She keeps them
all so stiff-necked and so intent on things on high that it is amusing to
see them, while gazing upwards, and 'extolling their heads to the stars'
fall straightway into the depths of hell. You too, Asmodai, we all
remember your great services in the past; there is none more resolute
than you to keep safe his prisoners under lock and key, nor any so
unimpeachable. Nowadays a wanton freak provokes only a little laughter,
but you came near perishing there from famine during the recent years of
dearth. And you, my son Belphegor, verminous prince of sloth, no one has
afforded us more pleasure than you; your influence is exceeding great
among noblemen and also among the common people, even to the beggar. And
were it not for the skill of my daughter Hypocrisy in coloring and
adorning, who ever would swallow a single one of our hooks? But after
all, if it were not for the unwearying courage of my brother Beelzebub in
keeping men in heedless dazedness, ye all would not be worth a straw.
Let us once more recapitulate. What good wouldst thou be, Cerberus, with
thy foreign whiff, if Mammon did not succour thee? What merchant would
ever run such risks to obtain thy paltry leaves from India, except for
Mammon's sake? And only for him what king would receive them, especially
into Britain, and who but for his sake would carry them to every part of
the kingdom? Yet how worthless thou too wouldst be, Mammon, if Pride did
not lavish thee upon fair mansions, fine clothes, needless lawsuits,
gardens and horses, extravagant relatives, numerous dishes, floods of
beer and ale, beyond the power and station of their owner; for if money
were spent within the limit of necessity and of becoming moderation, what
would Mammon avail us? Thus thou art nought without Pride; and little
would Pride profit without Wantonness, for bastards are the most numerous
and the most fierce of all the subjects of my daughter Pride.
Pages:
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178