eautiful that humanity has lived upon it ever since, and it is still
our consolation to gather its weakened perfume. Never did so much joy
fill the breast of man. For a moment humanity, in this the most
vigorous effort she ever made to rise above the world, forgot the
leaden weight which binds her to earth and the sorrows of the life
below. Happy he who has been able to behold this divine unfolding, and
to share, were it but for one day, this unexampled illusion! But still
more happy, Jesus would say to us, is he who, freed from all illusion,
shall reproduce in himself the celestial vision, and, with no
millenarian dream, no chimerical paradise, no signs in the heavens,
but by the uprightness of his will and the poetry of his soul, shall
be able to create anew in his heart the true kingdom of God!

[Footnote 1: Luke xxii. 30.]

[Footnote 2: Mark x. 37, 40, 41.]

[Footnote 3: Luke xxiii. 43; 2 _Cor._ xii. 4. Comp. _Carm. Sibyll.,
prooem_, 36; Talm. of Bab., _Chagigah_, 14 _b_.]

CHAPTER XII.

EMBASSY FROM JOHN IN PRISON TO JESUS--DEATH OF JOHN--RELATIONS OF HIS
SCHOOL WITH THAT OF JESUS.

Whilst joyous Galilee was celebrating in feasts the coming of the
well-beloved, the sorrowful John, in his prison of Machero, was pining
away with expectation and desire. The success of the young master,
whom he had seen some months before as his auditor, reached his ears.
It was said that the Messiah predicted by the prophets, he who was to
re-establish the kingdom of Israel, was come, and was proving his
presence in Galilee by marvelous works. John wished to inquire into
the truth of this rumor, and as he communicated freely with his
disciples, he chose two of them to go to Jesus in Galilee.[1]

[Footnote 1: Matt. xi. 2, and following; Luke vii. 18, and following.]

The two disciples found Jesus at the height of his fame. The air of
gladness which reigned around him surprised them. Accustomed to fasts,
to persevering prayer, and to a life of aspiration, they were
astonished to see themselves transported suddenly into the midst of
the joys attending the welcome of the Messiah.[1] They told Jesus
their message: "Art thou he that should come? Or do we look for
another?" Jesus, who from that time hesitated no longer respecting his
peculiar character as Messiah, enumerated the works which ought to
characterize the coming of the kingdom of God--such as the healing of
the sick, and the good tidings of a speedy salvation prea