(3) "My Master," I replied, "by hearing thee I am more sure; but I surmised already It might be so, and already wished to ask thee Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft At top, it seems uprising from the pyre Where was Eteocles with his brother placed." He answered me: "Within there are tormented Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together They unto vengeance run as unto wrath. And there within their flame do they lament The ambush of the horse, which made the door Whence issued forth the Romans' gentle seed; Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead Deidamia still deplores Achilles, And pain for the Palladium there is borne." "If they within those sparks possess the power To speak," I said, "thee, Master, much I pray, And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand, That thou make no denial of awaiting Until the horned flame shall hither come; Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it." And he to me: "Worthy is thy entreaty Of much applause, and therefore I accept it; But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself.

(1) Iximiprus saith:—I testify that the beginning of all things is a Certain Nature, which is perpetual, coequalling all things, and that the visible natures, with their births and decay, are times wherein the ends to which that nature brings them are beheld and summoned.* Now, I instruct you that the stars are igneous, and are kept within bounds by the air. If the humidity and density of the air did not exist to separate the flames of the sun from living things, then the Sun would consume all creatures. But God has provided the separating air, lest that which He has created should be burnt up. Do you not observe that the Sun when it rises in the heaven overcomes the air by its heat, and that the warmth penetrates from the upper to the lower parts of the air? If, then, the air did not presently breathe forth those winds whereby creatures are generated, the i Sun by its heat would certainly destroy all that lives. But the Sun is kept in check by the air, which thus conquers because it unites the heat of the Sun to its own heat, and the humidity of water to its own humidity. Have you not remarked how tenuous water.

is drawn up into the air by the action of the heat of the Sun, which thus helps the water against itself? If the water did not nourish the air by such tenuous moisture, assuredly the Sun would overcome the air. The fire, therefore, extracts moisture from the water, by means of which the air conquers the fire itself. Thus, fire and water are enemies between which there is no consanguinity, for the fire is hot and dry, but the water is cold and moist.. The air, which is warm and moist, joins these together by its concording medium; between the humidity of water and the heat of fire the air is thus placed to establish peace. And lock ye all how there shall arise a spirit from the tenuous vapour of the air, because the heat being joined to the humour, there necessarily issues something tenuous, which will become a wind. For the heat of the Sun extracts something tenuous out of the air, which also becomes spirit and life to all creatures. All this, however, is disposed in such manner by the will of God, and a coruscation appears when the heat of the Sun touches and breaks up a cloud.

The Turba saith:—Well hast thou described the fire, even as thou knowest concerning it, and thou hast believed the word of thy brother.

(6) Then he said: 'As truly as this knowledge has never heretofore dwelt with any Brahman (brd/imana) whatsoever, so truly may not you and your grandfathers injure us. But I will tell it to you, for who is able to refuse you when you speak thus! ' He continued (iti):

(1) Already was the flame erect and quiet, To speak no more, and now departed from us With the permission of the gentle Poet; When yet another, which behind it came, Caused us to turn our eyes upon its top By a confused sound that issued from it. As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first With the lament of him, and that was right, Who with his file had modulated it) Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted, That, notwithstanding it was made of brass, Still it appeared with agony transfixed; Thus, by not having any way or issue At first from out the fire, to its own language Converted were the melancholy words. But afterwards, when they had gathered way Up through the point, giving it that vibration The tongue had given them in their passage out, We heard it said: "O thou, at whom I aim My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard, Saying, 'Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,' Because I come perchance a little late, To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee; Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning.

(6) This, indeed, did Satyakama Jabala tell to his pupils, and say: ' Even if one should pour this on a dry stump, branches would be produced and leaves would spring forth/ One should not tell this to one who is not a son or to one who is not a pupil.

(14) Yama said: 'I tell it thee, learn it from me, and when thou understandest that fire-sacrifice which leads to heaven, know, O Nakiketas, that it is the attainment of the endless worlds, and their firm support, hidden in darkness.'

(6) He said: * You should know me, my dear, as such, that whatsoever I myself know, I have told all to you. But, come! Let us go there and take up studentship.' e Go yourself, Sir.' So Gautama went forth to where [the place] of Pravahana Jaibali was. He brought him a seat, and had water brought; so he made him a respectful welcome. Then he said to him: £A boon we offer to the honorable Gautama! '

(74) Thou askest: How can a Man quench this kindled Fire? Answer.

(37) And indeed he has done somewhat, in that he has set the divine Power into a Burning, which appears even in the Sun and Stars; also the Fire in the Salitter in the Elements is often kindled, so that it seems as if the Deep was of a burning Fire; of which I shall speak in another Place. He slept back out of the Meekness into the anxious Fire-will, and fell into Darkness. The Reader is advertised, that he must not understand in any Place, as if the Devil had kindled or fired the Light of God; no, but the Forms of Nature only, out of which the Light shines. For he has not comprehended the Light, as little as the Fire does, which cannot lay hold on the Light: But he entered into the Fire, and is expelled into the Darkness, and has neither Fire nor Light, besides, without, or distinct from his Creature. [Or his own creaturely Existence.]

(4) Leave me to speak, because I have conceived That which thou wishest; for they might disdain Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine." When now the flame had come unto that point, Where to my Leader it seemed time and place, After this fashion did I hear him speak: "O ye, who are twofold within one fire, If I deserved of you, while I was living, If I deserved of you or much or little When in the world I wrote the lofty verses, Do not move on, but one of you declare Whither, being lost, he went away to die." Then of the antique flame the greater horn, Murmuring, began to wave itself about Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues. Thereafterward, the summit to and fro Moving as if it were the tongue that spake, It uttered forth a voice, and said: "When I From Circe had departed, who concealed me More than a year there near unto Gaeta, Or ever yet Aeneas named it so, Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence For my old father, nor the due affection Which joyous should have made Penelope,

(19) 'This, O Nakiketas, is thy fire which leads to heaven, and which thou hast chosen as thy second boon. That fire all men will proclaim. Choose now, O Nakiketas, thy third boon.'

(75) Hearken, thou hast the sweet Water in thee, pour that into the Fire, and then it goes out: If thou lettest it burn, then it consumes in thee the Sap, that is, in all the seven qualifying or fountain Spirits, so thou wilt become dry.

(101) To make these, I say, pure and clean, And, to please God, have quenched those fires, So that the fire of lust, that erst breathed flame, Has become a holy garden and a guiding light, Since you have turned the fire of wrath to meekness, And the darkness of ignorance to shining knowledge, Since you have turned the fire of greed into bounty, And the vile thorns of malice into a rose-garden; Since you have quenched all these fires of your own For my sake, so that those poisons are now pure sweets;

(1) While on the brink thus one before the other We went upon our way, oft the good Master Said: "Take thou heed! suffice it that I warn thee." On the right shoulder smote me now the sun, That, raying out, already the whole west Changed from its azure aspect into white. And with my shadow did I make the flame Appear more red; and even to such a sign Shades saw I many, as they went, give heed. This was the cause that gave them a beginning To speak of me; and to themselves began they To say: "That seems not a factitious body!" Then towards me, as far as they could come, Came certain of them, always with regard Not to step forth where they would not be burned. "O thou who goest, not from being slower But reverent perhaps, behind the others, Answer me, who in thirst and fire am burning. Nor to me only is thine answer needful; For all of these have greater thirst for it Than for cold water Ethiop or Indian. Tell us how is it that thou makest thyself A wall unto the sun, as if thou hadst not Entered as yet into the net of death."