THE DESCENT OF BOLSHEVISM
establish on its ruins the reign of the Pastoral Virtues.
Among the things mentioned in this list are explosives of various kinds, dynamite, "a composition which blinds and kills when spurted in the face," "a method for filling a bed-chamber with pestilential vapors," strange herbs for procuring abortion, and aphrodisiacs concealed in Latin names. Simpler by far is the method of the Assassins.
But unlike the Assassins and unlike his namesake, Spartacus and his followers were timid in action,—they lacked the heroic spark, and the self-sacrificing zeal. Their incendiarism was an abstraction. They only dreamed and philosophized. They had visions, too, of eternal bliss and voluptuous pleasures. For they were also to found a Lodge of Sister Illuminati. "It will be of great service," wrote Alcibiades, "and procure us both much information and money, and will suit charmingly the taste of many of our truest members who are lovers of the sex. It should
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