the
Moon Goddess, Diana of the Ephesians, the Lady Saviour, the Resplendent
One, the Mother of Nature. This symbol of deity was hidden from the
vulgar gaze by a lovely veil of costly make, coloured with purple of
Tyre, adorned with figures and arabesques and embroideries from Babylon,
and edged with a fringe of purest gold. Behind the statue was the
opisthodomus, or retiring chamber.

The Temple floor was of white marble, the purest kind, and polished, the
joining of the slabs faced with golden wire.

The quiet splendour of this mighty edifice baffles description. Not only
was it magnificent in itself, but it was the grand storehouse for all
that was beautiful and costly. It abounded in the sculptured works of
Praxiteles and Thrason, and there were the statues of the Amazons, and
that by Rhoecus, which the Ephesians called 'Night,' and those by
Phidias and Scopas, silver wrought by Mentor, vases made of gold.

The cella walls were hung with costly paintings--pictures by Timarete,
the daughter of Nicon; others by Callithon of Samos, portraying 'Discord
raising the Battle' and the 'Binding on of the Armour of Patroclus.'
There was Euphonor's 'Ulysses feigning Madness,' and that great painting
by Timanthes which caused a shudder to pass through the mighty
Alexander, and the majestic portrait of that mighty conqueror painted by
Apelles.

In it were stored the strangest books, and there hung the finest
instruments of music.

It was the common treasury for all Asia; all nations deposited their
treasures there for safety, and the world wondered at its riches.
Deposits were made of all kinds--honorary statues, votive offerings,
spoils, and actual treasure--and the people invoked the blessing of the
goddess whose presence filled the golden shrine of Ephesus.

* * * * *

An awful stillness reigned within the sacred pile--silence soon to be
lightly broken by the entrance of a few priestesses, who led a girl
within the folding doors of the great sanctuary.

This was the night prior to initiation, and the novice was taken there
that she might recognise solemnly what she was about to do on the
morrow.

The moonlight streamed faintly through the open roof, casting shadows on
the marble floor.

As Saronia--for it was she who accompanied the priestesses--moved on,
she drew her cloak lightly around her, for the night-winds were chill,
and her spirit nature was strained to its highest point. Th