counsel prevails. Three of the queen's companions, Flattery, Affability, and Pleasure, follow Solomon into the city of the world, and entice him into the street of the married people. His follies there are described in a manner that very closely follows the Biblical account. The queen now decides to attack Solomon, who has been deserted by many of his followers. A fearful massacre ensues, and the terrified pilgrim exclaims: "O God, if Thou art a God, have mercy on wretched me!" and he then swoons.
We have now reached the second part of the "Labyrinth," to which Komensky has given the name of the "Paradise of the Heart." Henceforth everything is changed; all sordid, and sometimes coarse, allusions to worldly matters vanish, and we find ourselves in an atmosphere of purest mysticism. Christ appears to the pilgrim and welcomes him home—that is to say, as one who, from his earthly wandering, has returned to the solitude of his heart. He then receives Christ as a guest in his humble dwelling, and they are mystically betrothed. Christ informs the pilgrim that he is one of those whom He has chosen, and gives him instructions as to his behaviour during the time that he will yet remain upon earth. These instructions are, of course, entirely in accordance with the teaching of the Bohemian brethren, the community to which Komensky belonged.
Though yet remaining on earth, the pilgrim now beholds the splendour of heaven in a vision, and sees God on a throne of jasper, surrounded by the
