THE ROAD TO AVERNUS 



Show'd his teeth and laid his ears back. 



Now his wealth has purchased her. 

 Must his baseness mar her brightness ? Shall 



the callous, cunning churl 

 Revel in the rosy whiteness of that golden- 

 headed girl ? 

 ( Thinks and smokes. ) 

 [Reads.) Cito certe venit vitce finis {sic 



sacerdos fatur), 

 Nunc audite omnes, ite, vobis fabula narratur^ 

 Nunc orate et laudate, laudat etiamA ImaMater, 

 [Muses.) Such has been, and such shall still 



be, here as there, in sun or star. 

 These things are to be and will be, those 



things were to be and are. 

 If I thought that speech worth heeding I 



should Nay, it seems to me 



More like Satan's special pleading than like 



Gloria Domine. 

 [Lies down on his couch.) 

 [Reads.) Et tu quoque, f rater meuSy facta 



mala quod fecisti 



Denique confunditDeusomnes res quastetegisti. 



Nunc St unquam, nunc aut nunquam^ sanguine 



adjuro Christi. 

 223 



