PAINTED VEILS BY JAMES HUNEKER La Vérité toute nue... Je vomis mes maîtres Steeplejack Boni and Liveright Publishers New York 1920 PAINTED VEILS Toward the immutable land Istar, daughter of Sin, bent her steps, toward the abode of the dead, toward the seven-gated abode where He entered, toward the abode whence there is no return. * * * * * At the first gate, the warder stripped her; he took the high tiara from her head. At the second gate, the warder stripped her; he took the pendants from her ears. At the third gate, the warder stripped her; he took off the precious stones that adorn her neck. At the fourth gate, the warder stripped her; he took off the jewels that adorn her breast. At the fifth gate, the warder stripped her; he took off the girdle that encompasses her waist. At the sixth gate, the warder stripped her; he took the rings from her feet, the rings from her hands. At the seventh gate, the warder stripped her; he took off the last veil that covers her body. Istar, daughter of Sin, went into the immutable land, she took and received the Waters of Life. She gave the Sublime Waters, and thus, in the presence of all, delivered the Son of Life, her young lover. EPOPÉE D'IZDUBAR (6th Chant) (Englished by W. F. ABTHORP) * * * * * THE SEVEN DEADLY VIRTUES Now the Seven Deadly Virtues are: Humility, Charity, Meekness, Temperance, Brotherly Love, Diligence, Chastity. And the Seven Deadly Arts are: Poetry, Music, Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Drama, Dancing. This Parable, with its notations and evocations of naked nerves and soul-states, is inscribed in all gratitude to the charming morganatic ladies, les belles impures, who make pleasanter this vale of tears for virile men. What shall it profit a woman if she saves her soul, but loseth love? "La pudeur? belle vertu! qu'on attache sur soi avec des épingles." Madame d'Epinay "L'amour cette forme meilleure de la charité." Catulle Mendès "Lo! the Lesbians, their sterile sex advancing...." Steeplejack ... "Down from the waist they are Centaurs, Though women all above: But to the girdle do the gods inherit, Beneath is all the fiend's; There's hell, there's darkness, there's the sulphurous pit, Burning, scalding, stench, consumption; fie, fie, fie!..." "King Lear." Act IV, scene VI THE FIRST GATE _At the first gate, the warder stripped her; he took the high tiara from her head_.... I