(4) But the other, magnanimous, at whose desire I had remained, did not his aspect change, Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side. "And if," continuing his first discourse, "They have that art," he said, "not learned aright, That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed. But fifty times shall not rekindled be The countenance of the Lady who reigns here, Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art; And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return, Say why that people is so pitiless Against my race in each one of its laws?" Whence I to him: "The slaughter and great carnage Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause Such orisons in our temple to be made." After his head he with a sigh had shaken, "There I was not alone," he said, "nor surely Without a cause had with the others moved. But there I was alone, where every one Consented to the laying waste of Florence, He who defended her with open face." "Ah! so hereafter may your seed repose," I him entreated, "solve for me that knot, Which has entangled my conceptions here.

(4) And while we were advancing tow'rds the middle, Where everything of weight unites together, And I was shivering in the eternal shade, Whether 'twere will, or destiny, or chance, I know not; but in walking 'mong the heads I struck my foot hard in the face of one. Weeping he growled: "Why dost thou trample me? Unless thou comest to increase the vengeance of Montaperti, why dost thou molest me?" And I: "My Master, now wait here for me, That I through him may issue from a doubt; Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish." The Leader stopped; and to that one I said Who was blaspheming vehemently still: "Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others?" "Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora Smiting," replied he, "other people's cheeks, So that, if thou wert living, 'twere too much?" "Living I am, and dear to thee it may be," Was my response, "if thou demandest fame, That 'mid the other notes thy name I place." And he to me: "For the reverse I long; Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble; For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow."

(30) But now that a Babel of Confusion is come out of this (in that it is come so far, that the Saints departed are invocated [or worshipped,] as Intercessors to God, and that divine Honour is done them) this the holy Souls departed are not guilty of, neither here did they desire any such Thing, neither do they present the Miseries and Necessities of Men before God. But the Fault lies in the forged Superstition of the wicked deceitful Antichrist, who has founded his Stool of Pride thereon; not as a living Saint, which (with the holy) inclines himself to God; but as an earthly God, he thereby arrogates divine Omnipotence to himself, and yet has none, but is the greedy, covetous, proud Antichrist, riding upon the strong Beast of this World.

THEE, Nemesis I call, almighty queen, By whom the deeds of mortal life are seen: Eternal, much rever'd, of boundless sight, Alone rejoicing in the just and right: Changing the counsels of the human breast For ever various, rolling without rest. To every mortal is thy influence known, And men beneath thy righteous bondage groan; For ev'ry thought within the mind conceal'd Is to thy fight perspicuously reveal'd. The soul unwilling reason to obey By lawless passion rul'd, thy eyes survey. All to see, hear, and rule, O pow'r divine Whose nature Equity contains, is thine. Come, blessed, holy Goddess, hear my pray'r, And make thy mystic's life, thy constant care: Give aid benignant in the needful hour, And strength abundant to the reas'ning pow'r; And far avert the dire, unfriendly race Of counsels impious, arrogant, and base. Next: LXI: To Justice Sacred Texts | Classics « Previous: The Initiations of Orpheus: LIX: To the Graces Index Next: The Initiations of Orpheus: LXI: To Justice » Sacred Texts | Classics

(2) Look thou upon me and exalt me, impart to me Terror, and rouse in me Might, so that the gods of the Tuat may fear me, that their battlements war in my behalf there; and that he may not assail and slay me in the house of darkness, who enwrappeth the dead; the god who hideth his name; or that the like be done by them

(3) Look therefore upon me, oh ye great and mighty gods, who are foremost among the Spirits of Annu; let me be exalted in your presence. I am a well-doer towards you. Lo I come, that I may purify this Soul of mine in the most high degree; let not that impediment proceeding from your mouth be issued against me which giveth one over to ruin: let me be purified in the lake of propitiation and of equipoise: let me plunge into the divine pool beneath the two divine sycomores of Heaven and Earth

(77) But behold! it is not I that have made way for this, but thy desire and highly raised lofty lust has moved the Deity to reveal to thee the desire of thy heart, in the highest simplicity in the greatest depth, that it may be a witness against thee, and a denunciation of the earnest severe day of God.

(1) HERE we shall not be acceptable to the Antichrist, much less to his stout Horse [or stately Beast.] But seeing it thus appears to us in the Wonder, we will describe it for a Memorial to ourselves, and behold how the Beginning and End of every Thing is, that we also (in our Combat) may labour in the Gate of the Deep: although it is plain that we have nothing else to expect, in this World, for this Revelation [or Manifestation,] from Antichrist and his Beast, but Scorn, [Contempt,] Disgrace, and Danger of our temporal Life, yet we comfort ourselves with the eternal Conquest in our Saviour Christ, wherein we have to expect our great Recompense, the Glimpse of which appears to us here, a in the great Wonder; for which Cause we will proceed, and not look upon this World, but esteem that which is to come greater than all.

(1) Oppressed with stupor, I unto my guide Turned like a little child who always runs For refuge there where he confideth most; And she, even as a mother who straightway Gives comfort to her pale and breathless boy With voice whose wont it is to reassure him, Said to me: "Knowest thou not thou art in heaven, And knowest thou not that heaven is holy all And what is done here cometh from good zeal? After what wise the singing would have changed thee And I by smiling, thou canst now imagine, Since that the cry has startled thee so much, In which if thou hadst understood its prayers Already would be known to thee the vengeance Which thou shalt look upon before thou diest. The sword above here smiteth not in haste Nor tardily, howe'er it seem to him Who fearing or desiring waits for it. But turn thee round towards the others now, For very illustrious spirits shalt thou see, If thou thy sight directest as I say." As it seemed good to her mine eyes I turned, And saw a hundred spherules that together With mutual rays each other more embellished.

(61) I avenge every god against his oppressor, at whom I shoot my arrows when he appeareth

(40) O Râ, in thine Egg, who risest up in thine orb, and shinest from thine Horizon, and swimmest over the firmament without a peer, and sailest over the sky; whose mouth sendeth forth breezes of flame, lightening up the Two Earths with thy glories, do thou deliver N from that god whose attributes are hidden, whose eyebrows are as the arms of the Balance upon that day when outrage is brought to account, and each wrong is tied up to its separate block of settlement

(13) Look at me, rejoice in me, grant that I may be exalted, that I may become like him who destroys his forms; open the way to my soul, set me on your pedestals; grant that I may rest in the good Amenta, show me my dwelling in the midst of you, open for me your ways, unfasten the bolts

(100) For He shall cast down your glory, And bring affliction on your hearts, And shall arouse His fierce indignation, And destroy you all with the sword; And all the holy and righteous shall remember your sins.

(5) Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished, And keep safe guard o'er the ill-gotten money, Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles. And were it not that still forbids it me The reverence for the keys superlative Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life, I would make use of words more grievous still; Because your avarice afflicts the world, Trampling the good and lifting the depraved. The Evangelist you Pastors had in mind, When she who sitteth upon many waters To fornicate with kings by him was seen; The same who with the seven heads was born, And power and strength from the ten horns received, So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing. Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver; And from the idolater how differ ye, Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship? Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was mother, Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower Which the first wealthy Father took from thee!" And while I sang to him such notes as these, Either that anger or that conscience stung him, He struggled violently with both his feet.

(6) O thou Bearer of peace offerings, who openest thy mouth for the presentation of the tablets, for the acceptation of the offerings and for the establishment of Maāt upon her throne; let the tablets be brought forward, and let the goddess be firmly established

(62) And now if we consider in our own Reason, and (in the Consideration of our high Knowledge) look upon what the World at Babel has introduced in this high Article [of Prayer,] whereof we are about to treat, in that Antichrist has set himself therein, and shown his great Power therein, then our Reason might well keep us back, because of the great Sting and Danger that might befall us from the fierce Wrath of Antichrist. But seeing it appears to us without our Knowledge, therefore we will rather obey the Voice of God, than the earthly Fear, in Hope to be recompensed. And though it should happen that Antichrist should destroy our earthly Body, which yet stands in the Permission of God, which we must not withstand, yet we will more highly esteem that which is to come, than that which is transitory, which [Things to come,] if we attain them, are our true native Country, out of which we (in Adam) are gone forth; and the Spirit invites all Men's Attention before this Glass.

(1) Oh thou who art exalted and worshipped, all powerful, almighty one, who grantest thy terrors to the gods, who displayest thyself upon thy throne of grandeur, let the way be made for my Soul, my Chu and my Shade. Let me be thoroughly equipped

(6) Whoever may wish, ( I would attain something great! — in the northern course of the sun, on an auspicious day of the 1 M % half month of the waxing moon, having performed the Upasad ceremony for twelve days, having collected in a dish of the wood of the sacied fig-tree (udambara\ or in a cup, all sorts of herbs including fruits, having swept around, having smeared around, having built up a fire, having strewn it around, having prepared the melted butter according to rule, having com- pounded the mixed potion under a male star, he makes an oblation, saying: — ' However many gods in thee, All-knower, Adversely slay desires of a person, To them participation I here offer! Let them, pleased, please me with all desires! Hail! Whoever lays herself adverse, And says, "I the deposer am!" To thee, O such appeasing one, With stream of ghee I sacrifice. Hail! ' a. ( To the chiefest, hail! To the best, hail! ' — he makes an oblation in the fire and pours off the remainder in the mixed potion. A Hail to breath (prana) \ ' To the most excellent, hail! ' — he makes an oblation in the fire and pours off the remainder in the mixed potion. A Hail to speech! £ To the firm basis, hail!' — he makes an oblation in the fire and pours off the remainder in the mixed potion. A Hail to the eye! 'To attainment, hail!'— he makes an oblation in the fire and pours off the remainder in the mixed potion. A Hail to the ear! ' To the abode, hail! ' — he makes an oblation in the fire and pours off the remainder in the mixed potion. A Hail to the mind! -where some of the same directions occur. Another parallel passage is Chand.

(59) Also, I receive it from before the seat of his throne, where all holy souls of men stand before him, and rejoice before him; [and I tell thee] that the desire of the flesh in soft pleasingness, to be rich, to be handsome, beautiful and fair, or to be mighty or potent, is a very bath or lake of hellish wrath, into which thou crowdest and runnest, as if thou wert drawn in with cartropes; for there is very great danger therein.

(2) Come thou, propitiously, shining like Rā from the Mount of Glory, and putting an end to the opposition of Sutu