The caravan having approached the city, Balthasar distinguished the glittering scimitars and the black horses of the guards of the Queen of Sheba. He even recognised the queen herself, and he was profoundly disturbed, for he felt that he would again love her. The star shone in the zenith with a marvellous brilliancy. Below, extended on a litter of purple and gold, Balkis looked small and brilliant like the star.
Balthasar was conscious of being drawn towards her by some terrible power. Still he turned his head away with a desperate effort, and lifting his eyes he again saw the star. Thereupon the star spoke and said: "Glory to G.o.d in the Heavens and peace on earth to men of good will!
"Take a measure of myrrh, gentle King Balthasar, and follow me. I will guide thee to the feet of a little child who is about to be born in a stable between an a.s.s and an ox.
"And this little child is the King of Kings. He will comfort all those who need comforting.
"He calls thee to Him, O Balthasar, thou whose soul is as dark as thy face, but whose heart is as guileless as the heart of a child.
"He has chosen thee because thou hast suffered, and He will give thee riches, happiness and love.
"He will say to thee: "Be poor joyfully, for that is true riches."
He will also say to thee: "True happiness is in the renunciation of happiness. Love Me and love none other but Me, because I alone am love.""
At these words a divine peace fell like a flood of light over the dark face of the king.
Balthasar listened with rapture to the star. He felt himself becoming a new man.
Prostrate beside him, Sembobitis and Menkera worshipped, their faces touching the stone.
Queen Balkis watched Balthasar. She realised that never again would there be love for her in that heart filled with a love divine. She turned white with rage and gave orders for the caravan to return at once to the land of Sheba.
As soon as the star had ceased to speak, Balthasar and his companions descended from the tower.
Then, having prepared a measure of myrrh, they formed a caravan and departed in the direction towards which they were guided by the star.
They journeyed a long time through unknown countries, the star always journeying in front of them.
One day, finding themselves in a place where three roads met, they saw two kings advance accompanied by a numerous retinue; one was young and fair of face. He greeted Balthasar and said:
"My name is Gaspar. I am a king, and I bear gold as a gift to the child that is about to be born in Bethlehem of Judea."
The second king advanced in turn. He was an old man, and his white beard covered his breast.
"My name is Melchior," he said, "and I am a king, and I bring frankincense to the holy child who is to teach Truth to mankind."
"I am bound whither you are," said Balthasar. "I have conquered my l.u.s.t, and for that reason the star has spoken to me."
"I," said Melchior, "have conquered my pride, and that is why I have been called."
"I," said Gaspar, "have conquered my cruelty, and for that reason I go with you."
And the three mages proceeded on their journey together. The star which they had seen in the East preceded them until, arriving above the place where the child lay, it stood still. And seeing the star standing still they rejoiced with a great joy.
And, entering the house they found the child with Mary his mother, and prostrating themselves, they worshipped him. And opening their treasures they offered him gold, frankincense and myrrh, as it is written in the Gospel.
THE CURe"S MIGNONETTE
TO JULES LEMAiTRE
In a village of the Bocage I once knew a cure, a holy man who denied himself every indulgence and who cheerfully practised the virtue of renunciation, and knew no joy but that of sacrifice. In his garden he cultivated fruit-trees, vegetables and medicinal plants, but fearing beauty even in flowers, he would have neither roses nor jasmine. He only allowed himself the innocent luxury of a few tufts of mignonette whose twisted stems, so modestly flower-crowned, would not distract his attention as he read his breviary among his cabbage-plots under the sky of our dear Father in Heaven.
The holy man had so little distrust of his mignonette that he would often in pa.s.sing pick a spray and inhale its fragrance for a long time.
All the plant asked was to be permitted to grow. If one spray was cut, four grew in its place. So much so, indeed, that, the devil aiding, the priest"s mignonette soon covered a vast extent of his little garden. It overflowed into the paths and pulled at the good priest"s ca.s.sock as he pa.s.sed, until, distracted by the foolish plant, he would pause as often as twenty times an hour while he read or said his prayers.
From springtime until autumn the presbytery was redolent of mignonette.
Behold what we may come to and how feeble we are! Not without reason do we say that all our natural inclinations lead us towards sin! The man of G.o.d had succeeded in guarding his eyes, but he had left his nostrils undefended, and so the devil, as it were, caught him by the nose. This saint now inhaled the fragrance of mignonette with avidity and l.u.s.t, that is to say, with that sinful instinct which makes us long for the enjoyment of natural pleasures and which leads us into all sorts of temptations.
Henceforth he seemed to take less delight in the odours of Paradise and the perfumes which are our Lady"s merits. His holiness dwindled, and he might, perhaps, have sunk into voluptuousness and become little by little like those lukewarm souls which Heaven rejects had not succour come to him in the nick of time.
Once, long ago, in the Thebaid, an angel stole from a hermit a cup of gold which still bound the holy man to the vanities of earth. A similar mercy was vouchsafed to this priest of the Bocage. A white hen scratched the earth about the mignonette with such good-will that it all died.
We are not informed whence this bird came. As for myself, I am inclined to believe that the angel who in the desert stole the hermit"s cup transformed himself into a white hen on purpose to destroy the only obstacle which barred the good priest"s path towards perfection.
M. PIGEONNEAU
TO GILBERT AUGUSTIN-THIERRY
I have, as everybody knows, devoted my whole life to Egyptian archaeology. I should be very ungrateful to my country, to science, and to my-self, if I regretted the profession to which I was called. In my early youth and which I have followed with honour these forty years.
My labours have not been in vain. I may say, without flattering myself, that my article on _The Handle of an Egyptian mirror in the Museum of the Louvre_ may still be consulted with profit, though it dates back to the beginning of my career.
As for the exhaustive studies which I subsequently devoted to one of the bronze weights found in 1851 in the excavations at the Serapeium, it would be ungracious for me not to think well of them, as they opened for me the doors of the Inst.i.tute.
Encouraged by the flattering reception with which my researches of this nature were received by many of my new colleagues, I was tempted for a moment to treat in one comprehensive work of the weights and measures in use at Alexandria in the reign of Ptolemy Auletes (80-52). I soon recognised, however, that a subject so general could not be dealt with by the really profound student, and that positive science could not approach it without running a risk of incurring all sorts of mischances.
I felt that in investigating several subjects at once I was forsaking the fundamental principles of archaeology. If to-day I confess my mistake, if I acknowledge the incredible enthusiasm with which I was inspired by a far too ambitious scheme, I do so for the sake of the young, who will thus learn by my example to conquer their imagination.
It is our most cruel foe. The student who has not succeeded in stifling it is lost for ever to erudition. I still tremble to think in what depths I was nearly plunged by my adventurous spirit. I was within an ace of what one calls history. What a downfall! I should have sunk into art. For history is only art, or, at best, a false science. Who to-day does not know that the historians preceded the archaeologists, as astrologers preceded the astronomers, as the alchemists preceded the chemists, and as the monkeys preceded men? Thank Heaven! I escaped with a mere fright.
My third work, I hasten to say, was wisely planned. It was a monograph ent.i.tled, _On the toilet of an Egyptian lady of the Middle Empire from an unpublished picture_. I treated the subject so as to avoid all side issues, and I did not permit any generalising to intrude itself. I guarded myself against those considerations, comparisons and views with which certain of my colleagues have marred the exposition of their most valuable discoveries. But why should a work planned so sanely have met with so fantastic a fate? By what freak of destiny should it have proved the cause of the monstrous aberration of my mind? But let me not antic.i.p.ate events nor confuse dates. My dissertation was intended to be read at a public sitting of the five academies, a distinction all the more precious, as it rarely falls to the lot of works of this character.
These academic gatherings have for some years past been largely attended by people of fashion.
The day I delivered my lecture the hall was crowded by a distinguished audience. Women were there in great numbers. Lovely faces and brilliant toilettes graced the galleries. My discourse was listened to with respect. It was not interrupted by those thoughtless and noisy demonstrations which naturally follow mere literary productions. No, the public preserved an att.i.tude more in harmony with the nature of the work presented to them. They were serious and grave.
As I paused between the phrases the better to disentangle the different trains of thought, I had leisure to examine behind my spectacles the entire hall. I can truly say that not the faintest smile could be seen on any lips. On the contrary, even the freshest faces wore an expression of austerity. I seemed to have ripened all their intellects as if by magic. Here and there while I read some young people whispered to their neighbours. They were probably debating some special point treated of in my discourse.
More than that, a beautiful young creature of twenty-two or twenty-four, seated in the left corner of the north balcony, was listening with great attention and taking notes. Her face had a delicacy of features and a mobility of expression truly remarkable. The attention with which she listened to my words gave an added charm to her singular face. She was not alone. A big, robust man, who, like the a.s.syrian kings, wore a long curled beard and long black hair, stood beside her and occasionally spoke to her in a low voice. My attention, which at first was divided amongst my entire audience, concentrated itself little by little on the young woman. She inspired me, I confess, with an interest which certain of my colleagues might consider unworthy of a scientific mind such as mine, though I feel sure that none of them under similar circ.u.mstances would have been more indifferent than I. As I proceeded she scribbled in a little note-book; and as she listened to my discourse one could see that she was visibly swayed by the most contradictory emotions; she seemed to pa.s.s from satisfaction and joy to surprise and even anxiety.
I examined her with increasing curiosity. Would to G.o.d I had set eyes on her and her only that day under the cupola!
I had nearly finished; there hardly remained more than twenty-five or thirty pages at most to read when suddenly my eyes encountered those of the man with the a.s.syrian beard. How can I explain to you what happened then, seeing that I cannot explain it to myself? All I can say is that the glance of this personage put me at once into a state of indescribable agitation. The eye-b.a.l.l.s fixed on me were of a greenish colour. I could not turn my own away. I stood there dumb and open-mouthed. As I had stopped speaking the audience began to applaud.
Silence being restored, I tried to continue my discourse. But in spite of the most violent efforts, I could not tear my eyes from those two living lights to which they were so mysteriously riveted. That was not all. By a more amazing phenomenon still, and contrary to all the principles of my whole life, I began to improvise. G.o.d alone knows if this was the result of my own freewill!
Under the influence of a strange, unknown and irresistible force I delivered with grace and burning eloquence certain philosophical reflections on the toilet of women in the course of the ages; I generalised, I rhapsodised, I grew eloquent-G.o.d forgive me-about the eternal feminine, and the pa.s.sion which glides like a breath about those perfumed veils with which women know how to adorn their beauty.