The Star in the West

THE HARLOT I 21 struggle for Life ," and “ The struggle for the Ideal," if then the ideal is low , the capital is also wanting , and moral bankruptcy is at hand . It has been said , Donna ociosa non può esser virtuossa . (A woman of leisure cannot be virtuous . ) Which is very true , and neither can a nation . The present ages are peopled with fiends and fools , living outwardly in precadian innocence , but inwardly in all the knowledge of the cities of the plains . The fiend crawls in the slimy dark , and the fool pulls the white sheets of credulity over his head , and like the gaby ostrich chuckles : “ I can't see them , they can't see me ” -he forgets his odour . Crowley has torn the veil of mock - modesty from off the face of Pseudo morality , leaving her as bare and hideous to the gaze as the face of the prophet of Khorassan . He has seized the social harlot and hurled her from her throne ; has forced open her jaws , and administered a sharp emetic , a mental purgative , a rouser ! Let us hope it will clean her out , and do her good .