_He speaks gloomily, in the grief of deathless blindness._ ANATHEMA. I am tired of searching. I have grown tired of life, of aimless tortures--of the quest after the ever elusive. Give me death, but do not torment me with ignorance; answer me honestly, even as I am honest in my uprising as a slave. Did not David love? Answer. Did not David give his soul away? Answer. And did they not stone David, who had given his soul away? Answer. GUARDIAN. Yes. They stoned David, who had given his soul away. ANATHEMA. _Smiling darkly._ Now you are honest and you answer me with modesty. Without having stilled the hunger of the hungry, without having restored sight to the blind, without having brought to life those who had died innocently,--having stirred up dissension and dispute and cruel bloodshed, for the people have already risen against one another and are committing violence, murder, and plunder in the name of David,--did not David manifest the powerlessness of love, and did he not create a great evil which could be numbered and weighed? GUARDIAN. Yes. David has done that which you say; and the people have done that of which you accuse them. And the numbers do not lie, and the scales are correct, and every measure is what it is. ANATHEMA. _Triumphantly._ You say that! GUARDIAN. But that which you do not know, Anathema, is not measured with a measure, and is not calculated in numbers, and is not weighed on scales. Light has no boundaries, nor is there any boundary for the glow of fire--there is a red fire, and there is a yellow fire, and there is a white fire, in which the sun bums like a yellow straw,--and there is still another unknown fire, whose name no one knows--for there is no limit to the glow of fire. Having died in numbers, having died in measures and in weights, David has attained immortality in the deathlessness of fire. ANATHEMA, You lie again! _He flings himself about on the ground in despair._ ANATHEMA. Oh, who will help the honest Anathema? He is being deceived eternally. Oh, who will help the unfortunate Anathema? His immortality is deception. Oh, weep, you who have grown fond of the Devil; wail and grieve, you who strive for truth, who honor wisdom,--Anathema is being deceived eternally. When I win, he takes it away from me. When I come out victorious, he fetters the conqueror in chains, he pricks out the eyes of the ruler, and to the haughty he gives the traits of a dog, a wagging and quivering tail. David, David, I was a friend to you,--tell him that he lies. _He puts his head down on his outstretched arms, like a dog, and wails bitterly._ Where is the truth? Where is the truth? Where is the truth? Was it not crushed with stones? Is it not lying in the ditch together with the carrion? Oh, the light has died out from the world! Oh, the world has no eyes!... he crows have pecked them out.... Where is the truth? Where is the truth? Where is the truth?