“Those who have kept the faith, who have not profaned the high and awful mysteries to which in youth they were inducted, are permitted by the gods to assemble in the Court of First and Last Instance, to consider a most terrible Apostasy. They are to judge by the light of all the circumstances, they are to make their recommendations in accordance therewith.
“The Court is agreed that it is in the presence of the worst crime in its archives. A deed has been done that words cannot paint, a horror wrought which Justice cannot condone. Yet here among the wise and the good, as you have heard, are those who invoke in the name of the gods, the divine clemency for the doers of this evil.
“Some who speak for the Apostate have pleaded that the onus is not upon the common people of an outlaw state, but upon its ruler and guardians. This Court is asked to make a distinction between those whose innocence was wrought upon by cunning, who were goaded by fear to those bestial acts, which will cause the very name they bear to stink for generations in the nostrils of men, and the savage lust, the ignoble greed of those who held the reins of power. It is said that what they did they could not help doing. In the name of the Highest, appeal is made to the universal brotherhood existing among men, which they betrayed without pity and without remorse.
“Let me remind you, that pray for a miserable and perverted people, of the words of Socrates. He has said that the citizens of a state must in all circumstances accept full responsibility for its rulers. Whatever the form of its government, it is neither better nor worse than it deserves. And he has said that as the commonalty yearned to fatten on the spoils of victory, it is the divine justice that it drink the cup of defeat to the last drop of its bitterness.
“My friends, emboldened by the words of an inspired teacher, I ask you to take care lest mercy become weakness, and weakness supine folly. This is a conflict of philosophies, but even if the gods are many, Justice and Truth are one.
“It follows, therefore, that there can be no compromise between the evil and the good. Violence and insult have been offered to mankind, to the divine justice, and therefore to that Heaven in which we hope to dwell. With those who have kept the faith, I ask that a pitiless crime be punished without pity.
“According to the old law, those who offend the gods suffer banishment. The very name they bear is forever accursed, they are shunned by the virtuous, they suffer eternal ostracism and the death of the soul. In the name of all that is sacred, I ask that the law now take its course. Let those who drew the sword perish by the Sword. Let them and their kindred, their children, and their children’s children be cast out forever. Such is the demand of justice. By no decree less awful can it be met.”
There came silence. The voice, to whose every word Brandon had listened in a kind of entrancement, could be heard no longer. He strained his eyes and his ears, but through the haze of shadows he was unable to distinguish the speaker among those seated round the fire. The hush that followed excited him strangely. And then another voice was heard, a voice remote yet familiar, which seemed to cause his heart to break inside him.
“Brethren”—the new voice was curiously soft and gentle, yet its every word was like a sword—“I am the eye of the west wind. I am the voice of the evening star. I am one with Brahm. I am the soul of Islam. I am the destined Buddha. I am the Light of the World, and I say to you there is no crime that cannot be purged by the Father’s love.
“I stand here at the apex of this world’s history, and I say to you the old way is not enough. If the spirit of Man is not to bleed in vain, if the sorrowing earth is to yield the fruits for which her sons have died, the God of Righteousness must be avenged by the God of Love.