He appeared to imagine that the snake was a divinity- not
celestial, it is true, but darkly infernal- and that he thence derived
an eminence and a sanctity, horrid, indeed, yet more desirable than
whatever ambition aims at. Thus he drew his misery around him like a
regal mantle, and looked down triumphantly upon those whose vitals
nourished no deadly monster. Oftener, however, his human nature
asserted its empire over him, in the shape of a yearning for
fellowship. It grew to be his custom to spend the whole day in
wandering about the streets, aimlessly, unless it might be called an
aim to establish a species of brotherhood between himself and the
world. With cankered ingenuity, he sought out his own disease in every
breast. Whether insane or not, he showed so keen a perception of
frailty, error, and vice, that many persons gave him credit for
being possessed not merely with a serpent, but with an actual fiend,
who imparted this evil faculty of recognizing whatever was ugliest
in man's heart.
For instance, he met an individual, who, for thirty years, had
cherished a hatred against his own brother.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25