(_watches him from a distance, and is afraid of him._) "Who art thou?"
THE CHILD (_replies_). "Thy ancient disciple, Hilarion."
ANTHONY. "Thou liest! Hilarion hath been dwelling in Palestine for many long years."
HILARION. "I have returned! It is really I!"
ANTHONY (_draws near and examines him closely_). "Yet his face was radiant as the dawn, candid, joyous. This face is the face of one gloomy and old."
HILARION. "Long and arduous labor hath wearied me!"
ANTHONY. "The voice is also different. It hath an icy tone."
HILARION. "Because I have nourished me with bitter things!"
ANTHONY (_aside_). "Could it be possible?"
HILARION. "I was not so far from thee as thou doest imagine. The hermit Paul visited thee this year, during the month of Schebar. It is just twenty days since the Nomads brought thee bread. Thou didst tell a sailor, the day before yesterday, to send thee three bodkins."
HILARION. "Know further more that I have never left thee. But there are long periods during which thou hast no knowledge of my presence."
ANTHONY. "How can that be? Yet it is true that my head is so much troubled--this night especially."
HILARION. "All the Capital Sins came hither. But their wretched snares can avail nothing against such a Saint as thou."
ANTHONY. "Oh! no!--no! I fall at every moment! Why am I not of those whose souls are ever intrepid, whose minds are always firm,--for example, the great Athanasius?"
HILARION. "He was illegally ordained by seven bishops."
HILARION. "Go to!--a most vainglorious and cruel man, forever involved in intrigues, and exiled at last as a monopolist."[1]
HILARION. "Thou wilt not deny that he sought to corrupt Eustates, the treasurer of largesses?"
ANTHONY. "It is affirmed, I acknowledge."
HILARION. "Through vengeance he burned down the house of Arsenius."
HILARION. "At the council of Nicæa he said in speaking of Jesus: 'The man of the Lord.'"
HILARION. "So limited in understanding, moreover, that he confesses he comprehends nothing of the nature of the "Word!"
ANTHONY (_smiling with gratification_). "In sooth his intelligence is not ... very lofty."
HILARION. "Hypocrite! burying thyself in solitude only in order the more fully to abandon thyself to the indulgence of thy envious desires! What if thou dost deprive thyself of meats, of wine, of warmth, of bath, of slaves, or honours?--dost thou not permit thy imagination to offer thee banquets, perfumes, women, and the applause of multitudes? Thy chastity is but a more subtle form of corruption, and thy contempt of this world is but the impotence of thy hatred against it! Either this it is that makes such as thyself so lugubrious, or else 'tis doubt. The possession of truth giveth joy. Was Jesus sad? Did he not travel in the company of friends, repose beneath the shade of olive trees, enter the house of the publican, drink many cups of wine, pardon the sinning woman, and assuage all sorrows? Thou!--thou hast no pity save for thine own misery! It is like a remorse that gnaws thee, a savage madness that impels thee to repel the caress of a dog or to frown upon the smile of a child."