sland of
Elephantinum, in the reign of Dioclesian. The Emperor had given up to
the nomads a large territory, on condition that they should protect the
frontiers; and the treaty was concluded in the name of the invisible
Powers. For the gods of every people were ignorant about other people.
The Barbarians had brought forward theirs. They occupied the hillocks of
sand which line the river. One could see them holding their idols
between their arms, like great paralytic children, or else, sailing amid
cataracts on trunks of palm-trees, they pointed out from a distance the
amulets on their necks and the tattooings on their breasts; and that is
not more criminal than the religion of the Greeks, the Asiatics, and the
Romans.

"When I dwelt in the Temple of Heliopolis, I used often to contemplate
all the objects on the walls: vultures carrying sceptres, crocodiles
playing on lyres, men's faces joined to serpents' bodies, women with
cows' heads prostrated before the ithyphallic deities; and their
supernatural forms carried me away into other worlds. I wished to know
what those calm eyes were gazing at. In order that matter should have so
much power, it should contain a spirit. The souls of the gods are
attached to their images. Those who possess external beauty may
fascinate us; but the others, who are abject or terrible ... how to
believe in them? ..."

And he sees moving past, close to the ground, leaves, stones, shells,
branches of trees, vague representations of animals, then a species of
dropsical dwarfs. These are gods. He bursts out laughing.

Behind him, he hears another outburst of laughter; and Hilarion presents
himself, dressed like a hermit, much bigger than before--in fact,
colossal.

Antony is not surprised at seeing him again.

"What a brute one must be to adore a thing like that!"

_Hilarion_--"Oh! yes; very much of a brute!"

Then advance before them, one by one, idols of all nations and all ages,
in wood, in metal, in granite, in feathers, and in skins sewn together.
The oldest of them, anterior to the Deluge, are lost to view beneath the
seaweed which hangs from them like hair. Some, too long for their lower
portions, crack in their joints and break their loins while walking.
Others allow sand to flow out through holes in their bellies.

Antony and Hilarion are prodigiously amused. They hold their sides from
sheer laughter.

After this, idols pass with faces like sheep. They stagger on their
bandy