PR 4787 
 
 1908 
 
 Copy 2 
 
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A SACRIFICE AT PRATO 
 

A 
 
 SACRIFICE ATP ) 
 
 AN OLD-FASHIONED NARRATIVE 
 BY 
 
 ^tAURICE HEWLETT 
 
 HILLSIDE PRESS 
 ENGLEVVOOD, NEW JERSEY 
 MCMVIII 
 CATHEDRAL AND SQUARE AT PRATO 
 
OTAHq TA SHAUpa QKA JAHQ^hTAD 
 
A 
 
 SACRIFICE AT PRATO 
 
 AN OLD-FASHIONED NARRATIVE 
 BY 
 
 MAURICE HEWLETT 
 
 HILLSIDE PRESS 
 
 ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY 
 
 MCMVIII 
 
rK47S7 
 
 .S3 
 
 Copyright, 1908, by Frederic M. Burr f/O^ 
 
 lv/0 oies Seofciveo 
 
 MAY 11 iiyo8 
 
 CLASS A xAc. No, 
 
 3. Col^Y A. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FROM DRAWINGS 
 By WHITMAN BAILEY. 
 
 Cathedral and Square at Prato . Frontispiece 
 
 Facing page 
 
 Outdoor Pulpit by Donatello on 
 
 the facade of the Cathedral 8 
 
 Madonna and Child - lunette by 
 Andrea della Robbia - over 
 the principal entrance 14 
 
 Bronze Crucifix over the high 
 
 altar 20 
 
 Page 
 Houses at Prato 23 
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 
 
 This little narrative, reprinted from "Earth- 
 work Out of Tuscany," is published with 
 the special permission of the author. 
 
 Mr. Hewlett himself considers this the 
 best chapter in that interesting work, and so 
 stated in a recent letter to the publisher. 
 
A SACRIFICE AT PRATO 
 
AUTHOR'S NOTE. 
 
 Perhaps I may be allowed to explain that 
 this article was w^ritten from the stand- 
 point of a cultivated Pagan of the Empire, 
 who should have journeyed in Time as well 
 as Space. 
 
 M. H. 
 
A SACRIFICE AT PRATO. 
 
 An old-fashioned narrative. 
 
 THE rim of the sun was burning the 
 hill tops, and already the vanguard of 
 his strength stemming the morning 
 mists, when I and my companion first trod 
 the dust of a small town w^hich stood in our 
 path. It still lay very hard and white, how- 
 ever, and sharply edged to its girdle of olives 
 and mulberry trees drenched in dews, a com- 
 pactly folded town well fortified by strong 
 walls and many towers, with the mist upon 
 it and softly over it like a veil. For it lay 
 well under the shade of the hills awaiting the 
 sun's coming. In the streets, though they 
 were by no means asleep, but, contrariwise, 
 busy with the traffic of men and pack-mules, 
 
 1 
 
there was a shrewd bite as of night air; look- 
 ing up we could perceive how faint the blue 
 of the sky was, and the cloud-flaw how rosy 
 yet with the flush of Aurora's beauty-sleep. 
 Therefore we were glad to get into the 
 market-place, filled with people and set round 
 with goodly brick buildings, and to feel the 
 light and warmth steal about our limbs. 
 
 "It would seem fitting," said I, "seeing that 
 day is at hand and already we enjoy the 
 first-fruits of his largess, that we should seek 
 some neighbouring shrine where we might 
 praise the gods. For never yet was land 
 that had not, as its fairest work, gods : and in 
 a land so fair as this there must needs be 
 gods yet fairer, and shrines to case them in." 
 This I said, having observed pious offerings 
 laid upon the shrines of divers gods by the 
 road. At the which, looking curiously, it 
 seemed to me that the inhabitants of this 
 country were favoured above the common 
 with devout thoughts and the objects of 
 them — gods and goddesses. You might not 
 
pass a farm without its tutelary altar to the 
 genius of the place, some holy shade, or — as 
 she was figured as a matron — some great 
 land-goddess, perhaps Cybele, or the Bona 
 Dea; and pleasant it was to me to see that 
 the tufts of common flowers set before her 
 were for the most part smiling and fresh w^ith 
 the dew that assured an early gathering. In 
 the streets of the city, moreover, I had seen 
 many more such, slight affairs ( it is true ) 
 of painted earthenware, some gaudily adorn- 
 ed w^ith green and yellow^ colour and of 
 workmanship as raw, some painted flat on 
 the wall of a recess ( in which was more skill, 
 though the device was often gross enough — 
 to dwell upon death and despair ), and some 
 again of choice beauty, both of form and 
 colour, and a most rare blitheness, as it 
 might be the spirit of the contrivers break- 
 ing through the hard stone. And all of these 
 I knew^ to be gods, but the devices upon 
 them were hard to be read, or approved. 
 There was a naked youth pierced w^ith 
 
arrows, wherein the texture of smooth flesh 
 accorded not well with the bitterness of his 
 hurt; a young man also, bearded, of spare 
 and mournful habit and girt with a rope 
 round his middle ; in his hands were wounds, 
 as again of arrows, and there was a rent in 
 his garment where a javelin had torn a way 
 into his side. Such suffering of wounds and 
 broken flesh stared sharply up against the 
 young flowers and grasses which spoke of 
 healthy wind and rain and a sun-kissed 
 earth. Goddesses also I saw — a virgin of 
 comely red and white visage; yellow-haired 
 she was, crowned like a king's daughter; at 
 her side a wheel, cruelly spiked on the outer 
 edge and not easily to be related to so heart- 
 some a maid. But before them all (with 
 one grim exception, to be sure ) I saw the 
 Earth-Mother who had been upon the farm 
 and homestead-walls, of the same high per- 
 fection of form, and in raiment stately and 
 adorned, yet (it would seem) something 
 sorrowful as she might mourn the loss of 
 
 4 
 
lover or young child. Now the darkest sight 
 I saw was that exception before rehearsed ; 
 and it was this. A black cross stood in the 
 most joyful places of the city, and one suf- 
 fered upon it to very death. \Vhereat I 
 marvelled greatly, saying, "Who is the man 
 thus tormented whom the people worship 
 as a god ? " And my companion answered, 
 " A great god he is, if the country report 
 lie not, and has many names which amount 
 to this, that he has freed this nation from 
 bondage and died that he may live again, and 
 they too. And of the truth of what they 
 say I cannot speak ; but I think he is Bacchus 
 the Redeemer, who, as you, Balbus, know, 
 was no wanton reveller in lasciviousness, 
 but a very god of great benevolence and of 
 w^isdom truly dark and awful. Who also 
 took our mortal nature upon him and suffer- 
 ed in the shades : rising whence ( for he was 
 god and man) like the dawn from the night's 
 bosom, or the flooding of spring weather 
 from the iron gates of winter, he sped over 
 
 5 
 
land and sea, touching earth and the dwell- 
 ers upon it. And to those he touched 
 tongues were given and soothsaying, and to 
 many the transports of inspiration and divine 
 madness, as of poets and rhapsodists. And 
 tragedy and choral odes are his, and the 
 furious splendour of dances. But of the 
 worship of Dionysus you know^ something, 
 having been at Eleusis and beheld the holy 
 mysteries. 
 
 " Now the god of this people has the same 
 gift of tongues and madness of possession. 
 To him are also sacred priests of the oracle, 
 and high tragedies, and the wailing of music, 
 and streaming processions of virgins and 
 young boys. He too agonised and arose 
 stronger and more shining than before, dying, 
 indeed, and rising at the very vernal equinox 
 we have mentioned. He too is worshipped 
 in certain Mysteries whereat the confession 
 of iniquity and the cleansing of hearts come 
 first : and the sacrifice is just that wheaten 
 cake and fruit of the vine whereof, at 
 
 6 
 
Eleusis, you have praised to me the simplic- 
 ity and ethic beauty. And he can inspire 
 his devotees with frenzy. For I have heard 
 that certain men of the country, on a day, 
 and urged by his daemon, run naked from 
 place to place in honour of him, lashing their 
 bare backs with ox-goads ; and will fast by 
 the week together, they and the women 
 alike ; and that pious virgins, under stress of 
 these things, swoon and are floated betwixt 
 earth and heaven, and afterwards relate their 
 blissful encounters and prophesy strange 
 matters; receiving also dolorous wounds 
 (which nevertheless are very sweet to them) 
 like to the wounds which he himself receiv- 
 ed unto death ; and all these things they en- 
 dure because they are mystically fraught 
 with the wisdom and efficacy of the god. 
 Nay, I have been told that in the parts over 
 sea, towards the North and W^est, he is 
 worshipped, just as at Eleusis, with pipes 
 and timbrels and brazen cymbals and all ex- 
 cess of music; and there they dance in 
 
his service and suffer the ecstasies of the 
 Maenads and Corybants in the Dionysiac 
 revel. But this I find quaint to be believed." 
 Now when I had heard so much, I was 
 the more desirous to find some temple where 
 I could observe the cult of this wounded 
 god, and so sought counsel of my friend 
 versed in the people's learning. To my 
 questioning he replied that it would be easy. 
 W^e were (said he) in the market-place a- 
 mong the buyers and chafferers of fruit, 
 vegetables, earthenware, milk, eggs, and such 
 country produce ; which honest folk, it being 
 the hour of the morning sacrifice and the 
 temple facing us, would soon abandon their 
 brisk toil for religion's sake ; whereupon we 
 too would go. So I looked across the square 
 and saw a very fair building, lofty and many 
 windowed, all of clean white marble, banded 
 over with bars of a smooth black stone, 
 curiously carved, moreover, in sculptured 
 work of gods and men and of flowers and 
 fruits — all cut in the pure marble. At one 
 
 8 
 
OUTDOOR PULPIT BY DONATELLO 
 (ON THE FACADE OF THE CATHEDRAL) 
 
his service and suffer the ecstasies of the 
 Maenads and Corybants in the Dionysiac 
 reveL But this I find quaint to be believed." 
 Now when I had heard so much, I was 
 the more desirous to find some temple where 
 I cou' ' ^ — *^he cult of this wounded 
 god, . . ht counsel of my friend 
 
 versed m the people's learning. To my 
 
 questr ^' ....!.! ^j^^t jt would be easy. 
 
 We V ,:5 the market-place a- 
 
 mong the buyers and chafferers of fruit, 
 
 vr' - '-^ ' • ., .iu «ggs^ and such 
 
 c ^ folk, it being 
 
 the hour or r^; and the 
 
 temple fa*" ■ ndon their 
 
 brisk toil ; eupon we 
 
 too would go. across the square 
 
 and saw r? - ig, lofty and many 
 
 windowcc f<? marble, banded 
 
 over with oars o* e black stone, 
 
 curiou>Vfv' '^a-vrtl. m . V ... m sculptured 
 , ojjaTAMoa Ya Tiq juq .iiooaTuo , 
 
 fruits — all cut in the pure marble. At one 
 8 
 
mmm 
 
side was a noble rostrum, of the like fine 
 stone, whereon young boys and girls, as it 
 were fauns and dryads and other woodland 
 creatures, capered as they list: and above 
 the midmost door a semi-circle of pale blue 
 enamel, whereon was the image of the Great 
 Goddess in gleaming white. She was of 
 smiling debonnair countenance and in the 
 full pride of her blossom-time — being as a 
 young woman whose girdle is new loosed to 
 the will of her lord — and in her arms was a 
 naked child, finely wrought to the size of life. 
 On either side of her a beautiful youth (in 
 whom I must needs admire the smoothness 
 of their chins and the bravery of their 
 vesture shining in the clear light), did rev- 
 erence to the Goddess and the child: and 
 there were beings, winged like birds, with 
 the faces of strong boys, but no bodies at all 
 that I could see, who flew above them all. 
 This w^as brave work, very w^onderful to me 
 in a people who, thus excellently inspired 
 and having such comely smiling divinities 
 
 9 
 
and so clear a vision of them before their 
 eyes, could yet be curious after suffering 
 heroes and stabbed virgins and gods with 
 mangled limbs. But we went into the temple 
 with the good people of the country-side to 
 the sound of bells from a high tow^er hard 
 by. And I was something surprised that 
 they brought no beasts with them for the 
 sacrifice, nor any of the fruits which w^ere so 
 abundant in the land; but my companion 
 reminded me again that the sacrifice was 
 ready prepared within, and was, as it were, 
 emblematical of all fruits and every sort of 
 meat, being that wine and bread into which 
 you may comprehend all bodily and (by a 
 figure) ghostly sustenance. By this we 
 were within the temple, which I now per- 
 ceived was a pantheon, having altars to all 
 the gods, some only of whose shrines I had 
 remarked on the way thither. Dark and 
 lofty it was, with piered arches that soared 
 into the mist, and jewelled windows pain- 
 fully worked in histories and fables of old 
 
 10 
 
time — all as far apart as conceivably might 
 be from the holy places of my own country ; 
 for whereas, with us, the level gaze of the 
 sun is never absent, and through the colon- 
 nades you would see stretches of the far 
 blue country, or, perchance, the shimmer of 
 the restless sea, here no light of day could 
 penetrate, and all the senses might appre- 
 hend must be of solemn darkness, longing 
 thoughts to cleave it, and, afar off and dim, 
 some flutter of even light as of blest abodes. 
 A strange people ! to despise the sure and 
 fair, for the taunting shadows of desire. But, 
 growing more familiar in the middle of 
 newness and the awe that comes of it, I was 
 again amazed at the number of the gods, 
 their nature and sort. I saw again the arrow - 
 stricken youth, whom we call Asclepius 
 (but never knew thus tormented — as with 
 his father's arrows!) and again the Maid of 
 the Wheel, Fortune as I suppose: but with 
 us the wheel is not so manifestly bitter. 
 Then also the wounded hero, cowled and 
 
 11 
 
corded, ragged exceedingly, the like of whom 
 we have not, unless it be some stripling 
 loved by an immortal and wounded to death 
 by grudging Fate, as Atys or Adonis. And 
 if, indeed, this were one of them, the image- 
 maker did surely err in making him of so vile 
 a presence — a thing against all likelihood 
 that the gods, being themselves of super- 
 excellent shapeliness, should stoop to any- 
 thing of less favour. Yet he was of singular 
 sweetness in his pains, and high fortitude: 
 and he was much loved of the people, as I 
 afterwards learned. And one was a young 
 knight, winged and with a sword in his 
 hand ; at his feet a grievous worm of many 
 folds. This I must take for Perseus but 
 that his radiancy did rather point him for 
 Phoebus, the lord of days and the red sun. 
 But in the centre of the whole temple was 
 an altar, high and broad, fenced about with 
 steps and a rail, which I took to be made 
 unto the god of gods or perhaps the king of 
 that country, until I saw the black cross and 
 
 12 
 
the Agonist hanging from it as one dead. 
 Then I knew that the chief god of this people 
 was Dionysus the Redeemer, if it were 
 really he. But I had reason to alter my 
 opinion on that matter as you shall hear. 
 
 By this the temple was filled with the 
 country folk who flocked in with the very 
 reek of their toil upon them and hardly so 
 much as their implements and marketable 
 wares left behind. They were of all ages 
 and conditions, both youths and maids, 
 arrowy, tall, and open-eyed; and aged ones 
 there were, bowed by labour and seamed 
 with the stress of weather or the assaults of 
 unstaying Fate: whereof, for the most part, 
 the women sat down against the wall and 
 plied dextrously their fans; but the men 
 stood leaning against the pillars which held 
 the timbers of the roof. And they conversed 
 easily together, and some were merry, and 
 others, as I could perceive, beset with affairs 
 of government or business — for they talked 
 more vehemently of these matters than of 
 
 13 
 
others, as men will, even beneath the very 
 eyelids of the god. And so I could under- 
 stand that this sacrifice was not the yearly 
 celebrating of high mysteries, but the 
 common piety of every day with which it is 
 rather seemly than essential we should 
 begin our labouring. There were, indeed, 
 signs in the apparelling of the temple that 
 more solemn festivals were sometimes held, 
 as the delivery of oracles, the calculation of 
 auspices and such like : that, at least, I took 
 to be the intention of small recesses along 
 the walls, that, through a grating of fine 
 brass, a priest of the sanctuary uttered the 
 wisdom of the god in sentences which the 
 meaner sort should fit with what ease they 
 might to their circumstances. For, I sup- 
 pose, it is still found good that the dark say- 
 ing of the Oracle should be illumined by the 
 subtlety of the initiate and not by the ne- 
 cessities of the simple. And while I was 
 thus musing I found the ministrants in 
 shining white about the great altar, busied 
 
 14 
 
MADONNA AJ<iB CHILD— LtJNETTE BY 
 ANDREA DELLA ROBIA— OVER 
 THE PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE • 
 
others, as men will, even beneath the very 
 eyelids of the god. And so I could under- 
 stand that this sacrifice was not the yearly 
 celebrating of high mysteries, but the 
 common piety of every day with which it is 
 rather seemly than essential we should 
 begin our labouring. There were, indeed, 
 signs in the apparelUng of the temple that 
 more netimes held, 
 
 as the , calculation of 
 
 auspices and such like . that, at least, I took 
 to be -ses along 
 
 the \A ,'ig of fine 
 
 brass, a priest of ihr sanctuary uttered the 
 wisdc ' tences which the 
 
 mean' .h what ease they 
 
 might to their circumstances. For, I sup- 
 posc; that the dark say- 
 
 ing 01 : illumined by the 
 
 subtlety of the initiate and not by the ne- 
 
 shining white about the great altar, busied 
 14 
 
with the preparation for the rite, lighting the 
 torches (very inconsiderable for so large a 
 building, but, mayhap, proportionate to the 
 condition of the people) : and they placed a 
 great book upon the altar, and bowed them- 
 selves ere they left. And soon afterwards, 
 to the ringing of a bell, came the priest's boy 
 carrying the offering of the altar, and the 
 priest himself in stiff garments of white and 
 yellow^. 
 
 Now, for the sacrifice, I could not well 
 understand it, save that it was very shortly 
 done and with a light heart accepted by the 
 people, who (I thought) held it as of the 
 number of those services whose bare per- 
 formance is efficacious and wholesome — on 
 account, partly of reverent antiquity and 
 long usage, and partly as having some hidden 
 virtue best known to the god in whose hon- 
 our it is done. For in my ow^n country, I 
 know well, there were many such rites, 
 whose commission edified the people more 
 than their omission would have dishonoured 
 
 15 
 
the god : wise men, therefore (as priests and 
 philosophers), who would live in peace, bow 
 their bodies by rule, knowing surely that 
 their souls may be bolt upright notwith- 
 standing. So here were many solemn acts 
 which, doubtless, once had some now^ un- 
 fathomable design and purport, diligently 
 rehearsed, while the worshippers gazed 
 about with dull unconcern, or, being young, 
 cast eyes of longing upon the country w^ench- 
 es set laughing and rosy by the wall, or, old, 
 nursed their infirmities. And, on a sudden, 
 a bell rang ; and again rang ; and the packed 
 body of men and women fell upon their faces, 
 and so remained in a horrific silence for a 
 space where a man might count a score. 
 Thereafter another bell, as of release. So the 
 assembly rose to their feet and, as I saw, 
 swept from their foreheads and breasts the 
 dust of the temple floor. But as soon as it 
 was over, a very old priest came through the 
 press and offered the same sacrifice in a little 
 guarded shrine at the lower end, amid many 
 
 16 
 
lamps and wax torches and glittering orna- 
 ments. Here was more devotion among the 
 people, indeed a great struggling and elbow- 
 ing just so as to touch the altar, or the steps 
 of it, or the priest's hem, or even the rails 
 which fenced the shrine. And with some 
 show of good reason was this hubbub, as I 
 learned. For here was indeed treasured the 
 Girdle of Venus (this being her very sanctu- 
 ary) and as much desired as ever it was by 
 women great with child or wanting to con- 
 ceive. And I looked very curiously upon it, 
 but the Girdle I could never see ; only there 
 was a painted image over the altar of the 
 great queen-mother, Venus Genetrix herself, 
 depicted as a broad-browed, placid matron 
 giving of the fruits of her bounteous breasts 
 to a male child. Then I knew that this was 
 that same Goddess who stood over the outer 
 door of the place, and was well pleased to 
 find that the people, howsoever ignorantly, 
 adored the power that en wombs the world, — 
 Venus, the life-bringer and quickener of 
 
 17 
 
things that breathe, — and could, in this 
 matter, touch hearts with the wise. So with 
 this thought, that truly God w^as one and 
 men divers, I came out of the temple well 
 pleased, into the level light of the day's beam. 
 In the tavern doorway, under a bush of 
 green ilex, we sat down in company to eat 
 bread and peaches sopped in the wine of the 
 country, and talked very briskly of all the 
 things we had seen and heard. And soon 
 into the current of our discourse was drawn 
 a dark-faced youth, who had been observing 
 us earnestly for some time from under his 
 hanging brows, and who, growing mighty 
 curious (as I find the way of them is), must 
 know who and whence we were and of 
 what belief and condition in the world. So 
 when I had satisfied him, "Turn for turn," 
 said I, "my honest friend: being strangers, 
 as you have learned, we have seen many 
 things which touch us nearly, and some 
 which are hard of reading. But this very 
 reading is to us of high concernment, for 
 
 18 
 
these matters relate to religion, and religion, 
 of what sort soever it may be, no man can 
 venture to despise. For certain I am, that, 
 as a man hath never seen the gods, so he may 
 never be sure that he hath ever conceived 
 them, even darkly, as in a mirror. For 
 we are dw^ellers in a cave, my friend, with 
 our backs to the light, and may not tell of a 
 truth whether the shadows that flit and fade 
 be indeed gods or no. Tell me, therefore, 
 (for I am puzzled by it), is the goddess whose 
 presentment I yet see over your temple- 
 porch, that Mother of gods and men, yea, 
 even Mother of life itself, to whom we also 
 bend the neck ? " 
 
 "She is, sir, as we believe. Mother of God; 
 and therefore, God being author of life, 
 Mother of life and all things living." 
 
 "It is as I had believed," said I, "and you, 
 young sir, and I, may bow together in that 
 temple of hers without offence. For the 
 temple is to her honour as I conceive?" 
 
 19 
 
"Why, yes," he answered, "it is raised to 
 her most holy name and to that of our Lord." 
 
 "And your Lord, who is this? and which 
 altar is his ? For there are many." 
 
 "The great altar is his, and indeed he is 
 to be worshipped in all," said the young 
 man. 
 
 "He is then the tortured god, whose sem- 
 blance hangs upon the black cross?" 
 He is. 
 
 Then I begged him to tell me why these 
 mournful images were scattered over his 
 goodly earth, these maimed gods, this blood 
 and weeping; but I may not set down all 
 that he told me, seeing that much of it was 
 dark, and much, as I thought, not pertinent 
 to the issue. Much again w^as said with his 
 hands, which I cannot interpret here. Suffice 
 it that I learned this concerning the Agonist, 
 that he was the son of the goddess and 
 greater than she, though in a sense less. 
 Mortal he was, and immortal, abject to look 
 upon, being indeed accounted a malefactor 
 
 20 
 
BRONZE CRUCIFIX OVER THE HIGH ALTAR 
 
"Why, yes," he answered, "it is raised to 
 her most holy name and to that of our Lord. " 
 
 "And your Lord, who is this? and which 
 altar is his ? For there are many." 
 
 "The great altar is his, and indeed he is 
 to be worshipF>ed in all," said the young 
 man. 
 
 "He is then the tortured god, whose sem- 
 blance hangs upon the black cross?" 
 
 "He is." 
 
 Then I begged him to tell me why these 
 mournful imager ' 1 over his 
 
 goodly earth, the^ rhis biood 
 
 and weeping; bu not set do>wn all 
 
 that V ■ ' ' " • ^s 
 
 dark. nt 
 
 to the issue. Much again was said with his 
 hands, which I cannot interpret here. Suffice 
 it that I learned this concerning the Agonist, 
 that he was the son of the goddess and 
 greater than she, though in a sense less. 
 Mortal he was, and immortal, abject to look 
 ^^Ti^iAi^ggi aearedP:4«ft)*i'gaaufl3nakJ«o^a 
 
 20 
 
and crucified like a thief; and yet a king of 
 men, speaking wisdom whereof the like hath 
 hardly been heard. For of two things he 
 taught there would seem to be no bottom to 
 them, so profound and unsearchable they 
 are. And one of them was this, — "The 
 kingdom is within you" (or some such 
 words) ; and the other was, "Who will lose 
 his life shall save it." Whereof, methinks, 
 the first comprehends all the teaching of the 
 Academy and the second that of the Porch. 
 So this man must needs have been a god, 
 and whether the son or no of the Soul of the 
 World, greater than she. For what she did, 
 as it were by necessity and her blind inher- 
 ing power, he KNEW. Therefore he must 
 have been Wisdom itself. And thus I knew 
 that he could not be Dionysus the Saviour, 
 though he might have many of his attributes ; 
 nor simply that son of Venus whom Auson- 
 ius alone of our poets saw fastened to a 
 cross. So at last, "I will tell you," said I, 
 "who this god really is, as it seems to me. 
 
 21 
 
Being of vile estate and yet greatest of all ; 
 being mortal and yet immortal, god and 
 man; being at once most wise and most 
 simple, and (as such his condition imports) 
 intermediate between Earth and Heaven, he 
 must needs be the Divine Eros, concerning 
 whom Plato's words are yet w^ith us. So I 
 can understand why he is so wise, why he 
 suffers always, and yet cannot be driven by 
 torment nor persuaded by sophisms to cease 
 loving. For the necessity of love is to crave 
 ever ; and he is Love himself. Wherefore I 
 am very sure he can lead men, if they will, 
 from the fair things of the world to those 
 infinitely fairer things in themselves w^here- 
 by what we now have are so very fair to 
 see. And he may well be son of this 
 goddess and nourished by her milk; for it 
 behoves us that a god should stand between 
 Earth and Heaven and be compact of the 
 elements of either, so that he should conde- 
 scend the wisdom of his head to instruct the 
 clemency of his heart. And we know, you 
 
 22 
 
and I, that the gods are but attributes of 
 God, whose intellect (as I say) may well be 
 in Heaven, but his heart is in the Earth, and 
 is the core of it. For so w^e say of the poet 
 that his heart is ever in his fair work." 
 
 Thus w^e took our wine and were well 
 content to sit in the sunshine. 
 
 , v-f"'- 
 
This edition of "A Sacrifice at Prato" — 
 designed, set up and printed from the type 
 by Frederic M. Burr at the Hillside Press, 
 Englewood, New Jersey — was completed in 
 April, 1908. The head-band and title-page 
 ornament were made by Frederic W. Goudy. 
 Eighty copies on Van Gelder paper. 
 
iiO 
 

 
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