Chapter 5 god punish him

I have a charming guest here. Opposite me, next to the great Renaissance fireplace, sat a Venus: no, mind you, she was actually a whore.Like Miss Cleopatra, she used the pseudonym Venus in her dealings with men.But: purely physically, my guest is a goddess of love. After fanning a burst of crackling flames, she sat comfortably on the chair.The red firelight reflected her pale face, making her eyes especially white.When she tried to warm her hands and feet, the flames scorched her little feet again and again. Although her eyes are dull as a rock, she does have a beautiful head, which is what I see.Her marble-like body was wrapped in a fur coat, which looked very solemn.She trembled and curled up like a cat.

"I don't understand, dear lady," I cried. "The weather is not cold at all. We spent the most beautiful time in spring in the last two weeks. You are obviously too thin." "Thank you for your evaluation of Spring, but I can't accept your evaluation of me," she answered me in a low, emotionless voice, during which she sneezed twice. "I can't take it anymore, I'm just beginning to realize—" "Honey, what did you realize?" "I was beginning to believe what I couldn't believe, and understand what I couldn't understand. Suddenly I understood German feminine virtues, German philosophy. I'm not surprised that you Yankees don't love me anymore. Indeed. , I haven't figured out what love is, not at all."

"Ma'am, allow me to say something," I got annoyed. "I didn't give you time to talk about that." "Ah, you—" the lovely lady sneezed a third time, shrugging her shoulders in a uniquely graceful way. "That's why I've been so nice to you and come here so often. Although I wear a thick fur coat, I catch a cold almost every time I come here. Do you remember when we first met?" scene?" "How could I forget?" I replied. "Though you were richly dressed, with your brown curly hair, brown eyes, and red lips, I recognized you at once, because your face was so peculiarly shaped and marble-pale. —you always wear a purple velvet jacket trimmed with squirrel fur."

"You are right. You are so obsessed with that dress, it seems that you are a person who never forgets old love." "You taught me what love is. Your passionate and holy love makes me forget the existence of time." "And my loyalty to you is unparalleled!" "Ha, as far as loyalty—" "I'm so unlucky that you don't appreciate it!" "I hate to blame you. You may be a good woman, but you're still a woman. When I loved you, you were as cruel as any other woman." "What did you say? 'Cruel,'" the goddess of love retorted vividly. "Exactly, cruelty is an integral part of feeling and love—it's a woman's nature. She must give herself to love anything or anyone. freedom, she loves and must love everything that pleases her."

"For the person who loves you, is there anything more cruel than the woman you love being unfaithful to you?" "Ha," she shot back, "we're loyal to each other when we're in love, but you're a man who asks a woman to be loyal to you when she doesn't love you, so it's no fun. Who's cruel, man or woman? Anyway, you Yankees take love too seriously. You talk about duty all the time, but happiness is what love is all about." "I agree with you ma'am. Back then we respected each other and had a beautiful relationship and it lasted a long time."

"But," interrupted the lady, "for the outright pagan, the never-quiet, never-diminished conviction is that love is the supreme joy, divine peace itself—to you moderns, you It is useless for these reflective children to say that. All this love brings you is disaster. Whenever you want to be natural you become vulgar. The world seems hostile to you. You laugh at the Greek gods and think They are devils and you think I'm a villain. All you do is judge me, curse me, or sacrifice yourselves, and kill yourselves on my altar in a frenzy of drinking. And if any of you Whoever has the courage to kiss my red lips is walking on a pilgrimage to Rome, barefoot, wearing a penitent's coat, expecting flowers to bloom from his dead caduceus. Roses, violets, incense Mahogany sprouts beneath my feet—but you won't like their scent. So stay in your Yankee mists, stay in the incense of Christianity. Let us heretics under the gravel, in the Rest under the lava. Don't dig us out. Pompeii, our villas, our lavatories, our temples were not built for you people! You don't need God! We'll freeze in your world !" Coughed the beautiful, ruthless lady, tugging at her sable coat to warm her shoulders.

"Thank you for giving me a lesson in classic civilization," I responded. "But you cannot deny that in your quiet and sunny world, men and women are as much natural enemies as in our misty world. You cannot deny that love lasts but a moment, that love divides two Joined together, when they have only one thought, one feeling, one desire - and then the two are separated. Of course - you know more than me - for a person like me who doesn't know how to conquer , if someone else puts a foot on my neck, I don't feel right away—"