es simulacra of Love and the triumphs of
Bacchus.

"The lid being raised, a maiden appeared whose face shone with dazzling
freshness. Her long hair spread over her white shoulders, she was
smiling in her sleep. A band of citizens, thrilled with enthusiasm,
raised the funeral couch and bore it to the Capitol. The people came in
crowds to contemplate the ineffable beauty of the Roman maiden and stood
around in silence, watching for the awakening of the divine soul held
within this form of adorable beauty.

"And it came to pass that the City was so greatly stirred by this
spectacle that the Pope, fearing, not without reason, the birth of a
pagan cult from this radiant body, caused it to be removed at night and
secretly buried. The precaution was vain, the labour fruitless. After so
many centuries of barbarism, the beauty of the antique world had
appeared for a moment before the eyes of men; it was long enough for its
image, graven on their hearts, to inspire them with an ardent desire to
love and to know.

"Henceforth, the star of the God of the Christians paled and sloped to
its decline. Bold navigators discovered worlds inhabited by numerous
races who knew not old Iahveh, and it was suspected that he was no less
ignorant of them, since he had given them no news of himself or of his
son the expiator. A Polish Canon demonstrated the true motions of the
earth, and it was seen that, far from having created the world, the old
demiurge of Israel had not even an inkling of its structure. The
writings of philosophers, orators, jurisconsults, and ancient poets were
dragged from the dust of the cloisters and passing from hand to hand
inspired men's minds with the love of wisdom. The Vicar of the jealous
God, the Pope himself, no longer believed in Him whom he represented on
earth. He loved the arts and had no other care than to collect ancient
statues and to rear sumptuous buildings wherein were displayed the
orders of Vitruvius re-established by Bramante. We began to breathe
anew. Already the old gods, recalled from their long exile, were
returning to dwell upon earth. There they found once more their temples
and their altars. Leo, placing at their feet the ring, the three crowns,
and the keys, offered them in secret the incense of sacrifices. Already
Polyhymnia, leaning on her elbow, had begun to resume the golden thread
of her meditations; already, in the gardens, the comely Graces and the
Nymphs and Satyrs were weaving thei