“You are quite right. But you have loved the symbol of all that is light and glorious, and you have been united to it.
“Of the symbol is born the symbol, and of the symbol will be born Beauty. It is in the blue egg which you have seen. Since the beginning of the world it has been called Helen; and the last man of all shall know of her existence.
“You were full of love because you were ignorant. For that let the blessed darkness be praised.
“But you are a woman, too, and bear in you the obscure being who would be simply himself, whose father has not foreseen him, and whose son does not know him. I will take the germ in my waters. It shall remain in obscurity.
“You were full of hatred because you learned the truth. I will make you forget it. For that let the blessed darkness be praised.”
She did not understand what the God had said, but she thanked him with tears.
She entered the bed of the river to purify herself from the Satyr, and when she returned to the bank she had lost every remembrance of her sorrow and her joy.
Melandryon spake no more. The women were all silent. But Rhea asked—