iven over to the torture. Diocletian watched.

A blare of trumpets like a brazen imprecation and the public pulse
furiously pounded, for a young man was dragged near the Venus. About his
loins a strip of linen, and he was goodly to see--slender,
olive-skinned, with curls clustering over a stubborn brow; but his eyes
were blood-streaked and his mouth made a blue mark across his face. He
stared threateningly at Diocletian, at the multitude cynically
anticipating the punishment of the contumacious Christians.

Sturdy brutes seized the pair, but they stood unabashed, for they saw
open wide the gates of Paradise. And Diocletian's eyes were a deep
black. Urged by rude hands maid and youth were bound truss-wise with
cords. Then the subtile cruelty caught the mob's fancy. This couple,
once betrothed, had been separated by their love for the Son of Galilee.
She looked into his eyes and saw there the image of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. He moistened his parched lips. The sun blistered their naked
skins and seemed to laugh at their God, while the Venus in her cool grot
sent them wreathed smiles, bidding them worship her and forget their
pale faith. And the two flutes made dreamy music that sent into the
porches of the ear a silvery, feverish mist. Breathless the lovers gazed
at the shimmering goddess. The vast, silent throng questioned them with
its glance. Suddenly they were seen to shudder, and Diocletian rose to
his feet rending his garments. In the purple shadows of the amphitheatre
a harsh, prolonged shout went up.

That night at his palace the Master of the World would not be comforted.
And the Venus was carried about Rome; great was the homage accorded her.
In their homes the two flute players, who were Christians, wept
unceasingly; well they knew music and its conquering power for evil.

By JAMES HUNEKER

MEZZOTINTS IN MODERN MUSIC

Essays on

BRAHMS, TSCHAIKOWSKY, CHOPIN, RICHARD STRAUSS, LISZT, WAGNER

12mo ... $1.50

_Opinions of the Press_:

Seven essays are included in this work: a masterly and exhaustive study
of Brahms entitled "The Music of the Future;" "A Modern Music Lord,"
dealing with Tschaikowsky (the only personal and professional study of
the kind in print); "Strauss and Nietzsche;" "The Greater Chopin," an
inquiry into what Chopin was and was not, that has no superior; "A Liszt
Etude;" "The Royal Road to Parnassus," a fluent survey of modern
primitive works; and last, "A Note on