ARCADIA. 3^1 



*^ Gods of the infernal regions. Thus fpâke 

 ** Niorder. Niorder loves you, oh, ye children of 



""' Pluto r 



Scarcely had Tor -fir made an end of this ter- 

 rible addrefs, when a Gaul, who was feated by the 

 King, ruQied toward me : it was Cephas. " Oh, 

 '' Amafis ! oh, my dear Amafn T cried he. "Oh, 

 ** my barbarous compatriots ! are you going to 

 ** facrifice a man, who has come from the banks 

 ** of the Nile to bring you the moft precious blef- 

 ** fings of Greece and of Egypt ? You fliall begin, 

 ** then, with me, who firft infpired him with this 

 ** defire, and who touched his heart with pity for 

 " perfons fo cruel to him." As he pronounced 

 thefe words, he preffed me in his arms, and bathed 

 me with his tears. For my part, I wept and fob- 

 bed, without the power of expreffing to him, in 

 any other way, the tranfports of my joy. Imme- 

 diately the cavern refounded with the voice of 

 murmurs and of groans. The young Druids wept, 

 and let fall from their hands the inftruments of my 

 facrifice; for Religion becomes mute, whenever 

 Nature fpeaks. Neverthelefs, no one in the af- 

 fembly durft, even now, deliver me from the 

 hands of the butchering priefts, when the women, 

 rufhing into the midft of the aflembly, tore afun- 

 der my chains, and removed my gag and funereal 



crown. 



