“Ah!” she said to herself, “what have I done? Why did I meet that man? Why did he listen to me? Why did I let myself be caught in the trap? How is it that, even now, I regret nothing? “Not to love or to die: that is the choice God has given me. What have I done to deserve punishment?” And fragments of sacred verses occurred to her that she had heard quoted in her childhood. She had not thought of them for seven years. But they returned, one after the other, with an implacable precision, to apply to her life and predict her penalty. She murmured: “It is written: I remember thy love when thou wast young. For of old thou hast broken thy yoke. And burst thy bonds; And thou hast said: I will no longer serve. But upon every high hill, And under every green tree, Thou hast wandered, playing the harlot. [1] “It is written: I will follow after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my wine, And my wool and my flax, And my oil and my wine. [2] “It is written: How canst thou say: I am not polluted? See thy way in the valley, Know what thou hast done, O thou dromedary traversing her ways, O thou wild ass, Panting and ever lustful, Who could prevent thee from satisfying thy desire? [3] “It is written: _She has played the harlot in the land of Egypt._ She has doted upon paramours Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, And whose issue is like the issue of horses. Thus thou callest to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, In bruising thy teats by the Egyptians For the paps of thy youth.” [4] “Oh!” she cried. “It is I! It is I!” “And it is written again: Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers, And thou wouldst return again to me! saith the Lord. [5] “But my chastisement also is written: Behold: I raise up thy lovers against thee: They shall judge thee according to their judgments. They shall take away thy nose and thine ears, And thy remnant shall fall by the sword. [6] “And again: She is undone: she is stripped naked, she is led away captive Her servants wail like doves And taber upon their breasts. [7] “But does one know what the Scripture says?” she added to console herself. “Is it not written elsewhere: I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom. [8] “And elsewhere does not Scripture give this advice: Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart: for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white, and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest. [9] She shivered, and repeated in a low voice: For there is no work, nor device nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, _whither thou goest!_ Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is to see the sun. [10]