Chapter VII: Part 7

"'We cannot possibly afford to forego the authority at present in the gift of Science. How could I dare to treat Jesus as one of those mysterious persons that bring to a head both vast and secular tendencies of the Past, and Present Projections of an immense Future? He, I hear from a certain humanist, was the heir of all that marvellous Power of Personality, called Cephalism, which shaped all classical antiquity; and at the same time He was the Anticipative Projection of a vast Future.

"'Perhaps.

"'But could any process approved by Science proper be applied to such a mode of thinking? None. Consequently I am bound to belittle, to ignore it.

"'As long as Jesus is not amenable to that mode of biography or to that kind of reflections which we apply to the life of cockroaches or gnats, we cannot seriously speak of Him.

"'Or is not His preaching like the laying of eggs by a bird, out of which eggs new birds arise in due time?

"'Is not His Church like the nest of a spotted woodpecker made in the hollow of some ancient tree?

"'Are not His apostles like the watch-birds amongst wandering cranes?

"'If, then, we want to study Him scientifically, we must treat Him and His exactly as we treat a hoopoe or a jackdaw. Not that we really know anything about a hoopoe or a jackdaw. But in treating Him in that fashion we can use all the sounding terms of Science, and thus, don't you see, secure all the authority of which Science to-day has so plentiful a share.

"'I have so far founded the New Religion. But I am not quite satisfied with it. I feel we need a Newest Religion. Ever since my birth the world has stepped into a new era. Something has been wrenched from its former place. I must at once see to it.

"'Meanwhile I am preparing a Life of Jesus on a truly scientific basis. The Lives hitherto published are completely out of date. They lack the true scientific spirit.

"'My "Life of Jesus" will have three sections. The first will contain the Antecedents. I will start with the soil, the air, and the waters of Palestine. I will investigate the influence which the geology of Palestine had on Jesus; especially, whether the stratification of that soil does not correspond to the stratification of the mind of Jesus. In that way I will obtain the precise nomenclature of the various layers of the intellect, human and Messianic, of Jesus.

"'Thus, I will determine his palæolithic, neolithic, pliocene, miocene and other tertiary mental formations. That will be inestimable.

"'I will then proceed to a close analysis of the air in Palestine, and try to determine how much argon it contains. This, together with the jargon talked round Bethlehem, and a close study of the remains of the King Sargon will give me a solid foundation for my researches into the feelings of Jesus. I will thus make sure whether these feelings were subconscious, auto-hypnotic, auto-Röntgenising, æroplanesque, or zeppelinury.

"'Should I find some radium in the stones near Bethlehem or Nazareth, I shall be enabled to account for the precociousness and light-emitting gift of Jesus.

"'Once I have thus settled the Antecedents, I will proceed to His life. In accordance with the method of zoologists and biologists, to whom one fox is as good as another, and one rabbit as serviceable as another, I will study the daily life of a modern rabbi in Sichem, or Jerusalem.

"'I will measure his nose, his lips, the width and height of his mouth when yawning and when asleep, his weight, his rapidity of walk, the loudness of his voice, his pulse, his heart, his meals, and his drinks. This will give me valuable data for the life of Jesus. I will reduce all these data to finely-drawn statistical tables.

"'As soon as I shall be in possession of these tables I will attack the most important part of my work: I will not tire until I discover the microbe which imparted to all that Jesus said an extraordinary power of captivation. That microbe, I have no doubt, can be distilled from a comparative solution of Zoroaster, Buddha, Confucius, Mahomet and Jesus. I name it _microbus prophetizans Huxleyi_. I shall, I trust, isolate it and send specimens to the South Kensington Museum, I will----'

* * * * *

"When the white-haired one," said Socrates, "had arrived at that stage of his wanderings, I left the hall. I felt sea-sick. These little ones think that they can triangulate the human personality, because they have triangulated many of their countries. They never consider that triangulation, and all scientific methods, refer, and can refer only to quantity or material quality. There is no geometry of love, hatred, or spiritual power. It is the old error of the Pythagoreans which you, O Pythagoras, admitted to me after having whiled in Olympus for a few hundred years.

"Numbers are not the souls of things.

"Personality is the soul of things.

"We humans are pre-eminently creative. Our chief force is not intellect nor will-power. We are neither Hegelians nor Schopenhauerians. In point of sagacity many an animal transcends us; and did you not avow to me, O Leibniz, that the difference between you and a yokel is not so much in your being more intellectual, or in your having more brain-power, but in your having more creative power?

"Intellect, or the force of close thinking, may be found in abundance in the city of London. Had people devoted as keen an interest to science or philosophy as city men do to money transactions, we should be much further than we are.

"But people differ very much less in power of intellect than in strength of originality.

"The great men of Literature or Science or Art are not very much cleverer in point of intellect than is the rest of the people. They exceed them in point of originality; that is, they exceed them because they devote themselves to digging in unbroken ground. It is in this way they create.

"It is in this sense that each human is, to a certain extent, new ground; and consequently, that the Great Humans are absolutely new phenomena. In other words, they are new creations. They have an X in them that no x-rays can penetrate into.

"Science can comprehend averages only. _Nova_ she cannot approach. This is why Great Humans have invariably been disavowed, rejected, and pooh-poohed by men of Science.

"Why has a lily of the valley bell-like blossoms? Science will never explain it. Those bells are part of the personality of the lily; and Science can understand it as little as a crofter could understand a refined Athenian.

"You may imagine, O gods and heroes, what I felt when I heard so many clergymen talk so 'scientifically' of The Greatest of Humans, who by His being so was _eo ipso_ Supra-human too.

"Science is unable to account for a lily of the valley; and yet shall Science be able to reconstruct Jesus?

"I should have shrunk from the task of reconstructing, in the manner of men of Science, my Phrygian slave.

"One can re-recreate, as it were, many of the phenomena of Personality, but not by the methods of Science. Personalities belong to the Humanities, whose methods are totally different from those of Science proper.

"It was said of me that in my mortal time I brought Philosophy from Heaven to Earth. I wish, O Zeus, you would allow me to mix again with the people in order to raise their Philosophy from Earth to Heaven."

* * * * *

When Socrates had finished, a deep silence fell over the Assembly. In the divine face of Zeus there was no movement to be noticed, and not an encouraging word fell from his lips. Suddenly one heard a loud laughter. Everybody turned towards the place where the laughter came from, and felt relieved to see that Diogenes was preparing to address the Assembly. Zeus nodded consent, and the whilom Cynic spake as follows:

"Few things have afforded me greater pleasure than your tale, O Socrates. Verily I believe that your renewed presence among the little ones is much less needed than is mine. I am the only man that could set right the wrenched religious fibres of these mannikins and womenfolk. But for my respect for you and the Assembly, I should have burst into an unseemly laughter while you were talking of their New Religion, which is but a resurrection-pie less the resurrection.

"To talk to them seriously about the incapacity of any physical Science or its methods to cope with the problems of Religion is to waste precious time. Let them have their Evolution, Convolution, or Devolution, by all means. The more they welter in it, the more my pupils on earth have a welcome chance of success. The official clergy think wonders of their cleverness in trying to make Religion into a Centaur, half man, half horse, or half Science and half Belief. While they are at it, my pupils, infinitely cleverer than all the clergy, make glorious headway in all directions.

"Is it not side-splitting to note how these clergymen are unable to see that the more people learn of Science proper; the more they accustom their minds to the dry biscuits of scientific methods; the more they will inwardly long for the drinks of Mysticism?

"The Roman clergy, trained by two thousand years, knows all that but too well.

"Your plain soul, your hard-working, scientifically untutored peasant or small _bourgeois_ is quite satisfied with a little, hearty Belief, and is indifferent to Mysticism and religious Extravagancies. It is your high-strung, modern, scientifically trained mind that impatiently craves more than sober Science can give it.

"Just look at the Europoids in the western continent. In the United States everything is reasoned out, systematised, methodised to a nicety. Their whole life looks like their towns: regular squares; straight streets, named after the consecutive numbers; labelled, docketed, built and shaped according to definite rules. In an American town nothing surprises one, except that the people themselves do not have each his respective number painted on his back.

"As the streets, so are the Constitution, the Schools, the Territory,--everything is ruled like a sheet of music. In the 250,000 schools, in the 500,000 Universities, and the 600,000 libraries, all founded (or confounded?) by a few multis, you hear nothing but Reason, Reason, Reason. You get Reason boiled, roasted, fried or stewed. You get it from injectors, from which it will jet out in smaller or larger jets, so that if it be too much for you, one can, by pulling the piston backwards, again store it up in the injector.

"Instead of traditions, unarticulated tendencies, latent _sous-entendus_, and delicate imponderables, there are only machines, ledgers, and registers, articulated with a vengeance, cryingly explicit and loud and indelicate. Everything is bound in the leather of reasonableness, in the hide of method, and in the wooden boards of Logic. Instead of on the rich soup of sentiments, men and women in the States are fed on scientific tabloids containing sentiments reduced to their ultimate chemical essences. A woman laughs at romance; her relations to men are 'reasonable.' A child laughs at piety; his or her relations to parents are tanned by 'sense'! A servant sneers at loyalty; her relations to the masters are macerated in the vinegar of 'inalienable right of reason.'

"All this is excellent--for me. For, what happens?

"The Americans indulging in too many orgies of Reasonableness; the Americans having thrown over-board all motives of historic truth in order to live under the banner of reasoned truth only, have long since become sick of Reason. They resemble a crew on a big ship that has stored its pantries and larders with nothing else than meat-extracts and tabloids. That crew, after a month's journey or so, will unfailingly sink or else eat the most loathsome fish rather than continue feeding on its scientific food.

"After all, when all is said and done, the Americans too are humans. They too want more than tabloids and meat-extracts. Tons of tins will not replace one fresh cabbage. On this eternal truth my disciples go to work in the States.

"Fully aware, as they are, that the Americans must be and are deadly 'tired' of Reason, they hasten to give the people of the States the most exciting devices of Unreason. One of them invents Mormonism; the other, Spiritualism; the third, Zionism; the fourth, Oneidaism, or general Promiscuity; the fifth, Christian Science; the sixth, Incarnationism; and so forth, and so on, _ad infinitum_.

"Can my triumph be greater? I will carefully avoid telling them that by worshipping Apollo extravagantly while neglecting the great god Dionysus, they have fallen wretched victims to the wrath of the latter. Just let them go on writing contemptuous reflections on Greek Mythology, and glory in the 'wonderful century' in which Dionysus is declared to be a mere myth. As long as they do that, I shall not lack plenty of successful disciples, and my name will wax greater and greater, until nobody shall be able to find, even did he use the latest Edison lamp, a single well-balanced human in all the States.

"Why, then, take so many English clergymen and their evolutions round Evolution so gravely, O Socrates? They do what the Americans do: they overdo Reason. Do let them do it, and do not disturb my circles, as Archimedes said. I promise you, when next they introduce the 'latest' evolution, I will invite you to the sight, and you will enjoy the fun as you have rarely enjoyed anything. I have instructed a new set of pupils of mine to start _The_ new Religion in England. The 'New Religion' of a year or so ago is out of fashion. What these decadent vibrants want is another Religion. I have just received a Marconigram from below, and am in a position to tell you all about the latest capers of my pupils. May I do so?"

Diana and Aphrodite and Pallas Athena at once applauded, and their silvery laughter was joined by the rest of the gods and heroes. Dionysus sent two beautiful nymphs to make the resting-place of Diogenes more comfortable, and to offer him a cup of the wine of Capri, shining like gold and full of mirth. Diogenes, deeply bowing to the Great God, and to Zeus, then proceeded:

"I learn that _The_ Religion now to be started is based on what my dear disciples have agreed to call _Elysiograms_; a word formed _à la_ 'telegram,' 'marconigram,' and meant to denote messages from Elysium.

"It is quite evident that a generation of impatient eels such as the present instalment of the little ones, cannot possibly wait until after death for news from the other world. The sub-lunar world they have ransacked and swallowed, hair and flesh, and all. Before, in the morning, they have quite recovered from their sleep; and before they have quite finished their nerve-destroying first cup of Ceylon cabbage, they have, in their 'papers,' learnt all that has been going on in every quarter of the globe terrestrial.

"That globe begins to bore them. They must have a daily (or hourly?) column or two about what is going on in Elysium, let alone in Hades. It is indispensable for their digestion.

"Just fancy how very much more easily one could swallow one's lunch with just a little dose of Hades in it! While one tries to make a tunnel through the stony meat from Patagonia called Scotch beef, one would read with grim satisfaction how one's late creditor is maltreated in the torture-chamber of Hades. Why, one would feel so buoyant that one would even be able to finish a meal at the Cecil.

"You said, O Socrates, that their clergy adopt Evolution because of the authority it gives them. Surely, they can tarry no longer in adopting the improved means of communication. If Marconi can wire wirelessly to New York, how can the clergy stay lagging behind? They must needs go one better, and wire wirelessly to Elysium. Nothing can be plainer.

"People want it.

"Soon Messrs Wright will ascend the Rainbow and sit astride on it. Even before that, Herr Zeppelin will land the first German street-band on Mars; and, probably, ere that is done, Madame Curie will by means of a rock of Radium as big as St Paul's illumine and read all the vast depths of the unexplored Heavens.

"How, under these circumstances, can the clergy remain behind? It is unthinkable. Accordingly, it is understood that the _Daily Nail_ and the _Crony_ will have every day a column called _Elysiograms_. It will consist of single words, numbers, signs, exclamations, and pauses, _elysiogrammed_ from over there. Some paragraphs will consist of commas, colons, semi-colons, and dots only. They will be the most interesting. These messages will be carefully distinguished from massages. They will be quite different. They will give the most astounding news. My principal pupil, Professor Oliver Nodge, just marconied me the latest _Elysiogram_, which he was fortunate enough to receive to-day:

"'Rather hot day to-night.--Feel depressed as if I had exchanged
ideas with Mr H.C.--4, 0,--:!--Place here somewhat out of date.--Do
send me _Times_ more regularly.--Can now see that flannels do not
conduce to health.--Never forget to wind up your watch!--Death is
a mere incident in Life.--If you can avoid it, don't die!--It is a
failure.--34, 56, 78, 90, 12....'"

When Diogenes had finished reading the _Elysiogram_ of his pupil, even Hephæstus (Vulcan), otherwise so grave, broke out in a tremendous laughter which made one of the tiers of the Coliseum shake like an elm-tree in a gale.

"I am delighted to see," continued Diogenes, "that my pupils contribute to your amusement. It is indeed beyond a doubt that without them this world would be considerably staler and duller than it is. You may imagine that my pupils will not rest contented with a daily column in a newspaper.

"They will found Elysiogram papers of their own; found Elysiogram Churches; build up Elysiogram congregations; deliver Elysiogram sermons; in short, they will establish _The New Religion_ of--_Elysionism_.

"In this marvellous Religion the believer is given all the shivers, cardiac vibrations, nervous shocks and prostrate contritions, pleasantly alternated with ecstatic exuberance, that he may wish for.

"In that respect it is far superior to any music hall.

"These funny clergymen rage against the music halls. But why have they abolished all public, gay, and variegated Church festivals, such as the Middle Ages had introduced in plenty? The public do want to have their shocks and shivers. If the Church does not provide some of them, music halls will.

"We Hellenes did everything to render Religion attractive and enjoyable. Our religious processions and public festivals were gorgeous with colours, fun, art, music, and touching piety.

"How could any Hellene have felt the need of a modern music hall, this the last degradation of the human intellect, worse than the Roman gladiatorial games, worse than the Spanish bull-fights, worse than the worst of French novels.

"If, therefore, the clergy will take our New Religion into the least consideration, they will forthwith see the immense advantages thereof. In _Elysionism_ the most languorously delicate of the elegant ladies will at last find what she has all this time been hankering for.

"In the morning when she gets up between twelve and two o'clock, she will with religious shivers reach after the Elysiogram press. With burning eye she will run over the columns in search of the latest _Elysiogram_. Just think of her excitement on finding, in one paragraph or another, some indiscretion of one of her departed friends, male or female, regarding her. Just imagine how she will devoutly run to the editor of the paper, or to the _Elysiop_, that is, the chief bishop of the New Religion, offering him £100, £200, nay £500 for the 'tranquillity' of the poor soul in Elysium from whom came that disquieting par. The _Elysiop_ will promise to do his best and will--enter the £500 _pour les frais de l'église_. What a delightfully exciting experience to have!

"Later on in the day, the same lady will enjoy the anxiety of a lady friend of hers who is waiting for an _Elysiogram_ from her husband who disappeared a few months before without sending his faithful wife the correct official statement of his departure. What exquisite moments of nervous expectation to pass!

"For a few further bank-notes _pour les frais de l'église_, the liberating _Elysiogram_ appears.

"Imagine the interest with which sermons delivered by the Elysiop, Elysiarch, or the Elyseacon, will be attended by the _beau monde_. The preacher after the customary introduction will pull from his pocket the latest _Elysiograms_, which are notoriously frequent on Saturdays. Artistically pausing before he begins reading them out, he will fill all these vibrants with the most dainty nervous wrenchings and twistings.

"Then slowly he will report to them the latest news from Elysium and Hades. With that justice so characteristic of the Powers of the Other World, the pleasant news, full of consolation and comfort, is addressed to such members as have proved zealous in deed and alms to the Church. On the other hand, members whose zeal left much to be desired, are treated to news that makes both kinds of their hair stand on end.

"Where is the music hall or even the theatre that will be in a position to vie with such a Church in intense attractiveness? Once the classes as well as the masses are drawn to it, some Oxford or Liverpool professor will speedily come forward with the new dogmatics of _Elysionism_; and in less than three years Prof. Harnack of Berlin will write its history of dogmatics, and publish maps about its geographical distribution.

"Amongst the innumerable blessings of this Religion there is one the value of which cannot be exaggerated, let alone properly estimated. I mean, of course, its vast resources for healing all diseases. It is patent that once we stand in continuous and direct communication with Elysium, we can easily inquire from our departed ones what we ought to do in case of illness. Since a given individual in Elysium who died of, say, hay-fever has traversed all its stages, and is naturally more conversant with it than any terrestrial doctor can ever be, knowing thereof not only the stages passing on earth but also those going on beyond the Rainbow; he is in the best of positions to advise a patient what to do and what not to do. Especially, when one takes into consideration that according to the most authentic _Elysiograms_, written by Prof. Nodge's own Elysio-typer, all departed people agree that hay-fever, appendicitis, pneumonia, etc., are only the _noms de plume_ of Dr Smith, Dr Jones, Dr Jenkinson, and so on.

"We shall, accordingly, in any case of illness, simply communicate the symptoms to Elysium and ask for detailed instructions from such of the Elysians as have died of that disease. In that way we are sure to heal all diseases much more rapidly than even Christian Science or Mahometan Chemistry could do.

"We shall sell Elysio-pills, with which no Beecham's Pill will be able to compete; and using the indications we shall receive from over the Acheron, we shall have _dépôts_ of Elysian Waters triumphing over Hunyady János, Carlsbad Sprudel, Contrexéville, or Aix-les-Bains.

"In fact, since the Kaiser is well known to be in close relations to the Upper World, and an intimate friend of Providence, we shall arrange through him an Elysian Bath, somewhere near Nauheim.

"Then our Religion will be complete.

"It will have its unique Press, its hierarchy, its liturgy, sermons, pills, waters, and watering-places, let alone its Pleasant Sunday Afternoons, moral gymnasiums, self-denial weeks, and special wireless costumes.

"The extant religions will all disappear; religious unity will reign over the whole world, and if you, O Zeus, will consent to it, I shall personally preside at my headquarters in Westbourne Park Chapel."

The speech of Diogenes was received with hearty applause, and even stern Demosthenes congratulated him on his idea of offering a really new shake-up to the tired nerves of the poor human tremolos of Mayfair and the East End.

Several of the gods volunteered to send messages for the _Elysian Times_, and Cæsar proposed that he and Alexander the Great, Pericles, and other heroes send messages counterdicting the extant Greek and Roman histories of their exploits, in order to enjoy the huge fun arising from the confusion amongst scholars.

* * * * *

When the hilarity of the Assembly had reached its maximum, Zeus addressed them as follows:

"Before, O Friends, we part from here repairing to Olympus, and eventually to Japan and China, I propose that Plato give us his serious impression of what turn the next religious phase of the little ones will take. I entitle him even to say, with due moderation, what turn it shall take."

Plato, rising from his seat near Socrates and Aristotle, first bowed to Zeus, and then to Apollo whom he requested to allow his priests to intone the sacred hymn of Delphi. That hymn, Plato said, had been handed down from hoary antiquity, and was the song best fitted to fill the hearts of men with the sentiment of religion; the Roman Church, he added, still retained it. Apollo nodded consent, and forthwith the archons of Delphi, aided by the great choir of the Parthenon, filled the still night with mighty harmonies. The simple tunes rose into the heights like columns upon which the singers finally laid down capitals, architraves and pediments of serene melodies, until all Rome and the surrounding plains and valleys seemed changed into one vast musical temple, while the echo of the Albanian Mountains handed the rhythms and cadences on to stern Soracte and the Apennines.

* * * * *

"I will not undertake," Plato said, "to determine what direction the new Religion of the little ones will take. That direction depends upon their whole life in peace and war, which is, and will remain, under your exclusive control, O Zeus. But if I am to outline what shape and function their Religion is likely to take in the near future, I feel more confident of acquitting myself creditably. This applies more particularly to the negative part of my task. I mean, it is quite possible to criticise the various schemes of new Religions proposed by a number of thinkers, and to say why these schemes will not succeed.

"The most numerous schemes of this description have been propounded by men of otherwise great abilities and accomplishments, such as Auguste Comte, and his followers in England and elsewhere. They have tried to establish rational Religions, or such in which Dionysus has no share. This is a vain attempt.

"Diogenes showed with great justice how all such attempts are doomed to failure.

"The more rational knowledge spreads both in bulk and in number of disciples, the more the little ones will need a Dionysiac religion.

"If the State or other ruling classes will not provide it properly, eccentrics and faddists will do so improperly.

"If the true enthusiasm for Art could really enter the hearts of the masses, then, and then alone, Religion need not be Dionysiac. However, this is impossible in nations consisting each of many millions of people.

"This is the greatness of your work, O Nietzsche. In your _Zarathustra_ you worship Apollo with piety, but you entreat Dionysus too to enter the temple. However, you restrict your cult to the few, and for this reason you cannot succeed to a greater extent than did Pythagoras, who likewise closed the gates of his sanctuary to the Many.

"The question in Europe is how to let the Many feel the Light of Apollo and the Might of Dionysus. Unless this is done, nothing is done. Can Protestantism do that? Calvin is fast aging, and his hair is quite white. Can Roman Catholicism do it?"

At these words of Plato the first matutinal choir came wafted from the Vatican. Plato made a pause. The Vestal Virgins bowed their heads. On Cæsar's expressive face there appeared a strange smile, and leaning over to Cicero, he whispered something into the ear of the great orator-statesman. Zeus remained immobile.

* * * * *

Plato resumed thus: "The Romans of our time were to us Hellenes as Protestantism is to Catholicism. Will the Rome of this day be absorbed by the Protestants of the North as we were absorbed by ancient Rome?

"You used to say, O Machiavelli, that this world belongs to the cold hearts. That is probably quite true with regard to material things. But is it true with regard to spiritual ones?

"The North of Europe is cold; the South is warm. The former is romantic at its best, and eccentric at its worst; while the South is classic at its best, and irreverential at its worst. The North therefore will worship Apollo only in a haze, and Dionysus in distorted forms; while the South willingly bows to Apollo full of heavenly light, and accepts Dionysus only by means of a strict, hierarchical organisation.

"Can any Bach write one 'well-tempered' fugue on both North and South? Can they in future be united in one belief?

"We have had so far two kinds of Religion only. One, those of small States, such as we had in Greece or Italy; the other, universal Religions, such as the Religion of Jesus, based on humans as mere abstracts, as mere equal atoms; Religions that applied to any person irrespective of State, race, class, or occupation. There are, however, now no small States such as we used to found, nor is all European humanity one vast conglomeration of atomic men.

"There are now new entities: nations.

"Will each of them develop her own Religion?

"Most likely, I think.

"It is with Religions as with Law and Language: each nation, the more high-strung it becomes, the more it differentiates its Law and its Language. In the Middle Ages, up to the twelfth century, there were not fifty languages in Europe. There are now far over a thousand.

"Each nation wants its own way of worshipping and representing Apollo and Dionysus. In countries full of musical enthusiasm the religious _rôle_ of Dionysus is different from what it is in countries where music is not an organ of the national soul. Should Europe ever be levelled down to one United States of Europe (--at these words one could see Zeus smile with benignant sarcasm--) then there will arise new Religions in nearly every county of every country.

"In England we see the process clearly developing. The official Church is neither quite Apollo nor quite Dionysus; it is a product grown somewhere between Rome and Geneva, say at Leghorn.

"The unofficial Churches accept Dionysus only as enthusiasm for unenthusiastic matters, such as Puritanism; while Apollo with them is a Sunday school teacher.

"And this cannot be otherwise. An Imperialist nation cannot have an Imperialist Religion too, otherwise the heads of that Religion would run the Empire. The English, in the interest of their Empire, disintegrated their ancient Religion. In other words, they were bound to obscure Apollo and to degrade Dionysus by eccentricities.

"Take the Unitarians. Unable to find place for Dionysus in their over-rationalised Religion, they rush into moral eccentricities, such as a wholesale condemnation of war, a sickly philanthropy that yet seldom leaves the precincts of words, and other morbid habits.

"In England, Religion cannot be allowed its full-fledged growth. Should the English lose their Empire and, which is doubtful, yet survive as a small island-state, they will forthwith change their Religions, and the first of these to be dropped will be Anglicanism; while Methodism, in one of its extremer forms, is the most likely to replace all the others, should Catholicism not supplant it.

"The only new Christian Religion likely to arise in the British Empire is one in India, which will stand to British Christianity as the Greek Church stands to the Roman. I wonder why one or another of the British missionaries has not developed it long ago.

"In Great Britain herself a powerful new Religion cannot be devised as yet.

"It is quite different on the Continent; and it is devoutly to be hoped that France will shake off her torpor and pour new religious enthusiasm into the soul of her nation.

"It is also to be hoped that the Japanese will at last adopt a Religion fitting their new status as a great nation. They will never accept Protestantism. They may accept some new form of Romanism, in that the great distance of Rome from Tokio guarantees them from too much interference, and because their next objective, the thousands of islands called the Philippines, have long been converted to Romanism.

"I have, in my travels on earth, frequently been asked whether our own beautiful Religion could not be revived again.

"To this the answer can hardly be doubtful. Our Religion was so intimately connected with our peculiar polity that unless such polities should be revived, our Religion cannot be reintroduced into the life of nations.

"In my Republic I have anticipated most of the political communities that have arisen after my death; and the Roman Church has fully confirmed my prediction, that the polity in which philosophers will be kings will be the most abiding of all. The restrictions which I placed on the various classes of my ideal Republic have not been literally observed by the Roman Church; she has laid upon them other restrictions.

"But then as now I say, that the greater the Ideal, the heavier price we have to pay for it.

"The little ones, listening to arm-chair experts, multi-millionaires and faddists, indulge in the childish belief that they will be able to bring Elysium down into their Assemblies, Market-places, and their Social Life, by removing all severe conflicts, all cruelty, all relentless punishments, and similar necessities which are only the inevitable price paid for some great good. They think they will make the world more humane, by giving up any attempt at weeding out all the bad herbs among the human grass.

"They will never do it. If they want to have a Religion better than the one they have, they will have to pay an exceedingly heavy price for it.

"First is Calvary, and then comes the Resurrection.

"Religion is an Ideal, and hence very costly. If ever the general brotherhood of men should be realised, just for one year, the sacrifices to be paid for such a sublime ideal would be so immense that people would at once relapse into the other extreme.

"Nothing wiser ever fell from your lips, O Goethe, than your saying that 'nothing is more hard to endure than a series of three beautiful days.'

"We Greeks know it. We realised many an ideal; more than has been realised by any other people. Accordingly, we did not last very long. Do not covet the stars! Be satisfied with a little cottage in the midst of a small garden.

"But you were right, O Spinoza, that the whole essence of Man is concupiscence. He _will_ desire and aspire after an endless array of things, all of which he wants to have for nothing.

"It is in vain that we tell him that there is no more expensive shop than that where gratification of desires is sold.

"In vain have all the Religions essayed to inculcate the lesson of resignation, one by threatening dire punishments on earth, the other by menacing eternal pains in yonder world.

"Resignation is the last thing a human thinks of. He thinks he is so clever, so intelligent, so inventive and especially so 'progressive,' that he will bend Ideals to his will, as he has done with a few of the physical forces of Nature. He does not know that while other goods require only the abnegation of one or a few individuals, Ideals exact the privation of multitudes.

"Could we free Greeks have been what we were, had we not stood on the bodies of degraded slaves who relieved us of the drudgery of life? One cannot be free and a slave at the same time.

"In my deep conviction of the heavy sacrifices demanded for Ideals, I frequently think that we Greeks, and more particularly myself, who introduced this thirst for Ideals into the world, have thereby done Europe more harm than good.

"How many a time has the fate of Prometheus been re-enacted in millions of ideal-smitten Europeans! There he is, bound to a rock, while an eagle eats his liver, because he wanted to bring down Olympus to earth.

"The Religion that will teach man serene resignation; that will imbue him with the sense of the magnitude of Ideals; that will make him feel that Ideals are not for man, but for gods; that Religion will save him.

"None other.

"The priests of that Religion must be the first to exemplify that Resignation to the full. They must not preach Resignation while themselves dressed in purple and clothed in the amplest rights of Precedence, Authority, and Splendour. Will there ever be such priests?

"I doubt it. What priests want and what they have always wanted, is nothing but authority.

"They have founded and brought to its most consummate expression the science of authority-seeking. They know how to impress people. I do not hope that they will ever give up such a profitable accomplishment; and consequently no Religion of the future will have a remarkable success unless it enables its founders to invest many persons with great authority.

"The scant authority it gives to its incumbents is the chief weakness of Protestantism as compared with Roman Catholicism. This world is ruled by Authority; and so far, the other world too has been governed by the same means. And so at the end, as well as at the outset of our reflections on Life we start and come back to the same eternal truth, that practical life wants not truth as such, but only _effectology_.

"Truth proper, and independent of any practical effects, has its place only at the foot of Your Mighty Throne in Olympus, O Zeus.

"We Hellenes having been on a plane altogether higher than is that of the little ones, we dared to introduce some truths proper into our life. We sincerely called a spade a spade. We knew that some women and men must suffer, in order that others may fully develop their humanity; and so we instituted slavery, scorning, as we did, the half-measures of quarter, third, or three quarters liberty in men or women. We openly talked of the 'Envy of the gods,' which is one of the deepest truths of life. And thus in many a custom, law, or measure of ours we had the courage to enshrine truth proper in the prose-frame of ordinary life.

"This emboldened me to think that there might one day be a State, a Republic, wholly built on eternal truths. And so I wrote my book hoping it would serve as a beacon-fire for all times and all humans.

"At present I know better. What people want, in Religion or Science, is _effectological_ truth, and not truth proper. My book, as the rest of my work, has procured me a place in Olympus, but has not enabled me to conquer a single town of the nether-world.

"I too have learnt to resign myself.

"Truth, like Beauty, and Goodness, is not meant for the little ones. And yet they will in all times go on their pilgrimage to our shrines; through all ages they will worship Athens and mighty Rome as the true home of humanity; as the age and the men who had the divine courage of truthfulness, and the saving grace of Beauty."

Zeus and Juno rose from their chryselephantine seats. The shades of the night became lighter, and at a sign from Mercury, the whole divine Assembly left their places and moved through the air towards Olympus.

THE END

A Catalogue of the

Publications of T. Werner Laurie.

ABBEYS OF GREAT BRITAIN, The (H. Clairborne Dixon and E. Ramsden).
6s. net. (Cathedral Series.)

ABBEYS OF ENGLAND, The (Elsie M. Lang). Leather, 2s. 6d. net.
(Leather Booklets.)

ADAM (H.L.), The Story of Crime. Fully Illustrated. Demy 8vo. 10s.
6d. net.

ADDISON (JULIA), Classic Myths in Art. Illustrated with 40 plate
reproductions from famous painters. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net.

ADVENTURES OF AN EMPRESS (Helene Vacaresco). 6s.

AFLALO (F.G.), Sunshine and Sport in Florida and the West Indies.
60 Illustrations. Demy 8vo, 16s. net.

ALIEN, The (Helene Vacaresco). 6s.

ANTHONY (E.) ("Cut Cavendish"), The Complete Bridge Player, With a
Chapter on Misery Bridge. (Vol. I., Library of Sports.) 320 pages.
Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.

ARMOUR (J. OGDEN), The Packers and the People. Eight Illustrations.
380 Pages. Crown 8vo, 6s. net.

ARNCLIFFE PUZZLE, The (Gordon Holmes). 6s.

ART IN THE DUMPS (Eugene Merrill). 1s. net.

ARTIST'S LIFE, The (John Oliver Hobbes). 2s. 6d. net.

BEAUTY SHOP, The (Daniel Woodroffe). 6s.

BECKE (L.), Notes from My South Sea Log. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s.
net.

BECKE (L.), My Wanderings in the South Seas. Illustrated. Crown
8vo, 6s. net.

BECKE (L.), Sketches in Normandy. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.

BELL AND ARROW, The (Nora Hopper). 6s.

BENNETT (A.). See Phillpotts.

BIOGRAPHY FOR BEGINNERS, The (E. Clerihew). 6s. net.

BLAND (Hubert) ("Hubert" of the _Sunday Chronicle_), Letters to a
Daughter. Illustrated Frontispiece. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. net;
paper, 1s. net.

BLAND (Hubert) ("Hubert" of the _Sunday Chronicle_), With the Eyes
of a Man. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.

BLIND REDEEMER, The (David Christie Murray). 6s.

BLINDMAN'S MARRIAGE (Florence Warden). 6s.

BLYTH (J.), A New Atonement. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

BRIDGE PLAYER, The Complete (Edwyn Anthony). 2s. 6d. net.

BRIDGES (J.A.), Reminiscences of a Country Politician. Demy 8vo,
8s. 6d. net.

BROWNE (J. Penman), Travel and Adventure in the Ituri Forests. Demy
8vo, 16s. net.

BUILDING OF A BOOK, The (F.H. Hitchcock). 6s. net.

BULLOCK (Shan F.), The Cubs. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.; Prize
Edition, 3s. 6d.

BULLOCK (Shan F.), Robert Thorne: The Story of a London Clerk. A
Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

BUMPUS (T.F.), The Cathedrals of England and Wales. (The Cathedral
Series, Vols. III., IV., V.). With many plates and minor
decorations, and specially designed heads and tailpieces to each
chapter. Octavo, decorative cover, cloth gilt, 6s. net each; in
leather, 10s. 6d. net per vol.

BUMPUS (T.F.), The Cathedrals and Churches of Northern Italy. With
80 plates, nine of them in colour, and a coloured frontispiece by
F.L. Griggs, 9 × 6-1/2. 16s. net.

BUMPUS (T.F.), The Cathedrals of Northern Germany and the Rhine.
(The Cathedral Series, Vol. VI.). With many plates and minor
decorations. 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net; leather, 10s. 6d. net.

BUMPUS (T.F.), Old London Churches. In 2 vols. (Uniform with the
Cathedral Series.) Many illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s.
net each.

BURLESQUE NAPOLEON, The (Philip W. Sergeant). 10s. 6d. net.

BURROWS (G.T.), Some Old Inns of England. (The Leather Booklets,
Vol. II.) 24 illustrations. 5 × 3, stamped leather, 2s. 6d. net.

BUTLER (W.M.), The Golfers' Guide. With an Introduction by Dr.
Macnamara. (Vol. III., Library of Sports.) Crown 8vo., 2s. 6d. net.

CAMP FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES (W.T. Hornaday), 16s. net.

CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS, The (Henry Haynie). 6s. net.

CARREL (Frederic), The Adventures of John Johns. A Novel. Crown
8vo, 2s. 6d. net.

CASTLES OF ENGLAND, The (E.B. D'Auvergne). Leather, 2s. 6d. net.
(Leather Booklets.)

CATHEDRAL GUIDE, The Pocket (W.J. Roberts). Leather. 2s. 6d. net.
(Leather Booklets.)

CATHEDRAL SERIES, The. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net each.

Vol. I. The Cathedrals of Northern France. By Francis Miltoun.
With 80 Illustrations from original drawings, and many minor
decorations, by Blanche M'Manus. 1 vol., decorative cover.

Vol. II. The Cathedrals of Southern France. By Francis Miltoun.

Vols. III., IV., V. The Cathedrals of England and Wales. B.T.
Francis Bumpus. With many plates and minor decorations, and
specially designed heads and tailpieces to each chapter. 3 vols,
decorative cover; also in leather, 1Os. 6d. net per vol.

Vol. VI. The Cathedrals of Northern Germany and the Rhine. By T.
Francis Bumpus. With many plates and minor decorations. Also in
leather, 10s. 6d. net.

Vol. VII. The Cathedrals of Northern Spain. By Charles Rudy. Many
Illustrations.

CATHARINE: The Human Weed (L. Parry Truscott). 6s.

CHAIN INVISIBLE, The (Ranger Gull). 6s.

CLASSIC MYTHS IN ART (Julia Addison). 6s. net.

CLASSICAL LIBRARY, The. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net each.

Vol. I. The Works of Virgil. Translated into English by C.
Davidson. With notes and a memoir. With photogravure frontispiece.

Vol. II. The Works of Horace. Translated into English by C. Smart.
With notes and a memoir. With photogravure frontispiece.

CLERIHEW (E.), Biography for Beginners. A New Nonsense Book. With
40 diagrams by G.K. Chesterton. Medium 4to, 6s. net.

COBB (T.), A Sentimental Season. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

COENEN (Frans), Essays on Glass, China, Silver, etc. In connection
with the Willet-Holthuysen Museum Collection, Amsterdam. With 32
Illustrations. Crown 4to, 6s. net.

CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG MAN (George Moore). 6s.

COST, The (D.G. Phillips). 6s.

COURTSHIPS OF CATHERINE THE GREAT, The (P.W. Sergeant). 10s. 6d.
net.

CROSLAND (T.W.H.), The Wild Irishman. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 5s.

CROSS (Victoria), Six Women. A Novel. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s.

CROSS (Victoria), Life's Shop Window. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

CROWNED SKULL, The (Fergus Hume). 6s.

CUBS, The (Shan F. Bullock). 6s.

D'AUVERNGE (E.B.), The Castles of England. (The Leather Booklets
Series, Vol. III.). With 30 illustrations. 5 × 3, stamped leather,
2s. 6d. net.

DAVIDSON (C.), The Works of Virgil. Translated into English. With
notes and a memoir. With photogravure frontispiece (Classical
Library, Vol. I.) Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s. 6d.

DAVIDSON (GLADYS), Stories from the Operas. In 2 Vols. (Music
Lovers' Library, Vols. II. and III.). Illustrated. Crown 8vo, cloth
gilt, 3s. 6d. net.

DAYS STOLEN FROM SPORT (Philip Geen). 10s. 6d. net.

DICK DONOVAN (see Muddock).

DIXON (H.C.) and E. Ramsden, Cathedrals of Great Britain.
Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 6s. net.

DRAKE (M.), The Salving of the Derelict. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

DRAKE (M.), Lethbridge of the Moor. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

DYKE (J.C. Van), The Opal Sea. Crown 8vo, 6s. net.

DYKE (J.C. Van), Studies in Pictures. An Introduction to the Famous
Galleries. 42 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 6s. net.

ECLECTIC LIBRARY, The. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 1s. net each.

Vol. I. The Scarlet Letter. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. 320 pages.

ENGLAND AND WALES, The Cathedrals of (T. Francis Bumpus). In three
vols. 6s. net each; leather, 10s. 6d. each.

ENGLAND, The Cathedrals of (Mary Taber), 6s. net.

EVIL EYE, The (Daniel Woodroffe). 6s.

FAIR WOMEN, The Book of (Translated by Elsie M. Lang). 6s. net.

FINANCIER'S WIFE, The (Florence Warden). 6s.

FISHERMAN, The Complete (W.M. Gallichan). 2s. 6d. net.

FISHING FOR PLEASURE AND CATCHING IT (E. Marston). Cloth, 3s. 6d.
net; leather, 5s. net.

FRANCE, The Cathedrals of Northern (Francis Miltoun). 6s. net.

FRANCE, The Cathedrals of Southern (Francis Miltoun). 6s. net.

FRIENDS THE FRENCH, My (R.H. Sherard). 16s. net

GALLICHAN (W.M.), The Complete Fisherman. Illustrated. (Library of
Sports, Vol. II.) Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.

GEEN (P.), Days Stolen for Sport. Illustrated. Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d.
net.

GIBERNE (Agnes), Rowena. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

GIVEN PROOF, The (H.H. Penrose). 6s.

GLASS, CHINA, AND SILVER, Essays on (Frans Coenen). 6s. net.

GOLFER'S MANUAL, The (W. Meredith Butler). 2s. 6d. net.

GRIFFITH (G.), The Mummy and Miss Nitocris. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

GULL (Ranger), The Chain Invisible. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

GULL (Ranger), Retribution. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

HARDY (Rev. E.J.), What Men Like in Women. Crown 8vo, paper, 1s.
net; cloth, 2s.

HAWTHORNE (N.), The Scarlet Letter. (Eclectic Library, Vol. I.) 320
pages. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 1s. net.

HAYNIE (H.), The Captains and the Kings: Intimate Reminiscences of
Notabilities. 348 pages. 8-1/4 × 5-1/2, cloth gilt, 6s. net.

HITCHCOCK (F.H.), The Building of a Book. Crown 8vo, 6s. net.

HOBBES (J.O.), The Artist's Life, and Other Essays. With
frontispiece and a cover design by Charles E. Dawson. Crown 8vo,
2s. 6d. net.

HOLMES (Gordon), The Arncliffe Puzzle. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

HOPPER (Nora) (Mrs. Hugh Chesson), The Bell and the Arrow. An
English Love Story. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.

HORACE, The Works of (C. Smart). 2s. 6d. net.

HORNADAY (W.T.), Camp Fires in the Canadian Rockies. With 70
illustrations from photographs taken by John M. Phillips and two
maps. Demy 8vo, 16s. net.

HOSKEN (Heath). See Stanton.

HUME (Fergus), Lady Jim of Curzon Street. A Novel. Cover design
by Charles E. Dawson. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s; paper, 1s. net;
cloth, 1s. 6d. net.

HUME (Fergus), The Crowned Skull. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

HUME (Fergus), The Path of Pain. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

HUNEKER (J.), Melomaniacs: Wagner, Ibsen, Chopin, Nietzsche, etc.
Crown 8vo, 6s. net.

HUNEKER (J.), Iconoclasts: A Book of Dramatists. Illuminating
critical studies of modern revolutionary playwrights. Crown 8vo,
6s. net.

HUNEKER (J.), Visionaries. Crown 8vo, 6s.

HUNT (Violet), The Workaday Woman. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

HUSBAND HUNTER, The (Olivia Roy). 6s.

ICONOCLASTS (James Huneker). 6s. net.

INDIA (Pierre Loti). 10s. 6d. net.

INGLEBY (L.C.), Oscar Wilde: A Literary Appreciation. Demy 8vo,
12s. 6d. net.

IRVINE (A.M.), Roger Dinwiddie, Soul Doctor. A Novel. Crown 8vo, 6s.

ITALY, The Cathedrals of Northern (T. Francis Bumpus). 16s. net.

JAPP (A.H.), R.L. Stevenson: A Record, an Estimate, and a Memorial.
Illustrated with facsimile letters and photogravure frontispiece.
Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net.

JOHN BULL AND JONATHAN, With (John Morgan Richards). 16s. net.

JOHN JOHNS, The Adventures of (Frederic Carrel). 2s. 6d. net.

JOHNSON (Trench H.), Phrases and Names: Their Origins and Meanings.
Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. net.

JUNGLE TRAILS AND JUNGLE PEOPLE (Caspar Whitney). 12s. net.

KENNARD (H.P.), The Russian Peasant. 19 illustrations. Crown 8vo,
cloth gilt, 6s. net.

KING'S WIFE, The (Helene Vacaresco). 6s.

KUROPATKIN, The Campaign with (Douglas Story). 10s. 6d. net.

LADY JIM OF CURZON STREET (Fergus Hume). Cloth, 6s.; paper, 1s.
net.; cloth, 1s. 6d.

LADY LEE (Florence Warden). 6s.

LANG (E.M.), Literary London. 42 illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth
gilt, 6s. net.

LANG (E.M.), The Book of Fair Women. By Federigo Luigino of Udine.
Translated from the Venetian edition of 1554. With 6 pictures.
Foolscap 8vo, hand-made paper, parchment binding. 6s. net.

LANG (E.M.), The Abbeys of England. (The Leather Booklets, Vol. V.)
Illustrated. 5 × 3, stamped leather, 2s. 6d. net.

LAST EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH, The (P.W. Sergeant). 12s. 6d. net.

LAST MIRACLE, The (M.P. Shiel). 6s.

LATHROP (E.), Where Shakespeare Set His Stage. With numerous
full-page illustrations. Demy 8vo, cloth, 8s. 6d. net.

LEATHER BOOKLETS, The. 5 × 3, stamped leather, 2s. 6d. net each.

Vol. I. The Pocket Cathedral Guide. By W.J. Roberts. 30
illustrations.

Vol. II. Some Old Inns of England. By G.T. Burrows. 24
illustrations.

Vol. III. The Castles of England. By E.B. d'Auvergne. With 30
Illustrations.

Vol. IV. Some Old London Memorials. By W.J. Roberts. With 25
photographs by the author.

Vol. V. The Abbeys of England. By Elsie M. Lang. 20 illustrations.

LETHBRIDGE OF THE MOOR (Maurice Drake). 6s.

LETTERS TO A DAUGHTER (Hubert Bland). 3s. 6d. net; paper, 1s. net.

LIFE IN THE LAW (John George Witt). 6s. net.

LIFE'S SHOP WINDOW (Victoria Cross). 6s.

LINDSAY'S LOVE, A (Charles Lowe). 6s.

LITERARY LONDON (Elsie M. Lang). 6s. net.

LOTI (Pierre), India. Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. net.

LOTUS LAND (P.A. Thompson). 16s. net.

LOVER OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, The (Aubrey Richardson). 12s. 6d. net.

LOWE (C.), A Lindsay's Love. A Tale of the Tuileries and the Siege
of Paris. A Novel. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s.