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
.