And now....

Well I call all heaven and earth to witness, that I have fought valiantly.

I have faced naughty little Eros like a man, rod in hand.
What could a poor human being do more than try to marry her to some one else, in hopes of sickening himself of the whole matter?
Well, every moth has its candle, and every man his destiny.

But the daring of the little fool! What huge imaginations she has! She might be another Zenobia, now, with Orestes as Odenatus, and Raphael Aben-Ezra to play the part of Longinus, and receive Longinus's salary of axe or poison.
She don't care for me; she would sacrifice me, or a thousand of me, the cold-blooded fanatical archangel that she is, to water with our blood the foundation of some new temple of cast rags and broken dolls....

Oh, Raphael Aben-Ezra, what a fool you are!....