Go out and tell this to them,--they will listen to you. They will lift their voice to Heaven--and we shall hear the answer of Heaven, David! Tell them the truth and you will stir up the earth. DAVID. I am going, Nullius. And I will tell them the truth--I have never lied. Open the doors, Nullius. _Anathema quickly throws the door open and respectfully allows David to pass to the balcony. David walks slowly, with an air of importance. Then Anathema closes the door behind David. The noise suddenly subsides, a deathlike silence sets in, and David's quivering voice is heard faintly. Anathema dances about the room in a fit of ecstasy._ ANATHEMA. Ah! you would not listen to me,--now listen to them. Ah! you forced me to crawl on my belly like a dog. You would not permit me to glimpse even through a crevice!... You laughed at me in your silence!... You tortured me by your motionlessness. Listen, then, and answer, if you can. It is not the Devil who speaks to you, it is not the son of Dawn who raises his voice,--it is man, it is your favorite son, your care, your love, your tenderness, and your proud hope, that is wriggling under your foot like a worm. Well? You are silent? Lie to him by your thunder, deceive him with your lightning,--how dares he look into the heavens? Let him, like Anathema? _Wailing._ The poor, offended Anathema, who is crawling on his belly like a dog.... _Furiously._ Let man crawl back again to his dark hole, let him decay in silence, bury himself in gloom, where unspeakable horror dwells. _A myriad-voiced sound is heard from outside the windows._ ANATHEMA. Do you hear? _Sarcastically._ It is not I. It is they. Six, eight, twenty-correct. It is always correct with the Devil.... _The door opens and David, horror-stricken, runs in. A shout is heard behind him. David closes the door and holds it with his shoulder._ DAVID. Help, Nullius! They will soon break in--the door is not strong; they will break it. ANATHEMA. What do they say? DAVID. They do not believe me, Nullius. They ask for a miracle. But do the dead also shout?--I saw the dead they have brought here. ANATHEMA. _Furiously._ Then lie to them, Jew! _David goes away from, the door and says mysteriously, with confusion and fear:_ DAVID. Do you know, Nullius, something is going on within me,--I have nothing,--but here I went out to them, I saw them and suddenly I felt that it is not true--I do have something. And I spoke, but I did not believe it myself; I spoke, and yet I felt that I stood with them and shouted against myself, and demanded angrily.... With my lips I declare that I have nothing,'and with my heart I promise them, and with my eyes I cry out, Yes, yes, yes! What shall I do, Nullius? Tell me, are you sure that I have nothing?