(_Day at last appears;--and, like tabernacle curtains uplifted, clouds of gold uprolling in broad volutes unveil the sky._
_Even in the midst thereof, and in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ._
[Illustration: Day at last appears ... in the midst thereof and in the very disk of the sun, beams the face of Jesus Christ.]
_Anthony makes the sign of the cross, and resumes his devotions._)
[1] Winkelmann claims to have been the first to discover that the Egyptian sphinxes were bisexual--females before--males otherwise. (See Book II, chap. I, § 25.) Flaubert speaks of the Sphinx in the masculine like Philemon. (See also Signor Carlo Fea's note upon the paragraph in Winkelmann, old French edition. An II, R. F.)--Trans.
[2] Fleurs de fer, "flowers of iron." In mineralogy _flos ferri_, a form of Aragonite.--Trans.
Those who compare this translation with the original will observe the omission of some few paragraphs on pages 77, 96 and 211. They are speeches put in the mouths of certain Heresiarchs, or complaints of certain of the minor Roman household gods. The translator relegated these to an addenda, which the publishers have omitted as being unnecessary. Those who are familiar with the original will be able to supply them, and will realize that while they might be offensive to some persons, they are in no respect an integral or important part of the great drama.]
A. Observation of Manes, pages 82-3, original text; page 89 of translation.
_Ou plutôt, faites si bien qu'elle ne soit pas fécondes. Mieux vaut pour l'ame tomber sur la terre que de languir dans des entraves charnelles._
Probably a calumny against Manes; for the Eastern philosophy, especially that of Zoroaster, which is said to have inspired the tenets of Manichæism, advocated no such abominations.
B. Page 105 of original; page 108 translation. The realistic phraseology of the original passage is rather brutal. The French text reads: "_Il souffrait de la maladie Bellerephontienne; et sa mère, la parfumeuse, s'est livrée à Pantherus, un soldat Romain, sur des gerbes de mais, un soir de moisson._" C. Descriptive text, page 237 original, partly suppressed on page 223 translation: "_Et il lui montre dans un bosquet d'aliziers Une Femme toute nue, à quatre pattes comme une bête, et saillie par un homme noir, tenant dans chaque main un flambeau._"