The Great Secret/Chapter 23
CHAPTER XXIII.
A GATHERING OF THE GODS.
Before real greatness comes to either man or woman, as a rule, old age has crept upon them, robbing them of their bodily strength and youthful graces, and making them uninteresting in the extreme. Now and again a youth may leap into popularity, but it is rare that nature produces infant phenomena where great thoughts and great conceptions are concerned. Great minds are of turgid growth. We might imagine a youthful Raphael, but it is hard to picture a youthful Rembrandt or Titian.
The guests of Hesperia and Imenus were some of the greatest that the ages of art and letters have ever produced, yet Philip could not get up the awe for them that he might have felt towards greybeards, and none appeared older than twenty-one or twenty-two. There names, besides, were totally unknown to him, as more than likely will be the names of Shakespeare, Milton, Rembrandt and others of their kidney twenty thousand years after this. Most of the celebrities present had flourished cycles of centuries before his time on the plane of mortality.
Yet it was a brilliant company which had assembled for the sake of their hosts to welcome this new couple and do honour to them. Philip and Adela felt this and their own insignificance before they were very long amongst these youthful-looking sages, philosophers, poets, painters, musicians and sculptors. It was a gathering of the gods and goddesses, and the newcomers were contented to sit and listen, or look round them and admire.
"This is just a little too fine for me," whispered Captain Nelson in Philip's ear. "I'm going back to England, if they will show me the route to-morrow; I want to see how my poor wife is getting along."
"Perhaps it would be wiser to leave such earthly affairs alone, my friend," answered Hesperia quietly. "Still, if you desire it, to-morrow you can be in England, even now, if you wish to leave us."
"No, my dear friend, to-morrow will suit me perfectly," answered the gallant captain hastily, and with crimson cheeks.
"It is better, as a rule, not to return to earth too quickly; not before we have acquired the philosophy to view calmly and dispassionately the frailties, meannesses, and other imperfections of the flesh. While in the body, you could only see what was set before you to look at, and that was best for your earthly happiness; but now all thoughts, as well as all actions, by day or night, are revealed to you, as your thoughts are to us."
"Still, I wish to see my wife and my home," said the captain stoutly.
"So you shall," answered Hesperia; "for to-night, stay with us, and to-morrow we will speed you on your way."
"You have no desire to go back to the present world, have you?" asked the hostess, turning to the newlywedded pair.
"None," replied both Philip and Adela.
"I have thought upon a tour which might interest you both for a time, after you have seen all that we can show you here. There is Ancient Egypt and Assyria, with Greece, Rome, and other historical scenes that you might like to see in their former reality, also some of the great men and women whom you have read about. You can visit them in their different homes, and talk with them when you please. Most of these latter-day geniuses spend much of their time as they used to spend it, yet I must warn you not to build up too high ideals about them before you see them, or you will be disappointed, for they all eat and drank, lived, slept and moved about much the same as ordinary mortals do to-day, and have done since the world began. To be a great philosopher, writer or painter, does not make much difference in the man's outward appearance or behaviour. He may pose a little more if he is a fool, yet, as a rule, his gifts keep him from being a fool, but he has all the weaknesses, apart from his genius, that other people have, and it takes a great number of centuries to wipe out the affectations and habits of a spirit."
We will try not to build upon the great men of the past, and take them as they are for the sake of what they have left us. Your programme is delightful."
The dining hall where they were assembled was of too vast an extent for any other than an Oriental climate. In the frigid zones the ideal of a comfortable dining saloon is limited space, limited company, and drawn blinds. In the tropics space is required, marble walls and floors, fountains playing, perfume, and a vast concourse to dine along with.
In this hall they had space and company sufficient to fulfil the conditions required. Over three hundred guests were seated, or rather reclining, on couches, while those who had been elected to wait for the night attended dutifully upon the guests.
Hesperia explained to her new guests that this was no servitude, for that she, with her husband and the guests there assembled, would take their turn of waiting at other feasts.
"We are no slaves, and have no slaves; those who wait upon us to-night occupy the same positions as we do. It is our pride to be ministers and servants to each other. We cannot lie here and wait upon ourselves, therefore we take our turn to be waited upon and to be waiters. The cook who superintends this feast is the greatest that ever existed. It is his glory to concoct from simple rudiments dishes that formerly he created on earth from fowl, fish and flesh; and although my husband was once a mighty painter, he cannot think himself greater than the genius who gives to us this delight.
What a dream of gastronomy that repast was, Philip thought, as he partook of dish after dish, and he was no mean judge of the pleasures of eating. He had arrived at the age when men pay attention to these details, when to a pious gastronomer heaven would be a dreary desert without dinner.
"Do you think that a taste or a pleasure which does no wrong can be a sin?" said Hesperia. "The saints of the Roman Church and the other earth faiths advocate the torturing of the flesh, yet how grievously are they wronging the Maker of all these things when they do so. He gives us our instinct, which may be cultivated into a high art. It may be painting, poetry, sculpture, music or eating. He has provided these instincts with the material to gratify them, and should we not be base criminals and ingrates if we did not enjoy the pleasures which He has provided?
"He gives us the instinct of love. You have now proved how completely He caters for that instinct. On earth you may have made a mistake, and grasped the shadow for the substance—that was the error of your ignorance—yet you had your share of pleasure also. On earth you eat often what did not suit you—made friends of the wrong people—loved the wrong person; yet the food was luscious while it lasted, the friendship was a pleasure until you discovered its fallacy, the love engrossing for a time, therefore you had all the joys you were fitted for with your blinded senses.
"You see now, and therefore you can appreciate, so you have the keener and more lasting pleasure, and that is the heaven of all religions—to be supremely happy.
"You can enjoy this feast without reflection or remorse. It is drawn from the atoms of earth, yet no creature suffered to administer it to us, therefore it is free from sin. No after effects can trouble you, for as it is taken it is disintegrated. The wines have been drawn from the casks of centuries, mellowed by time, buried in the earth's womb. No epicure on earth's surface ever tasted such nectar, and yet we have an unlimited supply.
"Will the Christians who flagellate themselves and preach misery never understand the words of their own chosen Master? He came eating and drinking; even on the cross He said to the penitent thief, 'To-night shalt thou sup with Me in paradise.' Do you think that He would invite a guest to sup without having supper for His guest?"
The argument appeared plain to Philip and Adela, but more than the argument were the evidences of the rare viands before them.
The hall was a lofty and wide one, with everything that the imagination of man could think of to adorn a feast—flowers spread over the board, while course after course came on, so delicate, so refined, so all-sufficing, that they could not pause to consider what the ingredients of each dish were, simply that the feast was perfect and the wines without a flaw.
They had music also while they feasted, delicious strains of melody that wafted their spirits to a paradise of dreams.
At last it was over, and the guests, after wishing the happy pair all the joys which perfect love alone can impart, left them to themselves, the best boon to all true lovers.