22. The Book Of Hermes-k

The second beast, emblem of the northern conquerors, who reigned by iron during the second age, was like unto a bear; it had three rows of sharp teeth, images of three great conquering families, and they said unto it: Arise, devour much flesh. After the apparition of the fourth beast, there were thrones raised up, and the Ancient of Days, the Christ of seers, the Lamb of the first age, was manifested. His garment was of dazzling whiteness, his head radiant; his throne, whence came forth living flames, was borne upon burning wheels; a flame of swift fire shone in his countenance; legions of angels or stars sparkled round him. The tribunal was held, the allegorical books were opened. The new Christ came with the clouds of heaven and stood before the Ancient of Days; there were given Him power, honour and a kingdom over all peoples, tribes and tongues. Then Daniel came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. And it was answered him that the four beasts were four powers which should reign successively over the earth.” M. Chaho proceeds to explain a variety of images, strikingly analogous, which are found in almost all sacred books. His observations at this point are worthy of remark. “In every primitive logos, the parallel between physical correspondences and moral relations is established on the same basis. Each word carries its material and sensible definition, and this living language is as perfect and true as it is simple and natural in man the creator. Let the seer express by the same word, slightly modified, the sun, day, light, truth, and applying the same epithet to a white sun and to a lamb, let him say, Lamb or Christ, instead of sun, and sun instead of truth, light, civilization, and there is no allegory, but there are true correspondences seized and expressed by inspiration. But when the children of night say in their incoherent and barbarous dialect, sun, day, light, truth, lamb, the wise correspondence so clearly expressed by the primitive logos becomes effaced and disappears, and, by simple translation, the lamb and the sun become allegorical beings, symbols. Remark, in effect, that the word allegory itself signifies in Celtic definition, change of discourse, translation. The observation just made applies exactly to all barbarian cosmogonical language. Seers made use of the same inspired radical to express nourishment and instruction. Is not the science of truth the nourishment of the soul? Thus, the scroll of papyrus, or the book, eaten by the prophet Ezekiel; the little volume which the angel gave as food to the author of the Apocalypse; the festivities of the magical palace of Asgard, to which Gangler was invited by Har the Sublime; the miraculous multiplication of seven loaves narrated of the Nazarene by the Evangelists; the living bread which Jesus-Sun gave his disciples to eat, saying, ‘This is my body’; and a host of similar stories, are a repetition of the same allegory; the life of souls who are sustained by truth - truth which multiplies without ever diminishing but, on the contrary, increases in the measure that it nourishes. Exalted by a noble sentiment of nationality, dazzled by the idea of immense revolution, let a revealer of hidden things come forward and seek to popularize the discoveries of science among gross and ignorant men, destitute of the most simple elementary notions; let him say, for example, that the earth revolves and that it is shaped like an egg: what resource has the barbarian who hears him except to believe? Is it not plain that every proposition of this nature becomes for him a dogma from on high, an article of faith? And is not the veil of a wise allegory sufficient to make it a mythos?