Anathema: A Tragedy in Seven Scenes

by Leonid Andreyev

ANATHEMA.

I shall lead you to the desert. We shall leave here these wicked and vicious people, who are seized with the itch of suffering and who break down posts and fences like hogs that scratch themselves.

DAVID.

Irresolutely.

But they are human beings, Nullius.

ANATHEMA.

Renounce them, and, pure, stand up in the desert before the face of God. Let the rock be your bed, let the howling jackal become your friend, let only the sky and the sand hear the penitent moans of David—not a single stain of another's sin shall come upon the pure snow of his soul. He who remains with lepers becomes a leper himself—only in solitude will you see God. To the desert, David, to the desert!

DAVID.

I shall pray.

ANATHEMA.