A DEATH IN THE DESERT. [SUPPOSED of Pamphylax the Antiochene : Lies second in the surnamed Chosen Chest, I may not write it, but I make a cross I said, "If one should wet his lips with wine, And cool his forehead just above the eyes, The while a brother, kneeling either side, This did not happen in the outer cave, Nor in the secret chamber of the rock, And waited for his dying all the while; I at the head, and Xanthus at the feet, And his lids moved, presageful of the end. Beyond, and half way up the mouth o' the cave, Plantain and quitch, the rocks' shade keeps alive: So that if any thief or soldier passed, (Because the persecution was aware) Yielding the goat up promptly with his life, Nor care to pry into the cool o' the cave. "Here is wine," answered Xanthus, dropped a drop; I stooped and placed the lap of cloth aright, Then chafed his right hand, and the Boy his left : But Valens had bethought him, and produced And broke a ball of nard, and made perfume. not so much wake, as - turn And smile a little, as a sleeper does If any dear one call him, touch his face And smiles and loves, but will not be disturbed. Then Xanthus said a prayer, but still he slept: Then the Boy sprang up from his knees, and ran, Out of the secret chamber, found a place, Whereat he opened his eyes wide at once, First he said, "If a friend declared to me, Were James and Peter, This lad was very John,· - nay, declared as we I could believe ! Could, for a moment, doubtlessly believe: So is myself withdrawn into my depths, The soul retreated from the perished brain Whence it was wont to feel and use the world Through these dull members, done with long ago. Yet I myself remain; I feel myself: And there is nothing lost. Let be, awhile!" [This is the doctrine he was wont to teach, How divers persons witness in each man, Three souls which make up one soul: first, to wit, Seated therein, which works, and is what Does, And has the use of earth, and ends the man By the next soul, which, seated in the brain, And feeleth, thinketh, willeth, is what Knows: Which, duly tending upward in its turn, By the last soul, that uses both the first, What Does, what Knows, what Is; three souls, one man. I give the glossa of Theotypas.] And then, "A stick, once fire from end to end; Now, ashes save the tip that holds a spark! |