The Equinox (Volume I, Number IX)

THE EQUINOX with both hands the bridegroom and the bride; he will appear smiling between them, and take pleasure in being called father. However, the poetry of the East, in its magical souvenirs, will call him still Brahma, and Jupiter. India will teach our enchanted climates the marvellous fables of Vishnu, and we shall place upon the still bleeding forehead of our well-beloved Christ the triple crown of pearls of the mystical Trimurti. From that time, Venus, purified under the veil of Mary, will no more weep for her Adonis. The bridegroom is risen to die no more, and the infernal boar has found death in its momentary victory. Lift yourselves up again, O Temples of Delphi and of Ephesus! The God of Light and of Art is become the God of the world, and the Word of God is indeed willing to be called Apollo! Diana will no more reign widowed in the lonely fields of night; her silvern crescent is now beneath the feet of the bride. But Diana is not conquered by Venus; her Endymion has wakened, and virginity is about to take pride in mother- hood! Quit the tomb, O Phidias, and rejoice in the destruction of thy first Jupiter: it is now that thou wilt conceive a God! O Rome, let thy temples rise again, side by side with thy basilicas: be once more the Queen of the World, and the Pantheon of the nations; let Vergil be crowned on the Capitol by the hand of St. Peter; and let Olympus and Carmel unite their divinities beneath the brush of Raphael! Transfigure yourselves, ancient cathedrals of our fathers ; dart forth into the clouds your chiselled and living arrows, and 62