Tragedy, a simplification of the whole story. It is the finale and in itself not only teaches powerfully, but is an invitation, as it were, from a potent mind to those to whom it sends its own message:
"'It is God's symbolic teaching,' he said, 'which
few of us may understand. A language unlettered
and vast as eternity itself! Upon that hill of Calvary
to which thou, Simon, turnest thy parting
looks of tenderness, has been mystically enacted the
world's one Tragedy—the tragedy of Love and
Genius slain to satisfy the malice of mankind. But
Love and Genius are immortal; and immortality
must evermore arise: wherefore in the dark days
that are coming let us not lose our courage or our
hope. There will be many forms of faith,—and
many human creeds in which there is no touch of
the Divine. Keep we to the faithful following of
Christ, and in the midst of many bewilderments we
shall not wander far astray. The hour grows late,—come,
thou first hermit of the Christian world!—let
us go on together!'
"They descended the hill. Across the plains they passed slowly, taking the way that led towards the mystic land of Egypt, where the Pyramids lift their summits to the stars, and the Nile murmurs of the false gods forgotten. They walked in a path of roseate radiance left by a reflection of the vanished sun; and went onward steadily, never once looking back till their figures gradually diminished and disappeared. Swiftly the night gathered, and spread itself darkly over Jerusalem like a threatening shadow of storm and swift destruction; thunder was in the air, and only one pale star peeped dimly forth in the dusk, shining placidly over the Place of Tombs, where, in his quiet burial-cave, Barabbas slept beside the withering palm."
