You were even then rich, though not so
rich as you now are. You were beautiful and full of vigour, but you have
now upon you the glow of a higher beauty, the overflowing promise of a
more glorious life. You were happy because you thought you were, but
such happiness as you had proceeded from without rather than from
within. You were a materially thinking man. Your thoughts were of the
flesh, and your delights--harmless it is true--were in the things that
were under your eyes--wealth, power, book knowledge, and perhaps woman,
if you can call the creatures you believed in women.
"You gathered wealth in great heaps, and your precious stones in
storehouses. You laid your hand upon the diamond of the river and upon
the pearl of the sea, and they abode with you, as the light of the sun
and the moon. And you said, 'Behold it is my star, which is the lord of
the dog-heat in summer, and it is my kismet.' You also took to yourself
wives of rare qualities, having both golden and raven black hair, whose
skin was as fine silk, and their breath as the freshness of the dawning,
and their eyes as jewels. Then said you, rejoicing in your heart, that
you were happy; and so you dwelt in peace and plenty, and waxed glad.
"Therefore you accomplished your first destiny, and you drank of the cup
that was filled to overflowing.
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