52

THE BULL-BAITING

Fourscore and eleven books wrote I; in each did I expound THE GREAT WORK fully, from The Beginning even unto The End thereof.

Then at last came certain men unto me, saying: O Master! Expound thou THE GREAT WORK unto us, O Master!

And I held my peace.

O generation of gossipers! who shall deliver you from the Wrath that is fallen upon you?

O Babblers, Prattlers, Talkers, Loquacious Ones, Tatlers, Chewers of the Red Rag that inflameth Apis the Redeemer to fury, learn first what is Work! and THE GREAT WORK is not so far beyond!

COMMENTARY (ΝΒ)

52 is BN, the number of the Son, Osiris-Apis, the Redeemer, with whom the Master (Fra. P.) identifies himself. He permits himself for a moment the pleasure of feeling his wounds; and, turning upon his generation, gores it with his horns.

The fourscore-and-eleven books do not, we think, refer to the ninety-one chapters of this little masterpiece, or even to the numerous volumes he has penned, but rather to the fact that 91 is the number of Amen, implying the completeness of his work.

In the last paragraph is a paranomasia. "To chew the red rag" is a phrase for to talk aimlessly and persistently, while it is notorious that a red cloth will excite the rage of a bull.