en stupefied by empery. Dost
thou not remember to have been dull and heavy at times, and the sudden
marvelous lucidity of other moments; as when Art emerges from an
orgy? Oh! poet, painter, and singer, lover of splendid ceremonies and
protector of the arts, was thy friendship for art perchance a caprice,
that so thou shouldst sleep beneath magnificent canopies? Was there not
a day when, in thy fantastic pride, though chastity and humility were
prescribed to thee, thou hadst brought all things beneath thy feet, and
set thy foot on the necks of princes; when earthly dominion, and
wealth, and the mind of man bore thy yoke? Exulting in the abasement of
humanity, joying to witness the uttermost lengths to which man's folly
would go, thou hast bidden thy lovers walk on all fours, and required
of them their lands and wealth, nay, even their wives if they were worth
aught to thee. Thou hast devoured millions of men without a cause; thou
hast flung away lives like sand blown by the wind from West to East.
Thou hast come down from the heights of thought to sit among the kings
of men. Woman! instead of comforting men, thou hast tormented and
afflicted them! Knowing that thou couldst ask and have, thou hast
demanded--blood! A little flour surely should have contented thee,
accustomed as thou hast been to live on bread and to mingle water with
thy wine. Unlike all others in all things, formerly thou wouldst bid thy
lovers fast, and they obeyed. Why should thy fancies have led thee to
require things impossible? Why, like a courtesan spoiled by her lovers,
hast thou doted on follies, and left those undeceived who sought to
explain and justify all thy errors? Then came the days of thy later
passions, terrible like the love of a woman of forty years, with a
fierce cry thou hast sought to clasp the whole universe in one last
embrace--and thy universe recoiled from thee!

"Then old men succeeded to thy young lovers; decrepitude came to thy
feet and made thee hideous. Yet, even then, men with the eagle power
of vision said to thee in a glance, 'Thou shalt perish ingloriously,
because thou hast fallen away, because thou hast broken the vows of thy
maidenhood. The angel with peace written on her forehead, who should
have shed light and joy along her path, has been a Messalina, delighting
in the circus, in debauchery, and abuse of power. The days of thy
virginity cannot return; henceforward thou shalt be subject to a master.
Thy hour has come