登陆注册
5371300000042

第42章

Arbaces himself now resolved to exert all his arts to possess himself of that treasure he so burningly coveted. He was cheered and elated by his conquests over her brother. From the hour in which Apaecides fell beneath the voluptuous sorcery of that fete which we have described, he felt his empire over the young priest triumphant and insured. He knew that there is no victim so thoroughly subdued as a young and fervent man for the first time delivered to the thraldom of the senses.

When Apaecides recovered, with the morning light, from the profound sleep which succeeded to the delirium of wonder and of pleasure, he was, it is true, ashamed--terrified--appalled. His vows of austerity and celibacy echoed in his ear; his thirst after holiness--had it been quenched at so unhallowed a stream? But Arbaces knew well the means by which to confirm his conquest. From the arts of pleasure he led the young priest at once to those of his mysterious wisdom. He bared to his amazed eyes the initiatory secrets of the sombre philosophy of the Nile--those secrets plucked from the stars, and the wild chemistry, which, in those days, when Reason herself was but the creature of Imagination, might well pass for the lore of a diviner magic. He seemed to the young eyes of the priest as a being above mortality, and endowed with supernatural gifts. That yearning and intense desire for the knowledge which is not of earth--which had burned from his boyhood in the heart of the priest--was dazzled, until it confused and mastered his clearer sense. He gave himself to the art which thus addressed at once the two strongest of human passions, that of pleasure and that of knowledge. He was loth to believe that one so wise could err, that one so lofty could stoop to deceive. Entangled in the dark web of metaphysical moralities, he caught at the excuse by which the Egyptian converted vice into a virtue. His pride was insensibly flattered that Arbaces had deigned to rank him with himself, to set him apart from the laws which bound the vulgar, to make him an august participator, both in the mystic studies and the magic fascinations of the Egyptian's solitude. The pure and stern lessons of that creed to which Olinthus had sought to make him convert, were swept away from his memory by the deluge of new passions. And the Egyptian, who was versed in the articles of that true faith, and who soon learned from his pupil the effect which had been produced upon him by its believers, sought, not unskilfully, to undo that effect, by a tone of reasoning, half-sarcastic and half-earnest.

'This faith,' said he, 'is but a borrowed plagiarism from one of the many allegories invented by our priests of old. Observe,' he added, pointing to a hieroglyphical scroll--'observe in these ancient figures the origin of the Christian's Trinity. Here are also three gods--the Deity, the Spirit, and the Son. Observe, that the epithet of the Son is "Saviour"--observe, that the sign by which his human qualities are denoted is the cross.' Note here, too, the mystic history of Osiris, how he put on death; how he lay in the grave; and how, thus fulfilling a solemn atonement, he rose again from the dead! In these stories we but design to paint an allegory from the operations of nature and the evolutions of the eternal heavens. But the allegory unknown, the types themselves have furnished to credulous nations the materials of many creeds. They have travelled to the vast plains of India; they have mixed themselves up in the visionary speculations of the Greek; becoming more and more gross and embodied, as they emerge farther from the shadows of their antique origin, they have assumed a human and palpable form in this novel faith; and the believers of Galilee are but the unconscious repeaters of one of the superstitions of the Nile!'

This was the last argument which completely subdued the priest. It was necessary to him, as to all, to believe in something; and undivided and, at last, unreluctant, he surrendered himself to that belief which Arbaces inculcated, and which all that was human in passion--all that was flattering in vanity--all that was alluring in pleasure, served to invite to, and contributed to confirm.

This conquest, thus easily made, the Egyptian could now give himself wholly up to the pursuit of a far dearer and mightier object; and he hailed, in his success with the brother, an omen of his triumph over the sister.

He had seen Ione on the day following the revel we have witnessed; and which was also the day after he had poisoned her mind against his rival. The next day, and the next, he saw her also: and each time he laid himself out with consummate art, partly to confirm her impression against Glaucus, and principally to prepare her for the impressions he desired her to receive.

The proud Ione took care to conceal the anguish she endured; and the pride of woman has an hypocrisy which can deceive the most penetrating, and shame the most astute. But Arbaces was no less cautious not to recur to a subject which he felt it was most politic to treat as of the lightest importance.

He knew that by dwelling much upon the fault of a rival, you only give him dignity in the eyes of your mistress: the wisest plan is, neither loudly to hate, nor bitterly to contemn; the wisest plan is to lower him by an indifference of tone, as if you could not dream that he could be loved.

Your safety is in concealing the wound to your own pride, and imperceptibly alarming that of the umpire, whose voice is fate! Such, in all times, will be the policy of one who knows the science of the sex--it was now the Egyptian's.

He recurred no more, then, to the presumption of Glaucus; he mentioned his name, but not more often than that of Clodius or of Lepidus. He affected to class them together as things of a low and ephemeral species; as things wanting nothing of the butterfly, save its innocence and its grace.

同类推荐
  • 钟情丽集

    钟情丽集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 西山政训

    西山政训

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上池杂说

    上池杂说

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 正一法服天师教戒科经

    正一法服天师教戒科经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 全后魏文

    全后魏文

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 白月亮

    白月亮

    我爹见到传说中红得发紫的冰城第一窑姐——“白芍药”,是在新中国成立不久颁发的震惊了世界的主席令后的第二天夜里。毛泽东一句“新中国绝不允许娼妓遍地,黑道横行”,一夜之间就端掉了全国数不清的“天上人间”,废除了中国几千年的娼妓制。那是一个令我爹今生难以忘却的夜晚,他和一批临时被紧急抽调至冰城的年轻公安战士,比智取威虎山时还紧张十倍地封了当时酒绿灯红、粉浓脂香的冰城第一大妓院——“遣春楼”。我爹的运气不知是上乘还是霉背,第一次“逛窑子”就遭遇了坊间传闻杜丽娘第二的“白芍药”。
  • 太上元始天尊证果真经

    太上元始天尊证果真经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 缪克构小说三题

    缪克构小说三题

    我爷年轻时喜欢上一个女子。她二八年华面若桃花,从河边走来时腰若细柳。我爷划着一船粪水,双目顿时瞪大不能移开,握桨的双手一阵慌乱。双脚也难以立稳,差点跌入一舱的污水中。隔了八个村将一船粪水运回田地,我爷早就没有了挑粪施肥的心思。他满脑子都是那扎了麻花辫的姑娘,盘算着如何才能再见上她一眼。
  • 盛唐第一驸马爷

    盛唐第一驸马爷

    贞观十七年,李世民已经把大唐调教的差不多了。年初的时候搞了一个凌烟阁,让阎立本在里面画了二十四个人。十五岁的高阳公主也要被许配人家了,李承乾看似安稳的待在东宫里,其实已经磨刀霍霍。武媚娘还老实的做着才人。一切看起来都顺顺利利的。余鹅只想赚点小钱养活自己,猥琐发育。不想却影响力了历史进程,让资本快速积累,武器改良,政治改革,攻突厥,降吐蕃,灭高句丽……好吧,开工没有回头箭,撸起袖子就是干……
  • 职场中50个第一次

    职场中50个第一次

    什么时候,所有人会把目光聚焦到你身上?一定是你“第一次”处理某件事情的时候:第一件见大客户,第一次与同事竞争,第一次被同事排挤,第一次给领导送礼……“第一次”最能暴露你处理问题的能力。职场的冷酷在于,做错事,周围人可能向你传递“你错了”的信号,却不告诉你错在哪里。
  • 重生轻狂:绝色女公子

    重生轻狂:绝色女公子

    众人嘲笑她平凡木讷,好啊,那她就高调肆意。众人嘲笑她平凡无依靠,好啊,那她就用手编织出一箩筐的依靠,地方首富算什么?看我拿个全国首富给你们瞧瞧。每当她处于危难,他都出手相援。“这位公子,多谢你对小女子的救命之恩,滴水之恩,小女子愿...”“你误会了,那些人仅仅是挡住了我的路而已"你妹,你以为我要以身相许吗?当她以另一种身份出现在众人眼中时,他的视线早已无法从她的身上离开。“我曾经救过你,你还没有谢我呢,怎么可以赶你的救命恩人出去呢?”你妹,当初是谁以一种高傲的姿态如君临天下般俯视我的,现在想改了?没门。
  • 帝宫欢:第一皇妃(全集)

    帝宫欢:第一皇妃(全集)

    她是天朝贵族不屑一顾的罪臣之女,寄人篱下,卑微如泥。他是皇朝宗室位高权重的亲王,尊贵无双,宛如神祗。他却将她立为正妃,百般恩宠。几番生死相许,她情根深种,他却执意将她休弃下堂……怎样的恨?让一个女子甘愿剜心剔骨,自绝于世。怎样的爱?让一个男子为她背弃一切,倾尽天下。
  • 弃女肖瑶

    弃女肖瑶

    穿越成弃女,肖瑶带着懦弱却护犊的娘,在混乱的世道创建美好生活。虽然困难了点,但是既然上天让她穿到这个叫“肖瑶”的女孩身上,定是叫她努力过上逍遥自在的日子。所以,乃们这些古代花心男人赶紧让开,别挡住姐发家致富的道路。还有,皇上,环境已经治理得差不多了,民女能回家养老了么?
  • 雄兵连之宇宙纷争

    雄兵连之宇宙纷争

    是由超神学院动漫续编,讲述着雄兵连与侵略者战争的故事。
  • 卧底中将

    卧底中将

    国民党反情报将军怎样为共产党提供情报?国防部红派司如何发挥至高无上神奇作用?地下党为什么能战斗在敌人心脏游刃有余?百万雄师渡长江第一船怎么能在芜湖登陆?描写史存人物传奇经历智勇双全可歌可泣,解密真实历史前因后果震撼千古惊心动魄。