A great clap of thunder is heard, darkness settles on the feast, and a fiery hand writes upon the wall the fatal “MANE, THECEL, PHARES.” Idolatry, Vanity, and Thought in turn fail to interpret the mysterious words, and the first named suggests that Daniel should be summoned.[57] The prophet comes and explains the hidden meaning of the words, declaring that God’s wrath has been aroused by the misuse of the sacred vessels, which, until the law of grace reigns on earth, foreshow the Blessed Sacrament. Baltassar and his wives tremble at the solemn words. Thought, an expression of the reproaches of his master’s conscience, turns against the king, who laments the desertion of his friends in the hour of need. Death, during this scene, has been approaching nearer and nearer, and now draws his sword and stabs the unhappy monarch, who cries: “This is death, then! Was the venom not sufficient That I drank of?” DEATH. “No; that venom Was the death of the soul; the body’s This swift death-stroke representeth.” The king, struggling with Death, is forced to confess: “He who dares profane God’s cup, Him he striketh down forever; He who sinfully receives Desecrates God’s holiest vessel!” These are his last words. Idolatry awakens from her dream, and longs to see the light of the law of grace now while the written law reigns. Death declares that it is foreshadowed in Gedeon’s fleece, in the manna, in the honey-comb, in the lion’s mouth, and in the shew-bread. DANIEL. “If these emblems Show it not, then be it shown In the full foreshadowing presence Of the feast here now transformed Into Bread and Wine--stupendous Miracle of God; his greatest Sacrament in type presented.” The scene opens to the sound of solemn music; a table is seen arranged as an altar, with a monstrance and chalice in the middle, and two wax candles on each side. The _auto_ closes with Idolatry’s declaration that she is transformed into _Latria_, and the usual personal address to the audience. II. THE PAINTER OF HIS OWN DISHONOR. We have already remarked that the _auto El Pintor de su Deshonra_ is a _replica_ of a secular play bearing the same title. It will not be out of place to give a short analysis of the latter, premising that it is one of the greatest of Calderon’s tragedies. In the first act the Governor of Gaeta welcomes to his residence his friend Don Juan Roca, whose young wife, Seraphine, soon becomes intimate with the governor’s daughter, Portia, to whom she reveals the secret that she has been ardently loved by Portia’s brother, Don Alvaro, whose love she has as ardently returned. News, however, was received of his shipwreck and death, and she finally yielded to her father’s urgent requests, and gave her hand to Don Juan.