Seven devils came, and seven archangels descended from on high.

The archangels stood apart and looked on through veils.

The devils were close by; they shone, they acted.

Mammon came on his pearly shell in the shape of a beautiful naked woman; her snowy body dazzled the eye, no human form ever equalled it; and he said, 'I am Pleasure; thou shalt possess me!' Lucifer, prince of serpents, was there in sovereign robes; his Manhood was glorious as the beauty of an angel, and he said, 'Humanity shall be at thy feet!' The Queen of misers,--she who gives back naught that she has ever received,--the Sea, came wrapped in her virent mantle; she opened her bosom, she showed her gems, she brought forth her treasures and offered them; waves of sapphire and of emerald came at her bidding; her hidden wonders stirred, they rose to the surface of her breast, they spoke; the rarest pearl of Ocean spread its iridescent wings and gave voice to its marine melodies, saying, 'Twin daughter of suffering, we are sisters! await me; let us go together; all I need is to become a Woman.' The Bird with the wings of an eagle and the paws of a lion, the head of a woman and the body of a horse, the Animal, fell down before her and licked her feet, and promised seven hundred years of plenty to her best-beloved daughter.

Then came the most formidable of all, the Child, weeping at her knees, and saying, 'Wilt thou leave me, feeble and suffering as I am?
oh, my mother, stay!' and he played with her, and shed languor on the air, and the Heavens themselves had pity for his wail.