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DMITRI MEREJKOWSKI

The Death of the Gods

Among Russian writers whose works have achieved European
reputation, prominence must be given to Dmitri Merejkowski.
The son of a court official, Merejkowski was born in 1866, and
began to write verses at the age of fifteen, his first volume
of poems appearing in 1888. Then, nine years later, came the
first of his great trilogy, "The Death of the Gods," which is
continued in "The Resurrection of the Gods," and completed by
"Anti-Christ," the last-named having for its central character
the figure of Peter the Great, the creator of modern Russia.
"The Death of the Gods," by many considered the finest of the
three, is a vivid picture of the times of the Roman Emperor
Julian, setting forth the doctrine that the pagan and the
Christian elements in human nature are equally legitimate and
sacred, a doctrine which, in its various guises, runs through
the trilogy.

_I.--Julian's Boyhood_

All was dark in the great palace at Macellum, an ancient residence of
Cappadocian princes. Here dwelt Julian and Gallus, the youthful cousins
of the reigning Emperor Constantius, and the nephews of Constantine the
Great. They were the last representatives of the hapless house of the
Flavii. Their father, Julian Constantius, brother of Constantine, was
murdered by the orders of Constantius on his accession to the throne,
and the two orphans lived in constant fear of death.

Julian was not asleep. He listened to the regular breathing of his
brother, who slept near him on a more comfortable bed, and to the heavy
snore of his tutor Mardonius in the next room. Suddenly the door of the
secret staircase opened softly, and a bright light dazzled Julian.
Labda, an old slave, entered, carrying a metal lamp in her hand.

The old woman, who loved Julian, and held him to be the true successor
of Constantine the Great, placed the lamp in a stone niche above his
head, and produced honey cakes for him to eat. Then she blessed him with
the sign of the cross and disappeared.

A heavy slumber fell on Julian, and then he awoke full of fears. He sat
up on his bed, and listened in the silence to the beatings of his own
heart. Suddenly, voices and steps resounded from room to room. Then the
steps approached, the voices became distinct.

The boy called out, "Gallus, wake up! Mardonius, can't you hear
somet