What
will he do when he has recruited his strength in this night's
slumber? What wilt thou sing of it, wild-haired child of the
lyre?
'I admire the heavy fall of the sleeper's luxuriant hair,
which reminds one of the final shutting down of night upon a
sullen twilight.
'The other figures, too, are full of augury, sad but
life-like, in its poetry. On the shield, how perfectly is the
expression of being struck home to the heart given! I wish I
could have that shield, in some shape. Only a single blow
was needed; the hand was sure, the breast shrinking, but
unresisting. Die, child of my affection, child of my old age!
Let the blood follow to the hilt, for it is the sword of the
Lord!
'In looking again, this shield is on the _Libica_, and that of
the _Persica_ represents conquest, not sacrifice.
'Over all these figures broods the spirit of prophecy. You
see their sternest deed is under the theocratic form. There is
pride in action, but no selfism in these figures.
'When I first came to Michel, I clung to the beautiful
Raphael, and feared his Druidical axe. But now, after the
sibyls of Michel, it is unsafe to look at those of Raphael;
for they seem weak, which is not so, only seems so, beside the
sterner ideal.
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