STRANGER. Our shame! You've said so. Explain this riddle to me, you
who're wise. Whenever I appeared in public arm in arm with a woman,
my wife, who was beautiful and whom I adored, I felt ashamed of my own
weakness. Explain that riddle to me.

TEMPTER. You felt ashamed? I don't know why.

STRANGER. Can't you answer? You, of all men?

TEMPTER. No, I can't. But I too always suffered when I was with my wife
in company, because I felt she was being soiled by men's glances, and I
through her.

STRANGER. And when she did the shameful deed, you were dishonoured. Why?

TEMPTER. The Eve of the Greeks was called Pandora, and Zeus created her
out of wickedness, in order to torture men and master them. As a wedding
gift she received a box, containing all the unhappiness of the world.
Perhaps the riddle of this sphinx can more easily be guessed, if it's
seen from. Olympus, rather than from the pleasure garden of Paradise.
Its full meaning will never be known to us. Though I'm as able as
you. (Pause.) And, by the way, I can still enjoy the greatest pleasure
creation ever offered! Go you and do likewise!

STRANGER. You mean Satan's greatest illusion! For the woman who seems
most beautiful to me, can seem horrible to others! Even for me, when
she's angry, she can be uglier than any other woman. Then what is
beauty?

TEMPTER. A semblance, a reflection of your own goodness! (He puts his
hand over his mouth.) Curses on it! I let it out that time. And now the
devil's loose....

STRANGER. Devil? Yes. But if she's a devil, how can a devil make me
desire virtue and goodness? For that's what happened to me when I first
saw her beauty; I was seized with a longing to be like her, and so to
be worthy of her. To begin with I tried to be by taking exercise, having
baths, using cosmetics and wearing good clothes; but I only made myself
ridiculous. Then I began from within; I accustomed myself to thinking
good thoughts, speaking well of people and acting nobly! And one day,
when my outward form had moulded itself on the soul within, I became her
likeness, as she said. And it was she who first uttered those wonderful
words: I love you! How can a devil ennoble us; how can a spirit of hell
fill us with goodness; how...? No, she was an angel! A fallen angel,
of course, and her love a broken ray of that great light--that great
eternal light--that warms and loves.... That loves....

TEMPTER. What, old friend, must we stand here like two yout