University of Virginia Library

1. I.

With the first tokens of the gray dawning, and
while yet the thin gray mists lay like a gauzy veil
above the half-canopied mountains, the gates of
the great city were thrown open, and the people
thereof began to pour forth in mighty crowds.
Like a swollen torrent, that forces its way over
the barrier and broken rocks, they came roaring
and rushing, less with the innate feeling of power
than of enjoyment. A universal spirit of intoxication
seemed to possess the multitude, and by
tens, by twenties, and by hundreds, with wild and
dissonant cries of mingling yet discordant voices,
they pressed their way through the narrow gateway,
and came forth clamoring upon the plain.
The aged and the yet green in youth—wise, venerable
men — devout matrons, — trembling and
hopeful maidens, — and sportive childhood, that

laughs and leaps, were mingling together, until,
even ere the sun had yet risen, the vast esplanade
in front of the city was covered with their forms.
One mighty will seemed to move in every heart,
and to unite all voices in a universal song, as if
for some great deliverance. An hundred thousand
tongues mingled in the strain, and the hills
that surrounded them gave back the melody with a
seven-fold echo.

“Lofty and beautiful is the temple that stands
above the hill!” Such was the song of the multitude.
— “Lofty is the temple on the high hill, and
lovely is the goddess who sits in power therein.
Let us to the temple, oh! ye people. Let us bow
down before the goddess thereof, and bury our
faces in the sacred dust that lies at her footstool.
Let us put her feet upon our necks, and grow
great by reason of our abasement. Let us carry
the fatted lamb and the bleating kid, for sweet is
the savor of the burnt offering in her nostrils, and
she smiles when the flamen smites the heavy ox
in the forehead, and his dying blood besprinkles
her garments. To the temple on the hill, oh! ye
people, — to the lovely goddess who dwells therein.
Let us fly to her worship, — let us bring our
offerings, — the fatted lamb and the calf, and the
bleating kid, — let us twine about their necks the

flowers that are in season, and hang their brows
with clusters of the bleeding grape, that so we
may show our love for the goddess and the
priests, and our reverence for the white temple
that stands lofty upon the hill.”

And when these words were ended, the shouting
of the far-stretching multitude grew great
again, like the clamor of meeting winds and waters;
and they ran towards the white temple that rose
proudly on the high hill in the rosy light of the
morning — the swift leading the way, and the
strong rushing after, giving no heed to the cries
and the groans of the feeble and the young, whom
they overthrew and trampled in the fury of their
flight. Well did they know that the goddess
whom they sought would freely forgive the evil
which happened only from the overflowing of their
zeal in her worship. And many were the priests
that did homage for that people around the altars
of the goddess. And they prayed before her
presence, that she would come forth and lend grace
to her worshippers by the smile of her benignant
countenance. And the multitude brought great
store of gold and jewels, and with gifts of value
rewarded those who served them in this wise.
They brought bracelets for the arms of solid
gold, and bright drops of amber and of pearl —

of jewels from the mine, and pale blue water-gems
from the deep — to hang around the necks, and
fasten in the ears, of that sacred priesthood. And
the holy men prayed steadfastly before the goddess
for the multitude, and the goddess vouchsafed
to hear and to smile upon their prayers. And the
golden gates of the temple were thrown wide, and
the multitude shouted anew by reason of their exceeding
joy; and, in the madness of their devotion,
many of them rushed towards the golden entrance,
ere the priest had yet veiled the glory
shining from within; but were driven back and
blinded by the streams of excessive light which
encountered them as they came. But soon the
gong sounded, which was the signal for the goddess
to appear — and the guards that waited upon
the priests, with their golden lances, drove back
the impatient multitude from the path of the procession,
which was to move towards the great city,
that it might be blessed with the presence of the
goddess. Then, as the crowd gave way, came
forth the car of the sun, borne by the sacred ox,
whose horns, covered with gold, had each a glorious
emerald shining thereon. And the rays of
that golden orb dazzled the eyes of those who too
confidently beheld it, and they threw themselves
upon the sands as it came, and the sacred ox
pressed with heavy feet upon their necks. Then,
perched upon a crystal bough, and borne by a
lovely boy, whose long yellow hair floated in
trained luxuriance down his back, came forth the
milk-white pigeon, which bore the words of the
goddess to her distant worshippers; and the boy
that carried the pigeon was blind from his birth,
and it was the eyes of the sacred bird that guided
him in his progress; and sometimes, as he went,
the pigeon would fly off from the bough to bear
the words of the goddess to the priesthood, and
at such moments the boy stood still. Next came
one whose arms were bound to his side, and he was
clothed in yellow garments, and he bore upon his
head a crystal globe, which was the sign of eternity,
and within might be seen a butterfly with
folded wing, and this was the sign of immortality.
He was followed by an hundred others, bound and
attired like himself, and their bonds were a token
that they opposed not the will of the goddess;
and they bore the globe and butterfly by turns.
As they advanced from the temple, the mighty and
mixed multitude, which had fallen into sudden
silence when the golden sun came forth, now, as
suddenly, rose into clamorous rejoicing — the hills
shook in their shouting; and, from the vast circle
of the plain, the continued voices bore to the city
the glad tidings of the coming of the goddess.
Next came the slaves — an hundred ebon-dyed
slaves from Ethiopia — and they bore heavy censers
of crystal; and ever and anon they scattered
sweet incense among the people. A girdle of silver
cloth was wrapped about their loins, and they
wore a collar of silver, and a chain about the neck,
of silver also. A chosen band followed these, of
the youth dedicated to the priesthood; and they
wore no badges, and their garments were of the
coarsest woollen. After these came the sages, the
wisest and the most venerable among those who
had given themselves to the service of the goddess
from their childhood. They wore long white
beards, and they were greatly reverenced among
the people by reason of their close neighborhood
to the goddess, and as they were the first to know
and to declare her irrevocable decrees. In their
secret abodes they had traced the history and duties
of the heavenly bodies — had locked up the
niggard sciences in narrow cells, making them
servants, and denying them to that world which
they were intended to inform; but which, in its
inferior ignorance, might only have abused their
offices. To these succeeded the artificers, the
painters, the builders, the workers in fire, and the
secret properties of subtle minerals. Then came
the high priest, an experienced magician, than
whom the great city knew none more wise and
more in favor with the goddess. He stood upon
the platform, which was of solid brass, upon which
the throne of the goddess was raised. His robes
were of sable, but under them might be seen a
belt of purple and living fire. A serpent twined
itself about his arm, and sometimes lifted its green
head above the shoulder of the priest, whose hand
grasped it by the middle. As he advanced, his
presence announced that of the Deity, and was
acknowledged by an astounding shout from the
anxious multitude. The car of the goddess, itself
a temple, now rolled heavily through the brazen
entrance. It was drawn by the ponderous behemoth,
whose hoofs were coated with silver, and
whose forward step shook the solid earth over
which he came. Around the car, a troop of lovely
priestesses danced on feet that spurned the air,
and their forms, flexible as light, melted and sank
away into continual and changing shapes of grace
and luxuriance; and tears of light gathered in the
eyes of the young men of the multitude, as they
looked upon their voluptuous involutions. These
closed the procession, and as they passed from the
brazen door of the temple, it shut, of itself, with a
startling and tremendous sound.