Towards democracy

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IT Saw a Fair House 427

And I said, Are you the mistress of this house? And when she lifted her face I saw it was very beautiful. “and her eyes were glorious as the eyes of Love himself, but they were stained with weeping.

And she said, This is not my house, it is my prison.

And I said, Are not these servants here to minister to you?

She answered, Yes—but what is that if they are only here to minister to me?

But these rooms, I said, and well-set tables?

‘

Yes—but what is that if they are only swept and garnished for me?

And this garden, and the fair outlook from it? Yes—but since J] may not even go my own errands

peyond the gate?

And I said, How is that?

And she answered, Indeed I long to go down into the world, but I may not; no sooner do I show the face of Love than I am execrated as one forbidden and an outcast. For in this city so long as one remains within one’s house one may do there what meanness and selfishness one will, provided one keeps fair the front of the house; but to go forth openly and share one’s life and the gladness of life with others, that is not permitted.

And I said, It is a strange city.

And I went out and walked through the streets; but gloom and sadness reigned, and only in some houses the noise of feasting and debauchery, and in others a sound of weeping.