Yea truly, fear is there: but ask thyself, As thou hast forced thy way within her realm If she doth not reveal herself to thee. Ask Lucifer, before whom thou dost stand If on thy weakness he is pouring fear. LUCIFER: Who flees from me will love me all the same. Children of Earth have loved me from the first And only think that hatred is my due. So do they ever seek me in my deeds. If I had not as ornament to life Sent beauty to their souls, they would long since Have pined away in truth's cold empty forms Throughout the long dull progress of the Earth. 'Tis I who fill the artist's soul with power And whatsoe'er of beauty men have seen Hath had its prototype within my realm-- Now ask thyself, if thou shouldst fear me still. MARIA: In these domains which Lucifer commands Fear hath not verily her proper place. From hence he must send forth into men's souls Not fear, but wishes, as his gifts to men. Fear comes from quite another realm of power. AHRIMAN: At birth I was the equal of the gods, Who have curtailed my many ancient rights. I wished in such a way to fashion men For Lucifer, my brother, and his realm, That each should bear his own world in himself. For Lucifer as peer amongst his peers Would only show himself in spirit-realms. In others he but shows his pictured form And so could never be a lord of men. I wished to give unto mankind such strength That they might grow to equal Lucifer. And had I stayed within the realm of gods This too had been in primal days fulfilled. The gods however willed to rule on Earth, And from their kingdom they did one day thrust My power into the depths of the abyss, So that I might not make mankind too strong. And thus 'tis only from this place I dare Send out my powerful strength upon the Earth. But in this way my power turns into FEAR. (As Ahriman finishes speaking, Benedictus appears.) CAPESIUS: He who hath heard what both these two powers here Spake from their places out into the worlds May know from this where he can look and find Both fear and hatred in their own domains. BENEDICTUS: In cosmic speech thou shalt perceive thyself; And feel thyself in cosmic power of thought. And as thou now didst see outside thyself What thou didst dream was all thine inmost self, So find thyself, and shudder now no more At that one word thou hast a right to use To prove thine own existence to thyself-- CAPESIUS: So once more I belong to mine own self Now will I seek myself, because I dare To see myself in cosmic thought and live. BENEDICTUS: And thou must add all this which thou hast won To victories of old to give the world. (Dame Balde in her ordinary dress appears in the background beside Benedictus.) DAME BALDE (in a meditative voice suitable for fairy tales):