Access Online - The European Library
Access Online - The European Library Access Online - The European Library
24 ARIADNE.The road curvesto the left, as everyone knows,and goes tothe baths of the poor madman, Caracalla;and there are shapeless mounds of brickand stoneand rubble everywhereamongst the turfand the tilled soil, and you know that they wereall sacred one day,and beautiful,with domes andporticoes, andcolumns andhighspringingarches,and thronging multitudes worshipping in them,and the smoke of sacrifice ascending, and thegreat statues standing with serene faces immutableand calm amidst the uproar of emotion andof prayer.The night was still and luminous; a nulHonstars were shining in the violet blue above;allwas quiet, with only the sound of hooting owlsthat flew from the looming mass of the Flaviantheatre behind mein the dark.Ithought of thebroad burning noons, of the gathered people, ofthe knife of the priest, of the fall of the ox,ofthe fountain of blood, of the frenzy of death, ofthe worship of Attis, of all that came with theaccursed eastern races to rum Rome with itslusts. iIthought and shuddered and went on and
ARIADNE. 25forgot them: what mattered the fall of the godsor the nations? — Ihad not been able to keeppure and in safety one short human Hfe.It was midsummer time, and the scents of theland were aU sweet and heavy about me, thereaped wheat leaned against the broken altar,and the cut clover was piled by the forsakenlararia; the an1 was aHght and alive with fireflies,and the crickets alone answered the owls singingamongst the stalks of the corn.The might}- red masses of the baths rose insight; they were not red now, but brown andgrey, stripped of their marbles, and bare in themoonlight, with the bushes blowing on theirsummits, and the many things that only ventureforth by night, creeping over the mosaic floorsthat once had felt so manymilHon soft, white,useless feet glistening with the unguents and theperfumes there.Inthat warm summer night the scents of theinnumerable bird-sown plants and flowers weresweet upon the night as ever was the stream offragrance poured over patrician limbs in theserecesses, now so dark and drear and given over
- Page 5 and 6: ARIADNE
- Page 7 and 8: AriadneTHE STORY OF A DREAM.By OUID
- Page 9 and 10: ABIADNE:THE STORY OF A DREAM.CHAPTE
- Page 11 and 12: ARIADNE. 3and its porphyry^ and its
- Page 13 and 14: ARIADNE. 5like the moorlands of the
- Page 15 and 16: ARIADNE. 7whiteness. We had walked
- Page 17 and 18: ARIADNE. 9The lamp that he held he
- Page 19 and 20: ARIADNE. 11dead. Icare for the marb
- Page 21 and 22: ARIADNE. 13silvery aboutmy feet, an
- Page 23 and 24: ARIADNE. 15before the genius of his
- Page 25 and 26: ARIADNE. 17that is never dim. But m
- Page 27 and 28: ARIADNE. 19laid bare all the jewels
- Page 29 and 30: ARIADNE. 21it, but only saw the loc
- Page 31: ARIADNE. 23times; nervous depressio
- Page 35: ARIADNE. 27tered many curses and fe
- Page 38 and 39: 30ARIADNE.Would the wealth all fall
- Page 40 and 41: 32ARIADNE.their cuirasses of steel,
- Page 42 and 43: CHAPTER IVIwent to Pippo, andIsaid
- Page 44 and 45: 36ARIADNE.AndItook the other things
- Page 46 and 47: 38 ARIADNE.must have been, all alon
- Page 48 and 49: 40 ARIADNE.Ifelt my head whirl;I, w
- Page 50 and 51: 42 ARIADNE.at a line of the poem no
- Page 52: 44 ARIADNE.me, and stayed on in Par
- Page 55 and 56: ARIADNE. 47had been able to hear no
- Page 57 and 58: ARIADNE. 49aside in a little passag
- Page 59 and 60: ARIADNE. 51Myheart stood stUl. Ihad
- Page 61 and 62: ARIADNE. 53" Oh, my dear! Oh, my de
- Page 63 and 64: ARIADNE. 55He breathed quickly, the
- Page 65 and 66: ARIADNE. 57think he was cruel to he
- Page 67 and 68: ARIADNE. 59garden,Isaw a messenger
- Page 69 and 70: ARIADNE. 61'sorrowful,though knowin
- Page 71 and 72: ARIADNE. 63' Hush !it will be finis
- Page 73 and 74: ARIADNE. 65she is always asking;tha
- Page 75 and 76: ARIADNE. 67" Isuppose he never send
- Page 77 and 78: ARIADNE. 69agony,Irepented then hav
- Page 79 and 80: ARIADNE. 71thinking only of her;but
- Page 81 and 82: CHAPTER V— t—Next dayIgot such
ARIADNE. 25forgot them: what mattered the fall of the godsor the nations? — Ihad not been able to keeppure and in safety one short human Hfe.It was midsummer time, and the scents of theland were aU sweet and heavy about me, thereaped wheat leaned against the broken altar,and the cut clover was piled by the forsakenlararia; the an1 was aHght and alive with fireflies,and the crickets alone answered the owls singingamongst the stalks of the corn.<strong>The</strong> might}- red masses of the baths rose insight; they were not red now, but brown andgrey, stripped of their marbles, and bare in themoonlight, with the bushes blowing on theirsummits, and the many things that only ventureforth by night, creeping over the mosaic floorsthat once had felt so manymilHon soft, white,useless feet glistening with the unguents and theperfumes there.Inthat warm summer night the scents of theinnumerable bird-sown plants and flowers weresweet upon the night as ever was the stream offragrance poured over patrician limbs in theserecesses, now so dark and drear and given over
Change language