omophorus, whose faces are six.
+
+"At the summit of the highest heaven reigns the impassible Divinity;
+below, face to face, are the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness.
+
+"When the darkness had advanced even to his kingdom, God evolved from
+his own essence a virtue which produced the first man; and he environed
+him with the five elements. But the demons of darkness stole from him a
+part; and that part is the soul.
+
+"There is but one soul, universally diffused, even as the waters of
+a river divided into many branches. It is this universal soul that
+sighs in the wind--that shrieks in the marble under the teeth of the
+saw--that roars in the voice of the sea--that weeps tears of milk when
+the leaves of the fig tree are torn off.
+
+"The souls that leave this world emigrate to the stars, which are
+themselves animated beings."
+
+ANTHONY (_bursts into a laugh_). "Ah! ah! what an absurd imagination!"
+
+A MAN (_having no beard, and of a most austere aspect_). "Wherefore
+absurd?"
+
+(_Anthony is about to reply when Hilarion tells him in a low voice
+that the questioner is none other than the tremendous Origen himself;
+and_:--)
+
+MANES (_continues_). "But first they remain awhile in the Moon, where
+they are purified. Then they rise into the sun."
+
+ANTHONY (_slowly_). "I do not know of anything ... which prevents us
+... from believing it."
+
+MANES. "The proper aim of every creature is the deliverance of the ray
+of celestial light imprisoned within matter. It finds easier escape
+through the medium of perfumes, spices, the aroma of warmed wine, the
+light things which resemble thoughts. But the acts of life retain it
+within its prison. The murderer shall be born again in the form of a
+celephus; he that kills an animal shall become that animal; if thou
+plantest a vine, thou shalt be thyself bound within its boughs. Food
+absorbs the celestial light.... Therefore abstain! fast!"
+
+HILARION. "Thou seest, they are temperate!"
+
+MANES. "There is much of it in meats, less of it in herbs. Moreover
+the Pure Ones, by means of their great merits, despoil vegetation of
+this luminous essence; and, thus liberated, it reascends to its source.
+But through generation, animals keep it imprisoned within the flesh!
+Therefore, avoid women!"
+
+HILARION. "Admire their continence."
+
+MANES. "Or rather contrive that they shall not create..............[3]
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh--abomination!"
+
+HILARION. "What signifies the hierarchy of turpitudes? The Church has,
+forsooth, made marriage a sacrament!"
+
+SATURNINUS (_in Syrian costume_). "He teaches a most dismal system of
+the universe!... The Father, desiring to punish the angels who had
+revolted, ordered them to create the world. Christ came, in order that
+the God of the Jews, who was one of those angels...."
+
+ANTHONY. "He an angel! the Creator!"
+
+CERDO. "Did he not seek to kill Moses, to deceive his own prophets, to
+seduce nations?--did he not sow falsehood and idolatry broadcast?"
+
+MARCION. "Certainly, the Creator is not the true God!"
+
+SAINT CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. "Matter is eternal!"
+
+BARDESANES (_in the costume of the Babylonian magi_). "It was formed by
+the Seven Planetary Spirits."
+
+THE HERMIANS. "Souls were made by the angels."
+
+THE PRISCILLIANISTS. "It was the Devil who made the world."
+
+ANTHONY (_rushing back from the circle_). "Horror!"
+
+HILARION (_supporting him_). "Thou despairest too hastily!--thou dost
+misapprehend their doctrine! Here is one who received his teaching
+directly from Theodas, the friend of St. Paul. Hearken to him."
+
+(_And at a sign from Hilarion_
+
+VALENTINUS
+
+_appears in a tunic of cloth of silver; his skull is pointed at its
+summit; his voice has a wheezing sound._)
+
+"The world is the work of a God in delirium!"
+
+ANTHONY (_bending his head down_). "The work of a God in delirium!..."
+
+(_After a long silence_): "How can that be?"
+
+VALENTINE. "The most perfect of beings, and of the Æons, the Abyss;
+dwelt in the womb of the Deep together with Thought. By their union was
+begotten Intelligence, to whom Truth was given as a companion.
+
+"Intelligence and Truth engendered the Word and Life, who in their turn
+begat Man and the Church; and that doth make eight Æons!"
+
+(_He counts upon his fingers._)
+
+"The Word and Truth also produced ten other Æons--which is to say, five
+couples. Man and the Church had begotten twelve more--among these the
+Paraclete and Faith, Hope and Charity, Perfection and Wisdom--Sophia.
+
+"The union of these thirty Æons constitutes the Pleroma, or
+Universality of God. Thus, even as the echo of a passing voice, as the
+effluvia of a perfume evaporating, as the fires of the setting sun,
+the Powers that emanated from the Principle, forever continue to grow
+weaker.
+
+"But Sophia, desirous to know the Father, darted from the Pleroma;
+and the Word then made another couple, Christ and the Holy Ghost, who
+reunited all the Æons; and all together formed Jesus, the flower of the
+Pleroma.
+
+"But the effort of Sophia to flee away had left in the void an image of
+her--an evil substance, Acharamoth.[4] The Saviour took pity upon her,
+freed her from all passion; and from the smile of Acharamoth redeemed,
+light was born; her tears formed the waters; by her sorrow was dark
+matter begotten.
+
+"Of Acharamoth was born the Demiurgos,--the fabricator of worlds,
+the creator of the heaven and of the Devil. He dwells far below the
+Pleroma--so far that he cannot behold it--so that he deems himself to
+be the true God, and repeats by the mouths of his prophets--'There is
+no other God but I.' Then he made man, and instilled into his soul the
+immaterial Seed which was the Church--a reflection of the other Church
+established in the Pleroma.
+
+"One day Acharamoth shall reach the highest region and unite herself
+with the Saviour; the fire that is hidden in the world shall annihilate
+all matter, and shall even devour itself and men, becoming pure
+spirits, shall espouse the angels!"
+
+ORIGEN. "Then shall the Demon be over-thrown and the reign of God
+commence!"
+
+(_Anthony expresses a cry, and forthwith_)
+
+BASILIDES (_taking him by the elbow, exclaims_:--)
+
+"The Supreme Being with all the infinite emanations is called
+Abraxas; and the Saviour with all his virtues, Kaulakau--otherwise,
+line-upon-line, rectitude upon rectitude.
+
+"The power of Kaulakau is obtained by the aid of certain words, which
+are inscribed upon this chalcedony to help the memory."
+
+(_And he points to a little stone suspended at his neck, upon which
+stone fantastic characters are graven._)
+
+"Then thou wilt be transported into the Invisible and placed above all
+law; thou shalt contemn all things--even virtue!
+
+"We, the Pure, must flee from pain, after the example of Kaulakau."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! and the cross?"
+
+THE ELKHESAITES (_in robes of hyacinth answers him_). "The woe and
+the degradation, the condemnation and oppression of my fathers[5] are
+blotted out, through the mission which has come.
+
+"One may deny the inferior Christ, the man--Jesus; but the other Christ
+must be adored--whose personality was evolved under the brooding of the
+Dove's wings.
+
+"Honor marriage; the Holy Spirit is feminine!"
+
+(_Hilarion has disappeared; and Anthony, carried along by the crowd,
+arrives in the presence of_--)
+
+THE CARPOCRATIANS
+
+(_reclining with women upon scarlet cushions._)
+
+"Before entering into the Only thou shalt pass through a series of
+conditions and of actions. To free thyself from the powers of darkness,
+thou must at once accomplish their works. The husband shall say to the
+wife: 'Have charity for thy brother'--and she will kiss thee."
+
+THE NICOLAITANS
+
+(_gathered about a mass of smoking meats_:)
+
+"This is a portion of the meat offered to idols;--partake of it!
+Apostasy is permissible when the heart is pure. Gorge thy flesh with
+all that it demands. Seek to exterminate it by dint of debauchery!
+Prounikos, the Mother of Heaven, wallowed in ignominies."
+
+THE MARCOSIANS
+
+(_wearing rings of gold, and glistening with precious balm and
+unguents_:)
+
+"Enter among us that thou mayst unite thyself to the Spirit! Enter
+among us that thou mayst quaff the draught of immortality!"
+
+(_And one of them shows him, behind a tapestry-hanging, the body of a
+man terminated by the head of an ass. This represents Sabaoth, father
+of the Devil. He spits upon the image in token of detestation._
+
+_Another shows him a very low bed, strewn with flowers, exclaiming_:)
+
+"The spiritual marriage is about to be consummated."
+
+(_A third, who holds a cup of glass, utters an invocation;--blood
+suddenly appears in the cup_:)
+
+"Ah! behold it! behold it!--the blood of Christ!"
+
+(_Anthony withdraws, but finds himself be-spattered by water splashed
+from a cistern._)
+
+THE HELVIDIANS
+
+(_are flinging themselves into it head foremost, muttering_:--)
+
+"The man regenerated by baptism is impeccable!"
+
+(_Then he passes by a great fire at which the Adamites are warming
+themselves--all completely naked in imitation of the purity of
+Paradise; and he stumbles over_)
+
+THE MESSALINES
+
+(_wallowing upon the pavement, half-slumbering, stupid_:)
+
+"Oh! crush us if thou wilt! we shall not move! Work is crime; all
+occupation is evil."
+
+(_Behind these, the abject_)
+
+PATERNIANS
+
+(_--men, women, and children lying pell mell upon a heap of filth, lift
+their hideous faces, wine-besmeared, and they cry aloud_:)
+
+"The inferior parts of the body, which were created by the Devil,
+belong to him! Let us eat, drink, and sin!"
+
+ÆTIUS. "Crimes are necessities beneath the notice of God!"
+
+(_But suddenly_--)
+
+A MAN (--_clad in a Carthaginian mantle, bounds into their midst,
+brandishing a scourge of thongs in his hand; and strikes violently and
+indiscriminately at all in his path_:)
+
+"Ah! imposters! simonists, heretics and demons!--vermin of the
+schools!--dregs of hell! Marcion, there, is a sailor of Sinopus
+excommunicated for incest;--Carpocrates was banished for being a
+magician; Ætius stole his concubine; Nicholas prostituted his wife;
+and this Manes, who calls himself the Buddha, and whose real name is
+Cubricus, was flayed alive with the point of a reed, so that his skin
+even now hangs at the gates of Ctesiphon!"
+
+ANTHONY (_recognizing Tertullian, rushes to join him_): "Master! help!
+help!"
+
+TERTULLIAN (_continuing_):
+
+"Break the images! veil the virgins! Pray, fast, weep and mortify
+yourselves! No philosophy! no books! After Jesus, science is useless!"
+
+(_All have fled away; and Anthony beholds, in lieu of Tertullian, a
+woman seated upon a bench of stone._
+
+_She sobs; leaning her head against a column; her hair is loose; her
+body, weakened by grief, is clad in a long brown simar. Then they find
+themselves face to face and alone, far from the crowd; and a silence,
+an extraordinary stillness falls--as in the woods when the winds are
+lulled, and the leaves of the trees suddenly cease to whisper._
+
+_This woman is still very beautiful, although faded, and pale as a
+sepulcher. They look at one another; and their eyes send to each other
+waves, as it were, of thoughts, bearing drift of a thousand ancient
+things, confused, mysterious. At last_--)
+
+PRISCILLA (_speaks_:)
+
+"I was in the last chamber of the baths; and the rumbling sounds of the
+street caused a sleep to fall upon me.
+
+"Suddenly I heard a clamour of voices. Men were shouting--'It is a
+magician!--it is the Devil!' And the crowd stopped before our house, in
+front of the Temple Æsculapius. I drew myself up with my hands to the
+little window.
+
+"Upon the peristyle of the temple, there stood a man who wore about his
+neck a collar of iron. He took burning coals out of a chafing-dish, and
+with them drew lines across his breast, the while crying out--'Jesus!
+Jesus!' The people shouted--'This is not lawful! let us stone him!'
+But he continued. Oh! those were unheard of marvels--things which
+transported men who beheld them! Flowers broad as suns circled before
+my eyes, and I heard in the spaces above me the vibrations of a golden
+harp. Day died. My hands loosened their grasp of the window-bars; my
+body fell back, and when he had led me away to his house...."
+
+ANTHONY. "But of whom art thou speaking?"
+
+PRISCILLA. "Why, of Montanus!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Montanus is dead!"
+
+PRISCILLA. "It is not true!"
+
+A VOICE. "No: Montanus is not dead!"
+
+(_Anthony turns; and sees upon the bench near him, on the opposite
+side, another woman sitting; she is fair, and even paler than the
+other; there are swellings under her eyes, as though she had wept a
+long time. She speaks without being questioned_:)
+
+MAXIMILLA. "We were returning from Tarsus by way of the mountains,
+when, at a turn in the road, we saw a man under a fig tree.
+
+"He cried from afar off: 'Stop! stop!' and rushed toward us, uttering
+words of abuse. The slaves ran up; he burst into a loud laugh. The
+horses reared; the molossi all barked.
+
+"He stood before us. The sweat streamed from his forehead; his mantle
+napped in the wind.
+
+"And calling us each by our names, he reproached us with the vanity
+of our work, the infamy of our bodies; and he shook his fist at the
+dromedaries because of the silver bells hanging below their mouths.
+
+"His fury now filled my very entrails with fear and yet there was a
+strange pleasure in it which fascinated me, intoxicated me!
+
+"First the slaves came. 'Master,' they said, 'our animals are weary.'
+Then the women said, 'We are frightened,' and the slaves departed. Then
+the children began to weep,--'We are hungry.' And as the women were not
+answered, they disappeared also from our view.
+
+"He still spoke. I felt some one near me. It was my husband; but I
+listened only to the other. My husband crawled to me upon his knees
+among the stones, and cried--'Dost thou abandon me,' and I replied:
+'Yes! go thy way!' that I might accompany Montanus."
+
+ANTHONY. "A eunuch!"
+
+PRISCILLA. "Ah! does that astound thee, vulgar soul! Yet Magdalen,
+Johanna, Martha and Susannah did not share the couch of the Saviour.
+Souls may know the delirium of embrace better than bodies. That he
+might keep Eustolia with impunity, the bishop Leontius mutilated
+himself--loving his love more than his virility. And then, it was
+no fault of mine. Sotas could not cure me; a spirit constrained me.
+It is cruel, nevertheless! But what matter? I am the last of the
+prophetesses; and after me the end of the world shall come."
+
+MAXIMILLA. "He showered his gifts upon me. Moreover, no one loves him
+as I, nor is any other so well beloved by him!"
+
+PRISCILLA. "Thou liest! I am the most beloved!"
+
+MAXIMILLA. "No: it is I!"
+
+(_They fight. Between their shoulders suddenly appears the head of a
+negro._)
+
+MONTANUS (_clad in a black mantle, clasped by two cross-bones_):
+
+"Peace, my doves! Incapable of terrestrial happiness, we have obtained
+the celestial plentitude of our union. After the age of the Father,
+the age of the Son; and I inaugurate the third, which is that of the
+Paraclete. His light descended upon me during those forty nights when
+the heavenly Jerusalem appeared shining in the firmament, above my
+house at Pepuzza.
+
+"Ah, how ye cry out with anguish when the thongs of the scourge
+lacerate! how your suffering bodies submit to the ardor of my spiritual
+discipline! how ye languish with irrealizable longing! So strong has
+that desire become that it has enabled you to behold the invisible
+world; and ye can now perceive souls even with the eyes of the body!"
+
+ANTHONY. (_Makes a gesture of astonishment._)
+
+TERTULLIAN (_who appears again, standing beside Montanus_):
+
+"Without doubt; for the soul has a body, and that which is bodiless has
+no existence."
+
+MONTANUS. "In order to render it yet more subtle, I have instituted
+many mortifications, three Lents a year, and prayers to be uttered
+nightly by the mind only, keeping the mouth closed, lest breathing
+might tarnish thought. It is necessary to abstain from second
+marriages, or rather from all marriage! The Angels themselves have
+sinned with women!"
+
+THE ARCHONTICS (_wearing cilices of hair_):
+
+"The Saviour said: 'I come to destroy the work of the Woman!'"
+
+THE TATIANITES (_wearing cilices of reed_):
+
+"She is the tree of evil. Our bodies are but garments of skin."
+
+(_And continuing to advance along the same side, Anthony meets_:--)
+
+THE VALESIANS (_extended upon the ground, with red wounds below their
+bellies, and blood saturating their tunics. They offer him a knife._)
+
+"Do as Origen did and as we have done! Is it the pain that thou
+fearest, coward? Is it the love of thy flesh that restrains thee,
+hypocrite?"
+
+(_And while he watches them writhing upon their backs, in a pool of
+blood_--)
+
+THE CAINITES (_wearing knotted vipers as fillets about their hair, pass
+by, vociferating in his ear_):--
+
+"Glory to Cain! Glory to Sodom! Glory be to Judas!
+
+"Cain made the race of the strong; Sodom terrified the earth by her
+punishment, and it was by Judas that God saved the world! Yes! by
+Judas: without him there would have been no death and no redemption!"
+
+(_They disappear beneath the horde of the_--)
+
+CIRCUMCELLIONES (_all clad in the skins of wolves, crowned with thorns,
+and armed with maces of iron_).
+
+"Crush the fruit! befoul the spring! drown the child! Pillage the rich
+who are happy--who cat their fill! Beat the poor who envy the ass
+his saddle-cloth, the dog his meal, the bird his nest,--and who is
+wretched at knowing that others are not as miserable as himself.
+
+"We, the Saints, poison, burn, massacre, that we may hasten the end of
+the world.
+
+"Salvation may be obtained through martyrdom only. We give ourselves
+martyrdom. We tear the skin from our heads with pincers; we expose our
+members to the plough; we cast ourselves into the mouths of furnaces!
+
+"Out upon baptism! out upon the Eucharist! out upon marriage! universal
+damnation!"
+
+(_Then throughout all the basilica there is a redoubling of fury._
+
+_The Audians shoot arrows against the Devil; the Collyridians throw
+blue cloths toward the roof; the Ascites prostrate themselves before
+a waterskin; the Marcionites baptise a dead man with oil. A woman,
+standing near Appelles, exhibits a round loaf within a bottle, in order
+the better to explain her idea. Another, standing in the midst of an
+assembly of Sampseans distributes, as a sacrament, the dust of her
+own sandals. Upon the rose-strewn bed of the Marcosians, two lovers
+embrace. The Circumcellionites slaughter one another; the Valesians
+utter the death-rattle; Bardesanes sings; Carpocras dances; Maximilla
+and Priscilla moan; and the false prophetess of Cappadocia, completely
+naked, leaning upon a lion, and brandishing three torches, shrieks the
+Terrible Invocation._
+
+_The columns of the temple sway to and fro like the trunks of trees in a
+tempest; the amulets suspended about the necks of the Heresiarchs seem
+to cross each other in lines of fire; the constellations in the chapels
+palpitate; and the walls recoil with the ebb and flow of the crowd, in
+which each head is a wave that leaps and roars._
+
+_Nevertheless, from the midst of the clamor arises the sound of a song,
+in which the name of Jesus is often repeated, accompanied by bursts of
+laughter._
+
+_The singers belong to the rabble of the people; they all keep time to
+the song by clapping their hands. In their midst stands_--)
+
+ARTUS (_in a deacon's vestments_):
+
+"The fools who declaim against me pretend to explain the absurd; and in
+order to confound them utterly, I have composed ditties so droll that
+they are learned by heart in all the mills, in the taverns and along
+the ports.
+
+"No! a thousand times no!--the Son is not coeternal with the Father,
+nor of the same substance! Otherwise he would not have said: 'Father,
+remove this chalice from me! Why dost thou call me good? God alone is
+good! I go to my God, to your God!'--and many other things testifying
+to his character of creature. The fact is further demonstrated for
+us by all his names:--lamb, shepherd, fountain, wisdom, son-of-man,
+prophet; the way, the corner-stone!"
+
+SABELLIUS. "I hold that both are identical."
+
+ARIUS. "The Council of Antioch has decided the contrary."
+
+ANTHONY. "Then what is the Word?... What was Jesus?"
+
+THE VALENTINIANS. "He was the husband of Acharamoth repentant!"
+
+THE SETHIANIANS. "He was Shem, the son of Noah!"
+
+THE THEODOTIANS. "He was Melchisedech!"
+
+THE MERINTHIANS. "He was only a man!"
+
+THE APOLLINARISTS. "He assumed the appearance of one! He simulated the
+Passion!"
+
+MARCEL OF ANCYRA. "He was a development of the Father!"
+
+POPE CALIXTUS. "Father and Son are but two modes of one God's
+manifestation!"
+
+METHODIUS. "He was first in Adam, then in man!"
+
+CERINTHUS. "And He will rise again!"
+
+VALENTINUS. "Impossible--his body being celestial!"
+
+PAUL OF SAMOSATA. "He became God _only_ from the time of his baptism!"
+
+HERMOGENES. "He dwells in the sun!"
+
+(_And all the Heresiarchs form a circle about Anthony, who weeps,
+covering his face with his hands._)
+
+A JEW (_with a red beard, and spots of leprosy upon his shin,
+approaches close to Anthony, and, with a hideous sneer, exclaims_):
+
+"His soul was the soul of Esau! He suffered from the Bellephorentian
+sickness. Was not his mother, the seller of perfumes, seduced by a
+Roman soldier, one Pantherus?.......................... [6]
+
+ANTHONY (_suddenly raising his head, looks at them a moment in silence;
+then advancing boldly upon them, exclaims_):
+
+"Doctors, magicians, bishops, and deacons, men and phantoms, away from
+me! begone! Ye are all lies!"
+
+THE HERESIARCHS. "We have martyrs more martyrs than thine, prayers
+that are more difficult, outbursts of love more sublime, ecstasies as
+prolonged as thine are."
+
+ANTHONY. "But ye have no revelation! no proofs!"
+
+(_They all at once brandish in the air their rolls of papyrus, tablets
+of wood, scrolls of leather, rolls of woven stuff bearing inscriptions;
+and elbowing; and pushing each other, they all shout to Anthony._)
+
+THE CERINTHIANS. "Behold the Gospel of the Hebrews!"
+
+THE MARCIONITES. "Behold the Gospel of the Lord!"
+
+THE MARCOSIANS. "The Gospel of Eve!"
+
+THE EUCRATITES. "The Gospel of Thomas!"
+
+THE CAINITES. "The Gospel of Judas!"
+
+BASILIDES. "The Treatise upon the Destiny of the Soul!"
+
+MANES. "The Prophecy of Barkouf!"
+
+(_Anthony struggles, breaks from them, escapes them; and in a shadowy
+corner perceives_--)
+
+THE AGED EBIONITES
+
+(_withered as mummies, their eyes dull and dim, their eyebrows white as
+frost._
+
+_In tremulous voices they exclaim_:--)
+
+"We have known him, we have seen him! We knew the Carpenter's Son! We
+were then the same age as he; we dwelt in the same street. He used to
+amuse himself by modelling little birds of mud; aided his father at his
+work without fear of the sharp tools, or selected for his mother the
+skeins of dyed wool. Then he made a voyage to Egypt, from whence he
+brought back wondrous secrets. We were at Jericho when he came to find
+the Eater of Locusts. They talked together in a low voice, so that no
+one could hear what was said. But it was from that time that his name
+began to be noised abroad in Galilee, and that men began to relate many
+fables regarding him."
+
+(_They reiterate, tremulously_:)
+
+"We knew him! we others, we knew him!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah, speak on, speak! What was his face like?"
+
+TERTULLIAN. "His face was wild and repulsive; forasmuch as he
+had burthened himself with all the crimes, all the woes, all the
+deformities of mankind."
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! no, no! I imagine, on the contrary, that his entire
+person must have been glorious with a beauty greater than the beauty of
+man!"
+
+EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. "There is indeed, at Paneades, propped up against
+the walls of a crumbling edifice surrounded by a wilderness of weeds
+and creeping plants, a certain statue of stone which, some say, was
+erected by the Woman healed of the issue of blood. But time has gnawed
+the face of the statue, and the rains have worn the inscription away."
+
+(_A woman steps forward from the group of the Carpocratians._)
+
+MARCELLINA. "I was once a deaconess at Rome, in a little church, where
+I used to exhibit to the faithful, the silver images, of Saint Paul,
+Homer, Pythagoras and Jesus Christ.
+
+"I have only kept that of Jesus."
+
+(_She half opens her mantle._)
+
+"Dost thou desire it?"
+
+A VOICE. "He reappears himself when we call upon him! It is the
+hour!--come!"
+
+(_And Anthony feels a brutal hand seize him by the arm, and drag him
+away._
+
+_He mounts a stairway in complete darkness; and after having ascended
+many steps, he finds himself before a door._
+
+_Then the one who is leading him--(is it Hilarion?--he does not
+know)--whispers in the ear of another_: "The Lord is about to
+come!"--_and they are admitted into a chamber, with a very low ceiling,
+and without furniture._
+
+_The first object which attracts his attention is a long blood-colored
+chrysalis, with a human head surrounded by rays, and the word_ Knouphus
+_inscribed all around it in Greek characters. It is placed upon the
+shaft of a column, which is in turn supported by a broad pedestal.
+Hanging upon the walls of the chamber are medallions of polished iron
+representing the heads of various animals:--the head of an ox, the head
+of a lion, the head of an eagle, the head of a dog, and the head of an
+ass--again!_
+
+[Illustration: ... a long blood-colored chrysalis]
+
+_Earthen lamps, suspended below these images, create a vacillating
+light. Through a hole in the wall, Anthony can see the moon shining
+far off upon the waves; he can even hear the feeble regular sound of
+lapping water; together with the heavy thud occasionally caused by the
+bumping of a ship's hull against the stones of the mole._
+
+_There are men crouching down, with their faces hidden by their
+mantles. From time to time they utter sounds resembling a smothered
+bark. There are women also, sleeping with their foreheads resting upon
+their arms, and their arms supported by their knees; they are so hidden
+by their garments as to resemble heaps of cloth piled up at intervals
+against the wall. Near them are half naked children, whose persons
+swarm with vermin. They watch with idiotic stare the burning of the
+lamps; and nothing is done: all are waiting for something._
+
+_They talk in undertones about family matters, or recommend to each
+other various remedies for their ailments. Some of them must embark
+at earliest daylight; the persecution is becoming too terrible to be
+endured. Nevertheless, the pagans are easily enough deceived_:--"The
+fools imagine that we are really adoring Knouphus!"
+
+_But one of the brethren, feeling himself suddenly inspired, takes his
+place before the column, where a basket has already been placed, filled
+with fennel and aristolochia. On the top of the basket is placed a
+loaf._)
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER
+
+(_unrolling a placard covered with designs representing cylinders
+blending with and fitting into one another, commences to pray_:)
+
+"The ray of the Word descended upon the darknesses; and there arose a
+mighty cry, like unto the voice of Light."
+
+ALL (_swaying their bodies in unison, respond_):
+
+"Kyrie eleison!"
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "Then was Man created by the infamous
+God of Israel, aided by those who are these (_pointing to the
+medallions_)--Astophaios, Oraios, Sabaoth, Adonai, Eloi, Iao!
+
+"And Man, hideous, feeble, formless and thoughtless, lay upon the slime
+of the earth."
+
+ALL (_in plaintive accents_):
+
+"Kyrie eleison!"
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "But Sophia, compassionating him, vivified him
+with a spark of her own soul.
+
+"Then God, beholding Man so beautiful, waxed wroth; and imprisoned him
+within His own kingdom, forbidding him to touch the Tree of Knowledge.
+
+"Again did the other succor him. She sent to him the Serpent, who, by
+many long subterfuges, made him disobey that law of hate.
+
+"And Man, having tasted knowledge, understood celestial things."
+
+ALL (_raising their voices_):
+
+"Kyrie Eleison!"
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "But Iabdalaoth through vengeance cast down man
+into the world of matter, and the Serpent with him."
+
+ALL (_in a very low tone_):
+
+"Kyrie Eleison!"
+
+(_Then all hold their peace, and there is silence._
+
+_The odors of the port mingle with the smoke of the lamps in the warm
+air. The lamp-wicks crepitate; their flames are about to go out, long
+mosquitoes flit in rapid circlings about them. And Anthony groans
+in an agony of anguish, as with the feeling that a monstrosity is
+floating about him, as with the fear of a crime that is about to be
+accomplished._
+
+_But_--)
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER (_stamping his heel upon the floor, snapping his
+fingers, tossing his head wildly, suddenly chants to a furious rhythm,
+with accompaniment of cymbals and a shrill flute_:--)
+
+"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!
+
+"O swift one, who runneth without feet, captor who seizeth without hand!
+
+"Sinuous as the rivers, orbicular as the sun, black, with spots of
+gold, like the firmament star-besprinkled! Like unto the intertwinings
+of the vine, and the circumvolutions of entrails!
+
+"Unengendered! eater of earth! immortally young! unfailing
+perspicacious! honored at Epidaurus! Kindly to man! thou who didst heal
+King Ptolemy, and the warriors, of Moses, and Glaucus, son of Minos!
+
+"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!"
+
+ALL (_repeat_):
+
+"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!"
+
+(_Nevertheless, nothing yet appears._)
+
+"Why? What aileth him?"
+
+(_And they concert together, devise means._
+
+_An old man presents a clod of turf as an offering. Then something
+upheaves within the basket. The mass of verdure shakes; the flowers
+fall, and the head of a python appears._
+
+[Illustration: ... the flowers fall and the head of a python
+appears]
+
+_It passes slowly around the edge of the loaf, like a circle moving
+around an immovable disk;--then it unfolds itself, lengthens out; it is
+enormous and of great weight. Lest it should touch the floor, the men
+uphold it against their breasts, the women support it upon their heads,
+the children hold it up at arms' length; and its tail, issuing through
+the hole in the wall, stretches away indefinitely to the bottom of the
+sea. Its coils double; they fill the chamber; they enclose Anthony._)
+
+THE FAITHFUL (_press their mouths against its skin, snatch from one
+another the loaf which it has bitten, and cry aloud_:--)
+
+"It is thou! it is thou!
+
+"First raised up by Moses, broken by Ezechias, re-established by the
+Messiah. He drank thee in the waters of baptism; but thou didst leave
+him in the Garden of Olives; and then indeed he felt his own weakness!
+
+"Writhing about the arms of the cross, and above his head, while
+casting thy slime upon the crown of thorns, thou didst behold him die!
+For thou art not Jesus, thou!--thou art the Word! thou art the Christ!"
+
+(_Anthony faints with horror, and falls prostrate in front of his hut
+upon the splinters of wood, where the torch that had slipped from his
+hand, is burning low._
+
+_The shock arouses him. Opening his eyes again, he perceives the Nile,
+brightly undulating under the moon, like a vast serpent winding over
+the sands; so that the hallucination returns upon him again; he has not
+left the company of the Ophites; they surround him, call him; he sees
+them carrying baggage, descending to the port. He embarks along with
+them._
+
+_An inappreciable time elapses._
+
+_Then the vaults of a prison environ him. Iron bars in front of him
+make black lines against a background of blue; and in the darkness
+beside him people are praying and weeping surrounded by others who
+exhort and console._
+
+[Illustration: ... and in the darkness beside him people are
+praying]
+
+_Without, there is a murmur like the deep humming of a vast crowd, and
+there is splendour as of a summer's day._
+
+_Shrill voices announce watermelons for sale, iced drinks, and cushions
+of woven grass to sit upon. From time to time there are bursts of
+applause. He hears the sound of footsteps above his head._
+
+_Suddenly a long roar is heard, mighty and cavernous as the roar of
+water in an aqueduct._
+
+_And he sees, directly opposite, behind the bars of another compartment
+across the arena a lion walking to and fro, then a line of sandals,
+bare legs, and purple fringes. Beyond are the vast circling wreaths
+of people, in symmetrical tiers, enlarging as they rise, from the
+lowest which hems in the arena to the uppermost above which masts
+rise to sustain a hyacinth-colored awning, suspended in air by ropes.
+Stairways radiating toward the centre, divide these huge circles of
+stone at regular intervals. The benches disappear under a host of
+spectators--knights, senators, soldiers, plebeians, vestals, and
+courtesans--in woollen hoods, in silken maniples, in fallow-colored
+tunics; together with aigrettes of precious stones, plumes of feathers,
+the fasces of lictors; and all this swarming multitude deafens and
+stupefies Anthony with its shoutings, its tumultuous fury, as of an
+enormous boiling vat. In the middle of the arena, a vase of incense
+smokes upon an altar._
+
+_Anthony thus knows that the people with him are Christians condemned
+to be thrown to the wild beasts. The men wear the red mantle of the
+pontiffs of Saturn; the women, the bandellettes of Ceres. Their friends
+divide among themselves shreds of their garments, and rings. To obtain
+access to the prison, they say, costs a great deal of money. But what
+matter! They will remain until it is all over._
+
+_Anthony notices among these consolers, a certain bald-headed man,
+in a black tunic: Anthony has seen that face somewhere before. The
+consoler discourses to them concerning the nothingness of this world,
+and the felicity of the Elect. Anthony feels within him a transport of
+celestial love; he longs for the opportunity to lay down his life for
+the Saviour--not knowing as yet whether he himself is to be numbered
+among the martyrs._
+
+_But all--except a certain Phrygian, with long hair, who stands with
+his arms uplifted--have a look of woe. One old man is sobbing upon a
+bench; a youth standing close by, with drooping head, abandons himself
+to a reverie of sorrow._
+
+THE OLD MAN _had refused to pay the customary contribution before the
+statue of Minerva, erected at the angle of the cross-roads; and he
+gazes at his companions with a look that signifies_:--)
+
+"Ye ought to have succored me! Communities can sometimes so arrange
+matters as to insure their being left in peace. Some among ye also
+procured those letters which falsely allege that one has sacrificed to
+idols."
+
+(_He asks aloud_:--)
+
+"Was it not Petrus of Alexandria who laid down the rule concerning what
+should be done by those who have yielded to torture?"
+
+(_Then, to himself_:--)
+
+"Ah! how cruel this at my age! My infirmities make me so weak!
+Nevertheless, I might easily have lived until the coming winter, or
+longer!"
+
+(_The memory of his little garden makes him sad, and he gazes toward
+the altar._)
+
+THE YOUNG MAN (_who disturbed the festival of Apollo by violence and
+blows, murmurs_:--)
+
+"Yet it would have been easy for me to have fled to the mountains!"
+
+(_One of the brothers answers_:--)
+
+"But the soldiers would have captured thee!"
+
+THE YOUNG MAN. "Oh! I would have done as Cyprian did--I would have
+returned, and the second time I would surely have had more force!"
+
+(_Then he thinks of the innumerable days that he might have lived, of
+all the joys that he might have known, but will never know; and he
+gazes toward the altar._
+
+_But_--)
+
+THE MAN IN THE BLACK TUNIC (_rushes to his side._)
+
+"What scandal! What! Thou! a victim of God's own choice! And all these
+women here who are looking at thee! Nay, think what thou art doing!
+Moreover, remember that God sometimes vouchsafes to perform a miracle.
+Pionius numbed and made powerless the hands of his executioners; the
+blood of Polycarp extinguished the fire of the stake."
+
+(_Then he turns to the Old Man_:--)
+
+"Father, father! it behooves thee to edify us by thy death! By longer
+delaying it, thou wouldst doubtless commit some evil action that would
+lose thee the fruit of all thy good works. Remember, also, that the
+power of God is infinite; and it may come to pass that all the people
+will be converted by thy example."
+
+(_And in the great den opposite, the lions stride back and forth,
+ceaselessly, with a rapid continuous motion. The largest suddenly looks
+at Anthony and roars, and a vapour issues from his jaws._
+
+_The women are huddled against the men._)
+
+THE CONSOLER (_goes from one to the other._)
+
+"What would ye say, what wouldst thou say if thou wert to be burned
+with red-hot irons, if thou wert to be torn asunder by horses, if thou
+hadst been condemned to have thy body smeared with honey, and thus
+exposed to be devoured by flies! As it is, thou wilt only suffer the
+death of a hunter surprised by a beast in the woods."
+
+(_Anthony would prefer all those things to death by the fangs of the
+horrible wild beasts; he fancies already that he feels their teeth and
+their claws, that he hears his bones cracking between their jaws._
+
+_A keeper enters the dungeon; the martyrs tremble._
+
+_Only one remains impassable, the Phrygian, who prays standing apart
+from the rest. He has burned three temples; and he advances with arms
+uplifted, mouth open, face turned toward heaven, seeing nothing around
+him, like a somnambulist._)
+
+THE CONSOLER (_shouts_). "Back! back! lest the spirit of Montanus might
+come upon you."
+
+ALL (_recoil from the Phrygian, and vociferate_)
+
+"Damnation to the Montanist!"
+
+(_They insult him, spit upon him, excite each other to beat him._
+
+_The rearing lions bite each other's manes_;)
+
+THE PEOPLE "To the beasts with them, to the beasts."
+
+_The Martyrs burst into sobs, and embrace each other passionately. A
+cup of narcotic wine is offered them. It is passed from hand to hand,
+quickly._
+
+_Another keeper, standing at the door of the den, awaits the signal.
+The den opens; a lion comes out._
+
+_He crosses the arena with great oblique strides. Other lions follow in
+file after him; then a bear, three panthers, and some leopards. They
+scatter through the arena like a flock in a meadow._
+
+_The crack of a whip resounds. The Christians stagger forward; and
+their brethren push them, that it may be over the sooner._
+
+_Anthony closes his eyes._
+
+_He opens them again. But darkness envelopes him._
+
+_Soon the darkness brightens; and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated
+with knolls, such as might be seen about abandoned quarries._
+
+[Illustration: ... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated
+with knolls]
+
+_Here and there a tuft of shrubbery rises among the slabs of stone,
+level with the soil; and there are white figures, vaguer than clouds,
+bending over the slabs._
+
+_Others approach, softly, silently. Eyes gleam through the slits of
+long veils. By the easy indifference of their walk, and the perfumes
+exhaled from their garments, Anthony knows they are patrician women.
+There are men also, but of inferior condition; for their faces are at
+once simple-looking and coarse._
+
+(_One of the Women, taking a long breath_:)
+
+"Ah! how good the cool air of night is, among the sepulchers! I am so
+weary of the softness of beds, the turmoil of days, the heavy heat of
+the sun!"
+
+(_Her maid-servant takes from a canvas bag, a torch which she ignites.
+The faithful light other torches by it, and plant them upon the tombs._)
+
+A WOMAN (_panting_).
+
+"I am here at last! Oh how wearisome to be the wife of an idolator!"
+
+ANOTHER. "These visits to the prisons, interviews with our brethren,
+are all matters of suspicion to our husbands! And we must even hide
+ourselves in order to make the sign of the cross; they would take it
+for a magical conjuration!"
+
+ANOTHER. "With my husband it was a quarrel every day. I would not
+submit myself to his brutal exactions; therefore he has had me
+prosecuted as a Christian."
+
+ANOTHER. "Do you remember Lucius, that young man who was so beautiful,
+who was dragged like Hector, with his heels attached to a chariot,
+from the Esquiline Gate to the mountains of Tibur?--and how his blood
+spattered the bushes on either side of the road? I gathered up the
+drops of his blood. Behold it!"
+
+(_She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses, and
+flings herself down upon the slabs, crying aloud_:--)
+
+[Illustration: She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers
+it with kisses ...]
+
+"Ah! my friend! my friend!"
+
+A MAN. "It is just three years to-day since Domitilla died. They stoned
+her at the further end of the Grove of Proserpine. I gathered her
+bones, which shone like glowworms in the grass. The earth how covers
+them."
+
+(_He casts himself down upon a tomb._)
+
+"O my betrothed! my betrothed!"
+
+(_And all the others scattered over the plain_:--)
+
+"O my sister! O my brother! O my daughter! O my mother!"
+
+(_Some kneel, covering their faces with their hands; others lie down
+upon the ground with their arms extended; and the sobs they smother
+shake their breasts with such violence as though their hearts were
+breaking with grief. Sometimes they look up to heaven, exclaiming_:--)
+
+"Have mercy upon her soul, O my God! She languishes in the sojourn of
+Shades; vouchsafe to admit her to thy Resurrection, that she may enjoy
+Thy Light!"
+
+(_Or, with eyes fixed upon the gravestones, they murmur to the dead_:--)
+
+"Be at peace, beloved! and suffer not! I have brought thee wine and
+meats!"
+
+A WIDOW. "Here is pultis, made by my own hands, as he used to like it,
+with plenty of eggs and a double measure of flour! We are going to eat
+it together as in other days, are we not?"
+
+(_She lifts a little piece to her lips, and suddenly bursts into an
+extravagant and frenzied laugh._
+
+_The others also nibble a little bit as she does and drink a mouthful
+of wine._
+
+_They recount to each other the stories of their martyrs; grief becomes
+exalted! libations redouble. Their tear-swimming eyes are fixed upon
+each other's faces. They stammer with intoxication and grief; gradually
+hands touch hands, lips join themselves to lips, and they seek each
+other upon the tombs, between the cups and the torches._
+
+_The sky begins to whiten. The fog makes damp their garments; and,
+without appearing even to know one another, they depart by different
+ways and seek their homes._
+
+_The sun shines; the weeds and the grass have grown higher; the face of
+the plain is changed._
+
+_And Anthony, looking between tall bamboos, sees distinctly a forest of
+columns, of bluish-grey color. These are tree-trunks, all originating
+from one vast trunk. From each branch of the colossal tree descend
+other branches which may bury themselves in the soil; and the aspect of
+all these horizontal and perpendicular lines, indefinitely multiplied,
+would closely resemble a monstrous timber-work, were it not that they
+have small figs[7] growing upon them here and there, and a blackish
+foliage, like that of the sycamore._
+
+_He perceives in the forkings of their branches, hanging bunches of
+yellow flowers, violet flowers also, and ferns that resemble the plumes
+of splendid birds._
+
+_Under the lowest branches the horns of a bubalus gleam at intervals,
+and the bright eyes of antelopes are visible; there are hosts of
+parrots; there are butterflies flittering hither and thither; lizards
+lazily drag themselves up or down; flies buzz and hum; and in the midst
+of the silence, a sound is audible as of the palpitation of a deep and
+mighty life._
+
+_Seated upon a sort of pyre at the entrance of the wood is a strange
+being--a man--besmeared with cow-dung, completely naked, more withered
+than a mummy; his articulations form knots at the termination of bones
+that resemble sticks. He has bunches of shells suspended from his ears;
+his face is very long, and his nose like a vulture's beak. His left arm
+remains motionlessly erect in air, anchylosed, rigid as a stake; and he
+has been seated here so long that birds have made themselves a nest in
+his long hair._
+
+_At the four corners of his wooden pyre flame four fires. The sun is
+directly in front of him. He gazes steadily at it with widely-opened
+eyes; and, then without looking at Anthony, asks him_:--)
+
+"Brahmin from the shores of the Nile, what hast thou to say regarding
+these things?"
+
+(_Flames suddenly burst out on all sides of him, through the intervals
+between the logs of the pyre; and_--)
+
+THE GYMNOSOPHIST (_continues_).
+
+"Lo! I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I dwelt in
+the tree behind me."
+
+[Illustration: I have buried myself in solitude, like the
+rhinoceros. I dwelt in the tree behind me.]
+
+(_The vast fig-tree, indeed, shows in one of its groves, a natural
+excavation about the size of a man._)
+
+"And I nourished me with flowers and fruits, observing the precepts so
+rigidly that not even a dog ever beheld me eat.
+
+"Inasmuch as existence originates from corruption, corruption from
+desire, desire from sensation, sensation from contact, I have ever
+avoided all action, all contact, and perpetually--motionless as the
+stela of a tomb, exhaling my breath from my two nostrils, fixing my
+eyes upon my nose, and contemplating the ether in my mind, the world in
+my members, the moon in my heart--I dreamed of the essence of the great
+Soul whence continually escape the principles of life, even as sparks
+escape from fire.
+
+"Thus at last I found the supreme Soul in all beings, and all beings
+in the supreme Soul; and I have been able to make mine own soul all my
+senses.
+
+"I receive knowledge directly from heaven, like the bird Tchataka, who
+quenches his thirst from falling rain only.
+
+"Even by so much as things are known to me, things no longer exist.
+
+"For me now there is no more hope, no more anguish, there is neither
+happiness nor virtue, nor day nor night, nor Thou nor I--absolutely
+nothing!
+
+"My awful austerities have made me superior to the Powers. A single
+contraction of my thought would suffice to kill a hundred sons of
+kings, to dethrone gods, to overturn the world."
+
+(_He utters all these things in a monotonous voice._
+
+_The surrounding leaves shrivel up. Fleeing rats rush over the ground._
+
+_He slowly turns his eyes downward toward the rising flames, and then
+continues_:--)
+
+"I have loathed Form, I have loathed Perception, I have loathed even
+Knowledge itself, for the thought does not survive the transitory fact
+which caused it; and mind, like all else, is only an illusion.
+
+"All that is engendered will perish; all that is dead must live again;
+the beings that have even now disappeared shall sojourn again in wombs
+as yet unformed, and shall again return to earth to serve in woe other
+creatures.
+
+"But inasmuch as I have rolled through the revolution of an indefinite
+multitude of existences, under the envelopes of gods, of men, and of
+animals, I renounce further wanderings; I will endure this weariness
+no more! I abandon the filthy hostelry of this body of mine, built
+with flesh, reddened with blood, covered with a hideous skin, full of
+uncleanliness; and, for my recompense, I go at last to slumber in the
+deepest deeps of the Absolute--in Annihilation."
+
+(_The flames rise to his chest, then envelope him. His head rises
+through them as through a hole in the wall. His cavernous eyes still
+remain icicle open, gazing._)
+
+ANTHONY (_rises_).
+
+(_The torch, which had fallen to the ground, has ignited the splinters
+of wood; and the flames have singed his beard._
+
+_With a loud cry, Anthony tramples the fire out; and, when nothing
+remains but ashes, he exclaims_:--)
+
+"Where can Hilarion be? He was here a moment ago. I saw him!
+
+"What! No; it is impossible; I must have been mistaken!
+
+"Yet why?... Perhaps my cabin, these stones, this sand, have no real
+existence. I am becoming mad! Let me be calm! Where was I? What was it
+that happened?
+
+"Ah! the gymnosophist!... Such a death is frequent among the sages of
+India. Kalanos burned himself before Alexander; another did likewise
+in the time of Augustus. What hatred of life men must have to do thus!
+Unless, indeed, they are impelled by pride alone?... Yet in any event
+they have the intrepidity of martyrs.... As for the latter, I can now
+well believe what has been told me regarding the debauchery they cause.
+
+"And before that? Yes: I remember now! the host of the Heresiarchs!
+What outcries! What eyes! Yet why so much rebellion of the flesh, so
+much dissoluteness, so many aberrations of the intellect.
+
+"They claim, nevertheless, to seek God through all those ways! What
+right have I to curse them--I, who stumble so often in mine own path?
+I was perhaps about to learn more of them at the moment when they
+disappeared. Too rapid was the whirl; I had no time to answer. Now I
+feel as though there were more space, more light in my understanding. I
+am calm. I even feel myself able to.... What is this? I thought I had
+put out the fire!"
+
+(_A flame flits among the rocks; and soon there comes the sound of
+a voice--broken, convulsed as by sobs--from afar off, among the
+mountains._)
+
+"Can it be the cry of a hyena, or the lamentation of some traveler that
+has lost his way?"
+
+(_Anthony listens. The flame draws nearer._
+
+_And he beholds a weeping woman approach, leaning upon the shoulder of
+a white-bearded man._
+
+_She is covered with a purple robe in rags. He is bareheaded like lier,
+wears a tunic of the same color, and carries in his hands a brazen
+vase, whence arises a thin blue flame._
+
+_Anthony feels a fear come upon him, and wishes to know who this woman
+may be._)
+
+THE STRANGER SIMON. "It is a young girl, a poor child that I lead about
+with me everywhere."
+
+(_He uplifts the brazen vase._
+
+_Anthony contemplates the girl, by the light of its vacillating flame._
+
+_There are marks of bites upon her face, traces of blows upon her arms;
+her dishevelled hair entangles itself in the rents of her rags; her
+eyes appear to be insensible to light._)
+
+SIMON. "Sometimes she remains thus for a long, long time without
+speaking; then all at once she revives, and discourses of marvellous
+things."
+
+ANTHONY. "In truth?"
+
+SIMON. "Ennoia; Ennoia! Ennoia!--tell us what thou hast to say!"
+
+(_She rolls her eyes like one awaking from a dream, slowly passes her
+fingers over her brows, and in a mournful voice, speaks_:--)
+
+Helena[8] (_Ennoia_).
+
+[Illustration: Helena - Ennoia]
+
+"I remember a distant land, of the color of emerald. Only one tree
+grows there.
+
+(_Anthony starts_).
+
+"Upon each of its tiers of broad-extending arms, a pair of Spirits
+dwell in air. All about them the branches intercross, like the veins
+of a body; and they watch the eternal Life circulating, from the roots
+deep plunging into darkness even to the leafy summit that rises higher
+than the sun. I, dwelling upon the second branch, illuminated the
+nights of Summer with my face."
+
+ANTHONY, (_tapping his own forehead_:--)
+
+"Ah! ah! I comprehend! her head!..."
+
+SIMON (_placing his finger to his lips_:--)
+
+"Hush!"
+
+HELENA. "The sail remained well filled by the wind; the keel cleft the
+foam. He said to me: 'What though I afflict my country, though I lose
+my kingdom! Thou wilt belong to me, in my house!'
+
+"How sweet was the lofty chamber of his palace! Lying upon the ivory
+bed, he caressed my long hair, singing amorously the while.
+
+"Even at the close of the day I beheld the two camps, the watchfires
+being lighted, Ulysses at the entrance of his tent, armed Achilles
+driving a chariot along the sea-beach."
+
+ANTHONY. "Why! she is utterly mad! How came this to pass?..."
+
+SIMON. "Hush! hush!"
+
+HELENA. "They anointed me with unguents, and sold me to the people that
+I might amuse them.
+
+"One evening I was standing with the sistrum in my hand, making music
+for some Greek sailors who were dancing. The rain was falling upon the
+roof of the tavern like a cataract, and the cups of warm wine were
+smoking.
+
+"A man suddenly entered, although the door was not opened to let him
+pass."
+
+SIMON. "It was I! I found thee again!
+
+"Behold her, Anthony, she whom they call Sigeh, Ennoia, Barbelo,
+Prounikos! The Spirits governing the world were jealous of her; and
+they imprisoned her within the body of a woman.
+
+"She was that Helen of Troy, whose memory was cursed by the poet
+Stesichorus. She was Lucretia, the patrician woman violated by a king.
+She was Delilah, by whom Samson's locks were shorn.... She has loved
+adultery, idolatry, lying and foolishness. She has prostituted herself
+to all nations. She has sung at the angles of all cross-roads. She has
+kissed the faces of all men.
+
+"At Tyre, she, the Syrian, was the mistress of robbers. She caroused
+with them during the nights; and she concealed assassins amidst the
+vermin of her tepid bed."
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! what is this to me?..."
+
+SIMON (_with a furious look_:--)
+
+"I tell thee that I have redeemed her, and re-established her in her
+former splendor; insomuch that Caius Cæsar Caligula became enamoured of
+her, desiring to sleep with the Moon!"
+
+ANTHONY. "What then?..."
+
+SIMON. "Why this, that she herself is the Moon! Has not Pope Clement
+written how she was imprisoned in a tower? Three hundred persons
+surrounded the tower to watch it; and the moon was seen at each of the
+loop-holes at the same time, although there is not more than one moon
+in the world, nor more than one Ennoia!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes ... it seems to me that I remember...."
+
+(_He falls into a reverie._)
+
+SIMON. "Innocent as the Christ who died for men, so did she devote
+herself for women. For the impotence of Jehovah is proven by the
+transgression of Adama, and we must shake off the yoke of the old law,
+which is antipathetic to the order of things.[9]
+
+"I have preached the revival in Ephraim and in Issachar by the torrent
+of Bizor, beyond the Lake of Houleh, in the valley of Maggedo, further
+than the mountains, at Bostra and at Damascus. Let all come to me who
+are covered with wine, who are covered with filth, who are covered with
+blood! and I shall take away their uncleanliness with the Holy Spirit,
+called Minerva by the Greeks. She is Minerva! she is the Holy Spirit! I
+am Jupiter, Apollo, the Christ, the Paraclete, the great might of God,
+incarnated in the person of Simon!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! it is thou!... so it is thou! But I know thy crimes!
+
+"Thou wast born at Gittoi near Samaria, Dositheas, thy first master,
+drove thee from him. Thou didst execrate Saint Paul because he
+converted one of thy wives; and, vanquished by Saint Peter, in thy rage
+and terror thou didst cast into the waves the bag which contained thy
+artifices!"
+
+SIMON. "Dost thou desire them?"
+
+(_Anthony looks at him, and an interior voice whispers hi his
+heart:--"Why not?"_)
+
+SIMON (_continues_).
+
+"He who knows the forces of Nature and the essence of Spirits must be
+able to perform miracles. It has been the dream of all sages; it is the
+desire which even now gnaws thee!--confess it!"
+
+"In the sight of the multitude of the Romans, I flew in the air so
+high that none could behold me move. Nero ordered that I should be
+decapitated; but it was the head of a sheep which fell upon the ground
+in lieu of mine. At last they buried me alive; but I rose again upon
+the third day. The proof is that thou dost behold me before thee!"
+
+(_He presents his hands to Anthony to smell. They have the stench of
+corpse-flesh. Anthony recoils with loathing._)
+
+"I can make serpents of bronze writhe; I can make marble statues
+laugh; I can make dogs speak. I will show thee vast quantities of gold;
+I will reestablish kings; thou shalt see nations prostrate themselves
+in adoration before me! I can walk upon the clouds and upon the waves,
+I can pass through mountains, I can make myself appear as a youth, as
+an old man, as a tiger, or as an ant; I can assume thy features; I can
+give thee mine; I can make the thunder follow after me. Dost hear it?"
+
+(_The thunder rumbles; flashes of lightning succeed._)
+
+"It is the voice of the Most High; for 'the Lord thy God is a fire;'
+and all creations are accomplished by sparks from the fire-centre of
+all things.
+
+Thou shalt even now receive the baptism of it--that second baptism
+announced by Jesus, which fell upon the apostles on a day of tempest
+when the windows were open!"
+
+(_And stirring up the flame with his hand, slowly, as though preparing
+to sprinkle Anthony with it, he continues_:--)
+
+"Mother of mercies, thou who discoverest all secrets, in order that we
+may find rest in the eighth mansion...."
+
+ANTHONY (_cries out_:--)
+
+"Oh! that I had only some holy water!..."
+
+(_The flame goes out, producing much smoke._
+
+_Ennoia and Simon have disappeared._
+
+_An exceedingly cold, opaque and f[oe]tid mist fills the atmosphere._)
+
+ANTHONY (_groping with his hands like a blind man_:--)
+
+"Where am I?... I fear lest I fall into the abyss! And the cross,
+surely, is too far from me. Ah! what a night! what a terrible night!"
+
+(_The mist is parted by a gust of wind; and Anthony sees two men
+covered with long white tunics._
+
+_The first is of lofty stature, with a gentle face, and a grave mien.
+His blond hair, parted like that of Christ, falls upon his shoulders.
+He has cast aside a wand that he had been holding in his hand; his
+companion takes it up, making a reverence after the fashion of the
+Orientals._
+
+_The latter is small of stature, thick set, flat-nosed; his neck and
+shoulders expresses good natured simplicity._
+
+_Both are barefooted, bareheaded, and dusty, like persons who have made
+a long journey._)
+
+ANTHONY (_starting up_:--)
+
+"What do ye seek? Speak!... Begone from here!"
+
+DAMIS (_who is a little man_).
+
+"Nay! nay! be not angered, good hermit. As for that I seek, I know not
+myself what it is! Here is the Master!"
+
+(_He sits down. The other stranger remains standing. Silence._)
+
+ANTHONY (_asks_).
+
+"Then ye come?..."
+
+DAMIS. "Oh! from afar off--very far off!"
+
+ANTHONY. "And ye go?..."
+
+DAMIS (_pointing to the other_)
+
+"Whithersoever he shall desire!"
+
+ANTHONY. "But who may he be?"
+
+DAMIS. "Look well upon him!"
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_).
+
+"He looks like a saint! If I could only dare...."
+
+(_The mist is all gone. The night is very clear. The moon shines._)
+
+DAMIS. "Of what art thou dreaming, that thou dost not speak?"
+
+ANTHONY. "I was thinking.... Oh! nothing!"
+
+DAMIS (_approaches Apollonius, and walks all round him several times,
+bending himself as he walks, never raising his head_:--)
+
+"Master, here is a Galilean hermit who desires to know the beginnings
+of wisdom."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Let him approach!" (_Anthony hesitates._)
+
+DAMIS. "Approach!"
+
+APOLLONIUS (_in a voice of thunder_:--)
+
+"Approach! Thou wouldst know who I am, what I have done, and what I
+think,--is it not so, child?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Always supposing that these things can contribute to the
+salvation of my soul."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Rejoice! I am about to inform thee of them!"
+
+DAMIS (_in an undertone, to Anthony_:--)
+
+"Is it possible? He must surely have at the first glance discerned in
+thee extraordinary aptitude for philosophy. I shall also strive to
+profit by his instruction."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "First of all, I shall tell thee of the long course which
+I have followed in order to obtain the doctrine; and if thou canst
+discover in all my life one evil action, thou shalt bid me pause, for
+he who hath erred in his actions may well give scandal by his words."
+
+DAMIS (_to Anthony_).
+
+"How just a man? Is he not?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Indeed I believe him to be sincere."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Upon the night of my birth, my mother imagined that
+she was gathering flowers by the shore of a great lake. A flash of
+lightning appeared; and she brought me into the world to the music of
+the voices of swans singing to her in her dream.
+
+"Until I had reached the age of fifteen I was plunged thrice a day into
+the fountain, Asbadeus, whose waters make perjurers hydropical; and my
+body was rubbed with the leaves of the onyza, that I might be chaste.
+
+"A Palmyrian princess came one evening to seek me, offering me
+treasures that she knew to be in the tombs. A hierodule of the temple
+of Diana, slew herself in despair with the sacrificial knife; and the
+governor of Cilicia, finding all his promises of no avail, cried out in
+the presence of my family that he would cause my death; but it was he
+that died only three days after, assassinated by the Romans."
+
+DAMIS (_nudging Anthony with his elbow_).
+
+"Eh? did I not tell thee? What a man!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "For the space of four successive years I maintained the
+unbroken silence of the Pythagoreans. The most sudden and unexpected
+pain never extorted a sigh from me; and when I used to enter the
+theatre, all drew away from me, as from a phantom."
+
+DAMIS. "Wouldst thou have done so much?--thou?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "After the period of my trial had been accomplished, I
+undertook to instruct the priests regarding the tradition they had
+lost."
+
+ANTHONY. "What tradition?"
+
+DAMIS. "Interrupt him not! Be silent!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I have conversed with the Samaneans of the Ganges, with
+the astrologers of Chaldea, with the magi of Babylon, with the Gaulish
+Druids, with the priests of the negroes! I have ascended the fourteen
+Olympii; I have sounded the Scythian lakes; I have measured the breadth
+of the Desert!"
+
+DAMIS. "It is all true! I was with him the while!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "But first I had visited the Hyrcanian Sea; I made the tour
+of it; and descending by way of the country of the Baraomati, where
+Bucephalus is buried, I approached the city of Nineveh. At the gates of
+the city, a man drew near me...."
+
+DAMIS. "I--even I, good master! I loved thee from the first. Thou wert
+gentler than a girl and more beautiful than a god!"
+
+APOLLONIUS (_without hearing him_).
+
+"He asked me to accompany him, that he might serve as interpreter."
+
+DAMIS. "But thou didst reply that all languages were familiar to thee,
+and that thou couldst divine all thoughts. Then I kissed the hem of thy
+mantle, and proceeded to walk behind thee."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "After Ctesiphon, we entered upon the territory of Babylon."
+
+DAMIS. "And the Satrap cried aloud on beholding a man so pale."
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_).
+
+"What signifies this?..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "The king received me standing, near a throne of silver,
+in a hall constellated with stars; from the cupola hung suspended by
+invisible threads four great birds of gold, with wings extended."
+
+ANTHONY (_dreamily_).
+
+"Can there be such things in the world?"
+
+DAMIS. "Ah! that is a city! that Babylon! everybody there is rich! The
+houses, which are painted blue, have doors of bronze, and flights of
+steps descending to the river."
+
+(_Drawing lines upon the ground, with his stick_:)
+
+"Like that, seest thou? And then there are temples, there are squares,
+there are baths, there are aqueducts! The palaces are roofed with red
+brass; and the interior ... ah! if thou only knewest!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Upon the north wall rises a tower which supports a second,
+a third, a fourth, a fifth, and there are also three others! The eighth
+is a chapel containing a bed. No one enters it save the woman chosen by
+the priests for the God Belus. I was lodged there by order of the King
+of Babylon."
+
+DAMIS. "As for me, they hardly deigned to give me any attention! So I
+walked through the streets all by myself. I informed myself regarding
+the customs of the people; I visited the workshops; I examined the
+great machines that carry water to the gardens. But I soon wearied of
+being separated from the Master."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At last we left Babylon; and as we travelled by the light
+of the moon, we suddenly beheld an Empusa."
+
+DAMIS. "Aye, indeed! She leaped upon her iron hoof; she brayed like an
+ass; she galloped among the rocks. He shouted imprecations at her; she
+disappeared."
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_).
+
+"What can be their motive?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At Taxilla, the capital of five thousand fortresses,
+Phraortes, King of the Ganges, showed us his guard of black men, whose
+stature was five cubits, and under a pavilion of green brocade in his
+gardens, an enormous elephant, which the queens amused themselves by
+perfuming. It was the elephant of Porus which had taken flight after
+the death of Alexander."
+
+DAMIS. "And which had been found again in a forest."
+
+ANTHONY. "Their speech is superabundant, like that of drunken men!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Phraortes seated us at his own table."
+
+DAMIS. "How strange a country that was! During their drinking
+carousels, the lords used to amuse-themselves by shooting arrows under
+the feet of a dancing child. But I do not approve...."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "When I was ready to depart, the king gave me a parasol,
+and he said to me: 'I have a stud of white camels upon the Indus. When
+thou shalt have no further use for them, blow in their ears. They will
+come back.'
+
+"We descended along the river, marching at night by the light of the
+fire-flies, which glimmered among the bamboos. The slave whistled an
+air to drive away the serpents; and our camels bent down in passing
+below the branches of the trees, as if passing under low gates.
+
+"One day a black child, who held a golden caduceus in his hand,
+conducted us to the College of the Sages. Iarchas, their chief, spoke
+to me of my ancestors, told me of all my thoughts, of all my actions,
+of all my existences. In former time he had been the River Indus; and
+he reminded me that I had once been a boatman upon the Nile, in the
+time of King Sesostris."
+
+DAMIS. "As for me, they told me nothing; so that I know not who or what
+I have been."
+
+ANTHONY. "They have a vague look, like shadows!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Upon the shores of the sea we met with the milk-gorged
+Cynocephali, who were returning from their expedition to the Island
+Taprobana. The tepid waves rolled blond pearls to our feet. The amber
+crackled beneath our steps. Whale-skeletons were whitening in the
+crevasses of the cliffs. At last the land became narrow as a sandal;
+and after casting drops of ocean water toward the sun, we turned to the
+right to return.
+
+"So we returned through the Region of Aromatics, by way of the country
+of the Gangarides, the promontory of Comaria, the country of the
+Sachalites, of the Adramites and of the Homerites; then, across the
+Cassanian mountains, the Red Sea, and the Island Topazos, we penetrated
+into Ethiopia through the country of the Pygmies."
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_).
+
+"How vast the world is!"
+
+DAMIS. "And after we had returned home, we found that all those whom we
+used to know, were dead."
+
+(_Anthony lowers his head. Silence._)
+
+APOLLONIUS (_continues_).
+
+"Then men began to talk of me the world over.
+
+"The plague was ravaging Ephesus; I made them stone an old mendicant
+there."
+
+DAMIS. "And forthwith the plague departed."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! Does he drive away pestilence?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At Cnidos, I cured the man that had become enamored of
+Venus."
+
+DAMIS. "Aye! a fool who had even vowed to espouse her! To love a woman
+is at least comprehensible; but to love a statue--what madness! The
+Master placed his hand upon the young man's heart; and the fire of that
+love was at once extinguished."
+
+ANTHONY. "How! does he also cast out devils?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At Tarentum they were carrying the dead body of a young
+girl to the funeral pyre."
+
+DAMIS. "The Master touched her lips; and she arose and called her
+mother."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! he raises the dead!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I predicted to Vespasian his accession to power."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! he foretells the future!"
+
+DAMIS. "At Corinth there was a ..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "It was when I was at table with him, at the waters of
+Baia ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Excuse me, strangers--it is very late ..."
+
+DAMIS. "At Corinth there was a young man called Menippus ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "No! no!--go ye away!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "A dog came in, bearing a severed hand in his mouth."
+
+DAMIS. "One evening, in one of the suburbs, he met a woman."
+
+ANTHONY. "Do ye not hear me? Begone!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "He wandered in a bewildered way around the couches ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Enough!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "They sought to drive him out."
+
+DAMIS. "So Menippus went with her to her house; they loved one
+another."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "And gently beating the mosaic pavement with his tail, he
+laid the severed hand upon the knees of Flavius."
+
+DAMIS. "But next morning, during the lessons in the school, Menippus
+was pale."
+
+ANTHONY (_starting up in anger_).
+
+"Still continuing! Ah! then let them continue till they be weary,
+inasmuch as there is no ..."
+
+DAMIS. "The Master said to him: 'O beautiful youth, thou dost caress
+a serpent; by a serpent thou art caressed! And when shall be the
+nuptials?' We all went to the wedding."
+
+ANTHONY. "Assuredly I am doing wrong, to hearken to such a story!"
+
+DAMIS. "Servants were hurrying to and fro in the vestibule; doors were
+opening; nevertheless there was no sound made either by the fall of
+the footsteps nor the closing of the doors. The Master placed himself
+beside Menippus. And the bride forthwith became angered against the
+philosophers. But the vessels of gold, the cupbearers, the cooks, the
+panthers disappeared; the roof receded and vanished into air; the walls
+crumbled down; and Apollonius stood alone with the woman at his feet,
+all in tears. She was a vampire who satisfied the beautiful young men
+in order to devour their flesh, for nothing is more desirable for such
+phantoms than the blood of amorous youths."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "If thou shouldst desire to learn the art ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "I do not wish to learn anything!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "The same evening that we arrived at the gates of Rome ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! yes!--speak to me rather of the City of Popes!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "A drunken man accosted us, who was singing in a low voice.
+The song was an epithalamium of Nero; and he had the power to cause
+the death of whosoever should hear it with indifference. In a box upon
+his shoulders he carried a string taken from the Emperor's cithara. I
+shrugged my shoulders. He flung mud in our faces. Then I unfastened my
+girdle and placed it in this hand."
+
+DAMIS. "In sooth, thou wert most imprudent!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "During the night the Emperor summoned me to his house. He
+was playing at osselets with Sporus, supporting his left arm upon a
+table of agate. He turned and, knitting his brows, demanded: 'How comes
+it that thou dost not fear me?' 'Because,' I replied, 'the God who made
+thee terrible, also made me intrepid."
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_).
+
+"There is something inexplicable that terrifies me!"
+
+(_Silence._)
+
+DAMIS (_breaking the silence with his shrill voice_).
+
+"Moreover, all Asia can tell thee ..."
+
+ANTHONY (_starting up_).
+
+"I am ill! let me be!"
+
+DAMIS. "But listen! At Ephesus, he beheld them killing Domitian, who
+was at Rome."
+
+ANTHONY (_with a forced laugh_). "Is it possible?"
+
+DAMIS. "Yes: at the theatre at noon-day, the fourteenth of the Kalenda
+of October, he suddenly cried out: 'Cæsar is being murdered!' and
+from time to time he would continue to ejaculate: 'He rolls upon the
+pavement ... Oh! how he struggles ... He rises ... He tries to flee
+... The doors are fastened ... Ah! it is all over! He is dead!' And in
+fact Titus Flavius Domitianus was assassinated upon that very day, as
+thou knowest."
+
+ANTHONY. "Without the aid of the Devil ... certainly ..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "He had purposed putting me to death, that same Domitian!
+Damis had taken flight according to my order, and I remained alone in
+my prison."
+
+DAMIS. "A terrible hardihood on thy part, it must be confessed!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "About the fifth hour, the soldiers led me before the
+tribunal. I had my harangue all ready hidden beneath my mantle."
+
+DAMIS. "We others were then upon the shores of Puteoli, we believed
+thee dead; we were all weeping, when all of a sudden about the sixth
+hour, thou didst suddenly appear before us, exclaiming: 'It is I.'"
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_). "Even as He...!"
+
+DAMIS (_in a very loud voice_). "Precisely!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! no! ye lie! is it not so?--ye lie!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "He descended from heaven. I rise thither, by the power of
+my virtue that has lifted me up even to the height of the Principle of
+all things!"
+
+DAMIS. "Thyana, his natal city, has established in his honor a temple
+and a priesthood!"
+
+APOLLONIUS (_draws near Anthony, and shouts in his ear_:--)
+
+"It is because I know all gods, all rites, all prayers, all oracles!
+I have penetrated into the cave of Trophonius, son of Apollo! I
+have kneaded for Syracusan women the cakes which they carry to the
+mountains. I have endured the eighty tests of Mithra! I have pressed to
+my heart the serpent of Sabasius! I have received the scarf of Kabiri!
+I have laved Cybele in the waters of the Campanian gulfs! and I have
+passed three moons in the caverns of Samothracia!"
+
+DAMIS (_with a stupid laugh_).
+
+"Ah! ah! ah! at the mysteries of the good Goddess!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "And now we recommence our pilgrimage.
+
+"We go to the North to the land of Swans and of snows. Upon the vast
+white plains, the blind hippopodes break with the tips of their feet
+the ultramarine plant."
+
+DAMIS. "Hasten! it is already dawn. The cock has crowed, the horse has
+neighed, the sail is hoisted!"
+
+ANTHONY. "The cock has not crowed! I hear the locusts in the sands, and
+I see the moon still in her place."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "We go to the South, beyond the mountains and the mighty
+waters, to seek in perfumes the secret source of love. Thou shalt
+inhale the odor of myrrhodion which makes the weak die. Thou shalt
+bathe thy body in the lake of Rose-oil which is in the Island Junonia.
+Thou shalt see slumbering upon primroses that Lizard which awakes
+every hundred years when the carbuncle upon its forehead, arriving
+at maturity, falls to the ground. The stars palpitate like eyes; the
+cascades sing like the melody of lyres; strange intoxication is exhaled
+by blossoming flowers; thy mind shall grow vaster in that air; and thy
+heart shall change even as thy face."
+
+DAMIS. "Master! it is time! The wind has risen, the swallows awaken,
+the myrtle leaves are blown away."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Yes! let us go!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Nay! I remain here!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Shall I tell thee where grows the plant Balis, that
+resurrects the dead?"
+
+DAMIS "Nay; ask him rather for the audrodamas which attracts silver,
+iron and brass!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! how I suffer! how I suffer!"
+
+DAMIS. "Thou shalt comprehend the voices of all living creatures, the
+roarings, the cooings!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I shall enable thee to ride upon unicorns and upon
+dragons, upon hippocentaurs and dolphins!"
+
+ANTHONY (_weeping_). "Oh ... oh!... oh!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Thou shalt know the demons that dwell in the caverns, the
+demons that mutter in the woods, the demons that move in the waves, the
+demons that push the clouds!"
+
+DAMIS. "Tighten thy girdle, fasten thy sandals!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I shall explain to thee the reason of divine forms--why
+Apollo stands, why Jupiter is seated, why Venus is black, at Corinth,
+square-shaped at Athens, conical at Paphos."
+
+ANTHONY (_clasping his hands_).
+
+"Let them begone! let them begone!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "In thy presence I will tear down the panoplies of the
+Gods; we shall force open the sanctuaries, I will enable thee to
+violate the Pythoness!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Help! O my God!"
+
+(_He rushes to the cross._)
+
+APOLLONIUS. "What is thy desire? What is thy dream? Thou needst only
+devote the moment of time necessary to think of it ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Jesus! Jesus! Help me!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Dost thou wish me to make him appear, thy Jesus?"
+
+ANTHONY. "What? How!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "It shall be He!--no other! He will cast off his crown, and
+we shall converse face to face!"
+
+DAMIS (_in an undertone_).
+
+"Say thou dost indeed wish it! say thou dost desire it!"
+
+(_Anthony kneeling before the cross, murmurs prayers. Damis walks
+around him, with wheedling gestures._)
+
+"Nay, nay! good hermit. Be not horrified! These are only exaggerated
+forms of speech, borrowed from the Orientals. That need in no way ..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Let him alone, Damis!
+
+"He believes, like a brute, in the reality of things. The terror which
+he entertains of the Gods prevents him from comprehending them; and he
+debases his own God to the level of a jealous king!
+
+"But thou, my son, do not leave me!"
+
+(_He moves to the edge of the cliff, walking backward, passes beyond
+the verge of the precipice, and remains suspended in air._)
+
+"Above all forms, further than the ends of the earth, beyond the
+heavens themselves, lies the world of Idea, replete with the splendor
+of the Word! With one bound we shall traverse the impending spaces, and
+thou shalt behold in all his infinity, the Eternal, the Absolute, the
+Being! Come! give me thy hand! Let us rise."
+
+(_Side by side, both rise up through the air, slowly. Anthony, clinging
+to the cross, watches them rise. They disappear._)
+
+
+[1] Agape.--Love-feast of the primitive Christians.
+
+[2] John XVI: 12.--T.
+
+[3] See note at end.
+
+[4] Masheim gives _Achamoth._ I prefer to remain faithful to the
+orthography given by Flaubert.
+
+[5] The French text gives _mes pères_ not _nos pères._ Elxai, or
+Elkhai, who established his sect in the reign of Trajan, was a Jew.
+
+[6] See note.
+
+[7] The banyan is a fig-tree--the _Ficus indicus._--Trans.
+
+[8] Readers may remember Longfellow's exquisite poem "Helena of Tyre."
+
+[9] See the second part of "Faust," and _Kundry_ in "Parsifal."
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+
+ANTHONY (_walking to and fro, slowly_).
+
+"That one, indeed, seems in himself equal to all the powers of Hell!
+
+"Nebuchadnezzar did not so much dazzle me with his splendours;--the
+Queen of Sheba herself charmed me less deeply.
+
+"His manner of speaking of the gods compels one to feel a desire to
+know them.
+
+"I remember having beheld hundreds of them at one time, in the island
+of Elephantius, in the time of Diocletian. The emperor had ceded to the
+Nomads a great tract of country, upon the condition that they should
+guard the frontiers; and the treaty was concluded in the name of the
+'Powers Invisible.' For the gods of each people were unknown unto the
+other people.
+
+"The Barbarians had brought theirs with them. They occupied the
+sand-hills bordering the river. We saw them supporting their idols in
+their arms, like great paralytic children;--others, paddling through
+the cataracts upon trunks of palm tree, displayed from afar off the
+amulets hung about their necks, the tattooings upon their breasts; and
+these things were not more sinful than the religion of the Greeks, the
+Asiatics, and the Romans!
+
+"When I was dwelling in the temple of Heliopolis I would often consider
+the things I beheld upon the walls:--vultures bearing sceptres,
+crocodiles playing upon lyres, faces of men with the bodies of
+serpents, cow-headed women prostrating themselves before ithyphallic
+gods:--and their supernatural forms attracted my thoughts to other
+worlds. I longed to know that which drew the gaze of all those calm and
+mysterious eyes.
+
+"If matter can exert such power, it must surely contain a spirit. The
+souls of the Gods are attached to their images ...
+
+"Those possessing the beauty of forms might seduce. But the others
+... those of loathsome or terrible aspect ... how can men believe in
+them?..."
+
+(_And he beholds passing over the surface of the ground,--leaves,
+stones, shells, branches of trees,--then a variety of hydropical
+dwarfs: these are gods. He bursts into a laugh. He hears another laugh
+behind him;--and Hilarion appears, in the garb of a hermit, far taller
+than before, colossal._)
+
+ANTHONY (_who feels no surprise at seeing him_).
+
+"How stupid one must be to worship such things!"
+
+HILARION. "Aye!--exceedingly stupid!"
+
+(_Then idols of all nations and of all epochs--of wood, of metal, of
+granite, of feathers, of skins sewn together,--pass before them._
+
+_The most ancient of all anterior to the Deluge are hidden under masses
+of seaweed hanging down over them like manes. Some that are too long
+for their bases, crack in all their joints, and break their own backs
+in walking. Others have rents torn in their bellies through which sand
+trickles out._
+
+_Anthony and Hilarion are prodigiously amused. They hold their sides
+for laughter. Then appear sheep-headed idols. They totter upon their
+bandy-legs, half-open their eye-lids, and stutter like the dumb,_ "Ba!
+ba! ba!"
+
+_The more that the idols commence to resemble the human forms, the
+more they irritate Anthony. He strikes them with his fist, kicks them,
+attacks them with fury. They become frightful,--with lofty plumes, eyes
+like balls, fingers terminated by claws, the jaws of sharks._
+
+_And before these gods men are slaughtered upon altars of stone; others
+are brayed alive in huge mortars, crushed under chariots, nailed upon
+trees. There is one all of red-hot iron with the horns of a bull, who
+devours children._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Horror!"
+
+HILARION. "But the gods always demand tortures--and suffering. Even
+thine desired ..."
+
+ANTHONY (_weeping_). "Ah! say no more!--do not speak to me!"
+
+(_The space girdled by the rocks suddenly changes into a valley. A herd
+of cattle are feeding upon the short grass._
+
+_The herdman who leads them, observes a cloud;--and in a sharp voice,
+shouts out words of command, as if to heaven._)
+
+HILARION. "Because he needs rain, he seeks by certain chants to compel
+the King of heaven to open the fecund cloud."
+
+ANTHONY (_laughing_).
+
+"Verily, such pride is the extreme of foolishness!"
+
+HILARION. "Why dost thou utter exorcisms?"
+
+(_The valley changes into a sea of milk, motionless and infinite. In
+its midst floats a long cradle formed by the coils of a serpent, whose
+many curving heads shade, like a dais, the god slumbering upon its
+body._
+
+_He is beardless, young, more beautiful than a girl, and covered with
+diaphanous veils. The pearls of his tiara gleam softly like moons; a
+chaplet of stars is entwined many times about his breast, and with one
+hand beneath his head, he slumbers with the look of one who dreams
+after wine._
+
+_A woman crouching at his feet, awaits the moment of his awaking._)
+
+HILARION. "Such is the primordial duality of the Brahmans,--the
+Absolute being inexpressible by any form."
+
+(_From the navel of the god has grown the stem of a lotus flower; it
+blossoms, and within its chalice appears another god with three faces._)
+
+ANTHONY. "How strange an invention!"
+
+HILARION. "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but one and the same
+Person!"
+
+(_The three faces separate; and three great gods appear._
+
+_The first, who is pink, bites the end of his great toe._
+
+_The second, who is blue, uplifts his four arms._
+
+_The third, who is green, wears a necklace of human skulls._
+
+_Before them instantly arise three goddesses--one is enveloped in a
+net; another offers a cup; the third brandishes a bow._
+
+[Illustration: ... instantly arise three goddesses]
+
+_And these gods, these goddesses, decuple themselves, multiply. Arms
+grow from their shoulders; at the end of these arms hands appear
+bearing standards, axes, bucklers, swords, parasols and drums.
+Fountains gush from their heads, plants grow from their nostrils._
+
+_Riding upon birds rocked in palanquins, enthroned upon seats of gold,
+standing in ivory niches,--they dream, voyage, command, drink wine,
+respire the breath of flowers. Dancing girls whirl in the dance; giants
+pursue monsters; at the entrances of grottoes solitaries meditate. Eyes
+cannot be distinguished from stars; nor clouds from banderolles;
+peacocks quench their thirst at rivers of gold dust; the embroidery
+of pavilions seems to blend with the spots of leopards; coloured rays
+intercross in the blue air, together with flying arrows, and swinging
+censers._
+
+_And all this develops like a lofty frieze, resting its base upon the
+rocks, and rising to the sky._)
+
+ANTHONY (_dazzled by the sight_).
+
+"How vast is their number! What do they seek?"
+
+HILARION. "The god who rubs his abdomen with his elephant-trunk, is the
+solar Deity, the inspiring spirit of wisdom.
+
+"That other whose six heads are crowned with towers, and whose fourteen
+arms wield javelins,--is the prince of armies,--the Fire-Consumer.
+
+"The old man riding the crocodile washes the soul of the dead upon
+the shore. They will be tormented by that black woman with the putrid
+teeth, who is the Ruler of Hell.
+
+"That chariot drawn by red mares, driven by one who has no legs, bears
+the master of the sun through heaven's azure. The moon-god accompanies
+him, in a litter drawn by three gazelles.
+
+"Kneeling upon the back of a parrot, the Goddess of Beauty presents to
+Love, her son, her rounded breast. Behold her now, further off, leaping
+for joy in the meadows. Look! Look! Coiffed with dazzling mitre, she
+trips lightly over the ears of growing wheat, over the waves; she rises
+in air, extending her power over all elements.
+
+"And among these gods are the Genii of the winds, of the planets, of
+the months, of the days,--a hundred thousand others;--multiple are
+their aspects, rapid their transformations. Behold, there is one who
+changes from a fish into a tortoise: he assumes the form of a boar, the
+shape of a dwarf."
+
+ANTHONY. "Wherefore?"
+
+HILARION. "That he may preserve the equilibrium of the universe, and
+combat the works of evil. But life exhausts itself; forms wear away;
+and they must achieve progression in their metamorphoses."
+
+(_All upon a sudden appears a_ NAKED MAN _seated in the midst of the
+sand, with legs crossed._)
+
+(_A large halo vibrates, suspended in air behind him. The little
+ringlets of his black hair in which blueish tints shift symmetrically
+surround a protuberance upon the summit of his skull. His arms,
+which are very long, hang down against his sides. His two hands rest
+flat upon his thighs, with the palms open. The soles of his feet
+are like the faces of two blazing suns; and he remains completely
+motionless--before Anthony and Hilarion--with all the gods around him,
+rising in tiers above the rocks, as if upon the benches of some vast
+circus. His lips, half-open; and he speaks in a deep voice_):
+
+"I am the Master of great charities, the succor of all creatures; and
+not less to the profane than to believers, do I expound the law.
+
+"That I might deliver the world, I resolved to be born among men. The
+gods wept when I departed from them.
+
+"I sought me first a woman worthy to give me birth: a woman of warrior
+race, the wife of a king, exceedingly good, excessively beautiful,
+with body firm as adamant;--and at time of the full moon, without the
+auxiliation of any male, I entered her womb.
+
+"I issued from it by the right side. Stars stopped in their courses."
+
+HILARION (_murmurs between his teeth_).
+
+"And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy!"[1]
+
+(_Anthony watches more attentively._)
+
+THE BUDDHA[2] (_continuing_).
+
+"From the furthest recesses of the Himalayas, a holy man one hundred
+years of age, hurried to see me."
+
+HILARION. "A man named Simeon ... who should not see death, before he
+had seen the Christ of the Lord."[3]
+
+THE BUDDHA. "I was led unto the schools; and it was found that I knew
+more than the teachers."
+
+HILARION. "... In the midst of the doctors ... and all that heard him
+were astonished at his wisdom!"[4]
+
+(_Anthony makes a sign to Hilarion to be silent._)
+
+THE BUDDHA. "Continually did I meditate in the gardens. The shadows of
+the trees turned with the turning of the sun; but the shadow of that
+which sheltered me turned not.
+
+"None could equal me in the knowledge of the Scriptures, the
+enumeration of atoms, the conduct of elephants, the working of wax,
+astronomy, poetry, pugilism, all the exercises and all the arts!
+
+"In accordance with custom, I took to myself a wife; and I passed the
+days in my kingly palace;--clad in pearls, under a rain of perfumes,
+refreshed by the fans of thirty thousand women,--watching my peoples
+from the height of my terraces adorned with fringes of resonant bells.
+
+"But the sight of the miseries of the world turned me away from
+pleasure. I fled.
+
+"I begged my way upon the high roads, clad myself in rags gathered
+within the sepulchres;--and, hearing of a most learned hermit, I chose
+to become his slave. I guarded his gate! I washed his feet.
+
+"Thus I annihilated all sensation, all joy, all languor.
+
+"Then, concentrating my thoughts within vaster meditation, I learned to
+know the essence of things, the illusion of forms.
+
+"Soon I exhausted the science of the Brahmans. They are gnawed by
+covetousness and desire under their outward aspect of austerity; they
+daub themselves with filth, they live upon thorns,--hoping to arrive at
+happiness by the path of death!"
+
+HILARION.... "Pharisees, hypocrites, whited sepulchres, generation of
+vipers!"
+
+THE BUDDHA. "I also accomplished wondrous things,--eating but one
+grain of rice each day (and the grains of rice in those times were no
+larger than at present)--my hair fell off; my body became black; my
+eyes receding within their sockets, seemed even as stars beheld at the
+bottom of a well.
+
+"During six years I kept myself motionless, exposed to the flies, the
+lions and the serpents; and the great summer suns, the torrential
+rains, lightnings and snows, hails and tempests,--all of these I
+endured without even the shelter of my lifted hand.
+
+"The travellers who passed by, believing me dead, cast clods of earth
+upon me!
+
+"Only the temptation of the Devil remained!
+
+"I summoned him.
+
+"His sons came,--hideous, scale-covered, nauseous as
+charnel-houses,--shrieking, hissing, bellowing; interclashing their
+panoplies, rattling together the bones of dead men. Some belched
+flame through their nostrils; some made darkness about me with their
+wings; some wore chaplets of severed fingers; some drank serpent-venom
+from the hollows of their hands;--they were swine-headed; they were
+rhinoceros-headed or toad-headed; they assumed all forms that inspire
+loathing or affright."
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_).
+
+"I also endured all that in other days!"
+
+THE BUDDHA. "Then did he send me his daughters--beautiful with
+daintily painted faces, and wearing girdles of gold. Their teeth were
+whiter than the jasmine-flower; their thighs round as the trunk of
+an elephant. Some extended their arms and yawned, that they might so
+display the dimples of their elbows; some winked their eyes; some
+laughed; some half-opened their garments. There were blushing virgins,
+matrons replete with dignity, queens who came with great trains of
+baggage and of slaves."
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_). "Ah! he too ..."
+
+THE BUDDHA. "Having vanquished the Demon, I nourished myself for twelve
+years with perfumes only;--and as I had acquired the five virtues,
+the five faculties, the ten forces, the eighteen substances, and had
+entered into the four spheres of the invisible world, Intelligence
+became mine! I became the Buddha."
+
+[Illustration: Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha.]
+
+(_All the gods bow themselves down. Those having several heads, bend
+them all simultaneously. He lifts his mighty hand aloft, and resumes_:)
+
+"That I might effect the deliverance of beings, I have made hundreds
+of thousands of sacrifices! To the poor I gave robes of silk, beds,
+chariots, houses, heaps of gold and of diamonds. I gave my hands to the
+one-handed, my legs to the lame, my eyes to the blind;--even my head I
+severed for the sake of the decapitated. In the day that I was King, I
+gave away provinces;--when I was a Brahman I despised no one. When I
+was a solitary, I spake kindly words to the robber who slew me. When I
+was a tiger I allowed myself to die of hunger.
+
+"And having, in this last existence, preached the law, nothing now
+remains for me to do. The great period is accomplished! Men, animals,
+the gods, the bamboos, the oceans, the mountains, the sand-grains of
+the Ganges, together with the myriad myriads of the stars,--all shall
+die;--and until the time of the new births, a flame shall dance upon
+the wrecks of worlds destroyed!"
+
+(_Then a great dizziness comes upon the gods. They stagger, fall into
+convulsions, and vomit forth their existences. Their crowns burst
+apart; their banners fly away. They tear off their attributes, their
+sexes, fling over their shoulders the cups from which they quaffed
+immortality, strangle themselves with their serpents, vanish in
+smoke;--and when all have disappeared_ ...)
+
+HILARION (_solemnly exclaims_):
+
+"Thou hast even now beheld the belief of many hundreds of millions of
+men."
+
+(_Anthony is prostrate upon the ground, covering his face with his
+hands. Hilarion, with his back turned to the cross, stands near him and
+watches him._
+
+_A considerable time elapses._
+
+_Then a singular being appears--having the head of a man upon the body
+of a fish. He approaches through the air, upright, beating the sand
+from time to time with his tail; and the patriarchal aspect of his face
+by contrast with his puny little arms, causes Anthony to laugh._)
+
+OANNES (_in a plaintive voice_):
+
+"Respect me! I am the contemporary of beginnings.
+
+"I dwelt in that formless world where hermaphroditic creatures
+slumbered, under the weight of an opaque atmosphere, in the deeps of
+dark waters--when fingers, fins, and wings were blended, and eyes
+without heads were floating like mollusks, among human-headed bulls,
+and dog-footed serpents.
+
+[Illustration: ... and eyes without heads were floating like
+mollusks]
+
+"Above the whole of these beings, OMOROCA, bent like a hoop, extended
+her woman-body. But Belus cleft her in two halves; with one he made the
+earth; with the other, heaven;--and the two equal worlds do mutually
+contemplate each other.
+
+"I, the first consciousness of CHAOS, arose from the abyss that I might
+harden matter, and give a law unto forms:--also I taught men to fish
+and to sow: I gave them knowledge of writing, and of the history of the
+gods.
+
+[Illustration: I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose from
+the abyss that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms ...]
+
+"Since then I have dwelt in the deep pools left by the Deluge. But the
+desert grows vaster about them; the winds cast sand into them; the sun
+devours them;--and I die upon my couch of slime, gazing at the stars
+through the water. Thither I return!"
+
+(_He leaps and disappears in the Nile._)
+
+HILARION. "That is an ancient God of the Chaldæans!"
+
+ANTHONY (_ironically_). "What, then, were those of Babylon?"
+
+HILARION. "Thou canst behold them!"
+
+(_And they find themselves upon the platform of a lofty quadrangular
+tower dominating six other towers, which, narrowing as they rise, form
+one monstrous pyramid. Far below a great black mass is visible--the
+city, doubtless--extending over the plains. The air is cold; the sky
+darkly blue; multitudes of stars palpitate above._
+
+_In the midst of the platform rises a column of white stone. Priests
+in linen robes pass and repass around it, so as to describe by their
+evolutions a moving circle; and with faces uplifted, they gaze upon the
+stars._ ...)
+
+HILARION. (_pointing out several of these stars to Anthony_):
+
+"There are thirty principal stars. Fifteen look upon the upper side
+of the earth; fifteen below. At regular intervals one shoots from the
+upper regions to those below; while another abandons the inferior deeps
+to rise to sublime altitudes ...
+
+"Of the seven planets, two are beneficent; two evil; three
+ambiguous:--all things in the world depend upon the influence of these
+eternal fires. According to their position or movement presages may be
+drawn;--and here thou dost tread the most venerable place upon earth.
+Here Pythagoras and Zoroaster have met;--here for twelve thousand years
+these men have observed the skies that they might better learn to know
+the gods."
+
+ANTHONY. "The stars are not gods."
+
+HILARION. "Aye, they say the stars are gods; for all things about us
+pass away;--the heavens only remain immutable as eternity."
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet there is a master!"
+
+HILARION (_pointing to the column_):
+
+"He! Belus!--the first ray, the Sun, the Male! The Other, whom he
+fecundates, is beneath him!"
+
+(_Anthony beholds a garden, illuminated by lamps_: _He finds himself
+in the midst of the crowd, in an avenue of cypress-trees. To right and
+left are little pathways leading to huts constructed within a wood of
+pomegranate trees, and enclosed by treillages of bamboo._
+
+_Most of the men wear pointed caps, and garments bedizened like the
+plumage of a peacock. But there are also people from the North clad
+in bearskins, nomads wearing mantles of brown wool, pallid Gangarides
+with long earrings;--and there seems to be as much confusion of rank
+as there is confusion of nations; for sailors and stone-cutters elbow
+the princes who wear tiaras blazing with carbuncles and who carry
+long canes with carven knobs. All proceed upon their way with dilated
+nostrils, absorbed by the same desire._
+
+_From time to time, they draw aside to make way for some long covered
+wagon drawn by oxen, or some ass jolting upon his back a woman bundled
+up in thick veils, who finally disappears in the direction of the
+cabins._
+
+_Anthony feels afraid; he half-resolves to turn back. But an
+unutterable curiosity takes possession of him, and draws him on._
+
+_At the foot of the cypress-trees there are ranks of women squatting
+upon deerskins, all wearing in lieu of diadem, a plaited fillet of
+ropes. Some, magnificently attired, loudly call upon the passers-by.
+Others, more timid, seek to veil their faces with their arms, while
+some matron standing behind them, their mother doubtless, exhorts
+them. Others, their heads veiled with a black shawl, and their bodies
+entirely nude, seem from afar off to be statues of flesh. As soon as a
+man has thrown some money upon their knees, they arise._
+
+_And the sound of kisses is heard under the foliage,--sometimes a great
+sharp cry._)
+
+HILARION. "These are the virgins of Babylon, who prostitute themselves
+to the goddess."
+
+ANTHONY. "What goddess?"
+
+HILARION. "Behold her!"
+
+(_And he shows him at the further end of the avenue, upon the threshold
+of an illuminated grotto, a block of stone representing a woman._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Ignominy!--how abominable to give a sex to God!"
+
+HILARION. "Thou thyself dost figure him in thy mind as a living person!"
+
+(_Anthony again finds himself in darkness._
+
+_He beholds in the air a luminous circle, poised upon horizontal
+wings. This ring of light, girdles like a loose belt, the waist of a
+little man wearing a mitre upon his head and carrying a wreath in his
+hand. The lower part of his figure is completely concealed by immense
+feathers outspreading about him like a petticoat._
+
+_It is_--ORMUZD--_the God of the Persians. He hovers in the air above,
+crying aloud_:)
+
+"I fear! I can see his monstrous jaws! I did vanquish thee, O Ahriman!
+But again thou dost war against me.
+
+"First revolting against me, thou didst destroy the eldest of
+creatures, Kaiomortz, the Man-Bull. Then didst thou seduce the first
+human couple, Meschia and Meschiané; and thou didst fill all hearts
+with darkness, thou didst urge thy battalions against heaven!
+
+"I also had mine own, the people of the stars; and from the height of
+my throne I contemplated the marshalling of the astral hosts.
+
+"Mithra, my son, dwelt in heavens inaccessible. There he received
+souls, from thence did he send them forth; and he arose each morning to
+pour forth the abundance of his riches.
+
+"The earth reflected the splendour of the firmament. Fire blazed upon
+the crests of the mountains,--symbolizing that other fire of which
+I had created all creatures. And that the holy flame might not be
+polluted, the bodies of the dead were not burned; the beaks of birds
+carried them aloft toward heaven.
+
+"I gave to men the laws regulating pastures, labour, the choice of wood
+for the sacrifices, the form of cups, the words to be uttered in hours
+of sleeplessness;--and my priests unceasingly offered up prayers, so
+that worship might be as the eternity of God in its endlessness. Men
+purified themselves with water; loaves were offered upon the altars,
+sins were confessed aloud.
+
+"Homa[5] gave himself to men to be drank, that they might have his
+strength communicated to them while the Genii of heaven were combating
+the demons, the children of Iran were pursuing the serpents. The
+King, whom an innumerable host of courtiers served upon their knees,
+represented me in his person, and wore my coiffure. His gardens had the
+magnificence of a heaven upon earth; and his tomb represented him in
+the act of slaying a monster,--emblem of Good destroying Evil.
+
+"For it was destined that I should one day definitely conquer Ahriman,
+by the aid of Time-without-limits.
+
+"But the interval between us disappears;--the deep night rises! To
+me! ye Amschaspands, ye Izeds, ye Ferouers! Succor me, Mithra! seize
+thy sword! And thou, Kaosyac, who shall return for the universal
+deliverance, defend me! What!--none to aid! Ah! I die! Thou art the
+victor, Ahriman!"
+
+(_Hilarion, standing behind Anthony, restrains a cry of joy;--and_
+ORMUZD _is swallowed up in the darkness._)
+
+(_Then appears_:)
+
+THE GREAT DIANA OF EPHESUS
+
+(_black with enamelled eyes, her elbows pressed to her side, her
+forearms extended, with hands open._
+
+_Lions crawl upon her shoulders; fruits, flowers, and stars intercross
+upon her bosom; further down three rows of breasts appear; and from her
+belly to her feet she is covered with a tightly fitting sheath from
+which bulls, stags, griffins, and bees, seem about to spring, their
+bodies half-protruding from it. She is illuminated by the white light
+emanating from a disk of silver, round as the full moon, placed behind
+her head._)
+
+"Where is my temple? Where are my Amazons?
+
+"What is this I feel?--I, the Incorruptible!--a strange faintness comes
+upon me!"...
+
+(_Her flowers wither, her over-ripe fruits become detached and fall.
+The lions and the bulls hang their heads; the deer foam at the mouth,
+with a slimy foam, as though exhausted; the buzzing bees die upon the
+ground._
+
+_She presses her breasts, one after the other. All are empty! But under
+a desperate effort her sheath bursts. She seizes it by the bottom, like
+the skirt of a robe, throws her animals, her fruits, her flowers, into
+it,--then withdraws into the darkness._
+
+_And afar off there are voices, murmuring, growling, roaring,
+bellowing, belling. The density of the night is augmented by breaths.
+Drops of warm rain fall._)
+
+ANTHONY. "How sweet the odour of the palm trees, the trembling of
+leaves, the transparency of springs! I feel the desire to lie flat upon
+the Earth that I might feel her against my heart; and my life would be
+reinvigorated by her eternal youth!"
+
+(_He hears the sound of castanets and of cymbals; and men appear, clad
+in white tunics with red stripes,--leading through the midst of a
+rustic crowd an ass, richly harnessed, its tail decorated with knots of
+ribbons, and its hoofs painted._
+
+_A box, covered with a saddle-cloth[6] of yellow material shakes to
+and fro upon its back, between two baskets,--one receives the offerings
+contributed,--eggs, grapes, pears, cheeses, fowls, little coins; and
+the other basket is full of roses, which the leaders of the ass pluck
+to pieces as they walk before the animal, shedding the leaves upon the
+ground._
+
+_They wear earrings and large mantles; their locks are plaited, their
+cheeks painted, olive-wreaths are fastened upon their foreheads by
+medallions bearing figurines;--all wear poniards in their belts, and
+brandish ebony-handled whips, having three thongs to which osselets are
+attached._[7]
+
+_Those who form the rear of the procession, place upon the soil,--so as
+to remain upright as a candelabrum,--a tall pine, which burns at its
+summit, and shades under its lower branches a lamb._
+
+_The ass halts. The saddle-cloth is removed. Underneath appears a
+second covering of black felt. Then one of the men in white tunics
+begins to dance, rattling his crotali;--another, kneeling before the
+box, beats a tambourine and_--)
+
+THE OLDEST OF THE BAND, _begins_:--
+
+"Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains, the Great Mother
+of Syria! Come ye hither, good people all!
+
+[Illustration: Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains ...]
+
+"She gives joy to men, she heals the sick; she sends inheritances; she
+satisfies the hunger of love!
+
+"We bear her through the land, rain or shine, in fair weather, or in
+foul.
+
+"Oft times we lie in the open air, and our table is not always well
+served. Robbers dwell in the woods. Wild beasts rush from their
+caverns. Slippery paths border the precipices. Behold her! behold her!"
+
+(_They lift off the covering; and a box is seen, inlaid with little
+pebbles._)
+
+"Loftier than the cedars, she looks down from the blue ether. Vaster
+than the wind she encircles the world. Her breath is exhaled by the
+nostrils of tigers; the rumbling of her voice is heard beneath the
+volcanoes; her wrath is the tempest; the pallor of her face has
+whitened the moon. She ripens the harvest; by her the tree-bark swells
+with sap; she makes the beard to grow. Give her something; for she
+hates the avaricious!"
+
+(_The box opens; and under a little pavilion of blue silk appears a
+small image of Cybele--glittering with spangles, crowned with towers,
+and seated in a chariot of red stone, drawn by two lions, with uplifted
+paws._
+
+_The crowd presses forward to see._)
+
+THE ARCHIGALLUS (_continues_):
+
+"She loves the sound of resounding tympanums, the echo of dancing
+feet, the howling of wolves, the sonorous mountains and the deep
+gorges, the flower of the almond tree, the pomegranate and the green
+fig, the whirling dance, the snoring flute, the sugary sap, the salty
+tear,--blood! To thee, to thee!--Mother of the mountains!"
+
+(_They scourge themselves with their whips; and their chests resound
+with the blows;--the skins of the tambourines vibrate almost to
+bursting. They seize their knives; they gash their arms._)
+
+"She is sorrowful; let us be sorrowful! Thereby your sins will be
+remitted. Blood purifies all--fling its red drops abroad like blossoms!
+She, the Great Mother, demands the blood of another creature--of a pure
+being!"
+
+(_The Archigallus raises his knife above the head of a lamb._)
+
+ANTHONY (_seized with horror_):
+
+"Do not slay the lamb!"
+
+(_There is a gush of purple blood. The priest sprinkles the crowd
+with it; and all--including Anthony and Hilarion--standing around the
+burning tree, silently watch the last palpitations of the victim._
+
+_A Woman comes forth from the midst of the priests; she resembles
+exactly the image within the little box._
+
+_She pauses, perceiving before her a Young Man wearing a Phrygian
+cap. His thighs are covered with a pair of narrow trousers, with
+lozenge-shaped openings here and there at regular intervals, closed by
+bow knots of coloured material. He stands in an attitude of languor,
+resting his elbow against a branch of the tree, holding a flute in his
+hand._)
+
+CYBELE (_flinging her arms about his waist_).
+
+"I have traversed all regions of the earth to join thee--and famine
+ravaged the fields Thou hast deceived me! It matters not! I love thee!
+Warm my body in thine embrace! Let us be united!"
+
+ATYS. "The springtime will never again return, O eternal Mother!
+Despite my love, it is no longer possible for me to penetrate thy
+essence! Would that I might cover myself with a painted robe like
+thine! I envy thy breasts, swelling with milk, the length of thy
+tresses, thy vast flanks that have borne and brought forth all
+creatures! Why am I not thou?--Why am I not a woman?--No, never! depart
+from me! My virility fills me with horror!"
+
+(_With a sharp stone he dismembers himself, and runs furiously from
+her ..._
+
+_The priests imitate the god; the faithful do even as the priests. Men
+and women exchange garments, embrace;--and the tumult of bleeding flesh
+passes away, while the sound of voices remaining, becomes even more
+strident,--like the shrieking of mourners, like the voices heard at
+funerals._
+
+_ ... A huge catafalque, hung with purple, supports upon its summit an
+ebony bed, surrounded by torches and baskets of silver filagree, in
+which are verdant leaves of lettuce, mallow and fennel. Upon the steps
+of the construction, from summit to base, sit women all clad in black,
+with loosened girdles and bare feet, holding in their hands with a
+melancholy air, great bouquets of flowers._
+
+_At each corner of the estrade urns of alabaster, filled with myrrh,
+slowly send up their smoke._
+
+_Upon the bed can be perceived the corpse of a man. Blood flows from
+his thigh. One of his arms hangs down lifelessly;--and a dog licks his
+finger nails and howls._
+
+_The row of torches placed closely together, prevents his face from
+being seen; and Anthony feels a strange anguish within him. He fears
+lest he should recognize some one._
+
+_The sobs of the women cease--and after an interval of silence_,)
+
+ALL (_psalmody together_):
+
+"Fair! fair!--all fair he is! Thou hast slept enough!--lift thy
+head!--arise!
+
+"Inhale the perfume of our flowers--narcissus--blossoms and anemones,
+gathered in thine own gardens to please thee. Arouse thee! thou dost
+make us fear for thee!
+
+"Speak to us! What dost thou desire? Wilt thou drink wine?--wilt thou
+lie in our beds?--dost wish to eat the honeycakes which have the form
+of little birds?
+
+"Let us press his lips,--kiss his breast! Now!--now!--dost thou not
+feel our ring-laden fingers passing over thy body?--and our lips that
+seek thy mouth?--and our tresses that sweep thy thighs? O faint God,
+deaf to our prayers!"
+
+(_They cry aloud, and rend their faces with their nails; then all
+rush,--and the howling of the dog continues in the silence._)
+
+"Alas! alas! Woe!--the black blood trickles over his snowy flesh!
+See! his knees writhe!--his sides sink in! The bloom of his face hath
+dampened the purple. He is dead, dead! O weep for him! Lament for him!"
+
+(_In long procession they ascend to lay between the torches the
+offerings of their several tresses, that seem from afar off like
+serpents, black or blond;--and the catafalque is lowered gently to the
+level of, a grotto,--the opening of a shadowy sepulchre that yawns
+behind it._
+
+_Then_--)
+
+A WOMAN (_bends over the corpse. Her long hair, uncut, envelopes her
+from head to feet. She sheds tears so abundantly that her grief cannot
+be as that of the others, but more than human--infinite!_
+
+_Anthony dreams of the Mother of Jesus. She speaks_:--)
+
+"Thou didst emerge from the Orient, and didst take me, all trembling
+with the dew, into thy arms, O Sun! Doves fluttered upon the azure
+of thy mantle; our kisses evoked low breezes among the foliage; and I
+abandoned myself wholly to thy love, delighting in the pleasure of my
+weakness.
+
+"Alas! alas--Why didst thou depart, to run upon the mountains! A boar
+did wound thee at the time of the autumnal equinox!
+
+"Thou art dead; and the fountains weep,--the trees bend down. The wind
+of winter whistles through the naked brushwood.
+
+"My eyes are about to close, seeing that darkness covers them! Now thou
+dwellest in the underworld near the mightiest of my rivals.
+
+"O Persephone, all that is beautiful descends to thee, never to return!"
+
+(_Even while she speaks, her companions lift the dead, to place him
+within the sepulchre. He remains in their hands! It was only a waxen
+corpse._
+
+_Wherefore Anthony feels something resembling relief._
+
+_All vanish;--and the hut, the rocks, and the cross reappear._
+
+_But upon the other side of the Nile, Anthony beholds a Woman,
+standing in the midst of the desert._
+
+_She retains in her hand the lower part of a long black veil that hides
+all her face; supporting with her left arm a little child to whom she
+is giving suck. A great ape crouches down in the sand beside her._
+
+_She uplifts her head toward heaven; and in spite of the great
+distance, her voice is distinctly heard_:)
+
+ISIS. "O Neith, Beginning of all things! Ammon, Lord of Eternity;
+Pthah, demiurgos; Thoth, his intelligence; gods of the Amenthi,
+particular triads of the Nomes,--falcons in the azure of heaven,
+sphinxes before the temples, ibises perched between the horns of oxen,
+planets, constellations, shore, murmurs of the wind, gleams of the
+light,--tell me where I may find Osiris.
+
+"I have sought him in all the canals and all the lakes--aye, further
+yet, even to Ph[oe]nician Byblos. Anubis, with ears pricked up, leaped
+about me, and yelped, and thrust his muzzle searchingly into the tufts
+of the tamarinds.
+
+"Thanks, good Cynocephalos--thanks to thee!"
+
+(_She gives the ape two or three friendly little taps upon the head._)
+
+"Hideous Typhon, the red-haired slew him, tore him in pieces! We have
+found all his members. But I have not that which rendered me fecund!"
+
+(_She utters wild lamentations._)
+
+ANTHONY (_is filled with fury. He casts stones at her, reviles her._)
+
+"Begone! thou shameless one!--Begone!"
+
+HILARION. "Nay! respect her! Her religion was the faith of thy
+fathers!--thou didst wear her amulets when thou wert a child in the
+cradle!"
+
+ISIS. "In the summers of long ago, the inundation drove the impure
+beasts into the desert. The dykes were opened, the boats dashed against
+each other; the panting earth drank the river with the intoxication of
+joy. Then, O God, with the horns of the bull, thou didst lie upon my
+breast, and then was heard, the lowings of the Eternal Cow!
+
+"The seasons of sowing and reaping, of threshing and of vintage,
+followed each other in regular order with the years. In the eternal
+purity of the nights, broad stars beamed and glowed. The days were
+bathed in never-varying splendour. Like a royal couple the Sun and the
+Moon appeared simultaneously, at either end of the horizon.
+
+"Then did we both reign above a sublimer world, twin-monarchs, wedded
+within, the womb of eternity--he bearing a concupha-headed sceptre; I,
+the sceptre that is tipped with a lotus-flower; both of us erect with
+hands joined; and the crumblings of empires affected not our attitude.
+
+"Egypt extended, below us, monumental and awful, long-shaped like the
+corridor of a temple; with obelisks on the right, pyramids on the
+left, and its labyrinth in the midst. And everywhere were avenues
+of monsters, forests of columns, massive pylons flanking gates
+summit-crowned with the mysterious globe--the globe of the world,
+between two wings.
+
+"The animals of her Zodiac also existed in her pasture lands; and
+filled her mysterious writing with their forms and colours. Divided
+into twelve regions as the year is divided into-twelve months--each
+month, each day also having its own god--she reproduced the immutable
+order of heaven. And man even in dying changed not his face; but
+saturated with perfumes, invulnerable to decay, he lay down to sleep
+for three thousand years in another and silent Egypt.
+
+"And that Egypt, vaster than the Egypt of the living, extended beneath
+the earth.
+
+"Thither one descended by dark stairways leading into halls where were
+represented the joys of the good, the tortures of the wicked, all that
+passes in the third and invisible world. Ranged along the wall the dead
+in their painted coffins awaited their turn; and the soul, exempted
+from migrations, continued its heavy slumber until the awakening into a
+new life.
+
+"Nevertheless, Osiris sometimes came to see me. And by his ghost I
+became the mother of Harpocrates."
+
+(_She contemplates the child._)
+
+"Aye! it is he. Those are his eyes; those are his locks, plaited into
+ram horns! Thou shalt recommence his works. We shall bloom again like
+the lotus. I am still the Great Isis!--none has yet lifted my veil! My
+fruit is the Sun!
+
+[Illustration: I am still the Great Isis!—none has yet lifted
+my veil! My fruit is the Sun!]
+
+"Sim of Springtime, clouds now obscure thy face! The breath of Typhon
+devours the pyramids. But a little while ago I beheld the Sphinx flee
+away. He was galloping like a jackal.
+
+"I look for my priests,--my priests clad in mantles of linen, with
+their great harps, and bearing a mysterious bark, adorned with
+silver pateras. There are no more festivals upon the lakes!--no more
+illuminations in my delta!--no more cups of milk at Philæ! Apis has
+long ceased to reappear.
+
+"Egypt! Egypt! thy great motionless gods have their shoulders already
+whitened by the dung of birds; and the wind that passes over the desert
+rolls with it and the ashes of thy dead!--Anubis, guardian of ghosts,
+abandon me not!"
+
+(_The Cynocephalos has vanished. She shakes her child._)
+
+"But ... what ails thee ... thy hands are cold, thy head droops!"
+
+(_Harpocrates expires. Then she cries aloud with a cry so piercing,
+funereal, heart-rending, that Anthony answers it with another cry,
+extending his arms as to support her._
+
+_She is no longer there. He lowers his face, overwhelmed by shame._
+
+_All that he has seen becomes confused within his mind. It is like the
+bewilderment of travel, the illness of drunkenness. He wishes to hate;
+but a vague and vast pity fills his heart. He begins to weep, and weeps
+abundantly._)
+
+HILARION. "What makes thee sorrowful?"
+
+ANTHONY (_after having long sought within himself for a reply_):
+
+"I think of all the souls that have been lost through these false gods!"
+
+HILARION. "Dost thou not think that they ... sometimes ... bear much
+resemblance to the TRUE?"
+
+ANTHONY. "That is but a device of the Devil to seduce the faithful more
+easily. He attacks the strong through the mind, the weak through the
+flesh."
+
+HILARION. "But luxury, in its greatest fury, has all the
+disinterestedness of penitence. The frenzied love of the body
+accelerates the destruction thereof,--and proclaims the extent of the
+impossible by the exposition of the body's weakness."
+
+ANTHONY. "What signifies that to me! My heart sickens with disgust
+of these beautiful bestial gods, forever busied with carnages and
+incests!"
+
+HILARION. "Yet recollect all those things in the Scripture which
+scandalize thee because thou art unable to comprehend them! So also may
+these Gods conceal under their sinful forms some mighty truth. There
+are more of them yet to be seen. Look around!"
+
+ANTHONY. "No, no!--it is dangerous!"
+
+HILARION. "But a little while ago thou didst desire to know them! Is
+it because thy faith might vacillate in the presence of lies? What
+fearest thou?"
+
+(_The rocks fronting Anthony have become as a mountain. A line of
+clouds obscures the mountain half way between summit and base; and
+above the clouds appears another mountain, enormous, all green,
+unequally hollowed by valleys nestling in its slopes, and supporting at
+its summit, in the midst of laurel-groves a palace of bronze, roofed
+with tiles of gold, and supported by columns having capitals of ivory._
+
+_In the centre of the peristyle Jupiter,--colossal, with torso
+nude,--holds Victory in one hand, his thunderbolts in the other; and
+his eagle, perched between his feet, rears its head._
+
+_Juno, seated near him, rolls her large eyes, beneath a diadem whence
+her wind-blown veil escapes like a vapour._
+
+_Behind them, Minerva, standing upon a pedestal, leans on her spear.
+The skin of the Gorgon covers her breast, and a linen peplos falls in
+regular folds to the nails of her toes. Her glaucous eyes, which gleam
+beneath her vizor, gaze afar off, attentively._
+
+_On the right of the palace, the aged Neptune bestrides a dolphin
+beating with its fins a vast azure expanse which may be sea or sky, for
+the perspective of the Ocean seems a continuation of the blue ether:
+the two elements are interblended._
+
+_On the other side weird Pluto in night-black mantle, crowned with
+diamond tiara and bearing a sceptre of ebony, sits in the midst of an
+islet surrounded by the circumvolutions of the Styx;--and this river of
+shadow empties itself into the darknesses, which form a vast black gulf
+below the cliff,--a bottomless abyss!_
+
+_Mars, clad in brass, brandishes as in wrath his broad shield and his
+sword._
+
+_Hercules, leaning upon his club, gazes at him from below._
+
+_Apollo, his face ablaze with light, grasps with outstretched right
+arm the reins of four white horses urged to a gallop; and Ceres in her
+ox-drawn chariot advances toward him with a sickle in her hand._
+
+_Behind her comes Bacchus, riding in a very low chariot, gently drawn
+by lynxes. Plump and beardless, with vine leaves garlanding his brow,
+he passes by holding in his hand an overflowing cup of wine. Silenus
+riding beside him reels upon his ass. Pan of the pointed ears, blows
+upon his syrinx; the Mimalonæides beat drums; the Mænads strew
+flowers; the Bacchantes turn in the dance with heads thrown back and
+hair dishevelled._
+
+_Diana, with tunic tucked up, issues from the wood together with her
+nymphs._
+
+_At the further end of a cavern, Vulcan among his Cabiri, hammers the
+heated iron; here and there the aged Rivers leaning recumbent upon
+green rocks pour water from their urns; the Muses stand singing in the
+valleys_.
+
+_The Hours, all of equal stature, link hands; and Mercury poses
+obliquely upon a rainbow, with his caduceus, winged sandals, and winged
+petasus._
+
+_But at the summit of the stairway of the Gods,--among clouds soft
+as down, from whose turning volutes a rain of roses falls,--Venus
+Anadyomene stands gazing at herself in a mirror:--her eyes move
+languorously beneath their slumbrous lids._
+
+_She has masses of rich blond hair rolling down over her shoulders; her
+breasts are small; her waist is slender; her hips curve out like the
+sweeping curves of a lyre; her thighs are perfectly rounded; there are
+dimples about her knees; her feet are delicate: a butterfly hovers near
+her mouth. The splendour of her body makes a nacreous-tinted halo of
+bright light about her; while all the rest of Olympus is bathed in a
+pink dawn, rising gradually to the heights of the blue sky._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! my heart swells! A joy never known before thrills me to
+the depths of my soul! How beautiful, how beautiful it is!"
+
+HILARION. "They leaned from the heights of cloud to direct the way of
+swords; one used to meet them upon the high roads; men had them in
+their houses--and this familiarity divinized life.
+
+"Life's aim was only to be free and beautiful. Nobility of attitude was
+facilitated by the looseness of garments. The voice of the orator,
+trained by the sea, rolled its sonorous waves against the porticoes of
+marble. The ephebus, anointed with oil, wrestled all naked in the full
+light of the sun. The holiest of actions was to expose perfection of
+forms to all.
+
+"And these men respected wives, aged men, suppliants.
+
+"Behind the temple of Hercules there was an altar erected to Pity.
+
+"Victims were immolated with flowers wreathed about the fingers of the
+sacrificer. Even memory was exempted from thoughts of the rottenness
+of death. Nothing remained but a little pile of ashes. And the Soul,
+mingling with the boundless ether, rose up to God."
+
+(_Bending to whisper in Anthony's ear_:--)
+
+"And they still live! The Emperor Constantine adores Apollo. Thou wilt
+find the Trinity in Samothracian mysteries,--baptism in the religion of
+Isis,--redemption in the faith of Mithra,--a martyrdom of a God in the
+festivals of Bacchus. Prosperpine is the Virgin!... Aristæus is Jesus!"
+
+ANTHONY (_remains awhile with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought;
+then suddenly repeats aloud the Symbol of Jerusalem, as he remembers
+it, uttering a long sigh between each phrase_):--
+
+"I believe in one only God, the Father,--and in one only Lord, Jesus
+Christ,--the first born son of God, who was incarnated and made
+man,--who was crucified, and buried,--who ascended into Heaven,--who
+will come to judge the living and the dead,--of whose Kingdom there
+shall be no end;--and in one Holy Spirit,--and in one baptism of
+repentance,--and in one Holy Catholic Church,--and in the resurrection
+of the flesh,--and in the life everlasting!"
+
+(_Immediately the cross becomes loftier and loftier; it pierces the
+clouds, and casts its shadow upon the heaven of the gods._
+
+_All grow pale;--Olympus shudders._
+
+_And at its base Anthony beholds vast bodies enchained, sustaining the
+rocks upon their shoulders,--giant figures half buried in the deeps
+of caverns. These are the Titans, the Giants, the Hecatonchires, the
+Cyclops._)
+
+A VOICE
+
+(_rises, indistinct and awful, like the far roar of leaves, like the
+voice of forests in time of tempest, like the mighty moaning of the
+wind among the precipices_):
+
+"We knew these things!--we knew them! There must come an end even for
+the Gods! Uranus was mutilated by Saturn,--Saturn by Jupiter. And
+Jupiter himself shall be annihilated. Each in his turn;--it is Destiny!"
+
+(_And little by little they sink into the mountain, and disappear._
+
+_Meanwhile the golden tiles of the palace rise and fly away._)
+
+JUPITER (_has descended from his throne. At his feet the thunderbolts
+lie, smoking like burning coals about to expire;--and the great eagle
+bends its neck to pick up its falling feathers_):
+
+"Then I am no longer the master of all things,--most holy, most
+mighty, god of the phatrias and Greek peoples,--ancestor of all the
+Kings,--Agamemnon of heaven.
+
+"Eagle of apotheoses, what wind from Erebus has wafted thee to me? or,
+fleeing from the Campus Martins, dost thou bear me the soul of the last
+of the Emperors?
+
+"I no longer desire to receive those of men. Let the Earth keep them;
+and let them move upon the level of its baseness. Their hearts are now
+the hearts of slaves;--they forget injuries, forget their ancestors,
+forget their oaths,--and everywhere the folly of crowds, the mediocrity
+of individuals, the hideousness of races, hold sway!"
+
+(_He pants with such violence that his sides seem ready to burst
+asunder; he clenches his hands. Weeping_, HEBE _offers him a cup. He
+seizes it._)
+
+"No, no! So long as there shall be a brain enclosing a thought, in
+whatsoever part of the world;--so long as there shall exist a mind
+hating disorder, creating LAW,--so long will the spirit of Jupiter
+live!"
+
+(_But the cup is empty. He turns its edge down over his thumbnail._)
+
+"Not one drop left! When the ambrosia fails, the Immortals must indeed
+depart!"
+
+(_The cup drops from his hands; and he leans against a column, feeling
+himself about to die._)
+
+JUNO. "Thou shouldst not have had so many amours! Eagle, bull, swan,
+rain of gold, cloud and flame, thou didst assume all forms,--dissipate
+thy light in all elements,--lose thy hair upon all beds! This time
+the divorce is irrevocable; and our domination, our very existence,
+dissolved."
+
+(_She passes away in air._)
+
+MINERVA (_has no longer her spear; and the ravens nesting among the
+sculptures of the friezes, wheel about her, peeking at her helmet._)
+
+"Let me see whether my vessels cleave the bright sea, returning to my
+three ports,--let me discover why the fields are deserted, and learn
+what the daughters of Athens are now doing.
+
+"In the month of Hecatombeon my whole people came to worship me, under
+the guidance of their magistrates and priests. Then, all in white robes
+and wearing chitons of gold, they advanced the long line of virgins
+bearing cups, baskets, parasols; then the three hundred sacrificial
+oxen, and the old men having green boughs, the soldiers with clashing
+of armour, the ephebi singing hymns, flute players, lyre players,
+rhapsodists, dancing women;--and lastly attached to the mast of a
+trireme mounted upon wheel, my great veil embroidered by virgins who
+had been nourished in a particular way for a whole year. And when it
+had been displayed in all the streets, in all the squares, and before
+the temples, in the midst of the ever-chanting procession, it was borne
+step by step up the hill of the Acropolis, grazed the Propylæa, and
+entered the Parthenon....
+
+"But a strange feebleness comes upon me,--me the Industrious One! What!
+what! not one idea comes to me! Lo! I am trembling more than a woman!"
+
+(_She turns, beholds a ruin behind her, utters a cry, and stricken by a
+fallen fragment, falls backward upon the ground._)
+
+HERCULES (_has flung away his lion-skin; and with feet firmly braced,
+back arched, teeth clenched, he exhausts himself in immeasurable
+efforts to bear up the mass of crumbling Olympus._)
+
+"I vanquished the Cercopes, the Amazons, and the Centaurs. Many were
+the kings I slew. I broke the horn of the great river, Achelous. I cut
+the mountains asunder; I freed nations from slavery; and I peopled
+lands that were desolate. I travelled through the countries of Gaul;
+I traversed the deserts where thirst prevails. I defended the gods
+from their enemies; and I freed myself from Omphale. But the weight of
+Olympus is too great for me. My arms grow feebler:--I die!"
+
+(_He is crushed beneath the ruins._)
+
+PLUTO. "It is thy fault, Amphytrionad;--wherefore didst thou descend
+into my empire?
+
+"The vulture that gnaws the entrails of Tityus lifted its head;--the
+lips of Tantalus were moistened;--the wheel of Ixion stopped.
+
+"Meanwhile the Kæres extended their claws to snatch back the escaping
+ghosts; the Furies tore the serpents of their locks; and Cerberus
+fettered by thee with a chain, sounded the death rattle in his throat,
+and foamed at all his three mouths.
+
+"Thou didst leave the gate ajar; others have come. The daylight of men
+has entered into Tartarus!"
+
+(_He sinks into the darkness._)
+
+NEPTUNE. "My trident can no longer call up the tempests. The monsters
+that terrified of old, lie rotting at the bottom of the sea.
+
+"Amphitrite whose white feet tripped lightly over the foam, the green
+Nereids seen afar off in the horizon, the scaly Sirens who stopped
+the passing vessels to tell stories, and the ancient Tritons mightily
+blowing upon their shells, all have passed away. All is desolate and
+dead; the gaiety of the great Sea is no more!"
+
+(_He vanishes beneath the azure._)
+
+DIANA (_clad in black and surrounded by her dogs, which have been
+changed into wolves_).
+
+"The freedom of the deep forests once intoxicated me; the odours of the
+wild beasts and the exhalations of the marshes made me as one drank
+with joy. But the women whose maternity I protected, now bring dead
+children into the world. The moon trembles with the incantations of
+witches. Desires of violence, of immensity, seize me, fill me! I wish
+to drink poisons,--to lose myself in vapours, in dreams...!"
+
+(_And a passing cloud carries her away._)
+
+MARS (_unhelmed and covered with blood_).
+
+"At first I fought alone;--singlehanded I would provoke a whole army by
+my insults,--caring nothing for countries or nations, demanding battle
+for the pleasure of carnage alone.
+
+"Afterward I had comrades. They marched to the sound of flutes, in good
+order, with equal step, respiring above their bucklers, with plumes
+loftily nodding, lances oblique. Then on rushed to battle with mighty
+eagle cries. War was joyous as a banquet. Three hundred men strove
+against all Asia.
+
+"But the Barbarians are returning;--by myriads they come, by millions!
+Ah! since numbers, and engines, and cunning are stronger than valour,
+it were better that I die the death of the brave!"
+
+(_He kills himself._)
+
+VULCAN (_sponging the sweat from his limbs_):
+
+"The world is growing cold. The source of heat must be nourished, the
+volcanoes and rivers of flowing metal underground. Strike harder!--with
+full swing of the arms,--with might and main!"
+
+(_The Cabiri wound themselves with their hammers, blind themselves with
+sparks, and groping, lose themselves in the darkness._)
+
+CERES (_standing in her chariot, impelled by wheels having wings at
+their hubs_):
+
+"Stop! Stop! Ah! it was with good reason that the exclusion of
+strangers, atheists, Epicureans, and Christians was commended! Now the
+mystery of the basket has been unveiled; the sanctuary profaned: all is
+lost!"
+
+(_She descends a precipitous slope--shrieking, despairing, tearing her
+hair._)
+
+"Ah! lies, lies! Daira has not been restored to me. The voice of brass
+calls me to the dead. This is another Tartarus, whence there is no
+return! Horror!"
+
+(_The abyss engulfs her._)
+
+BACCHUS (_with a frenzied laugh_).
+
+"What matters it? The Archon's wife is my spouse! The law itself reels
+in drunkenness! To me the new song, the multiplied forms!
+
+"The fire by which my mother was devoured, flows in my veins! Let it
+burn yet more fiercely, even though I perish!
+
+"Male and female, complaisant to all, I abandon myself to you,
+Bacchantes! I abandon myself to you, Bacchanalians!--and the vine shall
+twine herself about the tree-trunks! Howl! dance! writhe! Loosen the
+tiger and the slave!--rend flesh with ferocious bitings!"
+
+(_And Pan, Silenus, the Bacchantes, the Mimalonæides, and the
+Mænads,--with their serpents, torches, sable masks,--cast flowers at
+each other ... shake their tympanums, strike their thyrsi, pelt each
+other with shells, devour grapes, strangle a goat, and tear Bacchus
+asunder._)
+
+APOLLO (_furiously whipping his coursers, while his blanching locks are
+falling from his head_):
+
+"I have left far behind me stony Delos, so pure that all now there
+seems dead; and I must strive to reach Delphi ere its inspiring vapour
+be wholly lost. The mules browse in its laurel groves. The Pythoness
+has wandered away, and cannot be found.
+
+"By a stronger concentration of my power, I will obtain sublime hymns,
+eternal monuments; and all matter will be penetrated by the vibrations
+of my cithara!"
+
+(_He strikes the strings of the instrument. They burst, lashing his
+face with their broken ends. He flings the cithara away; and furiously
+whipping his quadriga, cries_):
+
+"No! enough of forms!--Further, higher!--to the very summit!--to the
+realm of pure thought!"
+
+(_But the horses back, rear, dash the chariot to pieces. Entangled by
+the harness, caught by the fragments of the broken pole, he falls head
+foremost into the abyss._
+
+[Illustration: ... he falls head foremost into the abyss.]
+
+_The sky is darkened._)
+
+VENUS (_blue with cold, shivering_):
+
+"Once with my girdle I made all the horizon of Hellas.
+
+"Her fields glowed with the roses of my cheeks; her shores were
+outlined after the fashion of my lips; and her mountains, whiter than
+my doves, palpitated beneath the hands of the statuaries. My spirit's
+manifestation was found in the ordinances of the festivals, in the
+arrangement of coiffures, in the dialogues of philosophers, in the
+constitution of republics. But I have doted too much upon men! It is
+Love that has dishonoured me!"
+
+(_She casts herself back weeping_):
+
+"This world is abominable;--there is no air for me to breathe!
+
+"O Mercury, inventor of the lyre, conductor of souls, take me away!"
+
+(_She places one finger upon her lips, and describing an immense
+parabola, falls into the abyss._
+
+_Nothing is now visible. The darkness is complete._
+
+_Only, that from the eyes of Hilarion escape two flashes, two rays of
+lurid light._)
+
+ANTHONY (_begins at last to notice his immense stature_):
+
+"Already several times, while thou wert speaking, it seemed to me thou
+wert growing taller; and it was no illusion! How? Explain to me ... Thy
+aspect terrifies me!"
+
+(_Footsteps are heard approaching._)
+
+"What is that?"
+
+HILARION (_extending his arm_):
+
+"Look!"
+
+(_Then, under a pale beam of moonlight, Anthony distinguishes an
+interminable caravan defiling over the summit of the rocks;--and each
+voyager, one after the other, falls from the cliff into the gulf below._
+
+_First comes the three great gods of_ Samothrace,--AXIEROS, AXIOKEROS,
+AXIOKERSA,--_united together as in a fascia, purple-masked, all with
+hands uplifted._
+
+_Æsculapius advances with a melancholy air, not even perceiving
+Samos and Telesphorus, who question him with gestures of anguish._
+ELEAN SOSIPOLIS, _of python-form, rolls his coils toward the abyss._
+DOSIPOENA, _becomes dizzy, leaps in of her own accord._ BRITOMARTIS,
+_shrieking with fear, clutches fast the meshes of her net. The Centaurs
+come at a wild gallop, and roll pell-mell into the black gulf._
+
+_Behind them, all limping, advance the bands of the mourning Nymphs.
+Those of the meadows are covered with dust; those of the woods moan and
+bleed; wounded by the axes of the woodcutters._
+
+_The Gelludes, the Strygii, the Empusæ, all the infernal goddesses,
+form one pyramid of blended fangs, vipers, and torches;--and seated
+upon a vulture-skin at its summit, Eurynome, blue as the flies that
+corrupt meat, devours her own arms._
+
+_Then in one great whirl simultaneously disappear the bloody Orthia,
+Hymina of Orchomenus, the Laphria of the Patræns, Aphia of Agina,
+Bendis of Thrace, Stymphalia with thighs like a bird's. Triopas, in
+lieu of three eyes, has now but three empty orbits. Erichthonius, his
+legs paralysed, crawls upon his hands like a cripple._)
+
+HILARION. "What a pleasure, is it not!--to see them all in the
+abjection of their death-agony! Climb up here beside me, on this rock;
+and thou shalt be even as Xerxes, reviewing his army.
+
+"Beyond there, very far, dost thou behold that fair-bearded giant,
+who even now lets fall his sword crimsoned with blood?--that is
+the Scythian Zalmoxis between two planets,--Artimpasa, Venus, and
+Orsiloche, the Moon.
+
+"Still further away, now emerging from pallid clouds, are the gods whom
+the Cimmerians adore, even beyond Thule.
+
+"Their huge halls were warm, and by the gleam of swords that tapestried
+the vault, they drank their hydromel from horns of ivory. They ate the
+liver of the whale in dishes of brass wrought by the hammers of demons;
+or, betimes, they listened to captive sorcerers whose fingers played
+upon harps of stone.
+
+"They are feeble! They are cold! The snow makes heavy their bearskins;
+and their feet show through the rents in their sandals.
+
+"They weep for the vast fields upon whose grassy knolls they were
+wont to draw breath in pauses of battle; they weep for the long ships
+whose prows forced a way through the mountains of ice;--and the skates
+wherewith they followed the orb of the poles, upbearing at the length
+of their mighty arms all the firmament that turned with them."
+
+(_A gust of frosty wind carries them off. Anthony turns his eyes
+another way. And he perceives--outlined in black against a red
+background--certain strange personages, with chinbands and gauntlets,
+who throw balls at one another, leap over each other's heads, make
+grimaces, dance a frenzied dance._)
+
+HILARION. "Those are the divinities of Etruria, the innumerable Æsars.
+
+"There is Tages, by whom augury was invented. With one hand he seeks to
+augment the divisions of the sky; with the other he supports himself
+upon the earth: let him sink therein!
+
+"Nortia gazes at the wall into which she drave nails to mark the number
+of the passing years. Its whole surface is now covered; and the period
+is accomplished.
+
+"Like two travellers overtaken by a storm, Kastur and Pulutuk,
+trembling, seek to shelter themselves beneath the same mantle."
+
+ANTHONY (_closes his eyes_):
+
+"Enough! Enough!"
+
+(_But with a mighty noise of wings, all the Victories of the Capitol
+pass through the air,--hiding their faces with their hands, dropping
+the trophies hanging upon their arms._
+
+_Janus,--lord of crepuscules,--flees upon a black ram; and one of his
+two faces is already putrified; the other slumbers with fatigue._
+
+_Summanus, the headless god of the dark heavens, presses against his
+heart an odd cake shaped like a wheel._
+
+_Vesta, beneath a ruined cupola, tries to relight her extinguished
+lamp._
+
+_Bellona gashes her cheeks,--without being able to make that blood flow
+by which her devotees were purified._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Mercy!--they weary me!"
+
+HILARION. "Before, they amused thee!"
+
+(_And he shows him in a grove of bean-trees,_ A WOMAN, _naked....
+.........and a black man, holding in each hand a torch._[8])
+
+"It is the goddess of Aricia, with the demon Virbius. Her sacerdote,
+the King of the grove, had to be an assassin;[9] and the fugitive
+slaves, the despoilers of corpses, the brigands of the Via Salaria, the
+cripples of the Pons Sublicius, all the human vermin of the Suburra
+worshipped no deities so fervently.
+
+"In the time of Marcus Antonius the patrician women preferred Libitina."
+
+(_And he shows him under the shadow of cypresses and rose-trees_,
+ANOTHER WOMAN, _clad in gauze. Around her lie spades, litters, black
+hangings, all the paraphernalia of funerals. She smiles. Her diamonds
+shine afar off through spiders' webs. The Larvæ, like skeletons, show
+their bones through the branches; and the Lemures, who are phantoms,
+extend their bat-like wings._
+
+_At the end of a field lies the god Terminus, uprooted, and covered
+with ordures._
+
+_In the centre of a furrow, the great corpse of Vertumnus is being
+devoured by red dogs._
+
+_The rustic deities all depart, weeping:--Sartor, Sarrator, Vervactor,
+Collina, Vallona, Hostilinus--all wearing little hooded mantles, and
+carrying either a hoe, a pitchfork, a hurdle, or a boar-spear._)
+
+HILARION. "Their spirits made prosperous the villa,--with its dovecots,
+its parks of dormice, its poultry-yards protected by nets, its warm
+stables fragrant with odours of cedar.
+
+"Also they protected all the wretched population who dragged the irons
+upon their legs over the flinty ways of the Sabine country,--those who
+called the swine together by sound of horn,--those who were wont to
+gather the bunches at the very summits of the elms,--those who drove
+the asses, laden with manure, over the winding bypaths. The panting
+labourer, leaning over the handle of his plough, prayed them to give
+strength to his arms; and under the shade of the lindens, beside
+calabashes filled with milk, the cow-herds were wont, in turn, to sound
+their praises upon flutes of reed."
+
+ANTHONY (_sighs._)
+
+(_And in the centre of a chamber, upon a lofty estrade, an ivory bed is
+visible, surrounded by persons bearing torches of pine._)
+
+"Those are the deities of marriage. They await the coming of the bride.
+
+"Domiduca should lead her in,--Virgo unfasten her girdle,--Subigo place
+her in the bed,--and Præma open her arms, and whisper sweet words into
+her ear.
+
+"But she will not come!--and they dismiss the others:--Nona and Decima
+who watch by sick-beds; the three Nixii who preside over child-birth;
+the two nurses, Educa and Potina; and Carna, guardian of the cradle,
+whose bouquet of hawthorne keeps evil dreams from the child.
+
+"Afterwards, Ossipago should strengthen his knees;--Barbatus give him
+his first beard; Stimula inspire his first desires; Volupia grant him
+his first enjoyment; Fabulimus should have taught him to speak, Numera
+to count, Cam[oe]na to sing, Consus to reflect."
+
+(_This chamber is empty; and there remains only the centenarian Nænia
+beside the bed,--muttering to herself the dirge she was wont to howl at
+the funerals of aged men._
+
+_But her voice is soon drowned by sharp cries. These are uttered by_--
+
+_The_ LARES DOMESTICI, _crouching at the further end of the atrium,
+clad in dog-skins, with flowers wreathed about their bodies,--pressing
+their clenched hands against their cheeks, and weeping as loudly as
+they can._)
+
+"Where is the portion of food we received at each repast, the kindly
+care of the maid-servant, the smile of the matron, the merriment of
+the little boys playing at knuckle-bones on the mosaic pavement of the
+court-yard? When grown up, they used to hang about our necks their
+bullæ of gold or leather!
+
+"What happiness it was, when on the evening of a triumph, the master,
+entering, turned his humid eyes upon us! He would recount his combats;
+and the little house would be prouder than a palace; sacred as a temple!
+
+"How sweet were the family repasts, above all on the morrow of the
+Feralia! Tenderness for the dead appeased all discords; all kissed each
+other, while drinking to the glories of the past, and the hopes of the
+future.
+
+"But the ancestors, of painted wax, locked up behind us, are slowly
+becoming covered with mold. The new races, visiting their own
+deceptions upon us, have shattered our jaws; our wooden bodies are
+disappearing piece-meal under the teeth of rats."
+
+(_And the innumerable gods, watching over doors, kitchens, cellars,
+baths, disperse in every direction--under the form of enormous ants
+running over the pavement, or great butterflies soaring away._
+
+_Then a roll of thunder is heard._)
+
+
+A VOICE:
+
+"I was the God of Armies, the Lord, the Lord God! I pitched the tents
+of Jacob on the hills; and in the midst of the sands I nourished my
+chosen people in their flight.
+
+"It was I who consumed the city of Sodom with fire! It was I who
+overwhelmed the world with the waters of the Deluge! It was I that
+drowned Pharaoh, with all the princes, sons of Kings,--making the sea
+to swallow up his chariots of war, and his charioteers!
+
+"I, the Jealous God, held all other gods in abomination. I brayed the
+impure in my anger; the mighty I cast down; and swiftly the desolation
+of my wrath ran to the right and to the left, like a dromedary loosened
+in a field of maize.
+
+"I chose the humble to deliver Israel. Angels, flame-winged, spake to
+them from out the bushes.
+
+"Perfumed with spikenard, with cinnamon and myrrh, clad in transparent
+robes, and shod with high-heeled sandals,--women of valiant heart went
+forth to slay captains. The passing wind carried my prophets with it.
+
+"My law I graved upon tables of stone. Within that law my people were
+enclosed, as within a strong citadel. They were my people. I was their
+God! The land was mine; the men also belonged to me, together with
+their every thought, and all their works, and the tools they wrought
+with, and their prosperity.
+
+"My ark reposed within a triple sanctuary,--surrounded by curtains
+of purple and lighted candelabra. I had a whole tribe to serve me as
+servants, swinging censers; and the high-priest, robed in robes of
+hyacinth, wore upon his breast precious stones disposed in symmetrical
+order.
+
+"Woe! Woe! the Holy of Holies is open, the veil is rent, the perfumes
+of the holocaust are dissipated by all the winds of heaven! The jackal
+whines in the sepulchres; my temple is destroyed; my people dispersed!
+
+"The priests have been strangled with the girdles of their robes. The
+women languish in captivity; the holy vessels have all been melted!"
+
+(_The voice, becoming more distant_):
+
+"I was the God of Armies; the Lord, the Lord God!"
+
+(_An enormous silence follows,--and deepest night._)
+
+ANTHONY. "All have passed away!"
+
+SOME ONE (_replies_):
+
+"I remain!"
+
+(_And Hilarion stands before him--but transfigured wholly,--beautiful
+as an archangel, luminous as a sun, and so lofty that in order to
+behold his face_--
+
+ANTHONY
+
+_is compelled to throw back his head, to look up as though gazing as a
+star_):
+
+"Who art thou?"
+
+HILARION. "My kingdom is vast as the universe; and my desire knows no
+limits. I go on forever,--freeing minds, weighing worlds,--without
+hatred, without fear, without pity, without love, and without God. Men
+call me SCIENCE!"
+
+ANTHONY (_recoiling from him_):
+
+"Say, rather, that thou art ... the Devil!"
+
+HILARION (_fixing his eyes upon him_:)
+
+"Wouldst thou behold him?"
+
+ANTHONY (_cannot detach his eyes from that mighty gaze:--the curiosity
+of the Devil comes upon him. His terror augments; yet his wish grows
+even to boundlessness_):
+
+"Yet if I should see him ... if I were to see him!"
+
+(_Then in a sudden spasm of wrath_):
+
+"The horror that I have of him will free me from his presence
+forever!... Yes!"
+
+(_A cloven foot appears. Anthony regrets his wish._
+
+_But the Devil flings him upon his horns and bears him away._)
+
+
+
+[1] Matthew II: 10--T.
+
+[2] "Buddha, or more correctly, the Buddha, for Buddha is an
+appellative meaning Enlightened."--Max Müller (Chips, Vol. I., 206).
+
+[3] Luke II: 25-26.--T.
+
+[4] Ibid II: 46-47.--T.
+
+[5] Or, Haoma, also Hom, the sacred plant, whose fermented juice
+occupied an important place in the practical rites of Iran. Supposed
+to be the same plant known in botany as _Sarcostemma viminalis._
+Deified in Iranian worship, like the sacred drink _Soma_ in the Vedic
+hymns. The _Soma_ was the fermented extract of the _Asclepias acida_
+or _Sarcostemma ritalis._ See Marius Fontane, "L'Inde Védique," "Les
+Iraniens."--Trans.
+
+[6] Apuleius says, "a silken mantle."--Trans.
+
+[7] Apuleius says, "strung with knuckle-bones of sheep."--Trans.
+
+[8] This scene, like certain paintings in the Naples museum, is all
+suited for public exhibition.--Trans.
+
+[9] Readers will recollect the lines in Macaulay's _Lays of Ancient
+Rome_:
+
+"Beneath Aricia's trees,
+   Those trees in whose dim shadow
+ A ghastly priest doth reign,
+   The priest who slew the slayer,
+ And must himself be slain."
+
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+(_He flies beneath him, outstretched like a swimmer; his vast-spreading
+wings, wholly concealing him, seem like one huge cloud._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Whither do I go? But a little while ago I beheld in a glimpse
+the form of the Accurst. Nay!--'tis a cloud that upbears me! Perhaps I
+am dead, and am ascending to God....
+
+"How freely I respire. The immaculate air seems to vivify my soul. No
+sense of weight!--no more suffering.
+
+"Far below me the lightning breaks,--the horizon broadens, widens,--the
+rivers cross each other. That blond-bright spot is the desert; that
+pool of water the ocean!
+
+"And other oceans appear!--vast regions of which I knew nothing!
+There are the countries of the blacks, which seem to smoke like
+brasiers!--then is the zone of snows always made dim by fog! Would I
+might behold those mountains where the sun, each evening, sinks to
+rest!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "The sun never sinks to rest; the sun never rests!"
+
+(_Anthony is not surprised at this voice. It seems to him an echo of
+his own thought--a response made by his own memory._
+
+_Meanwhile the earth gradually assumes the shape of a ball; and he
+beholds it in the midst of the azure, turning upon its poles, and
+revolving with the sun._)
+
+THE DEVIL. "So it does not form the centre of the universe! Pride of
+man! humiliate thyself!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Now I can scarcely distinguish it. It mingles confusedly with
+other glowing worlds. The firmament itself is but one tissue of stars."
+
+(_And they still rise._)
+
+"No sound!--not even the hoarse cry of eagles! Nothing? I listen for
+the harmony of the spheres."
+
+THE DEVIL. "Thou wilt not hear them! Nor wilt thou behold the
+antichtonus of Plato,--or the central furnace of Philolaüs,--or the
+spheres of Aristotle, or the seven heavens of the Jews, with the great
+waters above the vault of crystal!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet from below the vault seemed solid as a wall!--on the
+contrary I penetrate it, I lose myself in it!"
+
+(_And he beholds the moon,--like a rounded fragment of ice filled with
+motionless light._)
+
+THE DEVIL. "Formerly it was the sojourn of souls! Even the good
+Pythagoras adorned it with magnificent flowers, populated it with
+birds!"
+
+ANTHONY. "I can see only desolate plains there, with extinct craters
+yawning under a black sky!
+
+"Let us go towards those milder-beaming stars, that we may contemplate
+the angels who uphold them at arms' length, like torches!"
+
+THE DEVIL (_bears him into the midst of the stars_):
+
+"They attract at the same time that they repel each other. The
+action of each one results from that of others, and contributes
+thereunto,--without the aid of any auxiliary, by the force of a law,
+the virtue of order alone!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes!...yes! My intelligence grasps the great truth! It is
+a joy greater than all tender pleasures! Breathless I find myself with
+astonishment at the enormity of God!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Even as the firmament ever rises as thou dost ascend, so
+with the expansion of thy thought will He become greater to thee; and
+after this discovery of the universe thou wilt feel thy joy augment
+with the broadening and deepening of the infinite."
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! higher!--higher still!--- forever higher!"
+
+(_Then the stars multiply, scintillate. The Milky Way develops in the
+zenith like a monstrous belt, with holes at intervals; through these
+rents in its brightness stretches of prolonged darkness are visible.
+There are rains of stars, long trains of golden dust, luminous vapours
+that float and dissolve.
+
+At times a comet suddenly passes by; then the tranquillity of
+innumerable lights recommences.
+
+Anthony, with outstretched arms, supports himself upon the Devil's
+horns, and thus occupies all the space between them.
+
+He remembers with disdain the ignorance of other days, the mediocrity
+of his dreams. And now those luminous globes he was wont to gaze upon
+from below, are close to him. He distinguishes the intercrossing of
+the lines of their orbits, the complexity of their courses. He beholds
+them coming from afar,--and, like stones suspended in a sling, describe
+their circles, form their hyperbolas.
+
+He perceives, all within the field of his vision at once, the Southern
+Cross and the Great Bear, the Lynx and the Centaur, the nebula of
+Dorado, the six suns in the constellation of Orion, Jupiter with his
+four satellites, and the triple ring of the monstrous Saturn!--all the
+planets, all the stars that men will discover in the future. He fills
+his eyes with their light; he over-burthens his mind with calculation
+of their distances: then, bowing his head, he murmurs_):
+
+"What is the purpose of all that?"
+
+THE DEVIL. "There is no purpose. How could God have a purpose? What
+experience could have instructed him?--what reflection determined him?
+
+[Illustration: Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The
+Devil: There is no purpose.]
+
+"Before the beginning he could not have acted;--and now his action
+would be useless."
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet he created the world, at one time, by his word only."
+
+THE DEVIL. "But the beings that people the earth come upon it
+successively. So also, in heaven, new stars arise--different effects of
+varying causes."
+
+ANTHONY. "The varying of causes is the will of God!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "But to admit several acts of will in God is to admit
+various causes, and therefore to deny his unity.
+
+"His will is inseparable from his essence. He can have but one will,
+having but one essence; and inasmuch as he externally exists, he acts
+eternally.
+
+"Contemplate the sun! From its surface leap vast jets of flame, casting
+forth sparks that disperse beyond to become worlds here-after;--and
+further than the last, far beyond those deeps where thou seest only
+night, whirl other suns,--and behind them others again, and beyond
+those yet others ... without end!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Enough! Enough! I fear!--I will fall into the abyss!"
+
+THE DEVIL (_pauses, and rocks Anthony gently in the midst of space_).
+
+"Nothingness is--not--there is no void! Everywhere and forever bodies
+move upon the immovable deeps of space! Were there boundaries to
+space, it would not be space, but a body only: it is limitless!"
+
+ANTHONY (_stupefied by wonder_):
+
+"Limitless!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Ascend skyward forever and forever,--yet thou wilt not
+attain the summit. Descend below the earth for billions of billions of
+centuries: never wilt thou reach the bottom. For there is no summit,
+there is no bottom; there is no Above, no Below--nor height, nor
+depth as signified by the terms of human utterance. And Space itself
+is comprised in God, who is not a portion thereof of such or such a
+size,--but is Immensity itself!"
+
+ANTHONY (_slowly_):
+
+"Matter ..., then, ... must be a part of God?"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Why not? Canst thou know the end of God?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Nay: on the contrary, I prostrate, I crush myself beneath his
+mightiness!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "And yet thou dost pretend to move him! Thou dost speak to
+him,--thou dost even adorn him with virtues,--with goodness, justice,
+mercy,--in lieu of recognising that all perfections are his!
+
+"To conceive aught beyond him is to conceive God above God, the Being
+above the Being. For He is the only being, the only substance.
+
+"If the Substance could be divided, it would not be the Substance, it
+would lose its nature: God could not exist. He is therefore indivisible
+as infinite;--and if he had a body, he would be composed of parts,
+he would not be One--he would not be infinite. Therefore he is not a
+Person!"
+
+ANTHONY. "What? my prayers, my sobs, my groans, the sufferings of my
+flesh, the transports of my love,--have all these things gone out to a
+lie,--to emptiness, unavailingly--like the cry of a bird, like a whirl
+of dead leaves?"
+
+(_Weeping_):
+
+"Oh, no!--there is Some One above all things,--a great Soul, a Lord, a
+Father whom my heart adores and who must love me!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Thou dost desire that God were not God;--for did he feel
+love, or anger, or pity,--he would abandon his perfection for a greater
+or a lesser perfection. He can stoop to no sentiment, nor be contained
+in any form."
+
+ANTHONY. "One day, nevertheless, I shall see him!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "With the blessed, is it not?--when the finite shall enjoy
+the infinite in some restricted place, containing the Absolute!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Matters not!--there must be a paradise for the good, as there
+is a hell for the wicked."
+
+THE DEVIL. "Can the desire of thy mind create the law of the universe?
+Without doubt evil is indifferent to God,--forasmuch as the Earth is
+covered with it!
+
+"Is it through impotence that he endures it, or through cruelty that he
+maintains it?
+
+"Dost thou fancy that he is eternally readjusting the world, like an
+imperfect machine?--that he is forever watching the movements of all
+beings, from the flight of a butterfly to the thought of a man?
+
+"If he have created the universe, his providence is superfluous. If
+Providence exists, then creation is defective.
+
+"But evil and good concern only thee--even like night and day, pleasure
+and pain, death and birth, which are relative only to one corner
+of space, to a special centre, to a particular interest. Since the
+Infinite is permanent, the Infinite is;--and that is all."
+
+(_The Devil's wings have been gradually expanding: now they cover all
+space._)
+
+ANTHONY (_now perceives nothing: a great faintness comes upon him_):
+
+"A hideous cold freezes me, even to the depths of my soul! This is
+beyond the extreme of pain! It is like a death that is deeper than
+death! I roll in the immensity of darkness; and the darkness itself
+enters within me. My consciousness bursts beneath this dilation of
+nothingness!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Yet the knowledge of things comes to thee only through the
+medium of thy mind. Even as a concave mirror, it deforms the objects
+it reflects; and thou hast no means whatever of verifying their
+exactitude."
+
+"Never canst thou know the universe in all its vastness; consequently
+it will never be possible for thee to obtain an idea of its cause,
+to have a just notion of God, nor even to say that the universe is
+infinite,--for thou must first be able to know what the Infinite is!"
+
+"May not Form be, perhaps, an error of thy senses,--Substance a figment
+of thy imagination?"
+
+"Unless, indeed, that the world being a perpetual flux[1] of things,
+appearance, on the contrary, be wholly true; illusion the only reality."
+
+"But art thou sure thou dost see?--art thou even sure thou dost live?
+Perhaps nothing exists!"
+
+(_The Devil has seized Anthony, and, holding him at arms' length,
+glares at him with mouth yawning as though to devour him_):
+
+"Adore me, then!--and curse the phantom thou callest God!"
+
+(_Anthony lifts his eyes with a last effort of hope._
+
+_The Devil abandons him._)
+
+
+[1] The original text seems to me slightly obscure. The idea of the
+universe being a perpetual ebb and flow of shapes, is that of forms
+passing away to reappear like waves, is that of the Nidana-Sutris:
+"Individuality is only a form ... _Everything is only a flux of
+aggregates_, interminably uniting and disuniting," as Barth observes in
+his "Religions of India."--Trans.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+ANTHONY (_finds himself lying upon his back, at the verge of the cliff._
+
+_The sky commences to blanch._)
+
+"Is it the glow of dawn, or only an effect of moonlight?"
+
+(_He tries to rise, falls back,--his teeth chattering_):
+
+"I feel such a helplessness of weakness, as though all my bones were
+broken!
+
+"Why?
+
+"Ah! the Devil!--I remember!--he even repeated to me all that I
+learned from the aged Didymus respecting the opinions of Xenophanes,
+Heraclitus, of Melissus, of Anaxagoras,--concerning the infinite, the
+creation, the impossibility of knowing anything!
+
+"And yet I believed that I could unite myself to God!"
+
+(_Laughing bitterly_):
+
+"Ah! madness! madness! Is the fault mine? Prayer has become
+intolerable to me! My heart is dry as a rock! Once, it was wont to
+overflow with love!...
+
+"The sand used to smoke of mornings like the odourous dust of a
+censer;--at sunset flowers of fire used to bloom upon the cross; and in
+the middle of the night, it often seemed as though all beings and all
+things, lying under the same awful silence, were adoring the Lord with
+me. O charms of prayer, felicities of ecstasy, gifts of heaven,--what
+have become of you?
+
+"I remember a voyage I made with Ammon in search of a solitary place
+suited for the establishment of a monastery. It was the last evening;
+we hastened our steps, walked side by side, murmuring hymns, without
+conversing. As the sun sank, the shadows of our bodies lengthened like
+two obelisks, continually growing taller, and moving before us. Here
+and there we planted crosses, made with fragments of our sticks, to
+mark the site of a future cell. Night was tardy in her coming; and
+waves of darkness overspread the earth, even while a vast rose-coloured
+light still glowed in heaven.
+
+"When I was a child, I used to amuse myself by building hermitages
+with pebbles. My mother sitting beside me would watch me so attentively!
+
+"Will she not have cursed me for having abandoned her?--will she not
+have plucked out her white hair by handfuls in the despair of her
+grief? And her corpse remains lying on the floor of the hut, under the
+roof of reeds, between the crumbling walls. Through an orifice a hyena,
+snuffing, thrusts his head, advances his mouth ... horror! horror!"
+
+(_Sobbing_):
+
+"No: Ammonaria will not have abandoned her! Where is she
+now,--Ammonaria?
+
+"Perhaps at the further end of a bathroom, she removes her garments
+one after the other: first the mantle, then the girdle, then the first
+tunic, the second lighter tunic, all her necklaces,--and the vapour
+of cinnamon envelops her naked limbs. At last she lies down upon the
+tepid mosaic. Her long hair spreading below the curve of her hips,
+seems like a sable fleece; and the oppressiveness of the heated air
+causes her to pant; her waist arched, her breasts standing out ...
+What! my flesh rebels again! Even in the midst of grief am I tortured
+by concupiscence. To be subjected thus unto two tortures at once is
+beyond endurance! I can no longer bear myself!"
+
+(_He leans over, and gazes into the abyss._)
+
+"The man who should fall would be killed. Nothing easier: it were only
+necessary to roll over upon my left side:--only one movement--one!"
+
+(_Then suddenly appears_--AN AGED WOMAN. _Anthony starts to his feet in
+affright. It seems to him that he beholds his mother arisen._
+
+_But this woman is far older, and prodigiously thin._
+
+_A shroud, knotted about her head, hangs down, together with her white
+hair, so as to cover her legs, slender as crutches. The brilliancy of
+her ivory-coloured teeth make her earthy skin darker still. The orbits
+of her eyes are full of shadow; and far back within them two flames
+vacillate, like the lamps of sepulchres._
+
+_She exclaims_):
+
+"Advance! What hinders thee?"
+
+ANTHONY (_stammering_):
+
+"I fear ... to commit a sin!"
+
+SHE (_replies_):
+
+"But King Saul killed himself! Razias, a just man, killed himself!
+Saint Pelagia of Antioch killed herself! Dommina of Aleppo and her two
+daughters--all three saints--killed themselves: and remember also how
+many confessors delivered themselves up to the executioner in their
+impatient longing for death! That they might enjoy death more speedily,
+the virgins of Miletus strangled themselves with their girdles. At
+Syracuse the philosopher Hegesias preached so eloquently upon death
+that men deserted the lupanars to go hang themselves in the fields. The
+patricians of Borne sought for death as a new form of debauch."
+
+ANTHONY. "Aye! the love of death is strong; and many a anchorite has
+succumbed to it."
+
+THE OLD WOMAN. "To do that which will make thee equal unto God--think!
+He created thee: thou wilt destroy his work--thou! and by thy
+courage,--of thy own free will! The enjoyment that Erostratus knew was
+not greater than this. And moreover thy body has so long mocked thy
+soul that it is full time thou shouldst take vengeance upon it. Thou
+wilt not suffer. It will soon be over. Of what art thou afraid?--a
+wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!"
+
+[Illustration: The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?—a wide,
+black hole! Perhaps it is a void!]
+
+(_Anthony hearkens without replying; and upon the other side appears_--
+
+ANOTHER WOMAN--_young and marvellously beautiful. At first he takes
+her to be Ammonaria. But she is taller, blond as honey, very plump,
+with paint upon her cheeks and roses upon her head. Her long robe,
+weighty with spangles, gleams with metallic lustre;--her fleshy lips
+are sanguinolent; and her somewhat heavy eyelids are so drowned with
+languor that one would almost take her to be blind._
+
+_She murmurs_):
+
+"Nay, live! enjoy! Solomon counsels joy! Follow the guiding of thy
+heart and the desire of thine eyes!"
+
+ANTHONY. "What joy is there for me? My heart is weary; my eyes are dim!"
+
+SHE (_answers_):
+
+"Seek the suburb of Racotis; push open a door that is painted
+blue;--and when thou shalt be in the atrium where a fountain jet
+murmurs unceasingly, a woman will present herself before thee--in
+peplos of white silk striped with gold; her hair is unloosed, her
+laugh like the clatter of crotali. She is skilful. In her caress thou
+wilt taste the pride of initiation and the appeasement of desire.
+
+"Hast ever pressed to thy bosom a virgin who loved thee? Dost remember
+the surrenders of her modesty,--the passing away of her remorse in a
+sweet flow of tears?
+
+"Thou canst even now imagine thyself walking with her--canst thou
+not?--in the wood by the light of the moon? At each pressure of your
+joined hands, a sweet shuddering passes through you both,--looking
+closely into each other your eyes seem to outpour into one another
+something like immaterial fluid;--and thy heart fills: it bursts: it is
+a suave whirl of eddying passion, an overflowing of intoxication...."
+
+THE OLD WOMAN. "One need not possess joys in order to taste their
+bitterness! Even to view them from afar off begets loathing of them.
+Thou must be fatigued by the monotony of the same actions, the length
+of the days, the hideousness of the world, the stupidity of the sun?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Aye, indeed!--I loathe all that he shines upon."
+
+THE YOUNG WOMAN. "Hermit! hermit! thou wilt find diamonds among the
+flints, fountains beneath the sand, a delectation in all the hazards
+thou dost despise; and there are even upon earth places of such beauty
+that the sight of them would make thee desire to press the whole world
+against thy heart with love!"
+
+THE OLD WOMAN. "Each evening that thou liest down upon the earth to
+slumber, thou dost hope that it may soon lie upon thee and cover thee."
+
+THE YOUNG WOMAN. "Yet thou dost believe in the resurrection of the
+flesh--which is but the translation of life into eternity!"
+
+(_Even as she speaks, the Old Woman becomes still more fleshless; and
+above her skull, from which the white hair has disappeared, a bat
+circles in the air._
+
+_The Young Woman has become fatter. Her robe gleams with shifting
+colours; her nostrils palpitate, her eyes roll softly._)
+
+THE FORMER (_opening her arms, exclaiming_):
+
+"Come to me!--I am Consolation, repose, oblivion, eternal calm!"
+
+THE OTHER.
+
+"I am the sleep-giver, life, happiness inexhaustible!"
+
+(_Anthony turns to fee from them. Each lays a hand on his shoulder._
+
+_The Shroud parts, exposes the Skeleton of Death._
+
+_The robe splits asunder, and leaves the whole body of Lust
+exposed:--her waist is slender; her long and undulating hair flutters
+in the wind._
+
+_Anthony stands motionless between the two, considering them_):
+
+DEATH (_says to him_):
+
+"What matters it, whether now or at another time! Thou art mine,--like
+suns, nations, cities, kings, mountain-snows, and the grasses of the
+fields. I fly higher than the hawks of heaven. I run more swiftly than
+the gazelle; I overtake even Hope; I vanquished the Son of God!"
+
+LUST. "Resist not! I am the Omnipotent! The forests re-echo with my
+sighs; the waters tremble with my agitations. Virtue, courage, piety,
+dissolve in the perfume of my mouth. Man I accompany in every step
+that he makes; and even from the threshold of the tomb he turns to me!"
+
+DEATH. "I will find for thee that which thou hast vainly sought for,
+by the gleam of torches, upon the faces of the dead,--or among those
+awful sands that are formed of human remains, where thou wast wont to
+wander beyond the Pyramids. From time to time, the fragment of a skull
+rolled under thy sandal. Thou didst take up the dust: thou didst let it
+trickle through thy fingers; and thy thought, blending with it, sank
+into nothingness."
+
+LUST. "My gulf is deeper! Marbles have inspired loves. Men rush to
+conjunctures that terrify. Fetters are riveted that the fettered curse.
+Whence the bewitchment of courtesans, the extravagance of dreams, the
+immensity of my sadness?"
+
+DEATH. "Mine irony depasseth all others! There are convulsions of
+delight at the funerals of kings, at the extermination of a whole
+people; and war is made with music, with plumes, with harness of
+gold,--with vast display of ceremony that my due of homage may be
+greater!"
+
+[Illustration: Death: Mine irony depasseth all others!]
+
+LUST. "My rage equals thine! I also yell; I bite! I, too, have sweats
+of agony, and aspects cadaverous!"
+
+DEATH. "It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!"
+
+[Illustration: Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us
+intertwine!]
+
+(_Death laughs mockingly; Lust roars. They clasp each other about the
+waist, and chant alternately_):
+
+"I hasten the dissolution of matter!"
+
+"I facilitate the dispersion of germs!"
+
+"Thou dost destroy for my renovations!"
+
+"Thou dost engender for my destructions!"
+
+"Ever-active my power!"
+
+"Fecund, my putrefaction!"
+
+(_And their voices, whose rolling echoes fill the horizon, deepen and
+become so mighty that Anthony falls backward as if thunder-stricken. A
+shock from time to time causes him to reopen his eyes; and he perceives
+in the midst of the darkness a manner of monster before him._
+
+_It is a skull, crowned with roses, dominating the torso of a woman
+nacreously white. Below, a shroud starred with specks of gold forms
+something like a tail; and the whole body undulates, after the fashion
+of a gigantic worm erect on end._
+
+_The vision attenuates,--disappears._)
+
+ANTHONY (_rising to his feet_):
+
+"The Devil yet again, and under his two-fold aspect: the spirit of
+fornication, and the spirit of destruction.
+
+"Neither affrights me! I repel happiness; and I know myself to be
+eternal.
+
+"Thus death is only an illusion, a veil-masking betimes the continuity
+of life.
+
+"But Substance being unique, wherefore should forms be varied?
+
+"Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose bodily forms are
+only symbols. Could I but see them, I would know the link between
+matter and thought; I would know in what Being consists.
+
+[Illustration: Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial
+figures, whose bodily forms are only symbols.]
+
+"Such were the figures painted at Babylon upon the walls of the
+temple of Belus; and others like them covered a mosaic in the port of
+Carthage. I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms
+of spirits. Those who cross the desert meet with animals surpassing all
+conception...."
+
+[Illustration: I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it
+were, forms of spirits.]
+
+(_And opposite, upon the further side of the Nile, suddenly appears
+the Sphinx.[1] He stretches his paws, shakes the bandelets upon his
+forehead, and crouches upon his belly._
+
+_Leaping, flying, spitting fire through her nostrils, lashing her
+winged sides with her dragon-tail, the green-eyed Chimera circles,
+barks._
+
+_The thick curls of her head tossed back upon one side mingle with
+the hair of her loins; on the other side they hang down to the sand,
+quivering with the swinging of her body, to and fro._)
+
+THE SPHINX (_remaining motionless, and gazing at the Chimera_):
+
+"Hither, Chimera! rest awhile!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "No! never!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Do not run so fast, do not fly so high, do not bark so
+loudly!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "DO not call me!--call me no more; since thou must remain
+forever dumb."
+
+THE SPHINX. "Cease casting thy flames in my face, and uttering thy
+yells in my ear: thou canst not melt my granite."
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Thou shalt not seize me, terrible sphinx!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Thou art too mad to dwell with me!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Thou art too heavy to follow me!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Yet whither goest thou, that thou shouldst run so fast?"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "I gallop in the corridors of the Labyrinth--I hover above
+the mountains--I graze the waves in my flight--I yelp at the bottom of
+precipices--I suspend myself with my mouth from the skirts of clouds--I
+sweep the shores with my dragging tail; and the curves of the hills
+have taken their form from the shape of my shoulders! But thee I find
+perpetually immobile, or perhaps making strange designs with thy claws
+upon the sand."
+
+THE SPHINX. "It is because I keep my secret;--I dream and calculate.
+
+"The sea returns to its bed; the wheat bends back and forth in the
+wind; the caravans pass by; the dust flies; cities crumble; and yet
+my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all
+intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach."
+
+[Illustration: The Sphinx: ... and yet my gaze, which naught
+can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all intervening
+things, upon a horizon that none may reach. The Chimera: I am
+light and joyous!]
+
+THE CHIMERA. "I am light and joyous! I offer to the eyes of men
+dazzling perspectives with Paradise in the clouds above, and
+unspeakable felicity afar off. Into their souls I pour the eternal
+madnesses; projects of happiness, plans for the future, dreams of glory
+and vows of love, and all virtuous resolutions.
+
+"I urge men to perilous voyages and great enterprises. I have chiselled
+with my claws the wonders of architecture. It was I who suspended the
+little bells above the tomb of Porsenna, and surrounded the quays of
+Atlantis with a wall of orichalcum.
+
+"I seek for new perfumes, for vaster flowers, for pleasures never felt
+before. If I perceive in any place a man whose mind reposes in wisdom,
+I fall upon him, and strangle him."
+
+THE SPHINX. "All those tormented by the desire of God, I have devoured.
+
+"In order to climb up to my royal brow, the strongest ascend upon the
+flutings of my bandelets as upon the steps of a stairway. Then a great
+lassitude comes upon them, and they fall backward."
+
+(_Anthony begins to tremble._
+
+_He is no longer before his cabin, but in the desert itself, with those
+two monsters beside him, whose breath is hot upon his shoulders._)
+
+THE SPHINX. "O thou Fantasy, bear me away upon thy wings that my
+sadness may be lightened!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "O thou Unknown, I am enamoured of thine eyes! Like a
+hyena in heat I turn about thee, soliciting those fecundations whereof
+the desires devour me!
+
+"Ope thy mouth, lift thy feet--mount upon my back!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "My feet, since they have been outstretched, can move no
+more. The lichen, like an eruption, has formed upon my jaws. By dint of
+long dreaming I have no longer aught to say."
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Thou liest, hypocrite Sphinx! Wherefore dost thou always
+call me and always disown me!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "It is thou, indomitable caprice, that dost forever pass
+and repass, whirling in thy course!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Is the fault mine? What? Let me be!"
+
+(_She barks._)
+
+THE SPHINX. "Thou movest away! thou dost escape me!"
+
+(_He growls._)
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Essay!--Thou crushest me!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Nay!--impossible!"
+
+(_And gradually sinking down he disappears in the sand; while the
+Chimera, ramping with tongue protruding, departs, describing circles on
+her way._
+
+_The breath of her mouth has produced a fog._
+
+_Through this mist Anthony perceives wreathings of clouds, undecided
+curves._
+
+_At last he can distinguish something like the appearance of human
+bodies._
+
+_And first_:--
+
+THE ASTOMI--_approach, like bubbles of air traversed by sunlight. They
+cry_):
+
+"Do not breathe too hard! The drops of rain bruise us, false notes
+excoriate us, darknesses blind us! Composed wholly of breezes and of
+perfumes, we float along, we roll along:--a little more than Dreams,
+yet not quite beings...."
+
+THE NISNAS
+
+(_have only one eye, one cheek, one hand, one leg, half a body, half a
+heart. They say_):
+
+"We live quite in our halves of houses, with our halves of wives and
+our halves of children!"
+
+THE BLEMMYES
+
+(_who have no head at all_):
+
+"Our shoulders are all the broader;--and there is no ox, rhinoceros, or
+elephant able to carry what we carry.
+
+"Something dimly resembling features--as it were a vague
+face--imprinted upon our breasts: that is all! We think digestions; we
+subtleize secretions. God, in our belief, floats peacefully within the
+interior chyles.
+
+"We go straight upon our way, through all mires, crossing all morasses,
+skirting the edges of all abysses: and we are the most laborious, the
+most happy, the most virtuous of all peoples!"
+
+THE PYGMIES:
+
+"We, good little men, swarm upon the world like vermin upon the hump of
+a dromedary.
+
+"We are burned, drowned, crushed; and we always reappear, more
+vivacious and countless than before--terrible by reason of our numbers!"
+
+THE SCIAPODS:
+
+"Fettered to the earth by our hair, long as lianas, we vegetate beneath
+the shelter of our feet, broad as parasols; and the light comes to us
+through the thickness of our heels. No annoyances for us, no work! The
+head as low as possible--That is the secret of happiness."
+
+[Illustration: The Sciapods: The head as low as possible—That is
+the secret of happiness.]
+
+(_Their lifted thighs,--resembling the trunks of trees,--multiply._
+
+_And a forest appears. Great apes clamber through it on all
+fours:--these are men with the heads of dogs._)
+
+THE CYNOCEPHALI:
+
+"We leap from branch to branch in search of eggs to suck; and we pluck
+the little fledglings alive; then we put their nests upon our heads in
+lieu of caps.
+
+"We tear off the teats of cows; and we put out the eyes of lynxes:
+we let fall our dung from the heights of the trees--we parade our
+turpitude in the full light of the sun.
+
+"Lacerating the flowers, crushing the fruits, befouling the springs,
+violating women, we are the masters of all,--by the strength of our
+arms, and the ferocity of our hearts.
+
+"Ho! companions!--gnash with your jaws!"
+
+(_Blood and milk pour down their chops. The rain streams over their
+hairy backs._
+
+_Anthony inhales the freshness of the green leaves._
+
+_There is a movement among them, a clashing of branches; and all of
+a sudden appears a huge black stag, with the head of a bull, having
+between his ears a thicket of white horns._)
+
+THE SADHUZAG:
+
+"My seventy-four antlers are hollow like flutes.
+
+"When I turn me toward the wind of the South, there issue from them
+sounds that draw all the ravished animals around me. The serpents twine
+about my legs; the wasps cluster in my nostrils; and the parrots, the
+doves, the ibises, alight upon the branches of my horns.
+
+"Listen!"
+
+(_He throws back his horns, whence issues a music of sweetness
+ineffable._
+
+_Anthony presses both hands upon his heart. It seems to him as though
+his soul were being borne away by the melody._)
+
+THE SADHUZAG:
+
+"But when I turn me toward the wind of the North, my antlers, more
+thickly bristling than a battalion of lances, give forth a sound of
+howlings: the forests are startled with fear; the rivers remount toward
+their sources; the husks of fruits burst open; and the bending grasses
+stand erect on end, like the hair of a coward.
+
+"Listen!"
+
+(_He bends his branching antlers forward: hideous and discordant cries
+proceed from them. Anthony feels as though his heart were torn asunder._
+
+_And his horror augments upon beholding_)--
+
+THE MARTICHORAS
+
+(_A gigantic red lion, with human face, and three rows of teeth_):
+
+"The gleam of my scarlet hair mingles with the reflection of the great
+sands. I breathe through my nostrils the terror of solitudes. I spit
+forth plague. I devour armies when they venture into the desert.
+
+"My claws are twisted like screws, my teeth shaped like saws; and my
+curving tail bristles with darts which I cast to right and left, before
+and behind!
+
+"See! see!"
+
+(_The Martichoras shoots forth the keen bristles of his tail, which
+irradiate in all directions like a volley of arrows. Drops of blood
+rain down, spattering upon the foliage._)
+
+THE CATOBLEPAS
+
+(_A black buffalo with a pig's head, falling to the ground, and
+attached to his shoulders by a neck long, thin, and flaccid as an empty
+gut._
+
+_He wallows flat upon the ground, and his feet entirely disappear
+beneath the enormous mane of coarse hair which covers his face_):
+
+"Fat, melancholy, fierce--thus I continually remain, feeling against
+my belly the warmth of the mud. So heavy is my skull that it is
+impossible for me to lift it. I roll it slowly all around me,
+open-mouthed; and with my tongue I tear up the venemous plants bedewed
+with my breath. Once, I even devoured my own feet without knowing it!
+
+"No one, Anthony, has ever beheld mine eyes,--or at least, those who
+have beheld them are dead. Were I to lift my eyelids--my pink and
+swollen eyelids, thou wouldst forthwith die!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh, that one! Ugh! As though I could desire it?--Yet his
+stupidity fascinates me! No, no! I will not!"
+
+(_He gazes fixedly upon the ground._
+
+_But the weeds take fire; and amidst the contorsions of the flames,
+arises_)--
+
+THE BASILISK
+
+(_A great violet serpent, with trilobate crest, and two fangs, one
+above, one below_):
+
+"Beware, lest thou fall into my jaws! I drink fire. I am fire!--and I
+inhale it from all things: from clouds, from flints, from dead trees,
+the fur of animals, the surface of marshes. My temperature maintains
+the volcanoes: I lend glitter to jewels: I give colours to metals!"
+
+THE GRIFFIN
+
+(_A lion with a vulture's beak, and white wings, red paws and blue
+neck_):
+
+"I am the master of deep splendours. I know the secrets of the tombs
+wherein the Kings of old do slumber.
+
+"A chain, issuing from the wall, maintains their heads upright. Near
+them, in basins of porphyry, the women they loved float upon the
+surfaces of black liquids. Their treasures are all arrayed in halls, in
+lozenge-shaped designs, in little heaps, in pyramids;--and down below,
+far below the tombs, and to be reached only after long travelling
+through stifling darkness, there are rivers of gold bordered by forests
+of diamonds, there are fields of carbuncles and lakes of mercury.
+
+"Addossed against the subterranean gate I remain with claws uplifted;
+and my flaming eyes spy out those who seek to approach. The vast and
+naked plain that stretches away to the end of the horizon is whitened
+with the bones of travellers. But for thee the gates of bronze shall
+open; and thou shalt inhale the vapour of the mines, thou shalt descend
+into the caverns.... Quick! quick!"
+
+(_He burrows into the earth with his paws, and crows like a cock._
+
+_A thousand voices answer him. The forest trembles._
+
+_And all manner of frightful creatures arise:--The Tragelaphus, half
+deer, half ox; the Myrmecoles, lion before-and ant behind, whose
+genitals are set reversely; the python Askar, sixty cubits long, that
+terrified Moses; the huge weasel Pastinaca, that kills the trees with
+her odour; the Presteros, that makes those who touch it imbecile;
+the Mirag, a horned hare, that dwells in the islands of the sea. The
+leopard Phalmant bursts his belly by roaring; the triple-headed bear
+Senad tears her young by licking them with her tongue; the dog Cepus
+pours out the blue milk of her teats upon the rocks. Mosquitoes begin
+to hum, toads commence to leap; serpents hiss. Lightnings flicker. Hail
+falls._
+
+_Then come gusts, bearing with them marvellous anatomies:--Heads of
+alligators with hoofs of deer; owls with serpent tails; swine with
+tiger-muzzles; goats with the crupper of an ass; frogs hairy as bears;
+chameleons huge as hippopotami; calves with two heads, one bellowing,
+the other weeping; winged bellies flitting hither and thither like
+gnats._
+
+_They rain from the sky, they rise from the earth, they pour from the
+rocks; everywhere eyes flame, mouths roar, breasts bulge, claws are
+extended, teeth gnash, flesh clacks against flesh. Some crouch; some
+devour each other at a mouthful._
+
+_Suffocating under their own numbers, multiplying by their own contact,
+they climb over one another; and move about Anthony with a surging
+motion as though the ground were the deck of a ship. He feels the trail
+of snails upon the calves of his legs, the chilliness of vipers upon
+his hands:--and spiders spinning about him enclose him within their
+network._
+
+_But the monstrous circle breaks, parts; the sky suddenly becomes blue;
+and_)--
+
+THE UNICORN (_appears_):
+
+"Gallop! Gallop!
+
+"I have hoofs of ivory, teeth of steel; my head is the colour of
+purple, my body the colour of snow; and the horn of my forehead is
+bestreaked with the tints of the rainbow.
+
+"I travel from Chaldea to the Tartar desert,--upon the shores of the
+Ganges and in Mesopotamia. I overtake the ostriches. I run so swiftly
+that I draw the wind after me. I rub my back against the palm-trees. I
+roll among the bamboos. I leap rivers with a single bound. Doves fly
+above me. Only a virgin can bridle me.
+
+"Gallop! Gallop!"
+
+(_Anthony watches him depart._
+
+_And as he gazes he beholds all the birds that nourish themselves
+with wind: the Gouith, the Ahuti, the Alphalim, the Iukneth, of the
+mountains of Kaf, the homai of the Arabs--which are the souls of
+murdered men. He hears the parrots that utter human speech; and the
+great Pelasgian palmipeds that sob like children or chuckle like old
+women._
+
+_A saline air strikes his nostrils. Now a vast beach stretches before
+him._
+
+_In the distance jets of water arise, spouted by whales; and from the
+very end of the horizon come_)--
+
+THE BEASTS OF THE SEA
+
+(_round as wineskins, flat as blades, denticulated like saws, dragging
+themselves over the sand as they approach_):
+
+[Illustration: The beasts of the sea round as wineskins ...]
+
+"Thou wilt accompany us to our immensities, whither as yet no one has
+descended.
+
+"Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean. Some dwell in the
+sojourn of tempests; others swim freely amid the transparency of chill
+waves;--or, like oxen, graze upon the coral plains, or suck in through
+their trunks the reflux of the tides,--or bear upon their shoulders the
+vast weight of the sources of the sea."
+
+[Illustration: Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean.]
+
+(_Phosphorences gleam in the moustaches of the seals, shift in the
+scales of fish. Echini whirl like wheels; ammonites uncoil like cables;
+oysters make their shell hinges squeak; polypi unfold their tentacles;
+medusæ quiver like balls of crystal suspended; sponges float hither and
+thither, anemones ejaculate water; wrack and sea-mosses have grown all
+about._
+
+_And all sorts of plants extend themselves into branches, twist
+themselves into screws, lengthen into points, round themselves out like
+fans. Gourds take the appearance of breasts; lianas interlace like
+serpents._
+
+_The Dedaims of Babylon, which are trees, bear human heads for fruit;
+Mandragoras sing;--the root Baaras runs through the grass._
+
+_And now the vegetables are no longer distinguishable from the animals.
+Polyparies that seem like trees, have arms upon their branches. Anthony
+thinks he sees a caterpillar between two leaves: it is a butterfly that
+takes flight. He is about to step on a pebble: a grey locust leaps
+away. One shrub is bedecked with insects that look like petals of
+roses; fragments of ephemerides form a snowy layer upon the soil._
+
+_And then the plants become confounded with the stones._
+
+_Flints assume the likeness of brains; stalactites of breasts; the
+flower of iron resembles a figured tapestry._[2]
+
+_He sees efflorescences in fragments of ice, imprints of shrubs and
+shells--yet so that one cannot detect whether they be imprints only, or
+the things themselves. Diamonds gleam like eyes; metals palpitate._
+
+_And all fear has departed from him! He throws himself down upon the
+ground, and leaning upon his elbows, watches breathlessly._
+
+_Insects that have no stomachs persistently eat; withered ferns bloom
+again and reflower; absent members grow again._
+
+_At last he perceives tiny globular masses, no larger than pinheads,
+with cilia all round them. They are agitated with a vibratile motion_):
+
+ANTHONY (_deliriously_):
+
+"O joy! O bliss! I have beheld the birth of life! I have seen the
+beginning of motion! My pulses throb even to the point of bursting!
+I long to fly, to swim, to bark, to bellow, to howl! Would that I
+had wings, a carapace, a shell,--that I could breathe out smoke,
+wield a trunk,--make my body writhe,--divide myself everywhere,--be
+in everything,--emanate with odours,--develop myself like the
+plants,--flow like water,--vibrate like sound--shine like light,
+squatting upon all forms--penetrate each atom--descend to the very
+bottom of matter,--be matter itself!"
+
+(_Day at last appears;--and, like tabernacle curtains uplifted, clouds
+of gold uprolling in broad volutes unveil the sky._
+
+_Even in the midst thereof, and in the very disk of the sun, beams the
+face of Jesus Christ._
+
+[Illustration: Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and
+in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.]
+
+_Anthony makes the sign of the cross, and resumes his devotions._)
+
+
+FINIS
+
+
+[1] Winkelmann claims to have been the first to discover that the
+Egyptian sphinxes were bisexual--females before--males otherwise. (See
+Book II, chap. I, § 25.) Flaubert speaks of the Sphinx in the masculine
+like Philemon. (See also Signor Carlo Fea's note upon the paragraph in
+Winkelmann, old French edition. An II, R. F.)--Trans.
+
+[2] Fleurs de fer, "flowers of iron." In mineralogy _flos ferri_, a
+form of Aragonite.--Trans.
+
+
+
+
+[NOTE
+
+Those who compare this translation with the original will observe the
+omission of some few paragraphs on pages 77, 96 and 211. They are
+speeches put in the mouths of certain Heresiarchs, or complaints of
+certain of the minor Roman household gods. The translator relegated
+these to an addenda, which the publishers have omitted as being
+unnecessary. Those who are familiar with the original will be able to
+supply them, and will realize that while they might be offensive to
+some persons, they are in no respect an integral or important part of
+the great drama.]
+
+
+
+
+ADDENDA (added by transcribers)
+
+
+A. Observation of Manes, pages 82-3, original text; page 89 of
+translation.
+
+
+MANES
+
+_Ou plutôt, faites si bien qu'elle ne soit pas fécondes. Mieux vaut
+pour l'ame tomber sur la terre que de languir dans des entraves
+charnelles._
+
+Probably a calumny against Manes; for the Eastern philosophy,
+especially that of Zoroaster, which is said to have inspired the tenets
+of Manichæism, advocated no such abominations.
+
+
+B. Page 105 of original; page 108 translation. The realistic
+phraseology of the original passage is rather brutal. The French text
+reads: "_Il souffrait de la maladie Bellerephontienne; et sa mère, la
+parfumeuse, s'est livrée à Pantherus, un soldat Romain, sur des gerbes
+de mais, un soir de moisson._" C. Descriptive text, page 237 original,
+partly suppressed on page 223 translation: "_Et il lui montre dans un
+bosquet d'aliziers Une Femme toute nue, à quatre pattes comme une bête,
+et saillie par un homme noir, tenant dans chaque main un flambeau._"
+
+D. Curious text of Crepitus, on page 228, pages 241-3 of original:
+
+CREPITUS
+
+(----se fait entendre):
+
+_Moi aussi l'on m'honora jadis. On me faisait des libations. Je fus un
+Dieu!_
+
+_L'Athénien me saluait comme un presage de fortune, tandis que le
+Romain dévot me maudissait les poings levés et que le pontife d'Egypte,
+s'abstinant des fèves, tremblait à ma voix et pâlissait à mon odeur._
+
+_Quand le vinaigre militaire coulait sur les barbes non rasées, qu'on
+se régalait de glands, de pois, et d'oignons crus, et que le bouc en
+morceau cuissait dans le beurre rance des pasteurs, sans souci du
+voisin, personne alors ne se gênait. Les nourritures solides faisaient
+digestions retentissantes. Au soleil de la campagne les hommes se
+soulageaient avec lenteur._
+
+_Ainsi, je passais sans scandale, comme les autres besoins de la vie,
+comme Mena, tourment des vierges, et la douce Rumina qui protège le
+sein de la nourrice, gonflé, des veines bleuâtres. J'étais joyeux. Je
+faisais rire. Et se dilatant d'aise à cause de moi, le convive exhalait
+toute sa gaieté par les ouvertures de son corps._
+
+_J'ai eu mes jours d'orgeuil. Le bon Aristophane me promena sur la
+scène, et l'empereur Claudius Drusus[1] me fit asseoir à sa table. Dans
+les laticlaves des patriciens j'ai circulé majestueusement! Les vases
+d'or, comme des tympanons, resonnaient sous moi; et, quand plein de
+murènes, de truffles, et de pâtés, l'intestin du maître se dégageait
+avec fracas, l'univers attentif apprenait que César avait diné!_
+
+_Mais à présent, je suis confiné dans la populace_[2] _et l'on se
+récrie, même à mon nom!_
+
+_Et Crepitus s'éloigne, en poussant un gémissement...._
+
+E. For descriptions of the Martichoras and other monsters, appearing
+page 287 in the original and 263 in the translation, see also Rabelais'
+Pantagruel, Book V, Chap. XXX.
+
+
+
+[1] Needless to refer to the comedies of Aristophanes, with which
+English readers have been familiarized through the Bohn translations.
+The reference to Claudius ius Drusus seems based upon the following
+lines in Suetonius: "_Dicitur etiam meditatus edictum, quo veniam daret
+flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi: cum periclitatum
+quemdam prae pudore ex continentia reperisset._" (_Suetonius-Tiberius
+Claudius Drusus_: 32.)
+
+[2] The so-called divinities, _Deus Crepitus, Dea Pertunda, Deus
+Stercutius, Dea Rumina_ (or _Rumilia_), _Dea Mena_, concerning whose
+curious attributes the reader may consult English or French classical
+encyclopedists, were doubtless regarded by the intelligent classes
+of antiquity much as certain religious superstitions are regarded by
+educated moderns. It is true that they furnished grotesque themes
+to artists; but many existing superstitions regarding elves and
+goblins have inspired modern sculptors, painters and designers.
+Certainly, seriously worshipped as deities, Priapus might seem equally
+contemptible as a divinity; but his worship, degenerate as it became
+in later years, was primitively symbolical. The obscene image merely
+typified the procreative Spirit of Nature. The eccentric gods and
+goddesses above referred to had no such excuse for being. As previously
+observed, however, Flaubert artistically represents these divinities
+not as they were really considered in the antique world, but rather as
+they would have appeared to the eyes of zealous Christians in the third
+century--infamous and loathsome.--Translator.
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+This translation of the "Tentation" by Lafcadio Hearn, still regarded
+by many as the best up until now in English, still misses some small
+fragments (of a couple of words) not deemed fit for the Anglo-Saxon
+temperament of that time. There is a contemporary version (2002) of
+this translation available, with introduction by Michel Foucault and
+the inclusion of some missing expressions. The original French by
+Gustave Flaubert is also available at Project Gutenberg--see
+http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 52225-8.txt or 52225-8.zip *******
+
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Temptation of St. Anthony, by Gustave
+Flaubert, Translated by Lafcadio Hearn, Illustrated by Odilon Redon</h1>
+<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
+and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
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+located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this ebook.</p>
+<p>Title: The Temptation of St. Anthony</p>
+<p>Author: Gustave Flaubert</p>
+<p>Release Date: June 4, 2016  [eBook #52225]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by Laura Natal Rodriguez and Marc D'Hooghe<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.freeliterature.org">http://www.freeliterature.org</a>)<br />
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+    and illustrations generously made available by<br />
+    Bibliothèque nationale de France<br />
+    (<a href="http://gallica.bnf.fr">http://gallica.bnf.fr</a>)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
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+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="500" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY</h1>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>GUSTAVE FLAUBERT</h2>
+
+<h4>TRANSLATED BY</h4>
+
+<h2>LAFCADIO HEARN</h2>
+
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS by ODILON REDON</h2>
+
+<p class="center" style="font-size: 0.8em;">(Added especially for this PG e-book.)</p>
+
+<h5>THE ALICE HARRIMAN COMPANY</h5>
+
+<h5>NEW YORK AND SEATTLE</h5>
+
+<h5>1910</h5>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p><a href="#CONTENTS">Contents</a></p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></h4>
+
+
+<p>It was at some period between 1875 and 1876 that Lafcadio Hearn&mdash;still
+a "cub" reporter on a daily paper in Cincinnati&mdash;began his translation
+of Flaubert's "Temptation of St. Anthony." The definitive edition of
+the work, over which the author had laboured for thirty years, had
+appeared in 1874.</p>
+
+<p>Hearn was, in his early youth, singularly indifferent to the work of
+the Englishmen of the Victorian period. Though he knew the English
+masterpieces of that epoch, their large, unacademic freedom of manner
+awakened no echoes in his spirit. His instinctive taste was for the
+exquisite in style: for "that peculiar kneading, heightening, and
+recasting" which Matthew Arnold thought necessary for perfection.
+Neither did the matter, more than the manner of the Victorians appeal
+to him. The circumstances of his life had at so many points set him
+out of touch with his fellows that the affectionate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span> mockery of
+Thackeray's pictures of English society were alien to his interest.
+The laughing heartiness of Dickens' studies of the man in the street
+hardly touched him. Browning's poignant analyses of souls were too
+rudely robust of manner to move him. Before essaying journalism Hearn
+had served for a while as an assistant in the Public Library, and
+there he had found and fallen under the spell, of the great Frenchman
+of the Romantic School of the '30's&mdash;that period of rich flowering of
+the Gallic genius. Gautier's tales of ancient weirdnesses fired his
+imagination. The penetrating subtleties of his verse woke in the boy
+the felicitous emotions which the virtuoso knows in handling cameos
+and enamellings by hands which have long been dust. So, also, Hugo's
+revivals of the passions and terrors of the mediæval world stirred the
+young librarian's eager interest. But most of all his spirit leapt
+to meet the tremendous drama of the "Temptation." He comprehended at
+once its large significance, its great import, and in his enthusiastic
+recognition of its value and meaning he set at once about giving it a
+language understood of the people of his own tongue.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Tunison tells of the little shy, shabby, half-blind boy&mdash;the long
+dull day of police reporting done&mdash;labouring at his desk into the
+small hours, with the flickering gas jet whistling overhead, and his
+myopic eyes bent close to the papers which he covered with beautiful,
+almost microscopic characters&mdash;escaping thus from the crass, raw world
+about him to delicately and painstakingly turn into English stories
+of Cleopatra's cruel, fantastic Egyptian Night's Entertainment.
+Withdrawing himself to transliterate tales of pallid beautiful vampires
+draining the veins of ardent boys: of lovely faded ghosts of great
+ladies descending from shadowy tapestries to coquette with romantic
+dreamers; or to find an English voice for the tragedy of the soul of
+the Alexandrian cenobite.</p>
+
+<p>It was in such dreams and labours that he found refuge from the
+environment that was so antipathetic to his tastes, and in his
+immersion in the works of these virtuosos of words, in his passionate
+search for equivalents of the subtle nuances of their phrases, he
+developed his own style. A style full of intricate assonances, of a
+texture close woven and iridescent.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"One of Cleopatra's Night's"&mdash;a translation of some of Gautier's tales
+of glamour&mdash;was issued in 1882, but at "The Temptation of St. Anthony"
+the publishers altogether balked. The manuscript could not achieve even
+so much as a reading. America had in the '70's just begun to emerge
+from that state of provincial propriety in which we were accused of
+clothing even our piano legs in pantelettes. The very name of the work
+was sufficient to start modest shivers down the spine of all well
+regulated purveyors of books. It was largely due to the painters'
+conceptions of the nature of the hermit's trials that the story of
+Saint Anthony's spiritual struggle aroused instinctive terrors in all
+truly modest natures. The painters&mdash;who so dearly love to display their
+skill in drawing legs and busts&mdash;had been wont to push the poor old
+saint into the obscure of the background, and fill all the foreground
+with ladies of obviously the very lightest character, in garments
+still lighter, if possible. What had reputable American citizens to do
+with such as these jades? More especially such jades as seen through
+a French imagination! That Flaubert had brushed aside the gross and
+jejune<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span> conceptions of the painters the publishers would not even take
+the pains to learn.</p>
+
+<p>It is amusing now to recall the nervous, timid proprieties of those
+days. At the time Hearn failed to see the laughable side of it. He was
+then too young and earnest, too passionate and too melancholy to have a
+sense of its humours.</p>
+
+<p>He had brought his unfinished manuscript from Cincinnati to New
+Orleans, and had continued to work upon it in strange lodgings in
+gaunt, old half-ruined Creole houses; at the tables of odd little
+French cafés, or among the queer dishes in obscure Spanish and Chinese
+restaurants. He had snatched minutes for it amidst the reading and
+clipping of exchanges in a newspaper office; had toiled drippingly
+over it in the liquifying heats of tropic nights; had arisen from the
+"inexpungable langours" of yellow fever to complete its last astounding
+pages.</p>
+
+<p>I can remember applauding, with ardent youthful sympathy, his tirades
+against the stultifying influence of blind puritanism upon American
+literature. I recall his scornful mocking at the inconsistency which
+complacently accepted the vulgar seduction, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> the theatrical Brocken
+revels of Faust, while shrinking piously from Flaubert's grim story of
+the soul of man struggling to answer the riddle of the universe. He
+had however an almost equal contempt for the author's countrymen, who
+received with eager interest and pleasure the deliberate analysis&mdash;in
+<i>Madame Bovary</i>&mdash;of a woman's degradation and ruin, while they yawned
+over the amazing history of humanity's tremendous spiritual adventures.
+Hearn's own sensitiveness shrank in pain from the cold insight which
+uncovered layer by layer the brutal squalour of a woman's moral
+disintegration. But he was moved and astounded by the revelation, in
+St. Anthony, of the tragedy and pathos of man's long search for some
+body of belief or philosophy by which he could explain to himself
+the strange great phenomena of life and death, and the inscrutable
+cruelties of Nature. The young translator was filled with a sort of
+astonished despair at his inability to make others see the book as
+he did&mdash;not realizing, in his youthful impatience, that the average
+mind clings to the concrete, and is puzzled and terrified by outlines
+of thought too large for its range of vision; that the commonplace<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span>
+intelligence cannot "see the wood for the trees," and becomes confused
+and over-weighted when confronted with the huge outlines of so great a
+picture as that drawn by Flaubert in his masterpiece.</p>
+
+<p>There were many points of resemblance between Lafcadio Hearn and the
+grandson of the French veterinary. A resemblance rather in certain
+qualities of the spirit than in social conditions and physical
+endowments. Flaubert, born in 1821, was the son of a surgeon. His
+father was long connected with the Hôtel Dieu of Rouen, in which the
+boy was born, and in which he lived until his eighteenth year, when he
+went to Paris to study law. One of the friends of his early Parisian
+days describes him as "a young Greek. Tall, supple, and as graceful as
+an athlete. He was charming, <i>mais un peu farouche.</i> Quite unconscious
+of his physical and mental gifts; very careless of the impression he
+produced, and entirely indifferent to formalities. His dress consisted
+of a red flannel shirt, trousers of heavy blue cloth, and a scarf of
+the same colour drawn tight about his slender waist. His hat was worn
+'any how' and often he abandoned it altogether. When I spoke to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> him of
+fame or influence.... he seemed superbly indifferent. He had no desire
+for glory or gain.... What was lacking in his nature was an interest in
+<i>les choses extérieures, choses utiles.</i>" ...</p>
+
+<p>One who saw him in 1879 found the young Greek athlete&mdash;now close upon
+sixty, and having in the interval created some of the great classics
+of French literature&mdash;"a huge man, a tremendous old man. His long,
+straggling gray hair was brushed back. His red face was that of a
+soldier, or a sheik&mdash;divided by drooping white moustaches. A trumpet
+was his voice, and he gesticulated freely ... the colour of his eyes a
+bit of faded blue sky."</p>
+
+<p>The study of the law did not hold Flaubert long. It was one of those
+<i>choses extérieures, choses utiles</i> to which he was so profoundly
+indifferent. Paris bored him. He longed for Rouen, and for his little
+student chamber. There he had lain upon his bed whole days at a time;
+apparently as lazy as a lizard; smoking, dreaming; pondering the large,
+inchoate, formless dreams of youth.</p>
+
+<p>In 1845 his father died, and in the following year he lost his sister
+Caroline, whom he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> passionately loved, and for whom he grieved
+all his life. He rejoined his mother, and they established themselves
+at Croisset, near Rouen, upon a small inherited property. It was an
+agreeable house, pleasantly situated in sight of the Seine. Flaubert
+nourished with pleasure a local legend that Pascal had once inhabited
+the old Croisset homestead, and that the Abbé Prevost had written
+<i>Manon Lescaut</i> within its walls. Near the house&mdash;now gone&mdash;he built
+for himself a pavilion to serve as a study, and in this he spent the
+greater portion of the following thirty-four years in passionate,
+unremitting labour.</p>
+
+<p>He made a voyage to Corsica in his youth; one to Brittany, with Maxime
+du Camp, in 1846; and spent some months in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey,
+and Greece in 1849. This Oriental experience gave him the most intense
+pleasure, and was the germ of <i>Salammbo</i>, and of the <i>Temptation of St.
+Anthony.</i> He never repeated it, though he constantly talked of doing
+so. He nursed a persistent, but unrealized dream of going as far as
+Ceylon, whose ancient name, Taprobana, he was never weary of repeating;
+utterance of its melifluous syllables becoming a positive <i>tic</i>
+with him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> Despite these yearnings he remained at home. Despite his
+full-blooded physique he would take no more exercise than his terrace
+afforded, or an occasional swim in the Seine. He smoked incessantly,
+and for months at a stretch worked fifteen hours out of the twenty-four
+at his desk. Three hundred volumes might be annotated for a page of
+facts. He would write twenty pages, and reduce these by exquisite
+concisions, by fastidious rejections to three; would search for hours
+for the one word that perfectly conveyed the colour of his thought, and
+would&mdash;as in the case of the <i>Temptation</i>&mdash;wait fifteen years for a
+sense of satisfaction with a manuscript before allowing it to see the
+light. To Maxime du Camp, who urged him to hasten the completion of his
+book in order to take advantage of a favourable opportunity, he wrote
+angrily:</p>
+
+<p>"Tu me parais avoir à mon endroit un tic ou vice rédhibitoire. Il
+ne m'embête pas; n'aie aucune crainte; mon parti est pris là-dessus
+depuis long temps. Je te dirai seulement que tous ces mots; <i>se
+dépêcher, c'est le moment, place prise, se poser, ...</i> sont pour moi un
+vocabulaire vide de sens...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In one of his letters he says that on occasion he worked violently for
+eight hours to achieve one page. He endeavoured never to repeat a word
+in that page, and tried to force every phrase to respond to a rhythmic
+law. Guy do Maupassant, his nephew and pupil, says that to ensure this
+rhythm Flaubert "prenait sa feuille de papier, relevait à la hauteur du
+regard et, s'appuyant sur un coude, déclaimait, d'une voix mordant et
+haute. Il écoutait la rythme de sa prose, s'arrêtait comme pour saisir
+une sonorité fuyant, combinait les tons, éloignait les assonances,
+disposait les virgules avec conscience, commes les haltes d'un long
+chemin." ...</p>
+
+<p>Flaubert said himself, "une phrase est viable quand elle correspond
+à toutes les nécessités de respiration. Je sais qu'elle est bonne
+lorsqu'elle peut être lu tout haut."</p>
+
+<p>Henry Irving used to say of himself that it was necessary he should
+work harder than other actors because nature had dowered him with
+flexibility of neither voice nor feature, and Faguet says that Flaubert
+was forced to this excessive toil and incessant watchfulness because
+he did not write well naturally. Nevertheless Flaubert's work did not
+smell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> of the lamp. Whatever shape his ideas may have worn at birth
+when full grown they moved with large classic grace and freedom,
+simple, sincere, and beautiful in form. François Coppée calls him "the
+Beethoven of French prose."</p>
+
+<p>So conscientious a workman, so laborious and self-sacrificing an artist
+had a natural attraction for Lafcadio Hearn, who even in boyhood began
+to feel his vocation as "a literary monk." The whole tendency of his
+tastes prepared him to understand the true importance of Flaubert's
+masterpiece, fitted him especially of all living writers to turn that
+masterpiece into its true English equivalent. The two men had much in
+common. Both were proud and timid. Both had a fundamental indifference
+to <i>choses extérieures, choses utiles.</i> Both were realists of the soul.
+Actions interested each but slightly; the emotions from which actions
+sprung very much. To both stupidity was even more antipathetic than
+wickedness, because each realized that nearly all cruelty and vice have
+their germ in ignorance and stupidity rather than in innate rascality.
+Flaubert declared, with a sort of rage, that "la bêtise entre dans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span>
+mes pores." He might too have been speaking for Hearn when he said
+that the grotesque, the strange, and the monstrous had for him an
+inexplicable charm. "It corresponds," he says, "to the intimate needs
+of my nature&mdash;it does not cause me to laugh, but to dream long dreams."
+Hearn, however, mixed with this triste interest a quality that Flaubert
+seemed almost wholly to lack&mdash;a great tenderness for all things humble,
+feeble, ugly and helpless. Both from childhood were curious of poignant
+sensations, of the sad, the mysterious and the exotic. And for both the
+tropics had an irresistible fascination. Flaubert says, in one of his
+letters:</p>
+
+<p>"I carry with me the melancholy of the barbaric races, with their
+instincts of migration, and their innate distaste of life, which forced
+them to quit their homes in order to escape from themselves. They loved
+the sun, all those barbarians who came to die in Italy; they had a
+frenzied aspiration toward the light, toward the blue skies, toward an
+ardent existence.... Think that perhaps I will never see China, will
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span>never be rocked to sleep by the cadenced footsteps of camels ... will
+never see the shine of a tiger's eyes in the forest.... You can treat
+all this as little worthy of pity, but I suffer so much when I think of
+it ... as of something lamentable and irremediable."</p>
+
+<p>This is the nostalgia for the strange, for the unaccustomed, that all
+born wanderers know. Fate arranges it for many of them that their lives
+shall be uneventful, passed in dull, provincial narrowness; but behind
+these bars the clipped wings of their spirit are always flutteringly
+spread for flight. They know not what they seek, what desire drives
+them, but a sense of "the great adventure" unachieved keeps them
+restless until they die. It is such as these, these <i>voyageurs
+empassionés</i>, when condemned by fortune to a static existence&mdash;who find
+their outlet in mental wanderings amid the unusual, the grotesque,
+and the monstrous. Hearn and Flaubert both were at heart nomads,
+seekers of the unaccustomed; stretching toward immensities of space
+and time, toward the ghostly, the hidden, the unrealized. Like that
+wild fantastic <i>Chimera</i> of the "Temptation" each such soul declares
+"<i>je cherche des parfums<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span> nouveaux, des fleurs plus large, des plaisirs
+inéprouvés.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Flaubert was but twenty-six when the first suggestion of his
+masterpiece came to him. For <i>La Tentation de St. Antoine</i>, it is
+coming to be understood, is his masterpiece; is one of the greatest
+literary achievements of the French mind. <i>Madame Bovary</i> is more
+widely famous and popular, but Flaubert himself always deeply resented
+this preference, and was always astonished at the comparative
+indifference of the world to the "Temptation." He, too, found it
+difficult to realize how hardly the average mind is awakened to an
+interest in the incorporeal; how surely cosmic generalizations escape
+the grasp of the commonplace intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>Wagner waited a lifetime before the world was dragged reluctantly and
+resentfully up to a point from which it could discern the superiority
+of the tremendous finale of the Götterdämmerung to the Christmas-card
+chorus of angels chanting "<i>Âme chaste et pure</i>" to the beatified
+Marguerite. The whole prodigious structure of Wagner's dramatic and
+musical thought might have remained a mere adumbration in the soul of
+one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span> German had chance not set a mad genius upon the throne of Bavaria.
+The bourgeoisie would&mdash;lacking this royal bullying&mdash;have continued to
+prefer Goethe and Gounod. Flaubert's great work unfortunately failed of
+such patronage.</p>
+
+<p>It was in 1845 that an old picture by Breughel, seen at Genoa, first
+inspired Flaubert to attempt the story of St. Anthony. He sought
+out an engraving of this conception of Peter the Younger (surnamed
+"Hell-Breughel" for his fondness for such subjects), hung it on his
+walls at Croisset, and after three years of brooding upon it began,
+May 24, 1848, <i>La Tentation de St. Antoine.</i> In twelve months he had
+finished the first draught of the work, which bulked to 540 pages. It
+was laid aside for "Bovary," and a second version of the "Temptation"
+was completed in 1856, but this time the manuscript had been reduced
+to 193 pages, and the "blazing phrases, the jewelled words, the
+turbulence, the comedy, the mysticism" of the first version had been
+superseded by a larger, more dramatic conception. In 1872 he made still
+a new draught, and by this time it had shrunk to 136 pages. He even
+then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span> eliminated three chapters, and finally gave to the world in 1874
+"this wonderful coloured panorama of philosophy, this Gulliver-like
+travelling amid the master ideas of the antique and early Christian
+worlds."</p>
+
+<p>Faguet says, "In its primitive and legendary state the temptation
+of St. Anthony was nothing more than the story of a recluse tempted
+by the Devil through the flesh, by all the artifices at the Devil's
+disposal. In the definite thought of Flaubert the temptation of St.
+Anthony has become man's soul tempted by all the illusions of human
+thought and imagination. St. Anthony to the eyes of the first naive
+hagiologists is a second Adam, seduced by woman, who was inspired by
+Satan. St. Anthony conceived by Flaubert is a more thoughtful Faust; a
+Faust incapable of irony, not a Faust who could play with illusions and
+with himself&mdash;secretly persuaded that he could withdraw when he chose
+to give himself the trouble to do so&mdash;rather a Faust who approached,
+accosted, caressed all possible forms of universal illusions."</p>
+
+<p>Flaubert's studies for the "Temptation" were tremendous. For nearly
+thirty years he touched and retouched, altered, enlarged,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span> condensed.
+He kneaded into its substance the knowledge, incessantly sought, of
+all religions and philosophies; of all the forms man's speculations
+had taken in his endless endeavours to explain to himself Life and
+Fate; humanity's untiring, passionate effort to find the meaning of its
+mysterious origin and purpose, and final destiny. How terrible, how
+naive, how fantastic, bloody, grovelling, and outrageous were most of
+the solutions accepted, the gigantic panorama of the book startlingly
+sets forth. What gory agonies, what mystic exaltations, what dark
+cruelties, frenzied abandons, and inhuman self denials have marked
+those puzzled gropings for light and truth are revealed as by lightning
+flashes in the crowding scenes of the epic. For the Temptation of St.
+Anthony is an epic. Not a drama of man's actions, as all previous
+epics have been, but a drama of the soul. All its movement is in the
+adventure and conflict of the spirit. St. Anthony remains always in
+the one place, almost as moveless as a mirror. His vision&mdash;clarified
+of the sensual and the actual by his fastings and macerations&mdash;becomes
+like the surface of an unruffled lake. A lake reflecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span> the aberrant
+forms of thoughts that, like clouds, drift between man and the infinite
+depths of knowledge. Clouds of illusion forever changing, melting,
+fusing; assuming forms grotesque, monstrous, intolerable; until at
+last the writhing mists of speculation and ignorance are drunk up
+by the widening light of wisdom and the fogs and phantasms vanish,
+leaving his consciousness aware, in poignant ecstasy, of the cloudless
+deeps of truth. The temptation of the flesh is but a passing episode.
+An eidolon of Sheba's queen offers him luxury, wealth, voluptuous
+beauty, power, dainty delights of eye and palate in vain. Man has never
+found his most dangerous seductions in the appetites. More lamentable
+disintegration has grown from his attempts to pierce beyond the
+body's veil. The parched and tortured saint is whirled by vertiginous
+visions through cycles of man's straining efforts to know why, whence,
+whither. He assists at the rites of Mithira, the prostrations of
+serpent-and-devil-worshippers, worshippers of fire, of light, of the
+Greeks' deified forces of nature; of the northern enthronement of brute
+force and war. He is swept by the soothing breath of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span> Quietism, plunges
+into every heresy and philosophy, sees the orgies, the flagellations,
+the self mutilations, the battles and furies of sects, each convinced
+that it has found the answer at last to the Great Question, and
+endeavouring to constrain the rest of humanity to accept the answer.
+He meets the Sphinx&mdash;embodied interrogation&mdash;and the Chimera&mdash;the
+simulacrum of the fantasies of the imagination&mdash;dashing madly about the
+stolid querist.</p>
+
+<p>Lucifer&mdash;spirit of doubt of all dogmatic solutions&mdash;mounts with Anthony
+into illimitable space. They rise beyond these struggles and furies
+into the cold uttermost of the universe; among innumerable worlds;
+worlds yet vaguely forming in the womb of time, newly come to birth,
+lustily grown to maturity; worlds dying, decaying, crumbling again into
+atomic dust. Overcome by the intolerable Vast, Anthony sinks once more
+to his cell, and Lucifer, who has shown him the macrocosm, opens to
+him the equal immensity of the microcosm. Makes him see the swarming
+life that permeates the seas, the earth and atmosphere, the incredible
+numerousness of the invisible lives that people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</a></span> every drop of water,
+every grain of sand, every breath of air. The unity of life dawns upon
+him, and his heart, withered by dubiety, melts into joyousness and
+peace. As the day dawns in gold he beholds the face of Christ.</p>
+
+<p>Flaubert's Lucifer has no relation to the jejune Devil of man's
+early conception of material evil, nor does he resemble Goethe's
+Mephistopheles; embodiment of the Eighteenth Century's spirit
+of sneering disbeliefs and negation. He is rather our own
+tempter&mdash;Science. He is the spirit of Knowledge: Nature itself calling
+us to look into the immensities and read just our dogmas by this new
+and terrible widening of our mental and moral horizons. This last
+experience of the Saint reproduces the spiritual experiences of the
+modern man; cast loose from his ancient moorings, and yet finding at
+last in his new knowledge a truer conception of the brotherhood of all
+life in all its forms, and seeing still, in the growing light, the
+benignant eyes of God.</p>
+
+<p>It is not remarkable that Flaubert resented the banality, the dull
+grossness of the reception of his work, or that Hearn shared his
+amazement and bitterness. Even yet the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</a></span> world wakes but slowly to the
+true character of this masterpiece; this epic wrought with so great
+a care and patience, so instinct with genius, dealing perhaps more
+profoundly than any other mind has ever done with the Great Adventure
+of humanity's eternal search for Truth.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 70%; font-size: 0.8em;">ELIZABETH BISLAND.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">[Pg xxiii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="ARGUMENT" id="ARGUMENT">ARGUMENT</a></h4>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h5>FRAILTY</h5>
+
+
+<p>Sunset in the desert. Enfeebled by prolonged fasting, the hermit
+finds himself unable to concentrate his mind upon holy things. His
+thoughts wonder; memories of youth evoke regrets that his relaxed will
+can no longer find strength to suppress,&mdash;and, remembrance begetting
+remembrance, his fancy leads him upon dangerous ground. He dreams of
+his flight from home,&mdash;of Ammonaria, his sister's playmate,&mdash;of his
+misery in the waste,&mdash;his visit to Alexandria with the blind monk
+Didymus,&mdash;the unholy sights of the luxurious city.</p>
+
+<p>Involuntarily he yields to the nervous dissatisfaction growing upon
+him. He laments his solitude, his joylessness, his poverty, the
+obscurity of his life; grace departs from him; hope burns low within
+his heart. Suddenly revolting against his weakness, he seeks refuge
+from distraction in the study of the Scriptures.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiv" id="Page_xxiv">[Pg xxiv]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Vain effort! An invisible hand turns the leaves, placing perilous
+texts before his eyes. He dreams of the Maccabees slaughtering
+their enemies, and desires that he might do likewise with the
+Arians of Alexandria;&mdash;he becomes inspired with admiration of King
+Nebuchadnezzar;&mdash;he meditates voluptuously upon the visit of Sheba's
+queen of Solomon;&mdash;discovers a text in the Acts of the Apostles
+antagonistic to principles of monkish ascetism,&mdash;indulges in reveries
+regarding the riches of Biblical kings and holy men. The Tempter comes
+to tempt him with evil hallucinations for which the Saint's momentary
+frailty has paved the way; and with the Evil One come also</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS</h5>
+
+
+<p>Phantom gold is piled up to excite Covetousness; shadowy banquets
+appear to evoke Gluttony. The scene shifts to aid the temptations of
+Anger and of Pride....</p>
+
+<p>Anthony finds himself in Alexandria, at the head of a wild army of
+monks slaughtering the heretics and the pagans, without mercy for
+age or sex. In fantastic obedience to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxv" id="Page_xxv">[Pg xxv]</a></span> course of his fancy while
+reading the Scriptures a while before, and like an invisible echo of
+his evil thoughts, the scene changes again. Alexandria is transformed
+into Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p>Anthony finds himself the honoured of the Emperor. He beholds the
+vast circus in all its splendour, the ocean of faces, the tumult of
+excitement. Simultaneously he beholds his enemies degraded to the
+condition of slaves, toiling in the stables of Constantine. He feels
+joy in the degradation of the Fathers of Nicæa. Then all is transformed.</p>
+
+<p>It is no longer the splendour of Constantinople he beholds under the
+luminosity of a Greek day; but the prodigious palace of Nebuchadnezzar
+by night. He beholds the orgies, the luxuries, the abominations;&mdash;and
+the spirit of Pride enters triumphantly into him as the spirit of
+Nebuchadnezzar....</p>
+
+<p>Awaking as from a dream, he finds himself again before his hermitage.
+A vast caravan approaches, halts; and the Queen of Sheba descends to
+tempt the Saint with the deadliest of all temptations. Her beauty is
+enhanced by oriental splendour of adornment; her converse is a song of
+withcraft. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvi" id="Page_xxvi">[Pg xxvi]</a></span> Saint remains firm.... The Seven Deadly Sins depart
+from him.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>THE HERESIARCHS</h5>
+
+
+<p>But now the tempter assumes a subtler form. Under the guise of a former
+disciple of Anthony,&mdash;Hilarion,&mdash;the demon, while pretending to seek
+instruction, endeavours to poison the mind of Anthony with hatred of
+the fathers of the church. He repeats all the scandals amassed by
+ecclesiastical intriguers, all the calumnies created by malice;&mdash;he
+cites texts only to foment doubt, and quotes the evangels only to
+make confusion. Under the pretext of obtaining mental enlightenment
+from the wisest of men, he induces Anthony to enter with him into
+a spectral basilica, wherein are assembled all the Heresiarchs of
+the third century. The hermit is confounded by the multitude of
+tenets,&mdash;horrified by the blasphemies and abominations of Elkes,
+Corpocrates, Valentinus, Manes, Cerdo,&mdash;disgusted by the perversions of
+the Paternians, Marcosians, Montanists, Serptians,&mdash;bewildered by the
+apocryphal Gospels of Eve and of Judas, of the Lord, and of Thomas.</p>
+
+<p>And Hilarion grows taller.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvii" id="Page_xxvii">[Pg xxvii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h5>THE MARTYRS</h5>
+
+<p>Anthony finds himself in the dungeons of a vast amphitheatre, among
+Christians condemned to the wild beasts. By this hallucination the
+tempter would prove to the Saint that martyrdom is not always suffered
+for purest motives. Anthony finds the martyrs possessed by bigotry and
+insincerity. He sees many compelled to die against their will; many
+who would forswear their faith could it avail them aught. He beholds
+heretics die for their heterodoxy more nobly than orthodox believers.</p>
+
+<p>And he finds himself transported to the tombs of the martyrs. He
+witnesses the meetings of Christian women at the sepulchres. He beholds
+the touching ceremonies of prayer, change into orgies,&mdash;lamentations
+give place to amorous dalliance.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>THE MAGICIANS</h5>
+
+
+<p>Then the Tempter seeks to shake Anthony's faith in the excellence
+and evidence of miracles. He assumes the form of a Hindoo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxviii" id="Page_xxviii">[Pg xxviii]</a></span> Brahmin,
+terminating a life of wondrous holiness by self-cremation;&mdash;he appears
+as Simon Magus and Helen of Tyre,&mdash;as Appollonius of Tyans, greatest of
+all thaumaturgists, who claims superiority to Christ. All the marvels
+related by Philostratus are embodied in the converse of Apollonius and
+Damis.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>THE GODS</h5>
+
+
+<p>Hilarion reappears taller than ever, growing more gigantic in
+proportion to the increasing weakness of the Saint. Standing beside
+Anthony he evokes all the deities of the antique world. They defile
+before him in a marvellous panorama:&mdash;Gods of Egypt and India, Chaldea
+and Hellas, Babylon and Ultima Thule,&mdash;monstrous and multiform, phallic
+and ithyphallic, fantastic or obscene. Some intoxicate by their beauty;
+others appall by their foulness. The Buddha recounts the story of his
+wondrous life; Venus displays the rounded daintiness of her nudity;
+Isis utters awful soliloquy. Lastly the phantom of Jehovah appears, as
+the shadow of a god passing away forever.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the stature of Hilarion towers to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxix" id="Page_xxix">[Pg xxix]</a></span> the stars; he assumes the
+likeness and luminosity of Lucifer; he announces himself as</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>SCIENCE</h5>
+
+
+<p>And Anthony is lifted upon mighty wings and borne away beyond the
+world, above the solar system, above the starry arch of the Milky Way.
+All future discoveries of Astronomy are revealed to him. He is tempted
+by the revelation of innumerable worlds,&mdash;by the refutation of all
+his previous ideas of the nature of the Universe,&mdash;by the enigmas of
+infinity,&mdash;by all the marvels that conflict with faith. Even in the
+night of immensity the demon renews the temptation of reason: Anthony
+wavers upon the verge of pantheism.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>LUST AND DEATH</h5>
+
+
+<p>Anthony abandoned by the spirit of Science comes to himself in the
+desert. Then the Tempter returns under a two-fold aspect: as the
+Spirit of Lust and the Spirit of Destruction. The latter urges him to
+suicide,&mdash;the former to indulgence of sense. They inspire him with
+strong fancies of palingenesis, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxx" id="Page_xxx">[Pg xxx]</a></span> the illusion of death, of the
+continuity of life. The pantheistic temptation intensified.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>THE MONSTERS</h5>
+
+
+<p>Anthony in reveries meditates upon the monstrous symbols painted upon
+the walls of certain ancient temples. Could he know their meaning
+he might learn also something of the secret lien between Matter and
+Thought. Forthwith a phantasmagoria of monsters commence to pass before
+his eyes:&mdash;the Sphinx and the Chimera, the Blemmyes and Astomi, the
+Cynocephali and all creatures of mythologie creation. He beholds the
+fabulous beings of Oriental imagining,&mdash;the abnormities described
+by Pliny and Herodotus, the fantasticalities to be later adopted by
+heraldry,&mdash;the grotesqueries of future medieval illumination made
+animate;&mdash;the goblinries and foulnesses of superstitious fancy,&mdash;the
+Witches' Sabbath of abominations.</p>
+
+
+
+<h5>METAMORPHOSIS</h5>
+
+
+<p>The multitude of monsters melts away; the land changes into an Ocean;
+the creatures of the briny abysses appear. And the waters in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxxi" id="Page_xxxi">[Pg xxxi]</a></span> turn
+also change; seaweeds are transformed to herbs, forests of coral
+give place to forests of trees, polypous life changes to vegetation.
+Metals crystallize; frosts effloresce; plants become living things,
+inanimate matter takes animate form, monads vibrate, the pantheism of
+nature makes itself manifest. Anthony feels a delirious desire to unite
+himself with the Spirit of Universal Being....</p>
+
+<p>The vision vanishes. The sun arises. The face of Christ is revealed.
+The temptation has passed; Anthony kneels in prayer.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 80%; font-size: 0.8em;">L. H.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxxii" id="Page_xxxii">[Pg xxxii]</a><br /><a name="Page_xxxiii" id="Page_xxxiii">[Pg xxxiii]</a><br /><a name="Page_xxxiv" id="Page_xxxiv">[Pg xxxiv]</a><br /><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a name="THE_TEMPTATION_OF_ST_ANTHONY" id="THE_TEMPTATION_OF_ST_ANTHONY">THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY</a></h3>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<h4><a id="I"></a>I</h4>
+
+
+<p><i>It is in the Thebaid at the summit of a mountain, upon a platform,
+rounded off into the form of a demilune, and enclosed by huge stones.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Hermit's cabin appears in the background. It is built of mud and
+reeds, it is flat-roofed and doorless. A pitcher and a loaf of black
+bread can be distinguished within also, in the middle of the apartment
+a large book resting on a wooden stela; while here and there, fragments
+of basketwork, two or three mats, a basket, and a knife lie upon the
+ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Some ten paces from the hut, there is a long cross planted in the
+soil; and, at the other end of the platform, an aged and twisted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
+palm tree leans over the abyss; for the sides of the mountain are
+perpendicular, and the Nile appears to form a lake at the foot of the
+cliff.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The view to right and left is broken by the barrier of rocks. But
+on the desert-side, like a vast succession of sandy beaches, immense
+undulations of an ashen-blonde color extend one behind the other,
+rising higher as they recede; and far in the distance, beyond the
+sands, the Libyan chain forms a chalk-colored wall, lightly shaded by
+violet mists. On the opposite side the sun is sinking. In the north the
+sky is of a pearl-gray tint, while at the zenith purple clouds disposed
+like the tufts of a gigantic mane, lengthen themselves against the blue
+vault. These streaks of flame take darker tones; the azure spots turn
+to a nacreous pallor; the shrubs, the pebbles, the earth, all now seem
+hard as bronze; and throughout space there floats a golden dust so fine
+as to become confounded with the vibrations of the light.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Saint Anthony, who has a long beard, long hair, and wears a tunic of
+goatskin, is seated on the ground cross-legged, and is occupied in
+weaving mats. As soon as the sun disappears,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> he utters a deep sigh,
+and, gazing upon the horizon, exclaims</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Another day! another day gone! Nevertheless formerly I used not to
+be so wretched. Before the end of the night I commenced my orisons;
+then I descended to the river to get water, and remounted the rugged
+pathway with the skin upon my shoulder, singing hymns on the way. Then
+I would amuse myself by arranging everything in my hut. I would make my
+tools; I tried to make all my mats exactly equal in size, and all my
+baskets light; for then my least actions seemed to me duties in nowise
+difficult or painful of accomplishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Then at regular hours I ceased working; and when I prayed with my arms
+extended, I felt as though a fountain of mercy were pouring from the
+height of heaven into my heart. That fountain is now dried up. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He walks up and down slowly, within the circuit of the rocks.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"All blamed me when I left the house. My mother sank to the ground,
+dying; my sister from afar off made signs to me to return; and the
+other&mdash;wept, Ammonaria, the child<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> whom I used to meet every evening
+at the cistern, when she took the oxen to drink. She ran after me. Her
+foot rings glittered in the dust; and her tunic, open at the hips,
+fluttered loosely in the wind. The aged anchorite who was leading me
+away called her vile names. Our two camels galloped forward without
+respite; and I have seen none of my people since that day.</p>
+
+<p>"At first, I selected for my dwelling place, the tomb of a Pharaoh. But
+an enchantment circulates through all those subterranean palaces, where
+the darkness seems to have been thickened by the ancient smoke of the
+aromatics. From the depths of Sarcophagi, I heard doleful voices arise,
+and call my name; or else, I suddenly beheld the abominable things
+painted upon the walls live and move; and I fled away to the shore
+of the Red Sea, and took refuge in a ruined citadel. There my only
+companions were the scorpions dragging themselves among the stones, and
+the eagles continually wheeling above my head, in the blue of heaven.
+At night I was torn by claws, bitten by beaks; soft wings brushed
+against me; and frightful demons, shrieking in my ears, flung me upon
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> ground. Once I was even rescued by the people of a caravan going
+to Alexandria; and they took me away with them.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I sought to obtain instruction from the good old man Didymus.
+Although blind, none equalled him in the knowledge of the Scriptures.
+When the lesson was finished, he used to ask me to give him my arm
+to lean upon, that we might walk together. Then I would conduct him
+to the Paneum, whence may be seen the Pharos and the open sea. Then
+we would return by way of the post, elbowing men of all nations,
+even Cimmerians clad in the skins of bears and Gymnosophists of the
+Ganges anointed with cow-dung. But there was always some fighting in
+the streets&mdash;either on account of the Jews refusing to pay taxes, or
+of seditious people who wished to drive the Romans from the city.
+Moreover, the city is full of heretics&mdash;followers of Manes; Valentinus,
+Basilides, Arius&mdash;all seeking to engross my attention in order to argue
+with me and to convince me.</p>
+
+<p>"Their discourses often come back to my memory. Vainly do I seek to
+banish them from my mind. They trouble me!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I took refuge at Colzin, and there lived a life of such penance that
+I ceased to fear God. A few men, desirous of becoming anchorites,
+gathered about me. I imposed a practical rule of life upon them,
+hating, as I did, the extravagance of Gnosus and the assertions of the
+philosophers. Messages were sent to me from all parts, and men came
+from afar off to visit me.</p>
+
+<p>"Meanwhile the people were torturing the confessors; and the thirst of
+martyrdom drew me to Alexandria. The persecution had ceased three days
+before I arrived there!</p>
+
+<p>"While returning thence, I was stopped by a great crowd assembled
+before the temple of Serapis. They told me it was a last example which
+the Governor had resolved to make. In the centre of the portico, under
+the sunlight, a naked woman was fettered to a column, and two soldiers
+were flogging her with thongs; at every blow her whole body writhed.
+She turned round, her mouth open; and over the heads of the crowd,
+through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought that I could
+recognize Ammonaria....</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon201"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_01.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>... through the long hair half hiding her face,
+I thought that I could recognize Ammonaria ...</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="p2">"Nevertheless ... this one was taller ... and beautiful ...
+prodigiously beautiful!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He passes his hands over his forehead.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"No! no! I must not think of it!</p>
+
+<p>"Another time Athanasius summoned me to assist him against the Arians.
+The contest was limited to invectives and laughter. But since that
+time he has been calumniated, dispossessed of his see, obliged to fly
+for safety elsewhere. Where is he now? I do not know! The people give
+themselves very little trouble to bring me news. All my disciples have
+abandoned me&mdash;Hilarion like the rest.</p>
+
+<p>"He was perhaps fifteen years of age when he first came to me and his
+intelligence was so remarkable that he asked me questions incessantly.
+Then he used to listen to me with a pensive air, and whatever I needed
+he brought it to me without a murmur&mdash;nimbler than a kid, merry enough
+to make even the patriarchs laugh. He was a son to me."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The sky is red; the earth completely black. Long drifts of sand
+follow the course of the gusts of wind, rising like great shrouds and
+falling again. Suddenly against a bright space in the sky a flock of
+birds pass, forming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> a triangular battalion, gleaming like one sheet of
+metal, of which the edges alone seem to quiver.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony watches them.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, how I should like to follow them.</p>
+
+<p>"How often also have I enviously gazed upon those long vessels,
+whose sails resemble wings&mdash;and above all when they were bearing
+far away those I had received at my hermitage! What pleasant hours
+we passed!&mdash;what out-pourings of feeling! No one ever interested me
+more than Ammon: he told me of his voyage to Rome, of the Catacombs,
+the Coliseum, the piety of illustrious women, and a thousand other
+things!&mdash;and it grieved me to part with him! Wherefore my obstinacy
+in continuing to live such a life as this? I would have done well to
+remain with the monks of Nitria, inasmuch as they supplicated me to
+do so. They have cells apart, and nevertheless communicate with each
+other. On Sundays a trumpet summons them to assemble at the church,
+where one may see three scourges hanging up, which serve to punish
+delinquents, robbers, and intruders; for their discipline is severe.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless they are not without some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> enjoyments. The faithful bring
+them eggs, fruits, and even instruments with which they can extract
+thorns from their feet. There are vineyards about Prisperi; those
+dwelling at Pabena have a raft on which they may journey when they go
+to seek provisions.</p>
+
+<p>"But I might have served my brethren better as a simple priest. As a
+priest one may aid the poor, administer the sacraments, and exercise
+authority over families.</p>
+
+<p>"Furthermore, all laics are not necessarily damned, and it only
+depended upon my own choice to become&mdash;for example&mdash;a grammarian, a
+philosopher. I would then have had in my chamber a sphere of reeds,
+and tablets always ready at hand, young men around me, and a wreath of
+laurel suspended above my door, as a sign.</p>
+
+<p>"But there is too much pride in triumphs such as those. A soldier's
+life would have been preferable. I was robust and bold: bold enough to
+fasten the cables of the military machines&mdash;to traverse dark forests,
+or to enter, armed and helmeted, into smoking cities.... Neither was
+there anything to have prevented me from purchasing with my money the
+position of publican at the toll-office<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> of some bridge; and travellers
+would have taught me many strange things, and told me strange stories,
+the while showing me many curious objects packed up among their
+baggage....</p>
+
+<p>"The merchants of Alexandria sail upon the river Canopus on holidays,
+and drink wine in the chalices of lotus-flowers, to a music of
+tambourines which makes the taverns along the shore tremble! Beyond,
+trees, made cone-shaped by pruning, protect the quiet farms against
+the wind of the south. The roof of the lofty house leans upon thin
+colonettes placed as closely together as the laths of a lattice;
+and through their interspaces the master, reclining upon his long
+couch, beholds his plains stretching about him&mdash;the hunter among the
+wheat-fields&mdash;the winepress where the vintage is being converted into
+wine, the oxen treading out the wheat. His children play upon the floor
+around him; his wife bends down to kiss him."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Against the grey dimness of the twilight, here and there appear
+pointed muzzles, with straight, pointed ears and bright eyes. Anthony
+advances toward them. There is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> sound of gravel crumbling down; the
+animals take flight. It was a troop of jackals.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>One still remains, rising upon his hinder legs, with his body half
+arched and head raised in an attitude full of defiance.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"How pretty he is! I would like to stroke his back gently!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony whistles to coax him to approach. The jackal disappears.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! he is off to join the others. What solitude! what weariness!"
+(<i>Laughing bitterly.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"A happy life this indeed!&mdash;bending palm-branches in the fire to make
+shepherds' crooks, fashioning baskets, stitching mats together&mdash;and
+then exchanging these things with the Nomads for bread which breaks
+one's teeth! Ah! woe, woe is me! will this never end? Surely death were
+preferable! I can endure it no more! Enough! enough!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He stamps his foot upon the ground, and rushes frantically to and fro
+among the rocks; then pauses, out of breath, bursts into tears, and
+lies down upon the ground, on his side.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The night is calm; multitudes of stars are palpitating; only the
+crackling noise made by the tarantulas is audible.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The two arms of the cross make a shadow upon the sand; Anthony, who is
+weeping, observes it.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Am I, then, so weak, O my God! Courage, let me rise from here!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He enters his hut, turns over a pile of cinders, finds a live ember,
+lights his torch and fixes it upon the wooden desk, so as to throw a
+light upon the great book.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose I take the Acts of the Apostles?&mdash;yes!&mdash;no matter where!"</p>
+
+<p><i>'And he saw the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it
+were a great linen sheet let down by the four corners from heaven to
+the earth&mdash;wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping
+things of the earth and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to
+him: Arise, Peter! Kill and eat!'</i><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Then the Lord desired that his apostle should eat of all things?...
+while I...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony remains thoughtful, his chin resting against his breast. The
+rustling of the pages, agitated by the wind, causes him to lift his
+head again; and he reads</i>:)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>'So the Jews made a great slaughter of their enemies with the sword,
+and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to
+them....</i><a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Then, comes the number of people slain by them&mdash;seventy-five thousand.
+They had suffered so much! Moreover, their enemies were the enemies of
+the true God. And how they must have delighted in avenging themselves
+thus by the massacre of idolaters! Doubtless the city must have been
+crammed with the dead! There must have been corpses at the thresholds
+of the garden gates, upon the stairways, in all the chambers, and piled
+up so high that the doors could no longer move upon their hinges!...
+But lo! here I am permitting my mind to dwell upon ideas of murder and
+of blood!..."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He opens the book at another place.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><i>'Then King Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped
+Daniel....</i>'<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Ah! that was just! The <i>Most High</i> exalts his prophets above Kings;
+yet that monarch spent his life in banqueting, perpetually drunk with
+pleasure and pride. But God, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> punish him, changed him into a beast!
+He walked upon four feet!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony begins to laugh; and in extending his arms, involuntarily
+disarranges the leaves of the book with the tips of his fingers. His
+eyes fell upon this phrase</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><i>'And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he showed them the house
+of his aromatical spices, and the gold and the silver, and divers
+precious odours and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all
+that he had in his treasures....'</i><a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I can imagine that spectacle; they must have beheld precious stones,
+diamonds and darics heaped up to the very roof. One who possesses so
+vast an accumulation of wealth is no longer like other men. While
+handling his riches he knows that he controls the total result of
+innumerable human efforts&mdash;as it were the life of nations drained by
+him and stored up, which he can pour forth at will. It is a commendable
+precaution on the part of Kings. Even the <i>Wisest</i> of all did not
+neglect it. His navy brought him elephants' teeth and apes.... Where is
+that passage?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>He turns the leaves over rapidly.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! here it is:"</p>
+
+<p><i>'And the Queen of Saba, having heard of the fame of Solomon in the
+name of the Lord, came to try him with hard questions.'</i><a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>"How did she hope to tempt him? The <i>Devil</i> indeed sought to tempt
+Jesus! But Jesus triumphed because he was God; and Solomon, perhaps,
+owing this knowledge of magic! It is sublime&mdash;that science! For the
+world&mdash;as a philosopher once explained it to me, forms a whole, of
+which all parts mutually influence one another, like the organs of one
+body. It is science which enables us to know the natural loves and
+natural repulsions of all things, and to play upon them?... Therefore,
+it is really possible to modify what appears to be the immutable order
+of the universe?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then the two shadows formed behind him by the arms of the cross,
+suddenly lengthen and project themselves before him. They assume the
+form of two great horns. Anthony cries out</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Help me! O my God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon02"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_02.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God!</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>The shadows shrink back to their former place.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!... it was an illusion ... nothing more. It is needless for me to
+torment my mind further! I can do nothing!&mdash;absolutely nothing."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He sits down and folds his arms.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless ... it seems to me that I felt the approach of.... But
+why should <i>He</i> come? Besides, do I not know all his artifices? I
+repulsed the monstrous anchorite who laughingly offered me little
+loaves of warm, fresh bread, the centaur who sought to carry me away
+upon his croup, and that black child who appeared to me in the midst of
+the sands, who was very beautiful, and who told me that he was called
+the Spirit of Lust!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony rises and walks rapidly up and down, first to the right, then
+to the left.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It was by my order that this multitude of holy retreats was
+constructed&mdash;full of monks all wearing sackcloth of camel's hair
+beneath their garments of goatskin, and numerous enough to form an
+army. I have cured the sick from afar off; I have cast out demons;
+I have passed the river in the midst of crocodiles;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> the Emperor
+Constantine wrote me throe letters; Balacius, who had spat upon mine,
+was torn to pieces by his own horses; when I reappeared the people of
+Alexandria fought for the pleasure of seeing me, and Athanasius himself
+escorted me on the way back. But what works have I not accomplished
+Lo! for these thirty years and more I have been dwelling and groaning
+unceasingly in the desert! Like Eusebius, I have carried thirty-eight
+pounds of bronze upon my loins; like Macarius, I have exposed my body
+to the stings of insects; like Pacomus, I have passed fifty-three
+nights without closing my eyes; and those who are decapitated, tortured
+with red hot pincers, or burned alive, are perhaps less meritorious
+than I, seeing that my whole life is but one prolonged martyrdom."
+(<i>Anthony slackens his pace.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Assuredly there is no human being in a condition of such unutterable
+misery! Charitable hearts are becoming scarcer. I no longer receive
+aught from any one. My mantle is worn out. I have no sandals&mdash;I have
+not even a porringer!&mdash;for I have distributed all I possessed to the
+poor and to my family, without retaining so much as one obolus. Yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+surely I ought to have a little money to obtain the tools indispensable
+to my work? Oh, not much! a very small sum.... I would be very saving
+of it....</p>
+
+<p>"The fathers of Nicæa, clad in purple robes, sat like magi, upon
+thrones ranged along the walls; and they were entertained at a great
+banquet and overwhelmed with honours, especially Paphnutius, because he
+is one-eyed and lame, since the persecution of Diocletian! The Emperor
+kissed his blind eye several times; what foolishness! Besides, there
+were such infamous men members of that Council! A bishop of Scythia,
+Theophilus! another of Persia, John! a keeper of beasts, Spiridion!
+Alexander was too old. Athanasius ought to have shown more gentleness
+towards the Arians, so as to have obtained concessions from them.</p>
+
+<p>"Yet would they have made any? They would not hear me! The one who
+spoke against me&mdash;a tall young man with a curly beard&mdash;uttered the
+most captious objections to my argument; and while I was seeking words
+to express my views they all stared at me with their wicked faces,
+and barked like hyenas. Ah! why cannot I have them all exiled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> by the
+Emperor! or rather have them beaten, crushed, and see them suffer! I
+suffer enough myself."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He leans against his cabin in a fainting condition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is because I have fasted too long; my strength is leaving me. If I
+could eat&mdash;only once more&mdash;a piece of meat." (<i>He half closes his eyes
+with languor.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! some red flesh&mdash;a bunch of grapes to bite into ... curdled milk
+that trembles on a plate!...</p>
+
+<p>"But what has come upon me? What is the matter with me? I feel my heart
+enlarging like the sea, when it swells before the storm. An unspeakable
+feebleness weighs down upon me, and the warm air seems to waft me
+the perfume of a woman's hair. No woman has approached this place;
+nevertheless?&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He gazes toward the little pathway between the rocks.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"That is the path by which they come, rocked in their litters by the
+black arms of the eunuchs. They descend and joining their hands,
+heavy with rings, kneel down before me. They relate to me all their
+troubles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> The desire of human pleasure tortures them; they would
+gladly die; they have seen in their dreams God calling to them ... and
+all the while the hems of their robes fall upon my feet. I repel them
+from me. 'Ah! no!' they cry, 'not yet! What shall I do?' They gladly
+accept any penitence I impose on them. They ask for the hardest of all;
+they beg to share mine and to live with me.</p>
+
+<p>"It is now a long time since I have seen any of them! Perhaps some of
+them will come! why not? If I could only hear again, all of a sudden,
+the tinkling of mule-bells among the mountains. It seems to me...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony clambers upon a rock at the entrance of the pathway, and
+leans over, darting his eyes into the darkness.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! over there, far off I see a mass moving, like a band of
+travellers seeking the way. <i>She</i> is there!... They are making a
+mistake." (<i>Calling.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"This way! Come! Come!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Echo repeats: Come! Come! he lets his arms fall, stupefied.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What shame for me! Alas! poor Anthony."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>And all of a sudden he hears a whisper:&mdash;"Poor Anthony"!</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Who is there? Speak!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The wind passing through the intervals between the rocks, makes
+modulations; and in those confused sonorities he distinguishes Voices,
+as though the air itself were speaking. They are low, insinuating,
+hissing.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><i>The First</i>: "Dost thou desire women?"</p>
+
+<p><i>The Second</i>: "Great heaps of money, rather!"</p>
+
+<p><i>The Third</i>: "A glittering sword?" (<i>and</i>)</p>
+
+<p><i>The Others</i>: "All the people admire thee! Sleep!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt slay them all, aye, thou shalt slay them!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>At the same moment objects become transformed. At the edge of the
+cliff, the old palm tree with its tuft of yellow leaves, changes into
+the torso of a woman leaning over the abyss, her long hair waving in
+the wind.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony turns toward his cabin; and the stool supporting the great book
+whose pages are covered with black letters, seems to him changed into a
+bush all covered with nightingales.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It must be the torch which is making this strange play of light....
+Let us put it out!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He extinguishes it; the obscurity becomes deeper, the darkness
+profound.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And suddenly in the air above there appear and disappear
+successively&mdash;first, a stretch of water; then the figure of a
+prostitute; the corner of a temple, a soldier; a chariot with two white
+horses, prancing.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>These images appear suddenly, as in flashes&mdash;outlined against the
+background of the night, like scarlet paintings executed upon ebony.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Their motion accelerates. They defile by with vertiginous rapidity.
+Sometimes again, they pause and gradually pale and melt away; or else
+float off out of sight, to be immediately succeeded by others.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony closes his eyelids.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They multiply, surround him, besiege him. An unspeakable fear takes
+possession of him; and he feels nothing more of living sensation, save
+a burning contraction of the epigastrium. In spite of the tumult in
+his brain, he is aware of an enormous silence which separates him from
+the world. He tries to speak;&mdash;impossible!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> He feels as though all the
+bands of his life were breaking and dissolving;&mdash;and, no longer able to
+resist, Anthony falls prostrate upon his mat.</i>)</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Acts X: 11-13&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Esther IX: 5&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Daniel II: 46.&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Kings XX: 13 (Vulg.).&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> III Kings X: I (Vulg.).&mdash;T.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="II" id="II">II</a></h4>
+
+
+<p>(<i>Then a great shadow, subtler than any natural shadow, and festooned
+by other shadows along its edges, defines itself upon the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is the Devil, leaning upon the roof of the hut, and bearing beneath
+his wings&mdash;like some gigantic bat suckling its little ones&mdash;the Seven
+Deadly Sins, whose grimacing heads are dimly distinguishable.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>With eyes still closed, Anthony yields to the pleasure of inaction;
+and stretches his limbs upon the mat.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It seems to him quite soft, and yet softer&mdash;so that it becomes as if
+padded; it rises up; it becomes a bed. The bed becomes a shallop; water
+laps against its sides.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>To right and left rise two long tongues of land, overlooking low
+cultivated plains, with a sycamore tree here and there. In the distance
+there is a tinkling of bells, a sound of drums and of singers. It is a
+party going to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> Canopus to sleep upon the temple of Serapis, in order
+to have dreams. Anthony knows this; and impelled by the wind, his boat
+glides along between the banks. Papyrus-leaves and the red flowers of
+the nymphæa, larger than the body of a man, bend over him. He is lying
+at the bottom of the boat; one oar at the stem, drags in the water.
+From time to time, a lukewarm wind blows; and the slender reeds rub one
+against the other, and rustle. Then the sobbing of the wavelets becomes
+indistinct. A heavy drowsiness falls upon him. He dreams that he is a
+Solitary of Egypt.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then he awakes with a start.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Did I dream? It was all so vivid that I can scarcely believe I was
+dreaming! My tongue burns. I am thirsty."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He enters the cabin, and gropes at random in the dark.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"The ground is wet; can it have been raining? What can this mean! My
+pitcher is broken into atoms! But the goatskin?" (<i>He finds it.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Empty!&mdash;completely empty! In order to get down to the river, I should
+have to walk for at least three hours; and the night is so dark that I
+could not see my way.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There is a gnawing in my entrails. Where is the bread!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>After long searching, he picks up a crust not so large as an egg.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What? Have the jackals taken it? Ah! malediction!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he flings the bread upon the ground with fury.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>No sooner has the action occurred than a table makes its appearance,
+covered with all things that are good to eat.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The byssus cloth, striated like the bandelets of the sphinx, produces
+of itself luminous undulations. Upon it are enormous quarters of red
+meats; huge fish; birds cooked in their plumage, and quadrupeds in
+their skins; fruits with colors and tints almost human in appearance;
+while fragments of cooling ice, and flagons of violet crystal reflect
+each other's glittering. Anthony notices in the middle of the table
+a boar smoking at every pore&mdash;with legs doubled up under its belly,
+and eyes half closed&mdash;and the idea of being able to eat so formidable
+an animal greatly delights him. Then many things appear which he has
+never seen before&mdash;black hashes, jellies, the color of gold, ragouts in
+which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> mushrooms float like nenuphars upon ponds, dishes of whipt cream
+light as clouds.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And the aroma of all this comes to him together with the salt smell of
+the ocean, the coolness of mountains, the great perfumes of the woods.
+He dilates his nostrils to their fullest extent; his mouth waters; he
+thinks to himself that he has enough before him for a year, for ten
+years, for his whole life!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>As he gazes with widely-opened eyes at all these viands, others
+appear; they accumulate, forming a pyramid crumbling at all its angles.
+The wines begin to flow over&mdash;the fish palpitate&mdash;the blood seethes in
+the dishes&mdash;the pulp of the fruit protrudes like amorous lips&mdash;and the
+table rises as high as his breast, up to his very chin at last&mdash;now
+bearing only one plate and a single loaf of bread, placed exactly in
+front of him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He extends his hand to seize the loaf. Other loaves immediately
+present themselves to his grasp.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"For me!... all these! But ..." (<i>Anthony suddenly draws back.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Instead of one which was there, lo! there are many! It must be a
+miracle, then, the same as our Lord wrought!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yet for what purpose?... Ah! all the rest of these things are equally
+incomprehensible! Demon, begone from me! depart! begone!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He kicks the table from him. It disappears.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing more?&mdash;no!" (<i>He draws a lung breath.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! the temptation was strong! But how well I delivered myself from
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He lifts his head, and at the same time stumbles over some sonorous
+object.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Why! what can that be?" (<i>Anthony stoops down.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"How! a cup! Some traveller must have lost it here. There is nothing
+extraordinary...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He wets his finger, and rubs.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It glitters!&mdash;metal! Still, I cannot see very clearly...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He lights his torch, and examines the cup.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is silver, ornamented with ovules about the rim, with a medal at
+the bottom of it."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He detaches the medal with his nail!</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is a piece of money worth about seven or eight drachmas&mdash;not more!
+It matters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> not! even with that I could easily buy myself a sheepskin."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A sudden flash of the torch lights up the cup.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible! gold? Yes, all gold, solid gold!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A still larger piece of money appears at the bottom. Under it he
+perceives several others.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this is a sum ... large enough to purchase three oxen ... and a
+little field!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The cup is now filled with pieces of gold.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What! what!... a hundred slaves, soldiers, a host ... enough to
+buy...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The granulations of the rim, detaching themselves form a necklace of
+pearls.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"With such a marvel of jewelry as that, one could win even the wife of
+the Emperor!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>By a sudden jerk, Anthony makes the necklace slip down over his
+wrist. He holds the cup in his left hand, and with his right lifts
+up the torch so as to throw the light upon it. As water streams
+overflowing from the basin of a fountain, so diamonds, carbuncles, and
+sapphires, all mingled with broad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> pieces of gold bearing the effigies
+of Kings, overflow from the cup in never ceasing streams, to form a
+glittering hillock upon the sand.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What! how! Staters, cycles, dariacs, aryandics; Alexander, Demetrius,
+the Ptolemies, Cæsar!&mdash;yet not one of them all possessed so much!
+Nothing is now impossible! no more suffering for me! how these
+gleams dazzle my eyes! Ah! my heart overflows! how delightful it is!
+yes&mdash;yes!&mdash;more yet! never could there be enough! Vainly I might
+continually fling it into the sea, there would always be plenty
+remaining for me. Why should I lose any of it? I will keep all, and say
+nothing to any one about it; I will have a chamber hollowed out for me
+in the rock, and lined with plates of bronze, and I will come here from
+time to time to feel the gold sinking down under the weight of my heel;
+I will plunge my arms into it as into sacks of grain! I will rub my
+face with it, I will lie down upon it!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He flings down the torch in order to embrace the glittering heap, and
+falls flat upon the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He rises to his feet. The place is wholly empty.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What have I done!</p>
+
+<p>"Had I died during those moments, I should have gone to hell&mdash;to
+irrevocable damnation."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He trembles in every limb.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Am I, then, accursed? Ah! no; it is my own fault! I allow myself
+to be caught in every snare! No man could be more imbecile, more
+infamous! I should like to beat myself, or rather to tear myself out
+of my own body! I have restrained myself too long. I feel the want of
+vengeance&mdash;the necessity of striking, of killing!&mdash;as though I had a
+pack of wild beasts within me! Would that I could hew my way with an
+axe, through the midst of a multitude.... Ah, a poniard!..."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He perceives his knife, and rushes to seize it. The knife slips from
+his hand; and Anthony remains leaning against the wall of his hut, with
+wide-open mouth, motionless, cataleptic.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Everything about him has disappeared.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He thinks himself at Alexandria, upon the Paneum&mdash;an artificial
+mountain in the centre of the city, encircled by a winding stairway.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Before him lies Lake Mareolis; on his right hand is the sea, on his
+left the country; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> immediately beneath him a vast confusion of
+flat roofs, traversed from north to south and from east to west by
+two streets which intercross, and which offer throughout their entire
+length the spectacle of files of porticoes with Corinthian columns. The
+houses overhanging this double colonnade have windows of stained glass.
+Some of them support exteriorly enormous wooden cages, into which the
+fresh air rushes from without.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Monuments of various architecture tower up in close proximity.
+Egyptian pylons dominate Greek temples. Obelisks appear like lances
+above battlements of red brick. In the middle of public squares there
+are figures of Hermes with pointed ears, and of Anubis with the head of
+a dog. Anthony can distinguish the mosaic pavements of the courtyards,
+and tapestries suspended from the beams of ceilings.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He beholds at one glance, the two ports (the Great Port and the
+Eunostus), both round as circuses, and separated by a mole connecting
+Alexandria with the craggy island upon which the Pharos-tower
+rises&mdash;quadrangular, five hundred cubits high, nine storied,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> having at
+its summit a smoking heap of black coals.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Small interior ports open into the larger ones. The mole terminates at
+each end in a bridge supported upon marble columns planted in the sea.
+Sailing vessels pass beneath it, while heavy lighters overladen with
+merchandise, thalamegii<a name="FNanchor_1_6" id="FNanchor_1_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_6" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> inlaid with ivory, gondolas covered with
+awnings, triremes, biremes, and all sorts of vessels are moving to and
+fro, or lie moored at the wharves.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>About the Great Port extends an unbroken array of royal construction:
+the palace of the Ptolomies, the Museum, the Posidium, the Cæsareum,
+the Timonium where Mark Anthony sought refuge, the Soma which contains
+the tomb of Alexander; while at the other extremity of the city, beyond
+the Eunostus, the great glass factories, perfume factories, and papyrus
+factories may be perceived in a suburban quarter.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Strolling peddlers, porters, ass-drivers run and jostle together.
+Here and there one observes some priest of Isis wearing a panther skin
+on his shoulders, a Roman soldier with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> his bronze helmet, and many
+negroes. At the thresholds of the shops women pause, artisans ply their
+trades; and the grinding noise of chariot wheels puts to flight the
+birds that devour the detritus of the butcher-shops and the morsels of
+fish left upon the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The general outline of the streets seems like a black network flung
+upon the white uniformity of the houses. The markets stocked with
+herbs make green bouquets in the midst of it; the drying-yards of the
+dyers, blotches of color; the golden ornaments of the temple-pediments,
+luminous points&mdash;all comprised within the oval enclosure of the grey
+ramparts, under the vault of the blue heaven, beside the motionless
+sea.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But suddenly the movement of the crowd ceases; all turn their
+eyes toward the west, whence enormous whirlwinds of dust are seen
+approaching.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is the coming of the monks of the Thebaid, all clad in goatskins,
+armed with cudgels, roaring a canticle of battle and of faith with the
+refrain</i>:</p>
+
+<p>"Where are they? Where are they?"</p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony understands that they are coming to kill the Arians.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The streets are suddenly emptied&mdash;only flying feet are visible.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Solitaries are now in the city. Their formidable cudgels, studded
+with nails, whirl in the air like suns of steel. The crash of things
+broken in the houses is heard. There are intervals of silence. Then
+great screams arise.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>From one end of the street to the other there is a continual eddy of
+terrified people.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Many grasp pikes. Sometimes two bands meet, rush into one; and this
+mass of men slips upon the pavement&mdash;fighting, disjointing, knocking
+down. But the men with the long hair always reappear.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Threads of smoke begin to escape from the corners of edifices! folding
+doors burst open. Portions of walls crumble down. Architraves fall.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony finds all his enemies again, one after the other. He even
+recognizes some whom he had altogether forgotten; before killing them
+he outrages them. He disembowels&mdash;he severs throats&mdash;he fells as in
+a slaughter house&mdash;he hales old men by the beard, crushes children,
+smites the wounded. And vengeance is taken upon luxury, those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> who
+do not know how to read tear up hooks; others smash and deface the
+statues, paintings, furniture, caskets,&mdash;a thousand dainty things
+the use of which they do not know, and which simply for that reason
+exasperates them. At intervals they pause, out of breath, in the work
+of destruction; then they recommence.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The inhabitants moan in the courtyards where they have sought refuge.
+The women raise their tearful eyes and lift their naked arms to heaven.
+In hope of moving the Solitaries they embrace their knees; the men cast
+them off and fling them down, and the blood gushes to the ceilings,
+falls back upon the walls like sheets of rain, streams from the trunks
+of decapitated corpses, fills the aqueducts, forms huge red pools upon
+the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony is up to his knees in it. He wades in it; he sucks up the
+blood-spray on his lips; he is thrilled with joy as he feels it upon
+his limbs, under his hair-tunic which is soaked through with it.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Night comes. The immense uproar dies away.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Solitaries have disappeared.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Suddenly, upon the outer galleries corresponding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> to each of the nine
+stories of the Pharos, Anthony observes thick black lines forming, like
+lines of crows perching. He hurries thither; and soon finds himself at
+the summit.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A huge mirror of brass turned toward the open sea, reflects the forms
+of the vessels in the offing.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony amuses himself by watching them; and while he watches, their
+number increases.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They are grouped together within a gulf which has the form of a
+crescent. Upon a promontory in the background, towers a new city of
+Roman architecture, with cupolas of stone, conical roofs, gleams of
+pink and blue marbles, and a profusion of brazen ornamentation applied
+to the volutes of the capitals, to the angles of the cornices, to the
+summits of the edifices. A cypress-wood overhangs the city. The line of
+the sea is greener, the air colder. The mountains lining the horizon
+are capped with snow.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony is trying to find his way, when a man approaches him, and
+says</i>:</p>
+
+<p>"Come! they are waiting for you."</p>
+
+<p><i>He traverses a forum, enters a great court, stoops beneath a low
+door; and he arrives before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> the facade of the palace, decorated
+with a group in wax, representing Constantine overcoming a dragon.
+There is a porphyry basin, from the centre of which rises a golden
+conch-shell full of nuts. His guide tells him that he may take some of
+them. He does so. Then he is lost, as it were, in a long succession of
+apartments.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>There are mosaics upon the walls representing generals presenting
+the Emperor with conquered cities, which they hold out upon the
+palms of their hands. And there are columns of basalt everywhere,
+trellis-work in silver filigree, ivory chairs, tapestries embroidered
+with pearls. The light falls from the vaults above; Anthony still
+proceeds. Warm exhalations circulate about him; occasionally he hears
+the discreet clapping sound of sandals upon the pavement. Posted in
+the anti-chambers are guards, who resemble automata, holding wands of
+vermillion upon their shoulders.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon03"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_03.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>And there are columns of basalt everywhere,...
+The light falls from the vaults above</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>At last he finds himself in a great hall, with hyacinth-colored
+curtains at the further end. They part, and display the Emperor seated
+on a throne, clad in a violet tunic, and wearing red shoes striped with
+bands of black.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>A diadem of pearls surround his head; his locks are arranged
+symmetrically in rouleaux. He has a straight nose, drooping eyelids,
+a heavy and cunning physiognomy. At the four corners of the dais
+stretched above his head are placed four golden doves; and at the foot
+of the throne are two lions in enamel crouching. The doves begin to
+sing, the lions to roar. The Emperor rolls his eyes; Anthony advances;
+and forthwith, without preamble, they commence to converse about
+recent events. In the cities of Antioch, Ephesus, and Alexandria,
+the temples have been sacked, and the statues of the gods converted
+into pots and cooking utensils; the Emperor laughs heartily about it.
+Anthony reproaches him with his tolerance toward the Novations. But the
+Emperor becomes vexed. Novations, Arians or Meletians&mdash;he is sick of
+them all! Nevertheless, he admires the episcopate; for inasmuch as the
+Christians maintain bishops, who depend for their position upon five or
+six important personages, it is only necessary to gain over the latter,
+in order to have all the rest on one's side. Therefore he did not fail
+to furnish them with large<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> sums. But he detests the Fathers of the
+Council of Nicæa.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Let us go and see them!"</p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony follows him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And they find themselves on a terrace, upon the same floor.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It overlooks a hippodrome thronged with people, and surmounted by
+porticoes where other spectators are walking to and fro. From the
+centre of the race-course rises a narrow platform of hewn stone,
+supporting a little temple of Mercury, the statue of Constantine, and
+three serpents of brass twisted into a column; there are three huge
+wooden eggs at one end, and at the other a group of seven dolphins with
+their tails in the air.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Behind the imperial pavilion sit the Prefects of the Chambers, the
+Counts of the Domestics, and the Patricians&mdash;in ranks rising by tiers
+to the first story of a church whose windows are thronged with women.
+On the right is the tribune of the Blue Faction; on the left, that of
+the Green; below, a picket of soldiers is stationed; and on a level
+with the arena is a row of Corinthian arches, forming the entrances to
+the stables.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The races are about to commence; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> horses are drawn up in line.
+Lofty plumes, fastened between their ears, bend to the wind like
+saplings; and with every restive bound, they shake their chariots
+violently, which are shell-shaped, and conducted by charioteers clad
+in a sort of multi-colored cuirass, having sleeves tight at the wrist
+and wide in the arms; their legs are bare; their beards, faces and
+foreheads are shaven after the manner of the Huns.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony is at first deafened by the billowy sound of voices. From
+the summit of the hippodrome to its lowest tiers, he sees only faces
+painted with rouge, garments checkered and variegated with many colors,
+flashing jewelry; and the sand of the arena, all white, gleams like a
+mirror.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Emperor entertains him. He confides to him many matters of high
+importance, many secrets; he confesses the assassination of his son
+Criopus, and even asks Anthony for advice regarding his health.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Meanwhile Anthony notices some slaves in the rear portion of the
+stables below. They are the Fathers of Nicæa, ragged and abject. The
+martyr Paphnutius is brushing the mane of one horse; Theophilus is
+washing the legs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> of another; John is painting the hoofs of a third;
+Alexander is collecting dung in a basket.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony passes through the midst of them. They range themselves on
+either side respectfully; they beseech his intercession; they kiss his
+hands. The whole assemblage of spectators hoots at them; and he enjoys
+the spectacle with immeasurable pleasure. Lo! he is now one of the
+grandees of the Court&mdash;the Emperor's confidant&mdash;the prime minister!
+Constantine places his own diadem upon his brows. Anthony allows it to
+remain upon his head, thinking this honor quite natural.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And suddenly in the midst of the darkness a vast hall appears,
+illuminated by golden candelabra.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Candles so lofty that they are half lost in the darkness, stretch away
+in huge files beyond the lines of banquet-tables, which seem to extend
+to the horizon, where through a luminous haze loom superpositions of
+stairways, suites of arcades, colossi, towers, and beyond all a vague
+border of palace walls, above which rise the crests of cedars, making
+yet blacker masses of blackness against the darkness.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The guests, crowned with violet wreaths, recline upon very low couches
+and are leaning upon their elbows. Along the whole length of this
+double line of couches, wine is being poured out from amphoræ, and at
+the further end, all alone, coiffed with the tiara and blazing with
+carbuncles, King Nebuchadnezzar eats and drinks.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>On his right and left, two bands of priests in pointed caps are
+swinging censers. On the pavement below crawl the captive kings whose
+hands and feet have been cut off; from time to time he flings them
+bones to gnaw. Further off sit his brothers, with bandages across their
+eyes, being all blind.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>From the depths of the ergastula arise moans of ceaseless pain. Sweet
+slow sounds of a hydraulic organ alternate with choruses of song; and
+one feels that all about the palace without extends an immeasurable
+city&mdash;an ocean of human life whose waves break against the walls. The
+slaves run hither and thither carrying dishes. Women walk between the
+ranks of guests, offering drinks to all; the baskets groan under their
+burthen of loaves; and a dromedary, laden with perforated water-skins:
+passes and repasses through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> the hall, sprinkling and cooling the
+pavement with vervain.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Lion tamers are leading tamed lions about. Dancing girls&mdash;their
+hair confined in nets&mdash;balance themselves and turn upon their hands,
+emitting fire through their nostrils; negro boatmen are juggling; naked
+children pelt each other with pellets of snow, which burst against the
+bright silverware. There is an awful clamor as of a tempest; and a huge
+cloud hangs over the banquet&mdash;so numerous are the meats and breaths.
+Sometimes a flake of fire torn from the great flambeaux by the wind,
+traverses the night like a shooting star.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The king wipes the perfumes from his face with his arm. He eats from
+the sacred vessels&mdash;then breaks them; and secretly reckons up the
+number of his fleets, his armies, and his subjects. By and by, for a
+new caprice, he will burn his palace with all its guests. He dreams of
+rebuilding the tower of Babel, and dethroning God.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony, from afar off, reads all these thoughts upon his brow. They
+penetrate his own brain, and he becomes Nebuchadnezzar. Immediately he
+is cloyed with orgiastic excesses,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> sated with fury of extermination;
+and a great desire comes upon him to wallow in vileness. For the
+degradation of that which terrifies men is an outrage inflicted upon
+their minds&mdash;it affords yet one more way to stupefy them; and as
+nothing is viler than a brute, Anthony goes upon the table on all
+fours, and bellows like a bull.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He feels a sudden pain in his hand&mdash;a pebble has accidentally wounded
+him&mdash;and he finds himself once more in front of his cabin.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The circle of the rocks is empty. The stars are glowing in the sky.
+All is hushed.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Again have I allowed myself to be deceived! Why these things? They
+come from the rebellion of the flesh. Ah! wretch!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He rushes into his cabin, and seizes a bunch of thongs, with metallic
+hooks attached to their ends, strips himself to the waist and, lifting
+his eyes to heaven exclaims</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Accept my penance, O my God: disdain it not for its feebleness. Render
+it sharp, prolonged, excessive! It is time, indeed!&mdash;to the work!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He gives himself a vigorous lash&mdash;and shrieks.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"No! no!&mdash;without mercy it must be."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>He recommences.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! oh! oh! each lash tears my skin, rends my limbs! It burns me
+horribly!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay!&mdash;it is not so very terrible after all!&mdash;one becomes accustomed to
+it. It even seems to me...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony pauses.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Continue, coward! continue! Good! good!&mdash;upon the arms, on the back,
+on the breast, on the belly&mdash;everywhere! Hiss, ye thongs! bite me!
+tear me! I would that my blood could spurt to the stars!&mdash;let my bones
+crack!&mdash;let my tendons be laid bare! O for pincers, racks, and melted
+lead! The martyrs have endured far worse; have they not, Ammonaria?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The shadow of the Devil's horns reappears.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"I might have been bound to the column opposite to thine,&mdash;face to
+face&mdash;under thy eyes&mdash;answering thy shrieks by my sighs; and our pangs
+might have been interblended, our souls intermingled."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He lashes himself with fury.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What! what! again. Take that!&mdash;But how strange a titillation thrills
+me! What punishment! what pleasure! I feel as though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> receiving
+invisible kisses; the very marrow of my bones seems to melt. I die...."</p>
+
+<p><i>And he sees before him three cavaliers, mounted upon onagers, clad in
+robes of green&mdash;each holding a lily in his hand, and all resembling
+each other in feature.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony turns round, and beholds three other cavaliers exactly
+similar, riding upon similar onagers, and preserving the same attitude.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He draws back. Then all the onagers advance one pace at the same time,
+and rub their noses against him, trying to bite his garment. Voices
+shout</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here! here! this way!"</p>
+
+<p><i>And between the clefts of the mountain, appear standards,&mdash;camels'
+heads with halters of red silk&mdash;mules laden with baggage, and women
+covered with yellow veils, bestriding piebald horses.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The panting beasts lie down; the slaves rush to the bales and
+packages, motley-striped carpets are unrolled; precious glimmering
+things are laid upon the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A white elephant, caparisoned with a golden net, trots forward,
+shaking the tuft of ostrich plumes attached to his head-band.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Upon his back, perched on cushions of blue wool, with her legs
+crossed, her eyes half closed, her comely head sleepily nodding, is a
+woman so splendidly clad that she radiates light about her. The crowd
+falls prostrate; the elephant bends his knees; and</i></p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Queen of Sheba</p>
+
+<p><i>letting herself glide down from his shoulder upon the carpets spread
+to receive her, approaches Saint Anthony.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Her robe of gold brocade, regularly divided by furbelows of pearls,
+of jet, and of sapphires, sheaths her figure closely with its
+tight-fitting bodice, set off by colored designs representing the
+twelve signs of the Zodiac. She wears very high pattens&mdash;one of which
+is black, and sprinkled with silver stars, with a moon crescent; the
+other, which is white, is sprinkled with a spray of gold, with a golden
+sun in the middle.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Her wide sleeves, decorated with emeralds and bird-plumes, leave
+exposed her little round bare arms, clasped at the wrist by ebony
+bracelets; and her hands, loaded with precious rings, are terminated by
+nails so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> sharply pointed that the ends of her fingers seem almost like
+needles.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A chain of dead gold, passing under her chin, is caught up on either
+side of her face, and spirally coiled about her coiffure, whence,
+redescending, it grazes her shoulders and is attached upon her bosom
+to a diamond scorpion, which protrudes a jewelled tongue between her
+breasts. Two immense blond pearls depend heavily from her ears. The
+borders of her eyelids are painted black. There is a natural brown spot
+upon her left cheek; and she opens her mouth in breathing, as if her
+corset inconvenienced her.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She shakes, as she approaches, a green parasol with an ivory handle,
+and silver-gilt bells attached to its rim; twelve little woolly-haired
+negro-boys support the long train of her robe, whereof an ape holds the
+extremity, which it raises up from time to time. She exclaims</i>:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! handsome hermit! handsome hermit!&mdash;my heart swoons!</p>
+
+<p>"By dint of stamping upon the ground with impatience, callosities have
+formed upon my heel, and I have broken one of my nails. I sent out
+shepherds, who remained upon the mountain tops, shading their eyes with
+their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> hands&mdash;and hunters who shouted thy name in all the forests&mdash;and
+spies who travelled along the highways, asking every passer-by:</p>
+
+<p>"'Hast thou seen him?'</p>
+
+<p>"By night I wept, with my face turned to the wall. And at last my tears
+made two little holes in the mosaic, like two pools of water among the
+rocks;&mdash;for I love thee!&mdash;oh! how I love thee!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She takes him by the beard.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Laugh now, handsome hermit! laugh! I am very joyous, very gay: thou
+shalt soon see! I play the lyre; I dance like a bee; and I know a host
+of merry tales to tell, each more diverting than the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou canst not even imagine how mighty a journey we have made. See!
+the onagers upon which the green couriers rode are dead with fatigue!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The onagers are lying motionless upon the ground.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"For three long moons they never ceased to gallop on with the same
+equal pace, holdings flints between their teeth to cut the wind, their
+tails ever streaming out behind them, their sinews perpetually strained
+to the uttermost, always galloping, galloping. Never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> can others be
+found like them. They were bequeathed me by my paternal grand-father,
+the Emperor Saharil, son of Iakhschab, son of Iaarab, son of Kastan.
+Ah! if they were still alive, we should harness them to a litter that
+they might bear us back speedily to the palace! But ... what ails
+thee?&mdash;of what art thou dreaming?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She stares at him, examines him closely.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, when thou shalt be my husband, I will robe thee, I will perfume
+thee, I will depilate thee."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony remains motionless, more rigid than a stake, more pallid
+than a corpse.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast a sad look&mdash;is it because of leaving thy hermitage? Yet I
+have left everything for thee&mdash;even King Solomon, who, nevertheless,
+possesses much wisdom, twenty thousand chariots of war, and a beautiful
+beard. I have brought thee my wedding gifts. Choose!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She walks to and fro among the ranks of slaves and the piles of
+precious goods.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Here is Genezareth balm, incense from Cape Gardefui, labdanum,
+cinnamon, and silphium&mdash;good to mingle with sauces. In that bale are
+Assyrian embroideries, ivory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> from the Ganges, purple from Elissa;
+and that box of snow contains a skin of chalybon, the wine, which
+is reserved for the Kings of Assyria, and which is drunk from the
+horn of a unicorn. Here are necklaces, brooches, nets for the hair,
+parasols, gold powder from Baasa, cassiteria from Tartessus, blue wood
+from Pandio, white furs from Issidonia, carbuncles from the Island
+Palæsimondus, and toothpicks made of the bristles of the tachas&mdash;that
+lost animal which is found under the earth. These cushions come from
+Emath, and these mantle-fringes from Palmyra. On this Babylonian carpet
+there is.... But come hither! come! come!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She pulls Saint Anthony by the sleeve. He resists. She continues</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"This thin tissue which crackles under the finger with a sound as of
+sparks, is the famous yellow cloth which the merchants of Bactria bring
+us. I will have robes made of it for thee, which thou shalt wear in the
+house. Unfasten the hooks of that sycamore box, and hand me also the
+little ivory casket tied to my elephant's shoulder."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They take something round out of a box&mdash;something covered with a
+cloth&mdash;and also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> bring a little ivory casket covered with carving.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou desire the buckler of Dgian-ben-Dgian, who built the
+pyramids?&mdash;behold it!&mdash;It is formed of seven dragon-skins laid one over
+the other, tanned in the bile of parricides, and fastened together by
+adamantine screws. Upon one side are represented all the wars that have
+taken place since the invention of weapons; and upon the other, all the
+wars that will take place until the end of the world. The lightning
+itself rebounds from it like a ball of cork. I am going to place it
+upon thy arm; and thou wilt carry it during the chase.</p>
+
+<p>"But if thou didst only know what I have in this little box of mine!
+Turn it over and over again! try to open it! No one could ever succeed
+in doing that. Kiss me! and I will tell thee how to open it."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She takes Saint Anthony by both cheeks. He pushes her away at arms'
+length.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It was one night that King Solomon lost his head. At last we concluded
+a bargain. He arose, and stealing out on tiptoe...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She suddenly executes a pirouette.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah, ah! comely hermit, thou shalt not know it! thou shalt not know!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She shakes her parasol, making all its little bells tinkle.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"And I possess many other strange things&mdash;oh! yes! I have treasures
+concealed in winding galleries where one would lose one's way, as
+in a forest. I have summer-palaces constructed in trellis-work of
+reeds, and winter-palaces all built of black marble. In the midst of
+lakes vast as seas, I have islands round as pieces of silver, and all
+covered with mother-of-pearl,&mdash;islands whose shores make music to
+the lapping of tepid waves upon the sand. The slaves of my kitchens
+catch birds in my aviaries, and fish in my fishponds. I have engravers
+continually seated at their benches to hollow out my likeness in hard
+jewel-stones, and panting molders forever casting statues of me, and
+perfumers incessantly mingling the sap of rare plants with vinegar,
+or preparing cosmetic pastes. I have female dressmakers cutting out
+patterns in richest material, goldsmiths cutting and mounting jewels of
+price, and careful painters pouring upon my palace wainscoting boiling
+resins, which they subsequently cool with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> fans. I have enough female
+attendants to form a harem, eunuchs enough to make an army. I have
+armies likewise; I have nations! In the vestibule of my palace I keep a
+guard of dwarfs&mdash;all bearing ivory trumpets at their backs." (<i>Anthony
+sighs.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"I have teams of trained gazelles; I have elephant quadrigæ; I have
+hundreds of pairs of camels, and mares whose manes are so long that
+their hoofs become entangled therein when they gallop, and herds of
+cattle with horns so broad that when they go forth to graze the woods
+have to be hewn down before them. I have giraffes wandering in my
+gardens; they stretch their heads over the edge of my roof, when I take
+the air after dinner.</p>
+
+<p>"Seated in a shell drawn over the waters by dolphins, I travel
+through the grottoes, listening lo the dropping of the water from the
+stalactites. I go down to the land of diamonds, where my friends the
+magicians allow me to choose the finest: then I reascend to earth and
+return to my home."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She utters a sharp whistle; and a great bird, descending from the
+sky, alights upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> her hair, from which it makes the blue powder fall.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Its orange-colored plumage seems formed of metallic scales. Its little
+head, crested with a silver tuft, has a human face.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It has four wings, the feet of a vulture, and an immense peacock's
+tail which it spreads open like a fan.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It seizes the Queen's parasol in its beak, reels a moment ere
+obtaining its balance; then it erects all its plumes, and remains
+motionless.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks! my beautiful Simorg-Anka!&mdash;thou didst tell me where the loving
+one was hiding! Thanks! thanks! my heart's messenger!</p>
+
+<p>"He flies swiftly as Desire! He circles the world in his flight. At eve
+he returns; he perches at the foot of my couch and tells me all he has
+seen&mdash;the seas that have passed far beneath him with all their fishes
+and ships, the great void deserts he has contemplated from the heights
+of the sky, the harvests that were bowing in the valleys, and the
+plants that were growing upon the walls of cities abandoned."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She wrings her hands, languorously.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh! if thou wast willing! if thou wast willing!... I have a pavilion
+on a promontory in the middle of an isthmus dividing two oceans. It is
+all wain-scoted with sheets of glass, and floored with tortoise shell,
+and open to the four winds of heaven. From its height I watch my fleets
+come in, and my nations toiling up the mountain-slopes with burthens
+upon their shoulders. There would we sleep upon downs softer than
+clouds; we would drink cool draughts from fruit-shells, and we would
+gaze at the sun through emeralds! Come!" ...</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony draws back. She approaches him again, and exclaims in a tone
+of vexation</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"How? neither the rich, nor the coquettish, nor the amorous woman can
+charm thee: is it so? None but a lascivious woman, with a hoarse voice
+and lusty person, with fire-colored hair and superabundant flesh? Dost
+thou prefer a body cold as the skin of a serpent, or rather great dark
+eyes deeper than the mystic caverns?&mdash;behold them, my eyes!&mdash;look into
+them!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony, in spite of him, gazes into her eyes.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"All the women thou hast ever met&mdash;from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> the leman of the cross-roads,
+singing under the light of her lantern, even to the patrician lady
+scattering rose-petals abroad from her litter,&mdash;all the forms thou hast
+ever obtained glimpses of&mdash;all the imaginations of thy desire thou hast
+only to ask for them! I am not a woman: I am a world! My cloak has only
+to fall in order that thou mayest discover a succession of mysteries."
+(<i>Anthony's teeth chatter.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Place but thy finger upon my shoulder: it will be as though a stream
+of fire shot through all thy veins. The possession of the least part
+of me will fill thee with a joy more vehement than the conquest of an
+Empire could give thee! Approach thy lips: there is a sweetness in my
+kisses as of a fruit dissolving within thy heart. Ah! how thou wilt
+lose thyself beneath my long hair, inhale the perfume of my bosom,
+madden thyself with the beauty of my limbs: and thus, consumed by the
+fire of my eyes, clasped within my arms as in a whirlwind...."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em">
+<a id="redon04"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_04.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit
+dissolving within thy heart ...</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>Anthony makes the sign of the cross.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Thou disdainest me! farewell!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She departs, weeping; then, suddenly turning round</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Art quite sure?&mdash;so beautiful a woman...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She laughs, and the ape that bears her train, lifts it up.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt regret it, my comely hermit! thou wilt yet weep! thou wilt
+again feel weary of thy life; but I care not a whit! La! la! la!&mdash;oh!
+oh! oh!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She takes her departure, hopping upon one foot and covering her face
+with her hands.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>All the slaves file off before Saint Anthony&mdash;the horses, the
+dromedaries, the elephant, the female attendants, the mules (which
+have been reloaded), the negro boys, the ape, the green couriers each
+holding his broken lily in his hand; and the Queen of Sheba departs,
+uttering a convulsive hiccough at intervals, which might be taken
+either for a sound of hysterical sobbing, or the half-suppressed
+laughter of mockery.</i>)</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_6" id="Footnote_1_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_6"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Thalamegii</i>&mdash;pleasure-boats having
+apartments.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="III" id="III">III</a></h4>
+
+
+<p>(<i>When she has disappeared in the distance, Anthony observes a child
+seated upon the threshold of his cabin.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is one of the Queen's servants, no doubt," (<i>he thinks</i>).</p>
+
+<p>(<i>This child is small like a dwarf, and nevertheless squat of build,
+like one of the Cabiri; deformed withal, and wretched of aspect. His
+prodigiously large head is covered with white hair; and he shivers
+under a shabby tunic, all the while clutching a roll of papyrus. The
+light of the moon passing through a cloud falls upon him.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Anthony</p>
+
+<p>(<i>watches him from a distance, and is afraid of him.</i>) "Who art thou?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Child</span> (<i>replies</i>). "Thy ancient disciple, Hilarion."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Thou liest! Hilarion hath<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> been dwelling in Palestine for
+many long years."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "I have returned! It is really I!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>draws near and examines him closely</i>). "Yet his face was
+radiant as the dawn, candid, joyous. This face is the face of one
+gloomy and old."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Long and arduous labor hath wearied me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The voice is also different. It hath an icy tone."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Because I have nourished me with bitter things!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "And those white hairs?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "I have endured many woes!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>). "Could it be possible?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "I was not so far from thee as thou doest imagine. The hermit
+Paul visited thee this year, during the month of Schebar. It is just
+twenty days since the Nomads brought thee bread. Thou didst tell a
+sailor, the day before yesterday, to send thee three bodkins."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "He knows all!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Know further more that I have never left thee. But there are
+long periods<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> during which thou hast no knowledge of my presence."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How can that be? Yet it is true that my head is so much
+troubled&mdash;this night especially."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "All the Capital Sins came hither. But their wretched snares
+can avail nothing against such a Saint as thou."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! no!&mdash;no! I fall at every moment! Why am I not of those
+whose souls are ever intrepid, whose minds are always firm,&mdash;for
+example, the great Athanasius?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "He was illegally ordained by seven bishops."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What matter if his virtue...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Go to!&mdash;a most vainglorious and cruel man, forever involved
+in intrigues, and exiled at last as a monopolist."<a name="FNanchor_1_7" id="FNanchor_1_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_7" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Calumny!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou wilt not deny that he sought to corrupt Eustates, the
+treasurer of largesses?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "It is affirmed, I acknowledge."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Through vengeance he burned down the house of Arsenius."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Alas!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "At the council of Nicæa he said in speaking of Jesus: 'The
+man of the Lord.'"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! that is a blasphemy!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "So limited in understanding, moreover, that he confesses he
+comprehends nothing of the nature of the "Word!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>smiling with gratification</i>). "In sooth his intelligence is
+not ... very lofty."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Hypocrite! burying thyself in solitude only in order the
+more fully to abandon thyself to the indulgence of thy envious desires!
+What if thou dost deprive thyself of meats, of wine, of warmth, of
+bath, of slaves, or honours?&mdash;dost thou not permit thy imagination to
+offer thee banquets, perfumes, women, and the applause of multitudes?
+Thy chastity is but a more subtle form of corruption, and thy contempt
+of this world is but the impotence of thy hatred against it! Either
+this it is that makes such as thyself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> so lugubrious, or else 'tis
+doubt. The possession of truth giveth joy. Was Jesus sad? Did he not
+travel in the company of friends, repose beneath the shade of olive
+trees, enter the house of the publican, drink many cups of wine, pardon
+the sinning woman, and assuage all sorrows? Thou!&mdash;thou hast no pity
+save for thine own misery! It is like a remorse that gnaws thee, a
+savage madness that impels thee to repel the caress of a dog or to
+frown upon the smile of a child."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>bursting into tears</i>). "Enough! enough! thou dost wound my
+heart deeply."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Shake the vermin from thy rags! Rise up from thy filth! Thy
+God is not a Moloch who demands human flesh in sacrifice!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet suffering is blessed. The cherubim stoop to receive the
+blood of confessors."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Admire, then, the Montanists!&mdash;they surpass all others."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But it is the truth of the doctrine which makes the
+martyrdom."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "How can martyrdom prove the excellence of the doctrine,
+inasmuch as it bears equal witness for error?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Silence!&mdash;thou viper!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Perhaps martyrdom is not so difficult as thou dost imagine!
+The exhortations of friends, the pleasure of insulting the people,
+the oath one has taken, a certain dizzy excitement, a thousand
+circumstances all aid the resolution of the martyrs...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony turns his back upon Hilarion, and moves away from him.
+Hilarion follows him.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>" ... Moreover this manner of dying often brings about great disorders.
+Dionysius, Cyprian and Gregory fled from it. Peter of Alexandria has
+condemned it; and the council of Elvira...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>stops his ears</i>). "I will listen to thee no longer!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>raising his voice</i>). "Lo! thou fallest again into the
+habitual sin, which is sloth! Ignorance is the foam of pride. One says,
+forsoth:&mdash;'My conviction is formed! wherefore argue further?'&mdash;and one
+despises the doctors, the philosophers, tradition itself, and even the
+text of the law whereof one is ignorant! Dost thou imagine that thou
+dost hold all wisdom in the hollow of thy hand?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I hear him still! His loud words fill my brain."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The efforts of others to comprehend God are mightier than
+all thy mortifications to move Him. We obtain merit only by our thirst
+for truth. Religion alone cannot explain all things; and the solution
+of problems ignored by thee can render faith still more invulnerable
+and noble. Therefore, for our salvation we must communicate with our
+brethren&mdash;otherwise the Church, the assembly of the faithful, would
+be a meaningless word&mdash;and we must listen to all reasoning, despising
+nothing, nor any person. The magician Balaam, the poet Aeschylus,
+and the Sybil of Cumæ&mdash;all foretold the Saviour. Dionysius, the
+Alexandrian, received from heaven the command to read all books. Saint
+Clement orders us to cultivate Greek letters. Hennas was converted by
+the illusion of a woman he had loved...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What an aspect of authority! It seems to me thou art growing
+taller...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And, in very truth, the stature of Hilarion is gradually increasing;
+and Anthony shuts his eyes, that he may not see him.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Reassure thyself, good Hermit. Let us seat ourselves there,
+upon that great stone, as we used to do in other years, when, at the
+first dawn of day, I was wont to salute thee with the appellation,
+'Clear star of morning'&mdash;and thou wouldst therewith commence to
+instruct me. Yet my instruction is not yet completed. The moon gives us
+light enough. I am prepared to hear thy words."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He has drawn a calamus from his girdle, and seating himself
+cross-legged upon the ground, with the papyrus roll still in his hand,
+he lifts his face toward Saint Anthony, who sits near him, with head
+bowed down.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>After a moment of silence Hilarion continues</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Is not the word of God confirmed for us by miracles? Nevertheless
+the magicians of Pharaoh performed miracles; other imposters can
+perform them; one may be thereby deceived. What then is a miracle?
+An event which seems to us outside of nature. But do we indeed know
+all of Nature's powers; and because a common occurrence causes us no
+astonishment, does it therefore follow that we understand it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "It matters little! We must believe the Scriptures!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Saint Paul, Origen, and many others did not understand
+the Scriptures in a literal sense: yet if Holy Writ be explained by
+allegories it becomes the portion of a small number, and the evidence
+of the truth disappears. What must we do?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "We must rely upon the Church!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Then the Scriptures are useless?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "No! no! although I acknowledge that in the Old Testament
+there are some ... some obscurities. But the New shines with purest
+light."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Nevertheless, the Angel of the annunciation, in Matthew,
+appears to Joseph; while, in Luke, he appears to Mary. The anointing
+of Jesus by a woman takes place, according to the first Gospel, at the
+commencement of his public life; and, according to the other three, a
+few days before his death. The drink offered to him on the cross, is,
+in Matthew, vinegar mixed with gall; in Mark, it is wine and myrrh.
+According to Luke and Matthew, the apostles should take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> with them
+neither money nor scrip for their journey&mdash;not even sandals nor staff;
+in Mark, on the contrary, Jesus bids them take nothing with them,
+except sandals and a staff. I am thereby bewildered!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>in amazement</i>). "Aye, indeed!... in fact...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "At the contact of the woman who had an issue of blood, Jesus
+turned and said, 'Who hath touched my garments?' He did not know, then,
+who had touched him? That contradicts the omniscience of Jesus! If the
+tomb was watched by guards, the women need have felt no anxiety about
+finding help to roll away the stone from the tomb. Therefore there
+were no guards, or the holy women were not there. At Emmaus, he eats
+with his disciples and makes them feel his wounds. It is a human body,
+a material and ponderable object; and nevertheless it passes through
+walls! Is that possible?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "It would require much time to answer thee properly!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Why did he receive the Holy Spirit, being himself Son of
+the Holy Spirit? What need had he of baptism if he was the Word? How
+could the Devil have tempted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> him, inasmuch as he was God? Have these
+thoughts never occurred to thee?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes!... often! Sometimes torpid, sometimes furious&mdash;they
+remain forever in my conscience. I crush them; they rise again, they
+stifle me; and sometimes I think that I am accursed."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Then it is needless for thee to serve God?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I shall always need to adore Him."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>After a long silence Hilarion continues</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"But aside from dogma, all researches are allowed us. Dost thou desire
+to know the hierarchy of the Angels, the virtue of the Numbers, the
+reason of germs and of metamorphoses?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes! yes! my thought struggles wildly to escape from its
+prison. It seems to me that by exerting all my force I might succeed.
+Sometimes, for an instant, brief as a lightning flash, I even feel
+myself as thought uplifted,&mdash;then I fall back again!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The secret thou wouldst obtain is guarded by sages. They
+dwell in a distant land; they are seated beneath giant trees; they
+are robed in white; they are calm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> as Gods! A warm air gives them
+sufficient nourishment. All about them, leopards tread upon grassy
+turf. The murmuring of fountains and the neighing of unicorns mingle
+with their voices. Thou shalt hear them; and the face of the Unknown
+shall be unveiled!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>sighing</i>). "The way is long; and I am old."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Oh! oh! wise men are not rare! there are some even very nigh
+thee!&mdash;here! Let us enter!"</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_7" id="Footnote_1_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_7"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Gibbon, a sincere admirer of Athanasius, gives a curious
+history of these charges, and expresses his disbelief in their
+truth. The story regarding the design to intercept the corn-fleet of
+Alexandria is referred to in the use of the word "monopolist."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="IV" id="IV">IV</a></h4>
+
+
+<p>(<i>And Anthony beholds before him a vast basilica.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The light gushes from the further end, marvellous as a multi-colored
+sun. It illuminates the innumerable heads of the crowd that fills the
+nave, and that eddies about the columns toward the side-aisles&mdash;where
+can be perceived, in wooden compartments, altars, beds, little chains
+of blue stones linked together, and constellations painted upon the
+walls.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the midst of the throng there are groups which remain motionless.
+Men standing upon stools harangue with fingers uplifted; others are
+praying, with arms outstretched in form of a cross; others are lying
+prostrate upon the pavement, or singing hymns, or drinking wine; others
+of the faithful, seated about a table, celebrate their agape;<a name="FNanchor_1_8" id="FNanchor_1_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_8" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
+martyrs are unbandaging their limbs in order to show their wounds; and
+aged men, leaning upon staffs, recount their voyages.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>There are some from the country of the Germans, from Thrace also, and
+from the Gauls, from Scythia and from the Indies, with snow upon their
+beards, feathers in their hair; thorns in the fringe of their garments;
+the sandals of some are black with dust, their skins are burnt by the
+sun. There is a vast confusion of costumes, mantles of purple and
+robes of linen, embroidered dalmaticas, hair shirts, sailors' caps,
+bishops' mitres. Their eyes fulgurate strangely. They have the look of
+executioners, or the look of eunuchs.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Hilarion advances into their midst. All salute him. Anthony, shrinking
+closer to his shoulder, observes them. He remarks the presence of a
+great many women. Some of these are attired like men, and have their
+hair cut short. Anthony feels afraid of them.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Those are Christian women who have converted their husbands.
+Besides, the women were always upon the side of Jesus, even the
+idolatrous ones, for example, Procula, the wife of Pilate, and Poppæa,
+the concubine of Nero. Do not tremble!&mdash;come on."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And others are continually arriving.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They seem to multiply, to double themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> by self-division, light
+as shadows&mdash;all the while making an immense clamour, in which yells of
+rage, cries of love, canticles and objurgations intermingle.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>in a low voice</i>). "What do they desire?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The Lord said: 'I have yet many things to say to you....
+'<a name="FNanchor_2_9" id="FNanchor_2_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_9" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> They possess the knowledge of those things."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he pushes Anthony forward to a golden throne approached by five
+steps, whereon&mdash;surrounded by ninety-five disciples, all very thin and
+pale, and anointed with oil&mdash;sits the prophet Manes. He is beautiful
+as an archangel, immobile as a statue; he is clad in an Indian robe;
+carbuncles gleam in his plaited hair; at his left hand lies a book of
+painted images; his right reposes upon a globe. The images represent
+the creatures that erst slumbered in Chaos. Anthony bends forward to
+look upon them. Then&mdash;&mdash;</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Manes</p>
+
+<p>(<i>makes his globe revolve; and regulating the tone of his words by a
+lyre which gives forth crystalline sounds, exclaims</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The celestial earth is at the superior extremity; the terrestrial
+earth at the inferior extremity. It is sustained by two angels&mdash;the
+Angel Splenditeneus, and Omophorus, whose faces are six.</p>
+
+<p>"At the summit of the highest heaven reigns the impassible Divinity;
+below, face to face, are the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"When the darkness had advanced even to his kingdom, God evolved from
+his own essence a virtue which produced the first man; and he environed
+him with the five elements. But the demons of darkness stole from him a
+part; and that part is the soul.</p>
+
+<p>"There is but one soul, universally diffused, even as the waters of
+a river divided into many branches. It is this universal soul that
+sighs in the wind&mdash;that shrieks in the marble under the teeth of the
+saw&mdash;that roars in the voice of the sea&mdash;that weeps tears of milk when
+the leaves of the fig tree are torn off.</p>
+
+<p>"The souls that leave this world emigrate to the stars, which are
+themselves animated beings."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>bursts into a laugh</i>). "Ah! ah! what an absurd imagination!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Man</span> (<i>having no beard, and of a most austere aspect</i>). "Wherefore
+absurd?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony is about to reply when Hilarion tells him in a low voice
+that the questioner is none other than the tremendous Origen himself;
+and</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span> (<i>continues</i>). "But first they remain awhile in the Moon, where
+they are purified. Then they rise into the sun."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>slowly</i>). "I do not know of anything ... which prevents us
+... from believing it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "The proper aim of every creature is the deliverance of the ray
+of celestial light imprisoned within matter. It finds easier escape
+through the medium of perfumes, spices, the aroma of warmed wine, the
+light things which resemble thoughts. But the acts of life retain it
+within its prison. The murderer shall be born again in the form of a
+celephus; he that kills an animal shall become that animal; if thou
+plantest a vine, thou shalt be thyself bound within its boughs. Food
+absorbs the celestial light.... Therefore abstain! fast!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou seest, they are temperate!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "There is much of it in meats, less of it in herbs. Moreover
+the Pure Ones, by means of their great merits, despoil vegetation of
+this luminous essence; and, thus liberated, it reascends to its source.
+But through generation, animals keep it imprisoned within the flesh!
+Therefore, avoid women!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Admire their continence."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "Or rather contrive that they shall not create..............<a name="FNanchor_3_10" id="FNanchor_3_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_10" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh&mdash;abomination!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "What signifies the hierarchy of turpitudes? The Church has,
+forsooth, made marriage a sacrament!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Saturninus</span> (<i>in Syrian costume</i>). "He teaches a most dismal system of
+the universe!... The Father, desiring to punish the angels who had
+revolted, ordered them to create the world. Christ came, in order that
+the God of the Jews, who was one of those angels...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "He an angel! the Creator!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cerdo</span>. "Did he not seek to kill Moses, to deceive his own prophets, to
+seduce nations?&mdash;did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> he not sow falsehood and idolatry broadcast?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marcion</span>. "Certainly, the Creator is not the true God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Saint Clement of Alexandria</span>. "Matter is eternal!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bardesanes</span> (<i>in the costume of the Babylonian magi</i>). "It was formed by
+the Seven Planetary Spirits."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Hermians</span>. "Souls were made by the angels."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Priscillianists</span>. "It was the Devil who made the world."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>rushing back from the circle</i>). "Horror!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>supporting him</i>). "Thou despairest too hastily!&mdash;thou dost
+misapprehend their doctrine! Here is one who received his teaching
+directly from Theodas, the friend of St. Paul. Hearken to him."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And at a sign from Hilarion</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Valentinus</span></p>
+
+<p><i>appears in a tunic of cloth of silver; his skull is pointed at its
+summit; his voice has a wheezing sound.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The world is the work of a God in delirium!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>bending his head down</i>). "The work of a God in delirium!..."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>After a long silence</i>): "How can that be?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Valentine</span>. "The most perfect of beings, and of the Æons, the Abyss;
+dwelt in the womb of the Deep together with Thought. By their union was
+begotten Intelligence, to whom Truth was given as a companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Intelligence and Truth engendered the Word and Life, who in their turn
+begat Man and the Church; and that doth make eight Æons!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He counts upon his fingers.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"The Word and Truth also produced ten other Æons&mdash;which is to say, five
+couples. Man and the Church had begotten twelve more&mdash;among these the
+Paraclete and Faith, Hope and Charity, Perfection and Wisdom&mdash;Sophia.</p>
+
+<p>"The union of these thirty Æons constitutes the Pleroma, or
+Universality of God. Thus, even as the echo of a passing voice, as the
+effluvia of a perfume evaporating, as the fires of the setting sun,
+the Powers that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> emanated from the Principle, forever continue to grow
+weaker.</p>
+
+<p>"But Sophia, desirous to know the Father, darted from the Pleroma;
+and the Word then made another couple, Christ and the Holy Ghost, who
+reunited all the Æons; and all together formed Jesus, the flower of the
+Pleroma.</p>
+
+<p>"But the effort of Sophia to flee away had left in the void an image of
+her&mdash;an evil substance, Acharamoth.<a name="FNanchor_4_11" id="FNanchor_4_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_11" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> The Saviour took pity upon her,
+freed her from all passion; and from the smile of Acharamoth redeemed,
+light was born; her tears formed the waters; by her sorrow was dark
+matter begotten.</p>
+
+<p>"Of Acharamoth was born the Demiurgos,&mdash;the fabricator of worlds,
+the creator of the heaven and of the Devil. He dwells far below the
+Pleroma&mdash;so far that he cannot behold it&mdash;so that he deems himself to
+be the true God, and repeats by the mouths of his prophets&mdash;'There is
+no other God but I.' Then he made man, and instilled into his soul the
+immaterial Seed which was the Church&mdash;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> reflection of the other Church
+established in the Pleroma.</p>
+
+<p>"One day Acharamoth shall reach the highest region and unite herself
+with the Saviour; the fire that is hidden in the world shall annihilate
+all matter, and shall even devour itself and men, becoming pure
+spirits, shall espouse the angels!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Origen</span>. "Then shall the Demon be over-thrown and the reign of God
+commence!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony expresses a cry, and forthwith</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Basilides</span> (<i>taking him by the elbow, exclaims</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"The Supreme Being with all the infinite emanations is called
+Abraxas; and the Saviour with all his virtues, Kaulakau&mdash;otherwise,
+line-upon-line, rectitude upon rectitude.</p>
+
+<p>"The power of Kaulakau is obtained by the aid of certain words, which
+are inscribed upon this chalcedony to help the memory."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he points to a little stone suspended at his neck, upon which
+stone fantastic characters are graven.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Then thou wilt be transported into the Invisible and placed above all
+law; thou shalt contemn all things&mdash;even virtue!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We, the Pure, must flee from pain, after the example of Kaulakau."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! and the cross?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Elkhesaites</span> (<i>in robes of hyacinth answers him</i>). "The woe and
+the degradation, the condemnation and oppression of my fathers<a name="FNanchor_5_12" id="FNanchor_5_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_12" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> are
+blotted out, through the mission which has come.</p>
+
+<p>"One may deny the inferior Christ, the man&mdash;Jesus; but the other Christ
+must be adored&mdash;whose personality was evolved under the brooding of the
+Dove's wings.</p>
+
+<p>"Honor marriage; the Holy Spirit is feminine!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Hilarion has disappeared; and Anthony, carried along by the crowd,
+arrives in the presence of</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Carpocratians</p>
+
+<p>(<i>reclining with women upon scarlet cushions.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Before entering into the Only thou shalt pass through a series of
+conditions and of actions. To free thyself from the powers of darkness,
+thou must at once accomplish their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> works. The husband shall say to the
+wife: 'Have charity for thy brother'&mdash;and she will kiss thee."</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Nicolaitans</p>
+
+<p>(<i>gathered about a mass of smoking meats</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"This is a portion of the meat offered to idols;&mdash;partake of it!
+Apostasy is permissible when the heart is pure. Gorge thy flesh with
+all that it demands. Seek to exterminate it by dint of debauchery!
+Prounikos, the Mother of Heaven, wallowed in ignominies."</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Marcosians</p>
+
+<p>(<i>wearing rings of gold, and glistening with precious balm and
+unguents</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Enter among us that thou mayst unite thyself to the Spirit! Enter
+among us that thou mayst quaff the draught of immortality!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And one of them shows him, behind a tapestry-hanging, the body of a
+man terminated by the head of an ass. This represents Sabaoth, father
+of the Devil. He spits upon the image in token of detestation.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Another shows him a very low bed, strewn with flowers, exclaiming</i>:)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The spiritual marriage is about to be consummated."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A third, who holds a cup of glass, utters an invocation;&mdash;blood
+suddenly appears in the cup</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! behold it! behold it!&mdash;the blood of Christ!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony withdraws, but finds himself be-spattered by water splashed
+from a cistern.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Helvidians</p>
+
+<p>(<i>are flinging themselves into it head foremost, muttering</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"The man regenerated by baptism is impeccable!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then he passes by a great fire at which the Adamites are warming
+themselves&mdash;all completely naked in imitation of the purity of
+Paradise; and he stumbles over</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Messalines</p>
+
+<p>(<i>wallowing upon the pavement, half-slumbering, stupid</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! crush us if thou wilt! we shall not move! Work is crime; all
+occupation is evil."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>Behind these, the abject</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">Paternians</p>
+
+<p>(<i>&mdash;men, women, and children lying pell mell upon a heap of filth, lift
+their hideous faces, wine-besmeared, and they cry aloud</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"The inferior parts of the body, which were created by the Devil,
+belong to him! Let us eat, drink, and sin!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Ætius</span>. "Crimes are necessities beneath the notice of God!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>But suddenly</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Man</span> (&mdash;<i>clad in a Carthaginian mantle, bounds into their midst,
+brandishing a scourge of thongs in his hand; and strikes violently and
+indiscriminately at all in his path</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! imposters! simonists, heretics and demons!&mdash;vermin of the
+schools!&mdash;dregs of hell! Marcion, there, is a sailor of Sinopus
+excommunicated for incest;&mdash;Carpocrates was banished for being a
+magician; Ætius stole his concubine; Nicholas prostituted his wife;
+and this Manes, who calls himself the Buddha, and whose real name is
+Cubricus, was flayed alive with the point of a reed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> so that his skin
+even now hangs at the gates of Ctesiphon!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>recognizing Tertullian, rushes to join him</i>): "Master! help!
+help!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tertullian</span> (<i>continuing</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Break the images! veil the virgins! Pray, fast, weep and mortify
+yourselves! No philosophy! no books! After Jesus, science is useless!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>All have fled away; and Anthony beholds, in lieu of Tertullian, a
+woman seated upon a bench of stone.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She sobs; leaning her head against a column; her hair is loose; her
+body, weakened by grief, is clad in a long brown simar. Then they find
+themselves face to face and alone, far from the crowd; and a silence,
+an extraordinary stillness falls&mdash;as in the woods when the winds are
+lulled, and the leaves of the trees suddenly cease to whisper.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>This woman is still very beautiful, although faded, and pale as a
+sepulcher. They look at one another; and their eyes send to each other
+waves, as it were, of thoughts, bearing drift of a thousand ancient
+things, confused, mysterious. At last</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span> (<i>speaks</i>:)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I was in the last chamber of the baths; and the rumbling sounds of the
+street caused a sleep to fall upon me.</p>
+
+<p>"Suddenly I heard a clamour of voices. Men were shouting&mdash;'It is a
+magician!&mdash;it is the Devil!' And the crowd stopped before our house, in
+front of the Temple Æsculapius. I drew myself up with my hands to the
+little window.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon the peristyle of the temple, there stood a man who wore about his
+neck a collar of iron. He took burning coals out of a chafing-dish, and
+with them drew lines across his breast, the while crying out&mdash;'Jesus!
+Jesus!' The people shouted&mdash;'This is not lawful! let us stone him!'
+But he continued. Oh! those were unheard of marvels&mdash;things which
+transported men who beheld them! Flowers broad as suns circled before
+my eyes, and I heard in the spaces above me the vibrations of a golden
+harp. Day died. My hands loosened their grasp of the window-bars; my
+body fell back, and when he had led me away to his house...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But of whom art thou speaking?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "Why, of Montanus!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Montanus is dead!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "It is not true!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Voice</span>. "No: Montanus is not dead!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony turns; and sees upon the bench near him, on the opposite
+side, another woman sitting; she is fair, and even paler than the
+other; there are swellings under her eyes, as though she had wept a
+long time. She speaks without being questioned</i>:)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Maximilla</span>. "We were returning from Tarsus by way of the mountains,
+when, at a turn in the road, we saw a man under a fig tree.</p>
+
+<p>"He cried from afar off: 'Stop! stop!' and rushed toward us, uttering
+words of abuse. The slaves ran up; he burst into a loud laugh. The
+horses reared; the molossi all barked.</p>
+
+<p>"He stood before us. The sweat streamed from his forehead; his mantle
+napped in the wind.</p>
+
+<p>"And calling us each by our names, he reproached us with the vanity
+of our work, the infamy of our bodies; and he shook his fist at the
+dromedaries because of the silver bells hanging below their mouths.</p>
+
+<p>"His fury now filled my very entrails with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> fear and yet there was a
+strange pleasure in it which fascinated me, intoxicated me!</p>
+
+<p>"First the slaves came. 'Master,' they said, 'our animals are weary.'
+Then the women said, 'We are frightened,' and the slaves departed. Then
+the children began to weep,&mdash;'We are hungry.' And as the women were not
+answered, they disappeared also from our view.</p>
+
+<p>"He still spoke. I felt some one near me. It was my husband; but I
+listened only to the other. My husband crawled to me upon his knees
+among the stones, and cried&mdash;'Dost thou abandon me,' and I replied:
+'Yes! go thy way!' that I might accompany Montanus."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "A eunuch!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "Ah! does that astound thee, vulgar soul! Yet Magdalen,
+Johanna, Martha and Susannah did not share the couch of the Saviour.
+Souls may know the delirium of embrace better than bodies. That he
+might keep Eustolia with impunity, the bishop Leontius mutilated
+himself&mdash;loving his love more than his virility. And then, it was
+no fault of mine. Sotas could not cure me; a spirit constrained me.
+It is cruel, nevertheless! But what matter? I am the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> last of the
+prophetesses; and after me the end of the world shall come."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Maximilla</span>. "He showered his gifts upon me. Moreover, no one loves him
+as I, nor is any other so well beloved by him!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Priscilla</span>. "Thou liest! I am the most beloved!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Maximilla</span>. "No: it is I!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They fight. Between their shoulders suddenly appears the head of a
+negro.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Montanus</span> (<i>clad in a black mantle, clasped by two cross-bones</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Peace, my doves! Incapable of terrestrial happiness, we have obtained
+the celestial plentitude of our union. After the age of the Father,
+the age of the Son; and I inaugurate the third, which is that of the
+Paraclete. His light descended upon me during those forty nights when
+the heavenly Jerusalem appeared shining in the firmament, above my
+house at Pepuzza.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, how ye cry out with anguish when the thongs of the scourge
+lacerate! how your suffering bodies submit to the ardor of my spiritual
+discipline! how ye languish with irrealizable longing! So strong has
+that desire become that it has enabled you to behold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> the invisible
+world; and ye can now perceive souls even with the eyes of the body!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. (<i>Makes a gesture of astonishment.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tertullian</span> (<i>who appears again, standing beside Montanus</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Without doubt; for the soul has a body, and that which is bodiless has
+no existence."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Montanus</span>. "In order to render it yet more subtle, I have instituted
+many mortifications, three Lents a year, and prayers to be uttered
+nightly by the mind only, keeping the mouth closed, lest breathing
+might tarnish thought. It is necessary to abstain from second
+marriages, or rather from all marriage! The Angels themselves have
+sinned with women!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Archontics</span> (<i>wearing cilices of hair</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"The Saviour said: 'I come to destroy the work of the Woman!'"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Tatianites</span> (<i>wearing cilices of reed</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"She is the tree of evil. Our bodies are but garments of skin."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And continuing to advance along the same side, Anthony meets</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Valesians</span> (<i>extended upon the ground, with red wounds below their
+bellies, and blood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> saturating their tunics. They offer him a knife.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Do as Origen did and as we have done! Is it the pain that thou
+fearest, coward? Is it the love of thy flesh that restrains thee,
+hypocrite?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And while he watches them writhing upon their backs, in a pool of
+blood</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Cainites</span> (<i>wearing knotted vipers as fillets about their hair, pass
+by, vociferating in his ear</i>):&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Glory to Cain! Glory to Sodom! Glory be to Judas!</p>
+
+<p>"Cain made the race of the strong; Sodom terrified the earth by her
+punishment, and it was by Judas that God saved the world! Yes! by
+Judas: without him there would have been no death and no redemption!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They disappear beneath the horde of the</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Circumcelliones</span> (<i>all clad in the skins of wolves, crowned with thorns,
+and armed with maces of iron</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Crush the fruit! befoul the spring! drown the child! Pillage the rich
+who are happy&mdash;who cat their fill! Beat the poor who envy the ass
+his saddle-cloth, the dog his meal, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> bird his nest,&mdash;and who is
+wretched at knowing that others are not as miserable as himself.</p>
+
+<p>"We, the Saints, poison, burn, massacre, that we may hasten the end of
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>"Salvation may be obtained through martyrdom only. We give ourselves
+martyrdom. We tear the skin from our heads with pincers; we expose our
+members to the plough; we cast ourselves into the mouths of furnaces!</p>
+
+<p>"Out upon baptism! out upon the Eucharist! out upon marriage! universal
+damnation!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then throughout all the basilica there is a redoubling of fury.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Audians shoot arrows against the Devil; the Collyridians throw
+blue cloths toward the roof; the Ascites prostrate themselves before
+a waterskin; the Marcionites baptise a dead man with oil. A woman,
+standing near Appelles, exhibits a round loaf within a bottle, in order
+the better to explain her idea. Another, standing in the midst of an
+assembly of Sampseans distributes, as a sacrament, the dust of her
+own sandals. Upon the rose-strewn bed of the Marcosians, two lovers
+embrace. The Circumcellionites<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> slaughter one another; the Valesians
+utter the death-rattle; Bardesanes sings; Carpocras dances; Maximilla
+and Priscilla moan; and the false prophetess of Cappadocia, completely
+naked, leaning upon a lion, and brandishing three torches, shrieks the
+Terrible Invocation.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The columns of the temple sway to and fro like the trunks of trees in a
+tempest; the amulets suspended about the necks of the Heresiarchs seem
+to cross each other in lines of fire; the constellations in the chapels
+palpitate; and the walls recoil with the ebb and flow of the crowd, in
+which each head is a wave that leaps and roars.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Nevertheless, from the midst of the clamor arises the sound of a song,
+in which the name of Jesus is often repeated, accompanied by bursts of
+laughter.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The singers belong to the rabble of the people; they all keep time to
+the song by clapping their hands. In their midst stands</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Artus</span> (<i>in a deacon's vestments</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"The fools who declaim against me pretend to explain the absurd; and in
+order to confound them utterly, I have composed ditties so droll that
+they are learned by heart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> in all the mills, in the taverns and along
+the ports.</p>
+
+<p>"No! a thousand times no!&mdash;the Son is not coeternal with the Father,
+nor of the same substance! Otherwise he would not have said: 'Father,
+remove this chalice from me! Why dost thou call me good? God alone is
+good! I go to my God, to your God!'&mdash;and many other things testifying
+to his character of creature. The fact is further demonstrated for
+us by all his names:&mdash;lamb, shepherd, fountain, wisdom, son-of-man,
+prophet; the way, the corner-stone!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sabelliusés</span>. "I hold that both are identical."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Arius</span>. "The Council of Antioch has decided the contrary."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Then what is the Word?... What was Jesus?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Valentinians</span>. "He was the husband of Acharamoth repentant!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sethianians</span>. "He was Shem, the son of Noah!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Theodotians</span>. "He was Melchisedech!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Merinthians</span>. "He was only a man!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Apollinarists</span>. "He assumed the appearance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> of one! He simulated the
+Passion!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marcel of Ancyra</span>. "He was a development of the Father!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pope Calixtus</span>. "Father and Son are but two modes of one God's
+manifestation!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Methodius</span>. "He was first in Adam, then in man!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cerinthus</span>. "And He will rise again!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Valentinus</span>. "Impossible&mdash;his body being celestial!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Paul of Samosata</span>. "He became God <i>only</i> from the time of his baptism!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hermogenes</span>. "He dwells in the sun!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And all the Heresiarchs form a circle about Anthony, who weeps,
+covering his face with his hands.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Jew</span> (<i>with a red beard, and spots of leprosy upon his shin,
+approaches close to Anthony, and, with a hideous sneer, exclaims</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"His soul was the soul of Esau! He suffered from the Bellephorentian
+sickness. Was not his mother, the seller of perfumes, seduced by a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>Roman soldier, one Pantherus?.......................... <a name="FNanchor_6_13" id="FNanchor_6_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_13" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>suddenly raising his head, looks at them a moment in silence;
+then advancing boldly upon them, exclaims</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Doctors, magicians, bishops, and deacons, men and phantoms, away from
+me! begone! Ye are all lies!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Heresiarchs</span>. "We have martyrs more martyrs than thine, prayers
+that are more difficult, outbursts of love more sublime, ecstasies as
+prolonged as thine are."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But ye have no revelation! no proofs!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They all at once brandish in the air their rolls of papyrus, tablets
+of wood, scrolls of leather, rolls of woven stuff bearing inscriptions;
+and elbowing; and pushing each other, they all shout to Anthony.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Cerinthians</span>. "Behold the Gospel of the Hebrews!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Marcionites</span>. "Behold the Gospel of the Lord!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Marcosians</span>. "The Gospel of Eve!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Eucratites</span>. "The Gospel of Thomas!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Cainites</span>. "The Gospel of Judas!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Basilides</span>. "The Treatise upon the Destiny of the Soul!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span>. "The Prophecy of Barkouf!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony struggles, breaks from them, escapes them; and in a shadowy
+corner perceives</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Aged Ebionites</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>withered as mummies, their eyes dull and dim, their eyebrows white as
+frost.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In tremulous voices they exclaim</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"We have known him, we have seen him! We knew the Carpenter's Son! We
+were then the same age as he; we dwelt in the same street. He used to
+amuse himself by modelling little birds of mud; aided his father at his
+work without fear of the sharp tools, or selected for his mother the
+skeins of dyed wool. Then he made a voyage to Egypt, from whence he
+brought back wondrous secrets. We were at Jericho when he came to find
+the Eater of Locusts. They talked together in a low voice, so that no
+one could hear what was said. But it was from that time that his name
+began to be noised abroad in Galilee, and that men began to relate many
+fables regarding him."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They reiterate, tremulously</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"We knew him! we others, we knew him!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah, speak on, speak! What was his face like?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tertullian</span>. "His face was wild and repulsive; forasmuch as he
+had burthened himself with all the crimes, all the woes, all the
+deformities of mankind."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! no, no! I imagine, on the contrary, that his entire
+person must have been glorious with a beauty greater than the beauty of
+man!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Eusebius of Cæsarea</span>. "There is indeed, at Paneades, propped up against
+the walls of a crumbling edifice surrounded by a wilderness of weeds
+and creeping plants, a certain statue of stone which, some say, was
+erected by the Woman healed of the issue of blood. But time has gnawed
+the face of the statue, and the rains have worn the inscription away."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A woman steps forward from the group of the Carpocratians.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marcellina</span>. "I was once a deaconess at Rome, in a little church, where
+I used to exhibit to the faithful, the silver images, of Saint Paul,
+Homer, Pythagoras and Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p>"I have only kept that of Jesus."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She half opens her mantle.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou desire it?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Voice</span>. "He reappears himself when we call upon him! It is the
+hour!&mdash;come!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And Anthony feels a brutal hand seize him by the arm, and drag him
+away.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He mounts a stairway in complete darkness; and after having ascended
+many steps, he finds himself before a door.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then the one who is leading him&mdash;(is it Hilarion?&mdash;he does not
+know)&mdash;whispers in the ear of another</i>: "The Lord is about to
+come!"&mdash;<i>and they are admitted into a chamber, with a very low ceiling,
+and without furniture.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The first object which attracts his attention is a long blood-colored
+chrysalis, with a human head surrounded by rays, and the word</i> Knouphus
+<i>inscribed all around it in Greek characters. It is placed upon the
+shaft of a column, which is in turn supported by a broad pedestal.
+Hanging upon the walls of the chamber are medallions of polished iron
+representing the heads of various animals:&mdash;the head of an ox, the head
+of a lion, the head of an eagle, the head of a dog, and the head of an
+ass&mdash;again!</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em">
+<a id="redon202"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_02.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>... a long blood-colored chrysalis</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Earthen lamps, suspended below these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> images, create a vacillating
+light. Through a hole in the wall, Anthony can see the moon shining
+far off upon the waves; he can even hear the feeble regular sound of
+lapping water; together with the heavy thud occasionally caused by the
+bumping of a ship's hull against the stones of the mole.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>There are men crouching down, with their faces hidden by their
+mantles. From time to time they utter sounds resembling a smothered
+bark. There are women also, sleeping with their foreheads resting upon
+their arms, and their arms supported by their knees; they are so hidden
+by their garments as to resemble heaps of cloth piled up at intervals
+against the wall. Near them are half naked children, whose persons
+swarm with vermin. They watch with idiotic stare the burning of the
+lamps; and nothing is done: all are waiting for something.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They talk in undertones about family matters, or recommend to each
+other various remedies for their ailments. Some of them must embark
+at earliest daylight; the persecution is becoming too terrible to be
+endured. Nevertheless, the pagans are easily enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> deceived</i>:&mdash;"The
+fools imagine that we are really adoring Knouphus!"</p>
+
+<p><i>But one of the brethren, feeling himself suddenly inspired, takes his
+place before the column, where a basket has already been placed, filled
+with fennel and aristolochia. On the top of the basket is placed a
+loaf.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Inspired Brother</p>
+
+<p>(<i>unrolling a placard covered with designs representing cylinders
+blending with and fitting into one another, commences to pray</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"The ray of the Word descended upon the darknesses; and there arose a
+mighty cry, like unto the voice of Light."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>swaying their bodies in unison, respond</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Kyrie eleison!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span>. "Then was Man created by the infamous
+God of Israel, aided by those who are these (<i>pointing to the
+medallions</i>)&mdash;Astophaios, Oraios, Sabaoth, Adonai, Eloi, Iao!</p>
+
+<p>"And Man, hideous, feeble, formless and thoughtless, lay upon the slime
+of the earth."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>in plaintive accents</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Kyrie eleison!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span>. "But Sophia, compassionating him, vivified him
+with a spark of her own soul.</p>
+
+<p>"Then God, beholding Man so beautiful, waxed wroth; and imprisoned him
+within His own kingdom, forbidding him to touch the Tree of Knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>"Again did the other succor him. She sent to him the Serpent, who, by
+many long subterfuges, made him disobey that law of hate.</p>
+
+<p>"And Man, having tasted knowledge, understood celestial things."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>raising their voices</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Kyrie Eleison!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span>. "But Iabdalaoth through vengeance cast down man
+into the world of matter, and the Serpent with him."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>in a very low tone</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Kyrie Eleison!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then all hold their peace, and there is silence.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The odors of the port mingle with the smoke of the lamps in the warm
+air. The lamp-wicks crepitate; their flames are about to go out, long
+mosquitoes flit in rapid circlings about them. And Anthony groans
+in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> an agony of anguish, as with the feeling that a monstrosity is
+floating about him, as with the fear of a crime that is about to be
+accomplished.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Inspired Brother</span> (<i>stamping his heel upon the floor, snapping his
+fingers, tossing his head wildly, suddenly chants to a furious rhythm,
+with accompaniment of cymbals and a shrill flute</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Come! come! come!&mdash;issue from thy cavern!</p>
+
+<p>"O swift one, who runneth without feet, captor who seizeth without hand!</p>
+
+<p>"Sinuous as the rivers, orbicular as the sun, black, with spots of
+gold, like the firmament star-besprinkled! Like unto the intertwinings
+of the vine, and the circumvolutions of entrails!</p>
+
+<p>"Unengendered! eater of earth! immortally young! unfailing
+perspicacious! honored at Epidaurus! Kindly to man! thou who didst heal
+King Ptolemy, and the warriors, of Moses, and Glaucus, son of Minos!</p>
+
+<p>"Come! come! come!&mdash;issue from thy cavern!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>repeat</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Come! come! come!&mdash;issue from thy cavern!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Nevertheless, nothing yet appears.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Why? What aileth him?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And they concert together, devise means.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>An old man presents a clod of turf as an offering. Then something
+upheaves within the basket. The mass of verdure shakes; the flowers
+fall, and the head of a python appears.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon05"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_05.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>... the flowers fall and the head of a python appears</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>It passes slowly around the edge of the loaf, like a circle moving
+around an immovable disk;&mdash;then it unfolds itself, lengthens out; it is
+enormous and of great weight. Lest it should touch the floor, the men
+uphold it against their breasts, the women support it upon their heads,
+the children hold it up at arms' length; and its tail, issuing through
+the hole in the wall, stretches away indefinitely to the bottom of the
+sea. Its coils double; they fill the chamber; they enclose Anthony.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Faithful</span> (<i>press their mouths against its skin, snatch from one
+another the loaf which it has bitten, and cry aloud</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"It is thou! it is thou!</p>
+
+<p>"First raised up by Moses, broken by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> Ezechias, re-established by the
+Messiah. He drank thee in the waters of baptism; but thou didst leave
+him in the Garden of Olives; and then indeed he felt his own weakness!</p>
+
+<p>"Writhing about the arms of the cross, and above his head, while
+casting thy slime upon the crown of thorns, thou didst behold him die!
+For thou art not Jesus, thou!&mdash;thou art the Word! thou art the Christ!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony faints with horror, and falls prostrate in front of his hut
+upon the splinters of wood, where the torch that had slipped from his
+hand, is burning low.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The shock arouses him. Opening his eyes again, he perceives the Nile,
+brightly undulating under the moon, like a vast serpent winding over
+the sands; so that the hallucination returns upon him again; he has not
+left the company of the Ophites; they surround him, call him; he sees
+them carrying baggage, descending to the port. He embarks along with
+them.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>An inappreciable time elapses.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then the vaults of a prison environ him. Iron bars in front of him
+make black lines against a background of blue; and in the darkness
+beside him people are praying and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> weeping surrounded by others who
+exhort and console.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon06"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_06.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>... and in the darkness beside him people are
+praying</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Without, there is a murmur like the deep humming of a vast crowd, and
+there is splendour as of a summer's day.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Shrill voices announce watermelons for sale, iced drinks, and cushions
+of woven grass to sit upon. From time to time there are bursts of
+applause. He hears the sound of footsteps above his head.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Suddenly a long roar is heard, mighty and cavernous as the roar of
+water in an aqueduct.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And he sees, directly opposite, behind the bars of another compartment
+across the arena a lion walking to and fro, then a line of sandals,
+bare legs, and purple fringes. Beyond are the vast circling wreaths
+of people, in symmetrical tiers, enlarging as they rise, from the
+lowest which hems in the arena to the uppermost above which masts
+rise to sustain a hyacinth-colored awning, suspended in air by ropes.
+Stairways radiating toward the centre, divide these huge circles of
+stone at regular intervals. The benches disappear under a host of
+spectators&mdash;knights, senators, soldiers, plebeians, vestals, and
+courtesans&mdash;in woollen hoods, in silken maniples, in fallow-colored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+tunics; together with aigrettes of precious stones, plumes of feathers,
+the fasces of lictors; and all this swarming multitude deafens and
+stupefies Anthony with its shoutings, its tumultuous fury, as of an
+enormous boiling vat. In the middle of the arena, a vase of incense
+smokes upon an altar.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony thus knows that the people with him are Christians condemned
+to be thrown to the wild beasts. The men wear the red mantle of the
+pontiffs of Saturn; the women, the bandellettes of Ceres. Their friends
+divide among themselves shreds of their garments, and rings. To obtain
+access to the prison, they say, costs a great deal of money. But what
+matter! They will remain until it is all over.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony notices among these consolers, a certain bald-headed man,
+in a black tunic: Anthony has seen that face somewhere before. The
+consoler discourses to them concerning the nothingness of this world,
+and the felicity of the Elect. Anthony feels within him a transport of
+celestial love; he longs for the opportunity to lay down his life for
+the Saviour&mdash;not knowing as yet whether he himself is to be numbered
+among the martyrs.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>But all&mdash;except a certain Phrygian, with long hair, who stands with
+his arms uplifted&mdash;have a look of woe. One old man is sobbing upon a
+bench; a youth standing close by, with drooping head, abandons himself
+to a reverie of sorrow.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Old Man</span> <i>had refused to pay the customary contribution before the
+statue of Minerva, erected at the angle of the cross-roads; and he
+gazes at his companions with a look that signifies</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Ye ought to have succored me! Communities can sometimes so arrange
+matters as to insure their being left in peace. Some among ye also
+procured those letters which falsely allege that one has sacrificed to
+idols."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He asks aloud</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Was it not Petrus of Alexandria who laid down the rule concerning what
+should be done by those who have yielded to torture?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then, to himself</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! how cruel this at my age! My infirmities make me so weak!
+Nevertheless, I might easily have lived until the coming winter, or
+longer!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>The memory of his little garden makes him sad, and he gazes toward
+the altar.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Man</span> (<i>who disturbed the festival of Apollo by violence and
+blows, murmurs</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Yet it would have been easy for me to have fled to the mountains!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>One of the brothers answers</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"But the soldiers would have captured thee!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Man</span>. "Oh! I would have done as Cyprian did&mdash;I would have
+returned, and the second time I would surely have had more force!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then he thinks of the innumerable days that he might have lived, of
+all the joys that he might have known, but will never know; and he
+gazes toward the altar.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Man in the Black Tunic</span> (<i>rushes to his side.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What scandal! What! Thou! a victim of God's own choice! And all these
+women here who are looking at thee! Nay, think what thou art doing!
+Moreover, remember that God sometimes vouchsafes to perform a miracle.
+Pionius numbed and made powerless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> the hands of his executioners; the
+blood of Polycarp extinguished the fire of the stake."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then he turns to the Old Man</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Father, father! it behooves thee to edify us by thy death! By longer
+delaying it, thou wouldst doubtless commit some evil action that would
+lose thee the fruit of all thy good works. Remember, also, that the
+power of God is infinite; and it may come to pass that all the people
+will be converted by thy example."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And in the great den opposite, the lions stride back and forth,
+ceaselessly, with a rapid continuous motion. The largest suddenly looks
+at Anthony and roars, and a vapour issues from his jaws.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The women are huddled against the men.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Consoler</span> (<i>goes from one to the other.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What would ye say, what wouldst thou say if thou wert to be burned
+with red-hot irons, if thou wert to be torn asunder by horses, if thou
+hadst been condemned to have thy body smeared with honey, and thus
+exposed to be devoured by flies! As it is, thou wilt only suffer the
+death of a hunter surprised by a beast in the woods."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony would prefer all those things to death by the fangs of the
+horrible wild beasts; he fancies already that he feels their teeth and
+their claws, that he hears his bones cracking between their jaws.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A keeper enters the dungeon; the martyrs tremble.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Only one remains impassable, the Phrygian, who prays standing apart
+from the rest. He has burned three temples; and he advances with arms
+uplifted, mouth open, face turned toward heaven, seeing nothing around
+him, like a somnambulist.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Consoler</span> (<i>shouts</i>). "Back! back! lest the spirit of Montanus might
+come upon you."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>recoil from the Phrygian, and vociferate</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Damnation to the Montanist!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They insult him, spit upon him, excite each other to beat him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The rearing lions bite each other's manes</i>;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The People</span> "To the beasts with them, to the beasts."</p>
+
+<p><i>The Martyrs burst into sobs, and embrace each other passionately. A
+cup of narcotic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> wine is offered them. It is passed from hand to hand,
+quickly.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Another keeper, standing at the door of the den, awaits the signal.
+The den opens; a lion comes out.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He crosses the arena with great oblique strides. Other lions follow in
+file after him; then a bear, three panthers, and some leopards. They
+scatter through the arena like a flock in a meadow.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The crack of a whip resounds. The Christians stagger forward; and
+their brethren push them, that it may be over the sooner.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony closes his eyes.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He opens them again. But darkness envelopes him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Soon the darkness brightens; and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated
+with knolls, such as might be seen about abandoned quarries.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon07"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_07.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated with knolls</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Here and there a tuft of shrubbery rises among the slabs of stone,
+level with the soil; and there are white figures, vaguer than clouds,
+bending over the slabs.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Others approach, softly, silently. Eyes gleam through the slits of
+long veils. By the easy indifference of their walk, and the perfumes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+exhaled from their garments, Anthony knows they are patrician women.
+There are men also, but of inferior condition; for their faces are at
+once simple-looking and coarse.</i></p>
+
+<p>(<i>One of the Women, taking a long breath</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! how good the cool air of night is, among the sepulchers! I am so
+weary of the softness of beds, the turmoil of days, the heavy heat of
+the sun!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Her maid-servant takes from a canvas bag, a torch which she ignites.
+The faithful light other torches by it, and plant them upon the tombs.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Woman</span> (<i>panting</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"I am here at last! Oh how wearisome to be the wife of an idolator!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Another</span>. "These visits to the prisons, interviews with our brethren,
+are all matters of suspicion to our husbands! And we must even hide
+ourselves in order to make the sign of the cross; they would take it
+for a magical conjuration!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Another</span>. "With my husband it was a quarrel every day. I would not
+submit myself to his brutal exactions; therefore he has had me
+prosecuted as a Christian."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Another</span>. "Do you remember Lucius,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> that young man who was so beautiful,
+who was dragged like Hector, with his heels attached to a chariot,
+from the Esquiline Gate to the mountains of Tibur?&mdash;and how his blood
+spattered the bushes on either side of the road? I gathered up the
+drops of his blood. Behold it!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses, and
+flings herself down upon the slabs, crying aloud</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon08"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_08.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses ...</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Ah! my friend! my friend!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Man</span>. "It is just three years to-day since Domitilla died. They stoned
+her at the further end of the Grove of Proserpine. I gathered her
+bones, which shone like glowworms in the grass. The earth how covers
+them."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He casts himself down upon a tomb.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"O my betrothed! my betrothed!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And all the others scattered over the plain</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"O my sister! O my brother! O my daughter! O my mother!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Some kneel, covering their faces with their hands; others lie down
+upon the ground with their arms extended; and the sobs they smother
+shake their breasts with such violence as though their hearts were
+breaking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> with grief. Sometimes they look up to heaven, exclaiming</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Have mercy upon her soul, O my God! She languishes in the sojourn of
+Shades; vouchsafe to admit her to thy Resurrection, that she may enjoy
+Thy Light!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Or, with eyes fixed upon the gravestones, they murmur to the dead</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Be at peace, beloved! and suffer not! I have brought thee wine and
+meats!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Widow</span>. "Here is pultis, made by my own hands, as he used to like it,
+with plenty of eggs and a double measure of flour! We are going to eat
+it together as in other days, are we not?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She lifts a little piece to her lips, and suddenly bursts into an
+extravagant and frenzied laugh.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The others also nibble a little bit as she does and drink a mouthful
+of wine.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They recount to each other the stories of their martyrs; grief becomes
+exalted! libations redouble. Their tear-swimming eyes are fixed upon
+each other's faces. They stammer with intoxication and grief; gradually
+hands touch hands, lips join themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> to lips, and they seek each
+other upon the tombs, between the cups and the torches.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The sky begins to whiten. The fog makes damp their garments; and,
+without appearing even to know one another, they depart by different
+ways and seek their homes.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The sun shines; the weeds and the grass have grown higher; the face of
+the plain is changed.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And Anthony, looking between tall bamboos, sees distinctly a forest of
+columns, of bluish-grey color. These are tree-trunks, all originating
+from one vast trunk. From each branch of the colossal tree descend
+other branches which may bury themselves in the soil; and the aspect of
+all these horizontal and perpendicular lines, indefinitely multiplied,
+would closely resemble a monstrous timber-work, were it not that they
+have small figs<a name="FNanchor_7_14" id="FNanchor_7_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_14" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> growing upon them here and there, and a blackish
+foliage, like that of the sycamore.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He perceives in the forkings of their branches, hanging bunches of
+yellow flowers, violet flowers also, and ferns that resemble the plumes
+of splendid birds.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Under the lowest branches the horns of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> bubalus gleam at intervals,
+and the bright eyes of antelopes are visible; there are hosts of
+parrots; there are butterflies flittering hither and thither; lizards
+lazily drag themselves up or down; flies buzz and hum; and in the midst
+of the silence, a sound is audible as of the palpitation of a deep and
+mighty life.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Seated upon a sort of pyre at the entrance of the wood is a strange
+being&mdash;a man&mdash;besmeared with cow-dung, completely naked, more withered
+than a mummy; his articulations form knots at the termination of bones
+that resemble sticks. He has bunches of shells suspended from his ears;
+his face is very long, and his nose like a vulture's beak. His left arm
+remains motionlessly erect in air, anchylosed, rigid as a stake; and he
+has been seated here so long that birds have made themselves a nest in
+his long hair.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At the four corners of his wooden pyre flame four fires. The sun is
+directly in front of him. He gazes steadily at it with widely-opened
+eyes; and, then without looking at Anthony, asks him</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Brahmin from the shores of the Nile,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> what hast thou to say regarding
+these things?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Flames suddenly burst out on all sides of him, through the intervals
+between the logs of the pyre; and</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Gymnosophist</span> (<i>continues</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Lo! I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I dwelt in
+the tree behind me."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon09"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_09.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>I have buried myself in solitude, like the
+rhinoceros. I dwelt in the tree behind me </p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>The vast fig-tree, indeed, shows in one of its groves, a natural
+excavation about the size of a man.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"And I nourished me with flowers and fruits, observing the precepts so
+rigidly that not even a dog ever beheld me eat.</p>
+
+<p>"Inasmuch as existence originates from corruption, corruption from
+desire, desire from sensation, sensation from contact, I have ever
+avoided all action, all contact, and perpetually&mdash;motionless as the
+stela of a tomb, exhaling my breath from my two nostrils, fixing my
+eyes upon my nose, and contemplating the ether in my mind, the world in
+my members, the moon in my heart&mdash;I dreamed of the essence of the great
+Soul whence continually escape the principles of life, even as sparks
+escape from fire.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Thus at last I found the supreme Soul in all beings, and all beings
+in the supreme Soul; and I have been able to make mine own soul all my
+senses.</p>
+
+<p>"I receive knowledge directly from heaven, like the bird Tchataka, who
+quenches his thirst from falling rain only.</p>
+
+<p>"Even by so much as things are known to me, things no longer exist.</p>
+
+<p>"For me now there is no more hope, no more anguish, there is neither
+happiness nor virtue, nor day nor night, nor Thou nor I&mdash;absolutely
+nothing!</p>
+
+<p>"My awful austerities have made me superior to the Powers. A single
+contraction of my thought would suffice to kill a hundred sons of
+kings, to dethrone gods, to overturn the world."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He utters all these things in a monotonous voice.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The surrounding leaves shrivel up. Fleeing rats rush over the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He slowly turns his eyes downward toward the rising flames, and then
+continues</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"I have loathed Form, I have loathed Perception, I have loathed even
+Knowledge itself, for the thought does not survive the transitory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> fact
+which caused it; and mind, like all else, is only an illusion.</p>
+
+<p>"All that is engendered will perish; all that is dead must live again;
+the beings that have even now disappeared shall sojourn again in wombs
+as yet unformed, and shall again return to earth to serve in woe other
+creatures.</p>
+
+<p>"But inasmuch as I have rolled through the revolution of an indefinite
+multitude of existences, under the envelopes of gods, of men, and of
+animals, I renounce further wanderings; I will endure this weariness
+no more! I abandon the filthy hostelry of this body of mine, built
+with flesh, reddened with blood, covered with a hideous skin, full of
+uncleanliness; and, for my recompense, I go at last to slumber in the
+deepest deeps of the Absolute&mdash;in Annihilation."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The flames rise to his chest, then envelope him. His head rises
+through them as through a hole in the wall. His cavernous eyes still
+remain icicle open, gazing.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>rises</i>).</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The torch, which had fallen to the ground, has ignited the splinters
+of wood; and the flames have singed his beard.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></i></p>
+
+<p><i>With a loud cry, Anthony tramples the fire out; and, when nothing
+remains but ashes, he exclaims</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Where can Hilarion be? He was here a moment ago. I saw him!</p>
+
+<p>"What! No; it is impossible; I must have been mistaken!</p>
+
+<p>"Yet why?... Perhaps my cabin, these stones, this sand, have no real
+existence. I am becoming mad! Let me be calm! Where was I? What was it
+that happened?</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! the gymnosophist!... Such a death is frequent among the sages of
+India. Kalanos burned himself before Alexander; another did likewise
+in the time of Augustus. What hatred of life men must have to do thus!
+Unless, indeed, they are impelled by pride alone?... Yet in any event
+they have the intrepidity of martyrs.... As for the latter, I can now
+well believe what has been told me regarding the debauchery they cause.</p>
+
+<p>"And before that? Yes: I remember now! the host of the Heresiarchs!
+What outcries! What eyes! Yet why so much rebellion of the flesh, so
+much dissoluteness, so many aberrations of the intellect.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"They claim, nevertheless, to seek God through all those ways! What
+right have I to curse them&mdash;I, who stumble so often in mine own path?
+I was perhaps about to learn more of them at the moment when they
+disappeared. Too rapid was the whirl; I had no time to answer. Now I
+feel as though there were more space, more light in my understanding. I
+am calm. I even feel myself able to.... What is this? I thought I had
+put out the fire!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A flame flits among the rocks; and soon there comes the sound of
+a voice&mdash;broken, convulsed as by sobs&mdash;from afar off, among the
+mountains.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Can it be the cry of a hyena, or the lamentation of some traveler that
+has lost his way?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony listens. The flame draws nearer.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And he beholds a weeping woman approach, leaning upon the shoulder of
+a white-bearded man.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She is covered with a purple robe in rags. He is bareheaded like lier,
+wears a tunic of the same color, and carries in his hands a brazen
+vase, whence arises a thin blue flame.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony feels a fear come upon him, and wishes to know who this woman
+may be.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Stranger Simon</span>. "It is a young girl, a poor child that I lead about
+with me everywhere."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He uplifts the brazen vase.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony contemplates the girl, by the light of its vacillating flame.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>There are marks of bites upon her face, traces of blows upon her arms;
+her dishevelled hair entangles itself in the rents of her rags; her
+eyes appear to be insensible to light.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Sometimes she remains thus for a long, long time without
+speaking; then all at once she revives, and discourses of marvellous
+things."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "In truth?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Ennoia; Ennoia! Ennoia!&mdash;tell us what thou hast to say!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She rolls her eyes like one awaking from a dream, slowly passes her
+fingers over her brows, and in a mournful voice, speaks</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>Helena<a name="FNanchor_8_15" id="FNanchor_8_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_15" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> (<i>Ennoia</i>).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon10"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_10.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Helena - Ennoia</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">"I remember a distant land, of the color of emerald. Only one tree
+grows there.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony starts</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Upon each of its tiers of broad-extending arms, a pair of Spirits
+dwell in air. All about them the branches intercross, like the veins
+of a body; and they watch the eternal Life circulating, from the roots
+deep plunging into darkness even to the leafy summit that rises higher
+than the sun. I, dwelling upon the second branch, illuminated the
+nights of Summer with my face."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>, (<i>tapping his own forehead</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! ah! I comprehend! her head!..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span> (<i>placing his finger to his lips</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Helena</span>. "The sail remained well filled by the wind; the keel cleft the
+foam. He said to me: 'What though I afflict my country, though I lose
+my kingdom! Thou wilt belong to me, in my house!'</p>
+
+<p>"How sweet was the lofty chamber of his palace! Lying upon the ivory
+bed, he caressed my long hair, singing amorously the while.</p>
+
+<p>"Even at the close of the day I beheld the two camps, the watchfires
+being lighted,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> Ulysses at the entrance of his tent, armed Achilles
+driving a chariot along the sea-beach."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Why! she is utterly mad! How came this to pass?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Hush! hush!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Helena</span>. "They anointed me with unguents, and sold me to the people that
+I might amuse them.</p>
+
+<p>"One evening I was standing with the sistrum in my hand, making music
+for some Greek sailors who were dancing. The rain was falling upon the
+roof of the tavern like a cataract, and the cups of warm wine were
+smoking.</p>
+
+<p>"A man suddenly entered, although the door was not opened to let him
+pass."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "It was I! I found thee again!</p>
+
+<p>"Behold her, Anthony, she whom they call Sigeh, Ennoia, Barbelo,
+Prounikos! The Spirits governing the world were jealous of her; and
+they imprisoned her within the body of a woman.</p>
+
+<p>"She was that Helen of Troy, whose memory was cursed by the poet
+Stesichorus. She was Lucretia, the patrician woman violated by a king.
+She was Delilah, by whom Samson's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> locks were shorn.... She has loved
+adultery, idolatry, lying and foolishness. She has prostituted herself
+to all nations. She has sung at the angles of all cross-roads. She has
+kissed the faces of all men.</p>
+
+<p>"At Tyre, she, the Syrian, was the mistress of robbers. She caroused
+with them during the nights; and she concealed assassins amidst the
+vermin of her tepid bed."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! what is this to me?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span> (<i>with a furious look</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"I tell thee that I have redeemed her, and re-established her in her
+former splendor; insomuch that Caius Cæsar Caligula became enamoured of
+her, desiring to sleep with the Moon!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What then?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Why this, that she herself is the Moon! Has not Pope Clement
+written how she was imprisoned in a tower? Three hundred persons
+surrounded the tower to watch it; and the moon was seen at each of the
+loop-holes at the same time, although there is not more than one moon
+in the world, nor more than one Ennoia!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes ... it seems to me that I remember...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He falls into a reverie.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Innocent as the Christ who died for men, so did she devote
+herself for women. For the impotence of Jehovah is proven by the
+transgression of Adama, and we must shake off the yoke of the old law,
+which is antipathetic to the order of things.<a name="FNanchor_9_16" id="FNanchor_9_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_16" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I have preached the revival in Ephraim and in Issachar by the torrent
+of Bizor, beyond the Lake of Houleh, in the valley of Maggedo, further
+than the mountains, at Bostra and at Damascus. Let all come to me who
+are covered with wine, who are covered with filth, who are covered with
+blood! and I shall take away their uncleanliness with the Holy Spirit,
+called Minerva by the Greeks. She is Minerva! she is the Holy Spirit! I
+am Jupiter, Apollo, the Christ, the Paraclete, the great might of God,
+incarnated in the person of Simon!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! it is thou!... so it is thou! But I know thy crimes!</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wast born at Gittoi near Samaria,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> Dositheas, thy first master,
+drove thee from him. Thou didst execrate Saint Paul because he
+converted one of thy wives; and, vanquished by Saint Peter, in thy rage
+and terror thou didst cast into the waves the bag which contained thy
+artifices!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span>. "Dost thou desire them?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony looks at him, and an interior voice whispers hi his
+heart:&mdash;"Why not?"</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Simon</span> (<i>continues</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"He who knows the forces of Nature and the essence of Spirits must be
+able to perform miracles. It has been the dream of all sages; it is the
+desire which even now gnaws thee!&mdash;confess it!"</p>
+
+<p>"In the sight of the multitude of the Romans, I flew in the air so
+high that none could behold me move. Nero ordered that I should be
+decapitated; but it was the head of a sheep which fell upon the ground
+in lieu of mine. At last they buried me alive; but I rose again upon
+the third day. The proof is that thou dost behold me before thee!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He presents his hands to Anthony to smell. They have the stench of
+corpse-flesh. Anthony recoils with loathing.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"I can make serpents of bronze writhe; I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> can make marble statues
+laugh; I can make dogs speak. I will show thee vast quantities of gold;
+I will reestablish kings; thou shalt see nations prostrate themselves
+in adoration before me! I can walk upon the clouds and upon the waves,
+I can pass through mountains, I can make myself appear as a youth, as
+an old man, as a tiger, or as an ant; I can assume thy features; I can
+give thee mine; I can make the thunder follow after me. Dost hear it?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The thunder rumbles; flashes of lightning succeed.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is the voice of the Most High; for 'the Lord thy God is a fire;'
+and all creations are accomplished by sparks from the fire-centre of
+all things.</p>
+
+<p>Thou shalt even now receive the baptism of it&mdash;that second baptism
+announced by Jesus, which fell upon the apostles on a day of tempest
+when the windows were open!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And stirring up the flame with his hand, slowly, as though preparing
+to sprinkle Anthony with it, he continues</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Mother of mercies, thou who discoverest all secrets, in order that we
+may find rest in the eighth mansion...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>cries out</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! that I had only some holy water!..."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The flame goes out, producing much smoke.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Ennoia and Simon have disappeared.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>An exceedingly cold, opaque and fœtid mist fills the atmosphere.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>groping with his hands like a blind man</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Where am I?... I fear lest I fall into the abyss! And the cross,
+surely, is too far from me. Ah! what a night! what a terrible night!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The mist is parted by a gust of wind; and Anthony sees two men
+covered with long white tunics.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The first is of lofty stature, with a gentle face, and a grave mien.
+His blond hair, parted like that of Christ, falls upon his shoulders.
+He has cast aside a wand that he had been holding in his hand; his
+companion takes it up, making a reverence after the fashion of the
+Orientals.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The latter is small of stature, thick set, flat-nosed; his neck and
+shoulders expresses good natured simplicity.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Both are barefooted, bareheaded, and dusty, like persons who have made
+a long journey.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>starting up</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"What do ye seek? Speak!... Begone from here!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>who is a little man</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Nay! nay! be not angered, good hermit. As for that I seek, I know not
+myself what it is! Here is the Master!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He sits down. The other stranger remains standing. Silence.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>asks</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Then ye come?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Oh! from afar off&mdash;very far off!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "And ye go?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>pointing to the other</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Whithersoever he shall desire!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "But who may he be?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Look well upon him!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"He looks like a saint! If I could only dare...."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The mist is all gone. The night is very clear. The moon shines.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Of what art thou dreaming, that thou dost not speak?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I was thinking.... Oh! nothing!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>approaches Apollonius, and walks all round him several times,
+bending himself as he walks, never raising his head</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Master, here is a Galilean hermit who desires to know the beginnings
+of wisdom."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Let him approach!" (<i>Anthony hesitates.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Approach!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>in a voice of thunder</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Approach! Thou wouldst know who I am, what I have done, and what I
+think,&mdash;is it not so, child?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Always supposing that these things can contribute to the
+salvation of my soul."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Rejoice! I am about to inform thee of them!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>in an undertone, to Anthony</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible? He must surely have at the first glance discerned in
+thee extraordinary aptitude for philosophy. I shall also strive to
+profit by his instruction."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "First of all, I shall tell thee of the long course which
+I have followed in order to obtain the doctrine; and if thou canst<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+discover in all my life one evil action, thou shalt bid me pause, for
+he who hath erred in his actions may well give scandal by his words."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>to Anthony</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"How just a man? Is he not?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Indeed I believe him to be sincere."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Upon the night of my birth, my mother imagined that
+she was gathering flowers by the shore of a great lake. A flash of
+lightning appeared; and she brought me into the world to the music of
+the voices of swans singing to her in her dream.</p>
+
+<p>"Until I had reached the age of fifteen I was plunged thrice a day into
+the fountain, Asbadeus, whose waters make perjurers hydropical; and my
+body was rubbed with the leaves of the onyza, that I might be chaste.</p>
+
+<p>"A Palmyrian princess came one evening to seek me, offering me
+treasures that she knew to be in the tombs. A hierodule of the temple
+of Diana, slew herself in despair with the sacrificial knife; and the
+governor of Cilicia, finding all his promises of no avail, cried out in
+the presence of my family that he would cause my death; but it was he
+that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> died only three days after, assassinated by the Romans."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>nudging Anthony with his elbow</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Eh? did I not tell thee? What a man!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "For the space of four successive years I maintained the
+unbroken silence of the Pythagoreans. The most sudden and unexpected
+pain never extorted a sigh from me; and when I used to enter the
+theatre, all drew away from me, as from a phantom."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Wouldst thou have done so much?&mdash;thou?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "After the period of my trial had been accomplished, I
+undertook to instruct the priests regarding the tradition they had
+lost."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What tradition?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Interrupt him not! Be silent!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I have conversed with the Samaneans of the Ganges, with
+the astrologers of Chaldea, with the magi of Babylon, with the Gaulish
+Druids, with the priests of the negroes! I have ascended the fourteen
+Olympii; I have sounded the Scythian lakes; I have measured the breadth
+of the Desert!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "It is all true! I was with him the while!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "But first I had visited the Hyrcanian Sea; I made the tour
+of it; and descending by way of the country of the Baraomati, where
+Bucephalus is buried, I approached the city of Nineveh. At the gates of
+the city, a man drew near me...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "I&mdash;even I, good master! I loved thee from the first. Thou wert
+gentler than a girl and more beautiful than a god!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>without hearing him</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"He asked me to accompany him, that he might serve as interpreter."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "But thou didst reply that all languages were familiar to thee,
+and that thou couldst divine all thoughts. Then I kissed the hem of thy
+mantle, and proceeded to walk behind thee."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "After Ctesiphon, we entered upon the territory of Babylon."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And the Satrap cried aloud on beholding a man so pale."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"What signifies this?..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "The king received me standing, near a throne of silver,
+in a hall constellated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> with stars; from the cupola hung suspended by
+invisible threads four great birds of gold, with wings extended."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>dreamily</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Can there be such things in the world?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Ah! that is a city! that Babylon! everybody there is rich! The
+houses, which are painted blue, have doors of bronze, and flights of
+steps descending to the river."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Drawing lines upon the ground, with his stick</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Like that, seest thou? And then there are temples, there are squares,
+there are baths, there are aqueducts! The palaces are roofed with red
+brass; and the interior ... ah! if thou only knewest!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Upon the north wall rises a tower which supports a second,
+a third, a fourth, a fifth, and there are also three others! The eighth
+is a chapel containing a bed. No one enters it save the woman chosen by
+the priests for the God Belus. I was lodged there by order of the King
+of Babylon."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "As for me, they hardly deigned to give me any attention! So I
+walked through the streets all by myself. I informed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> myself regarding
+the customs of the people; I visited the workshops; I examined the
+great machines that carry water to the gardens. But I soon wearied of
+being separated from the Master."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At last we left Babylon; and as we travelled by the light
+of the moon, we suddenly beheld an Empusa."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Aye, indeed! She leaped upon her iron hoof; she brayed like an
+ass; she galloped among the rocks. He shouted imprecations at her; she
+disappeared."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"What can be their motive?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At Taxilla, the capital of five thousand fortresses,
+Phraortes, King of the Ganges, showed us his guard of black men, whose
+stature was five cubits, and under a pavilion of green brocade in his
+gardens, an enormous elephant, which the queens amused themselves by
+perfuming. It was the elephant of Porus which had taken flight after
+the death of Alexander."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And which had been found again in a forest."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Their speech is superabundant, like that of drunken men!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Phraortes seated us at his own table."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "How strange a country that was! During their drinking
+carousels, the lords used to amuse-themselves by shooting arrows under
+the feet of a dancing child. But I do not approve...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "When I was ready to depart, the king gave me a parasol,
+and he said to me: 'I have a stud of white camels upon the Indus. When
+thou shalt have no further use for them, blow in their ears. They will
+come back.'</p>
+
+<p>"We descended along the river, marching at night by the light of the
+fire-flies, which glimmered among the bamboos. The slave whistled an
+air to drive away the serpents; and our camels bent down in passing
+below the branches of the trees, as if passing under low gates.</p>
+
+<p>"One day a black child, who held a golden caduceus in his hand,
+conducted us to the College of the Sages. Iarchas, their chief, spoke
+to me of my ancestors, told me of all my thoughts, of all my actions,
+of all my existences. In former time he had been the River Indus; and
+he reminded me that I had once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> been a boatman upon the Nile, in the
+time of King Sesostris."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "As for me, they told me nothing; so that I know not who or what
+I have been."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "They have a vague look, like shadows!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Upon the shores of the sea we met with the milk-gorged
+Cynocephali, who were returning from their expedition to the Island
+Taprobana. The tepid waves rolled blond pearls to our feet. The amber
+crackled beneath our steps. Whale-skeletons were whitening in the
+crevasses of the cliffs. At last the land became narrow as a sandal;
+and after casting drops of ocean water toward the sun, we turned to the
+right to return.</p>
+
+<p>"So we returned through the Region of Aromatics, by way of the country
+of the Gangarides, the promontory of Comaria, the country of the
+Sachalites, of the Adramites and of the Homerites; then, across the
+Cassanian mountains, the Red Sea, and the Island Topazos, we penetrated
+into Ethiopia through the country of the Pygmies."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"How vast the world is!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And after we had returned home, we found that all those whom we
+used to know, were dead."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony lowers his head. Silence.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>continues</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Then men began to talk of me the world over.</p>
+
+<p>"The plague was ravaging Ephesus; I made them stone an old mendicant
+there."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "And forthwith the plague departed."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! Does he drive away pestilence?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At Cnidos, I cured the man that had become enamored of
+Venus."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Aye! a fool who had even vowed to espouse her! To love a woman
+is at least comprehensible; but to love a statue&mdash;what madness! The
+Master placed his hand upon the young man's heart; and the fire of that
+love was at once extinguished."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How! does he also cast out devils?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "At Tarentum they were carrying the dead body of a young
+girl to the funeral pyre."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "The Master touched her lips; and she arose and called her
+mother."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! he raises the dead!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I predicted to Vespasian his accession to power."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What! he foretells the future!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "At Corinth there was a ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "It was when I was at table with him, at the waters of Baia
+..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Excuse me, strangers&mdash;it is very late ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "At Corinth there was a young man called Menippus ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "No! no!&mdash;go ye away!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "A dog came in, bearing a severed hand in his mouth."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "One evening, in one of the suburbs, he met a woman."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Do ye not hear me? Begone!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "He wandered in a bewildered way around the couches ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Enough!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "They sought to drive him out."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "So Menippus went with her to her house; they loved one
+another."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "And gently beating the mosaic pavement with his tail, he
+laid the severed hand upon the knees of Flavius."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "But next morning, during the lessons in the school, Menippus
+was pale."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>starting up in anger</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Still continuing! Ah! then let them continue till they be weary,
+inasmuch as there is no ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "The Master said to him: 'O beautiful youth, thou dost caress
+a serpent; by a serpent thou art caressed! And when shall be the
+nuptials?' We all went to the wedding."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Assuredly I am doing wrong, to hearken to such a story!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Servants were hurrying to and fro in the vestibule; doors were
+opening; nevertheless there was no sound made either by the fall of
+the footsteps nor the closing of the doors. The Master placed himself
+beside Menippus. And the bride forthwith became angered against the
+philosophers. But the vessels of gold, the cupbearers, the cooks, the
+panthers disappeared; the roof receded and vanished into air; the walls
+crumbled down; and Apollonius stood alone with the woman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> at his feet,
+all in tears. She was a vampire who satisfied the beautiful young men
+in order to devour their flesh, for nothing is more desirable for such
+phantoms than the blood of amorous youths."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "If thou shouldst desire to learn the art ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I do not wish to learn anything!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "The same evening that we arrived at the gates of Rome ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! yes!&mdash;speak to me rather of the City of Popes!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "A drunken man accosted us, who was singing in a low voice.
+The song was an epithalamium of Nero; and he had the power to cause
+the death of whosoever should hear it with indifference. In a box upon
+his shoulders he carried a string taken from the Emperor's cithara. I
+shrugged my shoulders. He flung mud in our faces. Then I unfastened my
+girdle and placed it in this hand."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "In sooth, thou wert most imprudent!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "During the night the Emperor summoned me to his house. He
+was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> playing at osselets with Sporus, supporting his left arm upon a
+table of agate. He turned and, knitting his brows, demanded: 'How comes
+it that thou dost not fear me?' 'Because,' I replied, 'the God who made
+thee terrible, also made me intrepid."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"There is something inexplicable that terrifies me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Silence.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>breaking the silence with his shrill voice</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Moreover, all Asia can tell thee ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>starting up</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"I am ill! let me be!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "But listen! At Ephesus, he beheld them killing Domitian, who
+was at Rome."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>with a forced laugh</i>). "Is it possible?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Yes: at the theatre at noon-day, the fourteenth of the Kalenda
+of October, he suddenly cried out: 'Cæsar is being murdered!' and
+from time to time he would continue to ejaculate: 'He rolls upon the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>pavement ... Oh! how he struggles ... He rises ... He tries to flee
+... The doors are fastened ... Ah! it is all over! He is dead!' And in
+fact Titus Flavius Domitianus was assassinated upon that very day, as
+thou knowest."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Without the aid of the Devil ... certainly ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "He had purposed putting me to death, that same Domitian!
+Damis had taken flight according to my order, and I remained alone in
+my prison."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "A terrible hardihood on thy part, it must be confessed!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "About the fifth hour, the soldiers led me before the
+tribunal. I had my harangue all ready hidden beneath my mantle."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "We others were then upon the shores of Puteoli, we believed
+thee dead; we were all weeping, when all of a sudden about the sixth
+hour, thou didst suddenly appear before us, exclaiming: 'It is I.'"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>). "Even as He...!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>in a very loud voice</i>). "Precisely!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! no! ye lie! is it not so?&mdash;ye lie!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "He descended from heaven. I rise thither, by the power of
+my virtue that has lifted me up even to the height of the Principle of
+all things!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Thyana, his natal city, has established in his honor a temple
+and a priesthood!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span> (<i>draws near Anthony, and shouts in his ear</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"It is because I know all gods, all rites, all prayers, all oracles!
+I have penetrated into the cave of Trophonius, son of Apollo! I
+have kneaded for Syracusan women the cakes which they carry to the
+mountains. I have endured the eighty tests of Mithra! I have pressed to
+my heart the serpent of Sabasius! I have received the scarf of Kabiri!
+I have laved Cybele in the waters of the Campanian gulfs! and I have
+passed three moons in the caverns of Samothracia!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>with a stupid laugh</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! ah! ah! at the mysteries of the good Goddess!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "And now we recommence our pilgrimage.</p>
+
+<p>"We go to the North to the land of Swans and of snows. Upon the vast
+white plains,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> the blind hippopodes break with the tips of their feet
+the ultramarine plant."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Hasten! it is already dawn. The cock has crowed, the horse has
+neighed, the sail is hoisted!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The cock has not crowed! I hear the locusts in the sands, and
+I see the moon still in her place."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "We go to the South, beyond the mountains and the mighty
+waters, to seek in perfumes the secret source of love. Thou shalt
+inhale the odor of myrrhodion which makes the weak die. Thou shalt
+bathe thy body in the lake of Rose-oil which is in the Island Junonia.
+Thou shalt see slumbering upon primroses that Lizard which awakes
+every hundred years when the carbuncle upon its forehead, arriving
+at maturity, falls to the ground. The stars palpitate like eyes; the
+cascades sing like the melody of lyres; strange intoxication is exhaled
+by blossoming flowers; thy mind shall grow vaster in that air; and thy
+heart shall change even as thy face."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Master! it is time! The wind has risen, the swallows awaken,
+the myrtle leaves are blown away."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Yes! let us go!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Nay! I remain here!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Shall I tell thee where grows the plant Balis, that
+resurrects the dead?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> "Nay; ask him rather for the audrodamas which attracts silver,
+iron and brass!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh! how I suffer! how I suffer!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Thou shalt comprehend the voices of all living creatures, the
+roarings, the cooings!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I shall enable thee to ride upon unicorns and upon
+dragons, upon hippocentaurs and dolphins!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>weeping</i>). "Oh ... oh!... oh!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Thou shalt know the demons that dwell in the caverns, the
+demons that mutter in the woods, the demons that move in the waves, the
+demons that push the clouds!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span>. "Tighten thy girdle, fasten thy sandals!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "I shall explain to thee the reason of divine forms&mdash;why
+Apollo stands,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> why Jupiter is seated, why Venus is black, at Corinth,
+square-shaped at Athens, conical at Paphos."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>clasping his hands</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Let them begone! let them begone!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "In thy presence I will tear down the panoplies of the
+Gods; we shall force open the sanctuaries, I will enable thee to
+violate the Pythoness!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Help! O my God!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He rushes to the cross.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "What is thy desire? What is thy dream? Thou needst only
+devote the moment of time necessary to think of it ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Jesus! Jesus! Help me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Dost thou wish me to make him appear, thy Jesus?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What? How!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "It shall be He!&mdash;no other! He will cast off his crown, and
+we shall converse face to face!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Damis</span> (<i>in an undertone</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Say thou dost indeed wish it! say thou dost desire it!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony kneeling before the cross, murmurs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> prayers. Damis walks
+around him, with wheedling gestures.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, nay! good hermit. Be not horrified! These are only exaggerated
+forms of speech, borrowed from the Orientals. That need in no way ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollonius</span>. "Let him alone, Damis!</p>
+
+<p>"He believes, like a brute, in the reality of things. The terror which
+he entertains of the Gods prevents him from comprehending them; and he
+debases his own God to the level of a jealous king!</p>
+
+<p>"But thou, my son, do not leave me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He moves to the edge of the cliff, walking backward, passes beyond
+the verge of the precipice, and remains suspended in air.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Above all forms, further than the ends of the earth, beyond the
+heavens themselves, lies the world of Idea, replete with the splendor
+of the Word! With one bound we shall traverse the impending spaces, and
+thou shalt behold in all his infinity, the Eternal, the Absolute, the
+Being! Come! give me thy hand! Let us rise."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Side by side, both rise up through the air, slowly. Anthony, clinging
+to the cross, watches them rise. They disappear.</i>)</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_8" id="Footnote_1_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_8"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Agape.&mdash;Love-feast of the primitive Christians.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_9" id="Footnote_2_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_9"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> John XVI: 12.&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3_10" id="Footnote_3_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_10"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See <a href="#NOTE">note</a> at end.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4_11" id="Footnote_4_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_11"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Masheim gives <i>Achamoth.</i> I prefer to remain faithful to
+the orthography given by Flaubert.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5_12" id="Footnote_5_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_12"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The French text gives <i>mes pères</i> not <i>nos pères.</i> Elxai,
+or Elkhai, who established his sect in the reign of Trajan, was a Jew.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_6_13" id="Footnote_6_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_13"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> See <a href="#NOTE">note</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_7_14" id="Footnote_7_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_14"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The banyan is a fig-tree&mdash;the <i>Ficus indicus.</i>&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_8_15" id="Footnote_8_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_15"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Readers may remember Longfellow's exquisite poem "Helena
+of Tyre."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_9_16" id="Footnote_9_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_16"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> See the second part of "Faust," and <i>Kundry</i> in
+"Parsifal."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="V" id="V">V.</a></h4>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>walking to and fro, slowly</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"That one, indeed, seems in himself equal to all the powers of Hell!</p>
+
+<p>"Nebuchadnezzar did not so much dazzle me with his splendours;&mdash;the
+Queen of Sheba herself charmed me less deeply.</p>
+
+<p>"His manner of speaking of the gods compels one to feel a desire to
+know them.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember having beheld hundreds of them at one time, in the island
+of Elephantius, in the time of Diocletian. The emperor had ceded to the
+Nomads a great tract of country, upon the condition that they should
+guard the frontiers; and the treaty was concluded in the name of the
+'Powers Invisible.' For the gods of each people were unknown unto the
+other people.</p>
+
+<p>"The Barbarians had brought theirs with them. They occupied the
+sand-hills bordering the river. We saw them supporting their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> idols in
+their arms, like great paralytic children;&mdash;others, paddling through
+the cataracts upon trunks of palm tree, displayed from afar off the
+amulets hung about their necks, the tattooings upon their breasts; and
+these things were not more sinful than the religion of the Greeks, the
+Asiatics, and the Romans!</p>
+
+<p>"When I was dwelling in the temple of Heliopolis I would often consider
+the things I beheld upon the walls:&mdash;vultures bearing sceptres,
+crocodiles playing upon lyres, faces of men with the bodies of
+serpents, cow-headed women prostrating themselves before ithyphallic
+gods:&mdash;and their supernatural forms attracted my thoughts to other
+worlds. I longed to know that which drew the gaze of all those calm and
+mysterious eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"If matter can exert such power, it must surely contain a spirit. The
+souls of the Gods are attached to their images ...</p>
+
+<p>"Those possessing the beauty of forms might seduce. But the others
+... those of loathsome or terrible aspect ... how can men believe in
+them?..."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he beholds passing over the surface of the ground,&mdash;leaves,
+stones, shells,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> branches of trees,&mdash;then a variety of hydropical
+dwarfs: these are gods. He bursts into a laugh. He hears another laugh
+behind him;&mdash;and Hilarion appears, in the garb of a hermit, far taller
+than before, colossal.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>who feels no surprise at seeing him</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"How stupid one must be to worship such things!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Aye!&mdash;exceedingly stupid!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then idols of all nations and of all epochs&mdash;of wood, of metal, of
+granite, of feathers, of skins sewn together,&mdash;pass before them.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The most ancient of all anterior to the Deluge are hidden under masses
+of seaweed hanging down over them like manes. Some that are too long
+for their bases, crack in all their joints, and break their own backs
+in walking. Others have rents torn in their bellies through which sand
+trickles out.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony and Hilarion are prodigiously amused. They hold their sides
+for laughter. Then appear sheep-headed idols. They totter upon their
+bandy-legs, half-open their eye-lids, and stutter like the dumb,</i> "Ba!
+ba! ba!"</p>
+
+<p><i>The more that the idols commence to resemble<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> the human forms, the
+more they irritate Anthony. He strikes them with his fist, kicks them,
+attacks them with fury. They become frightful,&mdash;with lofty plumes, eyes
+like balls, fingers terminated by claws, the jaws of sharks.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And before these gods men are slaughtered upon altars of stone; others
+are brayed alive in huge mortars, crushed under chariots, nailed upon
+trees. There is one all of red-hot iron with the horns of a bull, who
+devours children.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Horror!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "But the gods always demand tortures&mdash;and suffering. Even
+thine desired ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>weeping</i>). "Ah! say no more!&mdash;do not speak to me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The space girdled by the rocks suddenly changes into a valley. A herd
+of cattle are feeding upon the short grass.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The herdman who leads them, observes a cloud;&mdash;and in a sharp voice,
+shouts out words of command, as if to heaven.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Because he needs rain, he seeks by certain chants to compel
+the King of heaven to open the fecund cloud."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>laughing</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Verily, such pride is the extreme of foolishness!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Why dost thou utter exorcisms?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The valley changes into a sea of milk, motionless and infinite. In
+its midst floats a long cradle formed by the coils of a serpent, whose
+many curving heads shade, like a dais, the god slumbering upon its
+body.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He is beardless, young, more beautiful than a girl, and covered with
+diaphanous veils. The pearls of his tiara gleam softly like moons; a
+chaplet of stars is entwined many times about his breast, and with one
+hand beneath his head, he slumbers with the look of one who dreams
+after wine.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A woman crouching at his feet, awaits the moment of his awaking.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Such is the primordial duality of the Brahmans,&mdash;the
+Absolute being inexpressible by any form."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>From the navel of the god has grown the stem of a lotus flower; it
+blossoms, and within its chalice appears another god with three faces.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How strange an invention!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but one and the same
+Person!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The three faces separate; and three great gods appear.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The first, who is pink, bites the end of his great toe.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The second, who is blue, uplifts his four arms.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The third, who is green, wears a necklace of human skulls.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Before them instantly arise three goddesses&mdash;one is enveloped in a
+net; another offers a cup; the third brandishes a bow.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon11"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_11.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p> ... instantly arise three goddesses</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>And these gods, these goddesses, decuple themselves, multiply. Arms
+grow from their shoulders; at the end of these arms hands appear
+bearing standards, axes, bucklers, swords, parasols and drums.
+Fountains gush from their heads, plants grow from their nostrils.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Riding upon birds rocked in palanquins, enthroned upon seats of gold,
+standing in ivory niches,&mdash;they dream, voyage, command, drink wine,
+respire the breath of flowers. Dancing girls whirl in the dance; giants
+pursue monsters; at the entrances of grottoes solitaries meditate. Eyes
+cannot be distinguished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> from stars; nor clouds from banderolles;
+peacocks quench their thirst at rivers of gold dust; the embroidery
+of pavilions seems to blend with the spots of leopards; coloured rays
+intercross in the blue air, together with flying arrows, and swinging
+censers.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And all this develops like a lofty frieze, resting its base upon the
+rocks, and rising to the sky.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>dazzled by the sight</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"How vast is their number! What do they seek?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "The god who rubs his abdomen with his elephant-trunk, is the
+solar Deity, the inspiring spirit of wisdom.</p>
+
+<p>"That other whose six heads are crowned with towers, and whose fourteen
+arms wield javelins,&mdash;is the prince of armies,&mdash;the Fire-Consumer.</p>
+
+<p>"The old man riding the crocodile washes the soul of the dead upon
+the shore. They will be tormented by that black woman with the putrid
+teeth, who is the Ruler of Hell.</p>
+
+<p>"That chariot drawn by red mares, driven by one who has no legs, bears
+the master of the sun through heaven's azure. The moon-god<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> accompanies
+him, in a litter drawn by three gazelles.</p>
+
+<p>"Kneeling upon the back of a parrot, the Goddess of Beauty presents to
+Love, her son, her rounded breast. Behold her now, further off, leaping
+for joy in the meadows. Look! Look! Coiffed with dazzling mitre, she
+trips lightly over the ears of growing wheat, over the waves; she rises
+in air, extending her power over all elements.</p>
+
+<p>"And among these gods are the Genii of the winds, of the planets, of
+the months, of the days,&mdash;a hundred thousand others;&mdash;multiple are
+their aspects, rapid their transformations. Behold, there is one who
+changes from a fish into a tortoise: he assumes the form of a boar, the
+shape of a dwarf."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Wherefore?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "That he may preserve the equilibrium of the universe, and
+combat the works of evil. But life exhausts itself; forms wear away;
+and they must achieve progression in their metamorphoses."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>All upon a sudden appears a</i> <span class="smcap">Naked Man</span> <i>seated in the midst of the
+sand, with legs crossed.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A large halo vibrates, suspended in air behind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> him. The little
+ringlets of his black hair in which blueish tints shift symmetrically
+surround a protuberance upon the summit of his skull. His arms,
+which are very long, hang down against his sides. His two hands rest
+flat upon his thighs, with the palms open. The soles of his feet
+are like the faces of two blazing suns; and he remains completely
+motionless&mdash;before Anthony and Hilarion&mdash;with all the gods around him,
+rising in tiers above the rocks, as if upon the benches of some vast
+circus. His lips, half-open; and he speaks in a deep voice</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I am the Master of great charities, the succor of all creatures; and
+not less to the profane than to believers, do I expound the law.</p>
+
+<p>"That I might deliver the world, I resolved to be born among men. The
+gods wept when I departed from them.</p>
+
+<p>"I sought me first a woman worthy to give me birth: a woman of warrior
+race, the wife of a king, exceedingly good, excessively beautiful,
+with body firm as adamant;&mdash;and at time of the full moon, without the
+auxiliation of any male, I entered her womb.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I issued from it by the right side. Stars stopped in their courses."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>murmurs between his teeth</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy!"<a name="FNanchor_1_17" id="FNanchor_1_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_17" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony watches more attentively.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span><a name="FNanchor_2_18" id="FNanchor_2_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_18" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> (<i>continuing</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"From the furthest recesses of the Himalayas, a holy man one hundred
+years of age, hurried to see me."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "A man named Simeon ... who should not see death, before he
+had seen the Christ of the Lord."<a name="FNanchor_3_19" id="FNanchor_3_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_19" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "I was led unto the schools; and it was found that I knew
+more than the teachers."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "... In the midst of the doctors ... and all that heard him
+were astonished at his wisdom!"<a name="FNanchor_4_20" id="FNanchor_4_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_20" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony makes a sign to Hilarion to be silent.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "Continually did I meditate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> in the gardens. The shadows of
+the trees turned with the turning of the sun; but the shadow of that
+which sheltered me turned not.</p>
+
+<p>"None could equal me in the knowledge of the Scriptures, the
+enumeration of atoms, the conduct of elephants, the working of wax,
+astronomy, poetry, pugilism, all the exercises and all the arts!</p>
+
+<p>"In accordance with custom, I took to myself a wife; and I passed the
+days in my kingly palace;&mdash;clad in pearls, under a rain of perfumes,
+refreshed by the fans of thirty thousand women,&mdash;watching my peoples
+from the height of my terraces adorned with fringes of resonant bells.</p>
+
+<p>"But the sight of the miseries of the world turned me away from
+pleasure. I fled.</p>
+
+<p>"I begged my way upon the high roads, clad myself in rags gathered
+within the sepulchres;&mdash;and, hearing of a most learned hermit, I chose
+to become his slave. I guarded his gate! I washed his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Thus I annihilated all sensation, all joy, all languor.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, concentrating my thoughts within vaster meditation, I learned to
+know the essence of things, the illusion of forms.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Soon I exhausted the science of the Brahmans. They are gnawed by
+covetousness and desire under their outward aspect of austerity; they
+daub themselves with filth, they live upon thorns,&mdash;hoping to arrive at
+happiness by the path of death!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>.... "Pharisees, hypocrites, whited sepulchres, generation of
+vipers!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "I also accomplished wondrous things,&mdash;eating but one
+grain of rice each day (and the grains of rice in those times were no
+larger than at present)&mdash;my hair fell off; my body became black; my
+eyes receding within their sockets, seemed even as stars beheld at the
+bottom of a well.</p>
+
+<p>"During six years I kept myself motionless, exposed to the flies, the
+lions and the serpents; and the great summer suns, the torrential
+rains, lightnings and snows, hails and tempests,&mdash;all of these I
+endured without even the shelter of my lifted hand.</p>
+
+<p>"The travellers who passed by, believing me dead, cast clods of earth
+upon me!</p>
+
+<p>"Only the temptation of the Devil remained!</p>
+
+<p>"I summoned him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"His sons came,&mdash;hideous, scale-covered, nauseous as
+charnel-houses,&mdash;shrieking, hissing, bellowing; interclashing their
+panoplies, rattling together the bones of dead men. Some belched
+flame through their nostrils; some made darkness about me with their
+wings; some wore chaplets of severed fingers; some drank serpent-venom
+from the hollows of their hands;&mdash;they were swine-headed; they were
+rhinoceros-headed or toad-headed; they assumed all forms that inspire
+loathing or affright."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>to himself</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"I also endured all that in other days!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha.</span> "Then did he send me his daughters&mdash;beautiful with
+daintily painted faces, and wearing girdles of gold. Their teeth were
+whiter than the jasmine-flower; their thighs round as the trunk of
+an elephant. Some extended their arms and yawned, that they might so
+display the dimples of their elbows; some winked their eyes; some
+laughed; some half-opened their garments. There were blushing virgins,
+matrons replete with dignity, queens who came with great trains of
+baggage and of slaves."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>aside</i>). "Ah! he too ..."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Buddha</span>. "Having vanquished the Demon, I nourished myself for twelve
+years with perfumes only;&mdash;and as I had acquired the five virtues,
+the five faculties, the ten forces, the eighteen substances, and had
+entered into the four spheres of the invisible world, Intelligence
+became mine! I became the Buddha."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon12"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_12.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha. </p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>All the gods bow themselves down. Those having several heads, bend
+them all simultaneously. He lifts his mighty hand aloft, and resumes</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"That I might effect the deliverance of beings, I have made hundreds
+of thousands of sacrifices! To the poor I gave robes of silk, beds,
+chariots, houses, heaps of gold and of diamonds. I gave my hands to the
+one-handed, my legs to the lame, my eyes to the blind;&mdash;even my head I
+severed for the sake of the decapitated. In the day that I was King, I
+gave away provinces;&mdash;when I was a Brahman I despised no one. When I
+was a solitary, I spake kindly words to the robber who slew me. When I
+was a tiger I allowed myself to die of hunger.</p>
+
+<p>"And having, in this last existence, preached the law, nothing now
+remains for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> me to do. The great period is accomplished! Men, animals,
+the gods, the bamboos, the oceans, the mountains, the sand-grains of
+the Ganges, together with the myriad myriads of the stars,&mdash;all shall
+die;&mdash;and until the time of the new births, a flame shall dance upon
+the wrecks of worlds destroyed!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then a great dizziness comes upon the gods. They stagger, fall into
+convulsions, and vomit forth their existences. Their crowns burst
+apart; their banners fly away. They tear off their attributes, their
+sexes, fling over their shoulders the cups from which they quaffed
+immortality, strangle themselves with their serpents, vanish in
+smoke;&mdash;and when all have disappeared</i> ...)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>solemnly exclaims</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast even now beheld the belief of many hundreds of millions of
+men."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony is prostrate upon the ground, covering his face with his
+hands. Hilarion, with his back turned to the cross, stands near him and
+watches him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A considerable time elapses.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then a singular being appears&mdash;having the head of a man upon the body
+of a fish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> He approaches through the air, upright, beating the sand
+from time to time with his tail; and the patriarchal aspect of his face
+by contrast with his puny little arms, causes Anthony to laugh.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Oannes</span> (<i>in a plaintive voice</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Respect me! I am the contemporary of beginnings.</p>
+
+<p>"I dwelt in that formless world where hermaphroditic creatures
+slumbered, under the weight of an opaque atmosphere, in the deeps of
+dark waters&mdash;when fingers, fins, and wings were blended, and eyes
+without heads were floating like mollusks, among human-headed bulls,
+and dog-footed serpents.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon13"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_13.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p> ... and eyes without heads were floating like mollusks
+</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Above the whole of these beings, <span class="smcap">Omoroca</span>, bent like a hoop, extended
+her woman-body. But Belus cleft her in two halves; with one he made the
+earth; with the other, heaven;&mdash;and the two equal worlds do mutually
+contemplate each other.</p>
+
+<p>"I, the first consciousness of <span class="smcap">Chaos</span>, arose from the abyss that I might
+harden matter, and give a law unto forms:&mdash;also I taught men to fish
+and to sow: I gave them knowledge of writing, and of the history of the
+gods.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon14"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_14.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose
+from the abyss that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms
+</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Since then I have dwelt in the deep pools left by the Deluge. But the
+desert grows vaster about them; the winds cast sand into them; the sun
+devours them;&mdash;and I die upon my couch of slime, gazing at the stars
+through the water. Thither I return!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He leaps and disappears in the Nile.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "That is an ancient God of the Chaldæans!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>ironically</i>). "What, then, were those of Babylon?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou canst behold them!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And they find themselves upon the platform of a lofty quadrangular
+tower dominating six other towers, which, narrowing as they rise, form
+one monstrous pyramid. Far below a great black mass is visible&mdash;the
+city, doubtless&mdash;extending over the plains. The air is cold; the sky
+darkly blue; multitudes of stars palpitate above.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the midst of the platform rises a column of white stone. Priests
+in linen robes pass and repass around it, so as to describe by their
+evolutions a moving circle; and with faces uplifted, they gaze upon the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>stars.</i> ...)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. (<i>pointing out several of these stars to Anthony</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"There are thirty principal stars. Fifteen look upon the upper side
+of the earth; fifteen below. At regular intervals one shoots from the
+upper regions to those below; while another abandons the inferior deeps
+to rise to sublime altitudes ...</p>
+
+<p>"Of the seven planets, two are beneficent; two evil; three
+ambiguous:&mdash;all things in the world depend upon the influence of these
+eternal fires. According to their position or movement presages may be
+drawn;&mdash;and here thou dost tread the most venerable place upon earth.
+Here Pythagoras and Zoroaster have met;&mdash;here for twelve thousand years
+these men have observed the skies that they might better learn to know
+the gods."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The stars are not gods."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Aye, they say the stars are gods; for all things about us
+pass away;&mdash;the heavens only remain immutable as eternity."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet there is a master!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>pointing to the column</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"He! Belus!&mdash;the first ray, the Sun, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> Male! The Other, whom he
+fecundates, is beneath him!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony beholds a garden, illuminated by lamps</i>: <i>He finds himself
+in the midst of the crowd, in an avenue of cypress-trees. To right and
+left are little pathways leading to huts constructed within a wood of
+pomegranate trees, and enclosed by treillages of bamboo.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Most of the men wear pointed caps, and garments bedizened like the
+plumage of a peacock. But there are also people from the North clad
+in bearskins, nomads wearing mantles of brown wool, pallid Gangarides
+with long earrings;&mdash;and there seems to be as much confusion of rank
+as there is confusion of nations; for sailors and stone-cutters elbow
+the princes who wear tiaras blazing with carbuncles and who carry
+long canes with carven knobs. All proceed upon their way with dilated
+nostrils, absorbed by the same desire.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>From time to time, they draw aside to make way for some long covered
+wagon drawn by oxen, or some ass jolting upon his back a woman bundled
+up in thick veils, who finally disappears in the direction of the
+cabins.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony feels afraid; he half-resolves to turn back. But an
+unutterable curiosity takes possession of him, and draws him on.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At the foot of the cypress-trees there are ranks of women squatting
+upon deerskins, all wearing in lieu of diadem, a plaited fillet of
+ropes. Some, magnificently attired, loudly call upon the passers-by.
+Others, more timid, seek to veil their faces with their arms, while
+some matron standing behind them, their mother doubtless, exhorts
+them. Others, their heads veiled with a black shawl, and their bodies
+entirely nude, seem from afar off to be statues of flesh. As soon as a
+man has thrown some money upon their knees, they arise.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And the sound of kisses is heard under the foliage,&mdash;sometimes a great
+sharp cry.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "These are the virgins of Babylon, who prostitute themselves
+to the goddess."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What goddess?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Behold her!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he shows him at the further end of the avenue, upon the threshold
+of an illuminated grotto, a block of stone representing a woman.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ignominy!&mdash;how abominable to give a sex to God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Thou thyself dost figure him in thy mind as a living person!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony again finds himself in darkness.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He beholds in the air a luminous circle, poised upon horizontal
+wings. This ring of light, girdles like a loose belt, the waist of a
+little man wearing a mitre upon his head and carrying a wreath in his
+hand. The lower part of his figure is completely concealed by immense
+feathers outspreading about him like a petticoat.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is</i>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ormuzd</span>&mdash;<i>the God of the Persians. He hovers in the air above,
+crying aloud</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"I fear! I can see his monstrous jaws! I did vanquish thee, O Ahriman!
+But again thou dost war against me.</p>
+
+<p>"First revolting against me, thou didst destroy the eldest of
+creatures, Kaiomortz, the Man-Bull. Then didst thou seduce the first
+human couple, Meschia and Meschiané; and thou didst fill all hearts
+with darkness, thou didst urge thy battalions against heaven!</p>
+
+<p>"I also had mine own, the people of the stars; and from the height of
+my throne I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> contemplated the marshalling of the astral hosts.</p>
+
+<p>"Mithra, my son, dwelt in heavens inaccessible. There he received
+souls, from thence did he send them forth; and he arose each morning to
+pour forth the abundance of his riches.</p>
+
+<p>"The earth reflected the splendour of the firmament. Fire blazed upon
+the crests of the mountains,&mdash;symbolizing that other fire of which
+I had created all creatures. And that the holy flame might not be
+polluted, the bodies of the dead were not burned; the beaks of birds
+carried them aloft toward heaven.</p>
+
+<p>"I gave to men the laws regulating pastures, labour, the choice of wood
+for the sacrifices, the form of cups, the words to be uttered in hours
+of sleeplessness;&mdash;and my priests unceasingly offered up prayers, so
+that worship might be as the eternity of God in its endlessness. Men
+purified themselves with water; loaves were offered upon the altars,
+sins were confessed aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"Homa<a name="FNanchor_5_21" id="FNanchor_5_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_21" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> gave himself to men to be drank,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> that they might have his
+strength communicated to them while the Genii of heaven were combating
+the demons, the children of Iran were pursuing the serpents. The
+King, whom an innumerable host of courtiers served upon their knees,
+represented me in his person, and wore my coiffure. His gardens had the
+magnificence of a heaven upon earth; and his tomb represented him in
+the act of slaying a monster,&mdash;emblem of Good destroying Evil.</p>
+
+<p>"For it was destined that I should one day definitely conquer Ahriman,
+by the aid of Time-without-limits.</p>
+
+<p>"But the interval between us disappears;&mdash;the deep night rises! To
+me! ye Amschaspands, ye Izeds, ye Ferouers! Succor me, Mithra! seize
+thy sword! And thou, Kaosyac, who shall return for the universal
+deliverance, defend me! What!&mdash;none to aid! Ah! I die! Thou art the
+victor, Ahriman!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Hilarion, standing behind Anthony, restrains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> a cry of joy;&mdash;and</i>
+Ormuzd <i>is swallowed up in the darkness.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then appears</i>:)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Great Diana of Ephesus</p>
+
+<p>(<i>black with enamelled eyes, her elbows pressed to her side, her
+forearms extended, with hands open.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Lions crawl upon her shoulders; fruits, flowers, and stars intercross
+upon her bosom; further down three rows of breasts appear; and from her
+belly to her feet she is covered with a tightly fitting sheath from
+which bulls, stags, griffins, and bees, seem about to spring, their
+bodies half-protruding from it. She is illuminated by the white light
+emanating from a disk of silver, round as the full moon, placed behind
+her head.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Where is my temple? Where are my Amazons?</p>
+
+<p>"What is this I feel?&mdash;I, the Incorruptible!&mdash;a strange faintness comes
+upon me!"...</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Her flowers wither, her over-ripe fruits become detached and fall.
+The lions and the bulls hang their heads; the deer foam at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> mouth,
+with a slimy foam, as though exhausted; the buzzing bees die upon the
+ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She presses her breasts, one after the other. All are empty! But under
+a desperate effort her sheath bursts. She seizes it by the bottom, like
+the skirt of a robe, throws her animals, her fruits, her flowers, into
+it,&mdash;then withdraws into the darkness.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And afar off there are voices, murmuring, growling, roaring,
+bellowing, belling. The density of the night is augmented by breaths.
+Drops of warm rain fall.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "How sweet the odour of the palm trees, the trembling of
+leaves, the transparency of springs! I feel the desire to lie flat upon
+the Earth that I might feel her against my heart; and my life would be
+reinvigorated by her eternal youth!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He hears the sound of castanets and of cymbals; and men appear, clad
+in white tunics with red stripes,&mdash;leading through the midst of a
+rustic crowd an ass, richly harnessed, its tail decorated with knots of
+ribbons, and its hoofs painted.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A box, covered with a saddle-cloth<a name="FNanchor_6_22" id="FNanchor_6_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_22" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> yellow material shakes to
+and fro upon its back, between two baskets,&mdash;one receives the offerings
+contributed,&mdash;eggs, grapes, pears, cheeses, fowls, little coins; and
+the other basket is full of roses, which the leaders of the ass pluck
+to pieces as they walk before the animal, shedding the leaves upon the
+ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They wear earrings and large mantles; their locks are plaited, their
+cheeks painted, olive-wreaths are fastened upon their foreheads by
+medallions bearing figurines;&mdash;all wear poniards in their belts, and
+brandish ebony-handled whips, having three thongs to which osselets are
+attached.</i><a name="FNanchor_7_23" id="FNanchor_7_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_23" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p><i>Those who form the rear of the procession, place upon the soil,&mdash;so as
+to remain upright as a candelabrum,&mdash;a tall pine, which burns at its
+summit, and shades under its lower branches a lamb.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The ass halts. The saddle-cloth is removed. Underneath appears a
+second covering of black felt. Then one of the men in white tunics
+begins to dance, rattling his crotali;&mdash;another, kneeling before the
+box, beats a tambourine and</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Oldest of the Band</span>, <i>begins</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains, the Great Mother
+of Syria! Come ye hither, good people all!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon15"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_15.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains </p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">"She gives joy to men, she heals the sick; she sends inheritances; she
+satisfies the hunger of love!</p>
+
+<p>"We bear her through the land, rain or shine, in fair weather, or in
+foul.</p>
+
+<p>"Oft times we lie in the open air, and our table is not always well
+served. Robbers dwell in the woods. Wild beasts rush from their
+caverns. Slippery paths border the precipices. Behold her! behold her!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They lift off the covering; and a box is seen, inlaid with little
+pebbles.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Loftier than the cedars, she looks down from the blue ether. Vaster
+than the wind she encircles the world. Her breath is exhaled by the
+nostrils of tigers; the rumbling of her voice is heard beneath the
+volcanoes; her wrath is the tempest; the pallor of her face has
+whitened the moon. She ripens the harvest; by her the tree-bark swells
+with sap; she makes the beard to grow. Give her something; for she
+hates the avaricious!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The box opens; and under a little pavilion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> of blue silk appears a
+small image of Cybele&mdash;glittering with spangles, crowned with towers,
+and seated in a chariot of red stone, drawn by two lions, with uplifted
+paws.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The crowd presses forward to see.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"><span class="smcap">THE ARCHIGALLUS</span></span> (<i>continues</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"She loves the sound of resounding tympanums, the echo of dancing
+feet, the howling of wolves, the sonorous mountains and the deep
+gorges, the flower of the almond tree, the pomegranate and the green
+fig, the whirling dance, the snoring flute, the sugary sap, the salty
+tear,&mdash;blood! To thee, to thee!&mdash;Mother of the mountains!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They scourge themselves with their whips; and their chests resound
+with the blows;&mdash;the skins of the tambourines vibrate almost to
+bursting. They seize their knives; they gash their arms.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"She is sorrowful; let us be sorrowful! Thereby your sins will be
+remitted. Blood purifies all&mdash;fling its red drops abroad like blossoms!
+She, the Great Mother, demands the blood of another creature&mdash;of a pure
+being!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Archigallus raises his knife above the head of a lamb.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>seized with horror</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Do not slay the lamb!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>There is a gush of purple blood. The priest sprinkles the crowd
+with it; and all&mdash;including Anthony and Hilarion&mdash;standing around the
+burning tree, silently watch the last palpitations of the victim.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A Woman comes forth from the midst of the priests; she resembles
+exactly the image within the little box.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She pauses, perceiving before her a Young Man wearing a Phrygian
+cap. His thighs are covered with a pair of narrow trousers, with
+lozenge-shaped openings here and there at regular intervals, closed by
+bow knots of coloured material. He stands in an attitude of languor,
+resting his elbow against a branch of the tree, holding a flute in his
+hand.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cybele</span> (<i>flinging her arms about his waist</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"I have traversed all regions of the earth to join thee&mdash;and famine
+ravaged the fields Thou hast deceived me! It matters not! I love thee!
+Warm my body in thine embrace! Let us be united!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Atys</span>. "The springtime will never again return, O eternal Mother!
+Despite my love, it is no longer possible for me to penetrate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> thy
+essence! Would that I might cover myself with a painted robe like
+thine! I envy thy breasts, swelling with milk, the length of thy
+tresses, thy vast flanks that have borne and brought forth all
+creatures! Why am I not thou?&mdash;Why am I not a woman?&mdash;No, never! depart
+from me! My virility fills me with horror!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>With a sharp stone he dismembers himself, and runs furiously from her
+...</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The priests imitate the god; the faithful do even as the priests. Men
+and women exchange garments, embrace;&mdash;and the tumult of bleeding flesh
+passes away, while the sound of voices remaining, becomes even more
+strident,&mdash;like the shrieking of mourners, like the voices heard at
+funerals.</i></p>
+
+<p><i> ... A huge catafalque, hung with purple, supports upon its summit an
+ebony bed, surrounded by torches and baskets of silver filagree, in
+which are verdant leaves of lettuce, mallow and fennel. Upon the steps
+of the construction, from summit to base, sit women all clad in black,
+with loosened girdles and bare feet, holding in their hands with a
+melancholy air, great bouquets of flowers.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At each corner of the estrade urns of alabaster,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> filled with myrrh,
+slowly send up their smoke.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Upon the bed can be perceived the corpse of a man. Blood flows from
+his thigh. One of his arms hangs down lifelessly;&mdash;and a dog licks his
+finger nails and howls.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The row of torches placed closely together, prevents his face from
+being seen; and Anthony feels a strange anguish within him. He fears
+lest he should recognize some one.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The sobs of the women cease&mdash;and after an interval of silence</i>,)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> (<i>psalmody together</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Fair! fair!&mdash;all fair he is! Thou hast slept enough!&mdash;lift thy
+head!&mdash;arise!</p>
+
+<p>"Inhale the perfume of our flowers&mdash;narcissus&mdash;blossoms and anemones,
+gathered in thine own gardens to please thee. Arouse thee! thou dost
+make us fear for thee!</p>
+
+<p>"Speak to us! What dost thou desire? Wilt thou drink wine?&mdash;wilt thou
+lie in our beds?&mdash;dost wish to eat the honeycakes which have the form
+of little birds?</p>
+
+<p>"Let us press his lips,&mdash;kiss his breast! Now!&mdash;now!&mdash;dost thou not
+feel our ring-laden fingers passing over thy body?&mdash;and our lips that
+seek thy mouth?&mdash;and our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> tresses that sweep thy thighs? O faint God,
+deaf to our prayers!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>They cry aloud, and rend their faces with their nails; then all
+rush,&mdash;and the howling of the dog continues in the silence.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! alas! Woe!&mdash;the black blood trickles over his snowy flesh!
+See! his knees writhe!&mdash;his sides sink in! The bloom of his face hath
+dampened the purple. He is dead, dead! O weep for him! Lament for him!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>In long procession they ascend to lay between the torches the
+offerings of their several tresses, that seem from afar off like
+serpents, black or blond;&mdash;and the catafalque is lowered gently to the
+level of, a grotto,&mdash;the opening of a shadowy sepulchre that yawns
+behind it.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then</i>&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Woman</span> (<i>bends over the corpse. Her long hair, uncut, envelopes her
+from head to feet. She sheds tears so abundantly that her grief cannot
+be as that of the others, but more than human&mdash;infinite!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony dreams of the Mother of Jesus. She speaks</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"Thou didst emerge from the Orient, and didst take me, all trembling
+with the dew, into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> thy arms, O Sun! Doves fluttered upon the azure
+of thy mantle; our kisses evoked low breezes among the foliage; and I
+abandoned myself wholly to thy love, delighting in the pleasure of my
+weakness.</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! alas&mdash;Why didst thou depart, to run upon the mountains! A boar
+did wound thee at the time of the autumnal equinox!</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art dead; and the fountains weep,&mdash;the trees bend down. The wind
+of winter whistles through the naked brushwood.</p>
+
+<p>"My eyes are about to close, seeing that darkness covers them! Now thou
+dwellest in the underworld near the mightiest of my rivals.</p>
+
+<p>"O Persephone, all that is beautiful descends to thee, never to return!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Even while she speaks, her companions lift the dead, to place him
+within the sepulchre. He remains in their hands! It was only a waxen
+corpse.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Wherefore Anthony feels something resembling relief.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>All vanish;&mdash;and the hut, the rocks, and the cross reappear.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But upon the other side of the Nile, Anthony<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> beholds a Woman,
+standing in the midst of the desert.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She retains in her hand the lower part of a long black veil that hides
+all her face; supporting with her left arm a little child to whom she
+is giving suck. A great ape crouches down in the sand beside her.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She uplifts her head toward heaven; and in spite of the great
+distance, her voice is distinctly heard</i>:)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Isis</span>. "O Neith, Beginning of all things! Ammon, Lord of Eternity;
+Pthah, demiurgos; Thoth, his intelligence; gods of the Amenthi,
+particular triads of the Nomes,&mdash;falcons in the azure of heaven,
+sphinxes before the temples, ibises perched between the horns of oxen,
+planets, constellations, shore, murmurs of the wind, gleams of the
+light,&mdash;tell me where I may find Osiris.</p>
+
+<p>"I have sought him in all the canals and all the lakes&mdash;aye, further
+yet, even to Phœnician Byblos. Anubis, with ears pricked up, leaped
+about me, and yelped, and thrust his muzzle searchingly into the tufts
+of the tamarinds.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, good Cynocephalos&mdash;thanks to thee!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>She gives the ape two or three friendly little taps upon the head.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Hideous Typhon, the red-haired slew him, tore him in pieces! We have
+found all his members. But I have not that which rendered me fecund!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She utters wild lamentations.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>is filled with fury. He casts stones at her, reviles her.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Begone! thou shameless one!&mdash;Begone!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Nay! respect her! Her religion was the faith of thy
+fathers!&mdash;thou didst wear her amulets when thou wert a child in the
+cradle!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Isis</span>. "In the summers of long ago, the inundation drove the impure
+beasts into the desert. The dykes were opened, the boats dashed against
+each other; the panting earth drank the river with the intoxication of
+joy. Then, O God, with the horns of the bull, thou didst lie upon my
+breast, and then was heard, the lowings of the Eternal Cow!</p>
+
+<p>"The seasons of sowing and reaping, of threshing and of vintage,
+followed each other in regular order with the years. In the eternal
+purity of the nights, broad stars beamed and glowed. The days were
+bathed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> in never-varying splendour. Like a royal couple the Sun and the
+Moon appeared simultaneously, at either end of the horizon.</p>
+
+<p>"Then did we both reign above a sublimer world, twin-monarchs, wedded
+within, the womb of eternity&mdash;he bearing a concupha-headed sceptre; I,
+the sceptre that is tipped with a lotus-flower; both of us erect with
+hands joined; and the crumblings of empires affected not our attitude.</p>
+
+<p>"Egypt extended, below us, monumental and awful, long-shaped like the
+corridor of a temple; with obelisks on the right, pyramids on the
+left, and its labyrinth in the midst. And everywhere were avenues
+of monsters, forests of columns, massive pylons flanking gates
+summit-crowned with the mysterious globe&mdash;the globe of the world,
+between two wings.</p>
+
+<p>"The animals of her Zodiac also existed in her pasture lands; and
+filled her mysterious writing with their forms and colours. Divided
+into twelve regions as the year is divided into-twelve months&mdash;each
+month, each day also having its own god&mdash;she reproduced the immutable
+order of heaven. And man even in dying changed not his face; but
+saturated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> with perfumes, invulnerable to decay, he lay down to sleep
+for three thousand years in another and silent Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>"And that Egypt, vaster than the Egypt of the living, extended beneath
+the earth.</p>
+
+<p>"Thither one descended by dark stairways leading into halls where were
+represented the joys of the good, the tortures of the wicked, all that
+passes in the third and invisible world. Ranged along the wall the dead
+in their painted coffins awaited their turn; and the soul, exempted
+from migrations, continued its heavy slumber until the awakening into a
+new life.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, Osiris sometimes came to see me. And by his ghost I
+became the mother of Harpocrates."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She contemplates the child.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Aye! it is he. Those are his eyes; those are his locks, plaited into
+ram horns! Thou shalt recommence his works. We shall bloom again like
+the lotus. I am still the Great Isis!&mdash;none has yet lifted my veil! My
+fruit is the Sun!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon16"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_16.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>I am still the Great Isis!&mdash;none has yet
+lifted my veil! My fruit is the Sun!</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Sim of Springtime, clouds now obscure thy face! The breath of Typhon
+devours the pyramids. But a little while ago I beheld<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> the Sphinx flee
+away. He was galloping like a jackal.</p>
+
+<p>"I look for my priests,&mdash;my priests clad in mantles of linen, with
+their great harps, and bearing a mysterious bark, adorned with
+silver pateras. There are no more festivals upon the lakes!&mdash;no more
+illuminations in my delta!&mdash;no more cups of milk at Philæ! Apis has
+long ceased to reappear.</p>
+
+<p>"Egypt! Egypt! thy great motionless gods have their shoulders already
+whitened by the dung of birds; and the wind that passes over the desert
+rolls with it and the ashes of thy dead!&mdash;Anubis, guardian of ghosts,
+abandon me not!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Cynocephalos has vanished. She shakes her child.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"But ... what ails thee ... thy hands are cold, thy head droops!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Harpocrates expires. Then she cries aloud with a cry so piercing,
+funereal, heart-rending, that Anthony answers it with another cry,
+extending his arms as to support her.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She is no longer there. He lowers his face, overwhelmed by shame.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>All that he has seen becomes confused<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> within his mind. It is like the
+bewilderment of travel, the illness of drunkenness. He wishes to hate;
+but a vague and vast pity fills his heart. He begins to weep, and weeps
+abundantly.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "What makes thee sorrowful?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>after having long sought within himself for a reply</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I think of all the souls that have been lost through these false gods!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Dost thou not think that they ... sometimes ... bear much
+resemblance to the <span class="smcap">True</span>?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "That is but a device of the Devil to seduce the faithful more
+easily. He attacks the strong through the mind, the weak through the
+flesh."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "But luxury, in its greatest fury, has all the
+disinterestedness of penitence. The frenzied love of the body
+accelerates the destruction thereof,&mdash;and proclaims the extent of the
+impossible by the exposition of the body's weakness."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What signifies that to me! My heart sickens with disgust
+of these beautiful bestial gods, forever busied with carnages and
+incests!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Yet recollect all those things in the Scripture which
+scandalize thee because thou art unable to comprehend them! So also may
+these Gods conceal under their sinful forms some mighty truth. There
+are more of them yet to be seen. Look around!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "No, no!&mdash;it is dangerous!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "But a little while ago thou didst desire to know them! Is
+it because thy faith might vacillate in the presence of lies? What
+fearest thou?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The rocks fronting Anthony have become as a mountain. A line of
+clouds obscures the mountain half way between summit and base; and
+above the clouds appears another mountain, enormous, all green,
+unequally hollowed by valleys nestling in its slopes, and supporting at
+its summit, in the midst of laurel-groves a palace of bronze, roofed
+with tiles of gold, and supported by columns having capitals of ivory.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the centre of the peristyle Jupiter,&mdash;colossal, with torso
+nude,&mdash;holds Victory in one hand, his thunderbolts in the other; and
+his eagle, perched between his feet, rears its head.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Juno, seated near him, rolls her large eyes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> beneath a diadem whence
+her wind-blown veil escapes like a vapour.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Behind them, Minerva, standing upon a pedestal, leans on her spear.
+The skin of the Gorgon covers her breast, and a linen peplos falls in
+regular folds to the nails of her toes. Her glaucous eyes, which gleam
+beneath her vizor, gaze afar off, attentively.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>On the right of the palace, the aged Neptune bestrides a dolphin
+beating with its fins a vast azure expanse which may be sea or sky, for
+the perspective of the Ocean seems a continuation of the blue ether:
+the two elements are interblended.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>On the other side weird Pluto in night-black mantle, crowned with
+diamond tiara and bearing a sceptre of ebony, sits in the midst of an
+islet surrounded by the circumvolutions of the Styx;&mdash;and this river of
+shadow empties itself into the darknesses, which form a vast black gulf
+below the cliff,&mdash;a bottomless abyss!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Mars, clad in brass, brandishes as in wrath his broad shield and his
+sword.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Hercules, leaning upon his club, gazes at him from below.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Apollo, his face ablaze with light, grasps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> with outstretched right
+arm the reins of four white horses urged to a gallop; and Ceres in her
+ox-drawn chariot advances toward him with a sickle in her hand.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Behind her comes Bacchus, riding in a very low chariot, gently drawn
+by lynxes. Plump and beardless, with vine leaves garlanding his brow,
+he passes by holding in his hand an overflowing cup of wine. Silenus
+riding beside him reels upon his ass. Pan of the pointed ears, blows
+upon his syrinx; the Mimalonæides beat drums; the Mænads strew
+flowers; the Bacchantes turn in the dance with heads thrown back and
+hair dishevelled.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Diana, with tunic tucked up, issues from the wood together with her
+nymphs.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At the further end of a cavern, Vulcan among his Cabiri, hammers the
+heated iron; here and there the aged Rivers leaning recumbent upon
+green rocks pour water from their urns; the Muses stand singing in the
+valleys</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Hours, all of equal stature, link hands; and Mercury poses
+obliquely upon a rainbow, with his caduceus, winged sandals, and winged
+petasus.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But at the summit of the stairway of the Gods,&mdash;among clouds soft
+as down, from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> whose turning volutes a rain of roses falls,&mdash;Venus
+Anadyomene stands gazing at herself in a mirror:&mdash;her eyes move
+languorously beneath their slumbrous lids.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She has masses of rich blond hair rolling down over her shoulders; her
+breasts are small; her waist is slender; her hips curve out like the
+sweeping curves of a lyre; her thighs are perfectly rounded; there are
+dimples about her knees; her feet are delicate: a butterfly hovers near
+her mouth. The splendour of her body makes a nacreous-tinted halo of
+bright light about her; while all the rest of Olympus is bathed in a
+pink dawn, rising gradually to the heights of the blue sky.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! my heart swells! A joy never known before thrills me to
+the depths of my soul! How beautiful, how beautiful it is!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "They leaned from the heights of cloud to direct the way of
+swords; one used to meet them upon the high roads; men had them in
+their houses&mdash;and this familiarity divinized life.</p>
+
+<p>"Life's aim was only to be free and beautiful. Nobility of attitude was
+facilitated by the looseness of garments. The voice of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> orator,
+trained by the sea, rolled its sonorous waves against the porticoes of
+marble. The ephebus, anointed with oil, wrestled all naked in the full
+light of the sun. The holiest of actions was to expose perfection of
+forms to all.</p>
+
+<p>"And these men respected wives, aged men, suppliants.</p>
+
+<p>"Behind the temple of Hercules there was an altar erected to Pity.</p>
+
+<p>"Victims were immolated with flowers wreathed about the fingers of the
+sacrificer. Even memory was exempted from thoughts of the rottenness
+of death. Nothing remained but a little pile of ashes. And the Soul,
+mingling with the boundless ether, rose up to God."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Bending to whisper in Anthony's ear</i>:&mdash;)</p>
+
+<p>"And they still live! The Emperor Constantine adores Apollo. Thou wilt
+find the Trinity in Samothracian mysteries,&mdash;baptism in the religion of
+Isis,&mdash;redemption in the faith of Mithra,&mdash;a martyrdom of a God in the
+festivals of Bacchus. Prosperpine is the Virgin!... Aristæus is Jesus!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>remains awhile with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought;
+then suddenly repeats<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> aloud the Symbol of Jerusalem, as he remembers
+it, uttering a long sigh between each phrase</i>):&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I believe in one only God, the Father,&mdash;and in one only Lord, Jesus
+Christ,&mdash;the first born son of God, who was incarnated and made
+man,&mdash;who was crucified, and buried,&mdash;who ascended into Heaven,&mdash;who
+will come to judge the living and the dead,&mdash;of whose Kingdom there
+shall be no end;&mdash;and in one Holy Spirit,&mdash;and in one baptism of
+repentance,&mdash;and in one Holy Catholic Church,&mdash;and in the resurrection
+of the flesh,&mdash;and in the life everlasting!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Immediately the cross becomes loftier and loftier; it pierces the
+clouds, and casts its shadow upon the heaven of the gods.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>All grow pale;&mdash;Olympus shudders.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And at its base Anthony beholds vast bodies enchained, sustaining the
+rocks upon their shoulders,&mdash;giant figures half buried in the deeps
+of caverns. These are the Titans, the Giants, the Hecatonchires, the
+Cyclops.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">A Voice</p>
+
+<p>(<i>rises, indistinct and awful, like the far roar of leaves, like the
+voice of forests in time of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> tempest, like the mighty moaning of the
+wind among the precipices</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"We knew these things!&mdash;we knew them! There must come an end even for
+the Gods! Uranus was mutilated by Saturn,&mdash;Saturn by Jupiter. And
+Jupiter himself shall be annihilated. Each in his turn;&mdash;it is Destiny!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And little by little they sink into the mountain, and disappear.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Meanwhile the golden tiles of the palace rise and fly away.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Jupiter</span> (<i>has descended from his throne. At his feet the thunderbolts
+lie, smoking like burning coals about to expire;&mdash;and the great eagle
+bends its neck to pick up its falling feathers</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Then I am no longer the master of all things,&mdash;most holy, most
+mighty, god of the phatrias and Greek peoples,&mdash;ancestor of all the
+Kings,&mdash;Agamemnon of heaven.</p>
+
+<p>"Eagle of apotheoses, what wind from Erebus has wafted thee to me? or,
+fleeing from the Campus Martins, dost thou bear me the soul of the last
+of the Emperors?</p>
+
+<p>"I no longer desire to receive those of men. Let the Earth keep them;
+and let them move upon the level of its baseness. Their hearts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> are now
+the hearts of slaves;&mdash;they forget injuries, forget their ancestors,
+forget their oaths,&mdash;and everywhere the folly of crowds, the mediocrity
+of individuals, the hideousness of races, hold sway!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He pants with such violence that his sides seem ready to burst
+asunder; he clenches his hands. Weeping</i>, <span class="smcap">Hebe</span> <i>offers him a cup. He
+seizes it.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! So long as there shall be a brain enclosing a thought, in
+whatsoever part of the world;&mdash;so long as there shall exist a mind
+hating disorder, creating <span class="smcap">Law</span>,&mdash;so long will the spirit of Jupiter
+live!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>But the cup is empty. He turns its edge down over his thumbnail.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Not one drop left! When the ambrosia fails, the Immortals must indeed
+depart!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The cup drops from his hands; and he leans against a column, feeling
+himself about to die.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Juno</span>. "Thou shouldst not have had so many amours! Eagle, bull, swan,
+rain of gold, cloud and flame, thou didst assume all forms,&mdash;dissipate
+thy light in all elements,&mdash;lose thy hair upon all beds! This time
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> divorce is irrevocable; and our domination, our very existence,
+dissolved."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She passes away in air.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Minerva</span> (<i>has no longer her spear; and the ravens nesting among the
+sculptures of the friezes, wheel about her, peeking at her helmet.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see whether my vessels cleave the bright sea, returning to my
+three ports,&mdash;let me discover why the fields are deserted, and learn
+what the daughters of Athens are now doing.</p>
+
+<p>"In the month of Hecatombeon my whole people came to worship me, under
+the guidance of their magistrates and priests. Then, all in white robes
+and wearing chitons of gold, they advanced the long line of virgins
+bearing cups, baskets, parasols; then the three hundred sacrificial
+oxen, and the old men having green boughs, the soldiers with clashing
+of armour, the ephebi singing hymns, flute players, lyre players,
+rhapsodists, dancing women;&mdash;and lastly attached to the mast of a
+trireme mounted upon wheel, my great veil embroidered by virgins who
+had been nourished in a particular way for a whole year. And when it
+had been displayed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> in all the streets, in all the squares, and before
+the temples, in the midst of the ever-chanting procession, it was borne
+step by step up the hill of the Acropolis, grazed the Propylæa, and
+entered the Parthenon....</p>
+
+<p>"But a strange feebleness comes upon me,&mdash;me the Industrious One! What!
+what! not one idea comes to me! Lo! I am trembling more than a woman!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She turns, beholds a ruin behind her, utters a cry, and stricken by a
+fallen fragment, falls backward upon the ground.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hercules</span> (<i>has flung away his lion-skin; and with feet firmly braced,
+back arched, teeth clenched, he exhausts himself in immeasurable
+efforts to bear up the mass of crumbling Olympus.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"I vanquished the Cercopes, the Amazons, and the Centaurs. Many were
+the kings I slew. I broke the horn of the great river, Achelous. I cut
+the mountains asunder; I freed nations from slavery; and I peopled
+lands that were desolate. I travelled through the countries of Gaul;
+I traversed the deserts where thirst prevails. I defended the gods
+from their enemies; and I freed myself from Omphale. But the weight of
+Olympus is too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> great for me. My arms grow feebler:&mdash;I die!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He is crushed beneath the ruins.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pluto</span>. "It is thy fault, Amphytrionad;&mdash;wherefore didst thou descend
+into my empire?</p>
+
+<p>"The vulture that gnaws the entrails of Tityus lifted its head;&mdash;the
+lips of Tantalus were moistened;&mdash;the wheel of Ixion stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"Meanwhile the Kæres extended their claws to snatch back the escaping
+ghosts; the Furies tore the serpents of their locks; and Cerberus
+fettered by thee with a chain, sounded the death rattle in his throat,
+and foamed at all his three mouths.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou didst leave the gate ajar; others have come. The daylight of men
+has entered into Tartarus!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He sinks into the darkness.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Neptune</span>. "My trident can no longer call up the tempests. The monsters
+that terrified of old, lie rotting at the bottom of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>"Amphitrite whose white feet tripped lightly over the foam, the green
+Nereids seen afar off in the horizon, the scaly Sirens who stopped
+the passing vessels to tell stories, and the ancient Tritons mightily
+blowing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> upon their shells, all have passed away. All is desolate and
+dead; the gaiety of the great Sea is no more!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He vanishes beneath the azure.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Diana</span> (<i>clad in black and surrounded by her dogs, which have been
+changed into wolves</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"The freedom of the deep forests once intoxicated me; the odours of the
+wild beasts and the exhalations of the marshes made me as one drank
+with joy. But the women whose maternity I protected, now bring dead
+children into the world. The moon trembles with the incantations of
+witches. Desires of violence, of immensity, seize me, fill me! I wish
+to drink poisons,&mdash;to lose myself in vapours, in dreams...!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And a passing cloud carries her away.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mars</span> (<i>unhelmed and covered with blood</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"At first I fought alone;&mdash;singlehanded I would provoke a whole army by
+my insults,&mdash;caring nothing for countries or nations, demanding battle
+for the pleasure of carnage alone.</p>
+
+<p>"Afterward I had comrades. They marched to the sound of flutes, in good
+order, with equal step, respiring above their bucklers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> with plumes
+loftily nodding, lances oblique. Then on rushed to battle with mighty
+eagle cries. War was joyous as a banquet. Three hundred men strove
+against all Asia.</p>
+
+<p>"But the Barbarians are returning;&mdash;by myriads they come, by millions!
+Ah! since numbers, and engines, and cunning are stronger than valour,
+it were better that I die the death of the brave!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He kills himself.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vulcan</span> (<i>sponging the sweat from his limbs</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"The world is growing cold. The source of heat must be nourished, the
+volcanoes and rivers of flowing metal underground. Strike harder!&mdash;with
+full swing of the arms,&mdash;with might and main!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Cabiri wound themselves with their hammers, blind themselves with
+sparks, and groping, lose themselves in the darkness.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Ceres</span> (<i>standing in her chariot, impelled by wheels having wings at
+their hubs</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Stop! Stop! Ah! it was with good reason that the exclusion of
+strangers, atheists, Epicureans, and Christians was commended!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> Now the
+mystery of the basket has been unveiled; the sanctuary profaned: all is
+lost!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She descends a precipitous slope&mdash;shrieking, despairing, tearing her
+hair.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! lies, lies! Daira has not been restored to me. The voice of brass
+calls me to the dead. This is another Tartarus, whence there is no
+return! Horror!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The abyss engulfs her.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bacchus</span> (<i>with a frenzied laugh</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"What matters it? The Archon's wife is my spouse! The law itself reels
+in drunkenness! To me the new song, the multiplied forms!</p>
+
+<p>"The fire by which my mother was devoured, flows in my veins! Let it
+burn yet more fiercely, even though I perish!</p>
+
+<p>"Male and female, complaisant to all, I abandon myself to you,
+Bacchantes! I abandon myself to you, Bacchanalians!&mdash;and the vine shall
+twine herself about the tree-trunks! Howl! dance! writhe! Loosen the
+tiger and the slave!&mdash;rend flesh with ferocious bitings!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And Pan, Silenus, the Bacchantes, the Mimalonæides, and the
+Mænads,&mdash;with their serpents, torches, sable masks,&mdash;cast flowers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> at
+each other ... shake their tympanums, strike their thyrsi, pelt each
+other with shells, devour grapes, strangle a goat, and tear Bacchus
+asunder.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Apollo</span> (<i>furiously whipping his coursers, while his blanching locks are
+falling from his head</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I have left far behind me stony Delos, so pure that all now there
+seems dead; and I must strive to reach Delphi ere its inspiring vapour
+be wholly lost. The mules browse in its laurel groves. The Pythoness
+has wandered away, and cannot be found.</p>
+
+<p>"By a stronger concentration of my power, I will obtain sublime hymns,
+eternal monuments; and all matter will be penetrated by the vibrations
+of my cithara!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He strikes the strings of the instrument. They burst, lashing his
+face with their broken ends. He flings the cithara away; and furiously
+whipping his quadriga, cries</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"No! enough of forms!&mdash;Further, higher!&mdash;to the very summit!&mdash;to the
+realm of pure thought!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>But the horses back, rear, dash the chariot to pieces. Entangled by
+the harness, caught<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> by the fragments of the broken pole, he falls head
+foremost into the abyss.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon17"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_17.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p> ... he falls head foremost into the abyss</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>The sky is darkened.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Venus</span> (<i>blue with cold, shivering</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Once with my girdle I made all the horizon of Hellas.</p>
+
+<p>"Her fields glowed with the roses of my cheeks; her shores were
+outlined after the fashion of my lips; and her mountains, whiter than
+my doves, palpitated beneath the hands of the statuaries. My spirit's
+manifestation was found in the ordinances of the festivals, in the
+arrangement of coiffures, in the dialogues of philosophers, in the
+constitution of republics. But I have doted too much upon men! It is
+Love that has dishonoured me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She casts herself back weeping</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"This world is abominable;&mdash;there is no air for me to breathe!</p>
+
+<p>"O Mercury, inventor of the lyre, conductor of souls, take me away!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She places one finger upon her lips, and describing an immense
+parabola, falls into the abyss.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Nothing is now visible. The darkness is complete.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Only, that from the eyes of Hilarion escape two flashes, two rays of
+lurid light.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>begins at last to notice his immense stature</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Already several times, while thou wert speaking, it seemed to me thou
+wert growing taller; and it was no illusion! How? Explain to me ... Thy
+aspect terrifies me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Footsteps are heard approaching.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>extending his arm</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Look!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then, under a pale beam of moonlight, Anthony distinguishes an
+interminable caravan defiling over the summit of the rocks;&mdash;and each
+voyager, one after the other, falls from the cliff into the gulf below.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>First comes the three great gods of</i> Samothrace,&mdash;<span class="smcap">Axieros</span>, <span class="smcap">Axiokeros</span>,
+<span class="smcap">Axiokersa</span>,&mdash;<i>united together as in a fascia, purple-masked, all with
+hands uplifted.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Æsculapius advances with a melancholy air, not even perceiving
+Samos and Telesphorus, who question him with gestures of anguish.</i>
+<span class="smcap">Elean Sosipolis</span>, <i>of python-form, rolls his coils toward the abyss.</i>
+<span class="smcap">Dosipoena</span>, <i>becomes dizzy, leaps in of her own accord.</i> <span class="smcap">Britomartis</span>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
+<i>shrieking with fear, clutches fast the meshes of her net. The Centaurs
+come at a wild gallop, and roll pell-mell into the black gulf.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Behind them, all limping, advance the bands of the mourning Nymphs.
+Those of the meadows are covered with dust; those of the woods moan and
+bleed; wounded by the axes of the woodcutters.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Gelludes, the Strygii, the Empusæ, all the infernal goddesses,
+form one pyramid of blended fangs, vipers, and torches;&mdash;and seated
+upon a vulture-skin at its summit, Eurynome, blue as the flies that
+corrupt meat, devours her own arms.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then in one great whirl simultaneously disappear the bloody Orthia,
+Hymina of Orchomenus, the Laphria of the Patræns, Aphia of Agina,
+Bendis of Thrace, Stymphalia with thighs like a bird's. Triopas, in
+lieu of three eyes, has now but three empty orbits. Erichthonius, his
+legs paralysed, crawls upon his hands like a cripple.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "What a pleasure, is it not!&mdash;to see them all in the
+abjection of their death-agony! Climb up here beside me, on this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> rock;
+and thou shalt be even as Xerxes, reviewing his army.</p>
+
+<p>"Beyond there, very far, dost thou behold that fair-bearded giant,
+who even now lets fall his sword crimsoned with blood?&mdash;that is
+the Scythian Zalmoxis between two planets,&mdash;Artimpasa, Venus, and
+Orsiloche, the Moon.</p>
+
+<p>"Still further away, now emerging from pallid clouds, are the gods whom
+the Cimmerians adore, even beyond Thule.</p>
+
+<p>"Their huge halls were warm, and by the gleam of swords that tapestried
+the vault, they drank their hydromel from horns of ivory. They ate the
+liver of the whale in dishes of brass wrought by the hammers of demons;
+or, betimes, they listened to captive sorcerers whose fingers played
+upon harps of stone.</p>
+
+<p>"They are feeble! They are cold! The snow makes heavy their bearskins;
+and their feet show through the rents in their sandals.</p>
+
+<p>"They weep for the vast fields upon whose grassy knolls they were
+wont to draw breath in pauses of battle; they weep for the long ships
+whose prows forced a way through the mountains of ice;&mdash;and the skates
+wherewith<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> they followed the orb of the poles, upbearing at the length
+of their mighty arms all the firmament that turned with them."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A gust of frosty wind carries them off. Anthony turns his eyes
+another way. And he perceives&mdash;outlined in black against a red
+background&mdash;certain strange personages, with chinbands and gauntlets,
+who throw balls at one another, leap over each other's heads, make
+grimaces, dance a frenzied dance.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Those are the divinities of Etruria, the innumerable Æsars.</p>
+
+<p>"There is Tages, by whom augury was invented. With one hand he seeks to
+augment the divisions of the sky; with the other he supports himself
+upon the earth: let him sink therein!</p>
+
+<p>"Nortia gazes at the wall into which she drave nails to mark the number
+of the passing years. Its whole surface is now covered; and the period
+is accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>"Like two travellers overtaken by a storm, Kastur and Pulutuk,
+trembling, seek to shelter themselves beneath the same mantle."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>closes his eyes</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Enough! Enough!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>But with a mighty noise of wings, all the Victories of the Capitol
+pass through the air,&mdash;hiding their faces with their hands, dropping
+the trophies hanging upon their arms.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Janus,&mdash;lord of crepuscules,&mdash;flees upon a black ram; and one of his
+two faces is already putrified; the other slumbers with fatigue.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Summanus, the headless god of the dark heavens, presses against his
+heart an odd cake shaped like a wheel.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Vesta, beneath a ruined cupola, tries to relight her extinguished
+lamp.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Bellona gashes her cheeks,&mdash;without being able to make that blood flow
+by which her devotees were purified.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Mercy!&mdash;they weary me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Before, they amused thee!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he shows him in a grove of bean-trees,</i> <span class="smcap">A Woman</span>,
+<i>naked ............. and a black man, holding in each hand a torch.</i><a name="FNanchor_8_24" id="FNanchor_8_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_24" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>)</p>
+
+<p>"It is the goddess of Aricia, with the demon Virbius. Her sacerdote,
+the King of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> the grove, had to be an assassin;<a name="FNanchor_9_25" id="FNanchor_9_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_25" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and the fugitive
+slaves, the despoilers of corpses, the brigands of the Via Salaria, the
+cripples of the Pons Sublicius, all the human vermin of the Suburra
+worshipped no deities so fervently.</p>
+
+<p>"In the time of Marcus Antonius the patrician women preferred Libitina."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he shows him under the shadow of cypresses and rose-trees</i>,
+<span class="smcap">Another Woman</span>, <i>clad in gauze. Around her lie spades, litters, black
+hangings, all the paraphernalia of funerals. She smiles. Her diamonds
+shine afar off through spiders' webs. The Larvæ, like skeletons, show
+their bones through the branches; and the Lemures, who are phantoms,
+extend their bat-like wings.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At the end of a field lies the god Terminus, uprooted, and covered
+with ordures.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the centre of a furrow, the great corpse of Vertumnus is being
+devoured by red dogs.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The rustic deities all depart, weeping:&mdash;Sartor, Sarrator, Vervactor,
+Collina, Vallona, Hostilinus&mdash;all wearing little hooded mantles, and
+carrying either a hoe, a pitchfork, a hurdle, or a boar-spear.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "Their spirits made prosperous the villa,&mdash;with its dovecots,
+its parks of dormice, its poultry-yards protected by nets, its warm
+stables fragrant with odours of cedar.</p>
+
+<p>"Also they protected all the wretched population who dragged the irons
+upon their legs over the flinty ways of the Sabine country,&mdash;those who
+called the swine together by sound of horn,&mdash;those who were wont to
+gather the bunches at the very summits of the elms,&mdash;those who drove
+the asses, laden with manure, over the winding bypaths. The panting
+labourer, leaning over the handle of his plough, prayed them to give
+strength to his arms; and under the shade of the lindens, beside
+calabashes filled with milk, the cow-herds were wont, in turn, to sound
+their praises upon flutes of reed."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>sighs.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And in the centre of a chamber, upon a lofty estrade, an ivory bed is
+visible, surrounded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> by persons bearing torches of pine.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Those are the deities of marriage. They await the coming of the bride.</p>
+
+<p>"Domiduca should lead her in,&mdash;Virgo unfasten her girdle,&mdash;Subigo place
+her in the bed,&mdash;and Præma open her arms, and whisper sweet words into
+her ear.</p>
+
+<p>"But she will not come!&mdash;and they dismiss the others:&mdash;Nona and Decima
+who watch by sick-beds; the three Nixii who preside over child-birth;
+the two nurses, Educa and Potina; and Carna, guardian of the cradle,
+whose bouquet of hawthorne keeps evil dreams from the child.</p>
+
+<p>"Afterwards, Ossipago should strengthen his knees;&mdash;Barbatus give him
+his first beard; Stimula inspire his first desires; Volupia grant him
+his first enjoyment; Fabulimus should have taught him to speak, Numera
+to count, Camœna to sing, Consus to reflect."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>This chamber is empty; and there remains only the centenarian Nænia
+beside the bed,&mdash;muttering to herself the dirge she was wont to howl at
+the funerals of aged men.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But her voice is soon drowned by sharp cries. These are uttered by</i>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Lares Domestici</span>, <i>crouching at the further<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> end of the atrium,
+clad in dog-skins, with flowers wreathed about their bodies,&mdash;pressing
+their clenched hands against their cheeks, and weeping as loudly as
+they can.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the portion of food we received at each repast, the kindly
+care of the maid-servant, the smile of the matron, the merriment of
+the little boys playing at knuckle-bones on the mosaic pavement of the
+court-yard? When grown up, they used to hang about our necks their
+bullæ of gold or leather!</p>
+
+<p>"What happiness it was, when on the evening of a triumph, the master,
+entering, turned his humid eyes upon us! He would recount his combats;
+and the little house would be prouder than a palace; sacred as a temple!</p>
+
+<p>"How sweet were the family repasts, above all on the morrow of the
+Feralia! Tenderness for the dead appeased all discords; all kissed each
+other, while drinking to the glories of the past, and the hopes of the
+future.</p>
+
+<p>"But the ancestors, of painted wax, locked up behind us, are slowly
+becoming covered with mold. The new races, visiting their own
+deceptions upon us, have shattered our jaws;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> our wooden bodies are
+disappearing piece-meal under the teeth of rats."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And the innumerable gods, watching over doors, kitchens, cellars,
+baths, disperse in every direction&mdash;under the form of enormous ants
+running over the pavement, or great butterflies soaring away.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then a roll of thunder is heard.</i>)</p>
+
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">A Voice:</p>
+
+<p>"I was the God of Armies, the Lord, the Lord God! I pitched the tents
+of Jacob on the hills; and in the midst of the sands I nourished my
+chosen people in their flight.</p>
+
+<p>"It was I who consumed the city of Sodom with fire! It was I who
+overwhelmed the world with the waters of the Deluge! It was I that
+drowned Pharaoh, with all the princes, sons of Kings,&mdash;making the sea
+to swallow up his chariots of war, and his charioteers!</p>
+
+<p>"I, the Jealous God, held all other gods in abomination. I brayed the
+impure in my anger; the mighty I cast down; and swiftly the desolation
+of my wrath ran to the right and to the left, like a dromedary loosened
+in a field of maize.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I chose the humble to deliver Israel. Angels, flame-winged, spake to
+them from out the bushes.</p>
+
+<p>"Perfumed with spikenard, with cinnamon and myrrh, clad in transparent
+robes, and shod with high-heeled sandals,&mdash;women of valiant heart went
+forth to slay captains. The passing wind carried my prophets with it.</p>
+
+<p>"My law I graved upon tables of stone. Within that law my people were
+enclosed, as within a strong citadel. They were my people. I was their
+God! The land was mine; the men also belonged to me, together with
+their every thought, and all their works, and the tools they wrought
+with, and their prosperity.</p>
+
+<p>"My ark reposed within a triple sanctuary,&mdash;surrounded by curtains
+of purple and lighted candelabra. I had a whole tribe to serve me as
+servants, swinging censers; and the high-priest, robed in robes of
+hyacinth, wore upon his breast precious stones disposed in symmetrical
+order.</p>
+
+<p>"Woe! Woe! the Holy of Holies is open, the veil is rent, the perfumes
+of the holocaust are dissipated by all the winds of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> heaven! The jackal
+whines in the sepulchres; my temple is destroyed; my people dispersed!</p>
+
+<p>"The priests have been strangled with the girdles of their robes. The
+women languish in captivity; the holy vessels have all been melted!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The voice, becoming more distant</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I was the God of Armies; the Lord, the Lord God!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>An enormous silence follows,&mdash;and deepest night.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "All have passed away!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Some One</span> (<i>replies</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I remain!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And Hilarion stands before him&mdash;but transfigured wholly,&mdash;beautiful
+as an archangel, luminous as a sun, and so lofty that in order to
+behold his face</i>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span></p>
+
+<p><i>is compelled to throw back his head, to look up as though gazing as a
+star</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Who art thou?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span>. "My kingdom is vast as the universe; and my desire knows no
+limits. I go on forever,&mdash;freeing minds, weighing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> worlds,&mdash;without
+hatred, without fear, without pity, without love, and without God. Men
+call me <span class="smcap">Science</span>!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>recoiling from him</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Say, rather, that thou art ... the Devil!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hilarion</span> (<i>fixing his eyes upon him</i>:)</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldst thou behold him?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>cannot detach his eyes from that mighty gaze:&mdash;the curiosity
+of the Devil comes upon him. His terror augments; yet his wish grows
+even to boundlessness</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Yet if I should see him ... if I were to see him!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then in a sudden spasm of wrath</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"The horror that I have of him will free me from his presence
+forever!... Yes!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>A cloven foot appears. Anthony regrets his wish.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But the Devil flings him upon his horns and bears him away.</i>)</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_17" id="Footnote_1_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_17"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Matthew II: 10&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_18" id="Footnote_2_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_18"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> "Buddha, or more correctly, the Buddha, for Buddha is an
+appellative meaning Enlightened."&mdash;Max Müller (Chips, Vol. I., 206).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3_19" id="Footnote_3_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_19"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Luke II: 25-26.&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4_20" id="Footnote_4_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_20"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Ibid II: 46-47.&mdash;T.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5_21" id="Footnote_5_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_21"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Or, Haoma, also Hom, the sacred plant, whose fermented
+juice occupied an important place in the practical rites of Iran.
+Supposed to be the same plant known in botany as <i>Sarcostemma
+viminalis.</i> Deified in Iranian worship, like the sacred drink <i>Soma</i> in
+the Vedic hymns. The <i>Soma</i> was the fermented extract of the <i>Asclepias
+acida</i> or <i>Sarcostemma ritalis.</i> See Marius Fontane, "L'Inde Védique,"
+"Les Iraniens."&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_6_22" id="Footnote_6_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_22"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Apuleius says, "a silken mantle."&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_7_23" id="Footnote_7_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_23"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Apuleius says, "strung with knuckle-bones of
+sheep."&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_8_24" id="Footnote_8_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_24"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> This scene, like certain paintings in the Naples museum,
+is all suited for public exhibition.&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_9_25" id="Footnote_9_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_25"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Readers will recollect the lines in Macaulay's <i>Lays of
+Ancient Rome</i>:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Beneath Aricia's trees,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Those trees in whose dim shadow</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">A ghastly priest doth reign,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The priest who slew the slayer,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And must himself be slain."</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="VI" id="VI">VI</a></h4>
+
+
+<p>(<i>He flies beneath him, outstretched like a swimmer; his vast-spreading
+wings, wholly concealing him, seem like one huge cloud.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Whither do I go? But a little while ago I beheld in a glimpse
+the form of the Accurst. Nay!&mdash;'tis a cloud that upbears me! Perhaps I
+am dead, and am ascending to God....</p>
+
+<p>"How freely I respire. The immaculate air seems to vivify my soul. No
+sense of weight!&mdash;no more suffering.</p>
+
+<p>"Far below me the lightning breaks,&mdash;the horizon broadens, widens,&mdash;the
+rivers cross each other. That blond-bright spot is the desert; that
+pool of water the ocean!</p>
+
+<p>"And other oceans appear!&mdash;vast regions of which I knew nothing!
+There are the countries of the blacks, which seem to smoke like
+brasiers!&mdash;then is the zone of snows always made dim by fog! Would I
+might behold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> those mountains where the sun, each evening, sinks to
+rest!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "The sun never sinks to rest; the sun never rests!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony is not surprised at this voice. It seems to him an echo of
+his own thought&mdash;a response made by his own memory.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Meanwhile the earth gradually assumes the shape of a ball; and he
+beholds it in the midst of the azure, turning upon its poles, and
+revolving with the sun.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "So it does not form the centre of the universe! Pride of
+man! humiliate thyself!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Now I can scarcely distinguish it. It mingles confusedly with
+other glowing worlds. The firmament itself is but one tissue of stars."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And they still rise.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"No sound!&mdash;not even the hoarse cry of eagles! Nothing? I listen for
+the harmony of the spheres."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Thou wilt not hear them! Nor wilt thou behold the
+antichtonus of Plato,&mdash;or the central furnace of Philolaüs,&mdash;or the
+spheres of Aristotle, or the seven heavens of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> the Jews, with the great
+waters above the vault of crystal!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet from below the vault seemed solid as a wall!&mdash;on the
+contrary I penetrate it, I lose myself in it!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And he beholds the moon,&mdash;like a rounded fragment of ice filled with
+motionless light.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Formerly it was the sojourn of souls! Even the good
+Pythagoras adorned it with magnificent flowers, populated it with
+birds!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "I can see only desolate plains there, with extinct craters
+yawning under a black sky!</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go towards those milder-beaming stars, that we may contemplate
+the angels who uphold them at arms' length, like torches!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span> (<i>bears him into the midst of the stars</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"They attract at the same time that they repel each other. The
+action of each one results from that of others, and contributes
+thereunto,&mdash;without the aid of any auxiliary, by the force of a law,
+the virtue of order alone!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yes!... yes! My intelligence grasps the great truth! It is
+a joy greater than all tender pleasures! Breathless I find myself with
+astonishment at the enormity of God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Even as the firmament ever rises as thou dost ascend, so
+with the expansion of thy thought will He become greater to thee; and
+after this discovery of the universe thou wilt feel thy joy augment
+with the broadening and deepening of the infinite."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Ah! higher!&mdash;higher still!&mdash;- forever higher!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then the stars multiply, scintillate. The Milky Way develops in the
+zenith like a monstrous belt, with holes at intervals; through these
+rents in its brightness stretches of prolonged darkness are visible.
+There are rains of stars, long trains of golden dust, luminous vapours
+that float and dissolve.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At times a comet suddenly passes by; then the tranquillity of
+innumerable lights recommences.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony, with outstretched arms, supports himself upon the Devil's
+horns, and thus occupies all the space between them.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He remembers with disdain the ignorance of other days, the mediocrity
+of his dreams.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> And now those luminous globes he was wont to gaze upon
+from below, are close to him. He distinguishes the intercrossing of
+the lines of their orbits, the complexity of their courses. He beholds
+them coming from afar,&mdash;and, like stones suspended in a sling, describe
+their circles, form their hyperbolas.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He perceives, all within the field of his vision at once, the Southern
+Cross and the Great Bear, the Lynx and the Centaur, the nebula of
+Dorado, the six suns in the constellation of Orion, Jupiter with his
+four satellites, and the triple ring of the monstrous Saturn!&mdash;all the
+planets, all the stars that men will discover in the future. He fills
+his eyes with their light; he over-burthens his mind with calculation
+of their distances: then, bowing his head, he murmurs</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"What is the purpose of all that?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "There is no purpose. How could God have a purpose? What
+experience could have instructed him?&mdash;what reflection determined him?</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon18"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_18.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p> Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The
+Devil: There is no purpose.</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Before the beginning he could not have acted;&mdash;and now his action
+would be useless."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Yet he created the world, at one time, by his word only."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "But the beings that people the earth come upon it
+successively. So also, in heaven, new stars arise&mdash;different effects of
+varying causes."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "The varying of causes is the will of God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "But to admit several acts of will in God is to admit
+various causes, and therefore to deny his unity.</p>
+
+<p>"His will is inseparable from his essence. He can have but one will,
+having but one essence; and inasmuch as he externally exists, he acts
+eternally.</p>
+
+<p>"Contemplate the sun! From its surface leap vast jets of flame, casting
+forth sparks that disperse beyond to become worlds here-after;&mdash;and
+further than the last, far beyond those deeps where thou seest only
+night, whirl other suns,&mdash;and behind them others again, and beyond
+those yet others ... without end!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Enough! Enough! I fear!&mdash;I will fall into the abyss!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span> (<i>pauses, and rocks Anthony gently in the midst of space</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"Nothingness is&mdash;not&mdash;there is no void! Everywhere and forever bodies
+move upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> the immovable deeps of space! Were there boundaries to
+space, it would not be space, but a body only: it is limitless!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>stupefied by wonder</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Limitless!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Ascend skyward forever and forever,&mdash;yet thou wilt not
+attain the summit. Descend below the earth for billions of billions of
+centuries: never wilt thou reach the bottom. For there is no summit,
+there is no bottom; there is no Above, no Below&mdash;nor height, nor
+depth as signified by the terms of human utterance. And Space itself
+is comprised in God, who is not a portion thereof of such or such a
+size,&mdash;but is Immensity itself!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>slowly</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Matter..., then,... must be a part of God?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Why not? Canst thou know the end of God?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Nay: on the contrary, I prostrate, I crush myself beneath his
+mightiness!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "And yet thou dost pretend to move him! Thou dost speak to
+him,&mdash;thou dost even adorn him with virtues,&mdash;with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> goodness, justice,
+mercy,&mdash;in lieu of recognising that all perfections are his!</p>
+
+<p>"To conceive aught beyond him is to conceive God above God, the Being
+above the Being. For He is the only being, the only substance.</p>
+
+<p>"If the Substance could be divided, it would not be the Substance, it
+would lose its nature: God could not exist. He is therefore indivisible
+as infinite;&mdash;and if he had a body, he would be composed of parts,
+he would not be One&mdash;he would not be infinite. Therefore he is not a
+Person!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What? my prayers, my sobs, my groans, the sufferings of my
+flesh, the transports of my love,&mdash;have all these things gone out to a
+lie,&mdash;to emptiness, unavailingly&mdash;like the cry of a bird, like a whirl
+of dead leaves?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Weeping</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no!&mdash;there is Some One above all things,&mdash;a great Soul, a Lord, a
+Father whom my heart adores and who must love me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Thou dost desire that God were not God;&mdash;for did he feel
+love, or anger, or pity,&mdash;he would abandon his perfection for a greater
+or a lesser perfection. He can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> stoop to no sentiment, nor be contained
+in any form."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "One day, nevertheless, I shall see him!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "With the blessed, is it not?&mdash;when the finite shall enjoy
+the infinite in some restricted place, containing the Absolute!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Matters not!&mdash;there must be a paradise for the good, as there
+is a hell for the wicked."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Can the desire of thy mind create the law of the universe?
+Without doubt evil is indifferent to God,&mdash;forasmuch as the Earth is
+covered with it!</p>
+
+<p>"Is it through impotence that he endures it, or through cruelty that he
+maintains it?</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou fancy that he is eternally readjusting the world, like an
+imperfect machine?&mdash;that he is forever watching the movements of all
+beings, from the flight of a butterfly to the thought of a man?</p>
+
+<p>"If he have created the universe, his providence is superfluous. If
+Providence exists, then creation is defective.</p>
+
+<p>"But evil and good concern only thee&mdash;even like night and day, pleasure
+and pain, death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> and birth, which are relative only to one corner
+of space, to a special centre, to a particular interest. Since the
+Infinite is permanent, the Infinite is;&mdash;and that is all."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Devil's wings have been gradually expanding: now they cover all
+space.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>now perceives nothing: a great faintness comes upon him</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"A hideous cold freezes me, even to the depths of my soul! This is
+beyond the extreme of pain! It is like a death that is deeper than
+death! I roll in the immensity of darkness; and the darkness itself
+enters within me. My consciousness bursts beneath this dilation of
+nothingness!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Devil</span>. "Yet the knowledge of things comes to thee only through the
+medium of thy mind. Even as a concave mirror, it deforms the objects
+it reflects; and thou hast no means whatever of verifying their
+exactitude."</p>
+
+<p>"Never canst thou know the universe in all its vastness; consequently
+it will never be possible for thee to obtain an idea of its cause,
+to have a just notion of God, nor even to say that the universe is
+infinite,&mdash;for thou<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> must first be able to know what the Infinite is!"</p>
+
+<p>"May not Form be, perhaps, an error of thy senses,&mdash;Substance a figment
+of thy imagination?"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless, indeed, that the world being a perpetual flux<a name="FNanchor_1_26" id="FNanchor_1_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_26" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> of things,
+appearance, on the contrary, be wholly true; illusion the only reality."</p>
+
+<p>"But art thou sure thou dost see?&mdash;art thou even sure thou dost live?
+Perhaps nothing exists!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Devil has seized Anthony, and, holding him at arms' length,
+glares at him with mouth yawning as though to devour him</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Adore me, then!&mdash;and curse the phantom thou callest God!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony lifts his eyes with a last effort of hope.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Devil abandons him.</i>)</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_26" id="Footnote_1_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_26"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The original text seems to me slightly obscure. The
+idea of the universe being a perpetual ebb and flow of shapes, is
+that of forms passing away to reappear like waves, is that of the
+Nidana-Sutris: "Individuality is only a form ... <i>Everything is only
+a flux of aggregates</i>, interminably uniting and disuniting," as Barth
+observes in his "Religions of India."&mdash;Trans.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h4><a name="VII" id="VII">VII</a></h4>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>finds himself lying upon his back, at the verge of the cliff.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The sky commences to blanch.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Is it the glow of dawn, or only an effect of moonlight?"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He tries to rise, falls back,&mdash;his teeth chattering</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I feel such a helplessness of weakness, as though all my bones were
+broken!</p>
+
+<p>"Why?</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! the Devil!&mdash;I remember!&mdash;he even repeated to me all that I
+learned from the aged Didymus respecting the opinions of Xenophanes,
+Heraclitus, of Melissus, of Anaxagoras,&mdash;concerning the infinite, the
+creation, the impossibility of knowing anything!</p>
+
+<p>"And yet I believed that I could unite myself to God!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Laughing bitterly</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! madness! madness! Is the fault<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> mine? Prayer has become
+intolerable to me! My heart is dry as a rock! Once, it was wont to
+overflow with love!...</p>
+
+<p>"The sand used to smoke of mornings like the odourous dust of a
+censer;&mdash;at sunset flowers of fire used to bloom upon the cross; and in
+the middle of the night, it often seemed as though all beings and all
+things, lying under the same awful silence, were adoring the Lord with
+me. O charms of prayer, felicities of ecstasy, gifts of heaven,&mdash;what
+have become of you?</p>
+
+<p>"I remember a voyage I made with Ammon in search of a solitary place
+suited for the establishment of a monastery. It was the last evening;
+we hastened our steps, walked side by side, murmuring hymns, without
+conversing. As the sun sank, the shadows of our bodies lengthened like
+two obelisks, continually growing taller, and moving before us. Here
+and there we planted crosses, made with fragments of our sticks, to
+mark the site of a future cell. Night was tardy in her coming; and
+waves of darkness overspread the earth, even while a vast rose-coloured
+light still glowed in heaven.</p>
+
+<p>"When I was a child, I used to amuse myself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> by building hermitages
+with pebbles. My mother sitting beside me would watch me so attentively!</p>
+
+<p>"Will she not have cursed me for having abandoned her?&mdash;will she not
+have plucked out her white hair by handfuls in the despair of her
+grief? And her corpse remains lying on the floor of the hut, under the
+roof of reeds, between the crumbling walls. Through an orifice a hyena,
+snuffing, thrusts his head, advances his mouth ... horror! horror!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Sobbing</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"No: Ammonaria will not have abandoned her! Where is she
+now,&mdash;Ammonaria?</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps at the further end of a bathroom, she removes her garments
+one after the other: first the mantle, then the girdle, then the first
+tunic, the second lighter tunic, all her necklaces,&mdash;and the vapour
+of cinnamon envelops her naked limbs. At last she lies down upon the
+tepid mosaic. Her long hair spreading below the curve of her hips,
+seems like a sable fleece; and the oppressiveness of the heated air
+causes her to pant; her waist arched, her breasts standing out ...
+What! my flesh rebels again! Even in the midst of grief am I tortured
+by concupiscence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> To be subjected thus unto two tortures at once is
+beyond endurance! I can no longer bear myself!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He leans over, and gazes into the abyss.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"The man who should fall would be killed. Nothing easier: it were only
+necessary to roll over upon my left side:&mdash;only one movement&mdash;one!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Then suddenly appears</i>&mdash;<span class="smcap">An Aged Woman</span>. <i>Anthony starts to his feet in
+affright. It seems to him that he beholds his mother arisen.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But this woman is far older, and prodigiously thin.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A shroud, knotted about her head, hangs down, together with her white
+hair, so as to cover her legs, slender as crutches. The brilliancy of
+her ivory-coloured teeth make her earthy skin darker still. The orbits
+of her eyes are full of shadow; and far back within them two flames
+vacillate, like the lamps of sepulchres.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She exclaims</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Advance! What hinders thee?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>stammering</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I fear ... to commit a sin!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">She</span> (<i>replies</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"But King Saul killed himself! Razias, a just man, killed himself!
+Saint Pelagia of Antioch killed herself! Dommina of Aleppo and her two
+daughters&mdash;all three saints&mdash;killed themselves: and remember also how
+many confessors delivered themselves up to the executioner in their
+impatient longing for death! That they might enjoy death more speedily,
+the virgins of Miletus strangled themselves with their girdles. At
+Syracuse the philosopher Hegesias preached so eloquently upon death
+that men deserted the lupanars to go hang themselves in the fields. The
+patricians of Borne sought for death as a new form of debauch."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Aye! the love of death is strong; and many a anchorite has
+succumbed to it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Old Woman</span>. "To do that which will make thee equal unto God&mdash;think!
+He created thee: thou wilt destroy his work&mdash;thou! and by thy
+courage,&mdash;of thy own free will! The enjoyment that Erostratus knew was
+not greater than this. And moreover thy body has so long mocked thy
+soul that it is full time thou shouldst take vengeance upon it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> Thou
+wilt not suffer. It will soon be over. Of what art thou afraid?&mdash;a
+wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon19"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_19.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?&mdash;a
+wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>Anthony hearkens without replying; and upon the other side appears</i>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Another Woman</span>&mdash;<i>young and marvellously beautiful. At first he takes
+her to be Ammonaria. But she is taller, blond as honey, very plump,
+with paint upon her cheeks and roses upon her head. Her long robe,
+weighty with spangles, gleams with metallic lustre;&mdash;her fleshy lips
+are sanguinolent; and her somewhat heavy eyelids are so drowned with
+languor that one would almost take her to be blind.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>She murmurs</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, live! enjoy! Solomon counsels joy! Follow the guiding of thy
+heart and the desire of thine eyes!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "What joy is there for me? My heart is weary; my eyes are dim!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">She</span> (<i>answers</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Seek the suburb of Racotis; push open a door that is painted
+blue;&mdash;and when thou shalt be in the atrium where a fountain jet
+murmurs unceasingly, a woman will present herself before thee&mdash;in
+peplos of white silk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> striped with gold; her hair is unloosed, her
+laugh like the clatter of crotali. She is skilful. In her caress thou
+wilt taste the pride of initiation and the appeasement of desire.</p>
+
+<p>"Hast ever pressed to thy bosom a virgin who loved thee? Dost remember
+the surrenders of her modesty,&mdash;the passing away of her remorse in a
+sweet flow of tears?</p>
+
+<p>"Thou canst even now imagine thyself walking with her&mdash;canst thou
+not?&mdash;in the wood by the light of the moon? At each pressure of your
+joined hands, a sweet shuddering passes through you both,&mdash;looking
+closely into each other your eyes seem to outpour into one another
+something like immaterial fluid;&mdash;and thy heart fills: it bursts: it is
+a suave whirl of eddying passion, an overflowing of intoxication...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Old Woman</span>. "One need not possess joys in order to taste their
+bitterness! Even to view them from afar off begets loathing of them.
+Thou must be fatigued by the monotony of the same actions, the length
+of the days, the hideousness of the world, the stupidity of the sun?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Aye, indeed!&mdash;I loathe all that he shines upon."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Woman</span>. "Hermit! hermit! thou wilt find diamonds among the
+flints, fountains beneath the sand, a delectation in all the hazards
+thou dost despise; and there are even upon earth places of such beauty
+that the sight of them would make thee desire to press the whole world
+against thy heart with love!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Old Woman</span>. "Each evening that thou liest down upon the earth to
+slumber, thou dost hope that it may soon lie upon thee and cover thee."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Woman</span>. "Yet thou dost believe in the resurrection of the
+flesh&mdash;which is but the translation of life into eternity!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Even as she speaks, the Old Woman becomes still more fleshless; and
+above her skull, from which the white hair has disappeared, a bat
+circles in the air.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Young Woman has become fatter. Her robe gleams with shifting
+colours; her nostrils palpitate, her eyes roll softly.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Former</span> (<i>opening her arms, exclaiming</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Come to me!&mdash;I am Consolation, repose, oblivion, eternal calm!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Other</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"I am the sleep-giver, life, happiness inexhaustible!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony turns to fee from them. Each lays a hand on his shoulder.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Shroud parts, exposes the Skeleton of Death.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The robe splits asunder, and leaves the whole body of Lust
+exposed:&mdash;her waist is slender; her long and undulating hair flutters
+in the wind.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony stands motionless between the two, considering them</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Death</span> (<i>says to him</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"What matters it, whether now or at another time! Thou art mine,&mdash;like
+suns, nations, cities, kings, mountain-snows, and the grasses of the
+fields. I fly higher than the hawks of heaven. I run more swiftly than
+the gazelle; I overtake even Hope; I vanquished the Son of God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lust</span>. "Resist not! I am the Omnipotent! The forests re-echo with my
+sighs; the waters tremble with my agitations. Virtue, courage, piety,
+dissolve in the perfume of my mouth. Man I accompany in every step<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>
+that he makes; and even from the threshold of the tomb he turns to me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Death</span>. "I will find for thee that which thou hast vainly sought for,
+by the gleam of torches, upon the faces of the dead,&mdash;or among those
+awful sands that are formed of human remains, where thou wast wont to
+wander beyond the Pyramids. From time to time, the fragment of a skull
+rolled under thy sandal. Thou didst take up the dust: thou didst let it
+trickle through thy fingers; and thy thought, blending with it, sank
+into nothingness."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lust</span>. "My gulf is deeper! Marbles have inspired loves. Men rush to
+conjunctures that terrify. Fetters are riveted that the fettered curse.
+Whence the bewitchment of courtesans, the extravagance of dreams, the
+immensity of my sadness?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Death</span>. "Mine irony depasseth all others! There are convulsions of
+delight at the funerals of kings, at the extermination of a whole
+people; and war is made with music, with plumes, with harness of
+gold,&mdash;with vast display of ceremony that my due of homage may be
+greater!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon203"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_03.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Death: Mine irony depasseth all others!</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">Lust. "My rage equals thine! I also yell;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> I bite! I, too, have sweats
+of agony, and aspects cadaverous!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Death</span>. "It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon20"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_20.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>Death laughs mockingly; Lust roars. They clasp each other about the
+waist, and chant alternately</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I hasten the dissolution of matter!"</p>
+
+<p>"I facilitate the dispersion of germs!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou dost destroy for my renovations!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou dost engender for my destructions!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ever-active my power!"</p>
+
+<p>"Fecund, my putrefaction!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And their voices, whose rolling echoes fill the horizon, deepen and
+become so mighty that Anthony falls backward as if thunder-stricken. A
+shock from time to time causes him to reopen his eyes; and he perceives
+in the midst of the darkness a manner of monster before him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is a skull, crowned with roses, dominating the torso of a woman
+nacreously white. Below, a shroud starred with specks of gold forms
+something like a tail; and the whole body undulates, after the fashion
+of a gigantic worm erect on end.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The vision attenuates,&mdash;disappears.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>rising to his feet</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"The Devil yet again, and under his two-fold aspect: the spirit of
+fornication, and the spirit of destruction.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither affrights me! I repel happiness; and I know myself to be
+eternal.</p>
+
+<p>"Thus death is only an illusion, a veil-masking betimes the continuity
+of life.</p>
+
+<p>"But Substance being unique, wherefore should forms be varied?</p>
+
+<p>"Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose bodily forms are
+only symbols. Could I but see them, I would know the link between
+matter and thought; I would know in what Being consists.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon204"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_04.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial
+figures, whose bodily forms are only symbols</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Such were the figures painted at Babylon upon the walls of the
+temple of Belus; and others like them covered a mosaic in the port of
+Carthage. I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms
+of spirits. Those who cross the desert meet with animals surpassing all
+conception...."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon21"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_21.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it
+were, forms of spirits</p></div></div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>And opposite, upon the further side of the Nile, suddenly appears
+the Sphinx.<a name="FNanchor_1_27" id="FNanchor_1_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_27" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> stretches his paws, shakes the bandelets upon his
+forehead, and crouches upon his belly.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Leaping, flying, spitting fire through her nostrils, lashing her
+winged sides with her dragon-tail, the green-eyed Chimera circles,
+barks.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The thick curls of her head tossed back upon one side mingle with
+the hair of her loins; on the other side they hang down to the sand,
+quivering with the swinging of her body, to and fro.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span> (<i>remaining motionless, and gazing at the Chimera</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Hither, Chimera! rest awhile!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "No! never!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Do not run so fast, do not fly so high, do not bark so
+loudly!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Do not call me!&mdash;call me no more; since thou must remain
+forever dumb."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Cease casting thy flames in my face, and uttering thy
+yells in my ear: thou canst not melt my granite."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Thou shalt not seize me, terrible sphinx!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Thou art too mad to dwell with me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Thou art too heavy to follow me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Yet whither goest thou, that thou shouldst run so fast?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "I gallop in the corridors of the Labyrinth&mdash;I hover above
+the mountains&mdash;I graze the waves in my flight&mdash;I yelp at the bottom of
+precipices&mdash;I suspend myself with my mouth from the skirts of clouds&mdash;I
+sweep the shores with my dragging tail; and the curves of the hills
+have taken their form from the shape of my shoulders! But thee I find
+perpetually immobile, or perhaps making strange designs with thy claws
+upon the sand."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "It is because I keep my secret;&mdash;I dream and calculate.</p>
+
+<p>"The sea returns to its bed; the wheat bends back and forth in the
+wind; the caravans pass by; the dust flies; cities crumble; and yet
+my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all
+intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon205"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_05.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>The Sphinx: ... and yet
+my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all
+intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach.
+The Chimera: I am light and joyous!</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "I am light and joyous! I offer to the eyes of men
+dazzling perspectives with Paradise in the clouds above, and
+unspeakable felicity afar off. Into their souls I pour the eternal
+madnesses; projects of happiness, plans for the future, dreams of glory
+and vows of love, and all virtuous resolutions.</p>
+
+<p>"I urge men to perilous voyages and great enterprises. I have chiselled
+with my claws the wonders of architecture. It was I who suspended the
+little bells above the tomb of Porsenna, and surrounded the quays of
+Atlantis with a wall of orichalcum.</p>
+
+<p>"I seek for new perfumes, for vaster flowers, for pleasures never felt
+before. If I perceive in any place a man whose mind reposes in wisdom,
+I fall upon him, and strangle him."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "All those tormented by the desire of God, I have devoured.</p>
+
+<p>"In order to climb up to my royal brow, the strongest ascend upon the
+flutings of my bandelets as upon the steps of a stairway. Then a great
+lassitude comes upon them, and they fall backward."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony begins to tremble.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>He is no longer before his cabin, but in the desert itself, with those
+two monsters beside him, whose breath is hot upon his shoulders.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "O thou Fantasy, bear me away upon thy wings that my
+sadness may be lightened!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "O thou Unknown, I am enamoured of thine eyes! Like a
+hyena in heat I turn about thee, soliciting those fecundations whereof
+the desires devour me!</p>
+
+<p>"Ope thy mouth, lift thy feet&mdash;mount upon my back!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "My feet, since they have been outstretched, can move no
+more. The lichen, like an eruption, has formed upon my jaws. By dint of
+long dreaming I have no longer aught to say."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Thou liest, hypocrite Sphinx! Wherefore dost thou always
+call me and always disown me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "It is thou, indomitable caprice, that dost forever pass
+and repass, whirling in thy course!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Is the fault mine? What? Let me be!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>She barks.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Thou movest away! thou dost escape me!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He growls.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Chimera</span>. "Essay!&mdash;Thou crushest me!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sphinx</span>. "Nay!&mdash;impossible!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>And gradually sinking down he disappears in the sand; while the
+Chimera, ramping with tongue protruding, departs, describing circles on
+her way.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The breath of her mouth has produced a fog.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Through this mist Anthony perceives wreathings of clouds, undecided
+curves.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At last he can distinguish something like the appearance of human
+bodies.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And first</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Astomi</span>&mdash;<i>approach, like bubbles of air traversed by sunlight. They
+cry</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Do not breathe too hard! The drops of rain bruise us, false notes
+excoriate us, darknesses blind us! Composed wholly of breezes and of
+perfumes, we float along, we roll along:&mdash;a little more than Dreams,
+yet not quite beings...."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Nisnas</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>have only one eye, one cheek, one hand, one leg, half a body, half a
+heart. They say</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"We live quite in our halves of houses, with our halves of wives and
+our halves of children!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Blemmyes</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>who have no head at all</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Our shoulders are all the broader;&mdash;and there is no ox, rhinoceros, or
+elephant able to carry what we carry.</p>
+
+<p>"Something dimly resembling features&mdash;as it were a vague
+face&mdash;imprinted upon our breasts: that is all! We think digestions; we
+subtleize secretions. God, in our belief, floats peacefully within the
+interior chyles.</p>
+
+<p>"We go straight upon our way, through all mires, crossing all morasses,
+skirting the edges of all abysses: and we are the most laborious, the
+most happy, the most virtuous of all peoples!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Pygmies</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"We, good little men, swarm upon the world like vermin upon the hump of
+a dromedary.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We are burned, drowned, crushed; and we always reappear, more
+vivacious and countless than before&mdash;terrible by reason of our numbers!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sciapods</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"Fettered to the earth by our hair, long as lianas, we vegetate beneath
+the shelter of our feet, broad as parasols; and the light comes to us
+through the thickness of our heels. No annoyances for us, no work! The
+head as low as possible&mdash;That is the secret of happiness."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon206"></a>
+<img src="images/redon2_06.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>The Sciapods: The head as low as possible&mdash;That is the secret of happiness.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>Their lifted thighs,&mdash;resembling the trunks of trees,&mdash;multiply.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And a forest appears. Great apes clamber through it on all
+fours:&mdash;these are men with the heads of dogs.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Cynocephali</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"We leap from branch to branch in search of eggs to suck; and we pluck
+the little fledglings alive; then we put their nests upon our heads in
+lieu of caps.</p>
+
+<p>"We tear off the teats of cows; and we put out the eyes of lynxes:
+we let fall our dung<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> from the heights of the trees&mdash;we parade our
+turpitude in the full light of the sun.</p>
+
+<p>"Lacerating the flowers, crushing the fruits, befouling the springs,
+violating women, we are the masters of all,&mdash;by the strength of our
+arms, and the ferocity of our hearts.</p>
+
+<p>"Ho! companions!&mdash;gnash with your jaws!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Blood and milk pour down their chops. The rain streams over their
+hairy backs.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony inhales the freshness of the green leaves.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>There is a movement among them, a clashing of branches; and all of
+a sudden appears a huge black stag, with the head of a bull, having
+between his ears a thicket of white horns.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sadhuzag</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"My seventy-four antlers are hollow like flutes.</p>
+
+<p>"When I turn me toward the wind of the South, there issue from them
+sounds that draw all the ravished animals around me. The serpents twine
+about my legs; the wasps cluster in my nostrils; and the parrots, the
+doves, the ibises, alight upon the branches of my horns.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Listen!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He throws back his horns, whence issues a music of sweetness
+ineffable.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Anthony presses both hands upon his heart. It seems to him as though
+his soul were being borne away by the melody.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Sadhuzag</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"But when I turn me toward the wind of the North, my antlers, more
+thickly bristling than a battalion of lances, give forth a sound of
+howlings: the forests are startled with fear; the rivers remount toward
+their sources; the husks of fruits burst open; and the bending grasses
+stand erect on end, like the hair of a coward.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He bends his branching antlers forward: hideous and discordant cries
+proceed from them. Anthony feels as though his heart were torn asunder.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And his horror augments upon beholding</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Martichoras</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>A gigantic red lion, with human face, and three rows of teeth</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The gleam of my scarlet hair mingles with the reflection of the great
+sands. I breathe through my nostrils the terror of solitudes. I spit
+forth plague. I devour armies when they venture into the desert.</p>
+
+<p>"My claws are twisted like screws, my teeth shaped like saws; and my
+curving tail bristles with darts which I cast to right and left, before
+and behind!</p>
+
+<p>"See! see!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>The Martichoras shoots forth the keen bristles of his tail, which
+irradiate in all directions like a volley of arrows. Drops of blood
+rain down, spattering upon the foliage.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Catoblepas</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>A black buffalo with a pig's head, falling to the ground, and
+attached to his shoulders by a neck long, thin, and flaccid as an empty
+gut.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He wallows flat upon the ground, and his feet entirely disappear
+beneath the enormous mane of coarse hair which covers his face</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Fat, melancholy, fierce&mdash;thus I continually remain, feeling against
+my belly the warmth of the mud. So heavy is my skull<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> that it is
+impossible for me to lift it. I roll it slowly all around me,
+open-mouthed; and with my tongue I tear up the venemous plants bedewed
+with my breath. Once, I even devoured my own feet without knowing it!</p>
+
+<p>"No one, Anthony, has ever beheld mine eyes,&mdash;or at least, those who
+have beheld them are dead. Were I to lift my eyelids&mdash;my pink and
+swollen eyelids, thou wouldst forthwith die!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span>. "Oh, that one! Ugh! As though I could desire it?&mdash;Yet his
+stupidity fascinates me! No, no! I will not!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>He gazes fixedly upon the ground.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But the weeds take fire; and amidst the contorsions of the flames,
+arises</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Basilisk</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>A great violet serpent, with trilobate crest, and two fangs, one
+above, one below</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Beware, lest thou fall into my jaws! I drink fire. I am fire!&mdash;and I
+inhale it from all things: from clouds, from flints, from dead trees,
+the fur of animals, the surface of marshes. My temperature maintains
+the volcanoes: I lend glitter to jewels: I give colours to metals!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Griffin</span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>A lion with a vulture's beak, and white wings, red paws and blue
+neck</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"I am the master of deep splendours. I know the secrets of the tombs
+wherein the Kings of old do slumber.</p>
+
+<p>"A chain, issuing from the wall, maintains their heads upright. Near
+them, in basins of porphyry, the women they loved float upon the
+surfaces of black liquids. Their treasures are all arrayed in halls, in
+lozenge-shaped designs, in little heaps, in pyramids;&mdash;and down below,
+far below the tombs, and to be reached only after long travelling
+through stifling darkness, there are rivers of gold bordered by forests
+of diamonds, there are fields of carbuncles and lakes of mercury.</p>
+
+<p>"Addossed against the subterranean gate I remain with claws uplifted;
+and my flaming eyes spy out those who seek to approach. The vast and
+naked plain that stretches away to the end of the horizon is whitened
+with the bones of travellers. But for thee the gates of bronze shall
+open; and thou shalt inhale the vapour of the mines, thou shalt descend
+into the caverns.... Quick! quick!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(<i>He burrows into the earth with his paws, and crows like a cock.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A thousand voices answer him. The forest trembles.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And all manner of frightful creatures arise:&mdash;The Tragelaphus, half
+deer, half ox; the Myrmecoles, lion before-and ant behind, whose
+genitals are set reversely; the python Askar, sixty cubits long, that
+terrified Moses; the huge weasel Pastinaca, that kills the trees with
+her odour; the Presteros, that makes those who touch it imbecile;
+the Mirag, a horned hare, that dwells in the islands of the sea. The
+leopard Phalmant bursts his belly by roaring; the triple-headed bear
+Senad tears her young by licking them with her tongue; the dog Cepus
+pours out the blue milk of her teats upon the rocks. Mosquitoes begin
+to hum, toads commence to leap; serpents hiss. Lightnings flicker. Hail
+falls.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Then come gusts, bearing with them marvellous anatomies:&mdash;Heads of
+alligators with hoofs of deer; owls with serpent tails; swine with
+tiger-muzzles; goats with the crupper of an ass; frogs hairy as bears;
+chameleons huge as hippopotami; calves with two heads, one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> bellowing,
+the other weeping; winged bellies flitting hither and thither like
+gnats.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>They rain from the sky, they rise from the earth, they pour from the
+rocks; everywhere eyes flame, mouths roar, breasts bulge, claws are
+extended, teeth gnash, flesh clacks against flesh. Some crouch; some
+devour each other at a mouthful.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Suffocating under their own numbers, multiplying by their own contact,
+they climb over one another; and move about Anthony with a surging
+motion as though the ground were the deck of a ship. He feels the trail
+of snails upon the calves of his legs, the chilliness of vipers upon
+his hands:&mdash;and spiders spinning about him enclose him within their
+network.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But the monstrous circle breaks, parts; the sky suddenly becomes blue;
+and</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Unicorn</span> (<i>appears</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"Gallop! Gallop!</p>
+
+<p>"I have hoofs of ivory, teeth of steel; my head is the colour of
+purple, my body the colour of snow; and the horn of my forehead is
+bestreaked with the tints of the rainbow.</p>
+
+<p>"I travel from Chaldea to the Tartar desert,&mdash;upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> the shores of the
+Ganges and in Mesopotamia. I overtake the ostriches. I run so swiftly
+that I draw the wind after me. I rub my back against the palm-trees. I
+roll among the bamboos. I leap rivers with a single bound. Doves fly
+above me. Only a virgin can bridle me.</p>
+
+<p>"Gallop! Gallop!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Anthony watches him depart.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And as he gazes he beholds all the birds that nourish themselves
+with wind: the Gouith, the Ahuti, the Alphalim, the Iukneth, of the
+mountains of Kaf, the homai of the Arabs&mdash;which are the souls of
+murdered men. He hears the parrots that utter human speech; and the
+great Pelasgian palmipeds that sob like children or chuckle like old
+women.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>A saline air strikes his nostrils. Now a vast beach stretches before
+him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the distance jets of water arise, spouted by whales; and from the
+very end of the horizon come</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="smcap" style="text-align: center;">The Beasts of the Sea</p>
+
+<p>(<i>round as wineskins, flat as blades, denticulated like saws, dragging
+themselves over the sand as they approach</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon22"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_22.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>The beasts of the sea round as wineskins</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">"Thou wilt accompany us to our immensities, whither as yet no one has
+descended.</p>
+
+<p>"Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean. Some dwell in the
+sojourn of tempests; others swim freely amid the transparency of chill
+waves;&mdash;or, like oxen, graze upon the coral plains, or suck in through
+their trunks the reflux of the tides,&mdash;or bear upon their shoulders the
+vast weight of the sources of the sea."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon23"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_23.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean </p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2">(<i>Phosphorences gleam in the moustaches of the seals, shift in the
+scales of fish. Echini whirl like wheels; ammonites uncoil like cables;
+oysters make their shell hinges squeak; polypi unfold their tentacles;
+medusæ quiver like balls of crystal suspended; sponges float hither and
+thither, anemones ejaculate water; wrack and sea-mosses have grown all
+about.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And all sorts of plants extend themselves into branches, twist
+themselves into screws, lengthen into points, round themselves out like
+fans. Gourds take the appearance of breasts; lianas interlace like
+serpents.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The Dedaims of Babylon, which are trees, bear human heads for fruit;
+Mandragoras<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> sing;&mdash;the root Baaras runs through the grass.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And now the vegetables are no longer distinguishable from the animals.
+Polyparies that seem like trees, have arms upon their branches. Anthony
+thinks he sees a caterpillar between two leaves: it is a butterfly that
+takes flight. He is about to step on a pebble: a grey locust leaps
+away. One shrub is bedecked with insects that look like petals of
+roses; fragments of ephemerides form a snowy layer upon the soil.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And then the plants become confounded with the stones.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Flints assume the likeness of brains; stalactites of breasts; the
+flower of iron resembles a figured tapestry.</i><a name="FNanchor_2_28" id="FNanchor_2_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_28" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p><i>He sees efflorescences in fragments of ice, imprints of shrubs and
+shells&mdash;yet so that one cannot detect whether they be imprints only, or
+the things themselves. Diamonds gleam like eyes; metals palpitate.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And all fear has departed from him! He throws himself down upon the
+ground, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> leaning upon his elbows, watches breathlessly.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Insects that have no stomachs persistently eat; withered ferns bloom
+again and reflower; absent members grow again.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>At last he perceives tiny globular masses, no larger than pinheads,
+with cilia all round them. They are agitated with a vibratile motion</i>):</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anthony</span> (<i>deliriously</i>):</p>
+
+<p>"O joy! O bliss! I have beheld the birth of life! I have seen the
+beginning of motion! My pulses throb even to the point of bursting!
+I long to fly, to swim, to bark, to bellow, to howl! Would that I
+had wings, a carapace, a shell,&mdash;that I could breathe out smoke,
+wield a trunk,&mdash;make my body writhe,&mdash;divide myself everywhere,&mdash;be
+in everything,&mdash;emanate with odours,&mdash;develop myself like the
+plants,&mdash;flow like water,&mdash;vibrate like sound&mdash;shine like light,
+squatting upon all forms&mdash;penetrate each atom&mdash;descend to the very
+bottom of matter,&mdash;be matter itself!"</p>
+
+<p>(<i>Day at last appears;&mdash;and, like tabernacle curtains uplifted, clouds
+of gold uprolling in broad volutes unveil the sky.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Even in the midst thereof, and in the very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> disk of the sun, beams the
+face of Jesus Christ.</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<a id="redon24"></a>
+<img src="images/redon_24.jpg" width="600" alt="" />
+<div class="caption"><p>Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof
+and in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ. </p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p2"><i>Anthony makes the sign of the cross, and resumes his devotions.</i>)</p>
+
+
+<h4>FINIS</h4>
+
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_27" id="Footnote_1_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_27"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Winkelmann claims to have been the first to discover that
+the Egyptian sphinxes were bisexual&mdash;females before&mdash;males otherwise.
+(See Book II, chap. I, § 25.) Flaubert speaks of the Sphinx in the
+masculine like Philemon. (See also Signor Carlo Fea's note upon the
+paragraph in Winkelmann, old French edition. An II, R. F.)&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_28" id="Footnote_2_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_28"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Fleurs de fer, "flowers of iron." In mineralogy <i>flos
+ferri</i>, a form of Aragonite.&mdash;Trans.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<h5><a name="NOTE" id="NOTE">[NOTE</a></h5>
+
+<p>Those who compare this translation with the original will observe the
+omission of some few paragraphs on pages <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a> and <a href="#Page_211">211</a>. They are
+speeches put in the mouths of certain Heresiarchs, or complaints of
+certain of the minor Roman household gods. The translator relegated
+these to an addenda, which the publishers have omitted as being
+unnecessary. Those who are familiar with the original will be able to
+supply them, and will realize that while they might be offensive to
+some persons, they are in no respect an integral or important part of
+the great drama.]</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<p>(added by transcribers)</p>
+<h5><a name="ADDENDA" id="ADDENDA">ADDENDA</a></h5>
+
+
+<p>A. Observation of Manes, pages 82-3, original text; page <a href="#Page_89">89</a> of
+translation.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manes</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Ou plutôt, faites si bien qu'elle ne soit pas fécondes. Mieux vaut
+pour l'ame tomber sur la terre que de languir dans des entraves
+charnelles.</i></p>
+
+<p>Probably a calumny against Manes; for the Eastern philosophy,
+especially that of Zoroaster, which is said to have inspired the tenets
+of Manichæism, advocated no such abominations.</p>
+
+
+<p>B. Page 105 of original; <a href="#Page_108">page 108</a> translation. The realistic
+phraseology of the original passage is rather brutal. The French text
+reads: "<i>Il souffrait de la maladie Bellerephontienne; et sa mère, la
+parfumeuse, s'est livrée à Pantherus, un soldat Romain, sur des gerbes
+de mais, un soir de moisson.</i>" C. Descriptive text, page 237 original,
+partly suppressed on <a href="#Page_223">page 223</a> translation: "<i>Et il lui montre dans un
+bosquet d'aliziers Une Femme toute nue, à quatre pattes comme une bête,
+et saillie par un homme noir, tenant dans chaque main un flambeau.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>D. Curious text of Crepitus, on page <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, pages 241-3 of original:</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Crepitus</span></p>
+
+<p>(&mdash;&mdash;se fait entendre):</p>
+
+<p><i>Moi aussi l'on m'honora jadis. On me faisait des libations. Je fus un
+Dieu!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>L'Athénien me saluait comme un presage de fortune, tandis que le
+Romain dévot me maudissait les poings levés et que le pontife d'Egypte,
+s'abstinant des fèves, tremblait à ma voix et pâlissait à mon odeur.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Quand le vinaigre militaire coulait sur les barbes non rasées, qu'on
+se régalait de glands, de pois, et d'oignons crus, et que le bouc en
+morceau cuissait dans le beurre rance des pasteurs, sans souci du
+voisin, personne alors ne se gênait. Les nourritures solides faisaient
+digestions retentissantes. Au soleil de la campagne les hommes se
+soulageaient avec lenteur.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Ainsi, je passais sans scandale, comme les autres besoins de la vie,
+comme Mena, tourment des vierges, et la douce Rumina qui protège le
+sein de la nourrice, gonflé, des veines bleuâtres. J'étais joyeux. Je
+faisais rire. Et se dilatant d'aise à cause de moi, le convive exhalait
+toute sa gaieté par les ouvertures de son corps.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>J'ai eu mes jours d'orgeuil. Le bon Aristophane me promena sur la
+scène, et l'empereur Claudius Drusus<a name="FNanchor_1_29" id="FNanchor_1_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_29" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> me fit asseoir à sa table. Dans
+les laticlaves des patriciens j'ai circulé majestueusement! Les vases
+d'or, comme des tympanons, resonnaient sous moi; et, quand plein de
+murènes, de truffles, et de pâtés, l'intestin du maître se dégageait
+avec fracas, l'univers attentif apprenait que César avait diné!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Mais à présent, je suis confiné dans la populace</i><a name="FNanchor_2_30" id="FNanchor_2_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_30" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> <i>et l'on se
+récrie, même à mon nom!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Et Crepitus s'éloigne, en poussant un gémissement....</i></p>
+
+<p>E. For descriptions of the Martichoras and other monsters, appearing
+page 287 in the original and <a href="#Page_253">253</a> in the translation, see also Rabelais'
+Pantagruel, Book V, Chap. XXX.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_29" id="Footnote_1_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_29"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Needless to refer to the comedies of Aristophanes,
+with which English readers have been familiarized through the Bohn
+translations. The reference to Claudius ius Drusus seems based upon
+the following lines in Suetonius: "<i>Dicitur etiam meditatus edictum,
+quo veniam daret flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi:
+cum periclitatum quemdam prae pudore ex continentia reperisset.</i>"
+(<i>Suetonius-Tiberius Claudius Drusus</i>: 32.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_30" id="Footnote_2_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_30"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The so-called divinities, <i>Deus Crepitus, Dea Pertunda,
+Deus Stercutius, Dea Rumina</i> (or <i>Rumilia</i>), <i>Dea Mena</i>, concerning
+whose curious attributes the reader may consult English or French
+classical encyclopedists, were doubtless regarded by the intelligent
+classes of antiquity much as certain religious superstitions are
+regarded by educated moderns. It is true that they furnished grotesque
+themes to artists; but many existing superstitions regarding elves
+and goblins have inspired modern sculptors, painters and designers.
+Certainly, seriously worshipped as deities, Priapus might seem equally
+contemptible as a divinity; but his worship, degenerate as it became
+in later years, was primitively symbolical. The obscene image merely
+typified the procreative Spirit of Nature. The eccentric gods and
+goddesses above referred to had no such excuse for being. As previously
+observed, however, Flaubert artistically represents these divinities
+not as they were really considered in the antique world, but rather as
+they would have appeared to the eyes of zealous Christians in the third
+century&mdash;infamous and loathsome.&mdash;Translator.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p>
+<a id="CONTENTS"></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">CONTENTS</span><br /><br />
+<a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a><br />
+<a href="#ARGUMENT">ARGUMENT</a><br />
+<a href="#THE_TEMPTATION_OF_ST_ANTHONY">THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY</a><br />
+<a href="#I">I</a><br />
+<a href="#II">II</a><br />
+<a href="#III">III</a><br />
+<a href="#IV">IV</a><br />
+<a href="#V">V</a><br />
+<a href="#VI">VI</a><br />
+<a href="#VII">VII</a><br />
+<a href="#NOTE">NOTE</a><br />
+<a href="#ADDENDA">ADDENDA</a><br />
+</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h5>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h5>
+
+<p style="text-align: center;">(by Odilon Redon, which were added especially for this PG e-book.)</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+   <p> ... through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought
+    that I could recognize Ammonaria ... <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon201">6</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God! <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon02">16</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>And there are columns of basalt everywhere,... The light
+    falls from the vaults above <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon03">38</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit dissolving
+    within thy heart ... <span class="illnum">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#redon04">58</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... a long blood-colored chrysalis <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon202">100</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... the flowers fall and the head of a python appears <span class="illnum">
+    <a href="#redon05">105</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... and in the darkness beside him people are praying...
+    <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon06">107</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated with knolls
+    <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon07">113</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with
+    kisses ... <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon08">115</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I
+    dwelt in the tree behind me <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon09">119</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Helena - Ennoia <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon10">125</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... instantly arise three goddesses <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon11">157</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon12">165</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... and eyes without heads were floating like mollusks <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon13">167</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose from the abyss
+    that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms <span class="illnum">
+    <a href="#redon14">168</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Here is the Good Goddess, the Idæan of the mountains <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon15">178</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>I am still the Great Isis!&mdash;none has yet lifted my
+    veil! My fruit is the Sun! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon16">188</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>... he falls head foremost into the abyss <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon17">206</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The Devil: There
+    is no purpose. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon18">224</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?&mdash;a wide, black
+    hole! Perhaps it is a void! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon19">235</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Death: Mine irony depasseth all others! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon203">240</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine! <span class="illnum">
+    <a href="#redon20">241</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose
+    bodily forms are only symbols <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon204">242</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms
+    of spirits <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon21">242</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>The Sphinx: ... and yet my gaze, which naught can deviate,
+    remains fixed, gazing through all intervening things, upon
+    a horizon that none may reach. The Chimera: I am light and
+    joyous! <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon205">245</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>The Sciapods: The head as low as possible&mdash;That is the
+    secret of happiness. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon206">249</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>The beasts of the sea round as wineskins <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon22">258</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon23">258</a></span></p>
+
+    <p>Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and in the very
+    disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ. <span class="illnum"><a href="#redon24">260</a></span></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="transnote"><b>Transcribers' Note:</b><br />
+<br />
+This translation of the "Tentation" by Lafcadio Hearn, still regarded
+by many as the best up until now in English, still misses some small
+fragments (of a couple of words) not deemed fit for the Anglo-Saxon
+temperament of that time. There is a contemporary version (2002) of
+this translation available, with introduction by Michel Foucault and
+the inclusion of some missing expressions. The original French by
+Gustave Flaubert is also available at Project Gutenberg&mdash;
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982">http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982</a></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="pg" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 52225-h.htm or 52225-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/2/2/2/52225">http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/2/2/52225</a></p>
+<p>
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
+be renamed.</p>
+
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@@ -1,7558 +1,7558 @@
-The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Temptation of St. Anthony, by Gustave

-Flaubert, Translated by Lafcadio Hearn, Illustrated by Odilon Redon

-

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of

-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have

-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.

-

-

-

-

-Title: The Temptation of St. Anthony

-

-

-Author: Gustave Flaubert

-

-

-

-Release Date: June 4, 2016  [eBook #52225]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

-

-

-***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***

-

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-E-text prepared by Laura Natal Rodriguez and Marc D'Hooghe

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-by the Google Books Library Project (http://books.google.com) and

-illustrations generously made available by Bibliothèque nationale de

-France (http://gallica.bnf.fr)

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-Transcriber's note:

-

-      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

-

-      The o-e ligature is represented by [oe].

-

-

-

-

-

-THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY

-

-by

-

-GUSTAVE FLAUBERT

-

-Translated by Lafcadio Hearn

-

-Illustrations by Odilon Redon

-

-(Added especially for this PG e-book.)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-The Alice Harriman Company

-New York and Seattle

-1910

-

-

-

-

-INTRODUCTION

-

-

-It was at some period between 1875 and 1876 that Lafcadio Hearn--still

-a "cub" reporter on a daily paper in Cincinnati--began his translation

-of Flaubert's "Temptation of St. Anthony." The definitive edition of

-the work, over which the author had laboured for thirty years, had

-appeared in 1874.

-

-Hearn was, in his early youth, singularly indifferent to the work of

-the Englishmen of the Victorian period. Though he knew the English

-masterpieces of that epoch, their large, unacademic freedom of manner

-awakened no echoes in his spirit. His instinctive taste was for the

-exquisite in style: for "that peculiar kneading, heightening, and

-recasting" which Matthew Arnold thought necessary for perfection.

-Neither did the matter, more than the manner of the Victorians appeal

-to him. The circumstances of his life had at so many points set him

-out of touch with his fellows that the affectionate mockery of

-Thackeray's pictures of English society were alien to his interest.

-The laughing heartiness of Dickens' studies of the man in the street

-hardly touched him. Browning's poignant analyses of souls were too

-rudely robust of manner to move him. Before essaying journalism Hearn

-had served for a while as an assistant in the Public Library, and

-there he had found and fallen under the spell, of the great Frenchman

-of the Romantic School of the '30's--that period of rich flowering of

-the Gallic genius. Gautier's tales of ancient weirdnesses fired his

-imagination. The penetrating subtleties of his verse woke in the boy

-the felicitous emotions which the virtuoso knows in handling cameos

-and enamellings by hands which have long been dust. So, also, Hugo's

-revivals of the passions and terrors of the mediaeval world stirred the

-young librarian's eager interest. But most of all his spirit leapt

-to meet the tremendous drama of the "Temptation." He comprehended at

-once its large significance, its great import, and in his enthusiastic

-recognition of its value and meaning he set at once about giving it a

-language understood of the people of his own tongue.

-

-Tunison tells of the little shy, shabby, half-blind boy--the long

-dull day of police reporting done--labouring at his desk into the

-small hours, with the flickering gas jet whistling overhead, and his

-myopic eyes bent close to the papers which he covered with beautiful,

-almost microscopic characters--escaping thus from the crass, raw world

-about him to delicately and painstakingly turn into English stories

-of Cleopatra's cruel, fantastic Egyptian Night's Entertainment.

-Withdrawing himself to transliterate tales of pallid beautiful vampires

-draining the veins of ardent boys: of lovely faded ghosts of great

-ladies descending from shadowy tapestries to coquette with romantic

-dreamers; or to find an English voice for the tragedy of the soul of

-the Alexandrian cenobite.

-

-It was in such dreams and labours that he found refuge from the

-environment that was so antipathetic to his tastes, and in his

-immersion in the works of these virtuosos of words, in his passionate

-search for equivalents of the subtle nuances of their phrases, he

-developed his own style. A style full of intricate assonances, of a

-texture close woven and iridescent.

-

-"One of Cleopatra's Night's"--a translation of some of Gautier's tales

-of glamour--was issued in 1882, but at "The Temptation of St. Anthony"

-the publishers altogether balked. The manuscript could not achieve even

-so much as a reading. America had in the '70's just begun to emerge

-from that state of provincial propriety in which we were accused of

-clothing even our piano legs in pantelettes. The very name of the work

-was sufficient to start modest shivers down the spine of all well

-regulated purveyors of books. It was largely due to the painters'

-conceptions of the nature of the hermit's trials that the story of

-Saint Anthony's spiritual struggle aroused instinctive terrors in all

-truly modest natures. The painters--who so dearly love to display their

-skill in drawing legs and busts--had been wont to push the poor old

-saint into the obscure of the background, and fill all the foreground

-with ladies of obviously the very lightest character, in garments

-still lighter, if possible. What had reputable American citizens to do

-with such as these jades? More especially such jades as seen through

-a French imagination! That Flaubert had brushed aside the gross and

-jejune conceptions of the painters the publishers would not even take

-the pains to learn.

-

-It is amusing now to recall the nervous, timid proprieties of those

-days. At the time Hearn failed to see the laughable side of it. He was

-then too young and earnest, too passionate and too melancholy to have a

-sense of its humours.

-

-He had brought his unfinished manuscript from Cincinnati to New

-Orleans, and had continued to work upon it in strange lodgings in

-gaunt, old half-ruined Creole houses; at the tables of odd little

-French cafes, or among the queer dishes in obscure Spanish and Chinese

-restaurants. He had snatched minutes for it amidst the reading and

-clipping of exchanges in a newspaper office; had toiled drippingly

-over it in the liquifying heats of tropic nights; had arisen from the

-"inexpungable langours" of yellow fever to complete its last astounding

-pages.

-

-I can remember applauding, with ardent youthful sympathy, his tirades

-against the stultifying influence of blind puritanism upon American

-literature. I recall his scornful mocking at the inconsistency which

-complacently accepted the vulgar seduction, and the theatrical Brocken

-revels of Faust, while shrinking piously from Flaubert's grim story of

-the soul of man struggling to answer the riddle of the universe. He

-had however an almost equal contempt for the author's countrymen, who

-received with eager interest and pleasure the deliberate analysis--in

-_Madame Bovary_--of a woman's degradation and ruin, while they yawned

-over the amazing history of humanity's tremendous spiritual adventures.

-Hearn's own sensitiveness shrank in pain from the cold insight which

-uncovered layer by layer the brutal squalour of a woman's moral

-disintegration. But he was moved and astounded by the revelation, in

-St. Anthony, of the tragedy and pathos of man's long search for some

-body of belief or philosophy by which he could explain to himself

-the strange great phenomena of life and death, and the inscrutable

-cruelties of Nature. The young translator was filled with a sort of

-astonished despair at his inability to make others see the book as

-he did--not realizing, in his youthful impatience, that the average

-mind clings to the concrete, and is puzzled and terrified by outlines

-of thought too large for its range of vision; that the commonplace

-intelligence cannot "see the wood for the trees," and becomes confused

-and over-weighted when confronted with the huge outlines of so great a

-picture as that drawn by Flaubert in his masterpiece.

-

-There were many points of resemblance between Lafcadio Hearn and the

-grandson of the French veterinary. A resemblance rather in certain

-qualities of the spirit than in social conditions and physical

-endowments. Flaubert, born in 1821, was the son of a surgeon. His

-father was long connected with the Hotel Dieu of Rouen, in which the

-boy was born, and in which he lived until his eighteenth year, when he

-went to Paris to study law. One of the friends of his early Parisian

-days describes him as "a young Greek. Tall, supple, and as graceful as

-an athlete. He was charming, _mais un peu farouche._ Quite unconscious

-of his physical and mental gifts; very careless of the impression he

-produced, and entirely indifferent to formalities. His dress consisted

-of a red flannel shirt, trousers of heavy blue cloth, and a scarf of

-the same colour drawn tight about his slender waist. His hat was worn

-'any how' and often he abandoned it altogether. When I spoke to him of

-fame or influence.... he seemed superbly indifferent. He had no desire

-for glory or gain.... What was lacking in his nature was an interest in

-_les choses exterieures, choses utiles._" ...

-

-One who saw him in 1879 found the young Greek athlete--now close upon

-sixty, and having in the interval created some of the great classics

-of French literature--"a huge man, a tremendous old man. His long,

-straggling gray hair was brushed back. His red face was that of a

-soldier, or a sheik--divided by drooping white moustaches. A trumpet

-was his voice, and he gesticulated freely ... the colour of his eyes a

-bit of faded blue sky."

-

-The study of the law did not hold Flaubert long. It was one of those

-_choses exterieures, choses utiles_ to which he was so profoundly

-indifferent. Paris bored him. He longed for Rouen, and for his little

-student chamber. There he had lain upon his bed whole days at a time;

-apparently as lazy as a lizard; smoking, dreaming; pondering the large,

-inchoate, formless dreams of youth.

-

-In 1845 his father died, and in the following year he lost his sister

-Caroline, whom he had passionately loved, and for whom he grieved

-all his life. He rejoined his mother, and they established themselves

-at Croisset, near Rouen, upon a small inherited property. It was an

-agreeable house, pleasantly situated in sight of the Seine. Flaubert

-nourished with pleasure a local legend that Pascal had once inhabited

-the old Croisset homestead, and that the Abbe Prevost had written

-_Manon Lescaut_ within its walls. Near the house--now gone--he built

-for himself a pavilion to serve as a study, and in this he spent the

-greater portion of the following thirty-four years in passionate,

-unremitting labour.

-

-He made a voyage to Corsica in his youth; one to Brittany, with Maxime

-du Camp, in 1846; and spent some months in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey,

-and Greece in 1849. This Oriental experience gave him the most intense

-pleasure, and was the germ of _Salammbo_, and of the _Temptation of St.

-Anthony._ He never repeated it, though he constantly talked of doing

-so. He nursed a persistent, but unrealized dream of going as far as

-Ceylon, whose ancient name, Taprobana, he was never weary of repeating;

-utterance of its melifluous syllables becoming a positive _tic_

-with him. Despite these yearnings he remained at home. Despite his

-full-blooded physique he would take no more exercise than his terrace

-afforded, or an occasional swim in the Seine. He smoked incessantly,

-and for months at a stretch worked fifteen hours out of the twenty-four

-at his desk. Three hundred volumes might be annotated for a page of

-facts. He would write twenty pages, and reduce these by exquisite

-concisions, by fastidious rejections to three; would search for hours

-for the one word that perfectly conveyed the colour of his thought, and

-would--as in the case of the _Temptation_--wait fifteen years for a

-sense of satisfaction with a manuscript before allowing it to see the

-light. To Maxime du Camp, who urged him to hasten the completion of his

-book in order to take advantage of a favourable opportunity, he wrote

-angrily:

-

-"Tu me parais avoir a mon endroit un tic ou vice redhibitoire. Il

-ne m'embete pas; n'aie aucune crainte; mon parti est pris la-dessus

-depuis long temps. Je te dirai seulement que tous ces mots; _se

-depecher, c'est le moment, place prise, se poser, ..._ sont pour moi un

-vocabulaire vide de sens...."

-

-In one of his letters he says that on occasion he worked violently for

-eight hours to achieve one page. He endeavoured never to repeat a word

-in that page, and tried to force every phrase to respond to a rhythmic

-law. Guy do Maupassant, his nephew and pupil, says that to ensure this

-rhythm Flaubert "prenait sa feuille de papier, relevait a la hauteur du

-regard et, s'appuyant sur un coude, declaimait, d'une voix mordant et

-haute. Il ecoutait la rythme de sa prose, s'arretait comme pour saisir

-une sonorite fuyant, combinait les tons, eloignait les assonances,

-disposait les virgules avec conscience, commes les haltes d'un long

-chemin." ...

-

-Flaubert said himself, "une phrase est viable quand elle correspond

-a toutes les necessites de respiration. Je sais qu'elle est bonne

-lorsqu'elle peut etre lu tout haut."

-

-Henry Irving used to say of himself that it was necessary he should

-work harder than other actors because nature had dowered him with

-flexibility of neither voice nor feature, and Faguet says that Flaubert

-was forced to this excessive toil and incessant watchfulness because

-he did not write well naturally. Nevertheless Flaubert's work did not

-smell of the lamp. Whatever shape his ideas may have worn at birth

-when full grown they moved with large classic grace and freedom,

-simple, sincere, and beautiful in form. Francois Coppee calls him "the

-Beethoven of French prose."

-

-So conscientious a workman, so laborious and self-sacrificing an artist

-had a natural attraction for Lafcadio Hearn, who even in boyhood began

-to feel his vocation as "a literary monk." The whole tendency of his

-tastes prepared him to understand the true importance of Flaubert's

-masterpiece, fitted him especially of all living writers to turn that

-masterpiece into its true English equivalent. The two men had much in

-common. Both were proud and timid. Both had a fundamental indifference

-to _choses exterieures, choses utiles._ Both were realists of the soul.

-Actions interested each but slightly; the emotions from which actions

-sprung very much. To both stupidity was even more antipathetic than

-wickedness, because each realized that nearly all cruelty and vice have

-their germ in ignorance and stupidity rather than in innate rascality.

-Flaubert declared, with a sort of rage, that "la betise entre dans

-mes pores." He might too have been speaking for Hearn when he said

-that the grotesque, the strange, and the monstrous had for him an

-inexplicable charm. "It corresponds," he says, "to the intimate needs

-of my nature--it does not cause me to laugh, but to dream long dreams."

-Hearn, however, mixed with this triste interest a quality that Flaubert

-seemed almost wholly to lack--a great tenderness for all things humble,

-feeble, ugly and helpless. Both from childhood were curious of poignant

-sensations, of the sad, the mysterious and the exotic. And for both the

-tropics had an irresistible fascination. Flaubert says, in one of his

-letters:

-

-"I carry with me the melancholy of the barbaric races, with their

-instincts of migration, and their innate distaste of life, which forced

-them to quit their homes in order to escape from themselves. They loved

-the sun, all those barbarians who came to die in Italy; they had a

-frenzied aspiration toward the light, toward the blue skies, toward an

-ardent existence.... Think that perhaps I will never see China, will

-never be rocked to sleep by the cadenced footsteps of camels ... will

-never see the shine of a tiger's eyes in the forest.... You can treat

-all this as little worthy of pity, but I suffer so much when I think of

-it ... as of something lamentable and irremediable."

-

-This is the nostalgia for the strange, for the unaccustomed, that all

-born wanderers know. Fate arranges it for many of them that their lives

-shall be uneventful, passed in dull, provincial narrowness; but behind

-these bars the clipped wings of their spirit are always flutteringly

-spread for flight. They know not what they seek, what desire drives

-them, but a sense of "the great adventure" unachieved keeps them

-restless until they die. It is such as these, these _voyageurs

-empassiones_, when condemned by fortune to a static existence--who find

-their outlet in mental wanderings amid the unusual, the grotesque,

-and the monstrous. Hearn and Flaubert both were at heart nomads,

-seekers of the unaccustomed; stretching toward immensities of space

-and time, toward the ghostly, the hidden, the unrealized. Like that

-wild fantastic _Chimera_ of the "Temptation" each such soul declares

-"_je cherche des parfums nouveaux, des fleurs plus large, des plaisirs

-ineprouves._"

-

-Flaubert was but twenty-six when the first suggestion of his

-masterpiece came to him. For _La Tentation de St. Antoine_, it is

-coming to be understood, is his masterpiece; is one of the greatest

-literary achievements of the French mind. _Madame Bovary_ is more

-widely famous and popular, but Flaubert himself always deeply resented

-this preference, and was always astonished at the comparative

-indifference of the world to the "Temptation." He, too, found it

-difficult to realize how hardly the average mind is awakened to an

-interest in the incorporeal; how surely cosmic generalizations escape

-the grasp of the commonplace intelligence.

-

-Wagner waited a lifetime before the world was dragged reluctantly and

-resentfully up to a point from which it could discern the superiority

-of the tremendous finale of the Goetterdaemmerung to the Christmas-card

-chorus of angels chanting "_Ame chaste et pure_" to the beatified

-Marguerite. The whole prodigious structure of Wagner's dramatic and

-musical thought might have remained a mere adumbration in the soul of

-one German had chance not set a mad genius upon the throne of Bavaria.

-The bourgeoisie would--lacking this royal bullying--have continued to

-prefer Goethe and Gounod. Flaubert's great work unfortunately failed of

-such patronage.

-

-It was in 1845 that an old picture by Breughel, seen at Genoa, first

-inspired Flaubert to attempt the story of St. Anthony. He sought

-out an engraving of this conception of Peter the Younger (surnamed

-"Hell-Breughel" for his fondness for such subjects), hung it on his

-walls at Croisset, and after three years of brooding upon it began,

-May 24, 1848, _La Tentation de St. Antoine._ In twelve months he had

-finished the first draught of the work, which bulked to 540 pages. It

-was laid aside for "Bovary," and a second version of the "Temptation"

-was completed in 1856, but this time the manuscript had been reduced

-to 193 pages, and the "blazing phrases, the jewelled words, the

-turbulence, the comedy, the mysticism" of the first version had been

-superseded by a larger, more dramatic conception. In 1872 he made still

-a new draught, and by this time it had shrunk to 136 pages. He even

-then eliminated three chapters, and finally gave to the world in 1874

-"this wonderful coloured panorama of philosophy, this Gulliver-like

-travelling amid the master ideas of the antique and early Christian

-worlds."

-

-Faguet says, "In its primitive and legendary state the temptation

-of St. Anthony was nothing more than the story of a recluse tempted

-by the Devil through the flesh, by all the artifices at the Devil's

-disposal. In the definite thought of Flaubert the temptation of St.

-Anthony has become man's soul tempted by all the illusions of human

-thought and imagination. St. Anthony to the eyes of the first naive

-hagiologists is a second Adam, seduced by woman, who was inspired by

-Satan. St. Anthony conceived by Flaubert is a more thoughtful Faust; a

-Faust incapable of irony, not a Faust who could play with illusions and

-with himself--secretly persuaded that he could withdraw when he chose

-to give himself the trouble to do so--rather a Faust who approached,

-accosted, caressed all possible forms of universal illusions."

-

-Flaubert's studies for the "Temptation" were tremendous. For nearly

-thirty years he touched and retouched, altered, enlarged, condensed.

-He kneaded into its substance the knowledge, incessantly sought, of

-all religions and philosophies; of all the forms man's speculations

-had taken in his endless endeavours to explain to himself Life and

-Fate; humanity's untiring, passionate effort to find the meaning of its

-mysterious origin and purpose, and final destiny. How terrible, how

-naive, how fantastic, bloody, grovelling, and outrageous were most of

-the solutions accepted, the gigantic panorama of the book startlingly

-sets forth. What gory agonies, what mystic exaltations, what dark

-cruelties, frenzied abandons, and inhuman self denials have marked

-those puzzled gropings for light and truth are revealed as by lightning

-flashes in the crowding scenes of the epic. For the Temptation of St.

-Anthony is an epic. Not a drama of man's actions, as all previous

-epics have been, but a drama of the soul. All its movement is in the

-adventure and conflict of the spirit. St. Anthony remains always in

-the one place, almost as moveless as a mirror. His vision--clarified

-of the sensual and the actual by his fastings and macerations--becomes

-like the surface of an unruffled lake. A lake reflecting the aberrant

-forms of thoughts that, like clouds, drift between man and the infinite

-depths of knowledge. Clouds of illusion forever changing, melting,

-fusing; assuming forms grotesque, monstrous, intolerable; until at

-last the writhing mists of speculation and ignorance are drunk up

-by the widening light of wisdom and the fogs and phantasms vanish,

-leaving his consciousness aware, in poignant ecstasy, of the cloudless

-deeps of truth. The temptation of the flesh is but a passing episode.

-An eidolon of Sheba's queen offers him luxury, wealth, voluptuous

-beauty, power, dainty delights of eye and palate in vain. Man has never

-found his most dangerous seductions in the appetites. More lamentable

-disintegration has grown from his attempts to pierce beyond the

-body's veil. The parched and tortured saint is whirled by vertiginous

-visions through cycles of man's straining efforts to know why, whence,

-whither. He assists at the rites of Mithira, the prostrations of

-serpent-and-devil-worshippers, worshippers of fire, of light, of the

-Greeks' deified forces of nature; of the northern enthronement of brute

-force and war. He is swept by the soothing breath of Quietism, plunges

-into every heresy and philosophy, sees the orgies, the flagellations,

-the self mutilations, the battles and furies of sects, each convinced

-that it has found the answer at last to the Great Question, and

-endeavouring to constrain the rest of humanity to accept the answer.

-He meets the Sphinx--embodied interrogation--and the Chimera--the

-simulacrum of the fantasies of the imagination--dashing madly about the

-stolid querist.

-

-Lucifer--spirit of doubt of all dogmatic solutions--mounts with Anthony

-into illimitable space. They rise beyond these struggles and furies

-into the cold uttermost of the universe; among innumerable worlds;

-worlds yet vaguely forming in the womb of time, newly come to birth,

-lustily grown to maturity; worlds dying, decaying, crumbling again into

-atomic dust. Overcome by the intolerable Vast, Anthony sinks once more

-to his cell, and Lucifer, who has shown him the macrocosm, opens to

-him the equal immensity of the microcosm. Makes him see the swarming

-life that permeates the seas, the earth and atmosphere, the incredible

-numerousness of the invisible lives that people every drop of water,

-every grain of sand, every breath of air. The unity of life dawns upon

-him, and his heart, withered by dubiety, melts into joyousness and

-peace. As the day dawns in gold he beholds the face of Christ.

-

-Flaubert's Lucifer has no relation to the jejune Devil of

-man's early conception of material evil, nor does he resemble

-Goethe's Mephistopheles; embodiment of the Eighteenth Century's

-spirit of sneering disbeliefs and negation. He is rather our own

-tempter--Science. He is the spirit of Knowledge: Nature itself calling

-us to look into the immensities and read just our dogmas by this new

-and terrible widening of our mental and moral horizons. This last

-experience of the Saint reproduces the spiritual experiences of the

-modern man; cast loose from his ancient moorings, and yet finding at

-last in his new knowledge a truer conception of the brotherhood of all

-life in all its forms, and seeing still, in the growing light, the

-benignant eyes of God.

-

-It is not remarkable that Flaubert resented the banality, the dull

-grossness of the reception of his work, or that Hearn shared his

-amazement and bitterness. Even yet the world wakes but slowly to the

-true character of this masterpiece; this epic wrought with so great

-a care and patience, so instinct with genius, dealing perhaps more

-profoundly than any other mind has ever done with the Great Adventure

-of humanity's eternal search for Truth.

-

-ELIZABETH BISLAND.

-

-

-

-

-ARGUMENT

-

-

-

-

-FRAILTY

-

-

-Sunset in the desert. Enfeebled by prolonged fasting, the hermit

-finds himself unable to concentrate his mind upon holy things. His

-thoughts wonder; memories of youth evoke regrets that his relaxed will

-can no longer find strength to suppress,--and, remembrance begetting

-remembrance, his fancy leads him upon dangerous ground. He dreams of

-his flight from home,--of Ammonaria, his sister's playmate,--of his

-misery in the waste,--his visit to Alexandria with the blind monk

-Didymus,--the unholy sights of the luxurious city.

-

-Involuntarily he yields to the nervous dissatisfaction growing upon

-him. He laments his solitude, his joylessness, his poverty, the

-obscurity of his life; grace departs from him; hope burns low within

-his heart. Suddenly revolting against his weakness, he seeks refuge

-from distraction in the study of the Scriptures.

-

-Vain effort! An invisible hand turns the leaves, placing perilous

-texts before his eyes. He dreams of the Maccabees slaughtering

-their enemies, and desires that he might do likewise with the

-Arians of Alexandria;--he becomes inspired with admiration of King

-Nebuchadnezzar;--he meditates voluptuously upon the visit of Sheba's

-queen of Solomon;--discovers a text in the Acts of the Apostles

-antagonistic to principles of monkish ascetism,--indulges in reveries

-regarding the riches of Biblical kings and holy men. The Tempter comes

-to tempt him with evil hallucinations for which the Saint's momentary

-frailty has paved the way; and with the Evil One come also

-

-

-

-THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS

-

-

-Phantom gold is piled up to excite Covetousness; shadowy banquets

-appear to evoke Gluttony. The scene shifts to aid the temptations of

-Anger and of Pride....

-

-Anthony finds himself in Alexandria, at the head of a wild army of

-monks slaughtering the heretics and the pagans, without mercy for

-age or sex. In fantastic obedience to the course of his fancy while

-reading the Scriptures a while before, and like an invisible echo of

-his evil thoughts, the scene changes again. Alexandria is transformed

-into Constantinople.

-

-Anthony finds himself the honoured of the Emperor. He beholds the

-vast circus in all its splendour, the ocean of faces, the tumult of

-excitement. Simultaneously he beholds his enemies degraded to the

-condition of slaves, toiling in the stables of Constantine. He feels

-joy in the degradation of the Fathers of Nicaea. Then all is transformed.

-

-It is no longer the splendour of Constantinople he beholds under the

-luminosity of a Greek day; but the prodigious palace of Nebuchadnezzar

-by night. He beholds the orgies, the luxuries, the abominations;--and

-the spirit of Pride enters triumphantly into him as the spirit of

-Nebuchadnezzar....

-

-Awaking as from a dream, he finds himself again before his hermitage.

-A vast caravan approaches, halts; and the Queen of Sheba descends to

-tempt the Saint with the deadliest of all temptations. Her beauty is

-enhanced by oriental splendour of adornment; her converse is a song of

-withcraft. The Saint remains firm.... The Seven Deadly Sins depart

-from him.

-

-

-

-THE HERESIARCHS

-

-

-But now the tempter assumes a subtler form. Under the guise of a former

-disciple of Anthony,--Hilarion,--the demon, while pretending to seek

-instruction, endeavours to poison the mind of Anthony with hatred of

-the fathers of the church. He repeats all the scandals amassed by

-ecclesiastical intriguers, all the calumnies created by malice;--he

-cites texts only to foment doubt, and quotes the evangels only to

-make confusion. Under the pretext of obtaining mental enlightenment

-from the wisest of men, he induces Anthony to enter with him into

-a spectral basilica, wherein are assembled all the Heresiarchs of

-the third century. The hermit is confounded by the multitude of

-tenets,--horrified by the blasphemies and abominations of Elkes,

-Corpocrates, Valentinus, Manes, Cerdo,--disgusted by the perversions of

-the Paternians, Marcosians, Montanists, Serptians,--bewildered by the

-apocryphal Gospels of Eve and of Judas, of the Lord, and of Thomas.

-

-And Hilarion grows taller.

-

-

-THE MARTYRS

-

-Anthony finds himself in the dungeons of a vast amphitheatre, among

-Christians condemned to the wild beasts. By this hallucination the

-tempter would prove to the Saint that martyrdom is not always suffered

-for purest motives. Anthony finds the martyrs possessed by bigotry and

-insincerity. He sees many compelled to die against their will; many

-who would forswear their faith could it avail them aught. He beholds

-heretics die for their heterodoxy more nobly than orthodox believers.

-

-And he finds himself transported to the tombs of the martyrs. He

-witnesses the meetings of Christian women at the sepulchres. He beholds

-the touching ceremonies of prayer, change into orgies,--lamentations

-give place to amorous dalliance.

-

-

-

-THE MAGICIANS

-

-

-Then the Tempter seeks to shake Anthony's faith in the excellence

-and evidence of miracles. He assumes the form of a Hindoo Brahmin,

-terminating a life of wondrous holiness by self-cremation;--he appears

-as Simon Magus and Helen of Tyre,--as Appollonius of Tyans, greatest of

-all thaumaturgists, who claims superiority to Christ. All the marvels

-related by Philostratus are embodied in the converse of Apollonius and

-Damis.

-

-

-

-THE GODS

-

-

-Hilarion reappears taller than ever, growing more gigantic in

-proportion to the increasing weakness of the Saint. Standing beside

-Anthony he evokes all the deities of the antique world. They defile

-before him in a marvellous panorama:--Gods of Egypt and India, Chaldea

-and Hellas, Babylon and Ultima Thule,--monstrous and multiform, phallic

-and ithyphallic, fantastic or obscene. Some intoxicate by their beauty;

-others appall by their foulness. The Buddha recounts the story of his

-wondrous life; Venus displays the rounded daintiness of her nudity;

-Isis utters awful soliloquy. Lastly the phantom of Jehovah appears, as

-the shadow of a god passing away forever.

-

-Suddenly the stature of Hilarion towers to the stars; he assumes the

-likeness and luminosity of Lucifer; he announces himself as

-

-

-

-SCIENCE

-

-

-And Anthony is lifted upon mighty wings and borne away beyond the

-world, above the solar system, above the starry arch of the Milky Way.

-All future discoveries of Astronomy are revealed to him. He is tempted

-by the revelation of innumerable worlds,--by the refutation of all

-his previous ideas of the nature of the Universe,--by the enigmas of

-infinity,--by all the marvels that conflict with faith. Even in the

-night of immensity the demon renews the temptation of reason: Anthony

-wavers upon the verge of pantheism.

-

-

-

-LUST AND DEATH

-

-

-Anthony abandoned by the spirit of Science comes to himself in the

-desert. Then the Tempter returns under a two-fold aspect: as the

-Spirit of Lust and the Spirit of Destruction. The latter urges him to

-suicide,--the former to indulgence of sense. They inspire him with

-strong fancies of palingenesis, of the illusion of death, of the

-continuity of life. The pantheistic temptation intensified.

-

-

-

-THE MONSTERS

-

-

-Anthony in reveries meditates upon the monstrous symbols painted upon

-the walls of certain ancient temples. Could he know their meaning

-he might learn also something of the secret lien between Matter and

-Thought. Forthwith a phantasmagoria of monsters commence to pass before

-his eyes:--the Sphinx and the Chimera, the Blemmyes and Astomi, the

-Cynocephali and all creatures of mythologie creation. He beholds the

-fabulous beings of Oriental imagining,--the abnormities described

-by Pliny and Herodotus, the fantasticalities to be later adopted by

-heraldry,--the grotesqueries of future medieval illumination made

-animate;--the goblinries and foulnesses of superstitious fancy,--the

-Witches' Sabbath of abominations.

-

-

-

-METAMORPHOSIS

-

-

-The multitude of monsters melts away; the land changes into an Ocean;

-the creatures of the briny abysses appear. And the waters in turn

-also change; seaweeds are transformed to herbs, forests of coral

-give place to forests of trees, polypous life changes to vegetation.

-Metals crystallize; frosts effloresce; plants become living things,

-inanimate matter takes animate form, monads vibrate, the pantheism of

-nature makes itself manifest. Anthony feels a delirious desire to unite

-himself with the Spirit of Universal Being....

-

-The vision vanishes. The sun arises. The face of Christ is revealed.

-The temptation has passed; Anthony kneels in prayer.

-

-L. H.

-

-

-

-

-THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY

-

-

-_It is in the Thebaid at the summit of a mountain, upon a platform,

-rounded off into the form of a demilune, and enclosed by huge stones._

-

-_The Hermit's cabin appears in the background. It is built of mud and

-reeds, it is flat-roofed and doorless. A pitcher and a loaf of black

-bread can be distinguished within also, in the middle of the apartment

-a large book resting on a wooden STELA; while here and there, fragments

-of basketwork, two or three mats, a basket, and a knife lie upon the

-ground._

-

-_Some ten paces from the hut, there is a long cross planted in the

-soil; and, at the other end of the platform, an aged and twisted

-palm tree leans over the abyss; for the sides of the mountain are

-perpendicular, and the Nile appears to form a lake at the foot of the

-cliff._

-

-_The view to right and left is broken by the barrier of rocks. But

-on the desert-side, like a vast succession of sandy beaches, immense

-undulations of an ashen-blonde color extend one behind the other,

-rising higher as they recede; and far in the distance, beyond the

-sands, the Libyan chain forms a chalk-colored wall, lightly shaded by

-violet mists. On the opposite side the sun is sinking. In the north the

-sky is of a pearl-gray tint, while at the zenith purple clouds disposed

-like the tufts of a gigantic mane, lengthen themselves against the blue

-vault. These streaks of flame take darker tones; the azure spots turn

-to a nacreous pallor; the shrubs, the pebbles, the earth, all now seem

-hard as bronze; and throughout space there floats a golden dust so fine

-as to become confounded with the vibrations of the light._

-

-_Saint Anthony, who has a long beard, long hair, and wears a tunic of

-goatskin, is seated on the ground cross-legged, and is occupied in

-weaving mats. As soon as the sun disappears, he utters a deep sigh,

-and, gazing upon the horizon, exclaims_:--

-

-"Another day! another day gone! Nevertheless formerly I used not to

-be so wretched. Before the end of the night I commenced my orisons;

-then I descended to the river to get water, and remounted the rugged

-pathway with the skin upon my shoulder, singing hymns on the way. Then

-I would amuse myself by arranging everything in my hut. I would make my

-tools; I tried to make all my mats exactly equal in size, and all my

-baskets light; for then my least actions seemed to me duties in nowise

-difficult or painful of accomplishment.

-

-"Then at regular hours I ceased working; and when I prayed with my arms

-extended, I felt as though a fountain of mercy were pouring from the

-height of heaven into my heart. That fountain is now dried up. Why?"

-

-(_He walks up and down slowly, within the circuit of the rocks._)

-

-"All blamed me when I left the house. My mother sank to the ground,

-dying; my sister from afar off made signs to me to return; and the

-other--wept, Ammonaria, the child whom I used to meet every evening

-at the cistern, when she took the oxen to drink. She ran after me. Her

-foot rings glittered in the dust; and her tunic, open at the hips,

-fluttered loosely in the wind. The aged anchorite who was leading me

-away called her vile names. Our two camels galloped forward without

-respite; and I have seen none of my people since that day.

-

-"At first, I selected for my dwelling place, the tomb of a Pharaoh. But

-an enchantment circulates through all those subterranean palaces, where

-the darkness seems to have been thickened by the ancient smoke of the

-aromatics. From the depths of Sarcophagi, I heard doleful voices arise,

-and call my name; or else, I suddenly beheld the abominable things

-painted upon the walls live and move; and I fled away to the shore

-of the Red Sea, and took refuge in a ruined citadel. There my only

-companions were the scorpions dragging themselves among the stones, and

-the eagles continually wheeling above my head, in the blue of heaven.

-At night I was torn by claws, bitten by beaks; soft wings brushed

-against me; and frightful demons, shrieking in my ears, flung me upon

-the ground. Once I was even rescued by the people of a caravan going

-to Alexandria; and they took me away with them.

-

-"Then I sought to obtain instruction from the good old man Didymus.

-Although blind, none equalled him in the knowledge of the Scriptures.

-When the lesson was finished, he used to ask me to give him my arm

-to lean upon, that we might walk together. Then I would conduct him

-to the Paneum, whence may be seen the Pharos and the open sea. Then

-we would return by way of the post, elbowing men of all nations,

-even Cimmerians clad in the skins of bears and Gymnosophists of the

-Ganges anointed with cow-dung. But there was always some fighting in

-the streets--either on account of the Jews refusing to pay taxes, or

-of seditious people who wished to drive the Romans from the city.

-Moreover, the city is full of heretics--followers of Manes; Valentinus,

-Basilides, Arius--all seeking to engross my attention in order to argue

-with me and to convince me.

-

-"Their discourses often come back to my memory. Vainly do I seek to

-banish them from my mind. They trouble me!

-

-"I took refuge at Colzin, and there lived a life of such penance that

-I ceased to fear God. A few men, desirous of becoming anchorites,

-gathered about me. I imposed a practical rule of life upon them,

-hating, as I did, the extravagance of Gnosus and the assertions of the

-philosophers. Messages were sent to me from all parts, and men came

-from afar off to visit me.

-

-"Meanwhile the people were torturing the confessors; and the thirst of

-martyrdom drew me to Alexandria. The persecution had ceased three days

-before I arrived there!

-

-"While returning thence, I was stopped by a great crowd assembled

-before the temple of Serapis. They told me it was a last example which

-the Governor had resolved to make. In the centre of the portico, under

-the sunlight, a naked woman was fettered to a column, and two soldiers

-were flogging her with thongs; at every blow her whole body writhed.

-She turned round, her mouth open; and over the heads of the crowd,

-through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought that I could

-recognize Ammonaria....

-

-[Illustration: ... through the long hair half hiding her face,

-I thought that I could recognize Ammonaria]

-

-"Nevertheless ... this one was taller ... and beautiful ...

-prodigiously beautiful!"

-

-(_He passes his hands over his forehead._)

-

-"No! no! I must not think of it!

-

-"Another time Athanasius summoned me to assist him against the Arians.

-The contest was limited to invectives and laughter. But since that

-time he has been calumniated, dispossessed of his see, obliged to fly

-for safety elsewhere. Where is he now? I do not know! The people give

-themselves very little trouble to bring me news. All my disciples have

-abandoned me--Hilarion like the rest.

-

-"He was perhaps fifteen years of age when he first came to me and his

-intelligence was so remarkable that he asked me questions incessantly.

-Then he used to listen to me with a pensive air, and whatever I needed

-he brought it to me without a murmur--nimbler than a kid, merry enough

-to make even the patriarchs laugh. He was a son to me."

-

-(_The sky is red; the earth completely black. Long drifts of sand

-follow the course of the gusts of wind, rising like great shrouds and

-falling again. Suddenly against a bright space in the sky a flock of

-birds pass, forming a triangular battalion, gleaming like one sheet of

-metal, of which the edges alone seem to quiver._

-

-_Anthony watches them._)

-

-"Ah, how I should like to follow them.

-

-"How often also have I enviously gazed upon those long vessels,

-whose sails resemble wings--and above all when they were bearing

-far away those I had received at my hermitage! What pleasant hours

-we passed!--what out-pourings of feeling! No one ever interested me

-more than Ammon: he told me of his voyage to Rome, of the Catacombs,

-the Coliseum, the piety of illustrious women, and a thousand other

-things!--and it grieved me to part with him! Wherefore my obstinacy

-in continuing to live such a life as this? I would have done well to

-remain with the monks of Nitria, inasmuch as they supplicated me to

-do so. They have cells apart, and nevertheless communicate with each

-other. On Sundays a trumpet summons them to assemble at the church,

-where one may see three scourges hanging up, which serve to punish

-delinquents, robbers, and intruders; for their discipline is severe.

-

-"Nevertheless they are not without some enjoyments. The faithful bring

-them eggs, fruits, and even instruments with which they can extract

-thorns from their feet. There are vineyards about Prisperi; those

-dwelling at Pabena have a raft on which they may journey when they go

-to seek provisions.

-

-"But I might have served my brethren better as a simple priest. As a

-priest one may aid the poor, administer the sacraments, and exercise

-authority over families.

-

-"Furthermore, all laics are not necessarily damned, and it only

-depended upon my own choice to become--for example--a grammarian, a

-philosopher. I would then have had in my chamber a sphere of reeds,

-and tablets always ready at hand, young men around me, and a wreath of

-laurel suspended above my door, as a sign.

-

-"But there is too much pride in triumphs such as those. A soldier's

-life would have been preferable. I was robust and bold: bold enough to

-fasten the cables of the military machines--to traverse dark forests,

-or to enter, armed and helmeted, into smoking cities.... Neither was

-there anything to have prevented me from purchasing with my money the

-position of publican at the toll-office of some bridge; and travellers

-would have taught me many strange things, and told me strange stories,

-the while showing me many curious objects packed up among their

-baggage....

-

-"The merchants of Alexandria sail upon the river Canopus on holidays,

-and drink wine in the chalices of lotus-flowers, to a music of

-tambourines which makes the taverns along the shore tremble! Beyond,

-trees, made cone-shaped by pruning, protect the quiet farms against

-the wind of the south. The roof of the lofty house leans upon thin

-colonettes placed as closely together as the laths of a lattice;

-and through their interspaces the master, reclining upon his long

-couch, beholds his plains stretching about him--the hunter among the

-wheat-fields--the winepress where the vintage is being converted into

-wine, the oxen treading out the wheat. His children play upon the floor

-around him; his wife bends down to kiss him."

-

-(_Against the grey dimness of the twilight, here and there appear

-pointed muzzles, with straight, pointed ears and bright eyes. Anthony

-advances toward them. There is a sound of gravel crumbling down; the

-animals take flight. It was a troop of jackals._

-

-_One still remains, rising upon his hinder legs, with his body half

-arched and head raised in an attitude full of defiance._)

-

-"How pretty he is! I would like to stroke his back gently!"

-

-(_Anthony whistles to coax him to approach. The jackal disappears._)

-

-"Ah! he is off to join the others. What solitude! what weariness!"

-(_Laughing bitterly._)

-

-"A happy life this indeed!--bending palm-branches in the fire to make

-shepherds' crooks, fashioning baskets, stitching mats together--and

-then exchanging these things with the Nomads for bread which breaks

-one's teeth! Ah! woe, woe is me! will this never end? Surely death were

-preferable! I can endure it no more! Enough! enough!"

-

-(_He stamps his foot upon the ground, and rushes frantically to and fro

-among the rocks; then pauses, out of breath, bursts into tears, and

-lies down upon the ground, on his side._

-

-_The night is calm; multitudes of stars are palpitating; only the

-crackling noise made by the tarantulas is audible._

-

-_The two arms of the cross make a shadow upon the sand; Anthony, who is

-weeping, observes it._)

-

-"Am I, then, so weak, O my God! Courage, let me rise from here!"

-

-(_He enters his hut, turns over a pile of cinders, finds a live ember,

-lights his torch and fixes it upon the wooden desk, so as to throw a

-light upon the great book._)

-

-"Suppose I take the Acts of the Apostles?--yes!--no matter where!"

-

-_'And he saw the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it

-were a great linen sheet let down by the four corners from heaven to

-the earth--wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping

-things of the earth and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to

-him: Arise, Peter! Kill and eat!'_[1]

-

-"Then the Lord desired that his apostle should eat of all things?...

-while I...."

-

-(_Anthony remains thoughtful, his chin resting against his breast. The

-rustling of the pages, agitated by the wind, causes him to lift his

-head again; and he reads_:)

-

-_'So the Jews made a great slaughter of their enemies with the sword,

-and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to

-them...._[2]

-

-"Then, comes the number of people slain by them--seventy-five thousand.

-They had suffered so much! Moreover, their enemies were the enemies of

-the true God. And how they must have delighted in avenging themselves

-thus by the massacre of idolaters! Doubtless the city must have been

-crammed with the dead! There must have been corpses at the thresholds

-of the garden gates, upon the stairways, in all the chambers, and piled

-up so high that the doors could no longer move upon their hinges!...

-But lo! here I am permitting my mind to dwell upon ideas of murder and

-of blood!..."

-

-(_He opens the book at another place._)

-

-_'Then King Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped

-Daniel...._'[3]

-

-"Ah! that was just! The _Most High_ exalts his prophets above Kings;

-yet that monarch spent his life in banqueting, perpetually drunk with

-pleasure and pride. But God, to punish him, changed him into a beast!

-He walked upon four feet!"

-

-(_Anthony begins to laugh; and in extending his arms, involuntarily

-disarranges the leaves of the book with the tips of his fingers. His

-eyes fell upon this phrase_:--)

-

-_'And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he showed them the house

-of his aromatical spices, and the gold and the silver, and divers

-precious odours and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all

-that he had in his treasures....'_[4]

-

-"I can imagine that spectacle; they must have beheld precious stones,

-diamonds and darics heaped up to the very roof. One who possesses so

-vast an accumulation of wealth is no longer like other men. While

-handling his riches he knows that he controls the total result of

-innumerable human efforts--as it were the life of nations drained by

-him and stored up, which he can pour forth at will. It is a commendable

-precaution on the part of Kings. Even the _Wisest_ of all did not

-neglect it. His navy brought him elephants' teeth and apes.... Where is

-that passage?"

-

-(_He turns the leaves over rapidly._)

-

-"Ah! here it is:"

-

-_'And the Queen of Saba, having heard of the fame of Solomon in the

-name of the Lord, came to try him with hard questions.'_[5]

-

-"How did she hope to tempt him? The _Devil_ indeed sought to tempt

-Jesus! But Jesus triumphed because he was God; and Solomon, perhaps,

-owing this knowledge of magic! It is sublime--that science! For the

-world--as a philosopher once explained it to me, forms a whole, of

-which all parts mutually influence one another, like the organs of one

-body. It is science which enables us to know the natural loves and

-natural repulsions of all things, and to play upon them?... Therefore,

-it is really possible to modify what appears to be the immutable order

-of the universe?"

-

-(_Then the two shadows formed behind him by the arms of the cross,

-suddenly lengthen and project themselves before him. They assume the

-form of two great horns. Anthony cries out_:--)

-

-"Help me! O my God!"

-

-[Illustration: Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God!]

-

-(_The shadows shrink back to their former place._)

-

-"Ah!... it was an illusion ... nothing more. It is needless for me to

-torment my mind further! I can do nothing!--absolutely nothing."

-

-(_He sits down and folds his arms._)

-

-"Nevertheless ... it seems to me that I felt the approach of.... But

-why should _He_ come? Besides, do I not know all his artifices? I

-repulsed the monstrous anchorite who laughingly offered me little

-loaves of warm, fresh bread, the centaur who sought to carry me away

-upon his croup, and that black child who appeared to me in the midst of

-the sands, who was very beautiful, and who told me that he was called

-the Spirit of Lust!"

-

-(_Anthony rises and walks rapidly up and down, first to the right, then

-to the left._)

-

-"It was by my order that this multitude of holy retreats was

-constructed--full of monks all wearing sackcloth of camel's hair

-beneath their garments of goatskin, and numerous enough to form an

-army. I have cured the sick from afar off; I have cast out demons;

-I have passed the river in the midst of crocodiles; the Emperor

-Constantine wrote me throe letters; Balacius, who had spat upon mine,

-was torn to pieces by his own horses; when I reappeared the people of

-Alexandria fought for the pleasure of seeing me, and Athanasius himself

-escorted me on the way back. But what works have I not accomplished

-Lo! for these thirty years and more I have been dwelling and groaning

-unceasingly in the desert! Like Eusebius, I have carried thirty-eight

-pounds of bronze upon my loins; like Macarius, I have exposed my body

-to the stings of insects; like Pacomus, I have passed fifty-three

-nights without closing my eyes; and those who are decapitated, tortured

-with red hot pincers, or burned alive, are perhaps less meritorious

-than I, seeing that my whole life is but one prolonged martyrdom."

-(_Anthony slackens his pace._)

-

-"Assuredly there is no human being in a condition of such unutterable

-misery! Charitable hearts are becoming scarcer. I no longer receive

-aught from any one. My mantle is worn out. I have no sandals--I have

-not even a porringer!--for I have distributed all I possessed to the

-poor and to my family, without retaining so much as one obolus. Yet

-surely I ought to have a little money to obtain the tools indispensable

-to my work? Oh, not much! a very small sum.... I would be very saving

-of it....

-

-"The fathers of Nicaea, clad in purple robes, sat like magi, upon

-thrones ranged along the walls; and they were entertained at a great

-banquet and overwhelmed with honours, especially Paphnutius, because he

-is one-eyed and lame, since the persecution of Diocletian! The Emperor

-kissed his blind eye several times; what foolishness! Besides, there

-were such infamous men members of that Council! A bishop of Scythia,

-Theophilus! another of Persia, John! a keeper of beasts, Spiridion!

-Alexander was too old. Athanasius ought to have shown more gentleness

-towards the Arians, so as to have obtained concessions from them.

-

-"Yet would they have made any? They would not hear me! The one who

-spoke against me--a tall young man with a curly beard--uttered the

-most captious objections to my argument; and while I was seeking words

-to express my views they all stared at me with their wicked faces,

-and barked like hyenas. Ah! why cannot I have them all exiled by the

-Emperor! or rather have them beaten, crushed, and see them suffer! I

-suffer enough myself."

-

-(_He leans against his cabin in a fainting condition._)

-

-"It is because I have fasted too long; my strength is leaving me. If I

-could eat--only once more--a piece of meat." (_He half closes his eyes

-with languor._)

-

-"Ah! some red flesh--a bunch of grapes to bite into ... curdled milk

-that trembles on a plate!...

-

-"But what has come upon me? What is the matter with me? I feel my heart

-enlarging like the sea, when it swells before the storm. An unspeakable

-feebleness weighs down upon me, and the warm air seems to waft me

-the perfume of a woman's hair. No woman has approached this place;

-nevertheless?--"

-

-(_He gazes toward the little pathway between the rocks._)

-

-"That is the path by which they come, rocked in their litters by the

-black arms of the eunuchs. They descend and joining their hands,

-heavy with rings, kneel down before me. They relate to me all their

-troubles. The desire of human pleasure tortures them; they would

-gladly die; they have seen in their dreams God calling to them ... and

-all the while the hems of their robes fall upon my feet. I repel them

-from me. 'Ah! no!' they cry, 'not yet! What shall I do?' They gladly

-accept any penitence I impose on them. They ask for the hardest of all;

-they beg to share mine and to live with me.

-

-"It is now a long time since I have seen any of them! Perhaps some of

-them will come! why not? If I could only hear again, all of a sudden,

-the tinkling of mule-bells among the mountains. It seems to me...."

-

-(_Anthony clambers upon a rock at the entrance of the pathway, and

-leans over, darting his eyes into the darkness._)

-

-"Yes! over there, far off I see a mass moving, like a band of

-travellers seeking the way. _She_ is there!... They are making a

-mistake." (_Calling._)

-

-"This way! Come! Come!"

-

-(_Echo repeats: Come! Come! he lets his arms fall, stupefied._)

-

-"What shame for me! Alas! poor Anthony."

-

-(_And all of a sudden he hears a whisper:--"Poor Anthony"!_)

-

-"Who is there? Speak!"

-

-(_The wind passing through the intervals between the rocks, makes

-modulations; and in those confused sonorities he distinguishes Voices,

-as though the air itself were speaking. They are low, insinuating,

-hissing._)

-

-_The First_: "Dost thou desire women?"

-

-_The Second_: "Great heaps of money, rather!"

-

-_The Third_: "A glittering sword?" (_and_)

-

-_The Others_: "All the people admire thee! Sleep!"

-

-"Thou shalt slay them all, aye, thou shalt slay them!"

-

-(_At the same moment objects become transformed. At the edge of the

-cliff, the old palm tree with its tuft of yellow leaves, changes into

-the torso of a woman leaning over the abyss, her long hair waving in

-the wind.

-

-Anthony turns toward his cabin; and the stool supporting the great book

-whose pages are covered with black letters, seems to him changed into a

-bush all covered with nightingales._)

-

-"It must be the torch which is making this strange play of light....

-Let us put it out!"

-

-(_He extinguishes it; the obscurity becomes deeper, the darkness

-profound._

-

-_And suddenly in the air above there appear and disappear

-successively--first, a stretch of water; then the figure of a

-prostitute; the corner of a temple, a soldier; a chariot with two white

-horses, prancing._

-

-_These images appear suddenly, as in flashes--outlined against the

-background of the night, like scarlet paintings executed upon ebony._

-

-_Their motion accelerates. They defile by with vertiginous rapidity.

-Sometimes again, they pause and gradually pale and melt away; or else

-float off out of sight, to be immediately succeeded by others._

-

-_Anthony closes his eyelids._

-

-_They multiply, surround him, besiege him. An unspeakable fear takes

-possession of him; and he feels nothing more of living sensation, save

-a burning contraction of the epigastrium. In spite of the tumult in

-his brain, he is aware of an enormous silence which separates him from

-the world. He tries to speak;--impossible! He feels as though all the

-bands of his life were breaking and dissolving;--and, no longer able to

-resist, Anthony falls prostrate upon his mat._)

-

-

-[1] Acts X: 11-13--T.

-

-[2] Esther IX: 5--T.

-

-[3] Daniel II: 46.--T.

-

-[4] Kings XX: 13 (Vulg.).--T.

-

-[5] III Kings X: I (Vulg.).--T.

-

-

-

-

-II

-

-

-(_Then a great shadow, subtler than any natural shadow, and festooned

-by other shadows along its edges, defines itself upon the ground._

-

-_It is the Devil, leaning upon the roof of the hut, and bearing beneath

-his wings--like some gigantic bat suckling its little ones--the Seven

-Deadly Sins, whose grimacing heads are dimly distinguishable._

-

-_With eyes still closed, Anthony yields to the pleasure of inaction;

-and stretches his limbs upon the mat._

-

-_It seems to him quite soft, and yet softer--so that it becomes as if

-padded; it rises up; it becomes a bed. The bed becomes a shallop; water

-laps against its sides._

-

-_To right and left rise two long tongues of land, overlooking low

-cultivated plains, with a sycamore tree here and there. In the distance

-there is a tinkling of bells, a sound of drums and of singers. It is a

-party going to Canopus to sleep upon the temple of Serapis, in order

-to have dreams. Anthony knows this; and impelled by the wind, his boat

-glides along between the banks. Papyrus-leaves and the red flowers of

-the nymphaea, larger than the body of a man, bend over him. He is lying

-at the bottom of the boat; one oar at the stem, drags in the water.

-From time to time, a lukewarm wind blows; and the slender reeds rub one

-against the other, and rustle. Then the sobbing of the wavelets becomes

-indistinct. A heavy drowsiness falls upon him. He dreams that he is a

-Solitary of Egypt._

-

-_Then he awakes with a start._)

-

-"Did I dream? It was all so vivid that I can scarcely believe I was

-dreaming! My tongue burns. I am thirsty."

-

-(_He enters the cabin, and gropes at random in the dark._)

-

-"The ground is wet; can it have been raining? What can this mean! My

-pitcher is broken into atoms! But the goatskin?" (_He finds it._)

-

-"Empty!--completely empty! In order to get down to the river, I should

-have to walk for at least three hours; and the night is so dark that I

-could not see my way.

-

-"There is a gnawing in my entrails. Where is the bread!"

-

-(_After long searching, he picks up a crust not so large as an egg._)

-

-"What? Have the jackals taken it? Ah! malediction!"

-

-(_And he flings the bread upon the ground with fury._

-

-_No sooner has the action occurred than a table makes its appearance,

-covered with all things that are good to eat._

-

-_The byssus cloth, striated like the bandelets of the sphinx, produces

-of itself luminous undulations. Upon it are enormous quarters of red

-meats; huge fish; birds cooked in their plumage, and quadrupeds in

-their skins; fruits with colors and tints almost human in appearance;

-while fragments of cooling ice, and flagons of violet crystal reflect

-each other's glittering. Anthony notices in the middle of the table

-a boar smoking at every pore--with legs doubled up under its belly,

-and eyes half closed--and the idea of being able to eat so formidable

-an animal greatly delights him. Then many things appear which he has

-never seen before--black hashes, jellies, the color of gold, ragouts in

-which mushrooms float like nenuphars upon ponds, dishes of whipt cream

-light as clouds._

-

-_And the aroma of all this comes to him together with the salt smell of

-the ocean, the coolness of mountains, the great perfumes of the woods.

-He dilates his nostrils to their fullest extent; his mouth waters; he

-thinks to himself that he has enough before him for a year, for ten

-years, for his whole life!_

-

-_As he gazes with widely-opened eyes at all these viands, others

-appear; they accumulate, forming a pyramid crumbling at all its angles.

-The wines begin to flow over--the fish palpitate--the blood seethes in

-the dishes--the pulp of the fruit protrudes like amorous lips--and the

-table rises as high as his breast, up to his very chin at last--now

-bearing only one plate and a single loaf of bread, placed exactly in

-front of him._

-

-_He extends his hand to seize the loaf. Other loaves immediately

-present themselves to his grasp._)

-

-"For me!... all these! But ..." (_Anthony suddenly draws back._)

-

-"Instead of one which was there, lo! there are many! It must be a

-miracle, then, the same as our Lord wrought!

-

-"Yet for what purpose?... Ah! all the rest of these things are equally

-incomprehensible! Demon, begone from me! depart! begone!"

-

-(_He kicks the table from him. It disappears._)

-

-"Nothing more?--no!" (_He draws a lung breath._)

-

-"Ah! the temptation was strong! But how well I delivered myself from

-it!"

-

-(_He lifts his head, and at the same time stumbles over some sonorous

-object._)

-

-"Why! what can that be?" (_Anthony stoops down._)

-

-"How! a cup! Some traveller must have lost it here. There is nothing

-extraordinary...."

-

-(_He wets his finger, and rubs._)

-

-"It glitters!--metal! Still, I cannot see very clearly...."

-

-(_He lights his torch, and examines the cup._)

-

-"It is silver, ornamented with ovules about the rim, with a medal at

-the bottom of it."

-

-(_He detaches the medal with his nail!_)

-

-"It is a piece of money worth about seven or eight drachmas--not more!

-It matters not! even with that I could easily buy myself a sheepskin."

-

-(_A sudden flash of the torch lights up the cup._)

-

-"Impossible! gold? Yes, all gold, solid gold!"

-

-(_A still larger piece of money appears at the bottom. Under it he

-perceives several others._)

-

-"Why, this is a sum ... large enough to purchase three oxen ... and a

-little field!"

-

-(_The cup is now filled with pieces of gold._)

-

-"What! what!... a hundred slaves, soldiers, a host ... enough to

-buy...."

-

-(_The granulations of the rim, detaching themselves form a necklace of

-pearls._)

-

-"With such a marvel of jewelry as that, one could win even the wife of

-the Emperor!"

-

-(_By a sudden jerk, Anthony makes the necklace slip down over his

-wrist. He holds the cup in his left hand, and with his right lifts

-up the torch so as to throw the light upon it. As water streams

-overflowing from the basin of a fountain, so diamonds, carbuncles, and

-sapphires, all mingled with broad pieces of gold bearing the effigies

-of Kings, overflow from the cup in never ceasing streams, to form a

-glittering hillock upon the sand._)

-

-"What! how! Staters, cycles, dariacs, aryandics; Alexander, Demetrius,

-the Ptolemies, Caesar!--yet not one of them all possessed so much!

-Nothing is now impossible! no more suffering for me! how these

-gleams dazzle my eyes! Ah! my heart overflows! how delightful it is!

-yes--yes!--more yet! never could there be enough! Vainly I might

-continually fling it into the sea, there would always be plenty

-remaining for me. Why should I lose any of it? I will keep all, and say

-nothing to any one about it; I will have a chamber hollowed out for me

-in the rock, and lined with plates of bronze, and I will come here from

-time to time to feel the gold sinking down under the weight of my heel;

-I will plunge my arms into it as into sacks of grain! I will rub my

-face with it, I will lie down upon it!"

-

-(_He flings down the torch in order to embrace the glittering heap, and

-falls flat upon the ground._

-

-_He rises to his feet. The place is wholly empty._)

-

-"What have I done!

-

-"Had I died during those moments, I should have gone to hell--to

-irrevocable damnation."

-

-(_He trembles in every limb._)

-

-"Am I, then, accursed? Ah! no; it is my own fault! I allow myself

-to be caught in every snare! No man could be more imbecile, more

-infamous! I should like to beat myself, or rather to tear myself out

-of my own body! I have restrained myself too long. I feel the want of

-vengeance--the necessity of striking, of killing!--as though I had a

-pack of wild beasts within me! Would that I could hew my way with an

-axe, through the midst of a multitude.... Ah, a poniard!..."

-

-(_He perceives his knife, and rushes to seize it. The knife slips from

-his hand; and Anthony remains leaning against the wall of his hut, with

-wide-open mouth, motionless, cataleptic._

-

-_Everything about him has disappeared._

-

-_He thinks himself at Alexandria, upon the Paneum--an artificial

-mountain in the centre of the city, encircled by a winding stairway._

-

-_Before him lies Lake Mareolis; on his right hand is the sea, on his

-left the country; and immediately beneath him a vast confusion of

-flat roofs, traversed from north to south and from east to west by

-two streets which intercross, and which offer throughout their entire

-length the spectacle of files of porticoes with Corinthian columns. The

-houses overhanging this double colonnade have windows of stained glass.

-Some of them support exteriorly enormous wooden cages, into which the

-fresh air rushes from without._

-

-_Monuments of various architecture tower up in close proximity.

-Egyptian pylons dominate Greek temples. Obelisks appear like lances

-above battlements of red brick. In the middle of public squares there

-are figures of Hermes with pointed ears, and of Anubis with the head of

-a dog. Anthony can distinguish the mosaic pavements of the courtyards,

-and tapestries suspended from the beams of ceilings._

-

-_He beholds at one glance, the two ports (the Great Port and the

-Eunostus), both round as circuses, and separated by a mole connecting

-Alexandria with the craggy island upon which the Pharos-tower

-rises--quadrangular, five hundred cubits high, nine storied, having at

-its summit a smoking heap of black coals._

-

-_Small interior ports open into the larger ones. The mole terminates at

-each end in a bridge supported upon marble columns planted in the sea.

-Sailing vessels pass beneath it, while heavy lighters overladen with

-merchandise, thalamegii[1] inlaid with ivory, gondolas covered with

-awnings, triremes, biremes, and all sorts of vessels are moving to and

-fro, or lie moored at the wharves._

-

-_About the Great Port extends an unbroken array of royal construction:

-the palace of the Ptolomies, the Museum, the Posidium, the Caesareum,

-the Timonium where Mark Anthony sought refuge, the Soma which contains

-the tomb of Alexander; while at the other extremity of the city, beyond

-the Eunostus, the great glass factories, perfume factories, and papyrus

-factories may be perceived in a suburban quarter._

-

-_Strolling peddlers, porters, ass-drivers run and jostle together.

-Here and there one observes some priest of Isis wearing a panther skin

-on his shoulders, a Roman soldier with his bronze helmet, and many

-negroes. At the thresholds of the shops women pause, artisans ply their

-trades; and the grinding noise of chariot wheels puts to flight the

-birds that devour the detritus of the butcher-shops and the morsels of

-fish left upon the ground._

-

-_The general outline of the streets seems like a black network flung

-upon the white uniformity of the houses. The markets stocked with

-herbs make green bouquets in the midst of it; the drying-yards of the

-dyers, blotches of color; the golden ornaments of the temple-pediments,

-luminous points--all comprised within the oval enclosure of the grey

-ramparts, under the vault of the blue heaven, beside the motionless

-sea._

-

-_But suddenly the movement of the crowd ceases; all turn their

-eyes toward the west, whence enormous whirlwinds of dust are seen

-approaching._

-

-_It is the coming of the monks of the Thebaid, all clad in goatskins,

-armed with cudgels, roaring a canticle of battle and of faith with the

-refrain_:

-

-"Where are they? Where are they?"

-

-_Anthony understands that they are coming to kill the Arians._

-

-_The streets are suddenly emptied--only flying feet are visible._

-

-_The Solitaries are now in the city. Their formidable cudgels, studded

-with nails, whirl in the air like suns of steel. The crash of things

-broken in the houses is heard. There are intervals of silence. Then

-great screams arise._

-

-_From one end of the street to the other there is a continual eddy of

-terrified people._

-

-_Many grasp pikes. Sometimes two bands meet, rush into one; and this

-mass of men slips upon the pavement--fighting, disjointing, knocking

-down. But the men with the long hair always reappear._

-

-_Threads of smoke begin to escape from the corners of edifices! folding

-doors burst open. Portions of walls crumble down. Architraves fall._

-

-_Anthony finds all his enemies again, one after the other. He even

-recognizes some whom he had altogether forgotten; before killing them

-he outrages them. He disembowels--he severs throats--he fells as in

-a slaughter house--he hales old men by the beard, crushes children,

-smites the wounded. And vengeance is taken upon luxury, those who

-do not know how to read tear up hooks; others smash and deface the

-statues, paintings, furniture, caskets,--a thousand dainty things

-the use of which they do not know, and which simply for that reason

-exasperates them. At intervals they pause, out of breath, in the work

-of destruction; then they recommence._

-

-_The inhabitants moan in the courtyards where they have sought refuge.

-The women raise their tearful eyes and lift their naked arms to heaven.

-In hope of moving the Solitaries they embrace their knees; the men cast

-them off and fling them down, and the blood gushes to the ceilings,

-falls back upon the walls like sheets of rain, streams from the trunks

-of decapitated corpses, fills the aqueducts, forms huge red pools upon

-the ground._

-

-_Anthony is up to his knees in it. He wades in it; he sucks up the

-blood-spray on his lips; he is thrilled with joy as he feels it upon

-his limbs, under his hair-tunic which is soaked through with it._

-

-_Night comes. The immense uproar dies away._

-

-_The Solitaries have disappeared._

-

-_Suddenly, upon the outer galleries corresponding to each of the nine

-stories of the Pharos, Anthony observes thick black lines forming, like

-lines of crows perching. He hurries thither; and soon finds himself at

-the summit._

-

-_A huge mirror of brass turned toward the open sea, reflects the forms

-of the vessels in the offing._

-

-_Anthony amuses himself by watching them; and while he watches, their

-number increases._

-

-_They are grouped together within a gulf which has the form of a

-crescent. Upon a promontory in the background, towers a new city of

-Roman architecture, with cupolas of stone, conical roofs, gleams of

-pink and blue marbles, and a profusion of brazen ornamentation applied

-to the volutes of the capitals, to the angles of the cornices, to the

-summits of the edifices. A cypress-wood overhangs the city. The line of

-the sea is greener, the air colder. The mountains lining the horizon

-are capped with snow._

-

-_Anthony is trying to find his way, when a man approaches him, and

-says_:

-

-"Come! they are waiting for you."

-

-_He traverses a forum, enters a great court, stoops beneath a low

-door; and he arrives before the facade of the palace, decorated

-with a group in wax, representing Constantine overcoming a dragon.

-There is a porphyry basin, from the centre of which rises a golden

-conch-shell full of nuts. His guide tells him that he may take some of

-them. He does so. Then he is lost, as it were, in a long succession of

-apartments._

-

-_There are mosaics upon the walls representing generals presenting

-the Emperor with conquered cities, which they hold out upon the

-palms of their hands. And there are columns of basalt everywhere,

-trellis-work in silver filigree, ivory chairs, tapestries embroidered

-with pearls. The light falls from the vaults above; Anthony still

-proceeds. Warm exhalations circulate about him; occasionally he hears

-the discreet clapping sound of sandals upon the pavement. Posted in

-the anti-chambers are guards, who resemble automata, holding wands of

-vermillion upon their shoulders._

-

-[Illustration: And there are columns of basalt everywhere,... The

-light falls from the vaults above]

-

-_At last he finds himself in a great hall, with hyacinth-colored

-curtains at the further end. They part, and display the Emperor seated

-on a throne, clad in a violet tunic, and wearing red shoes striped with

-bands of black._

-

-_A diadem of pearls surround his head; his locks are arranged

-symmetrically in rouleaux. He has a straight nose, drooping eyelids,

-a heavy and cunning physiognomy. At the four corners of the dais

-stretched above his head are placed four golden doves; and at the foot

-of the throne are two lions in enamel crouching. The doves begin to

-sing, the lions to roar. The Emperor rolls his eyes; Anthony advances;

-and forthwith, without preamble, they commence to converse about

-recent events. In the cities of Antioch, Ephesus, and Alexandria,

-the temples have been sacked, and the statues of the gods converted

-into pots and cooking utensils; the Emperor laughs heartily about it.

-Anthony reproaches him with his tolerance toward the Novations. But the

-Emperor becomes vexed. Novations, Arians or Meletians--he is sick of

-them all! Nevertheless, he admires the episcopate; for inasmuch as the

-Christians maintain bishops, who depend for their position upon five or

-six important personages, it is only necessary to gain over the latter,

-in order to have all the rest on one's side. Therefore he did not fail

-to furnish them with large sums. But he detests the Fathers of the

-Council of Nicaea._

-

-"Let us go and see them!"

-

-_Anthony follows him._

-

-_And they find themselves on a terrace, upon the same floor._

-

-_It overlooks a hippodrome thronged with people, and surmounted by

-porticoes where other spectators are walking to and fro. From the

-centre of the race-course rises a narrow platform of hewn stone,

-supporting a little temple of Mercury, the statue of Constantine, and

-three serpents of brass twisted into a column; there are three huge

-wooden eggs at one end, and at the other a group of seven dolphins with

-their tails in the air._

-

-_Behind the imperial pavilion sit the Prefects of the Chambers, the

-Counts of the Domestics, and the Patricians--in ranks rising by tiers

-to the first story of a church whose windows are thronged with women.

-On the right is the tribune of the Blue Faction; on the left, that of

-the Green; below, a picket of soldiers is stationed; and on a level

-with the arena is a row of Corinthian arches, forming the entrances to

-the stables._

-

-_The races are about to commence; the horses are drawn up in line.

-Lofty plumes, fastened between their ears, bend to the wind like

-saplings; and with every restive bound, they shake their chariots

-violently, which are shell-shaped, and conducted by charioteers clad

-in a sort of multi-colored cuirass, having sleeves tight at the wrist

-and wide in the arms; their legs are bare; their beards, faces and

-foreheads are shaven after the manner of the Huns._

-

-_Anthony is at first deafened by the billowy sound of voices. From

-the summit of the hippodrome to its lowest tiers, he sees only faces

-painted with rouge, garments checkered and variegated with many colors,

-flashing jewelry; and the sand of the arena, all white, gleams like a

-mirror._

-

-_The Emperor entertains him. He confides to him many matters of high

-importance, many secrets; he confesses the assassination of his son

-Criopus, and even asks Anthony for advice regarding his health._

-

-_Meanwhile Anthony notices some slaves in the rear portion of the

-stables below. They are the Fathers of Nicaea, ragged and abject. The

-martyr Paphnutius is brushing the mane of one horse; Theophilus is

-washing the legs of another; John is painting the hoofs of a third;

-Alexander is collecting dung in a basket._

-

-_Anthony passes through the midst of them. They range themselves on

-either side respectfully; they beseech his intercession; they kiss his

-hands. The whole assemblage of spectators hoots at them; and he enjoys

-the spectacle with immeasurable pleasure. Lo! he is now one of the

-grandees of the Court--the Emperor's confidant--the prime minister!

-Constantine places his own diadem upon his brows. Anthony allows it to

-remain upon his head, thinking this honor quite natural._

-

-_And suddenly in the midst of the darkness a vast hall appears,

-illuminated by golden candelabra._

-

-_Candles so lofty that they are half lost in the darkness, stretch away

-in huge files beyond the lines of banquet-tables, which seem to extend

-to the horizon, where through a luminous haze loom superpositions of

-stairways, suites of arcades, colossi, towers, and beyond all a vague

-border of palace walls, above which rise the crests of cedars, making

-yet blacker masses of blackness against the darkness._

-

-_The guests, crowned with violet wreaths, recline upon very low couches

-and are leaning upon their elbows. Along the whole length of this

-double line of couches, wine is being poured out from amphorae, and at

-the further end, all alone, coiffed with the tiara and blazing with

-carbuncles, King Nebuchadnezzar eats and drinks._

-

-_On his right and left, two bands of priests in pointed caps are

-swinging censers. On the pavement below crawl the captive kings whose

-hands and feet have been cut off; from time to time he flings them

-bones to gnaw. Further off sit his brothers, with bandages across their

-eyes, being all blind._

-

-_From the depths of the ergastula arise moans of ceaseless pain. Sweet

-slow sounds of a hydraulic organ alternate with choruses of song; and

-one feels that all about the palace without extends an immeasurable

-city--an ocean of human life whose waves break against the walls. The

-slaves run hither and thither carrying dishes. Women walk between the

-ranks of guests, offering drinks to all; the baskets groan under their

-burthen of loaves; and a dromedary, laden with perforated water-skins:

-passes and repasses through the hall, sprinkling and cooling the

-pavement with vervain._

-

-_Lion tamers are leading tamed lions about. Dancing girls--their

-hair confined in nets--balance themselves and turn upon their hands,

-emitting fire through their nostrils; negro boatmen are juggling; naked

-children pelt each other with pellets of snow, which burst against the

-bright silverware. There is an awful clamor as of a tempest; and a huge

-cloud hangs over the banquet--so numerous are the meats and breaths.

-Sometimes a flake of fire torn from the great flambeaux by the wind,

-traverses the night like a shooting star._

-

-_The king wipes the perfumes from his face with his arm. He eats from

-the sacred vessels--then breaks them; and secretly reckons up the

-number of his fleets, his armies, and his subjects. By and by, for a

-new caprice, he will burn his palace with all its guests. He dreams of

-rebuilding the tower of Babel, and dethroning God._

-

-_Anthony, from afar off, reads all these thoughts upon his brow. They

-penetrate his own brain, and he becomes Nebuchadnezzar. Immediately he

-is cloyed with orgiastic excesses, sated with fury of extermination;

-and a great desire comes upon him to wallow in vileness. For the

-degradation of that which terrifies men is an outrage inflicted upon

-their minds--it affords yet one more way to stupefy them; and as

-nothing is viler than a brute, Anthony goes upon the table on all

-fours, and bellows like a bull._

-

-_He feels a sudden pain in his hand--a pebble has accidentally wounded

-him--and he finds himself once more in front of his cabin._

-

-_The circle of the rocks is empty. The stars are glowing in the sky.

-All is hushed._)

-

-"Again have I allowed myself to be deceived! Why these things? They

-come from the rebellion of the flesh. Ah! wretch!"

-

-(_He rushes into his cabin, and seizes a bunch of thongs, with metallic

-hooks attached to their ends, strips himself to the waist and, lifting

-his eyes to heaven exclaims_:)

-

-"Accept my penance, O my God: disdain it not for its feebleness. Render

-it sharp, prolonged, excessive! It is time, indeed!--to the work!"

-

-(_He gives himself a vigorous lash--and shrieks._)

-

-"No! no!--without mercy it must be."

-

-(_He recommences._)

-

-"Oh! oh! oh! each lash tears my skin, rends my limbs! It burns me

-horribly!"

-

-"Nay!--it is not so very terrible after all!--one becomes accustomed to

-it. It even seems to me...."

-

-(_Anthony pauses._)

-

-"Continue, coward! continue! Good! good!--upon the arms, on the back,

-on the breast, on the belly--everywhere! Hiss, ye thongs! bite me!

-tear me! I would that my blood could spurt to the stars!--let my bones

-crack!--let my tendons be laid bare! O for pincers, racks, and melted

-lead! The martyrs have endured far worse; have they not, Ammonaria?"

-

-(_The shadow of the Devil's horns reappears._)

-

-"I might have been bound to the column opposite to thine,--face to

-face--under thy eyes--answering thy shrieks by my sighs; and our pangs

-might have been interblended, our souls intermingled."

-

-(_He lashes himself with fury._)

-

-"What! what! again. Take that!--But how strange a titillation thrills

-me! What punishment! what pleasure! I feel as though receiving

-invisible kisses; the very marrow of my bones seems to melt. I die...."

-

-_And he sees before him three cavaliers, mounted upon onagers, clad in

-robes of green--each holding a lily in his hand, and all resembling

-each other in feature._

-

-_Anthony turns round, and beholds three other cavaliers exactly

-similar, riding upon similar onagers, and preserving the same attitude._

-

-_He draws back. Then all the onagers advance one pace at the same time,

-and rub their noses against him, trying to bite his garment. Voices

-shout_:--

-

-"Here! here! this way!"

-

-_And between the clefts of the mountain, appear standards,--camels'

-heads with halters of red silk--mules laden with baggage, and women

-covered with yellow veils, bestriding piebald horses._

-

-_The panting beasts lie down; the slaves rush to the bales and

-packages, motley-striped carpets are unrolled; precious glimmering

-things are laid upon the ground._

-

-_A white elephant, caparisoned with a golden net, trots forward,

-shaking the tuft of ostrich plumes attached to his head-band._

-

-_Upon his back, perched on cushions of blue wool, with her legs

-crossed, her eyes half closed, her comely head sleepily nodding, is a

-woman so splendidly clad that she radiates light about her. The crowd

-falls prostrate; the elephant bends his knees; and_

-

-THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

-

-_letting herself glide down from his shoulder upon the carpets spread

-to receive her, approaches Saint Anthony._

-

-_Her robe of gold brocade, regularly divided by furbelows of pearls,

-of jet, and of sapphires, sheaths her figure closely with its

-tight-fitting bodice, set off by colored designs representing the

-twelve signs of the Zodiac. She wears very high pattens--one of which

-is black, and sprinkled with silver stars, with a moon crescent; the

-other, which is white, is sprinkled with a spray of gold, with a golden

-sun in the middle._

-

-_Her wide sleeves, decorated with emeralds and bird-plumes, leave

-exposed her little round bare arms, clasped at the wrist by ebony

-bracelets; and her hands, loaded with precious rings, are terminated by

-nails so sharply pointed that the ends of her fingers seem almost like

-needles._

-

-_A chain of dead gold, passing under her chin, is caught up on either

-side of her face, and spirally coiled about her coiffure, whence,

-redescending, it grazes her shoulders and is attached upon her bosom

-to a diamond scorpion, which protrudes a jewelled tongue between her

-breasts. Two immense blond pearls depend heavily from her ears. The

-borders of her eyelids are painted black. There is a natural brown spot

-upon her left cheek; and she opens her mouth in breathing, as if her

-corset inconvenienced her._

-

-_She shakes, as she approaches, a green parasol with an ivory handle,

-and silver-gilt bells attached to its rim; twelve little woolly-haired

-negro-boys support the long train of her robe, whereof an ape holds the

-extremity, which it raises up from time to time. She exclaims_:

-

-"Ah! handsome hermit! handsome hermit!--my heart swoons!

-

-"By dint of stamping upon the ground with impatience, callosities have

-formed upon my heel, and I have broken one of my nails. I sent out

-shepherds, who remained upon the mountain tops, shading their eyes with

-their hands--and hunters who shouted thy name in all the forests--and

-spies who travelled along the highways, asking every passer-by:

-

-"'Hast thou seen him?'

-

-"By night I wept, with my face turned to the wall. And at last my tears

-made two little holes in the mosaic, like two pools of water among the

-rocks;--for I love thee!--oh! how I love thee!"

-

-(_She takes him by the beard._)

-

-"Laugh now, handsome hermit! laugh! I am very joyous, very gay: thou

-shalt soon see! I play the lyre; I dance like a bee; and I know a host

-of merry tales to tell, each more diverting than the other.

-

-"Thou canst not even imagine how mighty a journey we have made. See!

-the onagers upon which the green couriers rode are dead with fatigue!"

-

-(_The onagers are lying motionless upon the ground._)

-

-"For three long moons they never ceased to gallop on with the same

-equal pace, holdings flints between their teeth to cut the wind, their

-tails ever streaming out behind them, their sinews perpetually strained

-to the uttermost, always galloping, galloping. Never can others be

-found like them. They were bequeathed me by my paternal grand-father,

-the Emperor Saharil, son of Iakhschab, son of Iaarab, son of Kastan.

-Ah! if they were still alive, we should harness them to a litter that

-they might bear us back speedily to the palace! But ... what ails

-thee?--of what art thou dreaming?"

-

-(_She stares at him, examines him closely._)

-

-"Ah, when thou shalt be my husband, I will robe thee, I will perfume

-thee, I will depilate thee."

-

-(_Anthony remains motionless, more rigid than a stake, more pallid

-than a corpse._)

-

-"Thou hast a sad look--is it because of leaving thy hermitage? Yet I

-have left everything for thee--even King Solomon, who, nevertheless,

-possesses much wisdom, twenty thousand chariots of war, and a beautiful

-beard. I have brought thee my wedding gifts. Choose!"

-

-(_She walks to and fro among the ranks of slaves and the piles of

-precious goods._)

-

-"Here is Genezareth balm, incense from Cape Gardefui, labdanum,

-cinnamon, and silphium--good to mingle with sauces. In that bale are

-Assyrian embroideries, ivory from the Ganges, purple from Elissa;

-and that box of snow contains a skin of chalybon, the wine, which

-is reserved for the Kings of Assyria, and which is drunk from the

-horn of a unicorn. Here are necklaces, brooches, nets for the hair,

-parasols, gold powder from Baasa, cassiteria from Tartessus, blue wood

-from Pandio, white furs from Issidonia, carbuncles from the Island

-Palaesimondus, and toothpicks made of the bristles of the tachas--that

-lost animal which is found under the earth. These cushions come from

-Emath, and these mantle-fringes from Palmyra. On this Babylonian carpet

-there is.... But come hither! come! come!"

-

-(_She pulls Saint Anthony by the sleeve. He resists. She continues_:)

-

-"This thin tissue which crackles under the finger with a sound as of

-sparks, is the famous yellow cloth which the merchants of Bactria bring

-us. I will have robes made of it for thee, which thou shalt wear in the

-house. Unfasten the hooks of that sycamore box, and hand me also the

-little ivory casket tied to my elephant's shoulder."

-

-(_They take something round out of a box--something covered with a

-cloth--and also bring a little ivory casket covered with carving._)

-

-"Dost thou desire the buckler of Dgian-ben-Dgian, who built the

-pyramids?--behold it!--It is formed of seven dragon-skins laid one over

-the other, tanned in the bile of parricides, and fastened together by

-adamantine screws. Upon one side are represented all the wars that have

-taken place since the invention of weapons; and upon the other, all the

-wars that will take place until the end of the world. The lightning

-itself rebounds from it like a ball of cork. I am going to place it

-upon thy arm; and thou wilt carry it during the chase.

-

-"But if thou didst only know what I have in this little box of mine!

-Turn it over and over again! try to open it! No one could ever succeed

-in doing that. Kiss me! and I will tell thee how to open it."

-

-(_She takes Saint Anthony by both cheeks. He pushes her away at arms'

-length._)

-

-"It was one night that King Solomon lost his head. At last we concluded

-a bargain. He arose, and stealing out on tiptoe...."

-

-(_She suddenly executes a pirouette._)

-

-"Ah, ah! comely hermit, thou shalt not know it! thou shalt not know!"

-

-(_She shakes her parasol, making all its little bells tinkle._)

-

-"And I possess many other strange things--oh! yes! I have treasures

-concealed in winding galleries where one would lose one's way, as

-in a forest. I have summer-palaces constructed in trellis-work of

-reeds, and winter-palaces all built of black marble. In the midst of

-lakes vast as seas, I have islands round as pieces of silver, and all

-covered with mother-of-pearl,--islands whose shores make music to

-the lapping of tepid waves upon the sand. The slaves of my kitchens

-catch birds in my aviaries, and fish in my fishponds. I have engravers

-continually seated at their benches to hollow out my likeness in hard

-jewel-stones, and panting molders forever casting statues of me, and

-perfumers incessantly mingling the sap of rare plants with vinegar,

-or preparing cosmetic pastes. I have female dressmakers cutting out

-patterns in richest material, goldsmiths cutting and mounting jewels of

-price, and careful painters pouring upon my palace wainscoting boiling

-resins, which they subsequently cool with fans. I have enough female

-attendants to form a harem, eunuchs enough to make an army. I have

-armies likewise; I have nations! In the vestibule of my palace I keep a

-guard of dwarfs--all bearing ivory trumpets at their backs." (_Anthony

-sighs._)

-

-"I have teams of trained gazelles; I have elephant quadrigae; I have

-hundreds of pairs of camels, and mares whose manes are so long that

-their hoofs become entangled therein when they gallop, and herds of

-cattle with horns so broad that when they go forth to graze the woods

-have to be hewn down before them. I have giraffes wandering in my

-gardens; they stretch their heads over the edge of my roof, when I take

-the air after dinner.

-

-"Seated in a shell drawn over the waters by dolphins, I travel

-through the grottoes, listening lo the dropping of the water from the

-stalactites. I go down to the land of diamonds, where my friends the

-magicians allow me to choose the finest: then I reascend to earth and

-return to my home."

-

-(_She utters a sharp whistle; and a great bird, descending from the

-sky, alights upon her hair, from which it makes the blue powder fall._

-

-_Its orange-colored plumage seems formed of metallic scales. Its little

-head, crested with a silver tuft, has a human face._

-

-_It has four wings, the feet of a vulture, and an immense peacock's

-tail which it spreads open like a fan._

-

-_It seizes the Queen's parasol in its beak, reels a moment ere

-obtaining its balance; then it erects all its plumes, and remains

-motionless._)

-

-"Thanks! my beautiful Simorg-Anka!--thou didst tell me where the loving

-one was hiding! Thanks! thanks! my heart's messenger!

-

-"He flies swiftly as Desire! He circles the world in his flight. At eve

-he returns; he perches at the foot of my couch and tells me all he has

-seen--the seas that have passed far beneath him with all their fishes

-and ships, the great void deserts he has contemplated from the heights

-of the sky, the harvests that were bowing in the valleys, and the

-plants that were growing upon the walls of cities abandoned."

-

-(_She wrings her hands, languorously._)

-

-"Oh! if thou wast willing! if thou wast willing!... I have a pavilion

-on a promontory in the middle of an isthmus dividing two oceans. It is

-all wain-scoted with sheets of glass, and floored with tortoise shell,

-and open to the four winds of heaven. From its height I watch my fleets

-come in, and my nations toiling up the mountain-slopes with burthens

-upon their shoulders. There would we sleep upon downs softer than

-clouds; we would drink cool draughts from fruit-shells, and we would

-gaze at the sun through emeralds! Come!" ...

-

-(_Anthony draws back. She approaches him again, and exclaims in a tone

-of vexation_:--)

-

-"How? neither the rich, nor the coquettish, nor the amorous woman can

-charm thee: is it so? None but a lascivious woman, with a hoarse voice

-and lusty person, with fire-colored hair and superabundant flesh? Dost

-thou prefer a body cold as the skin of a serpent, or rather great dark

-eyes deeper than the mystic caverns?--behold them, my eyes!--look into

-them!"

-

-(_Anthony, in spite of him, gazes into her eyes._)

-

-"All the women thou hast ever met--from the leman of the cross-roads,

-singing under the light of her lantern, even to the patrician lady

-scattering rose-petals abroad from her litter,--all the forms thou hast

-ever obtained glimpses of--all the imaginations of thy desire thou hast

-only to ask for them! I am not a woman: I am a world! My cloak has only

-to fall in order that thou mayest discover a succession of mysteries."

-(_Anthony's teeth chatter._)

-

-"Place but thy finger upon my shoulder: it will be as though a stream

-of fire shot through all thy veins. The possession of the least part

-of me will fill thee with a joy more vehement than the conquest of an

-Empire could give thee! Approach thy lips: there is a sweetness in my

-kisses as of a fruit dissolving within thy heart. Ah! how thou wilt

-lose thyself beneath my long hair, inhale the perfume of my bosom,

-madden thyself with the beauty of my limbs: and thus, consumed by the

-fire of my eyes, clasped within my arms as in a whirlwind...."

-

-[Illustration: ... there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit

-dissolving within thy heart]

-

-(_Anthony makes the sign of the cross._)

-

-"Thou disdainest me! farewell!"

-

-(_She departs, weeping; then, suddenly turning round_:--)

-

-"Art quite sure?--so beautiful a woman...."

-

-(_She laughs, and the ape that bears her train, lifts it up._)

-

-"Thou wilt regret it, my comely hermit! thou wilt yet weep! thou wilt

-again feel weary of thy life; but I care not a whit! La! la! la!--oh!

-oh! oh!"

-

-(_She takes her departure, hopping upon one foot and covering her face

-with her hands._

-

-_All the slaves file off before Saint Anthony--the horses, the

-dromedaries, the elephant, the female attendants, the mules (which

-have been reloaded), the negro boys, the ape, the green couriers each

-holding his broken lily in his hand; and the Queen of Sheba departs,

-uttering a convulsive hiccough at intervals, which might be taken

-either for a sound of hysterical sobbing, or the half-suppressed

-laughter of mockery._)

-

-

-[1] _Thalamegii_--pleasure-boats having apartments.

-

-

-

-

-III

-

-

-(_When she has disappeared in the distance, Anthony observes a child

-seated upon the threshold of his cabin._)

-

-"It is one of the Queen's servants, no doubt," (_he thinks_).

-

-(_This child is small like a dwarf, and nevertheless squat of build,

-like one of the Cabiri; deformed withal, and wretched of aspect. His

-prodigiously large head is covered with white hair; and he shivers

-under a shabby tunic, all the while clutching a roll of papyrus. The

-light of the moon passing through a cloud falls upon him._)

-

-ANTHONY

-

-(_watches him from a distance, and is afraid of him._) "Who art thou?"

-

-THE CHILD (_replies_). "Thy ancient disciple, Hilarion."

-

-ANTHONY. "Thou liest! Hilarion hath been dwelling in Palestine for

-many long years."

-

-HILARION. "I have returned! It is really I!"

-

-ANTHONY (_draws near and examines him closely_). "Yet his face was

-radiant as the dawn, candid, joyous. This face is the face of one

-gloomy and old."

-

-HILARION. "Long and arduous labor hath wearied me!"

-

-ANTHONY. "The voice is also different. It hath an icy tone."

-

-HILARION. "Because I have nourished me with bitter things!"

-

-ANTHONY. "And those white hairs?"

-

-HILARION. "I have endured many woes!"

-

-ANTHONY (_aside_). "Could it be possible?"

-

-HILARION. "I was not so far from thee as thou doest imagine. The hermit

-Paul visited thee this year, during the month of Schebar. It is just

-twenty days since the Nomads brought thee bread. Thou didst tell a

-sailor, the day before yesterday, to send thee three bodkins."

-

-ANTHONY. "He knows all!"

-

-HILARION. "Know further more that I have never left thee. But there are

-long periods during which thou hast no knowledge of my presence."

-

-ANTHONY. "How can that be? Yet it is true that my head is so much

-troubled--this night especially."

-

-HILARION. "All the Capital Sins came hither. But their wretched snares

-can avail nothing against such a Saint as thou."

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh! no!--no! I fall at every moment! Why am I not of those

-whose souls are ever intrepid, whose minds are always firm,--for

-example, the great Athanasius?"

-

-HILARION. "He was illegally ordained by seven bishops."

-

-ANTHONY. "What matter if his virtue...."

-

-HILARION. "Go to!--a most vainglorious and cruel man, forever involved

-in intrigues, and exiled at last as a monopolist."[1]

-

-ANTHONY. "Calumny!"

-

-HILARION. "Thou wilt not deny that he sought to corrupt Eustates, the

-treasurer of largesses?"

-

-ANTHONY. "It is affirmed, I acknowledge."

-

-HILARION. "Through vengeance he burned down the house of Arsenius."

-

-ANTHONY. "Alas!"

-

-HILARION. "At the council of Nicaea he said in speaking of Jesus: 'The

-man of the Lord.'"

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah! that is a blasphemy!"

-

-HILARION. "So limited in understanding, moreover, that he confesses he

-comprehends nothing of the nature of the "Word!"

-

-ANTHONY (_smiling with gratification_). "In sooth his intelligence is

-not ... very lofty."

-

-HILARION. "Hypocrite! burying thyself in solitude only in order the

-more fully to abandon thyself to the indulgence of thy envious desires!

-What if thou dost deprive thyself of meats, of wine, of warmth, of

-bath, of slaves, or honours?--dost thou not permit thy imagination to

-offer thee banquets, perfumes, women, and the applause of multitudes?

-Thy chastity is but a more subtle form of corruption, and thy contempt

-of this world is but the impotence of thy hatred against it! Either

-this it is that makes such as thyself so lugubrious, or else 'tis

-doubt. The possession of truth giveth joy. Was Jesus sad? Did he not

-travel in the company of friends, repose beneath the shade of olive

-trees, enter the house of the publican, drink many cups of wine, pardon

-the sinning woman, and assuage all sorrows? Thou!--thou hast no pity

-save for thine own misery! It is like a remorse that gnaws thee, a

-savage madness that impels thee to repel the caress of a dog or to

-frown upon the smile of a child."

-

-ANTHONY (_bursting into tears_). "Enough! enough! thou dost wound my

-heart deeply."

-

-HILARION. "Shake the vermin from thy rags! Rise up from thy filth! Thy

-God is not a Moloch who demands human flesh in sacrifice!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yet suffering is blessed. The cherubim stoop to receive the

-blood of confessors."

-

-HILARION. "Admire, then, the Montanists!--they surpass all others."

-

-ANTHONY. "But it is the truth of the doctrine which makes the

-martyrdom."

-

-HILARION. "How can martyrdom prove the excellence of the doctrine,

-inasmuch as it bears equal witness for error?"

-

-HILARION. "Silence!--thou viper!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Perhaps martyrdom is not so difficult as thou dost imagine!

-The exhortations of friends, the pleasure of insulting the people,

-the oath one has taken, a certain dizzy excitement, a thousand

-circumstances all aid the resolution of the martyrs...."

-

-(_Anthony turns his back upon Hilarion, and moves away from him.

-Hilarion follows him._)

-

-" ... Moreover this manner of dying often brings about great disorders.

-Dionysius, Cyprian and Gregory fled from it. Peter of Alexandria has

-condemned it; and the council of Elvira...."

-

-ANTHONY (_stops his ears_). "I will listen to thee no longer!"

-

-HILARION (_raising his voice_). "Lo! thou fallest again into the

-habitual sin, which is sloth! Ignorance is the foam of pride. One says,

-forsoth:--'My conviction is formed! wherefore argue further?'--and one

-despises the doctors, the philosophers, tradition itself, and even the

-text of the law whereof one is ignorant! Dost thou imagine that thou

-dost hold all wisdom in the hollow of thy hand?"

-

-ANTHONY. "I hear him still! His loud words fill my brain."

-

-HILARION. "The efforts of others to comprehend God are mightier than

-all thy mortifications to move Him. We obtain merit only by our thirst

-for truth. Religion alone cannot explain all things; and the solution

-of problems ignored by thee can render faith still more invulnerable

-and noble. Therefore, for our salvation we must communicate with our

-brethren--otherwise the Church, the assembly of the faithful, would

-be a meaningless word--and we must listen to all reasoning, despising

-nothing, nor any person. The magician Balaam, the poet Aeschylus,

-and the Sybil of Cumae--all foretold the Saviour. Dionysius, the

-Alexandrian, received from heaven the command to read all books. Saint

-Clement orders us to cultivate Greek letters. Hennas was converted by

-the illusion of a woman he had loved...."

-

-ANTHONY. "What an aspect of authority! It seems to me thou art growing

-taller...."

-

-(_And, in very truth, the stature of Hilarion is gradually increasing;

-and Anthony shuts his eyes, that he may not see him._)

-

-HILARION. "Reassure thyself, good Hermit. Let us seat ourselves there,

-upon that great stone, as we used to do in other years, when, at the

-first dawn of day, I was wont to salute thee with the appellation,

-'Clear star of morning'--and thou wouldst therewith commence to

-instruct me. Yet my instruction is not yet completed. The moon gives us

-light enough. I am prepared to hear thy words."

-

-(_He has drawn a calamus from his girdle, and seating himself

-cross-legged upon the ground, with the papyrus roll still in his hand,

-he lifts his face toward Saint Anthony, who sits near him, with head

-bowed down._

-

-_After a moment of silence Hilarion continues_:--)

-

-"Is not the word of God confirmed for us by miracles? Nevertheless

-the magicians of Pharaoh performed miracles; other imposters can

-perform them; one may be thereby deceived. What then is a miracle?

-An event which seems to us outside of nature. But do we indeed know

-all of Nature's powers; and because a common occurrence causes us no

-astonishment, does it therefore follow that we understand it."

-

-ANTHONY. "It matters little! We must believe the Scriptures!"

-

-HILARION. "Saint Paul, Origen, and many others did not understand

-the Scriptures in a literal sense: yet if Holy Writ be explained by

-allegories it becomes the portion of a small number, and the evidence

-of the truth disappears. What must we do?"

-

-ANTHONY. "We must rely upon the Church!"

-

-HILARION. "Then the Scriptures are useless?"

-

-ANTHONY. "No! no! although I acknowledge that in the Old Testament

-there are some ... some obscurities. But the New shines with purest

-light."

-

-HILARION. "Nevertheless, the Angel of the annunciation, in Matthew,

-appears to Joseph; while, in Luke, he appears to Mary. The anointing

-of Jesus by a woman takes place, according to the first Gospel, at the

-commencement of his public life; and, according to the other three, a

-few days before his death. The drink offered to him on the cross, is,

-in Matthew, vinegar mixed with gall; in Mark, it is wine and myrrh.

-According to Luke and Matthew, the apostles should take with them

-neither money nor scrip for their journey--not even sandals nor staff;

-in Mark, on the contrary, Jesus bids them take nothing with them,

-except sandals and a staff. I am thereby bewildered!"

-

-ANTHONY (_in amazement_). "Aye, indeed!... in fact...."

-

-HILARION. "At the contact of the woman who had an issue of blood, Jesus

-turned and said, 'Who hath touched my garments?' He did not know, then,

-who had touched him? That contradicts the omniscience of Jesus! If the

-tomb was watched by guards, the women need have felt no anxiety about

-finding help to roll away the stone from the tomb. Therefore there

-were no guards, or the holy women were not there. At Emmaus, he eats

-with his disciples and makes them feel his wounds. It is a human body,

-a material and ponderable object; and nevertheless it passes through

-walls! Is that possible?"

-

-ANTHONY. "It would require much time to answer thee properly!"

-

-HILARION. "Why did he receive the Holy Spirit, being himself Son of

-the Holy Spirit? What need had he of baptism if he was the Word? How

-could the Devil have tempted him, inasmuch as he was God? Have these

-thoughts never occurred to thee?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yes!... often! Sometimes torpid, sometimes furious--they

-remain forever in my conscience. I crush them; they rise again, they

-stifle me; and sometimes I think that I am accursed."

-

-HILARION. "Then it is needless for thee to serve God?"

-

-ANTHONY. "I shall always need to adore Him."

-

-(_After a long silence Hilarion continues_:)

-

-"But aside from dogma, all researches are allowed us. Dost thou desire

-to know the hierarchy of the Angels, the virtue of the Numbers, the

-reason of germs and of metamorphoses?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yes! yes! my thought struggles wildly to escape from its

-prison. It seems to me that by exerting all my force I might succeed.

-Sometimes, for an instant, brief as a lightning flash, I even feel

-myself as thought uplifted,--then I fall back again!"

-

-HILARION. "The secret thou wouldst obtain is guarded by sages. They

-dwell in a distant land; they are seated beneath giant trees; they

-are robed in white; they are calm as Gods! A warm air gives them

-sufficient nourishment. All about them, leopards tread upon grassy

-turf. The murmuring of fountains and the neighing of unicorns mingle

-with their voices. Thou shalt hear them; and the face of the Unknown

-shall be unveiled!"

-

-ANTHONY (_sighing_). "The way is long; and I am old."

-

-HILARION. "Oh! oh! wise men are not rare! there are some even very nigh

-thee!--here! Let us enter!"

-

-

-[1] Gibbon, a sincere admirer of Athanasius, gives a curious history of

-these charges, and expresses his disbelief in their truth. The story

-regarding the design to intercept the corn-fleet of Alexandria is

-referred to in the use of the word "monopolist."

-

-

-

-

-IV

-

-

-(_And Anthony beholds before him a vast basilica._

-

-_The light gushes from the further end, marvellous as a multi-colored

-sun. It illuminates the innumerable heads of the crowd that fills the

-nave, and that eddies about the columns toward the side-aisles--where

-can be perceived, in wooden compartments, altars, beds, little chains

-of blue stones linked together, and constellations painted upon the

-walls._

-

-_In the midst of the throng there are groups which remain motionless.

-Men standing upon stools harangue with fingers uplifted; others are

-praying, with arms outstretched in form of a cross; others are lying

-prostrate upon the pavement, or singing hymns, or drinking wine; others

-of the faithful, seated about a table, celebrate their agape;[1]

-martyrs are unbandaging their limbs in order to show their wounds; and

-aged men, leaning upon staffs, recount their voyages._

-

-_There are some from the country of the Germans, from Thrace also, and

-from the Gauls, from Scythia and from the Indies, with snow upon their

-beards, feathers in their hair; thorns in the fringe of their garments;

-the sandals of some are black with dust, their skins are burnt by the

-sun. There is a vast confusion of costumes, mantles of purple and

-robes of linen, embroidered dalmaticas, hair shirts, sailors' caps,

-bishops' mitres. Their eyes fulgurate strangely. They have the look of

-executioners, or the look of eunuchs._

-

-_Hilarion advances into their midst. All salute him. Anthony, shrinking

-closer to his shoulder, observes them. He remarks the presence of a

-great many women. Some of these are attired like men, and have their

-hair cut short. Anthony feels afraid of them._)

-

-HILARION. "Those are Christian women who have converted their husbands.

-Besides, the women were always upon the side of Jesus, even the

-idolatrous ones, for example, Procula, the wife of Pilate, and Poppaea,

-the concubine of Nero. Do not tremble!--come on."

-

-(_And others are continually arriving._

-

-_They seem to multiply, to double themselves by self-division, light

-as shadows--all the while making an immense clamour, in which yells of

-rage, cries of love, canticles and objurgations intermingle._)

-

-ANTHONY (_in a low voice_). "What do they desire?"

-

-HILARION. "The Lord said: 'I have yet many things to say to you....

-'[2] They possess the knowledge of those things."

-

-(_And he pushes Anthony forward to a golden throne approached by five

-steps, whereon--surrounded by ninety-five disciples, all very thin and

-pale, and anointed with oil--sits the prophet Manes. He is beautiful

-as an archangel, immobile as a statue; he is clad in an Indian robe;

-carbuncles gleam in his plaited hair; at his left hand lies a book of

-painted images; his right reposes upon a globe. The images represent

-the creatures that erst slumbered in Chaos. Anthony bends forward to

-look upon them. Then----_)

-

-MANES

-

-(_makes his globe revolve; and regulating the tone of his words by a

-lyre which gives forth crystalline sounds, exclaims_:--)

-

-"The celestial earth is at the superior extremity; the terrestrial

-earth at the inferior extremity. It is sustained by two angels--the

-Angel Splenditeneus, and Omophorus, whose faces are six.

-

-"At the summit of the highest heaven reigns the impassible Divinity;

-below, face to face, are the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness.

-

-"When the darkness had advanced even to his kingdom, God evolved from

-his own essence a virtue which produced the first man; and he environed

-him with the five elements. But the demons of darkness stole from him a

-part; and that part is the soul.

-

-"There is but one soul, universally diffused, even as the waters of

-a river divided into many branches. It is this universal soul that

-sighs in the wind--that shrieks in the marble under the teeth of the

-saw--that roars in the voice of the sea--that weeps tears of milk when

-the leaves of the fig tree are torn off.

-

-"The souls that leave this world emigrate to the stars, which are

-themselves animated beings."

-

-ANTHONY (_bursts into a laugh_). "Ah! ah! what an absurd imagination!"

-

-A MAN (_having no beard, and of a most austere aspect_). "Wherefore

-absurd?"

-

-(_Anthony is about to reply when Hilarion tells him in a low voice

-that the questioner is none other than the tremendous Origen himself;

-and_:--)

-

-MANES (_continues_). "But first they remain awhile in the Moon, where

-they are purified. Then they rise into the sun."

-

-ANTHONY (_slowly_). "I do not know of anything ... which prevents us

-... from believing it."

-

-MANES. "The proper aim of every creature is the deliverance of the ray

-of celestial light imprisoned within matter. It finds easier escape

-through the medium of perfumes, spices, the aroma of warmed wine, the

-light things which resemble thoughts. But the acts of life retain it

-within its prison. The murderer shall be born again in the form of a

-celephus; he that kills an animal shall become that animal; if thou

-plantest a vine, thou shalt be thyself bound within its boughs. Food

-absorbs the celestial light.... Therefore abstain! fast!"

-

-HILARION. "Thou seest, they are temperate!"

-

-MANES. "There is much of it in meats, less of it in herbs. Moreover

-the Pure Ones, by means of their great merits, despoil vegetation of

-this luminous essence; and, thus liberated, it reascends to its source.

-But through generation, animals keep it imprisoned within the flesh!

-Therefore, avoid women!"

-

-HILARION. "Admire their continence."

-

-MANES. "Or rather contrive that they shall not create..............[3]

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh--abomination!"

-

-HILARION. "What signifies the hierarchy of turpitudes? The Church has,

-forsooth, made marriage a sacrament!"

-

-SATURNINUS (_in Syrian costume_). "He teaches a most dismal system of

-the universe!... The Father, desiring to punish the angels who had

-revolted, ordered them to create the world. Christ came, in order that

-the God of the Jews, who was one of those angels...."

-

-ANTHONY. "He an angel! the Creator!"

-

-CERDO. "Did he not seek to kill Moses, to deceive his own prophets, to

-seduce nations?--did he not sow falsehood and idolatry broadcast?"

-

-MARCION. "Certainly, the Creator is not the true God!"

-

-SAINT CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. "Matter is eternal!"

-

-BARDESANES (_in the costume of the Babylonian magi_). "It was formed by

-the Seven Planetary Spirits."

-

-THE HERMIANS. "Souls were made by the angels."

-

-THE PRISCILLIANISTS. "It was the Devil who made the world."

-

-ANTHONY (_rushing back from the circle_). "Horror!"

-

-HILARION (_supporting him_). "Thou despairest too hastily!--thou dost

-misapprehend their doctrine! Here is one who received his teaching

-directly from Theodas, the friend of St. Paul. Hearken to him."

-

-(_And at a sign from Hilarion_

-

-VALENTINUS

-

-_appears in a tunic of cloth of silver; his skull is pointed at its

-summit; his voice has a wheezing sound._)

-

-"The world is the work of a God in delirium!"

-

-ANTHONY (_bending his head down_). "The work of a God in delirium!..."

-

-(_After a long silence_): "How can that be?"

-

-VALENTINE. "The most perfect of beings, and of the AEons, the Abyss;

-dwelt in the womb of the Deep together with Thought. By their union was

-begotten Intelligence, to whom Truth was given as a companion.

-

-"Intelligence and Truth engendered the Word and Life, who in their turn

-begat Man and the Church; and that doth make eight AEons!"

-

-(_He counts upon his fingers._)

-

-"The Word and Truth also produced ten other AEons--which is to say, five

-couples. Man and the Church had begotten twelve more--among these the

-Paraclete and Faith, Hope and Charity, Perfection and Wisdom--Sophia.

-

-"The union of these thirty AEons constitutes the Pleroma, or

-Universality of God. Thus, even as the echo of a passing voice, as the

-effluvia of a perfume evaporating, as the fires of the setting sun,

-the Powers that emanated from the Principle, forever continue to grow

-weaker.

-

-"But Sophia, desirous to know the Father, darted from the Pleroma;

-and the Word then made another couple, Christ and the Holy Ghost, who

-reunited all the AEons; and all together formed Jesus, the flower of the

-Pleroma.

-

-"But the effort of Sophia to flee away had left in the void an image of

-her--an evil substance, Acharamoth.[4] The Saviour took pity upon her,

-freed her from all passion; and from the smile of Acharamoth redeemed,

-light was born; her tears formed the waters; by her sorrow was dark

-matter begotten.

-

-"Of Acharamoth was born the Demiurgos,--the fabricator of worlds,

-the creator of the heaven and of the Devil. He dwells far below the

-Pleroma--so far that he cannot behold it--so that he deems himself to

-be the true God, and repeats by the mouths of his prophets--'There is

-no other God but I.' Then he made man, and instilled into his soul the

-immaterial Seed which was the Church--a reflection of the other Church

-established in the Pleroma.

-

-"One day Acharamoth shall reach the highest region and unite herself

-with the Saviour; the fire that is hidden in the world shall annihilate

-all matter, and shall even devour itself and men, becoming pure

-spirits, shall espouse the angels!"

-

-ORIGEN. "Then shall the Demon be over-thrown and the reign of God

-commence!"

-

-(_Anthony expresses a cry, and forthwith_)

-

-BASILIDES (_taking him by the elbow, exclaims_:--)

-

-"The Supreme Being with all the infinite emanations is called

-Abraxas; and the Saviour with all his virtues, Kaulakau--otherwise,

-line-upon-line, rectitude upon rectitude.

-

-"The power of Kaulakau is obtained by the aid of certain words, which

-are inscribed upon this chalcedony to help the memory."

-

-(_And he points to a little stone suspended at his neck, upon which

-stone fantastic characters are graven._)

-

-"Then thou wilt be transported into the Invisible and placed above all

-law; thou shalt contemn all things--even virtue!

-

-"We, the Pure, must flee from pain, after the example of Kaulakau."

-

-ANTHONY. "What! and the cross?"

-

-THE ELKHESAITES (_in robes of hyacinth answers him_). "The woe and

-the degradation, the condemnation and oppression of my fathers[5] are

-blotted out, through the mission which has come.

-

-"One may deny the inferior Christ, the man--Jesus; but the other Christ

-must be adored--whose personality was evolved under the brooding of the

-Dove's wings.

-

-"Honor marriage; the Holy Spirit is feminine!"

-

-(_Hilarion has disappeared; and Anthony, carried along by the crowd,

-arrives in the presence of_--)

-

-THE CARPOCRATIANS

-

-(_reclining with women upon scarlet cushions._)

-

-"Before entering into the Only thou shalt pass through a series of

-conditions and of actions. To free thyself from the powers of darkness,

-thou must at once accomplish their works. The husband shall say to the

-wife: 'Have charity for thy brother'--and she will kiss thee."

-

-THE NICOLAITANS

-

-(_gathered about a mass of smoking meats_:)

-

-"This is a portion of the meat offered to idols;--partake of it!

-Apostasy is permissible when the heart is pure. Gorge thy flesh with

-all that it demands. Seek to exterminate it by dint of debauchery!

-Prounikos, the Mother of Heaven, wallowed in ignominies."

-

-THE MARCOSIANS

-

-(_wearing rings of gold, and glistening with precious balm and

-unguents_:)

-

-"Enter among us that thou mayst unite thyself to the Spirit! Enter

-among us that thou mayst quaff the draught of immortality!"

-

-(_And one of them shows him, behind a tapestry-hanging, the body of a

-man terminated by the head of an ass. This represents Sabaoth, father

-of the Devil. He spits upon the image in token of detestation._

-

-_Another shows him a very low bed, strewn with flowers, exclaiming_:)

-

-"The spiritual marriage is about to be consummated."

-

-(_A third, who holds a cup of glass, utters an invocation;--blood

-suddenly appears in the cup_:)

-

-"Ah! behold it! behold it!--the blood of Christ!"

-

-(_Anthony withdraws, but finds himself be-spattered by water splashed

-from a cistern._)

-

-THE HELVIDIANS

-

-(_are flinging themselves into it head foremost, muttering_:--)

-

-"The man regenerated by baptism is impeccable!"

-

-(_Then he passes by a great fire at which the Adamites are warming

-themselves--all completely naked in imitation of the purity of

-Paradise; and he stumbles over_)

-

-THE MESSALINES

-

-(_wallowing upon the pavement, half-slumbering, stupid_:)

-

-"Oh! crush us if thou wilt! we shall not move! Work is crime; all

-occupation is evil."

-

-(_Behind these, the abject_)

-

-PATERNIANS

-

-(_--men, women, and children lying pell mell upon a heap of filth, lift

-their hideous faces, wine-besmeared, and they cry aloud_:)

-

-"The inferior parts of the body, which were created by the Devil,

-belong to him! Let us eat, drink, and sin!"

-

-AETIUS. "Crimes are necessities beneath the notice of God!"

-

-(_But suddenly_--)

-

-A MAN (--_clad in a Carthaginian mantle, bounds into their midst,

-brandishing a scourge of thongs in his hand; and strikes violently and

-indiscriminately at all in his path_:)

-

-"Ah! imposters! simonists, heretics and demons!--vermin of the

-schools!--dregs of hell! Marcion, there, is a sailor of Sinopus

-excommunicated for incest;--Carpocrates was banished for being a

-magician; AEtius stole his concubine; Nicholas prostituted his wife;

-and this Manes, who calls himself the Buddha, and whose real name is

-Cubricus, was flayed alive with the point of a reed, so that his skin

-even now hangs at the gates of Ctesiphon!"

-

-ANTHONY (_recognizing Tertullian, rushes to join him_): "Master! help!

-help!"

-

-TERTULLIAN (_continuing_):

-

-"Break the images! veil the virgins! Pray, fast, weep and mortify

-yourselves! No philosophy! no books! After Jesus, science is useless!"

-

-(_All have fled away; and Anthony beholds, in lieu of Tertullian, a

-woman seated upon a bench of stone._

-

-_She sobs; leaning her head against a column; her hair is loose; her

-body, weakened by grief, is clad in a long brown simar. Then they find

-themselves face to face and alone, far from the crowd; and a silence,

-an extraordinary stillness falls--as in the woods when the winds are

-lulled, and the leaves of the trees suddenly cease to whisper._

-

-_This woman is still very beautiful, although faded, and pale as a

-sepulcher. They look at one another; and their eyes send to each other

-waves, as it were, of thoughts, bearing drift of a thousand ancient

-things, confused, mysterious. At last_--)

-

-PRISCILLA (_speaks_:)

-

-"I was in the last chamber of the baths; and the rumbling sounds of the

-street caused a sleep to fall upon me.

-

-"Suddenly I heard a clamour of voices. Men were shouting--'It is a

-magician!--it is the Devil!' And the crowd stopped before our house, in

-front of the Temple AEsculapius. I drew myself up with my hands to the

-little window.

-

-"Upon the peristyle of the temple, there stood a man who wore about his

-neck a collar of iron. He took burning coals out of a chafing-dish, and

-with them drew lines across his breast, the while crying out--'Jesus!

-Jesus!' The people shouted--'This is not lawful! let us stone him!'

-But he continued. Oh! those were unheard of marvels--things which

-transported men who beheld them! Flowers broad as suns circled before

-my eyes, and I heard in the spaces above me the vibrations of a golden

-harp. Day died. My hands loosened their grasp of the window-bars; my

-body fell back, and when he had led me away to his house...."

-

-ANTHONY. "But of whom art thou speaking?"

-

-PRISCILLA. "Why, of Montanus!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Montanus is dead!"

-

-PRISCILLA. "It is not true!"

-

-A VOICE. "No: Montanus is not dead!"

-

-(_Anthony turns; and sees upon the bench near him, on the opposite

-side, another woman sitting; she is fair, and even paler than the

-other; there are swellings under her eyes, as though she had wept a

-long time. She speaks without being questioned_:)

-

-MAXIMILLA. "We were returning from Tarsus by way of the mountains,

-when, at a turn in the road, we saw a man under a fig tree.

-

-"He cried from afar off: 'Stop! stop!' and rushed toward us, uttering

-words of abuse. The slaves ran up; he burst into a loud laugh. The

-horses reared; the molossi all barked.

-

-"He stood before us. The sweat streamed from his forehead; his mantle

-napped in the wind.

-

-"And calling us each by our names, he reproached us with the vanity

-of our work, the infamy of our bodies; and he shook his fist at the

-dromedaries because of the silver bells hanging below their mouths.

-

-"His fury now filled my very entrails with fear and yet there was a

-strange pleasure in it which fascinated me, intoxicated me!

-

-"First the slaves came. 'Master,' they said, 'our animals are weary.'

-Then the women said, 'We are frightened,' and the slaves departed. Then

-the children began to weep,--'We are hungry.' And as the women were not

-answered, they disappeared also from our view.

-

-"He still spoke. I felt some one near me. It was my husband; but I

-listened only to the other. My husband crawled to me upon his knees

-among the stones, and cried--'Dost thou abandon me,' and I replied:

-'Yes! go thy way!' that I might accompany Montanus."

-

-ANTHONY. "A eunuch!"

-

-PRISCILLA. "Ah! does that astound thee, vulgar soul! Yet Magdalen,

-Johanna, Martha and Susannah did not share the couch of the Saviour.

-Souls may know the delirium of embrace better than bodies. That he

-might keep Eustolia with impunity, the bishop Leontius mutilated

-himself--loving his love more than his virility. And then, it was

-no fault of mine. Sotas could not cure me; a spirit constrained me.

-It is cruel, nevertheless! But what matter? I am the last of the

-prophetesses; and after me the end of the world shall come."

-

-MAXIMILLA. "He showered his gifts upon me. Moreover, no one loves him

-as I, nor is any other so well beloved by him!"

-

-PRISCILLA. "Thou liest! I am the most beloved!"

-

-MAXIMILLA. "No: it is I!"

-

-(_They fight. Between their shoulders suddenly appears the head of a

-negro._)

-

-MONTANUS (_clad in a black mantle, clasped by two cross-bones_):

-

-"Peace, my doves! Incapable of terrestrial happiness, we have obtained

-the celestial plentitude of our union. After the age of the Father,

-the age of the Son; and I inaugurate the third, which is that of the

-Paraclete. His light descended upon me during those forty nights when

-the heavenly Jerusalem appeared shining in the firmament, above my

-house at Pepuzza.

-

-"Ah, how ye cry out with anguish when the thongs of the scourge

-lacerate! how your suffering bodies submit to the ardor of my spiritual

-discipline! how ye languish with irrealizable longing! So strong has

-that desire become that it has enabled you to behold the invisible

-world; and ye can now perceive souls even with the eyes of the body!"

-

-ANTHONY. (_Makes a gesture of astonishment._)

-

-TERTULLIAN (_who appears again, standing beside Montanus_):

-

-"Without doubt; for the soul has a body, and that which is bodiless has

-no existence."

-

-MONTANUS. "In order to render it yet more subtle, I have instituted

-many mortifications, three Lents a year, and prayers to be uttered

-nightly by the mind only, keeping the mouth closed, lest breathing

-might tarnish thought. It is necessary to abstain from second

-marriages, or rather from all marriage! The Angels themselves have

-sinned with women!"

-

-THE ARCHONTICS (_wearing cilices of hair_):

-

-"The Saviour said: 'I come to destroy the work of the Woman!'"

-

-THE TATIANITES (_wearing cilices of reed_):

-

-"She is the tree of evil. Our bodies are but garments of skin."

-

-(_And continuing to advance along the same side, Anthony meets_:--)

-

-THE VALESIANS (_extended upon the ground, with red wounds below their

-bellies, and blood saturating their tunics. They offer him a knife._)

-

-"Do as Origen did and as we have done! Is it the pain that thou

-fearest, coward? Is it the love of thy flesh that restrains thee,

-hypocrite?"

-

-(_And while he watches them writhing upon their backs, in a pool of

-blood_--)

-

-THE CAINITES (_wearing knotted vipers as fillets about their hair, pass

-by, vociferating in his ear_):--

-

-"Glory to Cain! Glory to Sodom! Glory be to Judas!

-

-"Cain made the race of the strong; Sodom terrified the earth by her

-punishment, and it was by Judas that God saved the world! Yes! by

-Judas: without him there would have been no death and no redemption!"

-

-(_They disappear beneath the horde of the_--)

-

-CIRCUMCELLIONES (_all clad in the skins of wolves, crowned with thorns,

-and armed with maces of iron_).

-

-"Crush the fruit! befoul the spring! drown the child! Pillage the rich

-who are happy--who cat their fill! Beat the poor who envy the ass

-his saddle-cloth, the dog his meal, the bird his nest,--and who is

-wretched at knowing that others are not as miserable as himself.

-

-"We, the Saints, poison, burn, massacre, that we may hasten the end of

-the world.

-

-"Salvation may be obtained through martyrdom only. We give ourselves

-martyrdom. We tear the skin from our heads with pincers; we expose our

-members to the plough; we cast ourselves into the mouths of furnaces!

-

-"Out upon baptism! out upon the Eucharist! out upon marriage! universal

-damnation!"

-

-(_Then throughout all the basilica there is a redoubling of fury._

-

-_The Audians shoot arrows against the Devil; the Collyridians throw

-blue cloths toward the roof; the Ascites prostrate themselves before

-a waterskin; the Marcionites baptise a dead man with oil. A woman,

-standing near Appelles, exhibits a round loaf within a bottle, in order

-the better to explain her idea. Another, standing in the midst of an

-assembly of Sampseans distributes, as a sacrament, the dust of her

-own sandals. Upon the rose-strewn bed of the Marcosians, two lovers

-embrace. The Circumcellionites slaughter one another; the Valesians

-utter the death-rattle; Bardesanes sings; Carpocras dances; Maximilla

-and Priscilla moan; and the false prophetess of Cappadocia, completely

-naked, leaning upon a lion, and brandishing three torches, shrieks the

-Terrible Invocation._

-

-_The columns of the temple sway to and fro like the trunks of trees in a

-tempest; the amulets suspended about the necks of the Heresiarchs seem

-to cross each other in lines of fire; the constellations in the chapels

-palpitate; and the walls recoil with the ebb and flow of the crowd, in

-which each head is a wave that leaps and roars._

-

-_Nevertheless, from the midst of the clamor arises the sound of a song,

-in which the name of Jesus is often repeated, accompanied by bursts of

-laughter._

-

-_The singers belong to the rabble of the people; they all keep time to

-the song by clapping their hands. In their midst stands_--)

-

-ARTUS (_in a deacon's vestments_):

-

-"The fools who declaim against me pretend to explain the absurd; and in

-order to confound them utterly, I have composed ditties so droll that

-they are learned by heart in all the mills, in the taverns and along

-the ports.

-

-"No! a thousand times no!--the Son is not coeternal with the Father,

-nor of the same substance! Otherwise he would not have said: 'Father,

-remove this chalice from me! Why dost thou call me good? God alone is

-good! I go to my God, to your God!'--and many other things testifying

-to his character of creature. The fact is further demonstrated for

-us by all his names:--lamb, shepherd, fountain, wisdom, son-of-man,

-prophet; the way, the corner-stone!"

-

-SABELLIUS. "I hold that both are identical."

-

-ARIUS. "The Council of Antioch has decided the contrary."

-

-ANTHONY. "Then what is the Word?... What was Jesus?"

-

-THE VALENTINIANS. "He was the husband of Acharamoth repentant!"

-

-THE SETHIANIANS. "He was Shem, the son of Noah!"

-

-THE THEODOTIANS. "He was Melchisedech!"

-

-THE MERINTHIANS. "He was only a man!"

-

-THE APOLLINARISTS. "He assumed the appearance of one! He simulated the

-Passion!"

-

-MARCEL OF ANCYRA. "He was a development of the Father!"

-

-POPE CALIXTUS. "Father and Son are but two modes of one God's

-manifestation!"

-

-METHODIUS. "He was first in Adam, then in man!"

-

-CERINTHUS. "And He will rise again!"

-

-VALENTINUS. "Impossible--his body being celestial!"

-

-PAUL OF SAMOSATA. "He became God _only_ from the time of his baptism!"

-

-HERMOGENES. "He dwells in the sun!"

-

-(_And all the Heresiarchs form a circle about Anthony, who weeps,

-covering his face with his hands._)

-

-A JEW (_with a red beard, and spots of leprosy upon his shin,

-approaches close to Anthony, and, with a hideous sneer, exclaims_):

-

-"His soul was the soul of Esau! He suffered from the Bellephorentian

-sickness. Was not his mother, the seller of perfumes, seduced by a

-Roman soldier, one Pantherus?.......................... [6]

-

-ANTHONY (_suddenly raising his head, looks at them a moment in silence;

-then advancing boldly upon them, exclaims_):

-

-"Doctors, magicians, bishops, and deacons, men and phantoms, away from

-me! begone! Ye are all lies!"

-

-THE HERESIARCHS. "We have martyrs more martyrs than thine, prayers

-that are more difficult, outbursts of love more sublime, ecstasies as

-prolonged as thine are."

-

-ANTHONY. "But ye have no revelation! no proofs!"

-

-(_They all at once brandish in the air their rolls of papyrus, tablets

-of wood, scrolls of leather, rolls of woven stuff bearing inscriptions;

-and elbowing; and pushing each other, they all shout to Anthony._)

-

-THE CERINTHIANS. "Behold the Gospel of the Hebrews!"

-

-THE MARCIONITES. "Behold the Gospel of the Lord!"

-

-THE MARCOSIANS. "The Gospel of Eve!"

-

-THE EUCRATITES. "The Gospel of Thomas!"

-

-THE CAINITES. "The Gospel of Judas!"

-

-BASILIDES. "The Treatise upon the Destiny of the Soul!"

-

-MANES. "The Prophecy of Barkouf!"

-

-(_Anthony struggles, breaks from them, escapes them; and in a shadowy

-corner perceives_--)

-

-THE AGED EBIONITES

-

-(_withered as mummies, their eyes dull and dim, their eyebrows white as

-frost._

-

-_In tremulous voices they exclaim_:--)

-

-"We have known him, we have seen him! We knew the Carpenter's Son! We

-were then the same age as he; we dwelt in the same street. He used to

-amuse himself by modelling little birds of mud; aided his father at his

-work without fear of the sharp tools, or selected for his mother the

-skeins of dyed wool. Then he made a voyage to Egypt, from whence he

-brought back wondrous secrets. We were at Jericho when he came to find

-the Eater of Locusts. They talked together in a low voice, so that no

-one could hear what was said. But it was from that time that his name

-began to be noised abroad in Galilee, and that men began to relate many

-fables regarding him."

-

-(_They reiterate, tremulously_:)

-

-"We knew him! we others, we knew him!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah, speak on, speak! What was his face like?"

-

-TERTULLIAN. "His face was wild and repulsive; forasmuch as he

-had burthened himself with all the crimes, all the woes, all the

-deformities of mankind."

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh! no, no! I imagine, on the contrary, that his entire

-person must have been glorious with a beauty greater than the beauty of

-man!"

-

-EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA. "There is indeed, at Paneades, propped up against

-the walls of a crumbling edifice surrounded by a wilderness of weeds

-and creeping plants, a certain statue of stone which, some say, was

-erected by the Woman healed of the issue of blood. But time has gnawed

-the face of the statue, and the rains have worn the inscription away."

-

-(_A woman steps forward from the group of the Carpocratians._)

-

-MARCELLINA. "I was once a deaconess at Rome, in a little church, where

-I used to exhibit to the faithful, the silver images, of Saint Paul,

-Homer, Pythagoras and Jesus Christ.

-

-"I have only kept that of Jesus."

-

-(_She half opens her mantle._)

-

-"Dost thou desire it?"

-

-A VOICE. "He reappears himself when we call upon him! It is the

-hour!--come!"

-

-(_And Anthony feels a brutal hand seize him by the arm, and drag him

-away._

-

-_He mounts a stairway in complete darkness; and after having ascended

-many steps, he finds himself before a door._

-

-_Then the one who is leading him--(is it Hilarion?--he does not

-know)--whispers in the ear of another_: "The Lord is about to

-come!"--_and they are admitted into a chamber, with a very low ceiling,

-and without furniture._

-

-_The first object which attracts his attention is a long blood-colored

-chrysalis, with a human head surrounded by rays, and the word_ Knouphus

-_inscribed all around it in Greek characters. It is placed upon the

-shaft of a column, which is in turn supported by a broad pedestal.

-Hanging upon the walls of the chamber are medallions of polished iron

-representing the heads of various animals:--the head of an ox, the head

-of a lion, the head of an eagle, the head of a dog, and the head of an

-ass--again!_

-

-[Illustration: ... a long blood-colored chrysalis]

-

-_Earthen lamps, suspended below these images, create a vacillating

-light. Through a hole in the wall, Anthony can see the moon shining

-far off upon the waves; he can even hear the feeble regular sound of

-lapping water; together with the heavy thud occasionally caused by the

-bumping of a ship's hull against the stones of the mole._

-

-_There are men crouching down, with their faces hidden by their

-mantles. From time to time they utter sounds resembling a smothered

-bark. There are women also, sleeping with their foreheads resting upon

-their arms, and their arms supported by their knees; they are so hidden

-by their garments as to resemble heaps of cloth piled up at intervals

-against the wall. Near them are half naked children, whose persons

-swarm with vermin. They watch with idiotic stare the burning of the

-lamps; and nothing is done: all are waiting for something._

-

-_They talk in undertones about family matters, or recommend to each

-other various remedies for their ailments. Some of them must embark

-at earliest daylight; the persecution is becoming too terrible to be

-endured. Nevertheless, the pagans are easily enough deceived_:--"The

-fools imagine that we are really adoring Knouphus!"

-

-_But one of the brethren, feeling himself suddenly inspired, takes his

-place before the column, where a basket has already been placed, filled

-with fennel and aristolochia. On the top of the basket is placed a

-loaf._)

-

-THE INSPIRED BROTHER

-

-(_unrolling a placard covered with designs representing cylinders

-blending with and fitting into one another, commences to pray_:)

-

-"The ray of the Word descended upon the darknesses; and there arose a

-mighty cry, like unto the voice of Light."

-

-ALL (_swaying their bodies in unison, respond_):

-

-"Kyrie eleison!"

-

-THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "Then was Man created by the infamous

-God of Israel, aided by those who are these (_pointing to the

-medallions_)--Astophaios, Oraios, Sabaoth, Adonai, Eloi, Iao!

-

-"And Man, hideous, feeble, formless and thoughtless, lay upon the slime

-of the earth."

-

-ALL (_in plaintive accents_):

-

-"Kyrie eleison!"

-

-THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "But Sophia, compassionating him, vivified him

-with a spark of her own soul.

-

-"Then God, beholding Man so beautiful, waxed wroth; and imprisoned him

-within His own kingdom, forbidding him to touch the Tree of Knowledge.

-

-"Again did the other succor him. She sent to him the Serpent, who, by

-many long subterfuges, made him disobey that law of hate.

-

-"And Man, having tasted knowledge, understood celestial things."

-

-ALL (_raising their voices_):

-

-"Kyrie Eleison!"

-

-THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "But Iabdalaoth through vengeance cast down man

-into the world of matter, and the Serpent with him."

-

-ALL (_in a very low tone_):

-

-"Kyrie Eleison!"

-

-(_Then all hold their peace, and there is silence._

-

-_The odors of the port mingle with the smoke of the lamps in the warm

-air. The lamp-wicks crepitate; their flames are about to go out, long

-mosquitoes flit in rapid circlings about them. And Anthony groans

-in an agony of anguish, as with the feeling that a monstrosity is

-floating about him, as with the fear of a crime that is about to be

-accomplished._

-

-_But_--)

-

-THE INSPIRED BROTHER (_stamping his heel upon the floor, snapping his

-fingers, tossing his head wildly, suddenly chants to a furious rhythm,

-with accompaniment of cymbals and a shrill flute_:--)

-

-"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!

-

-"O swift one, who runneth without feet, captor who seizeth without hand!

-

-"Sinuous as the rivers, orbicular as the sun, black, with spots of

-gold, like the firmament star-besprinkled! Like unto the intertwinings

-of the vine, and the circumvolutions of entrails!

-

-"Unengendered! eater of earth! immortally young! unfailing

-perspicacious! honored at Epidaurus! Kindly to man! thou who didst heal

-King Ptolemy, and the warriors, of Moses, and Glaucus, son of Minos!

-

-"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!"

-

-ALL (_repeat_):

-

-"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!"

-

-(_Nevertheless, nothing yet appears._)

-

-"Why? What aileth him?"

-

-(_And they concert together, devise means._

-

-_An old man presents a clod of turf as an offering. Then something

-upheaves within the basket. The mass of verdure shakes; the flowers

-fall, and the head of a python appears._

-

-[Illustration: ... the flowers fall and the head of a python

-appears]

-

-_It passes slowly around the edge of the loaf, like a circle moving

-around an immovable disk;--then it unfolds itself, lengthens out; it is

-enormous and of great weight. Lest it should touch the floor, the men

-uphold it against their breasts, the women support it upon their heads,

-the children hold it up at arms' length; and its tail, issuing through

-the hole in the wall, stretches away indefinitely to the bottom of the

-sea. Its coils double; they fill the chamber; they enclose Anthony._)

-

-THE FAITHFUL (_press their mouths against its skin, snatch from one

-another the loaf which it has bitten, and cry aloud_:--)

-

-"It is thou! it is thou!

-

-"First raised up by Moses, broken by Ezechias, re-established by the

-Messiah. He drank thee in the waters of baptism; but thou didst leave

-him in the Garden of Olives; and then indeed he felt his own weakness!

-

-"Writhing about the arms of the cross, and above his head, while

-casting thy slime upon the crown of thorns, thou didst behold him die!

-For thou art not Jesus, thou!--thou art the Word! thou art the Christ!"

-

-(_Anthony faints with horror, and falls prostrate in front of his hut

-upon the splinters of wood, where the torch that had slipped from his

-hand, is burning low._

-

-_The shock arouses him. Opening his eyes again, he perceives the Nile,

-brightly undulating under the moon, like a vast serpent winding over

-the sands; so that the hallucination returns upon him again; he has not

-left the company of the Ophites; they surround him, call him; he sees

-them carrying baggage, descending to the port. He embarks along with

-them._

-

-_An inappreciable time elapses._

-

-_Then the vaults of a prison environ him. Iron bars in front of him

-make black lines against a background of blue; and in the darkness

-beside him people are praying and weeping surrounded by others who

-exhort and console._

-

-[Illustration: ... and in the darkness beside him people are

-praying]

-

-_Without, there is a murmur like the deep humming of a vast crowd, and

-there is splendour as of a summer's day._

-

-_Shrill voices announce watermelons for sale, iced drinks, and cushions

-of woven grass to sit upon. From time to time there are bursts of

-applause. He hears the sound of footsteps above his head._

-

-_Suddenly a long roar is heard, mighty and cavernous as the roar of

-water in an aqueduct._

-

-_And he sees, directly opposite, behind the bars of another compartment

-across the arena a lion walking to and fro, then a line of sandals,

-bare legs, and purple fringes. Beyond are the vast circling wreaths

-of people, in symmetrical tiers, enlarging as they rise, from the

-lowest which hems in the arena to the uppermost above which masts

-rise to sustain a hyacinth-colored awning, suspended in air by ropes.

-Stairways radiating toward the centre, divide these huge circles of

-stone at regular intervals. The benches disappear under a host of

-spectators--knights, senators, soldiers, plebeians, vestals, and

-courtesans--in woollen hoods, in silken maniples, in fallow-colored

-tunics; together with aigrettes of precious stones, plumes of feathers,

-the fasces of lictors; and all this swarming multitude deafens and

-stupefies Anthony with its shoutings, its tumultuous fury, as of an

-enormous boiling vat. In the middle of the arena, a vase of incense

-smokes upon an altar._

-

-_Anthony thus knows that the people with him are Christians condemned

-to be thrown to the wild beasts. The men wear the red mantle of the

-pontiffs of Saturn; the women, the bandellettes of Ceres. Their friends

-divide among themselves shreds of their garments, and rings. To obtain

-access to the prison, they say, costs a great deal of money. But what

-matter! They will remain until it is all over._

-

-_Anthony notices among these consolers, a certain bald-headed man,

-in a black tunic: Anthony has seen that face somewhere before. The

-consoler discourses to them concerning the nothingness of this world,

-and the felicity of the Elect. Anthony feels within him a transport of

-celestial love; he longs for the opportunity to lay down his life for

-the Saviour--not knowing as yet whether he himself is to be numbered

-among the martyrs._

-

-_But all--except a certain Phrygian, with long hair, who stands with

-his arms uplifted--have a look of woe. One old man is sobbing upon a

-bench; a youth standing close by, with drooping head, abandons himself

-to a reverie of sorrow._

-

-THE OLD MAN _had refused to pay the customary contribution before the

-statue of Minerva, erected at the angle of the cross-roads; and he

-gazes at his companions with a look that signifies_:--)

-

-"Ye ought to have succored me! Communities can sometimes so arrange

-matters as to insure their being left in peace. Some among ye also

-procured those letters which falsely allege that one has sacrificed to

-idols."

-

-(_He asks aloud_:--)

-

-"Was it not Petrus of Alexandria who laid down the rule concerning what

-should be done by those who have yielded to torture?"

-

-(_Then, to himself_:--)

-

-"Ah! how cruel this at my age! My infirmities make me so weak!

-Nevertheless, I might easily have lived until the coming winter, or

-longer!"

-

-(_The memory of his little garden makes him sad, and he gazes toward

-the altar._)

-

-THE YOUNG MAN (_who disturbed the festival of Apollo by violence and

-blows, murmurs_:--)

-

-"Yet it would have been easy for me to have fled to the mountains!"

-

-(_One of the brothers answers_:--)

-

-"But the soldiers would have captured thee!"

-

-THE YOUNG MAN. "Oh! I would have done as Cyprian did--I would have

-returned, and the second time I would surely have had more force!"

-

-(_Then he thinks of the innumerable days that he might have lived, of

-all the joys that he might have known, but will never know; and he

-gazes toward the altar._

-

-_But_--)

-

-THE MAN IN THE BLACK TUNIC (_rushes to his side._)

-

-"What scandal! What! Thou! a victim of God's own choice! And all these

-women here who are looking at thee! Nay, think what thou art doing!

-Moreover, remember that God sometimes vouchsafes to perform a miracle.

-Pionius numbed and made powerless the hands of his executioners; the

-blood of Polycarp extinguished the fire of the stake."

-

-(_Then he turns to the Old Man_:--)

-

-"Father, father! it behooves thee to edify us by thy death! By longer

-delaying it, thou wouldst doubtless commit some evil action that would

-lose thee the fruit of all thy good works. Remember, also, that the

-power of God is infinite; and it may come to pass that all the people

-will be converted by thy example."

-

-(_And in the great den opposite, the lions stride back and forth,

-ceaselessly, with a rapid continuous motion. The largest suddenly looks

-at Anthony and roars, and a vapour issues from his jaws._

-

-_The women are huddled against the men._)

-

-THE CONSOLER (_goes from one to the other._)

-

-"What would ye say, what wouldst thou say if thou wert to be burned

-with red-hot irons, if thou wert to be torn asunder by horses, if thou

-hadst been condemned to have thy body smeared with honey, and thus

-exposed to be devoured by flies! As it is, thou wilt only suffer the

-death of a hunter surprised by a beast in the woods."

-

-(_Anthony would prefer all those things to death by the fangs of the

-horrible wild beasts; he fancies already that he feels their teeth and

-their claws, that he hears his bones cracking between their jaws._

-

-_A keeper enters the dungeon; the martyrs tremble._

-

-_Only one remains impassable, the Phrygian, who prays standing apart

-from the rest. He has burned three temples; and he advances with arms

-uplifted, mouth open, face turned toward heaven, seeing nothing around

-him, like a somnambulist._)

-

-THE CONSOLER (_shouts_). "Back! back! lest the spirit of Montanus might

-come upon you."

-

-ALL (_recoil from the Phrygian, and vociferate_)

-

-"Damnation to the Montanist!"

-

-(_They insult him, spit upon him, excite each other to beat him._

-

-_The rearing lions bite each other's manes_;)

-

-THE PEOPLE "To the beasts with them, to the beasts."

-

-_The Martyrs burst into sobs, and embrace each other passionately. A

-cup of narcotic wine is offered them. It is passed from hand to hand,

-quickly._

-

-_Another keeper, standing at the door of the den, awaits the signal.

-The den opens; a lion comes out._

-

-_He crosses the arena with great oblique strides. Other lions follow in

-file after him; then a bear, three panthers, and some leopards. They

-scatter through the arena like a flock in a meadow._

-

-_The crack of a whip resounds. The Christians stagger forward; and

-their brethren push them, that it may be over the sooner._

-

-_Anthony closes his eyes._

-

-_He opens them again. But darkness envelopes him._

-

-_Soon the darkness brightens; and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated

-with knolls, such as might be seen about abandoned quarries._

-

-[Illustration: ... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated

-with knolls]

-

-_Here and there a tuft of shrubbery rises among the slabs of stone,

-level with the soil; and there are white figures, vaguer than clouds,

-bending over the slabs._

-

-_Others approach, softly, silently. Eyes gleam through the slits of

-long veils. By the easy indifference of their walk, and the perfumes

-exhaled from their garments, Anthony knows they are patrician women.

-There are men also, but of inferior condition; for their faces are at

-once simple-looking and coarse._

-

-(_One of the Women, taking a long breath_:)

-

-"Ah! how good the cool air of night is, among the sepulchers! I am so

-weary of the softness of beds, the turmoil of days, the heavy heat of

-the sun!"

-

-(_Her maid-servant takes from a canvas bag, a torch which she ignites.

-The faithful light other torches by it, and plant them upon the tombs._)

-

-A WOMAN (_panting_).

-

-"I am here at last! Oh how wearisome to be the wife of an idolator!"

-

-ANOTHER. "These visits to the prisons, interviews with our brethren,

-are all matters of suspicion to our husbands! And we must even hide

-ourselves in order to make the sign of the cross; they would take it

-for a magical conjuration!"

-

-ANOTHER. "With my husband it was a quarrel every day. I would not

-submit myself to his brutal exactions; therefore he has had me

-prosecuted as a Christian."

-

-ANOTHER. "Do you remember Lucius, that young man who was so beautiful,

-who was dragged like Hector, with his heels attached to a chariot,

-from the Esquiline Gate to the mountains of Tibur?--and how his blood

-spattered the bushes on either side of the road? I gathered up the

-drops of his blood. Behold it!"

-

-(_She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses, and

-flings herself down upon the slabs, crying aloud_:--)

-

-[Illustration: She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers

-it with kisses ...]

-

-"Ah! my friend! my friend!"

-

-A MAN. "It is just three years to-day since Domitilla died. They stoned

-her at the further end of the Grove of Proserpine. I gathered her

-bones, which shone like glowworms in the grass. The earth how covers

-them."

-

-(_He casts himself down upon a tomb._)

-

-"O my betrothed! my betrothed!"

-

-(_And all the others scattered over the plain_:--)

-

-"O my sister! O my brother! O my daughter! O my mother!"

-

-(_Some kneel, covering their faces with their hands; others lie down

-upon the ground with their arms extended; and the sobs they smother

-shake their breasts with such violence as though their hearts were

-breaking with grief. Sometimes they look up to heaven, exclaiming_:--)

-

-"Have mercy upon her soul, O my God! She languishes in the sojourn of

-Shades; vouchsafe to admit her to thy Resurrection, that she may enjoy

-Thy Light!"

-

-(_Or, with eyes fixed upon the gravestones, they murmur to the dead_:--)

-

-"Be at peace, beloved! and suffer not! I have brought thee wine and

-meats!"

-

-A WIDOW. "Here is pultis, made by my own hands, as he used to like it,

-with plenty of eggs and a double measure of flour! We are going to eat

-it together as in other days, are we not?"

-

-(_She lifts a little piece to her lips, and suddenly bursts into an

-extravagant and frenzied laugh._

-

-_The others also nibble a little bit as she does and drink a mouthful

-of wine._

-

-_They recount to each other the stories of their martyrs; grief becomes

-exalted! libations redouble. Their tear-swimming eyes are fixed upon

-each other's faces. They stammer with intoxication and grief; gradually

-hands touch hands, lips join themselves to lips, and they seek each

-other upon the tombs, between the cups and the torches._

-

-_The sky begins to whiten. The fog makes damp their garments; and,

-without appearing even to know one another, they depart by different

-ways and seek their homes._

-

-_The sun shines; the weeds and the grass have grown higher; the face of

-the plain is changed._

-

-_And Anthony, looking between tall bamboos, sees distinctly a forest of

-columns, of bluish-grey color. These are tree-trunks, all originating

-from one vast trunk. From each branch of the colossal tree descend

-other branches which may bury themselves in the soil; and the aspect of

-all these horizontal and perpendicular lines, indefinitely multiplied,

-would closely resemble a monstrous timber-work, were it not that they

-have small figs[7] growing upon them here and there, and a blackish

-foliage, like that of the sycamore._

-

-_He perceives in the forkings of their branches, hanging bunches of

-yellow flowers, violet flowers also, and ferns that resemble the plumes

-of splendid birds._

-

-_Under the lowest branches the horns of a bubalus gleam at intervals,

-and the bright eyes of antelopes are visible; there are hosts of

-parrots; there are butterflies flittering hither and thither; lizards

-lazily drag themselves up or down; flies buzz and hum; and in the midst

-of the silence, a sound is audible as of the palpitation of a deep and

-mighty life._

-

-_Seated upon a sort of pyre at the entrance of the wood is a strange

-being--a man--besmeared with cow-dung, completely naked, more withered

-than a mummy; his articulations form knots at the termination of bones

-that resemble sticks. He has bunches of shells suspended from his ears;

-his face is very long, and his nose like a vulture's beak. His left arm

-remains motionlessly erect in air, anchylosed, rigid as a stake; and he

-has been seated here so long that birds have made themselves a nest in

-his long hair._

-

-_At the four corners of his wooden pyre flame four fires. The sun is

-directly in front of him. He gazes steadily at it with widely-opened

-eyes; and, then without looking at Anthony, asks him_:--)

-

-"Brahmin from the shores of the Nile, what hast thou to say regarding

-these things?"

-

-(_Flames suddenly burst out on all sides of him, through the intervals

-between the logs of the pyre; and_--)

-

-THE GYMNOSOPHIST (_continues_).

-

-"Lo! I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I dwelt in

-the tree behind me."

-

-[Illustration: I have buried myself in solitude, like the

-rhinoceros. I dwelt in the tree behind me.]

-

-(_The vast fig-tree, indeed, shows in one of its groves, a natural

-excavation about the size of a man._)

-

-"And I nourished me with flowers and fruits, observing the precepts so

-rigidly that not even a dog ever beheld me eat.

-

-"Inasmuch as existence originates from corruption, corruption from

-desire, desire from sensation, sensation from contact, I have ever

-avoided all action, all contact, and perpetually--motionless as the

-stela of a tomb, exhaling my breath from my two nostrils, fixing my

-eyes upon my nose, and contemplating the ether in my mind, the world in

-my members, the moon in my heart--I dreamed of the essence of the great

-Soul whence continually escape the principles of life, even as sparks

-escape from fire.

-

-"Thus at last I found the supreme Soul in all beings, and all beings

-in the supreme Soul; and I have been able to make mine own soul all my

-senses.

-

-"I receive knowledge directly from heaven, like the bird Tchataka, who

-quenches his thirst from falling rain only.

-

-"Even by so much as things are known to me, things no longer exist.

-

-"For me now there is no more hope, no more anguish, there is neither

-happiness nor virtue, nor day nor night, nor Thou nor I--absolutely

-nothing!

-

-"My awful austerities have made me superior to the Powers. A single

-contraction of my thought would suffice to kill a hundred sons of

-kings, to dethrone gods, to overturn the world."

-

-(_He utters all these things in a monotonous voice._

-

-_The surrounding leaves shrivel up. Fleeing rats rush over the ground._

-

-_He slowly turns his eyes downward toward the rising flames, and then

-continues_:--)

-

-"I have loathed Form, I have loathed Perception, I have loathed even

-Knowledge itself, for the thought does not survive the transitory fact

-which caused it; and mind, like all else, is only an illusion.

-

-"All that is engendered will perish; all that is dead must live again;

-the beings that have even now disappeared shall sojourn again in wombs

-as yet unformed, and shall again return to earth to serve in woe other

-creatures.

-

-"But inasmuch as I have rolled through the revolution of an indefinite

-multitude of existences, under the envelopes of gods, of men, and of

-animals, I renounce further wanderings; I will endure this weariness

-no more! I abandon the filthy hostelry of this body of mine, built

-with flesh, reddened with blood, covered with a hideous skin, full of

-uncleanliness; and, for my recompense, I go at last to slumber in the

-deepest deeps of the Absolute--in Annihilation."

-

-(_The flames rise to his chest, then envelope him. His head rises

-through them as through a hole in the wall. His cavernous eyes still

-remain icicle open, gazing._)

-

-ANTHONY (_rises_).

-

-(_The torch, which had fallen to the ground, has ignited the splinters

-of wood; and the flames have singed his beard._

-

-_With a loud cry, Anthony tramples the fire out; and, when nothing

-remains but ashes, he exclaims_:--)

-

-"Where can Hilarion be? He was here a moment ago. I saw him!

-

-"What! No; it is impossible; I must have been mistaken!

-

-"Yet why?... Perhaps my cabin, these stones, this sand, have no real

-existence. I am becoming mad! Let me be calm! Where was I? What was it

-that happened?

-

-"Ah! the gymnosophist!... Such a death is frequent among the sages of

-India. Kalanos burned himself before Alexander; another did likewise

-in the time of Augustus. What hatred of life men must have to do thus!

-Unless, indeed, they are impelled by pride alone?... Yet in any event

-they have the intrepidity of martyrs.... As for the latter, I can now

-well believe what has been told me regarding the debauchery they cause.

-

-"And before that? Yes: I remember now! the host of the Heresiarchs!

-What outcries! What eyes! Yet why so much rebellion of the flesh, so

-much dissoluteness, so many aberrations of the intellect.

-

-"They claim, nevertheless, to seek God through all those ways! What

-right have I to curse them--I, who stumble so often in mine own path?

-I was perhaps about to learn more of them at the moment when they

-disappeared. Too rapid was the whirl; I had no time to answer. Now I

-feel as though there were more space, more light in my understanding. I

-am calm. I even feel myself able to.... What is this? I thought I had

-put out the fire!"

-

-(_A flame flits among the rocks; and soon there comes the sound of

-a voice--broken, convulsed as by sobs--from afar off, among the

-mountains._)

-

-"Can it be the cry of a hyena, or the lamentation of some traveler that

-has lost his way?"

-

-(_Anthony listens. The flame draws nearer._

-

-_And he beholds a weeping woman approach, leaning upon the shoulder of

-a white-bearded man._

-

-_She is covered with a purple robe in rags. He is bareheaded like lier,

-wears a tunic of the same color, and carries in his hands a brazen

-vase, whence arises a thin blue flame._

-

-_Anthony feels a fear come upon him, and wishes to know who this woman

-may be._)

-

-THE STRANGER SIMON. "It is a young girl, a poor child that I lead about

-with me everywhere."

-

-(_He uplifts the brazen vase._

-

-_Anthony contemplates the girl, by the light of its vacillating flame._

-

-_There are marks of bites upon her face, traces of blows upon her arms;

-her dishevelled hair entangles itself in the rents of her rags; her

-eyes appear to be insensible to light._)

-

-SIMON. "Sometimes she remains thus for a long, long time without

-speaking; then all at once she revives, and discourses of marvellous

-things."

-

-ANTHONY. "In truth?"

-

-SIMON. "Ennoia; Ennoia! Ennoia!--tell us what thou hast to say!"

-

-(_She rolls her eyes like one awaking from a dream, slowly passes her

-fingers over her brows, and in a mournful voice, speaks_:--)

-

-Helena[8] (_Ennoia_).

-

-[Illustration: Helena - Ennoia]

-

-"I remember a distant land, of the color of emerald. Only one tree

-grows there.

-

-(_Anthony starts_).

-

-"Upon each of its tiers of broad-extending arms, a pair of Spirits

-dwell in air. All about them the branches intercross, like the veins

-of a body; and they watch the eternal Life circulating, from the roots

-deep plunging into darkness even to the leafy summit that rises higher

-than the sun. I, dwelling upon the second branch, illuminated the

-nights of Summer with my face."

-

-ANTHONY, (_tapping his own forehead_:--)

-

-"Ah! ah! I comprehend! her head!..."

-

-SIMON (_placing his finger to his lips_:--)

-

-"Hush!"

-

-HELENA. "The sail remained well filled by the wind; the keel cleft the

-foam. He said to me: 'What though I afflict my country, though I lose

-my kingdom! Thou wilt belong to me, in my house!'

-

-"How sweet was the lofty chamber of his palace! Lying upon the ivory

-bed, he caressed my long hair, singing amorously the while.

-

-"Even at the close of the day I beheld the two camps, the watchfires

-being lighted, Ulysses at the entrance of his tent, armed Achilles

-driving a chariot along the sea-beach."

-

-ANTHONY. "Why! she is utterly mad! How came this to pass?..."

-

-SIMON. "Hush! hush!"

-

-HELENA. "They anointed me with unguents, and sold me to the people that

-I might amuse them.

-

-"One evening I was standing with the sistrum in my hand, making music

-for some Greek sailors who were dancing. The rain was falling upon the

-roof of the tavern like a cataract, and the cups of warm wine were

-smoking.

-

-"A man suddenly entered, although the door was not opened to let him

-pass."

-

-SIMON. "It was I! I found thee again!

-

-"Behold her, Anthony, she whom they call Sigeh, Ennoia, Barbelo,

-Prounikos! The Spirits governing the world were jealous of her; and

-they imprisoned her within the body of a woman.

-

-"She was that Helen of Troy, whose memory was cursed by the poet

-Stesichorus. She was Lucretia, the patrician woman violated by a king.

-She was Delilah, by whom Samson's locks were shorn.... She has loved

-adultery, idolatry, lying and foolishness. She has prostituted herself

-to all nations. She has sung at the angles of all cross-roads. She has

-kissed the faces of all men.

-

-"At Tyre, she, the Syrian, was the mistress of robbers. She caroused

-with them during the nights; and she concealed assassins amidst the

-vermin of her tepid bed."

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah! what is this to me?..."

-

-SIMON (_with a furious look_:--)

-

-"I tell thee that I have redeemed her, and re-established her in her

-former splendor; insomuch that Caius Caesar Caligula became enamoured of

-her, desiring to sleep with the Moon!"

-

-ANTHONY. "What then?..."

-

-SIMON. "Why this, that she herself is the Moon! Has not Pope Clement

-written how she was imprisoned in a tower? Three hundred persons

-surrounded the tower to watch it; and the moon was seen at each of the

-loop-holes at the same time, although there is not more than one moon

-in the world, nor more than one Ennoia!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yes ... it seems to me that I remember...."

-

-(_He falls into a reverie._)

-

-SIMON. "Innocent as the Christ who died for men, so did she devote

-herself for women. For the impotence of Jehovah is proven by the

-transgression of Adama, and we must shake off the yoke of the old law,

-which is antipathetic to the order of things.[9]

-

-"I have preached the revival in Ephraim and in Issachar by the torrent

-of Bizor, beyond the Lake of Houleh, in the valley of Maggedo, further

-than the mountains, at Bostra and at Damascus. Let all come to me who

-are covered with wine, who are covered with filth, who are covered with

-blood! and I shall take away their uncleanliness with the Holy Spirit,

-called Minerva by the Greeks. She is Minerva! she is the Holy Spirit! I

-am Jupiter, Apollo, the Christ, the Paraclete, the great might of God,

-incarnated in the person of Simon!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah! it is thou!... so it is thou! But I know thy crimes!

-

-"Thou wast born at Gittoi near Samaria, Dositheas, thy first master,

-drove thee from him. Thou didst execrate Saint Paul because he

-converted one of thy wives; and, vanquished by Saint Peter, in thy rage

-and terror thou didst cast into the waves the bag which contained thy

-artifices!"

-

-SIMON. "Dost thou desire them?"

-

-(_Anthony looks at him, and an interior voice whispers hi his

-heart:--"Why not?"_)

-

-SIMON (_continues_).

-

-"He who knows the forces of Nature and the essence of Spirits must be

-able to perform miracles. It has been the dream of all sages; it is the

-desire which even now gnaws thee!--confess it!"

-

-"In the sight of the multitude of the Romans, I flew in the air so

-high that none could behold me move. Nero ordered that I should be

-decapitated; but it was the head of a sheep which fell upon the ground

-in lieu of mine. At last they buried me alive; but I rose again upon

-the third day. The proof is that thou dost behold me before thee!"

-

-(_He presents his hands to Anthony to smell. They have the stench of

-corpse-flesh. Anthony recoils with loathing._)

-

-"I can make serpents of bronze writhe; I can make marble statues

-laugh; I can make dogs speak. I will show thee vast quantities of gold;

-I will reestablish kings; thou shalt see nations prostrate themselves

-in adoration before me! I can walk upon the clouds and upon the waves,

-I can pass through mountains, I can make myself appear as a youth, as

-an old man, as a tiger, or as an ant; I can assume thy features; I can

-give thee mine; I can make the thunder follow after me. Dost hear it?"

-

-(_The thunder rumbles; flashes of lightning succeed._)

-

-"It is the voice of the Most High; for 'the Lord thy God is a fire;'

-and all creations are accomplished by sparks from the fire-centre of

-all things.

-

-Thou shalt even now receive the baptism of it--that second baptism

-announced by Jesus, which fell upon the apostles on a day of tempest

-when the windows were open!"

-

-(_And stirring up the flame with his hand, slowly, as though preparing

-to sprinkle Anthony with it, he continues_:--)

-

-"Mother of mercies, thou who discoverest all secrets, in order that we

-may find rest in the eighth mansion...."

-

-ANTHONY (_cries out_:--)

-

-"Oh! that I had only some holy water!..."

-

-(_The flame goes out, producing much smoke._

-

-_Ennoia and Simon have disappeared._

-

-_An exceedingly cold, opaque and f[oe]tid mist fills the atmosphere._)

-

-ANTHONY (_groping with his hands like a blind man_:--)

-

-"Where am I?... I fear lest I fall into the abyss! And the cross,

-surely, is too far from me. Ah! what a night! what a terrible night!"

-

-(_The mist is parted by a gust of wind; and Anthony sees two men

-covered with long white tunics._

-

-_The first is of lofty stature, with a gentle face, and a grave mien.

-His blond hair, parted like that of Christ, falls upon his shoulders.

-He has cast aside a wand that he had been holding in his hand; his

-companion takes it up, making a reverence after the fashion of the

-Orientals._

-

-_The latter is small of stature, thick set, flat-nosed; his neck and

-shoulders expresses good natured simplicity._

-

-_Both are barefooted, bareheaded, and dusty, like persons who have made

-a long journey._)

-

-ANTHONY (_starting up_:--)

-

-"What do ye seek? Speak!... Begone from here!"

-

-DAMIS (_who is a little man_).

-

-"Nay! nay! be not angered, good hermit. As for that I seek, I know not

-myself what it is! Here is the Master!"

-

-(_He sits down. The other stranger remains standing. Silence._)

-

-ANTHONY (_asks_).

-

-"Then ye come?..."

-

-DAMIS. "Oh! from afar off--very far off!"

-

-ANTHONY. "And ye go?..."

-

-DAMIS (_pointing to the other_)

-

-"Whithersoever he shall desire!"

-

-ANTHONY. "But who may he be?"

-

-DAMIS. "Look well upon him!"

-

-ANTHONY (_aside_).

-

-"He looks like a saint! If I could only dare...."

-

-(_The mist is all gone. The night is very clear. The moon shines._)

-

-DAMIS. "Of what art thou dreaming, that thou dost not speak?"

-

-ANTHONY. "I was thinking.... Oh! nothing!"

-

-DAMIS (_approaches Apollonius, and walks all round him several times,

-bending himself as he walks, never raising his head_:--)

-

-"Master, here is a Galilean hermit who desires to know the beginnings

-of wisdom."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Let him approach!" (_Anthony hesitates._)

-

-DAMIS. "Approach!"

-

-APOLLONIUS (_in a voice of thunder_:--)

-

-"Approach! Thou wouldst know who I am, what I have done, and what I

-think,--is it not so, child?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Always supposing that these things can contribute to the

-salvation of my soul."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Rejoice! I am about to inform thee of them!"

-

-DAMIS (_in an undertone, to Anthony_:--)

-

-"Is it possible? He must surely have at the first glance discerned in

-thee extraordinary aptitude for philosophy. I shall also strive to

-profit by his instruction."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "First of all, I shall tell thee of the long course which

-I have followed in order to obtain the doctrine; and if thou canst

-discover in all my life one evil action, thou shalt bid me pause, for

-he who hath erred in his actions may well give scandal by his words."

-

-DAMIS (_to Anthony_).

-

-"How just a man? Is he not?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Indeed I believe him to be sincere."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Upon the night of my birth, my mother imagined that

-she was gathering flowers by the shore of a great lake. A flash of

-lightning appeared; and she brought me into the world to the music of

-the voices of swans singing to her in her dream.

-

-"Until I had reached the age of fifteen I was plunged thrice a day into

-the fountain, Asbadeus, whose waters make perjurers hydropical; and my

-body was rubbed with the leaves of the onyza, that I might be chaste.

-

-"A Palmyrian princess came one evening to seek me, offering me

-treasures that she knew to be in the tombs. A hierodule of the temple

-of Diana, slew herself in despair with the sacrificial knife; and the

-governor of Cilicia, finding all his promises of no avail, cried out in

-the presence of my family that he would cause my death; but it was he

-that died only three days after, assassinated by the Romans."

-

-DAMIS (_nudging Anthony with his elbow_).

-

-"Eh? did I not tell thee? What a man!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "For the space of four successive years I maintained the

-unbroken silence of the Pythagoreans. The most sudden and unexpected

-pain never extorted a sigh from me; and when I used to enter the

-theatre, all drew away from me, as from a phantom."

-

-DAMIS. "Wouldst thou have done so much?--thou?"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "After the period of my trial had been accomplished, I

-undertook to instruct the priests regarding the tradition they had

-lost."

-

-ANTHONY. "What tradition?"

-

-DAMIS. "Interrupt him not! Be silent!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "I have conversed with the Samaneans of the Ganges, with

-the astrologers of Chaldea, with the magi of Babylon, with the Gaulish

-Druids, with the priests of the negroes! I have ascended the fourteen

-Olympii; I have sounded the Scythian lakes; I have measured the breadth

-of the Desert!"

-

-DAMIS. "It is all true! I was with him the while!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "But first I had visited the Hyrcanian Sea; I made the tour

-of it; and descending by way of the country of the Baraomati, where

-Bucephalus is buried, I approached the city of Nineveh. At the gates of

-the city, a man drew near me...."

-

-DAMIS. "I--even I, good master! I loved thee from the first. Thou wert

-gentler than a girl and more beautiful than a god!"

-

-APOLLONIUS (_without hearing him_).

-

-"He asked me to accompany him, that he might serve as interpreter."

-

-DAMIS. "But thou didst reply that all languages were familiar to thee,

-and that thou couldst divine all thoughts. Then I kissed the hem of thy

-mantle, and proceeded to walk behind thee."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "After Ctesiphon, we entered upon the territory of Babylon."

-

-DAMIS. "And the Satrap cried aloud on beholding a man so pale."

-

-ANTHONY (_aside_).

-

-"What signifies this?..."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "The king received me standing, near a throne of silver,

-in a hall constellated with stars; from the cupola hung suspended by

-invisible threads four great birds of gold, with wings extended."

-

-ANTHONY (_dreamily_).

-

-"Can there be such things in the world?"

-

-DAMIS. "Ah! that is a city! that Babylon! everybody there is rich! The

-houses, which are painted blue, have doors of bronze, and flights of

-steps descending to the river."

-

-(_Drawing lines upon the ground, with his stick_:)

-

-"Like that, seest thou? And then there are temples, there are squares,

-there are baths, there are aqueducts! The palaces are roofed with red

-brass; and the interior ... ah! if thou only knewest!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Upon the north wall rises a tower which supports a second,

-a third, a fourth, a fifth, and there are also three others! The eighth

-is a chapel containing a bed. No one enters it save the woman chosen by

-the priests for the God Belus. I was lodged there by order of the King

-of Babylon."

-

-DAMIS. "As for me, they hardly deigned to give me any attention! So I

-walked through the streets all by myself. I informed myself regarding

-the customs of the people; I visited the workshops; I examined the

-great machines that carry water to the gardens. But I soon wearied of

-being separated from the Master."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "At last we left Babylon; and as we travelled by the light

-of the moon, we suddenly beheld an Empusa."

-

-DAMIS. "Aye, indeed! She leaped upon her iron hoof; she brayed like an

-ass; she galloped among the rocks. He shouted imprecations at her; she

-disappeared."

-

-ANTHONY (_aside_).

-

-"What can be their motive?"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "At Taxilla, the capital of five thousand fortresses,

-Phraortes, King of the Ganges, showed us his guard of black men, whose

-stature was five cubits, and under a pavilion of green brocade in his

-gardens, an enormous elephant, which the queens amused themselves by

-perfuming. It was the elephant of Porus which had taken flight after

-the death of Alexander."

-

-DAMIS. "And which had been found again in a forest."

-

-ANTHONY. "Their speech is superabundant, like that of drunken men!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Phraortes seated us at his own table."

-

-DAMIS. "How strange a country that was! During their drinking

-carousels, the lords used to amuse-themselves by shooting arrows under

-the feet of a dancing child. But I do not approve...."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "When I was ready to depart, the king gave me a parasol,

-and he said to me: 'I have a stud of white camels upon the Indus. When

-thou shalt have no further use for them, blow in their ears. They will

-come back.'

-

-"We descended along the river, marching at night by the light of the

-fire-flies, which glimmered among the bamboos. The slave whistled an

-air to drive away the serpents; and our camels bent down in passing

-below the branches of the trees, as if passing under low gates.

-

-"One day a black child, who held a golden caduceus in his hand,

-conducted us to the College of the Sages. Iarchas, their chief, spoke

-to me of my ancestors, told me of all my thoughts, of all my actions,

-of all my existences. In former time he had been the River Indus; and

-he reminded me that I had once been a boatman upon the Nile, in the

-time of King Sesostris."

-

-DAMIS. "As for me, they told me nothing; so that I know not who or what

-I have been."

-

-ANTHONY. "They have a vague look, like shadows!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Upon the shores of the sea we met with the milk-gorged

-Cynocephali, who were returning from their expedition to the Island

-Taprobana. The tepid waves rolled blond pearls to our feet. The amber

-crackled beneath our steps. Whale-skeletons were whitening in the

-crevasses of the cliffs. At last the land became narrow as a sandal;

-and after casting drops of ocean water toward the sun, we turned to the

-right to return.

-

-"So we returned through the Region of Aromatics, by way of the country

-of the Gangarides, the promontory of Comaria, the country of the

-Sachalites, of the Adramites and of the Homerites; then, across the

-Cassanian mountains, the Red Sea, and the Island Topazos, we penetrated

-into Ethiopia through the country of the Pygmies."

-

-ANTHONY (_to himself_).

-

-"How vast the world is!"

-

-DAMIS. "And after we had returned home, we found that all those whom we

-used to know, were dead."

-

-(_Anthony lowers his head. Silence._)

-

-APOLLONIUS (_continues_).

-

-"Then men began to talk of me the world over.

-

-"The plague was ravaging Ephesus; I made them stone an old mendicant

-there."

-

-DAMIS. "And forthwith the plague departed."

-

-ANTHONY. "What! Does he drive away pestilence?"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "At Cnidos, I cured the man that had become enamored of

-Venus."

-

-DAMIS. "Aye! a fool who had even vowed to espouse her! To love a woman

-is at least comprehensible; but to love a statue--what madness! The

-Master placed his hand upon the young man's heart; and the fire of that

-love was at once extinguished."

-

-ANTHONY. "How! does he also cast out devils?"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "At Tarentum they were carrying the dead body of a young

-girl to the funeral pyre."

-

-DAMIS. "The Master touched her lips; and she arose and called her

-mother."

-

-ANTHONY. "What! he raises the dead!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "I predicted to Vespasian his accession to power."

-

-ANTHONY. "What! he foretells the future!"

-

-DAMIS. "At Corinth there was a ..."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "It was when I was at table with him, at the waters of

-Baia ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "Excuse me, strangers--it is very late ..."

-

-DAMIS. "At Corinth there was a young man called Menippus ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "No! no!--go ye away!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "A dog came in, bearing a severed hand in his mouth."

-

-DAMIS. "One evening, in one of the suburbs, he met a woman."

-

-ANTHONY. "Do ye not hear me? Begone!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "He wandered in a bewildered way around the couches ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "Enough!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "They sought to drive him out."

-

-DAMIS. "So Menippus went with her to her house; they loved one

-another."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "And gently beating the mosaic pavement with his tail, he

-laid the severed hand upon the knees of Flavius."

-

-DAMIS. "But next morning, during the lessons in the school, Menippus

-was pale."

-

-ANTHONY (_starting up in anger_).

-

-"Still continuing! Ah! then let them continue till they be weary,

-inasmuch as there is no ..."

-

-DAMIS. "The Master said to him: 'O beautiful youth, thou dost caress

-a serpent; by a serpent thou art caressed! And when shall be the

-nuptials?' We all went to the wedding."

-

-ANTHONY. "Assuredly I am doing wrong, to hearken to such a story!"

-

-DAMIS. "Servants were hurrying to and fro in the vestibule; doors were

-opening; nevertheless there was no sound made either by the fall of

-the footsteps nor the closing of the doors. The Master placed himself

-beside Menippus. And the bride forthwith became angered against the

-philosophers. But the vessels of gold, the cupbearers, the cooks, the

-panthers disappeared; the roof receded and vanished into air; the walls

-crumbled down; and Apollonius stood alone with the woman at his feet,

-all in tears. She was a vampire who satisfied the beautiful young men

-in order to devour their flesh, for nothing is more desirable for such

-phantoms than the blood of amorous youths."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "If thou shouldst desire to learn the art ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "I do not wish to learn anything!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "The same evening that we arrived at the gates of Rome ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh! yes!--speak to me rather of the City of Popes!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "A drunken man accosted us, who was singing in a low voice.

-The song was an epithalamium of Nero; and he had the power to cause

-the death of whosoever should hear it with indifference. In a box upon

-his shoulders he carried a string taken from the Emperor's cithara. I

-shrugged my shoulders. He flung mud in our faces. Then I unfastened my

-girdle and placed it in this hand."

-

-DAMIS. "In sooth, thou wert most imprudent!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "During the night the Emperor summoned me to his house. He

-was playing at osselets with Sporus, supporting his left arm upon a

-table of agate. He turned and, knitting his brows, demanded: 'How comes

-it that thou dost not fear me?' 'Because,' I replied, 'the God who made

-thee terrible, also made me intrepid."

-

-ANTHONY (_to himself_).

-

-"There is something inexplicable that terrifies me!"

-

-(_Silence._)

-

-DAMIS (_breaking the silence with his shrill voice_).

-

-"Moreover, all Asia can tell thee ..."

-

-ANTHONY (_starting up_).

-

-"I am ill! let me be!"

-

-DAMIS. "But listen! At Ephesus, he beheld them killing Domitian, who

-was at Rome."

-

-ANTHONY (_with a forced laugh_). "Is it possible?"

-

-DAMIS. "Yes: at the theatre at noon-day, the fourteenth of the Kalenda

-of October, he suddenly cried out: 'Caesar is being murdered!' and

-from time to time he would continue to ejaculate: 'He rolls upon the

-pavement ... Oh! how he struggles ... He rises ... He tries to flee

-... The doors are fastened ... Ah! it is all over! He is dead!' And in

-fact Titus Flavius Domitianus was assassinated upon that very day, as

-thou knowest."

-

-ANTHONY. "Without the aid of the Devil ... certainly ..."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "He had purposed putting me to death, that same Domitian!

-Damis had taken flight according to my order, and I remained alone in

-my prison."

-

-DAMIS. "A terrible hardihood on thy part, it must be confessed!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "About the fifth hour, the soldiers led me before the

-tribunal. I had my harangue all ready hidden beneath my mantle."

-

-DAMIS. "We others were then upon the shores of Puteoli, we believed

-thee dead; we were all weeping, when all of a sudden about the sixth

-hour, thou didst suddenly appear before us, exclaiming: 'It is I.'"

-

-ANTHONY (_to himself_). "Even as He...!"

-

-DAMIS (_in a very loud voice_). "Precisely!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh! no! ye lie! is it not so?--ye lie!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "He descended from heaven. I rise thither, by the power of

-my virtue that has lifted me up even to the height of the Principle of

-all things!"

-

-DAMIS. "Thyana, his natal city, has established in his honor a temple

-and a priesthood!"

-

-APOLLONIUS (_draws near Anthony, and shouts in his ear_:--)

-

-"It is because I know all gods, all rites, all prayers, all oracles!

-I have penetrated into the cave of Trophonius, son of Apollo! I

-have kneaded for Syracusan women the cakes which they carry to the

-mountains. I have endured the eighty tests of Mithra! I have pressed to

-my heart the serpent of Sabasius! I have received the scarf of Kabiri!

-I have laved Cybele in the waters of the Campanian gulfs! and I have

-passed three moons in the caverns of Samothracia!"

-

-DAMIS (_with a stupid laugh_).

-

-"Ah! ah! ah! at the mysteries of the good Goddess!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "And now we recommence our pilgrimage.

-

-"We go to the North to the land of Swans and of snows. Upon the vast

-white plains, the blind hippopodes break with the tips of their feet

-the ultramarine plant."

-

-DAMIS. "Hasten! it is already dawn. The cock has crowed, the horse has

-neighed, the sail is hoisted!"

-

-ANTHONY. "The cock has not crowed! I hear the locusts in the sands, and

-I see the moon still in her place."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "We go to the South, beyond the mountains and the mighty

-waters, to seek in perfumes the secret source of love. Thou shalt

-inhale the odor of myrrhodion which makes the weak die. Thou shalt

-bathe thy body in the lake of Rose-oil which is in the Island Junonia.

-Thou shalt see slumbering upon primroses that Lizard which awakes

-every hundred years when the carbuncle upon its forehead, arriving

-at maturity, falls to the ground. The stars palpitate like eyes; the

-cascades sing like the melody of lyres; strange intoxication is exhaled

-by blossoming flowers; thy mind shall grow vaster in that air; and thy

-heart shall change even as thy face."

-

-DAMIS. "Master! it is time! The wind has risen, the swallows awaken,

-the myrtle leaves are blown away."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Yes! let us go!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Nay! I remain here!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Shall I tell thee where grows the plant Balis, that

-resurrects the dead?"

-

-DAMIS "Nay; ask him rather for the audrodamas which attracts silver,

-iron and brass!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh! how I suffer! how I suffer!"

-

-DAMIS. "Thou shalt comprehend the voices of all living creatures, the

-roarings, the cooings!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "I shall enable thee to ride upon unicorns and upon

-dragons, upon hippocentaurs and dolphins!"

-

-ANTHONY (_weeping_). "Oh ... oh!... oh!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Thou shalt know the demons that dwell in the caverns, the

-demons that mutter in the woods, the demons that move in the waves, the

-demons that push the clouds!"

-

-DAMIS. "Tighten thy girdle, fasten thy sandals!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "I shall explain to thee the reason of divine forms--why

-Apollo stands, why Jupiter is seated, why Venus is black, at Corinth,

-square-shaped at Athens, conical at Paphos."

-

-ANTHONY (_clasping his hands_).

-

-"Let them begone! let them begone!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "In thy presence I will tear down the panoplies of the

-Gods; we shall force open the sanctuaries, I will enable thee to

-violate the Pythoness!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Help! O my God!"

-

-(_He rushes to the cross._)

-

-APOLLONIUS. "What is thy desire? What is thy dream? Thou needst only

-devote the moment of time necessary to think of it ..."

-

-ANTHONY. "Jesus! Jesus! Help me!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Dost thou wish me to make him appear, thy Jesus?"

-

-ANTHONY. "What? How!"

-

-APOLLONIUS. "It shall be He!--no other! He will cast off his crown, and

-we shall converse face to face!"

-

-DAMIS (_in an undertone_).

-

-"Say thou dost indeed wish it! say thou dost desire it!"

-

-(_Anthony kneeling before the cross, murmurs prayers. Damis walks

-around him, with wheedling gestures._)

-

-"Nay, nay! good hermit. Be not horrified! These are only exaggerated

-forms of speech, borrowed from the Orientals. That need in no way ..."

-

-APOLLONIUS. "Let him alone, Damis!

-

-"He believes, like a brute, in the reality of things. The terror which

-he entertains of the Gods prevents him from comprehending them; and he

-debases his own God to the level of a jealous king!

-

-"But thou, my son, do not leave me!"

-

-(_He moves to the edge of the cliff, walking backward, passes beyond

-the verge of the precipice, and remains suspended in air._)

-

-"Above all forms, further than the ends of the earth, beyond the

-heavens themselves, lies the world of Idea, replete with the splendor

-of the Word! With one bound we shall traverse the impending spaces, and

-thou shalt behold in all his infinity, the Eternal, the Absolute, the

-Being! Come! give me thy hand! Let us rise."

-

-(_Side by side, both rise up through the air, slowly. Anthony, clinging

-to the cross, watches them rise. They disappear._)

-

-

-[1] Agape.--Love-feast of the primitive Christians.

-

-[2] John XVI: 12.--T.

-

-[3] See note at end.

-

-[4] Masheim gives _Achamoth._ I prefer to remain faithful to the

-orthography given by Flaubert.

-

-[5] The French text gives _mes peres_ not _nos peres._ Elxai, or

-Elkhai, who established his sect in the reign of Trajan, was a Jew.

-

-[6] See note.

-

-[7] The banyan is a fig-tree--the _Ficus indicus._--Trans.

-

-[8] Readers may remember Longfellow's exquisite poem "Helena of Tyre."

-

-[9] See the second part of "Faust," and _Kundry_ in "Parsifal."

-

-

-

-

-V.

-

-

-ANTHONY (_walking to and fro, slowly_).

-

-"That one, indeed, seems in himself equal to all the powers of Hell!

-

-"Nebuchadnezzar did not so much dazzle me with his splendours;--the

-Queen of Sheba herself charmed me less deeply.

-

-"His manner of speaking of the gods compels one to feel a desire to

-know them.

-

-"I remember having beheld hundreds of them at one time, in the island

-of Elephantius, in the time of Diocletian. The emperor had ceded to the

-Nomads a great tract of country, upon the condition that they should

-guard the frontiers; and the treaty was concluded in the name of the

-'Powers Invisible.' For the gods of each people were unknown unto the

-other people.

-

-"The Barbarians had brought theirs with them. They occupied the

-sand-hills bordering the river. We saw them supporting their idols in

-their arms, like great paralytic children;--others, paddling through

-the cataracts upon trunks of palm tree, displayed from afar off the

-amulets hung about their necks, the tattooings upon their breasts; and

-these things were not more sinful than the religion of the Greeks, the

-Asiatics, and the Romans!

-

-"When I was dwelling in the temple of Heliopolis I would often consider

-the things I beheld upon the walls:--vultures bearing sceptres,

-crocodiles playing upon lyres, faces of men with the bodies of

-serpents, cow-headed women prostrating themselves before ithyphallic

-gods:--and their supernatural forms attracted my thoughts to other

-worlds. I longed to know that which drew the gaze of all those calm and

-mysterious eyes.

-

-"If matter can exert such power, it must surely contain a spirit. The

-souls of the Gods are attached to their images ...

-

-"Those possessing the beauty of forms might seduce. But the others

-... those of loathsome or terrible aspect ... how can men believe in

-them?..."

-

-(_And he beholds passing over the surface of the ground,--leaves,

-stones, shells, branches of trees,--then a variety of hydropical

-dwarfs: these are gods. He bursts into a laugh. He hears another laugh

-behind him;--and Hilarion appears, in the garb of a hermit, far taller

-than before, colossal._)

-

-ANTHONY (_who feels no surprise at seeing him_).

-

-"How stupid one must be to worship such things!"

-

-HILARION. "Aye!--exceedingly stupid!"

-

-(_Then idols of all nations and of all epochs--of wood, of metal, of

-granite, of feathers, of skins sewn together,--pass before them._

-

-_The most ancient of all anterior to the Deluge are hidden under masses

-of seaweed hanging down over them like manes. Some that are too long

-for their bases, crack in all their joints, and break their own backs

-in walking. Others have rents torn in their bellies through which sand

-trickles out._

-

-_Anthony and Hilarion are prodigiously amused. They hold their sides

-for laughter. Then appear sheep-headed idols. They totter upon their

-bandy-legs, half-open their eye-lids, and stutter like the dumb,_ "Ba!

-ba! ba!"

-

-_The more that the idols commence to resemble the human forms, the

-more they irritate Anthony. He strikes them with his fist, kicks them,

-attacks them with fury. They become frightful,--with lofty plumes, eyes

-like balls, fingers terminated by claws, the jaws of sharks._

-

-_And before these gods men are slaughtered upon altars of stone; others

-are brayed alive in huge mortars, crushed under chariots, nailed upon

-trees. There is one all of red-hot iron with the horns of a bull, who

-devours children._)

-

-ANTHONY. "Horror!"

-

-HILARION. "But the gods always demand tortures--and suffering. Even

-thine desired ..."

-

-ANTHONY (_weeping_). "Ah! say no more!--do not speak to me!"

-

-(_The space girdled by the rocks suddenly changes into a valley. A herd

-of cattle are feeding upon the short grass._

-

-_The herdman who leads them, observes a cloud;--and in a sharp voice,

-shouts out words of command, as if to heaven._)

-

-HILARION. "Because he needs rain, he seeks by certain chants to compel

-the King of heaven to open the fecund cloud."

-

-ANTHONY (_laughing_).

-

-"Verily, such pride is the extreme of foolishness!"

-

-HILARION. "Why dost thou utter exorcisms?"

-

-(_The valley changes into a sea of milk, motionless and infinite. In

-its midst floats a long cradle formed by the coils of a serpent, whose

-many curving heads shade, like a dais, the god slumbering upon its

-body._

-

-_He is beardless, young, more beautiful than a girl, and covered with

-diaphanous veils. The pearls of his tiara gleam softly like moons; a

-chaplet of stars is entwined many times about his breast, and with one

-hand beneath his head, he slumbers with the look of one who dreams

-after wine._

-

-_A woman crouching at his feet, awaits the moment of his awaking._)

-

-HILARION. "Such is the primordial duality of the Brahmans,--the

-Absolute being inexpressible by any form."

-

-(_From the navel of the god has grown the stem of a lotus flower; it

-blossoms, and within its chalice appears another god with three faces._)

-

-ANTHONY. "How strange an invention!"

-

-HILARION. "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but one and the same

-Person!"

-

-(_The three faces separate; and three great gods appear._

-

-_The first, who is pink, bites the end of his great toe._

-

-_The second, who is blue, uplifts his four arms._

-

-_The third, who is green, wears a necklace of human skulls._

-

-_Before them instantly arise three goddesses--one is enveloped in a

-net; another offers a cup; the third brandishes a bow._

-

-[Illustration: ... instantly arise three goddesses]

-

-_And these gods, these goddesses, decuple themselves, multiply. Arms

-grow from their shoulders; at the end of these arms hands appear

-bearing standards, axes, bucklers, swords, parasols and drums.

-Fountains gush from their heads, plants grow from their nostrils._

-

-_Riding upon birds rocked in palanquins, enthroned upon seats of gold,

-standing in ivory niches,--they dream, voyage, command, drink wine,

-respire the breath of flowers. Dancing girls whirl in the dance; giants

-pursue monsters; at the entrances of grottoes solitaries meditate. Eyes

-cannot be distinguished from stars; nor clouds from banderolles;

-peacocks quench their thirst at rivers of gold dust; the embroidery

-of pavilions seems to blend with the spots of leopards; coloured rays

-intercross in the blue air, together with flying arrows, and swinging

-censers._

-

-_And all this develops like a lofty frieze, resting its base upon the

-rocks, and rising to the sky._)

-

-ANTHONY (_dazzled by the sight_).

-

-"How vast is their number! What do they seek?"

-

-HILARION. "The god who rubs his abdomen with his elephant-trunk, is the

-solar Deity, the inspiring spirit of wisdom.

-

-"That other whose six heads are crowned with towers, and whose fourteen

-arms wield javelins,--is the prince of armies,--the Fire-Consumer.

-

-"The old man riding the crocodile washes the soul of the dead upon

-the shore. They will be tormented by that black woman with the putrid

-teeth, who is the Ruler of Hell.

-

-"That chariot drawn by red mares, driven by one who has no legs, bears

-the master of the sun through heaven's azure. The moon-god accompanies

-him, in a litter drawn by three gazelles.

-

-"Kneeling upon the back of a parrot, the Goddess of Beauty presents to

-Love, her son, her rounded breast. Behold her now, further off, leaping

-for joy in the meadows. Look! Look! Coiffed with dazzling mitre, she

-trips lightly over the ears of growing wheat, over the waves; she rises

-in air, extending her power over all elements.

-

-"And among these gods are the Genii of the winds, of the planets, of

-the months, of the days,--a hundred thousand others;--multiple are

-their aspects, rapid their transformations. Behold, there is one who

-changes from a fish into a tortoise: he assumes the form of a boar, the

-shape of a dwarf."

-

-ANTHONY. "Wherefore?"

-

-HILARION. "That he may preserve the equilibrium of the universe, and

-combat the works of evil. But life exhausts itself; forms wear away;

-and they must achieve progression in their metamorphoses."

-

-(_All upon a sudden appears a_ NAKED MAN _seated in the midst of the

-sand, with legs crossed._)

-

-(_A large halo vibrates, suspended in air behind him. The little

-ringlets of his black hair in which blueish tints shift symmetrically

-surround a protuberance upon the summit of his skull. His arms,

-which are very long, hang down against his sides. His two hands rest

-flat upon his thighs, with the palms open. The soles of his feet

-are like the faces of two blazing suns; and he remains completely

-motionless--before Anthony and Hilarion--with all the gods around him,

-rising in tiers above the rocks, as if upon the benches of some vast

-circus. His lips, half-open; and he speaks in a deep voice_):

-

-"I am the Master of great charities, the succor of all creatures; and

-not less to the profane than to believers, do I expound the law.

-

-"That I might deliver the world, I resolved to be born among men. The

-gods wept when I departed from them.

-

-"I sought me first a woman worthy to give me birth: a woman of warrior

-race, the wife of a king, exceedingly good, excessively beautiful,

-with body firm as adamant;--and at time of the full moon, without the

-auxiliation of any male, I entered her womb.

-

-"I issued from it by the right side. Stars stopped in their courses."

-

-HILARION (_murmurs between his teeth_).

-

-"And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy!"[1]

-

-(_Anthony watches more attentively._)

-

-THE BUDDHA[2] (_continuing_).

-

-"From the furthest recesses of the Himalayas, a holy man one hundred

-years of age, hurried to see me."

-

-HILARION. "A man named Simeon ... who should not see death, before he

-had seen the Christ of the Lord."[3]

-

-THE BUDDHA. "I was led unto the schools; and it was found that I knew

-more than the teachers."

-

-HILARION. "... In the midst of the doctors ... and all that heard him

-were astonished at his wisdom!"[4]

-

-(_Anthony makes a sign to Hilarion to be silent._)

-

-THE BUDDHA. "Continually did I meditate in the gardens. The shadows of

-the trees turned with the turning of the sun; but the shadow of that

-which sheltered me turned not.

-

-"None could equal me in the knowledge of the Scriptures, the

-enumeration of atoms, the conduct of elephants, the working of wax,

-astronomy, poetry, pugilism, all the exercises and all the arts!

-

-"In accordance with custom, I took to myself a wife; and I passed the

-days in my kingly palace;--clad in pearls, under a rain of perfumes,

-refreshed by the fans of thirty thousand women,--watching my peoples

-from the height of my terraces adorned with fringes of resonant bells.

-

-"But the sight of the miseries of the world turned me away from

-pleasure. I fled.

-

-"I begged my way upon the high roads, clad myself in rags gathered

-within the sepulchres;--and, hearing of a most learned hermit, I chose

-to become his slave. I guarded his gate! I washed his feet.

-

-"Thus I annihilated all sensation, all joy, all languor.

-

-"Then, concentrating my thoughts within vaster meditation, I learned to

-know the essence of things, the illusion of forms.

-

-"Soon I exhausted the science of the Brahmans. They are gnawed by

-covetousness and desire under their outward aspect of austerity; they

-daub themselves with filth, they live upon thorns,--hoping to arrive at

-happiness by the path of death!"

-

-HILARION.... "Pharisees, hypocrites, whited sepulchres, generation of

-vipers!"

-

-THE BUDDHA. "I also accomplished wondrous things,--eating but one

-grain of rice each day (and the grains of rice in those times were no

-larger than at present)--my hair fell off; my body became black; my

-eyes receding within their sockets, seemed even as stars beheld at the

-bottom of a well.

-

-"During six years I kept myself motionless, exposed to the flies, the

-lions and the serpents; and the great summer suns, the torrential

-rains, lightnings and snows, hails and tempests,--all of these I

-endured without even the shelter of my lifted hand.

-

-"The travellers who passed by, believing me dead, cast clods of earth

-upon me!

-

-"Only the temptation of the Devil remained!

-

-"I summoned him.

-

-"His sons came,--hideous, scale-covered, nauseous as

-charnel-houses,--shrieking, hissing, bellowing; interclashing their

-panoplies, rattling together the bones of dead men. Some belched

-flame through their nostrils; some made darkness about me with their

-wings; some wore chaplets of severed fingers; some drank serpent-venom

-from the hollows of their hands;--they were swine-headed; they were

-rhinoceros-headed or toad-headed; they assumed all forms that inspire

-loathing or affright."

-

-ANTHONY (_to himself_).

-

-"I also endured all that in other days!"

-

-THE BUDDHA. "Then did he send me his daughters--beautiful with

-daintily painted faces, and wearing girdles of gold. Their teeth were

-whiter than the jasmine-flower; their thighs round as the trunk of

-an elephant. Some extended their arms and yawned, that they might so

-display the dimples of their elbows; some winked their eyes; some

-laughed; some half-opened their garments. There were blushing virgins,

-matrons replete with dignity, queens who came with great trains of

-baggage and of slaves."

-

-ANTHONY (_aside_). "Ah! he too ..."

-

-THE BUDDHA. "Having vanquished the Demon, I nourished myself for twelve

-years with perfumes only;--and as I had acquired the five virtues,

-the five faculties, the ten forces, the eighteen substances, and had

-entered into the four spheres of the invisible world, Intelligence

-became mine! I became the Buddha."

-

-[Illustration: Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha.]

-

-(_All the gods bow themselves down. Those having several heads, bend

-them all simultaneously. He lifts his mighty hand aloft, and resumes_:)

-

-"That I might effect the deliverance of beings, I have made hundreds

-of thousands of sacrifices! To the poor I gave robes of silk, beds,

-chariots, houses, heaps of gold and of diamonds. I gave my hands to the

-one-handed, my legs to the lame, my eyes to the blind;--even my head I

-severed for the sake of the decapitated. In the day that I was King, I

-gave away provinces;--when I was a Brahman I despised no one. When I

-was a solitary, I spake kindly words to the robber who slew me. When I

-was a tiger I allowed myself to die of hunger.

-

-"And having, in this last existence, preached the law, nothing now

-remains for me to do. The great period is accomplished! Men, animals,

-the gods, the bamboos, the oceans, the mountains, the sand-grains of

-the Ganges, together with the myriad myriads of the stars,--all shall

-die;--and until the time of the new births, a flame shall dance upon

-the wrecks of worlds destroyed!"

-

-(_Then a great dizziness comes upon the gods. They stagger, fall into

-convulsions, and vomit forth their existences. Their crowns burst

-apart; their banners fly away. They tear off their attributes, their

-sexes, fling over their shoulders the cups from which they quaffed

-immortality, strangle themselves with their serpents, vanish in

-smoke;--and when all have disappeared_ ...)

-

-HILARION (_solemnly exclaims_):

-

-"Thou hast even now beheld the belief of many hundreds of millions of

-men."

-

-(_Anthony is prostrate upon the ground, covering his face with his

-hands. Hilarion, with his back turned to the cross, stands near him and

-watches him._

-

-_A considerable time elapses._

-

-_Then a singular being appears--having the head of a man upon the body

-of a fish. He approaches through the air, upright, beating the sand

-from time to time with his tail; and the patriarchal aspect of his face

-by contrast with his puny little arms, causes Anthony to laugh._)

-

-OANNES (_in a plaintive voice_):

-

-"Respect me! I am the contemporary of beginnings.

-

-"I dwelt in that formless world where hermaphroditic creatures

-slumbered, under the weight of an opaque atmosphere, in the deeps of

-dark waters--when fingers, fins, and wings were blended, and eyes

-without heads were floating like mollusks, among human-headed bulls,

-and dog-footed serpents.

-

-[Illustration: ... and eyes without heads were floating like

-mollusks]

-

-"Above the whole of these beings, OMOROCA, bent like a hoop, extended

-her woman-body. But Belus cleft her in two halves; with one he made the

-earth; with the other, heaven;--and the two equal worlds do mutually

-contemplate each other.

-

-"I, the first consciousness of CHAOS, arose from the abyss that I might

-harden matter, and give a law unto forms:--also I taught men to fish

-and to sow: I gave them knowledge of writing, and of the history of the

-gods.

-

-[Illustration: I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose from

-the abyss that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms ...]

-

-"Since then I have dwelt in the deep pools left by the Deluge. But the

-desert grows vaster about them; the winds cast sand into them; the sun

-devours them;--and I die upon my couch of slime, gazing at the stars

-through the water. Thither I return!"

-

-(_He leaps and disappears in the Nile._)

-

-HILARION. "That is an ancient God of the Chaldaeans!"

-

-ANTHONY (_ironically_). "What, then, were those of Babylon?"

-

-HILARION. "Thou canst behold them!"

-

-(_And they find themselves upon the platform of a lofty quadrangular

-tower dominating six other towers, which, narrowing as they rise, form

-one monstrous pyramid. Far below a great black mass is visible--the

-city, doubtless--extending over the plains. The air is cold; the sky

-darkly blue; multitudes of stars palpitate above._

-

-_In the midst of the platform rises a column of white stone. Priests

-in linen robes pass and repass around it, so as to describe by their

-evolutions a moving circle; and with faces uplifted, they gaze upon the

-stars._ ...)

-

-HILARION. (_pointing out several of these stars to Anthony_):

-

-"There are thirty principal stars. Fifteen look upon the upper side

-of the earth; fifteen below. At regular intervals one shoots from the

-upper regions to those below; while another abandons the inferior deeps

-to rise to sublime altitudes ...

-

-"Of the seven planets, two are beneficent; two evil; three

-ambiguous:--all things in the world depend upon the influence of these

-eternal fires. According to their position or movement presages may be

-drawn;--and here thou dost tread the most venerable place upon earth.

-Here Pythagoras and Zoroaster have met;--here for twelve thousand years

-these men have observed the skies that they might better learn to know

-the gods."

-

-ANTHONY. "The stars are not gods."

-

-HILARION. "Aye, they say the stars are gods; for all things about us

-pass away;--the heavens only remain immutable as eternity."

-

-ANTHONY. "Yet there is a master!"

-

-HILARION (_pointing to the column_):

-

-"He! Belus!--the first ray, the Sun, the Male! The Other, whom he

-fecundates, is beneath him!"

-

-(_Anthony beholds a garden, illuminated by lamps_: _He finds himself

-in the midst of the crowd, in an avenue of cypress-trees. To right and

-left are little pathways leading to huts constructed within a wood of

-pomegranate trees, and enclosed by treillages of bamboo._

-

-_Most of the men wear pointed caps, and garments bedizened like the

-plumage of a peacock. But there are also people from the North clad

-in bearskins, nomads wearing mantles of brown wool, pallid Gangarides

-with long earrings;--and there seems to be as much confusion of rank

-as there is confusion of nations; for sailors and stone-cutters elbow

-the princes who wear tiaras blazing with carbuncles and who carry

-long canes with carven knobs. All proceed upon their way with dilated

-nostrils, absorbed by the same desire._

-

-_From time to time, they draw aside to make way for some long covered

-wagon drawn by oxen, or some ass jolting upon his back a woman bundled

-up in thick veils, who finally disappears in the direction of the

-cabins._

-

-_Anthony feels afraid; he half-resolves to turn back. But an

-unutterable curiosity takes possession of him, and draws him on._

-

-_At the foot of the cypress-trees there are ranks of women squatting

-upon deerskins, all wearing in lieu of diadem, a plaited fillet of

-ropes. Some, magnificently attired, loudly call upon the passers-by.

-Others, more timid, seek to veil their faces with their arms, while

-some matron standing behind them, their mother doubtless, exhorts

-them. Others, their heads veiled with a black shawl, and their bodies

-entirely nude, seem from afar off to be statues of flesh. As soon as a

-man has thrown some money upon their knees, they arise._

-

-_And the sound of kisses is heard under the foliage,--sometimes a great

-sharp cry._)

-

-HILARION. "These are the virgins of Babylon, who prostitute themselves

-to the goddess."

-

-ANTHONY. "What goddess?"

-

-HILARION. "Behold her!"

-

-(_And he shows him at the further end of the avenue, upon the threshold

-of an illuminated grotto, a block of stone representing a woman._)

-

-ANTHONY. "Ignominy!--how abominable to give a sex to God!"

-

-HILARION. "Thou thyself dost figure him in thy mind as a living person!"

-

-(_Anthony again finds himself in darkness._

-

-_He beholds in the air a luminous circle, poised upon horizontal

-wings. This ring of light, girdles like a loose belt, the waist of a

-little man wearing a mitre upon his head and carrying a wreath in his

-hand. The lower part of his figure is completely concealed by immense

-feathers outspreading about him like a petticoat._

-

-_It is_--ORMUZD--_the God of the Persians. He hovers in the air above,

-crying aloud_:)

-

-"I fear! I can see his monstrous jaws! I did vanquish thee, O Ahriman!

-But again thou dost war against me.

-

-"First revolting against me, thou didst destroy the eldest of

-creatures, Kaiomortz, the Man-Bull. Then didst thou seduce the first

-human couple, Meschia and Meschiane; and thou didst fill all hearts

-with darkness, thou didst urge thy battalions against heaven!

-

-"I also had mine own, the people of the stars; and from the height of

-my throne I contemplated the marshalling of the astral hosts.

-

-"Mithra, my son, dwelt in heavens inaccessible. There he received

-souls, from thence did he send them forth; and he arose each morning to

-pour forth the abundance of his riches.

-

-"The earth reflected the splendour of the firmament. Fire blazed upon

-the crests of the mountains,--symbolizing that other fire of which

-I had created all creatures. And that the holy flame might not be

-polluted, the bodies of the dead were not burned; the beaks of birds

-carried them aloft toward heaven.

-

-"I gave to men the laws regulating pastures, labour, the choice of wood

-for the sacrifices, the form of cups, the words to be uttered in hours

-of sleeplessness;--and my priests unceasingly offered up prayers, so

-that worship might be as the eternity of God in its endlessness. Men

-purified themselves with water; loaves were offered upon the altars,

-sins were confessed aloud.

-

-"Homa[5] gave himself to men to be drank, that they might have his

-strength communicated to them while the Genii of heaven were combating

-the demons, the children of Iran were pursuing the serpents. The

-King, whom an innumerable host of courtiers served upon their knees,

-represented me in his person, and wore my coiffure. His gardens had the

-magnificence of a heaven upon earth; and his tomb represented him in

-the act of slaying a monster,--emblem of Good destroying Evil.

-

-"For it was destined that I should one day definitely conquer Ahriman,

-by the aid of Time-without-limits.

-

-"But the interval between us disappears;--the deep night rises! To

-me! ye Amschaspands, ye Izeds, ye Ferouers! Succor me, Mithra! seize

-thy sword! And thou, Kaosyac, who shall return for the universal

-deliverance, defend me! What!--none to aid! Ah! I die! Thou art the

-victor, Ahriman!"

-

-(_Hilarion, standing behind Anthony, restrains a cry of joy;--and_

-ORMUZD _is swallowed up in the darkness._)

-

-(_Then appears_:)

-

-THE GREAT DIANA OF EPHESUS

-

-(_black with enamelled eyes, her elbows pressed to her side, her

-forearms extended, with hands open._

-

-_Lions crawl upon her shoulders; fruits, flowers, and stars intercross

-upon her bosom; further down three rows of breasts appear; and from her

-belly to her feet she is covered with a tightly fitting sheath from

-which bulls, stags, griffins, and bees, seem about to spring, their

-bodies half-protruding from it. She is illuminated by the white light

-emanating from a disk of silver, round as the full moon, placed behind

-her head._)

-

-"Where is my temple? Where are my Amazons?

-

-"What is this I feel?--I, the Incorruptible!--a strange faintness comes

-upon me!"...

-

-(_Her flowers wither, her over-ripe fruits become detached and fall.

-The lions and the bulls hang their heads; the deer foam at the mouth,

-with a slimy foam, as though exhausted; the buzzing bees die upon the

-ground._

-

-_She presses her breasts, one after the other. All are empty! But under

-a desperate effort her sheath bursts. She seizes it by the bottom, like

-the skirt of a robe, throws her animals, her fruits, her flowers, into

-it,--then withdraws into the darkness._

-

-_And afar off there are voices, murmuring, growling, roaring,

-bellowing, belling. The density of the night is augmented by breaths.

-Drops of warm rain fall._)

-

-ANTHONY. "How sweet the odour of the palm trees, the trembling of

-leaves, the transparency of springs! I feel the desire to lie flat upon

-the Earth that I might feel her against my heart; and my life would be

-reinvigorated by her eternal youth!"

-

-(_He hears the sound of castanets and of cymbals; and men appear, clad

-in white tunics with red stripes,--leading through the midst of a

-rustic crowd an ass, richly harnessed, its tail decorated with knots of

-ribbons, and its hoofs painted._

-

-_A box, covered with a saddle-cloth[6] of yellow material shakes to

-and fro upon its back, between two baskets,--one receives the offerings

-contributed,--eggs, grapes, pears, cheeses, fowls, little coins; and

-the other basket is full of roses, which the leaders of the ass pluck

-to pieces as they walk before the animal, shedding the leaves upon the

-ground._

-

-_They wear earrings and large mantles; their locks are plaited, their

-cheeks painted, olive-wreaths are fastened upon their foreheads by

-medallions bearing figurines;--all wear poniards in their belts, and

-brandish ebony-handled whips, having three thongs to which osselets are

-attached._[7]

-

-_Those who form the rear of the procession, place upon the soil,--so as

-to remain upright as a candelabrum,--a tall pine, which burns at its

-summit, and shades under its lower branches a lamb._

-

-_The ass halts. The saddle-cloth is removed. Underneath appears a

-second covering of black felt. Then one of the men in white tunics

-begins to dance, rattling his crotali;--another, kneeling before the

-box, beats a tambourine and_--)

-

-THE OLDEST OF THE BAND, _begins_:--

-

-"Here is the Good Goddess, the Idaean of the mountains, the Great Mother

-of Syria! Come ye hither, good people all!

-

-[Illustration: Here is the Good Goddess, the Idaean of the mountains ...]

-

-"She gives joy to men, she heals the sick; she sends inheritances; she

-satisfies the hunger of love!

-

-"We bear her through the land, rain or shine, in fair weather, or in

-foul.

-

-"Oft times we lie in the open air, and our table is not always well

-served. Robbers dwell in the woods. Wild beasts rush from their

-caverns. Slippery paths border the precipices. Behold her! behold her!"

-

-(_They lift off the covering; and a box is seen, inlaid with little

-pebbles._)

-

-"Loftier than the cedars, she looks down from the blue ether. Vaster

-than the wind she encircles the world. Her breath is exhaled by the

-nostrils of tigers; the rumbling of her voice is heard beneath the

-volcanoes; her wrath is the tempest; the pallor of her face has

-whitened the moon. She ripens the harvest; by her the tree-bark swells

-with sap; she makes the beard to grow. Give her something; for she

-hates the avaricious!"

-

-(_The box opens; and under a little pavilion of blue silk appears a

-small image of Cybele--glittering with spangles, crowned with towers,

-and seated in a chariot of red stone, drawn by two lions, with uplifted

-paws._

-

-_The crowd presses forward to see._)

-

-THE ARCHIGALLUS (_continues_):

-

-"She loves the sound of resounding tympanums, the echo of dancing

-feet, the howling of wolves, the sonorous mountains and the deep

-gorges, the flower of the almond tree, the pomegranate and the green

-fig, the whirling dance, the snoring flute, the sugary sap, the salty

-tear,--blood! To thee, to thee!--Mother of the mountains!"

-

-(_They scourge themselves with their whips; and their chests resound

-with the blows;--the skins of the tambourines vibrate almost to

-bursting. They seize their knives; they gash their arms._)

-

-"She is sorrowful; let us be sorrowful! Thereby your sins will be

-remitted. Blood purifies all--fling its red drops abroad like blossoms!

-She, the Great Mother, demands the blood of another creature--of a pure

-being!"

-

-(_The Archigallus raises his knife above the head of a lamb._)

-

-ANTHONY (_seized with horror_):

-

-"Do not slay the lamb!"

-

-(_There is a gush of purple blood. The priest sprinkles the crowd

-with it; and all--including Anthony and Hilarion--standing around the

-burning tree, silently watch the last palpitations of the victim._

-

-_A Woman comes forth from the midst of the priests; she resembles

-exactly the image within the little box._

-

-_She pauses, perceiving before her a Young Man wearing a Phrygian

-cap. His thighs are covered with a pair of narrow trousers, with

-lozenge-shaped openings here and there at regular intervals, closed by

-bow knots of coloured material. He stands in an attitude of languor,

-resting his elbow against a branch of the tree, holding a flute in his

-hand._)

-

-CYBELE (_flinging her arms about his waist_).

-

-"I have traversed all regions of the earth to join thee--and famine

-ravaged the fields Thou hast deceived me! It matters not! I love thee!

-Warm my body in thine embrace! Let us be united!"

-

-ATYS. "The springtime will never again return, O eternal Mother!

-Despite my love, it is no longer possible for me to penetrate thy

-essence! Would that I might cover myself with a painted robe like

-thine! I envy thy breasts, swelling with milk, the length of thy

-tresses, thy vast flanks that have borne and brought forth all

-creatures! Why am I not thou?--Why am I not a woman?--No, never! depart

-from me! My virility fills me with horror!"

-

-(_With a sharp stone he dismembers himself, and runs furiously from

-her ..._

-

-_The priests imitate the god; the faithful do even as the priests. Men

-and women exchange garments, embrace;--and the tumult of bleeding flesh

-passes away, while the sound of voices remaining, becomes even more

-strident,--like the shrieking of mourners, like the voices heard at

-funerals._

-

-_ ... A huge catafalque, hung with purple, supports upon its summit an

-ebony bed, surrounded by torches and baskets of silver filagree, in

-which are verdant leaves of lettuce, mallow and fennel. Upon the steps

-of the construction, from summit to base, sit women all clad in black,

-with loosened girdles and bare feet, holding in their hands with a

-melancholy air, great bouquets of flowers._

-

-_At each corner of the estrade urns of alabaster, filled with myrrh,

-slowly send up their smoke._

-

-_Upon the bed can be perceived the corpse of a man. Blood flows from

-his thigh. One of his arms hangs down lifelessly;--and a dog licks his

-finger nails and howls._

-

-_The row of torches placed closely together, prevents his face from

-being seen; and Anthony feels a strange anguish within him. He fears

-lest he should recognize some one._

-

-_The sobs of the women cease--and after an interval of silence_,)

-

-ALL (_psalmody together_):

-

-"Fair! fair!--all fair he is! Thou hast slept enough!--lift thy

-head!--arise!

-

-"Inhale the perfume of our flowers--narcissus--blossoms and anemones,

-gathered in thine own gardens to please thee. Arouse thee! thou dost

-make us fear for thee!

-

-"Speak to us! What dost thou desire? Wilt thou drink wine?--wilt thou

-lie in our beds?--dost wish to eat the honeycakes which have the form

-of little birds?

-

-"Let us press his lips,--kiss his breast! Now!--now!--dost thou not

-feel our ring-laden fingers passing over thy body?--and our lips that

-seek thy mouth?--and our tresses that sweep thy thighs? O faint God,

-deaf to our prayers!"

-

-(_They cry aloud, and rend their faces with their nails; then all

-rush,--and the howling of the dog continues in the silence._)

-

-"Alas! alas! Woe!--the black blood trickles over his snowy flesh!

-See! his knees writhe!--his sides sink in! The bloom of his face hath

-dampened the purple. He is dead, dead! O weep for him! Lament for him!"

-

-(_In long procession they ascend to lay between the torches the

-offerings of their several tresses, that seem from afar off like

-serpents, black or blond;--and the catafalque is lowered gently to the

-level of, a grotto,--the opening of a shadowy sepulchre that yawns

-behind it._

-

-_Then_--)

-

-A WOMAN (_bends over the corpse. Her long hair, uncut, envelopes her

-from head to feet. She sheds tears so abundantly that her grief cannot

-be as that of the others, but more than human--infinite!_

-

-_Anthony dreams of the Mother of Jesus. She speaks_:--)

-

-"Thou didst emerge from the Orient, and didst take me, all trembling

-with the dew, into thy arms, O Sun! Doves fluttered upon the azure

-of thy mantle; our kisses evoked low breezes among the foliage; and I

-abandoned myself wholly to thy love, delighting in the pleasure of my

-weakness.

-

-"Alas! alas--Why didst thou depart, to run upon the mountains! A boar

-did wound thee at the time of the autumnal equinox!

-

-"Thou art dead; and the fountains weep,--the trees bend down. The wind

-of winter whistles through the naked brushwood.

-

-"My eyes are about to close, seeing that darkness covers them! Now thou

-dwellest in the underworld near the mightiest of my rivals.

-

-"O Persephone, all that is beautiful descends to thee, never to return!"

-

-(_Even while she speaks, her companions lift the dead, to place him

-within the sepulchre. He remains in their hands! It was only a waxen

-corpse._

-

-_Wherefore Anthony feels something resembling relief._

-

-_All vanish;--and the hut, the rocks, and the cross reappear._

-

-_But upon the other side of the Nile, Anthony beholds a Woman,

-standing in the midst of the desert._

-

-_She retains in her hand the lower part of a long black veil that hides

-all her face; supporting with her left arm a little child to whom she

-is giving suck. A great ape crouches down in the sand beside her._

-

-_She uplifts her head toward heaven; and in spite of the great

-distance, her voice is distinctly heard_:)

-

-ISIS. "O Neith, Beginning of all things! Ammon, Lord of Eternity;

-Pthah, demiurgos; Thoth, his intelligence; gods of the Amenthi,

-particular triads of the Nomes,--falcons in the azure of heaven,

-sphinxes before the temples, ibises perched between the horns of oxen,

-planets, constellations, shore, murmurs of the wind, gleams of the

-light,--tell me where I may find Osiris.

-

-"I have sought him in all the canals and all the lakes--aye, further

-yet, even to Ph[oe]nician Byblos. Anubis, with ears pricked up, leaped

-about me, and yelped, and thrust his muzzle searchingly into the tufts

-of the tamarinds.

-

-"Thanks, good Cynocephalos--thanks to thee!"

-

-(_She gives the ape two or three friendly little taps upon the head._)

-

-"Hideous Typhon, the red-haired slew him, tore him in pieces! We have

-found all his members. But I have not that which rendered me fecund!"

-

-(_She utters wild lamentations._)

-

-ANTHONY (_is filled with fury. He casts stones at her, reviles her._)

-

-"Begone! thou shameless one!--Begone!"

-

-HILARION. "Nay! respect her! Her religion was the faith of thy

-fathers!--thou didst wear her amulets when thou wert a child in the

-cradle!"

-

-ISIS. "In the summers of long ago, the inundation drove the impure

-beasts into the desert. The dykes were opened, the boats dashed against

-each other; the panting earth drank the river with the intoxication of

-joy. Then, O God, with the horns of the bull, thou didst lie upon my

-breast, and then was heard, the lowings of the Eternal Cow!

-

-"The seasons of sowing and reaping, of threshing and of vintage,

-followed each other in regular order with the years. In the eternal

-purity of the nights, broad stars beamed and glowed. The days were

-bathed in never-varying splendour. Like a royal couple the Sun and the

-Moon appeared simultaneously, at either end of the horizon.

-

-"Then did we both reign above a sublimer world, twin-monarchs, wedded

-within, the womb of eternity--he bearing a concupha-headed sceptre; I,

-the sceptre that is tipped with a lotus-flower; both of us erect with

-hands joined; and the crumblings of empires affected not our attitude.

-

-"Egypt extended, below us, monumental and awful, long-shaped like the

-corridor of a temple; with obelisks on the right, pyramids on the

-left, and its labyrinth in the midst. And everywhere were avenues

-of monsters, forests of columns, massive pylons flanking gates

-summit-crowned with the mysterious globe--the globe of the world,

-between two wings.

-

-"The animals of her Zodiac also existed in her pasture lands; and

-filled her mysterious writing with their forms and colours. Divided

-into twelve regions as the year is divided into-twelve months--each

-month, each day also having its own god--she reproduced the immutable

-order of heaven. And man even in dying changed not his face; but

-saturated with perfumes, invulnerable to decay, he lay down to sleep

-for three thousand years in another and silent Egypt.

-

-"And that Egypt, vaster than the Egypt of the living, extended beneath

-the earth.

-

-"Thither one descended by dark stairways leading into halls where were

-represented the joys of the good, the tortures of the wicked, all that

-passes in the third and invisible world. Ranged along the wall the dead

-in their painted coffins awaited their turn; and the soul, exempted

-from migrations, continued its heavy slumber until the awakening into a

-new life.

-

-"Nevertheless, Osiris sometimes came to see me. And by his ghost I

-became the mother of Harpocrates."

-

-(_She contemplates the child._)

-

-"Aye! it is he. Those are his eyes; those are his locks, plaited into

-ram horns! Thou shalt recommence his works. We shall bloom again like

-the lotus. I am still the Great Isis!--none has yet lifted my veil! My

-fruit is the Sun!

-

-[Illustration: I am still the Great Isis!--none has yet lifted

-my veil! My fruit is the Sun!]

-

-"Sim of Springtime, clouds now obscure thy face! The breath of Typhon

-devours the pyramids. But a little while ago I beheld the Sphinx flee

-away. He was galloping like a jackal.

-

-"I look for my priests,--my priests clad in mantles of linen, with

-their great harps, and bearing a mysterious bark, adorned with

-silver pateras. There are no more festivals upon the lakes!--no more

-illuminations in my delta!--no more cups of milk at Philae! Apis has

-long ceased to reappear.

-

-"Egypt! Egypt! thy great motionless gods have their shoulders already

-whitened by the dung of birds; and the wind that passes over the desert

-rolls with it and the ashes of thy dead!--Anubis, guardian of ghosts,

-abandon me not!"

-

-(_The Cynocephalos has vanished. She shakes her child._)

-

-"But ... what ails thee ... thy hands are cold, thy head droops!"

-

-(_Harpocrates expires. Then she cries aloud with a cry so piercing,

-funereal, heart-rending, that Anthony answers it with another cry,

-extending his arms as to support her._

-

-_She is no longer there. He lowers his face, overwhelmed by shame._

-

-_All that he has seen becomes confused within his mind. It is like the

-bewilderment of travel, the illness of drunkenness. He wishes to hate;

-but a vague and vast pity fills his heart. He begins to weep, and weeps

-abundantly._)

-

-HILARION. "What makes thee sorrowful?"

-

-ANTHONY (_after having long sought within himself for a reply_):

-

-"I think of all the souls that have been lost through these false gods!"

-

-HILARION. "Dost thou not think that they ... sometimes ... bear much

-resemblance to the TRUE?"

-

-ANTHONY. "That is but a device of the Devil to seduce the faithful more

-easily. He attacks the strong through the mind, the weak through the

-flesh."

-

-HILARION. "But luxury, in its greatest fury, has all the

-disinterestedness of penitence. The frenzied love of the body

-accelerates the destruction thereof,--and proclaims the extent of the

-impossible by the exposition of the body's weakness."

-

-ANTHONY. "What signifies that to me! My heart sickens with disgust

-of these beautiful bestial gods, forever busied with carnages and

-incests!"

-

-HILARION. "Yet recollect all those things in the Scripture which

-scandalize thee because thou art unable to comprehend them! So also may

-these Gods conceal under their sinful forms some mighty truth. There

-are more of them yet to be seen. Look around!"

-

-ANTHONY. "No, no!--it is dangerous!"

-

-HILARION. "But a little while ago thou didst desire to know them! Is

-it because thy faith might vacillate in the presence of lies? What

-fearest thou?"

-

-(_The rocks fronting Anthony have become as a mountain. A line of

-clouds obscures the mountain half way between summit and base; and

-above the clouds appears another mountain, enormous, all green,

-unequally hollowed by valleys nestling in its slopes, and supporting at

-its summit, in the midst of laurel-groves a palace of bronze, roofed

-with tiles of gold, and supported by columns having capitals of ivory._

-

-_In the centre of the peristyle Jupiter,--colossal, with torso

-nude,--holds Victory in one hand, his thunderbolts in the other; and

-his eagle, perched between his feet, rears its head._

-

-_Juno, seated near him, rolls her large eyes, beneath a diadem whence

-her wind-blown veil escapes like a vapour._

-

-_Behind them, Minerva, standing upon a pedestal, leans on her spear.

-The skin of the Gorgon covers her breast, and a linen peplos falls in

-regular folds to the nails of her toes. Her glaucous eyes, which gleam

-beneath her vizor, gaze afar off, attentively._

-

-_On the right of the palace, the aged Neptune bestrides a dolphin

-beating with its fins a vast azure expanse which may be sea or sky, for

-the perspective of the Ocean seems a continuation of the blue ether:

-the two elements are interblended._

-

-_On the other side weird Pluto in night-black mantle, crowned with

-diamond tiara and bearing a sceptre of ebony, sits in the midst of an

-islet surrounded by the circumvolutions of the Styx;--and this river of

-shadow empties itself into the darknesses, which form a vast black gulf

-below the cliff,--a bottomless abyss!_

-

-_Mars, clad in brass, brandishes as in wrath his broad shield and his

-sword._

-

-_Hercules, leaning upon his club, gazes at him from below._

-

-_Apollo, his face ablaze with light, grasps with outstretched right

-arm the reins of four white horses urged to a gallop; and Ceres in her

-ox-drawn chariot advances toward him with a sickle in her hand._

-

-_Behind her comes Bacchus, riding in a very low chariot, gently drawn

-by lynxes. Plump and beardless, with vine leaves garlanding his brow,

-he passes by holding in his hand an overflowing cup of wine. Silenus

-riding beside him reels upon his ass. Pan of the pointed ears, blows

-upon his syrinx; the Mimalonaeides beat drums; the Maenads strew

-flowers; the Bacchantes turn in the dance with heads thrown back and

-hair dishevelled._

-

-_Diana, with tunic tucked up, issues from the wood together with her

-nymphs._

-

-_At the further end of a cavern, Vulcan among his Cabiri, hammers the

-heated iron; here and there the aged Rivers leaning recumbent upon

-green rocks pour water from their urns; the Muses stand singing in the

-valleys_.

-

-_The Hours, all of equal stature, link hands; and Mercury poses

-obliquely upon a rainbow, with his caduceus, winged sandals, and winged

-petasus._

-

-_But at the summit of the stairway of the Gods,--among clouds soft

-as down, from whose turning volutes a rain of roses falls,--Venus

-Anadyomene stands gazing at herself in a mirror:--her eyes move

-languorously beneath their slumbrous lids._

-

-_She has masses of rich blond hair rolling down over her shoulders; her

-breasts are small; her waist is slender; her hips curve out like the

-sweeping curves of a lyre; her thighs are perfectly rounded; there are

-dimples about her knees; her feet are delicate: a butterfly hovers near

-her mouth. The splendour of her body makes a nacreous-tinted halo of

-bright light about her; while all the rest of Olympus is bathed in a

-pink dawn, rising gradually to the heights of the blue sky._)

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah! my heart swells! A joy never known before thrills me to

-the depths of my soul! How beautiful, how beautiful it is!"

-

-HILARION. "They leaned from the heights of cloud to direct the way of

-swords; one used to meet them upon the high roads; men had them in

-their houses--and this familiarity divinized life.

-

-"Life's aim was only to be free and beautiful. Nobility of attitude was

-facilitated by the looseness of garments. The voice of the orator,

-trained by the sea, rolled its sonorous waves against the porticoes of

-marble. The ephebus, anointed with oil, wrestled all naked in the full

-light of the sun. The holiest of actions was to expose perfection of

-forms to all.

-

-"And these men respected wives, aged men, suppliants.

-

-"Behind the temple of Hercules there was an altar erected to Pity.

-

-"Victims were immolated with flowers wreathed about the fingers of the

-sacrificer. Even memory was exempted from thoughts of the rottenness

-of death. Nothing remained but a little pile of ashes. And the Soul,

-mingling with the boundless ether, rose up to God."

-

-(_Bending to whisper in Anthony's ear_:--)

-

-"And they still live! The Emperor Constantine adores Apollo. Thou wilt

-find the Trinity in Samothracian mysteries,--baptism in the religion of

-Isis,--redemption in the faith of Mithra,--a martyrdom of a God in the

-festivals of Bacchus. Prosperpine is the Virgin!... Aristaeus is Jesus!"

-

-ANTHONY (_remains awhile with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought;

-then suddenly repeats aloud the Symbol of Jerusalem, as he remembers

-it, uttering a long sigh between each phrase_):--

-

-"I believe in one only God, the Father,--and in one only Lord, Jesus

-Christ,--the first born son of God, who was incarnated and made

-man,--who was crucified, and buried,--who ascended into Heaven,--who

-will come to judge the living and the dead,--of whose Kingdom there

-shall be no end;--and in one Holy Spirit,--and in one baptism of

-repentance,--and in one Holy Catholic Church,--and in the resurrection

-of the flesh,--and in the life everlasting!"

-

-(_Immediately the cross becomes loftier and loftier; it pierces the

-clouds, and casts its shadow upon the heaven of the gods._

-

-_All grow pale;--Olympus shudders._

-

-_And at its base Anthony beholds vast bodies enchained, sustaining the

-rocks upon their shoulders,--giant figures half buried in the deeps

-of caverns. These are the Titans, the Giants, the Hecatonchires, the

-Cyclops._)

-

-A VOICE

-

-(_rises, indistinct and awful, like the far roar of leaves, like the

-voice of forests in time of tempest, like the mighty moaning of the

-wind among the precipices_):

-

-"We knew these things!--we knew them! There must come an end even for

-the Gods! Uranus was mutilated by Saturn,--Saturn by Jupiter. And

-Jupiter himself shall be annihilated. Each in his turn;--it is Destiny!"

-

-(_And little by little they sink into the mountain, and disappear._

-

-_Meanwhile the golden tiles of the palace rise and fly away._)

-

-JUPITER (_has descended from his throne. At his feet the thunderbolts

-lie, smoking like burning coals about to expire;--and the great eagle

-bends its neck to pick up its falling feathers_):

-

-"Then I am no longer the master of all things,--most holy, most

-mighty, god of the phatrias and Greek peoples,--ancestor of all the

-Kings,--Agamemnon of heaven.

-

-"Eagle of apotheoses, what wind from Erebus has wafted thee to me? or,

-fleeing from the Campus Martins, dost thou bear me the soul of the last

-of the Emperors?

-

-"I no longer desire to receive those of men. Let the Earth keep them;

-and let them move upon the level of its baseness. Their hearts are now

-the hearts of slaves;--they forget injuries, forget their ancestors,

-forget their oaths,--and everywhere the folly of crowds, the mediocrity

-of individuals, the hideousness of races, hold sway!"

-

-(_He pants with such violence that his sides seem ready to burst

-asunder; he clenches his hands. Weeping_, HEBE _offers him a cup. He

-seizes it._)

-

-"No, no! So long as there shall be a brain enclosing a thought, in

-whatsoever part of the world;--so long as there shall exist a mind

-hating disorder, creating LAW,--so long will the spirit of Jupiter

-live!"

-

-(_But the cup is empty. He turns its edge down over his thumbnail._)

-

-"Not one drop left! When the ambrosia fails, the Immortals must indeed

-depart!"

-

-(_The cup drops from his hands; and he leans against a column, feeling

-himself about to die._)

-

-JUNO. "Thou shouldst not have had so many amours! Eagle, bull, swan,

-rain of gold, cloud and flame, thou didst assume all forms,--dissipate

-thy light in all elements,--lose thy hair upon all beds! This time

-the divorce is irrevocable; and our domination, our very existence,

-dissolved."

-

-(_She passes away in air._)

-

-MINERVA (_has no longer her spear; and the ravens nesting among the

-sculptures of the friezes, wheel about her, peeking at her helmet._)

-

-"Let me see whether my vessels cleave the bright sea, returning to my

-three ports,--let me discover why the fields are deserted, and learn

-what the daughters of Athens are now doing.

-

-"In the month of Hecatombeon my whole people came to worship me, under

-the guidance of their magistrates and priests. Then, all in white robes

-and wearing chitons of gold, they advanced the long line of virgins

-bearing cups, baskets, parasols; then the three hundred sacrificial

-oxen, and the old men having green boughs, the soldiers with clashing

-of armour, the ephebi singing hymns, flute players, lyre players,

-rhapsodists, dancing women;--and lastly attached to the mast of a

-trireme mounted upon wheel, my great veil embroidered by virgins who

-had been nourished in a particular way for a whole year. And when it

-had been displayed in all the streets, in all the squares, and before

-the temples, in the midst of the ever-chanting procession, it was borne

-step by step up the hill of the Acropolis, grazed the Propylaea, and

-entered the Parthenon....

-

-"But a strange feebleness comes upon me,--me the Industrious One! What!

-what! not one idea comes to me! Lo! I am trembling more than a woman!"

-

-(_She turns, beholds a ruin behind her, utters a cry, and stricken by a

-fallen fragment, falls backward upon the ground._)

-

-HERCULES (_has flung away his lion-skin; and with feet firmly braced,

-back arched, teeth clenched, he exhausts himself in immeasurable

-efforts to bear up the mass of crumbling Olympus._)

-

-"I vanquished the Cercopes, the Amazons, and the Centaurs. Many were

-the kings I slew. I broke the horn of the great river, Achelous. I cut

-the mountains asunder; I freed nations from slavery; and I peopled

-lands that were desolate. I travelled through the countries of Gaul;

-I traversed the deserts where thirst prevails. I defended the gods

-from their enemies; and I freed myself from Omphale. But the weight of

-Olympus is too great for me. My arms grow feebler:--I die!"

-

-(_He is crushed beneath the ruins._)

-

-PLUTO. "It is thy fault, Amphytrionad;--wherefore didst thou descend

-into my empire?

-

-"The vulture that gnaws the entrails of Tityus lifted its head;--the

-lips of Tantalus were moistened;--the wheel of Ixion stopped.

-

-"Meanwhile the Kaeres extended their claws to snatch back the escaping

-ghosts; the Furies tore the serpents of their locks; and Cerberus

-fettered by thee with a chain, sounded the death rattle in his throat,

-and foamed at all his three mouths.

-

-"Thou didst leave the gate ajar; others have come. The daylight of men

-has entered into Tartarus!"

-

-(_He sinks into the darkness._)

-

-NEPTUNE. "My trident can no longer call up the tempests. The monsters

-that terrified of old, lie rotting at the bottom of the sea.

-

-"Amphitrite whose white feet tripped lightly over the foam, the green

-Nereids seen afar off in the horizon, the scaly Sirens who stopped

-the passing vessels to tell stories, and the ancient Tritons mightily

-blowing upon their shells, all have passed away. All is desolate and

-dead; the gaiety of the great Sea is no more!"

-

-(_He vanishes beneath the azure._)

-

-DIANA (_clad in black and surrounded by her dogs, which have been

-changed into wolves_).

-

-"The freedom of the deep forests once intoxicated me; the odours of the

-wild beasts and the exhalations of the marshes made me as one drank

-with joy. But the women whose maternity I protected, now bring dead

-children into the world. The moon trembles with the incantations of

-witches. Desires of violence, of immensity, seize me, fill me! I wish

-to drink poisons,--to lose myself in vapours, in dreams...!"

-

-(_And a passing cloud carries her away._)

-

-MARS (_unhelmed and covered with blood_).

-

-"At first I fought alone;--singlehanded I would provoke a whole army by

-my insults,--caring nothing for countries or nations, demanding battle

-for the pleasure of carnage alone.

-

-"Afterward I had comrades. They marched to the sound of flutes, in good

-order, with equal step, respiring above their bucklers, with plumes

-loftily nodding, lances oblique. Then on rushed to battle with mighty

-eagle cries. War was joyous as a banquet. Three hundred men strove

-against all Asia.

-

-"But the Barbarians are returning;--by myriads they come, by millions!

-Ah! since numbers, and engines, and cunning are stronger than valour,

-it were better that I die the death of the brave!"

-

-(_He kills himself._)

-

-VULCAN (_sponging the sweat from his limbs_):

-

-"The world is growing cold. The source of heat must be nourished, the

-volcanoes and rivers of flowing metal underground. Strike harder!--with

-full swing of the arms,--with might and main!"

-

-(_The Cabiri wound themselves with their hammers, blind themselves with

-sparks, and groping, lose themselves in the darkness._)

-

-CERES (_standing in her chariot, impelled by wheels having wings at

-their hubs_):

-

-"Stop! Stop! Ah! it was with good reason that the exclusion of

-strangers, atheists, Epicureans, and Christians was commended! Now the

-mystery of the basket has been unveiled; the sanctuary profaned: all is

-lost!"

-

-(_She descends a precipitous slope--shrieking, despairing, tearing her

-hair._)

-

-"Ah! lies, lies! Daira has not been restored to me. The voice of brass

-calls me to the dead. This is another Tartarus, whence there is no

-return! Horror!"

-

-(_The abyss engulfs her._)

-

-BACCHUS (_with a frenzied laugh_).

-

-"What matters it? The Archon's wife is my spouse! The law itself reels

-in drunkenness! To me the new song, the multiplied forms!

-

-"The fire by which my mother was devoured, flows in my veins! Let it

-burn yet more fiercely, even though I perish!

-

-"Male and female, complaisant to all, I abandon myself to you,

-Bacchantes! I abandon myself to you, Bacchanalians!--and the vine shall

-twine herself about the tree-trunks! Howl! dance! writhe! Loosen the

-tiger and the slave!--rend flesh with ferocious bitings!"

-

-(_And Pan, Silenus, the Bacchantes, the Mimalonaeides, and the

-Maenads,--with their serpents, torches, sable masks,--cast flowers at

-each other ... shake their tympanums, strike their thyrsi, pelt each

-other with shells, devour grapes, strangle a goat, and tear Bacchus

-asunder._)

-

-APOLLO (_furiously whipping his coursers, while his blanching locks are

-falling from his head_):

-

-"I have left far behind me stony Delos, so pure that all now there

-seems dead; and I must strive to reach Delphi ere its inspiring vapour

-be wholly lost. The mules browse in its laurel groves. The Pythoness

-has wandered away, and cannot be found.

-

-"By a stronger concentration of my power, I will obtain sublime hymns,

-eternal monuments; and all matter will be penetrated by the vibrations

-of my cithara!"

-

-(_He strikes the strings of the instrument. They burst, lashing his

-face with their broken ends. He flings the cithara away; and furiously

-whipping his quadriga, cries_):

-

-"No! enough of forms!--Further, higher!--to the very summit!--to the

-realm of pure thought!"

-

-(_But the horses back, rear, dash the chariot to pieces. Entangled by

-the harness, caught by the fragments of the broken pole, he falls head

-foremost into the abyss._

-

-[Illustration: ... he falls head foremost into the abyss.]

-

-_The sky is darkened._)

-

-VENUS (_blue with cold, shivering_):

-

-"Once with my girdle I made all the horizon of Hellas.

-

-"Her fields glowed with the roses of my cheeks; her shores were

-outlined after the fashion of my lips; and her mountains, whiter than

-my doves, palpitated beneath the hands of the statuaries. My spirit's

-manifestation was found in the ordinances of the festivals, in the

-arrangement of coiffures, in the dialogues of philosophers, in the

-constitution of republics. But I have doted too much upon men! It is

-Love that has dishonoured me!"

-

-(_She casts herself back weeping_):

-

-"This world is abominable;--there is no air for me to breathe!

-

-"O Mercury, inventor of the lyre, conductor of souls, take me away!"

-

-(_She places one finger upon her lips, and describing an immense

-parabola, falls into the abyss._

-

-_Nothing is now visible. The darkness is complete._

-

-_Only, that from the eyes of Hilarion escape two flashes, two rays of

-lurid light._)

-

-ANTHONY (_begins at last to notice his immense stature_):

-

-"Already several times, while thou wert speaking, it seemed to me thou

-wert growing taller; and it was no illusion! How? Explain to me ... Thy

-aspect terrifies me!"

-

-(_Footsteps are heard approaching._)

-

-"What is that?"

-

-HILARION (_extending his arm_):

-

-"Look!"

-

-(_Then, under a pale beam of moonlight, Anthony distinguishes an

-interminable caravan defiling over the summit of the rocks;--and each

-voyager, one after the other, falls from the cliff into the gulf below._

-

-_First comes the three great gods of_ Samothrace,--AXIEROS, AXIOKEROS,

-AXIOKERSA,--_united together as in a fascia, purple-masked, all with

-hands uplifted._

-

-_AEsculapius advances with a melancholy air, not even perceiving

-Samos and Telesphorus, who question him with gestures of anguish._

-ELEAN SOSIPOLIS, _of python-form, rolls his coils toward the abyss._

-DOSIPOENA, _becomes dizzy, leaps in of her own accord._ BRITOMARTIS,

-_shrieking with fear, clutches fast the meshes of her net. The Centaurs

-come at a wild gallop, and roll pell-mell into the black gulf._

-

-_Behind them, all limping, advance the bands of the mourning Nymphs.

-Those of the meadows are covered with dust; those of the woods moan and

-bleed; wounded by the axes of the woodcutters._

-

-_The Gelludes, the Strygii, the Empusae, all the infernal goddesses,

-form one pyramid of blended fangs, vipers, and torches;--and seated

-upon a vulture-skin at its summit, Eurynome, blue as the flies that

-corrupt meat, devours her own arms._

-

-_Then in one great whirl simultaneously disappear the bloody Orthia,

-Hymina of Orchomenus, the Laphria of the Patraens, Aphia of Agina,

-Bendis of Thrace, Stymphalia with thighs like a bird's. Triopas, in

-lieu of three eyes, has now but three empty orbits. Erichthonius, his

-legs paralysed, crawls upon his hands like a cripple._)

-

-HILARION. "What a pleasure, is it not!--to see them all in the

-abjection of their death-agony! Climb up here beside me, on this rock;

-and thou shalt be even as Xerxes, reviewing his army.

-

-"Beyond there, very far, dost thou behold that fair-bearded giant,

-who even now lets fall his sword crimsoned with blood?--that is

-the Scythian Zalmoxis between two planets,--Artimpasa, Venus, and

-Orsiloche, the Moon.

-

-"Still further away, now emerging from pallid clouds, are the gods whom

-the Cimmerians adore, even beyond Thule.

-

-"Their huge halls were warm, and by the gleam of swords that tapestried

-the vault, they drank their hydromel from horns of ivory. They ate the

-liver of the whale in dishes of brass wrought by the hammers of demons;

-or, betimes, they listened to captive sorcerers whose fingers played

-upon harps of stone.

-

-"They are feeble! They are cold! The snow makes heavy their bearskins;

-and their feet show through the rents in their sandals.

-

-"They weep for the vast fields upon whose grassy knolls they were

-wont to draw breath in pauses of battle; they weep for the long ships

-whose prows forced a way through the mountains of ice;--and the skates

-wherewith they followed the orb of the poles, upbearing at the length

-of their mighty arms all the firmament that turned with them."

-

-(_A gust of frosty wind carries them off. Anthony turns his eyes

-another way. And he perceives--outlined in black against a red

-background--certain strange personages, with chinbands and gauntlets,

-who throw balls at one another, leap over each other's heads, make

-grimaces, dance a frenzied dance._)

-

-HILARION. "Those are the divinities of Etruria, the innumerable AEsars.

-

-"There is Tages, by whom augury was invented. With one hand he seeks to

-augment the divisions of the sky; with the other he supports himself

-upon the earth: let him sink therein!

-

-"Nortia gazes at the wall into which she drave nails to mark the number

-of the passing years. Its whole surface is now covered; and the period

-is accomplished.

-

-"Like two travellers overtaken by a storm, Kastur and Pulutuk,

-trembling, seek to shelter themselves beneath the same mantle."

-

-ANTHONY (_closes his eyes_):

-

-"Enough! Enough!"

-

-(_But with a mighty noise of wings, all the Victories of the Capitol

-pass through the air,--hiding their faces with their hands, dropping

-the trophies hanging upon their arms._

-

-_Janus,--lord of crepuscules,--flees upon a black ram; and one of his

-two faces is already putrified; the other slumbers with fatigue._

-

-_Summanus, the headless god of the dark heavens, presses against his

-heart an odd cake shaped like a wheel._

-

-_Vesta, beneath a ruined cupola, tries to relight her extinguished

-lamp._

-

-_Bellona gashes her cheeks,--without being able to make that blood flow

-by which her devotees were purified._)

-

-ANTHONY. "Mercy!--they weary me!"

-

-HILARION. "Before, they amused thee!"

-

-(_And he shows him in a grove of bean-trees,_ A WOMAN, _naked....

-.........and a black man, holding in each hand a torch._[8])

-

-"It is the goddess of Aricia, with the demon Virbius. Her sacerdote,

-the King of the grove, had to be an assassin;[9] and the fugitive

-slaves, the despoilers of corpses, the brigands of the Via Salaria, the

-cripples of the Pons Sublicius, all the human vermin of the Suburra

-worshipped no deities so fervently.

-

-"In the time of Marcus Antonius the patrician women preferred Libitina."

-

-(_And he shows him under the shadow of cypresses and rose-trees_,

-ANOTHER WOMAN, _clad in gauze. Around her lie spades, litters, black

-hangings, all the paraphernalia of funerals. She smiles. Her diamonds

-shine afar off through spiders' webs. The Larvae, like skeletons, show

-their bones through the branches; and the Lemures, who are phantoms,

-extend their bat-like wings._

-

-_At the end of a field lies the god Terminus, uprooted, and covered

-with ordures._

-

-_In the centre of a furrow, the great corpse of Vertumnus is being

-devoured by red dogs._

-

-_The rustic deities all depart, weeping:--Sartor, Sarrator, Vervactor,

-Collina, Vallona, Hostilinus--all wearing little hooded mantles, and

-carrying either a hoe, a pitchfork, a hurdle, or a boar-spear._)

-

-HILARION. "Their spirits made prosperous the villa,--with its dovecots,

-its parks of dormice, its poultry-yards protected by nets, its warm

-stables fragrant with odours of cedar.

-

-"Also they protected all the wretched population who dragged the irons

-upon their legs over the flinty ways of the Sabine country,--those who

-called the swine together by sound of horn,--those who were wont to

-gather the bunches at the very summits of the elms,--those who drove

-the asses, laden with manure, over the winding bypaths. The panting

-labourer, leaning over the handle of his plough, prayed them to give

-strength to his arms; and under the shade of the lindens, beside

-calabashes filled with milk, the cow-herds were wont, in turn, to sound

-their praises upon flutes of reed."

-

-ANTHONY (_sighs._)

-

-(_And in the centre of a chamber, upon a lofty estrade, an ivory bed is

-visible, surrounded by persons bearing torches of pine._)

-

-"Those are the deities of marriage. They await the coming of the bride.

-

-"Domiduca should lead her in,--Virgo unfasten her girdle,--Subigo place

-her in the bed,--and Praema open her arms, and whisper sweet words into

-her ear.

-

-"But she will not come!--and they dismiss the others:--Nona and Decima

-who watch by sick-beds; the three Nixii who preside over child-birth;

-the two nurses, Educa and Potina; and Carna, guardian of the cradle,

-whose bouquet of hawthorne keeps evil dreams from the child.

-

-"Afterwards, Ossipago should strengthen his knees;--Barbatus give him

-his first beard; Stimula inspire his first desires; Volupia grant him

-his first enjoyment; Fabulimus should have taught him to speak, Numera

-to count, Cam[oe]na to sing, Consus to reflect."

-

-(_This chamber is empty; and there remains only the centenarian Naenia

-beside the bed,--muttering to herself the dirge she was wont to howl at

-the funerals of aged men._

-

-_But her voice is soon drowned by sharp cries. These are uttered by_--

-

-_The_ LARES DOMESTICI, _crouching at the further end of the atrium,

-clad in dog-skins, with flowers wreathed about their bodies,--pressing

-their clenched hands against their cheeks, and weeping as loudly as

-they can._)

-

-"Where is the portion of food we received at each repast, the kindly

-care of the maid-servant, the smile of the matron, the merriment of

-the little boys playing at knuckle-bones on the mosaic pavement of the

-court-yard? When grown up, they used to hang about our necks their

-bullae of gold or leather!

-

-"What happiness it was, when on the evening of a triumph, the master,

-entering, turned his humid eyes upon us! He would recount his combats;

-and the little house would be prouder than a palace; sacred as a temple!

-

-"How sweet were the family repasts, above all on the morrow of the

-Feralia! Tenderness for the dead appeased all discords; all kissed each

-other, while drinking to the glories of the past, and the hopes of the

-future.

-

-"But the ancestors, of painted wax, locked up behind us, are slowly

-becoming covered with mold. The new races, visiting their own

-deceptions upon us, have shattered our jaws; our wooden bodies are

-disappearing piece-meal under the teeth of rats."

-

-(_And the innumerable gods, watching over doors, kitchens, cellars,

-baths, disperse in every direction--under the form of enormous ants

-running over the pavement, or great butterflies soaring away._

-

-_Then a roll of thunder is heard._)

-

-

-A VOICE:

-

-"I was the God of Armies, the Lord, the Lord God! I pitched the tents

-of Jacob on the hills; and in the midst of the sands I nourished my

-chosen people in their flight.

-

-"It was I who consumed the city of Sodom with fire! It was I who

-overwhelmed the world with the waters of the Deluge! It was I that

-drowned Pharaoh, with all the princes, sons of Kings,--making the sea

-to swallow up his chariots of war, and his charioteers!

-

-"I, the Jealous God, held all other gods in abomination. I brayed the

-impure in my anger; the mighty I cast down; and swiftly the desolation

-of my wrath ran to the right and to the left, like a dromedary loosened

-in a field of maize.

-

-"I chose the humble to deliver Israel. Angels, flame-winged, spake to

-them from out the bushes.

-

-"Perfumed with spikenard, with cinnamon and myrrh, clad in transparent

-robes, and shod with high-heeled sandals,--women of valiant heart went

-forth to slay captains. The passing wind carried my prophets with it.

-

-"My law I graved upon tables of stone. Within that law my people were

-enclosed, as within a strong citadel. They were my people. I was their

-God! The land was mine; the men also belonged to me, together with

-their every thought, and all their works, and the tools they wrought

-with, and their prosperity.

-

-"My ark reposed within a triple sanctuary,--surrounded by curtains

-of purple and lighted candelabra. I had a whole tribe to serve me as

-servants, swinging censers; and the high-priest, robed in robes of

-hyacinth, wore upon his breast precious stones disposed in symmetrical

-order.

-

-"Woe! Woe! the Holy of Holies is open, the veil is rent, the perfumes

-of the holocaust are dissipated by all the winds of heaven! The jackal

-whines in the sepulchres; my temple is destroyed; my people dispersed!

-

-"The priests have been strangled with the girdles of their robes. The

-women languish in captivity; the holy vessels have all been melted!"

-

-(_The voice, becoming more distant_):

-

-"I was the God of Armies; the Lord, the Lord God!"

-

-(_An enormous silence follows,--and deepest night._)

-

-ANTHONY. "All have passed away!"

-

-SOME ONE (_replies_):

-

-"I remain!"

-

-(_And Hilarion stands before him--but transfigured wholly,--beautiful

-as an archangel, luminous as a sun, and so lofty that in order to

-behold his face_--

-

-ANTHONY

-

-_is compelled to throw back his head, to look up as though gazing as a

-star_):

-

-"Who art thou?"

-

-HILARION. "My kingdom is vast as the universe; and my desire knows no

-limits. I go on forever,--freeing minds, weighing worlds,--without

-hatred, without fear, without pity, without love, and without God. Men

-call me SCIENCE!"

-

-ANTHONY (_recoiling from him_):

-

-"Say, rather, that thou art ... the Devil!"

-

-HILARION (_fixing his eyes upon him_:)

-

-"Wouldst thou behold him?"

-

-ANTHONY (_cannot detach his eyes from that mighty gaze:--the curiosity

-of the Devil comes upon him. His terror augments; yet his wish grows

-even to boundlessness_):

-

-"Yet if I should see him ... if I were to see him!"

-

-(_Then in a sudden spasm of wrath_):

-

-"The horror that I have of him will free me from his presence

-forever!... Yes!"

-

-(_A cloven foot appears. Anthony regrets his wish._

-

-_But the Devil flings him upon his horns and bears him away._)

-

-

-

-[1] Matthew II: 10--T.

-

-[2] "Buddha, or more correctly, the Buddha, for Buddha is an

-appellative meaning Enlightened."--Max Mueller (Chips, Vol. I., 206).

-

-[3] Luke II: 25-26.--T.

-

-[4] Ibid II: 46-47.--T.

-

-[5] Or, Haoma, also Hom, the sacred plant, whose fermented juice

-occupied an important place in the practical rites of Iran. Supposed

-to be the same plant known in botany as _Sarcostemma viminalis._

-Deified in Iranian worship, like the sacred drink _Soma_ in the Vedic

-hymns. The _Soma_ was the fermented extract of the _Asclepias acida_

-or _Sarcostemma ritalis._ See Marius Fontane, "L'Inde Vedique," "Les

-Iraniens."--Trans.

-

-[6] Apuleius says, "a silken mantle."--Trans.

-

-[7] Apuleius says, "strung with knuckle-bones of sheep."--Trans.

-

-[8] This scene, like certain paintings in the Naples museum, is all

-suited for public exhibition.--Trans.

-

-[9] Readers will recollect the lines in Macaulay's _Lays of Ancient

-Rome_:

-

-"Beneath Aricia's trees,

-   Those trees in whose dim shadow

- A ghastly priest doth reign,

-   The priest who slew the slayer,

- And must himself be slain."

-

-

-

-

-

-VI

-

-

-(_He flies beneath him, outstretched like a swimmer; his vast-spreading

-wings, wholly concealing him, seem like one huge cloud._)

-

-ANTHONY. "Whither do I go? But a little while ago I beheld in a glimpse

-the form of the Accurst. Nay!--'tis a cloud that upbears me! Perhaps I

-am dead, and am ascending to God....

-

-"How freely I respire. The immaculate air seems to vivify my soul. No

-sense of weight!--no more suffering.

-

-"Far below me the lightning breaks,--the horizon broadens, widens,--the

-rivers cross each other. That blond-bright spot is the desert; that

-pool of water the ocean!

-

-"And other oceans appear!--vast regions of which I knew nothing!

-There are the countries of the blacks, which seem to smoke like

-brasiers!--then is the zone of snows always made dim by fog! Would I

-might behold those mountains where the sun, each evening, sinks to

-rest!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "The sun never sinks to rest; the sun never rests!"

-

-(_Anthony is not surprised at this voice. It seems to him an echo of

-his own thought--a response made by his own memory._

-

-_Meanwhile the earth gradually assumes the shape of a ball; and he

-beholds it in the midst of the azure, turning upon its poles, and

-revolving with the sun._)

-

-THE DEVIL. "So it does not form the centre of the universe! Pride of

-man! humiliate thyself!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Now I can scarcely distinguish it. It mingles confusedly with

-other glowing worlds. The firmament itself is but one tissue of stars."

-

-(_And they still rise._)

-

-"No sound!--not even the hoarse cry of eagles! Nothing? I listen for

-the harmony of the spheres."

-

-THE DEVIL. "Thou wilt not hear them! Nor wilt thou behold the

-antichtonus of Plato,--or the central furnace of Philolaus,--or the

-spheres of Aristotle, or the seven heavens of the Jews, with the great

-waters above the vault of crystal!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yet from below the vault seemed solid as a wall!--on the

-contrary I penetrate it, I lose myself in it!"

-

-(_And he beholds the moon,--like a rounded fragment of ice filled with

-motionless light._)

-

-THE DEVIL. "Formerly it was the sojourn of souls! Even the good

-Pythagoras adorned it with magnificent flowers, populated it with

-birds!"

-

-ANTHONY. "I can see only desolate plains there, with extinct craters

-yawning under a black sky!

-

-"Let us go towards those milder-beaming stars, that we may contemplate

-the angels who uphold them at arms' length, like torches!"

-

-THE DEVIL (_bears him into the midst of the stars_):

-

-"They attract at the same time that they repel each other. The

-action of each one results from that of others, and contributes

-thereunto,--without the aid of any auxiliary, by the force of a law,

-the virtue of order alone!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Yes!...yes! My intelligence grasps the great truth! It is

-a joy greater than all tender pleasures! Breathless I find myself with

-astonishment at the enormity of God!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "Even as the firmament ever rises as thou dost ascend, so

-with the expansion of thy thought will He become greater to thee; and

-after this discovery of the universe thou wilt feel thy joy augment

-with the broadening and deepening of the infinite."

-

-ANTHONY. "Ah! higher!--higher still!--- forever higher!"

-

-(_Then the stars multiply, scintillate. The Milky Way develops in the

-zenith like a monstrous belt, with holes at intervals; through these

-rents in its brightness stretches of prolonged darkness are visible.

-There are rains of stars, long trains of golden dust, luminous vapours

-that float and dissolve.

-

-At times a comet suddenly passes by; then the tranquillity of

-innumerable lights recommences.

-

-Anthony, with outstretched arms, supports himself upon the Devil's

-horns, and thus occupies all the space between them.

-

-He remembers with disdain the ignorance of other days, the mediocrity

-of his dreams. And now those luminous globes he was wont to gaze upon

-from below, are close to him. He distinguishes the intercrossing of

-the lines of their orbits, the complexity of their courses. He beholds

-them coming from afar,--and, like stones suspended in a sling, describe

-their circles, form their hyperbolas.

-

-He perceives, all within the field of his vision at once, the Southern

-Cross and the Great Bear, the Lynx and the Centaur, the nebula of

-Dorado, the six suns in the constellation of Orion, Jupiter with his

-four satellites, and the triple ring of the monstrous Saturn!--all the

-planets, all the stars that men will discover in the future. He fills

-his eyes with their light; he over-burthens his mind with calculation

-of their distances: then, bowing his head, he murmurs_):

-

-"What is the purpose of all that?"

-

-THE DEVIL. "There is no purpose. How could God have a purpose? What

-experience could have instructed him?--what reflection determined him?

-

-[Illustration: Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The

-Devil: There is no purpose.]

-

-"Before the beginning he could not have acted;--and now his action

-would be useless."

-

-ANTHONY. "Yet he created the world, at one time, by his word only."

-

-THE DEVIL. "But the beings that people the earth come upon it

-successively. So also, in heaven, new stars arise--different effects of

-varying causes."

-

-ANTHONY. "The varying of causes is the will of God!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "But to admit several acts of will in God is to admit

-various causes, and therefore to deny his unity.

-

-"His will is inseparable from his essence. He can have but one will,

-having but one essence; and inasmuch as he externally exists, he acts

-eternally.

-

-"Contemplate the sun! From its surface leap vast jets of flame, casting

-forth sparks that disperse beyond to become worlds here-after;--and

-further than the last, far beyond those deeps where thou seest only

-night, whirl other suns,--and behind them others again, and beyond

-those yet others ... without end!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Enough! Enough! I fear!--I will fall into the abyss!"

-

-THE DEVIL (_pauses, and rocks Anthony gently in the midst of space_).

-

-"Nothingness is--not--there is no void! Everywhere and forever bodies

-move upon the immovable deeps of space! Were there boundaries to

-space, it would not be space, but a body only: it is limitless!"

-

-ANTHONY (_stupefied by wonder_):

-

-"Limitless!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "Ascend skyward forever and forever,--yet thou wilt not

-attain the summit. Descend below the earth for billions of billions of

-centuries: never wilt thou reach the bottom. For there is no summit,

-there is no bottom; there is no Above, no Below--nor height, nor

-depth as signified by the terms of human utterance. And Space itself

-is comprised in God, who is not a portion thereof of such or such a

-size,--but is Immensity itself!"

-

-ANTHONY (_slowly_):

-

-"Matter ..., then, ... must be a part of God?"

-

-THE DEVIL. "Why not? Canst thou know the end of God?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Nay: on the contrary, I prostrate, I crush myself beneath his

-mightiness!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "And yet thou dost pretend to move him! Thou dost speak to

-him,--thou dost even adorn him with virtues,--with goodness, justice,

-mercy,--in lieu of recognising that all perfections are his!

-

-"To conceive aught beyond him is to conceive God above God, the Being

-above the Being. For He is the only being, the only substance.

-

-"If the Substance could be divided, it would not be the Substance, it

-would lose its nature: God could not exist. He is therefore indivisible

-as infinite;--and if he had a body, he would be composed of parts,

-he would not be One--he would not be infinite. Therefore he is not a

-Person!"

-

-ANTHONY. "What? my prayers, my sobs, my groans, the sufferings of my

-flesh, the transports of my love,--have all these things gone out to a

-lie,--to emptiness, unavailingly--like the cry of a bird, like a whirl

-of dead leaves?"

-

-(_Weeping_):

-

-"Oh, no!--there is Some One above all things,--a great Soul, a Lord, a

-Father whom my heart adores and who must love me!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "Thou dost desire that God were not God;--for did he feel

-love, or anger, or pity,--he would abandon his perfection for a greater

-or a lesser perfection. He can stoop to no sentiment, nor be contained

-in any form."

-

-ANTHONY. "One day, nevertheless, I shall see him!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "With the blessed, is it not?--when the finite shall enjoy

-the infinite in some restricted place, containing the Absolute!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Matters not!--there must be a paradise for the good, as there

-is a hell for the wicked."

-

-THE DEVIL. "Can the desire of thy mind create the law of the universe?

-Without doubt evil is indifferent to God,--forasmuch as the Earth is

-covered with it!

-

-"Is it through impotence that he endures it, or through cruelty that he

-maintains it?

-

-"Dost thou fancy that he is eternally readjusting the world, like an

-imperfect machine?--that he is forever watching the movements of all

-beings, from the flight of a butterfly to the thought of a man?

-

-"If he have created the universe, his providence is superfluous. If

-Providence exists, then creation is defective.

-

-"But evil and good concern only thee--even like night and day, pleasure

-and pain, death and birth, which are relative only to one corner

-of space, to a special centre, to a particular interest. Since the

-Infinite is permanent, the Infinite is;--and that is all."

-

-(_The Devil's wings have been gradually expanding: now they cover all

-space._)

-

-ANTHONY (_now perceives nothing: a great faintness comes upon him_):

-

-"A hideous cold freezes me, even to the depths of my soul! This is

-beyond the extreme of pain! It is like a death that is deeper than

-death! I roll in the immensity of darkness; and the darkness itself

-enters within me. My consciousness bursts beneath this dilation of

-nothingness!"

-

-THE DEVIL. "Yet the knowledge of things comes to thee only through the

-medium of thy mind. Even as a concave mirror, it deforms the objects

-it reflects; and thou hast no means whatever of verifying their

-exactitude."

-

-"Never canst thou know the universe in all its vastness; consequently

-it will never be possible for thee to obtain an idea of its cause,

-to have a just notion of God, nor even to say that the universe is

-infinite,--for thou must first be able to know what the Infinite is!"

-

-"May not Form be, perhaps, an error of thy senses,--Substance a figment

-of thy imagination?"

-

-"Unless, indeed, that the world being a perpetual flux[1] of things,

-appearance, on the contrary, be wholly true; illusion the only reality."

-

-"But art thou sure thou dost see?--art thou even sure thou dost live?

-Perhaps nothing exists!"

-

-(_The Devil has seized Anthony, and, holding him at arms' length,

-glares at him with mouth yawning as though to devour him_):

-

-"Adore me, then!--and curse the phantom thou callest God!"

-

-(_Anthony lifts his eyes with a last effort of hope._

-

-_The Devil abandons him._)

-

-

-[1] The original text seems to me slightly obscure. The idea of the

-universe being a perpetual ebb and flow of shapes, is that of forms

-passing away to reappear like waves, is that of the Nidana-Sutris:

-"Individuality is only a form ... _Everything is only a flux of

-aggregates_, interminably uniting and disuniting," as Barth observes in

-his "Religions of India."--Trans.

-

-

-

-

-VII

-

-

-ANTHONY (_finds himself lying upon his back, at the verge of the cliff._

-

-_The sky commences to blanch._)

-

-"Is it the glow of dawn, or only an effect of moonlight?"

-

-(_He tries to rise, falls back,--his teeth chattering_):

-

-"I feel such a helplessness of weakness, as though all my bones were

-broken!

-

-"Why?

-

-"Ah! the Devil!--I remember!--he even repeated to me all that I

-learned from the aged Didymus respecting the opinions of Xenophanes,

-Heraclitus, of Melissus, of Anaxagoras,--concerning the infinite, the

-creation, the impossibility of knowing anything!

-

-"And yet I believed that I could unite myself to God!"

-

-(_Laughing bitterly_):

-

-"Ah! madness! madness! Is the fault mine? Prayer has become

-intolerable to me! My heart is dry as a rock! Once, it was wont to

-overflow with love!...

-

-"The sand used to smoke of mornings like the odourous dust of a

-censer;--at sunset flowers of fire used to bloom upon the cross; and in

-the middle of the night, it often seemed as though all beings and all

-things, lying under the same awful silence, were adoring the Lord with

-me. O charms of prayer, felicities of ecstasy, gifts of heaven,--what

-have become of you?

-

-"I remember a voyage I made with Ammon in search of a solitary place

-suited for the establishment of a monastery. It was the last evening;

-we hastened our steps, walked side by side, murmuring hymns, without

-conversing. As the sun sank, the shadows of our bodies lengthened like

-two obelisks, continually growing taller, and moving before us. Here

-and there we planted crosses, made with fragments of our sticks, to

-mark the site of a future cell. Night was tardy in her coming; and

-waves of darkness overspread the earth, even while a vast rose-coloured

-light still glowed in heaven.

-

-"When I was a child, I used to amuse myself by building hermitages

-with pebbles. My mother sitting beside me would watch me so attentively!

-

-"Will she not have cursed me for having abandoned her?--will she not

-have plucked out her white hair by handfuls in the despair of her

-grief? And her corpse remains lying on the floor of the hut, under the

-roof of reeds, between the crumbling walls. Through an orifice a hyena,

-snuffing, thrusts his head, advances his mouth ... horror! horror!"

-

-(_Sobbing_):

-

-"No: Ammonaria will not have abandoned her! Where is she

-now,--Ammonaria?

-

-"Perhaps at the further end of a bathroom, she removes her garments

-one after the other: first the mantle, then the girdle, then the first

-tunic, the second lighter tunic, all her necklaces,--and the vapour

-of cinnamon envelops her naked limbs. At last she lies down upon the

-tepid mosaic. Her long hair spreading below the curve of her hips,

-seems like a sable fleece; and the oppressiveness of the heated air

-causes her to pant; her waist arched, her breasts standing out ...

-What! my flesh rebels again! Even in the midst of grief am I tortured

-by concupiscence. To be subjected thus unto two tortures at once is

-beyond endurance! I can no longer bear myself!"

-

-(_He leans over, and gazes into the abyss._)

-

-"The man who should fall would be killed. Nothing easier: it were only

-necessary to roll over upon my left side:--only one movement--one!"

-

-(_Then suddenly appears_--AN AGED WOMAN. _Anthony starts to his feet in

-affright. It seems to him that he beholds his mother arisen._

-

-_But this woman is far older, and prodigiously thin._

-

-_A shroud, knotted about her head, hangs down, together with her white

-hair, so as to cover her legs, slender as crutches. The brilliancy of

-her ivory-coloured teeth make her earthy skin darker still. The orbits

-of her eyes are full of shadow; and far back within them two flames

-vacillate, like the lamps of sepulchres._

-

-_She exclaims_):

-

-"Advance! What hinders thee?"

-

-ANTHONY (_stammering_):

-

-"I fear ... to commit a sin!"

-

-SHE (_replies_):

-

-"But King Saul killed himself! Razias, a just man, killed himself!

-Saint Pelagia of Antioch killed herself! Dommina of Aleppo and her two

-daughters--all three saints--killed themselves: and remember also how

-many confessors delivered themselves up to the executioner in their

-impatient longing for death! That they might enjoy death more speedily,

-the virgins of Miletus strangled themselves with their girdles. At

-Syracuse the philosopher Hegesias preached so eloquently upon death

-that men deserted the lupanars to go hang themselves in the fields. The

-patricians of Borne sought for death as a new form of debauch."

-

-ANTHONY. "Aye! the love of death is strong; and many a anchorite has

-succumbed to it."

-

-THE OLD WOMAN. "To do that which will make thee equal unto God--think!

-He created thee: thou wilt destroy his work--thou! and by thy

-courage,--of thy own free will! The enjoyment that Erostratus knew was

-not greater than this. And moreover thy body has so long mocked thy

-soul that it is full time thou shouldst take vengeance upon it. Thou

-wilt not suffer. It will soon be over. Of what art thou afraid?--a

-wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!"

-

-[Illustration: The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?--a wide,

-black hole! Perhaps it is a void!]

-

-(_Anthony hearkens without replying; and upon the other side appears_--

-

-ANOTHER WOMAN--_young and marvellously beautiful. At first he takes

-her to be Ammonaria. But she is taller, blond as honey, very plump,

-with paint upon her cheeks and roses upon her head. Her long robe,

-weighty with spangles, gleams with metallic lustre;--her fleshy lips

-are sanguinolent; and her somewhat heavy eyelids are so drowned with

-languor that one would almost take her to be blind._

-

-_She murmurs_):

-

-"Nay, live! enjoy! Solomon counsels joy! Follow the guiding of thy

-heart and the desire of thine eyes!"

-

-ANTHONY. "What joy is there for me? My heart is weary; my eyes are dim!"

-

-SHE (_answers_):

-

-"Seek the suburb of Racotis; push open a door that is painted

-blue;--and when thou shalt be in the atrium where a fountain jet

-murmurs unceasingly, a woman will present herself before thee--in

-peplos of white silk striped with gold; her hair is unloosed, her

-laugh like the clatter of crotali. She is skilful. In her caress thou

-wilt taste the pride of initiation and the appeasement of desire.

-

-"Hast ever pressed to thy bosom a virgin who loved thee? Dost remember

-the surrenders of her modesty,--the passing away of her remorse in a

-sweet flow of tears?

-

-"Thou canst even now imagine thyself walking with her--canst thou

-not?--in the wood by the light of the moon? At each pressure of your

-joined hands, a sweet shuddering passes through you both,--looking

-closely into each other your eyes seem to outpour into one another

-something like immaterial fluid;--and thy heart fills: it bursts: it is

-a suave whirl of eddying passion, an overflowing of intoxication...."

-

-THE OLD WOMAN. "One need not possess joys in order to taste their

-bitterness! Even to view them from afar off begets loathing of them.

-Thou must be fatigued by the monotony of the same actions, the length

-of the days, the hideousness of the world, the stupidity of the sun?"

-

-ANTHONY. "Aye, indeed!--I loathe all that he shines upon."

-

-THE YOUNG WOMAN. "Hermit! hermit! thou wilt find diamonds among the

-flints, fountains beneath the sand, a delectation in all the hazards

-thou dost despise; and there are even upon earth places of such beauty

-that the sight of them would make thee desire to press the whole world

-against thy heart with love!"

-

-THE OLD WOMAN. "Each evening that thou liest down upon the earth to

-slumber, thou dost hope that it may soon lie upon thee and cover thee."

-

-THE YOUNG WOMAN. "Yet thou dost believe in the resurrection of the

-flesh--which is but the translation of life into eternity!"

-

-(_Even as she speaks, the Old Woman becomes still more fleshless; and

-above her skull, from which the white hair has disappeared, a bat

-circles in the air._

-

-_The Young Woman has become fatter. Her robe gleams with shifting

-colours; her nostrils palpitate, her eyes roll softly._)

-

-THE FORMER (_opening her arms, exclaiming_):

-

-"Come to me!--I am Consolation, repose, oblivion, eternal calm!"

-

-THE OTHER.

-

-"I am the sleep-giver, life, happiness inexhaustible!"

-

-(_Anthony turns to fee from them. Each lays a hand on his shoulder._

-

-_The Shroud parts, exposes the Skeleton of Death._

-

-_The robe splits asunder, and leaves the whole body of Lust

-exposed:--her waist is slender; her long and undulating hair flutters

-in the wind._

-

-_Anthony stands motionless between the two, considering them_):

-

-DEATH (_says to him_):

-

-"What matters it, whether now or at another time! Thou art mine,--like

-suns, nations, cities, kings, mountain-snows, and the grasses of the

-fields. I fly higher than the hawks of heaven. I run more swiftly than

-the gazelle; I overtake even Hope; I vanquished the Son of God!"

-

-LUST. "Resist not! I am the Omnipotent! The forests re-echo with my

-sighs; the waters tremble with my agitations. Virtue, courage, piety,

-dissolve in the perfume of my mouth. Man I accompany in every step

-that he makes; and even from the threshold of the tomb he turns to me!"

-

-DEATH. "I will find for thee that which thou hast vainly sought for,

-by the gleam of torches, upon the faces of the dead,--or among those

-awful sands that are formed of human remains, where thou wast wont to

-wander beyond the Pyramids. From time to time, the fragment of a skull

-rolled under thy sandal. Thou didst take up the dust: thou didst let it

-trickle through thy fingers; and thy thought, blending with it, sank

-into nothingness."

-

-LUST. "My gulf is deeper! Marbles have inspired loves. Men rush to

-conjunctures that terrify. Fetters are riveted that the fettered curse.

-Whence the bewitchment of courtesans, the extravagance of dreams, the

-immensity of my sadness?"

-

-DEATH. "Mine irony depasseth all others! There are convulsions of

-delight at the funerals of kings, at the extermination of a whole

-people; and war is made with music, with plumes, with harness of

-gold,--with vast display of ceremony that my due of homage may be

-greater!"

-

-[Illustration: Death: Mine irony depasseth all others!]

-

-LUST. "My rage equals thine! I also yell; I bite! I, too, have sweats

-of agony, and aspects cadaverous!"

-

-DEATH. "It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!"

-

-[Illustration: Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us

-intertwine!]

-

-(_Death laughs mockingly; Lust roars. They clasp each other about the

-waist, and chant alternately_):

-

-"I hasten the dissolution of matter!"

-

-"I facilitate the dispersion of germs!"

-

-"Thou dost destroy for my renovations!"

-

-"Thou dost engender for my destructions!"

-

-"Ever-active my power!"

-

-"Fecund, my putrefaction!"

-

-(_And their voices, whose rolling echoes fill the horizon, deepen and

-become so mighty that Anthony falls backward as if thunder-stricken. A

-shock from time to time causes him to reopen his eyes; and he perceives

-in the midst of the darkness a manner of monster before him._

-

-_It is a skull, crowned with roses, dominating the torso of a woman

-nacreously white. Below, a shroud starred with specks of gold forms

-something like a tail; and the whole body undulates, after the fashion

-of a gigantic worm erect on end._

-

-_The vision attenuates,--disappears._)

-

-ANTHONY (_rising to his feet_):

-

-"The Devil yet again, and under his two-fold aspect: the spirit of

-fornication, and the spirit of destruction.

-

-"Neither affrights me! I repel happiness; and I know myself to be

-eternal.

-

-"Thus death is only an illusion, a veil-masking betimes the continuity

-of life.

-

-"But Substance being unique, wherefore should forms be varied?

-

-"Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose bodily forms are

-only symbols. Could I but see them, I would know the link between

-matter and thought; I would know in what Being consists.

-

-[Illustration: Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial

-figures, whose bodily forms are only symbols.]

-

-"Such were the figures painted at Babylon upon the walls of the

-temple of Belus; and others like them covered a mosaic in the port of

-Carthage. I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms

-of spirits. Those who cross the desert meet with animals surpassing all

-conception...."

-

-[Illustration: I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it

-were, forms of spirits.]

-

-(_And opposite, upon the further side of the Nile, suddenly appears

-the Sphinx.[1] He stretches his paws, shakes the bandelets upon his

-forehead, and crouches upon his belly._

-

-_Leaping, flying, spitting fire through her nostrils, lashing her

-winged sides with her dragon-tail, the green-eyed Chimera circles,

-barks._

-

-_The thick curls of her head tossed back upon one side mingle with

-the hair of her loins; on the other side they hang down to the sand,

-quivering with the swinging of her body, to and fro._)

-

-THE SPHINX (_remaining motionless, and gazing at the Chimera_):

-

-"Hither, Chimera! rest awhile!"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "No! never!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "Do not run so fast, do not fly so high, do not bark so

-loudly!"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "DO not call me!--call me no more; since thou must remain

-forever dumb."

-

-THE SPHINX. "Cease casting thy flames in my face, and uttering thy

-yells in my ear: thou canst not melt my granite."

-

-THE CHIMERA. "Thou shalt not seize me, terrible sphinx!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "Thou art too mad to dwell with me!"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "Thou art too heavy to follow me!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "Yet whither goest thou, that thou shouldst run so fast?"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "I gallop in the corridors of the Labyrinth--I hover above

-the mountains--I graze the waves in my flight--I yelp at the bottom of

-precipices--I suspend myself with my mouth from the skirts of clouds--I

-sweep the shores with my dragging tail; and the curves of the hills

-have taken their form from the shape of my shoulders! But thee I find

-perpetually immobile, or perhaps making strange designs with thy claws

-upon the sand."

-

-THE SPHINX. "It is because I keep my secret;--I dream and calculate.

-

-"The sea returns to its bed; the wheat bends back and forth in the

-wind; the caravans pass by; the dust flies; cities crumble; and yet

-my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all

-intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach."

-

-[Illustration: The Sphinx: ... and yet my gaze, which naught

-can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all intervening

-things, upon a horizon that none may reach. The Chimera: I am

-light and joyous!]

-

-THE CHIMERA. "I am light and joyous! I offer to the eyes of men

-dazzling perspectives with Paradise in the clouds above, and

-unspeakable felicity afar off. Into their souls I pour the eternal

-madnesses; projects of happiness, plans for the future, dreams of glory

-and vows of love, and all virtuous resolutions.

-

-"I urge men to perilous voyages and great enterprises. I have chiselled

-with my claws the wonders of architecture. It was I who suspended the

-little bells above the tomb of Porsenna, and surrounded the quays of

-Atlantis with a wall of orichalcum.

-

-"I seek for new perfumes, for vaster flowers, for pleasures never felt

-before. If I perceive in any place a man whose mind reposes in wisdom,

-I fall upon him, and strangle him."

-

-THE SPHINX. "All those tormented by the desire of God, I have devoured.

-

-"In order to climb up to my royal brow, the strongest ascend upon the

-flutings of my bandelets as upon the steps of a stairway. Then a great

-lassitude comes upon them, and they fall backward."

-

-(_Anthony begins to tremble._

-

-_He is no longer before his cabin, but in the desert itself, with those

-two monsters beside him, whose breath is hot upon his shoulders._)

-

-THE SPHINX. "O thou Fantasy, bear me away upon thy wings that my

-sadness may be lightened!"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "O thou Unknown, I am enamoured of thine eyes! Like a

-hyena in heat I turn about thee, soliciting those fecundations whereof

-the desires devour me!

-

-"Ope thy mouth, lift thy feet--mount upon my back!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "My feet, since they have been outstretched, can move no

-more. The lichen, like an eruption, has formed upon my jaws. By dint of

-long dreaming I have no longer aught to say."

-

-THE CHIMERA. "Thou liest, hypocrite Sphinx! Wherefore dost thou always

-call me and always disown me!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "It is thou, indomitable caprice, that dost forever pass

-and repass, whirling in thy course!"

-

-THE CHIMERA. "Is the fault mine? What? Let me be!"

-

-(_She barks._)

-

-THE SPHINX. "Thou movest away! thou dost escape me!"

-

-(_He growls._)

-

-THE CHIMERA. "Essay!--Thou crushest me!"

-

-THE SPHINX. "Nay!--impossible!"

-

-(_And gradually sinking down he disappears in the sand; while the

-Chimera, ramping with tongue protruding, departs, describing circles on

-her way._

-

-_The breath of her mouth has produced a fog._

-

-_Through this mist Anthony perceives wreathings of clouds, undecided

-curves._

-

-_At last he can distinguish something like the appearance of human

-bodies._

-

-_And first_:--

-

-THE ASTOMI--_approach, like bubbles of air traversed by sunlight. They

-cry_):

-

-"Do not breathe too hard! The drops of rain bruise us, false notes

-excoriate us, darknesses blind us! Composed wholly of breezes and of

-perfumes, we float along, we roll along:--a little more than Dreams,

-yet not quite beings...."

-

-THE NISNAS

-

-(_have only one eye, one cheek, one hand, one leg, half a body, half a

-heart. They say_):

-

-"We live quite in our halves of houses, with our halves of wives and

-our halves of children!"

-

-THE BLEMMYES

-

-(_who have no head at all_):

-

-"Our shoulders are all the broader;--and there is no ox, rhinoceros, or

-elephant able to carry what we carry.

-

-"Something dimly resembling features--as it were a vague

-face--imprinted upon our breasts: that is all! We think digestions; we

-subtleize secretions. God, in our belief, floats peacefully within the

-interior chyles.

-

-"We go straight upon our way, through all mires, crossing all morasses,

-skirting the edges of all abysses: and we are the most laborious, the

-most happy, the most virtuous of all peoples!"

-

-THE PYGMIES:

-

-"We, good little men, swarm upon the world like vermin upon the hump of

-a dromedary.

-

-"We are burned, drowned, crushed; and we always reappear, more

-vivacious and countless than before--terrible by reason of our numbers!"

-

-THE SCIAPODS:

-

-"Fettered to the earth by our hair, long as lianas, we vegetate beneath

-the shelter of our feet, broad as parasols; and the light comes to us

-through the thickness of our heels. No annoyances for us, no work! The

-head as low as possible--That is the secret of happiness."

-

-[Illustration: The Sciapods: The head as low as possible--That is

-the secret of happiness.]

-

-(_Their lifted thighs,--resembling the trunks of trees,--multiply._

-

-_And a forest appears. Great apes clamber through it on all

-fours:--these are men with the heads of dogs._)

-

-THE CYNOCEPHALI:

-

-"We leap from branch to branch in search of eggs to suck; and we pluck

-the little fledglings alive; then we put their nests upon our heads in

-lieu of caps.

-

-"We tear off the teats of cows; and we put out the eyes of lynxes:

-we let fall our dung from the heights of the trees--we parade our

-turpitude in the full light of the sun.

-

-"Lacerating the flowers, crushing the fruits, befouling the springs,

-violating women, we are the masters of all,--by the strength of our

-arms, and the ferocity of our hearts.

-

-"Ho! companions!--gnash with your jaws!"

-

-(_Blood and milk pour down their chops. The rain streams over their

-hairy backs._

-

-_Anthony inhales the freshness of the green leaves._

-

-_There is a movement among them, a clashing of branches; and all of

-a sudden appears a huge black stag, with the head of a bull, having

-between his ears a thicket of white horns._)

-

-THE SADHUZAG:

-

-"My seventy-four antlers are hollow like flutes.

-

-"When I turn me toward the wind of the South, there issue from them

-sounds that draw all the ravished animals around me. The serpents twine

-about my legs; the wasps cluster in my nostrils; and the parrots, the

-doves, the ibises, alight upon the branches of my horns.

-

-"Listen!"

-

-(_He throws back his horns, whence issues a music of sweetness

-ineffable._

-

-_Anthony presses both hands upon his heart. It seems to him as though

-his soul were being borne away by the melody._)

-

-THE SADHUZAG:

-

-"But when I turn me toward the wind of the North, my antlers, more

-thickly bristling than a battalion of lances, give forth a sound of

-howlings: the forests are startled with fear; the rivers remount toward

-their sources; the husks of fruits burst open; and the bending grasses

-stand erect on end, like the hair of a coward.

-

-"Listen!"

-

-(_He bends his branching antlers forward: hideous and discordant cries

-proceed from them. Anthony feels as though his heart were torn asunder._

-

-_And his horror augments upon beholding_)--

-

-THE MARTICHORAS

-

-(_A gigantic red lion, with human face, and three rows of teeth_):

-

-"The gleam of my scarlet hair mingles with the reflection of the great

-sands. I breathe through my nostrils the terror of solitudes. I spit

-forth plague. I devour armies when they venture into the desert.

-

-"My claws are twisted like screws, my teeth shaped like saws; and my

-curving tail bristles with darts which I cast to right and left, before

-and behind!

-

-"See! see!"

-

-(_The Martichoras shoots forth the keen bristles of his tail, which

-irradiate in all directions like a volley of arrows. Drops of blood

-rain down, spattering upon the foliage._)

-

-THE CATOBLEPAS

-

-(_A black buffalo with a pig's head, falling to the ground, and

-attached to his shoulders by a neck long, thin, and flaccid as an empty

-gut._

-

-_He wallows flat upon the ground, and his feet entirely disappear

-beneath the enormous mane of coarse hair which covers his face_):

-

-"Fat, melancholy, fierce--thus I continually remain, feeling against

-my belly the warmth of the mud. So heavy is my skull that it is

-impossible for me to lift it. I roll it slowly all around me,

-open-mouthed; and with my tongue I tear up the venemous plants bedewed

-with my breath. Once, I even devoured my own feet without knowing it!

-

-"No one, Anthony, has ever beheld mine eyes,--or at least, those who

-have beheld them are dead. Were I to lift my eyelids--my pink and

-swollen eyelids, thou wouldst forthwith die!"

-

-ANTHONY. "Oh, that one! Ugh! As though I could desire it?--Yet his

-stupidity fascinates me! No, no! I will not!"

-

-(_He gazes fixedly upon the ground._

-

-_But the weeds take fire; and amidst the contorsions of the flames,

-arises_)--

-

-THE BASILISK

-

-(_A great violet serpent, with trilobate crest, and two fangs, one

-above, one below_):

-

-"Beware, lest thou fall into my jaws! I drink fire. I am fire!--and I

-inhale it from all things: from clouds, from flints, from dead trees,

-the fur of animals, the surface of marshes. My temperature maintains

-the volcanoes: I lend glitter to jewels: I give colours to metals!"

-

-THE GRIFFIN

-

-(_A lion with a vulture's beak, and white wings, red paws and blue

-neck_):

-

-"I am the master of deep splendours. I know the secrets of the tombs

-wherein the Kings of old do slumber.

-

-"A chain, issuing from the wall, maintains their heads upright. Near

-them, in basins of porphyry, the women they loved float upon the

-surfaces of black liquids. Their treasures are all arrayed in halls, in

-lozenge-shaped designs, in little heaps, in pyramids;--and down below,

-far below the tombs, and to be reached only after long travelling

-through stifling darkness, there are rivers of gold bordered by forests

-of diamonds, there are fields of carbuncles and lakes of mercury.

-

-"Addossed against the subterranean gate I remain with claws uplifted;

-and my flaming eyes spy out those who seek to approach. The vast and

-naked plain that stretches away to the end of the horizon is whitened

-with the bones of travellers. But for thee the gates of bronze shall

-open; and thou shalt inhale the vapour of the mines, thou shalt descend

-into the caverns.... Quick! quick!"

-

-(_He burrows into the earth with his paws, and crows like a cock._

-

-_A thousand voices answer him. The forest trembles._

-

-_And all manner of frightful creatures arise:--The Tragelaphus, half

-deer, half ox; the Myrmecoles, lion before-and ant behind, whose

-genitals are set reversely; the python Askar, sixty cubits long, that

-terrified Moses; the huge weasel Pastinaca, that kills the trees with

-her odour; the Presteros, that makes those who touch it imbecile;

-the Mirag, a horned hare, that dwells in the islands of the sea. The

-leopard Phalmant bursts his belly by roaring; the triple-headed bear

-Senad tears her young by licking them with her tongue; the dog Cepus

-pours out the blue milk of her teats upon the rocks. Mosquitoes begin

-to hum, toads commence to leap; serpents hiss. Lightnings flicker. Hail

-falls._

-

-_Then come gusts, bearing with them marvellous anatomies:--Heads of

-alligators with hoofs of deer; owls with serpent tails; swine with

-tiger-muzzles; goats with the crupper of an ass; frogs hairy as bears;

-chameleons huge as hippopotami; calves with two heads, one bellowing,

-the other weeping; winged bellies flitting hither and thither like

-gnats._

-

-_They rain from the sky, they rise from the earth, they pour from the

-rocks; everywhere eyes flame, mouths roar, breasts bulge, claws are

-extended, teeth gnash, flesh clacks against flesh. Some crouch; some

-devour each other at a mouthful._

-

-_Suffocating under their own numbers, multiplying by their own contact,

-they climb over one another; and move about Anthony with a surging

-motion as though the ground were the deck of a ship. He feels the trail

-of snails upon the calves of his legs, the chilliness of vipers upon

-his hands:--and spiders spinning about him enclose him within their

-network._

-

-_But the monstrous circle breaks, parts; the sky suddenly becomes blue;

-and_)--

-

-THE UNICORN (_appears_):

-

-"Gallop! Gallop!

-

-"I have hoofs of ivory, teeth of steel; my head is the colour of

-purple, my body the colour of snow; and the horn of my forehead is

-bestreaked with the tints of the rainbow.

-

-"I travel from Chaldea to the Tartar desert,--upon the shores of the

-Ganges and in Mesopotamia. I overtake the ostriches. I run so swiftly

-that I draw the wind after me. I rub my back against the palm-trees. I

-roll among the bamboos. I leap rivers with a single bound. Doves fly

-above me. Only a virgin can bridle me.

-

-"Gallop! Gallop!"

-

-(_Anthony watches him depart._

-

-_And as he gazes he beholds all the birds that nourish themselves

-with wind: the Gouith, the Ahuti, the Alphalim, the Iukneth, of the

-mountains of Kaf, the homai of the Arabs--which are the souls of

-murdered men. He hears the parrots that utter human speech; and the

-great Pelasgian palmipeds that sob like children or chuckle like old

-women._

-

-_A saline air strikes his nostrils. Now a vast beach stretches before

-him._

-

-_In the distance jets of water arise, spouted by whales; and from the

-very end of the horizon come_)--

-

-THE BEASTS OF THE SEA

-

-(_round as wineskins, flat as blades, denticulated like saws, dragging

-themselves over the sand as they approach_):

-

-[Illustration: The beasts of the sea round as wineskins ...]

-

-"Thou wilt accompany us to our immensities, whither as yet no one has

-descended.

-

-"Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean. Some dwell in the

-sojourn of tempests; others swim freely amid the transparency of chill

-waves;--or, like oxen, graze upon the coral plains, or suck in through

-their trunks the reflux of the tides,--or bear upon their shoulders the

-vast weight of the sources of the sea."

-

-[Illustration: Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean.]

-

-(_Phosphorences gleam in the moustaches of the seals, shift in the

-scales of fish. Echini whirl like wheels; ammonites uncoil like cables;

-oysters make their shell hinges squeak; polypi unfold their tentacles;

-medusae quiver like balls of crystal suspended; sponges float hither and

-thither, anemones ejaculate water; wrack and sea-mosses have grown all

-about._

-

-_And all sorts of plants extend themselves into branches, twist

-themselves into screws, lengthen into points, round themselves out like

-fans. Gourds take the appearance of breasts; lianas interlace like

-serpents._

-

-_The Dedaims of Babylon, which are trees, bear human heads for fruit;

-Mandragoras sing;--the root Baaras runs through the grass._

-

-_And now the vegetables are no longer distinguishable from the animals.

-Polyparies that seem like trees, have arms upon their branches. Anthony

-thinks he sees a caterpillar between two leaves: it is a butterfly that

-takes flight. He is about to step on a pebble: a grey locust leaps

-away. One shrub is bedecked with insects that look like petals of

-roses; fragments of ephemerides form a snowy layer upon the soil._

-

-_And then the plants become confounded with the stones._

-

-_Flints assume the likeness of brains; stalactites of breasts; the

-flower of iron resembles a figured tapestry._[2]

-

-_He sees efflorescences in fragments of ice, imprints of shrubs and

-shells--yet so that one cannot detect whether they be imprints only, or

-the things themselves. Diamonds gleam like eyes; metals palpitate._

-

-_And all fear has departed from him! He throws himself down upon the

-ground, and leaning upon his elbows, watches breathlessly._

-

-_Insects that have no stomachs persistently eat; withered ferns bloom

-again and reflower; absent members grow again._

-

-_At last he perceives tiny globular masses, no larger than pinheads,

-with cilia all round them. They are agitated with a vibratile motion_):

-

-ANTHONY (_deliriously_):

-

-"O joy! O bliss! I have beheld the birth of life! I have seen the

-beginning of motion! My pulses throb even to the point of bursting!

-I long to fly, to swim, to bark, to bellow, to howl! Would that I

-had wings, a carapace, a shell,--that I could breathe out smoke,

-wield a trunk,--make my body writhe,--divide myself everywhere,--be

-in everything,--emanate with odours,--develop myself like the

-plants,--flow like water,--vibrate like sound--shine like light,

-squatting upon all forms--penetrate each atom--descend to the very

-bottom of matter,--be matter itself!"

-

-(_Day at last appears;--and, like tabernacle curtains uplifted, clouds

-of gold uprolling in broad volutes unveil the sky._

-

-_Even in the midst thereof, and in the very disk of the sun, beams the

-face of Jesus Christ._

-

-[Illustration: Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and

-in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.]

-

-_Anthony makes the sign of the cross, and resumes his devotions._)

-

-

-FINIS

-

-

-[1] Winkelmann claims to have been the first to discover that the

-Egyptian sphinxes were bisexual--females before--males otherwise. (See

-Book II, chap. I, Sec. 25.) Flaubert speaks of the Sphinx in the

-masculine like Philemon. (See also Signor Carlo Fea's note upon the

-paragraph in Winkelmann, old French edition. An II, R. F.)--Trans.

-

-[2] Fleurs de fer, "flowers of iron." In mineralogy _flos ferri_, a

-form of Aragonite.--Trans.

-

-

-

-

-[NOTE

-

-Those who compare this translation with the original will observe the

-omission of some few paragraphs on pages 77, 96 and 211. They are

-speeches put in the mouths of certain Heresiarchs, or complaints of

-certain of the minor Roman household gods. The translator relegated

-these to an addenda, which the publishers have omitted as being

-unnecessary. Those who are familiar with the original will be able to

-supply them, and will realize that while they might be offensive to

-some persons, they are in no respect an integral or important part of

-the great drama.]

-

-

-

-

-ADDENDA (added by transcribers)

-

-

-A. Observation of Manes, pages 82-3, original text; page 89 of

-translation.

-

-

-MANES

-

-_Ou plutot, faites si bien qu'elle ne soit pas fecondes. Mieux vaut

-pour l'ame tomber sur la terre que de languir dans des entraves

-charnelles._

-

-Probably a calumny against Manes; for the Eastern philosophy,

-especially that of Zoroaster, which is said to have inspired the tenets

-of Manichaeism, advocated no such abominations.

-

-

-B. Page 105 of original; page 108 translation. The realistic

-phraseology of the original passage is rather brutal. The French text

-reads: "_Il souffrait de la maladie Bellerephontienne; et sa mere, la

-parfumeuse, s'est livree a Pantherus, un soldat Romain, sur des gerbes

-de mais, un soir de moisson._" C. Descriptive text, page 237 original,

-partly suppressed on page 223 translation: "_Et il lui montre dans un

-bosquet d'aliziers Une Femme toute nue, a quatre pattes comme une bete,

-et saillie par un homme noir, tenant dans chaque main un flambeau._"

-

-D. Curious text of Crepitus, on page 228, pages 241-3 of original:

-

-CREPITUS

-

-(----se fait entendre):

-

-_Moi aussi l'on m'honora jadis. On me faisait des libations. Je fus un

-Dieu!_

-

-_L'Athenien me saluait comme un presage de fortune, tandis que le

-Romain devot me maudissait les poings leves et que le pontife d'Egypte,

-s'abstinant des feves, tremblait a ma voix et palissait a mon odeur._

-

-_Quand le vinaigre militaire coulait sur les barbes non rasees, qu'on

-se regalait de glands, de pois, et d'oignons crus, et que le bouc en

-morceau cuissait dans le beurre rance des pasteurs, sans souci du

-voisin, personne alors ne se genait. Les nourritures solides faisaient

-digestions retentissantes. Au soleil de la campagne les hommes se

-soulageaient avec lenteur._

-

-_Ainsi, je passais sans scandale, comme les autres besoins de la vie,

-comme Mena, tourment des vierges, et la douce Rumina qui protege le

-sein de la nourrice, gonfle, des veines bleuatres. J'etais joyeux. Je

-faisais rire. Et se dilatant d'aise a cause de moi, le convive exhalait

-toute sa gaiete par les ouvertures de son corps._

-

-_J'ai eu mes jours d'orgeuil. Le bon Aristophane me promena sur la

-scene, et l'empereur Claudius Drusus[1] me fit asseoir a sa table. Dans

-les laticlaves des patriciens j'ai circule majestueusement! Les vases

-d'or, comme des tympanons, resonnaient sous moi; et, quand plein de

-murenes, de truffles, et de pates, l'intestin du maitre se degageait

-avec fracas, l'univers attentif apprenait que Cesar avait dine!_

-

-_Mais a present, je suis confine dans la populace_[2] _et l'on se

-recrie, meme a mon nom!_

-

-_Et Crepitus s'eloigne, en poussant un gemissement...._

-

-E. For descriptions of the Martichoras and other monsters, appearing

-page 287 in the original and 263 in the translation, see also Rabelais'

-Pantagruel, Book V, Chap. XXX.

-

-

-

-[1] Needless to refer to the comedies of Aristophanes, with which

-English readers have been familiarized through the Bohn translations.

-The reference to Claudius ius Drusus seems based upon the following

-lines in Suetonius: "_Dicitur etiam meditatus edictum, quo veniam daret

-flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi: cum periclitatum

-quemdam prae pudore ex continentia reperisset._" (_Suetonius-Tiberius

-Claudius Drusus_: 32.)

-

-[2] The so-called divinities, _Deus Crepitus, Dea Pertunda, Deus

-Stercutius, Dea Rumina_ (or _Rumilia_), _Dea Mena_, concerning whose

-curious attributes the reader may consult English or French classical

-encyclopedists, were doubtless regarded by the intelligent classes

-of antiquity much as certain religious superstitions are regarded by

-educated moderns. It is true that they furnished grotesque themes

-to artists; but many existing superstitions regarding elves and

-goblins have inspired modern sculptors, painters and designers.

-Certainly, seriously worshipped as deities, Priapus might seem equally

-contemptible as a divinity; but his worship, degenerate as it became

-in later years, was primitively symbolical. The obscene image merely

-typified the procreative Spirit of Nature. The eccentric gods and

-goddesses above referred to had no such excuse for being. As previously

-observed, however, Flaubert artistically represents these divinities

-not as they were really considered in the antique world, but rather as

-they would have appeared to the eyes of zealous Christians in the third

-century--infamous and loathsome.--Translator.

-

-

-

-

-      *      *      *      *      *      *

-

-

-

-

-Transcriber's note:

-

-This translation of the "Tentation" by Lafcadio Hearn, still regarded

-by many as the best up until now in English, still misses some small

-fragments (of a couple of words) not deemed fit for the Anglo-Saxon

-temperament of that time. There is a contemporary version (2002) of

-this translation available, with introduction by Michel Foucault and

-the inclusion of some missing expressions. The original French by

-Gustave Flaubert is also available at Project Gutenberg--see

-http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982

-

-

-

-***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***

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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Temptation of St. Anthony, by Gustave
+Flaubert, Translated by Lafcadio Hearn, Illustrated by Odilon Redon
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Temptation of St. Anthony
+
+
+Author: Gustave Flaubert
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 4, 2016  [eBook #52225]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Laura Natal Rodriguez and Marc D'Hooghe
+(http://www.freeliterature.org) from page images generously made available
+by the Google Books Library Project (http://books.google.com) and
+illustrations generously made available by Bibliothèque nationale de
+France (http://gallica.bnf.fr)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 52225-h.htm or 52225-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/52225/52225-h/52225-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/52225/52225-h.zip)
+
+
+Note: Images of the original pages are available through
+      the Google Books Library Project. See
+      https://books.google.com/books?id=9g9EAAAAYAAJ
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      The o-e ligature is represented by [oe].
+
+
+
+
+
+THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY
+
+by
+
+GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
+
+Translated by Lafcadio Hearn
+
+Illustrations by Odilon Redon
+
+(Added especially for this PG e-book.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Alice Harriman Company
+New York and Seattle
+1910
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+It was at some period between 1875 and 1876 that Lafcadio Hearn--still
+a "cub" reporter on a daily paper in Cincinnati--began his translation
+of Flaubert's "Temptation of St. Anthony." The definitive edition of
+the work, over which the author had laboured for thirty years, had
+appeared in 1874.
+
+Hearn was, in his early youth, singularly indifferent to the work of
+the Englishmen of the Victorian period. Though he knew the English
+masterpieces of that epoch, their large, unacademic freedom of manner
+awakened no echoes in his spirit. His instinctive taste was for the
+exquisite in style: for "that peculiar kneading, heightening, and
+recasting" which Matthew Arnold thought necessary for perfection.
+Neither did the matter, more than the manner of the Victorians appeal
+to him. The circumstances of his life had at so many points set him
+out of touch with his fellows that the affectionate mockery of
+Thackeray's pictures of English society were alien to his interest.
+The laughing heartiness of Dickens' studies of the man in the street
+hardly touched him. Browning's poignant analyses of souls were too
+rudely robust of manner to move him. Before essaying journalism Hearn
+had served for a while as an assistant in the Public Library, and
+there he had found and fallen under the spell, of the great Frenchman
+of the Romantic School of the '30's--that period of rich flowering of
+the Gallic genius. Gautier's tales of ancient weirdnesses fired his
+imagination. The penetrating subtleties of his verse woke in the boy
+the felicitous emotions which the virtuoso knows in handling cameos
+and enamellings by hands which have long been dust. So, also, Hugo's
+revivals of the passions and terrors of the mediaeval world stirred the
+young librarian's eager interest. But most of all his spirit leapt
+to meet the tremendous drama of the "Temptation." He comprehended at
+once its large significance, its great import, and in his enthusiastic
+recognition of its value and meaning he set at once about giving it a
+language understood of the people of his own tongue.
+
+Tunison tells of the little shy, shabby, half-blind boy--the long
+dull day of police reporting done--labouring at his desk into the
+small hours, with the flickering gas jet whistling overhead, and his
+myopic eyes bent close to the papers which he covered with beautiful,
+almost microscopic characters--escaping thus from the crass, raw world
+about him to delicately and painstakingly turn into English stories
+of Cleopatra's cruel, fantastic Egyptian Night's Entertainment.
+Withdrawing himself to transliterate tales of pallid beautiful vampires
+draining the veins of ardent boys: of lovely faded ghosts of great
+ladies descending from shadowy tapestries to coquette with romantic
+dreamers; or to find an English voice for the tragedy of the soul of
+the Alexandrian cenobite.
+
+It was in such dreams and labours that he found refuge from the
+environment that was so antipathetic to his tastes, and in his
+immersion in the works of these virtuosos of words, in his passionate
+search for equivalents of the subtle nuances of their phrases, he
+developed his own style. A style full of intricate assonances, of a
+texture close woven and iridescent.
+
+"One of Cleopatra's Night's"--a translation of some of Gautier's tales
+of glamour--was issued in 1882, but at "The Temptation of St. Anthony"
+the publishers altogether balked. The manuscript could not achieve even
+so much as a reading. America had in the '70's just begun to emerge
+from that state of provincial propriety in which we were accused of
+clothing even our piano legs in pantelettes. The very name of the work
+was sufficient to start modest shivers down the spine of all well
+regulated purveyors of books. It was largely due to the painters'
+conceptions of the nature of the hermit's trials that the story of
+Saint Anthony's spiritual struggle aroused instinctive terrors in all
+truly modest natures. The painters--who so dearly love to display their
+skill in drawing legs and busts--had been wont to push the poor old
+saint into the obscure of the background, and fill all the foreground
+with ladies of obviously the very lightest character, in garments
+still lighter, if possible. What had reputable American citizens to do
+with such as these jades? More especially such jades as seen through
+a French imagination! That Flaubert had brushed aside the gross and
+jejune conceptions of the painters the publishers would not even take
+the pains to learn.
+
+It is amusing now to recall the nervous, timid proprieties of those
+days. At the time Hearn failed to see the laughable side of it. He was
+then too young and earnest, too passionate and too melancholy to have a
+sense of its humours.
+
+He had brought his unfinished manuscript from Cincinnati to New
+Orleans, and had continued to work upon it in strange lodgings in
+gaunt, old half-ruined Creole houses; at the tables of odd little
+French cafes, or among the queer dishes in obscure Spanish and Chinese
+restaurants. He had snatched minutes for it amidst the reading and
+clipping of exchanges in a newspaper office; had toiled drippingly
+over it in the liquifying heats of tropic nights; had arisen from the
+"inexpungable langours" of yellow fever to complete its last astounding
+pages.
+
+I can remember applauding, with ardent youthful sympathy, his tirades
+against the stultifying influence of blind puritanism upon American
+literature. I recall his scornful mocking at the inconsistency which
+complacently accepted the vulgar seduction, and the theatrical Brocken
+revels of Faust, while shrinking piously from Flaubert's grim story of
+the soul of man struggling to answer the riddle of the universe. He
+had however an almost equal contempt for the author's countrymen, who
+received with eager interest and pleasure the deliberate analysis--in
+_Madame Bovary_--of a woman's degradation and ruin, while they yawned
+over the amazing history of humanity's tremendous spiritual adventures.
+Hearn's own sensitiveness shrank in pain from the cold insight which
+uncovered layer by layer the brutal squalour of a woman's moral
+disintegration. But he was moved and astounded by the revelation, in
+St. Anthony, of the tragedy and pathos of man's long search for some
+body of belief or philosophy by which he could explain to himself
+the strange great phenomena of life and death, and the inscrutable
+cruelties of Nature. The young translator was filled with a sort of
+astonished despair at his inability to make others see the book as
+he did--not realizing, in his youthful impatience, that the average
+mind clings to the concrete, and is puzzled and terrified by outlines
+of thought too large for its range of vision; that the commonplace
+intelligence cannot "see the wood for the trees," and becomes confused
+and over-weighted when confronted with the huge outlines of so great a
+picture as that drawn by Flaubert in his masterpiece.
+
+There were many points of resemblance between Lafcadio Hearn and the
+grandson of the French veterinary. A resemblance rather in certain
+qualities of the spirit than in social conditions and physical
+endowments. Flaubert, born in 1821, was the son of a surgeon. His
+father was long connected with the Hotel Dieu of Rouen, in which the
+boy was born, and in which he lived until his eighteenth year, when he
+went to Paris to study law. One of the friends of his early Parisian
+days describes him as "a young Greek. Tall, supple, and as graceful as
+an athlete. He was charming, _mais un peu farouche._ Quite unconscious
+of his physical and mental gifts; very careless of the impression he
+produced, and entirely indifferent to formalities. His dress consisted
+of a red flannel shirt, trousers of heavy blue cloth, and a scarf of
+the same colour drawn tight about his slender waist. His hat was worn
+'any how' and often he abandoned it altogether. When I spoke to him of
+fame or influence.... he seemed superbly indifferent. He had no desire
+for glory or gain.... What was lacking in his nature was an interest in
+_les choses exterieures, choses utiles._" ...
+
+One who saw him in 1879 found the young Greek athlete--now close upon
+sixty, and having in the interval created some of the great classics
+of French literature--"a huge man, a tremendous old man. His long,
+straggling gray hair was brushed back. His red face was that of a
+soldier, or a sheik--divided by drooping white moustaches. A trumpet
+was his voice, and he gesticulated freely ... the colour of his eyes a
+bit of faded blue sky."
+
+The study of the law did not hold Flaubert long. It was one of those
+_choses exterieures, choses utiles_ to which he was so profoundly
+indifferent. Paris bored him. He longed for Rouen, and for his little
+student chamber. There he had lain upon his bed whole days at a time;
+apparently as lazy as a lizard; smoking, dreaming; pondering the large,
+inchoate, formless dreams of youth.
+
+In 1845 his father died, and in the following year he lost his sister
+Caroline, whom he had passionately loved, and for whom he grieved
+all his life. He rejoined his mother, and they established themselves
+at Croisset, near Rouen, upon a small inherited property. It was an
+agreeable house, pleasantly situated in sight of the Seine. Flaubert
+nourished with pleasure a local legend that Pascal had once inhabited
+the old Croisset homestead, and that the Abbe Prevost had written
+_Manon Lescaut_ within its walls. Near the house--now gone--he built
+for himself a pavilion to serve as a study, and in this he spent the
+greater portion of the following thirty-four years in passionate,
+unremitting labour.
+
+He made a voyage to Corsica in his youth; one to Brittany, with Maxime
+du Camp, in 1846; and spent some months in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey,
+and Greece in 1849. This Oriental experience gave him the most intense
+pleasure, and was the germ of _Salammbo_, and of the _Temptation of St.
+Anthony._ He never repeated it, though he constantly talked of doing
+so. He nursed a persistent, but unrealized dream of going as far as
+Ceylon, whose ancient name, Taprobana, he was never weary of repeating;
+utterance of its melifluous syllables becoming a positive _tic_
+with him. Despite these yearnings he remained at home. Despite his
+full-blooded physique he would take no more exercise than his terrace
+afforded, or an occasional swim in the Seine. He smoked incessantly,
+and for months at a stretch worked fifteen hours out of the twenty-four
+at his desk. Three hundred volumes might be annotated for a page of
+facts. He would write twenty pages, and reduce these by exquisite
+concisions, by fastidious rejections to three; would search for hours
+for the one word that perfectly conveyed the colour of his thought, and
+would--as in the case of the _Temptation_--wait fifteen years for a
+sense of satisfaction with a manuscript before allowing it to see the
+light. To Maxime du Camp, who urged him to hasten the completion of his
+book in order to take advantage of a favourable opportunity, he wrote
+angrily:
+
+"Tu me parais avoir a mon endroit un tic ou vice redhibitoire. Il
+ne m'embete pas; n'aie aucune crainte; mon parti est pris la-dessus
+depuis long temps. Je te dirai seulement que tous ces mots; _se
+depecher, c'est le moment, place prise, se poser, ..._ sont pour moi un
+vocabulaire vide de sens...."
+
+In one of his letters he says that on occasion he worked violently for
+eight hours to achieve one page. He endeavoured never to repeat a word
+in that page, and tried to force every phrase to respond to a rhythmic
+law. Guy do Maupassant, his nephew and pupil, says that to ensure this
+rhythm Flaubert "prenait sa feuille de papier, relevait a la hauteur du
+regard et, s'appuyant sur un coude, declaimait, d'une voix mordant et
+haute. Il ecoutait la rythme de sa prose, s'arretait comme pour saisir
+une sonorite fuyant, combinait les tons, eloignait les assonances,
+disposait les virgules avec conscience, commes les haltes d'un long
+chemin." ...
+
+Flaubert said himself, "une phrase est viable quand elle correspond
+a toutes les necessites de respiration. Je sais qu'elle est bonne
+lorsqu'elle peut etre lu tout haut."
+
+Henry Irving used to say of himself that it was necessary he should
+work harder than other actors because nature had dowered him with
+flexibility of neither voice nor feature, and Faguet says that Flaubert
+was forced to this excessive toil and incessant watchfulness because
+he did not write well naturally. Nevertheless Flaubert's work did not
+smell of the lamp. Whatever shape his ideas may have worn at birth
+when full grown they moved with large classic grace and freedom,
+simple, sincere, and beautiful in form. Francois Coppee calls him "the
+Beethoven of French prose."
+
+So conscientious a workman, so laborious and self-sacrificing an artist
+had a natural attraction for Lafcadio Hearn, who even in boyhood began
+to feel his vocation as "a literary monk." The whole tendency of his
+tastes prepared him to understand the true importance of Flaubert's
+masterpiece, fitted him especially of all living writers to turn that
+masterpiece into its true English equivalent. The two men had much in
+common. Both were proud and timid. Both had a fundamental indifference
+to _choses exterieures, choses utiles._ Both were realists of the soul.
+Actions interested each but slightly; the emotions from which actions
+sprung very much. To both stupidity was even more antipathetic than
+wickedness, because each realized that nearly all cruelty and vice have
+their germ in ignorance and stupidity rather than in innate rascality.
+Flaubert declared, with a sort of rage, that "la betise entre dans
+mes pores." He might too have been speaking for Hearn when he said
+that the grotesque, the strange, and the monstrous had for him an
+inexplicable charm. "It corresponds," he says, "to the intimate needs
+of my nature--it does not cause me to laugh, but to dream long dreams."
+Hearn, however, mixed with this triste interest a quality that Flaubert
+seemed almost wholly to lack--a great tenderness for all things humble,
+feeble, ugly and helpless. Both from childhood were curious of poignant
+sensations, of the sad, the mysterious and the exotic. And for both the
+tropics had an irresistible fascination. Flaubert says, in one of his
+letters:
+
+"I carry with me the melancholy of the barbaric races, with their
+instincts of migration, and their innate distaste of life, which forced
+them to quit their homes in order to escape from themselves. They loved
+the sun, all those barbarians who came to die in Italy; they had a
+frenzied aspiration toward the light, toward the blue skies, toward an
+ardent existence.... Think that perhaps I will never see China, will
+never be rocked to sleep by the cadenced footsteps of camels ... will
+never see the shine of a tiger's eyes in the forest.... You can treat
+all this as little worthy of pity, but I suffer so much when I think of
+it ... as of something lamentable and irremediable."
+
+This is the nostalgia for the strange, for the unaccustomed, that all
+born wanderers know. Fate arranges it for many of them that their lives
+shall be uneventful, passed in dull, provincial narrowness; but behind
+these bars the clipped wings of their spirit are always flutteringly
+spread for flight. They know not what they seek, what desire drives
+them, but a sense of "the great adventure" unachieved keeps them
+restless until they die. It is such as these, these _voyageurs
+empassiones_, when condemned by fortune to a static existence--who find
+their outlet in mental wanderings amid the unusual, the grotesque,
+and the monstrous. Hearn and Flaubert both were at heart nomads,
+seekers of the unaccustomed; stretching toward immensities of space
+and time, toward the ghostly, the hidden, the unrealized. Like that
+wild fantastic _Chimera_ of the "Temptation" each such soul declares
+"_je cherche des parfums nouveaux, des fleurs plus large, des plaisirs
+ineprouves._"
+
+Flaubert was but twenty-six when the first suggestion of his
+masterpiece came to him. For _La Tentation de St. Antoine_, it is
+coming to be understood, is his masterpiece; is one of the greatest
+literary achievements of the French mind. _Madame Bovary_ is more
+widely famous and popular, but Flaubert himself always deeply resented
+this preference, and was always astonished at the comparative
+indifference of the world to the "Temptation." He, too, found it
+difficult to realize how hardly the average mind is awakened to an
+interest in the incorporeal; how surely cosmic generalizations escape
+the grasp of the commonplace intelligence.
+
+Wagner waited a lifetime before the world was dragged reluctantly and
+resentfully up to a point from which it could discern the superiority
+of the tremendous finale of the Goetterdaemmerung to the Christmas-card
+chorus of angels chanting "_Ame chaste et pure_" to the beatified
+Marguerite. The whole prodigious structure of Wagner's dramatic and
+musical thought might have remained a mere adumbration in the soul of
+one German had chance not set a mad genius upon the throne of Bavaria.
+The bourgeoisie would--lacking this royal bullying--have continued to
+prefer Goethe and Gounod. Flaubert's great work unfortunately failed of
+such patronage.
+
+It was in 1845 that an old picture by Breughel, seen at Genoa, first
+inspired Flaubert to attempt the story of St. Anthony. He sought
+out an engraving of this conception of Peter the Younger (surnamed
+"Hell-Breughel" for his fondness for such subjects), hung it on his
+walls at Croisset, and after three years of brooding upon it began,
+May 24, 1848, _La Tentation de St. Antoine._ In twelve months he had
+finished the first draught of the work, which bulked to 540 pages. It
+was laid aside for "Bovary," and a second version of the "Temptation"
+was completed in 1856, but this time the manuscript had been reduced
+to 193 pages, and the "blazing phrases, the jewelled words, the
+turbulence, the comedy, the mysticism" of the first version had been
+superseded by a larger, more dramatic conception. In 1872 he made still
+a new draught, and by this time it had shrunk to 136 pages. He even
+then eliminated three chapters, and finally gave to the world in 1874
+"this wonderful coloured panorama of philosophy, this Gulliver-like
+travelling amid the master ideas of the antique and early Christian
+worlds."
+
+Faguet says, "In its primitive and legendary state the temptation
+of St. Anthony was nothing more than the story of a recluse tempted
+by the Devil through the flesh, by all the artifices at the Devil's
+disposal. In the definite thought of Flaubert the temptation of St.
+Anthony has become man's soul tempted by all the illusions of human
+thought and imagination. St. Anthony to the eyes of the first naive
+hagiologists is a second Adam, seduced by woman, who was inspired by
+Satan. St. Anthony conceived by Flaubert is a more thoughtful Faust; a
+Faust incapable of irony, not a Faust who could play with illusions and
+with himself--secretly persuaded that he could withdraw when he chose
+to give himself the trouble to do so--rather a Faust who approached,
+accosted, caressed all possible forms of universal illusions."
+
+Flaubert's studies for the "Temptation" were tremendous. For nearly
+thirty years he touched and retouched, altered, enlarged, condensed.
+He kneaded into its substance the knowledge, incessantly sought, of
+all religions and philosophies; of all the forms man's speculations
+had taken in his endless endeavours to explain to himself Life and
+Fate; humanity's untiring, passionate effort to find the meaning of its
+mysterious origin and purpose, and final destiny. How terrible, how
+naive, how fantastic, bloody, grovelling, and outrageous were most of
+the solutions accepted, the gigantic panorama of the book startlingly
+sets forth. What gory agonies, what mystic exaltations, what dark
+cruelties, frenzied abandons, and inhuman self denials have marked
+those puzzled gropings for light and truth are revealed as by lightning
+flashes in the crowding scenes of the epic. For the Temptation of St.
+Anthony is an epic. Not a drama of man's actions, as all previous
+epics have been, but a drama of the soul. All its movement is in the
+adventure and conflict of the spirit. St. Anthony remains always in
+the one place, almost as moveless as a mirror. His vision--clarified
+of the sensual and the actual by his fastings and macerations--becomes
+like the surface of an unruffled lake. A lake reflecting the aberrant
+forms of thoughts that, like clouds, drift between man and the infinite
+depths of knowledge. Clouds of illusion forever changing, melting,
+fusing; assuming forms grotesque, monstrous, intolerable; until at
+last the writhing mists of speculation and ignorance are drunk up
+by the widening light of wisdom and the fogs and phantasms vanish,
+leaving his consciousness aware, in poignant ecstasy, of the cloudless
+deeps of truth. The temptation of the flesh is but a passing episode.
+An eidolon of Sheba's queen offers him luxury, wealth, voluptuous
+beauty, power, dainty delights of eye and palate in vain. Man has never
+found his most dangerous seductions in the appetites. More lamentable
+disintegration has grown from his attempts to pierce beyond the
+body's veil. The parched and tortured saint is whirled by vertiginous
+visions through cycles of man's straining efforts to know why, whence,
+whither. He assists at the rites of Mithira, the prostrations of
+serpent-and-devil-worshippers, worshippers of fire, of light, of the
+Greeks' deified forces of nature; of the northern enthronement of brute
+force and war. He is swept by the soothing breath of Quietism, plunges
+into every heresy and philosophy, sees the orgies, the flagellations,
+the self mutilations, the battles and furies of sects, each convinced
+that it has found the answer at last to the Great Question, and
+endeavouring to constrain the rest of humanity to accept the answer.
+He meets the Sphinx--embodied interrogation--and the Chimera--the
+simulacrum of the fantasies of the imagination--dashing madly about the
+stolid querist.
+
+Lucifer--spirit of doubt of all dogmatic solutions--mounts with Anthony
+into illimitable space. They rise beyond these struggles and furies
+into the cold uttermost of the universe; among innumerable worlds;
+worlds yet vaguely forming in the womb of time, newly come to birth,
+lustily grown to maturity; worlds dying, decaying, crumbling again into
+atomic dust. Overcome by the intolerable Vast, Anthony sinks once more
+to his cell, and Lucifer, who has shown him the macrocosm, opens to
+him the equal immensity of the microcosm. Makes him see the swarming
+life that permeates the seas, the earth and atmosphere, the incredible
+numerousness of the invisible lives that people every drop of water,
+every grain of sand, every breath of air. The unity of life dawns upon
+him, and his heart, withered by dubiety, melts into joyousness and
+peace. As the day dawns in gold he beholds the face of Christ.
+
+Flaubert's Lucifer has no relation to the jejune Devil of
+man's early conception of material evil, nor does he resemble
+Goethe's Mephistopheles; embodiment of the Eighteenth Century's
+spirit of sneering disbeliefs and negation. He is rather our own
+tempter--Science. He is the spirit of Knowledge: Nature itself calling
+us to look into the immensities and read just our dogmas by this new
+and terrible widening of our mental and moral horizons. This last
+experience of the Saint reproduces the spiritual experiences of the
+modern man; cast loose from his ancient moorings, and yet finding at
+last in his new knowledge a truer conception of the brotherhood of all
+life in all its forms, and seeing still, in the growing light, the
+benignant eyes of God.
+
+It is not remarkable that Flaubert resented the banality, the dull
+grossness of the reception of his work, or that Hearn shared his
+amazement and bitterness. Even yet the world wakes but slowly to the
+true character of this masterpiece; this epic wrought with so great
+a care and patience, so instinct with genius, dealing perhaps more
+profoundly than any other mind has ever done with the Great Adventure
+of humanity's eternal search for Truth.
+
+ELIZABETH BISLAND.
+
+
+
+
+ARGUMENT
+
+
+
+
+FRAILTY
+
+
+Sunset in the desert. Enfeebled by prolonged fasting, the hermit
+finds himself unable to concentrate his mind upon holy things. His
+thoughts wonder; memories of youth evoke regrets that his relaxed will
+can no longer find strength to suppress,--and, remembrance begetting
+remembrance, his fancy leads him upon dangerous ground. He dreams of
+his flight from home,--of Ammonaria, his sister's playmate,--of his
+misery in the waste,--his visit to Alexandria with the blind monk
+Didymus,--the unholy sights of the luxurious city.
+
+Involuntarily he yields to the nervous dissatisfaction growing upon
+him. He laments his solitude, his joylessness, his poverty, the
+obscurity of his life; grace departs from him; hope burns low within
+his heart. Suddenly revolting against his weakness, he seeks refuge
+from distraction in the study of the Scriptures.
+
+Vain effort! An invisible hand turns the leaves, placing perilous
+texts before his eyes. He dreams of the Maccabees slaughtering
+their enemies, and desires that he might do likewise with the
+Arians of Alexandria;--he becomes inspired with admiration of King
+Nebuchadnezzar;--he meditates voluptuously upon the visit of Sheba's
+queen of Solomon;--discovers a text in the Acts of the Apostles
+antagonistic to principles of monkish ascetism,--indulges in reveries
+regarding the riches of Biblical kings and holy men. The Tempter comes
+to tempt him with evil hallucinations for which the Saint's momentary
+frailty has paved the way; and with the Evil One come also
+
+
+
+THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
+
+
+Phantom gold is piled up to excite Covetousness; shadowy banquets
+appear to evoke Gluttony. The scene shifts to aid the temptations of
+Anger and of Pride....
+
+Anthony finds himself in Alexandria, at the head of a wild army of
+monks slaughtering the heretics and the pagans, without mercy for
+age or sex. In fantastic obedience to the course of his fancy while
+reading the Scriptures a while before, and like an invisible echo of
+his evil thoughts, the scene changes again. Alexandria is transformed
+into Constantinople.
+
+Anthony finds himself the honoured of the Emperor. He beholds the
+vast circus in all its splendour, the ocean of faces, the tumult of
+excitement. Simultaneously he beholds his enemies degraded to the
+condition of slaves, toiling in the stables of Constantine. He feels
+joy in the degradation of the Fathers of Nicaea. Then all is transformed.
+
+It is no longer the splendour of Constantinople he beholds under the
+luminosity of a Greek day; but the prodigious palace of Nebuchadnezzar
+by night. He beholds the orgies, the luxuries, the abominations;--and
+the spirit of Pride enters triumphantly into him as the spirit of
+Nebuchadnezzar....
+
+Awaking as from a dream, he finds himself again before his hermitage.
+A vast caravan approaches, halts; and the Queen of Sheba descends to
+tempt the Saint with the deadliest of all temptations. Her beauty is
+enhanced by oriental splendour of adornment; her converse is a song of
+withcraft. The Saint remains firm.... The Seven Deadly Sins depart
+from him.
+
+
+
+THE HERESIARCHS
+
+
+But now the tempter assumes a subtler form. Under the guise of a former
+disciple of Anthony,--Hilarion,--the demon, while pretending to seek
+instruction, endeavours to poison the mind of Anthony with hatred of
+the fathers of the church. He repeats all the scandals amassed by
+ecclesiastical intriguers, all the calumnies created by malice;--he
+cites texts only to foment doubt, and quotes the evangels only to
+make confusion. Under the pretext of obtaining mental enlightenment
+from the wisest of men, he induces Anthony to enter with him into
+a spectral basilica, wherein are assembled all the Heresiarchs of
+the third century. The hermit is confounded by the multitude of
+tenets,--horrified by the blasphemies and abominations of Elkes,
+Corpocrates, Valentinus, Manes, Cerdo,--disgusted by the perversions of
+the Paternians, Marcosians, Montanists, Serptians,--bewildered by the
+apocryphal Gospels of Eve and of Judas, of the Lord, and of Thomas.
+
+And Hilarion grows taller.
+
+
+THE MARTYRS
+
+Anthony finds himself in the dungeons of a vast amphitheatre, among
+Christians condemned to the wild beasts. By this hallucination the
+tempter would prove to the Saint that martyrdom is not always suffered
+for purest motives. Anthony finds the martyrs possessed by bigotry and
+insincerity. He sees many compelled to die against their will; many
+who would forswear their faith could it avail them aught. He beholds
+heretics die for their heterodoxy more nobly than orthodox believers.
+
+And he finds himself transported to the tombs of the martyrs. He
+witnesses the meetings of Christian women at the sepulchres. He beholds
+the touching ceremonies of prayer, change into orgies,--lamentations
+give place to amorous dalliance.
+
+
+
+THE MAGICIANS
+
+
+Then the Tempter seeks to shake Anthony's faith in the excellence
+and evidence of miracles. He assumes the form of a Hindoo Brahmin,
+terminating a life of wondrous holiness by self-cremation;--he appears
+as Simon Magus and Helen of Tyre,--as Appollonius of Tyans, greatest of
+all thaumaturgists, who claims superiority to Christ. All the marvels
+related by Philostratus are embodied in the converse of Apollonius and
+Damis.
+
+
+
+THE GODS
+
+
+Hilarion reappears taller than ever, growing more gigantic in
+proportion to the increasing weakness of the Saint. Standing beside
+Anthony he evokes all the deities of the antique world. They defile
+before him in a marvellous panorama:--Gods of Egypt and India, Chaldea
+and Hellas, Babylon and Ultima Thule,--monstrous and multiform, phallic
+and ithyphallic, fantastic or obscene. Some intoxicate by their beauty;
+others appall by their foulness. The Buddha recounts the story of his
+wondrous life; Venus displays the rounded daintiness of her nudity;
+Isis utters awful soliloquy. Lastly the phantom of Jehovah appears, as
+the shadow of a god passing away forever.
+
+Suddenly the stature of Hilarion towers to the stars; he assumes the
+likeness and luminosity of Lucifer; he announces himself as
+
+
+
+SCIENCE
+
+
+And Anthony is lifted upon mighty wings and borne away beyond the
+world, above the solar system, above the starry arch of the Milky Way.
+All future discoveries of Astronomy are revealed to him. He is tempted
+by the revelation of innumerable worlds,--by the refutation of all
+his previous ideas of the nature of the Universe,--by the enigmas of
+infinity,--by all the marvels that conflict with faith. Even in the
+night of immensity the demon renews the temptation of reason: Anthony
+wavers upon the verge of pantheism.
+
+
+
+LUST AND DEATH
+
+
+Anthony abandoned by the spirit of Science comes to himself in the
+desert. Then the Tempter returns under a two-fold aspect: as the
+Spirit of Lust and the Spirit of Destruction. The latter urges him to
+suicide,--the former to indulgence of sense. They inspire him with
+strong fancies of palingenesis, of the illusion of death, of the
+continuity of life. The pantheistic temptation intensified.
+
+
+
+THE MONSTERS
+
+
+Anthony in reveries meditates upon the monstrous symbols painted upon
+the walls of certain ancient temples. Could he know their meaning
+he might learn also something of the secret lien between Matter and
+Thought. Forthwith a phantasmagoria of monsters commence to pass before
+his eyes:--the Sphinx and the Chimera, the Blemmyes and Astomi, the
+Cynocephali and all creatures of mythologie creation. He beholds the
+fabulous beings of Oriental imagining,--the abnormities described
+by Pliny and Herodotus, the fantasticalities to be later adopted by
+heraldry,--the grotesqueries of future medieval illumination made
+animate;--the goblinries and foulnesses of superstitious fancy,--the
+Witches' Sabbath of abominations.
+
+
+
+METAMORPHOSIS
+
+
+The multitude of monsters melts away; the land changes into an Ocean;
+the creatures of the briny abysses appear. And the waters in turn
+also change; seaweeds are transformed to herbs, forests of coral
+give place to forests of trees, polypous life changes to vegetation.
+Metals crystallize; frosts effloresce; plants become living things,
+inanimate matter takes animate form, monads vibrate, the pantheism of
+nature makes itself manifest. Anthony feels a delirious desire to unite
+himself with the Spirit of Universal Being....
+
+The vision vanishes. The sun arises. The face of Christ is revealed.
+The temptation has passed; Anthony kneels in prayer.
+
+L. H.
+
+
+
+
+THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY
+
+
+_It is in the Thebaid at the summit of a mountain, upon a platform,
+rounded off into the form of a demilune, and enclosed by huge stones._
+
+_The Hermit's cabin appears in the background. It is built of mud and
+reeds, it is flat-roofed and doorless. A pitcher and a loaf of black
+bread can be distinguished within also, in the middle of the apartment
+a large book resting on a wooden STELA; while here and there, fragments
+of basketwork, two or three mats, a basket, and a knife lie upon the
+ground._
+
+_Some ten paces from the hut, there is a long cross planted in the
+soil; and, at the other end of the platform, an aged and twisted
+palm tree leans over the abyss; for the sides of the mountain are
+perpendicular, and the Nile appears to form a lake at the foot of the
+cliff._
+
+_The view to right and left is broken by the barrier of rocks. But
+on the desert-side, like a vast succession of sandy beaches, immense
+undulations of an ashen-blonde color extend one behind the other,
+rising higher as they recede; and far in the distance, beyond the
+sands, the Libyan chain forms a chalk-colored wall, lightly shaded by
+violet mists. On the opposite side the sun is sinking. In the north the
+sky is of a pearl-gray tint, while at the zenith purple clouds disposed
+like the tufts of a gigantic mane, lengthen themselves against the blue
+vault. These streaks of flame take darker tones; the azure spots turn
+to a nacreous pallor; the shrubs, the pebbles, the earth, all now seem
+hard as bronze; and throughout space there floats a golden dust so fine
+as to become confounded with the vibrations of the light._
+
+_Saint Anthony, who has a long beard, long hair, and wears a tunic of
+goatskin, is seated on the ground cross-legged, and is occupied in
+weaving mats. As soon as the sun disappears, he utters a deep sigh,
+and, gazing upon the horizon, exclaims_:--
+
+"Another day! another day gone! Nevertheless formerly I used not to
+be so wretched. Before the end of the night I commenced my orisons;
+then I descended to the river to get water, and remounted the rugged
+pathway with the skin upon my shoulder, singing hymns on the way. Then
+I would amuse myself by arranging everything in my hut. I would make my
+tools; I tried to make all my mats exactly equal in size, and all my
+baskets light; for then my least actions seemed to me duties in nowise
+difficult or painful of accomplishment.
+
+"Then at regular hours I ceased working; and when I prayed with my arms
+extended, I felt as though a fountain of mercy were pouring from the
+height of heaven into my heart. That fountain is now dried up. Why?"
+
+(_He walks up and down slowly, within the circuit of the rocks._)
+
+"All blamed me when I left the house. My mother sank to the ground,
+dying; my sister from afar off made signs to me to return; and the
+other--wept, Ammonaria, the child whom I used to meet every evening
+at the cistern, when she took the oxen to drink. She ran after me. Her
+foot rings glittered in the dust; and her tunic, open at the hips,
+fluttered loosely in the wind. The aged anchorite who was leading me
+away called her vile names. Our two camels galloped forward without
+respite; and I have seen none of my people since that day.
+
+"At first, I selected for my dwelling place, the tomb of a Pharaoh. But
+an enchantment circulates through all those subterranean palaces, where
+the darkness seems to have been thickened by the ancient smoke of the
+aromatics. From the depths of Sarcophagi, I heard doleful voices arise,
+and call my name; or else, I suddenly beheld the abominable things
+painted upon the walls live and move; and I fled away to the shore
+of the Red Sea, and took refuge in a ruined citadel. There my only
+companions were the scorpions dragging themselves among the stones, and
+the eagles continually wheeling above my head, in the blue of heaven.
+At night I was torn by claws, bitten by beaks; soft wings brushed
+against me; and frightful demons, shrieking in my ears, flung me upon
+the ground. Once I was even rescued by the people of a caravan going
+to Alexandria; and they took me away with them.
+
+"Then I sought to obtain instruction from the good old man Didymus.
+Although blind, none equalled him in the knowledge of the Scriptures.
+When the lesson was finished, he used to ask me to give him my arm
+to lean upon, that we might walk together. Then I would conduct him
+to the Paneum, whence may be seen the Pharos and the open sea. Then
+we would return by way of the post, elbowing men of all nations,
+even Cimmerians clad in the skins of bears and Gymnosophists of the
+Ganges anointed with cow-dung. But there was always some fighting in
+the streets--either on account of the Jews refusing to pay taxes, or
+of seditious people who wished to drive the Romans from the city.
+Moreover, the city is full of heretics--followers of Manes; Valentinus,
+Basilides, Arius--all seeking to engross my attention in order to argue
+with me and to convince me.
+
+"Their discourses often come back to my memory. Vainly do I seek to
+banish them from my mind. They trouble me!
+
+"I took refuge at Colzin, and there lived a life of such penance that
+I ceased to fear God. A few men, desirous of becoming anchorites,
+gathered about me. I imposed a practical rule of life upon them,
+hating, as I did, the extravagance of Gnosus and the assertions of the
+philosophers. Messages were sent to me from all parts, and men came
+from afar off to visit me.
+
+"Meanwhile the people were torturing the confessors; and the thirst of
+martyrdom drew me to Alexandria. The persecution had ceased three days
+before I arrived there!
+
+"While returning thence, I was stopped by a great crowd assembled
+before the temple of Serapis. They told me it was a last example which
+the Governor had resolved to make. In the centre of the portico, under
+the sunlight, a naked woman was fettered to a column, and two soldiers
+were flogging her with thongs; at every blow her whole body writhed.
+She turned round, her mouth open; and over the heads of the crowd,
+through the long hair half hiding her face, I thought that I could
+recognize Ammonaria....
+
+[Illustration: ... through the long hair half hiding her face,
+I thought that I could recognize Ammonaria]
+
+"Nevertheless ... this one was taller ... and beautiful ...
+prodigiously beautiful!"
+
+(_He passes his hands over his forehead._)
+
+"No! no! I must not think of it!
+
+"Another time Athanasius summoned me to assist him against the Arians.
+The contest was limited to invectives and laughter. But since that
+time he has been calumniated, dispossessed of his see, obliged to fly
+for safety elsewhere. Where is he now? I do not know! The people give
+themselves very little trouble to bring me news. All my disciples have
+abandoned me--Hilarion like the rest.
+
+"He was perhaps fifteen years of age when he first came to me and his
+intelligence was so remarkable that he asked me questions incessantly.
+Then he used to listen to me with a pensive air, and whatever I needed
+he brought it to me without a murmur--nimbler than a kid, merry enough
+to make even the patriarchs laugh. He was a son to me."
+
+(_The sky is red; the earth completely black. Long drifts of sand
+follow the course of the gusts of wind, rising like great shrouds and
+falling again. Suddenly against a bright space in the sky a flock of
+birds pass, forming a triangular battalion, gleaming like one sheet of
+metal, of which the edges alone seem to quiver._
+
+_Anthony watches them._)
+
+"Ah, how I should like to follow them.
+
+"How often also have I enviously gazed upon those long vessels,
+whose sails resemble wings--and above all when they were bearing
+far away those I had received at my hermitage! What pleasant hours
+we passed!--what out-pourings of feeling! No one ever interested me
+more than Ammon: he told me of his voyage to Rome, of the Catacombs,
+the Coliseum, the piety of illustrious women, and a thousand other
+things!--and it grieved me to part with him! Wherefore my obstinacy
+in continuing to live such a life as this? I would have done well to
+remain with the monks of Nitria, inasmuch as they supplicated me to
+do so. They have cells apart, and nevertheless communicate with each
+other. On Sundays a trumpet summons them to assemble at the church,
+where one may see three scourges hanging up, which serve to punish
+delinquents, robbers, and intruders; for their discipline is severe.
+
+"Nevertheless they are not without some enjoyments. The faithful bring
+them eggs, fruits, and even instruments with which they can extract
+thorns from their feet. There are vineyards about Prisperi; those
+dwelling at Pabena have a raft on which they may journey when they go
+to seek provisions.
+
+"But I might have served my brethren better as a simple priest. As a
+priest one may aid the poor, administer the sacraments, and exercise
+authority over families.
+
+"Furthermore, all laics are not necessarily damned, and it only
+depended upon my own choice to become--for example--a grammarian, a
+philosopher. I would then have had in my chamber a sphere of reeds,
+and tablets always ready at hand, young men around me, and a wreath of
+laurel suspended above my door, as a sign.
+
+"But there is too much pride in triumphs such as those. A soldier's
+life would have been preferable. I was robust and bold: bold enough to
+fasten the cables of the military machines--to traverse dark forests,
+or to enter, armed and helmeted, into smoking cities.... Neither was
+there anything to have prevented me from purchasing with my money the
+position of publican at the toll-office of some bridge; and travellers
+would have taught me many strange things, and told me strange stories,
+the while showing me many curious objects packed up among their
+baggage....
+
+"The merchants of Alexandria sail upon the river Canopus on holidays,
+and drink wine in the chalices of lotus-flowers, to a music of
+tambourines which makes the taverns along the shore tremble! Beyond,
+trees, made cone-shaped by pruning, protect the quiet farms against
+the wind of the south. The roof of the lofty house leans upon thin
+colonettes placed as closely together as the laths of a lattice;
+and through their interspaces the master, reclining upon his long
+couch, beholds his plains stretching about him--the hunter among the
+wheat-fields--the winepress where the vintage is being converted into
+wine, the oxen treading out the wheat. His children play upon the floor
+around him; his wife bends down to kiss him."
+
+(_Against the grey dimness of the twilight, here and there appear
+pointed muzzles, with straight, pointed ears and bright eyes. Anthony
+advances toward them. There is a sound of gravel crumbling down; the
+animals take flight. It was a troop of jackals._
+
+_One still remains, rising upon his hinder legs, with his body half
+arched and head raised in an attitude full of defiance._)
+
+"How pretty he is! I would like to stroke his back gently!"
+
+(_Anthony whistles to coax him to approach. The jackal disappears._)
+
+"Ah! he is off to join the others. What solitude! what weariness!"
+(_Laughing bitterly._)
+
+"A happy life this indeed!--bending palm-branches in the fire to make
+shepherds' crooks, fashioning baskets, stitching mats together--and
+then exchanging these things with the Nomads for bread which breaks
+one's teeth! Ah! woe, woe is me! will this never end? Surely death were
+preferable! I can endure it no more! Enough! enough!"
+
+(_He stamps his foot upon the ground, and rushes frantically to and fro
+among the rocks; then pauses, out of breath, bursts into tears, and
+lies down upon the ground, on his side._
+
+_The night is calm; multitudes of stars are palpitating; only the
+crackling noise made by the tarantulas is audible._
+
+_The two arms of the cross make a shadow upon the sand; Anthony, who is
+weeping, observes it._)
+
+"Am I, then, so weak, O my God! Courage, let me rise from here!"
+
+(_He enters his hut, turns over a pile of cinders, finds a live ember,
+lights his torch and fixes it upon the wooden desk, so as to throw a
+light upon the great book._)
+
+"Suppose I take the Acts of the Apostles?--yes!--no matter where!"
+
+_'And he saw the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it
+were a great linen sheet let down by the four corners from heaven to
+the earth--wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping
+things of the earth and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to
+him: Arise, Peter! Kill and eat!'_[1]
+
+"Then the Lord desired that his apostle should eat of all things?...
+while I...."
+
+(_Anthony remains thoughtful, his chin resting against his breast. The
+rustling of the pages, agitated by the wind, causes him to lift his
+head again; and he reads_:)
+
+_'So the Jews made a great slaughter of their enemies with the sword,
+and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to
+them...._[2]
+
+"Then, comes the number of people slain by them--seventy-five thousand.
+They had suffered so much! Moreover, their enemies were the enemies of
+the true God. And how they must have delighted in avenging themselves
+thus by the massacre of idolaters! Doubtless the city must have been
+crammed with the dead! There must have been corpses at the thresholds
+of the garden gates, upon the stairways, in all the chambers, and piled
+up so high that the doors could no longer move upon their hinges!...
+But lo! here I am permitting my mind to dwell upon ideas of murder and
+of blood!..."
+
+(_He opens the book at another place._)
+
+_'Then King Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped
+Daniel...._'[3]
+
+"Ah! that was just! The _Most High_ exalts his prophets above Kings;
+yet that monarch spent his life in banqueting, perpetually drunk with
+pleasure and pride. But God, to punish him, changed him into a beast!
+He walked upon four feet!"
+
+(_Anthony begins to laugh; and in extending his arms, involuntarily
+disarranges the leaves of the book with the tips of his fingers. His
+eyes fell upon this phrase_:--)
+
+_'And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he showed them the house
+of his aromatical spices, and the gold and the silver, and divers
+precious odours and ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all
+that he had in his treasures....'_[4]
+
+"I can imagine that spectacle; they must have beheld precious stones,
+diamonds and darics heaped up to the very roof. One who possesses so
+vast an accumulation of wealth is no longer like other men. While
+handling his riches he knows that he controls the total result of
+innumerable human efforts--as it were the life of nations drained by
+him and stored up, which he can pour forth at will. It is a commendable
+precaution on the part of Kings. Even the _Wisest_ of all did not
+neglect it. His navy brought him elephants' teeth and apes.... Where is
+that passage?"
+
+(_He turns the leaves over rapidly._)
+
+"Ah! here it is:"
+
+_'And the Queen of Saba, having heard of the fame of Solomon in the
+name of the Lord, came to try him with hard questions.'_[5]
+
+"How did she hope to tempt him? The _Devil_ indeed sought to tempt
+Jesus! But Jesus triumphed because he was God; and Solomon, perhaps,
+owing this knowledge of magic! It is sublime--that science! For the
+world--as a philosopher once explained it to me, forms a whole, of
+which all parts mutually influence one another, like the organs of one
+body. It is science which enables us to know the natural loves and
+natural repulsions of all things, and to play upon them?... Therefore,
+it is really possible to modify what appears to be the immutable order
+of the universe?"
+
+(_Then the two shadows formed behind him by the arms of the cross,
+suddenly lengthen and project themselves before him. They assume the
+form of two great horns. Anthony cries out_:--)
+
+"Help me! O my God!"
+
+[Illustration: Saint Anthony: Help me, O my God!]
+
+(_The shadows shrink back to their former place._)
+
+"Ah!... it was an illusion ... nothing more. It is needless for me to
+torment my mind further! I can do nothing!--absolutely nothing."
+
+(_He sits down and folds his arms._)
+
+"Nevertheless ... it seems to me that I felt the approach of.... But
+why should _He_ come? Besides, do I not know all his artifices? I
+repulsed the monstrous anchorite who laughingly offered me little
+loaves of warm, fresh bread, the centaur who sought to carry me away
+upon his croup, and that black child who appeared to me in the midst of
+the sands, who was very beautiful, and who told me that he was called
+the Spirit of Lust!"
+
+(_Anthony rises and walks rapidly up and down, first to the right, then
+to the left._)
+
+"It was by my order that this multitude of holy retreats was
+constructed--full of monks all wearing sackcloth of camel's hair
+beneath their garments of goatskin, and numerous enough to form an
+army. I have cured the sick from afar off; I have cast out demons;
+I have passed the river in the midst of crocodiles; the Emperor
+Constantine wrote me throe letters; Balacius, who had spat upon mine,
+was torn to pieces by his own horses; when I reappeared the people of
+Alexandria fought for the pleasure of seeing me, and Athanasius himself
+escorted me on the way back. But what works have I not accomplished
+Lo! for these thirty years and more I have been dwelling and groaning
+unceasingly in the desert! Like Eusebius, I have carried thirty-eight
+pounds of bronze upon my loins; like Macarius, I have exposed my body
+to the stings of insects; like Pacomus, I have passed fifty-three
+nights without closing my eyes; and those who are decapitated, tortured
+with red hot pincers, or burned alive, are perhaps less meritorious
+than I, seeing that my whole life is but one prolonged martyrdom."
+(_Anthony slackens his pace._)
+
+"Assuredly there is no human being in a condition of such unutterable
+misery! Charitable hearts are becoming scarcer. I no longer receive
+aught from any one. My mantle is worn out. I have no sandals--I have
+not even a porringer!--for I have distributed all I possessed to the
+poor and to my family, without retaining so much as one obolus. Yet
+surely I ought to have a little money to obtain the tools indispensable
+to my work? Oh, not much! a very small sum.... I would be very saving
+of it....
+
+"The fathers of Nicaea, clad in purple robes, sat like magi, upon
+thrones ranged along the walls; and they were entertained at a great
+banquet and overwhelmed with honours, especially Paphnutius, because he
+is one-eyed and lame, since the persecution of Diocletian! The Emperor
+kissed his blind eye several times; what foolishness! Besides, there
+were such infamous men members of that Council! A bishop of Scythia,
+Theophilus! another of Persia, John! a keeper of beasts, Spiridion!
+Alexander was too old. Athanasius ought to have shown more gentleness
+towards the Arians, so as to have obtained concessions from them.
+
+"Yet would they have made any? They would not hear me! The one who
+spoke against me--a tall young man with a curly beard--uttered the
+most captious objections to my argument; and while I was seeking words
+to express my views they all stared at me with their wicked faces,
+and barked like hyenas. Ah! why cannot I have them all exiled by the
+Emperor! or rather have them beaten, crushed, and see them suffer! I
+suffer enough myself."
+
+(_He leans against his cabin in a fainting condition._)
+
+"It is because I have fasted too long; my strength is leaving me. If I
+could eat--only once more--a piece of meat." (_He half closes his eyes
+with languor._)
+
+"Ah! some red flesh--a bunch of grapes to bite into ... curdled milk
+that trembles on a plate!...
+
+"But what has come upon me? What is the matter with me? I feel my heart
+enlarging like the sea, when it swells before the storm. An unspeakable
+feebleness weighs down upon me, and the warm air seems to waft me
+the perfume of a woman's hair. No woman has approached this place;
+nevertheless?--"
+
+(_He gazes toward the little pathway between the rocks._)
+
+"That is the path by which they come, rocked in their litters by the
+black arms of the eunuchs. They descend and joining their hands,
+heavy with rings, kneel down before me. They relate to me all their
+troubles. The desire of human pleasure tortures them; they would
+gladly die; they have seen in their dreams God calling to them ... and
+all the while the hems of their robes fall upon my feet. I repel them
+from me. 'Ah! no!' they cry, 'not yet! What shall I do?' They gladly
+accept any penitence I impose on them. They ask for the hardest of all;
+they beg to share mine and to live with me.
+
+"It is now a long time since I have seen any of them! Perhaps some of
+them will come! why not? If I could only hear again, all of a sudden,
+the tinkling of mule-bells among the mountains. It seems to me...."
+
+(_Anthony clambers upon a rock at the entrance of the pathway, and
+leans over, darting his eyes into the darkness._)
+
+"Yes! over there, far off I see a mass moving, like a band of
+travellers seeking the way. _She_ is there!... They are making a
+mistake." (_Calling._)
+
+"This way! Come! Come!"
+
+(_Echo repeats: Come! Come! he lets his arms fall, stupefied._)
+
+"What shame for me! Alas! poor Anthony."
+
+(_And all of a sudden he hears a whisper:--"Poor Anthony"!_)
+
+"Who is there? Speak!"
+
+(_The wind passing through the intervals between the rocks, makes
+modulations; and in those confused sonorities he distinguishes Voices,
+as though the air itself were speaking. They are low, insinuating,
+hissing._)
+
+_The First_: "Dost thou desire women?"
+
+_The Second_: "Great heaps of money, rather!"
+
+_The Third_: "A glittering sword?" (_and_)
+
+_The Others_: "All the people admire thee! Sleep!"
+
+"Thou shalt slay them all, aye, thou shalt slay them!"
+
+(_At the same moment objects become transformed. At the edge of the
+cliff, the old palm tree with its tuft of yellow leaves, changes into
+the torso of a woman leaning over the abyss, her long hair waving in
+the wind.
+
+Anthony turns toward his cabin; and the stool supporting the great book
+whose pages are covered with black letters, seems to him changed into a
+bush all covered with nightingales._)
+
+"It must be the torch which is making this strange play of light....
+Let us put it out!"
+
+(_He extinguishes it; the obscurity becomes deeper, the darkness
+profound._
+
+_And suddenly in the air above there appear and disappear
+successively--first, a stretch of water; then the figure of a
+prostitute; the corner of a temple, a soldier; a chariot with two white
+horses, prancing._
+
+_These images appear suddenly, as in flashes--outlined against the
+background of the night, like scarlet paintings executed upon ebony._
+
+_Their motion accelerates. They defile by with vertiginous rapidity.
+Sometimes again, they pause and gradually pale and melt away; or else
+float off out of sight, to be immediately succeeded by others._
+
+_Anthony closes his eyelids._
+
+_They multiply, surround him, besiege him. An unspeakable fear takes
+possession of him; and he feels nothing more of living sensation, save
+a burning contraction of the epigastrium. In spite of the tumult in
+his brain, he is aware of an enormous silence which separates him from
+the world. He tries to speak;--impossible! He feels as though all the
+bands of his life were breaking and dissolving;--and, no longer able to
+resist, Anthony falls prostrate upon his mat._)
+
+
+[1] Acts X: 11-13--T.
+
+[2] Esther IX: 5--T.
+
+[3] Daniel II: 46.--T.
+
+[4] Kings XX: 13 (Vulg.).--T.
+
+[5] III Kings X: I (Vulg.).--T.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+(_Then a great shadow, subtler than any natural shadow, and festooned
+by other shadows along its edges, defines itself upon the ground._
+
+_It is the Devil, leaning upon the roof of the hut, and bearing beneath
+his wings--like some gigantic bat suckling its little ones--the Seven
+Deadly Sins, whose grimacing heads are dimly distinguishable._
+
+_With eyes still closed, Anthony yields to the pleasure of inaction;
+and stretches his limbs upon the mat._
+
+_It seems to him quite soft, and yet softer--so that it becomes as if
+padded; it rises up; it becomes a bed. The bed becomes a shallop; water
+laps against its sides._
+
+_To right and left rise two long tongues of land, overlooking low
+cultivated plains, with a sycamore tree here and there. In the distance
+there is a tinkling of bells, a sound of drums and of singers. It is a
+party going to Canopus to sleep upon the temple of Serapis, in order
+to have dreams. Anthony knows this; and impelled by the wind, his boat
+glides along between the banks. Papyrus-leaves and the red flowers of
+the nymphaea, larger than the body of a man, bend over him. He is lying
+at the bottom of the boat; one oar at the stem, drags in the water.
+From time to time, a lukewarm wind blows; and the slender reeds rub one
+against the other, and rustle. Then the sobbing of the wavelets becomes
+indistinct. A heavy drowsiness falls upon him. He dreams that he is a
+Solitary of Egypt._
+
+_Then he awakes with a start._)
+
+"Did I dream? It was all so vivid that I can scarcely believe I was
+dreaming! My tongue burns. I am thirsty."
+
+(_He enters the cabin, and gropes at random in the dark._)
+
+"The ground is wet; can it have been raining? What can this mean! My
+pitcher is broken into atoms! But the goatskin?" (_He finds it._)
+
+"Empty!--completely empty! In order to get down to the river, I should
+have to walk for at least three hours; and the night is so dark that I
+could not see my way.
+
+"There is a gnawing in my entrails. Where is the bread!"
+
+(_After long searching, he picks up a crust not so large as an egg._)
+
+"What? Have the jackals taken it? Ah! malediction!"
+
+(_And he flings the bread upon the ground with fury._
+
+_No sooner has the action occurred than a table makes its appearance,
+covered with all things that are good to eat._
+
+_The byssus cloth, striated like the bandelets of the sphinx, produces
+of itself luminous undulations. Upon it are enormous quarters of red
+meats; huge fish; birds cooked in their plumage, and quadrupeds in
+their skins; fruits with colors and tints almost human in appearance;
+while fragments of cooling ice, and flagons of violet crystal reflect
+each other's glittering. Anthony notices in the middle of the table
+a boar smoking at every pore--with legs doubled up under its belly,
+and eyes half closed--and the idea of being able to eat so formidable
+an animal greatly delights him. Then many things appear which he has
+never seen before--black hashes, jellies, the color of gold, ragouts in
+which mushrooms float like nenuphars upon ponds, dishes of whipt cream
+light as clouds._
+
+_And the aroma of all this comes to him together with the salt smell of
+the ocean, the coolness of mountains, the great perfumes of the woods.
+He dilates his nostrils to their fullest extent; his mouth waters; he
+thinks to himself that he has enough before him for a year, for ten
+years, for his whole life!_
+
+_As he gazes with widely-opened eyes at all these viands, others
+appear; they accumulate, forming a pyramid crumbling at all its angles.
+The wines begin to flow over--the fish palpitate--the blood seethes in
+the dishes--the pulp of the fruit protrudes like amorous lips--and the
+table rises as high as his breast, up to his very chin at last--now
+bearing only one plate and a single loaf of bread, placed exactly in
+front of him._
+
+_He extends his hand to seize the loaf. Other loaves immediately
+present themselves to his grasp._)
+
+"For me!... all these! But ..." (_Anthony suddenly draws back._)
+
+"Instead of one which was there, lo! there are many! It must be a
+miracle, then, the same as our Lord wrought!
+
+"Yet for what purpose?... Ah! all the rest of these things are equally
+incomprehensible! Demon, begone from me! depart! begone!"
+
+(_He kicks the table from him. It disappears._)
+
+"Nothing more?--no!" (_He draws a lung breath._)
+
+"Ah! the temptation was strong! But how well I delivered myself from
+it!"
+
+(_He lifts his head, and at the same time stumbles over some sonorous
+object._)
+
+"Why! what can that be?" (_Anthony stoops down._)
+
+"How! a cup! Some traveller must have lost it here. There is nothing
+extraordinary...."
+
+(_He wets his finger, and rubs._)
+
+"It glitters!--metal! Still, I cannot see very clearly...."
+
+(_He lights his torch, and examines the cup._)
+
+"It is silver, ornamented with ovules about the rim, with a medal at
+the bottom of it."
+
+(_He detaches the medal with his nail!_)
+
+"It is a piece of money worth about seven or eight drachmas--not more!
+It matters not! even with that I could easily buy myself a sheepskin."
+
+(_A sudden flash of the torch lights up the cup._)
+
+"Impossible! gold? Yes, all gold, solid gold!"
+
+(_A still larger piece of money appears at the bottom. Under it he
+perceives several others._)
+
+"Why, this is a sum ... large enough to purchase three oxen ... and a
+little field!"
+
+(_The cup is now filled with pieces of gold._)
+
+"What! what!... a hundred slaves, soldiers, a host ... enough to
+buy...."
+
+(_The granulations of the rim, detaching themselves form a necklace of
+pearls._)
+
+"With such a marvel of jewelry as that, one could win even the wife of
+the Emperor!"
+
+(_By a sudden jerk, Anthony makes the necklace slip down over his
+wrist. He holds the cup in his left hand, and with his right lifts
+up the torch so as to throw the light upon it. As water streams
+overflowing from the basin of a fountain, so diamonds, carbuncles, and
+sapphires, all mingled with broad pieces of gold bearing the effigies
+of Kings, overflow from the cup in never ceasing streams, to form a
+glittering hillock upon the sand._)
+
+"What! how! Staters, cycles, dariacs, aryandics; Alexander, Demetrius,
+the Ptolemies, Caesar!--yet not one of them all possessed so much!
+Nothing is now impossible! no more suffering for me! how these
+gleams dazzle my eyes! Ah! my heart overflows! how delightful it is!
+yes--yes!--more yet! never could there be enough! Vainly I might
+continually fling it into the sea, there would always be plenty
+remaining for me. Why should I lose any of it? I will keep all, and say
+nothing to any one about it; I will have a chamber hollowed out for me
+in the rock, and lined with plates of bronze, and I will come here from
+time to time to feel the gold sinking down under the weight of my heel;
+I will plunge my arms into it as into sacks of grain! I will rub my
+face with it, I will lie down upon it!"
+
+(_He flings down the torch in order to embrace the glittering heap, and
+falls flat upon the ground._
+
+_He rises to his feet. The place is wholly empty._)
+
+"What have I done!
+
+"Had I died during those moments, I should have gone to hell--to
+irrevocable damnation."
+
+(_He trembles in every limb._)
+
+"Am I, then, accursed? Ah! no; it is my own fault! I allow myself
+to be caught in every snare! No man could be more imbecile, more
+infamous! I should like to beat myself, or rather to tear myself out
+of my own body! I have restrained myself too long. I feel the want of
+vengeance--the necessity of striking, of killing!--as though I had a
+pack of wild beasts within me! Would that I could hew my way with an
+axe, through the midst of a multitude.... Ah, a poniard!..."
+
+(_He perceives his knife, and rushes to seize it. The knife slips from
+his hand; and Anthony remains leaning against the wall of his hut, with
+wide-open mouth, motionless, cataleptic._
+
+_Everything about him has disappeared._
+
+_He thinks himself at Alexandria, upon the Paneum--an artificial
+mountain in the centre of the city, encircled by a winding stairway._
+
+_Before him lies Lake Mareolis; on his right hand is the sea, on his
+left the country; and immediately beneath him a vast confusion of
+flat roofs, traversed from north to south and from east to west by
+two streets which intercross, and which offer throughout their entire
+length the spectacle of files of porticoes with Corinthian columns. The
+houses overhanging this double colonnade have windows of stained glass.
+Some of them support exteriorly enormous wooden cages, into which the
+fresh air rushes from without._
+
+_Monuments of various architecture tower up in close proximity.
+Egyptian pylons dominate Greek temples. Obelisks appear like lances
+above battlements of red brick. In the middle of public squares there
+are figures of Hermes with pointed ears, and of Anubis with the head of
+a dog. Anthony can distinguish the mosaic pavements of the courtyards,
+and tapestries suspended from the beams of ceilings._
+
+_He beholds at one glance, the two ports (the Great Port and the
+Eunostus), both round as circuses, and separated by a mole connecting
+Alexandria with the craggy island upon which the Pharos-tower
+rises--quadrangular, five hundred cubits high, nine storied, having at
+its summit a smoking heap of black coals._
+
+_Small interior ports open into the larger ones. The mole terminates at
+each end in a bridge supported upon marble columns planted in the sea.
+Sailing vessels pass beneath it, while heavy lighters overladen with
+merchandise, thalamegii[1] inlaid with ivory, gondolas covered with
+awnings, triremes, biremes, and all sorts of vessels are moving to and
+fro, or lie moored at the wharves._
+
+_About the Great Port extends an unbroken array of royal construction:
+the palace of the Ptolomies, the Museum, the Posidium, the Caesareum,
+the Timonium where Mark Anthony sought refuge, the Soma which contains
+the tomb of Alexander; while at the other extremity of the city, beyond
+the Eunostus, the great glass factories, perfume factories, and papyrus
+factories may be perceived in a suburban quarter._
+
+_Strolling peddlers, porters, ass-drivers run and jostle together.
+Here and there one observes some priest of Isis wearing a panther skin
+on his shoulders, a Roman soldier with his bronze helmet, and many
+negroes. At the thresholds of the shops women pause, artisans ply their
+trades; and the grinding noise of chariot wheels puts to flight the
+birds that devour the detritus of the butcher-shops and the morsels of
+fish left upon the ground._
+
+_The general outline of the streets seems like a black network flung
+upon the white uniformity of the houses. The markets stocked with
+herbs make green bouquets in the midst of it; the drying-yards of the
+dyers, blotches of color; the golden ornaments of the temple-pediments,
+luminous points--all comprised within the oval enclosure of the grey
+ramparts, under the vault of the blue heaven, beside the motionless
+sea._
+
+_But suddenly the movement of the crowd ceases; all turn their
+eyes toward the west, whence enormous whirlwinds of dust are seen
+approaching._
+
+_It is the coming of the monks of the Thebaid, all clad in goatskins,
+armed with cudgels, roaring a canticle of battle and of faith with the
+refrain_:
+
+"Where are they? Where are they?"
+
+_Anthony understands that they are coming to kill the Arians._
+
+_The streets are suddenly emptied--only flying feet are visible._
+
+_The Solitaries are now in the city. Their formidable cudgels, studded
+with nails, whirl in the air like suns of steel. The crash of things
+broken in the houses is heard. There are intervals of silence. Then
+great screams arise._
+
+_From one end of the street to the other there is a continual eddy of
+terrified people._
+
+_Many grasp pikes. Sometimes two bands meet, rush into one; and this
+mass of men slips upon the pavement--fighting, disjointing, knocking
+down. But the men with the long hair always reappear._
+
+_Threads of smoke begin to escape from the corners of edifices! folding
+doors burst open. Portions of walls crumble down. Architraves fall._
+
+_Anthony finds all his enemies again, one after the other. He even
+recognizes some whom he had altogether forgotten; before killing them
+he outrages them. He disembowels--he severs throats--he fells as in
+a slaughter house--he hales old men by the beard, crushes children,
+smites the wounded. And vengeance is taken upon luxury, those who
+do not know how to read tear up hooks; others smash and deface the
+statues, paintings, furniture, caskets,--a thousand dainty things
+the use of which they do not know, and which simply for that reason
+exasperates them. At intervals they pause, out of breath, in the work
+of destruction; then they recommence._
+
+_The inhabitants moan in the courtyards where they have sought refuge.
+The women raise their tearful eyes and lift their naked arms to heaven.
+In hope of moving the Solitaries they embrace their knees; the men cast
+them off and fling them down, and the blood gushes to the ceilings,
+falls back upon the walls like sheets of rain, streams from the trunks
+of decapitated corpses, fills the aqueducts, forms huge red pools upon
+the ground._
+
+_Anthony is up to his knees in it. He wades in it; he sucks up the
+blood-spray on his lips; he is thrilled with joy as he feels it upon
+his limbs, under his hair-tunic which is soaked through with it._
+
+_Night comes. The immense uproar dies away._
+
+_The Solitaries have disappeared._
+
+_Suddenly, upon the outer galleries corresponding to each of the nine
+stories of the Pharos, Anthony observes thick black lines forming, like
+lines of crows perching. He hurries thither; and soon finds himself at
+the summit._
+
+_A huge mirror of brass turned toward the open sea, reflects the forms
+of the vessels in the offing._
+
+_Anthony amuses himself by watching them; and while he watches, their
+number increases._
+
+_They are grouped together within a gulf which has the form of a
+crescent. Upon a promontory in the background, towers a new city of
+Roman architecture, with cupolas of stone, conical roofs, gleams of
+pink and blue marbles, and a profusion of brazen ornamentation applied
+to the volutes of the capitals, to the angles of the cornices, to the
+summits of the edifices. A cypress-wood overhangs the city. The line of
+the sea is greener, the air colder. The mountains lining the horizon
+are capped with snow._
+
+_Anthony is trying to find his way, when a man approaches him, and
+says_:
+
+"Come! they are waiting for you."
+
+_He traverses a forum, enters a great court, stoops beneath a low
+door; and he arrives before the facade of the palace, decorated
+with a group in wax, representing Constantine overcoming a dragon.
+There is a porphyry basin, from the centre of which rises a golden
+conch-shell full of nuts. His guide tells him that he may take some of
+them. He does so. Then he is lost, as it were, in a long succession of
+apartments._
+
+_There are mosaics upon the walls representing generals presenting
+the Emperor with conquered cities, which they hold out upon the
+palms of their hands. And there are columns of basalt everywhere,
+trellis-work in silver filigree, ivory chairs, tapestries embroidered
+with pearls. The light falls from the vaults above; Anthony still
+proceeds. Warm exhalations circulate about him; occasionally he hears
+the discreet clapping sound of sandals upon the pavement. Posted in
+the anti-chambers are guards, who resemble automata, holding wands of
+vermillion upon their shoulders._
+
+[Illustration: And there are columns of basalt everywhere,... The
+light falls from the vaults above]
+
+_At last he finds himself in a great hall, with hyacinth-colored
+curtains at the further end. They part, and display the Emperor seated
+on a throne, clad in a violet tunic, and wearing red shoes striped with
+bands of black._
+
+_A diadem of pearls surround his head; his locks are arranged
+symmetrically in rouleaux. He has a straight nose, drooping eyelids,
+a heavy and cunning physiognomy. At the four corners of the dais
+stretched above his head are placed four golden doves; and at the foot
+of the throne are two lions in enamel crouching. The doves begin to
+sing, the lions to roar. The Emperor rolls his eyes; Anthony advances;
+and forthwith, without preamble, they commence to converse about
+recent events. In the cities of Antioch, Ephesus, and Alexandria,
+the temples have been sacked, and the statues of the gods converted
+into pots and cooking utensils; the Emperor laughs heartily about it.
+Anthony reproaches him with his tolerance toward the Novations. But the
+Emperor becomes vexed. Novations, Arians or Meletians--he is sick of
+them all! Nevertheless, he admires the episcopate; for inasmuch as the
+Christians maintain bishops, who depend for their position upon five or
+six important personages, it is only necessary to gain over the latter,
+in order to have all the rest on one's side. Therefore he did not fail
+to furnish them with large sums. But he detests the Fathers of the
+Council of Nicaea._
+
+"Let us go and see them!"
+
+_Anthony follows him._
+
+_And they find themselves on a terrace, upon the same floor._
+
+_It overlooks a hippodrome thronged with people, and surmounted by
+porticoes where other spectators are walking to and fro. From the
+centre of the race-course rises a narrow platform of hewn stone,
+supporting a little temple of Mercury, the statue of Constantine, and
+three serpents of brass twisted into a column; there are three huge
+wooden eggs at one end, and at the other a group of seven dolphins with
+their tails in the air._
+
+_Behind the imperial pavilion sit the Prefects of the Chambers, the
+Counts of the Domestics, and the Patricians--in ranks rising by tiers
+to the first story of a church whose windows are thronged with women.
+On the right is the tribune of the Blue Faction; on the left, that of
+the Green; below, a picket of soldiers is stationed; and on a level
+with the arena is a row of Corinthian arches, forming the entrances to
+the stables._
+
+_The races are about to commence; the horses are drawn up in line.
+Lofty plumes, fastened between their ears, bend to the wind like
+saplings; and with every restive bound, they shake their chariots
+violently, which are shell-shaped, and conducted by charioteers clad
+in a sort of multi-colored cuirass, having sleeves tight at the wrist
+and wide in the arms; their legs are bare; their beards, faces and
+foreheads are shaven after the manner of the Huns._
+
+_Anthony is at first deafened by the billowy sound of voices. From
+the summit of the hippodrome to its lowest tiers, he sees only faces
+painted with rouge, garments checkered and variegated with many colors,
+flashing jewelry; and the sand of the arena, all white, gleams like a
+mirror._
+
+_The Emperor entertains him. He confides to him many matters of high
+importance, many secrets; he confesses the assassination of his son
+Criopus, and even asks Anthony for advice regarding his health._
+
+_Meanwhile Anthony notices some slaves in the rear portion of the
+stables below. They are the Fathers of Nicaea, ragged and abject. The
+martyr Paphnutius is brushing the mane of one horse; Theophilus is
+washing the legs of another; John is painting the hoofs of a third;
+Alexander is collecting dung in a basket._
+
+_Anthony passes through the midst of them. They range themselves on
+either side respectfully; they beseech his intercession; they kiss his
+hands. The whole assemblage of spectators hoots at them; and he enjoys
+the spectacle with immeasurable pleasure. Lo! he is now one of the
+grandees of the Court--the Emperor's confidant--the prime minister!
+Constantine places his own diadem upon his brows. Anthony allows it to
+remain upon his head, thinking this honor quite natural._
+
+_And suddenly in the midst of the darkness a vast hall appears,
+illuminated by golden candelabra._
+
+_Candles so lofty that they are half lost in the darkness, stretch away
+in huge files beyond the lines of banquet-tables, which seem to extend
+to the horizon, where through a luminous haze loom superpositions of
+stairways, suites of arcades, colossi, towers, and beyond all a vague
+border of palace walls, above which rise the crests of cedars, making
+yet blacker masses of blackness against the darkness._
+
+_The guests, crowned with violet wreaths, recline upon very low couches
+and are leaning upon their elbows. Along the whole length of this
+double line of couches, wine is being poured out from amphorae, and at
+the further end, all alone, coiffed with the tiara and blazing with
+carbuncles, King Nebuchadnezzar eats and drinks._
+
+_On his right and left, two bands of priests in pointed caps are
+swinging censers. On the pavement below crawl the captive kings whose
+hands and feet have been cut off; from time to time he flings them
+bones to gnaw. Further off sit his brothers, with bandages across their
+eyes, being all blind._
+
+_From the depths of the ergastula arise moans of ceaseless pain. Sweet
+slow sounds of a hydraulic organ alternate with choruses of song; and
+one feels that all about the palace without extends an immeasurable
+city--an ocean of human life whose waves break against the walls. The
+slaves run hither and thither carrying dishes. Women walk between the
+ranks of guests, offering drinks to all; the baskets groan under their
+burthen of loaves; and a dromedary, laden with perforated water-skins:
+passes and repasses through the hall, sprinkling and cooling the
+pavement with vervain._
+
+_Lion tamers are leading tamed lions about. Dancing girls--their
+hair confined in nets--balance themselves and turn upon their hands,
+emitting fire through their nostrils; negro boatmen are juggling; naked
+children pelt each other with pellets of snow, which burst against the
+bright silverware. There is an awful clamor as of a tempest; and a huge
+cloud hangs over the banquet--so numerous are the meats and breaths.
+Sometimes a flake of fire torn from the great flambeaux by the wind,
+traverses the night like a shooting star._
+
+_The king wipes the perfumes from his face with his arm. He eats from
+the sacred vessels--then breaks them; and secretly reckons up the
+number of his fleets, his armies, and his subjects. By and by, for a
+new caprice, he will burn his palace with all its guests. He dreams of
+rebuilding the tower of Babel, and dethroning God._
+
+_Anthony, from afar off, reads all these thoughts upon his brow. They
+penetrate his own brain, and he becomes Nebuchadnezzar. Immediately he
+is cloyed with orgiastic excesses, sated with fury of extermination;
+and a great desire comes upon him to wallow in vileness. For the
+degradation of that which terrifies men is an outrage inflicted upon
+their minds--it affords yet one more way to stupefy them; and as
+nothing is viler than a brute, Anthony goes upon the table on all
+fours, and bellows like a bull._
+
+_He feels a sudden pain in his hand--a pebble has accidentally wounded
+him--and he finds himself once more in front of his cabin._
+
+_The circle of the rocks is empty. The stars are glowing in the sky.
+All is hushed._)
+
+"Again have I allowed myself to be deceived! Why these things? They
+come from the rebellion of the flesh. Ah! wretch!"
+
+(_He rushes into his cabin, and seizes a bunch of thongs, with metallic
+hooks attached to their ends, strips himself to the waist and, lifting
+his eyes to heaven exclaims_:)
+
+"Accept my penance, O my God: disdain it not for its feebleness. Render
+it sharp, prolonged, excessive! It is time, indeed!--to the work!"
+
+(_He gives himself a vigorous lash--and shrieks._)
+
+"No! no!--without mercy it must be."
+
+(_He recommences._)
+
+"Oh! oh! oh! each lash tears my skin, rends my limbs! It burns me
+horribly!"
+
+"Nay!--it is not so very terrible after all!--one becomes accustomed to
+it. It even seems to me...."
+
+(_Anthony pauses._)
+
+"Continue, coward! continue! Good! good!--upon the arms, on the back,
+on the breast, on the belly--everywhere! Hiss, ye thongs! bite me!
+tear me! I would that my blood could spurt to the stars!--let my bones
+crack!--let my tendons be laid bare! O for pincers, racks, and melted
+lead! The martyrs have endured far worse; have they not, Ammonaria?"
+
+(_The shadow of the Devil's horns reappears._)
+
+"I might have been bound to the column opposite to thine,--face to
+face--under thy eyes--answering thy shrieks by my sighs; and our pangs
+might have been interblended, our souls intermingled."
+
+(_He lashes himself with fury._)
+
+"What! what! again. Take that!--But how strange a titillation thrills
+me! What punishment! what pleasure! I feel as though receiving
+invisible kisses; the very marrow of my bones seems to melt. I die...."
+
+_And he sees before him three cavaliers, mounted upon onagers, clad in
+robes of green--each holding a lily in his hand, and all resembling
+each other in feature._
+
+_Anthony turns round, and beholds three other cavaliers exactly
+similar, riding upon similar onagers, and preserving the same attitude._
+
+_He draws back. Then all the onagers advance one pace at the same time,
+and rub their noses against him, trying to bite his garment. Voices
+shout_:--
+
+"Here! here! this way!"
+
+_And between the clefts of the mountain, appear standards,--camels'
+heads with halters of red silk--mules laden with baggage, and women
+covered with yellow veils, bestriding piebald horses._
+
+_The panting beasts lie down; the slaves rush to the bales and
+packages, motley-striped carpets are unrolled; precious glimmering
+things are laid upon the ground._
+
+_A white elephant, caparisoned with a golden net, trots forward,
+shaking the tuft of ostrich plumes attached to his head-band._
+
+_Upon his back, perched on cushions of blue wool, with her legs
+crossed, her eyes half closed, her comely head sleepily nodding, is a
+woman so splendidly clad that she radiates light about her. The crowd
+falls prostrate; the elephant bends his knees; and_
+
+THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
+
+_letting herself glide down from his shoulder upon the carpets spread
+to receive her, approaches Saint Anthony._
+
+_Her robe of gold brocade, regularly divided by furbelows of pearls,
+of jet, and of sapphires, sheaths her figure closely with its
+tight-fitting bodice, set off by colored designs representing the
+twelve signs of the Zodiac. She wears very high pattens--one of which
+is black, and sprinkled with silver stars, with a moon crescent; the
+other, which is white, is sprinkled with a spray of gold, with a golden
+sun in the middle._
+
+_Her wide sleeves, decorated with emeralds and bird-plumes, leave
+exposed her little round bare arms, clasped at the wrist by ebony
+bracelets; and her hands, loaded with precious rings, are terminated by
+nails so sharply pointed that the ends of her fingers seem almost like
+needles._
+
+_A chain of dead gold, passing under her chin, is caught up on either
+side of her face, and spirally coiled about her coiffure, whence,
+redescending, it grazes her shoulders and is attached upon her bosom
+to a diamond scorpion, which protrudes a jewelled tongue between her
+breasts. Two immense blond pearls depend heavily from her ears. The
+borders of her eyelids are painted black. There is a natural brown spot
+upon her left cheek; and she opens her mouth in breathing, as if her
+corset inconvenienced her._
+
+_She shakes, as she approaches, a green parasol with an ivory handle,
+and silver-gilt bells attached to its rim; twelve little woolly-haired
+negro-boys support the long train of her robe, whereof an ape holds the
+extremity, which it raises up from time to time. She exclaims_:
+
+"Ah! handsome hermit! handsome hermit!--my heart swoons!
+
+"By dint of stamping upon the ground with impatience, callosities have
+formed upon my heel, and I have broken one of my nails. I sent out
+shepherds, who remained upon the mountain tops, shading their eyes with
+their hands--and hunters who shouted thy name in all the forests--and
+spies who travelled along the highways, asking every passer-by:
+
+"'Hast thou seen him?'
+
+"By night I wept, with my face turned to the wall. And at last my tears
+made two little holes in the mosaic, like two pools of water among the
+rocks;--for I love thee!--oh! how I love thee!"
+
+(_She takes him by the beard._)
+
+"Laugh now, handsome hermit! laugh! I am very joyous, very gay: thou
+shalt soon see! I play the lyre; I dance like a bee; and I know a host
+of merry tales to tell, each more diverting than the other.
+
+"Thou canst not even imagine how mighty a journey we have made. See!
+the onagers upon which the green couriers rode are dead with fatigue!"
+
+(_The onagers are lying motionless upon the ground._)
+
+"For three long moons they never ceased to gallop on with the same
+equal pace, holdings flints between their teeth to cut the wind, their
+tails ever streaming out behind them, their sinews perpetually strained
+to the uttermost, always galloping, galloping. Never can others be
+found like them. They were bequeathed me by my paternal grand-father,
+the Emperor Saharil, son of Iakhschab, son of Iaarab, son of Kastan.
+Ah! if they were still alive, we should harness them to a litter that
+they might bear us back speedily to the palace! But ... what ails
+thee?--of what art thou dreaming?"
+
+(_She stares at him, examines him closely._)
+
+"Ah, when thou shalt be my husband, I will robe thee, I will perfume
+thee, I will depilate thee."
+
+(_Anthony remains motionless, more rigid than a stake, more pallid
+than a corpse._)
+
+"Thou hast a sad look--is it because of leaving thy hermitage? Yet I
+have left everything for thee--even King Solomon, who, nevertheless,
+possesses much wisdom, twenty thousand chariots of war, and a beautiful
+beard. I have brought thee my wedding gifts. Choose!"
+
+(_She walks to and fro among the ranks of slaves and the piles of
+precious goods._)
+
+"Here is Genezareth balm, incense from Cape Gardefui, labdanum,
+cinnamon, and silphium--good to mingle with sauces. In that bale are
+Assyrian embroideries, ivory from the Ganges, purple from Elissa;
+and that box of snow contains a skin of chalybon, the wine, which
+is reserved for the Kings of Assyria, and which is drunk from the
+horn of a unicorn. Here are necklaces, brooches, nets for the hair,
+parasols, gold powder from Baasa, cassiteria from Tartessus, blue wood
+from Pandio, white furs from Issidonia, carbuncles from the Island
+Palaesimondus, and toothpicks made of the bristles of the tachas--that
+lost animal which is found under the earth. These cushions come from
+Emath, and these mantle-fringes from Palmyra. On this Babylonian carpet
+there is.... But come hither! come! come!"
+
+(_She pulls Saint Anthony by the sleeve. He resists. She continues_:)
+
+"This thin tissue which crackles under the finger with a sound as of
+sparks, is the famous yellow cloth which the merchants of Bactria bring
+us. I will have robes made of it for thee, which thou shalt wear in the
+house. Unfasten the hooks of that sycamore box, and hand me also the
+little ivory casket tied to my elephant's shoulder."
+
+(_They take something round out of a box--something covered with a
+cloth--and also bring a little ivory casket covered with carving._)
+
+"Dost thou desire the buckler of Dgian-ben-Dgian, who built the
+pyramids?--behold it!--It is formed of seven dragon-skins laid one over
+the other, tanned in the bile of parricides, and fastened together by
+adamantine screws. Upon one side are represented all the wars that have
+taken place since the invention of weapons; and upon the other, all the
+wars that will take place until the end of the world. The lightning
+itself rebounds from it like a ball of cork. I am going to place it
+upon thy arm; and thou wilt carry it during the chase.
+
+"But if thou didst only know what I have in this little box of mine!
+Turn it over and over again! try to open it! No one could ever succeed
+in doing that. Kiss me! and I will tell thee how to open it."
+
+(_She takes Saint Anthony by both cheeks. He pushes her away at arms'
+length._)
+
+"It was one night that King Solomon lost his head. At last we concluded
+a bargain. He arose, and stealing out on tiptoe...."
+
+(_She suddenly executes a pirouette._)
+
+"Ah, ah! comely hermit, thou shalt not know it! thou shalt not know!"
+
+(_She shakes her parasol, making all its little bells tinkle._)
+
+"And I possess many other strange things--oh! yes! I have treasures
+concealed in winding galleries where one would lose one's way, as
+in a forest. I have summer-palaces constructed in trellis-work of
+reeds, and winter-palaces all built of black marble. In the midst of
+lakes vast as seas, I have islands round as pieces of silver, and all
+covered with mother-of-pearl,--islands whose shores make music to
+the lapping of tepid waves upon the sand. The slaves of my kitchens
+catch birds in my aviaries, and fish in my fishponds. I have engravers
+continually seated at their benches to hollow out my likeness in hard
+jewel-stones, and panting molders forever casting statues of me, and
+perfumers incessantly mingling the sap of rare plants with vinegar,
+or preparing cosmetic pastes. I have female dressmakers cutting out
+patterns in richest material, goldsmiths cutting and mounting jewels of
+price, and careful painters pouring upon my palace wainscoting boiling
+resins, which they subsequently cool with fans. I have enough female
+attendants to form a harem, eunuchs enough to make an army. I have
+armies likewise; I have nations! In the vestibule of my palace I keep a
+guard of dwarfs--all bearing ivory trumpets at their backs." (_Anthony
+sighs._)
+
+"I have teams of trained gazelles; I have elephant quadrigae; I have
+hundreds of pairs of camels, and mares whose manes are so long that
+their hoofs become entangled therein when they gallop, and herds of
+cattle with horns so broad that when they go forth to graze the woods
+have to be hewn down before them. I have giraffes wandering in my
+gardens; they stretch their heads over the edge of my roof, when I take
+the air after dinner.
+
+"Seated in a shell drawn over the waters by dolphins, I travel
+through the grottoes, listening lo the dropping of the water from the
+stalactites. I go down to the land of diamonds, where my friends the
+magicians allow me to choose the finest: then I reascend to earth and
+return to my home."
+
+(_She utters a sharp whistle; and a great bird, descending from the
+sky, alights upon her hair, from which it makes the blue powder fall._
+
+_Its orange-colored plumage seems formed of metallic scales. Its little
+head, crested with a silver tuft, has a human face._
+
+_It has four wings, the feet of a vulture, and an immense peacock's
+tail which it spreads open like a fan._
+
+_It seizes the Queen's parasol in its beak, reels a moment ere
+obtaining its balance; then it erects all its plumes, and remains
+motionless._)
+
+"Thanks! my beautiful Simorg-Anka!--thou didst tell me where the loving
+one was hiding! Thanks! thanks! my heart's messenger!
+
+"He flies swiftly as Desire! He circles the world in his flight. At eve
+he returns; he perches at the foot of my couch and tells me all he has
+seen--the seas that have passed far beneath him with all their fishes
+and ships, the great void deserts he has contemplated from the heights
+of the sky, the harvests that were bowing in the valleys, and the
+plants that were growing upon the walls of cities abandoned."
+
+(_She wrings her hands, languorously._)
+
+"Oh! if thou wast willing! if thou wast willing!... I have a pavilion
+on a promontory in the middle of an isthmus dividing two oceans. It is
+all wain-scoted with sheets of glass, and floored with tortoise shell,
+and open to the four winds of heaven. From its height I watch my fleets
+come in, and my nations toiling up the mountain-slopes with burthens
+upon their shoulders. There would we sleep upon downs softer than
+clouds; we would drink cool draughts from fruit-shells, and we would
+gaze at the sun through emeralds! Come!" ...
+
+(_Anthony draws back. She approaches him again, and exclaims in a tone
+of vexation_:--)
+
+"How? neither the rich, nor the coquettish, nor the amorous woman can
+charm thee: is it so? None but a lascivious woman, with a hoarse voice
+and lusty person, with fire-colored hair and superabundant flesh? Dost
+thou prefer a body cold as the skin of a serpent, or rather great dark
+eyes deeper than the mystic caverns?--behold them, my eyes!--look into
+them!"
+
+(_Anthony, in spite of him, gazes into her eyes._)
+
+"All the women thou hast ever met--from the leman of the cross-roads,
+singing under the light of her lantern, even to the patrician lady
+scattering rose-petals abroad from her litter,--all the forms thou hast
+ever obtained glimpses of--all the imaginations of thy desire thou hast
+only to ask for them! I am not a woman: I am a world! My cloak has only
+to fall in order that thou mayest discover a succession of mysteries."
+(_Anthony's teeth chatter._)
+
+"Place but thy finger upon my shoulder: it will be as though a stream
+of fire shot through all thy veins. The possession of the least part
+of me will fill thee with a joy more vehement than the conquest of an
+Empire could give thee! Approach thy lips: there is a sweetness in my
+kisses as of a fruit dissolving within thy heart. Ah! how thou wilt
+lose thyself beneath my long hair, inhale the perfume of my bosom,
+madden thyself with the beauty of my limbs: and thus, consumed by the
+fire of my eyes, clasped within my arms as in a whirlwind...."
+
+[Illustration: ... there is a sweetness in my kisses as of a fruit
+dissolving within thy heart]
+
+(_Anthony makes the sign of the cross._)
+
+"Thou disdainest me! farewell!"
+
+(_She departs, weeping; then, suddenly turning round_:--)
+
+"Art quite sure?--so beautiful a woman...."
+
+(_She laughs, and the ape that bears her train, lifts it up._)
+
+"Thou wilt regret it, my comely hermit! thou wilt yet weep! thou wilt
+again feel weary of thy life; but I care not a whit! La! la! la!--oh!
+oh! oh!"
+
+(_She takes her departure, hopping upon one foot and covering her face
+with her hands._
+
+_All the slaves file off before Saint Anthony--the horses, the
+dromedaries, the elephant, the female attendants, the mules (which
+have been reloaded), the negro boys, the ape, the green couriers each
+holding his broken lily in his hand; and the Queen of Sheba departs,
+uttering a convulsive hiccough at intervals, which might be taken
+either for a sound of hysterical sobbing, or the half-suppressed
+laughter of mockery._)
+
+
+[1] _Thalamegii_--pleasure-boats having apartments.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+(_When she has disappeared in the distance, Anthony observes a child
+seated upon the threshold of his cabin._)
+
+"It is one of the Queen's servants, no doubt," (_he thinks_).
+
+(_This child is small like a dwarf, and nevertheless squat of build,
+like one of the Cabiri; deformed withal, and wretched of aspect. His
+prodigiously large head is covered with white hair; and he shivers
+under a shabby tunic, all the while clutching a roll of papyrus. The
+light of the moon passing through a cloud falls upon him._)
+
+ANTHONY
+
+(_watches him from a distance, and is afraid of him._) "Who art thou?"
+
+THE CHILD (_replies_). "Thy ancient disciple, Hilarion."
+
+ANTHONY. "Thou liest! Hilarion hath been dwelling in Palestine for
+many long years."
+
+HILARION. "I have returned! It is really I!"
+
+ANTHONY (_draws near and examines him closely_). "Yet his face was
+radiant as the dawn, candid, joyous. This face is the face of one
+gloomy and old."
+
+HILARION. "Long and arduous labor hath wearied me!"
+
+ANTHONY. "The voice is also different. It hath an icy tone."
+
+HILARION. "Because I have nourished me with bitter things!"
+
+ANTHONY. "And those white hairs?"
+
+HILARION. "I have endured many woes!"
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_). "Could it be possible?"
+
+HILARION. "I was not so far from thee as thou doest imagine. The hermit
+Paul visited thee this year, during the month of Schebar. It is just
+twenty days since the Nomads brought thee bread. Thou didst tell a
+sailor, the day before yesterday, to send thee three bodkins."
+
+ANTHONY. "He knows all!"
+
+HILARION. "Know further more that I have never left thee. But there are
+long periods during which thou hast no knowledge of my presence."
+
+ANTHONY. "How can that be? Yet it is true that my head is so much
+troubled--this night especially."
+
+HILARION. "All the Capital Sins came hither. But their wretched snares
+can avail nothing against such a Saint as thou."
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! no!--no! I fall at every moment! Why am I not of those
+whose souls are ever intrepid, whose minds are always firm,--for
+example, the great Athanasius?"
+
+HILARION. "He was illegally ordained by seven bishops."
+
+ANTHONY. "What matter if his virtue...."
+
+HILARION. "Go to!--a most vainglorious and cruel man, forever involved
+in intrigues, and exiled at last as a monopolist."[1]
+
+ANTHONY. "Calumny!"
+
+HILARION. "Thou wilt not deny that he sought to corrupt Eustates, the
+treasurer of largesses?"
+
+ANTHONY. "It is affirmed, I acknowledge."
+
+HILARION. "Through vengeance he burned down the house of Arsenius."
+
+ANTHONY. "Alas!"
+
+HILARION. "At the council of Nicaea he said in speaking of Jesus: 'The
+man of the Lord.'"
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! that is a blasphemy!"
+
+HILARION. "So limited in understanding, moreover, that he confesses he
+comprehends nothing of the nature of the "Word!"
+
+ANTHONY (_smiling with gratification_). "In sooth his intelligence is
+not ... very lofty."
+
+HILARION. "Hypocrite! burying thyself in solitude only in order the
+more fully to abandon thyself to the indulgence of thy envious desires!
+What if thou dost deprive thyself of meats, of wine, of warmth, of
+bath, of slaves, or honours?--dost thou not permit thy imagination to
+offer thee banquets, perfumes, women, and the applause of multitudes?
+Thy chastity is but a more subtle form of corruption, and thy contempt
+of this world is but the impotence of thy hatred against it! Either
+this it is that makes such as thyself so lugubrious, or else 'tis
+doubt. The possession of truth giveth joy. Was Jesus sad? Did he not
+travel in the company of friends, repose beneath the shade of olive
+trees, enter the house of the publican, drink many cups of wine, pardon
+the sinning woman, and assuage all sorrows? Thou!--thou hast no pity
+save for thine own misery! It is like a remorse that gnaws thee, a
+savage madness that impels thee to repel the caress of a dog or to
+frown upon the smile of a child."
+
+ANTHONY (_bursting into tears_). "Enough! enough! thou dost wound my
+heart deeply."
+
+HILARION. "Shake the vermin from thy rags! Rise up from thy filth! Thy
+God is not a Moloch who demands human flesh in sacrifice!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet suffering is blessed. The cherubim stoop to receive the
+blood of confessors."
+
+HILARION. "Admire, then, the Montanists!--they surpass all others."
+
+ANTHONY. "But it is the truth of the doctrine which makes the
+martyrdom."
+
+HILARION. "How can martyrdom prove the excellence of the doctrine,
+inasmuch as it bears equal witness for error?"
+
+HILARION. "Silence!--thou viper!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Perhaps martyrdom is not so difficult as thou dost imagine!
+The exhortations of friends, the pleasure of insulting the people,
+the oath one has taken, a certain dizzy excitement, a thousand
+circumstances all aid the resolution of the martyrs...."
+
+(_Anthony turns his back upon Hilarion, and moves away from him.
+Hilarion follows him._)
+
+" ... Moreover this manner of dying often brings about great disorders.
+Dionysius, Cyprian and Gregory fled from it. Peter of Alexandria has
+condemned it; and the council of Elvira...."
+
+ANTHONY (_stops his ears_). "I will listen to thee no longer!"
+
+HILARION (_raising his voice_). "Lo! thou fallest again into the
+habitual sin, which is sloth! Ignorance is the foam of pride. One says,
+forsoth:--'My conviction is formed! wherefore argue further?'--and one
+despises the doctors, the philosophers, tradition itself, and even the
+text of the law whereof one is ignorant! Dost thou imagine that thou
+dost hold all wisdom in the hollow of thy hand?"
+
+ANTHONY. "I hear him still! His loud words fill my brain."
+
+HILARION. "The efforts of others to comprehend God are mightier than
+all thy mortifications to move Him. We obtain merit only by our thirst
+for truth. Religion alone cannot explain all things; and the solution
+of problems ignored by thee can render faith still more invulnerable
+and noble. Therefore, for our salvation we must communicate with our
+brethren--otherwise the Church, the assembly of the faithful, would
+be a meaningless word--and we must listen to all reasoning, despising
+nothing, nor any person. The magician Balaam, the poet Aeschylus,
+and the Sybil of Cumae--all foretold the Saviour. Dionysius, the
+Alexandrian, received from heaven the command to read all books. Saint
+Clement orders us to cultivate Greek letters. Hennas was converted by
+the illusion of a woman he had loved...."
+
+ANTHONY. "What an aspect of authority! It seems to me thou art growing
+taller...."
+
+(_And, in very truth, the stature of Hilarion is gradually increasing;
+and Anthony shuts his eyes, that he may not see him._)
+
+HILARION. "Reassure thyself, good Hermit. Let us seat ourselves there,
+upon that great stone, as we used to do in other years, when, at the
+first dawn of day, I was wont to salute thee with the appellation,
+'Clear star of morning'--and thou wouldst therewith commence to
+instruct me. Yet my instruction is not yet completed. The moon gives us
+light enough. I am prepared to hear thy words."
+
+(_He has drawn a calamus from his girdle, and seating himself
+cross-legged upon the ground, with the papyrus roll still in his hand,
+he lifts his face toward Saint Anthony, who sits near him, with head
+bowed down._
+
+_After a moment of silence Hilarion continues_:--)
+
+"Is not the word of God confirmed for us by miracles? Nevertheless
+the magicians of Pharaoh performed miracles; other imposters can
+perform them; one may be thereby deceived. What then is a miracle?
+An event which seems to us outside of nature. But do we indeed know
+all of Nature's powers; and because a common occurrence causes us no
+astonishment, does it therefore follow that we understand it."
+
+ANTHONY. "It matters little! We must believe the Scriptures!"
+
+HILARION. "Saint Paul, Origen, and many others did not understand
+the Scriptures in a literal sense: yet if Holy Writ be explained by
+allegories it becomes the portion of a small number, and the evidence
+of the truth disappears. What must we do?"
+
+ANTHONY. "We must rely upon the Church!"
+
+HILARION. "Then the Scriptures are useless?"
+
+ANTHONY. "No! no! although I acknowledge that in the Old Testament
+there are some ... some obscurities. But the New shines with purest
+light."
+
+HILARION. "Nevertheless, the Angel of the annunciation, in Matthew,
+appears to Joseph; while, in Luke, he appears to Mary. The anointing
+of Jesus by a woman takes place, according to the first Gospel, at the
+commencement of his public life; and, according to the other three, a
+few days before his death. The drink offered to him on the cross, is,
+in Matthew, vinegar mixed with gall; in Mark, it is wine and myrrh.
+According to Luke and Matthew, the apostles should take with them
+neither money nor scrip for their journey--not even sandals nor staff;
+in Mark, on the contrary, Jesus bids them take nothing with them,
+except sandals and a staff. I am thereby bewildered!"
+
+ANTHONY (_in amazement_). "Aye, indeed!... in fact...."
+
+HILARION. "At the contact of the woman who had an issue of blood, Jesus
+turned and said, 'Who hath touched my garments?' He did not know, then,
+who had touched him? That contradicts the omniscience of Jesus! If the
+tomb was watched by guards, the women need have felt no anxiety about
+finding help to roll away the stone from the tomb. Therefore there
+were no guards, or the holy women were not there. At Emmaus, he eats
+with his disciples and makes them feel his wounds. It is a human body,
+a material and ponderable object; and nevertheless it passes through
+walls! Is that possible?"
+
+ANTHONY. "It would require much time to answer thee properly!"
+
+HILARION. "Why did he receive the Holy Spirit, being himself Son of
+the Holy Spirit? What need had he of baptism if he was the Word? How
+could the Devil have tempted him, inasmuch as he was God? Have these
+thoughts never occurred to thee?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes!... often! Sometimes torpid, sometimes furious--they
+remain forever in my conscience. I crush them; they rise again, they
+stifle me; and sometimes I think that I am accursed."
+
+HILARION. "Then it is needless for thee to serve God?"
+
+ANTHONY. "I shall always need to adore Him."
+
+(_After a long silence Hilarion continues_:)
+
+"But aside from dogma, all researches are allowed us. Dost thou desire
+to know the hierarchy of the Angels, the virtue of the Numbers, the
+reason of germs and of metamorphoses?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes! yes! my thought struggles wildly to escape from its
+prison. It seems to me that by exerting all my force I might succeed.
+Sometimes, for an instant, brief as a lightning flash, I even feel
+myself as thought uplifted,--then I fall back again!"
+
+HILARION. "The secret thou wouldst obtain is guarded by sages. They
+dwell in a distant land; they are seated beneath giant trees; they
+are robed in white; they are calm as Gods! A warm air gives them
+sufficient nourishment. All about them, leopards tread upon grassy
+turf. The murmuring of fountains and the neighing of unicorns mingle
+with their voices. Thou shalt hear them; and the face of the Unknown
+shall be unveiled!"
+
+ANTHONY (_sighing_). "The way is long; and I am old."
+
+HILARION. "Oh! oh! wise men are not rare! there are some even very nigh
+thee!--here! Let us enter!"
+
+
+[1] Gibbon, a sincere admirer of Athanasius, gives a curious history of
+these charges, and expresses his disbelief in their truth. The story
+regarding the design to intercept the corn-fleet of Alexandria is
+referred to in the use of the word "monopolist."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+(_And Anthony beholds before him a vast basilica._
+
+_The light gushes from the further end, marvellous as a multi-colored
+sun. It illuminates the innumerable heads of the crowd that fills the
+nave, and that eddies about the columns toward the side-aisles--where
+can be perceived, in wooden compartments, altars, beds, little chains
+of blue stones linked together, and constellations painted upon the
+walls._
+
+_In the midst of the throng there are groups which remain motionless.
+Men standing upon stools harangue with fingers uplifted; others are
+praying, with arms outstretched in form of a cross; others are lying
+prostrate upon the pavement, or singing hymns, or drinking wine; others
+of the faithful, seated about a table, celebrate their agape;[1]
+martyrs are unbandaging their limbs in order to show their wounds; and
+aged men, leaning upon staffs, recount their voyages._
+
+_There are some from the country of the Germans, from Thrace also, and
+from the Gauls, from Scythia and from the Indies, with snow upon their
+beards, feathers in their hair; thorns in the fringe of their garments;
+the sandals of some are black with dust, their skins are burnt by the
+sun. There is a vast confusion of costumes, mantles of purple and
+robes of linen, embroidered dalmaticas, hair shirts, sailors' caps,
+bishops' mitres. Their eyes fulgurate strangely. They have the look of
+executioners, or the look of eunuchs._
+
+_Hilarion advances into their midst. All salute him. Anthony, shrinking
+closer to his shoulder, observes them. He remarks the presence of a
+great many women. Some of these are attired like men, and have their
+hair cut short. Anthony feels afraid of them._)
+
+HILARION. "Those are Christian women who have converted their husbands.
+Besides, the women were always upon the side of Jesus, even the
+idolatrous ones, for example, Procula, the wife of Pilate, and Poppaea,
+the concubine of Nero. Do not tremble!--come on."
+
+(_And others are continually arriving._
+
+_They seem to multiply, to double themselves by self-division, light
+as shadows--all the while making an immense clamour, in which yells of
+rage, cries of love, canticles and objurgations intermingle._)
+
+ANTHONY (_in a low voice_). "What do they desire?"
+
+HILARION. "The Lord said: 'I have yet many things to say to you....
+'[2] They possess the knowledge of those things."
+
+(_And he pushes Anthony forward to a golden throne approached by five
+steps, whereon--surrounded by ninety-five disciples, all very thin and
+pale, and anointed with oil--sits the prophet Manes. He is beautiful
+as an archangel, immobile as a statue; he is clad in an Indian robe;
+carbuncles gleam in his plaited hair; at his left hand lies a book of
+painted images; his right reposes upon a globe. The images represent
+the creatures that erst slumbered in Chaos. Anthony bends forward to
+look upon them. Then----_)
+
+MANES
+
+(_makes his globe revolve; and regulating the tone of his words by a
+lyre which gives forth crystalline sounds, exclaims_:--)
+
+"The celestial earth is at the superior extremity; the terrestrial
+earth at the inferior extremity. It is sustained by two angels--the
+Angel Splenditeneus, and Omophorus, whose faces are six.
+
+"At the summit of the highest heaven reigns the impassible Divinity;
+below, face to face, are the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness.
+
+"When the darkness had advanced even to his kingdom, God evolved from
+his own essence a virtue which produced the first man; and he environed
+him with the five elements. But the demons of darkness stole from him a
+part; and that part is the soul.
+
+"There is but one soul, universally diffused, even as the waters of
+a river divided into many branches. It is this universal soul that
+sighs in the wind--that shrieks in the marble under the teeth of the
+saw--that roars in the voice of the sea--that weeps tears of milk when
+the leaves of the fig tree are torn off.
+
+"The souls that leave this world emigrate to the stars, which are
+themselves animated beings."
+
+ANTHONY (_bursts into a laugh_). "Ah! ah! what an absurd imagination!"
+
+A MAN (_having no beard, and of a most austere aspect_). "Wherefore
+absurd?"
+
+(_Anthony is about to reply when Hilarion tells him in a low voice
+that the questioner is none other than the tremendous Origen himself;
+and_:--)
+
+MANES (_continues_). "But first they remain awhile in the Moon, where
+they are purified. Then they rise into the sun."
+
+ANTHONY (_slowly_). "I do not know of anything ... which prevents us
+... from believing it."
+
+MANES. "The proper aim of every creature is the deliverance of the ray
+of celestial light imprisoned within matter. It finds easier escape
+through the medium of perfumes, spices, the aroma of warmed wine, the
+light things which resemble thoughts. But the acts of life retain it
+within its prison. The murderer shall be born again in the form of a
+celephus; he that kills an animal shall become that animal; if thou
+plantest a vine, thou shalt be thyself bound within its boughs. Food
+absorbs the celestial light.... Therefore abstain! fast!"
+
+HILARION. "Thou seest, they are temperate!"
+
+MANES. "There is much of it in meats, less of it in herbs. Moreover
+the Pure Ones, by means of their great merits, despoil vegetation of
+this luminous essence; and, thus liberated, it reascends to its source.
+But through generation, animals keep it imprisoned within the flesh!
+Therefore, avoid women!"
+
+HILARION. "Admire their continence."
+
+MANES. "Or rather contrive that they shall not create..............[3]
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh--abomination!"
+
+HILARION. "What signifies the hierarchy of turpitudes? The Church has,
+forsooth, made marriage a sacrament!"
+
+SATURNINUS (_in Syrian costume_). "He teaches a most dismal system of
+the universe!... The Father, desiring to punish the angels who had
+revolted, ordered them to create the world. Christ came, in order that
+the God of the Jews, who was one of those angels...."
+
+ANTHONY. "He an angel! the Creator!"
+
+CERDO. "Did he not seek to kill Moses, to deceive his own prophets, to
+seduce nations?--did he not sow falsehood and idolatry broadcast?"
+
+MARCION. "Certainly, the Creator is not the true God!"
+
+SAINT CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. "Matter is eternal!"
+
+BARDESANES (_in the costume of the Babylonian magi_). "It was formed by
+the Seven Planetary Spirits."
+
+THE HERMIANS. "Souls were made by the angels."
+
+THE PRISCILLIANISTS. "It was the Devil who made the world."
+
+ANTHONY (_rushing back from the circle_). "Horror!"
+
+HILARION (_supporting him_). "Thou despairest too hastily!--thou dost
+misapprehend their doctrine! Here is one who received his teaching
+directly from Theodas, the friend of St. Paul. Hearken to him."
+
+(_And at a sign from Hilarion_
+
+VALENTINUS
+
+_appears in a tunic of cloth of silver; his skull is pointed at its
+summit; his voice has a wheezing sound._)
+
+"The world is the work of a God in delirium!"
+
+ANTHONY (_bending his head down_). "The work of a God in delirium!..."
+
+(_After a long silence_): "How can that be?"
+
+VALENTINE. "The most perfect of beings, and of the AEons, the Abyss;
+dwelt in the womb of the Deep together with Thought. By their union was
+begotten Intelligence, to whom Truth was given as a companion.
+
+"Intelligence and Truth engendered the Word and Life, who in their turn
+begat Man and the Church; and that doth make eight AEons!"
+
+(_He counts upon his fingers._)
+
+"The Word and Truth also produced ten other AEons--which is to say, five
+couples. Man and the Church had begotten twelve more--among these the
+Paraclete and Faith, Hope and Charity, Perfection and Wisdom--Sophia.
+
+"The union of these thirty AEons constitutes the Pleroma, or
+Universality of God. Thus, even as the echo of a passing voice, as the
+effluvia of a perfume evaporating, as the fires of the setting sun,
+the Powers that emanated from the Principle, forever continue to grow
+weaker.
+
+"But Sophia, desirous to know the Father, darted from the Pleroma;
+and the Word then made another couple, Christ and the Holy Ghost, who
+reunited all the AEons; and all together formed Jesus, the flower of the
+Pleroma.
+
+"But the effort of Sophia to flee away had left in the void an image of
+her--an evil substance, Acharamoth.[4] The Saviour took pity upon her,
+freed her from all passion; and from the smile of Acharamoth redeemed,
+light was born; her tears formed the waters; by her sorrow was dark
+matter begotten.
+
+"Of Acharamoth was born the Demiurgos,--the fabricator of worlds,
+the creator of the heaven and of the Devil. He dwells far below the
+Pleroma--so far that he cannot behold it--so that he deems himself to
+be the true God, and repeats by the mouths of his prophets--'There is
+no other God but I.' Then he made man, and instilled into his soul the
+immaterial Seed which was the Church--a reflection of the other Church
+established in the Pleroma.
+
+"One day Acharamoth shall reach the highest region and unite herself
+with the Saviour; the fire that is hidden in the world shall annihilate
+all matter, and shall even devour itself and men, becoming pure
+spirits, shall espouse the angels!"
+
+ORIGEN. "Then shall the Demon be over-thrown and the reign of God
+commence!"
+
+(_Anthony expresses a cry, and forthwith_)
+
+BASILIDES (_taking him by the elbow, exclaims_:--)
+
+"The Supreme Being with all the infinite emanations is called
+Abraxas; and the Saviour with all his virtues, Kaulakau--otherwise,
+line-upon-line, rectitude upon rectitude.
+
+"The power of Kaulakau is obtained by the aid of certain words, which
+are inscribed upon this chalcedony to help the memory."
+
+(_And he points to a little stone suspended at his neck, upon which
+stone fantastic characters are graven._)
+
+"Then thou wilt be transported into the Invisible and placed above all
+law; thou shalt contemn all things--even virtue!
+
+"We, the Pure, must flee from pain, after the example of Kaulakau."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! and the cross?"
+
+THE ELKHESAITES (_in robes of hyacinth answers him_). "The woe and
+the degradation, the condemnation and oppression of my fathers[5] are
+blotted out, through the mission which has come.
+
+"One may deny the inferior Christ, the man--Jesus; but the other Christ
+must be adored--whose personality was evolved under the brooding of the
+Dove's wings.
+
+"Honor marriage; the Holy Spirit is feminine!"
+
+(_Hilarion has disappeared; and Anthony, carried along by the crowd,
+arrives in the presence of_--)
+
+THE CARPOCRATIANS
+
+(_reclining with women upon scarlet cushions._)
+
+"Before entering into the Only thou shalt pass through a series of
+conditions and of actions. To free thyself from the powers of darkness,
+thou must at once accomplish their works. The husband shall say to the
+wife: 'Have charity for thy brother'--and she will kiss thee."
+
+THE NICOLAITANS
+
+(_gathered about a mass of smoking meats_:)
+
+"This is a portion of the meat offered to idols;--partake of it!
+Apostasy is permissible when the heart is pure. Gorge thy flesh with
+all that it demands. Seek to exterminate it by dint of debauchery!
+Prounikos, the Mother of Heaven, wallowed in ignominies."
+
+THE MARCOSIANS
+
+(_wearing rings of gold, and glistening with precious balm and
+unguents_:)
+
+"Enter among us that thou mayst unite thyself to the Spirit! Enter
+among us that thou mayst quaff the draught of immortality!"
+
+(_And one of them shows him, behind a tapestry-hanging, the body of a
+man terminated by the head of an ass. This represents Sabaoth, father
+of the Devil. He spits upon the image in token of detestation._
+
+_Another shows him a very low bed, strewn with flowers, exclaiming_:)
+
+"The spiritual marriage is about to be consummated."
+
+(_A third, who holds a cup of glass, utters an invocation;--blood
+suddenly appears in the cup_:)
+
+"Ah! behold it! behold it!--the blood of Christ!"
+
+(_Anthony withdraws, but finds himself be-spattered by water splashed
+from a cistern._)
+
+THE HELVIDIANS
+
+(_are flinging themselves into it head foremost, muttering_:--)
+
+"The man regenerated by baptism is impeccable!"
+
+(_Then he passes by a great fire at which the Adamites are warming
+themselves--all completely naked in imitation of the purity of
+Paradise; and he stumbles over_)
+
+THE MESSALINES
+
+(_wallowing upon the pavement, half-slumbering, stupid_:)
+
+"Oh! crush us if thou wilt! we shall not move! Work is crime; all
+occupation is evil."
+
+(_Behind these, the abject_)
+
+PATERNIANS
+
+(_--men, women, and children lying pell mell upon a heap of filth, lift
+their hideous faces, wine-besmeared, and they cry aloud_:)
+
+"The inferior parts of the body, which were created by the Devil,
+belong to him! Let us eat, drink, and sin!"
+
+AETIUS. "Crimes are necessities beneath the notice of God!"
+
+(_But suddenly_--)
+
+A MAN (--_clad in a Carthaginian mantle, bounds into their midst,
+brandishing a scourge of thongs in his hand; and strikes violently and
+indiscriminately at all in his path_:)
+
+"Ah! imposters! simonists, heretics and demons!--vermin of the
+schools!--dregs of hell! Marcion, there, is a sailor of Sinopus
+excommunicated for incest;--Carpocrates was banished for being a
+magician; AEtius stole his concubine; Nicholas prostituted his wife;
+and this Manes, who calls himself the Buddha, and whose real name is
+Cubricus, was flayed alive with the point of a reed, so that his skin
+even now hangs at the gates of Ctesiphon!"
+
+ANTHONY (_recognizing Tertullian, rushes to join him_): "Master! help!
+help!"
+
+TERTULLIAN (_continuing_):
+
+"Break the images! veil the virgins! Pray, fast, weep and mortify
+yourselves! No philosophy! no books! After Jesus, science is useless!"
+
+(_All have fled away; and Anthony beholds, in lieu of Tertullian, a
+woman seated upon a bench of stone._
+
+_She sobs; leaning her head against a column; her hair is loose; her
+body, weakened by grief, is clad in a long brown simar. Then they find
+themselves face to face and alone, far from the crowd; and a silence,
+an extraordinary stillness falls--as in the woods when the winds are
+lulled, and the leaves of the trees suddenly cease to whisper._
+
+_This woman is still very beautiful, although faded, and pale as a
+sepulcher. They look at one another; and their eyes send to each other
+waves, as it were, of thoughts, bearing drift of a thousand ancient
+things, confused, mysterious. At last_--)
+
+PRISCILLA (_speaks_:)
+
+"I was in the last chamber of the baths; and the rumbling sounds of the
+street caused a sleep to fall upon me.
+
+"Suddenly I heard a clamour of voices. Men were shouting--'It is a
+magician!--it is the Devil!' And the crowd stopped before our house, in
+front of the Temple AEsculapius. I drew myself up with my hands to the
+little window.
+
+"Upon the peristyle of the temple, there stood a man who wore about his
+neck a collar of iron. He took burning coals out of a chafing-dish, and
+with them drew lines across his breast, the while crying out--'Jesus!
+Jesus!' The people shouted--'This is not lawful! let us stone him!'
+But he continued. Oh! those were unheard of marvels--things which
+transported men who beheld them! Flowers broad as suns circled before
+my eyes, and I heard in the spaces above me the vibrations of a golden
+harp. Day died. My hands loosened their grasp of the window-bars; my
+body fell back, and when he had led me away to his house...."
+
+ANTHONY. "But of whom art thou speaking?"
+
+PRISCILLA. "Why, of Montanus!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Montanus is dead!"
+
+PRISCILLA. "It is not true!"
+
+A VOICE. "No: Montanus is not dead!"
+
+(_Anthony turns; and sees upon the bench near him, on the opposite
+side, another woman sitting; she is fair, and even paler than the
+other; there are swellings under her eyes, as though she had wept a
+long time. She speaks without being questioned_:)
+
+MAXIMILLA. "We were returning from Tarsus by way of the mountains,
+when, at a turn in the road, we saw a man under a fig tree.
+
+"He cried from afar off: 'Stop! stop!' and rushed toward us, uttering
+words of abuse. The slaves ran up; he burst into a loud laugh. The
+horses reared; the molossi all barked.
+
+"He stood before us. The sweat streamed from his forehead; his mantle
+napped in the wind.
+
+"And calling us each by our names, he reproached us with the vanity
+of our work, the infamy of our bodies; and he shook his fist at the
+dromedaries because of the silver bells hanging below their mouths.
+
+"His fury now filled my very entrails with fear and yet there was a
+strange pleasure in it which fascinated me, intoxicated me!
+
+"First the slaves came. 'Master,' they said, 'our animals are weary.'
+Then the women said, 'We are frightened,' and the slaves departed. Then
+the children began to weep,--'We are hungry.' And as the women were not
+answered, they disappeared also from our view.
+
+"He still spoke. I felt some one near me. It was my husband; but I
+listened only to the other. My husband crawled to me upon his knees
+among the stones, and cried--'Dost thou abandon me,' and I replied:
+'Yes! go thy way!' that I might accompany Montanus."
+
+ANTHONY. "A eunuch!"
+
+PRISCILLA. "Ah! does that astound thee, vulgar soul! Yet Magdalen,
+Johanna, Martha and Susannah did not share the couch of the Saviour.
+Souls may know the delirium of embrace better than bodies. That he
+might keep Eustolia with impunity, the bishop Leontius mutilated
+himself--loving his love more than his virility. And then, it was
+no fault of mine. Sotas could not cure me; a spirit constrained me.
+It is cruel, nevertheless! But what matter? I am the last of the
+prophetesses; and after me the end of the world shall come."
+
+MAXIMILLA. "He showered his gifts upon me. Moreover, no one loves him
+as I, nor is any other so well beloved by him!"
+
+PRISCILLA. "Thou liest! I am the most beloved!"
+
+MAXIMILLA. "No: it is I!"
+
+(_They fight. Between their shoulders suddenly appears the head of a
+negro._)
+
+MONTANUS (_clad in a black mantle, clasped by two cross-bones_):
+
+"Peace, my doves! Incapable of terrestrial happiness, we have obtained
+the celestial plentitude of our union. After the age of the Father,
+the age of the Son; and I inaugurate the third, which is that of the
+Paraclete. His light descended upon me during those forty nights when
+the heavenly Jerusalem appeared shining in the firmament, above my
+house at Pepuzza.
+
+"Ah, how ye cry out with anguish when the thongs of the scourge
+lacerate! how your suffering bodies submit to the ardor of my spiritual
+discipline! how ye languish with irrealizable longing! So strong has
+that desire become that it has enabled you to behold the invisible
+world; and ye can now perceive souls even with the eyes of the body!"
+
+ANTHONY. (_Makes a gesture of astonishment._)
+
+TERTULLIAN (_who appears again, standing beside Montanus_):
+
+"Without doubt; for the soul has a body, and that which is bodiless has
+no existence."
+
+MONTANUS. "In order to render it yet more subtle, I have instituted
+many mortifications, three Lents a year, and prayers to be uttered
+nightly by the mind only, keeping the mouth closed, lest breathing
+might tarnish thought. It is necessary to abstain from second
+marriages, or rather from all marriage! The Angels themselves have
+sinned with women!"
+
+THE ARCHONTICS (_wearing cilices of hair_):
+
+"The Saviour said: 'I come to destroy the work of the Woman!'"
+
+THE TATIANITES (_wearing cilices of reed_):
+
+"She is the tree of evil. Our bodies are but garments of skin."
+
+(_And continuing to advance along the same side, Anthony meets_:--)
+
+THE VALESIANS (_extended upon the ground, with red wounds below their
+bellies, and blood saturating their tunics. They offer him a knife._)
+
+"Do as Origen did and as we have done! Is it the pain that thou
+fearest, coward? Is it the love of thy flesh that restrains thee,
+hypocrite?"
+
+(_And while he watches them writhing upon their backs, in a pool of
+blood_--)
+
+THE CAINITES (_wearing knotted vipers as fillets about their hair, pass
+by, vociferating in his ear_):--
+
+"Glory to Cain! Glory to Sodom! Glory be to Judas!
+
+"Cain made the race of the strong; Sodom terrified the earth by her
+punishment, and it was by Judas that God saved the world! Yes! by
+Judas: without him there would have been no death and no redemption!"
+
+(_They disappear beneath the horde of the_--)
+
+CIRCUMCELLIONES (_all clad in the skins of wolves, crowned with thorns,
+and armed with maces of iron_).
+
+"Crush the fruit! befoul the spring! drown the child! Pillage the rich
+who are happy--who cat their fill! Beat the poor who envy the ass
+his saddle-cloth, the dog his meal, the bird his nest,--and who is
+wretched at knowing that others are not as miserable as himself.
+
+"We, the Saints, poison, burn, massacre, that we may hasten the end of
+the world.
+
+"Salvation may be obtained through martyrdom only. We give ourselves
+martyrdom. We tear the skin from our heads with pincers; we expose our
+members to the plough; we cast ourselves into the mouths of furnaces!
+
+"Out upon baptism! out upon the Eucharist! out upon marriage! universal
+damnation!"
+
+(_Then throughout all the basilica there is a redoubling of fury._
+
+_The Audians shoot arrows against the Devil; the Collyridians throw
+blue cloths toward the roof; the Ascites prostrate themselves before
+a waterskin; the Marcionites baptise a dead man with oil. A woman,
+standing near Appelles, exhibits a round loaf within a bottle, in order
+the better to explain her idea. Another, standing in the midst of an
+assembly of Sampseans distributes, as a sacrament, the dust of her
+own sandals. Upon the rose-strewn bed of the Marcosians, two lovers
+embrace. The Circumcellionites slaughter one another; the Valesians
+utter the death-rattle; Bardesanes sings; Carpocras dances; Maximilla
+and Priscilla moan; and the false prophetess of Cappadocia, completely
+naked, leaning upon a lion, and brandishing three torches, shrieks the
+Terrible Invocation._
+
+_The columns of the temple sway to and fro like the trunks of trees in a
+tempest; the amulets suspended about the necks of the Heresiarchs seem
+to cross each other in lines of fire; the constellations in the chapels
+palpitate; and the walls recoil with the ebb and flow of the crowd, in
+which each head is a wave that leaps and roars._
+
+_Nevertheless, from the midst of the clamor arises the sound of a song,
+in which the name of Jesus is often repeated, accompanied by bursts of
+laughter._
+
+_The singers belong to the rabble of the people; they all keep time to
+the song by clapping their hands. In their midst stands_--)
+
+ARTUS (_in a deacon's vestments_):
+
+"The fools who declaim against me pretend to explain the absurd; and in
+order to confound them utterly, I have composed ditties so droll that
+they are learned by heart in all the mills, in the taverns and along
+the ports.
+
+"No! a thousand times no!--the Son is not coeternal with the Father,
+nor of the same substance! Otherwise he would not have said: 'Father,
+remove this chalice from me! Why dost thou call me good? God alone is
+good! I go to my God, to your God!'--and many other things testifying
+to his character of creature. The fact is further demonstrated for
+us by all his names:--lamb, shepherd, fountain, wisdom, son-of-man,
+prophet; the way, the corner-stone!"
+
+SABELLIUS. "I hold that both are identical."
+
+ARIUS. "The Council of Antioch has decided the contrary."
+
+ANTHONY. "Then what is the Word?... What was Jesus?"
+
+THE VALENTINIANS. "He was the husband of Acharamoth repentant!"
+
+THE SETHIANIANS. "He was Shem, the son of Noah!"
+
+THE THEODOTIANS. "He was Melchisedech!"
+
+THE MERINTHIANS. "He was only a man!"
+
+THE APOLLINARISTS. "He assumed the appearance of one! He simulated the
+Passion!"
+
+MARCEL OF ANCYRA. "He was a development of the Father!"
+
+POPE CALIXTUS. "Father and Son are but two modes of one God's
+manifestation!"
+
+METHODIUS. "He was first in Adam, then in man!"
+
+CERINTHUS. "And He will rise again!"
+
+VALENTINUS. "Impossible--his body being celestial!"
+
+PAUL OF SAMOSATA. "He became God _only_ from the time of his baptism!"
+
+HERMOGENES. "He dwells in the sun!"
+
+(_And all the Heresiarchs form a circle about Anthony, who weeps,
+covering his face with his hands._)
+
+A JEW (_with a red beard, and spots of leprosy upon his shin,
+approaches close to Anthony, and, with a hideous sneer, exclaims_):
+
+"His soul was the soul of Esau! He suffered from the Bellephorentian
+sickness. Was not his mother, the seller of perfumes, seduced by a
+Roman soldier, one Pantherus?.......................... [6]
+
+ANTHONY (_suddenly raising his head, looks at them a moment in silence;
+then advancing boldly upon them, exclaims_):
+
+"Doctors, magicians, bishops, and deacons, men and phantoms, away from
+me! begone! Ye are all lies!"
+
+THE HERESIARCHS. "We have martyrs more martyrs than thine, prayers
+that are more difficult, outbursts of love more sublime, ecstasies as
+prolonged as thine are."
+
+ANTHONY. "But ye have no revelation! no proofs!"
+
+(_They all at once brandish in the air their rolls of papyrus, tablets
+of wood, scrolls of leather, rolls of woven stuff bearing inscriptions;
+and elbowing; and pushing each other, they all shout to Anthony._)
+
+THE CERINTHIANS. "Behold the Gospel of the Hebrews!"
+
+THE MARCIONITES. "Behold the Gospel of the Lord!"
+
+THE MARCOSIANS. "The Gospel of Eve!"
+
+THE EUCRATITES. "The Gospel of Thomas!"
+
+THE CAINITES. "The Gospel of Judas!"
+
+BASILIDES. "The Treatise upon the Destiny of the Soul!"
+
+MANES. "The Prophecy of Barkouf!"
+
+(_Anthony struggles, breaks from them, escapes them; and in a shadowy
+corner perceives_--)
+
+THE AGED EBIONITES
+
+(_withered as mummies, their eyes dull and dim, their eyebrows white as
+frost._
+
+_In tremulous voices they exclaim_:--)
+
+"We have known him, we have seen him! We knew the Carpenter's Son! We
+were then the same age as he; we dwelt in the same street. He used to
+amuse himself by modelling little birds of mud; aided his father at his
+work without fear of the sharp tools, or selected for his mother the
+skeins of dyed wool. Then he made a voyage to Egypt, from whence he
+brought back wondrous secrets. We were at Jericho when he came to find
+the Eater of Locusts. They talked together in a low voice, so that no
+one could hear what was said. But it was from that time that his name
+began to be noised abroad in Galilee, and that men began to relate many
+fables regarding him."
+
+(_They reiterate, tremulously_:)
+
+"We knew him! we others, we knew him!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah, speak on, speak! What was his face like?"
+
+TERTULLIAN. "His face was wild and repulsive; forasmuch as he
+had burthened himself with all the crimes, all the woes, all the
+deformities of mankind."
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! no, no! I imagine, on the contrary, that his entire
+person must have been glorious with a beauty greater than the beauty of
+man!"
+
+EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA. "There is indeed, at Paneades, propped up against
+the walls of a crumbling edifice surrounded by a wilderness of weeds
+and creeping plants, a certain statue of stone which, some say, was
+erected by the Woman healed of the issue of blood. But time has gnawed
+the face of the statue, and the rains have worn the inscription away."
+
+(_A woman steps forward from the group of the Carpocratians._)
+
+MARCELLINA. "I was once a deaconess at Rome, in a little church, where
+I used to exhibit to the faithful, the silver images, of Saint Paul,
+Homer, Pythagoras and Jesus Christ.
+
+"I have only kept that of Jesus."
+
+(_She half opens her mantle._)
+
+"Dost thou desire it?"
+
+A VOICE. "He reappears himself when we call upon him! It is the
+hour!--come!"
+
+(_And Anthony feels a brutal hand seize him by the arm, and drag him
+away._
+
+_He mounts a stairway in complete darkness; and after having ascended
+many steps, he finds himself before a door._
+
+_Then the one who is leading him--(is it Hilarion?--he does not
+know)--whispers in the ear of another_: "The Lord is about to
+come!"--_and they are admitted into a chamber, with a very low ceiling,
+and without furniture._
+
+_The first object which attracts his attention is a long blood-colored
+chrysalis, with a human head surrounded by rays, and the word_ Knouphus
+_inscribed all around it in Greek characters. It is placed upon the
+shaft of a column, which is in turn supported by a broad pedestal.
+Hanging upon the walls of the chamber are medallions of polished iron
+representing the heads of various animals:--the head of an ox, the head
+of a lion, the head of an eagle, the head of a dog, and the head of an
+ass--again!_
+
+[Illustration: ... a long blood-colored chrysalis]
+
+_Earthen lamps, suspended below these images, create a vacillating
+light. Through a hole in the wall, Anthony can see the moon shining
+far off upon the waves; he can even hear the feeble regular sound of
+lapping water; together with the heavy thud occasionally caused by the
+bumping of a ship's hull against the stones of the mole._
+
+_There are men crouching down, with their faces hidden by their
+mantles. From time to time they utter sounds resembling a smothered
+bark. There are women also, sleeping with their foreheads resting upon
+their arms, and their arms supported by their knees; they are so hidden
+by their garments as to resemble heaps of cloth piled up at intervals
+against the wall. Near them are half naked children, whose persons
+swarm with vermin. They watch with idiotic stare the burning of the
+lamps; and nothing is done: all are waiting for something._
+
+_They talk in undertones about family matters, or recommend to each
+other various remedies for their ailments. Some of them must embark
+at earliest daylight; the persecution is becoming too terrible to be
+endured. Nevertheless, the pagans are easily enough deceived_:--"The
+fools imagine that we are really adoring Knouphus!"
+
+_But one of the brethren, feeling himself suddenly inspired, takes his
+place before the column, where a basket has already been placed, filled
+with fennel and aristolochia. On the top of the basket is placed a
+loaf._)
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER
+
+(_unrolling a placard covered with designs representing cylinders
+blending with and fitting into one another, commences to pray_:)
+
+"The ray of the Word descended upon the darknesses; and there arose a
+mighty cry, like unto the voice of Light."
+
+ALL (_swaying their bodies in unison, respond_):
+
+"Kyrie eleison!"
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "Then was Man created by the infamous
+God of Israel, aided by those who are these (_pointing to the
+medallions_)--Astophaios, Oraios, Sabaoth, Adonai, Eloi, Iao!
+
+"And Man, hideous, feeble, formless and thoughtless, lay upon the slime
+of the earth."
+
+ALL (_in plaintive accents_):
+
+"Kyrie eleison!"
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "But Sophia, compassionating him, vivified him
+with a spark of her own soul.
+
+"Then God, beholding Man so beautiful, waxed wroth; and imprisoned him
+within His own kingdom, forbidding him to touch the Tree of Knowledge.
+
+"Again did the other succor him. She sent to him the Serpent, who, by
+many long subterfuges, made him disobey that law of hate.
+
+"And Man, having tasted knowledge, understood celestial things."
+
+ALL (_raising their voices_):
+
+"Kyrie Eleison!"
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER. "But Iabdalaoth through vengeance cast down man
+into the world of matter, and the Serpent with him."
+
+ALL (_in a very low tone_):
+
+"Kyrie Eleison!"
+
+(_Then all hold their peace, and there is silence._
+
+_The odors of the port mingle with the smoke of the lamps in the warm
+air. The lamp-wicks crepitate; their flames are about to go out, long
+mosquitoes flit in rapid circlings about them. And Anthony groans
+in an agony of anguish, as with the feeling that a monstrosity is
+floating about him, as with the fear of a crime that is about to be
+accomplished._
+
+_But_--)
+
+THE INSPIRED BROTHER (_stamping his heel upon the floor, snapping his
+fingers, tossing his head wildly, suddenly chants to a furious rhythm,
+with accompaniment of cymbals and a shrill flute_:--)
+
+"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!
+
+"O swift one, who runneth without feet, captor who seizeth without hand!
+
+"Sinuous as the rivers, orbicular as the sun, black, with spots of
+gold, like the firmament star-besprinkled! Like unto the intertwinings
+of the vine, and the circumvolutions of entrails!
+
+"Unengendered! eater of earth! immortally young! unfailing
+perspicacious! honored at Epidaurus! Kindly to man! thou who didst heal
+King Ptolemy, and the warriors, of Moses, and Glaucus, son of Minos!
+
+"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!"
+
+ALL (_repeat_):
+
+"Come! come! come!--issue from thy cavern!"
+
+(_Nevertheless, nothing yet appears._)
+
+"Why? What aileth him?"
+
+(_And they concert together, devise means._
+
+_An old man presents a clod of turf as an offering. Then something
+upheaves within the basket. The mass of verdure shakes; the flowers
+fall, and the head of a python appears._
+
+[Illustration: ... the flowers fall and the head of a python
+appears]
+
+_It passes slowly around the edge of the loaf, like a circle moving
+around an immovable disk;--then it unfolds itself, lengthens out; it is
+enormous and of great weight. Lest it should touch the floor, the men
+uphold it against their breasts, the women support it upon their heads,
+the children hold it up at arms' length; and its tail, issuing through
+the hole in the wall, stretches away indefinitely to the bottom of the
+sea. Its coils double; they fill the chamber; they enclose Anthony._)
+
+THE FAITHFUL (_press their mouths against its skin, snatch from one
+another the loaf which it has bitten, and cry aloud_:--)
+
+"It is thou! it is thou!
+
+"First raised up by Moses, broken by Ezechias, re-established by the
+Messiah. He drank thee in the waters of baptism; but thou didst leave
+him in the Garden of Olives; and then indeed he felt his own weakness!
+
+"Writhing about the arms of the cross, and above his head, while
+casting thy slime upon the crown of thorns, thou didst behold him die!
+For thou art not Jesus, thou!--thou art the Word! thou art the Christ!"
+
+(_Anthony faints with horror, and falls prostrate in front of his hut
+upon the splinters of wood, where the torch that had slipped from his
+hand, is burning low._
+
+_The shock arouses him. Opening his eyes again, he perceives the Nile,
+brightly undulating under the moon, like a vast serpent winding over
+the sands; so that the hallucination returns upon him again; he has not
+left the company of the Ophites; they surround him, call him; he sees
+them carrying baggage, descending to the port. He embarks along with
+them._
+
+_An inappreciable time elapses._
+
+_Then the vaults of a prison environ him. Iron bars in front of him
+make black lines against a background of blue; and in the darkness
+beside him people are praying and weeping surrounded by others who
+exhort and console._
+
+[Illustration: ... and in the darkness beside him people are
+praying]
+
+_Without, there is a murmur like the deep humming of a vast crowd, and
+there is splendour as of a summer's day._
+
+_Shrill voices announce watermelons for sale, iced drinks, and cushions
+of woven grass to sit upon. From time to time there are bursts of
+applause. He hears the sound of footsteps above his head._
+
+_Suddenly a long roar is heard, mighty and cavernous as the roar of
+water in an aqueduct._
+
+_And he sees, directly opposite, behind the bars of another compartment
+across the arena a lion walking to and fro, then a line of sandals,
+bare legs, and purple fringes. Beyond are the vast circling wreaths
+of people, in symmetrical tiers, enlarging as they rise, from the
+lowest which hems in the arena to the uppermost above which masts
+rise to sustain a hyacinth-colored awning, suspended in air by ropes.
+Stairways radiating toward the centre, divide these huge circles of
+stone at regular intervals. The benches disappear under a host of
+spectators--knights, senators, soldiers, plebeians, vestals, and
+courtesans--in woollen hoods, in silken maniples, in fallow-colored
+tunics; together with aigrettes of precious stones, plumes of feathers,
+the fasces of lictors; and all this swarming multitude deafens and
+stupefies Anthony with its shoutings, its tumultuous fury, as of an
+enormous boiling vat. In the middle of the arena, a vase of incense
+smokes upon an altar._
+
+_Anthony thus knows that the people with him are Christians condemned
+to be thrown to the wild beasts. The men wear the red mantle of the
+pontiffs of Saturn; the women, the bandellettes of Ceres. Their friends
+divide among themselves shreds of their garments, and rings. To obtain
+access to the prison, they say, costs a great deal of money. But what
+matter! They will remain until it is all over._
+
+_Anthony notices among these consolers, a certain bald-headed man,
+in a black tunic: Anthony has seen that face somewhere before. The
+consoler discourses to them concerning the nothingness of this world,
+and the felicity of the Elect. Anthony feels within him a transport of
+celestial love; he longs for the opportunity to lay down his life for
+the Saviour--not knowing as yet whether he himself is to be numbered
+among the martyrs._
+
+_But all--except a certain Phrygian, with long hair, who stands with
+his arms uplifted--have a look of woe. One old man is sobbing upon a
+bench; a youth standing close by, with drooping head, abandons himself
+to a reverie of sorrow._
+
+THE OLD MAN _had refused to pay the customary contribution before the
+statue of Minerva, erected at the angle of the cross-roads; and he
+gazes at his companions with a look that signifies_:--)
+
+"Ye ought to have succored me! Communities can sometimes so arrange
+matters as to insure their being left in peace. Some among ye also
+procured those letters which falsely allege that one has sacrificed to
+idols."
+
+(_He asks aloud_:--)
+
+"Was it not Petrus of Alexandria who laid down the rule concerning what
+should be done by those who have yielded to torture?"
+
+(_Then, to himself_:--)
+
+"Ah! how cruel this at my age! My infirmities make me so weak!
+Nevertheless, I might easily have lived until the coming winter, or
+longer!"
+
+(_The memory of his little garden makes him sad, and he gazes toward
+the altar._)
+
+THE YOUNG MAN (_who disturbed the festival of Apollo by violence and
+blows, murmurs_:--)
+
+"Yet it would have been easy for me to have fled to the mountains!"
+
+(_One of the brothers answers_:--)
+
+"But the soldiers would have captured thee!"
+
+THE YOUNG MAN. "Oh! I would have done as Cyprian did--I would have
+returned, and the second time I would surely have had more force!"
+
+(_Then he thinks of the innumerable days that he might have lived, of
+all the joys that he might have known, but will never know; and he
+gazes toward the altar._
+
+_But_--)
+
+THE MAN IN THE BLACK TUNIC (_rushes to his side._)
+
+"What scandal! What! Thou! a victim of God's own choice! And all these
+women here who are looking at thee! Nay, think what thou art doing!
+Moreover, remember that God sometimes vouchsafes to perform a miracle.
+Pionius numbed and made powerless the hands of his executioners; the
+blood of Polycarp extinguished the fire of the stake."
+
+(_Then he turns to the Old Man_:--)
+
+"Father, father! it behooves thee to edify us by thy death! By longer
+delaying it, thou wouldst doubtless commit some evil action that would
+lose thee the fruit of all thy good works. Remember, also, that the
+power of God is infinite; and it may come to pass that all the people
+will be converted by thy example."
+
+(_And in the great den opposite, the lions stride back and forth,
+ceaselessly, with a rapid continuous motion. The largest suddenly looks
+at Anthony and roars, and a vapour issues from his jaws._
+
+_The women are huddled against the men._)
+
+THE CONSOLER (_goes from one to the other._)
+
+"What would ye say, what wouldst thou say if thou wert to be burned
+with red-hot irons, if thou wert to be torn asunder by horses, if thou
+hadst been condemned to have thy body smeared with honey, and thus
+exposed to be devoured by flies! As it is, thou wilt only suffer the
+death of a hunter surprised by a beast in the woods."
+
+(_Anthony would prefer all those things to death by the fangs of the
+horrible wild beasts; he fancies already that he feels their teeth and
+their claws, that he hears his bones cracking between their jaws._
+
+_A keeper enters the dungeon; the martyrs tremble._
+
+_Only one remains impassable, the Phrygian, who prays standing apart
+from the rest. He has burned three temples; and he advances with arms
+uplifted, mouth open, face turned toward heaven, seeing nothing around
+him, like a somnambulist._)
+
+THE CONSOLER (_shouts_). "Back! back! lest the spirit of Montanus might
+come upon you."
+
+ALL (_recoil from the Phrygian, and vociferate_)
+
+"Damnation to the Montanist!"
+
+(_They insult him, spit upon him, excite each other to beat him._
+
+_The rearing lions bite each other's manes_;)
+
+THE PEOPLE "To the beasts with them, to the beasts."
+
+_The Martyrs burst into sobs, and embrace each other passionately. A
+cup of narcotic wine is offered them. It is passed from hand to hand,
+quickly._
+
+_Another keeper, standing at the door of the den, awaits the signal.
+The den opens; a lion comes out._
+
+_He crosses the arena with great oblique strides. Other lions follow in
+file after him; then a bear, three panthers, and some leopards. They
+scatter through the arena like a flock in a meadow._
+
+_The crack of a whip resounds. The Christians stagger forward; and
+their brethren push them, that it may be over the sooner._
+
+_Anthony closes his eyes._
+
+_He opens them again. But darkness envelopes him._
+
+_Soon the darkness brightens; and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated
+with knolls, such as might be seen about abandoned quarries._
+
+[Illustration: ... and he beholds an arid plain, mamillated
+with knolls]
+
+_Here and there a tuft of shrubbery rises among the slabs of stone,
+level with the soil; and there are white figures, vaguer than clouds,
+bending over the slabs._
+
+_Others approach, softly, silently. Eyes gleam through the slits of
+long veils. By the easy indifference of their walk, and the perfumes
+exhaled from their garments, Anthony knows they are patrician women.
+There are men also, but of inferior condition; for their faces are at
+once simple-looking and coarse._
+
+(_One of the Women, taking a long breath_:)
+
+"Ah! how good the cool air of night is, among the sepulchers! I am so
+weary of the softness of beds, the turmoil of days, the heavy heat of
+the sun!"
+
+(_Her maid-servant takes from a canvas bag, a torch which she ignites.
+The faithful light other torches by it, and plant them upon the tombs._)
+
+A WOMAN (_panting_).
+
+"I am here at last! Oh how wearisome to be the wife of an idolator!"
+
+ANOTHER. "These visits to the prisons, interviews with our brethren,
+are all matters of suspicion to our husbands! And we must even hide
+ourselves in order to make the sign of the cross; they would take it
+for a magical conjuration!"
+
+ANOTHER. "With my husband it was a quarrel every day. I would not
+submit myself to his brutal exactions; therefore he has had me
+prosecuted as a Christian."
+
+ANOTHER. "Do you remember Lucius, that young man who was so beautiful,
+who was dragged like Hector, with his heels attached to a chariot,
+from the Esquiline Gate to the mountains of Tibur?--and how his blood
+spattered the bushes on either side of the road? I gathered up the
+drops of his blood. Behold it!"
+
+(_She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers it with kisses, and
+flings herself down upon the slabs, crying aloud_:--)
+
+[Illustration: She drags a black sponge from her bosom, covers
+it with kisses ...]
+
+"Ah! my friend! my friend!"
+
+A MAN. "It is just three years to-day since Domitilla died. They stoned
+her at the further end of the Grove of Proserpine. I gathered her
+bones, which shone like glowworms in the grass. The earth how covers
+them."
+
+(_He casts himself down upon a tomb._)
+
+"O my betrothed! my betrothed!"
+
+(_And all the others scattered over the plain_:--)
+
+"O my sister! O my brother! O my daughter! O my mother!"
+
+(_Some kneel, covering their faces with their hands; others lie down
+upon the ground with their arms extended; and the sobs they smother
+shake their breasts with such violence as though their hearts were
+breaking with grief. Sometimes they look up to heaven, exclaiming_:--)
+
+"Have mercy upon her soul, O my God! She languishes in the sojourn of
+Shades; vouchsafe to admit her to thy Resurrection, that she may enjoy
+Thy Light!"
+
+(_Or, with eyes fixed upon the gravestones, they murmur to the dead_:--)
+
+"Be at peace, beloved! and suffer not! I have brought thee wine and
+meats!"
+
+A WIDOW. "Here is pultis, made by my own hands, as he used to like it,
+with plenty of eggs and a double measure of flour! We are going to eat
+it together as in other days, are we not?"
+
+(_She lifts a little piece to her lips, and suddenly bursts into an
+extravagant and frenzied laugh._
+
+_The others also nibble a little bit as she does and drink a mouthful
+of wine._
+
+_They recount to each other the stories of their martyrs; grief becomes
+exalted! libations redouble. Their tear-swimming eyes are fixed upon
+each other's faces. They stammer with intoxication and grief; gradually
+hands touch hands, lips join themselves to lips, and they seek each
+other upon the tombs, between the cups and the torches._
+
+_The sky begins to whiten. The fog makes damp their garments; and,
+without appearing even to know one another, they depart by different
+ways and seek their homes._
+
+_The sun shines; the weeds and the grass have grown higher; the face of
+the plain is changed._
+
+_And Anthony, looking between tall bamboos, sees distinctly a forest of
+columns, of bluish-grey color. These are tree-trunks, all originating
+from one vast trunk. From each branch of the colossal tree descend
+other branches which may bury themselves in the soil; and the aspect of
+all these horizontal and perpendicular lines, indefinitely multiplied,
+would closely resemble a monstrous timber-work, were it not that they
+have small figs[7] growing upon them here and there, and a blackish
+foliage, like that of the sycamore._
+
+_He perceives in the forkings of their branches, hanging bunches of
+yellow flowers, violet flowers also, and ferns that resemble the plumes
+of splendid birds._
+
+_Under the lowest branches the horns of a bubalus gleam at intervals,
+and the bright eyes of antelopes are visible; there are hosts of
+parrots; there are butterflies flittering hither and thither; lizards
+lazily drag themselves up or down; flies buzz and hum; and in the midst
+of the silence, a sound is audible as of the palpitation of a deep and
+mighty life._
+
+_Seated upon a sort of pyre at the entrance of the wood is a strange
+being--a man--besmeared with cow-dung, completely naked, more withered
+than a mummy; his articulations form knots at the termination of bones
+that resemble sticks. He has bunches of shells suspended from his ears;
+his face is very long, and his nose like a vulture's beak. His left arm
+remains motionlessly erect in air, anchylosed, rigid as a stake; and he
+has been seated here so long that birds have made themselves a nest in
+his long hair._
+
+_At the four corners of his wooden pyre flame four fires. The sun is
+directly in front of him. He gazes steadily at it with widely-opened
+eyes; and, then without looking at Anthony, asks him_:--)
+
+"Brahmin from the shores of the Nile, what hast thou to say regarding
+these things?"
+
+(_Flames suddenly burst out on all sides of him, through the intervals
+between the logs of the pyre; and_--)
+
+THE GYMNOSOPHIST (_continues_).
+
+"Lo! I have buried myself in solitude, like the rhinoceros. I dwelt in
+the tree behind me."
+
+[Illustration: I have buried myself in solitude, like the
+rhinoceros. I dwelt in the tree behind me.]
+
+(_The vast fig-tree, indeed, shows in one of its groves, a natural
+excavation about the size of a man._)
+
+"And I nourished me with flowers and fruits, observing the precepts so
+rigidly that not even a dog ever beheld me eat.
+
+"Inasmuch as existence originates from corruption, corruption from
+desire, desire from sensation, sensation from contact, I have ever
+avoided all action, all contact, and perpetually--motionless as the
+stela of a tomb, exhaling my breath from my two nostrils, fixing my
+eyes upon my nose, and contemplating the ether in my mind, the world in
+my members, the moon in my heart--I dreamed of the essence of the great
+Soul whence continually escape the principles of life, even as sparks
+escape from fire.
+
+"Thus at last I found the supreme Soul in all beings, and all beings
+in the supreme Soul; and I have been able to make mine own soul all my
+senses.
+
+"I receive knowledge directly from heaven, like the bird Tchataka, who
+quenches his thirst from falling rain only.
+
+"Even by so much as things are known to me, things no longer exist.
+
+"For me now there is no more hope, no more anguish, there is neither
+happiness nor virtue, nor day nor night, nor Thou nor I--absolutely
+nothing!
+
+"My awful austerities have made me superior to the Powers. A single
+contraction of my thought would suffice to kill a hundred sons of
+kings, to dethrone gods, to overturn the world."
+
+(_He utters all these things in a monotonous voice._
+
+_The surrounding leaves shrivel up. Fleeing rats rush over the ground._
+
+_He slowly turns his eyes downward toward the rising flames, and then
+continues_:--)
+
+"I have loathed Form, I have loathed Perception, I have loathed even
+Knowledge itself, for the thought does not survive the transitory fact
+which caused it; and mind, like all else, is only an illusion.
+
+"All that is engendered will perish; all that is dead must live again;
+the beings that have even now disappeared shall sojourn again in wombs
+as yet unformed, and shall again return to earth to serve in woe other
+creatures.
+
+"But inasmuch as I have rolled through the revolution of an indefinite
+multitude of existences, under the envelopes of gods, of men, and of
+animals, I renounce further wanderings; I will endure this weariness
+no more! I abandon the filthy hostelry of this body of mine, built
+with flesh, reddened with blood, covered with a hideous skin, full of
+uncleanliness; and, for my recompense, I go at last to slumber in the
+deepest deeps of the Absolute--in Annihilation."
+
+(_The flames rise to his chest, then envelope him. His head rises
+through them as through a hole in the wall. His cavernous eyes still
+remain icicle open, gazing._)
+
+ANTHONY (_rises_).
+
+(_The torch, which had fallen to the ground, has ignited the splinters
+of wood; and the flames have singed his beard._
+
+_With a loud cry, Anthony tramples the fire out; and, when nothing
+remains but ashes, he exclaims_:--)
+
+"Where can Hilarion be? He was here a moment ago. I saw him!
+
+"What! No; it is impossible; I must have been mistaken!
+
+"Yet why?... Perhaps my cabin, these stones, this sand, have no real
+existence. I am becoming mad! Let me be calm! Where was I? What was it
+that happened?
+
+"Ah! the gymnosophist!... Such a death is frequent among the sages of
+India. Kalanos burned himself before Alexander; another did likewise
+in the time of Augustus. What hatred of life men must have to do thus!
+Unless, indeed, they are impelled by pride alone?... Yet in any event
+they have the intrepidity of martyrs.... As for the latter, I can now
+well believe what has been told me regarding the debauchery they cause.
+
+"And before that? Yes: I remember now! the host of the Heresiarchs!
+What outcries! What eyes! Yet why so much rebellion of the flesh, so
+much dissoluteness, so many aberrations of the intellect.
+
+"They claim, nevertheless, to seek God through all those ways! What
+right have I to curse them--I, who stumble so often in mine own path?
+I was perhaps about to learn more of them at the moment when they
+disappeared. Too rapid was the whirl; I had no time to answer. Now I
+feel as though there were more space, more light in my understanding. I
+am calm. I even feel myself able to.... What is this? I thought I had
+put out the fire!"
+
+(_A flame flits among the rocks; and soon there comes the sound of
+a voice--broken, convulsed as by sobs--from afar off, among the
+mountains._)
+
+"Can it be the cry of a hyena, or the lamentation of some traveler that
+has lost his way?"
+
+(_Anthony listens. The flame draws nearer._
+
+_And he beholds a weeping woman approach, leaning upon the shoulder of
+a white-bearded man._
+
+_She is covered with a purple robe in rags. He is bareheaded like lier,
+wears a tunic of the same color, and carries in his hands a brazen
+vase, whence arises a thin blue flame._
+
+_Anthony feels a fear come upon him, and wishes to know who this woman
+may be._)
+
+THE STRANGER SIMON. "It is a young girl, a poor child that I lead about
+with me everywhere."
+
+(_He uplifts the brazen vase._
+
+_Anthony contemplates the girl, by the light of its vacillating flame._
+
+_There are marks of bites upon her face, traces of blows upon her arms;
+her dishevelled hair entangles itself in the rents of her rags; her
+eyes appear to be insensible to light._)
+
+SIMON. "Sometimes she remains thus for a long, long time without
+speaking; then all at once she revives, and discourses of marvellous
+things."
+
+ANTHONY. "In truth?"
+
+SIMON. "Ennoia; Ennoia! Ennoia!--tell us what thou hast to say!"
+
+(_She rolls her eyes like one awaking from a dream, slowly passes her
+fingers over her brows, and in a mournful voice, speaks_:--)
+
+Helena[8] (_Ennoia_).
+
+[Illustration: Helena - Ennoia]
+
+"I remember a distant land, of the color of emerald. Only one tree
+grows there.
+
+(_Anthony starts_).
+
+"Upon each of its tiers of broad-extending arms, a pair of Spirits
+dwell in air. All about them the branches intercross, like the veins
+of a body; and they watch the eternal Life circulating, from the roots
+deep plunging into darkness even to the leafy summit that rises higher
+than the sun. I, dwelling upon the second branch, illuminated the
+nights of Summer with my face."
+
+ANTHONY, (_tapping his own forehead_:--)
+
+"Ah! ah! I comprehend! her head!..."
+
+SIMON (_placing his finger to his lips_:--)
+
+"Hush!"
+
+HELENA. "The sail remained well filled by the wind; the keel cleft the
+foam. He said to me: 'What though I afflict my country, though I lose
+my kingdom! Thou wilt belong to me, in my house!'
+
+"How sweet was the lofty chamber of his palace! Lying upon the ivory
+bed, he caressed my long hair, singing amorously the while.
+
+"Even at the close of the day I beheld the two camps, the watchfires
+being lighted, Ulysses at the entrance of his tent, armed Achilles
+driving a chariot along the sea-beach."
+
+ANTHONY. "Why! she is utterly mad! How came this to pass?..."
+
+SIMON. "Hush! hush!"
+
+HELENA. "They anointed me with unguents, and sold me to the people that
+I might amuse them.
+
+"One evening I was standing with the sistrum in my hand, making music
+for some Greek sailors who were dancing. The rain was falling upon the
+roof of the tavern like a cataract, and the cups of warm wine were
+smoking.
+
+"A man suddenly entered, although the door was not opened to let him
+pass."
+
+SIMON. "It was I! I found thee again!
+
+"Behold her, Anthony, she whom they call Sigeh, Ennoia, Barbelo,
+Prounikos! The Spirits governing the world were jealous of her; and
+they imprisoned her within the body of a woman.
+
+"She was that Helen of Troy, whose memory was cursed by the poet
+Stesichorus. She was Lucretia, the patrician woman violated by a king.
+She was Delilah, by whom Samson's locks were shorn.... She has loved
+adultery, idolatry, lying and foolishness. She has prostituted herself
+to all nations. She has sung at the angles of all cross-roads. She has
+kissed the faces of all men.
+
+"At Tyre, she, the Syrian, was the mistress of robbers. She caroused
+with them during the nights; and she concealed assassins amidst the
+vermin of her tepid bed."
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! what is this to me?..."
+
+SIMON (_with a furious look_:--)
+
+"I tell thee that I have redeemed her, and re-established her in her
+former splendor; insomuch that Caius Caesar Caligula became enamoured of
+her, desiring to sleep with the Moon!"
+
+ANTHONY. "What then?..."
+
+SIMON. "Why this, that she herself is the Moon! Has not Pope Clement
+written how she was imprisoned in a tower? Three hundred persons
+surrounded the tower to watch it; and the moon was seen at each of the
+loop-holes at the same time, although there is not more than one moon
+in the world, nor more than one Ennoia!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes ... it seems to me that I remember...."
+
+(_He falls into a reverie._)
+
+SIMON. "Innocent as the Christ who died for men, so did she devote
+herself for women. For the impotence of Jehovah is proven by the
+transgression of Adama, and we must shake off the yoke of the old law,
+which is antipathetic to the order of things.[9]
+
+"I have preached the revival in Ephraim and in Issachar by the torrent
+of Bizor, beyond the Lake of Houleh, in the valley of Maggedo, further
+than the mountains, at Bostra and at Damascus. Let all come to me who
+are covered with wine, who are covered with filth, who are covered with
+blood! and I shall take away their uncleanliness with the Holy Spirit,
+called Minerva by the Greeks. She is Minerva! she is the Holy Spirit! I
+am Jupiter, Apollo, the Christ, the Paraclete, the great might of God,
+incarnated in the person of Simon!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! it is thou!... so it is thou! But I know thy crimes!
+
+"Thou wast born at Gittoi near Samaria, Dositheas, thy first master,
+drove thee from him. Thou didst execrate Saint Paul because he
+converted one of thy wives; and, vanquished by Saint Peter, in thy rage
+and terror thou didst cast into the waves the bag which contained thy
+artifices!"
+
+SIMON. "Dost thou desire them?"
+
+(_Anthony looks at him, and an interior voice whispers hi his
+heart:--"Why not?"_)
+
+SIMON (_continues_).
+
+"He who knows the forces of Nature and the essence of Spirits must be
+able to perform miracles. It has been the dream of all sages; it is the
+desire which even now gnaws thee!--confess it!"
+
+"In the sight of the multitude of the Romans, I flew in the air so
+high that none could behold me move. Nero ordered that I should be
+decapitated; but it was the head of a sheep which fell upon the ground
+in lieu of mine. At last they buried me alive; but I rose again upon
+the third day. The proof is that thou dost behold me before thee!"
+
+(_He presents his hands to Anthony to smell. They have the stench of
+corpse-flesh. Anthony recoils with loathing._)
+
+"I can make serpents of bronze writhe; I can make marble statues
+laugh; I can make dogs speak. I will show thee vast quantities of gold;
+I will reestablish kings; thou shalt see nations prostrate themselves
+in adoration before me! I can walk upon the clouds and upon the waves,
+I can pass through mountains, I can make myself appear as a youth, as
+an old man, as a tiger, or as an ant; I can assume thy features; I can
+give thee mine; I can make the thunder follow after me. Dost hear it?"
+
+(_The thunder rumbles; flashes of lightning succeed._)
+
+"It is the voice of the Most High; for 'the Lord thy God is a fire;'
+and all creations are accomplished by sparks from the fire-centre of
+all things.
+
+Thou shalt even now receive the baptism of it--that second baptism
+announced by Jesus, which fell upon the apostles on a day of tempest
+when the windows were open!"
+
+(_And stirring up the flame with his hand, slowly, as though preparing
+to sprinkle Anthony with it, he continues_:--)
+
+"Mother of mercies, thou who discoverest all secrets, in order that we
+may find rest in the eighth mansion...."
+
+ANTHONY (_cries out_:--)
+
+"Oh! that I had only some holy water!..."
+
+(_The flame goes out, producing much smoke._
+
+_Ennoia and Simon have disappeared._
+
+_An exceedingly cold, opaque and f[oe]tid mist fills the atmosphere._)
+
+ANTHONY (_groping with his hands like a blind man_:--)
+
+"Where am I?... I fear lest I fall into the abyss! And the cross,
+surely, is too far from me. Ah! what a night! what a terrible night!"
+
+(_The mist is parted by a gust of wind; and Anthony sees two men
+covered with long white tunics._
+
+_The first is of lofty stature, with a gentle face, and a grave mien.
+His blond hair, parted like that of Christ, falls upon his shoulders.
+He has cast aside a wand that he had been holding in his hand; his
+companion takes it up, making a reverence after the fashion of the
+Orientals._
+
+_The latter is small of stature, thick set, flat-nosed; his neck and
+shoulders expresses good natured simplicity._
+
+_Both are barefooted, bareheaded, and dusty, like persons who have made
+a long journey._)
+
+ANTHONY (_starting up_:--)
+
+"What do ye seek? Speak!... Begone from here!"
+
+DAMIS (_who is a little man_).
+
+"Nay! nay! be not angered, good hermit. As for that I seek, I know not
+myself what it is! Here is the Master!"
+
+(_He sits down. The other stranger remains standing. Silence._)
+
+ANTHONY (_asks_).
+
+"Then ye come?..."
+
+DAMIS. "Oh! from afar off--very far off!"
+
+ANTHONY. "And ye go?..."
+
+DAMIS (_pointing to the other_)
+
+"Whithersoever he shall desire!"
+
+ANTHONY. "But who may he be?"
+
+DAMIS. "Look well upon him!"
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_).
+
+"He looks like a saint! If I could only dare...."
+
+(_The mist is all gone. The night is very clear. The moon shines._)
+
+DAMIS. "Of what art thou dreaming, that thou dost not speak?"
+
+ANTHONY. "I was thinking.... Oh! nothing!"
+
+DAMIS (_approaches Apollonius, and walks all round him several times,
+bending himself as he walks, never raising his head_:--)
+
+"Master, here is a Galilean hermit who desires to know the beginnings
+of wisdom."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Let him approach!" (_Anthony hesitates._)
+
+DAMIS. "Approach!"
+
+APOLLONIUS (_in a voice of thunder_:--)
+
+"Approach! Thou wouldst know who I am, what I have done, and what I
+think,--is it not so, child?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Always supposing that these things can contribute to the
+salvation of my soul."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Rejoice! I am about to inform thee of them!"
+
+DAMIS (_in an undertone, to Anthony_:--)
+
+"Is it possible? He must surely have at the first glance discerned in
+thee extraordinary aptitude for philosophy. I shall also strive to
+profit by his instruction."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "First of all, I shall tell thee of the long course which
+I have followed in order to obtain the doctrine; and if thou canst
+discover in all my life one evil action, thou shalt bid me pause, for
+he who hath erred in his actions may well give scandal by his words."
+
+DAMIS (_to Anthony_).
+
+"How just a man? Is he not?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Indeed I believe him to be sincere."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Upon the night of my birth, my mother imagined that
+she was gathering flowers by the shore of a great lake. A flash of
+lightning appeared; and she brought me into the world to the music of
+the voices of swans singing to her in her dream.
+
+"Until I had reached the age of fifteen I was plunged thrice a day into
+the fountain, Asbadeus, whose waters make perjurers hydropical; and my
+body was rubbed with the leaves of the onyza, that I might be chaste.
+
+"A Palmyrian princess came one evening to seek me, offering me
+treasures that she knew to be in the tombs. A hierodule of the temple
+of Diana, slew herself in despair with the sacrificial knife; and the
+governor of Cilicia, finding all his promises of no avail, cried out in
+the presence of my family that he would cause my death; but it was he
+that died only three days after, assassinated by the Romans."
+
+DAMIS (_nudging Anthony with his elbow_).
+
+"Eh? did I not tell thee? What a man!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "For the space of four successive years I maintained the
+unbroken silence of the Pythagoreans. The most sudden and unexpected
+pain never extorted a sigh from me; and when I used to enter the
+theatre, all drew away from me, as from a phantom."
+
+DAMIS. "Wouldst thou have done so much?--thou?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "After the period of my trial had been accomplished, I
+undertook to instruct the priests regarding the tradition they had
+lost."
+
+ANTHONY. "What tradition?"
+
+DAMIS. "Interrupt him not! Be silent!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I have conversed with the Samaneans of the Ganges, with
+the astrologers of Chaldea, with the magi of Babylon, with the Gaulish
+Druids, with the priests of the negroes! I have ascended the fourteen
+Olympii; I have sounded the Scythian lakes; I have measured the breadth
+of the Desert!"
+
+DAMIS. "It is all true! I was with him the while!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "But first I had visited the Hyrcanian Sea; I made the tour
+of it; and descending by way of the country of the Baraomati, where
+Bucephalus is buried, I approached the city of Nineveh. At the gates of
+the city, a man drew near me...."
+
+DAMIS. "I--even I, good master! I loved thee from the first. Thou wert
+gentler than a girl and more beautiful than a god!"
+
+APOLLONIUS (_without hearing him_).
+
+"He asked me to accompany him, that he might serve as interpreter."
+
+DAMIS. "But thou didst reply that all languages were familiar to thee,
+and that thou couldst divine all thoughts. Then I kissed the hem of thy
+mantle, and proceeded to walk behind thee."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "After Ctesiphon, we entered upon the territory of Babylon."
+
+DAMIS. "And the Satrap cried aloud on beholding a man so pale."
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_).
+
+"What signifies this?..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "The king received me standing, near a throne of silver,
+in a hall constellated with stars; from the cupola hung suspended by
+invisible threads four great birds of gold, with wings extended."
+
+ANTHONY (_dreamily_).
+
+"Can there be such things in the world?"
+
+DAMIS. "Ah! that is a city! that Babylon! everybody there is rich! The
+houses, which are painted blue, have doors of bronze, and flights of
+steps descending to the river."
+
+(_Drawing lines upon the ground, with his stick_:)
+
+"Like that, seest thou? And then there are temples, there are squares,
+there are baths, there are aqueducts! The palaces are roofed with red
+brass; and the interior ... ah! if thou only knewest!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Upon the north wall rises a tower which supports a second,
+a third, a fourth, a fifth, and there are also three others! The eighth
+is a chapel containing a bed. No one enters it save the woman chosen by
+the priests for the God Belus. I was lodged there by order of the King
+of Babylon."
+
+DAMIS. "As for me, they hardly deigned to give me any attention! So I
+walked through the streets all by myself. I informed myself regarding
+the customs of the people; I visited the workshops; I examined the
+great machines that carry water to the gardens. But I soon wearied of
+being separated from the Master."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At last we left Babylon; and as we travelled by the light
+of the moon, we suddenly beheld an Empusa."
+
+DAMIS. "Aye, indeed! She leaped upon her iron hoof; she brayed like an
+ass; she galloped among the rocks. He shouted imprecations at her; she
+disappeared."
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_).
+
+"What can be their motive?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At Taxilla, the capital of five thousand fortresses,
+Phraortes, King of the Ganges, showed us his guard of black men, whose
+stature was five cubits, and under a pavilion of green brocade in his
+gardens, an enormous elephant, which the queens amused themselves by
+perfuming. It was the elephant of Porus which had taken flight after
+the death of Alexander."
+
+DAMIS. "And which had been found again in a forest."
+
+ANTHONY. "Their speech is superabundant, like that of drunken men!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Phraortes seated us at his own table."
+
+DAMIS. "How strange a country that was! During their drinking
+carousels, the lords used to amuse-themselves by shooting arrows under
+the feet of a dancing child. But I do not approve...."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "When I was ready to depart, the king gave me a parasol,
+and he said to me: 'I have a stud of white camels upon the Indus. When
+thou shalt have no further use for them, blow in their ears. They will
+come back.'
+
+"We descended along the river, marching at night by the light of the
+fire-flies, which glimmered among the bamboos. The slave whistled an
+air to drive away the serpents; and our camels bent down in passing
+below the branches of the trees, as if passing under low gates.
+
+"One day a black child, who held a golden caduceus in his hand,
+conducted us to the College of the Sages. Iarchas, their chief, spoke
+to me of my ancestors, told me of all my thoughts, of all my actions,
+of all my existences. In former time he had been the River Indus; and
+he reminded me that I had once been a boatman upon the Nile, in the
+time of King Sesostris."
+
+DAMIS. "As for me, they told me nothing; so that I know not who or what
+I have been."
+
+ANTHONY. "They have a vague look, like shadows!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Upon the shores of the sea we met with the milk-gorged
+Cynocephali, who were returning from their expedition to the Island
+Taprobana. The tepid waves rolled blond pearls to our feet. The amber
+crackled beneath our steps. Whale-skeletons were whitening in the
+crevasses of the cliffs. At last the land became narrow as a sandal;
+and after casting drops of ocean water toward the sun, we turned to the
+right to return.
+
+"So we returned through the Region of Aromatics, by way of the country
+of the Gangarides, the promontory of Comaria, the country of the
+Sachalites, of the Adramites and of the Homerites; then, across the
+Cassanian mountains, the Red Sea, and the Island Topazos, we penetrated
+into Ethiopia through the country of the Pygmies."
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_).
+
+"How vast the world is!"
+
+DAMIS. "And after we had returned home, we found that all those whom we
+used to know, were dead."
+
+(_Anthony lowers his head. Silence._)
+
+APOLLONIUS (_continues_).
+
+"Then men began to talk of me the world over.
+
+"The plague was ravaging Ephesus; I made them stone an old mendicant
+there."
+
+DAMIS. "And forthwith the plague departed."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! Does he drive away pestilence?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At Cnidos, I cured the man that had become enamored of
+Venus."
+
+DAMIS. "Aye! a fool who had even vowed to espouse her! To love a woman
+is at least comprehensible; but to love a statue--what madness! The
+Master placed his hand upon the young man's heart; and the fire of that
+love was at once extinguished."
+
+ANTHONY. "How! does he also cast out devils?"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "At Tarentum they were carrying the dead body of a young
+girl to the funeral pyre."
+
+DAMIS. "The Master touched her lips; and she arose and called her
+mother."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! he raises the dead!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I predicted to Vespasian his accession to power."
+
+ANTHONY. "What! he foretells the future!"
+
+DAMIS. "At Corinth there was a ..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "It was when I was at table with him, at the waters of
+Baia ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Excuse me, strangers--it is very late ..."
+
+DAMIS. "At Corinth there was a young man called Menippus ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "No! no!--go ye away!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "A dog came in, bearing a severed hand in his mouth."
+
+DAMIS. "One evening, in one of the suburbs, he met a woman."
+
+ANTHONY. "Do ye not hear me? Begone!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "He wandered in a bewildered way around the couches ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Enough!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "They sought to drive him out."
+
+DAMIS. "So Menippus went with her to her house; they loved one
+another."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "And gently beating the mosaic pavement with his tail, he
+laid the severed hand upon the knees of Flavius."
+
+DAMIS. "But next morning, during the lessons in the school, Menippus
+was pale."
+
+ANTHONY (_starting up in anger_).
+
+"Still continuing! Ah! then let them continue till they be weary,
+inasmuch as there is no ..."
+
+DAMIS. "The Master said to him: 'O beautiful youth, thou dost caress
+a serpent; by a serpent thou art caressed! And when shall be the
+nuptials?' We all went to the wedding."
+
+ANTHONY. "Assuredly I am doing wrong, to hearken to such a story!"
+
+DAMIS. "Servants were hurrying to and fro in the vestibule; doors were
+opening; nevertheless there was no sound made either by the fall of
+the footsteps nor the closing of the doors. The Master placed himself
+beside Menippus. And the bride forthwith became angered against the
+philosophers. But the vessels of gold, the cupbearers, the cooks, the
+panthers disappeared; the roof receded and vanished into air; the walls
+crumbled down; and Apollonius stood alone with the woman at his feet,
+all in tears. She was a vampire who satisfied the beautiful young men
+in order to devour their flesh, for nothing is more desirable for such
+phantoms than the blood of amorous youths."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "If thou shouldst desire to learn the art ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "I do not wish to learn anything!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "The same evening that we arrived at the gates of Rome ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! yes!--speak to me rather of the City of Popes!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "A drunken man accosted us, who was singing in a low voice.
+The song was an epithalamium of Nero; and he had the power to cause
+the death of whosoever should hear it with indifference. In a box upon
+his shoulders he carried a string taken from the Emperor's cithara. I
+shrugged my shoulders. He flung mud in our faces. Then I unfastened my
+girdle and placed it in this hand."
+
+DAMIS. "In sooth, thou wert most imprudent!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "During the night the Emperor summoned me to his house. He
+was playing at osselets with Sporus, supporting his left arm upon a
+table of agate. He turned and, knitting his brows, demanded: 'How comes
+it that thou dost not fear me?' 'Because,' I replied, 'the God who made
+thee terrible, also made me intrepid."
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_).
+
+"There is something inexplicable that terrifies me!"
+
+(_Silence._)
+
+DAMIS (_breaking the silence with his shrill voice_).
+
+"Moreover, all Asia can tell thee ..."
+
+ANTHONY (_starting up_).
+
+"I am ill! let me be!"
+
+DAMIS. "But listen! At Ephesus, he beheld them killing Domitian, who
+was at Rome."
+
+ANTHONY (_with a forced laugh_). "Is it possible?"
+
+DAMIS. "Yes: at the theatre at noon-day, the fourteenth of the Kalenda
+of October, he suddenly cried out: 'Caesar is being murdered!' and
+from time to time he would continue to ejaculate: 'He rolls upon the
+pavement ... Oh! how he struggles ... He rises ... He tries to flee
+... The doors are fastened ... Ah! it is all over! He is dead!' And in
+fact Titus Flavius Domitianus was assassinated upon that very day, as
+thou knowest."
+
+ANTHONY. "Without the aid of the Devil ... certainly ..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "He had purposed putting me to death, that same Domitian!
+Damis had taken flight according to my order, and I remained alone in
+my prison."
+
+DAMIS. "A terrible hardihood on thy part, it must be confessed!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "About the fifth hour, the soldiers led me before the
+tribunal. I had my harangue all ready hidden beneath my mantle."
+
+DAMIS. "We others were then upon the shores of Puteoli, we believed
+thee dead; we were all weeping, when all of a sudden about the sixth
+hour, thou didst suddenly appear before us, exclaiming: 'It is I.'"
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_). "Even as He...!"
+
+DAMIS (_in a very loud voice_). "Precisely!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! no! ye lie! is it not so?--ye lie!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "He descended from heaven. I rise thither, by the power of
+my virtue that has lifted me up even to the height of the Principle of
+all things!"
+
+DAMIS. "Thyana, his natal city, has established in his honor a temple
+and a priesthood!"
+
+APOLLONIUS (_draws near Anthony, and shouts in his ear_:--)
+
+"It is because I know all gods, all rites, all prayers, all oracles!
+I have penetrated into the cave of Trophonius, son of Apollo! I
+have kneaded for Syracusan women the cakes which they carry to the
+mountains. I have endured the eighty tests of Mithra! I have pressed to
+my heart the serpent of Sabasius! I have received the scarf of Kabiri!
+I have laved Cybele in the waters of the Campanian gulfs! and I have
+passed three moons in the caverns of Samothracia!"
+
+DAMIS (_with a stupid laugh_).
+
+"Ah! ah! ah! at the mysteries of the good Goddess!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "And now we recommence our pilgrimage.
+
+"We go to the North to the land of Swans and of snows. Upon the vast
+white plains, the blind hippopodes break with the tips of their feet
+the ultramarine plant."
+
+DAMIS. "Hasten! it is already dawn. The cock has crowed, the horse has
+neighed, the sail is hoisted!"
+
+ANTHONY. "The cock has not crowed! I hear the locusts in the sands, and
+I see the moon still in her place."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "We go to the South, beyond the mountains and the mighty
+waters, to seek in perfumes the secret source of love. Thou shalt
+inhale the odor of myrrhodion which makes the weak die. Thou shalt
+bathe thy body in the lake of Rose-oil which is in the Island Junonia.
+Thou shalt see slumbering upon primroses that Lizard which awakes
+every hundred years when the carbuncle upon its forehead, arriving
+at maturity, falls to the ground. The stars palpitate like eyes; the
+cascades sing like the melody of lyres; strange intoxication is exhaled
+by blossoming flowers; thy mind shall grow vaster in that air; and thy
+heart shall change even as thy face."
+
+DAMIS. "Master! it is time! The wind has risen, the swallows awaken,
+the myrtle leaves are blown away."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Yes! let us go!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Nay! I remain here!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Shall I tell thee where grows the plant Balis, that
+resurrects the dead?"
+
+DAMIS "Nay; ask him rather for the audrodamas which attracts silver,
+iron and brass!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh! how I suffer! how I suffer!"
+
+DAMIS. "Thou shalt comprehend the voices of all living creatures, the
+roarings, the cooings!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I shall enable thee to ride upon unicorns and upon
+dragons, upon hippocentaurs and dolphins!"
+
+ANTHONY (_weeping_). "Oh ... oh!... oh!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Thou shalt know the demons that dwell in the caverns, the
+demons that mutter in the woods, the demons that move in the waves, the
+demons that push the clouds!"
+
+DAMIS. "Tighten thy girdle, fasten thy sandals!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "I shall explain to thee the reason of divine forms--why
+Apollo stands, why Jupiter is seated, why Venus is black, at Corinth,
+square-shaped at Athens, conical at Paphos."
+
+ANTHONY (_clasping his hands_).
+
+"Let them begone! let them begone!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "In thy presence I will tear down the panoplies of the
+Gods; we shall force open the sanctuaries, I will enable thee to
+violate the Pythoness!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Help! O my God!"
+
+(_He rushes to the cross._)
+
+APOLLONIUS. "What is thy desire? What is thy dream? Thou needst only
+devote the moment of time necessary to think of it ..."
+
+ANTHONY. "Jesus! Jesus! Help me!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Dost thou wish me to make him appear, thy Jesus?"
+
+ANTHONY. "What? How!"
+
+APOLLONIUS. "It shall be He!--no other! He will cast off his crown, and
+we shall converse face to face!"
+
+DAMIS (_in an undertone_).
+
+"Say thou dost indeed wish it! say thou dost desire it!"
+
+(_Anthony kneeling before the cross, murmurs prayers. Damis walks
+around him, with wheedling gestures._)
+
+"Nay, nay! good hermit. Be not horrified! These are only exaggerated
+forms of speech, borrowed from the Orientals. That need in no way ..."
+
+APOLLONIUS. "Let him alone, Damis!
+
+"He believes, like a brute, in the reality of things. The terror which
+he entertains of the Gods prevents him from comprehending them; and he
+debases his own God to the level of a jealous king!
+
+"But thou, my son, do not leave me!"
+
+(_He moves to the edge of the cliff, walking backward, passes beyond
+the verge of the precipice, and remains suspended in air._)
+
+"Above all forms, further than the ends of the earth, beyond the
+heavens themselves, lies the world of Idea, replete with the splendor
+of the Word! With one bound we shall traverse the impending spaces, and
+thou shalt behold in all his infinity, the Eternal, the Absolute, the
+Being! Come! give me thy hand! Let us rise."
+
+(_Side by side, both rise up through the air, slowly. Anthony, clinging
+to the cross, watches them rise. They disappear._)
+
+
+[1] Agape.--Love-feast of the primitive Christians.
+
+[2] John XVI: 12.--T.
+
+[3] See note at end.
+
+[4] Masheim gives _Achamoth._ I prefer to remain faithful to the
+orthography given by Flaubert.
+
+[5] The French text gives _mes peres_ not _nos peres._ Elxai, or
+Elkhai, who established his sect in the reign of Trajan, was a Jew.
+
+[6] See note.
+
+[7] The banyan is a fig-tree--the _Ficus indicus._--Trans.
+
+[8] Readers may remember Longfellow's exquisite poem "Helena of Tyre."
+
+[9] See the second part of "Faust," and _Kundry_ in "Parsifal."
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+
+ANTHONY (_walking to and fro, slowly_).
+
+"That one, indeed, seems in himself equal to all the powers of Hell!
+
+"Nebuchadnezzar did not so much dazzle me with his splendours;--the
+Queen of Sheba herself charmed me less deeply.
+
+"His manner of speaking of the gods compels one to feel a desire to
+know them.
+
+"I remember having beheld hundreds of them at one time, in the island
+of Elephantius, in the time of Diocletian. The emperor had ceded to the
+Nomads a great tract of country, upon the condition that they should
+guard the frontiers; and the treaty was concluded in the name of the
+'Powers Invisible.' For the gods of each people were unknown unto the
+other people.
+
+"The Barbarians had brought theirs with them. They occupied the
+sand-hills bordering the river. We saw them supporting their idols in
+their arms, like great paralytic children;--others, paddling through
+the cataracts upon trunks of palm tree, displayed from afar off the
+amulets hung about their necks, the tattooings upon their breasts; and
+these things were not more sinful than the religion of the Greeks, the
+Asiatics, and the Romans!
+
+"When I was dwelling in the temple of Heliopolis I would often consider
+the things I beheld upon the walls:--vultures bearing sceptres,
+crocodiles playing upon lyres, faces of men with the bodies of
+serpents, cow-headed women prostrating themselves before ithyphallic
+gods:--and their supernatural forms attracted my thoughts to other
+worlds. I longed to know that which drew the gaze of all those calm and
+mysterious eyes.
+
+"If matter can exert such power, it must surely contain a spirit. The
+souls of the Gods are attached to their images ...
+
+"Those possessing the beauty of forms might seduce. But the others
+... those of loathsome or terrible aspect ... how can men believe in
+them?..."
+
+(_And he beholds passing over the surface of the ground,--leaves,
+stones, shells, branches of trees,--then a variety of hydropical
+dwarfs: these are gods. He bursts into a laugh. He hears another laugh
+behind him;--and Hilarion appears, in the garb of a hermit, far taller
+than before, colossal._)
+
+ANTHONY (_who feels no surprise at seeing him_).
+
+"How stupid one must be to worship such things!"
+
+HILARION. "Aye!--exceedingly stupid!"
+
+(_Then idols of all nations and of all epochs--of wood, of metal, of
+granite, of feathers, of skins sewn together,--pass before them._
+
+_The most ancient of all anterior to the Deluge are hidden under masses
+of seaweed hanging down over them like manes. Some that are too long
+for their bases, crack in all their joints, and break their own backs
+in walking. Others have rents torn in their bellies through which sand
+trickles out._
+
+_Anthony and Hilarion are prodigiously amused. They hold their sides
+for laughter. Then appear sheep-headed idols. They totter upon their
+bandy-legs, half-open their eye-lids, and stutter like the dumb,_ "Ba!
+ba! ba!"
+
+_The more that the idols commence to resemble the human forms, the
+more they irritate Anthony. He strikes them with his fist, kicks them,
+attacks them with fury. They become frightful,--with lofty plumes, eyes
+like balls, fingers terminated by claws, the jaws of sharks._
+
+_And before these gods men are slaughtered upon altars of stone; others
+are brayed alive in huge mortars, crushed under chariots, nailed upon
+trees. There is one all of red-hot iron with the horns of a bull, who
+devours children._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Horror!"
+
+HILARION. "But the gods always demand tortures--and suffering. Even
+thine desired ..."
+
+ANTHONY (_weeping_). "Ah! say no more!--do not speak to me!"
+
+(_The space girdled by the rocks suddenly changes into a valley. A herd
+of cattle are feeding upon the short grass._
+
+_The herdman who leads them, observes a cloud;--and in a sharp voice,
+shouts out words of command, as if to heaven._)
+
+HILARION. "Because he needs rain, he seeks by certain chants to compel
+the King of heaven to open the fecund cloud."
+
+ANTHONY (_laughing_).
+
+"Verily, such pride is the extreme of foolishness!"
+
+HILARION. "Why dost thou utter exorcisms?"
+
+(_The valley changes into a sea of milk, motionless and infinite. In
+its midst floats a long cradle formed by the coils of a serpent, whose
+many curving heads shade, like a dais, the god slumbering upon its
+body._
+
+_He is beardless, young, more beautiful than a girl, and covered with
+diaphanous veils. The pearls of his tiara gleam softly like moons; a
+chaplet of stars is entwined many times about his breast, and with one
+hand beneath his head, he slumbers with the look of one who dreams
+after wine._
+
+_A woman crouching at his feet, awaits the moment of his awaking._)
+
+HILARION. "Such is the primordial duality of the Brahmans,--the
+Absolute being inexpressible by any form."
+
+(_From the navel of the god has grown the stem of a lotus flower; it
+blossoms, and within its chalice appears another god with three faces._)
+
+ANTHONY. "How strange an invention!"
+
+HILARION. "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but one and the same
+Person!"
+
+(_The three faces separate; and three great gods appear._
+
+_The first, who is pink, bites the end of his great toe._
+
+_The second, who is blue, uplifts his four arms._
+
+_The third, who is green, wears a necklace of human skulls._
+
+_Before them instantly arise three goddesses--one is enveloped in a
+net; another offers a cup; the third brandishes a bow._
+
+[Illustration: ... instantly arise three goddesses]
+
+_And these gods, these goddesses, decuple themselves, multiply. Arms
+grow from their shoulders; at the end of these arms hands appear
+bearing standards, axes, bucklers, swords, parasols and drums.
+Fountains gush from their heads, plants grow from their nostrils._
+
+_Riding upon birds rocked in palanquins, enthroned upon seats of gold,
+standing in ivory niches,--they dream, voyage, command, drink wine,
+respire the breath of flowers. Dancing girls whirl in the dance; giants
+pursue monsters; at the entrances of grottoes solitaries meditate. Eyes
+cannot be distinguished from stars; nor clouds from banderolles;
+peacocks quench their thirst at rivers of gold dust; the embroidery
+of pavilions seems to blend with the spots of leopards; coloured rays
+intercross in the blue air, together with flying arrows, and swinging
+censers._
+
+_And all this develops like a lofty frieze, resting its base upon the
+rocks, and rising to the sky._)
+
+ANTHONY (_dazzled by the sight_).
+
+"How vast is their number! What do they seek?"
+
+HILARION. "The god who rubs his abdomen with his elephant-trunk, is the
+solar Deity, the inspiring spirit of wisdom.
+
+"That other whose six heads are crowned with towers, and whose fourteen
+arms wield javelins,--is the prince of armies,--the Fire-Consumer.
+
+"The old man riding the crocodile washes the soul of the dead upon
+the shore. They will be tormented by that black woman with the putrid
+teeth, who is the Ruler of Hell.
+
+"That chariot drawn by red mares, driven by one who has no legs, bears
+the master of the sun through heaven's azure. The moon-god accompanies
+him, in a litter drawn by three gazelles.
+
+"Kneeling upon the back of a parrot, the Goddess of Beauty presents to
+Love, her son, her rounded breast. Behold her now, further off, leaping
+for joy in the meadows. Look! Look! Coiffed with dazzling mitre, she
+trips lightly over the ears of growing wheat, over the waves; she rises
+in air, extending her power over all elements.
+
+"And among these gods are the Genii of the winds, of the planets, of
+the months, of the days,--a hundred thousand others;--multiple are
+their aspects, rapid their transformations. Behold, there is one who
+changes from a fish into a tortoise: he assumes the form of a boar, the
+shape of a dwarf."
+
+ANTHONY. "Wherefore?"
+
+HILARION. "That he may preserve the equilibrium of the universe, and
+combat the works of evil. But life exhausts itself; forms wear away;
+and they must achieve progression in their metamorphoses."
+
+(_All upon a sudden appears a_ NAKED MAN _seated in the midst of the
+sand, with legs crossed._)
+
+(_A large halo vibrates, suspended in air behind him. The little
+ringlets of his black hair in which blueish tints shift symmetrically
+surround a protuberance upon the summit of his skull. His arms,
+which are very long, hang down against his sides. His two hands rest
+flat upon his thighs, with the palms open. The soles of his feet
+are like the faces of two blazing suns; and he remains completely
+motionless--before Anthony and Hilarion--with all the gods around him,
+rising in tiers above the rocks, as if upon the benches of some vast
+circus. His lips, half-open; and he speaks in a deep voice_):
+
+"I am the Master of great charities, the succor of all creatures; and
+not less to the profane than to believers, do I expound the law.
+
+"That I might deliver the world, I resolved to be born among men. The
+gods wept when I departed from them.
+
+"I sought me first a woman worthy to give me birth: a woman of warrior
+race, the wife of a king, exceedingly good, excessively beautiful,
+with body firm as adamant;--and at time of the full moon, without the
+auxiliation of any male, I entered her womb.
+
+"I issued from it by the right side. Stars stopped in their courses."
+
+HILARION (_murmurs between his teeth_).
+
+"And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy!"[1]
+
+(_Anthony watches more attentively._)
+
+THE BUDDHA[2] (_continuing_).
+
+"From the furthest recesses of the Himalayas, a holy man one hundred
+years of age, hurried to see me."
+
+HILARION. "A man named Simeon ... who should not see death, before he
+had seen the Christ of the Lord."[3]
+
+THE BUDDHA. "I was led unto the schools; and it was found that I knew
+more than the teachers."
+
+HILARION. "... In the midst of the doctors ... and all that heard him
+were astonished at his wisdom!"[4]
+
+(_Anthony makes a sign to Hilarion to be silent._)
+
+THE BUDDHA. "Continually did I meditate in the gardens. The shadows of
+the trees turned with the turning of the sun; but the shadow of that
+which sheltered me turned not.
+
+"None could equal me in the knowledge of the Scriptures, the
+enumeration of atoms, the conduct of elephants, the working of wax,
+astronomy, poetry, pugilism, all the exercises and all the arts!
+
+"In accordance with custom, I took to myself a wife; and I passed the
+days in my kingly palace;--clad in pearls, under a rain of perfumes,
+refreshed by the fans of thirty thousand women,--watching my peoples
+from the height of my terraces adorned with fringes of resonant bells.
+
+"But the sight of the miseries of the world turned me away from
+pleasure. I fled.
+
+"I begged my way upon the high roads, clad myself in rags gathered
+within the sepulchres;--and, hearing of a most learned hermit, I chose
+to become his slave. I guarded his gate! I washed his feet.
+
+"Thus I annihilated all sensation, all joy, all languor.
+
+"Then, concentrating my thoughts within vaster meditation, I learned to
+know the essence of things, the illusion of forms.
+
+"Soon I exhausted the science of the Brahmans. They are gnawed by
+covetousness and desire under their outward aspect of austerity; they
+daub themselves with filth, they live upon thorns,--hoping to arrive at
+happiness by the path of death!"
+
+HILARION.... "Pharisees, hypocrites, whited sepulchres, generation of
+vipers!"
+
+THE BUDDHA. "I also accomplished wondrous things,--eating but one
+grain of rice each day (and the grains of rice in those times were no
+larger than at present)--my hair fell off; my body became black; my
+eyes receding within their sockets, seemed even as stars beheld at the
+bottom of a well.
+
+"During six years I kept myself motionless, exposed to the flies, the
+lions and the serpents; and the great summer suns, the torrential
+rains, lightnings and snows, hails and tempests,--all of these I
+endured without even the shelter of my lifted hand.
+
+"The travellers who passed by, believing me dead, cast clods of earth
+upon me!
+
+"Only the temptation of the Devil remained!
+
+"I summoned him.
+
+"His sons came,--hideous, scale-covered, nauseous as
+charnel-houses,--shrieking, hissing, bellowing; interclashing their
+panoplies, rattling together the bones of dead men. Some belched
+flame through their nostrils; some made darkness about me with their
+wings; some wore chaplets of severed fingers; some drank serpent-venom
+from the hollows of their hands;--they were swine-headed; they were
+rhinoceros-headed or toad-headed; they assumed all forms that inspire
+loathing or affright."
+
+ANTHONY (_to himself_).
+
+"I also endured all that in other days!"
+
+THE BUDDHA. "Then did he send me his daughters--beautiful with
+daintily painted faces, and wearing girdles of gold. Their teeth were
+whiter than the jasmine-flower; their thighs round as the trunk of
+an elephant. Some extended their arms and yawned, that they might so
+display the dimples of their elbows; some winked their eyes; some
+laughed; some half-opened their garments. There were blushing virgins,
+matrons replete with dignity, queens who came with great trains of
+baggage and of slaves."
+
+ANTHONY (_aside_). "Ah! he too ..."
+
+THE BUDDHA. "Having vanquished the Demon, I nourished myself for twelve
+years with perfumes only;--and as I had acquired the five virtues,
+the five faculties, the ten forces, the eighteen substances, and had
+entered into the four spheres of the invisible world, Intelligence
+became mine! I became the Buddha."
+
+[Illustration: Intelligence became mine! I became the Buddha.]
+
+(_All the gods bow themselves down. Those having several heads, bend
+them all simultaneously. He lifts his mighty hand aloft, and resumes_:)
+
+"That I might effect the deliverance of beings, I have made hundreds
+of thousands of sacrifices! To the poor I gave robes of silk, beds,
+chariots, houses, heaps of gold and of diamonds. I gave my hands to the
+one-handed, my legs to the lame, my eyes to the blind;--even my head I
+severed for the sake of the decapitated. In the day that I was King, I
+gave away provinces;--when I was a Brahman I despised no one. When I
+was a solitary, I spake kindly words to the robber who slew me. When I
+was a tiger I allowed myself to die of hunger.
+
+"And having, in this last existence, preached the law, nothing now
+remains for me to do. The great period is accomplished! Men, animals,
+the gods, the bamboos, the oceans, the mountains, the sand-grains of
+the Ganges, together with the myriad myriads of the stars,--all shall
+die;--and until the time of the new births, a flame shall dance upon
+the wrecks of worlds destroyed!"
+
+(_Then a great dizziness comes upon the gods. They stagger, fall into
+convulsions, and vomit forth their existences. Their crowns burst
+apart; their banners fly away. They tear off their attributes, their
+sexes, fling over their shoulders the cups from which they quaffed
+immortality, strangle themselves with their serpents, vanish in
+smoke;--and when all have disappeared_ ...)
+
+HILARION (_solemnly exclaims_):
+
+"Thou hast even now beheld the belief of many hundreds of millions of
+men."
+
+(_Anthony is prostrate upon the ground, covering his face with his
+hands. Hilarion, with his back turned to the cross, stands near him and
+watches him._
+
+_A considerable time elapses._
+
+_Then a singular being appears--having the head of a man upon the body
+of a fish. He approaches through the air, upright, beating the sand
+from time to time with his tail; and the patriarchal aspect of his face
+by contrast with his puny little arms, causes Anthony to laugh._)
+
+OANNES (_in a plaintive voice_):
+
+"Respect me! I am the contemporary of beginnings.
+
+"I dwelt in that formless world where hermaphroditic creatures
+slumbered, under the weight of an opaque atmosphere, in the deeps of
+dark waters--when fingers, fins, and wings were blended, and eyes
+without heads were floating like mollusks, among human-headed bulls,
+and dog-footed serpents.
+
+[Illustration: ... and eyes without heads were floating like
+mollusks]
+
+"Above the whole of these beings, OMOROCA, bent like a hoop, extended
+her woman-body. But Belus cleft her in two halves; with one he made the
+earth; with the other, heaven;--and the two equal worlds do mutually
+contemplate each other.
+
+"I, the first consciousness of CHAOS, arose from the abyss that I might
+harden matter, and give a law unto forms:--also I taught men to fish
+and to sow: I gave them knowledge of writing, and of the history of the
+gods.
+
+[Illustration: I, the first consciousness of Chaos, arose from
+the abyss that I might harden matter, and give a law unto forms ...]
+
+"Since then I have dwelt in the deep pools left by the Deluge. But the
+desert grows vaster about them; the winds cast sand into them; the sun
+devours them;--and I die upon my couch of slime, gazing at the stars
+through the water. Thither I return!"
+
+(_He leaps and disappears in the Nile._)
+
+HILARION. "That is an ancient God of the Chaldaeans!"
+
+ANTHONY (_ironically_). "What, then, were those of Babylon?"
+
+HILARION. "Thou canst behold them!"
+
+(_And they find themselves upon the platform of a lofty quadrangular
+tower dominating six other towers, which, narrowing as they rise, form
+one monstrous pyramid. Far below a great black mass is visible--the
+city, doubtless--extending over the plains. The air is cold; the sky
+darkly blue; multitudes of stars palpitate above._
+
+_In the midst of the platform rises a column of white stone. Priests
+in linen robes pass and repass around it, so as to describe by their
+evolutions a moving circle; and with faces uplifted, they gaze upon the
+stars._ ...)
+
+HILARION. (_pointing out several of these stars to Anthony_):
+
+"There are thirty principal stars. Fifteen look upon the upper side
+of the earth; fifteen below. At regular intervals one shoots from the
+upper regions to those below; while another abandons the inferior deeps
+to rise to sublime altitudes ...
+
+"Of the seven planets, two are beneficent; two evil; three
+ambiguous:--all things in the world depend upon the influence of these
+eternal fires. According to their position or movement presages may be
+drawn;--and here thou dost tread the most venerable place upon earth.
+Here Pythagoras and Zoroaster have met;--here for twelve thousand years
+these men have observed the skies that they might better learn to know
+the gods."
+
+ANTHONY. "The stars are not gods."
+
+HILARION. "Aye, they say the stars are gods; for all things about us
+pass away;--the heavens only remain immutable as eternity."
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet there is a master!"
+
+HILARION (_pointing to the column_):
+
+"He! Belus!--the first ray, the Sun, the Male! The Other, whom he
+fecundates, is beneath him!"
+
+(_Anthony beholds a garden, illuminated by lamps_: _He finds himself
+in the midst of the crowd, in an avenue of cypress-trees. To right and
+left are little pathways leading to huts constructed within a wood of
+pomegranate trees, and enclosed by treillages of bamboo._
+
+_Most of the men wear pointed caps, and garments bedizened like the
+plumage of a peacock. But there are also people from the North clad
+in bearskins, nomads wearing mantles of brown wool, pallid Gangarides
+with long earrings;--and there seems to be as much confusion of rank
+as there is confusion of nations; for sailors and stone-cutters elbow
+the princes who wear tiaras blazing with carbuncles and who carry
+long canes with carven knobs. All proceed upon their way with dilated
+nostrils, absorbed by the same desire._
+
+_From time to time, they draw aside to make way for some long covered
+wagon drawn by oxen, or some ass jolting upon his back a woman bundled
+up in thick veils, who finally disappears in the direction of the
+cabins._
+
+_Anthony feels afraid; he half-resolves to turn back. But an
+unutterable curiosity takes possession of him, and draws him on._
+
+_At the foot of the cypress-trees there are ranks of women squatting
+upon deerskins, all wearing in lieu of diadem, a plaited fillet of
+ropes. Some, magnificently attired, loudly call upon the passers-by.
+Others, more timid, seek to veil their faces with their arms, while
+some matron standing behind them, their mother doubtless, exhorts
+them. Others, their heads veiled with a black shawl, and their bodies
+entirely nude, seem from afar off to be statues of flesh. As soon as a
+man has thrown some money upon their knees, they arise._
+
+_And the sound of kisses is heard under the foliage,--sometimes a great
+sharp cry._)
+
+HILARION. "These are the virgins of Babylon, who prostitute themselves
+to the goddess."
+
+ANTHONY. "What goddess?"
+
+HILARION. "Behold her!"
+
+(_And he shows him at the further end of the avenue, upon the threshold
+of an illuminated grotto, a block of stone representing a woman._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Ignominy!--how abominable to give a sex to God!"
+
+HILARION. "Thou thyself dost figure him in thy mind as a living person!"
+
+(_Anthony again finds himself in darkness._
+
+_He beholds in the air a luminous circle, poised upon horizontal
+wings. This ring of light, girdles like a loose belt, the waist of a
+little man wearing a mitre upon his head and carrying a wreath in his
+hand. The lower part of his figure is completely concealed by immense
+feathers outspreading about him like a petticoat._
+
+_It is_--ORMUZD--_the God of the Persians. He hovers in the air above,
+crying aloud_:)
+
+"I fear! I can see his monstrous jaws! I did vanquish thee, O Ahriman!
+But again thou dost war against me.
+
+"First revolting against me, thou didst destroy the eldest of
+creatures, Kaiomortz, the Man-Bull. Then didst thou seduce the first
+human couple, Meschia and Meschiane; and thou didst fill all hearts
+with darkness, thou didst urge thy battalions against heaven!
+
+"I also had mine own, the people of the stars; and from the height of
+my throne I contemplated the marshalling of the astral hosts.
+
+"Mithra, my son, dwelt in heavens inaccessible. There he received
+souls, from thence did he send them forth; and he arose each morning to
+pour forth the abundance of his riches.
+
+"The earth reflected the splendour of the firmament. Fire blazed upon
+the crests of the mountains,--symbolizing that other fire of which
+I had created all creatures. And that the holy flame might not be
+polluted, the bodies of the dead were not burned; the beaks of birds
+carried them aloft toward heaven.
+
+"I gave to men the laws regulating pastures, labour, the choice of wood
+for the sacrifices, the form of cups, the words to be uttered in hours
+of sleeplessness;--and my priests unceasingly offered up prayers, so
+that worship might be as the eternity of God in its endlessness. Men
+purified themselves with water; loaves were offered upon the altars,
+sins were confessed aloud.
+
+"Homa[5] gave himself to men to be drank, that they might have his
+strength communicated to them while the Genii of heaven were combating
+the demons, the children of Iran were pursuing the serpents. The
+King, whom an innumerable host of courtiers served upon their knees,
+represented me in his person, and wore my coiffure. His gardens had the
+magnificence of a heaven upon earth; and his tomb represented him in
+the act of slaying a monster,--emblem of Good destroying Evil.
+
+"For it was destined that I should one day definitely conquer Ahriman,
+by the aid of Time-without-limits.
+
+"But the interval between us disappears;--the deep night rises! To
+me! ye Amschaspands, ye Izeds, ye Ferouers! Succor me, Mithra! seize
+thy sword! And thou, Kaosyac, who shall return for the universal
+deliverance, defend me! What!--none to aid! Ah! I die! Thou art the
+victor, Ahriman!"
+
+(_Hilarion, standing behind Anthony, restrains a cry of joy;--and_
+ORMUZD _is swallowed up in the darkness._)
+
+(_Then appears_:)
+
+THE GREAT DIANA OF EPHESUS
+
+(_black with enamelled eyes, her elbows pressed to her side, her
+forearms extended, with hands open._
+
+_Lions crawl upon her shoulders; fruits, flowers, and stars intercross
+upon her bosom; further down three rows of breasts appear; and from her
+belly to her feet she is covered with a tightly fitting sheath from
+which bulls, stags, griffins, and bees, seem about to spring, their
+bodies half-protruding from it. She is illuminated by the white light
+emanating from a disk of silver, round as the full moon, placed behind
+her head._)
+
+"Where is my temple? Where are my Amazons?
+
+"What is this I feel?--I, the Incorruptible!--a strange faintness comes
+upon me!"...
+
+(_Her flowers wither, her over-ripe fruits become detached and fall.
+The lions and the bulls hang their heads; the deer foam at the mouth,
+with a slimy foam, as though exhausted; the buzzing bees die upon the
+ground._
+
+_She presses her breasts, one after the other. All are empty! But under
+a desperate effort her sheath bursts. She seizes it by the bottom, like
+the skirt of a robe, throws her animals, her fruits, her flowers, into
+it,--then withdraws into the darkness._
+
+_And afar off there are voices, murmuring, growling, roaring,
+bellowing, belling. The density of the night is augmented by breaths.
+Drops of warm rain fall._)
+
+ANTHONY. "How sweet the odour of the palm trees, the trembling of
+leaves, the transparency of springs! I feel the desire to lie flat upon
+the Earth that I might feel her against my heart; and my life would be
+reinvigorated by her eternal youth!"
+
+(_He hears the sound of castanets and of cymbals; and men appear, clad
+in white tunics with red stripes,--leading through the midst of a
+rustic crowd an ass, richly harnessed, its tail decorated with knots of
+ribbons, and its hoofs painted._
+
+_A box, covered with a saddle-cloth[6] of yellow material shakes to
+and fro upon its back, between two baskets,--one receives the offerings
+contributed,--eggs, grapes, pears, cheeses, fowls, little coins; and
+the other basket is full of roses, which the leaders of the ass pluck
+to pieces as they walk before the animal, shedding the leaves upon the
+ground._
+
+_They wear earrings and large mantles; their locks are plaited, their
+cheeks painted, olive-wreaths are fastened upon their foreheads by
+medallions bearing figurines;--all wear poniards in their belts, and
+brandish ebony-handled whips, having three thongs to which osselets are
+attached._[7]
+
+_Those who form the rear of the procession, place upon the soil,--so as
+to remain upright as a candelabrum,--a tall pine, which burns at its
+summit, and shades under its lower branches a lamb._
+
+_The ass halts. The saddle-cloth is removed. Underneath appears a
+second covering of black felt. Then one of the men in white tunics
+begins to dance, rattling his crotali;--another, kneeling before the
+box, beats a tambourine and_--)
+
+THE OLDEST OF THE BAND, _begins_:--
+
+"Here is the Good Goddess, the Idaean of the mountains, the Great Mother
+of Syria! Come ye hither, good people all!
+
+[Illustration: Here is the Good Goddess, the Idaean of the mountains ...]
+
+"She gives joy to men, she heals the sick; she sends inheritances; she
+satisfies the hunger of love!
+
+"We bear her through the land, rain or shine, in fair weather, or in
+foul.
+
+"Oft times we lie in the open air, and our table is not always well
+served. Robbers dwell in the woods. Wild beasts rush from their
+caverns. Slippery paths border the precipices. Behold her! behold her!"
+
+(_They lift off the covering; and a box is seen, inlaid with little
+pebbles._)
+
+"Loftier than the cedars, she looks down from the blue ether. Vaster
+than the wind she encircles the world. Her breath is exhaled by the
+nostrils of tigers; the rumbling of her voice is heard beneath the
+volcanoes; her wrath is the tempest; the pallor of her face has
+whitened the moon. She ripens the harvest; by her the tree-bark swells
+with sap; she makes the beard to grow. Give her something; for she
+hates the avaricious!"
+
+(_The box opens; and under a little pavilion of blue silk appears a
+small image of Cybele--glittering with spangles, crowned with towers,
+and seated in a chariot of red stone, drawn by two lions, with uplifted
+paws._
+
+_The crowd presses forward to see._)
+
+THE ARCHIGALLUS (_continues_):
+
+"She loves the sound of resounding tympanums, the echo of dancing
+feet, the howling of wolves, the sonorous mountains and the deep
+gorges, the flower of the almond tree, the pomegranate and the green
+fig, the whirling dance, the snoring flute, the sugary sap, the salty
+tear,--blood! To thee, to thee!--Mother of the mountains!"
+
+(_They scourge themselves with their whips; and their chests resound
+with the blows;--the skins of the tambourines vibrate almost to
+bursting. They seize their knives; they gash their arms._)
+
+"She is sorrowful; let us be sorrowful! Thereby your sins will be
+remitted. Blood purifies all--fling its red drops abroad like blossoms!
+She, the Great Mother, demands the blood of another creature--of a pure
+being!"
+
+(_The Archigallus raises his knife above the head of a lamb._)
+
+ANTHONY (_seized with horror_):
+
+"Do not slay the lamb!"
+
+(_There is a gush of purple blood. The priest sprinkles the crowd
+with it; and all--including Anthony and Hilarion--standing around the
+burning tree, silently watch the last palpitations of the victim._
+
+_A Woman comes forth from the midst of the priests; she resembles
+exactly the image within the little box._
+
+_She pauses, perceiving before her a Young Man wearing a Phrygian
+cap. His thighs are covered with a pair of narrow trousers, with
+lozenge-shaped openings here and there at regular intervals, closed by
+bow knots of coloured material. He stands in an attitude of languor,
+resting his elbow against a branch of the tree, holding a flute in his
+hand._)
+
+CYBELE (_flinging her arms about his waist_).
+
+"I have traversed all regions of the earth to join thee--and famine
+ravaged the fields Thou hast deceived me! It matters not! I love thee!
+Warm my body in thine embrace! Let us be united!"
+
+ATYS. "The springtime will never again return, O eternal Mother!
+Despite my love, it is no longer possible for me to penetrate thy
+essence! Would that I might cover myself with a painted robe like
+thine! I envy thy breasts, swelling with milk, the length of thy
+tresses, thy vast flanks that have borne and brought forth all
+creatures! Why am I not thou?--Why am I not a woman?--No, never! depart
+from me! My virility fills me with horror!"
+
+(_With a sharp stone he dismembers himself, and runs furiously from
+her ..._
+
+_The priests imitate the god; the faithful do even as the priests. Men
+and women exchange garments, embrace;--and the tumult of bleeding flesh
+passes away, while the sound of voices remaining, becomes even more
+strident,--like the shrieking of mourners, like the voices heard at
+funerals._
+
+_ ... A huge catafalque, hung with purple, supports upon its summit an
+ebony bed, surrounded by torches and baskets of silver filagree, in
+which are verdant leaves of lettuce, mallow and fennel. Upon the steps
+of the construction, from summit to base, sit women all clad in black,
+with loosened girdles and bare feet, holding in their hands with a
+melancholy air, great bouquets of flowers._
+
+_At each corner of the estrade urns of alabaster, filled with myrrh,
+slowly send up their smoke._
+
+_Upon the bed can be perceived the corpse of a man. Blood flows from
+his thigh. One of his arms hangs down lifelessly;--and a dog licks his
+finger nails and howls._
+
+_The row of torches placed closely together, prevents his face from
+being seen; and Anthony feels a strange anguish within him. He fears
+lest he should recognize some one._
+
+_The sobs of the women cease--and after an interval of silence_,)
+
+ALL (_psalmody together_):
+
+"Fair! fair!--all fair he is! Thou hast slept enough!--lift thy
+head!--arise!
+
+"Inhale the perfume of our flowers--narcissus--blossoms and anemones,
+gathered in thine own gardens to please thee. Arouse thee! thou dost
+make us fear for thee!
+
+"Speak to us! What dost thou desire? Wilt thou drink wine?--wilt thou
+lie in our beds?--dost wish to eat the honeycakes which have the form
+of little birds?
+
+"Let us press his lips,--kiss his breast! Now!--now!--dost thou not
+feel our ring-laden fingers passing over thy body?--and our lips that
+seek thy mouth?--and our tresses that sweep thy thighs? O faint God,
+deaf to our prayers!"
+
+(_They cry aloud, and rend their faces with their nails; then all
+rush,--and the howling of the dog continues in the silence._)
+
+"Alas! alas! Woe!--the black blood trickles over his snowy flesh!
+See! his knees writhe!--his sides sink in! The bloom of his face hath
+dampened the purple. He is dead, dead! O weep for him! Lament for him!"
+
+(_In long procession they ascend to lay between the torches the
+offerings of their several tresses, that seem from afar off like
+serpents, black or blond;--and the catafalque is lowered gently to the
+level of, a grotto,--the opening of a shadowy sepulchre that yawns
+behind it._
+
+_Then_--)
+
+A WOMAN (_bends over the corpse. Her long hair, uncut, envelopes her
+from head to feet. She sheds tears so abundantly that her grief cannot
+be as that of the others, but more than human--infinite!_
+
+_Anthony dreams of the Mother of Jesus. She speaks_:--)
+
+"Thou didst emerge from the Orient, and didst take me, all trembling
+with the dew, into thy arms, O Sun! Doves fluttered upon the azure
+of thy mantle; our kisses evoked low breezes among the foliage; and I
+abandoned myself wholly to thy love, delighting in the pleasure of my
+weakness.
+
+"Alas! alas--Why didst thou depart, to run upon the mountains! A boar
+did wound thee at the time of the autumnal equinox!
+
+"Thou art dead; and the fountains weep,--the trees bend down. The wind
+of winter whistles through the naked brushwood.
+
+"My eyes are about to close, seeing that darkness covers them! Now thou
+dwellest in the underworld near the mightiest of my rivals.
+
+"O Persephone, all that is beautiful descends to thee, never to return!"
+
+(_Even while she speaks, her companions lift the dead, to place him
+within the sepulchre. He remains in their hands! It was only a waxen
+corpse._
+
+_Wherefore Anthony feels something resembling relief._
+
+_All vanish;--and the hut, the rocks, and the cross reappear._
+
+_But upon the other side of the Nile, Anthony beholds a Woman,
+standing in the midst of the desert._
+
+_She retains in her hand the lower part of a long black veil that hides
+all her face; supporting with her left arm a little child to whom she
+is giving suck. A great ape crouches down in the sand beside her._
+
+_She uplifts her head toward heaven; and in spite of the great
+distance, her voice is distinctly heard_:)
+
+ISIS. "O Neith, Beginning of all things! Ammon, Lord of Eternity;
+Pthah, demiurgos; Thoth, his intelligence; gods of the Amenthi,
+particular triads of the Nomes,--falcons in the azure of heaven,
+sphinxes before the temples, ibises perched between the horns of oxen,
+planets, constellations, shore, murmurs of the wind, gleams of the
+light,--tell me where I may find Osiris.
+
+"I have sought him in all the canals and all the lakes--aye, further
+yet, even to Ph[oe]nician Byblos. Anubis, with ears pricked up, leaped
+about me, and yelped, and thrust his muzzle searchingly into the tufts
+of the tamarinds.
+
+"Thanks, good Cynocephalos--thanks to thee!"
+
+(_She gives the ape two or three friendly little taps upon the head._)
+
+"Hideous Typhon, the red-haired slew him, tore him in pieces! We have
+found all his members. But I have not that which rendered me fecund!"
+
+(_She utters wild lamentations._)
+
+ANTHONY (_is filled with fury. He casts stones at her, reviles her._)
+
+"Begone! thou shameless one!--Begone!"
+
+HILARION. "Nay! respect her! Her religion was the faith of thy
+fathers!--thou didst wear her amulets when thou wert a child in the
+cradle!"
+
+ISIS. "In the summers of long ago, the inundation drove the impure
+beasts into the desert. The dykes were opened, the boats dashed against
+each other; the panting earth drank the river with the intoxication of
+joy. Then, O God, with the horns of the bull, thou didst lie upon my
+breast, and then was heard, the lowings of the Eternal Cow!
+
+"The seasons of sowing and reaping, of threshing and of vintage,
+followed each other in regular order with the years. In the eternal
+purity of the nights, broad stars beamed and glowed. The days were
+bathed in never-varying splendour. Like a royal couple the Sun and the
+Moon appeared simultaneously, at either end of the horizon.
+
+"Then did we both reign above a sublimer world, twin-monarchs, wedded
+within, the womb of eternity--he bearing a concupha-headed sceptre; I,
+the sceptre that is tipped with a lotus-flower; both of us erect with
+hands joined; and the crumblings of empires affected not our attitude.
+
+"Egypt extended, below us, monumental and awful, long-shaped like the
+corridor of a temple; with obelisks on the right, pyramids on the
+left, and its labyrinth in the midst. And everywhere were avenues
+of monsters, forests of columns, massive pylons flanking gates
+summit-crowned with the mysterious globe--the globe of the world,
+between two wings.
+
+"The animals of her Zodiac also existed in her pasture lands; and
+filled her mysterious writing with their forms and colours. Divided
+into twelve regions as the year is divided into-twelve months--each
+month, each day also having its own god--she reproduced the immutable
+order of heaven. And man even in dying changed not his face; but
+saturated with perfumes, invulnerable to decay, he lay down to sleep
+for three thousand years in another and silent Egypt.
+
+"And that Egypt, vaster than the Egypt of the living, extended beneath
+the earth.
+
+"Thither one descended by dark stairways leading into halls where were
+represented the joys of the good, the tortures of the wicked, all that
+passes in the third and invisible world. Ranged along the wall the dead
+in their painted coffins awaited their turn; and the soul, exempted
+from migrations, continued its heavy slumber until the awakening into a
+new life.
+
+"Nevertheless, Osiris sometimes came to see me. And by his ghost I
+became the mother of Harpocrates."
+
+(_She contemplates the child._)
+
+"Aye! it is he. Those are his eyes; those are his locks, plaited into
+ram horns! Thou shalt recommence his works. We shall bloom again like
+the lotus. I am still the Great Isis!--none has yet lifted my veil! My
+fruit is the Sun!
+
+[Illustration: I am still the Great Isis!--none has yet lifted
+my veil! My fruit is the Sun!]
+
+"Sim of Springtime, clouds now obscure thy face! The breath of Typhon
+devours the pyramids. But a little while ago I beheld the Sphinx flee
+away. He was galloping like a jackal.
+
+"I look for my priests,--my priests clad in mantles of linen, with
+their great harps, and bearing a mysterious bark, adorned with
+silver pateras. There are no more festivals upon the lakes!--no more
+illuminations in my delta!--no more cups of milk at Philae! Apis has
+long ceased to reappear.
+
+"Egypt! Egypt! thy great motionless gods have their shoulders already
+whitened by the dung of birds; and the wind that passes over the desert
+rolls with it and the ashes of thy dead!--Anubis, guardian of ghosts,
+abandon me not!"
+
+(_The Cynocephalos has vanished. She shakes her child._)
+
+"But ... what ails thee ... thy hands are cold, thy head droops!"
+
+(_Harpocrates expires. Then she cries aloud with a cry so piercing,
+funereal, heart-rending, that Anthony answers it with another cry,
+extending his arms as to support her._
+
+_She is no longer there. He lowers his face, overwhelmed by shame._
+
+_All that he has seen becomes confused within his mind. It is like the
+bewilderment of travel, the illness of drunkenness. He wishes to hate;
+but a vague and vast pity fills his heart. He begins to weep, and weeps
+abundantly._)
+
+HILARION. "What makes thee sorrowful?"
+
+ANTHONY (_after having long sought within himself for a reply_):
+
+"I think of all the souls that have been lost through these false gods!"
+
+HILARION. "Dost thou not think that they ... sometimes ... bear much
+resemblance to the TRUE?"
+
+ANTHONY. "That is but a device of the Devil to seduce the faithful more
+easily. He attacks the strong through the mind, the weak through the
+flesh."
+
+HILARION. "But luxury, in its greatest fury, has all the
+disinterestedness of penitence. The frenzied love of the body
+accelerates the destruction thereof,--and proclaims the extent of the
+impossible by the exposition of the body's weakness."
+
+ANTHONY. "What signifies that to me! My heart sickens with disgust
+of these beautiful bestial gods, forever busied with carnages and
+incests!"
+
+HILARION. "Yet recollect all those things in the Scripture which
+scandalize thee because thou art unable to comprehend them! So also may
+these Gods conceal under their sinful forms some mighty truth. There
+are more of them yet to be seen. Look around!"
+
+ANTHONY. "No, no!--it is dangerous!"
+
+HILARION. "But a little while ago thou didst desire to know them! Is
+it because thy faith might vacillate in the presence of lies? What
+fearest thou?"
+
+(_The rocks fronting Anthony have become as a mountain. A line of
+clouds obscures the mountain half way between summit and base; and
+above the clouds appears another mountain, enormous, all green,
+unequally hollowed by valleys nestling in its slopes, and supporting at
+its summit, in the midst of laurel-groves a palace of bronze, roofed
+with tiles of gold, and supported by columns having capitals of ivory._
+
+_In the centre of the peristyle Jupiter,--colossal, with torso
+nude,--holds Victory in one hand, his thunderbolts in the other; and
+his eagle, perched between his feet, rears its head._
+
+_Juno, seated near him, rolls her large eyes, beneath a diadem whence
+her wind-blown veil escapes like a vapour._
+
+_Behind them, Minerva, standing upon a pedestal, leans on her spear.
+The skin of the Gorgon covers her breast, and a linen peplos falls in
+regular folds to the nails of her toes. Her glaucous eyes, which gleam
+beneath her vizor, gaze afar off, attentively._
+
+_On the right of the palace, the aged Neptune bestrides a dolphin
+beating with its fins a vast azure expanse which may be sea or sky, for
+the perspective of the Ocean seems a continuation of the blue ether:
+the two elements are interblended._
+
+_On the other side weird Pluto in night-black mantle, crowned with
+diamond tiara and bearing a sceptre of ebony, sits in the midst of an
+islet surrounded by the circumvolutions of the Styx;--and this river of
+shadow empties itself into the darknesses, which form a vast black gulf
+below the cliff,--a bottomless abyss!_
+
+_Mars, clad in brass, brandishes as in wrath his broad shield and his
+sword._
+
+_Hercules, leaning upon his club, gazes at him from below._
+
+_Apollo, his face ablaze with light, grasps with outstretched right
+arm the reins of four white horses urged to a gallop; and Ceres in her
+ox-drawn chariot advances toward him with a sickle in her hand._
+
+_Behind her comes Bacchus, riding in a very low chariot, gently drawn
+by lynxes. Plump and beardless, with vine leaves garlanding his brow,
+he passes by holding in his hand an overflowing cup of wine. Silenus
+riding beside him reels upon his ass. Pan of the pointed ears, blows
+upon his syrinx; the Mimalonaeides beat drums; the Maenads strew
+flowers; the Bacchantes turn in the dance with heads thrown back and
+hair dishevelled._
+
+_Diana, with tunic tucked up, issues from the wood together with her
+nymphs._
+
+_At the further end of a cavern, Vulcan among his Cabiri, hammers the
+heated iron; here and there the aged Rivers leaning recumbent upon
+green rocks pour water from their urns; the Muses stand singing in the
+valleys_.
+
+_The Hours, all of equal stature, link hands; and Mercury poses
+obliquely upon a rainbow, with his caduceus, winged sandals, and winged
+petasus._
+
+_But at the summit of the stairway of the Gods,--among clouds soft
+as down, from whose turning volutes a rain of roses falls,--Venus
+Anadyomene stands gazing at herself in a mirror:--her eyes move
+languorously beneath their slumbrous lids._
+
+_She has masses of rich blond hair rolling down over her shoulders; her
+breasts are small; her waist is slender; her hips curve out like the
+sweeping curves of a lyre; her thighs are perfectly rounded; there are
+dimples about her knees; her feet are delicate: a butterfly hovers near
+her mouth. The splendour of her body makes a nacreous-tinted halo of
+bright light about her; while all the rest of Olympus is bathed in a
+pink dawn, rising gradually to the heights of the blue sky._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! my heart swells! A joy never known before thrills me to
+the depths of my soul! How beautiful, how beautiful it is!"
+
+HILARION. "They leaned from the heights of cloud to direct the way of
+swords; one used to meet them upon the high roads; men had them in
+their houses--and this familiarity divinized life.
+
+"Life's aim was only to be free and beautiful. Nobility of attitude was
+facilitated by the looseness of garments. The voice of the orator,
+trained by the sea, rolled its sonorous waves against the porticoes of
+marble. The ephebus, anointed with oil, wrestled all naked in the full
+light of the sun. The holiest of actions was to expose perfection of
+forms to all.
+
+"And these men respected wives, aged men, suppliants.
+
+"Behind the temple of Hercules there was an altar erected to Pity.
+
+"Victims were immolated with flowers wreathed about the fingers of the
+sacrificer. Even memory was exempted from thoughts of the rottenness
+of death. Nothing remained but a little pile of ashes. And the Soul,
+mingling with the boundless ether, rose up to God."
+
+(_Bending to whisper in Anthony's ear_:--)
+
+"And they still live! The Emperor Constantine adores Apollo. Thou wilt
+find the Trinity in Samothracian mysteries,--baptism in the religion of
+Isis,--redemption in the faith of Mithra,--a martyrdom of a God in the
+festivals of Bacchus. Prosperpine is the Virgin!... Aristaeus is Jesus!"
+
+ANTHONY (_remains awhile with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought;
+then suddenly repeats aloud the Symbol of Jerusalem, as he remembers
+it, uttering a long sigh between each phrase_):--
+
+"I believe in one only God, the Father,--and in one only Lord, Jesus
+Christ,--the first born son of God, who was incarnated and made
+man,--who was crucified, and buried,--who ascended into Heaven,--who
+will come to judge the living and the dead,--of whose Kingdom there
+shall be no end;--and in one Holy Spirit,--and in one baptism of
+repentance,--and in one Holy Catholic Church,--and in the resurrection
+of the flesh,--and in the life everlasting!"
+
+(_Immediately the cross becomes loftier and loftier; it pierces the
+clouds, and casts its shadow upon the heaven of the gods._
+
+_All grow pale;--Olympus shudders._
+
+_And at its base Anthony beholds vast bodies enchained, sustaining the
+rocks upon their shoulders,--giant figures half buried in the deeps
+of caverns. These are the Titans, the Giants, the Hecatonchires, the
+Cyclops._)
+
+A VOICE
+
+(_rises, indistinct and awful, like the far roar of leaves, like the
+voice of forests in time of tempest, like the mighty moaning of the
+wind among the precipices_):
+
+"We knew these things!--we knew them! There must come an end even for
+the Gods! Uranus was mutilated by Saturn,--Saturn by Jupiter. And
+Jupiter himself shall be annihilated. Each in his turn;--it is Destiny!"
+
+(_And little by little they sink into the mountain, and disappear._
+
+_Meanwhile the golden tiles of the palace rise and fly away._)
+
+JUPITER (_has descended from his throne. At his feet the thunderbolts
+lie, smoking like burning coals about to expire;--and the great eagle
+bends its neck to pick up its falling feathers_):
+
+"Then I am no longer the master of all things,--most holy, most
+mighty, god of the phatrias and Greek peoples,--ancestor of all the
+Kings,--Agamemnon of heaven.
+
+"Eagle of apotheoses, what wind from Erebus has wafted thee to me? or,
+fleeing from the Campus Martins, dost thou bear me the soul of the last
+of the Emperors?
+
+"I no longer desire to receive those of men. Let the Earth keep them;
+and let them move upon the level of its baseness. Their hearts are now
+the hearts of slaves;--they forget injuries, forget their ancestors,
+forget their oaths,--and everywhere the folly of crowds, the mediocrity
+of individuals, the hideousness of races, hold sway!"
+
+(_He pants with such violence that his sides seem ready to burst
+asunder; he clenches his hands. Weeping_, HEBE _offers him a cup. He
+seizes it._)
+
+"No, no! So long as there shall be a brain enclosing a thought, in
+whatsoever part of the world;--so long as there shall exist a mind
+hating disorder, creating LAW,--so long will the spirit of Jupiter
+live!"
+
+(_But the cup is empty. He turns its edge down over his thumbnail._)
+
+"Not one drop left! When the ambrosia fails, the Immortals must indeed
+depart!"
+
+(_The cup drops from his hands; and he leans against a column, feeling
+himself about to die._)
+
+JUNO. "Thou shouldst not have had so many amours! Eagle, bull, swan,
+rain of gold, cloud and flame, thou didst assume all forms,--dissipate
+thy light in all elements,--lose thy hair upon all beds! This time
+the divorce is irrevocable; and our domination, our very existence,
+dissolved."
+
+(_She passes away in air._)
+
+MINERVA (_has no longer her spear; and the ravens nesting among the
+sculptures of the friezes, wheel about her, peeking at her helmet._)
+
+"Let me see whether my vessels cleave the bright sea, returning to my
+three ports,--let me discover why the fields are deserted, and learn
+what the daughters of Athens are now doing.
+
+"In the month of Hecatombeon my whole people came to worship me, under
+the guidance of their magistrates and priests. Then, all in white robes
+and wearing chitons of gold, they advanced the long line of virgins
+bearing cups, baskets, parasols; then the three hundred sacrificial
+oxen, and the old men having green boughs, the soldiers with clashing
+of armour, the ephebi singing hymns, flute players, lyre players,
+rhapsodists, dancing women;--and lastly attached to the mast of a
+trireme mounted upon wheel, my great veil embroidered by virgins who
+had been nourished in a particular way for a whole year. And when it
+had been displayed in all the streets, in all the squares, and before
+the temples, in the midst of the ever-chanting procession, it was borne
+step by step up the hill of the Acropolis, grazed the Propylaea, and
+entered the Parthenon....
+
+"But a strange feebleness comes upon me,--me the Industrious One! What!
+what! not one idea comes to me! Lo! I am trembling more than a woman!"
+
+(_She turns, beholds a ruin behind her, utters a cry, and stricken by a
+fallen fragment, falls backward upon the ground._)
+
+HERCULES (_has flung away his lion-skin; and with feet firmly braced,
+back arched, teeth clenched, he exhausts himself in immeasurable
+efforts to bear up the mass of crumbling Olympus._)
+
+"I vanquished the Cercopes, the Amazons, and the Centaurs. Many were
+the kings I slew. I broke the horn of the great river, Achelous. I cut
+the mountains asunder; I freed nations from slavery; and I peopled
+lands that were desolate. I travelled through the countries of Gaul;
+I traversed the deserts where thirst prevails. I defended the gods
+from their enemies; and I freed myself from Omphale. But the weight of
+Olympus is too great for me. My arms grow feebler:--I die!"
+
+(_He is crushed beneath the ruins._)
+
+PLUTO. "It is thy fault, Amphytrionad;--wherefore didst thou descend
+into my empire?
+
+"The vulture that gnaws the entrails of Tityus lifted its head;--the
+lips of Tantalus were moistened;--the wheel of Ixion stopped.
+
+"Meanwhile the Kaeres extended their claws to snatch back the escaping
+ghosts; the Furies tore the serpents of their locks; and Cerberus
+fettered by thee with a chain, sounded the death rattle in his throat,
+and foamed at all his three mouths.
+
+"Thou didst leave the gate ajar; others have come. The daylight of men
+has entered into Tartarus!"
+
+(_He sinks into the darkness._)
+
+NEPTUNE. "My trident can no longer call up the tempests. The monsters
+that terrified of old, lie rotting at the bottom of the sea.
+
+"Amphitrite whose white feet tripped lightly over the foam, the green
+Nereids seen afar off in the horizon, the scaly Sirens who stopped
+the passing vessels to tell stories, and the ancient Tritons mightily
+blowing upon their shells, all have passed away. All is desolate and
+dead; the gaiety of the great Sea is no more!"
+
+(_He vanishes beneath the azure._)
+
+DIANA (_clad in black and surrounded by her dogs, which have been
+changed into wolves_).
+
+"The freedom of the deep forests once intoxicated me; the odours of the
+wild beasts and the exhalations of the marshes made me as one drank
+with joy. But the women whose maternity I protected, now bring dead
+children into the world. The moon trembles with the incantations of
+witches. Desires of violence, of immensity, seize me, fill me! I wish
+to drink poisons,--to lose myself in vapours, in dreams...!"
+
+(_And a passing cloud carries her away._)
+
+MARS (_unhelmed and covered with blood_).
+
+"At first I fought alone;--singlehanded I would provoke a whole army by
+my insults,--caring nothing for countries or nations, demanding battle
+for the pleasure of carnage alone.
+
+"Afterward I had comrades. They marched to the sound of flutes, in good
+order, with equal step, respiring above their bucklers, with plumes
+loftily nodding, lances oblique. Then on rushed to battle with mighty
+eagle cries. War was joyous as a banquet. Three hundred men strove
+against all Asia.
+
+"But the Barbarians are returning;--by myriads they come, by millions!
+Ah! since numbers, and engines, and cunning are stronger than valour,
+it were better that I die the death of the brave!"
+
+(_He kills himself._)
+
+VULCAN (_sponging the sweat from his limbs_):
+
+"The world is growing cold. The source of heat must be nourished, the
+volcanoes and rivers of flowing metal underground. Strike harder!--with
+full swing of the arms,--with might and main!"
+
+(_The Cabiri wound themselves with their hammers, blind themselves with
+sparks, and groping, lose themselves in the darkness._)
+
+CERES (_standing in her chariot, impelled by wheels having wings at
+their hubs_):
+
+"Stop! Stop! Ah! it was with good reason that the exclusion of
+strangers, atheists, Epicureans, and Christians was commended! Now the
+mystery of the basket has been unveiled; the sanctuary profaned: all is
+lost!"
+
+(_She descends a precipitous slope--shrieking, despairing, tearing her
+hair._)
+
+"Ah! lies, lies! Daira has not been restored to me. The voice of brass
+calls me to the dead. This is another Tartarus, whence there is no
+return! Horror!"
+
+(_The abyss engulfs her._)
+
+BACCHUS (_with a frenzied laugh_).
+
+"What matters it? The Archon's wife is my spouse! The law itself reels
+in drunkenness! To me the new song, the multiplied forms!
+
+"The fire by which my mother was devoured, flows in my veins! Let it
+burn yet more fiercely, even though I perish!
+
+"Male and female, complaisant to all, I abandon myself to you,
+Bacchantes! I abandon myself to you, Bacchanalians!--and the vine shall
+twine herself about the tree-trunks! Howl! dance! writhe! Loosen the
+tiger and the slave!--rend flesh with ferocious bitings!"
+
+(_And Pan, Silenus, the Bacchantes, the Mimalonaeides, and the
+Maenads,--with their serpents, torches, sable masks,--cast flowers at
+each other ... shake their tympanums, strike their thyrsi, pelt each
+other with shells, devour grapes, strangle a goat, and tear Bacchus
+asunder._)
+
+APOLLO (_furiously whipping his coursers, while his blanching locks are
+falling from his head_):
+
+"I have left far behind me stony Delos, so pure that all now there
+seems dead; and I must strive to reach Delphi ere its inspiring vapour
+be wholly lost. The mules browse in its laurel groves. The Pythoness
+has wandered away, and cannot be found.
+
+"By a stronger concentration of my power, I will obtain sublime hymns,
+eternal monuments; and all matter will be penetrated by the vibrations
+of my cithara!"
+
+(_He strikes the strings of the instrument. They burst, lashing his
+face with their broken ends. He flings the cithara away; and furiously
+whipping his quadriga, cries_):
+
+"No! enough of forms!--Further, higher!--to the very summit!--to the
+realm of pure thought!"
+
+(_But the horses back, rear, dash the chariot to pieces. Entangled by
+the harness, caught by the fragments of the broken pole, he falls head
+foremost into the abyss._
+
+[Illustration: ... he falls head foremost into the abyss.]
+
+_The sky is darkened._)
+
+VENUS (_blue with cold, shivering_):
+
+"Once with my girdle I made all the horizon of Hellas.
+
+"Her fields glowed with the roses of my cheeks; her shores were
+outlined after the fashion of my lips; and her mountains, whiter than
+my doves, palpitated beneath the hands of the statuaries. My spirit's
+manifestation was found in the ordinances of the festivals, in the
+arrangement of coiffures, in the dialogues of philosophers, in the
+constitution of republics. But I have doted too much upon men! It is
+Love that has dishonoured me!"
+
+(_She casts herself back weeping_):
+
+"This world is abominable;--there is no air for me to breathe!
+
+"O Mercury, inventor of the lyre, conductor of souls, take me away!"
+
+(_She places one finger upon her lips, and describing an immense
+parabola, falls into the abyss._
+
+_Nothing is now visible. The darkness is complete._
+
+_Only, that from the eyes of Hilarion escape two flashes, two rays of
+lurid light._)
+
+ANTHONY (_begins at last to notice his immense stature_):
+
+"Already several times, while thou wert speaking, it seemed to me thou
+wert growing taller; and it was no illusion! How? Explain to me ... Thy
+aspect terrifies me!"
+
+(_Footsteps are heard approaching._)
+
+"What is that?"
+
+HILARION (_extending his arm_):
+
+"Look!"
+
+(_Then, under a pale beam of moonlight, Anthony distinguishes an
+interminable caravan defiling over the summit of the rocks;--and each
+voyager, one after the other, falls from the cliff into the gulf below._
+
+_First comes the three great gods of_ Samothrace,--AXIEROS, AXIOKEROS,
+AXIOKERSA,--_united together as in a fascia, purple-masked, all with
+hands uplifted._
+
+_AEsculapius advances with a melancholy air, not even perceiving
+Samos and Telesphorus, who question him with gestures of anguish._
+ELEAN SOSIPOLIS, _of python-form, rolls his coils toward the abyss._
+DOSIPOENA, _becomes dizzy, leaps in of her own accord._ BRITOMARTIS,
+_shrieking with fear, clutches fast the meshes of her net. The Centaurs
+come at a wild gallop, and roll pell-mell into the black gulf._
+
+_Behind them, all limping, advance the bands of the mourning Nymphs.
+Those of the meadows are covered with dust; those of the woods moan and
+bleed; wounded by the axes of the woodcutters._
+
+_The Gelludes, the Strygii, the Empusae, all the infernal goddesses,
+form one pyramid of blended fangs, vipers, and torches;--and seated
+upon a vulture-skin at its summit, Eurynome, blue as the flies that
+corrupt meat, devours her own arms._
+
+_Then in one great whirl simultaneously disappear the bloody Orthia,
+Hymina of Orchomenus, the Laphria of the Patraens, Aphia of Agina,
+Bendis of Thrace, Stymphalia with thighs like a bird's. Triopas, in
+lieu of three eyes, has now but three empty orbits. Erichthonius, his
+legs paralysed, crawls upon his hands like a cripple._)
+
+HILARION. "What a pleasure, is it not!--to see them all in the
+abjection of their death-agony! Climb up here beside me, on this rock;
+and thou shalt be even as Xerxes, reviewing his army.
+
+"Beyond there, very far, dost thou behold that fair-bearded giant,
+who even now lets fall his sword crimsoned with blood?--that is
+the Scythian Zalmoxis between two planets,--Artimpasa, Venus, and
+Orsiloche, the Moon.
+
+"Still further away, now emerging from pallid clouds, are the gods whom
+the Cimmerians adore, even beyond Thule.
+
+"Their huge halls were warm, and by the gleam of swords that tapestried
+the vault, they drank their hydromel from horns of ivory. They ate the
+liver of the whale in dishes of brass wrought by the hammers of demons;
+or, betimes, they listened to captive sorcerers whose fingers played
+upon harps of stone.
+
+"They are feeble! They are cold! The snow makes heavy their bearskins;
+and their feet show through the rents in their sandals.
+
+"They weep for the vast fields upon whose grassy knolls they were
+wont to draw breath in pauses of battle; they weep for the long ships
+whose prows forced a way through the mountains of ice;--and the skates
+wherewith they followed the orb of the poles, upbearing at the length
+of their mighty arms all the firmament that turned with them."
+
+(_A gust of frosty wind carries them off. Anthony turns his eyes
+another way. And he perceives--outlined in black against a red
+background--certain strange personages, with chinbands and gauntlets,
+who throw balls at one another, leap over each other's heads, make
+grimaces, dance a frenzied dance._)
+
+HILARION. "Those are the divinities of Etruria, the innumerable AEsars.
+
+"There is Tages, by whom augury was invented. With one hand he seeks to
+augment the divisions of the sky; with the other he supports himself
+upon the earth: let him sink therein!
+
+"Nortia gazes at the wall into which she drave nails to mark the number
+of the passing years. Its whole surface is now covered; and the period
+is accomplished.
+
+"Like two travellers overtaken by a storm, Kastur and Pulutuk,
+trembling, seek to shelter themselves beneath the same mantle."
+
+ANTHONY (_closes his eyes_):
+
+"Enough! Enough!"
+
+(_But with a mighty noise of wings, all the Victories of the Capitol
+pass through the air,--hiding their faces with their hands, dropping
+the trophies hanging upon their arms._
+
+_Janus,--lord of crepuscules,--flees upon a black ram; and one of his
+two faces is already putrified; the other slumbers with fatigue._
+
+_Summanus, the headless god of the dark heavens, presses against his
+heart an odd cake shaped like a wheel._
+
+_Vesta, beneath a ruined cupola, tries to relight her extinguished
+lamp._
+
+_Bellona gashes her cheeks,--without being able to make that blood flow
+by which her devotees were purified._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Mercy!--they weary me!"
+
+HILARION. "Before, they amused thee!"
+
+(_And he shows him in a grove of bean-trees,_ A WOMAN, _naked....
+.........and a black man, holding in each hand a torch._[8])
+
+"It is the goddess of Aricia, with the demon Virbius. Her sacerdote,
+the King of the grove, had to be an assassin;[9] and the fugitive
+slaves, the despoilers of corpses, the brigands of the Via Salaria, the
+cripples of the Pons Sublicius, all the human vermin of the Suburra
+worshipped no deities so fervently.
+
+"In the time of Marcus Antonius the patrician women preferred Libitina."
+
+(_And he shows him under the shadow of cypresses and rose-trees_,
+ANOTHER WOMAN, _clad in gauze. Around her lie spades, litters, black
+hangings, all the paraphernalia of funerals. She smiles. Her diamonds
+shine afar off through spiders' webs. The Larvae, like skeletons, show
+their bones through the branches; and the Lemures, who are phantoms,
+extend their bat-like wings._
+
+_At the end of a field lies the god Terminus, uprooted, and covered
+with ordures._
+
+_In the centre of a furrow, the great corpse of Vertumnus is being
+devoured by red dogs._
+
+_The rustic deities all depart, weeping:--Sartor, Sarrator, Vervactor,
+Collina, Vallona, Hostilinus--all wearing little hooded mantles, and
+carrying either a hoe, a pitchfork, a hurdle, or a boar-spear._)
+
+HILARION. "Their spirits made prosperous the villa,--with its dovecots,
+its parks of dormice, its poultry-yards protected by nets, its warm
+stables fragrant with odours of cedar.
+
+"Also they protected all the wretched population who dragged the irons
+upon their legs over the flinty ways of the Sabine country,--those who
+called the swine together by sound of horn,--those who were wont to
+gather the bunches at the very summits of the elms,--those who drove
+the asses, laden with manure, over the winding bypaths. The panting
+labourer, leaning over the handle of his plough, prayed them to give
+strength to his arms; and under the shade of the lindens, beside
+calabashes filled with milk, the cow-herds were wont, in turn, to sound
+their praises upon flutes of reed."
+
+ANTHONY (_sighs._)
+
+(_And in the centre of a chamber, upon a lofty estrade, an ivory bed is
+visible, surrounded by persons bearing torches of pine._)
+
+"Those are the deities of marriage. They await the coming of the bride.
+
+"Domiduca should lead her in,--Virgo unfasten her girdle,--Subigo place
+her in the bed,--and Praema open her arms, and whisper sweet words into
+her ear.
+
+"But she will not come!--and they dismiss the others:--Nona and Decima
+who watch by sick-beds; the three Nixii who preside over child-birth;
+the two nurses, Educa and Potina; and Carna, guardian of the cradle,
+whose bouquet of hawthorne keeps evil dreams from the child.
+
+"Afterwards, Ossipago should strengthen his knees;--Barbatus give him
+his first beard; Stimula inspire his first desires; Volupia grant him
+his first enjoyment; Fabulimus should have taught him to speak, Numera
+to count, Cam[oe]na to sing, Consus to reflect."
+
+(_This chamber is empty; and there remains only the centenarian Naenia
+beside the bed,--muttering to herself the dirge she was wont to howl at
+the funerals of aged men._
+
+_But her voice is soon drowned by sharp cries. These are uttered by_--
+
+_The_ LARES DOMESTICI, _crouching at the further end of the atrium,
+clad in dog-skins, with flowers wreathed about their bodies,--pressing
+their clenched hands against their cheeks, and weeping as loudly as
+they can._)
+
+"Where is the portion of food we received at each repast, the kindly
+care of the maid-servant, the smile of the matron, the merriment of
+the little boys playing at knuckle-bones on the mosaic pavement of the
+court-yard? When grown up, they used to hang about our necks their
+bullae of gold or leather!
+
+"What happiness it was, when on the evening of a triumph, the master,
+entering, turned his humid eyes upon us! He would recount his combats;
+and the little house would be prouder than a palace; sacred as a temple!
+
+"How sweet were the family repasts, above all on the morrow of the
+Feralia! Tenderness for the dead appeased all discords; all kissed each
+other, while drinking to the glories of the past, and the hopes of the
+future.
+
+"But the ancestors, of painted wax, locked up behind us, are slowly
+becoming covered with mold. The new races, visiting their own
+deceptions upon us, have shattered our jaws; our wooden bodies are
+disappearing piece-meal under the teeth of rats."
+
+(_And the innumerable gods, watching over doors, kitchens, cellars,
+baths, disperse in every direction--under the form of enormous ants
+running over the pavement, or great butterflies soaring away._
+
+_Then a roll of thunder is heard._)
+
+
+A VOICE:
+
+"I was the God of Armies, the Lord, the Lord God! I pitched the tents
+of Jacob on the hills; and in the midst of the sands I nourished my
+chosen people in their flight.
+
+"It was I who consumed the city of Sodom with fire! It was I who
+overwhelmed the world with the waters of the Deluge! It was I that
+drowned Pharaoh, with all the princes, sons of Kings,--making the sea
+to swallow up his chariots of war, and his charioteers!
+
+"I, the Jealous God, held all other gods in abomination. I brayed the
+impure in my anger; the mighty I cast down; and swiftly the desolation
+of my wrath ran to the right and to the left, like a dromedary loosened
+in a field of maize.
+
+"I chose the humble to deliver Israel. Angels, flame-winged, spake to
+them from out the bushes.
+
+"Perfumed with spikenard, with cinnamon and myrrh, clad in transparent
+robes, and shod with high-heeled sandals,--women of valiant heart went
+forth to slay captains. The passing wind carried my prophets with it.
+
+"My law I graved upon tables of stone. Within that law my people were
+enclosed, as within a strong citadel. They were my people. I was their
+God! The land was mine; the men also belonged to me, together with
+their every thought, and all their works, and the tools they wrought
+with, and their prosperity.
+
+"My ark reposed within a triple sanctuary,--surrounded by curtains
+of purple and lighted candelabra. I had a whole tribe to serve me as
+servants, swinging censers; and the high-priest, robed in robes of
+hyacinth, wore upon his breast precious stones disposed in symmetrical
+order.
+
+"Woe! Woe! the Holy of Holies is open, the veil is rent, the perfumes
+of the holocaust are dissipated by all the winds of heaven! The jackal
+whines in the sepulchres; my temple is destroyed; my people dispersed!
+
+"The priests have been strangled with the girdles of their robes. The
+women languish in captivity; the holy vessels have all been melted!"
+
+(_The voice, becoming more distant_):
+
+"I was the God of Armies; the Lord, the Lord God!"
+
+(_An enormous silence follows,--and deepest night._)
+
+ANTHONY. "All have passed away!"
+
+SOME ONE (_replies_):
+
+"I remain!"
+
+(_And Hilarion stands before him--but transfigured wholly,--beautiful
+as an archangel, luminous as a sun, and so lofty that in order to
+behold his face_--
+
+ANTHONY
+
+_is compelled to throw back his head, to look up as though gazing as a
+star_):
+
+"Who art thou?"
+
+HILARION. "My kingdom is vast as the universe; and my desire knows no
+limits. I go on forever,--freeing minds, weighing worlds,--without
+hatred, without fear, without pity, without love, and without God. Men
+call me SCIENCE!"
+
+ANTHONY (_recoiling from him_):
+
+"Say, rather, that thou art ... the Devil!"
+
+HILARION (_fixing his eyes upon him_:)
+
+"Wouldst thou behold him?"
+
+ANTHONY (_cannot detach his eyes from that mighty gaze:--the curiosity
+of the Devil comes upon him. His terror augments; yet his wish grows
+even to boundlessness_):
+
+"Yet if I should see him ... if I were to see him!"
+
+(_Then in a sudden spasm of wrath_):
+
+"The horror that I have of him will free me from his presence
+forever!... Yes!"
+
+(_A cloven foot appears. Anthony regrets his wish._
+
+_But the Devil flings him upon his horns and bears him away._)
+
+
+
+[1] Matthew II: 10--T.
+
+[2] "Buddha, or more correctly, the Buddha, for Buddha is an
+appellative meaning Enlightened."--Max Mueller (Chips, Vol. I., 206).
+
+[3] Luke II: 25-26.--T.
+
+[4] Ibid II: 46-47.--T.
+
+[5] Or, Haoma, also Hom, the sacred plant, whose fermented juice
+occupied an important place in the practical rites of Iran. Supposed
+to be the same plant known in botany as _Sarcostemma viminalis._
+Deified in Iranian worship, like the sacred drink _Soma_ in the Vedic
+hymns. The _Soma_ was the fermented extract of the _Asclepias acida_
+or _Sarcostemma ritalis._ See Marius Fontane, "L'Inde Vedique," "Les
+Iraniens."--Trans.
+
+[6] Apuleius says, "a silken mantle."--Trans.
+
+[7] Apuleius says, "strung with knuckle-bones of sheep."--Trans.
+
+[8] This scene, like certain paintings in the Naples museum, is all
+suited for public exhibition.--Trans.
+
+[9] Readers will recollect the lines in Macaulay's _Lays of Ancient
+Rome_:
+
+"Beneath Aricia's trees,
+   Those trees in whose dim shadow
+ A ghastly priest doth reign,
+   The priest who slew the slayer,
+ And must himself be slain."
+
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+(_He flies beneath him, outstretched like a swimmer; his vast-spreading
+wings, wholly concealing him, seem like one huge cloud._)
+
+ANTHONY. "Whither do I go? But a little while ago I beheld in a glimpse
+the form of the Accurst. Nay!--'tis a cloud that upbears me! Perhaps I
+am dead, and am ascending to God....
+
+"How freely I respire. The immaculate air seems to vivify my soul. No
+sense of weight!--no more suffering.
+
+"Far below me the lightning breaks,--the horizon broadens, widens,--the
+rivers cross each other. That blond-bright spot is the desert; that
+pool of water the ocean!
+
+"And other oceans appear!--vast regions of which I knew nothing!
+There are the countries of the blacks, which seem to smoke like
+brasiers!--then is the zone of snows always made dim by fog! Would I
+might behold those mountains where the sun, each evening, sinks to
+rest!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "The sun never sinks to rest; the sun never rests!"
+
+(_Anthony is not surprised at this voice. It seems to him an echo of
+his own thought--a response made by his own memory._
+
+_Meanwhile the earth gradually assumes the shape of a ball; and he
+beholds it in the midst of the azure, turning upon its poles, and
+revolving with the sun._)
+
+THE DEVIL. "So it does not form the centre of the universe! Pride of
+man! humiliate thyself!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Now I can scarcely distinguish it. It mingles confusedly with
+other glowing worlds. The firmament itself is but one tissue of stars."
+
+(_And they still rise._)
+
+"No sound!--not even the hoarse cry of eagles! Nothing? I listen for
+the harmony of the spheres."
+
+THE DEVIL. "Thou wilt not hear them! Nor wilt thou behold the
+antichtonus of Plato,--or the central furnace of Philolaus,--or the
+spheres of Aristotle, or the seven heavens of the Jews, with the great
+waters above the vault of crystal!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet from below the vault seemed solid as a wall!--on the
+contrary I penetrate it, I lose myself in it!"
+
+(_And he beholds the moon,--like a rounded fragment of ice filled with
+motionless light._)
+
+THE DEVIL. "Formerly it was the sojourn of souls! Even the good
+Pythagoras adorned it with magnificent flowers, populated it with
+birds!"
+
+ANTHONY. "I can see only desolate plains there, with extinct craters
+yawning under a black sky!
+
+"Let us go towards those milder-beaming stars, that we may contemplate
+the angels who uphold them at arms' length, like torches!"
+
+THE DEVIL (_bears him into the midst of the stars_):
+
+"They attract at the same time that they repel each other. The
+action of each one results from that of others, and contributes
+thereunto,--without the aid of any auxiliary, by the force of a law,
+the virtue of order alone!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Yes!...yes! My intelligence grasps the great truth! It is
+a joy greater than all tender pleasures! Breathless I find myself with
+astonishment at the enormity of God!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Even as the firmament ever rises as thou dost ascend, so
+with the expansion of thy thought will He become greater to thee; and
+after this discovery of the universe thou wilt feel thy joy augment
+with the broadening and deepening of the infinite."
+
+ANTHONY. "Ah! higher!--higher still!--- forever higher!"
+
+(_Then the stars multiply, scintillate. The Milky Way develops in the
+zenith like a monstrous belt, with holes at intervals; through these
+rents in its brightness stretches of prolonged darkness are visible.
+There are rains of stars, long trains of golden dust, luminous vapours
+that float and dissolve.
+
+At times a comet suddenly passes by; then the tranquillity of
+innumerable lights recommences.
+
+Anthony, with outstretched arms, supports himself upon the Devil's
+horns, and thus occupies all the space between them.
+
+He remembers with disdain the ignorance of other days, the mediocrity
+of his dreams. And now those luminous globes he was wont to gaze upon
+from below, are close to him. He distinguishes the intercrossing of
+the lines of their orbits, the complexity of their courses. He beholds
+them coming from afar,--and, like stones suspended in a sling, describe
+their circles, form their hyperbolas.
+
+He perceives, all within the field of his vision at once, the Southern
+Cross and the Great Bear, the Lynx and the Centaur, the nebula of
+Dorado, the six suns in the constellation of Orion, Jupiter with his
+four satellites, and the triple ring of the monstrous Saturn!--all the
+planets, all the stars that men will discover in the future. He fills
+his eyes with their light; he over-burthens his mind with calculation
+of their distances: then, bowing his head, he murmurs_):
+
+"What is the purpose of all that?"
+
+THE DEVIL. "There is no purpose. How could God have a purpose? What
+experience could have instructed him?--what reflection determined him?
+
+[Illustration: Anthony: What is the purpose of all that? The
+Devil: There is no purpose.]
+
+"Before the beginning he could not have acted;--and now his action
+would be useless."
+
+ANTHONY. "Yet he created the world, at one time, by his word only."
+
+THE DEVIL. "But the beings that people the earth come upon it
+successively. So also, in heaven, new stars arise--different effects of
+varying causes."
+
+ANTHONY. "The varying of causes is the will of God!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "But to admit several acts of will in God is to admit
+various causes, and therefore to deny his unity.
+
+"His will is inseparable from his essence. He can have but one will,
+having but one essence; and inasmuch as he externally exists, he acts
+eternally.
+
+"Contemplate the sun! From its surface leap vast jets of flame, casting
+forth sparks that disperse beyond to become worlds here-after;--and
+further than the last, far beyond those deeps where thou seest only
+night, whirl other suns,--and behind them others again, and beyond
+those yet others ... without end!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Enough! Enough! I fear!--I will fall into the abyss!"
+
+THE DEVIL (_pauses, and rocks Anthony gently in the midst of space_).
+
+"Nothingness is--not--there is no void! Everywhere and forever bodies
+move upon the immovable deeps of space! Were there boundaries to
+space, it would not be space, but a body only: it is limitless!"
+
+ANTHONY (_stupefied by wonder_):
+
+"Limitless!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Ascend skyward forever and forever,--yet thou wilt not
+attain the summit. Descend below the earth for billions of billions of
+centuries: never wilt thou reach the bottom. For there is no summit,
+there is no bottom; there is no Above, no Below--nor height, nor
+depth as signified by the terms of human utterance. And Space itself
+is comprised in God, who is not a portion thereof of such or such a
+size,--but is Immensity itself!"
+
+ANTHONY (_slowly_):
+
+"Matter ..., then, ... must be a part of God?"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Why not? Canst thou know the end of God?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Nay: on the contrary, I prostrate, I crush myself beneath his
+mightiness!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "And yet thou dost pretend to move him! Thou dost speak to
+him,--thou dost even adorn him with virtues,--with goodness, justice,
+mercy,--in lieu of recognising that all perfections are his!
+
+"To conceive aught beyond him is to conceive God above God, the Being
+above the Being. For He is the only being, the only substance.
+
+"If the Substance could be divided, it would not be the Substance, it
+would lose its nature: God could not exist. He is therefore indivisible
+as infinite;--and if he had a body, he would be composed of parts,
+he would not be One--he would not be infinite. Therefore he is not a
+Person!"
+
+ANTHONY. "What? my prayers, my sobs, my groans, the sufferings of my
+flesh, the transports of my love,--have all these things gone out to a
+lie,--to emptiness, unavailingly--like the cry of a bird, like a whirl
+of dead leaves?"
+
+(_Weeping_):
+
+"Oh, no!--there is Some One above all things,--a great Soul, a Lord, a
+Father whom my heart adores and who must love me!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Thou dost desire that God were not God;--for did he feel
+love, or anger, or pity,--he would abandon his perfection for a greater
+or a lesser perfection. He can stoop to no sentiment, nor be contained
+in any form."
+
+ANTHONY. "One day, nevertheless, I shall see him!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "With the blessed, is it not?--when the finite shall enjoy
+the infinite in some restricted place, containing the Absolute!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Matters not!--there must be a paradise for the good, as there
+is a hell for the wicked."
+
+THE DEVIL. "Can the desire of thy mind create the law of the universe?
+Without doubt evil is indifferent to God,--forasmuch as the Earth is
+covered with it!
+
+"Is it through impotence that he endures it, or through cruelty that he
+maintains it?
+
+"Dost thou fancy that he is eternally readjusting the world, like an
+imperfect machine?--that he is forever watching the movements of all
+beings, from the flight of a butterfly to the thought of a man?
+
+"If he have created the universe, his providence is superfluous. If
+Providence exists, then creation is defective.
+
+"But evil and good concern only thee--even like night and day, pleasure
+and pain, death and birth, which are relative only to one corner
+of space, to a special centre, to a particular interest. Since the
+Infinite is permanent, the Infinite is;--and that is all."
+
+(_The Devil's wings have been gradually expanding: now they cover all
+space._)
+
+ANTHONY (_now perceives nothing: a great faintness comes upon him_):
+
+"A hideous cold freezes me, even to the depths of my soul! This is
+beyond the extreme of pain! It is like a death that is deeper than
+death! I roll in the immensity of darkness; and the darkness itself
+enters within me. My consciousness bursts beneath this dilation of
+nothingness!"
+
+THE DEVIL. "Yet the knowledge of things comes to thee only through the
+medium of thy mind. Even as a concave mirror, it deforms the objects
+it reflects; and thou hast no means whatever of verifying their
+exactitude."
+
+"Never canst thou know the universe in all its vastness; consequently
+it will never be possible for thee to obtain an idea of its cause,
+to have a just notion of God, nor even to say that the universe is
+infinite,--for thou must first be able to know what the Infinite is!"
+
+"May not Form be, perhaps, an error of thy senses,--Substance a figment
+of thy imagination?"
+
+"Unless, indeed, that the world being a perpetual flux[1] of things,
+appearance, on the contrary, be wholly true; illusion the only reality."
+
+"But art thou sure thou dost see?--art thou even sure thou dost live?
+Perhaps nothing exists!"
+
+(_The Devil has seized Anthony, and, holding him at arms' length,
+glares at him with mouth yawning as though to devour him_):
+
+"Adore me, then!--and curse the phantom thou callest God!"
+
+(_Anthony lifts his eyes with a last effort of hope._
+
+_The Devil abandons him._)
+
+
+[1] The original text seems to me slightly obscure. The idea of the
+universe being a perpetual ebb and flow of shapes, is that of forms
+passing away to reappear like waves, is that of the Nidana-Sutris:
+"Individuality is only a form ... _Everything is only a flux of
+aggregates_, interminably uniting and disuniting," as Barth observes in
+his "Religions of India."--Trans.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+ANTHONY (_finds himself lying upon his back, at the verge of the cliff._
+
+_The sky commences to blanch._)
+
+"Is it the glow of dawn, or only an effect of moonlight?"
+
+(_He tries to rise, falls back,--his teeth chattering_):
+
+"I feel such a helplessness of weakness, as though all my bones were
+broken!
+
+"Why?
+
+"Ah! the Devil!--I remember!--he even repeated to me all that I
+learned from the aged Didymus respecting the opinions of Xenophanes,
+Heraclitus, of Melissus, of Anaxagoras,--concerning the infinite, the
+creation, the impossibility of knowing anything!
+
+"And yet I believed that I could unite myself to God!"
+
+(_Laughing bitterly_):
+
+"Ah! madness! madness! Is the fault mine? Prayer has become
+intolerable to me! My heart is dry as a rock! Once, it was wont to
+overflow with love!...
+
+"The sand used to smoke of mornings like the odourous dust of a
+censer;--at sunset flowers of fire used to bloom upon the cross; and in
+the middle of the night, it often seemed as though all beings and all
+things, lying under the same awful silence, were adoring the Lord with
+me. O charms of prayer, felicities of ecstasy, gifts of heaven,--what
+have become of you?
+
+"I remember a voyage I made with Ammon in search of a solitary place
+suited for the establishment of a monastery. It was the last evening;
+we hastened our steps, walked side by side, murmuring hymns, without
+conversing. As the sun sank, the shadows of our bodies lengthened like
+two obelisks, continually growing taller, and moving before us. Here
+and there we planted crosses, made with fragments of our sticks, to
+mark the site of a future cell. Night was tardy in her coming; and
+waves of darkness overspread the earth, even while a vast rose-coloured
+light still glowed in heaven.
+
+"When I was a child, I used to amuse myself by building hermitages
+with pebbles. My mother sitting beside me would watch me so attentively!
+
+"Will she not have cursed me for having abandoned her?--will she not
+have plucked out her white hair by handfuls in the despair of her
+grief? And her corpse remains lying on the floor of the hut, under the
+roof of reeds, between the crumbling walls. Through an orifice a hyena,
+snuffing, thrusts his head, advances his mouth ... horror! horror!"
+
+(_Sobbing_):
+
+"No: Ammonaria will not have abandoned her! Where is she
+now,--Ammonaria?
+
+"Perhaps at the further end of a bathroom, she removes her garments
+one after the other: first the mantle, then the girdle, then the first
+tunic, the second lighter tunic, all her necklaces,--and the vapour
+of cinnamon envelops her naked limbs. At last she lies down upon the
+tepid mosaic. Her long hair spreading below the curve of her hips,
+seems like a sable fleece; and the oppressiveness of the heated air
+causes her to pant; her waist arched, her breasts standing out ...
+What! my flesh rebels again! Even in the midst of grief am I tortured
+by concupiscence. To be subjected thus unto two tortures at once is
+beyond endurance! I can no longer bear myself!"
+
+(_He leans over, and gazes into the abyss._)
+
+"The man who should fall would be killed. Nothing easier: it were only
+necessary to roll over upon my left side:--only one movement--one!"
+
+(_Then suddenly appears_--AN AGED WOMAN. _Anthony starts to his feet in
+affright. It seems to him that he beholds his mother arisen._
+
+_But this woman is far older, and prodigiously thin._
+
+_A shroud, knotted about her head, hangs down, together with her white
+hair, so as to cover her legs, slender as crutches. The brilliancy of
+her ivory-coloured teeth make her earthy skin darker still. The orbits
+of her eyes are full of shadow; and far back within them two flames
+vacillate, like the lamps of sepulchres._
+
+_She exclaims_):
+
+"Advance! What hinders thee?"
+
+ANTHONY (_stammering_):
+
+"I fear ... to commit a sin!"
+
+SHE (_replies_):
+
+"But King Saul killed himself! Razias, a just man, killed himself!
+Saint Pelagia of Antioch killed herself! Dommina of Aleppo and her two
+daughters--all three saints--killed themselves: and remember also how
+many confessors delivered themselves up to the executioner in their
+impatient longing for death! That they might enjoy death more speedily,
+the virgins of Miletus strangled themselves with their girdles. At
+Syracuse the philosopher Hegesias preached so eloquently upon death
+that men deserted the lupanars to go hang themselves in the fields. The
+patricians of Borne sought for death as a new form of debauch."
+
+ANTHONY. "Aye! the love of death is strong; and many a anchorite has
+succumbed to it."
+
+THE OLD WOMAN. "To do that which will make thee equal unto God--think!
+He created thee: thou wilt destroy his work--thou! and by thy
+courage,--of thy own free will! The enjoyment that Erostratus knew was
+not greater than this. And moreover thy body has so long mocked thy
+soul that it is full time thou shouldst take vengeance upon it. Thou
+wilt not suffer. It will soon be over. Of what art thou afraid?--a
+wide, black hole! Perhaps it is a void!"
+
+[Illustration: The Old Woman: Of what art thou afraid?--a wide,
+black hole! Perhaps it is a void!]
+
+(_Anthony hearkens without replying; and upon the other side appears_--
+
+ANOTHER WOMAN--_young and marvellously beautiful. At first he takes
+her to be Ammonaria. But she is taller, blond as honey, very plump,
+with paint upon her cheeks and roses upon her head. Her long robe,
+weighty with spangles, gleams with metallic lustre;--her fleshy lips
+are sanguinolent; and her somewhat heavy eyelids are so drowned with
+languor that one would almost take her to be blind._
+
+_She murmurs_):
+
+"Nay, live! enjoy! Solomon counsels joy! Follow the guiding of thy
+heart and the desire of thine eyes!"
+
+ANTHONY. "What joy is there for me? My heart is weary; my eyes are dim!"
+
+SHE (_answers_):
+
+"Seek the suburb of Racotis; push open a door that is painted
+blue;--and when thou shalt be in the atrium where a fountain jet
+murmurs unceasingly, a woman will present herself before thee--in
+peplos of white silk striped with gold; her hair is unloosed, her
+laugh like the clatter of crotali. She is skilful. In her caress thou
+wilt taste the pride of initiation and the appeasement of desire.
+
+"Hast ever pressed to thy bosom a virgin who loved thee? Dost remember
+the surrenders of her modesty,--the passing away of her remorse in a
+sweet flow of tears?
+
+"Thou canst even now imagine thyself walking with her--canst thou
+not?--in the wood by the light of the moon? At each pressure of your
+joined hands, a sweet shuddering passes through you both,--looking
+closely into each other your eyes seem to outpour into one another
+something like immaterial fluid;--and thy heart fills: it bursts: it is
+a suave whirl of eddying passion, an overflowing of intoxication...."
+
+THE OLD WOMAN. "One need not possess joys in order to taste their
+bitterness! Even to view them from afar off begets loathing of them.
+Thou must be fatigued by the monotony of the same actions, the length
+of the days, the hideousness of the world, the stupidity of the sun?"
+
+ANTHONY. "Aye, indeed!--I loathe all that he shines upon."
+
+THE YOUNG WOMAN. "Hermit! hermit! thou wilt find diamonds among the
+flints, fountains beneath the sand, a delectation in all the hazards
+thou dost despise; and there are even upon earth places of such beauty
+that the sight of them would make thee desire to press the whole world
+against thy heart with love!"
+
+THE OLD WOMAN. "Each evening that thou liest down upon the earth to
+slumber, thou dost hope that it may soon lie upon thee and cover thee."
+
+THE YOUNG WOMAN. "Yet thou dost believe in the resurrection of the
+flesh--which is but the translation of life into eternity!"
+
+(_Even as she speaks, the Old Woman becomes still more fleshless; and
+above her skull, from which the white hair has disappeared, a bat
+circles in the air._
+
+_The Young Woman has become fatter. Her robe gleams with shifting
+colours; her nostrils palpitate, her eyes roll softly._)
+
+THE FORMER (_opening her arms, exclaiming_):
+
+"Come to me!--I am Consolation, repose, oblivion, eternal calm!"
+
+THE OTHER.
+
+"I am the sleep-giver, life, happiness inexhaustible!"
+
+(_Anthony turns to fee from them. Each lays a hand on his shoulder._
+
+_The Shroud parts, exposes the Skeleton of Death._
+
+_The robe splits asunder, and leaves the whole body of Lust
+exposed:--her waist is slender; her long and undulating hair flutters
+in the wind._
+
+_Anthony stands motionless between the two, considering them_):
+
+DEATH (_says to him_):
+
+"What matters it, whether now or at another time! Thou art mine,--like
+suns, nations, cities, kings, mountain-snows, and the grasses of the
+fields. I fly higher than the hawks of heaven. I run more swiftly than
+the gazelle; I overtake even Hope; I vanquished the Son of God!"
+
+LUST. "Resist not! I am the Omnipotent! The forests re-echo with my
+sighs; the waters tremble with my agitations. Virtue, courage, piety,
+dissolve in the perfume of my mouth. Man I accompany in every step
+that he makes; and even from the threshold of the tomb he turns to me!"
+
+DEATH. "I will find for thee that which thou hast vainly sought for,
+by the gleam of torches, upon the faces of the dead,--or among those
+awful sands that are formed of human remains, where thou wast wont to
+wander beyond the Pyramids. From time to time, the fragment of a skull
+rolled under thy sandal. Thou didst take up the dust: thou didst let it
+trickle through thy fingers; and thy thought, blending with it, sank
+into nothingness."
+
+LUST. "My gulf is deeper! Marbles have inspired loves. Men rush to
+conjunctures that terrify. Fetters are riveted that the fettered curse.
+Whence the bewitchment of courtesans, the extravagance of dreams, the
+immensity of my sadness?"
+
+DEATH. "Mine irony depasseth all others! There are convulsions of
+delight at the funerals of kings, at the extermination of a whole
+people; and war is made with music, with plumes, with harness of
+gold,--with vast display of ceremony that my due of homage may be
+greater!"
+
+[Illustration: Death: Mine irony depasseth all others!]
+
+LUST. "My rage equals thine! I also yell; I bite! I, too, have sweats
+of agony, and aspects cadaverous!"
+
+DEATH. "It is I that make thee awful! Let us intertwine!"
+
+[Illustration: Death: It is I that make thee awful! Let us
+intertwine!]
+
+(_Death laughs mockingly; Lust roars. They clasp each other about the
+waist, and chant alternately_):
+
+"I hasten the dissolution of matter!"
+
+"I facilitate the dispersion of germs!"
+
+"Thou dost destroy for my renovations!"
+
+"Thou dost engender for my destructions!"
+
+"Ever-active my power!"
+
+"Fecund, my putrefaction!"
+
+(_And their voices, whose rolling echoes fill the horizon, deepen and
+become so mighty that Anthony falls backward as if thunder-stricken. A
+shock from time to time causes him to reopen his eyes; and he perceives
+in the midst of the darkness a manner of monster before him._
+
+_It is a skull, crowned with roses, dominating the torso of a woman
+nacreously white. Below, a shroud starred with specks of gold forms
+something like a tail; and the whole body undulates, after the fashion
+of a gigantic worm erect on end._
+
+_The vision attenuates,--disappears._)
+
+ANTHONY (_rising to his feet_):
+
+"The Devil yet again, and under his two-fold aspect: the spirit of
+fornication, and the spirit of destruction.
+
+"Neither affrights me! I repel happiness; and I know myself to be
+eternal.
+
+"Thus death is only an illusion, a veil-masking betimes the continuity
+of life.
+
+"But Substance being unique, wherefore should forms be varied?
+
+"Somewhere there must be primordial figures, whose bodily forms are
+only symbols. Could I but see them, I would know the link between
+matter and thought; I would know in what Being consists.
+
+[Illustration: Anthony: Somewhere there must be primordial
+figures, whose bodily forms are only symbols.]
+
+"Such were the figures painted at Babylon upon the walls of the
+temple of Belus; and others like them covered a mosaic in the port of
+Carthage. I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it were, forms
+of spirits. Those who cross the desert meet with animals surpassing all
+conception...."
+
+[Illustration: I myself have sometime beheld in the sky, as it
+were, forms of spirits.]
+
+(_And opposite, upon the further side of the Nile, suddenly appears
+the Sphinx.[1] He stretches his paws, shakes the bandelets upon his
+forehead, and crouches upon his belly._
+
+_Leaping, flying, spitting fire through her nostrils, lashing her
+winged sides with her dragon-tail, the green-eyed Chimera circles,
+barks._
+
+_The thick curls of her head tossed back upon one side mingle with
+the hair of her loins; on the other side they hang down to the sand,
+quivering with the swinging of her body, to and fro._)
+
+THE SPHINX (_remaining motionless, and gazing at the Chimera_):
+
+"Hither, Chimera! rest awhile!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "No! never!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Do not run so fast, do not fly so high, do not bark so
+loudly!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "DO not call me!--call me no more; since thou must remain
+forever dumb."
+
+THE SPHINX. "Cease casting thy flames in my face, and uttering thy
+yells in my ear: thou canst not melt my granite."
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Thou shalt not seize me, terrible sphinx!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Thou art too mad to dwell with me!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Thou art too heavy to follow me!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Yet whither goest thou, that thou shouldst run so fast?"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "I gallop in the corridors of the Labyrinth--I hover above
+the mountains--I graze the waves in my flight--I yelp at the bottom of
+precipices--I suspend myself with my mouth from the skirts of clouds--I
+sweep the shores with my dragging tail; and the curves of the hills
+have taken their form from the shape of my shoulders! But thee I find
+perpetually immobile, or perhaps making strange designs with thy claws
+upon the sand."
+
+THE SPHINX. "It is because I keep my secret;--I dream and calculate.
+
+"The sea returns to its bed; the wheat bends back and forth in the
+wind; the caravans pass by; the dust flies; cities crumble; and yet
+my gaze, which naught can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all
+intervening things, upon a horizon that none may reach."
+
+[Illustration: The Sphinx: ... and yet my gaze, which naught
+can deviate, remains fixed, gazing through all intervening
+things, upon a horizon that none may reach. The Chimera: I am
+light and joyous!]
+
+THE CHIMERA. "I am light and joyous! I offer to the eyes of men
+dazzling perspectives with Paradise in the clouds above, and
+unspeakable felicity afar off. Into their souls I pour the eternal
+madnesses; projects of happiness, plans for the future, dreams of glory
+and vows of love, and all virtuous resolutions.
+
+"I urge men to perilous voyages and great enterprises. I have chiselled
+with my claws the wonders of architecture. It was I who suspended the
+little bells above the tomb of Porsenna, and surrounded the quays of
+Atlantis with a wall of orichalcum.
+
+"I seek for new perfumes, for vaster flowers, for pleasures never felt
+before. If I perceive in any place a man whose mind reposes in wisdom,
+I fall upon him, and strangle him."
+
+THE SPHINX. "All those tormented by the desire of God, I have devoured.
+
+"In order to climb up to my royal brow, the strongest ascend upon the
+flutings of my bandelets as upon the steps of a stairway. Then a great
+lassitude comes upon them, and they fall backward."
+
+(_Anthony begins to tremble._
+
+_He is no longer before his cabin, but in the desert itself, with those
+two monsters beside him, whose breath is hot upon his shoulders._)
+
+THE SPHINX. "O thou Fantasy, bear me away upon thy wings that my
+sadness may be lightened!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "O thou Unknown, I am enamoured of thine eyes! Like a
+hyena in heat I turn about thee, soliciting those fecundations whereof
+the desires devour me!
+
+"Ope thy mouth, lift thy feet--mount upon my back!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "My feet, since they have been outstretched, can move no
+more. The lichen, like an eruption, has formed upon my jaws. By dint of
+long dreaming I have no longer aught to say."
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Thou liest, hypocrite Sphinx! Wherefore dost thou always
+call me and always disown me!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "It is thou, indomitable caprice, that dost forever pass
+and repass, whirling in thy course!"
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Is the fault mine? What? Let me be!"
+
+(_She barks._)
+
+THE SPHINX. "Thou movest away! thou dost escape me!"
+
+(_He growls._)
+
+THE CHIMERA. "Essay!--Thou crushest me!"
+
+THE SPHINX. "Nay!--impossible!"
+
+(_And gradually sinking down he disappears in the sand; while the
+Chimera, ramping with tongue protruding, departs, describing circles on
+her way._
+
+_The breath of her mouth has produced a fog._
+
+_Through this mist Anthony perceives wreathings of clouds, undecided
+curves._
+
+_At last he can distinguish something like the appearance of human
+bodies._
+
+_And first_:--
+
+THE ASTOMI--_approach, like bubbles of air traversed by sunlight. They
+cry_):
+
+"Do not breathe too hard! The drops of rain bruise us, false notes
+excoriate us, darknesses blind us! Composed wholly of breezes and of
+perfumes, we float along, we roll along:--a little more than Dreams,
+yet not quite beings...."
+
+THE NISNAS
+
+(_have only one eye, one cheek, one hand, one leg, half a body, half a
+heart. They say_):
+
+"We live quite in our halves of houses, with our halves of wives and
+our halves of children!"
+
+THE BLEMMYES
+
+(_who have no head at all_):
+
+"Our shoulders are all the broader;--and there is no ox, rhinoceros, or
+elephant able to carry what we carry.
+
+"Something dimly resembling features--as it were a vague
+face--imprinted upon our breasts: that is all! We think digestions; we
+subtleize secretions. God, in our belief, floats peacefully within the
+interior chyles.
+
+"We go straight upon our way, through all mires, crossing all morasses,
+skirting the edges of all abysses: and we are the most laborious, the
+most happy, the most virtuous of all peoples!"
+
+THE PYGMIES:
+
+"We, good little men, swarm upon the world like vermin upon the hump of
+a dromedary.
+
+"We are burned, drowned, crushed; and we always reappear, more
+vivacious and countless than before--terrible by reason of our numbers!"
+
+THE SCIAPODS:
+
+"Fettered to the earth by our hair, long as lianas, we vegetate beneath
+the shelter of our feet, broad as parasols; and the light comes to us
+through the thickness of our heels. No annoyances for us, no work! The
+head as low as possible--That is the secret of happiness."
+
+[Illustration: The Sciapods: The head as low as possible--That is
+the secret of happiness.]
+
+(_Their lifted thighs,--resembling the trunks of trees,--multiply._
+
+_And a forest appears. Great apes clamber through it on all
+fours:--these are men with the heads of dogs._)
+
+THE CYNOCEPHALI:
+
+"We leap from branch to branch in search of eggs to suck; and we pluck
+the little fledglings alive; then we put their nests upon our heads in
+lieu of caps.
+
+"We tear off the teats of cows; and we put out the eyes of lynxes:
+we let fall our dung from the heights of the trees--we parade our
+turpitude in the full light of the sun.
+
+"Lacerating the flowers, crushing the fruits, befouling the springs,
+violating women, we are the masters of all,--by the strength of our
+arms, and the ferocity of our hearts.
+
+"Ho! companions!--gnash with your jaws!"
+
+(_Blood and milk pour down their chops. The rain streams over their
+hairy backs._
+
+_Anthony inhales the freshness of the green leaves._
+
+_There is a movement among them, a clashing of branches; and all of
+a sudden appears a huge black stag, with the head of a bull, having
+between his ears a thicket of white horns._)
+
+THE SADHUZAG:
+
+"My seventy-four antlers are hollow like flutes.
+
+"When I turn me toward the wind of the South, there issue from them
+sounds that draw all the ravished animals around me. The serpents twine
+about my legs; the wasps cluster in my nostrils; and the parrots, the
+doves, the ibises, alight upon the branches of my horns.
+
+"Listen!"
+
+(_He throws back his horns, whence issues a music of sweetness
+ineffable._
+
+_Anthony presses both hands upon his heart. It seems to him as though
+his soul were being borne away by the melody._)
+
+THE SADHUZAG:
+
+"But when I turn me toward the wind of the North, my antlers, more
+thickly bristling than a battalion of lances, give forth a sound of
+howlings: the forests are startled with fear; the rivers remount toward
+their sources; the husks of fruits burst open; and the bending grasses
+stand erect on end, like the hair of a coward.
+
+"Listen!"
+
+(_He bends his branching antlers forward: hideous and discordant cries
+proceed from them. Anthony feels as though his heart were torn asunder._
+
+_And his horror augments upon beholding_)--
+
+THE MARTICHORAS
+
+(_A gigantic red lion, with human face, and three rows of teeth_):
+
+"The gleam of my scarlet hair mingles with the reflection of the great
+sands. I breathe through my nostrils the terror of solitudes. I spit
+forth plague. I devour armies when they venture into the desert.
+
+"My claws are twisted like screws, my teeth shaped like saws; and my
+curving tail bristles with darts which I cast to right and left, before
+and behind!
+
+"See! see!"
+
+(_The Martichoras shoots forth the keen bristles of his tail, which
+irradiate in all directions like a volley of arrows. Drops of blood
+rain down, spattering upon the foliage._)
+
+THE CATOBLEPAS
+
+(_A black buffalo with a pig's head, falling to the ground, and
+attached to his shoulders by a neck long, thin, and flaccid as an empty
+gut._
+
+_He wallows flat upon the ground, and his feet entirely disappear
+beneath the enormous mane of coarse hair which covers his face_):
+
+"Fat, melancholy, fierce--thus I continually remain, feeling against
+my belly the warmth of the mud. So heavy is my skull that it is
+impossible for me to lift it. I roll it slowly all around me,
+open-mouthed; and with my tongue I tear up the venemous plants bedewed
+with my breath. Once, I even devoured my own feet without knowing it!
+
+"No one, Anthony, has ever beheld mine eyes,--or at least, those who
+have beheld them are dead. Were I to lift my eyelids--my pink and
+swollen eyelids, thou wouldst forthwith die!"
+
+ANTHONY. "Oh, that one! Ugh! As though I could desire it?--Yet his
+stupidity fascinates me! No, no! I will not!"
+
+(_He gazes fixedly upon the ground._
+
+_But the weeds take fire; and amidst the contorsions of the flames,
+arises_)--
+
+THE BASILISK
+
+(_A great violet serpent, with trilobate crest, and two fangs, one
+above, one below_):
+
+"Beware, lest thou fall into my jaws! I drink fire. I am fire!--and I
+inhale it from all things: from clouds, from flints, from dead trees,
+the fur of animals, the surface of marshes. My temperature maintains
+the volcanoes: I lend glitter to jewels: I give colours to metals!"
+
+THE GRIFFIN
+
+(_A lion with a vulture's beak, and white wings, red paws and blue
+neck_):
+
+"I am the master of deep splendours. I know the secrets of the tombs
+wherein the Kings of old do slumber.
+
+"A chain, issuing from the wall, maintains their heads upright. Near
+them, in basins of porphyry, the women they loved float upon the
+surfaces of black liquids. Their treasures are all arrayed in halls, in
+lozenge-shaped designs, in little heaps, in pyramids;--and down below,
+far below the tombs, and to be reached only after long travelling
+through stifling darkness, there are rivers of gold bordered by forests
+of diamonds, there are fields of carbuncles and lakes of mercury.
+
+"Addossed against the subterranean gate I remain with claws uplifted;
+and my flaming eyes spy out those who seek to approach. The vast and
+naked plain that stretches away to the end of the horizon is whitened
+with the bones of travellers. But for thee the gates of bronze shall
+open; and thou shalt inhale the vapour of the mines, thou shalt descend
+into the caverns.... Quick! quick!"
+
+(_He burrows into the earth with his paws, and crows like a cock._
+
+_A thousand voices answer him. The forest trembles._
+
+_And all manner of frightful creatures arise:--The Tragelaphus, half
+deer, half ox; the Myrmecoles, lion before-and ant behind, whose
+genitals are set reversely; the python Askar, sixty cubits long, that
+terrified Moses; the huge weasel Pastinaca, that kills the trees with
+her odour; the Presteros, that makes those who touch it imbecile;
+the Mirag, a horned hare, that dwells in the islands of the sea. The
+leopard Phalmant bursts his belly by roaring; the triple-headed bear
+Senad tears her young by licking them with her tongue; the dog Cepus
+pours out the blue milk of her teats upon the rocks. Mosquitoes begin
+to hum, toads commence to leap; serpents hiss. Lightnings flicker. Hail
+falls._
+
+_Then come gusts, bearing with them marvellous anatomies:--Heads of
+alligators with hoofs of deer; owls with serpent tails; swine with
+tiger-muzzles; goats with the crupper of an ass; frogs hairy as bears;
+chameleons huge as hippopotami; calves with two heads, one bellowing,
+the other weeping; winged bellies flitting hither and thither like
+gnats._
+
+_They rain from the sky, they rise from the earth, they pour from the
+rocks; everywhere eyes flame, mouths roar, breasts bulge, claws are
+extended, teeth gnash, flesh clacks against flesh. Some crouch; some
+devour each other at a mouthful._
+
+_Suffocating under their own numbers, multiplying by their own contact,
+they climb over one another; and move about Anthony with a surging
+motion as though the ground were the deck of a ship. He feels the trail
+of snails upon the calves of his legs, the chilliness of vipers upon
+his hands:--and spiders spinning about him enclose him within their
+network._
+
+_But the monstrous circle breaks, parts; the sky suddenly becomes blue;
+and_)--
+
+THE UNICORN (_appears_):
+
+"Gallop! Gallop!
+
+"I have hoofs of ivory, teeth of steel; my head is the colour of
+purple, my body the colour of snow; and the horn of my forehead is
+bestreaked with the tints of the rainbow.
+
+"I travel from Chaldea to the Tartar desert,--upon the shores of the
+Ganges and in Mesopotamia. I overtake the ostriches. I run so swiftly
+that I draw the wind after me. I rub my back against the palm-trees. I
+roll among the bamboos. I leap rivers with a single bound. Doves fly
+above me. Only a virgin can bridle me.
+
+"Gallop! Gallop!"
+
+(_Anthony watches him depart._
+
+_And as he gazes he beholds all the birds that nourish themselves
+with wind: the Gouith, the Ahuti, the Alphalim, the Iukneth, of the
+mountains of Kaf, the homai of the Arabs--which are the souls of
+murdered men. He hears the parrots that utter human speech; and the
+great Pelasgian palmipeds that sob like children or chuckle like old
+women._
+
+_A saline air strikes his nostrils. Now a vast beach stretches before
+him._
+
+_In the distance jets of water arise, spouted by whales; and from the
+very end of the horizon come_)--
+
+THE BEASTS OF THE SEA
+
+(_round as wineskins, flat as blades, denticulated like saws, dragging
+themselves over the sand as they approach_):
+
+[Illustration: The beasts of the sea round as wineskins ...]
+
+"Thou wilt accompany us to our immensities, whither as yet no one has
+descended.
+
+"Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean. Some dwell in the
+sojourn of tempests; others swim freely amid the transparency of chill
+waves;--or, like oxen, graze upon the coral plains, or suck in through
+their trunks the reflux of the tides,--or bear upon their shoulders the
+vast weight of the sources of the sea."
+
+[Illustration: Divers peoples inhabit the countries of the Ocean.]
+
+(_Phosphorences gleam in the moustaches of the seals, shift in the
+scales of fish. Echini whirl like wheels; ammonites uncoil like cables;
+oysters make their shell hinges squeak; polypi unfold their tentacles;
+medusae quiver like balls of crystal suspended; sponges float hither and
+thither, anemones ejaculate water; wrack and sea-mosses have grown all
+about._
+
+_And all sorts of plants extend themselves into branches, twist
+themselves into screws, lengthen into points, round themselves out like
+fans. Gourds take the appearance of breasts; lianas interlace like
+serpents._
+
+_The Dedaims of Babylon, which are trees, bear human heads for fruit;
+Mandragoras sing;--the root Baaras runs through the grass._
+
+_And now the vegetables are no longer distinguishable from the animals.
+Polyparies that seem like trees, have arms upon their branches. Anthony
+thinks he sees a caterpillar between two leaves: it is a butterfly that
+takes flight. He is about to step on a pebble: a grey locust leaps
+away. One shrub is bedecked with insects that look like petals of
+roses; fragments of ephemerides form a snowy layer upon the soil._
+
+_And then the plants become confounded with the stones._
+
+_Flints assume the likeness of brains; stalactites of breasts; the
+flower of iron resembles a figured tapestry._[2]
+
+_He sees efflorescences in fragments of ice, imprints of shrubs and
+shells--yet so that one cannot detect whether they be imprints only, or
+the things themselves. Diamonds gleam like eyes; metals palpitate._
+
+_And all fear has departed from him! He throws himself down upon the
+ground, and leaning upon his elbows, watches breathlessly._
+
+_Insects that have no stomachs persistently eat; withered ferns bloom
+again and reflower; absent members grow again._
+
+_At last he perceives tiny globular masses, no larger than pinheads,
+with cilia all round them. They are agitated with a vibratile motion_):
+
+ANTHONY (_deliriously_):
+
+"O joy! O bliss! I have beheld the birth of life! I have seen the
+beginning of motion! My pulses throb even to the point of bursting!
+I long to fly, to swim, to bark, to bellow, to howl! Would that I
+had wings, a carapace, a shell,--that I could breathe out smoke,
+wield a trunk,--make my body writhe,--divide myself everywhere,--be
+in everything,--emanate with odours,--develop myself like the
+plants,--flow like water,--vibrate like sound--shine like light,
+squatting upon all forms--penetrate each atom--descend to the very
+bottom of matter,--be matter itself!"
+
+(_Day at last appears;--and, like tabernacle curtains uplifted, clouds
+of gold uprolling in broad volutes unveil the sky._
+
+_Even in the midst thereof, and in the very disk of the sun, beams the
+face of Jesus Christ._
+
+[Illustration: Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and
+in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.]
+
+_Anthony makes the sign of the cross, and resumes his devotions._)
+
+
+FINIS
+
+
+[1] Winkelmann claims to have been the first to discover that the
+Egyptian sphinxes were bisexual--females before--males otherwise. (See
+Book II, chap. I, Sec. 25.) Flaubert speaks of the Sphinx in the
+masculine like Philemon. (See also Signor Carlo Fea's note upon the
+paragraph in Winkelmann, old French edition. An II, R. F.)--Trans.
+
+[2] Fleurs de fer, "flowers of iron." In mineralogy _flos ferri_, a
+form of Aragonite.--Trans.
+
+
+
+
+[NOTE
+
+Those who compare this translation with the original will observe the
+omission of some few paragraphs on pages 77, 96 and 211. They are
+speeches put in the mouths of certain Heresiarchs, or complaints of
+certain of the minor Roman household gods. The translator relegated
+these to an addenda, which the publishers have omitted as being
+unnecessary. Those who are familiar with the original will be able to
+supply them, and will realize that while they might be offensive to
+some persons, they are in no respect an integral or important part of
+the great drama.]
+
+
+
+
+ADDENDA (added by transcribers)
+
+
+A. Observation of Manes, pages 82-3, original text; page 89 of
+translation.
+
+
+MANES
+
+_Ou plutot, faites si bien qu'elle ne soit pas fecondes. Mieux vaut
+pour l'ame tomber sur la terre que de languir dans des entraves
+charnelles._
+
+Probably a calumny against Manes; for the Eastern philosophy,
+especially that of Zoroaster, which is said to have inspired the tenets
+of Manichaeism, advocated no such abominations.
+
+
+B. Page 105 of original; page 108 translation. The realistic
+phraseology of the original passage is rather brutal. The French text
+reads: "_Il souffrait de la maladie Bellerephontienne; et sa mere, la
+parfumeuse, s'est livree a Pantherus, un soldat Romain, sur des gerbes
+de mais, un soir de moisson._" C. Descriptive text, page 237 original,
+partly suppressed on page 223 translation: "_Et il lui montre dans un
+bosquet d'aliziers Une Femme toute nue, a quatre pattes comme une bete,
+et saillie par un homme noir, tenant dans chaque main un flambeau._"
+
+D. Curious text of Crepitus, on page 228, pages 241-3 of original:
+
+CREPITUS
+
+(----se fait entendre):
+
+_Moi aussi l'on m'honora jadis. On me faisait des libations. Je fus un
+Dieu!_
+
+_L'Athenien me saluait comme un presage de fortune, tandis que le
+Romain devot me maudissait les poings leves et que le pontife d'Egypte,
+s'abstinant des feves, tremblait a ma voix et palissait a mon odeur._
+
+_Quand le vinaigre militaire coulait sur les barbes non rasees, qu'on
+se regalait de glands, de pois, et d'oignons crus, et que le bouc en
+morceau cuissait dans le beurre rance des pasteurs, sans souci du
+voisin, personne alors ne se genait. Les nourritures solides faisaient
+digestions retentissantes. Au soleil de la campagne les hommes se
+soulageaient avec lenteur._
+
+_Ainsi, je passais sans scandale, comme les autres besoins de la vie,
+comme Mena, tourment des vierges, et la douce Rumina qui protege le
+sein de la nourrice, gonfle, des veines bleuatres. J'etais joyeux. Je
+faisais rire. Et se dilatant d'aise a cause de moi, le convive exhalait
+toute sa gaiete par les ouvertures de son corps._
+
+_J'ai eu mes jours d'orgeuil. Le bon Aristophane me promena sur la
+scene, et l'empereur Claudius Drusus[1] me fit asseoir a sa table. Dans
+les laticlaves des patriciens j'ai circule majestueusement! Les vases
+d'or, comme des tympanons, resonnaient sous moi; et, quand plein de
+murenes, de truffles, et de pates, l'intestin du maitre se degageait
+avec fracas, l'univers attentif apprenait que Cesar avait dine!_
+
+_Mais a present, je suis confine dans la populace_[2] _et l'on se
+recrie, meme a mon nom!_
+
+_Et Crepitus s'eloigne, en poussant un gemissement...._
+
+E. For descriptions of the Martichoras and other monsters, appearing
+page 287 in the original and 263 in the translation, see also Rabelais'
+Pantagruel, Book V, Chap. XXX.
+
+
+
+[1] Needless to refer to the comedies of Aristophanes, with which
+English readers have been familiarized through the Bohn translations.
+The reference to Claudius ius Drusus seems based upon the following
+lines in Suetonius: "_Dicitur etiam meditatus edictum, quo veniam daret
+flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi: cum periclitatum
+quemdam prae pudore ex continentia reperisset._" (_Suetonius-Tiberius
+Claudius Drusus_: 32.)
+
+[2] The so-called divinities, _Deus Crepitus, Dea Pertunda, Deus
+Stercutius, Dea Rumina_ (or _Rumilia_), _Dea Mena_, concerning whose
+curious attributes the reader may consult English or French classical
+encyclopedists, were doubtless regarded by the intelligent classes
+of antiquity much as certain religious superstitions are regarded by
+educated moderns. It is true that they furnished grotesque themes
+to artists; but many existing superstitions regarding elves and
+goblins have inspired modern sculptors, painters and designers.
+Certainly, seriously worshipped as deities, Priapus might seem equally
+contemptible as a divinity; but his worship, degenerate as it became
+in later years, was primitively symbolical. The obscene image merely
+typified the procreative Spirit of Nature. The eccentric gods and
+goddesses above referred to had no such excuse for being. As previously
+observed, however, Flaubert artistically represents these divinities
+not as they were really considered in the antique world, but rather as
+they would have appeared to the eyes of zealous Christians in the third
+century--infamous and loathsome.--Translator.
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+This translation of the "Tentation" by Lafcadio Hearn, still regarded
+by many as the best up until now in English, still misses some small
+fragments (of a couple of words) not deemed fit for the Anglo-Saxon
+temperament of that time. There is a contemporary version (2002) of
+this translation available, with introduction by Michel Foucault and
+the inclusion of some missing expressions. The original French by
+Gustave Flaubert is also available at Project Gutenberg--see
+http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10982
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 52225.txt or 52225.zip *******
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