Sink thyself deep in depths of thine own self; Perceive the strongest powers of thine own soul; And learn to know how this strong love of thine Can hold thee upright in the cosmic life. THOMASIUS: Yea, now I feel the soul that wished to show Itself to me--'tis Theodora's self-- 'Twas she who wished to be revealed to me. She stood before me since 'tis her I'll see When I have gained an entrance through this gate. 'Tis right to love her, for her soul did stand Before me in that other body-form Which showed me how 'tis her that I must love. Through thee alone will I now find myself And win the future, fighting in thy strength. THE GUARDIAN: I cannot keep thee back from what must be. In pictured form thou hast already seen The soul thou lovest best; her shalt thou see When thou hast crossed the threshold of this realm. Perceive, and let experience decide If it shall prove so healing as thou dream'st. THE OTHER PHILIA: Ah, heed thou not the guardian strict Who leadeth thee to wastes of life And robs thee of thy warmth of soul; He can but see the spirit-forms, And knoweth naught of human woe Which souls can only then endure When earthly love doth guard them safe From chilling cosmic space. Strictness to him belongs, From him doth kindness flee, And power to wish He hath abhorred Since first the Earth began. Curtain SCENE 8 Ahriman's Kingdom. No sky is visible. A dark enclosure like a mountain gorge whose black masses of rock tower up in fantastic forms, divided by streams of fire. Skeletons are visible everywhere; they appear to be crystallized out of the mountain, but are white. Their attitude suggests the habitual egoism of their last life. Prominent on one side is a miser and on the other a massive glutton etc., etc. Ahriman is seated on a rock. Hilary, Frederick Trustworthy, then the Twelve who were gathered together in the first scene; then Strader; later on Thomasius and Maria; last of all Thomasius' Double. TRUSTWORTHY: How often have I trod this realm before.-- And yet how horrible it seems to me That e'en from here we must so often fetch The wise direction for full many a plan Which is important for us and our league And points significantly to our aims. HILARY: The grain of corn must fall to earth and die Before the life within it can return. All that in earthly life hath run to waste Shall here unto new being be transformed. And when our league desires to plant the seeds Of human acts, to ripen in due course, 'Tis from the dead that we must fetch the grain. TRUSTWORTHY: Uncanny is the lord who here bears rule; And if it were not written in our books, Which are the greatest treasures of our shrine, That he whom here we often meet, is good, One would indeed as evil reckon him. HILARY: