by custom and so terrible
by punishment, that they cannot themselves escape from them. Thus
Godhead's resort to law finally costs it half its integrity--as if
a spiritual king, to gain temporal power, had plucked out one of his
eyes--and it finally begins secretly to long for the advent of some
power higher than itself which will destroy its artificial empire of
law, and establish a true republic of free thought.

This is by no means the only difficulty in the dominion of Law. The
brute force for its execution must be purchased; and the mass of its
subjects must be persuaded to respect the authority which employs this
force. But how is such respect to be implanted in them if they are
unable to comprehend the thought of the lawgiver? Clearly, only by
associating the legislative power with such displays of splendor and
majesty as will impress their senses and awe their imaginations. The god
turned lawgiver, in short, must be crowned Pontiff and King. Since he
cannot be known to the common folk as their superior in wisdom, he must
be known to them as their superior in riches, as the dweller in castles,
the wearer of gold and purple, the eater of mighty feasts, the commander
of armies, and the wielder of powers of life and death, of salvation
and damnation after death. Something may be done in this way without
corruption whilst the golden age still endures. Your gods may not
prevail with the dwarfs; but they may go to these honest giants who will
give a day's work for a day's pay, and induce them to build for Godhead
a mighty fortress, complete with hall and chapel, tower and bell, for
the sake of the homesteads that will grow up in security round that
church-castle. This only, however, whilst the golden age lasts. The
moment the Plutonic power is let loose, and the loveless Alberic comes
into the field with his corrupting millions, the gods are face to face
with destruction; since Alberic, able with invisible hunger-whip to
force the labor of the dwarfs and to buy the services of the giants,
can outshine all the temporal shows and splendors of the golden age,
and make himself master of the world, unless the gods, with their bigger
brains, can capture his gold. This, the dilemma of the Church today,
is the situation created by the exploit of Alberic in the depths of the
Rhine.

Second Scene

From the bed of the river we rise into cloudy regions, and finally come
out into the clear in a meadow, where Wotan, the god of go