Epigraphs
Other things may be illusions of the eye or the appetite, made to blind the one and cloy the other, but out of sorrow have the worlds been built, and at the birth of a child or a star there is pain.
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.
OLD CARDINAL.
Is it conceivable that God would trust this most precious fruit of his labor to a mere flibbertigibbet of a star?
In templo tu dei
turibulum aureum
visus es habuisse minibus
inde scandens vapor
aromate plurimo
prevenit ante conspectum dei.. . . hinc maximum agebatur in caelo silentium
milia millium et dicunt ‘salus regi domino.’Thou wert seen in the Temple of God,
A censer of gold in thy hands,
And the smoke of it fragrant with spices
Rose up till it came before God.. . . Then there was a great silence in heaven,
And a thousand thousand saying ‘Glory to the Lord King.’
. . . «Mes amis, savez-vous la nouvelle?
J’ai touché de mon front à la voûte éternelle ;
Je suis sanglant, brisé, souffrant pour bien des jours !
« Frères, je vous trompais : Abîme ! abîme ! abîme !
Le dieu manque à l’autel où je suis la victime …
Dieu n’est pas ! Dieu n’est plus ! » Mais ils dormaient toujours !. . . “Friends, have you heard the news?
With my brow I touched the eternal vault;
I am covered in blood, exhausted, I shall suffer for many days!
Brethren, I misled you. Abyss! Abyss! Abyss!
God is missing from the altar where I am the victim . . .
God is not! God is no more!” But they were still sleeping! . . .
Don’t be afraid of the man in the moon
Because it’s only me
I shall always watch you . . .