ble:
At the mouth of this my cave
Let us then sit down together. [They sit down.
What now wouldst thou have, Sir Stranger?

CHRYSANTHUS.
Sir, as long as I remember,
I have felt an inclination
To the love of books and letters.
In my casual studies lately
I a difficulty met with
That I could not solve, and knowing
No one in all Rome more learn`ed
Than thyself (thy reputation
Having with this truth impressed me)
I have hither come to ask thee
To explain to me this sentence:
For I cannot understand it.
'T is, sir, in this book.

CARPOPHORUS.
Pray, let me
See it then.

CHRYSANTHUS.
'T is at the beginning;
Nay, the sentence that perplexes
Me so much is that.

CARPOPHORUS.
Why, these
Are the Holy Gospels! Heavens!

CHRYSANTHUS.
What! you kiss the book?

CARPOPHORUS.
And press it
To my forehead, thus suggesting
The profound respect with which
I even touch so great a treasure.

CHRYSANTHUS.
Why, what is the book, which I
By mere accident selected?

CARPOPHORUS.
'T is the basis, the foundation
Of the Scripture Law.

CHRYSANTHUS.
I tremble
With an unknown horror.

CARPOPHORUS.
Why?

CHRYSANTHUS.
Deeper now I would not enter
Into the secrets of a book
Which are magic spells, I 'm certain.

CARPOPHORUS.
No, not so, but vital truths.

CHRYSANTHUS.
How can that be, when its verses
Open with this line that says
(A beginning surely senseless)
"In the beginning was the Word,
And it was with God": and then it
Adds: this Word itself was God;
Then unto the Word reverting,
Says explicitly that IT
"Was made flesh"?

CARPOPHORUS.
A truth most certain:
For this first evangelist
Here to us our God presenteth
In a twofold way: the first
As being God, as Man the second.

CHRYSANTHUS.
God and Man combined together?

CARPOPHORUS.
Yes, in one eternal Person
Are both natures joined together.

CHRYSANTHUS.
Then, for this is what more presses
On my mind, can that same Word
When it was made flesh, be reckoned
God?

CARPOPHORUS.
Yes, God and Man is Christ
Crucified for our transgressions.

CHRYSANTHUS.
Pray explain this wondrous problem.

CARPOPHORUS.
He is God, because He never
Was created: He is the Word,
For, besides, He was engendered
By the Father, from both whom
In eternal due procession
Comes the Holy Ghost, three Per