an
day has penetrated Tartarus!"

He sinks into the darkness.

_Neptune_--"My trident no longer raises tempests. The monsters who
caused terror have rotted at the bottom of the sea.

"Amphitrite, whose white feet rushed over the foam; the green nereids,
who could be seen on the horizon; the scaly sirens, who used to stop the
ships to tell stories; and the old tritons, who used to blow into
shells, all are dead! The gaiety of the sea has vanished!

"I will not survive it! Let the vast ocean cover me."

He disappears into the azure.

_Diana_, attired in black, among her dogs, who have become wolves--

"The freedom of great woods intoxicated me with its odour of deer and
exhalations of swamps. The women, over whose pregnancy I watched, bring
dead children into the world. The moon trembles under the incantations
of sorcerers. I am filled with violent and boundless desires. I long to
drink poisons, to lose myself in vapours or in dreams! ..."

And a passing cloud bears her away.

_Mars_, bare-headed and blood-stained--

"At first, I fought single-handed, provoking by insults an entire army,
indifferent to countries, and for the pleasure of carnage. Then, I had
companions. They marched to the sound of flutes, in good order, with
even step, breathing upon their bucklers, with lofty plume and slanting
spear. We flung ourselves into the battle with loud cries like those of
eagles. War was as joyous as a feast. Three hundred men withstood all
Asia.

"But they returned, those barbarians! and in tens of thousands, nay, in
millions! Since numbers, war-engines, and strategy are more powerful, it
is better to make an end of it, like a brave man!"

He kills himself.

_Vulcan_, wiping the sweat from his limbs with a sponge--

"The world is getting cold. It is necessary to heat the springs, the
volcanoes, and the rivers, which run from metals under the
earth!--Strike harder! with vigorous arm! with all your strength!"

The Cabiri hurt themselves with their hammers, blind themselves with the
sparks, and, groping their way along, are lost in the shadow.

_Ceres_, standing in her chariot which is drawn by wheels having wings
in their naves--"Stop! Stop!

"They had good reason to exclude the strangers, the atheists, the
epicureans, and the Christians! The mystery of the basket is unveiled,
the sanctuary profaned--all is lost!"

She descends with a rapid fall--bursting into exclamation of despair,
and dragging back the