. As I have triumphed over the flesh, suffer not the shadow
to overthrow me. I know that I am now exposed to greater dangers than
I ever ran. I feel and know that the dream has more power than the
reality. And how could it be otherwise, since it is itself but a higher
reality? It is the soul of things. Plato, though he was but an idolater,
has testified to the real existence of ideas. At that banquet of demons
to which Thou accompaniedst me, Lord, I heard men--sullied with crimes
truly, but certainly not devoid of intelligence--agree to acknowledge
that we see real objects in solitude, meditation, and ecstasy; and Thy
Scriptures, my God, many times affirm the virtue of dreams, and the
power of visions formed either by Thee, great God, or by Thy adversary."

There was a new man in him and now he reasoned with God, but God did not
choose to enlighten him. His nights were one long dream, and his days
did not differ from his nights. One morning he awoke uttering sighs,
such as issue, by moonlight, from the tombs of the victims of crimes.
Thais had come, showing her bleeding feet, and whilst he wept, she had
slipped into his couch. There was no longer any doubt; the image of
Thais was an impure image.

His heart filled with disgust, he leaped out of his profaned couch, and
hid his face in his hands that he might not see the daylight. The hours
passed, but they did not remove his shame. All was quiet in the cell.
For the first time for many long days, Paphnutius was alone. The phantom
had at last left him, and even its absence seemed dreadful. Nothing,
nothing to distract his mind from the recollection of the dream. Full of
horror, he thought--

"Why did I not drive her away? Why did I not tear myself from her cold
arms and burning knees?"

He no longer dared to pronounce the name of God near that horrible
couch, and he feared that his cell being profaned, the demons might
freely enter at any hour. His fears did not deceive him. The seven
little jackals, which had never crossed the threshold, entered in a
file, and went and hid under the bed. At the vesper hour, there came an
eighth, the stench of which was horrible. The next day, a ninth joined
the others, and soon there were thirty, then sixty, then eighty. They
became smaller as they multiplied, and being no bigger than rats, they
covered the floor, the couch, and the stool. One of them jumped on the
little table by the side of the bed, and standing with its four feet