with
its beauty that he could not resist the temptation to buy it. When it
was in his studio he thought to himself, "Now what shall my chisel make
of it? Shall it be a god, a table, or a basin? It shall be a god. And I,
myself, shall ordain that the god shall poise a thunderbolt in his hand.
So tremble, mortals, and worship! Behold the lord of the earth!"

The artist set to work and expressed so powerfully the attributes of the
god that those who saw it averred that it only lacked speech to be
Jupiter himself. It is said that the sculptor had scarcely completed the
statue when he became so overawed as to fear and tremble before the work
of his own hands.

The poet of old, likewise, greatly dreaded the hate and the wrath of the
gods he himself created: a weakness which left little to choose between
him and the sculptor.

These traits are those of childhood. The minds of children are always
anxious lest any one should maltreat their dolls. The emotions
invariably give the lead to the intellect, and this fact accounts for
the great error of paganism. For that error has been prompted by the
emotions of men in all the peoples of the earth. Men uphold with fanatic
zeal the interests of the unreal creatures of their imagination.
Pygmalion became enamoured of the Venus[7] he had created, and in the
same way every one tries to turn his dreams into reality. Man remains as
ice before truth, but catches fire before illusion.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 7: La Fontaine forgets. It was Galatea whose image Pygmalion
created and whom Venus brought to life.]

XXVII

THE OYSTER AND THE PLEADERS

(BOOK IX.--No. 9)

One day two pilgrims espied upon the sands of the shore an oyster that
had been thrown up by the tide. They devoured it with their eyes whilst
pointing at it with their fingers; but whose teeth should deal with it
was a matter of dispute.

When one stopped to pick up the prey the other pushed him away saying:
"It would be just as well first to decide which of us is to have the
pleasure of it. He who first saw it should swallow it, and let the other
watch him eat."

"If you settle the affair that way," replied his companion, "I have good
eyes, thank God."

"But my sight is not bad either," said the other, "and I saw it before
you did, and that I'll stake my life upon."

"Well, suppose you did see it, I smelt it."

During this lively interlude Justice Nincompoop arrived on the scene,
and to him they appeal