"The humble, the gentle,--who through cowardice forgive their enemies. Slaves! slaves!... O deliver me!" "How can I deliver thee?" "Be even as I am." The smoke of the tripod obscured the apparition. Julian woke for a moment and the great hierophant, the teacher of rites, asked-- "Do you wish to see the ruined Archangel?" "Yes." "Behold him!" In the white smoke appeared faintly a head between two gigantic wings. The feathers of the wings swept out, drooping like branches of yew, and a bluish tint as of some lost sky trembled upon the melancholy plumes. Someone cried to Julian from afar off-- "Julian! Julian! Deny the Galilean in my name!" Julian held his peace. Maximus muttered at his ear-- "If you wish to see the great Angel you must make this renunciation." And Julian pronounced the words-- "I deny Him!" Above the head of the apparition suddenly glittered the morning star--the star of dawn--and the Angel repeated-- "Julian, deny the Galilean in my name!" A third time the Angel repeated,--and his voice sounded exultant and close by: "Renounce Him!" And Julian answered-- "I renounce Him!" The Angel said-- "Thou mayest approach." "Who art thou?" "I am Lucifer, I am Light, I am the East, I am the Morning Star!" "How beautiful thou art!" "Be thou as I am." "What melancholy dwells in thine eyes!" "I suffer for all living. Birth must cease, death must cease. Come to me; I am the Shadow, I am Repose, I am Liberty." "How art thou named among men?" "Evil." "Thou?" "Yes. I turned in revolt." "Against whom?" "Against Him whose peer I am. He willed to be alone, but we are two, and equals." "Make me in thine image!" "Revolt also! I will give thee the thews for rebellion." "Teach me!" "Violate the law, love thyself, curse Him, and be as I am!" The Angel disappeared; the wind in circling gusts rekindled the flame on the tripod. The flame blew over the brim of the vessel and ran along the ground. The tripod itself was overset, and the flame went out. In the darkness came a rushing noise of numberless steps, with cries and groanings, as if an invisible army, fleeing before an enemy, were in passage through the cave. Julian, in terror, fell face downward to the earth, while the long black robe of the hierophant, stretched over him, struggled with the wind. "Flee, flee!" groaned indistinct voices. "The gates of Hell are opening; it is He, He, the Conqueror!" The wind hissed in Julian's ears; legions upon legions seemed passing over him; suddenly there fell a dead calm; a heavenly breath filled the vast cavern and a voice murmured-- "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" It seemed to Julian that he had heard that voice before, in some far time of childhood. Gently it came again-- "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" And the sound faded away into the distance, so that there came at last but an imperceptible whisper: "Why, why, persecutest thou me?"