I knew Him thro’ the dread disguise,

As the whole God within his eyes

Embraced me!’”

“If you are not tired of Browning,” said the Professor, in a singularly soft voice for him, “I will give you from him a picture of the world in the highest mood it has ever known, or perhaps ever will know—under the Cross. It is only the ‘Epitaph in the Catacombs’:

264

‘I was born sickly, poor, and mean,

A slave; no misery could screen

The holders of the pearl of price

From Cæsar’s envy; therefore twice

I fought with beasts, and three times saw