proved to me that even the retreat of
ideal love can be as inexorably cruel as the outer world. So
harassing have been these sacrifices that some could not
bear their burden, and at this moment five hundred twin
souls are confined in the dungeons of Egyplosis because they
transgressed the vows of their novitiate. Of what avail are
tender, chivalrous delights, if nature, if reason, be
outraged in producing them?

"Those who have remained steadfast to their vows, have grown
sickly and morbid, feeding too long on fantastic ecstasies.
Despondent and unreal in mind, delicate and nervous in body,
they only appear rich and radiant in some brief ceremonial,
while their every-day life is shuddering, tearful, and
unstable, and utterly unfit to cope with the struggle of
ordinary existence.

"Therefore it is that one moment of pleasure is purchased by
whole days of pain, and the oscillation between such
extremes racks and ruins the dearest souls.

"The motto of the new faith for Egyplosis, 'One Body and One
Soul,' founded on the ordinary marriage rite, will restore
to priest and priestess the steady and temperate possession
of their souls which gives society that virile force
necessary to its very existence.

"By the memory of our mutual love, I claim the support of my
faithful priests and priestesses, worshippers and people, in
the coming struggle.

"LYONE."

The manifesto of the goddess, published in all the papers of the
kingdom, created a profound sensation. It was the first discovery to
millions that their religion had been weighed and found wanting.
Although many were aware of its excesses, they saw that, despite every
regulation, the hornet was in possession of Hesperides, prepared to
sting the hand that reached for the golden fruit.

They learned that passion led to agonized exaltation, and that the
moral fibres of the soul became paralyzed by fierce temptation and
inordinate spiritual delights. They saw that restraint of rapture and
a more natural basis for the fellowship of the sexes were reforms
imperatively needed, if the religion of Atvatabar were to remain an
elevating and purifying force. Their creed must be reformed, both in
faith and practice, and who so capable of introducing such a reform as
Lyone herself?

The power of th