is no longer a place for us. Lead on and
we will follow. Lead on, that we may resume our immortality.
[IRIS _flies down to the sea, and_ ZEUS _descends the steps.
He is followed by all the other deities._]
CIRCE.
Were we really happy among these trees? I can scarcely credit it,
they seem so common and so frail.
NIKE.
Ha, my palm and my laurel and my wings. How can I have breathed
without them for an hour?
APHRODITE [_to_ EROS].
Shall we recollect this little episode when we walk up the golden
street presently to our houses?
EROS.
I cannot think so, mother. That refinement of memory of which
Phoebus was speaking will seem the most ridiculous of illusions
there.
PHOEBUS.
Yes; to cultivate illusion, to live in the past, to resuscitate
experience, may be the amusements of mortality, but they mean
nothing now to us. When Selene re-enters her orb, she will not
disquiet herself about the disorders of its interregnum.
PALLAS [_hastily reascending_].
I have left Pandora's jewel behind me. I must fetch it.
HERMES [_the last to descend_].
Let me confess that I took it from you. One of the barbarians was
weeping, and I wished, I cannot tell why, to see her smile. I gave
your jewel to her.
PALLAS.
It is of no moment. It would be an inconspicuous ornament in that
blaze of the heart's beauty to which the white ships are about to
carry us.
HERMES.
Come, then, Pallas, and let us linger here no more.
[_They descend and disappear._]
THE END.
Printed by
BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
London & Edinburgh
* * * * *
Transcriber's Note
Variant spellings in this ebook have been retained to match the
original document.
The use of an ae-ligature in the name 'Hephaestus' has been
regularized. The oe-ligature is represented by 'oe' in the text
version of this ebook, and retains the oe-ligature in the HTML
version. Ellipses have been regularized.
The original text contained duplicate headers for Acts; these
duplications have been omitted in this ebook.
The following typographical corrections were made to this text:
Page 16: Added missing period (EROS.)
Page 16: Changed em-dash to long dash to match style of text
Page 16: Changed casket to caskets (all the empty caskets)
Page 28: Added missing comma (he answered, "Pray don't)
Page 101: Changed 'o' to 'of' (It is kind of)
Page 132:
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