THE EQUINOX
XVII
THE NUMBER SEVENTEEN
SEVENTEEN is the number of the star; it is that of in-
telligence and love.
Warrior and bold intelligence, accomplice of divine
Prometheus, eldest daughter of Lucifer, hail unto thee in
thine audacity! Thou didst wish to know, and in order to
possess, thou didst brave all the thunders, and affronted every
abyss!
Intelligence, O Thou, whom we poor sinners have loved
to madness, to scandal, to reprobation! Divine right of man,
essence and soul of liberty, hail unto thee! For they have
pursued thee, in trampling beneath their feet for thee the
dearest dreams of their imagination, the best beloved phantoms
of their heart !
For thee, they have been repulsed and proscribed, for thee
they have suffered prison, nakedness, hunger, thirst, the
desertion of those whom they loved, and the dark temptations
of despair! Thou wast their right, and they have conquered
thee! _ Now they can weep and believe, now they can submit
themselves and pray!
Repentant Cain would have been greater than Abel : it is
lawful pride satisfied which has the right to humiliate itself !
I believe because I know why and how one must believe;
I believe because I love, and fear no more.
Love! Love! Sublime redeemer and sublime restorer;
thou who makest so much happiness, with so many tortures,
thou who didst sacrifice blood and tears, thou who art virtue
64