Chapter IV: Part 4

"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._

_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."

(_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.

"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.

"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!

"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._)