ble
thought. But the actions of daily life withhold it. The murderer will be
born again in the body of a eunuch; he who slays an animal will become
that animal. If you plant a vine-tree, you will be fastened in its
branches. Food absorbs those who use it. Therefore, mortify yourselves!
fast!"

_Hilarion_--"They are temperate, as you see!"

_Manes_--"There is a great deal of it in flesh-meats, less in herbs.
Besides, the Pure, by the force of their merits, despoil vegetables of
that luminous spark, and it flies towards its source. The animals, by
generation, imprison it in the flesh. Therefore, avoid women!"

_Hilarion_--"Admire their countenance!"

_Manes_--"Or, rather, act so well that they may not be prolific. It is
better for the soul to sink on the earth than to languish in carnal
fetters."

_Antony_--"Ah! abomination!"

_Hilarion_--"What matters the hierarchy of iniquities? The Church has
done well to make marriage a sacrament!"

_Saturninus_, in Syrian costume--"He propagates a dismal order of
things! The Father, in order to punish the rebel angels, commanded them
to create the world. Christ came in order that the God of the Jews, who
was one of those angels----"

_Antony_--"An angel? He! the Creator?"

_Gerdon_--"Did He not desire to kill Moses and deceive the prophets? and
did He not lead the people astray, spreading lying and idolatry?"

_Marcion_--"Certainly, the Creator is not the true God!"

_Saint Clement of Alexandria_--"Matter is eternal!"

_Bardesanes_, as one of the Babylonian Magi--"It was formed by the seven
planetary spirits."

_The Hernians_--"The angels have made the souls!"

_The Priscillianists_--"The world was made by the Devil."

_Antony_, falls backward--"Horror!"

_Hilarion_, holding him up--"You drive yourself to despair too quickly!
You don't rightly comprehend their doctrine. Here is one who has
received his from Theodas, the friend of Saint Paul. Hearken to him!"

And, at a signal from Hilarion, Valentinus, in a tunic of silver cloth,
with a hissing voice and a pointed skull, cries:

"The world is the work of a delirious God!"

_Antony_, hangs down his head--"The work of a delirious God!"

After a long silence:

"How is that?"

_Valentinus_--"The most perfect of the AEons, the Abysm, reposed on the
bosom of Profundity together with Thought. From their union sprang
Intelligence, who had for his consort Truth.

"Intelligence and Truth engendered the Word and Li