Apollonius. "It shall be He!—no other! He will cast off his crown, and we shall converse face to face!"
Damis (in an undertone).
"Say thou dost indeed wish it! say thou dost desire it!"
(Anthony kneeling before the cross, murmurs prayers. Damis walks around him, with wheedling gestures.)
"Nay, nay! good hermit. Be not horrified! These are only exaggerated forms of speech, borrowed from the Orientals. That need in no way ..."
Apollonius. "Let him alone, Damis!
"He believes, like a brute, in the reality of things. The terror which he entertains of the Gods prevents him from comprehending them; and he debases his own God to the level of a jealous king!
"But thou, my son, do not leave me!"
(He moves to the edge of the cliff, walking backward, passes beyond the verge of the precipice, and remains suspended in air.)
"Above all forms, further than the ends of the earth, beyond the heavens themselves, lies the world of Idea, replete with the splendor of the Word! With one bound we shall traverse the impending spaces, and thou shalt behold in all his infinity, the Eternal, the Absolute, the Being! Come! give me thy hand! Let us rise."