Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1921-04-02

Of the eastern Mediterranean, could
not forget that they had once been the
masters of Egypt. Constant conflict
in the streets between the partisans of
each side laid a fitting scene for
Charles Kingsley's religious philosoph-
ic historical melodrama.
Cyril, bishop and later saint, is NOM
inally the leader Of the battling
churchmen of the tale; the great Aug
Justine and the philosophic Synesius,
bishops both, are minor personages of
the drama, with many other passing
figures of the church, but the leading
character from that side is the humble
Philammon, the young boy of the mon
astery in the desert, who makes his
way in the simplicity Of his zeal to
brave the world, the flesh, and the dew
il, where so many other monks of fic-
ton have found that interesting triad,
keeping headquarters at Alexandria.
The city was ruled by Orestes, so far
as any project could rule the unruly
cosmopolis, worldly and elusive per-
son, who, not satisfied with the trou-
bles already at hand, would conspire
to erect an empire of Africa out of
the difficulties of Rome and Constan-
tinople, and to crown as his empress,
Hypatia, idealist, mathematician, neo-
Platonist, leader and teacher Of what
remained Of Greek philosophy as liv-
ing force. Under Hypatia's sway fell
the young Philammon by reason of
her beauty, her power Of speech, and
the inherited appeal of philosophy to
one whose ancestry was Athenian. An
appeal of another sort came to him
from Pelagia, dancer and beauty, dar-
ling of the city in general and of in
dividuals in particular. To the charm
of Hypatia yielded not only the world
ly project and the simple monk, but
the most interesting figure Of the
story, Raphael-Aben-Ezra, descended
from the blood Of Solomon, rich, lazy,
and selfish to all appearance, but the
parsonage In whose soul and mind
was surging most violently the strug-
gle and conflict which Is the keynote
of the book. Should the traditions Of
Jewry, the lure Of Greek philosophy,
the charm of pleasant If tumultuous
world, or the power Of Christianity
conquer in him? In his apparently
easy going way through existence, he
was measuring what every phase of
that seething cauldron had to offer as
a solution for the problems which a
human soul has to ponder for its own
salvation. 1t took him long to decide,
and 1t was only by the ministrations
of Augustine and Synesius and the liv-
ing example of Victoria that he final
ly found in Christianity the truly DEM
ocratic creed by which the world could
best live.
Struggle and strife Of soul or body
Philharmonic yearning to see more
Of the world than the monastery in
the desert; his enthrallment by the
charm Of Hypatia's beauty and her
learning; Cyrirs struggles by militant
means toward a spiritual END; Ores
tes' to win an empire; Pel{gia's to
win love; Raphael to find thu truth;
the conflict between old thought and
new; and as the climax, the conflict
and the end in Hypatia's case:
eyes, on into the church itself! Into
the cool, dim shadow, with its fretted
pillars, and towering domes, and can
dies, and incense and blazing altar.
and great pictures, looking from the
walls athwart the gorgeous gloom.
And right in front, above the altar,
the colossal Christ watching unmoved
from off the wall, his right hand raised
to give a blessing-or curse?
"On, up the nave, fresh shreds of
her dress strewing the holy pavement,
up the chancel steps themselves-up
to the altar-right underneath the
great. still Christ; and there even
those hell hounds paused.
"She shook herself free from her
tormentors, and springing back, rose
for one moment to her full height,
naked, snow white against the dusky
mass around, shame and indignation
In those wide, clear eyes, but not a
stain of fear. With one hand she
clasped her golden locks around her;
the other long. white arm was
stretched upward toward the great
still Christ appealing-and who dare
say, in vain from man to God. Her
lips were opened to speak; but the
words that should have come from
them reached Gods ears alone; for in
an instant they struck her down, the
dark mass closed over her again-and
then wall on wall, ear-piercing, rang
along the vaulted roofs. and thrilled
like the trumpet of avenging angels
through Philammon's ears"
Copyright, 1919. by the Post Publishing
Co. (The Boston PosO. Copyright in the
United Kingdom. the Dominons its Col
onies and dependencies, under the copy
right act, by the Post Publishing Co.,
Boston. Mass. U. S. A. All rights re-
served.