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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Historical Miniatures, by August Strindberg
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Historical Miniatures
+
+Author: August Strindberg
+
+
+Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7955]
+This file was first posted on June 5, 2003
+Last Updated: May 5, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL MINIATURES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Marc
+D'Hooghe, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+HISTORICAL MINIATURES
+
+
+By August Strindberg
+
+
+Translated by Claud Field, M.A.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+Maximilian Harden, the well-known critic, writes in the _Zukunft_ (7th
+September 1907) of the _Historical Miniatures_:
+
+"A very interesting book, as might be expected, for it is Strindberg's.
+And I am bold enough to say a book which should and must be successful
+with the public. The writer is not here concerned with Sweden, nor with
+Natural History. A philosopher and poet here describes the visions which
+a study of the history of mankind has called up before his inner eye.
+Julian the Apostate and Peter the Hermit appear on the stage, together
+with Attila and Luther, Alcibiades and Eginhard. We see the empires
+of the Pharaohs and the Czars, the Athens of Socrates and the 'Merry
+England' of Henry VIII. There are twenty brief episodes, and each of
+them is alive. So powerful is the writer's faculty of vision, that it
+compels belief in his descriptions of countries and men."
+
+"The question whether these cultured circles really were as described,
+hardly occurs to us. Never has the remarkable writer shown a more
+comprehensive grasp. Since the days of the _Confession of a Fool_,
+Strindberg has become a writer of world-wide significance."
+
+[Footnote: one collection of Maximilian Harden's essays is published by
+Messrs. Blackwood, and another by Mr. Eveleigh Nash.]
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+PREFACE
+
+THE EGYPTIAN BONDAGE
+
+THE HEMICYCLE OF ATHENS
+
+ALCIBIADES
+
+SOCRATES
+
+FLACCUS AND MARO
+
+LEONTOPOLIS
+
+THE LAMB
+
+THE WILD BEAST
+
+THE APOSTATE
+
+ATTILA
+
+THE SERVANT OF SERVANTS
+
+ISHMAEL
+
+EGINHARD TO EMMA
+
+THE CLOSE OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM
+
+PETER THE HERMIT
+
+LAOCOON
+
+THE INSTRUMENT
+
+OLD MERRY ENGLAND
+
+THE WHITE MOUNTAIN
+
+THE GREAT CZAR
+
+THE SEVEN GOOD YEARS
+
+DAYS OF JUDGMENT
+
+STRINDBERG'S DEATH-BED
+
+
+
+
+
+THE EGYPTIAN BONDAGE
+
+
+The old worker in ebony and cabinet-maker, Amram, dwelt by the
+river-side in a clay-hut which was covered with palm-leaves. There he
+lived with his wife and three children. He was yellow in complexion and
+wore a long beard. Skilled in his trade of carving ebony and hard wood,
+he attended at Pharaoh's court, and accordingly also worked in the
+temples. One morning in midsummer, just before sunrise, he got out of
+bed, placed his implements in a bag, and stepped out of his hut. He
+remained standing on the threshold for a moment, and, turning to the
+east, uttered a low prayer. Then he began to walk between fishermen's
+huts, following the black broken bank of the river, where herons and
+doves were resting after their morning meal.
+
+His neighbour, the fisherman, Nepht, was overhauling his nets, and
+placing carp, grayling, and sheat-fish in the different partitions of
+his boat.
+
+Amram greeted him, and wished to say some words in token of
+friendliness.
+
+"Has the Nile ceased to rise?" he asked.
+
+"It remains standing at ten yards' height. That means starvation!"
+
+"Do you know why it cannot rise higher than fifteen yards, Nepht?"
+
+"Because otherwise we should drown," answered the fisherman simply.
+
+"Yes, certainly, and that we cannot. The Nile, then, has a Lord who
+controls the water-level; and He who has measured out the starry vault,
+and laid the foundations of the earth, has set up a wall for the waters,
+and this wall, which we cannot see, is fifteen yards high. For during
+the great flood in the land of our fathers, Ur of the Chaldees, the
+water rose fifteen yards--no more, no less. Yes, Nepht, I say 'we,'
+for you are of our people, though you speak another tongue, and honour
+strange gods. I wish you a good morning, Nepht, a very good morning."
+
+He left the abashed fisherman, went on, and entered the outskirts of the
+city, where began the rows of citizens' houses built of Nile-bricks
+and wood. He saw the merchant and money-changer Eleazar taking down his
+window-shutters while his assistant sprinkled water on the ground before
+the shop. Amram greeted him, "A fine morning, cousin Eleazar."
+
+"I cannot say," answered the tradesman sulkily. "The Nile has remained
+stationary, and begins to sink. The times are bad."
+
+"Bad times are followed by good times, as our father Abraham knew; and
+when Joseph, Jacob's son, foresaw the seven lean years he counselled
+Pharaoh to store up corn in the granaries...."
+
+"May be, but that is a forgotten tale now."
+
+"Yes, and have you also forgotten the promise which the Lord gave to his
+friend Abraham?"
+
+"That about the land of Canaan? We have waited four hundred years for
+its fulfilment, and now, instead of receiving it, Abraham's children
+have become bond-servants."
+
+"Abraham believed through good and through evil days, through joy and
+through sorrow, and that was counted to him for righteousness."
+
+"I don't believe at all," Eleazar broke in, "or rather, I believe that
+things go backwards, and that I will have to put up my shutters, if
+there is a failure in the crops."
+
+Amram went on with a sad face, and came to the market, where he bought a
+millet loaf, a piece of an eel, and some onions.
+
+When the market-woman took the piece of money, she spat on it, and when
+Amram received his change, he did the same.
+
+"Do you spit on the money, Hebrew?" she hissed.
+
+"One adopts the customs of the country," answered Amram.
+
+"Do you answer, unclean dog?"
+
+"I answer speech, but not abuse."
+
+The Hebrew went on, for a crowd began to gather. He met the barber,
+Enoch, and they greeted each other with a sign which the Hebrews had
+devised, and which signified, "We believe in the promise to Abraham, and
+wait, patient in hope."
+
+Amram reached at last the temple square, passed through the avenue of
+Sphinxes, and stood before a little door in the left pylon. He knocked
+seven times with his hand; a servant appeared, took Amram by the arm
+and led him in. A young priest tied a bandage round his eyes, and, after
+they had searched his bag, they took the cabinet-maker by the hand, and
+led him into the temple. Sometimes they went up steps, sometimes down
+them, sometimes straight-forward. Now and then they avoided pillars,
+and the murmur of water was heard; at one time there was a smell of
+dampness, at another of incense.
+
+At last they halted, and the bandage was taken off Amram's eyes. He
+found himself in a small room with painted walls, some seats, and a
+cupboard. A richly-carved ebony door divided this room from a larger
+one which on one side opened on to a broad staircase leading down to a
+terrace facing eastward.
+
+The priest left Amram alone after he had shown him that the door
+required repair, and had, with an unmistakable gesture, enjoined on him
+silence and secrecy.
+
+When Amram was left alone, and found himself for the first time within
+the sacred walls which could not overawe a Hebrew's mind, he yet felt a
+certain alarm at all the mysteriousness, of which he had heard since
+his youth. In order to shake off his fear of the unknown, he resolved to
+satisfy his curiosity, though at the risk of being turned out, if he met
+anyone. As a pretext he took a fine plane in his hand, and entered the
+great hall.
+
+It was very spacious. In the midst was a fountain of red granite, with
+an obelisk set upright in the basin. The walls were adorned with figures
+painted in simple colours, most of them in red ochre, but also in yellow
+and black. He drew off his sandals, and went on into a gallery where
+stood mummy-coffins leaning against the wall.
+
+Then he entered a domed room, on the vault of which were painted the
+great constellations of the northern hemisphere. In the middle of the
+room stood a table, on which lay a half-globe covered with designs
+resembling the outlines of a map. By the window stood another table,
+with a model of the largest pyramid set upon a land-surveyor's board,
+with a scale of measurements. Close by stood an alidade, an instrument
+for measuring angles.
+
+There was no visible outlet to this room, but after some search the
+uninitiated Hebrew found some stairs of acacia-wood leading up through
+a wooden tower. He climbed and climbed, but when he looked through the
+loopholes, he found himself always on a level with the roof of the
+domed room. But he continued to ascend, and after he had again counted
+a hundred steps and, looked through a loop hole, he found himself on a
+level with the floor of the domed room. Then a wooden door opened, and
+an elderly man in half-priestly garb received him with a greeting as
+though he were a well-known and expected superior. But when he saw a
+stranger, he started, and the two men gazed at each other long, before
+they could speak. Amram, who felt unpleasantly surprised, began the
+verbal encounter: "Reuben? Don't you know me, the friend of your youth,
+and your kinsman in the Promise?"
+
+"Amram, the husband of Jochebed, the son of Kohath! Yes, I know you!"
+
+"And you here! After you have vanished from my sight for thirty years!"
+
+"And you?"
+
+"I was sent for to repair a door; that is all; and when I was left
+alone, I wanted to look round.
+
+"I am a scribe in the chief school...."
+
+"And sacrificest to strange gods...."
+
+"No, I do not sacrifice, and I have kept my faith in the promise, Amram.
+I have entered this temple in order to learn the secrets of the wise,
+and to open from within the fortress which holds Israel captive."
+
+"Secrets? Why should the Highest be secret?"
+
+"Because the common people only understand what is low."
+
+"You do not yourself believe in these animals which you call sacred?"
+
+"No, they are only symbols--visible signs to body forth the invisible.
+We priests and scribes revere the Only One, the Hidden, under His
+visible shape, the Sun, giver and sustainer of life. You remember, when
+we were young, how Pharaoh Amenophis the Fourth forcibly did away with
+the ancient gods and the worship of the sacred animals. He passed down
+the river from Thebes proclaiming the doctrine of the Unity of God.
+Do you know whence he derived that doctrine? From the Israelites, who,
+after Joseph's marriage to Asenath, daughter of the High Priest of
+On, increased in numbers, and even married daughters of the house of
+Pharaoh. But after the death of Amenophis the old order was restored,
+the King again resided at Thebes, and the ancient gods were brought out
+again, all to please the people."
+
+"And you continue to honour the Only One, the Hidden, the Eternal.
+
+"Yes, we do."
+
+"Is, then, your God not the same as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
+Jacob?"
+
+"Probably, since there is only One."
+
+"It is strange. Why, then, do you persecute the Hebrews?"
+
+"Foreigners are not generally loved. You know that our Pharaoh has
+lately conquered the Syrian race of Hittites."
+
+"In the land of Canaan and the region round about, in the land of our
+fathers, and of the promise. Do you see, the Lord of Zebaoth, our God,
+sends him to prepare the way for our people?"
+
+"Do you still believe in the promise?"
+
+"As surely as the Lord liveth! And I am told that the time will be soon
+fulfilled when we shall leave our bondage, and go to the promised land."
+
+The scribe did not answer, but his face expressed simultaneously doubt
+in Amram's declaration, and the certainty of something quite different
+which would soon happen. Amram, who did not wish to have his faith
+shaken by any kind of explanations, let the subject drop, and spoke of
+something indifferent.
+
+"That is a strange staircase."
+
+"It is an elevator, and not a staircase."
+
+Amram glanced up at the domed roof, and found a new pretext for
+continuing the conversation, which he did not wish to drop.
+
+"Does that represent the sky?" he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And its secrets?"
+
+"Ah, the secrets? They are accessible to all who can understand them."
+
+"Tell them in a few words."
+
+"Astronomy is not my province, and I know little of it, but still I
+will tell you in a few words. The vault up there represents the sky,
+the board lying on the table, the earth. Now the wise speak thus: In the
+beginning Earth (Sibu) and Heaven (Nuit) lay near each other. But the
+god of air and of sunlight (Shu) raised the sky, and set it as a vault
+over the earth. The fixed constellations which we know form as it were
+an impression, like that of a seal on wax, of the earth, and when the
+learned study the stars, they can find out the unknown parts of our
+earth. Look at the constellations which you know. In the north the Great
+Bear; in the south, at a certain season of the year, the Hunter (Orion),
+with four stars at the corners and three stars in the middle. These
+three we Hebrews call Jacob's Staff, and through the uppermost of them
+passes the sky-gauge or equator, which corresponds to the earth-gauge
+where the sources of our Nile are said to be.
+
+"You know also the constellation which we specially love--the River
+(Nile). Look, how it flees from the Hunter (Orion), and makes as many
+windings as the Nile here on earth. Therefore he who wishes to learn the
+hidden secrets of earth must learn them from the sky. Our wise men know
+only the lands which lie towards the east; but those which lie in the
+north under the Great Bear are unknown to us, as also are the lands
+towards the west. But it looks as though the lands of the Bear had great
+destinies assigned to them. Their numbers are four and three, like those
+of the Hunter. Three represents the Divine with its attributes, four
+denotes the most perfect possible: three and four together form the
+mysterious number seven. To gods sacrifices are offered with the unequal
+number, three; to men, with the equal number four.
+
+"This is about all that I have cursorily understood of the secrets of
+the sky. If you now wish to understand some of the secrets of the earth,
+let us consider the tombs of the Pharaohs. These, apart from their
+ostensible purposes of being tombs, have also a hidden one--_i.e._ to
+conceal in their numbers and proportions the discoveries of the learned
+regarding the mutual relations of Sibus and Nuits. In the first place,
+the sepulchre of the Pharaohs, or the Pyramid, operates with the numbers
+four and three; the base with four, the sides with three. That was
+indeed one of the secrets of the sky. But the base of the Great Pyramid
+is 365 ells broad. There you have the 365 days of the year. Now the
+triple side of the Pyramid is 186 great ells, or a stadium long. There
+you see where our road-measures come from.
+
+"If you multiply the breadth of the base with the number 500, which is
+about double the breadth measured in great ells, you obtain a length
+which is equivalent to 1/360 of the whole orbital path of the sun in
+a year, since the number of days in a lunar year is 360. This length
+represents four minutes, and those who live a degree west of us see the
+sun rise four minutes later than we do.
+
+"This is all I remember about numbers and proportions. If you wish to
+learn more--for example, why the sides of the pyramid are inclined at
+an angle of 5l°--you must ask the astronomers. The steps to the funereal
+chamber, on the other hand, are inclined at an angle of 27°. This
+corresponds to the difference between the axis of the universe and the
+axis of the earth."
+
+Amram had listened with special attention to the learned scribe's
+explanation of the tombs of the Pharaohs, and when Reuben mentioned
+numbers he concentrated his attention still more, as though he wished
+to fix something in his mind. Finally he interrupted him, and began to
+speak: "You just now mentioned 27°. Good! That is not the inclination
+of the axis of the universe, but of the Milky Way, which probably is
+the real axis and lies 27° north of the heavenly equator, while the
+inclination of the earth's axis to the orbit of the sun is 23°. But you
+have forgotten the third Pyramid, that of Menkheres, the base of which
+is 107 great ells broad. This number 107 we find again three or five
+times in the universe; there are 107 smaller suns between the earth and
+the sun; 107 is the distance of the planet Venus, and also of Jupiter
+from the sun."
+
+Reuben started. "What? Where did you get all that? Here you let me
+stand, and make a fool of me! Where have you learnt that?"
+
+"From our oldest and wisest, who have preserved the memories of their
+home at Ur in Chaldaea. You despise Assur, you men of Egypt, for you
+believe the Nile is the centre of the earth. But there are many centres
+in the infinite. Behind Assur, on the Tigris and Euphrates, there lies
+another land with another river. It is called the Land of the Seven
+Rivers, because its river debouches into seven mouths as the Nile does."
+
+"The Nile has seven arms, as you say, like the seven-branched
+candlestick!
+
+"That betokens the Light of the world, which shall shine from every land
+where a river divides itself in order to flow into the sea. The rivers,
+you see, are the blood-vessels of the earth, and as these carry blue and
+red blood alternately, so our land has its Blue Nile and its Red Nile.
+The Blue Nile is poisonous like dark blood, and the Red is fertilising,
+life-giving, like red blood. So everything created has its counterpart
+above in heaven and below on earth, for all is one, and the Lord of all
+is One--One and the Same."
+
+Reuben kept silence and listened. "Speak on!" he said at last.
+
+Amram therefore continued: "The tombs of the Pharaohs have also grown
+out of the earth on which they rest. The first or Great Pyramid is built
+after the pattern of sea-salt when it crystallises in the warmth of the
+sun. If you could look through a dewdrop into a salt-crystal, you would
+find it built up of an infinite number of squares just like the Great
+Pyramid. But if you let alum crystallise, you will see a whole field of
+pyramids. Alum is the salt deposited in clay. There you have the salt of
+the earth and of the sea.
+
+"But there is another kind of pyramid with blunted corners. That is the
+original form of sulphur when found in chalk. Now we have water, earth,
+and chalk with its fire-stone. There is still a third kind of pyramid
+with blunted edges; these resemble crystallised flint or rock crystal.
+There you have the foundation of the mountains. A closer examination of
+the Nile-mud will discover all these primary forms and substances--clay,
+salt, sulphur, and flint. Therefore the Nile is the blood of the earth.
+And the mountains are the flesh, not the bones."
+
+Reuben, whose Egyptian name was Phater, had regarded Amram while he
+spoke with alarm and amazement. When the latter had ceased to speak, he
+began, "You are not Amram the worker in ebony and cabinet-maker."
+
+"I am certainly a worker in ebony and cabinetmaker, but I am also of
+Israel's priestly line. I am the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son
+of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. I am a Levite and the
+husband of Jochebed. Miriam, and Aaron are the children hitherto born
+to me; one unborn I still await. Now I go back to my work; show me the
+way!"
+
+Phater went in front, but led Amram by another way than that by which
+he had come. As they passed by an open door, which led into a large hall
+lined with bookcases, Amram stopped, full of curiosity, and wished to
+enter, in order to look at the numerous books. But Phater held him back
+by his garment, "Don't go in," he said; "the place is full of traps and
+snares. The guardian of the library sits concealed in the middle of the
+hall, and guards his treasures jealously. He has had the floor made of
+dried willow-withes, which creak when they are trodden upon. He hears
+anyone stealing in, and he hears if a scribe touches the forbidden
+books. He has heard us, and he is feeling after us! Don't you feel as
+if cold snake-tongues were touching your cheeks, your forehead, your
+eyelids?"
+
+"Yes, I do."
+
+"It is he, stretching out the fingers of his soul, as we stretch out an
+arm. But now I cut off the feeler which wants to examine us."
+
+He took out a knife, and made a cut through the air in front of them.
+
+Amram felt a sudden glow, and at the same moment saw a great adder
+writhing on the ground in its death-struggle.
+
+"You practise magic arts here?" he said.
+
+"Did you not know that?"
+
+"I did not expect it."
+
+At the same instant the wall seemed to open, and they saw a mass of
+Nile mud in which crocodiles and snakes twined round each other, while a
+hippopotamus trampled threateningly with its forefeet.
+
+Amram was alarmed, but Phater took out an amulet in the shape of a
+scarabaeus, and, holding it as a shield in front of him, he passed
+through the terrible shapes, which dissolved like smoke, while Amram
+followed him.
+
+"The magician only cheats our eyes," said Phater, and as he waved his
+hand the whole appearance vanished.
+
+Now they stood again in the first hall, and, pointing to the Nilometer,
+Amram said, "Famine!"
+
+"There is no doubt of that. Therefore all superfluous mouths should be
+stopped."
+
+"What!"
+
+Phater saw that he had made a slip of the tongue.
+
+"I mean," he said, "Pharaoh must consider how to get corn."
+
+"He would find a Joseph useful just now."
+
+"Why?" broke in Phater more vehemently than he intended. "Don't you
+know that Joseph the son of Jacob brought the Egyptians to be Pharaoh's
+bond-slaves. Your chronicles and ours relate that he made the peasants
+mortgage their land in return for help during the seven lean years, and
+that, by his doing so, Pharaoh became sole possessor of all the land of
+Egypt."
+
+"You are not Reuben; you are Phater the Egyptian, for if you were an
+Israelite, you would not have spoken thus. Our ways part. I go to my
+work."
+
+Amram laid his hand on the door, and Phater glided into the shadow of
+the columns and vanished. But Amram saw by his bent back that he had
+evil designs.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Amram came home in the evening, he found that his wife had borne a
+son. He was like other healthy children, but did not cry; after the bath
+he was wrapped in linen and laid in the darkest corner of the cottage.
+
+The next day before sunrise Amram went again to his work in the Temple
+of the Sun, and was again led into the chamber with his eyes bandaged.
+There he was left alone without receiving any counsel or advice
+regarding what he was to do. This carelessness seemed to him like
+indifference, and indicated a general laxness in the temple servants.
+Therefore he again entered the columned hall. He looked uneasily at the
+Nilometer, in which the water had sunk. There was no hope of the fifteen
+ells of water which the earth needed for the harvest of the year.
+
+He stepped out on the terrace, which looked towards the east, and
+entered an open colonnade. But before he went farther, he took the
+precaution of dropping small pieces of papyrus to show him the way back.
+He went through narrow courtyards, but took care not to climb steps; his
+experience of yesterday had warned him. At last he found himself in a
+forest of pillars whose tops were crowned with lotus-buds, and, as he
+listened, he heard what seemed a faint song of children's voices from
+the roof. He laid his ear to a pillar, and heard it more clearly, like
+the ringing music of zither and harp. He knew that this was caused by
+the sun, which had already warmed the stones of the roof, and was about
+to ascend the sky.
+
+He went forward, and suddenly saw a terrace upon which stood a
+sacrificial altar. From the terrace, a flight of stairs flanked with
+sphinxes descended to the river. Thence there sloped a valley, bounded
+on the east by the mountains of the Red Sea. At the altar there stood
+a priest in a white linen robe with a purple border. He had raised his
+arms towards heaven, and stood motionless. His hands were quite white,
+since the blood had sunk into his arms, and the face of the old man
+seemed astrain with the strength he had invoked from above. Sometimes
+his body shuddered as though streams of fire ran through it. He was
+silent, and gazed towards the East. Then the shining edge of the sun's
+disk rose above the mountain-ridge, and the white hands of the priest
+became transparently crimson like his face. And he opened his mouth and
+said: "Sun-god: Lord of the splendour of rays, be Thou extolled in the
+morning when Thou risest, and in the evening when Thou descendest. I cry
+to Thee, Lord of Eternity, Thou Sun of both horizons, Thou Creator who
+hast created Thyself. All the gods shout aloud when they behold Thee, O
+King of heaven; my youth is renewed when I see thy beauty. Hail to Thee,
+as Thou passest from land to land, Thou Father of the gods!"
+
+He stopped speaking and remained standing, his arms outstretched towards
+the sun, as though he absorbed warmth from it.
+
+Then in the forest of pillars a rattle of arms was heard, which ceased
+immediately, and forthwith a stately beardless man appeared, clothed in
+purple and gold. His walk was as noiseless as that of a panther's, and
+he seemed to glide over the floor which reflected his image, a bright
+shadow which followed him as he went. When he came out on the terrace
+the sun cast behind him a gigantic dark shadow which lay there like a
+carpet.
+
+"Already at prayer, thou wisest of the wise!" was Pharaoh's greeting to
+the Chief Priest.
+
+"My lord has called me, thy servant has obeyed. My lord has returned
+to his land after long and victorious campaigns in far and foreign
+countries. Thy servant greets Pharaoh to his face."
+
+Pharaoh sat down on a chair of state, his face turned towards the rising
+sun, and began to speak like one who wishes to set his thoughts in
+order. "My chariots have rolled over the red soil of Syria, my horses
+have trampled the highways of Babylon and Nineveh; I have crossed the
+Euphrates and Tigris, and marched through the region between the two
+rivers; I have come to the land of the Five Rivers, and seen the Seven
+in the distance, where the Land of Silk begins, that stretches towards
+the sunrise. I have returned on my traces and gone northward towards
+Scythia and Colchis. Wherever I went I heard murmurs and saw movements.
+The people have awaked; in the temples they prophesied the return of the
+gods; for men had been left alone to manage their affairs and to guide
+their destinies, but had done both badly. Justice had become injustice,
+and truth, falsehood; the whole earth groaned for deliverance. At last
+their prayers reached the throne of the All-merciful. And now the wise,
+the gentle, the saintly proclaim in all tongues the joyful message, 'The
+gods return again. They return in order to put right what the children
+of men have thrown in confusion, to give laws and to protect justice.'
+This message I bring home as a spoil of victory, and thou, wisest of the
+wise, shalt receive it first from thy lord."
+
+"Thou hearest, my Lord Pharaoh, what is spoken over the whole circle of
+the earth; thine eyes see farther than the stars of heaven and the eye
+of the sun!"
+
+"And yet only my ear has heard, but my intelligence has not grasped what
+the gods have revealed to me in a dream. Interpret it for me."
+
+"Tell it, my lord."
+
+"I saw nothing, but I heard a voice, when sleep had quenched the light
+of my eyes. The voice spoke in the darkness, and said, 'The red earth
+will spread over all lands, but the black shall be dispersed like the
+sand.'"
+
+"The dream, my lord is not hard to interpret, but it forebodes nothing
+good."
+
+"Interpret it."
+
+"Very well; the red earth is Syria, as thou knowest, my lord, where
+live the wretched Hittites, that is the hereditary land of the Hebrew,
+Canaan. The black earth is that of the Nile, thy land, my lord."
+
+"Again the Hebrews, always the Hebrews! Centuries have passed since this
+people wandered into our land. They have increased without disturbing
+us. I neither love nor hate them; but now I fear them. They have had to
+toil, of late more severely than ever, but they do not murmur; they are
+patient as though they expected something to happen."
+
+"Let them go, my lord."
+
+"No! for then they will go, and found a new kingdom."
+
+"Let them go."
+
+"No, I will destroy them."
+
+"Let them go."
+
+"Certainly I will destroy them."
+
+"But thy dream, my lord."
+
+"I interpret that as a warning and exhortation."
+
+"Touch not that people, my lord, for their God is stronger than ours."
+
+"Their God is that of the Chaldaeans. Let our gods fight. I have spoken;
+thou hast heard; I add nothing and retract nothing."
+
+"My Lord, thou seest one sun in the sky, and believest that it shines
+over all nations: do you not believe that there is one Lord of the
+heaven who rules the destinies of all nations?"
+
+"It should be so, but the Lord of heaven has made me ruler over this
+land, and now I rule it."
+
+"Thou rulest it, my lord, but thou rulest not wind and weather; thou
+canst not raise the water of the Nile by one inch, and thou canst not
+prevent the crops failing again this year."
+
+"Failing? What does the Nilometer say?"
+
+"My lord, the sun has entered the sign of the Balance, and the water is
+sinking already. It means famine."
+
+"Then I will destroy all superfluous and strange mouths which take the
+bread from the children of the country. I will annihilate the Hebrews."
+
+"Let them go free, my lord."
+
+"I will summon the midwives, and have every boy that is born of a Hebrew
+woman destroyed. I have spoken; now I act." Pharaoh rose from his chair,
+and departed more quickly than he had come. Amram sought to find his
+way back, but could only discover one piece of papyrus. Then he remained
+standing and feared much, for he could not find his way.
+
+The sun had risen, and there was no more music in the forest of
+pillars, but silence. But as Amram listened he began to be aware of that
+compressed stillness which emanates from a listener, or from children
+who do something forbidden and do not wish to be discovered. He felt
+that someone was near who wished to be concealed, but who still kept his
+thoughts directed towards him. In order to satisfy himself Amram went in
+the direction where the silence seemed to be densest. And lo! behind a
+pillar stood Phater. He did not show a sign of embarrassment, but only
+held out his open hand, in which lay all the pieces of papyrus, which
+Amram had strewed as he went.
+
+"You must not strew pieces of papyrus on the ground," said Phater with
+an inscrutable smile. "Yes--I am not angry, I only wish you well. For
+now you will follow me, and not return to your work, which was only a
+trap set for your life. You must return to your house, and take care
+that your new-born child is not killed. You see that Reuben-Phater is a
+true Israelite, although you would not believe him."
+
+Amram followed him out of the temple, and went home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Jochebed went about in Pharaoh's garden watering cucumbers; she went to
+and fro with her watering pot between the Watergate that opened on the
+river and the cucumber-bed. But sometimes she went through the gate and
+remained for a while outside.
+
+Miriam, her daughter, pruned the vines which grew against the
+garden-wall, but seemed to direct her attention more towards the broad
+walk which led up to the summer palace of the princesses. Her head moved
+like the leaf of the palm-tree when the wind blows through it, looking
+sometimes towards the Watergate, sometimes towards the great walk, while
+her hands carried on her work. As her mother delayed her return, she
+went from the wall down to the gate, and out to the low river shore
+where the bulrushes swayed in the gentle south wind. A stonechat of
+the desert sat on a rock by the river, wagged its tail, and flapped its
+wings, as though it wished to show something which it saw; and chattered
+at the sight of something strange among the bulrushes. High up in the
+air a hawk hovered in spiral circles, eyeing the ground below. Miriam
+broke off some lotus-buds and threw them at the stonechat, which flew
+away, but kept its beak still pointing towards the rushes. The girl girt
+up her dress, waded into the water, and now saw her mother standing,
+hidden up to her waist in a forest of papyrus-reeds, bending over a
+reed-basket with a baby at her breast.
+
+"Mother," whispered Miriam, "Pharaoh's daughter is approaching; she
+comes to bathe in the river."
+
+"Lord God of Israel, have mercy on my child!"
+
+"If you have given the child enough to drink, hasten and come."
+
+The mother bowed herself like an arch over the child; her hair hung down
+like an insect-net, and two tears fell from her eyes on the little one's
+outstretched hands. Then she rose, placed a sweet date in its mouth,
+softly closed the cover, murmured a blessing, and came out of the water.
+
+A gentle breeze from the land swayed the rushes and crisped the surface
+of the river.
+
+"The basket swims," she said, "but the river flows on; it is red with
+blood and thick as cream. Lord God of Israel, have mercy!"
+
+"Yes, He will," answered Miriam, "as He had mercy on our father Abraham,
+who obtained the promise, because he obeyed and believed, 'Through thy
+seed shall all the families on the earth be blessed.'"
+
+"And now Pharaoh slays all the first-born."
+
+"But not thy son."
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"Pray and hope."
+
+"What? That the monsters of the river do not swallow him, that the waves
+of the river do not drown him, that Pharaoh's executioners do not kill
+him! Is that the hope?"
+
+"The promise is greater, and it lives: 'Thy seed shall possess the gate
+of his enemies.'"
+
+"And then Amram thy father has fled."
+
+"To Raamses and Pithom, where our people toil in the buildings; he has
+gone there to warn and advise them. He has done well. Hush! Pharaoh's
+daughter comes."
+
+"But she cannot bathe in the blood of our child."
+
+"She comes, however. But she is the friend of the poor Hebrews; fear
+not."
+
+"She is her father's daughter."
+
+"The Egyptians are our cousins; they are Ham's descendants, and we are
+Shem's. Shem and Ham were brothers."
+
+"But Ham was cursed by his father Noah, and Kanaan was Ham's son."
+
+"But Noah said, 'Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and let Kanaan be his
+servant.' Have you heard? Shem received the promise, and we belong to
+him."
+
+"Lord of Hosts, help us; the basket drifts with the wind! It drifts
+towards the bathing-house,--and the vulture up there in the air."
+
+"That is a hawk, mother!" Jochebed ran up and down the bank, like a dog
+whom its master has deserted; she beat her breast, and wept great tears.
+
+Steps and voices were audible. "Here is Pharaoh's daughter!"
+
+"But the Lord God of Israel is watching over us."
+
+The two women hid themselves in the reeds, and Pharaoh's daughter
+appeared with her attendants at the watergate. She stepped on the bridge
+leading to the bath-house, which was a hut of coloured camel's skin,
+supported by pillars which stood in the bed of the river. But the basket
+drifted against the bridge and excited the curiosity of the princess.
+She remained standing and waited. Jochebed and Miriam could not hear
+what she said on account of the wind, but by her quiet movements they
+saw that she expected some amusement from the strange gift brought by
+the river. Now she sent a slave to the bank. The latter ran and broke
+off a long reed, which she handed to her mistress, who fished for the
+basket and brought it within reach. Then she knelt down and opened it.
+Jochebed saw two little arms outstretched. The princess laughed aloud,
+and turned to the women. She uttered an expression of joy, and then
+lifted the infant, which nestled in her maiden bosom and felt about in
+her white robe. Then the princess kissed it, pressed it to her breast,
+and turned back to the shore.
+
+Miriam, who had now lost all fear, stepped forward and fell on her face.
+"See, Miriam," said the princess, whose name was Temma, "I have found a
+baby. I have received it from the Nile, and therefore it is a child of
+the gods. But now you must find a nurse for it."
+
+"Where shall I find one, noble princess?"
+
+"Search! But you must find one before evening. Do not forget, however,
+that it is my child, since I drew it out of the water. I have given him
+his name, and he shall be called Moses. And I will have him educated so
+that he becomes a man after our mind. Go in peace, and find me a nurse!"
+
+Pharaoh's daughter went with her child up to the palace, and Miriam
+looked for her mother among the reeds, where she had waited and heard
+what Pharaoh's daughter had said and resolved.
+
+"Mother, Pharaoh's daughter will bring up Amram and Jochebed's son.
+Ham's children will serve Shem's. Praised be the Lord, the God of Shem!
+Now you believe in the promise, mother!"
+
+"Now I believe, and God be praised for His great mercy!"
+
+
+
+
+THE HEMICYCLE OF ATHENS
+
+
+After a hot day the sun began to sink, and the market-place lay already
+in shadow. The shadow rose and climbed up the Acropolis, on which the
+shield of Pallas still gleamed as the aegis of the city.
+
+Before the vari-coloured colonnade stood a group of men who had
+assembled before the semi-circular marble seat called the Hemicyklion;
+they appeared to be awaiting someone's arrival before they sat down.
+Among them were stately and handsome men, but there was also an
+extraordinarily ugly one, round whom, however, the others seemed to
+press. His face resembled that of a slave or satyr, and there were
+Athenians who thought they could trace in it the marks of all kinds of
+wickedness and crime. On hearing of such suspicions, Socrates is said
+to have remarked, "Think how much Socrates must have had to contend
+against, for he is neither wicked nor a criminal!"
+
+This was the man known to the whole population of Athens as an eccentric
+character who carried on philosophical discussions in streets and
+market-places, in drinking-houses and brothels. He shunned no society,
+and was on equally intimate terms with Pericles, the head of the state,
+and with the licentious Alcibiades. He sat down to table with tradesmen
+and artisans, drank with sailors in the Piraeus, and lived himself with
+his family in the suburb Ceramicus. When it was asked why Socrates
+was always out of doors, his friends answered, "because he was not
+comfortable at home." And when his more intimate friends asked how
+he could be on intimate terms with seamen and tax-gatherers, Socrates
+himself answered, "They are also men!"
+
+At the philosopher's side, and when he sat, standing behind him, was
+always to be seen a youth, whose broad brow attracted attention. This
+was his best disciple, whose real name was Aristokles, but who, on
+account of his forehead, had the nickname Plato.
+
+Vying with him in an almost jealous rivalry to appear by the Master's
+side, stood the beautiful Alcibiades.
+
+The third after them was the stately austere Euripides, the tragic
+dramatist. Turning his back to the company, absorbed in thought and
+tracing designs on the ground, as though he were always at work, stood
+Phidias, the man "who made gods for Athens." On the edge of the fountain
+sat a man with his legs dangling and his mouth perpetually moving, as
+though he were sharpening his tongue for thrust and counter-thrust; his
+brow was furrowed and worn as though with fruitless thought, his eyes
+glowered like those of a serpent watching for its prey. That was the
+Sophist, Protagoras, the reasoner for hire, who for a few figs or a
+pair of obols, could make black seem white, but was tolerated in this
+brilliant society, because he could carry on a dialogue. They used him
+to enliven their meetings, and pitted him in argument against Socrates,
+who, however, always entangled him in the meshes of his dialectic. At
+last came the one they expected. It was the head of the State, who would
+have been king had not the kingship been abolished. His appearance
+was majestic, but his entrance without a body-guard was like that of
+a simple citizen. He ruled also only by force of his personal
+qualities--wisdom, strength of will, moderation, forethought.
+
+After exchanging greetings which showed that they had already met that
+day, for they had been celebrating the deliverance from Persia at the
+Salamis festival, the company sat down on the long semicircular marble
+seat, called the Hemicyklion. When all had taken their seats, which were
+reserved for each according to prescription, a silence followed which
+was unusual in this circle, for they were accustomed to assemble as if
+for an intellectual feast at every sunset. It was a symposium of minds,
+at which the excesses, according to Alcibiades, were only spiritual.
+
+Alcibiades, the second youngest, but spoilt and aggressive, was the
+first to break the silence. "We have been celebrating the battle of
+Salamis, the day of our deliverance from the barbarians and the King of
+Persia, and I see we are tired."
+
+"Not too tired," answered Pericles, "to forget the birthday of our
+friend Euripides, for, as we all know, he first saw the daylight when
+the sun shone on the battle of Salamis."
+
+"He shall have a libation," answered Alcibiades, "when we sit at table
+with our cups in front of us."
+
+The Sophist, sitting by the fountain, had now collected enough yarn to
+commence spinning with.
+
+"How do you know," he began, "that our deliverance from the King of
+Persia was really a piece of good fortune? How do you know that Salamis
+was a happy day for Hellas? Has not our great Aeschylus lamented and
+sympathetically described the defeat of the Persians?
+
+    "'Hateful to me is thy name, Salamis,
+    And with a sigh I think of thee, Athens!'"
+
+"For shame, Sophist!" Alcibiades broke in.
+
+But Protagoras whetted his beak and continued, "It is not I who say that
+the name of Salamis is hateful, but Aeschylus, and I, as everyone knows,
+am not Aeschylus. Neither have I maintained that it was a good thing to
+serve the Persian King. I have only questioned, and a questioner asserts
+nothing. Is it not so, Socrates?"
+
+The master drew his fingers through his long beard, and answered.
+
+"There are direct and indirect assertions; a question can be an indirect
+and mischievous assertion. Protagoras has made such a one by his
+question."
+
+"Good! Socrates!" exclaimed Alcibiades, who wished to kindle a flame.
+
+Pericles spoke: "Protagoras, then, has asserted that you would be
+happier under the Persian King. What should be done with such a man?"
+
+"Throw him backwards in the fountain," cried Alcibiades.
+
+"I appeal!" protested the Sophist.
+
+"To the mob! They will always justify you," Alcibiades interrupted.
+
+"One does not say 'mob' if one is a democrat, Alcibiades. And one does
+not quote Aeschylus when Euripides is present. When Phidias sits here
+one would rather speak of his Parthenon and his Athene, whose robe even
+now glitters in the sinking sun. Courtesy is the salt of social life."
+
+Thus Pericles sought to direct the conversation into a new channel, but
+the Sophist thwarted him.
+
+"If Phidias' statue of Athene must borrow its gold from the sun, that
+may prove that the gold granted by the State did not suffice, and that
+therefore there is a deficiency. Is it not so, Socrates?"
+
+The master silenced with his outstretched hand the murmur of disapproval
+which arose, and said:
+
+"It must first be proved that Phidias' statue must borrow gold from
+the sun, but since that is unproved, it is absurd to talk of a
+deficit. Moreover, gold cannot be borrowed from the sun. Therefore what
+Protagoras says is mere babble, and deserves no answer. On the other
+hand, will Phidias answer this question? 'When you have made Athene up
+there on the Parthenon, have you made Athene?'"
+
+"I have made her image," answered Phidias.
+
+"Right! You have made her image. But after what pattern?"
+
+"After the pattern in my mind."
+
+"Not after an external one, then? Have you seen the goddess with your
+eyes?"
+
+"Not with my outward eyes."
+
+"Does she then exist outside you, or inside you?"
+
+"If no one were listening to us, I would answer 'She is not outside of
+me, therefore she is not anywhere at all.'"
+
+Pericles interrupted him: "You are talking of the gods of the State:
+friends, take care!"
+
+"Help, Protagoras! Socrates is throttling me!" cried Phidias.
+
+"In my opinion it is not Zeus but Prometheus who has created men,"
+answered the Sophist. "But Zeus gave unfinished man two imperishable
+gifts--the sense of shame and conscience."
+
+"Then Protagoras was not made by Zeus, for he lacks both." This thrust
+came from Alcibiades. But now the taciturn tragedian Euripides began to
+speak: "Allow me to say something both about Zeus and about Prometheus;
+and don't think me discourteous if I cite my great teacher Aeschylus
+when I speak about the gods."
+
+But Pericles broke in: "Unless my eyes deceive me, I saw just now a pair
+of ears projecting from behind the pillar of Hermes, and these ass's
+ears can only belong to the notorious tanner."
+
+"Cleon!" exclaimed Alcibiades.
+
+But Euripides continued: "What do I care about the tanner, since I do
+not fear the gods of the State? These gods, whose decline Aeschylus
+foretold long ago! Does not his _Prometheus_ say that the Olympian Zeus
+will be overthrown by his own descendant--the son that will be born of a
+virgin? Is it not so, Socrates?"
+
+"Certainly: 'she will bear a son who is stronger than his father.' But
+who it will be, and when he will be born, he does not say. Now I believe
+that Zeus already lies _in extremis_."
+
+Again the warning voice of Pericles was heard. "The gods of the State!
+Hush, friends! Cleon is listening!"
+
+"I, on the other hand," broke in Alcibiades, "believe that Athens is
+near her end. While we have been celebrating the victory of Salamis, the
+Spartans have risen and devastated the north. Megaris, Locris, Boeotia,
+and Phocis are already on her side."
+
+"What you say is well known," answered Pericles deprecatingly, "but at
+present there is a truce, and we have three hundred ships at sea. Do you
+think, Socrates, that there is danger?"
+
+"I cannot mix in the affairs of State; but if Athens is in danger, I
+will take up shield and lance as before."
+
+"When you saved my life at Potidaea," added Alcibiades.
+
+"No, the danger is not there," interrupted Euripides--"not in Sparta,
+but here at home. The demagogues have stirred up the marsh, and
+therefore we have the pestilence in the Agora, and the pestilence in the
+Piraeus."
+
+"That in Piraeus is the worse of the two," said Protagoras; "don't you
+think so, Alcibiades?"
+
+"Yes, for there are my best girls. My flute-players, who are to perform
+at supper this evening, live by the harbour. But, by Hercules, no one
+here fears death, I suppose?"
+
+"No one fears, and no one wishes it," answered Socrates; "but if you
+have other girls, that would increase our pleasure."
+
+"Euripides does not like girls," interrupted Protagoras.
+
+"That is not true," answered Euripides; "I like girls, but not women."
+
+Pericles rose: "Let us go to supper, and have walls round our
+conversation--walls without ears! Support me, Phidias, I am tired."
+
+Plato approached Socrates: "Master, let me carry your mantle?" he asked.
+
+"That is my function, boy," said Alcibiades, intercepting him.
+
+"It was once," objected Socrates; "now it belongs to Plato of the broad
+head. Notice his name! He descends from Codrus, the last king, who gave
+his life to save his people. Plato is of royal birth."
+
+"And Alcibiades is of the race of heroes, the Alcmaeonidae, like his
+uncle Pericles; a noble company."
+
+"But Phidias is of the race of the gods; that is more."
+
+"I am probably descended from the Titans," broke in Protagoras. "I say
+'probably,' for one knows nothing at all, and hardly that. Don't you
+think so, Socrates?"
+
+"_You_ know nothing at all, and least of all what you talk about."
+The company passed through the Sacred Street, and went together to the
+theatre of Dionysus, near which Alcibiades lived.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The demagogue Cleon had really been lurking out of sight, and listening
+to the conversation. And so had another man with a yellow complexion and
+a full black beard, who seemed to belong to the artisan class. When the
+brilliant company had departed, Cleon stepped forward, laid his hand on
+the stranger's shoulder, and said:
+
+"You have heard their conversation?"
+
+"Certainly I have," he answered.
+
+"Then you can give evidence."
+
+"I cannot give evidence, because I am a foreigner."
+
+"Still you have heard how they spoke against the gods of the State."
+
+"I am a Syrian, and only know one true God. Your gods are not mine."
+
+"You are a Hebrew, then! What is your name?"
+
+"I am an Israelite, of the family of Levi, and call myself now
+Cartophilus."
+
+"A Phoenician, then?"
+
+"No, a Hebrew. My forefathers came out of Ur of the Chaldees, then fell
+into bondage in Egypt, but were brought by Moses and Joshua to the
+land of Canaan, where we became powerful under our own kings, David and
+Solomon."
+
+"I don't know them."
+
+"Two hundred years ago our city Jerusalem was destroyed by
+Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and our people were carried captive to
+Babylon. But when Babylon was overthrown by the King of Persia, we fell
+under the power of the Persians, and have groaned under the successors
+of your Xerxes of Salamis, whom we called Ahasuerus."
+
+"Your enemies, our enemies! Very well, friend; how did you come here."
+
+"When the Assyrian was about to carry us for the first time into
+captivity, those who could flee, fled to Rhodes, Crete, and the islands
+of Greece. But of those who were carried away some were sent northwards
+to Media. My ancestors came hither from Media, and I am a new-comer."
+
+"Your speech is dark to me, but I have heard your nation praised because
+they are faithful to the gods of the State."
+
+"God! There is only One, the Single and True, who has created heaven and
+earth, and given the promise to our people."
+
+"What promise?"
+
+"That our nation shall possess the earth."
+
+"By Heracles! But the commencement is not very promising."
+
+"That is our belief, and it has supported us during our wanderings in
+the wilderness, and during the Captivity."
+
+"Will you give evidence against these blasphemers of the gods?"
+
+"No, Cleon, for you are idolaters. Socrates and his friends do
+not believe in your gods, and that will be counted to them for
+righteousness. Yes, Socrates appeared to me rather to worship the
+Eternal and Invisible, whom we dare not name. Therefore I do not give
+evidence against him."
+
+"Is _that_ the side you are on? Then go in peace, but beware! Go!"
+
+"The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will protect me, so long as I and
+my house keep His laws."
+
+Cleon had espied his friend and fellow-artisan in the colonnade, and
+therefore let the inflexible Hebrew go. The latter hastened towards the
+sycamore avenue of the oil-market, and disappeared there.
+
+Anytos the tanner and politician approached, rehearsing a written speech
+which he was intending to deliver: "Athens or Sparta,--that is the whole
+question at issue...."
+
+Cleon, full of curiosity, interrupted him: "What are you rehearsing,
+Anytos?"
+
+"A speech."
+
+"So I heard! Athens or Sparta! Government by the people, or government
+by donkeys. The people, the weightiest element in the State, the
+cultivators of the land, the producers of wealth, lie at the bottom like
+gold. The worthless, the drones, the rich, the aristocratic, the most
+frivolous, swim on the surface like chips and corks. Athens has always
+represented government by the people, and will always do so; Sparta
+represents the donkey-government.
+
+"The oligarchy, you mean, Cleon."
+
+"No; donkeys. Therefore, Anytos, Athens is badly governed, for Pericles
+the rich man, who boasts of royal ancestors, has come to power. How
+can he sympathise with these people, since he has never been down there
+below? How can he see them rightly from above? He sits on the gable-roof
+of the Parthenon, and views the Athenians as ants, while they are lions,
+with their claws pared and their teeth drawn. We, Anytos, born down
+there amid the skins of the tanyard and dog's-dung, we understand our
+perspiring brothers--we know them by the smell, so to speak. But like
+readily associates with like; therefore Sparta feels attracted to
+Athens, to Pericles and his followers. Pericles draws Sparta to himself,
+and we sink...."
+
+Anytos, himself an orator, did not like to hear eloquence from others,
+therefore he cut abruptly through Cleon's speech.
+
+"Pericles is ill."
+
+"Is he ill?"
+
+"Yes, he has fever!"
+
+"Really? Perhaps the plague."
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+This interjected remark of Anytos had crossed Cleon's prolix discourse,
+and a new hope glimmered before him.
+
+"And after Pericles?" he said. "Cleon, of course."
+
+"Why not? The man of the people for the people, but no philosophers nor
+actors. So, Pericles is sick, is he? Listen, Anytos? Who is Nicias?"
+
+"He is a grandee who believes in oracles."
+
+"Don't attack the oracles. I certainly do not believe in them, but
+a State requires for its stability a certain uniformity in
+everything--laws, customs, and religion. Therefore I support the gods of
+the State--and what belongs to them."
+
+"I also support the gods of the State, so long as the people do."
+
+The two orators began to be mutually weary, and Cleon wished for
+solitude in order to hatch the eggs which Anytos had laid for him.
+Therefore he remarked, "You say that Nicias...."
+
+"I am going to bathe," broke in Anytos; "otherwise I will get no sleep
+to-night."
+
+"But Alcibiades, who is he?"
+
+"He is the traitor Ephialtes, who will lead the Persian King to
+Thermopylae."
+
+"The Persian King in the east, Sparta in the south."
+
+"Macedonia in the north."
+
+"And in the west, new Rome."
+
+"Enemies in all four quarters! Woe to Athens!"
+
+"Woe to Hellas!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The guests had assembled at the house of Alcibiades, who on his
+arrival had immediately gone off, with the laudable object of procuring
+flute-players. Since the evening was warm, supper was served in the
+Aula, or inner court, which was surrounded by Corinthian colonnades, and
+lighted by many lamps which hung between the pillars.
+
+After they had taken a light meal, ivy wreaths were distributed and cups
+were set before the guests.
+
+Aspasia, the only woman present, had the place of honour next to
+Pericles. She had come at the beginning, accompanied by her slaves, and
+was waiting impatiently for the verbal contests to begin. But Pericles
+was depressed and tired. Socrates lay on his back, silent, and looked up
+at the stars, Euripides chewed a wood-splinter and was morose; Phidias
+kneaded balls of bread, which in his hand took the shapes of animals;
+Protagoras whispered to Plato, who, with becoming youthful modesty, kept
+in the background.
+
+Quite at the bottom of the table sat the skeleton, with a wreath of
+roses round its white forehead. In order to counteract the uncanny
+feeling likely to be aroused by this unbidden guest, Alcibiades had
+placed an onion between its front teeth, and in one of its hands an
+asphodel lily, which the skeleton appeared to smell at.
+
+When the silence at last became oppressive, Pericles roused himself from
+his lethargy, and opened the conversation.
+
+"I should like," he said, "without raising any bitterness or strife,
+to suggest as a subject for discussion the often-raised question of
+Euripides' supposed misogyny. What do you say, Protagoras?"
+
+"Our friend Euripides has been married three times, and each time has
+had children. He can therefore not be a woman-hater. Is it not so,
+Socrates?"
+
+"Euripides," answered Socrates, "loves Aspasia, as we all do, and can
+therefore not be a woman-hater. He loves, with Pericles' consent, the
+beauty of Aspasia's mind, and is therefore no misogynist. Not much that
+is complimentary can be said about Aspasia's person, and we have nothing
+to do with it. Is Aspasia beautiful, Phidias?"
+
+"Aspasia is not beautiful, but her soul is beautiful and good. Is it
+not, Pericles?"
+
+"Aspasia is my friend, and the mother of our child; Aspasia is a wise
+woman, for she possesses modesty and conscientiousness, self-knowledge
+and foresight; Aspasia is prudent, for she is silent when wise men
+speak. But Aspasia can also cause wise men to speak wisely by listening
+to them; for she helps them to produce thoughts, not like Socrates'
+midwife, who only brings corporeal births to pass, but she incarnates
+their souls."
+
+Protagoras continued: "Aspasia is like the Mother Cybele of us all; she
+bears us in her bosom."
+
+"Aspasia is the scale of the zither, without whom our strings would not
+sound."
+
+"Aspasia is the mother of us all," recommenced Socrates, "but she is
+also the midwife who washes our new-born thoughts and wraps them in
+beautiful swaddling-clothes. Aspasia receives our children dirty, and
+gives them back to us purified. She gives nothing of herself, but by
+receiving gives the giver the opportunity to give."
+
+Euripides resumed the topic which they had dropped: "I was accused, and
+am acquitted--am I not, Aspasia?"
+
+"If you can acquit yourself of the accusation, you are acquitted,
+Euripides."
+
+"Accuse me, dear Accuser; I will answer."
+
+"I will bring the accusation in your own words. Hippolytus says in
+one passage in your tragedy of that name: 'O Zeus, why, in the name of
+heaven, didst thou place in the light of the sun that specious evil to
+men--women? For if thou didst will to propagate the race of mortals,
+there was no necessity for this to be done by women, but men might,
+having placed an equivalent in thy temples, either in brass or iron, or
+weighty gold, buy a race of children each according to the value paid,
+and thus might dwell in unmolested houses, without females.'"
+
+"But now first of all, when we prepare to bring this evil to our homes,
+we squander away the wealth of our houses."
+
+"How evil woman is, is evident from this also, that the father who begat
+her and brought her up, having given her a dowry, sends her away in
+order to be rid of her."
+
+"Now defend yourself, Euripides."
+
+"If I were a Sophist like Protagoras, I should answer, 'It was
+Hippolytus who said that; not I.' But I am a poet, and speak through my
+characters. Very well; I said it, I meant it when I wrote it, and I mean
+it still. And yet I almost always love any given woman, though I hate
+her sex. I cannot explain it, for I was never perverse like Alcibiades.
+Can you explain it, Socrates?"
+
+"Yes, a man can hate and love a woman simultaneously. Everything is
+produced by its opposite--love by hate, and hate by love. In my wife
+I love the good motherly element, but I hate the original sin in her;
+therefore I can hate and love her at the same time. Is it not so,
+Protagoras?"
+
+"Now it is Socrates who is the Sophist. Black cannot be white."
+
+"Now it is Protagoras who is simple. This salt in the salt-cellar is
+white, but put out the lamps, and it is black. The salt therefore is not
+absolutely white, but its whiteness depends on the light. I should be
+inclined rather to believe that salt is absolutely black, for darkness
+is merely the absence of light, and is nothing in itself, communicates
+no quality of its own to the salt, which in the darkness is something
+independent, consequently its real nature is black.
+
+"But in the light a thing can be both black and white. This sea-sole,
+for instance, is black above, but white below. In the same way something
+can be good and bad at the same time. Therefore Euripides is right when
+he says that he loves and hates woman simultaneously. The misogynist is
+he who only hates woman, but Euripides loves her also. Therefore he is
+not a misogynist. What do you think, Aspasia?"
+
+"Wise Socrates! You confess that Euripides hates women, therefore he is
+a woman-hater."
+
+"No, my dear child, I admitted that Euripides _both_ loves and hates
+women,--_both_, mark you. I love Alcibiades, but I abhor and hate
+his want of character; now I ask the friends here, am I a hater of
+Alcibiades?"
+
+"No, certainly not," they answered simultaneously. But Aspasia was
+roused, and wished to rouse him. "Wise Socrates, how do matters stand
+between you and your wife?"
+
+"The wise man does not willingly speak of his wife," Protagoras struck
+in: "nor of his weakness."
+
+"You have said it. One sacrifices to the earth, but unwillingly; one
+binds oneself, but without pleasure; one endures, but loves not; one
+does one's duty to the State, but with difficulty. There is only one
+Aspasia, and she belongs to Pericles--the greatest woman to the greatest
+man. Pericles is the greatest in the State, as Euripides is the greatest
+on the stage."
+
+This was an opportunity for Protagoras, without his needing to seek it.
+"Is Euripides greater than Aeschylus and Sophocles?" he asked.
+
+"Certainly, Protagoras! He is nearer to us; he speaks _our_ thoughts,
+not those of our fathers; he does not cringe before the gods and fate;
+he fights with them; he loves men, knows them, and laments them; his art
+is more elaborate, his feelings warmer, his pictures more life-like than
+those of the ancients. But now I should like to speak of Pericles."
+
+"Stop, Socrates! In the Pnyx or the Agora, but not here! Though I should
+be glad of a word of encouragement since false accusations rain on me.
+We have come here to forget and not to remember ourselves, and Socrates
+delights us most when he speaks of the highest things, among which I do
+not count the State of Athens. Here comes Alcibiades with his following.
+Kindle more lights, boys, and put more ice in the wine."
+
+There was a noise at the entrance; the dog barked, the doorkeeper
+shouted, and Alcibiades entered with his companions. These consisted of
+girls and of two strangers whom he had found in a wine-house.
+
+"Papaia!" he cried. "Here is the host! And here is Aristophanes, a
+future dramatist. Here is the Roman Lucillus, formerly a Decemvir,
+who has been banished. There is one of the many Laises who have sat to
+Phidias. Aspasia must not take it ill. And here are flute-players from
+Piraeus. Whether they have the pestilence, I know not! What can they
+do to me? I am twenty years old, and yet have done nothing? Why, then,
+should I live? Now Lais will dance. Papaia!"
+
+Euripides rose and made a sign for silence. "Let the dance wait;
+Pericles is not pleased, and looks serious." A pause followed. The heat
+was oppressive. It was not thunder-weather, but something like it, and a
+sense of uneasy expectation seemed to weigh upon all their spirits.
+
+Then, as if by accident, the arm of the skeleton fell on its knee with
+a slight snap. The flower, which it had held under its nose, lay on the
+earth.
+
+All started, even Alcibiades, but, angry with himself for this weakness,
+he took a cup and stepped forward.
+
+"The skeleton is thirsty! I drink to it! Who pledges me?"
+
+"Socrates can do so the best. He can drink half a jar of wine in one
+pull, without winking."
+
+As a matter of fact, Socrates was notorious for his drinking powers, but
+now he was not in the mood. "Not to-day! Wine is bitter to my taste," he
+said.
+
+And turning to Pericles, he whispered: "Evil eyes have come here. This
+Aristophanes is not our friend! Do you know him?"
+
+"Very little, but he looks as though he would like to murder us."
+
+Alcibiades continued to address the skeleton: "Thus looks Athens at this
+moment! Sparta and the Persian King have gnawed off its flesh; Cleon has
+tanned its skin; the allies have gouged out its eyes; the citizens have
+drawn out its teeth,--those citizens whom Aristophanes knows and whom
+he will soon describe. Here's to you, skeleton! '[Greek: _Polla metaxu
+pelei kulikos kai cheileos akrou_]!'"
+
+There was a sudden change in the scene. The skeleton sank backwards like
+a drunken man; the lamps began to sway on their chains, the salt-cellar
+was spilt on the table.
+
+"Ohioh!" cried Alcibiades, "Tralall! Ha! Ha! Ha! The table wobbles, the
+sofa rocks; am I drunk, or is the room drunk?"
+
+All were alarmed, but Socrates commanded quiet. "A god is near!
+The earth shakes, and I hear ... does it thunder? No! That is an
+earthquake."
+
+All jumped up, but Socrates continued, "Be quiet! It is already past."
+
+After they had all taken their places again, he continued: "I was five
+years old when Sparta was visited by an earthquake; twenty thousand men
+perished, and only six houses remained standing. Then it was Sparta.
+Now it is Athens. Yes, friends, a voice says to me, 'Before a babe can
+become a man, we shall have been dispersed and destroyed like a bevy of
+birds.'"
+
+Again the dog barked, and the door-keeper shouted. There entered an
+uninvited guest in a state of excitement.
+
+Alcibiades greeted him. "It is Nicias," he said. "Now I will be sober;
+the thoughtful Nicias comes to our feast. What is the matter?"
+
+"Allow an uninvited guest."
+
+"Speak, Nicias!"
+
+"Pericles!" began the new-comer hesitatingly, "your friend, our friend,
+the glory of Athens and Hellas,--Phidias is accused...."
+
+"Stop! Silence!"
+
+"Accused! O shame and disgrace! I cannot say it without weeping: Phidias
+is accused of having purloined gold from the statue of Athene."
+
+The silence which followed was first broken by Pericles: "Phidias hides
+his face in his mantle; he is ashamed for Athens. But by the gods and
+the nether world, let us swear to his innocence."
+
+"We swear!" exclaimed all like one man.
+
+"I swear also," said Nicias.
+
+"Athens is dishonoured, if one has to swear that Phidias has not
+stolen."
+
+Nicias had approached Pericles, and, bowing to Aspasia, he whispered,
+"Pericles, your son Paralos is ill."
+
+"Of the pestilence! Follow me, Aspasia."
+
+"He is not my son, but yours; therefore I follow you."
+
+"The house collapses, friends depart, all beauty passes away, the ugly
+remains."
+
+"And the gods sleep."
+
+"Or have emigrated."
+
+"Or are dead! Let us make new ones."
+
+Another shock of earthquake extinguished the lamps, and all went out
+into the street, except Socrates and Alcibiades.
+
+"Phidias accused of theft! Let the walls of the world fall in!" said
+Socrates, and sank, as was his custom, into a fit of absent-mindedness
+that resembled sleep.
+
+Alcibiades took one of the largest double-goblets, veiled it, and
+improvised the following dithyramb:
+
+    "May everything break up from Pindus to the Caucasus!
+    Then will Prometheus be unbound and bestow fire again
+      on frozen mortals!
+    And Zeus descends to Hades, Pallas sells herself;
+    Apollo breaks his lyre in two, and cobbles shoes;
+    Ares lets his war-horse go, and minds sheep;
+    And on the ruins of all earthly glory, stands Alcibiades
+      alone,
+    In the full consciousness of his almightiness,
+    And laughs!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The pestilence had broken out in Athens accompanied by shocks of
+earthquake.
+
+When Pericles, accompanied by Aspasia, reached his house, his son by his
+divorced wife was dead.
+
+According to the prevailing custom, and to show that he had not been
+murdered, the corpse was placed in the doorway. A small coffin of
+cedar-wood, painted red and black, stood on a bier, and showed the dead
+child dressed in a white shroud. He had a garland on his head, woven of
+the plant of death, the strong-scented Apium or celery. In his mouth he
+had an obol as Charon's fee.
+
+Pericles uttered a prayer in an undertone, without showing especially
+deep sorrow, for he had gone through much, and learnt to suffer.
+
+"Two sons the gods have taken from me. Are they enough to atone?"
+
+"What have you to atone for?" asked Aspasia.
+
+"One must suffer for another; the individual for the State. Pericles has
+suffered for Athens."
+
+"Pardon me that my tears dry sooner than yours. The thought that _our_
+son lives, gives me comfort."
+
+"It comforts me also, but not so much."
+
+"Shall I go, before your wife comes?"
+
+"You must not leave me, for I am ill."
+
+"You have spoken of it for a long time now. Is it serious?"
+
+"My soul is sick. When the State suffers, I am ill.... There comes the
+mother of the dead."
+
+A black-robed woman appeared in the doorway; she wore a veil in order to
+hide the fact that her hair was cut off; she had a garland in her hand,
+and a slave followed her with a torch.
+
+She did not immediately notice Aspasia's presence, greeted her former
+husband with a glance, and laid the garland at the dead boy's feet. "I
+only bring a funeral garland for my son," she said, "but instead of the
+obol, he shall take a kiss from the lips of his mother."
+
+She threw herself on the dead child, and kissed him.
+
+"Beware of the dead!" said Pericles, and seized her arm; "he died of the
+pestilence."
+
+"My life has been a lingering death; a quick one is preferable to me."
+
+Then she noticed Aspasia, and, rising, said with quiet dignity, "Tell
+your friend to go."
+
+"She goes, and I follow her."
+
+"That is right! For now, my Pericles, the last tie between us is
+dissolved! Farewell!"
+
+"Farewell, my wife!"
+
+And, turning to Aspasia, he said, "Give me your hand, my spouse."
+
+"Here it is."
+
+The mourning mother lingered: "We shall all meet again some day, shall
+we not? And then as friends--you, she, and he who is gone before to
+prepare a dwelling for the hearts which are separated by the narrow laws
+of life."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pericles and Socrates wandered in the avenue of plane-trees below the
+Hemicyklion, and conversed together.
+
+"Phidias has been acquitted of theft, but re-arrested on the charge of
+blaspheming the gods of the State."
+
+"Arrested? Phidias!"
+
+"They say that he has represented me and himself in Athene's shield."
+
+"That is the mob's doing, which hates all greatness! Anaxagoras banished
+because he was too wise; Aristides banished because he was too just;
+Themistocles, Pausanias.... What did you do, Pericles, when you gave the
+people power?"
+
+"What was lawful and right. I fall certainly by my own sword, but
+honourably. I go about and am dying piecemeal, like Athens. Did we
+know that we adorned our statues for a funeral procession? that we
+were weaving our own shrouds? that the choruses of our tragedies were
+dirges?"
+
+"Athens is dying--yes! But of what?"
+
+"Of Sparta."
+
+"What is Sparta?"
+
+"Sparta is Heracles; the club, the lion-skin, brute-strength. We
+Athenians are the sons of Theseus, ranged against the Heraclidae,
+Dorians, and Ionians. Athens dies by Sparta's hand, but Hellas dies by
+her own."
+
+"I believe the gods have forsaken us."
+
+"I believe so too, but the Divine lives."
+
+"There comes Nicias, the messenger of misfortune." It was Nicias;
+and when he read the question in the faces and glances of the two, he
+answered, without waiting to be asked: "From the Agora!"
+
+"What is the news from the Agora?"
+
+"The Assembly seeks help from the Macedonians."
+
+"Why not from the Persians? Good! then the end is near. Do they seek
+help from the enemy? From the barbarian, the Macedonian, who lies above
+us like a lion on a hill. Go, Nicias, and say, 'Pericles is dying.'
+And ask them to choose the worthiest as his successor! Not the most
+unworthy! Go, Nicias, but go quickly."
+
+"I go," said Nicias, "but for a physician."
+
+And he went.
+
+"No physician can cure me!" answered Pericles; but in a weak voice, as
+though he spoke to himself. He took his old seat in the Hemicyklion.
+When he had rested a while, he made Socrates a sign to come near, for he
+did not wish to raise his voice.
+
+"Socrates, my friend," he began, "this is the farewell of a dying man.
+You were the wisest, but take it not ill if I say, 'Be not too wise';
+seek not the unattainable, and confuse not men's minds with subtleties;
+do not make the simple complicated. You wish to see things with both
+eyes, but he who shoots with the bow, must close one eye; otherwise he
+sees his mark doubled. You are not a Sophist, but may easily appear so;
+you are not a libertine, but you go about with such; you hate your city
+and your country, and rightly; but you should love them to the death,
+for that is your duty; you despise the people, but you should be sorry
+for them. I have not admired the people, but I have given them laws and
+justice; therefore I die!
+
+"Good-night, Socrates! Now it is dark before my eyes. You shall close
+them, and give me the garland. Now I go to sleep. When I awake, _if_ I
+awake, then I am on the other side, and then I will send you a greeting,
+if the gods allow it. Good-night."
+
+"Pericles is dead. Hear it, Athenians, and weep as I do!"
+
+The people streamed thither, but they did not weep. They only wondered
+what would now happen, and felt almost glad of a change.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Cleon the tanner stood in the orator's pulpit in the Pnyx. Among his
+most attentive hearers were Alcibiades, Anytos, and Nicias. Cleon said:
+"Pericles is dead, and Pericles is buried; now you know it. Let him rest
+in peace with his merits and faults, for the enemy is in Sphacteria, and
+we must have a commander; Pericles' shadow will not serve for that. Here
+below sit two adventurers, fine gentlemen both; one is called Nicias,
+because he never has conquered; the other Alcibiades, and we know his
+conquests--goblets and girls. On the other hand, we do not know his
+character, but you will some day know him, Athenians, and he will show
+his incisors himself. Such and such and such a one have been proposed
+for commander--oddly enough all fine gentlemen, and all grandees, of
+course. Athens, which has abjured all kings and their like, must now
+fight with royal Sparta, and must, faithful to its traditions, appear
+in the field under a man of the people on whom you can rely. We need no
+Pericles who commissions statues and builds temples to Fame and Glory;
+Athens has enough of such gewgaws. But now we must have a man who
+understands the art of war, who has a heart in his breast and a head on
+his shoulders. Whom do you wish for, men of Athens?"
+
+Alcibiades sprang up like a young lion, and went straight to the point.
+"Men of Athens, I propose Cleon the tanner, not because he is a tanner,
+for that is something different. At any rate the army may be compared
+to an ox-skin, and Cleon to a knife; but Cleon has other qualities,
+especially those of a commander. His last campaign against Pericles and
+Phidias closed with a triumph for him. He has displayed a courage which
+never failed, and an intelligence which passed all mortal comprehension.
+His strategy was certainly not that of a lion, but he conquered, and
+that is the chief point. I propose Cleon as leader of the campaign."
+
+Now it so fell out that this patent irony was still too subtle for the
+mob, who took it seriously. Alcibiades also had a certain influence with
+them because of his relationship to Pericles, and they listened to him
+readily. Accordingly the whole assembly called out for Cleon, and he was
+elected.
+
+But Cleon had never dreamt of the honour of being commander, and he was
+prudent enough not to endeavour to climb beyond his capacity. Therefore
+he protested against the election, shouting and swearing by all the
+gods.
+
+Alcibiades, however, seized the opportunity by the forelock, and,
+perceiving that the election of Cleon meant his death, he mounted
+an empty rostrum and spoke with emphasis: "Cleon jests, and Cleon is
+modest; he does not himself know what sort of a commander he is, for
+he has not proved himself; but I know who he is; I insist upon his
+election; I demand that he fulfil his duty as a citizen; and I summon
+him before the Areopagus if he shirks it when the fatherland is in
+danger." "Cleon is elected!" cried the people.
+
+But Cleon continued to protest, "I do not know the difference between
+a hoplite and a peltast; [Footnote: a heavy-armed and a light-armed
+soldier.] I can neither carry a lance nor sit upon a horse."
+
+But Alcibiades shouted him down. "He can do everything; guide the State
+and criticise art; carry on law-suits and watch Sophists; he can discuss
+the highest subjects with Socrates; in a word, he possesses all the
+public virtues and all the private vices."
+
+Now the people laughed, but Cleon did not budge.
+
+"Athenians!" said Alcibiades in conclusion, "the people have spoken, and
+there is no appeal. Cleon is elected, and Sparta is done for!"
+
+The assembly broke up. Only Cleon remained behind with his friend
+Anytos. "Anytos!" he said. "I am lost!"
+
+"Very probable!" answered Anytos.
+
+But Alcibiades went off with Nicias: "Now Cleon is as dead as a dog.
+Then comes my turn," he said.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Socrates walked, deep in thought, up and down the courtyard of his
+house, which was very simple and had no colonnades. His wife was carding
+wool, and did it as if she were pulling someone's hair.
+
+The wise man kept silence, but the woman spoke--that was her nature.
+"What are you doing?" she asked.
+
+"For the sake of old acquaintance, I will answer you, though I am not
+obliged to do so. I am thinking."
+
+"Is that a proper business for a man?"
+
+"Certainly; a very manly business."
+
+"At any rate no one can see what you are doing."
+
+"When you were with child, it was also invisible; but when, it was born,
+it was visible, and especially audible. Thus occupations which are at
+first invisible, become visible later on. They are therefore not to be
+despised, least of all by those who only believe in the visible."
+
+"Is your business with Aspasia something of that sort?"
+
+"Something of that, and of another sort too."
+
+"You drink also a good deal."
+
+"Yes, those who speak become thirsty, and the thirsty must drink."
+
+"What is it in Aspasia that attracts men?"
+
+"Certain qualities which give zest to social
+intercourse--thoughtfulness, tact, moderation."
+
+"You mean that for me?"
+
+"I mean it for Aspasia."
+
+"Is she beautiful?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Anytos declares that she is."
+
+"He tells an untruth. Do you see Anytos, Cleon's friend and my enemy?"
+
+"He is not my enemy."
+
+"But mine. You always love my enemies and hate my friends; that is a bad
+sign."
+
+"Your friends are bad men."
+
+"No, on the contrary. Pericles was the greatest of the Athenians,
+Phidias the best, Euripides the noblest, Plato the wisest, Alcibiades
+the most gifted, Protagoras the most acute."
+
+"And Aristophanes?"
+
+"He is my enemy, though I do not know why. I suppose you have heard of
+the comedy which he has written about me."
+
+"Anytos told me. Have you seen it?"
+
+"I saw the _Clouds_ yesterday."
+
+"Was it amusing--was it clever?"
+
+"What did Anytos think?"
+
+"He made me laugh when he described some scenes."
+
+"Then it must be amusing, or you would not have laughed."
+
+"Did you not laugh, my Socrates?"
+
+"Yes, of course; otherwise they would have thought me a blockhead. You
+know that he has depicted me as a rogue and fool. Since I am neither, it
+was not serious; therefore it was in jest."
+
+"Do you think so? I think it was serious."
+
+"And you laugh at the serious? Do you weep, then, at jesting? Then you
+would be mad."
+
+"Do you think I am mad?"
+
+"Yes, if you think me a rogue."
+
+"You know that Cleon is with the army."
+
+"I was astonished to hear it."
+
+"Astonished! You think, then, that he is not fit to command."
+
+"No, I know nothing about his fitness as commander, for I have never
+seen him in the field. But I am astonished at his election, as he
+himself was, because it was unexpected."
+
+"You therefore expect him to be defeated."
+
+"No, I wait for the result, in order to see whether he wins or loses."
+
+"You would be glad if he lost?"
+
+"I do not love Cleon, but as an Athenian I would mourn if he were
+defeated; therefore I would not rejoice at his overthrow."
+
+"You hate Cleon, but you do not wish his overthrow."
+
+"On account of Athens--no."
+
+"But except for that?"
+
+"Except for that, Cleon's overthrow would be a blessing for the State,
+for he has been unjust to Pericles, to Phidias, to all who have done
+anything great."
+
+"Here comes a visitor."
+
+"It is Alcibiades."
+
+"The wretch! Are you not ashamed to be on intimate terms with him?"
+
+"He is a man; he has great faults and great merits, and he is my friend.
+I do not wish to be on intimate terms with my enemies." Alcibiades
+knocked at the door, and rushed in. "Papaia! The pair are philosophising
+together, and talking of yesterday's comedy! This Aristophanes is an
+ass! If one wishes to kill an enemy, one must hit him; but Aristophanes
+aims at the clouds. Hit, yes! Do you know that Cleon is defeated?"
+
+"What a pity!" exclaimed Socrates.
+
+"Is it a pity that the dog is unmasked?"
+
+"I think Alcibiades is misinformed," broke in Xantippe.
+
+"No, by Zeus, but I wish I was!"
+
+"Hush! here is Anytos coming," said Socrates.
+
+"The second tanner! It is strange that the destiny of Athens is guided
+by tanners."
+
+"The destiny of Athens! Who knows it?"
+
+"I, Alcibiades, am the destiny of Athens."
+
+"[Greek: _Hubris_]! Beware of the gods!"
+
+"I come after Cleon; Cleon is no more; therefore it is my turn."
+
+"Here is Anytos!"
+
+Anytos entered: "I seek Alcibiades."
+
+"Here I am."
+
+"Must I prepare you....'
+
+"No, I know."
+
+"Prepare you for the honour...."
+
+"Have I waited long enough."
+
+"To go at the head...."
+
+"That is what I was born for."
+
+"To take the lead...."
+
+"That is my place."
+
+"And conduct the triumphal procession?"
+
+"What procession?"
+
+"Ah! you did not know. Cleon's triumphal procession from the harbour."
+
+Alcibiades passed his hand downwards over his face, as though he wished
+to changed his mask, and it was done in a moment.
+
+"Yes, certainly, certainly, certainly. I have in fact just come here
+to--announce his victory."
+
+"He lies," broke in Xantippe.
+
+"I jested with the pair. There will be a triumphal procession, then, for
+Cleon! How fine!"
+
+"Socrates," continued Anytos, "are you not glad?"
+
+"I am glad that the enemy is beaten."
+
+"But not that Cleon has won a victory?"
+
+"Yes, it is nearly the same thing."
+
+Xantippe seized the opportunity and struck in: "He is not glad, and he
+does not believe in Cleon."
+
+"I know you," concluded Anytos. "I know you philosophers and quibblers!
+But take care!--And now, Alcibiades, come and receive the despised
+Cleon, who has saved the fatherland!"
+
+Alcibiades took Socrates by the hand, and whispered in his ear. "What a
+cursed mischance! Well, not yet!--but the next time!"
+
+
+
+
+ALCIBIADES
+
+
+Kartaphalos, the shoemaker, sat in his shop by the Acarnanian Gate, and
+repaired cothurns for the Dionysian theatre, which was about to make a
+last attempt to revive the tragic drama, which had been eclipsed by the
+farces of Aristophanes. The Roman Lucillus lounged at the window-sill,
+and, since philosophy had been brought into fashion by Socrates and the
+Sophists, the shoemaker and the exiled Decemvir philosophised as well as
+they could.
+
+"Roman!" said Kartaphalos, "you are a stranger in the city, as I am:
+what do think of the state and the Government?"
+
+"They are exactly like the Roman. One may sum up the whole past history
+of Rome in two words--Patricians and Plebeians."
+
+"Just as it is here."
+
+"With the difference that Rome has a future. Hellas only a past."
+
+"What is known of Rome's future?"
+
+"The Cumaean Sibyl has prophesied that Rome will possess the earth."
+
+"What do you say? Rome? No, Israel will possess it; Israel has the
+promise."
+
+"I do not venture to deny that, but Rome has also the promise."
+
+"There is only one promise, and one God."
+
+"Perhaps it is the same promise, and the same God."
+
+"Perhaps Israel will conquer through Rome."
+
+"Israel will conquer through the promised Messiah."
+
+"When will Messiah come, then?"
+
+"When the time is fulfilled, when Zeus is dead."
+
+"May we live to see it. I wait, for Zeus has gone to Rome, and is called
+there Jupiter Capitolinus."
+
+Aristophanes, who was easily recognised by his crane-like neck and open
+mouth, looked in through the window.
+
+"Have you a pair of low shoes, Kartaphalos? A pair of 'socks'?
+[Footnote: a low-heeled shoe worn by comic actors.] You have plenty of
+cothurns, I see, but the 'sock' has won the day."
+
+"At your service, sir."
+
+"We want them for the theatre, you understand.... Ah! there is Lucillus!
+... and of raw leather, not tanned."
+
+"What are you going to play in the theatre, then?"
+
+"We are going to bring on Cleon, and make him dance, and fancy! since
+no one dares to represent the low-born tanner, I must do it. I will play
+Cleon."
+
+"Where is the great general, Cleon, now?"
+
+"In a new campaign against Brasidas. When the commander Demosthenes won
+the battle of Sphacteria, Cleon claimed the honour of the victory and
+received a triumph. Then, since he regarded himself as a great warrior,
+he marched against Brasidas. The pitcher goes so often to the well...."
+
+"Till it is broken," interrupted a new arrival. It was Alcibiades.
+"Papaia!" he exclaimed, "Cleon is beaten! Cleon has fled! Now it is my
+turn! Come to the Pnyx." And he went on.
+
+"Very well--to the Pnyx," said Aristophanes, "and I will obtain matter
+for a new comedy, to be called _Alcibiades_."
+
+"You are right, perhaps," answered Lucillus. "The whole matter is not
+worth weeping for. Therefore let us laugh!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Alcibiades stood again on the orator's platform in the Pnyx. He felt
+at home there, and he always had the ear of the people, for he was
+not tedious. They all spoilt him, and his grotesque impudence had an
+enlivening effect upon them.
+
+Before the orator's platform, among others, was to be seen the wise,
+rich, and aristocratic Nicias, who had always sought to mediate between
+Sparta and Athens, but through his over-deliberation had done more harm
+than good.
+
+Alcibiades, who knew Nicias and his political views, and feared his
+opposition, resolved on a master-stroke. He would not speak of Sparta
+and Athens as Nicias expected, but determined to make a diversion, and
+speak of something quite different. The people loved novelties, and
+to-day they should have something quite new.
+
+"Athenians!" he began, "Cleon is defeated and dead, and I place my
+undoubted talents at the service of the State. You know my small
+failings, but now you will know my great merits. Listen, Athenians.
+There was a time when Hellas possessed Asia Minor and extended its wings
+eastward. The Persian King took these settlements from us one after the
+other, and he is now in Thrace. Since we cannot go farther eastward,
+we must go westward, towards the sunset. You have heard more or less
+vaguely of the Roman Republic, which is growing and growing. Our
+countrymen have long ago taken possession of that part of the Italian
+peninsula which is called Tarentum, and we have thereby become close
+neighbours of Rome. And the finest of the islands, opulent Sicily,
+became ours. But the Romans have gradually surrounded our colonies, and
+threaten their independence. The Romans are pressing on us, but they are
+also pushing northward towards Gaul and Germany, and southward towards
+Africa. The Persian King, who was formerly our enemy, has now nearly
+become our friend, and our danger is not now Persia, but Rome.
+Therefore, with the future in view, I say to you Athenians, 'Let us go
+to Italy and Sicily. With Sicily as our base, we can dispute with the
+Romans the possession of Spain and the Pillars of Hercules. In Sicily
+we have the Key to Egypt; by means of Sicily we protect the threatened
+Tarentum, and can, in case of need, save sinking Hellas. The world is
+wide; why should we sit here and moulder in the wilderness? Hellas is
+an exhausted country; let us break up new ground. Hellas is an outworn
+ship; let us build a new one, and undertake a new Argonautic enterprise
+to a new Colchis to win another Golden Fleece, following the path of the
+sun westward. Athenians! let us go to Sicily!'"
+
+These new prospects which the speaker opened to them pleased the people,
+who were tired of the everlasting Sparta and the Persian King; and
+stimulated by fear of Rome, the growing wolf's-cub, they received the
+ill-considered proposal with applause, and raised their hands in token
+of assent.
+
+Nicias sought an opportunity to speak, and warned them, but no one
+listened to him. The Scythian police who kept order in the Pnyx could
+procure him no audience. And when Nicias saw that he could not prevent
+the enterprise, he placed his services at Alcibiades' disposal, and
+began to equip the fleet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Aspasia was now the widow of Pericles, and had mourned him for a long
+time. The "Hemicyklion" was no more, but her few remaining friends
+visited her from time to time. Socrates was the most faithful among
+them. One evening he sat with her in the little brick-roofed villa on
+the bank of the Cephisos.
+
+"No, Aspasia," he said, "I advised against the Sicilian expedition, so
+did Nicias, so did the astronomer Meton, but it was to be. Alcibiades
+had managed to procure a favourable response from the oracle in the
+Temple of Ammon."
+
+"Do you believe in oracles, Socrates?"
+
+"Yes--and no! I have my own 'demon,' as you know, who warns but never
+urges--who advises, but never commands. This inner Voice has said to me,
+'Hellas will not conquer the world.'"
+
+"Will Rome do it?"
+
+"Yes, but for another!"
+
+"You know that Pericles' great thought was a single Hellas--a union of
+all the Grecian States."
+
+"That was Pericles' wish, but the will of the gods was otherwise.
+Alcibiades' dream of Hellas governing the world is also great, but the
+dreams of the gods are greater."
+
+"What gain do you think comes to Athens from Cleon's death?"
+
+"None! After Cleon comes Anytos. Cleon is everlasting, for Cleon is the
+name of an idea."
+
+Protagoras, grown old and somewhat dull, appeared in the inner
+courtyard.
+
+"There is Protagoras!"
+
+"The Sophist! I do not like him," said Aspasia. "He is a file who frets
+all will away; his endless hair-splitting robs one of all resolution."
+
+"You speak truly and rationally, Aspasia, and in an earlier age you
+would have sat upon the Pythoness's tripod and prophesied. Like the
+priestess, you know not perhaps what you say, but a god speaks through
+you."
+
+"No, Socrates; I only utter your thoughts; that is all!"
+
+Protagoras came forward. "Mourning in Athens! Mourning in Hellas! Alas!"
+was his greeting.
+
+"What is the matter, Protagoras?"
+
+"Phidias of immortal memory lies dead in prison."
+
+"Alas! then they have killed him."
+
+"So it is rumoured in the city."
+
+"Phidias is dead!"
+
+"Probably poisoned, they say; but that need not be true."
+
+"All die here in Athens before their proper time. When will our turn
+come?"
+
+"When it does."
+
+"Are we falling by the arrows of the Python-slayer? We are shot like
+birds."
+
+"We are the children of Apollo. Would our father kill us?"
+
+"Saturn has returned to devour his children."
+
+Socrates sank in meditation, and remained standing.
+
+"We have angered the gods."
+
+Lucillus the Roman entered. "See the Roman!" said Socrates, "the lord of
+the future and of the world. What has he to tell us?"
+
+"I come to warn Protagoras. He is to be banished."
+
+"I?"
+
+"You are banished."
+
+"On what grounds?"
+
+"As a blasphemer. You have repudiated the gods of the State."
+
+"Who is the informer?"
+
+"The sycophant, the invisible, who is present everywhere."
+
+"All is probable; nothing is certain," exclaimed Protagoras.
+
+"Yes, this is certain."
+
+"Well, my fabric of thought is shattered against this certainty as
+everything else is shattered."
+
+"[Greek: _Pànta reî_]. Everything flows away; nothing endures; all comes
+to birth, grows, and dies."
+
+"Farewell, then, Aspasia, Socrates, friends, fatherland!
+
+"Farewell!"
+
+Protagoras departed with his mantle drawn over his head.
+
+"Will Athens miss Protagoras?" asked Aspasia.
+
+"He has taught the Athenians to think and to doubt; and doubt is the
+beginning of wisdom."
+
+"Aristophanes has murdered Protagoras, and he will murder you some day,
+Socrates."
+
+"He has done that already; my wife rejoices at it, but still I live."
+
+"Here comes young Plato with an ominous look. More bad news I expect."
+
+"Expect? I am certain! Sing your dirge, Plato."
+
+"Dirges, you mean. Alcibiades has been accused and recalled."
+
+"What has he done?"
+
+"Before his departure he has mutilated all the images of Hermes in the
+city."
+
+"That is too much for one man; he could not do that."
+
+"The accusation is definite; injury to the gods of the State."
+
+"And now the gods avenge themselves."
+
+"The gods of Greece have gone to Rome."
+
+"There you have spoken truth."
+
+"Now comes number two: The Athenians have been defeated in Sicily. And
+number three: Nicias is beheaded."
+
+"Then we can buy sepulchres for ourselves in the Ceramicus."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Near the Temple of Nemesis in the Agora stood the tanner Anytos chatting
+with Thrasybulos, a hitherto obscure but rising patriot.
+
+Anytos rattled away: "Alcibiades is in Sparta; Sparta seeks the help of
+the Persian King; only one thing remains for us--to do the same."
+
+"To go over to the enemy? That is treachery."
+
+"There is nothing else to be done."
+
+"There were once Thermopylae and Salamis."
+
+"But now there is Sparta, and the Spartans are in Deceleia. Our envoys
+have already sailed to the Persian King."
+
+"Then we may as well remove Athene's image from the Parthenon! Anytos!
+look at my back; for I shall be ashamed to show my face now when I
+walk."
+
+Anytos remained alone, and walked for some time up and down in front of
+the temple portico. Then he stopped and entered the vestibule.
+
+The priestess Theano seemed to have been waiting for him. Anytos began:
+"Have you obeyed the order of the Council?"
+
+"What order?"
+
+"To pronounce a curse on Alcibiades, the enemy of his country."
+
+"No, I am only ordered to bless."
+
+"Have the avenging goddesses, then, ceased to execute justice?"
+
+"They have never lent themselves to carry out human vengeance."
+
+"Has Alcibiades not betrayed his country?"
+
+"Alcibiades' country is Hellas, not Athens; Sparta is in Hellas."
+
+"Have the gods also become Sophists?"
+
+"The gods have become dumb."
+
+"Then you can shut the temple--the sooner, the better."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The incorrigible Alcibiades had really fled from Sicily to the enemy at
+Sparta, and now sat at table with King Aegis; for Sparta had retained
+the monarchy, while Athens at an early date had abjured it.
+
+"My friend," said the King, "I do not like your dining at the common
+public table, after being accustomed to Aspasia's brilliant feasts in
+Athens."
+
+"I! Oh no! My rule was always the simplest food: I went to sleep with
+the sun, and rose with the sun. You do not know what a severe ascetic I
+have been."
+
+"If you say so, I must believe it. Rumour, then, has slandered you?"
+
+"Slandered? Yes, certainly. You remember the scandal about the
+statues of Hermes. I did not mutilate them, but they have become my
+destruction."
+
+"Is that also a lie?"
+
+"It is a lie."
+
+"But tell me something else. Do you think that it is now the will of the
+gods that Sparta should conquer Athens?"
+
+"Certainly, as certainly as virtue will conquer vice. Sparta is the home
+of all the virtues, and Athens of all the vices."
+
+"Now I understand that you are not the man I took you for, and I will
+give you the command of the army. Shall we now march against Athens?"
+
+"I am ready!"
+
+"Have you no scruple in marching against your own city?"
+
+"I am a Hellene, not an Athenian, Sparta is the chief city of Hellas."
+
+"Alcibiades is great! Now I go to the general, and this evening we
+march."
+
+"Go, King! Alcibiades follows."
+
+The King went, but Alcibiades did not follow, for behind the curtains
+of the women's apartment stood the Queen, and waited. When the King had
+gone, she rushed in.
+
+"Hail! Alcibiades, my king!"
+
+"Queen, why do you call your servant 'king'?"
+
+"Because Sparta has done homage to you, because I love you, and because
+you are a descendant of heroes."
+
+"King Aegis the Second lives."
+
+"Not too long! Win your first battle, and Aegis is dead."
+
+"Now life begins to smile on the hardly-tried exile. If you knew my
+childhood with its sorrows, my youth with its privations! The vine had
+not grown for me, woman had not been made for me; Bacchus knew me not;
+Aphrodite was not my goddess. The chaste Artemis and the wise Pallas
+guided me past the devious ways of youth to the goal of knowledge,
+wisdom, and glory. But when I first saw you, Timia, my queen...."
+
+"Hush!"
+
+"Then I thought that beauty was more than wisdom."
+
+"Hush! some one is listening."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"I, Lysander, the General," answered a sharp voice, and the speaker
+stood in the middle of the room.
+
+"Now I know you, Alcibiades, and I have your head under my arm, but I
+have the honour of Sparta under the other. Fly before I strangle you!"
+
+"Your ears have deceived you, Lysander!"
+
+"Fly! do us the kindness to fly! Fifty hoplites stand without, waiting
+for your head."
+
+"How many do you say? Fifty? Then I will fly, for I cannot overcome more
+than thirty. My queen! farewell! I have thought better of Sparta. This
+would never have happened in Athens. Now I go to the Persian King; there
+they understand better what is fitting, and there I shall not be obliged
+to eat black broth!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Alcibiades sat with the Persian satrap Tissaphernes, and Alcibiades
+the eloquent spoke. "Yes, my teacher Protagoras taught me once, that
+everything is born from its opposite; therefore you see my heart can
+embrace all opposites. Sparta and Athens are both dear to me; that is
+to say, both hateful--the state--gods of the one, and the virtues of the
+other."
+
+"You have a great heart, stranger! Is there room in it for Persia?"
+
+"For the whole world."
+
+"What do you think of our chief city?"
+
+"I love all large cities!"
+
+"But at the present moment, you ought to love ours the most."
+
+"Yes, I do."
+
+"You must also love our allies."
+
+"Pardon me, who is your present ally?"
+
+"At present, it is Sparta."
+
+"Very well, then, I love Sparta."
+
+"And suppose it is Athens to-morrow?"
+
+"Then I will love Athens to-morrow."
+
+"Thank you. Now I understand that it is all over with Hellas. Old Greece
+is so corrupt, that it is hardly worth conquering."
+
+"Protagoras taught that man is the measure of all things; therefore I
+measure the value of all things by myself; what has value for me, that I
+prize."
+
+"Is that the teaching of your prophets? Then we have better ones; do you
+know Zarathrustra?"
+
+"If it would do you a pleasure, I wish I had known him from childhood."
+
+"Then you might have been able to distinguish good and evil, light and
+darkness, Ormuzd and Ahriman. And you would have lived in the hope
+that light will eventually conquer; and that all discordances will be
+reconciled through suffering."
+
+"I can at any rate try. Is it a large book?"
+
+"What are the names of your sacred books?"
+
+"Sacred! What is that?"
+
+"From whence do you get your religion, the knowledge of your gods?"
+
+"From Homer, I believe."
+
+"You do not believe that Zeus is the supreme ruler of the world?"
+
+"Yes, I do certainly."
+
+"But he was a false swearer and a lecher."
+
+"Yes! But how can that be helped?"
+
+Tissaphernes rose. "Listen, my guest; we cannot share any common
+undertaking, for we do not serve the same gods. You call us barbarians.
+I, on my part, know no term of reproach strong enough for people who
+honour such gods. But the Athenians are as rotten as you, for they have
+pardoned you. Outside there stands an envoy from Athens come to beg you
+to return. Go to Athens; that is your place."
+
+"To Athens? Never! I do not trust them."
+
+"Nor they, you! That is appropriate. Go to Athens, and tell your
+countrymen--the Persian does not want them. The vine tendrils seek the
+sound elm, but turn away from the rotten cabbage-top."
+
+Alcibiades had begun to walk up and down the room. That meant that he
+was irresolute.
+
+"Is the Athenian really outside?" he asked.
+
+"He kneels outside in order to beg the traitor Alcibiades to be their
+lord. But listen, you are a democrat, are you not?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"Then you must change your point of view, for now an oligarchy governs
+Athens."
+
+"Yes, ah! yes, yes--but I am an aristocrat, the most aristocratic in the
+State."
+
+"Spinning-top! Seek for a whip!"
+
+Alcibiades stood still. "I think, I must speak with the Athenian after
+all."
+
+"Do that! Speak the Athenian language to him! He does not understand
+Persian."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Alcibiades returned to Athens; the death-sentence against him was
+annulled; and as a commander who had won a battle, he was able to have
+a triumphal procession from Piraeus to the city. But popular favour was
+fickle, and, becoming suspected of aspiring to be king, he fled again,
+this time to the Persian satrap Pharnabazes. Since he could not
+live without intrigues, he was soon entangled in one, unmasked, and
+condemned, without his knowing it, to death.
+
+One day he was sitting with his paramour, and chatting quietly at his
+ease: "You think, then, Timandra, that Cyrus marches against his brother
+Artaxerxes, in order to seize the throne of Persia."
+
+"I am sure of it, and equally sure that he has ten thousand Athenians
+under Xenophon with him."
+
+"Do you know whether Artaxerxes has been warned?"
+
+"Yes, I know it."
+
+"Who could have warned him?"
+
+"You did."
+
+"Does Cyrus know that?"
+
+"Yes, he does."
+
+"Who has betrayed me?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Then I am lost."
+
+"Yes, you are."
+
+"To think that I must fall through a woman!"
+
+"Did you expect anything else, Alcibiades?"
+
+"No, not really! Can I not fly?"
+
+"You cannot, but I can."
+
+"I see smoke! Is the house on fire?"
+
+"Yes, it is. And there are archers posted outside!"
+
+"The comedy is over! We return to tragedy...."
+
+"And the satyr-play begins."
+
+"My feet are hot; generally cold is a precursor of death."
+
+"Everything is born from its opposite, Alcibiades."
+
+"Give me a kiss."
+
+She kissed him, the handsomest man of Athens.
+
+"Thank you!"
+
+"Go to the window; there you will see!"
+
+Alcibiades stepped to the window. "Now I see."
+
+At that moment he was struck by an arrow. "But now I see nothing! It
+grows dark, and I thought it would grow light."
+
+Timandra fled, as the corpse began to burn.
+
+
+
+
+SOCRATES
+
+
+Sparta had conquered Athens, and Athens lay in ruins. The government by
+the people was over, and the rule of the Thirty Tyrants had succeeded
+it. Socrates and Euripides walked with sad faces among the ruins on the
+Agora.
+
+Socrates spoke: "We are on the ruins of Athens' walls! We have become
+Spartans. We would have no tyrants, and now thirty rule over us."
+
+"I go to the North," said Euripides, "to Macedonia, whither I am
+invited."
+
+"In that you are right, for the Tyrants have forbidden the acting of
+your tragedies."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"And they have forbidden me to teach."
+
+"Have they forbidden Socrates to speak? No! Then he can teach, for he
+cannot speak without teaching. But they must have forbidden the oracles
+to speak, for they have ceased to prophesy. Everything has ceased!
+Hellas has ceased to be! And why?"
+
+"You may well ask. Has Zeus begotten the son who is to overthrow him, as
+Aeschylus foretold?"
+
+"Who knows? The people have introduced a new God called Adonai or
+Adonis. He is from the East, and his name signifies the Lord."
+
+"Who is the new god?"
+
+"He teaches readiness for death, and the resurrection. And they have
+also got a new goddess. Have you heard of Cybele, the mother of the
+gods, a virgin, who is worshipped in Rome like Vesta by vestal priests."
+
+"There is so much that is new and obscure, like wine in fermentation.
+There comes Aristophanes. Farewell, my friend, for the last time here in
+life."
+
+"Wait! Aristophanes beckons! No, see! he weeps! Aristophanes weeps!"
+
+Aristophanes approached. "Euripides," he said, "don't go till I have
+spoken to you."
+
+"Can you speak?" answered Euripides.
+
+"I weep."
+
+"Do not quit your role. Shall that represent tears?"
+
+"Sympathise with a companion in distress, Euripides; the Tyrants have
+closed my theatre."
+
+"Socrates, shall I sympathise with my executioner?"
+
+"I believe that the Temple of Nemesis has been opened again," answered
+Socrates. "Aristophanes has never been ingenuous hitherto; now he is so
+with a vengeance. Very well, Aristophanes, I sympathise with you that
+you can no more scoff at me. I pardon you, but I cannot help you to
+stage your comedies. That is asking too much. Now I follow Euripides
+home."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Socrates sat by Aspasia, who had grown elderly. "Euripides has gone to
+Macedonia," he said.
+
+"From his wives."
+
+"You have become bitter."
+
+"I am tired of seeing ruins and all the rest. The Tyrants are murdering
+the citizens."
+
+"That is the occupation of tyrants."
+
+"Shall we soon have rest?"
+
+"In the Ceramicus, in a cedar coffin."
+
+"I will not die; I will live, but quietly."
+
+"Life is not quiet."
+
+"Yes, if one is well off."
+
+"One never is."
+
+"No, not if one is unhappily married, like you, Socrates."
+
+"My wife is certainly the worst possible; if she had not had me for a
+husband, she would long ago have been murdered."
+
+"Xantippe betrays you with her gossiping; and when she does not
+understand what you say, she gives others distorted ideas of your
+opinions and your person."
+
+"Yes, I know that, but I cannot alter it."
+
+"Why do you continue in such a state of humiliation?"
+
+"Why should I fly? One is only justified in flying from superior force,
+and Xantippe is not a superior force to me."
+
+"You are forbidden, on pain of death, to give instruction; that is her
+work and that of Anytos."
+
+"She may bring about my death, if she likes, for then she has only
+brought about my freedom.... Aspasia, I hear that our friendship is on
+the decline; you have found new friends, you have become another person.
+Let me say farewell before Lysicles comes."
+
+"Do you know him?"
+
+"Yes, and the whole town speaks of your coming marriage."
+
+"With the cattle-dealer, Lysicles?"
+
+"Yes, that is your affair; I don't talk about it."
+
+"But you think I should have cherished Pericles' memory better?"
+
+"I would fain have seen Aspasia's memory better preserved; but since I
+have seen Athenians adorn themselves with garlands to celebrate Athens'
+overthrow; since I have seen Phidias...."
+
+"How, then, will Socrates end?"
+
+"Certainly not like Aspasia."
+
+"The gods jest with us. Beware! O Socrates!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Socrates was at last in prison, accused of having seduced the youth, and
+blasphemed or repudiated the gods of the State. Among the accusers were
+a young poetaster, Melitos, the tanner Anytos, and the orator Lykon.
+
+Socrates made his Apology, and declared that he had always believed on
+God, and the voice of his conscience, which he called his "demon." He
+was condemned to drink hemlock, and kept in prison, where, however, he
+was allowed to see his wife and his few remaining friends.
+
+Just now his wife was with him, and wept.
+
+"Weep not," said Socrates; "it is not your fault."
+
+"Will you see the children?"
+
+"Why should I lacerate their little souls with a useless leave-taking?
+Go to them and comfort them; divert their minds with an expedition to
+the woods."
+
+"Shall we rejoice while you are dying?"
+
+"Rejoice that my sufferings come to an end! Rejoice that I die with
+honour."
+
+"Have you no last wish?"
+
+"I wish for nothing, except peace and freedom from your foolish tears
+and sighs, and your disturbing lamentations. Go, woman, and say to
+yourself that Socrates wants to sleep for he is tired and out of humour;
+say to yourself that he will wake again, refreshed, rejuvenated, happy
+and amiable."
+
+"I wish you had taught me all this before."
+
+"you had nothing to learn from me."
+
+"Yes! I have learnt from you patience and self-control."
+
+"Do you forgive me?"
+
+"I cannot, for I have done it already. Say farewell now, as though I
+were going on a journey. Say 'We meet again,' as though I were soon
+returning!"
+
+"Farewell, then, Socrates, and be not angry with me."
+
+"No, I am always well-disposed towards you."
+
+"Farewell, my husband, for ever."
+
+"Not for ever. You wish to see me again, don't you? Put on a cheerful
+face, and say, 'We meet again.'"
+
+"We meet again."
+
+"Good! and when we meet again, we will go with the children together
+into the woods."
+
+"Socrates was not what I thought he was."
+
+"Go! I want to sleep."
+
+She went, but met in the doorway Plato and Crito.
+
+"The hour approaches, friends," said Socrates wearily, and with feverish
+eyes.
+
+"Are you calm, Master?"
+
+"To say the truth, I am quite calm. I will not assert that I am joyful,
+but my conscience does not trouble me."
+
+"When, Socrates, when--will it happen?"
+
+"You mean, When is it to happen,--the last thing? Plato, my friend, my
+dearest... it hastens.... I have just now enjoyed a sleep. I have been
+over the river on the other side; I have seen for a moment the original
+forms of imperishable Beauty, of which things on earth are only dim
+copies.... I have seen the future, the destinies of the human race; I
+have spoken to the mighty, the lofty, and the pure; I have learnt the
+wise Order which guides the apparent great disorder; I trembled at
+the unfathomable secret of the Universe of which I had a glimmering
+perception, and I felt the immensity of my ignorance. Plato, you shall
+write what I have seen. You shall teach the children of men to estimate
+things at their proper value, to look up to the Invisible with awe, to
+revere Beauty, to cultivate virtue, and to hope for final
+deliverance, as they work, through faithful performance of duty and
+self-renunciation."
+
+He went to the bed, and lay down.
+
+Plato followed him, "Are you ill, Master?"
+
+"No, I have been; but now I am getting well."
+
+"Have you already...."
+
+"I have already emptied the cup!"
+
+"Our Wisest leaves us."
+
+"No mortal is wise! But I thank the gods who gave me modesty and
+conscience."
+
+There was silence in the room.
+
+"Socrates is dead!"
+
+
+
+
+FLACCUS AND MARO
+
+
+After the death of Socrates, the greatness of Athens was no more. Sparta
+ruled for a time, and then came the turn of Thebes. Subsequently the
+Macedonians invaded the country, and governed it till the year 196 B.C.,
+when the Romans conquered both Macedonia and Greece, and completely
+destroyed Corinth, but spared Athens, which was deprived of its
+fortifications under Sulla, on account of the great memories which
+gathered round it.
+
+Now, in Julius Caesar's time, it had become the fashion to send youths
+to Athens to study Grammar, Rhetoric, and Philosophy there. There was
+no great philosopher there, but they studied the history of philosophy.
+There was also no religion, for no one believed on the gods of the
+State, although, from old habit, they celebrated the sacrificial feasts.
+
+Athens was dead, and so was the whole of the ancient world--Egypt,
+Syria, Asia Minor. In Rome they lived on the memories of the past of
+Greece, and the greatest Roman, Cicero, when he wished to discuss
+some philosophic theme, always commenced by citing the opinions of the
+ancient Greeks on the subject; he also closed in the same way, for he
+had no original opinion of his own on any subject, such as the nature of
+the gods, &c.
+
+One early spring day, during the last years of Julius Caesar, two
+students sat in an arbour below Lykabettos, opposite the college of
+Kynosarges. Wine was on the table, but they did not seem very devoted
+to their yellow "Chios." They sat there with an air of indifference, as
+though they were waiting for something. The same atmosphere of lethargy
+seemed to pervade their surroundings. The innkeeper sat and dozed; the
+youths in the college opposite lounged at the door; pedestrians on the
+high road went by without greeting anyone; the peasant in the field sat
+on his plough, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
+
+The elder of the two students fingered his glass, and at last opened his
+mouth.
+
+"Say something!"
+
+"I have nothing to say, for I know nothing."
+
+"Have you already learnt everything?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I came yesterday from Rome with great hopes of being able to learn
+something new and of hearing something remarkable, but I hear only
+silence."
+
+"My dear Maro, I have been here for years, and I have listened, but
+heard nothing new. I have heard in the Poikile that Thales maintained
+that there were no gods, but that everything had been produced from
+moisture. I have further heard Anaximines' doctrine that air was the
+source of all things; Pherecydes' doctrine of ether as the original
+principle; Heraclitus' doctrine of fire. Anaximander has taught me
+that the universe came from some primitive substance; Leucippus and
+Democritus spoke to me of empty space with primitive corpuscles or
+atoms. Anaxagoras made believe that the atom had reason. Xenophanes
+wished to persuade me that God and the Universe were one. Empedocles,
+the wisest of the whole company, despaired at the imperfection of
+reason, and went in despair and flung himself head foremost into Etna's
+burning mountain."
+
+"Do you believe that?"
+
+"No! it may well be a lie like everything else. Then I learnt a number
+of interesting doctrines from Plato which were subsequently all confuted
+by Aristotle. At last I took up my position with the wisest of the
+wise--Socrates, who openly declared, as you know, that he knew nothing."
+
+"That is the same as the Sophists said,--that one knew nothing, and
+hardly so much."
+
+"You are right, and our good Socrates was a Sophist, without wishing to
+be one. But there is one, a single one, who.... Yes, I mean Pythagoras.
+He has proclaimed this and that doctrine in the East and the West, but I
+have found one anchor in his philosophy, and I have gripped firm ground
+with it. I certainly swing in the wind, but I do not drift away from
+it."
+
+"Tell me."
+
+"Do what you think right at the risk of being banished from your
+country; the mob cannot judge what is right. Therefore you should
+think little of their praise, and despise their blame. Cultivate the
+friendship of kindred spirits, but regard the rest of mankind as
+a worthless mass. Always be at war with 'the beans' (he means the
+democrats). 'Odi profanum vulgus et arceo!'"
+
+"You ought to live at home in Rome, Flaccus, where...."
+
+"Yes, what are you doing now in Rome?"
+
+"Caesar is Caesar; he conquers the world, and unites all the highest
+functions, even the priestly, in his own person. I have nothing against
+it, but they say he is aiming at his own deification."
+
+"Why not? All gods have first been heroes, and many gods have not been
+so great as Caesar. Romulus was certainly no giant, though he had the
+luck to come first, as someone must. Now he is a god, has a temple, and
+they sacrifice to him."
+
+"It is probably a lie, like everything else."
+
+"Probably."
+
+"Yes, I have heard another legend of the founding of Rome by Aeneas' son
+Ascanius, who fled from Troy; and I intend to take it as the
+starting-point of my great poem...."
+
+"You mean the _Aeneid_, of which I have heard mention."
+
+"Yes, the _Aeneid_."
+
+"Is it difficult to write poetry?"
+
+"No; one follows good patterns. Hitherto Theocritus has been mine, but
+now I shall go to Father Homer himself."
+
+"By Heracles! Now there you will be undisturbed--so long, that is, as
+Maecenas sends you the sesterces regularly."
+
+"Yes, he does! But how do you get along?"
+
+"My father, a freedman, toils as quaestor, and will find me a place."
+
+"Have you no interests, no passions, no ambitions?"
+
+"No; what should I do with them? 'Nihil admirari.' That is my motto. If
+there are gods who guide the destinies of men and nations, why should I
+interfere and wear myself out in a useless struggle? Think of
+Demosthenes, who for thirty years delivered speeches against the
+Macedonian, and warned his countrymen, who would not listen to him! The
+gods were with the Macedonian, and condemned Hellas to be overthrown.
+Demosthenes was imprisoned. Comically enough, he was accused of having
+been bribed by the same Macedonian. That was, of course, a lie. This
+patriot who sacrificed himself for the salvation of his fatherland, who
+believed he was fighting on the gods' side, had to take poison, and
+fell, fighting against the gods! Vestigia terrent!"
+
+During their conversation, the sun had gone down, and now in the
+twilight beacons were visible flaming on Aegina, on Salamis, by
+Phaleros, in the Piraeus, and finally on the Acropolis. The murmurs from
+the city became louder till they rose to one immense paean of joy. Men
+came down the streets, and brought their wives and children with them,
+some on foot, others riding and driving. The worthy innkeeper Agathon
+was aroused, and went out into the highway to learn the cause of the
+confusion. The two students had gone on the inn roof to look out. But
+they surmised danger for foreigners like themselves, and, alarmed by the
+ever louder shouting, descended again, and concealed themselves in the
+wine-press. At last Agathon's voice was heard: "Caesar is assassinated!
+Death to the Romans! Freedom for Hellas!"
+
+Such was the news. The garden of the inn filled with people, wine
+flowed, and shouts of joy resounded, varied by sarcastic remarks on the
+passing Romans who were fleeing northwards from the town in order to
+reach the Macedonian frontier.
+
+Maro and Flaccus underwent great anxiety, hidden as they were in the vat
+of the wine-press, from which hiding-place they heard the whole news,
+with its accompanying details. Caesar had been assassinated by Cassius
+and Brutus in the Capitol.
+
+"Brutus?" whispered Maro. "Then it is certainly over with the Caesars,
+just as the old Brutus made an end of the Kings!"
+
+And Brutus was flying to Hellas to rouse the Greeks against the Romans.
+"Long live Brutus!" they cried in the garden.
+
+"Then we shall live also!" said the pliant Flaccus. "Caesar is dead; let
+us do homage to Brutus for the present."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Many years had passed when the former student of Athens, Quintus
+Horatius Flaccus, was walking one day in the garden of his villa on
+the Sabine Hills. This villa he had received as a gift from his friend
+Maecenas, who possessed a splendid country-house close by in Tibur
+itself.
+
+Horace was now a very famous poet, but still essentially the same as he
+had been when a student in Athens. Destiny or the gods had played with
+him, but the poet had taken it as a good joke on the part of the Higher
+Powers, and answered it with a satire. After the murder of Caesar,
+Brutus had fled to Greece, and been so well received there, that the
+Athenians had erected a statue to him, and raised troops for him against
+Antonius and the other generals, among whom was the invalid Octavianus
+(afterwards Augustus).
+
+Horace was compelled to serve as a soldier, and actually commanded a
+legion at Philippi, where Brutus fell. The poet, who was no warrior,
+fled from the superior force of the enemy, and came to Rome, where,
+after the amnesty had been proclaimed, he became a clerk in a public
+office. At the same time he had begun to write verses, was discovered by
+Maecenas, and received his reward in the form of an estate.
+
+The Emperor Augustus admired him, and offered him a position as
+secretary, but Horace refused, partly because he could never see
+anything else but an usurper in this Emperor, partly because he loved
+freedom and independence above all things.
+
+Just now he was walking in his garden, whose fruit-trees he had himself
+cultivated. He plucked roses and hyacinths, for he awaited the visit of
+a favourite guest, his old friend and fellow-student of Athens, Publius
+Virgilius Maro, as well known as Horace himself, although he had not yet
+allowed his _Aeneid_ to appear in manuscript.
+
+A table was laid in a vine-arbour; flagons of old Massisian and
+Falernian lay already on ice, oysters and eels were there; a kid and
+some quails were roasting on the spit in the kitchen; fruit had been
+plucked in the garden; and the only thing wanting on the table, which
+had been laid for two persons, were flowers.
+
+A little slave, who was able to write, ran to and fro between the
+garden-gate and the dove-tower, in order to look out for the expected
+guest. The poet was standing at the water-barrel and washing his hands,
+after he had finished plucking flowers, when someone clapped him on the
+shoulder.
+
+"Virgil! Which way have you come, then?"
+
+"Over the hills of Tibur from Maecenas."
+
+"Welcome, wanderer, whichever way you have come! Sit down--you must be
+tired--in my hemicyklion, under the olives I planted myself, while the
+spits turn, and they ply the chopping-knife. Here you see my plot of
+land which represents the world to me."
+
+Their first greetings and questions were over, and the two friends sat
+down to the table. The host was certainly an Epicurean or votary of
+pleasure; but in order to be able to enjoy, one must be moderate, and
+the meal, judging by Roman customs, was quite a frugal one, but simple
+and brilliant. Then the cups were passed round, and the wine awoke
+memories in spite of its supposed lethal capacity of quenching them.
+
+"Well, you were in the war, friend?" began Virgil.
+
+"Yes, and I fled disgracefully, as you know."
+
+"I have read so in one of your poems, but it is said not to be true, and
+you have slandered yourself."
+
+"Have I? Perhaps! One talks nonsense when one writes."
+
+"You poet, do you remember how you asked me in Athens whether it were
+difficult? How did you come to write?"
+
+"I needed money!"
+
+"Now you slander yourself again! If all clients who needed money could
+write, the world would be full of poets."
+
+"Well, perhaps it was not so. But speak of yourself--of your _Aeneid_."
+
+Virgil looked gloomy: "Of that I will not speak."
+
+"Is it finished?"
+
+"More than that! It is done with!"
+
+"Done with?"
+
+"Yes! When I read it, I found it a failure! It was not Homer; it was
+nothing. It was a punishment, because I wished to outshine my father."
+
+"Have you destroyed it?"
+
+"Not yet; but it is sealed up, in order to be destroyed after my death."
+
+"Now _you_ are slandering yourself, and you are depressed, Maro, not by
+years, not by work, but by something else."
+
+"Yes, by something else. The future disturbs me!"
+
+Horace shook his cup and recited: [Footnote: Hor. Od. I. ii.] "Do not
+go to the astrologers, Leuconoe. Better bear life as it comes. Be wise,
+clear your wine! While we speak, envious life is flying. Enjoy the
+present, and think as little as possible about the future."
+
+"That I cannot!" broke in Virgil. "I cannot drown myself in my cups,
+when I see my fatherland perishing."
+
+"Has Rome ever been so powerful as it is now? Do we not possess the
+whole known world--Egypt, Syria, Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany, Gaul,
+Britain? And yet we live in a time of peace: the Temple of Janus is
+closed; the earth rejoices; the arts flourish; and commerce was never so
+active as at present."
+
+"Yes, the peace that precedes a war. For all these conquered nations are
+awake, and have an eye on Rome. Not on Greece as before, for Greece is
+barren and laid waste, and passes into the great silence. Do you know
+that Sulla and Mithridates have gone slaying and pillaging over Hellas,
+so that science and art have fled to the Egyptian Alexandria or the
+growing Byzantium? Do you know that pirates, whose origin is unknown,
+from the East, have recently plundered every temple in Hellas, so that
+hardly any religious service can be held there? The oracles are dumb,
+the poets are silent like song-birds in a storm, the great tragedies
+are no longer performed; people rather go to see farces and gladiatorial
+shows. Hellas is a ruin, and Rome will soon be one."
+
+"Times are bad, I grant, but every time has been one of decay, and has,
+however, prepared the way for a new epoch. The fallen leaves of autumn
+form a forcing-bed for the coming spring; Nature, life, and history ever
+renew themselves through death. Therefore death is to me only a renewal,
+a change, and whenever I meet a funeral, I always say to myself, 'O how
+pleasant it is to live!'"
+
+"My dear Flaccus, you live with your dreams in the Golden Age, while
+we others only drag ourselves through this life of the Iron Age. Do you
+remember how Hesiod complains already of his own time?"
+
+"No, I have forgotten that, but in order to oblige you I will listen."
+
+"'The people of to-day are an iron race, and never rest from the burden
+of work, neither by day nor by night. They are a sinful folk, and the
+gods send them heavy troubles. But even when they send joy, this turns
+to their misfortune. Some day Zeus will destroy them, these many-tongued
+people, when they are born with grey locks on their temples. Yes, our
+children are born old men already, toothless, wrinkled and with bald
+heads. The father is not gracious to the child, nor the child to the
+father, nor the guest to his host, nor servant to fellow-servant, nor
+brother to brother. Children dishonour their old parents, revile them
+and speak unfriendly words--these young scoundrels who know nothing
+of divine vengeance, and never thank their ageing parents for their
+fostering care of them as children. Might is right, and one city
+destroys another. Honesty and faithfulness in keeping vows are never
+rewarded, as little as kindness or justice. Oh no, they who practise
+sin and break the law, demand honour. Scoundrels betray noble men, and
+commit perjury without scruple. Envy follows men, these unhappy ones
+with their harsh voices and dreadful faces, who rejoice over the evil
+and the mischief which they do.'"
+
+"Yes, so Hesiod spoke a thousand years ago, and I must confess his words
+are well deserved, but what can one do?"
+
+"Yes, they are. Cicero was murdered, and I feel inclined to follow the
+example of Cato, who died in order to escape sin. I sink, Flaccus, in
+lies and hypocrisy. But I will not sink ... I will mount. I have praised
+Augustus and his son Marcellus in my verses, but I believe no more
+in them, for they are not the future. Therefore the _Aeneid_ shall be
+burnt!"
+
+"You disquiet me, Maro. But what do you believe in?"
+
+"I believe in the Sibyl, who has prophesied that the Iron Age will end,
+and the Golden Age return."
+
+"You have sung of that in the Fourth Eclogue, I remember.... Have you
+fever?"
+
+"I believe I have. Do you remember--no! our fathers remember when the
+Capitol was burnt, and the Sibylline books destroyed. But now new books
+have come from Alexandria, and in them they have read that a new era
+will begin; that Rome will be destroyed but built up again, and that a
+Golden Age...."
+
+Here the seer was silent. Then he continued: "Pardon me, Flaccus, but I
+am poorly, and must ride home before the mists rise from the Campagna."
+
+"Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume! Labuntur anni! I will follow you,
+friend, on my ass, for you are sick. But 'the man of righteous heart and
+rock-like purpose will not be shaken nor terrified by the blind zeal
+of the citizens commanding evil, nor the glance of the threatening
+tyrant.... If the walls of the world fall in, they will bury him
+unterrified beneath their ruin.'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Some days later Virgil died in Naples. His will was opened, and actually
+found to contain a request that his _Aeneid_ should be burnt. But it was
+not carried out. Posterity has passed various judgments on this ignoring
+of a dead man's wish--some think it was a pity; others that it was a
+good thing.
+
+When Christianity arrived, Virgil was enrolled among the prophets. The
+_Aeneid_ was regarded as a Sibylline book and included in the liturgy.
+Pilgrimages were made to the poet's tomb. And later on he was raised to
+the rank of a saint by Dante.
+
+
+
+
+LEONTOPOLIS
+
+
+A caravan was encamped on a height eastward of the ancient Egyptian town
+Heliopolis. There were many people in it, but all were Hebrews. They
+had come on camels and asses from Palestine through the desert--the
+same desert which the Israelites had passed through thousands of years
+before.
+
+In the evening twilight, by the faint light of the half-moon, hundreds
+of camp-fires were to be seen, and by them sat the women with their
+little children while the men carried water.
+
+Never yet had the desert beheld so many little children, and, as they
+were now being put to bed for the night, the camp echoed with their
+cries. It was like an enormous nursery. But when the washing was over,
+and the little ones were laid to their mothers' breasts, the cries one
+after the other ceased, and there was complete silence. Under a sycamore
+tree sat a woman, and suckled her child; close by stood a Hebrew,
+feeding his ass with branches of the broom plant; when he had done that,
+he went higher up the hill, and looked towards the north. A foreigner--a
+Roman, to judge by his dress--passed, and regarded the woman with the
+child closely, as though he were counting them.
+
+The Hebrew showed signs of uneasiness, and began a conversation with the
+Roman, in order to divert his attention from the woman.
+
+"Say, traveller, is that the City of the Sun there in the west?"
+
+"You see it!" answered the Roman.
+
+"Then it is Bethshemesh."
+
+"Heliopolis, from which both Greeks and Romans have derived their
+wisdom; Plato himself has been here."
+
+"Can Leontopolis also be seen from here?"
+
+"You see the pinnacles of its temple two miles northward."
+
+"But that is the land of Goshen, which our father Abraham visited, and
+which Jacob had portioned out to him," said the Hebrew, turning to his
+wife, who only answered with an inclination of her head. Then, speaking
+to the Roman, he continued, "Israel wandered from Egypt to Canaan. But
+after the Babylonish captivity a part of them returned and settled down
+here. You know that."
+
+"Yes, I know that. And now the Israelites here have increased till they
+number many thousand souls, and have built a temple for themselves,
+which you see standing in the distance. Did you know that?"
+
+"Yes, something about it. So that, then, is Roman territory?"
+
+"Yes. Everything is Roman now--Syria, Canaan, Greece, Egypt--Germany,
+Gaul, Britain; the world belongs to Rome, according to the prophecy of
+the Cumaean Sibyl."
+
+"Good! But the world is to be redeemed through Israel, according to
+God's promise to our father Abraham."
+
+"I have heard that fable also, but for the present Rome has the
+fulfilment of the promise. Do you come from Jerusalem?"
+
+"I come through the desert like the others, and I bring wife and child
+with me."
+
+"Child--yes! Why do you Hebrews carry so many children with you?"
+
+The Hebrew was silent, but since he perceived that the Roman knew the
+reason, and since the latter looked like a benevolent man, he resolved
+to tell the truth.
+
+"Herod the King heard from the Wise Men of the East the prophecy that
+a King of the Jews would be born in Bethlehem in the land of Judaea. In
+order to escape the supposed danger, Herod had all the children recently
+born in that district put to death. Just as Pharaoh once had our
+first-born put to death here. But Moses was saved, in order to free our
+people from the Egyptian bondage."
+
+"Well! but who was this King of the Jews to be?"
+
+"The promised Messiah."
+
+"Do you believe that he is born?"
+
+"I cannot tell."
+
+"I can," said the Roman. "He is born; he will rule the world, and bring
+all people under his sceptre."
+
+"And who will that be?"
+
+"The Emperor, Augustus."
+
+"Is he of Abraham's seed or of David's house? No. And has he come with
+peace, as Isaiah prophesied, 'His kingdom shall be great, and of peace
+there shall be no end'? The Emperor is certainly not a man of peace."
+
+"Farewell, Israelite. Now you are a Roman subject. Be content with the
+redemption through Rome. We know not of any other."
+
+The Roman departed.
+
+The Hebrew approached his wife. "Mary!" he said.
+
+"Joseph!" she answered. "Hush! The child sleeps."
+
+
+
+
+THE LAMB
+
+
+Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch, had come to Jerusalem, because there
+was much unrest among the populace. He had taken up his dwelling with
+Pilate, the Governor. Since on the preceding evening he had witnessed a
+gladiatorial show in the circus and then taken part in an orgy, he slept
+late into the morning--so late that his host, who was waiting for his
+guest, had gone upon the roof.
+
+There lay the Holy City, with Mount Moriah and the Temple, Zion and
+David's House. To the north-west and west there stretched the Valley of
+Sharon to the Mediterranean Sea, which in the clear air appeared like a
+blue streak at a distance of five miles.
+
+In the east there rose the Mount of Olives, with its gardens and
+vineyards, olives, figs and terebinths, below ran the brook Kedron
+whose banks were decked in their spring apparel of flourishing laurels,
+tamarisks, and willows.
+
+The Governor was restless, and often paused to stand by the parapet of
+the roof in order to look down into the forecourt of the Temple. Here
+numbers of people moved about busily, forming themselves into knots
+which dissolved and then formed larger groups.
+
+At last the Tetrarch appeared. He had overslept himself, and his eyes
+were blood-shot. He gave the Governor a brief greeting, and settled
+himself as though for a conversation. But he found it hard to bring out
+a word; his head hung down, and he did not know how to begin, for the
+orgies of the preceding night had made him forget what he had come for.
+
+Pilate came to his help: "Speak, Herod; your heart is full, and your
+mind uneasy."
+
+"What do you say, my brother?"
+
+"We were speaking yesterday of the strange man who stirs up the people."
+
+"Quite right! I had John beheaded. Is it he who is going about?"
+
+"No, it is another one now."
+
+"Are there two of them?"
+
+"Yes, this is another one."
+
+"But they have the same history--a prophecy which foretold their
+birth, and the fable of a supernatural origin, just like the Perseus of
+mythology, and the philosopher Plato in history. Is it a confusion of
+persons?"
+
+"No, not at all."
+
+"What is his name? Josua, Jesse...?"
+
+"His name is Jesus, and he is said to have passed his childhood in the
+Egyptian towns Heliopolis and Leontopolis."
+
+"Then he must be a magician or wizard; can he not come and divert me?"
+
+"It is difficult to find him, for he is now in one place, now in
+another. But we will question the High Priest; I have had him called,
+and he waits below."
+
+"Why is there this commotion in the court of the Temple?"
+
+"They are going to erect the Emperor's statue in the Holy of Holies."
+
+"Quite right! Our gracious Emperor Tiberius lives like a madman on
+Capri, and is pummelled by his nephew Caligula, if the offspring of
+incest can be called a nephew. And now he is to become a god. Ha! Ha!"
+
+"Antiochus Epiphanes had the statue of Zeus set up in the Holy of
+Holies. He, however, _was_ a god. But to set up this beast, Tiberius,
+means a tumult."
+
+"What are we to do? Call the Priest here."
+
+Pilate went and fetched the High Priest Caiaphas.
+
+Herod closed his eyes, and folded his hands over his breast. He regarded
+all matters of business as an interruption to his pleasures, and
+generally liked to cut them short. When Pilate returned with Caiaphas,
+the Tetrarch awoke from his doze, and did not know where he was, or
+what they were talking about. Pilate stepped forward, aroused him to
+consciousness, and directed his attention to the matter in hand.
+
+"There is a tumult in the Temple," was his first observation, for that
+disturbed his sleep. "Ah! the Priest is here. What is the meaning of the
+uproar below?"
+
+"It is the Galilaean, who has taken to using force, and has driven the
+money-changers out of the Temple."
+
+Herod's curiosity was aroused: "I should like to see him."
+
+"He has already gone."
+
+"Tell us, High Priest, who is this man? Is he the Messiah?"
+
+"That is incredible. The son of a poor carpenter, who is weak in the
+head!"
+
+"Is he a prophet?"
+
+"He stirs up the people, he breaks the law, he is a glutton and
+wine-bibber, and he blasphemes God. Yes, he says that he himself is God,
+the Son of the Highest."
+
+"Have you witnesses to this?"
+
+"Yes, but they contradict each other."
+
+"Then procure better witnesses, who will agree. But now, Priest, we
+must talk of something else. You know that the Senate have decreed the
+apotheosis of the Emperor, and that his image is to be set up in the
+Temple. What do you think about it?"
+
+"We live by the favour of the Emperor. But if this abomination is done,
+we will all die as the Maccabees did."
+
+"Then die!"
+
+Caiaphas considered a moment before he answered. "I will summon the
+Sanhedrim, and tell them what the Emperor wishes."
+
+"Yes, do that. And before the Passover you must bring the Galilaean
+before me, for I wish to see him."
+
+"I will."
+
+"Then go in peace."
+
+Caiaphas retired.
+
+"They are a hard people, these Israelites," said Pilate, for want of
+something better to say. "I am also of Israel," answered Herod somewhat
+curtly, "for I am an Edomite, of Esau's race, and my mother was a
+Samaritan, belonging to the despised people."
+
+Pilate saw that he had made a slip, and therefore struck the ground
+three times with his official staff. A large trap-door opened, and a
+table came up covered with all kinds of delicacies according to Roman
+taste.
+
+Herod's countenance cleared.
+
+        *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the Court of the Priests stood Caiaphas and Annas, and spoke with
+each other.
+
+"Since we cannot avert the abomination," said Caiaphas, "and the
+Emperor's image is to be erected in the Holy of Holies, and the people
+will be destroyed if there is an insurrection, it is better for us to
+bring an offering to the Lord, and that one man die for the people."
+
+"You are right. An extraordinary atoning sacrifice is necessary, and as
+the Passover is approaching, let us sacrifice the Galilaean."
+
+"Good! But the offering should be pure. Is the Galilaean pure?"
+
+"Pure as a lamb."
+
+"May he then take Israel's sins upon him, that we may be set free
+through his blood. Who brings him into our hands?"
+
+"One of his disciples, who stands outside."
+
+"Fetch him in."
+
+John, later known as the "Evangelist," was brought in, and Caiaphas
+began to examine him.
+
+"What do you say concerning your teacher? Has he transgressed the law of
+Moses?"
+
+"He has fulfilled the law."
+
+"But what new commandment has he introduced into our holy law?"
+
+"Love one another."
+
+"Did he say he was the King of the Jews?"
+
+"The Master said, 'My kingdom is not of this world.'"
+
+"Has he not made children rebel against their parents?"
+
+"The Master said, 'He who loveth father or mother more than me is not
+worthy of me.'"
+
+"Did he not say that one has a right to neglect one's duties as a
+citizen?"
+
+"The Master said, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His
+righteousness.'"
+
+"Did he tell labourers to leave their work?"
+
+"The Master said, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
+heavy-laden.'"
+
+"Did he say that he would conquer the world?"
+
+"The Master said, 'In the world ye have tribulation, but be of good
+cheer; I have overcome the world.'"
+
+Caiaphas was weary: "According to all that I have heard and perceived,
+this man has not answered a single question."
+
+"The Master answers in spirit and in truth, but you ask according to the
+flesh and the letter. We are not the children of one spirit."
+
+"I don't understand."
+
+"He has sent me to preach good tidings to the poor, to heal the broken
+in heart, to preach deliverance to the captives, to give sight to the
+blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."
+
+"What you speak in foolishness, young man, can neither bring credit to
+you nor to your teacher."
+
+"Woe unto you when men praise you, and he who departeth from evil maketh
+himself a prey."
+
+Caiaphas turned to Annas: "This is not the man who will deliver the
+Galilaean up to us."
+
+"They have sent another one--Listen! Is your name Iscariot?"
+
+"No; my name is John."
+
+"Then go in peace, but send us Iscariot instead. But wait! Give us in
+two words the teaching of your Master regarding the meaning of life."
+
+"Death is a gain for the righteous," answered John without stopping to
+think.
+
+"Is life not itself...?"
+
+"Through death ye shall enter into life."
+
+"We have heard enough. Go."
+
+But Caiaphas repeated to himself, as though he thought he would
+understand those words in his own mouth better: "Death is a gain for the
+righteous."
+
+Now there arose a clamour from the market-place and the hall of justice.
+Annas and Caiaphas went out upon the battlemented walls to find out the
+cause. Levites were standing there, and looking down.
+
+"Has he been taken?"
+
+"He has already been seized as an inciter to insurrection, because he
+bade his disciples to sell their garments and buy a sword."
+
+"Have they found them with weapons?"
+
+"They have found two swords."
+
+"Then he is already condemned."
+
+Then they heard a cry rise from the crowd before the Court of
+Justice--at first difficult to distinguish, but ever clearer. The people
+were crying "Crucify! Crucify!"
+
+"Is that not too severe, regarded as a punishment?" said Caiaphas.
+
+"No," answered the Levite; "one of his disciples called Simon or Peter
+drew his sword and wounded one of the servants called Malchus."
+
+"Do we need any more witnesses?"
+
+"But the Teacher said, 'Put up thy sword into its sheath, for they that
+take the sword, shall perish with the sword.'"
+
+"That is a difficult saying," said Annas, and went down. But the people
+continued to cry, "Crucify! Crucify!"
+
+
+
+
+THE WILD BEAST
+
+
+Before the temple of Jupiter Latiaris in Rome, two men of the middle
+classes met each other. They both remained standing in order to
+contemplate the new temple, which was different from all others, and
+looked as if it had felt the effects of an earthquake. The basement
+had the shape of a roof; the columns stood reversed with their capitals
+below, and the roof was constructed like a basement with cellar-windows.
+
+"So we meet here again, Hebrew," said one of the two, who resembled a
+Roman merchant. "Was it not in Joppa that we last met?"
+
+"Yes," answered the Hebrew. "One meets the Roman everywhere; he is at
+home everywhere; one also meets the Hebrew everywhere, but he is at home
+nowhere. But tell me, whose temple is this?"
+
+"This is the Temple of the Wild Beast, the Emperor Caligula, the madman,
+the murderer, the incestuous. He has erected it to himself; his image
+stands within; and the madman comes every day to worship himself."
+
+So saying, the Roman made a sign on his forehead, moving the forefinger
+of his right hand first from above, below, and then from left to right.
+
+The Hebrew looked at him in astonishment.
+
+"Are you not a Roman?"
+
+"Yes, I am a Roman Christian."
+
+"Where do you live?"
+
+"Here under Rome, in the catacombs."
+
+He pointed to a hole in the ground, which resembled those that led down
+to the cloacae.
+
+"Do you live here under the ground?"
+
+"Yes, that is where we Christians live; there we lie like seed in the
+earth, and germinate."
+
+"Those are grave-vaults down there."
+
+"Yes, we are buried with Christ, and await the resurrection."
+
+"Have you a temple down there?"
+
+"We have our religious service there, and to-day we celebrate the birth
+of Christ."
+
+"Someone is coming down the street," said the Hebrew. The Roman opened
+the trap-door in the ground in order to descend. From below the sounds
+of a choral hymn were heard. "The City hath no need of the moon, neither
+of the sun, for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the
+light thereof."
+
+"Who is the Lamb?" asked the Hebrew.
+
+"Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the World."
+
+"Do you think the world is redeemed, while this mad Caligula...."
+
+"The world will be redeemed, if we continue to hope."
+
+"You have, then, taken the promise away from Israel?"
+
+"No, we have inherited the promise, for Christ was of the stock of
+Israel."
+
+"Someone is coming."
+
+"Then farewell. We shall always meet, for the earth is ours."
+
+In the temple, which people called "the world turned upside down," a man
+slunk along the walls in a state of panic, as though he were afraid to
+display his back. He had the face of a youth without any hair round
+it. His upper lip was drawn upwards on the left side, and showed a long
+canine tooth, while at the same time his right eye shot a sharp glance
+like a poisonous arrow.
+
+He glided along the wall to the apse, where an image was erected. It was
+a likeness of the timid man himself, representing him exactly even to
+his clothes.
+
+"Is the priest there?" the mad Emperor whispered, for it was he.
+
+No answer followed.
+
+"Priest, dear priest, I am so frightened. Are you not coming?"
+
+A sacrificial priest came forward, fell on his knee before the Emperor,
+and worshipped him.
+
+"Jupiter, Optimus, Maximus, Latiaris, frighten away thy foes."
+
+"Have I foes, then? Yes, and that is what frightens me. Do you believe
+that I am God?"
+
+"Thou art."
+
+"Let us then have thunder, to frighten my foes."
+
+The priest beat upon a kettledrum, and the echoes rolled through the
+temple.
+
+The Emperor laughed, so that all his teeth were visible.
+
+"Priest!" he cried as he seated himself on his throne, "now you shall
+sacrifice to me."
+
+The priest kindled a fire on the little altar before the madman.
+
+The Emperor said, "The scent is good. Now I am the mightiest in heaven
+and on earth. I rule over living and dead; I cast into Tartarus and lift
+into Elysium. How mighty I am! I tame the waves of the sea, and command
+the storm to cease: I hold sway over the planets in their courses; I
+myself have created chaos, and the human race lie at my feet, from the
+primeval forests of Britain to the sources of the Nile, which I alone
+have discovered. I have made my favourite horse consul, and the people
+have acknowledged his consulship. Priest! Worship me! Or do you forget
+who I am? No, I am I, and I shall always worship myself in my own image.
+Caius Caesar Caligula, I honour thee, Lord of the world, how I honour
+myself! Jupiter Latiaris Caligula!"
+
+He fell before the image on his knee.
+
+"Some one is coming," said the priest warningly.
+
+"Kill him."
+
+"It is the tribune, Cassius Chaeraea!"
+
+"Frighten him away."
+
+"Chaeraea does not let himself be frightened."
+
+The tribune came in fearlessly and without ceremony.
+
+"Caius Caesar, your wife is dead."
+
+"All the better," answered the Emperor.
+
+"They have dashed your only child against a wall."
+
+"Ah, how pleasant!" laughed the madman.
+
+"And now you are to die."
+
+"No, I cannot. I am immortal."
+
+"I wait for you outside. It shall not take place here."
+
+"Creep away, ant! My foot is too great to reach thy littleness."
+
+Then a sound of singing rose from the basement of the temple, or from
+the earth; they were children's voices.
+
+The Emperor was again alarmed, and crept under his chair.
+
+Chaeraea, who had waited at the door, lost patience.
+
+"Dog! are you coming? Or shall I strike you dead here?"
+
+"Chaeraea," whimpered the Emperor, "do not kill me! I will kiss your
+foot."
+
+"Then kiss it now when I trample you to death."
+
+The gigantic tribune threw the chair to one side, leapt on the madman
+and crushed his windpipe beneath his heel; the tongue, protruded from
+his jaws, seemed to be spitting abuse even in death.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Wild Beast had three heads; the name of the second was Claudius. He
+played dice with his friend Caius Silius, who was famous for his wealth
+and his beauty.
+
+"Follow the game," hissed Caesar.
+
+"I am following it," answered his friend.
+
+"No, you are absent-minded. Where were you last night?"
+
+"I was in the Suburra."
+
+"You should not go to the Suburra; you should stay with me."
+
+"Follow the game."
+
+"I am following it; but what are the stakes we are playing for?"
+
+"You are playing for your life."
+
+"And you, Caesar?"
+
+"I am also playing for your life."
+
+"And if you lose?" asked Silius.
+
+"Then you will lose your life."
+
+The Emperor knocked with the dice-box on the table. His secretary
+Narcissus came in.
+
+"Give me writing materials, Narcissus. The antidote for snake-bites is
+yew-tree resin...."
+
+"And the antidote to hemlock?"
+
+"Against that there is no antidote."
+
+"Follow the game, or I shall be angry."
+
+"No, you cannot be angry!" answered Silius.
+
+"Yes, that is true,--I cannot! I only said so!"
+
+Messalina, the Emperor's wife, had entered.
+
+"Why is Silius sitting here and playing," she asked, "when he should
+accompany me to the theatre?"
+
+"He is compelled," answered the Emperor.
+
+"Wretch! what rights have you over him?"
+
+"He is my slave; all are slaves of the Lord of the world. Therefore
+Rome is the most democratic of all States, for all its citizens are
+equal--equal before Men and God."
+
+"He is your slave, but he is my husband," said Messalina.
+
+"Your husband! Why, you are married to me."
+
+"What does that matter?"
+
+"Do you go and marry without asking my permission?"
+
+"Yes, why not?"
+
+"You are certainly droll, Messalina! And I pardon you. Go, my children,
+and amuse yourselves. Narcissus will play with me."
+
+When the Emperor was left alone with Narcissus, his expression changed.
+
+"Follow them, Narcissus!" he hissed. "Take Locusta with you, and give
+them the poison. Then I shall marry Agrippina."
+
+But when Silius and the Empress had gone without, Silius asked
+innocently: "Have you yourself prepared the mushrooms which he will eat
+this evening?"
+
+"I have not done it myself, but Locusta has, and she understands her
+business."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The name of the third head of the Wild Beast was Nero. He was
+Agrippina's worthy son, had poisoned his half-brother Britannicus,
+murdered his mother, kicked his wife to death, and committed unnatural
+crime. He falsified the coinage and plundered the temples. He made an
+artistic tour to Greece, where he first appeared as a public singer
+and brought eight hundred wreaths home, then as a charioteer, in which
+capacity he upset everything, but received the prize because nobody
+dared to refuse it to him.
+
+To such a depth had Rome and Greece sunk. Claudius was an angel compared
+to this monster; but he also received apotheosis.
+
+To-day the Emperor had returned home from his artistic tour, and found
+his capital in flames. Since, in his fits of intoxication, he had so
+often raged against his old-fashioned Rome, with its narrow streets, and
+had on various occasions expressed the wish that fire might break out at
+all its corners, he came under the suspicion of having set it in flames.
+
+He sat in his palace on the Esquiline in a great columned hall, and
+feasted his eyes on the magnificent conflagration. It was a marble hall
+with only a few articles of furniture, because the Emperor feared they
+might afford lurking-places for murderers. But in the background of the
+hall was a strong gilded iron grating, behind which could be caught a
+glimpse of two yellow-brown lions from Libya. These the Emperor called
+his "cats."
+
+At the door of the grating stood two slaves, Pallas and Alexander, and
+watched every change in the Emperor's face.
+
+"He smiles," whispered Pallas; "then it is all over with us. Brother, we
+shall meet again. Pray for me and give me the kiss of peace."
+
+"The Lord shall deliver thee from all evil, and preserve thee for
+His heavenly kingdom. This mortal must put on immortality, and this
+corruptible, incorruption."
+
+The red face of the Emperor, red with wine and the light of the
+conflagration, began to assume a look of attention, and it could be seen
+from his eyes and ears that he was listening. Did he hear perhaps how
+the masses of people whispered their suspicions of the "incendiary"?
+
+"Pallas!" he roared, "Rome is burning!"
+
+The slave remained speechless from fright.
+
+"Pallas! Are you deaf?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"Pallas! Are you dumb? They say down there that I have fired the town,
+but I have not. Run out in the streets and spread about the report that
+the Christians have done it."
+
+"No, I will not!" answered the slave.
+
+Nero believed that his ears had deceived him.
+
+"Do you not know," he said, "that the Christians are magicians, and live
+like rats in the catacombs, and that all Rome is undermined by them? I
+have thought of making the Tiber flow in to drown them, or of opening
+the walls of the cloacas and submerging the catacombs in filth. Their
+Sibylline books have prophesied the fall of Rome, though they use the
+name 'Babylon.' See, now the Capitol takes fire. Pallas, run out, and
+say the Christians have done it."
+
+"That I will not do," answered Pallas loud and clearly, "because it is
+not true."
+
+"This time my ears have not deceived me," roared the Emperor rising.
+"You will not go into the town; then go in through the grating-door and
+play with my lions."
+
+He opened the door, and pushed Pallas into the fore-court of the lions.
+
+"Alexander!" said Pallas, "I have prayed you to be firm and courageous!"
+
+"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the latter day He shall
+raise me from the earth."
+
+"What is that you are saying?" said the Emperor, and pulled a cord,
+which opened the second door to the lions.
+
+"Alexander, go out into the town, and spread the report that the
+Christians have set Rome on fire."
+
+"No," answered Alexander, "for I am a Christian."
+
+"What is a Christian?"
+
+"God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that
+whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
+
+"Will you not perish? Have I not the power to destroy you?"
+
+"You have no power over me, except it be given from above."
+
+"He does not fear death. Lentulus! bring fire here; I will set fire to
+your clothes, that we may see if you can burn, I will set your hair,
+your beard, your nails on fire; but we will first soak you in oil and
+naphtha, in pitch and sulphur. Then we will see whether you have an
+everlasting life. Lentulus!"
+
+Lentulus rushed in: "Emperor! The city is in an uproar! Fly!"
+
+"Must I fly? First bring fire!"
+
+"Spain has revolted, and chosen Galba as Emperor."
+
+"Galba! Eheu! fugaces, Postume ... Galba! Well, then, let us fly, but
+whither?"
+
+"Through the catacombs, sire."
+
+"No! the Christians live there, and they will kill me."
+
+"They kill no one," said Alexander.
+
+"Not even their enemies?"
+
+"They pray for their enemies."
+
+"Then they are mad! All the better!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Christians were assembled in one of the crypts of the catacombs.
+"The Capitol is burning; that is the heathen's Zion," said Alexander.
+
+"The Lord of Hosts avenges his destroyed Jerusalem."
+
+"Say not 'avenges,' say 'punishes.'"
+
+"Someone is coming down the passage."
+
+"Is it a brother?"
+
+"No, he makes no obeisance before the cross."
+
+"Then it is an executioner."
+
+The Emperor appeared in rags, dirty, with a handkerchief tied round his
+forehead. As he approached the Christians, whom in their white cloaks he
+took for Greeks, he became quiet and resolved to bargain with them.
+
+"Are you Greeks?"
+
+"Here is neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but
+all are brothers in Christ! Welcome, brother!"
+
+"It is the Wild Beast," said Alexander.
+
+The Emperor now recognised his escaped slave, and in his terror fell on
+his knees.
+
+"Kill me not! I am a poor stone-cutter, who has lost his way. Show me
+the way out, whether right or left."
+
+"Do you know me?" asked Alexander.
+
+"Alexander!" answered the Emperor.
+
+"He whom you wished to burn. It is I!"
+
+"Mercy! Kill me not!"
+
+"Stand up, Caesar! Thy life is in God's hand."
+
+"Do I find mercy?"
+
+"You shall have a guide."
+
+"Say whether right or left; then I can help myself."
+
+"Keep to the left."
+
+"And if you lie."
+
+"I cannot lie! Do you see, that is the difference."
+
+"Why do you not lie? I should have done so."
+
+"Keep to the left."
+
+The Emperor believed him, and went. But after going some steps, he stood
+still and turned round.
+
+"Out upon you, slaves! Now I shall help myself."
+
+It was a terribly stormy night, when Nero, accompanied by the boy
+Sporus, and a few slaves, reached the estate of his freedman Phaon.
+Phaon did not dare to receive him, but advised him to hide in a
+clay-pit. But the Emperor did not wish to creep into the earth, but
+sprang into a pond, when he heard the pursuers approaching, and remained
+standing in the water. From this place he heard those who were going
+by seeking him, say that he was condemned to be flogged to death. Then,
+after some hesitation, he thrust a dagger into his breast.
+
+His nurse Acte, who had also been his paramour, buried him in a garden
+on Monte Pincio. The Romans loved him after his death, and brought
+flowers to his grave. But the Christians saw in him the Wild Beast and
+the Antichrist of the Apocalypse.
+
+
+THE APOSTATE
+
+At a date rather more than three hundred years after the Birth
+of Christ, the stage of the world's history had shifted from the
+Mediterranean to the East. Greece was sunk in everlasting sleep, Rome
+lay in ruins and had become a tributary state. Jerusalem was destroyed,
+Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile in a state of decay. The world's
+metropolis lay on the Black Sea, and was a half-oriental colony called
+Byzantium, or, after Constantine the Great, Constantinople. The heathen
+world was a waste, and Christianity had become the State religion.
+But the spirit of Christianity had not penetrated the empire. Doctrine
+indeed there was--plenty of doctrine--but those at court lived worse
+lives than the heathen, and the way to the throne in Byzantium was
+generally through a murder.
+
+But while the centre of gravity in Europe had shifted to the East, new
+conquests had been made in the West and in the North. The Romans had
+founded fifty cities on the Rhine, and, since Julius Caesar's time, all
+Gaul lay under Roman ploughs and worshipped Roman gods in Roman temples.
+
+But now that Christianity was to be introduced into Gaul, it encountered
+great difficulties. The original religion of the country, Druidism, had
+been proscribed by the Emperor Claudius, and the Roman cult of the gods
+substituted. And now that a second alteration of their religion was
+proposed, the Gauls strongly resented it. Accordingly Gaul was in a
+state of disorganisation, which was likely to result in some new growth.
+
+But under the rule of Constantius, new danger from another side
+threatened the newly-formed provinces of Gaul. The German races, the
+Franks and the Alemanni, were attracted by the charm of the fertile
+land, where the mountains seemed to drop with wine, and the plains were
+covered with yellow corn. In order to protect the best of his provinces,
+and perhaps for other reasons, the Emperor sent his cousin and
+brother-in-law, Julian, to subdue the Germans. Although Julian had been
+educated in a convent and at a university, he seems to have understood
+the art of war, for he defeated the invaders and then retired to Lutetia
+Parisiorum.
+
+The legions had marched up the Mons Martis or Martyrorum, as it was
+called by turns. At their head went the insignificant-looking man with
+his beard trimmed like a philosopher's--Julian, surnamed Caesar, but
+not therefore Emperor. High on the summit of the hill stood a temple of
+Mars, but it was closed. When the army had encamped, Julian went alone
+to the edge of the hill, in order to view the town Lutetia, which he had
+never seen.
+
+On the island between the two arms of the Seine lay the main part of
+the town with the temple of Jupiter; but the Imperial Palace and the
+Amphitheatre stood on the slope of Mount Parnassus, on the left bank of
+the river. For three hundred years from the time of Julius Caesar, the
+Emperors had stayed here at intervals. The two last occupants had been
+Constantine the Great and Constantius.
+
+After thoughtfully contemplating for a while the valley with the river
+flowing through it, Julian exclaimed, "Urbs! Why, it is Rome! A river,
+a valley, and hills, seven or more, just as at Rome. Don't you see,
+we stand on the Capitoline? On the opposite side we have Janiculum
+represented by Mount Parnassus, and in the north Mons Valerian forms our
+Vatican. And the city on the island! The island resembles a ship, just
+like the island in the Tiber, on which they have erected an obelisk as a
+mast, so striking was the similarity. Caesar indeed was too original to
+have wished to copy. They call Byzantium New Rome, but Rome is like a
+worm; when cut in two, a living creature is formed from each piece. What
+do you say, Maximus?"
+
+"Rome was the city of the seven hills and the seven kings; how many
+there will be here, none can say."
+
+"It had never occurred to me," answered Julian, "that Rome had had just
+as many kings as hills--a curious coincidence!"
+
+Maximus the Mystic, who, together with the Sophist Priscus, always
+accompanied the Emperor, in order to give him opportunities for
+philosophising, immediately objected: "There are no 'coincidences,'
+Caesar, everything is reckoned and numbered; everything is created with
+a conscious purpose, and in harmonious correspondence--the firmament of
+heaven and the circle of the earth."
+
+"You have learnt that in Egypt," Priscus interrupted, "for the Egyptians
+see the river Nile in the constellation Eridanus. I should like to know
+under which constellation this Lutetia lies!"
+
+"It lies under Andromeda, like Rome," answered Maximus, "but Perseus
+hangs over the Holy Land, so that Algol stands over Jerusalem."
+
+"Why do you call that cursed land 'holy'?" broke in Julian, who could
+not control his generally quiet temper as soon as any subject was
+mentioned connected with Christianity, which he hated.
+
+"I call the land 'holy' because the Redeemer of the world was born
+there. And you know that He was born without a father, like Perseus; you
+know also that Perseus delivered Andromeda, as Jesus Christ will deliver
+Rome and Lutetia."
+
+Julian was silent, for, as a Neo-platonist, he liked analogies between
+the heavenly and the temporal, and a poetic figure was more for him than
+a rhetorical ornament.
+
+Educated in a convent by Christian priests, he had early gained an
+insight into the new teaching of Christianity; but he believed that
+his philosophic culture had shown him that the seed of Christianity
+had already germinated in Socrates and Plato. After he had made the
+acquaintance of the Neo-Platonists, he found nothing to object to in
+the recently-promulgated dogmas of Christianity. But he felt a boundless
+hate against these Galilaeans who wished to appropriate all the wisdom
+of the past ages and give it their own name. He regarded them as
+thieves. The doctrine of Christ's Divine Sonship seemed to him quite
+natural, for as a Pantheist he believed that the souls of all men are
+born of God and have part in Him. He himself acknowledged the dogma
+recently promulgated at Nicaea, that the Son is of the same essence as
+the Father, although he interpreted, it in his own way. As to miracles,
+they happened every day, and could be imitated by magicians. He
+acknowledged the truth of the Fall of Man, for Plato also had declared
+that the soul is imprisoned in matter--in sinful matter, with which we
+must do battle. And this had been confirmed by St. Paul's saying in the
+Epistle to the Romans, "The good which I would, that I do not, but the
+evil, which I would not, that I do," and again, "I delight in the law
+of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, which
+warreth against the law of my mind.... O wretched man that I am! who
+shall deliver me from the body of this death?" That was the lament of
+the thinking sensitive man regarding the soul's imprisonment in matter;
+the disgust of human nature at itself.
+
+Julian, as a sensitive and struggling spirit, had felt this pressure,
+and had honestly and successfully combated the lusts of the flesh. Grown
+up though he was, among murderers and sybarites, in the extravagant
+luxury of the Byzantine Court, where, for example, he had at first
+possessed a thousand barbers and a thousand cooks, he had abandoned
+luxury, lived like a Christian ascetic, acted justly, and was
+high-minded. He had a perfect comprehension of the soul's imprisonment
+in the flesh or of "sin," but understood nothing of the Redemption
+through Christ. Three hundred years had passed since the birth of
+Christ, and the world had become continually more wretched. The
+Christians he had seen, especially his uncle Constantine the Great,
+lived worse than the heathen. As a young man he had tested the new
+teaching in his own internal struggles; he had prayed to Christ as to
+God, but had not been heard. When he had lamented his plight to the
+devout Eusebius, the latter had answered, "Be patient in hope! Continue
+constant in prayer."
+
+But the youth answered, "I cannot be patient."
+
+Then Eusebius said, "The deliverance comes, but not in our time. A
+thousand years are as a day before the Lord God! Wait five days, then
+you will see."
+
+"I will not wait," exclaimed the youth angrily.
+
+"So say the damned souls also. But look you, impatience is one of
+the torments of hell, and you make a hell for yourself with your
+impatience."
+
+Julian became a hater of Christ, without exactly knowing why. The
+philosophers did not teach it him, for they adapted Christianity to
+their philosophy. Celsus' feeble attack on Christianity had not misled
+Julian's ripe and cultured intelligence. Eusebius explained his pupil's
+hatred of Christ in the following way: "He has heathen blood in him, for
+he comes of Illyrian stock; he does not belong to this sheepfold. Or is
+his pride so boundless, his envy so great, that he cannot tolerate any
+Autocrat in the realm of the spirit? He lives himself like a Christian,
+and teaches the same as Christ, but at the same time is a Christ-hater."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile Julian, in order to hide his anger, had approached the little
+Temple of Mars on the hill. The building was in ruins, the doors had
+been carried away, and the columns were broken. As he entered it, he saw
+the statue of Mars, modelled after a good Greek one of Ares, standing in
+the apse, but the nose was broken off, the fingers were lacking, and the
+whole statue was streaked with dirt.
+
+"This is the work of the Galilaeans," said Julian, "but they shall pay
+for it."
+
+"They have already paid with their lives," answered Maximus.
+
+"Dionysius [Footnote: St. Denis] was beheaded on the hill, and his
+chapel stands there on the slope."
+
+"Are you also a Galilaean?"
+
+"No; but I love justice."
+
+"Justice and its guardian-goddess Astrasa left the earth when the Iron
+Age began; now she is a star in heaven."
+
+"In the Zodiac," interrupted Priscus; "I believe also, we all live in
+Zodiacs, and there justice has no place."
+
+A sudden murmur of voices was heard from the camp. Julian mounted a heap
+of stones to see what was the matter. The whole of the north-east side
+of Mars' Hill was covered with soldiers, and below in the valley were
+to be seen tents and camp-fires. These thousands belonged to all the
+nations of the world. They comprised Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Negroes,
+Hebrews, Persians, Afghans, Scythians, Germans, Britons, and Gauls. But
+now they were in movement and swarming, as gnats do when they dance.
+
+"What is the excitement about?" asked Julian.
+
+A little bell from the chapel of St. Denis sounded the Angelus, and the
+Christians fell on their knees, while the heathen remained standing
+or continued their occupations. The Christians considered themselves
+disturbed, and so did the heathen.
+
+"This religion," said Julian, "which should unite all, only divides
+them. If the Church Councils, instead of formulating new creeds, had
+done away with all forms, and proclaimed free worship with praise and
+adoration of the Highest, all peoples would have bent the knee before
+the Nameless, but look at the Christians! Since the law is on their
+side, they have the upper hand, and therefore compel the heathen to
+adore their Galilaean! But I will not help them. I can hold nations
+together, but not professors of creeds. Let us go into the town. I will
+not mix in the matter."
+
+Some Christian tribunes approached Julian, with the evident purpose of
+complaining, but he waved them off.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Julian had entered Lutetia on foot, accompanied by his philosophers. He
+had not allowed himself to be escorted by generals or other officers,
+because he did not trust them.
+
+He found the new town to be a miniature of the Rome of the Caesars. It
+is true that huts with straw roofs formed the nucleus of it, but there
+were also several temples and chapels, a prefecture, a forum, and an
+amphitheatre. The forum or market-place was surrounded by colonnades,
+in which tradesmen and money-changers' had opened their shops. One
+side--the shortest--of it was occupied by the prefecture, in which the
+Aedile and Quaestor lived.
+
+Unnoticed and unrecognised by the people, Julian went into the
+prefecture. In the hall he saw Christian symbols--the cross, the fish,
+the good shepherd, etc. Christianity was certainly the State religion,
+but Julian's hatred against everything Christian was so great that he
+could not look at these figures. Accordingly he went out again, called
+the Prefect down, and bade him show the way to the Imperial palace and
+the left side of the river. There he took up his abode in a simple room
+resembling a monk's cell. As he had been obliged to make many detours
+since he had left Byzantium, and the punitive expedition against the
+Franks and Alemanni had consumed much time, he found letters waiting his
+arrival. Among them was one from the Emperor which seriously discomposed
+Julian.
+
+The attitude of the Emperor towards his cousin had always been somewhat
+dubious, almost hostile, and now, after the latter's victories, envy
+and fear had taken possession of the mind of the Byzantine despot. The
+letter contained a command for Julian to send back the legions at once,
+as the war was at an end. Julian saw the danger if he stripped the
+newly recovered land bare of defence, but his sense of duty and
+conscientiousness bade him obey, and without hesitation he sent the
+Emperor's edict to the camp. This was on the evening of the first day of
+his arrival.
+
+The next morning Julian had gone out for an excursion with his learned
+staff. They slowly climbed Mount Parnassus, and wandered through the oak
+wood on the north side, avoiding the beaten paths. He and his companions
+philosophised and disputed eagerly, and, forgetting their surroundings,
+wandered ever deeper into the forest. Finally they reached an open space
+where grazing deer had taken refuge, and set themselves down to rest on
+strangely-shaped stones which lay in a circle. In the oaks over their
+heads were large green clumps of a different colour from the oak-leaves,
+and these they thought were birds' nests.
+
+"I have never seen so many crows' nests together," said Julian.
+
+"They are not crows' nests, your Majesty," answered the scribe Eleazar,
+who acted as Julian's secretary. "That is the sacred mistletoe, which
+grows on the oak, and through the operation of cosmic forces takes this
+globular form, which is also said to be that of the earth and the other
+heavenly bodies."
+
+"Is that...?"
+
+"Yes, and we seem to have entered a sacred sacrificial grove, in which
+the primeval deities of the land are still worshipped by the Druids,
+although their worship is forbidden."
+
+"Forbidden in spite of the Emperor's edict regarding religious freedom,"
+broke in the Sophist Priscus.
+
+Julian did not like to be reminded of this edict, through which
+Christianity had won freedom to suppress other creeds. He rose with
+his companions in order to continue their excursion. After a while they
+reached Suresnes and its vineyards, where figtrees and peach-trees lined
+the walls. When they had ascended a height, they saw the whole Seine
+Valley lying before them, with its fields, gardens, and villas.
+
+"Why, that is like the sacred land of Canaan!" exclaimed Julian,
+enchanted by the lovely landscape.
+
+On the other side of the river rose the Hill of Mars, with its temples
+and chapels, and where the soil had been laid bare the white chalk
+gleamed in patches, as though a countless number of tents had been
+erected on the slopes.
+
+The philosophers stood for a long time there, and contemplated the view,
+when a sound was heard like that of an approaching tempest. But no
+cloud was visible, and they remained listening and wondering. The noise
+increased till cries, shouts, and the clash of arms were heard. Now the
+Hill of Mars seemed to be in movement; there were swarms of men on its
+summit, and here and there steel could be seen flashing. Like a river,
+the mass began to roll down the hill to the town.
+
+Then the spectators understood. "It is a revolt of the legions,"
+exclaimed Maximus.
+
+"The edict has taken effect."
+
+"They seek their own Emperor."
+
+"Then the only thing for us to do is to turn round and go home." They
+turned into the path which ran along the river, and followed it up the
+stream, in order to be able to see what the legions were doing. The dark
+mass, interspersed with flashes From swords and helmets, poured on in an
+ever stronger tide.
+
+Quickening their steps, Julian and his companions reached the palace, in
+which there was great excitement. Julian was naturally a courageous man,
+but as a philosopher he was retiring, and wished to avoid public scenes.
+He therefore went through the bath-house and sought his lonely chamber,
+in order to await what would happen. He paced restlessly up and down
+the room, feeling that the destiny of his whole future life was just now
+being decided. So there came what he half expected. Cries were audible
+from the courtyard of the palace,--"Ave Caesar Julianus Imperator! We
+choose Julian as Emperor! The crown for Julian! Death to Constantius the
+murderer and weakling!"
+
+There was no longer any room for doubt. The legions had chosen Julian
+Emperor because they would not leave this fertile land, which they had
+conquered at the cost of their blood. Julian, who had not striven
+for power because he feared responsibility, wished to decline; but
+messengers from the army warned him, "If you do not accept, you will
+be slain." He who does not dare to rule will be enslaved. Thus Julian
+became Emperor of the great realm which stretched from the Black Sea to
+the Atlantic Ocean.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The night which followed this day was spent by the Emperor in
+reflection; and when in the morning, after a bath, he appeared to his
+friends, he was hardly recognisable as the same man. He had literally
+thrown off the mask, and showed a new face, with a new expression,
+almost new features. In spite of his upright character, Julian,
+like Constantine, had been compelled to live in a perpetual state
+of hypocrisy, by being obliged to favour and practise the Christian
+teaching in which he did not believe. He had even been forced to
+acknowledge the Trinity and Deity of Christ as promulgated by the
+Council of Nicaea, to attend services and observe fasts. The first thing
+he did after obtaining power, was to use his freedom and be what he was.
+His first act was to separate the sheep from the goats, i.e. to pick out
+the "Galilaeans," and form them into legions by themselves, under the
+pretext that they could thus better carry out their religious practices.
+But at the same time he surrounded his person exclusively with
+heathen of the old type,--Hebrews, Syrians, Persians, and Scythians.
+Simultaneously he assumed the gorgeous purple and glittering diadem of
+the emperors, trimmed and gilded his beard, and showed himself
+abroad only on horseback and with a great train. This done, he made
+preparations for publicly receiving the homage of the people, and
+determined to use the theatre for that purpose, and to put on the stage
+_Prometheus_, the trilogy of Aeschylus, which at that time existed in
+its entirety. The Emperor had brought actors with him, and the theatre
+stood ready. The news of this had spread in the town, and was joyfully
+hailed by the heathen, while the Christians were vexed. The lower
+classes had, it is true, expected a gladiatorial show and wild beast
+fights, but a "comedy," as they called it, was always welcome.
+
+The day arrived, and the town was in gala attire. The play was to last
+from morning to evening without pauses for meals; and as the spring
+weather was cold and uncertain, the spectators were advised to bring
+the garment known as "cucullus," a short white Roman mantle with a hood,
+which was all the more necessary as the theatre stood under the open
+sky.
+
+Julian, now called Augustus, came to the theatre at the appointed time,
+accompanied by his philosopher friends, who had to take their seats at a
+little distance, for the Emperor sat in the imperial box, whither he had
+summoned the Prefect, Aedile and Quaestor to be in attendance on him. He
+was somewhat astonished not to find these city authorities there, and as
+the Aedile was president of the theatre, they could not begin before he
+came.
+
+The people had risen as Julian entered, and many tribunes had shouted
+"Long live the Emperor!" but thereupon there followed an embarrassing
+silence, during which the Emperor was regarded with cold curiosity. When
+at last the latter was weary of waiting, he called his secretary, the
+Hebrew Eleazar, and commanded him to go to the prefecture in order to
+find out the reason of the defaulters' absence, and at the same time he
+gave the signal for the play to commence.
+
+The actors entered, and at the altar commenced to offer the ancient kind
+of sacrifice which used to serve as an introduction to tragedies. Since
+animal sacrifices had ceased in all religions, even in the Jewish after
+the destruction of the Temple, under Titus in A.D. 70, this unusual
+proceeding aroused great curiosity. The legionaries were inured to the
+sight of blood, but the citizens and their wives turned away when the
+goat was sacrificed to Dionysus. People sought to find the reason for
+Julian's wish to reintroduce this custom in his laudable attempt to
+mingle all religions together, and to discover a deeper meaning in the
+ceremonies of all. The offering indeed was a gift, a sacrifice, and an
+expression of gratitude, but Maximus the mystic had also persuaded the
+Emperor that there were hidden powers in the blood itself, the source
+of life, which attracted spiritual forces of a lower order. Man shed his
+mother's blood at his birth and the sacred institution of circumcision
+was intended to be a reminder of the bloody and painful operation of
+birth. Slaves were slaughtered on the graves of chieftains, and in
+the time of Julius Caesar the Romans had on one extraordinary occasion
+sacrificed three hundred prisoners. Captivated by this and by similar
+philosophical arguments, Julian was enticed into a course which was
+destined to lead to his destruction. After the sacrifice, at which the
+soldiers had laughed and the women had wept, the drama commenced in
+the poet's original language. Greek was indeed spoken by all people of
+cultivation from Palestine to Gaul, but the uneducated did not know it,
+and therefore the citizens sat there inattentively.
+
+As the chorus entered for the second time, Eleazar returned with news.
+"This is what has happened," he said. "The Bishop of Sens, the Primate
+of the Church of Gaul, has entered the town, and is performing mass in
+the church. The high officials are present there, and they accordingly
+beg to be excused attending on the Emperor. They thought that he was
+aware that Christians never go to the theatre, and they rely upon the
+edict granting religious liberty."
+
+Julian turned white with rage. "Good! They shall pay for that! Now, my
+Jewish friend, Eleazar, you shall sit near and talk with me. The actors
+are wretched, and I cannot endure their pronunciation of Greek."
+
+Eleazar demurred, but the Emperor overruled his objections. The morning
+passed, and when the first part of the trilogy was at an end, part of
+the public seemed to wish to steal away; but the exits were closed, in
+order to avoid the fiasco of actors playing to an empty house, and
+the disrespect which would thereby be shown to the Emperor. But the
+discontent of the audience continually increased, for they were tired
+and hungry. They were also unpleasantly surprised by the presence of a
+Jew in the Emperor's box. It was not, however, because he was a Jew,
+for hatred of the Jews arose much later, after the Crusades. During the
+first centuries after Christ, Jews were confused with Christians because
+people believed that the new religion came from Palestine and was a
+continuation of Mosaism. The hostile glances which were cast at Eleazar
+were therefore more on account of his mean appearance and position than
+of his religion. The favour shown him by the Emperor was especially
+a challenge to the Christians, in whose eyes he was an alien and a
+heathen.
+
+When, in the second part of the trilogy, Prometheus was nailed to the
+rock, the spectators must have thought of the Crucified as the antitype,
+for the actor playing that part took that posture, extended his arms,
+and let his head sink on his breast. The common people became more
+attentive, and as they neither had learnt Greek nor were acquainted
+with mythology, they thought that the sufferings of Christ were being
+represented on the stage. Since this had never been done before, they
+were displeased, and half-audible conversations began. The Emperor was
+angry, but did not move a muscle. He was generally quiet, but when
+he was enraged his intelligence forsook him. He sat there in silence,
+revolving plans against these barbarians, who had forgotten the wisdom
+of the ancients. It was now past noon, and the impatience of the
+audience increased. Then the sky began to be covered with clouds and
+some flakes of snow fell slowly like white feathers. Those who had
+mantles drew them over their heads. The actors looked towards the
+Emperor's box, but he did not move, although it had no roof. He was a
+soldier, and would not be afraid of anything so trivial as bad weather.
+
+Now Prometheus began to prophesy to Io of the Deliverer who would
+be born to overthrow Zeus and deliver the fire-bringer. The educated
+Christians and the heathen looked at each other questioningly, when
+Io said, "What dost thou say? Shall my son be thy deliverer?" And when
+Prometheus answered, "He will be the third scion after ten generations,"
+a murmur broke out in the theatre. "Ten generations," that was in round
+numbers 700 years--a period nearly extending to the birth of Christ,
+since the Christians reckoned dates from 763 A.D., the end of the
+mythological era, to which the drama belonged.
+
+Julian perceived that he had "carried wood to the fire," and helped the
+Christians without intending to do so. Aeschylus had prophesied Christ's
+birth almost to the very year, and intimated that he would overthrow
+Zeus. The orthodox followers of Athanasius wished for no better weapon
+with which to crush the Arians, who denied the Deity of Christ.
+
+The snow fell ever more thickly, till at last it was a snowstorm. Julian
+was as white as though he wore a shroud, but he did not move, for he
+was beside himself with rage against himself, against the demons who
+had enticed him to choose this play, and against the heavenly powers who
+mocked him.
+
+The whole audience was covered with snow, and discussed theology; the
+rabble laughed and quarrelled. The only ones who were protected against
+the inclemency of the weather were the actors under the canopy. But the
+damp snow was heavy, and the linen awning presently bent and broke.
+
+Then the whole audience rose and burst into laughter; the actors crept
+out from under the masses of snow, the doors opened, and all fled except
+Julian and his philosophers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As soon as Julian had been elected Emperor, he had sent an ambassador
+to the Emperor at Byzantium, and now awaited his reply. It was about
+the time of the winter solstice and the turn of the year. The Christians
+had, at this period, just begun to celebrate the birth of Christ, and
+had adopted certain Roman customs from the Saturnalia, the feast in
+honour of Saturn. Julian, irritated by the challenge of the Nazarenes,
+began to arm himself for resistance and attack. Now he determined to use
+his power to give back to heathendom what belonged to it, and to show
+the Christians whence they had derived their knowledge of the highest
+things. At the same time he wished to lend heathenism a Christian
+colouring, so that, at its return, it might be able to conquer
+everything. The old Temple of Jupiter, on the island in the river, was
+opened one night, and lights were seen in it. There was also a noise of
+hammers and saws, mattocks and trowels. This lasted for some time, and
+people talked about it in the town.
+
+One night in midwinter, Julian sat with Maximus, Priscus, and Eleazar
+in the Opisthodomos or priests' room, behind the altar in the Temple
+of Jupiter. The whole temple was lit up, and the purpose of the
+improvements which had taken place could be seen. By the colonnade on
+the left hand was an ambo or pulpit, and under it a confessional; there
+were also a seven-branched candlestick, a baptismal font, a table with
+shewbread, and an incense-altar. These represented Julian's attempt
+to attach the new doctrine to the old, and to amalgamate heathenism,
+Christianity, and Judaism. Heliogabalus had indeed attempted the same in
+his own rough fashion, by introducing Syrian sun-worship into Rome,
+but he retained all the heathen gods, even the Egyptian ones. Neither
+Christians, however, nor Jews would have anything to do with it.
+
+Julian did not love the Jews, but his hatred of Christianity was so
+great that he preferred to help the stiff-necked race in Palestine, in
+order to rouse them against Christ. For that purpose he had given orders
+that the Temple in Jerusalem should be rebuilt, and this was the matter
+which he wished to discuss with his philosophers and Eleazar. "What
+is your opinion, then?" he asked, after finishing a long speech on the
+subject. "Let Maximus speak first."
+
+"Caesar Augustus," answered Maximus the mystic, "Jerusalem has been
+destroyed from the face of the earth, as the prophets foretold, and the
+Temple cannot be rebuilt."
+
+"Cannot? It shall be."
+
+"It cannot! Constantine's mother, indeed, built a church over the grave
+of Christ, but the Temple cannot be rebuilt. Since Solomon's time the
+history of this city has been a history of successive destructions.
+Sheshach, the Philistines, Arabs, Syrians, Egyptians, and Chaldaeans,
+destroyed it in early times. Then came Alexander Ptolemaus, and finally
+Antiochus Epiphanes, who pulled down the walls and set up an image of
+Jupiter in the Temple. But now, mark!--sixty-three years before Christ,
+Jerusalem was conquered by Pompey. What happened in the same year after
+Christ in the Roman Empire? Pompeii, the town by Naples, named after
+the conqueror, was destroyed in A.D. 63 by an earthquake. That was the
+answer, and the Lord of Hosts conquered Jupiter,--Zeus."
+
+"Listen!" broke in Julian, "I don't agree with your Pythagorean
+speculations about numbers. If both events had happened in the year 63
+before Christ, then I would be nearly convinced."
+
+"Wait, then, Caesar, and you will be. After Pompey had conquered
+Jerusalem, and Cassius had plundered it, Herod rebuilt the city and the
+Temple. But soon afterwards--_i.e._ in A.D. 70, Jerusalem was completely
+destroyed by Titus. Only nine years later Monte Somma began to throw up
+fire as it had never done before, and by it Pompeii and Herculaneum were
+both destroyed. Pompeii and Herculaneum were Sodom and Gomorrah, and a
+temple in Pompeii contained an image of Vespasian, who had laid waste
+part of Jerusalem before Titus. It disappeared altogether. Do you think
+perhaps that the Christians set Vesuvius on fire, as Nero believed they
+had fired Rome in A.D. 64?"
+
+Julian reflected: "There were nine years between," he said, "but it
+seems strange."
+
+"Yes," answered Maximus, "but precisely in the same year 70, in which
+Titus destroyed the Temple, the Capitol was burnt."
+
+"Then it is the gods who are warring, and we are only soldiers,"
+exclaimed Julian.
+
+Priscus the Sophist, who liked word-encounters, determined to stir up
+the embers, as they seemed to be expiring: "But Christ has said that one
+stone shall not remain upon another, and that the Temple shall never be
+built again."
+
+"Has Christ said that?" answered Julian. "Very well; then he shall show
+whether he was a god, for I will build again the Temple of Solomon."
+
+And turning to Eleazar, he continued, "Do you believe in prodigies?"
+
+"As surely as the Lord lives, as surely as Abraham's God has brought us
+out of Egyptian bondage and given us Canaan, so surely will He fulfil
+the promise, and restore to us land, city, and Temple!"
+
+"May it be with you according to your belief. The Temple shall be built
+up, even though it be not in three days as the Galilaean thought."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The winter solstice had come, and the Feast of the Saturnalia commenced
+in Lutetia. The heathen had always kept the feast in recollection of the
+legendary Golden Age, which was said to have been under the reign of the
+good Saturn. Then there was peace upon earth; the lion played with the
+lamb, the fields brought forth harvests without husbandry, weapons were
+not forged, for men were good and righteous. This beautiful festival,
+which had been discontinued by the Romans, had been revived by the
+Christians, who at Christ's coming expected a new Golden Age or the
+Millennium. But now Julian wished to restore to the heathen their
+privilege, and at the same time to show the Nazarenes whence they had
+derived their religious usages.
+
+The heathen began to keep the festival in the old way. The shops were
+closed, and the city decorated, when on the morrow a procession was seen
+issuing from the Basilica to the market-place. At the head went King
+Saturn, with his horn of plenty, corn-sheaves, and doves; he was
+followed by the Virtues, Fortune, Wealth, Peace, Righteousness. Then
+followed an actor dressed like the Emperor, and by the hand he led a
+captive, who, in honour of the day, had been freed from his chains. He
+was followed by citizens who took their slaves by the arm; and these in
+their turn by women and children, who scattered corn from the sheaves
+for the sparrows in the street. The procession passed through the
+streets, and at first pleased the beholders.
+
+Then they entered the temple, where there was a seated image of Jupiter
+in the apse. It had been cunningly modelled to resemble God the Father,
+or Moses, as he began to be represented about that time. Near and a
+little beneath this image stood Orpheus in the character of the Good
+Shepherd, with a lamb on his shoulders, and carved in relief on the
+pedestal was to be seen his descent to Hades, from which he returned
+bringing Diké (Justice),--a play on the name Eurydice. This was a
+direct hit at the Christians. Before the divine images stood the Jewish
+shewbread table, with the bread and the wine--a reminder of the source
+from which the Christians had taken the Eucharist or the Mass. As though
+by chance, a new-born heathen child was brought and baptized in the
+font. To the question of one, who had studied his part, whether heathen
+were baptized, it was answered by one, who also had his role assigned
+him, that the ancients had always washed their new-born children.
+
+The whole affair was a comedy staged by Julian.
+
+Then Maximus mounted the pulpit, and, in a Neo-platonic discourse,
+expounded all religious images, symbols, and customs. He also showed
+that the heathen only worshipped one God, whose many attributes found
+expression in various personifications. Then he ostensibly defended
+Christ's Deity, the Virgin birth, and miracles. "We are," he said, "all
+of divine origin, since God has created us, and we are His children.
+There is nothing remarkable in Christ being born without a father, since
+the philosopher Plato was also born of a virgin without a father." In
+the middle of his discourse he exclaimed: "Miracles! Why should we not
+believe in miracles, since we believe in Almighty God? His omnipotence
+signifies that He can suspend the laws of nature which he has
+established. He who believes not in miracles is therefore an ass." The
+discourse was listened to by heathen and Christians. The latter thought
+that they had never heard anything which so clearly explained mysterious
+dogmas, and the heathen found that they were one with the Christians.
+"What, then, stands between us?" exclaimed Maximus, carried away by the
+sight of the harmony and mutual understanding which prevailed among his
+audience. "Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why,
+then, strive one against the other? Have we not here to day celebrated
+the recollection of the better times which have been, and which will
+surely return, as the light returns with the renewal of the sun--times
+of reconciliation and peace on earth, when no one will be master and no
+one slave? Here is neither Jew nor Greek nor Barbarian, but we are all
+brothers and sisters in one faith. Therefore love one another; reconcile
+yourselves with God and each other; give each other the kiss of peace;
+rejoice, perfect yourselves, be of one mind, and the God of love and
+peace shall be with you."
+
+The audience was delighted, and with streaming eyes fell in each other's
+arms, pressed each other's hands, and kissed each other's cheeks.
+
+Then suddenly a row of lights was kindled on the altar; that was part of
+the ceremonial of the Saturnalia, and signified the return of the sun.
+This custom was adopted by the Christians in celebrating the Birth of
+Christ or Christmas.
+
+After this beggars were brought forward, and those of the upper classes
+washed their feet. Then twelve slaves took their seats at a covered
+table, while their masters served them. Julian, who, hidden in the
+Opisthodom, had watched the whole ceremony, secretly rejoiced, because
+by means of these ancient heathen rites he had entirely defeated the
+Christians. In them, as he had intended, there was a wordless expression
+of philanthropy and charity, and both had existed from time immemorial.
+
+Finally, the children were brought forward, and received as presents
+dolls modelled of wax and clay. The illusion was complete, and the
+Christians felt as though under an enchanter's spell. "The heathen are
+Christians after all!" they exclaimed. "Why, then, strive and quarrel,
+when we are one?"
+
+There was an overflow of emotion, and the success of the experiment was
+complete. That was the victory of the first day. When, on the following
+day, the Christians wished to celebrate their Christmas festival, it
+necessarily appeared a mere copy of that of the heathen.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Saturnalia lasted seven days, and Julian, intoxicated with his
+success, resolved to introduce the whole of the ancient ceremonies in
+all their terrible splendour. His philosophers warned him, but he did
+not listen to them any more; he must have his hecatombs; a hundred oxen
+adorned with garlands were to be slaughtered in the open space before
+the Temple of Jupiter, as a sacrifice to the ancient gods.
+
+"He is mad!" lamented Eleazar.
+
+"Whom the gods would destroy, they strike with blindness. Now he pulls
+down, what he had built up."
+
+It is difficult to explain how the highly cultivated, clever, and
+aesthetic Julian could conceive the wild idea of reintroducing animal
+sacrifices. It was really butchery or execution, and neither butchers
+nor executioners enjoyed much respect in society. It looked as though
+his hatred of Christ had clouded his understanding, when, arrayed in the
+garb of a sacrificial priest, he led forth the first ox, with its horns
+gilded and wearing a white fillet.
+
+After he had kindled incense on the altar, he poured the bowl of wine
+over the head of the ox, thrust his knife in its throat and turned it
+round. A shudder ran through the crowd, who remained riveted to their
+places.
+
+But as the blood spirted around, and the Emperor opened the quivering
+body of the animal in order to take an augury from its entrails, a cry
+rose which ended in an uproar, and all fled. The word "Apostate!" for
+the first time struck his ear. That was the signal of his defeat, and,
+as the animals were released by those who held them, they fled away
+through the streets of the town.
+
+The Emperor, in his white robe sprinkled with blood, had to return
+alone to his palace, while Christians and heathen alike shouted their
+disapprobation.
+
+"See the butcher!" they cried; "Apostate! Renegade! Madman!"
+
+When Julian came to his palace, he looked as though petrified; but,
+without changing his clothes, he sat down to the table and wrote an
+edict against the Christians, in which they were forbidden to study, and
+to fill offices of State. That was his first step.
+
+In the evening of the same day Julian received a letter: it was from the
+Emperor Constantius in Byzantium, who did not acknowledge his election
+to the imperial throne, and threatened to bring an army against him in
+Gaul. This was quite unexpected, and Julian left Lutetia in order to
+march against his cousin. As he went towards the East, he felt as though
+he were going to his death. But the first throw of the dice of destiny
+was a lucky one for him. Constantius died on the march, and Julian was
+left sole Emperor. This he took for a sign that the gods were on his
+side, and he proceeded on his campaign feeling that he was supported by
+the higher powers. But it was only the last jest of his gods.
+
+It is related that before his last march against the Persians, he wished
+to ascertain his destiny, and had a woman's body cut open in order to
+take an augury from the entrails. But that may be untrue, as is also
+the case with the conflicting reports of his death, which happened soon
+after. One thing, however, is certain; the "Galilaean" conquered Zeus,
+who rose no more.
+
+It is also a fact, confirmed by Christian, Jewish, and heathen
+writers, that the Temple of Jerusalem was never built again, for as
+the foundation was about to be laid, fire broke out of the ground
+accompanied by an earthquake. The same earthquake also destroyed Delphi,
+"the centre of the earth," and the focus of the religious and political
+life of Greece.
+
+
+
+
+ATTILA
+
+
+With the demise of Constantine the Great, Greece, Rome, and
+Palestine had ceased to exist. Civilisation had passed Eastward, for
+Constantinople was the metropolis of Europe; and from the East, Rome,
+Spain, Gaul, and Germany were governed by satraps with various titles.
+It seemed as though the vitality of Europe had been quenched, and as
+though Rome had been buried, but it was only apparently so. History did
+not proceed in a straight line, but took circuitous paths, and therefore
+development seemed to be in disorder and astray. But it was not really
+so.
+
+Christianity, which was about to penetrate the West, had sprung from the
+East, and so ancient Byzantium formed a transition stage. In Rome, which
+had been left to itself, for its governors dwelt in Milan and Ravenna, a
+new spiritual world-power was springing up, which was silently forging
+a new imperial crown, in order to give it to the worthiest when the time
+was fulfilled. The advent of this heir had already been announced by
+Tacitus--a new race from the North, healthy, honest, good-humoured.
+These were the Germans, who were to hold the Empire for a thousand years
+from 800 to 1815. Already, at the commencement of the fifth century, the
+West Goths had captured Rome, but again withdrawn; other German races
+had overrun Spain, Gaul, and Britain, but none of them had taken firm
+root in Italy. Then an entirely new race appeared upon the scene, whose
+origin was unknown, and the promise of possessing the land which had
+been given to the Germans seemed to have been revoked, for the Huns
+finally settled in Hungary, and exacted tribute from all the nations in
+the world. Round a wooden castle and a few barracks on the river Theiss,
+there collected a crowd of Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Germans
+of all kinds to do homage before a throne on which sat a savage who
+resembled a lump of flesh.
+
+In the year 453 A.D. this King, after many adventures, wished to
+celebrate one of his numerous marriages. He had summoned the chief men
+of all Europe--summoned--for a King does not invite. So they came riding
+from North, South, East, and West.
+
+From the west, along the bank of the Danube, just below the place where
+the river makes a curve at the modern Gran, came two men riding at the
+head of a caravan. For several days they had followed the picturesque
+banks of the green river, with its bulrushes and willows, and its swarms
+of wild duck and herons. Now they were about to leave the cool shades
+of the forest region, and turn eastward towards the salt desert, which
+stretched to the banks of the yellow Theiss.
+
+One leader of the caravan was a well-known Roman, called Orestes; the
+other was Rugier, also called Edeko. He was a chief from the shores of
+the Baltic Sea, and had been compelled to follow Attila.
+
+The two leaders had hitherto spoken little together, for they mistrusted
+each other. But as they emerged on the wide plain, which opened out as
+clear and bright as the surface of the sea, they seemed themselves to
+grow cheerful, and to lay aside all mistrust.
+
+"Why are you going to the marriage?" asked Orestes.
+
+"Because I cannot remain away," answered Edeko.
+
+"Just like myself."
+
+"And the Bride--the Burgundian did not dare to say 'no' either?"
+
+"She? Yes, she would have dared to."
+
+"Then she loved this savage?"
+
+"I did not say that."
+
+"Perhaps she hates him, then? A new Judith for this Holofernes?"
+
+"Who knows? The Burgundians do not love the Huns since they pillaged
+Worms in their last raid."
+
+"Still it is incomprehensible how he recovered from his defeat on the
+Catalaunian Plain."
+
+"Everything is incomprehensible that has to do with this man, if he is a
+man at all."
+
+"You are right. He is said to have succeeded his father's brother, Rua,
+of whom we know nothing; he has murdered his brother Bleda. For twenty
+years we have had him held over us like an iron rod, and yet lately,
+when he was before Rome, he turned back."
+
+"But he has promised his soldiers to give them Rome some day."
+
+"Why did he spare Rome?"
+
+"No one knows. No one knows anything about this man, and he himself
+seems to be ignorant about himself. He comes from the East, he says;
+that is all. People say the Huns are the offspring of witches and demons
+in the wilderness. If anyone asks Attila what he wants, and who he is,
+he answers, 'The Scourge of God.' He founds no kingdom, builds no city,
+but rules over all kingdoms and destroys all cities."
+
+"To return to his bride: she is called Ildico; is she then a Christian?"
+
+"What does Attila care? He has no religion."
+
+"He must have one if he calls himself 'the Scourge of God,' and declares
+that he has found the War-God's sword."
+
+"But he is indifferent as regards forms of religion. His chief minister,
+Onegesius, is a Greek and a Christian."
+
+"What an extraordinary man he is to settle down here in a salt-plain
+instead of taking up his abode in Byzantium or in Rome."
+
+"That is because it resembles his far Eastern plains--the same soil, the
+same plants and birds; he feels at home here."
+
+They became silent, as the sun rose and the heat increased. The
+low-growing tamarisk, wormwood, and soda-bushes afforded no shade. Wild
+fowl and larks were the only creatures that inhabited the waste. The
+herds of cattle, goats, and swine had disappeared, for Attila's army of
+half a million had eaten them up, and his horses had not left a single
+edible blade of grass.
+
+At noon the caravan came suddenly to a halt, for on the eastern horizon
+there was visible a town with towers and pinnacles, on the other side
+of a blue lake. "Are we there?" asked Edeko. "Impossible; it is still
+twenty miles, or three days' journey."
+
+But the city was in sight, and the caravan quickened its pace. After
+half an hour the town appeared no nearer, but seemed, on the contrary,
+to grow more distant, to dwindle in size, and to sink out of sight.
+After another half hour, it had disappeared, and the blue lake also.
+
+"They can practise enchantment," said the Roman, "but that goes beyond
+everything."
+
+"It is the Fata Morgana, or the mirage," explained the guide.
+
+As the evening came on, the caravan halted in order to rest for the
+night.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the stretch of land between Bodrog and Theiss, Attila had his
+standing camp, for it could not be called a town. The palace was of
+wood, painted in glaring colours, and resembled an enormous tent, whose
+style was probably borrowed from China, the land of silk. The women's
+house, which was set up near it, had a somewhat different form, which
+might have been brought by the Goths from the North, or even from
+Byzantium, for the house was ornamented with round wooden arches. The
+fittings seemed to have been stolen from all nations and lands; there
+were quantities of gold and silver, silk and satin curtains, Roman
+furniture and Grecian vessels, weapons from Gaul, and Gothic textile
+fabrics. It resembled a robber's abode, and such in fact it was.
+
+Behind the palace enclosure began the camp, with its smoke-grimed tents.
+A vast number of horse-dealers and horse-thieves swarmed in the streets,
+and there were as many horses as men there. Without the camp there
+grazed herds of swine, sheep, goats, and cattle--living provision for
+this enormous horde of men, who could only devour and destroy, but could
+not produce anything.
+
+Now, on the morning of Attila's wedding day, there were moving about in
+this camp thousands of little men with crooked legs and broad shoulders,
+clothed in rat-skins and with rags tied round their calves. They looked
+out of their tents with curiosity, when strangers who had been invited
+to the marriage feast came riding up from the plain.
+
+In the first street of tents, Attila's son and successor, Ellak, met the
+principal guests; he bade them welcome through an interpreter, and led
+them into the guest-house.
+
+"Is that a prince, and are those men?" said Orestes to Edeko.
+
+"That is a horse-dealer, and the rest are rats," answered Edeko. "They
+are monsters and demons, vampires, created from dreams of intoxication.
+They have no faces; their eyes are holes; their voice is a rattle; their
+nose is that of a death's-head; and their ears are pot-handles."
+
+"You speak truly, and it is from these half-naked savages, who have
+no armour and no shield, that the Roman legions have fled. They are
+goblins, who have been able to 'materialise' themselves."
+
+"They will not conquer the world."
+
+"At any rate not in this year."
+
+Then they followed Prince Ellak, who had heard and understood every
+word, although he pretended not to know their language.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the women's house sat Attila's favourite, Cercas, and sewed the
+bridal veil. Ildico, the beautiful Burgundian, stood at the window lost
+in thought and absent-minded. She had seen in Worms the hero before whom
+the world trembled, and she had really been captivated by the little
+man's majestic bearing. Herself fond of power, and self-willed, she had
+been enticed by the prospect of sharing power with the man before whom
+all and everything bowed; therefore she had given him her hand.
+
+But she had had no correct comprehension of the manners and customs of
+the Huns, and had therefore imagined that her position as wife and Queen
+would be quite otherwise than it proved to be. Only this morning she had
+learnt that she could not appear at all at the marriage feast, nor share
+the throne, but would simply remain shut up with the other women in the
+women's house.
+
+Cercas, the favourite, had explained all this with malicious joy to her
+rival, and the haughty Ildico was on the point of forming a resolution.
+She had no friends in the palace, and could not approach the foreign
+princes.
+
+Cercas was sewing, and accompanied her work with a melancholy song from
+her home in the far East. Ildico seemed to have collected her thoughts:
+"Can you lend me a needle?" she said, "I want to sew."
+
+Cercas gave her a needle, but it was too small; she asked for a larger
+one, and chose the largest of all. She hid it in her bosom, and did not
+sew.
+
+At that moment there appeared in the doorway a creature so abominably
+ugly and of such a malicious aspect, that Ildico thought he was a demon.
+He was as jet-black as a negro from tropical Africa, and his head
+seemed to rest on his stomach, for he had no chest. He was a dwarf and
+humpback; his name was Hamilcar, and he was Attila's court-fool.
+
+In those days the court-fool was generally not a wit, but a naive
+blockhead, who believed all that was said, and was therefore a butt for
+jests. He only placed a letter in Cercas' hand, and disappeared. When
+Cercas had read the letter, she changed colour and seemed to become a
+different being. Overcome with rage, she could not speak, but sang,
+
+    "The tiger follows the lion's trail."
+
+"Ildico, you have found a friend," she said at last. "You have a friend
+here in the room, here at the window, here on your breast." And she
+threw herself on the Burgundian maiden's breast, weeping and laughing
+alternately. "Give me your needle--your fine beautiful needle; I will
+thread it. No! I will sharpen it on steel; no, I will dip it in my
+perfume-flask, my own special little perfume flask, and then together we
+will sew up the Tiger's mouth, so that he can bite no more!"
+
+"Let me read your letter," Ildico interrupted.
+
+"You cannot. I will tell you what it says. He, our master, woos again
+for the hand of the daughter of the Emperor Valens--Honoria, and this
+time he has vowed to burn us all;--that he calls giving us an honourable
+burial."
+
+Ildico reached out her hand as an answer, "Very well, to-night. A single
+needle-prick will deprive the world of its ruler!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Edeko and Orestes had thoroughly rested from their journey in the
+guest-house. At noon, when they wished to go out, they found the door
+bolted.
+
+"Are we prisoners? Have we fallen into a trap?" asked the Roman.
+
+"We have not had any food either," answered Edeko.
+
+Then two voices were heard without: "We will strangle them; that is the
+simplest way."
+
+"I think we had better set the house on fire; the tall one is strong."
+
+"And they thought we did not understand their language."
+
+The two prisoners, whose consciences were uneasy, were alarmed, and
+believed that their end was near. Then a small trap-door opened in the
+wall, and the fool Hamilcar showed his hideous head.
+
+"Whether you are the devil or not," exclaimed the Roman, "answer us some
+questions."
+
+"Speak, sirs," said the negro.
+
+"Are we prisoners, or why cannot we see your King?"
+
+Prince Ellak's head appeared at the trap-door.
+
+"You will first see the King this evening at the feast," said the
+Prince, with a malicious grimace.
+
+"Are we to fast till then?"
+
+"We call it so, and do it always when we have a feast before us, in
+order to be able to eat more."
+
+"Cannot we at any rate go out?"
+
+"No," answered the Prince with the horse-dealerlike face. "One must
+conform to the custom of the country." So saying, he closed the
+trap-door.
+
+"Do you think we shall get away alive?" asked Edeko.
+
+"Who knows? Attila is composed of treachery. You do not know that once
+he wrote two letters, one to Dieterich, King of the West Goths, asking
+for an alliance against the Romans as the common enemy; and on the same
+day he wrote a similar letter to the Romans, in which he proposed an
+alliance against the West Goths. The deceit was discovered, and Attila
+fell between two stools."
+
+"He seems to be immortal, otherwise he would have been killed in battle,
+as he always goes at the head of his army."
+
+Until evening the travelling companions remained incarcerated. At last
+the door was opened, and a master of the ceremonies led them into the
+hall where the great feast was to take place. Here there were countless
+seats and tables covered with the most costly cloths and drinking
+vessels of gold and silver. The guests were assembled, but the two
+travellers saw no faces that they knew; they looked in vain for the
+bridegroom and the bride. As they were conducted to their places, a low
+murmur broke out among the guests, who talked in an undertone, and asked
+where the great King would show himself.
+
+Orestes and Edeko cast their eyes over the walls and ceiling without
+being able to see where the wonder would happen, for the childish and
+cunning Huns used to amuse their guests with surprises and practical
+jokes.
+
+Suddenly the whole assembly stood up. The curtain which covered the
+wall in the background was drawn aside, and on a platform sat a little
+insignificant-looking man, with a table before him and a sofa beside
+him. On the table stood a wooden goblet. He sat quite motionless,
+without even moving his eyelids. Somewhat lower than he stood his chief
+Minister, the Greek Onegesius. He kept his eyes unwaveringly fixed on
+his master, who seemed to be able to converse with him through his eyes.
+
+Attila remained in the same attitude, his legs crossed, and his right
+hand on the table. He gave no greeting, neither did he answer any.
+
+"He does not see us! He only shows himself!" whispered Orestes. "He sees
+well!"
+
+Onegesius received a command from the despot's eye, and lifted his
+staff. A poet stepped forward with an instrument that resembled a harp
+and a drum combined. After he had struck the strings, and beaten the
+drum, he began to recite. It was a song celebrating all Attila's feats
+in terms of strong exaggeration, and it would have been endless, if the
+assembly had not taken up the refrain and struck with their short swords
+on the table. The poet represented Attila's defeat on the Catalaunian
+Plain as an honourable but indecisive battle. After the guests had for
+some time contemplated the insignificant-looking hero in his simple
+brown leather dress, they both felt the same irresistible reverence that
+all did who saw him.
+
+There was something more than vanity in this self-conscious calm; this
+visible contempt for all and everything. He kept his side-face turned to
+the guests, and only his Minister could catch his eye.
+
+When the panegyric was at an end, Attila raised his goblet, and, without
+drinking to anyone, sipped it. That was, however, the signal for a
+drinking orgy, and the wine was poured into gold and silver goblets,
+which had to be emptied at a draught, for Attila liked to see those
+around him intoxicated, while he remained sober.
+
+After they had drunk for a while, the negro Hamilcar came forward and
+performed feats of jugglery. Then the great King rose, turned his back
+to the assembly, and laid down on the sofa. But in each of his movements
+there was majesty, and as he lay there thinking, his knees drawn up, his
+hands under his neck, and his eyes directed towards the ceiling, he was
+still imposing.
+
+"But what about the bride and the marriage?" Orestes asked one of the
+Huns.
+
+"We do not even mention our wives," he answered, "how, then, should we
+show them?"
+
+The drinking continued, but no food was placed before the guests. At
+intervals the whole assembly sang, and beat upon the tables.
+
+While the noise and excitement were at their height, the hall suddenly
+filled with smoke, and the building was in flames. All started up,
+shouted and sought to flee, but Attila's Minister struck with his staff
+on the table, and the assembly broke into laughter. It was a jest
+for the occasion, and only some waggon-loads of hay had been kindled
+outside. When quiet had been restored, Attila was no more to be seen,
+for he had left the hall by a secret door. And now began the feast,
+which lasted till morning.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the sun rose, Orestes was still sitting and drinking with an Avar
+chief. The condition of the hall was indescribable, and most of the
+guests were dancing outside round the fire.
+
+"This is a wedding-feast indeed!" said Orestes. "We shall not quickly
+forget it. But I would gladly have spoken with the wonderful man. Can
+one not do that?"
+
+"No," answered the Avar; "he only speaks in case of need. 'What is the
+use of standing,' he asks, 'and deceiving one another?' He is a wise
+man, and not without traces of kindness and humanity. He allows no
+unnecessary bloodshed, does not avenge himself on a defeated foe, and is
+ready to forgive."
+
+"Has he any religion? Does he fear death?"
+
+"He believes on his sword and his mission, and death is for him only the
+door to his real home. Therefore he lives here below, as though he were
+a guest or traveller."
+
+"Quite like the Christians, then?"
+
+"It is remarkable that in Rome he received respect from Pope Leo--What's
+the matter now?"
+
+Outside there was a shouting which at first seemed to issue from the
+palace, but soon spread itself over the camp. Half a million of men were
+howling, and it sounded like weeping.
+
+The guests hurried out, and saw all the Huns dancing, cutting their
+faces with knives, and shouting unintelligible words. Edeko came up
+and pulled Orestes away through the crowds. "Attila is dead! May Jesus
+Christ be praised!"
+
+"Dead? That is Ildico's doing!"
+
+"No! she sat by the corpse, veiled and weeping."
+
+"Yes, it is she."
+
+"Yes, but these savages are too proud to believe that Attila could be
+killed by a human being!"
+
+"How fortunate for us!"
+
+"Quick to Rome with the news. The fortune of the man who first brings it
+is made."
+
+Orestes and Edeko departed the same morning. They never forgot this
+wedding which had brought them together.
+
+Later on they renewed their acquaintance, under other and still more
+striking circumstances. For the son of Edeko was Odovacer, who defeated
+the son of Orestes, who was no other than the last Emperor Romulus
+Augustus. Strangely enough his name was Romulus, as was that of Rome's
+first King, and Augustus, as was that of the first Emperor. After his
+deposition, he closed his life with a pension of six thousand gold
+pieces, in a Campanian villa, which had formerly belonged to Lucullus.
+
+
+
+
+THE SERVANT OF SERVANTS
+
+
+Rome had become a provincial town and a dependency of Byzantium. It was
+governed by an Exarch in Ravenna, but often abandoned to its fate when
+the barbarians from the north amused themselves from time to time by
+raiding and pillaging it. For three hundred years no Emperor had visited
+Rome, and the former queen of the world lay despised in rubbish and
+ruin. But presently people began to collect and piece together the ruins
+of temples and palaces, and build churches out of them. Five hundred
+years after the death of Nero, an already ancient church of St. Peter
+stood in the middle of the tyrant's circus, where the martyrs had
+suffered death. There were at least seven other churches in different
+parts of the town, and the Bishop of Rome dwelt in the Lateran Palace,
+near the church of the same name. There were also convents, and on the
+Appian Way stood the St. Andrew's Convent, close to the Church of the
+Cross, which was built at the entrance to the catacombs.
+
+About two o'clock one summer morning, all the fathers and brothers had
+risen, and read or sung early mass in the chancel. Afterwards the Abbot
+had gone into the garden in order to reflect. It was still dark, but the
+stars shone between the olive and orange trees, and the flowers swayed
+in the gentle breeze of the dawn.
+
+The Abbot, a man of about fifty, strolled up and down in a covered
+arbour-walk, and every time he reached the south end he remained
+standing, in order to contemplate a marble tablet, erected by the side
+of other tablets. It stood over his future grave, which was by the side
+of the abbots who had already been buried. His name and the year of his
+birth were engraved upon the marble, while a space was left for the date
+of his death.
+
+"O Lord, how long wilt Thou forget me?" he sighed, as he turned round
+again. After he had thus continued walking till daybreak, he sat down
+in an arbour, in order to write something in a book which he took out
+of his pocket. The noise of awaking life in the city did not disturb
+him--nothing disturbed the white-haired man of fifty who had already
+been two hours on his legs without eating anything. Church bells rang,
+carts rattled, and the rushing of the Tiber could be heard through all
+other noises. But the old man continued to write, while his wrinkled
+face was faintly lit up by the red of dawn. At last steps were heard on
+the gravel-path; a novice entered the arbour, and placed a bowl of
+bread and milk by the Abbot. The latter started, as though he had been
+recalled from far away, and exclaimed, "Leave me in peace!" The novice
+remained standing, frightened and troubled. Then a little bird, which
+had been sitting in the arbour, struck up its song. The Abbot looked up,
+his countenance cleared, he cast a glance on the bowl of milk which he
+eagerly seized, and was in the act of raising it to his mouth, but, as
+he noticed the youth's troubled aspect, he stopped. "Forgive my anger,"
+he said, "but I was far away. As a penance, I do this!"
+
+He was about to pour the milk on the ground, but in order that it might
+not be wasted, he poured it on the roots of a reddish-yellow lily that
+stood in one of the border-beds. As the novice gave no sign of going,
+the Abbot asked, "You wish to speak with me? Speak!"
+
+"Holy Father."
+
+"I am not holy; One is holy, the Lord your God in heaven! If you have a
+complaint, make it."
+
+"I was a rich youth, who went and sold all that he had."
+
+"I also did that when I was young, and then built seven convents, but
+have not regretted it. What have you against it? Why do you complain?"
+
+The youth was silent.
+
+"Is it about the food? There is a famine round us, and we must share
+with the poor."
+
+"Not only that, venerable father, but the whole way of living here does
+not accomplish what it is intended to do."
+
+"Say on."
+
+"The scanty food does not subdue the flesh, for as I go about hungry the
+whole day, I involuntarily think only about eating--in church, during
+prayer, in solitude. The small amount of sleep makes me sleepy the whole
+day, and I go to sleep in the chancel. Desires, which I had not known
+before, are aroused by suppression; when I see wine, I feel a real
+longing to get vital warmth into my body."
+
+"Then go and ask a brother to scourge you till you swim in your blood,
+then you will feel the vital warmth return."
+
+"I have done that, but the blows only waken new desires."
+
+"Read St. Augustine."
+
+"I have done that. But the worst of all is the dirt. If I could bathe.
+
+"Are you dirty? That betokens inward defilement. I never bathe, but my
+body is always clean. But I have noticed, as soon as my thoughts become
+impure, the body becomes impure! What do you think, then, will do you
+good? You do not wish to marry. Tertullian says marriage and fornication
+are the same. And St. Jerome is of opinion that it is better to burn
+than to marry."
+
+"But St. Paul."
+
+"Let St. Paul alone! But what do you want to do?"
+
+"I cannot remain here, for I think that desires can only be extinguished
+by being satisfied."
+
+"Servant of Satan! Do you not know that desires never can be satisfied?
+You were once with your parents. You ate as much as you liked in the
+morning. Well! Were you not hungry again by noon? Certainly. So you
+cannot really satisfy yourself by eating! Now I will tell you one thing.
+You are a child of the world; you don't belong here; therefore go in
+peace! Eat of the swine's husks which do not satisfy; but when you are
+sick of them, you will be welcome here again. The father's house always
+stands open for the prodigal son."
+
+The youth did not go, but burst into tears.
+
+"No," he said, "I cannot return to the world, for I hate it and it hates
+me, but here I perish."
+
+The Abbot rose and embraced him. "Poor child! Such is the world, such is
+life; but if it is so, and if you see that it is so, the only thing left
+is to live it; and count it a point of honour to live till death comes
+and liberates us."
+
+"No! I want to die now," sobbed the youth.
+
+"We may not do that, my son"; the words escaped from the old man. "If
+you knew ... if you knew...."
+
+But he restrained himself: "What shall we do, then? Go to Father Martin
+and have some food, and a glass of wine, but only one; then go and have
+a good long sleep. Sleep for a day or two. Then come, that I may see
+you. Go now--but wait a minute--you must have a dispensation from me."
+
+He sat down and wrote something on a page which he had torn out of the
+book. Armed with this permission, the youth departed, looking, however,
+somewhat hesitatingly and abashed.
+
+The Abbot remained sitting, but did not begin to write again. Instead
+of that, he commenced crumbling the bread and strewing the crumbs on
+the table. Immediately a little bird came and picked one up; then
+there followed several, who settled on the old man's hand, arms, and
+shoulders. A spray of vine hung from the roof of the arbour and swayed
+gently in the wind. Its ring-like tendrils felt about in the air for a
+support. The Abbot was amused, and placed his finger jestingly into one
+of the rings: "Come, little thing! here is your support!"
+
+The tendril seemed to hear him, immediately curled round his finger, and
+formed a ring.
+
+"Shall I get the ring?" jested the old man. "Perhaps I shall be a
+bishop. God deliver me!"
+
+The Dean appeared in the door of the arbour. "Do I disturb you,
+brother?"
+
+"No, not at all! I am only sitting here and playing."
+
+"Birds and flowers! White lilies too? I have never seen such before."
+
+"White? Just now they were reddish-yellow! Where do you see them?"
+
+"There!"
+
+The Abbot looked down on the ground where he had poured his milk, and
+behold! there were only white lilies, without a single yellow one. He
+did not venture to speak about it, for one cannot speak of such things;
+but he smiled to himself, and saw a token of grace in it.
+
+"Well, Dean, how goes it in the city?"
+
+"The Tiber is sinking."
+
+"God be praised; but the whole of Trastevere has been ruined by the
+flood. I really wish that a great flood would come and drown us all--the
+whole human race--and very likely it will come some day."
+
+"Still as hopeless as ever!"
+
+"No, not without hope, but for that world, not for this. Christ says it
+Himself in the Apocalypse: here is nothing on which one can build; for
+the best that we have enjoyed was but trouble and misery."
+
+"Not so, brother."
+
+"You can flourish in mud, but that I have never done. And it seems as
+though one were compelled to wade in it with both feet. Did I not begin
+in my youth to preserve my soul by withdrawing from the world? Then I
+was compelled to go out into it, thrust into the confusion by force.
+They made me Prefect of the city. I wished to live in the service of the
+Lord, and had to distribute eatables for the poor, procure beds for the
+hospitals, look after drains and water-pipes. The burden of the day's
+task hindered my thoughts from rising, and I sank in the swamp of
+material things--sank so deep that I believed I should never rise
+again."
+
+"But the people blessed you."
+
+"Hush! And I--I who had never worn a sword--had to collect soldiers and
+march to the field. When I was six years old Rome was pillaged by Totila
+the Goth, and so ravaged that only five hundred Romans remained. When I
+was seven years old, there came Belisarius--when I was twelve, Narses.
+Then I was sent as ambassador to Constantinople--I who hated travelling
+and publicity. All that I hate, I have been obliged to accept. Now I am
+tired, and would like to go to rest. I sit here and wait, for my grave
+to open."
+
+"Do you remember what Virgil says in the _Georgics_ regarding the labour
+of the husbandman?"
+
+"No, I hate the heathen."
+
+"Wait! He says these words of wisdom: 'If Zeus sends bad weather, mice
+and vermin, it is to stimulate the husbandman's energy, and call forth
+his inventive capacity.' Misfortune comes to help the world forward."
+
+"The world goes backward towards its overthrow and its damnation. For
+five hundred years we have awaited the Redemption, but we have only seen
+one wild race come after another, to murder and pillage. Do you see any
+reason in all this sowing without reaping?"
+
+"Blasphemer! Yes, I see how green harvests are ploughed up to fertilise
+the soil."
+
+"Dragon's-seed and hell's harvest. No--now I go into my grave, and
+close the door behind me; I have a right to rest after a life so full of
+trouble and work."
+
+"The bell is ringing for prime."
+
+"Jam moesta quiesce querela."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Tiber had overflowed Rome, and destroyed quite a quarter of it, but
+spared the convent of St. Andrew. The Abbot sat again one morning in
+his garden and wrote, but in such a position that he could see his grave
+when he looked up from his work. Deep in his writing, he did not hear
+what was happening around him. But he saw that the flowers in the beds
+began to shake like reeds, frogs jumped about at his feet, and there was
+a smell of dampness that was at the same time mouldy and poisonous.
+
+He continued to write, but his eye, although intent on the passage of
+his pen over the paper, noticed something dark that moved on the ground,
+spread itself like a black carpet, and came nearer. Suddenly his feet
+were wet, and a deathlike chill crept up his legs. Then he awoke and
+understood. The Tiber had risen, and he was driven out of his last
+refuge. "I will not go," he cried, as the alarm-bell sounded, and the
+monks fled.
+
+He went to his cell in the upper story, firmly resolved not to flee.
+He would not go out into the world again, but would die here. The flood
+which he had prayed for, had come. But he had a spiritual conflict and
+agony of prayer in his cell: "Lord, why dost thou punish the innocent?
+Why dost thou chastise Thy friends and let Thy foes flourish? For five
+hundred years Thou hast avenged Thyself on Thy children for the misdeeds
+of their fathers! If that is not enough, then destroy us all at once!"
+
+The water rose and lapped against the walls; the garden was destroyed,
+and the Abbot's grave filled with water, but he remained where he was.
+At one time he sang hymns of praise, then he raged; then he prayed for
+pardon, and raged again.
+
+After that he set himself to write at the great work which should make
+him immortal,--his "Magna Moralia." It was now noon, but he felt no
+hunger, for by practice he had learned to fast for three days together.
+During the afternoon, a noise at the window made him look up from
+his book. There lay a boat, and in it sat the novice Augustinus. The
+extraordinary, almost comic, aspect of things, elicited a smile from
+him, and, remembering his conversation with the youth, he asked
+through the open window, "Well, did you get the wine and good food, you
+glutton?"
+
+"No, venerable Father; I did not want it when I could have it, and then
+the temptation was over. But now I have to speak of something else. The
+plague has broken out, and people are dying like flies."
+
+"The plague too! Oh Lord, how long wilt Thou altogether forget us! The
+plague too!"
+
+Then he rose. "Everyone to his post! Let us do our duty! Bless the Lord,
+and die!" The Abbot stepped out of his window into the boat, and left
+his sinking ship.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Tiber sank to its level again, but left behind snakes, fishes,
+and frogs, which died and infected the air. The people had fled to the
+hills; on the Palatine Hill they had made a hospital out of a church.
+Here the Abbot of the St. Andrew's Convent walked about, gave drink
+to the sick, and spoke comfort to the dying. "Why do you fear death,
+children?" he said. "Fear life, for that is the real death." He seemed
+to be quite in his element here, showed a calm, cheerful temper, and
+sought to decipher on the faces of the dead, "whether they were happy on
+the other side."
+
+Death would have nothing to do with him. Often he went to the other
+hills, and walked about among the sick and dying, so that the people
+began to think that he was an immortal who had come down to comfort
+them. The older ones remembered him as Prefect, when he defended
+the city against the Goths, Vandals, and Longobards, and his fame
+continually grew.
+
+The pestilence raged, and the number of the dead increased, so that
+the corpses could no longer be buried. All occupations ceased, and the
+peasants brought no more food into the city. There was a famine. The
+Abbot of the St. Andrew's Convent, Gregory, lost courage, and wanted
+to abandon all, "I cannot fight against God, and if it be His will that
+Rome perish, it is godless to wish to prevent it." In the midst of
+this tribulation, Pelagius II, the Bishop or Pope of Rome, as he was
+afterwards called, died. The people with one voice clamoured for the
+Abbot Gregory to succeed him. But, like King Saul and the Emperor
+Julian, he hid himself. He fled from the town to a hermit's grotto in
+the Sabine Mountains. But the people came, brought him out, and led him
+back to Rome, where he was consecrated as Gregory I. For thirteen years
+Gregory ruled over the former queen city of the world. He was Governor,
+for the Exarch of Ravenna existed no more, having been driven away
+by the Longobards. He asked help from the Emperor in Byzantium, but
+obtained none. He was thrown upon his own resources, and succeeded by
+the power of his eloquence in disarming King Agilulf, who threatened
+Rome.
+
+But he was also Bishop, and as such had to govern all the churches
+of the West. He succeeded in bringing them to abandon Arianism and
+to accept a single creed, which became the universal or "catholic"
+confession of faith.
+
+To the heathen of England he sent the former novice Augustine, who had
+quickly overcome his initiatory difficulties. The little "glutton" ended
+as Archbishop of Canterbury.
+
+The former retiring and life-weary Abbot had with great effect developed
+the necessary strength for his duties. The high post to which he had
+been summoned called out his capacities. He had time for great and small
+things alike. He reformed the liturgy, wrote letters, composed books,
+arranged church music. His manner of life, however, was as simple as
+before. From his cell in the Lateran Palace, he ruled over souls from
+the Highlands of Scotland to the Pillars of Hercules. His empire was as
+great as the Caesars', though his legions were only pen and ink. It was
+the beginning of the Kingdom of Christ, but it was a spiritual empire,
+and Gregory was the ruler.
+
+
+
+
+ISHMAEL
+
+
+After the death of Gregory the Great, Christianity seemed to have
+conquered all Europe which was known at the time, and also Byzantium,
+Palestine, Egypt, and the north coast of Africa. The conqueror was
+about to betake himself to rest, when a quite new and unexpected event
+happened which threatened Christendom with destruction and heralded the
+arrival of a new race upon the scene. Ishmael's descendants, Abraham's
+illegitimate sons, who had wandered in the deserts, seeming to continue
+the Israelites' wandering in the wilderness, began to collect in troops
+and seek a Promised Land.
+
+Six years after Gregory's death, the Prophet Muhammed, then forty years
+old, was "awakened." His armies spread like a conflagration, and a
+hundred years later, Christian Europe thought the last day had come. The
+countries first conquered by Christianity--Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor,
+Egypt, and North Africa--had fallen away and done homage to the new
+Antichrist. Byzantium was threatened; Sicily and Sardinia had been
+taken, and Italy was in danger.
+
+From the southernmost point of Spain one could see in clear weather the
+coast of Africa, where the Saracens dwelt. Spain was a country which,
+somewhat remote from Rome, had grown and developed into one of the
+richest provinces, after Phoenicians and Carthaginians had laid
+the foundations of her civilisation. But when Rome fell into decay,
+Barbarians from the Baltic sea belonging to the new German races,
+whose advent had been foretold by Tacitus, poured into Spain, founded
+a kingdom or two, and now at the beginning of the eighth century,
+possessed the important cities Toledo and Seville.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In Seville, on the Guadalquivir, in the beautiful province of Andalusia,
+the old Jew Eleazar sat in the shop where he sold weapons, and counted
+his day's takings.
+
+"Many weapons are sold in these days," was the sudden remark of a
+stranger who had stepped up to the counter.
+
+Eleazar looked up, liked the appearance of the well-dressed stranger,
+and answered cautiously, "Yes, certainly, many are sold."
+
+"Are you expecting war?"
+
+"There is always war here--especially verbal warfare."
+
+"You refer to the twenty Church Councils which have been held here. The
+Christians are never united."
+
+Eleazar did not answer.
+
+"Excuse me," continued the stranger, "but I forgot who you are, and that
+you would rather forget the last Council."
+
+"No, not at all! why should I?"
+
+"It was directed against your people."
+
+"And my only son, who was about to marry a Christian maiden, had to give
+her up, since marriages with Jews were forbidden...."
+
+"Well! and what was the end of it?"
+
+"He could not survive it, but laid hands on himself, and, as she
+followed him in death, the blame was laid on us, and we lost our
+property and freedom."
+
+"Eleazar!" exclaimed the stranger. "Don't you know me?"
+
+"No."
+
+"But when I tell you my name, you will know who I am. Julius--Count
+Julius...."
+
+"Are you--Count Julius?"
+
+"I am he, whose daughter Florinda was brought up in Toledo, and fell
+into the hands of King Roderick, the robber and lecher. Can I see you in
+your chamber? We have much to say to each other!"
+
+Eleazar hesitated, although both, as injured fathers of lost children,
+had much in common. He was afraid of the Christians, who had begun to
+persecute the Jews. The Count understood that, but did not withdraw his
+proposal, for he seemed to have a special object in his visit.
+
+"Let me into your chamber, and I will tell you, in three words, a secret
+that concerns us both."
+
+Eleazar did not yield, but began to parley.
+
+"Say one word, a single word to convince me," he asked.
+
+"Oppas! there is one for you."
+
+Eleazar opened his eyes, but asked for yet another one.
+
+"Zijad's son."
+
+"Still better!" said Eleazar, "but now the last!"
+
+"Bar-coch-ba."
+
+Eleazar reached him his hand. "Come under my roof, eat of my bread, and
+drink of the sacred wine." In a moment the shop was closed, and the two
+elderly men sat at supper in the room behind it. They conversed eagerly.
+
+"There are some hundreds of thousands of us Hebrews here in Spain, for
+when the Emperor Hadrian had destroyed Jerusalem for the last time, he
+sent some fifty thousand Hebrews here. That is six hundred years ago,
+and we have naturally increased--yes, to such a number, that ninety
+thousand of us could be compulsorily baptized. I, too, have been
+baptized, but, though they poured water on me, I have held fast the
+faith of my fathers, and how could I do otherwise? The Christians have
+not one faith, but many. The Synod held in Toledo in 589 A.D. taught,
+for example, that the Holy Spirit did not only proceed from the Father,
+but from the Son also. But the Synod of 675 A.D. declared that the
+Son was not only sent by the Father but by the Holy Spirit. That is
+nonsense, and therefore they fall away from their own doctrine.
+
+"But instead of falling back on the Old Testament, which is the mother
+of the New, they plunge into unbelief and heathenism. That is the case
+with Archbishop Oppas himself in Toledo, who calls himself a hater of
+Christ, and would rather acknowledge Islam than Catholicism."
+
+"Do you know Oppas?"
+
+"He is our man."
+
+"You mentioned Islam; what do you think of its teaching?"
+
+"It is our own holy faith; a single God, the Only and True One. And the
+Prophet is Abraham's seed, who has inherited the promise. It is true
+Ishmael was the son of a bond-woman, but still he was Abraham's seed!"
+
+"But Muhammed expelled the Jews from Arabia."
+
+"Yes, he did that; he was not perfect; but things have altered for the
+better. Muhammed received his first impressions from his cousin Waraka,
+who was of Jewish descent. At first he was friendly towards Israel; he
+told his followers to turn in prayer not towards the Kaaba, but towards
+Jerusalem. There is also a tradition that the prophet was a Jew, which
+may mean that he was an Arab or Ishmaelite, which is the same thing."
+
+"You would, then, rather serve under the Half-Moon than under the
+Cross?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"And Simon, whom you call Bar-coch-ba, is negotiating with the
+Archbishop Oppas in order to overthrow Roderick?"
+
+"That is true."
+
+"Good! Then I am one with you. But listen carefully to what I
+say:--Since our common aim is the overthrow of the West Gothic King, I
+have, as Governor of Ceuta on the African coast, inquired of Emir Mussa
+al Nazir and his principal officer, Tarik, the son of Zijad, whether
+they will perhaps help us in case of a claim for damages made by Ceuta
+and its neighbourhood. Do you think we can let the storm loose?"
+
+Eleazar gnawed his beard. "Is it not already loose?" he asked drily.
+
+"Have you gone further than I know?"
+
+"What do you know?"
+
+"You are so far as that, then? Well! It is all over with my beautiful
+Spain!"
+
+"Nothing comes to an end; it only changes when its time is over. Spain
+had its time when it gave Emperors to Rome--Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius,
+Marcus Aurelius, Theodosius, who may just as likely have been Iberians
+and Phoenicians. Spain gave Rome learned men and poets, Seneca, Lucan,
+Martial, Quintilian, Pomponius, Mela, Columella. That is now five
+hundred years ago, and now we have had barbarism introduced by
+the Christian Norsemen from the Baltic. Now we might use something
+Oriental!"
+
+"Do you believe on the future of Islam?"
+
+"Yes, certainly. Mussa has sworn that he will march by Hannibal's route
+through Gaul and Germany to Rome, in order to turn the 'heathen and
+women-worshippers' to the one true God."
+
+"You know that! Then there is no turning back."
+
+"No! It is too late. On the 19th of July the half-moon rises over Spain,
+and it will continue to wax through its phases to the full moon.
+What follows then we know not, and have nothing to do with, for One
+rules--the Lord Zebaoth."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the 17th of July, 711 A.D., when it had become dark, fire was kindled
+on the southernmost point of Spain, Punta de Europa. On the African
+coast, two miles distant, this was answered by a similar signal. A
+west wind blew from the Atlantic, and brought across the fleet of the
+Saracens, with five thousand men and horses.
+
+On the Punta de Europa, afterwards called Gibraltar, high above the
+precipitous cliff stood long-bearded citizens, and fanned the fire and
+threw fuel on it. In the morning the first troops landed at the foot of
+the cliff, and the conquest of Spain by the Moors began. Mussa ibn Nazir
+came on the following day with the chief body. The King of the West
+Goths assembled as rapidly as possible a hundred thousand men, and,
+believing himself invincible, marched thither to view the victory.
+Clothed in silk and gold, like a Byzantine Emperor, he lay in a chariot
+of ivory drawn by two white mules, and followed by his attendants and
+the women of his harem.
+
+For three days all went well, but on the fourth day, something
+unexpected happened.
+
+Shut in between the mountains and rivers of Andalusia, his troops could
+hardly move, and the King had encamped on the bank of the Guadalete.
+
+Then he saw his people pouring down like a stream from the heights--one
+division under Archbishop Oppas, the other under Count Julius.
+
+Roderick, who believed that they were fleeing from the enemy, broke up
+his camp. He could not, however, turn round, but was forced into the
+stream. He tried to reach the other side by swimming, but there he was
+met by archers. An Amazon came galloping along the bank on a red roan,
+and directed her bow against the drowning man in the middle of the
+stream. On the one bank he saw his troops, who had halted, signal with
+white flags as a sign of peace to the enemy on the opposite bank. When
+he saw that he was betrayed, he sank, and with him the whole kingdom of
+the West Goths. Mussa marched at once to Toledo, before a new king could
+be chosen. Thereby Islam became domiciled in Spain, and remained there
+till 1492. The Jews, who had especially helped the Moors, were at once
+emancipated, and in every town of Spain a Jew was appointed governor.
+
+
+
+
+EGINHARD TO EMMA
+
+
+EASTER, A.D. 843,
+
+The Benedictine Convent in Seligenstadt on the Main.
+
+To my dear wife and present sister in Christ,
+
+Emma, from Eginhard, formerly secretary to Charles the Great, now a monk
+in Seligenstadt on the Main:
+
+Passion-week is at an end, and the Resurrection days are here; spring
+has melted the frost; mind and memory have woken, and the past rises up
+again.
+
+Yesterday, on Easter Eve, I walked in the convent garden, and thought of
+my vanished five and seventy years. I thought of the fine things which
+were said in the learned circle or academy of the Great Unforgettable,
+when we played with words and thoughts, like chess-players with their
+pieces.
+
+"What is man?" asked our teacher, our wisest, Alcuin, whom we called
+Flaccus.
+
+Angilbert, the Emperor's son-in-law, the husband of the beautiful
+Bertha, answered, "Man is the slave of death, a flying traveller, a
+guest in his own dwelling."
+
+"Yes, truly," I said to myself, "a guest; and soon I will pack my
+knapsack, pay my account, and journey on."
+
+I went along the river-bank and thought, "The same river, always the
+same river, but always new water; the same water never runs twice
+past. Such is life, such is the river of time, the heroes and events of
+history--the panorama of time, the years and the glory of them, all pass
+and perish."
+
+I then wished to pluck the first Easter lilies to send to you, who were
+once my wife, and went to the gardener down by the carp-pond. Whom did I
+meet on the path under the ivy, this plant of eternity, which only knows
+of death and birth, but not the changes of the seasons? I met the last
+survivor of the great days, of the Emperor's Round Table, Thiodolf the
+Goth, now Bishop of Orleans. I cannot describe to you my joy at meeting
+him again, nor depict my feelings when I read in the face of the old man
+the whole history of our life.
+
+It was six o'clock in the evening, and after we had sung Vespers, our
+fast was at an end. I had a large round table placed in the refectory,
+only for us two, but with twelve chairs and twelve places laid. From the
+Bishop's guest-room I had the largest armchair brought, and decorated it
+with leaves and flowers; it was that of the Emperor of blessed memory,
+who now rests in the cathedral at Aachen, the cathedral which I had the
+favour and honour of building. The other chairs I assigned to absent
+friends, first Alcuin, then the poet Angilbert-Homerus, the Irishman
+Clement, the Bavarian Leidrade, and others whom you knew, but have
+forgotten.
+
+What an evening, what a night, we passed by the open garden window!
+We spoke naturally of the Great Unforgettable, and lived his rich
+and varied life again in our thoughts. We followed him against the
+Longobards and Saracens, against the Hungarians and other Slavs. But we
+did not like to linger over his thirty years' war against the Saxons,
+chiefly out of reverence for his memory, for he ought to have used only
+spiritual weapons in his campaign of conversion. Remember the Frankish
+King who sent our friend Anschar to the wild Swedes. He had no armed
+men, but only God's Holy Word. Certainly he was robbed by thieves like
+St. Paul, but when once he had arrived he won the King and the nobles of
+the country by his gentle bearing and preaching.
+
+On the other hand, we lingered gladly in our conversation over the great
+Christmas Day of 800 A.D. in Rome, when the Western Roman Empire
+was restored, and the crown was bestowed on Germany. This had been
+prophesied by Tacitus, and Hermann in the Teutoburger Wald had shed
+his martyr's blood for it. Rome and Germany! A spiritual and a worldly
+kingdom! Inscrutable are the ways of the Lord!
+
+When we drank to the strong and gentle Carolus Magnus Augustus, we both
+rose, Thiodolf and I, and bowed before the empty chair, as though he
+sat there in bodily presence. Where is he now, the departed of blessed
+memory--where is his great kingdom, which only his powerful spirit could
+hold together? What he united has now been scattered by his successors!
+You know, after the last treaty at Verdun, the kingdom of Karl the Great
+has ceased to exist; in its place we now have three--Germany, France,
+and Italy. Perhaps it must be so, and perhaps a single man cannot rule
+so great an empire. But it is sad to perceive in history that every
+great achievement carries within it the seeds of decay, and that the
+heights are always bordered by deep abysses. Brother Thiodolf brought
+disquieting news from France. The Saxons, who were finally overthrown
+with their powerful chief Widukind, have devised a terrible revenge.
+They have invited Danish and Swedish pirates, called Vikings, into the
+country. These have sailed up the Rhine, up the Seine as far as Rouen,
+and up the Loire. These Scandinavians are of German stock, and are
+therefore of kin to us Franks, but are more nearly related to the
+Goths, Heruli, Rugieri, and Longobards, of whom the last three are
+Scandinavian. Odovacer, who overthrew the Western Roman Empire, and
+deposed the last Emperor Romulus Augustulus, was a Rugier from the
+Danish island Rugen. These men from the North seem to be now about to
+step on the stage. Possibly they are the Gog and Magog concerning whom
+the Old Testament prophesied that they should come from the North. We
+did not end our conversation till midnight, Thiodolf and I; then we
+walked up and down in the garden till early mass, for we could not
+sleep.
+
+Now I close this letter, dear wife, by wishing you happy days far from
+all the tumult of the world. I only wait for my departure, for life has
+lost its relish for me, since my lord and Emperor has passed into the
+great silence. Greet the brethren and the few who still survive from the
+time of the Great Emperor, and accept, dear Emma, the greeting of your
+dead husband, whom you will not see before the Day of Resurrection, the
+great Easter, when we shall all meet again. Till then, "Be of one mind,
+live in peace, and the God of Jove and of peace shall be with you."
+
+
+
+
+THE CLOSE OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM
+
+
+In the year 998 A.D. Rome had become a German Empire and the German
+Emperor had become a Roman. Otto III, brought up by his Graeco-Byzantine
+mother Theofano, had inherited her love of the southern lands, and
+therefore generally occupied his palace on the Aventine, installed
+himself as Emperor, and cherished a plan of converting Rome into the
+capital of the German Empire. He was now twenty years old, ambitious,
+crochety, pious, and cruel.
+
+During one of his absences, the old Roman spirit had revived, and the
+high-born senator Crescentius had set up himself as Tribune of the
+people, freed Rome from the Germans, driven away Pope Gregory V, and
+installed John XVI in his place. The Emperor returned quickly to Rome,
+took Crescentius and his Pope prisoner, and then presented the Romans
+with a vivid spectacle, the like of which they had not seen, though
+their fathers had.
+
+The Leonine quarter, which embraced the Vatican Hill, with the oldest
+St. Peter's Church and a papal palace, was connected with the town by
+the Pons Aelius or Bridge of Hadrian. At the head of the bridge, on the
+right side, was the sepulchre of Hadrian, a tower-shaped building in
+which the Emperors up to the time of Caracalla had been buried. When the
+Goths took Rome, the sepulchre became a fortress, and remained so for a
+long time.
+
+When the Romans woke up on that memorable morning of the year 998 A.D.,
+they saw twelve wooden crosses erected on Hadrian's Tower terrace. Right
+above them was to be seen the image of the Archangel Michael, with his
+drawn sword, which had been erected by Gregory the Great. Many people
+were assembled on the Aelian Bridge to see the spectacle, and among them
+were a French merchant and a Gothic pilgrim who had come from the west
+across the Leonine quarter. The sword of the Archangel flamed in the
+beams of the sun, which was now high.
+
+"What are those crosses for?" asked the pilgrim, shading his eyes.
+
+"There are twelve! Perhaps they are intended to represent the twelve
+Apostles."
+
+"No, they have finished their sufferings, and the pious Emperor does not
+crucify the disciples of the Lord anew."
+
+"Yes, the Emperor! The Saxon! Neither the Goth, nor the Longobard, nor
+the Frank were to have Rome, but the Saxon--one of the cursed nation
+whom Charles the Great thought that he had extirpated. He sent ten
+thousand to Gaul, in order to make a present of these savages to the
+enemy, and he beheaded four thousand five hundred in a single day,
+without its costing him a sleepless night. Wonderful are the ways of the
+Lord!"
+
+"The last are often the first."
+
+"O Lord Jesus, Redeemer of the world! there is something moving on the
+crosses! Do you see?"
+
+"Yes, by heaven! No, I cannot look! They are crucified men!"
+
+Two Romans stood by the strangers: "Hermann, you are avenged," said one.
+
+"Was Hermann a Saxon?" objected the other.
+
+"Probably, since he lived in the Harz district."
+
+"A thousand years ago Thusnelda passed through the streets in the
+triumph-train of Germanicus, and carried the unborn Thumelicus under
+her heart! To think that a thousand years had to pass before she was
+avenged!"
+
+"A thousand years are as a day! But are not these our Roman brothers on
+the cross martyrs for Rome's freedom?"
+
+"Martyrs for our cause! But this time they were wrong, because the gods
+so willed it."
+
+Now there was a change in the scene. Under the tower a band of soldiers
+made a passage through the crowd of people. Pope John XVI came riding
+backwards on an ass. His ears and nose had been cut off, and his eyes
+had been dug out. It was a gruesome sight. A wine-bladder, waving
+over his head in the wind, made it worse. The people were silent, and
+shuddered simultaneously, for he was, after all, Christ's representative
+and St. Peter's successor, although no martyr.
+
+A Sicilian stood on the bridge close to a Jew.
+
+The Sicilian was a Muhammedan, for Sicily was then in the possession of
+the Saracens, and had been so for about two hundred years.
+
+"He must be suffering for his predecessors' sins," said the Jew; "that
+is the Christian belief: _satisfactio vicaria_."
+
+"Suffering is necessary," answered the Moslem; "and I do not grieve at
+such an end to the pornocracy. For a hundred years the Popes have lived
+like cannibals. You remember Sergius III, who lived with the harlot
+Theodora and her daughters. John X continued with Marozia, who with her
+own hand first killed her brother and then suffocated the Pope with a
+cushion. John XII was only nineteen when he became Pope. He took bribes,
+and consecrated a ten year-old boy as bishop in a stable. He committed
+incest, and turned the Lateran into a brothel. He played cards, drank
+and swore by Jupiter and Venus.... You know it well."
+
+"Yes," answered the Jew, "the Christians live in hell since they have
+abandoned the one true God. The fools have, however, stolen from us the
+Messianic promise; but the promise to Abraham we still possess. Rome is
+a mad-house, Germany a slaughter-house, and France a brothel. It is a
+matter to rejoice at, to see how they destroy each other."
+
+He placed himself by the balustrade of the bridge, in order to be able
+to see better what now followed.
+
+Between the twelve patriots, who writhed on their crosses like worms
+on hooks, appeared five men dressed in red, who began to construct a
+platform.
+
+"Those are the executioners--on the Emperor's grave!" said the Jew.
+"Against Crescentius I have nothing; he was a noble man who fought for
+the Roman State. But there is one Christian the less!"
+
+"The Christians have always two ways of explaining a man's sufferings.
+If he is innocent, his suffering is a test, and if he is guilty, well!
+he deserved his fate. There he comes!"
+
+Crescentius, the last Roman, was led forth. His head fell, and thereby
+Rome became German, or Germany Roman--till 1806! In the afternoon the
+nomination of the new Pope (for one could not call it an election)
+took place, and Gerbert of Auvergne was made Pope, with the title of
+Silvester II.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Emperor sat in his palace on the Aventine, and did not venture to go
+out, for the Romans hated him. In the little hermitage on the slope of
+the hill, where his friend Adalbert of Prague, the missionary martyr
+recently killed by the Saxons, used to live, the Emperor shut himself up
+with his teacher, the new Pope, Silvester II.
+
+The latter--a Frenchman--had studied in Cordova, where the Caliph had
+built a university, where Arabian philosophy, itself derived from Greece
+and India, was taught. In Rheims Silvester has also studied philosophy,
+mathematics, astronomy, and chemistry. He had been Abbot of Bobbio,
+Archbishop of Rheims and Ravenna, and, after protesting in many
+ecclesiastical assemblies against the corruption of the Papacy, had
+himself become Pope.
+
+The excitement caused by the execution of Crescentius compelled him to
+seek refuge on the Aventine with his pupil, the Emperor. From the cell
+of the little convent, near Adalbert's chapel, he guided the destinies
+of Europe, while at leisure moments he devoted himself to his favourite
+sciences. For this reason he was reported to be a wizard.
+
+One night as he sat, sunk in thought, at his table, which was covered
+with letters, the Emperor entered unannounced. He was a tall young man,
+dressed in an extraordinary garb, a dalmatica adorned with symbols from
+the Book of the Apocalypse, the Wild Beast and the Harlot, the Book of
+Seven Seals, and so on.
+
+"Let me talk," he said; "I cannot sleep."
+
+"What has happened, my son?"
+
+"Letters have come--warnings--dreams."
+
+"Tell me."
+
+"Yes; you listen to me, but you don't believe me, when I tell you the
+truth, and you are afraid of all new thoughts."
+
+"What is new under the sun? Does not St. Augustine say regarding our
+holy faith, 'What is called in our days Christianity, already existed
+since the creation of mankind to the birth of Christ. It was then that
+they began to call Christianity the true religion, which had already
+existed before. The truths taught by Christ are the same as the ancient
+ones, only more developed'?"
+
+"Heretic, beware! You do not know what is taking place in the world."
+
+"Let me hear."
+
+"Pilgrims from many lands have been here, and tell of prodigies,
+visions, and wonders. In the south of France there are pestilence and
+famine, and human flesh has been sold in the butchers' shops; in Germany
+a fiery iron rod has been seen in the sky, and here in Italy these
+endless pilgrimages have recommenced. In Jerusalem the Church of the
+Holy Sepulchre has been plundered, and the temple of the False Prophet
+erected. The whole of Christendom is trembling, for in the immoral Popes
+of the last century they have seen the Antichrist. Christ's ambassador
+is murdered; yes, my friend Adalbert was the last up there in Poland:
+the heathen have reconquered all Christ's conquests in Asia and Africa.
+The followers of the False Prophet are in Spain, Sicily, and Naples,
+and threaten Rome. This can mean nothing less than the Last Judgment and
+destruction of the world, as announced in the Apocalypse."
+
+"So it is the old story again?"
+
+"Story! Get thee hence Satan, for thou savourest not the things which be
+of God, but those which be of men."
+
+"Do you call me Satan?"
+
+"Yes, when you deny the Word. Is it not written in John's Apocalypse,
+'And when the thousand years are accomplished, Satan will be let loose
+from his prison. And he shall go to deceive the nations which are in
+the four ends of the earth, Gog and Magog'? There you have the northern
+peoples who are now in England, Normandy, and Sicily. Is not Theodora
+the great Babylonian Harlot? Is not the deceiver Muhammed the Wild
+Beast?"
+
+"Wait, my son! I might quote a verse from the same chapter: 'He who
+hath part in the first resurrection shall reign with Christ a thousand
+years.' So that the Millennium is _beginning_ now, and cannot end
+forthwith."
+
+"The old one ends, and the new begins."
+
+"Just so! The old dark age is past, and we await Christ's second coming
+on earth. If you retained the hope, you would see the new era dawn."
+
+"I do not believe a word of what you say. The last year of the thousand
+years is here, and now I go out in the desert to await, with fasting,
+prayer, and penance, the day of the Lord, and the coming of my Redeemer.
+I will pray for you, my father, but here our ways part, and you will see
+me no more."
+
+The Emperor departed, and Silvester remained alone.
+
+"I wait!" he said to himself, "but meanwhile I look after our worldly
+affairs." And he unfolded a map of the then known world. With a piece
+of red chalk he drew crosses and crowns, for the most part in the North.
+But above Jerusalem he drew a flag with a lance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The year 999 approached its end, and the Christians lived in a state of
+deadly anxiety. In Rome and its neighbourhood, all the active business
+of life had ceased. The fields were not sown, but lay covered with
+weeds; trade was at a stand-still; the shops were closed. Those who had
+anything gave it away, and had difficulty in finding anyone to take it.
+The churches stood open day and night for three months, and each day was
+like Sunday. People wore their best clothes, for there was no object in
+keeping them, and they wished to be well dressed in order to meet
+the Redeemer on His arrival. Christmas had been kept with unwonted
+solemnity, and men lived at peace with one another. The guards of the
+city had nothing to do, for the fear of what was coming sufficed to
+maintain order. People slept with open doors, and no one dared to steal
+or to deceive. There was no need to do so, for everyone received what
+he asked for; bakers distributed bread gratis, and innkeepers allowed
+unlimited credit; the payment of debts was not exacted. The churches
+were crowded day and night; there was a ceaseless round of confessions,
+absolutions, masses and communions.
+
+It was the day before New Year's Eve. Views were divided as to the
+nature of the coming catastrophe--whether it would come as a flood or as
+an earthquake. Most of the people remained outside their houses, some
+on the plain, others on the hills; all with their eyes directed towards
+heaven.
+
+In the morning, the Plain of Mars was full of men, and a crowd formed a
+circle round a pile of wood. A madman stood on the pile and spoke, with
+a quantity of papers and parchments in his hand. He was a rich citizen
+who for three months had practised fasting and penance, and now, reduced
+to a skeleton, wished to escape the wrath to come. He had collected a
+large quantity of dry wood under the pretext of giving warmth to all
+passing beasts of burthen. Since nobody troubled about what others did,
+he was allowed to do as he liked.
+
+Near the pile of wood stood the remains of an old orator's pulpit, and
+in that he took his stand after he had kindled the pile. "In the name
+of the Eternal God," he said, "so surely as I burn these bonds, will God
+the Lord erase my sins from His Book. For all sufferings which I
+have caused others, I will now suffer myself. Purifying fire, burn my
+wretched body with all its sins! Mounting flames, let me follow you
+upwards! Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" He leaped from the pulpit, and
+fell in the midst of the flames, where he remained on his knees with
+folded hands till he was suffocated.
+
+In the Forum a man was seen working with a miner's iron bar at a
+rubbish-heap which should cover him: "Say to the mountains, Cover us,"
+he sang.
+
+From the Pons Sublicius a young couple sprang into the river, locked in
+an embrace which death could not loosen.
+
+At mid-day the prisons were opened, and the prisoners were received as
+heroes and martyrs. They were taken to the houses of the nobility, made
+to sit at table, and senators and their wives washed their feet.
+
+"We are all sinners," people said, "and have nothing to boast of. These
+prisoners have endured their punishment while we went about free."
+
+Never had there been such a display of philanthropy and mercy since the
+early days of Christianity.
+
+The sick in the hospitals wanted to come outside, and their beds were
+carried into the streets and market-places. Everyone, in fact, wanted
+to be in the open air, and families brought their furniture into the
+streets. Birds were liberated from their cages, and horses from their
+stables. At first the latter ran about in the town, but as they scented
+the fresh air and reached the town gates they galloped off to the
+Campagna, to seek green pasture. Many, however, remained in the town,
+and lay about here and there, while children clambered on their backs.
+The children were the only ones who felt no fear. They jumped about and
+played as usual, rejoicing in their freedom and the unusual aspect of
+things. No one wanted to restrain them, and as they did not understand
+what was the matter, they remained free from anxiety and went on
+playing.
+
+New Year's Eve had arrived, and the universal alarm rose to a great
+height. Masters and servants were seen embracing each other and weeping,
+the former lamenting their severity--the latter, their dishonesty. Old
+enemies, who met each other on the street, grasped hands and led each
+other about like children, singing hymns of praise. It was something
+like the Golden Age as imagined by the Fathers of the early Church.
+
+The air was as mild as that of a spring day, and the sky was clear till
+noon. Then it became overclouded. No one ate or drank, but all bathed
+and put on their festal attire. During the afternoon processions of
+priests and monks marched through the town, and sang litanies, in which
+the people joined. Their Kyrie Eleison, "Christ, have mercy upon us,"
+rang all over the town. All Rome was preparing for its own judgment and
+execution.
+
+There were, however, a number of unbelieving and profligate persons who
+expected nothing new; they had assembled themselves in the catacombs
+and ruins, where they celebrated Bacchanalian feasts and orgies. In
+the ruins of Nero's Golden House a banquet on a large scale had been
+arranged. In the centre on the ground there burned a fire, surrounded
+by tables and seats. There was abundance of victuals and wine, for which
+they only needed to go to the store-room and cellar. There were music,
+dancing, and singing, and between whiles they amused themselves by
+watching the bats and owls, which flitted about, scorch and singe
+themselves in the fire.
+
+Their hilarity was loud, but not unforced. Here, too, philosophising and
+prophecy were in evidence.
+
+"There is not going to be any Last Judgment to-day," said a young man,
+who looked as though he were a descendant of the Emperor Nero.
+
+"Anyhow, if it comes, death cannot introduce us to anything worse than
+we have had in life."
+
+"It has always seemed to me that we are in hell. Headaches every
+morning, debts and disgrace, varied by occasional imprisonments."
+
+"The Emperor sits naked in a grotto at the foot of Soracte."
+
+"Vides ut alta stet nive candidum, Soracte."
+
+"As we are speaking, life the envious flits away. Enjoy the present day,
+nor trust the morrow!"
+
+"And the Pope is going to hold a midnight mass--he who has no faith in
+it himself."
+
+"But he must put a good face on it, and go through with it."
+
+"I know one woman who will not go to mass to-day."
+
+"That is the beautiful Stephania, the widow of Crescentius."
+
+"But she watches for vengeance."
+
+"What have these Germans to do in Rome? I wish the owner of this Golden
+House could rise from the dead. He was the last Roman!"
+
+"He was a man who did not caress his enemies. He feared nothing
+between heaven and earth, not even the lightning. Once there was a
+lightning-flash in his dining-hall as he reclined at table. What do you
+think he said? 'To your health!' and raised his goblet."
+
+At this moment a heated stone fell from the vaulted roof into the fire,
+and caused a shower of sparks. The night wind rushed through the hole
+thus formed, and blew the smoke into the feasters faces. At first they
+were amused at the occurrence, but were soon obliged to leave the vault.
+
+"Let us go out and witness the end of the world!" cried one of the
+youths. They formed a procession of Bacchanals and Maenads, one in front
+carrying a filled wineskin. There were flute-players among them, and all
+carried goblets in their hands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Below, in the old Basilica of St. Peter, stood the Pope before the
+altar, and performed in silence the midnight mass. The church was
+crowded, and everyone was on his knees. The silence was so deep that
+the rustle of the white sleeve of the officiant could be heard when
+he elevated the cup. But another sound was audible, which seemed to be
+measuring out the last moments of the Millennium. It beat like the pulse
+in the ear of a feverish man, and at the same rate. The door of the
+sacristy stood open, and the great clock which hung there ticked calmly
+and steadfastly, once in a second.
+
+The Pope, who was outwardly just as calm, had probably left the door
+open in order to produce the utmost effect at the great moment, for his
+face was pale with emotion, but he did not move, and his hands did not
+tremble.
+
+The mass was over, and a death-like silence ensued. The people expected
+the Lord's servant at the altar to speak a few words of comfort. But he
+said nothing; he seemed absorbed in prayer, and had stretched out his
+hands towards heaven.
+
+The clock ticked, the people sighed, but nothing happened. Like children
+afraid of the dark, the congregation lay with their faces towards the
+ground, and dared not look up. A cold sweat of anxiety dropped from many
+brows, knees which had gone to sleep caused pain, or were numb, and felt
+as though they had been amputated.
+
+Then the clock suddenly ceased ticking.
+
+Had the works run down? Was it an omen? Was everything going to stand
+still, time to be at an end, and eternity begin? From the congregation
+rose some stifled cries, and, lifeless with terror, some bodies dropped
+on the stone pavement.
+
+Then the clock began to strike--One, Two, Three, Four.... The twelfth
+stroke sounded, and the echoes died away. A fresh death-like silence
+ensued.
+
+Then Silvester turned round, and, with the proud smile of a victor, he
+extended his hands in blessing. At the same moment all the bells in the
+tower rang out joyfully, and from the organ-loft a choir of voices began
+to sing, somewhat unsteadily at first, but soon firmly and clearly, "Te
+Deum Laudamus!"
+
+The congregation joined in, but it was some time before they could
+straighten their stiffened backs, and recover from the spectacle of
+those who had died of fright. When the hymn was over, the people fell in
+each other's arms, weeping and laughing like lunatics, as they gave each
+other the kiss of peace.
+
+So ended the first Millennium after the birth of Christ.
+
+In the little castle Paterno on Mount Soracte, the Emperor had spent the
+Christmas week and New Year's Eve in the strictest fast and penance. But
+when New Year's Day was come, and nothing had happened, he returned to
+Rome to meet Silvester and take measures for the future. The Emperor's
+friend and teacher received him with a smile which was easy to
+interpret. But the monarch was still so much under the effect of his fit
+of alarm that he did not venture to be angry.
+
+"Will you now return to earth, my son, and look after your mundane
+affairs?" said Silvester.
+
+"I will, but I must first fulfil two vows which I made in the hour of
+need."
+
+"Fulfil them certainly."
+
+"I go to the grave of my friend Adalbert in Gnesen, and I must visit the
+funeral vault of Charles the Great in Aachen."
+
+"Do so, but you must at the same time fulfil some commissions which I
+give you for the journey."
+
+So they parted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two years had passed, when, one day in January, Pope Silvester
+was summoned to Paterno, the little castle on Soracte, where the
+Roman-German Emperor dwelt, and now lay ill.
+
+When Silvester entered the sick-room, the Emperor sat upright, but
+looked troubled. "You are ill," said Silvester: "is it the soul or
+body?"
+
+"I am tired."
+
+"Already, at twenty-two years of age."
+
+"I am despondent."
+
+"You are despondent although you saw the world awake from its nightmare.
+Consider, ungrateful man, all that these two years have brought, what
+triumphs for Christ, who really seems to have returned. I will enumerate
+them: listen! Bohemia has received its Duke, who has eradicated
+heathenism; Austria has concentrated itself as a Danube-state the
+heathen Magyar has allowed himself to be baptized, and received the
+crown from our own hand as Stephen the First; Boleslaw in Poland has
+also received a crown and an archbishop; the new kingdom of Russia
+has accepted baptism and Vladimir the Great protects us against the
+Saracens, who are on the decline, and Seljuks or Turks, who are in
+the ascendant; Harold of Denmark and Olaf of Sweden have established
+Christianity in their dominions; so has Olaf Tryggveson in Norway and
+Iceland, in the Faroe Island, in Shetland and Greenland; and the Dane
+Sven Tveskägg has secured Britain for Christianity. France is under
+the pious Robert II, of the new race of the Capets, but also of Saxon
+descent like you. In Spain, the northern States Leon, Castille, Aragon,
+Navarre, have at last united, and protect us from the Moors in Cordova.
+All this in five years, and under the aegis of Rome! Is not all this the
+return of Christ, and do you understand now what Providence means by
+the Millennium? Those who are alive at the end of another thousand years
+will perhaps see the ripe fruits, while we have only seen the blossoms.
+The world is certainly not a paradise, but it is better than when we had
+savages in the North and East. And all kings receive the crown and the
+pallium from Rome. You are a ruler over the nations, my Emperor."
+
+"I? You rule their minds, not I, and I will not rule."
+
+"So I have heard, for you have accepted the rule of a woman."
+
+"Who is that?"
+
+"They say, and you know the report as well as I do, that it is the widow
+of Crescentius, the beautiful Stephania. Well, that is your own affair,
+but Solomon says,--'Beware of your enemies, but be wary with your
+friends.'"
+
+The Emperor looked as though he wished to defend himself, but could not,
+and so the conversation was at an end.
+
+Some days after, Otto III was dead, poisoned, so ran the report, in some
+way or other, by the beautiful Stephania.
+
+A year later Silvester II died also.
+
+
+
+
+PETER THE HERMIT
+
+
+Christendom had awoken to new life after the great and terrible New
+Year's Eve of 999. Nearly a hundred more years had passed when a ragged
+barefooted pilgrim wandered out of the gate of Caesarea, on the shore of
+the Mediterranean. This was the town from which Paul had sailed for Rome
+in order to spread Christianity, which had now conquered all Europe, but
+had not been able to maintain a hold upon its birthplace, the Land of
+Promise, in which Christ had lived, suffered, and been buried.
+
+The "False Prophet" had been the last possessor of Palestine. But when
+his kingdom, like all others, fell to pieces, quite a new race had
+issued from the unknown parts of Central Asia and now the Seljuks ruled
+in Syria. The last Fatimide Caliphs had been very indifferent in matters
+of belief, and the renowned Al Asis, who had married a Christian wife
+and was himself a sceptic, had made his wife's brothers Patriarchs of
+Jerusalem and Alexandria. Everything was altered since the time when
+the terrible Al Hakim had persecuted Christians as well as Jews, and
+destroyed the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem. And when the
+Seljuk Melikscha had at last captured the town, matters looked almost
+hopeless for the Christians, who still made pilgrimages to the Holy
+Sepulchre.
+
+The pilgrim we spoke of above pursued his journey in a south-eastern
+direction, and now on the first day he saw the lovely Plain of
+Sharon spread out before him like a carpet or rather a sea of
+flowers--crocuses, narcissi, ranunculi, anemones, and especially the
+tall white Sharon lilies.
+
+It was the Promised Land indeed! The whole of the morning he waded in
+flowers; at last he reached a village at the foot of a hill. There were
+waving corn-crops, climbing vines, flourishing olive and fig trees;
+well-fed cattle were watered at the spring, cows and goats were milked.
+The pilgrim, who possessed nothing in the world except his rags, asked
+for a bowl of milk, but obtained none. He went begging from door to
+door, but was hunted away. Every time that he received a refusal he
+seemed to be surprisingly cheerful. The fact was, he had come hither
+from a distant land in order to be able to realise how his Saviour had
+suffered, and now he was graciously allowed to experience it on the holy
+soil itself. He passed through the village, and found another sea of
+flowers outside it. He bathed his feet in a brook, and felt refreshed.
+But now at mid-day a wind from the sea arose, and clouds passed over the
+land. The violent rain beat down the fragile lilylike plants, the wind
+rooted them up or tore them in two, and collected them in heaps, which
+rolled along increasing in size as they went, and crushing other flowers
+in their path.
+
+Towards evening the rain ceased, but the wind continued to blow, and
+the darkness came. The weary and hungry traveller prepared himself a
+bed with a heap of flowers which he kept in its place with some stones.
+After he had hollowed out the heap till it looked like an eagle's nest,
+he spread another pile of flowers over himself, and went to sleep,
+pleasantly narcotised by all the sweet scents. For several years he
+had tasted no wine and never been intoxicated, but this was a good
+substitute for it. He did not know whether he was asleep or awake;
+sometimes he felt as though he were rolling away like a wave; sometimes
+he lay still and listened to a scratching going on in his nest; there
+was a blowing and a roaring, a murmur in his ears and flashing before
+his eyes. Finally all was still; he believed he had gone to sleep, for
+he dreamt.
+
+In his dream he was walking on the Mediterranean Sea; that he found
+quite natural, but there followed him knights on horseback, troops of
+armed men, whole races of people. They reached the land, they marched
+towards the East, and finally saw Jerusalem crowning the heights. Walls,
+battlements, and towers were crowded with heathen warriors, and the
+Christian knights halted in order to take counsel. But he, the poor
+pilgrim, spoke to them, and they listened to him.
+
+"Why do you fear?" he said, "why do you fear these heathen and their
+walls? Look at me! I take my staff, ascend Mount Zion, strike the gate
+of David with my staff, and the city opens all her gates!"
+
+He did so--in his dream, and Jerusalem was taken. It was a very simple
+matter; the knights and the armies honoured him, and he became governor
+of Jerusalem. When he awoke on the morrow, he got out of his nest,
+and when he looked round, he found himself before the Jaffa Gate of
+Jerusalem. He asked himself whether the wind had blown him all that long
+way, or whether he had traversed it in sleep. But his dream had been so
+vivid, that he found everything natural and simple.
+
+He knocked with his staff at the door. And behold! it really opened, but
+only by the space of a hand-breadth, and a soldier asked what he wanted.
+
+He wished, he said, to visit the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+He could do so, was the answer, if he paid thirty silver zecchines.
+
+As he had not so much, the gate was again closed.
+
+The pilgrim, however, not to be frightened, struck again with his staff,
+certain that he would get in. Get in he did, quickly enough, and,
+after he had been well thrashed, was thrown out again and fell on a
+rubbish-heap on which dogs hunted for bones. This reception was not
+encouraging, but for the pilgrim it was exactly what he had expected and
+wished. He had been beaten in the same city where his Master Christ had
+been beaten and tortured.
+
+What an honour! What undeserved grace!
+
+But the thirty silver pieces! Why was the price just thirty? Because
+it was the traitor's reward for betraying the Beloved. He would try to
+collect them by begging, even if it took him ten years to do so.
+
+He exhorted himself to patience, and went southward into the valley
+of Hinnom or the valley of Hell, where all the rubbish of the city was
+thrown. There was filth and an evil smell there, but the pilgrim did
+not notice it, for he only sought to catch a glimpse of the walls of the
+Holy City. When he came to the south end of the valley, he really beheld
+Mount Zion with David's Sepulchre. Then he fell on his knees and praised
+God in song:
+
+    "Lauda Sion Salvatorem
+    Lauda Ducem et pastorem
+    In hymnis et canticis."
+
+Strengthened by prayer, he went on. He knew the topography of the place
+well, and when he came on a piece of waste ground underneath the Hill
+of Evil Counsel, he knew that it was Aceldama, or the Field of the
+Dead, which had been purchased with the traitor's blood-money to bury
+strangers in. But he had no thoughts of death, for he knew that he would
+live till he had taken the City. On the other hand, he was hungry. How
+bitterly he regretted now that he had not accustomed himself in
+his youth, like other famous eremites, to eat grass. Weary, but not
+depressed, he sat down on a rubbish heap which seemed quite fresh.
+
+As he sat there, a dog came--a mangy famished creature--and laid his
+head on the pilgrim's knee.
+
+"I have nothing to give you, poor thing," said the pilgrim, and wiped
+the dog's eyes with the flaps of its ears, for it looked as though it
+had wept. But when the dog heard what the pilgrim said, it understood,
+for animals understood all languages merely by the tone. It then began
+to rummage in the rubbish heap. And behold! there lay, between two
+cabbage leaves, a pomegranate and a piece of white bread. The pilgrim,
+who was accustomed to all kinds of miracles, praised God, and ate. And
+when he had eaten, he thanked God the Merciful. The dog stood by the
+whole time, and watched him. "Ungrateful wretch that I am to have
+forgotten thee!" said the pilgrim; "now I will try my fortune!" He began
+to dig with his staff, and see! there lay a fresh bone, which he gave
+to the dog, his benefactor. They became friends, and kept together.
+They now went round the southern end of the city, and turned northward
+towards the Kedron. They followed the brook, having the city wall on
+their left and the Mount of Olives on their right. From the bottom of
+the valley he saw the place where the Temple had been, but no Temple was
+there now--only the dome of the Muhammedan mosque. Of the Holy
+Sepulchre there was nothing visible, for it lay within the City and was
+inconspicuous. He came to Gethsemane, where Christ had suffered, and he
+climbed the Mount of Olives, from whence he could look over Jerusalem.
+He did so, and wept. After he had paid his devotions in the ruins of the
+Church of the Resurrection, he went on northwards round the city, and
+came again to the Jaffa Gate, where he sat down, firmly resolved to
+wait till some Christian pilgrims came, for they came hither from all
+countries of the world. He wanted to beg from them till he had collected
+the thirty zecchines. So he sat through the first night without anybody
+coming. Towards morning the door was opened for the peasants who brought
+in provisions, and the bold idea occurred to him of trying to get in
+with them, but he was immediately detected and thrashed again. This,
+however, did not frighten him; he repeated the attempt every morning,
+though unsuccessfully. He slept on the ground, and ate from the rubbish
+heaps; he was jeered at by the children, beaten by the adults, and
+took everything quietly, convinced that some day his dream would be
+fulfilled. For thirty days he sat at the gate and received no money,
+but on the thirty-first he got up in order to take some exercise. He
+wandered down into the Valley of Hinnom, and his dog "Trusty" ran in
+front of him.
+
+After he had walked for a while he noticed that his companion had
+vanished. When he called him, the dog answered by barking. The pilgrim
+followed the sound, and presently he saw the dog standing by a hole
+in the wall. There was an entrance, and, following his guide, he came
+without hindrance right into the town. The first thing he did was to
+visit the Holy Sepulchre, but it was closed. Then he remembered that
+there was a Patriarch of Jerusalem, who in some degree acted as a
+protector of the Christians. But where did he live? "Perhaps you know,"
+he said to the dog.
+
+The dog understood, pricked up his ears, and ran through a labyrinth of
+crooked streets till he stood at a little door, with a bell-cord hanging
+by it. The pilgrim pulled it, the door opened, and an old white-bearded
+man came out, reached the new-comer his hand, led him like a friend into
+the house, and bade him sit down. "I have waited long for you, Peter,"
+he said. "Yes, I recognise you, for I have seen you for a year in my
+dreams, but I know not who you are, and whence you come. Tell me your
+history."
+
+"My history! I am from Amiens in France. I am now called Peter; was
+formerly a soldier, followed William the Conqueror to Hastings, and
+took part in the invasion of England. I returned to my own country, and
+became a school teacher. I could, however, obtain no peace in my soul,
+but entered a convent. In the solitude of my cell, I reflected on what
+I heard from my brother monks in the chapter. It was the time when Henry
+IV began the conflict with Gregory VII. The Pope was right, for Europe
+ought to be governed from Rome, and Gregory, who wished to set up
+Christ's Kingdom in spirit and in truth, had united all Christian
+States together; he imposed tribute from Scandinavia to the Pillars of
+Hercules. The Emperor was a schismatic, and worked only in the interests
+of Germany. The matter ended at Canossa, as you know, when the Emperor
+had to kiss the Pope's foot. And that was right at that time, for the
+spiritual head is higher than the worldly one. But Canossa was not the
+end. Gregory, the mighty champion of the Lord, fell into the same sin as
+David. In the first place, he summoned the Norman Guiscard from Sicily
+to his aid. Guiscard came with a horde of Turks and heathen, pillaged
+Rome, and set it on fire. That was shameful of the Pope, who now fled
+with Guiscard to Salerno--which was _his_ Canossa. But he was also still
+cruel enough to stir up Henry's sons against their father. Then the
+great Gregory died in banishment, and Rome was extinct. Rome is no more,
+but Jerusalem shall be. The chief city of Christendom shall be born
+again, and rise from its ruins."
+
+The Patriarch had listened, and, though he smiled at first, he was
+finally serious. "Your faith is great, my son," he said. "But who will
+take the lead? Who will collect the people?"
+
+"I," answered the Hermit--"I will open the Holy Sepulchre; I will drive
+out the heathen, and I will have the first Christian King of Jerusalem
+crowned!"
+
+"With two empty hands?"
+
+"With my rock-like faith."
+
+There was silence.
+
+"Say something, Patriarch!" resumed Peter. "Try to damp my courage if
+you can; confront me with objections, and rob me of confidence. You
+cannot! There, I will go now to Rome and speak with Urban II. But give
+me a letter to confirm my statements when I describe the behaviour of
+the heathen in the city of Christ. I ask nothing else of you; the rest I
+will do myself."
+
+"Whoever you are, you shall have the letter, but rest first for a few
+days."
+
+"No! I have gone three hundred and fifty miles and rested for thirty
+days. Give me something to eat in the kitchen, while you write the
+letter, and I start before sunset. When I come again, I shall not be
+alone, but my name will be Legion. And you will see the accomplishment
+of my words and your dreams, for God wills it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Hermit Peter walked a hundred and fifty miles to Piacenza, and
+there met Pope Urban II, who was holding a council. He received no
+encouragement, for the idea of a crusade was no novelty. Gregory VII had
+collected fifty thousand men for that purpose, but could not carry out
+his plan. With a true Christian spirit, the Hermit took this failure as
+a warning to redouble his efforts.
+
+He went to France, preached and stirred up the people, with the result
+that all France was aflame with crusading fervour when Urban II came to
+Clermont to hold another council. Then the Crusade was determined on.
+Peter could not wait, but, together with Walter Pexejo and Walter von
+Habenichts, he collected a host which finally reached forty thousand in
+number, including old men, women, and children. There were no soldiers
+however, but only adventurers who wanted to run away, slaves who sought
+freedom, and malcontents who wished for change.
+
+They followed the Rhine towards its source, and then the Danube, along
+whose banks the great road to the East ran. As they approached the
+frontier of Hungary their number had increased to sixty thousand. The
+King of Hungary, Kolowan, was not exactly hospitable, and not a person
+whom it was safe to jest with. The Crusaders received a hint that
+they were not very welcome, and therefore sent their only mounted
+men,--exactly six in number--as ambassadors to the King.
+
+Kolowan was in Pesth, with a well-equipped army, and his country was
+enjoying the blessings of peace, when the envoys arrived. "What do you
+want?" he asked.
+
+"We seek a free passage to Constantinople."
+
+"How many of you are there?"
+
+"Exactly sixty thousand."
+
+"Although I feel honoured by the visit, I cannot entertain grasshoppers.
+I have heard of your wild enterprise; I know that you have no provisions
+with you, and that you beg and steal. Return therefore to your country,
+or I will treat you as enemies!"
+
+The envoys rode back with the King's answer. But Peter would not turn
+back.
+
+"Forward! forward! Crusaders and Christians!" he cried, and the whole
+host crossed the frontier. The Hermit rode on an ass at the head of
+them, and knew not what went on behind him--robbery, drunkenness, and
+licence.
+
+The King learned what had happened, and rode out with all his knights.
+When he saw this mass of ragged rascals, drunk and savage, but all
+wearing the red cross, he fell in a rage and attacked them. Those who
+did not fly were trampled underfoot and sabred down so mercilessly,
+that, out of the sixty thousand, only three thousand reached
+Constantinople, among whom was the Hermit.
+
+"We have sown our blood," he said; "our successors will reap."
+
+The Emperor of Constantinople had certainly for a long time waited for
+help from the West against the wild Seljuks, but he had expected
+armed men. When he now received a rabble of three thousand beggars and
+vagabonds, many of them wounded, he resolved to get rid of these guests
+as honourably as possible. He set them in flat-bottomed boats, and
+shipped them across to Asia Minor. "Thence you have a straight road to
+Jerusalem," he said. But he did not say that the Seljuks were encamped
+on the opposite coast. Accordingly, the rest of them were massacred by
+the wild hordes near Nicasa--in the same town in which, during the early
+days of Christianity, so many fateful debates had taken place.
+
+But the Hermit escaped, and returned to Constantinople, where he waited
+for the great army of the Crusaders. He waited a whole year, just as
+confident of victory and undismayed as before.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the little town Tiberias, on the shore of the Lake of Gennesareth
+sat the old Jew Eleazar, with his family, prepared to celebrate the
+Passover, or the Exodus from Egypt. It was the tenth day of the month
+Nisan of the year 1098. The lake shone clear, and its banks were green;
+the oleanders were in blossom, the lilies had sprung up in the pleasant
+season when the earth rejoices.
+
+It was evening; all members of the family were dressed as though for a
+journey, with shoes on their feet and staves in their hands. They stood
+round the covered table on which the roasted lamb smoked in a dish
+surrounded by bitter lettuce. The ancestral wine-cup was filled with
+wine, and white unleavened bread laid on a plate close by.
+
+After the head of the family had washed his hands, he blessed the gifts
+of God, drank some wine, returned thanks, and invited the others to
+drink. Then he took some of the bitter herbs, and ate and gave to the
+others. Then he read from the book of Moses a passage concerning the
+significance of the feast. After that, the second cup of wine was
+served, and the youngest son of the house stepped forward and asked,
+according to the sacred custom, "What is the meaning of this feast?"
+
+The father answered: "The Lord brought us with a strong hand out of the
+Egyptian bondage."
+
+As he drank from the second cup, he said, "Praise the Lord, O my soul,
+and forget not all His benefits." They then all sang the 115th Psalm,
+"Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give the praise,
+for Thy truth and mercy's sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where
+is now their God?"
+
+Thereupon a blessing was pronounced on the unleavened bread and the
+roasted lamb, and they sat down to eat, in a state of contentment and
+with harmless talk. The old Eleazar spoke of past times, and contrasted
+them with them the present: "Man born of a woman lives but a short time,
+and is full of trouble; he cometh up like a flower, and is cut down;
+he fleeth hence like a shadow, and continueth not. A stranger and a
+sojourner is he upon earth, and therefore he should be always ready for
+his journey as we are, this holy evening."
+
+The eldest son Jacob, who had come home in the evening after a journey,
+seemed to wish to say something, but did not venture to do so, till the
+fourth and last cup was drunk.
+
+"But, my children," continued Eleazar, "not only is Israel unsettled and
+roaming on the earth, but all nations are in a state of wandering. The
+difference between them and us is that their gods are mortal, while
+Israel's God lives. Where is Zeus, the god of the Greeks? Where is the
+Romans' Jupiter? Where are the Egyptians' Isis, Osiris, and Ptha? Where
+is the Woutan of the Germans, the Teutates of the Gauls? They are all
+dead, but Israel's God lives; He cannot die. We are at any rate in
+Canaan, in our fathers' land, even if Zion is no longer ours, and we
+cannot forget the goodness which the Lord has shown us."
+
+The last cup was drunk, and after another psalm the festival was at an
+end.
+
+"Now, Jacob," said Eleazar, "you want to talk. You come from a journey,
+though somewhat late, and have something new to tell us. Hush! I hear
+steps in the garden!"
+
+All hurried to the window, for they lived in troublous times; but, as no
+one was to be seen outside, they sat down again at the table.
+
+"Speak, Jacob," Eleazar said again.
+
+"I come from Antioch, where the Crusaders are besieged by Kerboga,
+the Emir of Mosul. Famine has raged among them, and of three hundred
+thousand Goyim, [Footnote: Gentiles.] only twenty thousand remain."
+
+"What had they to do here?"
+
+"Now, on the roads, they are talking of a new battle which the Goyim
+have won, and they believe that the Crusaders will march straight on
+Jerusalem."
+
+"Well, they won't come here."
+
+"They won't find the way, unless there are traitors."
+
+"Moslems or Christians, they are all alike, but Moslems could be our
+friends, because they are of Abraham's seed. 'God is One!' Had their
+Prophet stood by that, there would have been nothing between us, but
+he fell through pride and coupling his own name with that of the
+Highest--'Muhammed is His Prophet.' Perhaps, but he should not be named
+in the same breath with the Eternal. The Christians call him a 'false
+prophet,' but that he was not."
+
+"The Christians could rather...."
+
+"The Christians are misguided, and their doctrine is folly. They
+believe the Messiah has come, although the world is like a hell, and men
+resemble devils! And it ever gets worse...."
+
+Then the door was flung open, and on the threshold appeared a little
+man, emaciated as a skeleton, with burning eyes. He was clothed in rags,
+carried a cross in his hand, and bore a red cross-shaped sign on his
+shoulder.
+
+"Are you Christians?" he asked, "since you drink of the cup and eat the
+bread, as our Lord Jesus Christ did on the night of his betrayal?"
+
+"No," answered Eleazar, "we are of Israel."
+
+"Then you have eaten and drunk your own damnation, and misused the Holy
+Sacrament for purposes of witchcraft! Out with you!--down to the lake
+and be baptized, or you will die the death!"
+
+Then Eleazar turned to the Hermit, and cried "No! I and my house will
+serve the Lord, as we have done this holy evening according to the law
+of our fathers. We suffer for our sins, that is true, but you, godless,
+cursed man, pride not yourself on your power, for you have not yet
+escaped the judgment of Almighty God. I will give my life and shed my
+blood for the law of my fathers, but God's justice will punish you, as
+your pride has deserved."
+
+The Hermit had gone out to his followers. Those within the house closed
+the window-shutters and the door.
+
+There was a cry without: "Fire the house!"
+
+"Let us bless God, and die!" said Eleazar, and none of them hesitated.
+
+All fell on their knees. Eleazar spoke: "I know that my Redeemer liveth,
+and that He will stand at the latter day upon the earth. And when I am
+free from my flesh, I shall see God. Him shall I see and not another,
+and for that my soul and my heart cry out."
+
+The mother had taken the youngest son in her arms, as though she wished
+to protect him against the fire which now seized on the wall.
+
+Then Eleazar began the Song of the Three Children in the fire, and when
+they came to the words,
+
+    "O Thank the Lord, for He is good,
+    And His mercy endureth for ever."
+
+their voices were choked, and they ended their days like the Maccabees.
+
+On 16th July 1069, Peter the Hermit entered Jerusalem through the same
+Jaffa Gate before which he had sat as a beggar. When Godfrey of Bouillon
+became King of Jerusalem, Peter was appointed Governor. After he had
+seen his dream fulfilled, he returned to his own country, entered the
+convent Neufmoustier, near Lüttich, and remained there till his death.
+
+The Kingdom of Jerusalem soon came to an end. The Muhammedans
+re-occupied it, and remain there to this day.
+
+The remarkable thing about these predatory expeditions--the
+Crusades--was that they were led by the Normans, and were curiously like
+the raids of the Vikings. The indirect results of the Crusades are still
+treated of in students' essays, which generally close with the moral,
+"there is nothing evil which does not bring some good with it." Voltaire
+and Hume, on the other hand, regard the Crusades as the enterprises of
+lunatics. It is a difficult matter to decide!
+
+
+
+
+LAOCOON
+
+
+On the Esquiline Hill in Rome, on a spring day in 1506, Signor de
+Fredis was walking in his vineyard. The day before, his workmen had been
+digging a pit to seek water, but found none. Signer de Fredis stood by
+it, and asked himself whether it was not a pity that so much earth had
+been thrown out, and whether it could not be utilised in the vineyard.
+He felt about with his stick in the upper part of the pit to ascertain
+how deep the soil was. The stick sank in the earth up to its handle
+without meeting with any resistance.
+
+"There must be a hollow under the ground," he said to himself. He first
+thought of calling the workmen, but since it was better to make the
+discovery himself, he took a mattock and spade and set to work. By
+noon he had made a hole large enough to get through, but since it was
+pitch-black inside, he first went to fetch a lantern. Carrying this, he
+went down into the earth, and came into a vaulted room. He went through
+five rooms and found no treasures, but in the sixth he saw a sight that
+startled him.
+
+Two enormous snakes had enfolded in the coils a bearded man of heroic
+stature and his two boys.
+
+One snake had already bitten the man in the right side, and the other
+had bitten one of the boys in the left. The apparition was a statue
+of Pentelic marble, and might therefore possess as much value as a
+treasure. Signor de Fredis went at once to the Prefect of the City, who
+followed him in company with the Aedile and some learned antiquaries.
+The work of art was brought to the light, and inspected. Its subject was
+seen to be the Trojan priest Laocoon, against whom Apollo had sent
+two snakes because he had warned his countrymen against receiving
+the dangerous Greek gift of the Trojan horse, in which warriors lay
+concealed.
+
+It was not an edifying story, nor a comforting one, since it illustrated
+the sad lot of a prophet in this world. The Romans, however, did not
+think of that, but greeted the statue as a sign of the Renaissance, a
+memorial of the classical period, and an omen of better times to come.
+
+Pope Julius II bought the Laocoon for the Vatican, after Michael Angelo
+had declared it was the greatest work of art in the world, and Signor de
+Fredis received a pension for life. The excavation and cleaning of the
+statue took a considerable time. But when at last it was ready, it was
+decorated with flowers, and carried in procession though the streets of
+Rome, while all the church-bells rang for a whole hour.
+
+As the procession passed up the Via Flaminia, an Augustinian monk
+came down it from the northern gate of the city. In front of Hadrian's
+triumphal arch, he met the crowd carrying their beloved Laocoon. The
+monk did not immediately understand the matter. He thought, it is true,
+that the statue was that of a martyr, but could not think of any martyr
+who had died in a pit of snakes. He therefore turned to a citizen, and
+asked in Latin, "Which of the holy Church martyrs is it?"
+
+The citizen laughed as at a good jest, but did not think it necessary to
+answer.
+
+Now came the crowd singing about the Trojan horse, and jesting about
+priests. The fact that it was a priest on whom the snakes had fastened
+seemed to afford especial delight to the sceptical and priest-hating
+rabble.
+
+The Augustinian monk thought of his Virgil, when he heard the word Troy,
+and, as the statue came nearer, he could read the name Laocoon, the
+celebrated priest of Apollo. "Are the church-bells ringing for _that_?"
+he asked his neighbour again.
+
+The latter nodded.
+
+"Are the people mad?" he asked, and this time he received an answer:
+"No, they are wise; but you are somewhat stupid; probably you come from
+Germany."
+
+At the dawn of this day, the monk had seen the Holy City at sunrise,
+and had fallen on his knees in the high road to thank God for the great
+favour vouchsafed to him of at last treading the soil which had been
+hallowed by the footprints of Apostles and martyrs. But now he felt
+depressed, for he understood nothing of this heathenish business, and,
+wandering through the streets of the city, he tried to find the Scala
+Santa in the southern quarter, where all pilgrims first paid their
+devotions when they came to Rome.
+
+Here, in the square by the Lateran, Constantine's wife, Helena, had
+caused the staircase of Pilate's Palace to be erected, and it was
+customary to ascend it kneeling, and not in an erect attitude.
+
+The monk approached the holy spot with all the reverence with which his
+pious spirit inspired him. He hoped to feel the same ecstasy which he
+had felt before other sanctuaries and relics, for the Redeemer Himself
+had trodden these marble steps heavily as he went to His doom.
+
+The monk's astonishment was therefore great when he saw street-urchins
+playing on them with buttons and little stones, and he could hardly
+contain himself when young priests came running and sprang up the eight
+and twenty steps in a few bounds.
+
+He paid his devotions in the usual way, but without feeling the ecstasy
+which he had hoped for.
+
+Then he went into the Church of the Lateran and heard a mass. He had
+imagined that he would find a cathedral in the genuine Gothic style,
+something like that of Cologne, but he found a Basilica or Roman hall,
+where in heathen times a market had been held, and it looked very
+worldly.
+
+At the High Altar there stood two priests before the Epistle and the
+Gospel. However, they neither read nor sang; they only gossiped with
+each other, and pretended to turn the leaves; sometimes they laughed,
+and when it was over they went their way, without giving a blessing or
+making the sign of the cross.
+
+"Is this the Holy City?" he asked himself, and went out into the streets
+again.
+
+His business in Rome was to interview the Vicar-General of the
+Augustinians, about a matter which concerned his convent, but he first
+wished to look about him. As he went along he came to a little church
+on the outer wall. In the open space in front of it a pagan festival
+was being held: Bacchus was represented sitting on a barrel, scantily
+clothed nymphs rode on horses, and behind them were satyrs, fauns,
+Apollo, Mercury, Venus.
+
+The monk hastened into the church to escape the sight of the
+abomination. But in the sacred place he came upon another scandal.
+Before the altar stood an ass with an open book before it; below the
+ass stood a priest and read mass. Instead of answering "Amen," the
+congregation hee-hawed like asses, and everyone laughed.
+
+That was the classical "Asses' Festival," which had been forbidden in
+the previous century, but which, during the Carnival, had been again
+resumed. The monk did not understand where he was, but thought he was in
+the hell of the heathen; but it was still worse when a priest disguised
+as Bacchus, his face smeared with dregs of wine, entered the pulpit,
+and, taking a text from Boccaccio's _Decameron_, preached an indecent
+discourse, presently, with a skilful turn, going on to narrate a legend
+about St. Peter. It began in a poetical way, like other legends, but
+then made Peter come to an alehouse and cheat the innkeeper about the
+reckoning.
+
+The monk rushed out of the church, and through the streets till he
+reached the Convent of the Augustines which he sought. He rang, was
+admitted, and led into the refectory, where the Prior sat at a covered
+table surrounded by priests who were entertained in the convent in order
+to make their confessions, and to take the communion during the fast.
+Before them were pheasants, with truffles and hard-boiled eggs, salmon
+and oysters, eels and heads of wild boar--above all, quantities of wine
+in pitchers and glasses.
+
+"Sit down, little monk!" was the Prior's greeting. "You have a letter:
+good! Put it under the table-cloth. Eat, drink, and be merry, for
+tomorrow we die!"
+
+The monk sat down, but it was Friday, and he could not bring himself
+to eat flesh on that day. It pained him also to see the licence which
+prevailed here; still they were his superiors, and the rule of his order
+forbade him to reprove them.
+
+The Prior, who had just been speaking with some special guest, continued
+to talk volubly, although conversation was forbidden.
+
+"Yes, worthy friend, we have come as far as this now in Rome. This
+is Christ's Kingdom as it was announced at the first Christmas, 'One
+Shepherd, One Sheepfold.' The Holy Father rules over the whole Roman
+Empire as it was under Caesar and Augustus. But mark well! this empire
+is a spiritual one, and all these earthly princes lie at the feet of
+Christ's representative. This is the crown of all epochs of the world's
+history. 'One Shepherd, One Sheepfold!' Bibamus!"
+
+On the little platform, where formerly a reader used to read out of holy
+books while the meal was going on, some musicians now sat with flutes
+and lutes. They struck up an air, and the cups were emptied.
+
+"Now," continued the Prior to the monk, "you have come from far; what
+news have you brought?"
+
+"Anything new under the sun? Yes," answered a slightly inebriated
+prelate, "Christopher Columbus is dead, and buried in Valladolid. He
+died poor, as was to be expected."
+
+"Pride comes before a fall. He was not content with his honours, but
+wished to be Viceroy and to levy taxes."
+
+"Yes, but at any rate he got to India, to East India, after he had
+sailed westward. It is enough to make one crazy when one tries to
+understand it. Sailing west in order to go east!"
+
+"Yes, it is all mad, but the worst is that he has brought the cursed
+sickness, lues"--(here he whispered). "It has already attacked Cardinal
+John de Medici. You know he is said to be the Pope's successor."
+
+"As regards the Holy Father, our great Julius II, he is a valiant
+champion of the Lord, and now the world has seen what this basilisk-egg,
+France, has hatched. Fancy! they want to come now and divide our Italy
+among them! As if we did not have enough with the Germans."
+
+"The French in Naples! What the deuce have we to do with them?"
+
+The Prior now felt obliged to attend to his guest, the monk.
+
+"Eat, little monk," he said. "He who is weak, eateth herbs, and all
+flesh is grass, _ergo_...."
+
+"I never eat meat on Friday, the day on which our Lord Jesus Christ
+suffered and died!"
+
+"Then you are wrong! But you must not speak so loud, you understand,
+for if you sin, you must go in your room, and hold your mouth! Practise
+obedience and silence, the first virtues of our Order."
+
+The monk turned first red, then pale, and his cheekbones could be seen
+through his thin cheeks. But he kept silence, after he had taken a
+spoonful of salt in his mouth to help him to control his tongue.
+
+"He is a Maccabee," whispered the prelate.
+
+"Conventual disciple is decaying," continued the Prior, jocosely; "the
+young monks do not obey their superiors any more, but we must have a
+reformation! Drink, monk, and give me an answer!"
+
+"We must obey God rather than man," answered the monk. There was an
+embarrassed pause, and the prelate who had to communicate in the evening
+declined to drink any more. But this vexed the Prior, who felt the
+implied reproof.
+
+"You are from the country, my friend," he said to the monk, "and know
+not the time, nor the spirit of the time. You must have a licence for
+me--it must be paid for of course--and then the day is not dishonoured.
+Besides--_panis es et esto_. Here you have wine and bread--with butter
+on it. More wine, boy!"
+
+The monk rose to go; the Prior seemed to wake to recollection.
+
+"What is your name, monk?"
+
+"My name is Martin, Master of Philosophy, from Wittenberg."
+
+"Yes, yes, thank you. But don't go yet! Give me your letter." The monk
+handed over the letter, which the Prior opened and glanced through.
+
+"The Kurfürst of Saxony! Master Martin Luther, go if you wish to your
+chamber. Rest till the evening, then we will go together to the assembly
+at Chigi. There we shall meet elegant people like Cardinal John de
+Medici, great men like Raphael, and the Archangel Michael himself. Do
+you know Michael Angelo, who is building the new Church of St. Peter
+and painting the Sistine Chapel? No! then you will learn to know him.
+_Vale_, brother, and sleep well."
+
+Master Martin Luther went, sorely troubled, but resolved to see more of
+the state of affairs before judging too hastily.
+
+Cards were now brought out, and the Prior shuffled them.
+
+"That is an unpleasant fellow, whom the Kurfürst had sent to us. A
+hypocrite, who does not drink wine and crosses himself at the sight of a
+pheasant!"
+
+"There was an ill-omened look about the man."
+
+"He looked something like the Trojan horse, and Beelzebub only knows
+what he has in his belly."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Luther came into his lonely cell, he wept with a young man's
+boundless grief when reality contradicts his expectations, and he finds
+that all which he has learnt to prize is only contemptible and common.
+
+He was not, however, allowed to be alone long, for there was a knock at
+the door, and there entered a young Augustinian monk, who seemed, with a
+confidential air, to invite his acquaintance.
+
+"Brother Martin, you must not be solitary, but open your heart to
+sympathetic friends."
+
+He took Martin's hands. "Tell me," he said, "what troubles you, and I
+will answer you."
+
+Luther looked at the young monk, and saw that he was a swarthy Italian
+with glowing eyes. But he had been so long alone that he felt the
+necessity of speech.
+
+"What do you think," he said, "our Lord Christ would say if he now arose
+and came into the Holy City?"
+
+"He would rejoice that His churches, His three hundred and sixty-five
+churches, are built on the foundations of the heathen temples. You know
+that since Charles the Great dragged the great marble pillars to Aachen
+in order to build his cathedral, our Popes have also gone to work, and
+the heathen and their houses have been literally laid at the feet
+of Christ. That is grand and something to rejoice at! _Ecclesia
+Triumphans!_ Would not Christ rejoice at it? How well Innocent III has
+expressed the 'Idea' of the conquering Church, as Plato would call
+it. You know Plato--the Pope has just paid five thousand ducats for a
+manuscript of the _Timoeus_. Pope Innocent says: 'St Peter's successors
+have received from God the commission not only to rule the Church but
+the whole world. As God has set two great lights in the sky, he has
+also set up two great powers on earth, the Papacy, which is the higher
+because the care of souls is committed to it, and the Royal power which
+is the lower, and to which only the charge of the bodies of men is
+committed.' If you have any objection to make to that, brother, speak it
+out."
+
+"No, not against that, but against everything which I have seen and
+heard."
+
+"For example? Do you mean eating and drinking?"
+
+"Yes, that also."
+
+"How petty-minded you are! I speak of the highest things, and you talk
+about eating and drinking. Fie! Martin! you are a meat-rejector and
+a wine-eschewing Turk! But I accept your challenge. Our Lord Christ
+allowed His disciples to pluck ears of corn on the Sabbath; that was
+against the law of Moses, and was disapproved of by the Pharisees....
+You are a Pharisee. But now I will also remind you of what Paul writes
+to the Romans--the Romans among whom we count ourselves; perhaps as a
+German subject, you have not the right to do that. Well, Paul writes:
+'You look on the outside.'"
+
+"Pardon me, that is the Epistle to the Corinthians."
+
+"Oh, you look on the outside too. But Paul says further, 'All things are
+lawful to me, but all things are not profitable. All that is sold in
+the market-place, that eat and ask nothing for conscience' sake; for the
+earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof.' Those are clear words,
+and a Frenchman would call them liberal-minded. But you come here like
+a Pharisee, and wish to rebuke your superiors for trifles; and the
+ordinances of men are more to you than God's command. Fie! Martin!
+Remember your own words: 'We should obey God rather than men!' You
+conceited slave of the letter, you should read Paul."
+
+Luther was not yet so familiar with the Holy Scriptures as he afterwards
+became, for in the convent he had chiefly studied the Corpus Juris,
+Aristotle, Virgil, and the comedies of Plautus, and was somewhat
+depressed after his severe inward conflicts. Therefore he gave no
+answer, but chafed internally.
+
+"Have you any other question for me?" began the Augustinian again, with
+an affected air of sympathy which irritated Luther still more. "I can
+understand that our national customs have annoyed you as a--foreigner.
+Every country has its own customs, and we keep our Roman Carnival by
+making ridicule of the dead gods of the old heathen, if one can call
+them gods! I believe you do the same in Germany, though in a coarser
+way. You must put up with that. As regards the 'Festival of the Ass,'
+that had originally a beautiful significance, since the poor animal
+was honoured with the task of carrying our Saviour and His mother into
+Egypt. But, as you know, the common people drag everything that is great
+and beautiful into the dust. Can we help it? Can I do you any service?
+Do you want anything?"
+
+"Nothing; but I thank you!" Luther was again alone, and the fiends of
+doubt were again let loose upon him. The man was certainly right
+from his own point of view, and he had strengthened his assertions
+by arguments and by citations from Paul. But his point of view was
+false;--that was the matter. How, then, was one to alter one's point of
+view? That was only the effect of faith through grace, and therefore not
+the work of man.
+
+Then his introspective mind, which had been trained in the Aristotelian
+dialectic, began to examine his opponent's point of view. A merciful
+loving Heavenly Father might very well smile at the follies and
+weaknesses of His human children; why, then, should we not be able to do
+the same? Why should we be stricter than He? As long as we live in the
+flesh, we must think according to the flesh, but that does not prevent
+the spirit obtaining its due rights.
+
+Did not Paul himself say, "So then we hold that man is justified by
+faith without the deeds of the law"?
+
+Yes, but were these drunken and licentious ecclesiastics really
+believers? The Prior had blasphemed the Sacrament, and given the
+prelate a dispensation from hearing confession and celebrating mass in
+consideration of a fee. That was monstrous, heathenish, and a Satanic
+abomination. Certainly, but faith itself was a gift bestowed by grace,
+and if these men had not obtained grace they were guiltless. But they
+were hardened sinners! Paul again gave the answer to this: "The Lord
+receives whom He will, and whom He will He hardeneth." If God had
+hardened them, as He hardened Pharaoh's heart, then they were guiltless;
+and if so, why should we venture to judge and condemn them. A mill-wheel
+seemed to go round in his head, and he blamed Aristotle the heathen, who
+had seduced him in his youth, and taught him to split hairs about simple
+matters. He felt also that Paul could not help him, since such was his
+teaching. Feeling quite crushed, he knelt down again on his praying
+stool, and implored God to take him out of this world of lying deceit
+and uncertainty. In this world one was surrounded by darkness without
+being able to kindle a light; in this life one was driven to battle
+without having received weapons. So he prayed and struggled with himself
+till the evening.
+
+Then the Prior came and fetched him. "My son," he said, "my dear
+brother, you must not make a paramour of religion; you must not practise
+it as a daily task or a bad habit. You must live your life and regard it
+as a melody, while religion is a gentle accompaniment to it. Work is for
+every day, rest and festival for Sundays. But if you keep your Sabbath
+on the week-day you sin.... Come! now I will show you Rome!"
+
+Martin followed him, but unwillingly. The streets were illuminated, and
+the people were amusing themselves with dancing, music, and jugglers'
+feats.
+
+"You must know where we are going," said the Prior. "This Agostino Chigi
+is a banker, almost as rich as the House of Fugger in Augsburg, and he
+looks after the Pope's business affairs. Moreover, he is a Maecenas, who
+patronises the fine arts. His especial protégé is Raphael, who has just
+painted some beautiful large pictures in his villa, which we will now
+see."
+
+They reached the Tiber, followed the right bank, went over a bridge, and
+stood before a garden which was enclosed by marble pillars and a--gilded
+iron fence. It was now dark, and the garden was illuminated by lanterns
+which hung on the boughs of the orange-trees, and so lit up the ripe
+fruits that they gleamed like gold. 'White marble statues stood among
+the dark-leaved trees; fountains sent up jets of perfumed spray; among
+the shrubberies one saw ladies with their gallants; here a singer was
+accompanying himself on the lute; there a poet was reading his verses.
+
+In the midst of the park stood the villa which resembled that of
+Maecenas in the Sabine Hills or Cicero's Tusculum, and was adorned with
+statues' of heathen gods. The doors stood open, and there was a sound
+of music within. "People are not introduced to the host here," said the
+Prior, "for he does not like ceremony; therefore I leave you alone
+now, and you must find acquaintances for yourself; surprises are always
+pleasant."
+
+Luther found himself alone, and turned irresolutely to the right, where
+he saw a row of illuminated rooms. They were full of guests drinking and
+chatting, but no one noticed the poor monk, who could listen undisturbed
+to their conversation. In the first room a group had formed round a man
+who was distributing specimens of a printed book, the leaves of which
+people were eagerly turning.
+
+"Hylacompus? is that a pseudonym?" asked one of them.
+
+"He is a--printer called Waldseemüller in Saint-Dié."
+
+"_Cosmographies Introductio_--a description of the New World."
+
+"We shall at last get information about these fables of Columbus."
+
+"Columbus will not travel any more."
+
+"Columbus has travelled to--hell! Now it is Amerigo Vespucci's turn."
+
+"He is a Florentine and a fellow-countrymen."
+
+"Well, Columbus was a Genoese."
+
+"Look you! Rome rules the world, the known and the unknown alike! _Urbs
+est urbs!_ And nowadays you can meet all the nations of the world at
+the house of the Roman Chigi. I have, as a matter of fact, seen Turks,
+Mongols, Danes, and Russians here this evening."
+
+"I should like to see a Turk! I like the Turks especially, because they
+have blown that rotten Byzantium to pieces--Byzantium which dared to
+call itself the 'Eastern Rome.' Now there is only one Rome!"
+
+"Do you know that our Holy Father is treating with Sultan Bajazet
+regarding help against Venice."
+
+"Yes, but that is diabolical! We must at any rate act as though we were
+Christians."
+
+"Act--yes; for I am not a Christian, nor are you."
+
+"If one must have a religion, give me Islam! God is One! That is the
+whole of its theology; a prayer-mat is its whole liturgy."
+
+"You have to have a washing-basin besides."
+
+"And a harem."
+
+"Things are certainly in a bad way with our religion. If one reads its
+history, it is a history of the decay of Christianity. That has been
+continually going on for fifteen hundred years since the days of the
+Apostles; soon the process of degeneration must be complete."
+
+"And if one reads the history of the Papacy, it is the same."
+
+"No, hush!" said a fat Cardinal, "you must let the papal throne remain
+till I have sat in it."
+
+"After a Borgia, it would suit as well to have a Medici like you, and
+especially a son of Lorenzo the Magnificent."
+
+"Will not the cardinals dance?" asked one, who seemed to be Chigi
+himself.
+
+"Yes, after supper, in the pavilion, and behind closed doors," answered
+the Cardinal de Medici, "and after I have hung up the red hat."
+
+So much was clear to Luther from the foregoing conversation,--that
+he had seen and heard the representatives of the highest ranks of the
+priesthood, and that the stout man was John de Medici, the candidate for
+the papal chair.
+
+He went quickly through several other rooms where half-intoxicated women
+were coquetting with their paramours. At last he came into the great
+banqueting hall. There stood groups of ambassadors and pilgrims,
+representing all nations of the world. They were looking at the ceiling
+and admiring the paintings on it. Luther followed their example, while
+he listened to their remarks.
+
+"This is like looking at the sky; one has to lie on one's back."
+
+"I know nothing more beautiful than sunrise and the nude."
+
+"Raphael is indeed a divine painter."
+
+"What luck that Savonarola is burnt, else he would have burnt these
+paintings."
+
+At the mention of Savonarola's name the monk awoke from the state of
+aesthetic intoxication into which the pictures had brought him, and
+rushed out into the night. Savonarola, the last of the martyrs, who had
+sought to save Christendom and had been burnt! All were burnt who tried
+to serve Christ--by way of encouraging them.
+
+How could one expect people to believe in Christianity? What added to
+his trouble of mind was the fact that this painter who had the name
+of an angel, and looked like an angel, painted Jupiter and nude women!
+Nothing kept what it promised; all was dust and ashes. _Vanitas!_ But
+this heathenism which sprang from the earth, what was its object?
+
+Even the divine Dante had chosen a heathen Roman poet, Virgil, as his
+guide through Hell, and a beautiful maiden as his companion on the way
+to heaven. That was foolishness and blasphemy.
+
+The end of the world must be approaching, for Antichrist was come and
+ruled in Rome. But an Antichrist had always sat on the Papal throne,
+which was itself an evil, for Paul had taught that in Christ's Church we
+are all priests and should form a priesthood.
+
+So he reached his cell again, and recovered himself and his God in
+solitude.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The next morning he went out in order to see the Church of St. Peter
+and the Vatican, which had become the residence of the Popes after their
+return from Avignon. Since he did not know his way about the town, he
+happened to come into the Forum. There were several bodies of troops
+collected for review, and on a great black stallion sat an old man,
+armed from top to toe in steel. The troops passed in review before him,
+and he seemed to be the commander.
+
+"He looks like a Rabbi," said a citizen, "and he must be quite five and
+sixty now."
+
+"He seems to me to resemble the prophet Muhammed. And he began as a
+tradesman."
+
+"Yes, and he has bought the papal chair."
+
+"Well, let it go! But his summoning Charles VIII with the French to
+Naples was a betrayal of his country. Now he goes against Venice, and
+leads the troops himself."
+
+"And expects help from the Turks."
+
+"They ought not to play with the Turks, who are already in Hungary and
+mean to get to Vienna."
+
+"We have forgotten the Crusades, and tolerance is a fine quality."
+
+"Yes, the last thing they did was to undertake a crusade against the
+Christian Albigenses, while they tried to conciliate the Muhammedans in
+Sicily."
+
+"The world is a madhouse."
+
+This, then, was Pope Julius II, who had overcome the monster Alexander
+VI, and now led his army against Venice, His kingdom was quite obviously
+of this world, and Luther lost all desire for an audience with him.
+
+He went now to the Leonine quarter, where the new Church of St. Peter's
+was to be built in place of the one which had been pulled down. This, in
+its turn, was a successor of Nero's Circus, in which the first Christian
+martyrs had suffered. He found the site enclosed by a iron fence, but at
+the entrance stood two Dominican monks, and a civilian who looked like
+a clerk. Between them was a great iron chest, and the monks called aloud
+the scale of prices for the forgiveness of sins. All who entered, and
+wished to see the building, threw money to the clerk, who counted and
+entered it in his book. This functionary had been appointed by Hans
+Fugger, who farmed the sale of indulgences.
+
+Luther also wished to see the building, and without thinking put down
+some silver pieces. As a receipt, he received a piece of paper on which
+was written the formula of forgiveness for some trifling sins.
+
+When he had read the paper, he returned it to the clerk, and burst out,
+"I don't buy forgiveness of sins, but I gladly pay the entrance fee."
+
+He entered the site, but now noticed the dark-eyed Augustinian monk
+following him.
+
+"Are you dissatisfied, brother?" said the latter. "Do you think that the
+forgiveness of sins is bought? Who ever said so? Don't you know that
+the Civil Law exacts fines for certain trespasses? Why should not the
+Ecclesiastical Law do the same? Tell me any reason. What nonsense
+you talk? What is buying? You pay out money, and by doing so deprive
+yourself of certain enjoyments! Instead of buying wine and women, you
+give this money to the Church. Good! By doing so, you renounce the sin
+with which you would otherwise have polluted yourself."
+
+"Who taught you such arguments?"
+
+"We learn in the schools here to think, you see; we read Cicero and
+Aristotle."
+
+"Do you read the Bible also?"
+
+"Yes, certainly. The Epistle always lies beside the Gospel on the
+altar-desk."
+
+"Do you understand what you read?"
+
+"Now you are impolite, Martin, but you are also proud, and you must not
+be that. Look now at the new church. What we see is only the foundation,
+but we can go in the architect's cottage, and see the designs there."
+
+The designs were hung up in a little pavilion, and another fee was
+charged for entrance.
+
+"Now what does my critical brother say?"
+
+"That is simply a Roman bath-house," answered Luther after a glance.
+"Caracalla's Thermae, I should say."
+
+"It is a heathen building, then!"
+
+"Yes, if you like, but everything is heathenish here, although baptized.
+The heathen were not so stupid.... I won't see any more."
+
+"But look at those two great men there, before you go. The tall man with
+the patriarchal beard is Michael Angelo, and that slim youth with the
+long neck and feminine features is Raphael."
+
+"Is that Raphael?"
+
+"Yes; he looks like an angel, but is not so dangerous. He is a very good
+man; they talk of getting him married. He does not want to, however, for
+his eye is on a cardinal's hat, which they have promised him."
+
+"Cardinal's hat?"
+
+"Yes, he is spiritually-minded, although he paints worldly objects."
+
+"I remember, but I want to forget them."
+
+"Listen, Martin!" the monk interrupted him, with an insulting air of
+familiarity; "when you go away from here, and get home, don't forget
+to curb your tongue! Think of what I say: there are eyes and ears which
+follow you where you go, and when you least suspect it."
+
+"If the Lord is with me, what can men do against me?"
+
+"Are you sure that the Lord is with you? Do you know His ways and His
+will?--You only? Can you interpret His meaning when He speaks?"
+
+"Yes, I can; for I hear his voice in my conscience. Get thee hence,
+Satan, or I shall pray that heaven's lightning may smite thee! I came
+here as a believing child, but I shall depart as a believing man, for
+your questions have only evoked my silent answers which you have not
+heard, but which some day you will hear. You have killed Savonarola, but
+I am young and strong, and I shall live. Mark that!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Luther did not stay long in Rome, but he took the opportunity of
+learning Hebrew, and attended the lectures of the Jew Elia Levi ben
+Asher, surnamed Bachur or Elias Levita.
+
+There he met Cardinal Viterbo, the patron of the Jews, and many other
+celebrities, for Oriental languages were then in fashion after the Turks
+had established themselves in Constantinople.
+
+Luther enjoyed the friendship of the old Jew, for Elias was the only
+"Christian" whom he found in Rome. It was a pity, to be sure, that he
+lived under the Law, and was not acquainted with the Gospel, but he knew
+no better.
+
+
+
+
+THE INSTRUMENT
+
+
+In the year 1483, the same year in which Luther was born, Docter
+Coctier sat in his laboratory at Paris, and carried on a philosophical
+discussion with a chemical expert who was passing through the city.
+
+The laboratory was in the same building as his observatory, in the
+Marais quarter of the town, a site occupied to-day by the Place
+des Vosges. Not far away is the Bastille, the magnificent Hôtel de
+Saint-Pol, and the brilliant Des Tournelles, the residence of the
+Kings before the Louvre was built. Here Louis XI had given his private
+physician, chancellor, and doctor of all the sciences, Coctier, a house
+which lay in a labyrinth-like park called the Garden of Daedalus.
+The doctor was speaking, and the expert listened: "Yes, Plato in his
+_Timaeus_ calls gold one of the densest and finest substances which
+filters through stone. There is a metal derived from gold which is
+black, and that is iron. But a substance more akin to gold is copper,
+which is composed of shining congealed fluids, and one of whose minor
+constituents is green earth. Now I ask, 'Why cannot copper be freed from
+this last, and refined to gold?'"
+
+"Yes," answered the expert, "it can, if one uses atramentum or the
+philosopher's stone."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Atramentum is copperas."
+
+"Ventre-saint-gris! that is Plato's iron! Now I see! Who taught you
+that?"
+
+"I learnt it from the greatest living magician in Wittenberg. His name
+is Dr. Faustus, and he has studied magic in Krakau."
+
+"He is alive, then! Tell me! Tell me!"
+
+"This man, according to many witnesses, has done miracles like Christ;
+he has undertaken to restore the lost comedies of Plautus and Terence;
+his mind can soar on eagle's wings and discover secrets of the heights
+and depths."
+
+"Has he also found the elixir of life?"
+
+"Yes, since gold can be resolved into its elements."
+
+"If gold can be resolved, then it has constituents. What are they?"
+
+"Gold can be easily dissolved in oil of vitriol, salts of ammonia, and
+saltpetre."
+
+"What do you say?"
+
+The Doctor jumped up; the stove had heated the room and made him
+uncomfortable.
+
+"Let us go for a little walk," he said; "but I must first make a note
+of what you say, for, when I wish to remember something important, the
+devil makes confusion in my head. These, then, are means of dissolving
+gold--oil of vitriol, salts of ammonia, and saltpetre!"
+
+The expert, whose name was Balthasar, now first noticed that he had
+given his information without obtaining a receipt or any equivalent
+for it, and, since he was not one of the unselfish kind, he threw out a
+feeler.
+
+"How is our gracious King?"
+
+The question revealed his secret and his wish, and put Doctor Coctier on
+his guard. "Ah," he said to himself, "you have your eye on the King with
+your elixir of life." And then he added aloud, "He is quite well."
+
+"Oh! I had heard the opposite!"
+
+"Then they have lied."
+
+Then there was silence in the room, and the two men tried to read each
+other's thoughts. It was so terribly still that they felt their hatred
+germinate, and had already begun a fight to the death. Doctor Coctier's
+thoughts ran as follows: "You come with an elixir to lengthen the
+life of the monster who is our King; you wish thereby to make your own
+fortune and to bring trouble on me; and you know that he who has the
+King's life in his hands, has the power."
+
+Quick as lightning he had taken his resolve, coolly and cruelly, as the
+custom of the time was. He resumed the conversation, and said, "Now you
+must see my 'Daedalus' or labyrinth. Since the time of the Minotaur,
+there has been none like it."
+
+The labyrinth was a thicket threaded by secret passages, bordered by
+hornbeam-hedges, four ells high, and so dense that one did not notice
+the thin iron balustrade which ran along them. Artistically contrived
+and impenetrable, the labyrinth meandered in every direction. It seemed
+to be endlessly long, and was so arranged that its perspectives deceived
+the eye. It also contained secret doors and underground passages, and a
+visitor soon grew aware that it had not been constructed as a joke, but
+in deadly earnest. Only the King and Doctor Coctier possessed the key to
+this puzzle.
+
+When the two men had walked for a good time, admired statues and watched
+fountains play, Balthasar wished to sit upon a bench, whether it was
+that he was tired or suspected some mischief.
+
+But the Doctor prevented him: "No, not on _that_ seat," he said. They
+continued their walk. But now the Doctor quickened his steps, and, after
+a while, his guest felt again weary and confused in his head from the
+perpetual turning round. Therefore he threw himself on the first seat
+which he saw, and drew a deep breath.
+
+"You run the life out of me, Doctor," he said.
+
+"No, you are not so short-lived," answered the Doctor; "I see a long
+line of life on your forehead, and the bar between your eyes shows that
+you were born under the planet Jupiter. Besides, you possess the elixir
+of life, and can prolong your existence as much as you like, can't you?"
+
+The expert noticed a cruel smile on the Doctor's face, and, feeling
+himself in danger, tried to spring up, but the arms of the chair had
+closed around him, and he was held fast. The next moment Doctor Coctier
+seemed to be seeking for something in the sand with his left foot, and,
+when he had found it, he pressed with all his weight on the invisible
+object.
+
+"Farewell, young man," he said; "loquacious, conceited young man, who
+wanted to lord it over Doctor Coctier. Now I will settle the King for
+you."
+
+The seat disappeared in the earth with the expert. It was an
+oubliette--a pit with a trap-door, which drew the veil of oblivion over
+the man who had vanished.
+
+When he had finished the affair, the Doctor sought to leave the
+labyrinth, but could not find the way at once, for he was deep in
+thought, and kept on repeating the formula for the elixir which he had
+just learnt, to impress it on his mind, in case the recipe should be
+lost--"oil of vitriol, salts of ammonia, saltpetre." Suddenly he found
+himself in a round space where many paths converged, and to his great
+astonishment saw a body lying on the ground. It looked like that of a
+large brown watchdog, but limp and lifeless.
+
+"It is not the first who has been caught in this crab-pot," he thought,
+and came nearer. But as the brown mass moved, he saw that it was a man
+with torn clothes and a shabby fur cap.
+
+It was the King--Louis XI in the last year of his life.
+
+"Sire, in the name of all the saints, what is the matter with you?"
+exclaimed the Doctor.
+
+"Wretch!" answered the King, "why do you construct such traps that one
+cannot find the way out of them?"
+
+Now it was Louis himself who, in his youth, had constructed the maze,
+but the Doctor could not venture to tell him so. Therefore he spoke
+soothingly.
+
+"Sire, you are ill. Why do you not remain in Tours? How have you come
+here?"
+
+"I cannot sleep, and I cannot eat. The last few days I have passed in
+Vincennes, in Saint-Pol, in the Louvre, but I find peace nowhere. At
+last I came here, in order to be safe in the place which only you and I
+know; I came yesterday morning, and would have stayed longer, but I was
+hungry, and when I wanted to get out, I could not find the way. I have
+been here, freezing, last night. Take me away; I am ill; feel my pulse,
+and see whether it is not the quartan ague." The Doctor tried to feel
+his pulse, but did so with difficulty for it was hardly beating at all;
+but he dared not tell the King so.
+
+"Your pulse is regular and strong, sire; let us get home!"
+
+"I will eat at your house; you only can prepare food properly; all
+the rest spoil it with their everlasting condiments; they spice all
+my dishes, and the spices are bad. Jacob, help me to get away from
+here--help me. Did you see the star last night? Is there anything new
+in the sky? There is certain a comet approaching. I feel it before it
+comes."
+
+"No, sire; no comet is approaching...."
+
+"Do you answer impertinently? Then you believe I am sick--perhaps
+incurably."
+
+"No, sire, you are healthier than ever; but follow me--I will make you a
+bed, and prepare you a meal."
+
+The King rose and followed the Doctor. The latter, however, wished the
+monarch to go before him but the King mistrusted his only last friend,
+who certainly did not love him, and would have gladly seen him dead.
+
+"Beware of the seats, sire," he cried. "Do not go too near to the hedge;
+keep in the middle of the path."
+
+"Your seats themselves should.... Forgive me my sins." He crossed
+himself.
+
+When they came out of the labyrinth, the King fell in a rage at the
+recollection of what he had suffered, and, instead of being grateful
+towards his rescuer, he burst into abuse: "How could you let me go
+astray in your garden, and let me sleep on the bare ground in the open
+air? You are an ass." They entered the laboratory, where it was warm,
+and the King, who was observant, noticed at once the recipe which the
+Doctor had left there.
+
+"What are you doing behind my back? What recipe have you been writing?
+Is it poison or medicine? Oil of vitriol is poison, salts of ammonia are
+only for dysentery, saltpetre produces scurvy. For whom have you made
+this mixture?"
+
+"It is for the gardener's cow, which has calved," answered the Doctor,
+who certainly did not wish to prolong the tyrant's life.
+
+The King laid down on a sofa. "Jacob," he said, "you must not go away; I
+will not eat, but I will sleep, and you must sit here by me. I have had
+to sleep for eight nights. But put out the fire; it hurts my eyes. Don't
+let down the blinds; I want to see the sun; otherwise I cannot sleep."
+
+He seemed to fall asleep, but it was only a momentary nap. Then he grew
+wide awake again, and sat up in bed.
+
+"Why do you keep starlings in your garden, Jacob?"
+
+"I have no starlings," answered the Doctor impatiently, "but if you have
+heard them whistling, sire, they must be there with your permission."
+
+"Don't you hear them, then?"
+
+"No! but what are they singing?"
+
+"Yes, you know! After the shameful treaty of Peronne, when I had to
+yield to Charles of Burgundy, the Parisians taught their starlings to
+cry 'Peronne!' Do you know what they are saying now?"
+
+The Doctor lost patience, for he had heard these old stories thousands
+of times: "They are not saying 'Guienne,' are they?" he asked.
+
+There was an ugly reference to fratricide in the question, for the King
+was suspected of having murdered his brother, the Duke of Guienne. He
+started from the sofa in a pugnacious attitude. "What! You believe in
+this fable? But I have never committed murder, though I would certainly
+like to murder you...."
+
+"Better leave it alone!" answered the Doctor cynically; "you know what
+the starshave said--eight days after my death, follows yours."
+
+The King had an attack of cramp, for he believed this fable, which
+Coctier had invented to protect his own life. But when he recovered
+consciousness, he continued to wander in his talk.
+
+"They also say that I murdered my father, but that is a lie. He starved
+himself to death for fear of being poisoned."
+
+"Of being poisoned by you! You are a fine fellow! But your hour will
+soon come."
+
+"Hush!... I remember every thing now. My father was a noodle who let
+France be overrun by the English, and when the Maid of Orleans saved
+him, gave her up to the English. I hate my father who was false to my
+mother with Agnes Sorel, and had his legitimate children brought up by
+his paramour. When he left the kingdom to itself, I and the nobles
+took it in hand. That you call 'revolt,' but I have never stirred up a
+revolt! That is a lie."
+
+"Listen!" the Doctor broke in; "if you wish to confess, send for your
+father confessor."
+
+"I am not confessing to you; I am defending myself."
+
+"Who is accusing you, then? Your own bad conscience."
+
+"I have no bad conscience, but I am accused unjustly."
+
+"Who is accusing you? The starling?"
+
+"My wife and children accuse me, and don't wish to see me."
+
+"No; if you have sent them to Amboise, they cannot see you, and, as a
+matter of fact, they do not wish to."
+
+"To think that I, the son of King Charles VII, must hear this sort
+of thing from a quack doctor! I have always liked people of low rank;
+Olivier the barber was my friend."
+
+"And the executioner Tristan was your godfather."
+
+"He was provost-marshal, you dog!"
+
+"The tailor became a herald."
+
+"And the quack doctor a chancellor! Put that to my account and praise
+me, ingrate! for having protected you from the nobles, and for only
+having regard to merit."
+
+"That is certainly a redeeming feature."
+
+Just then a man appeared in the doorway with his cap in his hand.
+
+"Who is there?" cried the King. "Is it a murderer?"
+
+"No, it is only the gardener," the man answered.
+
+"Ha! ha! gardener!--your cow has calved, hasn't she?"
+
+"I possess no cow, sire, nor have I ever had one."
+
+The King was beside himself, and flew at Coctier's throat.
+
+"You have lied to me, scoundrel; it is not medicine you were preparing,
+but poison."
+
+The gardener disappeared. "If I wished to do what I should," said
+Coctier, "I would treat you like Charles the Bold did when you cheated
+him."
+
+"What did he do? What do people say that he did?"
+
+"People say that he beat you with a stick."
+
+The King was ashamed, went to bed again, and hid his face in the
+pillow. The Doctor considered this a favourable moment for preferring a
+long-denied request.
+
+"Will you now liberate the Milanese?" he asked.
+
+"No."
+
+"But he cannot sit any more in his iron cage!"
+
+"Then let him stand!"
+
+"Don't you know that when one has to die, one good deed atones for a
+thousand crimes?"
+
+"I will not die!"
+
+"Yes, sire, you will die soon."
+
+"After you!"
+
+"No, before me."
+
+"That is also a lie of yours."
+
+"All have lied to you, liar. And your four thousand victims whom you
+have had executed...."
+
+"They were not victims; they were criminals."
+
+"Those four thousand slaughtered will witness it the judgment seat
+against you."
+
+"Lengthen my life; then I will reform myself."
+
+"Liberate the Milanese."
+
+"Never!"
+
+"Then go to perdition--and quickly. Your pulse is so feeble that your
+hours are numbered."
+
+The King jumped up, fell on his knees before the physician, and prayed,
+"Lengthen my life."
+
+"No! I should like to abbreviate it, were you not the anointed of the
+Lord. You ought to have rat-poison."
+
+"Mercy! I confess that I have acted from bad motives; that I have only
+thought of myself; that I have never loved the people, but used them
+in order to put down the nobles; I grant that I made agreements and
+treaties with the deliberate purpose of breaking them; that I ... Yes,
+I am a poor sinful man, and my name will be forgotten; all that I have
+done will be obliterated...."
+
+A stranger now appeared in the open door. It was a young man in the garb
+of the Minorites.
+
+"Murderer!" screamed the King, and sprang up.
+
+"No," answered the monk, "I am he whom you called Vincent of Paula."
+
+"My deliverer! say a word--a single word of comfort."
+
+"Sire," answered Vincent, "I have heard your confession, and will give
+you absolution in virtue of my office."
+
+"Speak."
+
+"Very well. Your motives were not pure, as you yourself confess, but
+your work will not perish, for He who guides the destinies of men and
+nations uses all and each for His purposes. Not long ago it was a pure
+virgin who saved France; now it is not quite so blameless a man. But
+your work, sire, was in its result of greater importance than that
+of the Maid, for you have completed what the Roman Caesar began. The
+hundred-year war with England is over, the Armagnacs and Burgundians
+quarrel no more, the Jacquerie war has ceased, and the peasants have
+returned to their ploughs. You have united eleven provinces, France has
+become one land, one people, and will now take the place of Rome, which
+will disappear and be forgotten for centuries, perhaps some day to rise
+again. France will guide the destinies of Europe, and be great among the
+crowned heads, so long as it does not aim at empire like the Rome of the
+Caesars, for then it will be all over with it. Thank God that you have
+been able to be of service, though in ignorance of the will and purposes
+of your Lord, when you thought you were only going your own way!"
+
+"Montjoie Saint Denis!" exclaimed the King. "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy
+servant depart in peace."
+
+"But not here," broke in the Doctor, who was tired of the whole
+business. "Travel back to Tours, take the priest with you, and leave me
+in peace!"
+
+The King returned to Plessis-les-Tours, where he ended his days after
+severe sufferings. He did not obtain peace, but he did obtain death.
+
+"Now the rod is thrown into the fire," said Doctor Coctier, "let
+it burn; the children have grown up, and can look after themselves.
+Executioners also have their uses, as Tristan L'Ermite and his master
+Louis XI know. Peace be with them."
+
+
+
+
+OLD MERRY ENGLAND
+
+
+Cardinal Wolsey's oared galley pushed off from the Tower Bridge, below
+the iron gateway. It gleamed with red and gold; flags and sails flapped
+lazily in a gentle breeze. The Cardinal sat on the stern-deck surrounded
+by his little court; most of his attendants he had left at home in
+York Palace, later known as Whitehall. His face was red both from the
+reflection of his red dress as from the wine which he had been drinking
+at noon with King Henry VIII in the Tower, and also from the new French
+sickness, which was very fashionable, as everything French was.
+
+He was in a cheerful mood, for he had just received fresh proofs of the
+King's favour.
+
+At his side stood the King's secretary, Thomas Cromwell. Both were
+parvenus. Wolsey was the son of a butcher, Cromwell the son of a smith,
+and that was probably one of the causes of their friendship, although
+the Cardinal was by twenty years the elder of the two.
+
+"This is a happy day," said Wolsey joyfully, and cast a glance up at the
+Tower, which was still a royal residence, though it was soon to cease to
+be one. "I have obtained the head of Buckingham, that fool who believed
+he had a right of succession to the crown."
+
+"Who has the right of succession," asked Cromwell, "since there is no
+male heir, and none is expected?"
+
+"I will soon see to that! Katherine of Aragon is weak and old, but the
+King is young and strong."
+
+"Remember Buckingham," said Cromwell; "it is dangerous to meddle with
+the succession to the throne."
+
+"Nonsense! I have guided England's destiny hitherto, and will guide it
+further."
+
+Cromwell saw that it was time to change the topic.
+
+"It is a good thing that the King is leaving the Tower. It must
+be depressing for him to have only a wall between himself and the
+prisoners, and to see the scaffold from his windows."
+
+"Don't talk against our Tower! It is a Biblia Pauperum, an illustrated
+English History comprising the Romans, King Alfred, William the
+Conqueror, and the Wars of the Roses. I was fourteen years old when
+England found its completion at the battle of Bosworth, and the thirty
+years' War of the Roses came to an end with the marriage between York
+and Lancaster...."
+
+"My father used to talk of the hundred years' war with France, which
+ended in the same year in which Constantinople was taken by the
+Turks--_i.e._ 1453."
+
+"Yes, all countries are baptized in blood; that is the sacrament of
+circumcision, and see what fertility follows this manuring with blood!
+You don't know that apple-trees bear most fruit after a blood-bath."
+
+"Yes I do; my father always used to bury offal from butchers' shops at
+the root of fruit-trees."
+
+Here he stopped and coloured, for he had made a slip with his tongue. In
+the Cardinal's presence no one dared to speak of slaughter or the
+like, for he was hated by the people, and often called "The Butcher."
+Cromwell, however, was above suspicion, and the Cardinal did not take
+his remark ill, but saved the situation.
+
+"Moreover," he continued, "my present was well received by the King;
+Hampton Court is also a treasure, and has the advantage of being near
+Richmond and Windsor, but can naturally not bear comparison with York
+Place."
+
+The galley was rowed up the river, on whose banks stood the most stately
+edifices which existed at the time. They passed by customhouses and
+warehouses, fishmarkets, and fishers' landing-places; the pinnacles
+of the Guildhall or Council House; the Convent of Blackfriars, the old
+Church of St. Paul's; the Temple, formerly inhabited by the Templars,
+now a court of justice; the Hospital of St. James, subsequently
+appropriated by Henry VIII and made a palace. Finally they reached York
+Place (Whitehall) by Westminster, where Wolsey, the Cardinal and Papal
+Legate, Archbishop of York and Keeper of the Great Seal, dwelt with his
+court, comprising about eight hundred persons, including court ladies.
+
+Then they disembarked after conversing on ordinary topics; for the
+Cardinal preferred discussing trifles when he had great schemes in hand,
+and that which occupied him especially just now was his candidature for
+the papacy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sir Thomas More, the King's Treasurer and Privy Councillor, sat in his
+garden at Chelsea above Westminster. He was correcting proofs, for he
+was a great scholar, and wrote on all the controversial questions of the
+day, religious and political, though he was essentially a man of peace,
+living in this suburb an idyllic life with his family.
+
+He wore his best attire, although in the house and at work. He also
+showed signs of disquietude, looking now and then towards the door,
+for at an early hour of the day no one less than the King had sent an
+intimation of his intention to pay him a visit. He knew from experience
+how dangerous it was to be on intimate terms with the King and to share
+his secrets. His sovereign had the bad habit of asking for advice which
+he did not follow, and of imparting secrets the knowledge of which often
+cost his confidants their heads. The most dangerous thing of all was to
+undertake to act as intermediary between Henry and anyone else, for then
+one fell between two millstones.
+
+With a mind prepared for the worst, More tried to quiet himself by
+reading his proofs, but his efforts were vain. He rose and began to walk
+up and down the garden path, went over in his mind all possible causes
+of the King's coming, rehearsed answers to objections, refutations of
+arguments, and ways of modifying the King's too strong views without
+causing offence.
+
+Henry was certainly a learned man, who had a respect for knowledge,
+but he had a savage nature which he tried to tame with the scourge of
+religion, though without success.
+
+The clank of armour and tramp of horses was now audible, and the
+Treasurer hastened, cap in hand, to the garden gate.
+
+The King had already dismounted from his horse, and hastened towards his
+friend, carrying a portfolio in his hand.
+
+"Thomas," he said without any preface, "take and read! He has answered
+me! Who? Luther, of course! He--the man whose mind reeks like carrion,
+and whose practices are damnable--has answered my book, _The Babylonish
+Captivity_. Take and read what he says, and tell me if you have ever
+seen anything like it."
+
+He gave the Treasurer a printed pamphlet. "And then this devil of a liar
+says I have not written my book myself. Take and read it, and give me
+your advice."
+
+More began to read Luther's answer to Henry's attack. He read it to
+himself, and often found it hard to remain serious, although the King
+kept his eyes fixed on his face in order to read his thoughts.
+
+Among other things, Luther had written: "It matters nothing to me
+whether King Heinz or Kunz, the Devil or Hell itself, has composed this
+book. He who lies is a liar--therefore I fear him not. It seems to me
+that King Henry has provided an ell or two of coarse stuff for this
+mantle, and that the poisonous fellow Leus (Leo X), who wrote against
+Erasmus, or someone of his sort, has cut and lined the hood. But I will
+help them--please God--by ironing it and attaching bells to it."
+
+More felt that he must say something or lose his head, so he said: "That
+is monstrous! That is quite monstrous!"
+
+"Go on!" exclaimed Henry.
+
+After saying that he postponed the discussion of the other six
+sacraments, Luther added: "I am busy in translating the Bible into
+German, and cannot stir up Heinz's dirt any more."
+
+The Treasurer was nearly choking with suppressed laughter, but he felt
+the sword suspended over his head, and continued: "But I will give the
+poisonous liar and blasphemer, King Heinz, once for all, a complete
+answer, and stop his mouth.... Therefore he thinks to hang on to the
+Pope and play the hypocrite before him.... Therefore they mutually
+caress and tickle each other like a pair of mule's ears...."
+
+"No, sire," More broke off, "I cannot go on; it is high treason to read
+it."
+
+"I will read," said the King, and took the pamphlet from him:
+
+"'I conquer and defy Papists, Thomists, Henrys, Sophists, and all the
+swine of hell!' He calls us swine!"
+
+"He is a madman who ought to be beaten to death with iron bars or hunted
+in a forest with bloodhounds."
+
+"Yes, he ought! But imagine!--this scoundrel gives himself out for a
+prophet and servant of Christ. And he has married a nun. That is incest!
+But he has been punished for it. The Kurfürst of Saxony has abandoned
+him, and none of his so-called friends went to the wedding...."
+
+"What is his object? What is his new teaching? Justification through
+faith. If one only believes, one may live like a swine!"
+
+"And his doctrine about the Communion. The Church says the Elements are
+changed by consecration, but this materialist says they actually _are_
+Christ's Body and Blood. Then the corn in the field and the grapes in
+the vineyard are already Christ's Body and Blood! He is an ass! And the
+world is mad."
+
+"And the consequence,--sin with impunity! Sire, allow me to read some
+lines, which I have written as an answer, not to these but to his other
+follies--only some lines which I hope to add to."
+
+"Read! I listen when you speak, for I have learnt to listen, and,
+through that, I know something."
+
+The King sat down astride on a chair, as though he would ride against
+his formidable foe.
+
+"Honourable brother," read More, "father, drinker runaway from the
+Augustinian Order, clumsy tipsy reveller of the worldly and spiritual
+kingdoms, ignorant teacher of sacred theology."
+
+"Good, Thomas; he knows no theology!"
+
+"And this is the way he composed his book against King Henry, the
+Defender of Our Faith: he collected his stable-companions, and
+commissioned them to collect all manner of abuse and bad language, each
+in his own department. One of them among carters and boatmen; another
+in baths and gaming-houses; a third in barbers' shops and restaurants;
+a fourth in mills and brothels. They wrote down in their note-books
+the most daring, dirtiest, and vulgarest expressions which they heard,
+brought home all that was coarse and nasty, and emptied it into a
+disgusting drain, called Luther's soul."
+
+"Good! Very good! But what shall we do now?"
+
+"Burn the rubbish, sire, and make an end of the matter."
+
+"Yes, I will have his heresies burnt to-morrow at St. Paul's Cross in
+the City."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the great library of the Temple sat the King and Cardinal Wolsey,
+examining collections of laws and precedents. Outside in the garden the
+Queen was walking with some of the court ladies. This garden--really
+a large rose-garden--had been preserved as a promenade for the royal
+personages who could not sleep in the Tower, because it was haunted, and
+did not retain their health in the insignificant Bride-well in the City;
+it was also preserved as a place of historical interest, for here the
+adherents of Lancaster and York were said to have plucked the red and
+white roses as their respective badges.
+
+Queen Katherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the
+patrons of Christopher Columbus, had now, after twenty years' marriage
+with Henry VIII, reached a certain age. She had borne him several sons,
+but all had died: only one, a daughter, lived, known later on as Queen,
+under the title "Bloody Mary." Katherine had aged early, and sought
+comfort in religion; she used to rise at night and attend mass in the
+garb of a Franciscan nun. She knew of the King's unfaithfulness, but
+accepted it quietly; she had heard the name of Elizabeth Blunt, but
+ignored it.
+
+Now she sat on a seat, and watched her young attendants playing, while
+she turned over the pages of her prayer book. One pair especially her
+eyes followed with pleasure--the uncommonly beautiful Anna of Norfolk
+and young Henry Algernon Percy of Northumberland, Hotspur's descendant.
+The pair were playing with roses; the youth had an armful of white and
+the girl an armful of red roses, which they threw at each other, singing
+as they lid so.
+
+It was a beautiful sight, but the Queen became sad: "Don't play like
+that, children," she said; "it awakens memories which ought to sleep in
+the Tower, where Only the dead can sleep quietly. Besides, the King, and
+consequently the Cardinal, will be vexed; they sit there in the library.
+Play something else!"
+
+The two young people seemed not to understand. Accordingly the Queen
+continued: "The Wars of the Roses, children, did not end altogether at
+Bosworth but--in the Tower happened much that is best forgotten. Take a
+book and read something."
+
+"We have been reading all the morning," answered Anne surnamed Boleyn or
+Bullen.
+
+"What are you reading then?
+
+"Chaucer."
+
+"_The Canterbury Tales_? Those are not for children: Chaucer was a
+jester. You had better take my book. It has beautiful pictures." The
+young Percy took the little breviary, and, going down the path as though
+they sought the shade, they both quietly disappeared from the Queen's
+eyes.
+
+But from the library four eyes had followed them, those of the King and
+the Cardinal, while they turned over the folios.
+
+The King was uneasy, and spoke more for the sake of speaking than
+because he had something to say, and so did the Cardinal.
+
+"You ought to aim at the Papacy, Cardinal, as Hadrian's successor."
+
+"Yes, so they say."
+
+"What about the votes?"
+
+"They are controlled by the Emperor Charles V and King Francis I."
+
+"How can one bring such a discordant pair into harmony?"
+
+"That is just what requires diplomatic skill, sire."
+
+"You cannot stand on good terms with both."
+
+"Who knows? The Emperor has taken Rome, and placed the Pope in the
+Castle of St. Angelo ... that was a droll stroke! Then the soldiers in
+jest, under the windows of the Castle, called out for Martin Luther as
+Pope."
+
+"Name not his cursed name," growled the King, but more in anger at what
+he saw in the rose-garden than at the mention of Luther.
+
+The Cardinal understood him. "I do not like a union between
+Northumberland and Norfolk," he said.
+
+"What do you say?" asked the King. He was angry that Wolsey had read his
+thoughts, but did not wish to betray himself.
+
+"Anne is really too good for a Percy, and I find it improper of the
+Queen to act as a match-maker, and let them go alone in the shrubbery.
+No, that must have an end!"
+
+"Sire, it is already at an end; I have written to Anne's father to call
+her home to Hever."
+
+"You did well in that, by heaven! Two such families, who both aim at the
+succession, ought not to unite."
+
+"Who is there that does _not_ aim at the throne? Just now it was
+Buckingham, now it is Northumberland, and only because there is no
+proper heir. Sire, you must consider the country, and your people, and
+name a successor."
+
+"No! I will not have anyone waiting for my decease."
+
+"Then we shall have the Wars of the Roses again, which cost England a
+million men and eighty of our noblest families."
+
+The King smiled. "Our noblest!" Then he rose and stepped to the window:
+"I must now accompany the Queen home," he said. "She has gone to sleep
+outside, and this damp is not good for her in her weak condition."
+
+"At her Majesty's age one must be very careful," replied the Cardinal.
+He emphasized the word _age_, for Katherine was forty, and gave no more
+hopes of an heir to the throne. Her daughter Mary might certainly be
+married, but one did not know to whom.
+
+"Sire," he continued, "do not be angry, but I have just now opened the
+Holy Scripture.... It may be an accident--will you listen?"
+
+"Speak."
+
+"In the third Book of Moses, the twentieth and twenty-first chapters, I
+read the following--but you will not be angry with your servant?"
+
+"Read."
+
+"These are the Lord's solemn words: 'If any man take his brother's wife,
+it is evil; they shall be childless.'"
+
+The King was excited, and approached the Cardinal.
+
+"Is that there? Yes, truly! God has punished me by taking my sons one
+after the other. What a wonderful book, in which everything is written!
+That is the reason then! But what says Thomas Aquinas, the 'Angel' of
+the Schoolmen?"
+
+"Yes, sire, if you wish the matter elucidated, we must consult the
+learned."
+
+"Let us do so,--but quietly and cautiously. The Queen is blameless, and
+nothing evil must happen to her. Quietly and cautiously, Wolsey! But I
+must know the truth."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a room near the "Bloody Tower," the Cardinal and More were carrying
+on a lively conversation.
+
+"What is happening now in Germany?" asked the Cardinal.
+
+"While Luther was in the Wartburg, his pupil Karlstadt came to
+Wittenberg, and turned everything upside down. Citing the prohibition
+of images in the Old Testament, he stirred up students and the rabble to
+attack the churches and throw all sacred objects outside."
+
+"That's the result of the Bible! To give it into the hands of the
+unlearned means letting hell loose."
+
+"Then...."
+
+"What did Luther say to that?"
+
+"He hurried down from the Wartburg and denounced Karlstadt and his
+followers, but I cannot say that he confuted them. A councillor quoted
+the book of Moses, 'Thou shalt not make to thee any image nor likeness.'
+And a shoemaker answered, 'I have often taken off my hat before images
+in a room or in the street; but that is idolatry, and robs God of the
+glory which belongs to Him alone.'"
+
+"What did Luther say?"
+
+"That then, on account of occasional misuse, one must kill all the
+women, and pour all the wine into the streets."
+
+"That was a stupid saying; but that is the result of disputing with
+shoemakers. Besides, it is degrading to compare women to wine! He is a
+coarse fellow who sets his wife on the same level with a beer-barrel."
+
+"Logic is not his strong point, and his comparisons halt on crutches. In
+his answer to the Pope's excommunication, he writes, among other things:
+'If a hay-cart must move out of the way of a drunken man, how much more
+must Peter and Jesus Christ keep out of the way of the Pope?'"
+
+"That is a pretty simile! Let us return to James Bainham."
+
+"But let me tell you a little more about the fanatics in Germany.
+Besides Karlstadt and his followers, other enthusiasts, quoting the
+Bible and Luther, have had themselves rebaptized; their leader has taken
+ten wives, supporting his action by the example of David, Solomon, and
+even Abraham."
+
+"The Bible again!--Call in Bainham, and then we will hear how the matter
+stands! He was a lawyer in the Temple, you say, and has been spreading
+Luther's teaching. Have we not had enough of Wycliffe and the
+Lollards? Must we have the same thing again, grunted out by this German
+plagiariser?"
+
+"I am not an intolerant man," said More, "but a State must be
+homogeneous, or it will fall to pieces. Ignoramuses and lunatics must
+not come forward and sniff at the State religion, be it better or
+worse."
+
+"Let Bainham come, and we will hear him."
+
+More went to a door which was guarded on the outside by soldiers, and
+gave an order.
+
+"You examine him, and I will listen," said the Cardinal.
+
+After a time Bainham was brought into the room in chains.
+
+More sat at the end of a table, and commenced.
+
+"James Bainham, can you declare your belief in a few words?"
+
+"I believe in God's Word--_i.e._ the whole of Holy Scripture."
+
+"Do you really--in the Old as well as the New Testament?"
+
+"In both."
+
+"In the Old also?"
+
+"In both."
+
+"Very well, then, you believe in the Old Testament. Now, you have had
+yourself baptized again, for the Bible says, 'Go, and teach all nations
+and baptize them.' Good. But have you had yourself circumcised, as the
+Bible commands?"
+
+Bainham looked confounded, and the Cardinal had to turn his head, in
+order not to smile.
+
+"I am not an Israelite," answered Bainham.
+
+"No! but Nathanael, who sought our Saviour and believed on him, was
+called by John 'an Israelite indeed.' If you are not an 'Israelite
+indeed,' you are not a Christian."
+
+"I cannot answer that."
+
+"No, you cannot answer, but you can preach and talk rubbish. Are you a
+Lutheran?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But Luther is against the Anabaptists; therefore he is against you, and
+he has asked the princes to kill the Anabaptists like wild dogs. Are you
+still a Lutheran?"
+
+"Yes, according to his early teaching."
+
+"You mean justification by faith. What do you believe?"
+
+"I believe in God the Father...."
+
+"Who is the Father? In Luther's catechism it is written, 'Thou shalt
+have none other Gods but me.' But that is the Law of Moses, and it is
+Jehovah who is intended there. If you believe in Jehovah, then you are a
+Jew, are you not?"
+
+"I believe also on Christ the Son of God."
+
+"Then you are a Jew-Christian! So you have admitted that you are a
+Lutheran, Anabaptist, Jew, and Christian--all this together. You are a
+fool, and you don't know what you are. But that may be passed over, if
+you do not seduce others."
+
+"Give him a flogging," said the Cardinal, who did not like the turn the
+conversation had taken, especially the challenging of the Bible, which
+just now he wished to use for his own purposes.
+
+"He has already had that," answered More, "but besides his doctrine,
+this conceited man, who wants to make himself popular, belongs to a
+society which circulates a bad translation of the Bible." "You see
+yourself," he continued, turning to Bainham, "what Bible reading leads
+to, and I demand that you give up the names of your fellow-criminals."
+
+"That I will never do! The just shall live by his faith."
+
+"Will you call yourself just, when there is no one just? Read the Book
+of Job, and you will see. And your belief is really too eccentric to be
+counted to you for righteousness."
+
+"Send him down in the cellar to Master Mats! Must one listen to such
+nonsense! Away with him!"
+
+More pointed to the door, and Bainham went out.
+
+"Yes," said Wolsey, "what is there in front of us? Schisms,
+sectarianism, struggles. If we only had an heir to the throne."
+
+"We cannot get the King divorced."
+
+"You yourself have spoken the word. There is no need for divorce,
+because his marriage is null."
+
+"Is it? How do you prove that?"
+
+"From the third book of Moses, the twentieth and twenty-first chapters:
+'If any one taketh his brother's wife, it is evil.'"
+
+"Yes, but in the fifth book of Moses, five and twentieth chapter, fifth
+verse, it is commanded."
+
+"What, in Christ's name, are you saying?"
+
+"Certainly it is: 'If brothers dwell together, and one die without
+children, his brother shall take his wife and raise up seed to his
+brother."
+
+"Damnation! This cursed book."
+
+"Moreover: Abraham married his half-sister; Jacob married two sisters:
+Moses' father married his aunt."
+
+"That is the Bible, is it? Thank you! Then I prefer the Decretals and
+the Councils. The Pope must dissolve the marriage."
+
+"Is it then to be dissolved?"
+
+"Didn't you know? Yes, it is. If Julius II could grant a dispensation,
+Clement VII can grant an absolution."
+
+"It is not just towards the Queen."
+
+"The country demands it--the kingdom--the nation! The King's
+conscience...."
+
+"Oh! is it the fair Anne?"
+
+"No, not she!"
+
+"Is it...."
+
+"Don't ask any more."
+
+"Then I answer, Margaret of Valois."
+
+"I give no answer at all, but I am not responsible for your life, if you
+talk out of season! The Bible won't help you there."
+
+"It would be a useful reform, if we could cancel the Old Testament as a
+Jewish book."
+
+"But we cannot cancel the Psalms of David, which are our only Church
+canticles. Luther himself has taken his hymns from the Psalter, and 'Ein
+feste Burg ist unser Gott' from the Proverbs of Solomon; he has borrowed
+the melody from the Graduale Romanum."
+
+"But we must relegate the law of Moses to the Apocrypha, otherwise
+we are Pharisees and Jewish Christians. What have we to do with
+circumcision, the paschal lamb, and levitical marriage? Wait till I am
+Pope."
+
+"Must we really wait so long?"
+
+"Hush! The noon-bell is ringing. Do not let us neglect our duties.
+The flesh must have its due, in order not to burn. Come with me to
+Westminster; then you can go on to Chelsea afterwards."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Henry VIII was twelve years old when he was engaged to the widow of his
+brother Arthur. At fourteen he protested against the marriage, which was
+distasteful to him, but at eighteen he married Katherine, the aunt of
+the Emperor Charles V. Cardinal Wolsey would have gladly brought about
+a divorce, for he wished for a successor to the throne in order to keep
+the power in his own hands. This power he had misused to such an extent
+that the fact that there was such a thing as Parliament had almost
+been forgotten. Wolsey wished to have the King married to a powerful
+princess, and thought for a time of Margaret of Valois, but under
+no circumstances did he wish to take a wife for him from the English
+nobility. But when he aroused the King's conscience with regard to his
+marriage with Katherine, he had let loose a storm which he could not
+control, much less guide in the desired direction, for the King's
+passion for Anne Boleyn was now irresistible.
+
+Then the Cardinal had recourse to plotting, and this brought about his
+downfall. For six years negotiations went on, and the King was true to
+Anne. He wrote letters which can still be read and which display a great
+and honourable love. Most of them were signed "Henry Tudor, Rex, your
+true and constant servant," and began "My mistress and friend." Anne
+answered coldly, but her love to Percy was nipt in the bud by a marriage
+being arranged for him. After all the learned authorities had been
+consulted, and much controversy had taken place regarding the third
+and the fifth books of Moses, the Pope sent a Nuncio with secret
+instructions to get rid of the whole matter by postponing it. But Henry
+did not yield, though his feelings for Katherine, whom he respected,
+cost him a terrible struggle. The trial began in the chapter-house of
+Blackfriars in the presence of the King and Queen. But Katherine stood
+up, threw herself at the King's feet, and found words which touched the
+tyrant. She challenged the right of the court to try her, appealed to
+the Pope, and returned to Bridewell. It is there that we find her in
+Shakespeare's _Henry VIII_, singing sorrowfully a beautiful song:
+
+    "Orpheus with his lute made trees
+    And the mountain tops that freeze
+    Bow themselves when he did sing."
+
+The divorce proceedings had gone on for some years; people had sided
+alternately with the King and with the Queen, and often sympathised with
+both, when suddenly rumour announced the outbreak of a pestilence.
+
+It was not the Black Death or the boil-pest, but the English
+"sweating-sickness." This hitherto unknown disease had first broken
+out in the same year when the wars of the Roses ended on the field of
+Bosworth; but it was entirely confined to England, passing neither to
+Scotland nor Ireland. It was so mysteriously connected with English
+blood, that in Calais only Englishmen and no Frenchmen were attacked by
+it. Since then the sickness had twice appeared among the English. Now it
+returned and broke out in London.
+
+The King, who had said that "no one but God could separate him from
+Anne," was alarmed, and did not know what to think--whether it was a
+warning or a trial. The symptoms of the sickness were perspiration and a
+desire to sleep; but if one yielded to the desire, one might be dead
+in three hours. In London the citizens died like flies: Sir Thomas More
+lost a daughter; the Cardinal, who had come to preside at Hampton Court,
+had his horses put to the carriage again, and hurried away. Finally
+one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting was attacked. Then the King lost all
+presence of mind, sent Anne home to her father, and fled himself from
+place to place, from Waltham to Hunsdon. He reconciled himself to
+Katherine, lived in a tower without a servant, prepared his will, and
+was ready for death.
+
+Then there came the news that Anne herself had been seized by the
+sickness. The King had lost his chamberlain, and now wrote letter after
+letter. Then he fled again to Hatfield and Tittenhanger.
+
+But Anne recovered, the pestilence ceased, and Henry resumed the divorce
+proceedings. The Cardinal and the Nuncio wavered, and in the seventh
+year the King lost patience. He had now found the man he sought for. Sir
+Thomas More would not declare Katherine's marriage null. The new man was
+Thomas Cranmer, who hated the Pope and the monks, and dreamt of a free
+England--free, that is, from Rome. The King and his new friend worked in
+secret at something which Cardinal Wolsey did not know, and one day
+the preliminaries were settled, the papers were in order, and the mine
+exploded.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The King's galley pushed off from the Tower. It did not look so
+brilliant as the Cardinal's had once been. Cranmer sat by the King.
+
+"I shall not sleep in the Tower any more," said the King. "I am leaving
+it now, Thomas; this is my removal. I move to Whitehall, for that will
+be the name of York Palace; because I, as a Lancastrian, hate York, and
+because my white rose shall dwell in my castle. Now, _you_ will sit
+in the Tower, my hell-dog! To think that this Satan of a Cardinal has
+deceived me for six years. What troubles his plotting has caused me!
+Six years! I have always hated the man, but I needed him, for he was
+clever."
+
+The King glanced at the north side of the Thames. "And I have lived in
+the city which has not been my own; Rome possesses a third of it. I have
+lived like a beggar, but now--London is mine. The Temple, St. James's,
+Whitehall, Westminster to begin with; then the rest."
+
+The galley reached York Palace, and the King hastened in with his
+body-guard, without giving the password or answering the chamberlain's
+questions. He went straight to the Cardinal's room, and laid some
+letters before him: "Read! you snake! your lying letters behind my
+back."
+
+The Cardinal's face seemed to shrink to half its size, and resembled
+a death's-head. He did not, however, fall on his knees, but raised his
+head for the last time: "I appeal to the Pope."
+
+"There is no Pope in England! Nay, I am the Pope, and therefore you are
+no longer Cardinal! Accordingly, I have granted myself a dispensation,
+and married Anne Boleyn yesterday! In a few days I shall have her
+crowned. And then we will dwell here! _Here!_ But you will live in the
+Tower. Go, or I throw you out."
+
+Thus England became free; a third part of London, which had belonged
+to the monks, reverted to the Crown, and afterwards the whole country
+followed.
+
+The King had obtained his beloved Anne, but after three years she was
+beheaded, for having dishonoured the King by adultery. After that the
+King married four times. Cardinal Wolsey died before he came to the
+scaffold; Sir Thomas More was beheaded; and Cromwell, who at first
+defended Wolsey, but afterwards became a "_malleus monachorum_," was
+also beheaded. All this seems very confused and tragic, but from this
+confusion a free, independent, and powerful England emerged. When the
+Germans were preparing to cast off the yoke of Rome in the Thirty Years'
+War, England had already completed her task.
+
+
+
+
+THE WHITE MOUNTAIN
+
+
+While the peace negotiations were being carried on in Osnabrück and
+Münster, the Thirty Years' War still flamed up here and there, more
+perhaps to keep the troops in practice, to provide support for the
+soldiers, and to have booty at command, than to defend any faith or the
+adherents of it.
+
+All talk of religion had ceased, and the powers now played with
+their cards exposed. Protestant Saxony, the first State to support
+Lutheranism, worked in conjunction with Catholic Austria, and Catholic
+France with Protestant Sweden. In the battle of Wolfenbüttel, 1641,
+French Catholics fought against German Catholics, the latter of whom,
+however, later on carried the body of Johan Baner in their ranks.
+
+The Swedish Generals thought little of peace, but when the negotiations
+dragged on to the seventh year, they thought the time had come to have
+some regard to it. "He who takes something, has something," Wrangel
+wrote to his son.
+
+Hans Christoph von Königsmarck, who continued Johan Baner's traditions,
+had lately been with him at Zusmarshausen, and was now sent eastward
+in the direction of Bohemia. Since, besides cavalry, he had only five
+hundred foot-soldiers, he did not know what to do, but wandered about
+at random, and looked for booty. But nothing was to be found, for Johan
+Baner had already laid the district waste.
+
+"Then they marched farther," like Xenophon, and found the woods which
+bordered the highways' cut down; the fields were covered with weeds, and
+in the trees hung corpses; the churches had been burnt, but watch was
+kept in the churchyards in order that the corpses should not be eaten.
+
+One night Königsmarck himself was leading a small detachment in search
+of provisions. They rode into a wood where they saw a light burning.
+But it was only a red glow as if from a charcoal pile or a smithy. They
+dismounted from their horses, and stole on foot to the place. When they
+reached it, they heard voices singing a "Miserere" in low tones, and
+they saw men, women, and children sitting round an oven, the last
+remains of a village.
+
+Königsmark went forward alone, and, hidden behind a young fir-tree, he
+beheld a spectacle.... He had seen such sights before, but not under
+such circumstances. In an iron scoop on the oven some game was being
+roasted; it might have been an enormous hare, but was not. Like a hare,
+it was very spindle-shanked and lean over back and breast; only the
+hinder-parts seemed well developed; the head was placed, between the two
+fore-paws.... No! they were not fore-paws, but two five-fingered hands,
+and round the neck a charred rope was knotted. It was a man who had been
+hung, and whom they had cut down in order to eat him.
+
+The General was not squeamish by nature, and had in his life passed
+through many experiences, but this went beyond all bounds. He was at
+first angry, and wished to interrupt the cannibals' meal, but when he
+saw the little children sitting on their mothers' knees with tufts of
+grass in their mouths, he was seized with compassion. The cannibals
+themselves looked like corpses or madmen, and the eyes and expectations
+of all were fastened on the oven. At the same time they sang "Lord,
+have mercy," and prayed for pardon for the grievous sin which they were
+obliged to commit. "What does it really matter to me?" said the General
+to himself; "I only wish I had not seen it." He returned to his men, and
+they marched on.
+
+The wood became thinner, and they came to an open place where was
+something resembling a heap of stones, out of which there arose a
+single pillar. In the half-twilight which reigned they could not
+see distinctly, but on the pillar something seemed to be moving. The
+"something" resembled a man, but had only one arm.
+
+"It is not a man, for he would have two arms," said one of the soldiers.
+
+"It would be strange, if a man could not have an arm missing."
+
+"Strange indeed! Perhaps it is a pillar-saint."
+
+"Give him a charge of powder, and we shall soon see."
+
+At the rattle of arms which was now heard there, rose a howl so terrible
+and multitudinous, that no one thought it came from the pillar-saint.
+At the same time the apparent heap of stones moved and became a living
+mass.
+
+"They are wolves! Aim! Fire!"
+
+A volley was fired, and the wolves fled. Königsmarck rode through the
+smoke, and now saw a one-armed Imperialist standing on the chimney,
+which was all that was left of a burnt cottage. "Come down, and let us
+look at you," he said.
+
+The maimed man clambered down with his single arm, showing incredible
+agility. "We ought to have him to scale the wall with a storming-party,"
+said the General to himself.
+
+Then the examination commenced.
+
+"Are you alone?"
+
+"Alone _now_--thanks to your grace, for the wolves have been round me
+for six hours."
+
+"What is your name? Where do you come from? Whither do you wish to go?"
+
+"My name is Odowalsky; I come from Vienna; and I shall go to hell, if I
+don't get help."
+
+"Will you go with us?"
+
+"Yes, as sure as I live! With anybody, if only I can live. I have lost
+my arm; I was given a house; they burnt it, and threw me out on the
+highway--with wife and child, of course!"
+
+"Listen; do you know the way to Prague?"
+
+"I can find the way to Prague, to the Hradschin and the Imperial
+treasure-house, Wallenstein's palace, the royal castle, Wallenstein's
+dancing-hall, and the Loretto Convent. There there is _multum plus
+Plurimum_."
+
+"What is your rank in the army?"
+
+"First Lieutenant."
+
+"That is something different. Come with me, and you shall have a horse,
+Mr. First Lieutenant, and then let us see what you are good for."
+
+Odowalsky received a horse, and the General bade him ride beside him. He
+talked confidentially with him the whole night till they again rejoined
+the main body of the army.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Some days later Königsmarck stood with his little troop on the White
+Mountain left of Prague--"Golden Prague," as it was called. It was late
+in the evening of the fifteenth of June. He had Odowalsky at his side,
+and seemed to be particularly good friends with him. But the troop knew
+nothing of the General's designs, and, as they saw that he went towards
+Prague, his officers were astounded, for the town was well fortified,
+and defended by a strong body of armed citizens.
+
+"One can at any rate look at the show," Königsmarck answered to all
+objections; "that costs nothing."
+
+They halted on the White Mountain, without, however, pitching a camp.
+They saw nothing of the beautiful town, for it was dark, but they heard
+the church and convent bells.
+
+"This, then, is the White Mountain, where the war broke out just thirty
+years ago," said Königsmarck to Odowalsky.
+
+"Yes," answered the Austrian. "It was then the Bohemian revolt broke
+out, your King Frederick V of the Palatinate was slain here, and there
+was great rejoicing at his death."
+
+"If you forget who you are, forget not who I am."
+
+"We will not quarrel about something that happened so long ago! But,
+as a matter of fact, the revolt was crushed, and the Protestants had
+to withdraw. What did they get by their trouble--the poor Bohemians?
+Hussites, Taborites, Utraquists sacrificed their lives, but Bohemia is
+still Catholic! It was all folly!"
+
+"Do you belong to the Roman Church, First Lieutenant?"
+
+"I don't belong to any Church at all; I belong to the army. And now we
+will take Prague with a _coup de main_."
+
+So it fell out. At midnight the foot-soldiers clambered over the wall,
+threw the sentinels into the moat, cut down the guards at the gates, and
+took that side of the town.
+
+For three days the part of the city which lay on the left bank of the
+Moldau was plundered, and Königsmarck is said to have sent five waggons
+laden with gold and silver to the north-west through Germany, as his
+own share of the spoil. Odowalsky received six thousand thalers for his
+trouble, and later on was raised to the Swedish House of Peers with the
+title of "Von Streitberg."
+
+But the right bank had not been captured. It was defended by ten
+thousand citizens, assisted by students, monks, and Jews. From ancient
+times there had been a large Jewish colony in Prague; the Jews were said
+to have escaped thither direct from Jerusalem during the last German
+crusade, and for that reason the island in the Moldau is still called
+Jerusalem. On this occasion the Jews so distinguished themselves that
+they received as a token of honour from the Emperor Ferdinand III a
+great flag, which can be still seen in their synagogue. Königsmarck
+could not take the Old Town, but had to send for help to Wittenberg. The
+latter actually plundered Tabor and Budweis, but Prague, which had been
+plundered, did not attract him. Then the Count Palatine Karl Gustav had
+to come, and formally besieged the eastern portion of the town.
+
+Königsmarck dwelt in the Castle, where he could see the old hall of
+the States-General, from the window of which Count Thurn had thrown the
+Imperial governors Martiniz and Slavata; the Protestants say that
+they fell on a dungheap, but the Catholics maintain that it was an
+elder-bush.
+
+Meanwhile Count Karl Gustav, who was a cousin of Frederick V, had as
+little success before Prague as the former. He became ill, and was
+sure that he had been poisoned. But he recovered, and was about to be
+reinforced by Wrangel, when news arrived that the Peace of Westphalia
+had been concluded.
+
+With that the Thirty Years' War was at an end. Sweden received two
+million thalers and some places of importance; these were enfeoffed to
+Germany, and in exchange Sweden had three votes in the German Reichstag.
+
+But Germany's population was only a quarter of what it had been, and,
+while it had formerly been one State under the Emperor, it was now
+split up into three hundred little States. However, the liberty of
+faith affirmed in the Confession of Augsburg, 1555, was recovered, and
+extended to the reformed districts. It was dearly bought, but with it
+North Germany had also obtained freedom from Rome, and that could not be
+too dearly purchased.
+
+Out of chaos comes creation and new creation. From the Germanic chaos
+emerged North Germany, the seed of which was Brandenberg, later on
+developing into Prussia, and finally the German Empire, which received
+the imperial crown at Versailles, but not from the hands of Rome.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT CZAR
+
+
+On the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland lay the little village
+Strelna, halfway between Petersburg and the half-completed Peterhof.
+At the end of the village, on the edge of the Strelka stream, stood a
+simple country-house under oaks and pines. It was painted green and
+red, and the window-shutters were still fastened, for it was only four
+o'clock on a summer morning.
+
+The Gulf of Finland lay smooth under the rays of the rising sun. A Dutch
+trading vessel, which had wished to enter the harbour and reach the
+Admiralty House, now furled its sails and dropped anchor. It carried a
+flag at its main-top which hung down idly.
+
+Near the red and green country-house stood an ancient lime-tree with
+a split trunk; in the cleft a wooden platform with a railing had been
+fitted, and a flight of steps led up to this arbour. In this early
+morning hour there sat a man in the tree at an unpainted, unsteady
+table, writing letters. The table was covered with papers, but there
+was still room for a clock without a glass, a compass, a case of drawing
+instruments, and a large bell of bronze.
+
+The man sat in his shirt-sleeves; he wore darned stockings which were
+turned down, and large shoes; his head seemed incredibly large, but was
+not so in reality; his neck was like that of an ox, and his body that
+of a giant; the hand which was now writing was coarse, and stained with
+tar; he wrote carelessly, with lines somewhat slanting, but quickly.
+The letters were short and to the point, with no introductions and no
+conclusions, merely signed "Pe ter," the name divided in two, as though
+it had been split by the heavy hand which wrote it.
+
+There were probably about a million men bearing that name in Russia; but
+this Peter was the only one of importance, and everyone recognised the
+signature.
+
+The lime-tree was alive with bees, the little Strelka brook bubbled and
+fretted like a tea-kettle, and the sun rose gloriously; its rays fell
+between the leaves of the lime-tree, and threw patches of light on the
+strange face of one of the strangest and most incomprehensible men who
+have ever lived.
+
+Just now this handsome head, with its short hair, looked like that of a
+wild boar; and when the writer licked his goose-quill like a school-boy,
+he showed teeth and a tongue like those of a memorial lion. Sometimes
+his features were convulsed with pain, as though he were being tortured
+or crucified. But then he took a new sheet, and began a new letter; his
+pen ran on; his mouth smiled till his eyes disappeared, and the terrible
+man looked roguish. Still another sheet, and a little note which was
+certainly directed to a lady; now the face changed to that of a satyr,
+melted so to speak, into harmonious lines, and finally exploded in a
+loud laugh which was simply cynical.
+
+His morning correspondence was now ended. The Czar had written fifty
+letters. He left them unsealed. Kathia, his wife, would collect and
+fasten them.
+
+The giant stretched himself, rose with difficulty, and cast a glance
+over the bay. With his spy-glass he saw Petersburg and his fleet, the
+Fort of Kronstadt, which had been commenced, and finally discovered the
+trading-vessel. "How did that come in without saluting?" he thought,
+"and dare to anchor immediately before my house!"
+
+He rang, and a valet-de-chambre came at once, running from the row
+of tents which stood concealed behind the pines-trees, and where both
+soldiers and servants lodged.
+
+"Take five men in a boat," he ordered, "and hail that brig! Can you see
+what country it belongs to?"
+
+"It is Dutch, your Majesty!"
+
+"Dutch! Bring the captain here, dead or alive. At once! On the spot! But
+first my tea!"
+
+"The household is asleep, most gracious lord."
+
+"Then wake it up, you ass! Knock at the shutters! Break the door in!
+Asleep in broad daylight!"
+
+He rang again. A second servant appeared. "Tea! and brandy--plenty of
+brandy!"
+
+The servants ran, the household was aroused, and the Czar occupied the
+interval by making notes on slate tablets. When he became impatient, he
+got down, and knocked at all the shutters with his stick. Then a voice
+was heard from within: "Wait a moment."
+
+"No! that I won't; I am not born to wait. Hurry! or I will set the house
+on fire!"
+
+He went into his gardens, cast a glance at his medicinal plants,
+plucked up some weeds, and watered here and there. He went into the
+cattle-sheds, and looked at some merino sheep which he himself had
+introduced. Here he found a trave which had been broken; he took a
+saw and plane, and mended it. He threw some oats in the manger of his
+favourite trotting-horse. He drove for the most part, when he did not
+go on foot; riding seemed to him unworthy of a seaman, and it was as a
+seaman that the Czar chiefly wished to be regarded. Then he went into
+the lathe-shop, sat for a while on the turning-bench, and worked. At
+the window stood a table with a copper-engraver's tools; with the
+graving-tool he drew some lines which were wanting in the map plate.
+He was about to proceed to the smithy, when a woman's voice called him
+under the lime-tree.
+
+On the platform stood his wife the Czarina, in her morning dress. She
+had massive limbs and large feet; her face was stout and plain, her eyes
+were not level, but had a steady expression.
+
+"How early you are up this morning, Little Father?" she said.
+
+"Is it early? It is six at any rate!"
+
+"It is only just five."
+
+"Five? Then it shall be six."
+
+He pushed the hand of the clock an hour forward. His wife smiled a
+little superciliously, but took care not to irritate him, for she knew
+how dangerous it was to do so. Then she gave him his tea.
+
+"There is some occupation for you," said Peter, pointing to his letters.
+
+"But how many there are!"
+
+"If there are too many I can get help."
+
+The Czarina, did not answer, but began to look through the letters. The
+Czar liked that, for then there would be occasion for quarrelling; and
+he always wished for a quarrel in order to keep his energies active.
+
+"Pardon me, Peter," said his wife, "but is it right that you should
+apply to the Swedish Government about the Dutch ships?"
+
+"Yes, it is! All that I do is right!"
+
+"I don't understand it. Our Russians fired by mistake at friendly Dutch
+vessels, and you demand indemnity from the Swedes because the mischance
+occurred in Swedish waters."
+
+"Yes, according to Roman law, the injury must be made good in the land
+where it happened...."
+
+"Yes, but...."
+
+"It is all the same anyhow: he who can pay, pays; I cannot, and the
+Dutch will not, therefore the Swedes must! Do you understand?"
+
+"No."
+
+"The Swedes have incited the Turks against me; they must pay for that."
+
+"May be! But why do you write so harshly to the Dutch Government since
+you like the Dutch?"
+
+"Why! Because since the Peace of Utrecht, Holland is on the decline. It
+is all over with Holland; on to the rubbish-heap with it! I hold on to
+England, since France is also declining."
+
+"Should one abandon one's old friends?..."
+
+"Certainly, when they are no more good. Moreover, there is no friendship
+in love and in politics. Do you think I like this wretched August of
+Poland? No! I am sure you don't. But I must go with him through thick
+and thin, for my country, for Russia. He who cannot sacrifice his little
+humours and passions for his country is a Don Quixote, like Charles the
+Twelfth. This fool, with his mad hatred against August and myself,
+has worked for Sweden's overthrow and Russia's future. But that this
+Christian dog should incite the Turks against us was a crime against
+Europe, for Europe needs Russia as a bulwark against Asia. Did not the
+Mongol sit for two hundred years on our frontier and threaten us? And
+when our ancestors had at last driven him away, there comes a fellow
+like this and brings the heathen from Constantinople upon us. The
+Mongols were once in Silesia, and would have destroyed Western Europe
+if we Russians had not saved it. Charles XII is dead, but I curse his
+memory, and I curse everyone who seeks to hinder me in my laudable
+endeavour to raise Russia from a Western Asiatic power to an Eastern
+European one. I shall beat everyone down, whoever he may be, who
+interferes with my work, even though it were my own son."
+
+There was silence for some moments. The last words referred to the
+Delicate topic of Alexis, Peter's son by his first marriage, who was now
+a prisoner awaiting his death-sentence in the Peter-Paul Fortress. He
+was accused of having endeavoured to hinder his father's work in the
+civilisation of Russia, and was suspected of having taken part in plots
+of rebellion. The Czar's first divorced wife Eudoxia was confined in the
+convent of Suzdal.
+
+Katharina naturally did not love Alexis, since he stood in the way of
+her children, and she would have been glad of his death, but did not
+wish to incur the guilt of it. Since Peter also did not wish to take
+the responsibility for it, he had appointed a court of a hundred and
+twenty-seven persons to try his son.
+
+The topic therefore was an unwelcome one, and, with his extraordinary
+facility for quick changes of thought and feeling, Peter broke the
+silence with the prosaic question, "Where is the brandy?"
+
+"You will get no brandy so early, my boy."
+
+"Kathrina!" said Peter in a peculiar tone, while his face began to
+twitch.
+
+"Be quiet, Lion!" answered his wife, and stroked his black mane, which
+had begun to bristle. She took a bottle and a glass out of a basket.
+
+The Lion cheered up, swallowed the strong drink, smiled, and stroked his
+spouse's expansive bust.
+
+"Will you see the children?" asked Katherine, in order to bring him into
+a milder mood.
+
+"No, not to-day! Yesterday I beat them, and they would think I was
+running after them. Keep them at a distance. Keep them under, or they
+will get the better of you!"
+
+Katherine had taken the last letter, as though absent-mindedly, and
+began to read it. Then she coloured, and tore it in two. "You must not
+write to actresses. That is too great an honour for them, and can only
+disgrace us."
+
+The Czar smiled, and was not angry. He had not intended to send the
+letter, but only scribbled it in order to excite his wife, perhaps also
+to show off.
+
+There was a sound of approaching footsteps underneath.
+
+"See! there is my friend, the scoundrel!"
+
+"Hush!" said Katherine, "Menshikoff is your friend."
+
+"A fine friend! Already once I have condemned him to death as a thief
+and deceiver; but he lives still, thanks to your friendship."
+
+"Hush!"
+
+Menshikoff (he was a great soldier, an able statesman, an indispensable
+favourite, enormously rich) came hurrying up the wooden stairs. It was
+in his house that the Czar had found his Katherine. He was handsome,
+looked like a Frenchman, dressed well, and had polished manners. He
+greeted the Czar ceremoniously, and kissed Katherine's hand.
+
+"Now they are there again," he commenced.
+
+"The Strelitzil? [Footnote: a Russian body-guard first established by
+Ivan the Terrible.] Have I not rooted them out?"
+
+"They grow like the dragon's seed, and now they want to deliver Alexis."
+
+"Have you any more exact information?"
+
+"The conspirators meet this evening at five o'clock."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Number fourteen the Strandlinje, at an apparently harmless meal."
+
+"Strand--14," wrote the Czar on his tablets. "Any more?"
+
+"To-night at two o'clock they fire the city."
+
+"At two o'clock?" The Czar shook his head, and his face twitched.
+
+"I build up, and they pull down. But now I will extirpate them root and
+branch. What do they say?"
+
+"They look back to Holy Moscow, and regard the building of Petersburg as
+a piece of godlessness or malice. The workmen die, like flies, of marsh
+fever, and they regard your Majesty's building in the midst of a marsh
+as an act of bravado a la Louis Quatorze, who built Versailles on the
+site of a swamp."
+
+"Asses! My town is to command the mouth of the river, and to be the Key
+to the sea, therefore it must be there. The marsh shall be drained off
+into canals, which will carry boats like those of Amsterdam. But so it
+is when monkeys judge!"
+
+He rang; a servant appeared; "Put the horses to the cabriolet"; he
+called down, "and now, goodbye, Katherine; I shall not be home till
+to-morrow. It will be a hot day. But don't forget the letters. Alexander
+can help you."
+
+"Will you not dress, little son?" answered Katherine.
+
+"Dress? I have my sabre."
+
+"Put at least your coat on."
+
+The Czar put on his coat, drew the belt which held the sabre some holes
+tighter, and sprang at one bound from the platform.
+
+"Now it will come off," whispered Menshikoff to Katherine.
+
+"You have not been lying, Alexander?"
+
+"A few lies adorn one's speech. The chief point is gained. To-morrow,
+Katherine, you can sleep quietly in the nursery with the heirs to the
+throne."
+
+"Can any misfortune happen to him?"
+
+"No! he never has misfortune."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Czar ran down to the seashore; he never walked, but always ran.
+"Life goes fast," he was wont to say, "and there is much to do."
+
+When he reached the gravel bank he found a boat landing, with five
+men and the Dutch prisoner. The latter sat stolidly by the rudder, and
+smoked his pipe. But when he saw the Czar, he took off his cap, threw it
+in the air, and cried, "Hurrah!"
+
+Czar Peter shaded his eyes, and, when he recognised his old teacher and
+friend, Jaen Scheerborck from Amsterdam, he jumped into the boat over
+the rowers' shoulders and knees, rushed into Jaen's arms and kissed him,
+so that his pipe broke and the seaman's great grey beard was full of
+smoke and nearly took fire. Then the Czar lifted the old man up, and
+carried him in his arms like a child to the shore.
+
+"At last, you old rascal! I have you here with me! Now you shall see my
+city and my fleet, which I have built myself, for you have taught me.
+Bring the cabriolet here, boy! and a grapnel from the boat; we will go,
+and tack about. Quickly!"
+
+"Dear heart alive!" said the old man, picking the tobacco-ashes out of
+his beard, "to think that I have seen the Carpenter-Czar before I die;
+that is...."
+
+"Into the cabriolet, old fellow! Boy, hang the grapnel behind. Where are
+you to sit? On my knees, of course!"
+
+The cabriolet had only room for one person, and the captain actually had
+to sit on the Czar's lap. Three horses were yoked to it tandem-fashion,
+and a fourth ran beside the leader. The whip cracked, and the Czar
+played being at sea. "A good wind, isn't it? Twelve knots! Furl the
+sheet! so!"
+
+A toll-gate appeared, and the captain, who knew the Czar's wild tricks
+but also his skill, began to cry "There is a toll-gate! Stop!"
+
+But the Czar, who had found again his youth with his old friend of
+former times, and with his indestructible boyishness, liked practical
+jokes and dangers, whipped on the horses, whistled and shouted, "Let her
+go! Clear for action! Jump!"
+
+The toll-gate was burst clean open, and the old man laughed so that he
+swayed on the Czar's knees. And so they drove along the shore. At the
+town gate the sentinels presented arms and saluted; on the streets
+people cried "Hurrah!" and when they reached the Admiralty, cannon were
+fired and the yards manned. But the Czar seriously or in play, as though
+he were on the sea, shouted "Anchor!"
+
+So saying, he so threw the grapnel towards the wall, that it caught in
+a torch-holder, which bent but did not break. But the horses, which were
+still running, were suddenly forced back, and sank on their knees. The
+first of the three rose no more; it had been fatally injured by bursting
+in the toll-gate.
+
+Three hours later, when the fleet and docks had been inspected, the
+Czar and Jaen Scheerborck sat in a seamen's tavern. The cabriolet stood
+without, and was "anchored" to a thatched roof. Brandy was on the table,
+and their pipes had filled the room with smoke. The two friends had
+discussed serious matters. The Czar had paid six visits, one to his
+staff of generals, from which he returned in a very excited state to the
+waiting captain. But, with his extraordinary capacity for shaking off
+what was unpleasant and for changing his moods, he now beamed with
+hilarity.
+
+"You ask whence I shall get the inhabitants for my new town. I first
+brought fifty thousand workmen here. That was the nucleus. Then
+I commanded all officials, priests, and great landowners to build
+houses--each of them, one--whether they intended to live in it or not.
+Now I have a hundred thousand. I know they talk and say that I build
+towns, but don't dwell in them myself. No! I build not for myself,
+but for the Russians. I hate Moscow, which smells of the Khan of the
+Tartars, and would prefer to live in the country. That is no one else's
+affair. Drink, old man! We have the whole day before us till five
+o'clock. Then I must be sober."
+
+The old man drank cautiously, and did not know exactly how to behave in
+this grand society, which was at the same time so nautical.
+
+"Now you must tell me some of the stories which the people relate about
+me. You know lots of them, Jaen."
+
+"I know some certainly, but it is not possible...."
+
+"Then I will tell some," said Peter, "Do you know the story of the pair
+of compasses and the cheese? No? Well, it runs thus: 'The Czar is so
+covetous that he always carries a box of drawing instruments in his
+pocket. With a pair of compasses he measures his cheese, to see whether
+any of it has been stolen since the last meal!' That is a good story!
+Here is another! 'The Czar has a Tippler's Club. Once they determined to
+hold a festival, and the guests were shut up three days and three nights
+in order to drink. Each guest had a bench behind him, on which to sleep
+off his intoxication, besides two tubs, one for food and one for ... you
+understand?'"
+
+"No, that is too absurd!"
+
+"Such are the stories they like to tell in Petersburg. Have you not
+heard that I also extract teeth? In my palace, they say, there is a sack
+full of them. And then I am said to perform operations in hospital. Once
+I drew off so much water from a dropsical woman that she died."
+
+"Do the people believe that?"
+
+"Certainly they do. They are so stupid, you see; but I will cut off
+their asses' ears and singe their tongues...."
+
+His eyes began to sparkle, and it was plain what direction his thoughts
+were taking. But however confidential he might be, there always seemed
+to be secret checks at work, so that, even when intoxicated, he always
+kept his great secrets though he told unimportant ones.
+
+Just then an adjutant came in, and whispered something to the Czar.
+
+"Exactly at five o'clock," answered the Czar in a loud voice. "Sixty
+grenadiers, with loaded guns and cutlasses! Adieu! Jaen," continued the
+Czar, giving a sudden turn to his thoughts, "I will buy your loom, but I
+will not give more than fifty roubles for it."
+
+"Sixty, sixty."
+
+"You Satan of a Dutchman! You skinflint! If I offer fifty, that is an
+honour for you! Indeed it is!"
+
+The Czar's anger rose, but it was connected with the adjutant's message,
+not with the loom. The pot was boiling, and the cover had to fly. "You
+miserable peddlers of groceries! Always fleecing people! But your time
+is past! Now come the English! They are another sort!"
+
+Jaen the seaman became gloomy, and that annoyed the Czar still more.
+He wanted to enjoy Jaen's company, and therefore sought to divert his
+thoughts. "Landlord," he cried, "bring champagne!"
+
+The landlord came in, fell on his knees, and begged for mercy, for he
+had not the luxurious drink in his store-cellar. This superfluous
+word "store-cellar" might sound ironical and provocative, though
+unintentionally. Still it was welcome as an occasion for using the
+stick.
+
+"Have you a store-cellar, you rascal? Will you tell me that the keeper
+of a seaman's alehouse has a cellar of spirits!" And now the stick
+danced. But as the Dutchman turned away with a gesture of disapproval,
+the Czar's fury broke loose. From time to time his disposition
+necessitated such outbreaks. His sabre flew out of its sheath; like a
+madman, he broke all the bottles on the dresser and cut all the legs
+off the chairs and tables. Then he made a pile out of the fragments, and
+prepared to burn the landlord on it.
+
+Then a door opened, and a woman entered with a little child on her arm.
+When the child saw its father prostrate with his neck stretched out, it
+began to scream. The Czar paused, quieted down, went to the woman, and
+accosted her. "Be easy, mother; no mischief is going on; we are only
+playing at sailors."
+
+Then he turned to the landlord: "Send the account to Prince Menshikoff;
+he will pay. But if you scratch me.... Well, I forgive you this time....
+Now let us go, Jaen. Up with the anchor, and stand by the sheet!"
+
+Then they drove into the town. The Czar ran up into various houses and
+came down again, until it was noon. They then halted before Menshikoff's
+palace. "Is dinner ready?" asked the Czar from the cabriolet.
+
+"Yes, your Majesty," answered a lackey.
+
+"Serve up for two! Is the Prince at home?"
+
+"No, your Majesty."
+
+"Never mind. Serve up for two."
+
+It was the Czar's habit thus to make himself a guest in his friends'
+houses, whether they were at home or not, and he is said once to have
+thus quartered himself upon somebody, with two hundred of his courtiers.
+
+After a splendid dinner, the Czar went into an ante-room and laid down
+to sleep. The captain had already gone to sleep at the table. But the
+Czar laid a watch beside him; he could wake whenever he wished.
+
+When he awoke, he went into the dining-room, and found Jaen Scheerborck
+sleeping at the table.
+
+"Bring him out!" commanded the Czar.
+
+"Is he not to accompany your Majesty any more?" the chamberlain, who was
+a favourite, ventured to ask.
+
+"No! I have had enough of him; one should not meet people more than once
+in a lifetime. Carry him to the pump--that will sober him, and then
+take him to his ship"--and with a contemptuous glance he added, "You old
+beast!"
+
+Then he felt whether his sabre was secure, and went out.
+
+After his sleep, Peter was again the Emperor--lofty, upright, dignified.
+He went along the promenade, serious and sedate, as though to a battle.
+When he had found Number 14, he entered at once, sure of finding his
+fifty men there. On the right hand ground-floor towards the courtyard,
+all the windows stood open. There he saw the conspirators sitting at a
+long table and drinking wine. He stepped into the room, saw many of his
+friends there, and felt a stab at his heart.
+
+"Good-day, comrades!" was his cheery greeting.
+
+The whole company rose like one man. They exchanged looks and put on
+faces for the occasion.
+
+"Let us drink a glass together, friends!" Peter threw himself on a
+chair; then he looked at a clock in the room, and saw it was only
+half-past four. He had made a mistake of half an hour. Was it his own
+error, or was Menshikoff's clock wrong?
+
+"Half an hour!" he thought to himself, but in the next second he had
+emptied a huge glass, and began to sing a very popular soldiers' song,
+keeping time by knocking the glass against the table.
+
+The effect of the song was magical. They had sung it as victors at
+Pultowa; they had marched to the accompaniment of its strains; it
+carried their memories to better, happier times, and they all joined in.
+Peter's strong personality, the winning amiable air he could assume when
+he liked, had an attractive power for all. One song led to another, and
+singing relieved the terrible embarrassment. It was the only possible
+way of avoiding a conversation. Between the songs the Czar proposed
+a health, or drank to an old friend, reminding him of some experience
+which they had shared in common. He dared not look at the clock lest
+he should betray himself, but he found the half hour in this den of
+murderers intolerably long.
+
+Several times he saw two exchanging glances, but then he threw in a
+jesting word and the thread was broken. He was playing for his life, and
+he played well, for he misled them with his cheerfulness and naivete, so
+that they could not tell whether he knew anything or not. He played with
+their irresolution.
+
+At last he heard the rattle of arms in the courtyard, and with one bound
+he was out of the window.
+
+"Massacre!" was his only word of command, and then the blood-bath began.
+He himself stood at the window, and when any one tried to jump out, the
+Czar struck off his head. "Alles tot!" he exclaimed in German, when it
+was all over. Then he went his way in the direction of the Peter-Paul
+Fortress.
+
+He was received by the Commandant, and had himself conducted to Prince
+Alexis, his only surviving and eldest son, on whom he had built his hope
+and Russia's destiny.
+
+With the key in his hand, he remained standing before the cell, made the
+sign of the cross and prayed half-aloud:--"O Eternal God of armies, Lord
+of Hosts, who hath put the sword into the hands of rulers that they
+may guide and protect, reward and punish, enlighten thy poor servant's
+understanding that he may deal righteously. Thou hast demanded from
+Abraham his son, and he obeyed. Thou hast crucified Thine own Son in
+order to redeem mankind. Take my sacrifice, O Terrible One, if Thou
+requirest it. Yet not my will be done, but Thine. May this cup pass if
+it be Thy will. Amen! in the name of Christ, Amen!"
+
+He entered the cell, and remained there an hour. When he came out again,
+he looked as though he had been weeping; but he said nothing, handed
+the key to the Commandant, and departed. There are many varying rumours
+regarding what passed that evening between father and son. But one thing
+is certain: Alexis was condemned to death by a hundred and twenty-seven
+judges, and the verdict was entered on the State records. But the Crown
+Prince died before the execution of the sentence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The same evening, about eight o'clock, the Czar entered his
+country-house and sought Katherine. "The old has passed away," he said.
+"Now we will begin the new--you and I and our children."
+
+The Czarina asked no questions, for she understood. But the Czar was
+so tired and exhausted, that she feared lest he should have one of the
+attacks which she knew so well. And the only way of quieting him was the
+old customary one.
+
+She sat down in the corner of the sofa; he laid down resting his head on
+her capacious bosom; then she stroked his hair till he fell asleep. But
+she had to sit for three hours without moving.
+
+A giant child on a giant bosom, the great champion of the Lord lay
+there, his face looked small, his high brow was hidden by his long hair;
+his mouth was open, and he snored like a little child asleep. When at
+last he awoke, he looked up at first astonished, to find himself where
+he was. Then he smiled, but did not say Thank you, and did not fondle
+her.
+
+"Now we will have something to eat," was the first thing he said. "Then
+something to drink, and then a great firework. I will light it myself
+down on the shore. But Jaen Scheerborck must be present."
+
+"You have thrown him out."
+
+"Have I? He was drunk, the fellow. Send for him at once."
+
+"You are so strange, Peter! Never the same for two minutes together."
+
+"I will not be the same; it would be too monotonous. Always something
+new! And I am always new. What! I do not weary you with everlasting
+sameness."
+
+His orders were carried out. Jaen was brought, but had to be bound
+first; he was angry with Peter because of his ducking at the pump, and
+refused to come. But when he landed, he was embraced and kissed on the
+mouth, and then his wrath blew over.
+
+They ate and drank and had their firework display, which was a great
+pleasure for the Czar.
+
+So ended the fateful day which secured the succession to the throne
+to the house of Romanoff. And such was the man who termed himself "the
+Great, the Self-ruler, the Emperor of All the Russias."
+
+The Barbarian, who civilised his Russia; who built towns and did not
+dwell in them himself; who beat his wife, and allowed extensive liberty
+to women,--his life was great, copious, and useful on the public side of
+it; in private, as it might chance to be. But he had a beautiful death,
+for he died in consequence of an illness contracted when saving a life
+from shipwreck--he who, with his own hand, had taken the lives of so
+many!
+
+
+
+
+THE SEVEN GOOD YEARS
+
+
+Monsieur Voltaire, gentleman-in-waiting to Frederick the Great,
+possessor of the much prized Order Pour Le Mérite, Academician, and many
+other things besides, had been for three years a guest at Sans-Souci,
+near Potsdam. He was sitting this beautiful evening in the wing of the
+castle where he lived, busy writing a letter. The air was still and
+warm, so that the sensitive Frenchman, who was always shivering, could
+leave the window open.
+
+His letter, only half written, was directed to the Marquise, the friend
+of Cardinal Fleury, who carried on a sort of superior spy-service
+by means of correspondence with foreign countries.... "Everything is
+transitory," he wrote, "and it was plain that this would not last.
+I have to act as a tutor and correct his bad verses, though he knows
+neither German nor French properly. Malicious as an ape he has written
+satires on all the ruling heads of Europe which are certainly not fit
+for printing, but are quite vulgar and unjust. With a view to the future
+dear friend, I have caused his pamphlet to be copied, and at the moment
+when he strikes, I shall strike back. If you only knew what this Prussia
+is, and threatens to become! It is an eagle sketched in outline with
+the tip of one wing resting on the Rhine, and the other on the Russian
+frontier. There are gaps here and there in the outline, but when they
+are filled up the whole of North Germany will hang like a vulture over
+Austria's two-headed imperial eagle. France must control her
+hatred against the House of Hapsburg, and not compromise with the
+Hohenzollerns, for you know not what you do. One hears much talk of
+plans here, but I dare not write them all down, for he is not to be
+jested with."
+
+At this point there was heard from the castle the penetrating sound of a
+flute, which executed trills and shakes. The old man (for he was now in
+his sixtieth year) first put his fingers in his ears, but then continued
+to write.... "And then his confounded flute! He is playing on it just
+now ... that means we are all to dance to his piping. But still worse
+than the flute is something which they call a fugue; I do not know
+whether one can call it music, but yesterday Sebastian Bach was
+here--'the great Bach' of course--and had his son Philipp Emanuel with
+him. The whole afternoon they played so-called fugues, so that I had to
+go to bed and take medicine. As regards his plans, I will only indicate
+some of them. One plan is to divide Austria between France and Prussia,
+but he is too cunning to do so, for he needs Austria to help him against
+France. A second plan is, to divide Prussia between Russia and Austria,
+and I have heard rumours of a third to divide Poland between Russia,
+Prussia, and Austria. (The flute is silent, and a heavenly stillness
+spreads over Sans-Souci, which for the future I shall write
+'Cent-Soucis,' for a hundred petty vexations threaten to shorten my life
+here.) Our Round Table, which hitherto only consisted of men of talent,
+Maupertuis, La Mettrie, Algarotti, D'Argens, and their like, is now
+recruited by guardsmen from Potsdam, and is in course of degenerating
+into a tobacco-club. Ziethen and his Dessauers wear greasy leather
+boots, and brag of their 'five victories.' The day before yesterday they
+took liberties, silenced all intelligent conversation, and finally tried
+to make me the butt of their jests. What annoyed me the most was that
+_he_ could not hide his pleasure at it. Altogether, the procession of
+the leather boots means war--as might be expected--against the lady
+Maria Teresa. The other lady, the Empress Elizabeth of Russia, he
+denotes by another uglier name.... He has become a women's hero, the
+nasty woman-hater. His wife, Elizabeth Christine, is still confined in
+Schönhausen."
+
+A head looked in at the window, and the King greeted him, "Good evening,
+Monsieur; so busy?"
+
+Like a boy surprised in cribbing, the writer threw his papers into
+disorder, and drew half a sheet of Dutch vellum over them.
+
+"Yes, sire, I have just finished a poem to the Emperor Kian-Loung, which
+is an answer to his 'Eloge de Mukden.'"
+
+"To the Emperor of China! You have grander acquaintances than I."
+
+"But you have me, sire."
+
+This he said with a superior air of satirising himself, as though he
+would make game of his own notorious vanity.
+
+The King took the jest as it was intended. "Yes, Monsieur Voltaire
+belongs to my most honourable acquaintances, but I would not say to the
+grandest."
+
+"May I now read my poem to the Chinese Emperor? Do you allow me, sire?"
+
+"Would it be any use, if I did not allow it, you pushing man?"
+
+"Very well:
+
+     "'Recois mes compliments, charmant roi de la Chine.'"
+
+"But he is an Emperor."
+
+"Yes, but that is a politeness towards you, sire, who are only a King!"
+
+"Only!"
+
+"I continue:
+
+     "'Ton trône est done placé sur la double colline
+     On sait dans l'Occident, que malgre mes travers
+     J'ai toujours fort aimé les rois qui font des vers!'"
+
+"Thank you."
+
+     "'O toi que sur le trône un feu céleste enflamme
+     Des moi si ce grand art don't nous sommes épris,
+     Est aussi difficile à Pekin qu'à Paris.
+
+     Ton peuple est-il soumis a cette loi si dure,
+     Qui vent qu'avec six pieds d'une égale mesure
+
+     De deux Alexandrins, côte à côte marchants
+     L'un serve pour la rime, et l'autre pour le sens?
+     Si bien que sans rien perdre, en bravant cet usage,
+     On pourrait retrancher la moitié d'un ouvrage.'"
+
+"Bravo! Very good!" broke in the King, who felt the sting of the satire
+but could control himself.
+
+"But do you think that the Emperor will understand that--at any rate as
+you intend it?"
+
+"If he does not understand it, then he is a blockhead...."
+
+"But if he does, you may expect a declaration of war."
+
+"China against Voltaire!"
+
+"What would you do then?"
+
+"I would beat them, as you do, with my troops, of course."
+
+"But if the Emperor has more troops than you?"
+
+"Then I should flee, of course, like you do, sire, or I let myself be
+put to flight, and so save my honour as a soldier."
+
+The King was accustomed to Voltaire's impertinences, and he pardoned
+them for the moment, but stored them in his memory.
+
+"But now, don't stick poking about in your room, Monsieur. Come out for
+a walk with me. We will philosophise in the cool of the evening. I have
+so much to say, and must put my thoughts in order for the great work."
+
+"Sire, I will come immediately."
+
+"No, now; I am waiting."
+
+Monsieur Voltaire became nervous, and began to tidy his desk; he pulled
+out drawers, and protracted the business. But the King stood as if on
+guard, and watched him. At last the old man had to stop tidying up and
+come out, but his limbs twitched, and he shook himself, as though he
+wished to shake off something. The King led him down the third terrace,
+and turned to the right into the park, where they found a long avenue
+which led to a small circular open space. Here there stood the Temple of
+Friendship.
+
+There was an embarrassing silence between them, but Frederick, who had
+learnt self-control, was the first to find the thread which they had
+lost. But he had to introduce the conversation by commencing with their
+present surroundings.
+
+"What a peaceful evening, Monsieur! Peace in nature and in human life!
+Have you noticed that there has been no war in the world for seven
+years--that is, since the Peace of Aachen?"
+
+"Now I have not thought about it. Well, you can now expect the seven
+lean kine--I mean years."
+
+"Who knows! You spoke just now of Kian Loung, the peaceful prince who
+philosophises and writes verses on tea-plant blossoms; who serves his
+people and makes them happy. His neighbour Japan has enjoyed peace for a
+hundred years. In India the French and English are rivalling each other
+in trade. That is the great East, which we shall soon have to take into
+account--. If we consider our portion of the world, with which I reckon
+Egypt, the latter lies asleep under Pashas and Mamelukes. Greece, our
+motherland, has entered its last sleep. The Athens of Pericles is an
+appendage of the Sultan's harem, and is ruled by black eunuchs. Rome, or
+rather Italy, is parcelled out between Lorraine, the House of Bourbon,
+and Savoy. But in Rome is my friend Benedict XIV; he is also a man
+of peace, and the first Pope, moreover, who acknowledges the King
+of Prussia. He tolerates Protestants, helps forward science, and has
+allowed latitude and longitude to be measured...."
+
+"And expelled the Jesuits, whom you, sire, have received. You ought not
+to have done that."
+
+"What do you know of the Jesuits? In Spain we have Ferdinand VI, who
+encourages mining, combats the Inquisition, fosters the sciences."
+
+"The itch for writing seems to be spreading over the earth like a
+pestilence."
+
+"In England my uncle George, the pupil of Adam Smith, is working solely
+for the commercial prosperity of his country. The others we know. But we
+ought to remember the great discoveries of our century--fire-machines,
+thermometers, lightning-conductors, anchor-watches. In fact it is the
+Golden Age which has returned at this late epoch."
+
+"Think only of the fire-machines which they now call steam-engines. And
+of the telegraphs! What may we not next expect!"
+
+"War, of course."
+
+"I have never loved war, as you know, but I have been driven to it."
+
+"With the stick."
+
+The King was not angry, but he was troubled that a remarkable man, who
+had been his friend and teacher, should commit such a _bêtise_.
+
+"You are right; it was my father's stick, and I bless it. But although
+I do not believe that the Golden Age is before the door, yet I do see a
+brighter future in the distance."
+
+"I see only clouds which foretell earthquakes. France is undermined;
+America is moving; all Europe is prepared to discard Christianity as a
+crab its shell; Economics are reduced to a science; nature is ransacked;
+we are on the verge of something novel and tremendous; I feel it already
+in my corns."
+
+"I also! My leisure-time is drawing to an end, my Tusculum will be
+closed, and dreadful things are about to happen."
+
+On the King's face at this moment there was such an indescribable
+expression of pain, as though he had foreseen the Seven Years' War which
+followed immediately on the seven years' of peace, and he seemed to be
+bowed to the earth bearing the destiny of his country and the future on
+his shoulders.
+
+"Sire, at such moment, you need some religion."
+
+"My duty is my religion. My God is the Providence which guides the
+destinies of the nations but leaves individuals to themselves! What are
+men that you should take notice of these ants?"
+
+The conversation was interrupted by a person who appeared in the
+background and resembled a judicial official. Voltaire saw who it was,
+and became furious: "Your Majesty, how can you allow this rag-tag and
+bob-tail to enter the castle-park? Why do you not enclose it with iron
+gates and railings?"
+
+"No," answered the King; "I am not the master of my own person, still
+less of this castle, but all have rights over me!"
+
+"But this is atrocious! Can I not drive him away?"
+
+"No, you cannot!"
+
+The King beckoned, and the stranger approached with his hat in his hand.
+
+"What do you want, my friend?" asked the King.
+
+"Only to deliver a document to Monsieur Voltaire, your Majesty."
+
+"Then do your duty."
+
+The man handed the document to Voltaire, and retired. When the old
+man had opened and read it, he fell on his knees before the King and
+exclaimed, "Save me, sire!"
+
+"That is your law-suit with Hirschel about the Saxon state papers. You
+thought to deceive each other and the public, but the Jew did not
+let you lead him by the nose, Monsieur, and now you are exposed as a
+falsifier!"
+
+"Save me, your Majesty!"
+
+"How can I?"
+
+"With a word--a single good word before the court...."
+
+"For shame, old man! Do you think I can bend the law? Do you want me to
+bribe the judges? No, Monsieur, there are judges in Berlin who cannot be
+bribed! My word counts as little as that of the meanest. Stand up, go to
+your room, and meet me at supper."
+
+"Sire, I beg to be excused coming to supper this evening."
+
+"Good! then we will meet to-morrow."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Voltaire reached his room, he began to search through his papers
+which he had left in disorder. He looked for a whole hour for the letter
+he had written to the Marquise, without being able to find it. Then he
+perceived that the letter had been seized, and he conceived a suspicion
+against the King. He stormed about in the room till it had become dark
+outside. He felt that it was all over with friendship and hospitality,
+with high position and honour, and that he must depart--perhaps by
+flight.
+
+Accordingly he closed the window-shutters, and made a fire in the stove
+in order to burn dangerous papers. When he had finished, he went to bed,
+and rang for a servant: "Ask Monsieur La Mettrie to come; I am ill," he
+ordered.
+
+La Mettrie, the author of _L'Homme Machine_, a most rigorous materialist
+and atheist, enjoyed Frederick's favour on account of his writings.
+After his death the King himself delivered a funeral oration over him
+in the Academy. Voltaire was jealous of him, as he was of everyone who
+stood in his way, but La Mettrie was a physician, and Voltaire could be
+amiable to anyone of whom he stood in need.
+
+The doctor came, not out of philanthropy, but from curiosity and a
+certain malicious satisfaction at seeing the favourite in disgrace.
+
+"My dear friend," said the old man, "I am sick in body and soul."
+
+"You haven't got a soul."
+
+"But the trouble is in the heart."
+
+"_Cor, cordis_, the heart; then you have eaten too much. Take a purge,
+Monsieur; then you will be lighter than lightmindedness itself."
+
+"Prescribe me some proper medicine, man; I am dying."
+
+"Then go to a watering-place."
+
+"Like a minister who is in disgrace; no, thank you."
+
+"Go home to your own country; you are suffering from homesickness."
+
+"Yes, there you are right! The air here does not suit me."
+
+"You are beginning to get stout."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"And the Marquises are longing for you."
+
+"Are they? What nonsense you talk! But I must have a watering-place."
+
+"Well, take Plombières! There you will meet the court."
+
+"That is an excellent idea! Plombières! But I will return, of course."
+
+"Of course!"
+
+"I will be back in three weeks--let us say a month. If only the King
+will not be vexed...."
+
+"Let me assure you, the King will console himself."
+
+"Yes, yes, I will consider the matter. But say--he is not angry with
+me?"
+
+"Who?"
+
+"The King!"
+
+"He is not angry with you, otherwise he would have been so long ago! No,
+you are belated in thinking that."
+
+"Give me a sleeping powder, and then you can go."
+
+The doctor took the powder, and poured it in a glass of water.
+
+The old man drank, but his large eyes followed the changing expressions
+of the doctor's face, who looked very amused. He did not altogether
+trust him.
+
+"Monsieur Voltaire," said the doctor, "when you make a fire in the
+oven, draw up the small oven-shutters, else there is too much smoke. The
+Potsdam fire-engines would very likely be summoned."
+
+"Oh! That too! Well! _La comedia è finita!_ Good-night!"
+
+"_Sic transit gloria mundi!_ Sleep well!"
+
+Voltaire slept during the night, but not well, and was awakened on the
+following morning by the sound of salutes fired at Potsdam; from which
+he concluded that the King was holding manoeuvres. Neither did he see
+any sign of the King, but about noonday he received a letter bearing the
+royal arms which ran as follows:--
+
+  "MONSIEUR,--Doctor La Mettrie has told me of your determination to
+  travel to a watering-place. Although I shall miss your pleasant
+  and instructive conversation, I will not resist your wish, since I
+  am sure that a thorough course of treatment will benefit your
+  nerves and the wretched state of your heart. Wishing you a good
+  recovery, or at any rate hoping that you will not be worse than
+  you are,
+
+  "I am
+
+  "F. R."
+
+That was his passport for the journey. The same evening Voltaire
+travelled to Leipzig, where he read extracts from Frederick's collection
+of satires which he also thought of having printed. But in Frankfurt he
+was arrested and deprived of the precious manuscripts, which might have
+made more enemies for Frederick than he actually did make later on.
+Rebuked, and again liberated, Voltaire fled at first to France, where
+he published in the _Dictionnaire Historique_ the most abominable
+assertions regarding Frederick's private life.
+
+Two years later he was settled at Ferney, on the Lake of Geneva, as a
+multi-millionaire, patriarch, and king.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Many years passed, and still the old Voltaire reigned at his Sans-Souci
+called Ferney--just as energetic as ever, just as restless and vain.
+
+His little château was a modest two-storied building in a circular
+enclosure, surrounded by a courtyard planted with trees. On the left of
+the entrance stood a small stone chapel. A tablet over the door bore
+the inscription, "Deo erexit Voltaire," which roused the mirth of his
+literary friends and the hatred of the ecclesiastical party.
+
+Below in the garden he had an arbour-walk of hornbeam covered in, and
+resembling a long hall with windows cut in the side, looking towards the
+lake. From thence he could see Mont Blanc, which especially at sunset
+showed all its splendour, and the blue levels of the lake stretching
+towards Clarens and the Rhone Valley, where the unfortunate Rousseau had
+wandered, loved, and suffered. Just now in the twilight, the old man sat
+in his arbour walk and played bezique with the local pastor, when the
+post arrived. There were many letters with shining seals.
+
+"Excuse me, Abbé, I must read my letters!"
+
+"Pray do so," answered the priest, and stood up in order to promenade up
+and down the arbour walk.
+
+After a while the old man called his friend back: "Come, Abbé, come! You
+must hear something!"
+
+The Abbé, who, for the sake of his flock, kept on good terms with
+Voltaire, and humoured his whims, without, however, yielding to him in
+theological discussions, came at the summons.
+
+"You must hear a letter from Frederick the Great, the Unique, the
+Incomparable. He has pardoned me, and I am ashamed. My last evening
+in Sans-Souci I was irritated, and in my cruelty I was mean enough to
+remind him of his father's stick. The moment that the word escaped, I
+felt his retort in the air, but he restrained it. He had only needed
+to return the thrust with a reference to the stick which had played a
+certain part in my youth, but he kept silent, whether out of regard for
+my years or for some other reason. (It is remarkable that the stick has
+also had an influence on the development of the great Shakespeare and
+others.) Excuse, Abbé, this _garrulitas senilis_--he has pardoned me,
+and writes, 'My old friend!'
+
+"'The years have passed; to the seven good years which you shared with
+me succeeded the seven lean ones--the Seven Years' War and all that it
+brought with it. Friends have departed, and a great loneliness enfolds
+the ageing man, who now, among other things, begins to be far-sighted,
+after being formerly short-sighted. He sees life in a perspective
+where the apparently shorter lines are the longest. He knows that from
+experience, and therefore lets himself no longer be deceived. Standing
+on the height which he has gained, he is glad to look back, but he can
+also now see in front of him.
+
+"'What is now impending? Who can say? This century, which has seen all
+the sovereigns leading revolutionary movements, is the strangest of all.
+We despots, who forced enlightenment and freedom on the peoples--we were
+the demagogues and they rewarded us with ingratitude. It was a perverse
+world! I have suffered for my doctrines and actions, but the fate of
+Joseph II is tragic. They are slowly but surely murdering him.
+
+"'You do not love war: nor do I, but I was forced to it by Providence
+and solicitude for my country. What have I effected thereby? you ask.
+I have made a "re-distribution," as land-surveyors call it, and out
+of scattered patches and scraps of territory I have woven together a
+Prussia, so that we can now walk on our own ground, without treading on
+our neighbour's. Do not fear Prussia; you need it as a bulwark against
+Russia, which now, since the time of the Czar Peter, has a voice and
+vote in the Council of Europe. You disapprove of my sharing in the
+partition of Poland, but I was obliged to do so; otherwise Russia would
+have taken all. Poland had lost its significance in the geographical
+economy of Europe; it was Russianised, and the role it had played was
+taken over by the Sarmatian.... Silesia was ours, and thank God that
+the Swedes did not obtain it, as they at first wished. Moreover, we have
+sent the Goths home to their own country, and look after our own affairs
+ourselves.'"
+
+"And so on! Then he says something about Rousseau."
+
+"'You call Rousseau a swindler; that is a somewhat severe expression.
+Even if he did really steal a piece of ribbon, or a silver spoon, it is
+not worth talking about. I share his love for nature and his hatred of
+mankind. One evening lately, as the sun went down, I thought: "God!
+how beautiful are Thy natural creations, and how hideous are Thy
+human creatures!" We men, I mean--for I except neither myself nor you,
+Monsieur. This cursed race truly belongs to the Iron Age as described
+by Hesiod. And we are asked to believe that they are created after God's
+image! After the image of the Devil, I would rather say! Rousseau is
+right when he believes in a past Golden Age.'
+
+"What do you say to that, Monsieur l'Abbé?"
+
+"It is what the Church teaches regarding the lost Paradise and the Fall,
+and also agrees with the Greek legend of Prometheus, who ate of the tree
+of knowledge, and thereby brought misfortune on men."
+
+"Good heavens! Have you too become a freethinker? Shoemaker, stick to
+your last! If you are a priest, then be a priest, but don't try to
+make a botch of my work. And don't think you need to flatter me for an
+increase of wages. But let us return to Frederick:"
+
+"'History rolls on like an avalanche; the race improves, the conditions
+of life become easier, but men are still the same--faithless,
+unthankful, criminal; and he just as well as the unjust go to hell. I
+do not dare to put down on paper the conclusions to be drawn from
+this observation, for that would be to acquit Lazarus, and to crucify
+Christ.... Great men have little weaknesses or rather great weaknesses.
+We, Monsieur, have been no angels, but Providence has used us for great
+objects. Is it a matter of indifference to Providence whom it takes
+in hand, or how we live in the flesh, provided we keep the spirit
+uppermost? _Sursum corda!_'"
+
+"What do you say to that, Abbé?"
+
+"The Law cannot be fulfilled, says St. Paul, but the Law rouses the
+sense of guilt, and therefore it is only imposed in order to drive us to
+grace."
+
+"That was not such a stupid remark of Paul's. But I should like to
+add,--in the prison of the flesh grows the longing for liberation:
+'Who shall deliver me, wretched man, from this body of sin?' Yes, Abbé,
+_Vanitas vanitatum! Vanitas!_ You are young, but you must not
+despise the old man when he turns round and spits behind him all the
+unpleasantness of his past life. Might but a generation be born which
+knew at once the value of life, as long as a mud-bath is not part of the
+treatment!"
+
+Just then a dark lean man came tortuously along the garden path.
+
+"See! there is my Jesuit!" said Voltaire.
+
+The old man kept on friendly terms with a Jesuit, partly because
+the Pope had expelled them, partly because Frederick the Great had
+patronised them; but his chief object was to have someone to dispute
+with. Perhaps also he wished to show his freedom from prejudice, for he
+did not like the uncongenial man.
+
+"Now, you child of Satan!" was the old man's greeting, "what mischief
+have you got in your mind? You look so maliciously pleased!"
+
+"I come from Geneva," answered the Jesuit with an evil smile.
+
+"What are they doing there?"
+
+"I saw the executioner burn Rousseau's _Emile_."
+
+"They may do that, as far as I am concerned, and throw the fool himself
+into the fire."
+
+"Monsieur Voltaire!"
+
+"Yes: one cannot tolerate lunatics: there are limits!"
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Imposed by a sound intelligence."
+
+"Yes, and saw them burn the new edition of Monsieur Voltaire's
+_Candide_."
+
+"For shame! But it is merely a mob in Geneva."
+
+"A Protestant mob, with your permission."
+
+"Don't trouble yourself; I hate Protestants equally with Catholics! This
+terrible Calvin burnt his friend Servetus in Geneva, because he did not
+believe in the Trinity. And had Jean Calas in Toulouse been a Catholic,
+and his son a Protestant, I would still have attacked the judges,
+although I am nothing. I am nothing; only, what I write is something."
+
+"Then some day we will raise a monument to Monsieur Voltaire's
+writings--not to Voltaire."
+
+"You have no need; I have already raised my monument myself in the
+hundred volumes of my collected works. The world has nothing to do with
+how the old ass looked; there is nothing to see in that. We know
+my weaknesses; I have lied, I have stolen, I have been ungrateful;
+something of a scoundrel, something of a brute! That is the dirty part
+of me, and I bequeath it to Jesuits, pettifoggers, hair-splitters and
+collectors of anecdotes;--but my spirit to God who gave it, and to men
+an honest purpose to understand their Monsieur Voltaire."
+
+He rose, for the sun had descended.
+
+"Good-night, Mont Blanc; you have a white head like myself, and stand
+with your feet in cold water, as I do! Now I go and lie down! Tomorrow I
+travel to Paris, where I will die."
+
+
+
+
+DAYS OF JUDGMENT
+
+
+In the northern tower of the Church of Notre Dame de Paris was the
+tower-watchman's chamber. But it had been arranged like a bookbinder's
+workshop, for the watchman's day-duty was not particularly heavy,
+and the hours of the night passed with sleep or without sleep, no one
+troubling themselves to oversee this now superfluous church servant.
+
+Nobody entered the church, which had been damaged in various ways, and
+no one ascended the northern tower, for the bells hung in the southern
+one. There the watchman's duty was regarded more seriously, for on all
+extraordinary occasions the alarm-bell had to sound.
+
+The watchman kept up a sort of telegraphic communication with the
+bellringer in the southern tower. In calm weather they could chat with
+each other, but when it was windy, they had to use speaking trumpets.
+
+The workshop had, in the course of years, developed into a very
+comfortable room. Its southern side was occupied by a single large
+bookcase. There the first edition of the _Encyclopédie_ in five and
+thirty volumes, shone resplendent in red morocco with gilt letters.
+There stood Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Locke, Hume--all the
+authors who ought to have been present. There were also periodicals, the
+_Moniteur_, Père Duchesne and Marat's _L'Ami du Peuple_. This last was
+bound in somewhat greasy leather, which resembled pig's-skin, and had
+curled up at the corners.
+
+Another wall was covered with engravings, some coloured and some plain.
+They hung in chronological order from left to right, from top to bottom,
+so that one could read the whole history of the Revolution pictorially.
+The Oath in the ball-room on June 20, 1789, with Mirabeau's portrait;
+the burning of the Bastille, and the head of the commandant; the
+Jacobite Club, with Marat, Saint-Just, Couthon, Robespierre; the Feast
+of Brotherhood on the Champ du Mars; the King's Flight to Varennes;
+Lafayette; the Girondists; the execution of the King and Queen;
+the Committee of Public Welfare, with Danton and the newly hatched
+Robespierre; the Reign of Terror; Charlotte Corday stabbing Marat in the
+bath; Robespierre again; Feast of the Supreme Being; Voltaire's Funeral;
+Robespierre again, this time on the 9th Thermidor. Then came Buonaparte
+and the Directory, mixed with Pyramids and Alps.
+
+In the middle of the room stood a very large table. At the one end were
+the bookbinder's tools; at the other, writing materials. The inkstand
+was a skull; the ruler was a fore-arm; the paper-weight was a
+guillotine, and the penholder a rib.
+
+The bookbinder himself, a centenarian, with an apostolic beard, sat and
+wrote under a lantern which hung from the roof. He was the only person
+visible in the room. Outside it was stormy, and the roof-plates rattled
+from time to time; it was cool in the room, but not cold, for a stove
+was lit in a corner, where lay the watchman's belongings--a great
+wolfskin fur-coat, a speaking trumpet, some flags, and a lantern with
+variously coloured glass sides. The old man pushed his glasses up his
+forehead, looked up, and spoke, though the person with whom he talked
+could not be seen.
+
+"Are you hungry?"
+
+A voice behind the bookcase answered: "Fairly so."
+
+"Are you cold?"
+
+"No, not yet."
+
+"Wait a little; I must just go outside and make an observation."
+
+"What are you writing?"
+
+"My reminiscences."
+
+"Is it quiet in the town?"
+
+"Yes, but they have gone out to Saint Cloud."
+
+"Then it will soon come to shooting."
+
+"It won't come to shooting, but we may expect a proclamation. Be quiet
+now; I must step out, and send a message. Then you will get some food
+and drink; perhaps a pipe of tobacco also."
+
+There was silence behind the bookcase, and the old man put on his
+fur-coat, lit his many-coloured lamp, took up a speaking-trumpet, and
+stepped out on the balcony.
+
+It was very dark, but the old man was familiar with his menagerie out
+there on the parapet; he loved his stone monsters--the owl, the griffin,
+the gorgon, and stroked them every time that he passed them. But the
+creature with a man's body, goat's feet and horns, inspired him with a
+certain awe, as it stood there leaning on its hands like a priest, and
+bending forward as if to preach to the godless city or to hurl anathemas
+at it. He took his stand near it, and began to signal with the lantern.
+But the wind was so violent that the old man swayed, and had to put his
+arm round the creature's body, in order to support himself.
+
+After he had stood for a time signalling with the lantern, and gazing
+out into the darkness, he suddenly raised himself upright, put down the
+lantern, and raised the speaking-trumpet to his mouth. Holding on to
+the stone balustrade, he turned to the southern tower, and cried "Hullo!
+Francis! Hallo!"
+
+After a while a reply came through the darkness.
+
+"Qui vive?"
+
+"Mont-joie--Saint-Denis."
+
+"Sacre!" answered the other. "Ring the great bell! Ring, for heaven's
+sake!"
+
+The watchman remained standing for a while looking at the coloured
+lights on the church tower of St. Cloud. In order to be quite certain,
+he repeated his signal, and received for answer: "Right understood."
+
+The old man sighed "Thy will be done, O Lord!" He was on the point of
+returning to the turret-chamber, when the wind blew so violently, that
+he had to seize the arm of the horned monster in order to stand fast.
+But the figure had got loose; it yielded, and moved a little.
+
+"He too!" muttered the old man to himself. "Nothing stands fast,
+everything slips; nothing remains on which to support oneself." He
+crouched down in order not to be blown away, and so stooping, as he
+walked, reached the door of the turret-chamber, which he flung open.
+
+"The Revolution is over," he called out to the bookcase.
+
+"What do you say?"
+
+"The Revolution is over! Come out, sire."
+
+He laid hold of the bookcase, and opened it like a door on its hinges.
+It concealed a neat little room furnished in the style of Louis XV. Out
+of it stepped a man of about thirty, with pale delicate features and a
+melancholy aspect.
+
+"Sire," said the bookbinder in a humble voice, "now your time is come,
+and mine runs out. I do not exactly know what has happened on this
+eighteenth of Brumaire in Saint Cloud, but one thing I know: Buonaparte
+has taken the helm."
+
+"Jaques," answered the nobleman, "I do not wish to hurt your feelings,
+but I cannot conceal my joy."
+
+"Don't conceal it, sire! You have saved me from the scaffold, and I have
+saved you; let us thank each other, and be quits."
+
+"To think that this bloody drama is ended--that this madness...."
+
+"Sire, don't speak so."
+
+His eyes began to sparkle, but he quickly changed his tone. "Let us eat
+our last meal together, but in love like fellow-men; let us talk of the
+past, and then part in peace. This evening we are still brothers, but
+to-morrow you are the lord and I am the servant."
+
+"You are right. To-day I am an emigrant, tomorrow I am a count."
+
+The old man brought out a cold fowl, a cheese, and a bottle of wine, and
+both took their places at the table.
+
+"This wine, sire, was bottled in '89. It has a history, and
+therefore...."
+
+"Have you no white wine? I do not like red."
+
+"Is it the colour you dislike?"
+
+"Yes, it looks like blood! You have lost a wife and four sons."
+
+"Why should I weep for them? They fell on the field of honour."
+
+"The scaffold!"
+
+"I call the scaffold the field of honour! But you want white wine! Good!
+You shall have it. You prefer the colour of tears; I prefer that of
+blood!"
+
+He opened a bottle of white wine: "_Suum cuique!_ Tastes differ. We
+can now breathe again, and sleep quietly at night. That was the hardest
+thing to bear during this last decade--the loss of sleep at night. The
+fear of death was worse than death itself."
+
+"The worst for us--pardon the expression--was to see the State and
+society turned topsyturvy, and brutality enthroned."
+
+"Wait a little! Louis XIV paid two gentlemen of the chamber twenty
+thousand livres yearly to examine and carry away his night stool
+every morning. The Sansculottes could not be coarser than that.
+Marie Antoinette used to go and spend the night drinking with her
+boon-companions, so that she returned home about eleven o'clock the next
+morning exhausted; that was coarse conduct for such a fine lady."
+
+"You may draw the long bow to-night, Jaques; but to-morrow take care of
+your head! You ought not to speak so of these high personages who have
+suffered a martyr's death."
+
+"Stop! stop! The King was what they call 'a fine fellow,' but the Queen
+was a wretch. But both were justly condemned to death--both! Look you!
+if Turgot could have remained at his post, the Revolution would not have
+broken out. All the reforms in the State, Church, and Society, which
+we--pardon the expression--have carried through could have been
+carried through then, if Turgot had been allowed to put his plans into
+operation. The Queen would not endure the Minister's retrenchment of her
+revenue, and plotted for his removal, and the King supported her. That
+was a great crime. The second was the overthrow of Necker. Then the
+Queen and her Court minxes ruled. Both King and Queen sought to stir up
+foreign countries against their own; their correspondence relating
+to this was discovered, and then the betrayers of their country were
+condemned to death. Don't talk of Martyrs, or I shall be angry. For I am
+angry when I hear lies, and cannot control myself."
+
+The Count laid his hand on his sword.
+
+"Put your sword in its sheath, young man, or otherwise...."
+
+They sat down on opposite sides of the table, and darted angry glances
+at each other.
+
+"The ultimate causes," continued the old man, "may be sought in heaven,
+but we have here only to do with secondary causes, and those we know.
+The Revolution was a Last Judgment which had to come, just as it came in
+England exactly a hundred years before, in 1689."
+
+"But Cromwell's republic did not last."
+
+"Nor does this; but it comes again! But let us rather talk of something
+cheerful on this last evening. I have been present at everything; I have
+a strong memory, and can forget nothing. But what shines most brightly
+through all the dark days is the recollection of the day on the Champs
+du Mars, the Feast of Brotherhood of July 14, '90. Twenty thousand
+workmen were employed to clear it, but, as they could not finish the
+work by the appointed day, all Paris went out. There I saw bishops,
+court marshals, generals, monks, nuns, society ladies, workmen, sailors,
+dustmen, and street-girls levelling the ground with hoes and spades.
+Finally the King himself made up his mind to join in the work. That was
+the greatest feat of equalisation which mankind have carried out; the
+hills were made low, and the valleys filled. At last the great theatre
+of liberty was ready. At the altar of the Fatherland a fire of perfumed
+wood was kindled, and Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun, with a retinue of
+four hundred white-robed priests consecrated the flags. The King in
+civil dress and the Queen sat on the platform, and, as the 'first
+citizens of the State,' took the constitutional oath. All was forgotten;
+all was forgiven. Half a million people, collected in one place,
+animated by one spirit, felt themselves that day to be brothers and
+sisters. We wept, we fell in each other's arms, we kissed each other.
+We wept to think what wretches we had been, and how good and amiable we
+were now. We wept perhaps, also, because we guessed how fragile all this
+was.
+
+"And afterwards, in the evening, when Paris turned out in the streets
+and market-places. Families ate their mid-day meal on the pavement;
+the old and sick were carried into the open air; food and wine were
+distributed at the public expense. That was the Feast of Tabernacles,
+the recollection of the Exodus from Egyptian bondage; it was the
+Saturnalia, the return of the Golden Age! And then...."
+
+"Then came Marat, Danton, and Robespierre."
+
+"Yes! Robespierre, the most hated of all, was not worse than Louis XI
+and Henry VIII."
+
+"A murderer."
+
+"The judge is not a murderer, nor is the executioner."
+
+"But the Golden Age passed--as it came."
+
+"Yet it comes again."
+
+"Not with Buonaparte!"
+
+"No, not with him, but through him."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"A Corsican, born in the same year in which France annexed his country.
+He will avenge it, and, since he can never feel himself a Frenchman, he
+will exploit our country only for his own purposes. But nevertheless,
+in spite of his unparalleled selfishness, his wickedness and crimes, he
+will serve humanity--for everything serves."
+
+"And afterwards?"
+
+"Who can say? Probably things will go on as they have done hitherto;
+sometimes advancing, then a halt; then again advance."
+
+"And then the obsolete turns up again."
+
+"Yes, like a drowning man. Three times he comes to the surface to
+breathe, but the fourth time he remains below. Or, like an animal
+chewing the cud; for some time there are small eructations,
+re-mastications, and then everything is ejected through the gullet,
+after going through the circle."
+
+"Do you believe in the return of the Golden Age?"
+
+"Yes I believe like Thomas, when I have seen. And I have seen. At the
+moment, which I now recall, on the Champs du Mars,--then I saw! We had a
+forefeeling of the future, we were sure that we had had a vision of some
+new order of things, but were uncertain when it would be established."
+
+"How long are we to wait?"
+
+"We should not sit still and wait, but work! That makes the time pass.
+The learned say that it took a million years for the Hill of Montmartre
+to be deposited from the water. Now history is only three thousand years
+old; for three thousand years more, men can reflect over their past,
+and perhaps in six thousand an improvement may be noticeable! We are
+too proud and impatient, sire. And yet things move quickly. America
+was discovered only three hundred years ago, and now it is an European
+republic. Africa, India, China, Japan are opened, and soon the whole
+world will belong to Europe. Do you see the promise to Abraham, 'In thy
+seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,' is on the way to
+fulfilment--on the way, I say."
+
+"The promise to Abraham?"
+
+"Yes! Have not Christians, Jews, and Muhammedans a share in the
+promise?"
+
+"Christians of Abraham's seed?"
+
+"Through Christ, who was of Judah, we are spiritually Abraham's seed.
+One faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all!"
+
+"I have listened to you, and must say that your faith is great, and has
+delivered you."
+
+"As it will deliver mankind."
+
+The conversation now ceased, for the alarm-bell began to ring in the
+south tower. The sound of it overpowered the din of the storm, and
+filled the room with its vibrations, made the table and chairs shake,
+and both men tremble. The old man tried to speak, but his guest heard
+nothing, and only saw his lips move. Then the old man rose and pointed
+to one of the many engravings.
+
+It represented Anacharsis Clootz, the philanthropist and philosopher, in
+a convent, with a crowd of people from all corners of the earth--black,
+yellow, white, copper-coloured--seeking to have them admitted
+as citizens into the world-republic. The Count smiled in answer
+half-distrustfully, half-tolerantly. The old man tried to speak, but
+could not be heard. The boom of the bell seemed to come from the depths
+of ages, ringing out the past century and ringing in the new, which
+would commence in a few weeks--the nineteenth century since the birth of
+the Redeemer, who has promised to return, and perhaps will do so in one
+way or another.
+
+The Count sat there fingering the letter-weight in the shape of a
+guillotine. Suddenly he seized it, and looked questioningly at the old
+man, who nodded in the affirmative. The letter-weight was thrown into
+the paper-basket.
+
+The great bell ceased ringing, the room was quiet, and the old man, his
+arms folded over his breast, spoke as though with a sigh of gratitude.
+
+"The Revolution is over."
+
+"_This_ Revolution!"
+
+"'Tribulation worketh patience; patience, experience; experience, hope;
+and hope maketh not ashamed!'"
+
+
+
+
+STRINDBERG'S DEATH-BED
+
+
+(From the _Aftonbladet_, Stockholm, May 15, 1912) The last time that
+Strindberg was in full possession of his senses was late on Monday
+afternoon (May 13th). He recognised his daughter Greta, who sat by his
+bed, and her husband, Dr. Philp. He was fully aware that the end was
+near. He made a sign that he wished to have his Bible, which lay on the
+table by the bed. They gave it him; he took it in his hand and said:
+"All that is personal is now obliterated. I have done with life and
+closed the account. This is the only truth."
+
+He kissed his daughter, but only said, "Dear Greta." Then he said to
+Dr. Philp, "Are you still here, Henry?" After talking a little more, his
+last utterance was, "Now I have said my last word. Now I talk no more."
+He kept his Bible so closely clasped to his breast as though that were
+the only thing he had to hold fast before the end.
+
+      So Stromboli retreated in the gloom,
+      Flinging red flame and molten lava high,
+      A flaring portent: We, who passed it by,
+      Carry that lurid memory to the tomb;
+      Yet round its crater living flowers bloom,
+      The vine, fig, olive grow and fructify,
+      Over it laughs the blue Sicilian sky,
+      A paradise upon the verge of doom.
+      As fiery as that red volcanic blast,
+      Through years he wrestled with his unseen Foe,
+      Wailing in pain "I will not let Thee go
+      Unless Thou bless me who have held Thee fast,"--
+      And thus, like Jacob, from his overthrow,
+      He rose a cripple, but a prince at last.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Historical Miniatures, by August Strindberg
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL MINIATURES ***
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