their
shoulders the weight of the ocean-springs."

Phosphorescences flash from the hairs of the seals and from the scales
of the fishes. Sea-hedgehogs turn around like wheels; Ammon's horns
unroll themselves like cables; oysters make sounds with the fastenings
of their shells; polypi spread out their tentacles; medusae quiver like
crystal balls; sponges float; anemones squirt out water; and mosses and
seaweed shoot up.

And all kinds of plants spread out into branches, twist themselves into
tendrils, lengthen into points, and grow round like fans. Pumpkins
present the appearance of bosoms, and creeping plants entwine themselves
like serpents.

The Dedaims of Babylon, which are trees, have as their fruits human
heads; mandrakes sing; and the root Baaras runs into the grass.

And now the plants can no longer be distinguished from the animals.
Polyparies, which have the appearance of sycamores, carry arms on their
branches. Antony fancies he can trace a caterpillar between two leaves;
it is a butterfly which flits away. He is on the point of walking over
some shingle when up springs a grey grasshopper. Insects, like petals of
roses, garnish a bush; the remains of ephemera make a bed of snow upon
the soil.

* * * * *

And, next, the plants are indistinguishable from the stones.

Pebbles bear a resemblance to brains, stalactites to udders, and
iron-dust to tapestries adorned with figures. In pieces of ice he can
trace efflorescences, impressions of bushes and shells--so that one
cannot tell whether they are the impressions of those objects or the
objects themselves. Diamonds glisten like eyes, and minerals palpitate.

And he is no longer afraid! He lies down flat on his face, resting on
his two elbows, and, holding in his breath, he gazes around.

Insects without stomachs keep eating; dried-up ferns begin to bloom
afresh; and limbs which were wanting sprout forth again.

Finally, he perceives little globular bodies as large as pins' heads,
and garnished all round with eyelashes. A vibration agitates them.

_Antony_, in ecstasy--

"O bliss! bliss! I have seen the birth of life; I have seen the
beginning of motion. The blood beats so strongly in my veins that it
seems about to burst them. I feel a longing to fly, to swim, to bark, to
bellow, to howl. I would like to have wings, a tortoise-shell, a rind,
to blow out smoke, to wear a trunk, to twist my body, to spread myself
everywh