Produced by Thierry Alberto, Henry Craig and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTONY OR, _A REVELATION OF THE SOUL_ BY GUSTAVE FLAUBERT _VOLUME VII._ SIMON P. MAGEE PUBLISHER CHICAGO, ILL. COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY M. WALTER DUNNE _Entered at Stationers' Hall, London_ CONTENTS THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTONY CHAPTER I. PAGE A HOLY SAINT 1 CHAPTER II. THE TEMPTATION OF LOVE AND POWER 16 CHAPTER III. THE DISCIPLE, HILARION 40 CHAPTER IV. THE FIERY TRIAL 48 CHAPTER V. ALL GODS, ALL RELIGIONS 99 CHAPTER VI. THE MYSTERY OF SPACE 143 CHAPTER VII. THE CHIMERA AND THE SPHINX 151 ILLUSTRATIONS TEMPTATION OF SAINT ANTONY FACING PAGE "DO NOT RESIST, I AM OMNIPOTENT!" (See page 157) _Frontispiece_ HE LETS GO THE TORCH IN ORDER TO EMBRACE THE HEAP 26 The Temptation _of_ Saint Antony [Illustration] CHAPTER I. A HOLY SAINT. It is in the Thebaid, on the heights of a mountain, where a platform, shaped like a crescent, is surrounded by huge stones. The Hermit's cell occupies the background. It is built of mud and reeds, flat-roofed and doorless. Inside are seen a pitcher and a loaf of black bread; in the centre, on a wooden support, a large book; on the ground, here and there, bits of rush-work, a mat or two, a basket and a knife. Some ten paces or so from the cell a tall cross is planted in the ground; and, at the other end of the platform, a gnarled old palm-tree leans over the abyss, for the side of the mountain is scarped; and at the bottom of the cliff the Nile swells, as it were, into a lake. To right and left, the view is bounded by the enclosing rocks; but, on the side of the desert, immense undulations of a yellowish ash-colour rise, one above and one beyond the other, like the lines of a sea-coast; while, far off, beyond the sands, the mountains of the Libyan range form a wall of chalk-like whiteness faintly shaded with violet haze. In front, the sun is going down. Towards the north, the sky has a pearl-grey tint; while, at the zenith, purple clouds, like the tufts of a gigantic mane, stretch over the blue vault. These purple streaks grow browner; the patches of blue assume the paleness of mother-of-pearl. The bushes, the pebbles, the earth, now wear the hard colour of bronze, and through space floats a golden dust so fine that it is scarcely distinguishable from the vibrations of light.