nd blasphemy died on
their lips and turned to prayers and muttered charms. The terrified
nymphs that surrounded Venus sprang from the car, and the foam-born
goddess in the shell tried to free herself from the garlands and gauzes
in which she was involved, shrieking aloud when she perceived that
she could not descend unaided from her elevated position. Other voices
mingled with hers--lamenting, cursing, and entreating; for now the
rainclouds burst, and through the window-openings poured a cold flood,
chilling and wetting the drunken mob within.

The storm raved through the halls and corridors; lightning and thunder
raged fiercely overhead; and the terrified wretches, suddenly sobered,
rushed about or huddled together, like ants whose nest has been
upturned. And into the midst of this dismayed throng rushed Orpheus, the
son of Karnis, who had been till now on guard on the roof, crying out:
"The world is coming to an end, the heavens are opening! Father--where
is my father?"

And everyone believed him; they snatched off their garlands, tore their
hair and gave themselves up to the utmost despair. Wailing, sobbing,
howling-furious, but impotent, they appealed to each other; and though
they had no hope of living to see another morning, or perhaps another
hour, each one thought only of himself, of his garments, and of how he
might best cover his limbs that shivered with terror and cold. From
the Scuffling mob round the heaps of cast-off clothes came deep groans,
piteous weeping, the shrieks of women, and the despairing moans of the
panic-stricken wretches.

It was a fearful scene, at once heart-rending and revolting; Gorgo
looked on, gnashing her teeth with rage and disgust, and only wishing
for the end of the world and of her own life as a respite from it all.
These crazed and miserable wretches, cowardly fools, these beasts in
the guise of human beings, deserved no better than to perish; but was
it conceivable that the supreme being should destroy the whole of
the beautiful and wisely-planned world for the sake of this base and
loathsome rabble.

It thundered, it lightened, the foundations of the temple shook--but she
no longer looked for the final crash; she had ceased to believe in the
majesty, the power and the purity of the divinity behind the veil.
Her cheeks burnt with shame, she felt it a disgrace ever to have been
numbered among his adherents; and, as the howling of the terrified crowd
grew every moment louder