* * * * *

Versailles at last was finished--and what a spectacle and monument to
selfish exaltation it was! "There is an intimate relation between the
King and his château," wrote Imbert de Saint-Amand. "The idol is
worthy of the temple, the temple of the idol. There is always
something immaterial, something moral so to speak, in monuments, and
they derive their poesy from the thought connected with them. For a
cathedral, it is the idea of God. For Versailles, it is the idea of
the King. Its mythology is but a magnificent allegory of which Louis
XIV is the reality. It is he always and everywhere. Fabulous heroes
and divinities impart their attributes to him or mingle with his
courtiers. In honor of him, Neptune sheds broadcast the waters that
cross in air in sparkling arches. Apollo, his favorite symbol,
presides over this enchanted world as the god of light, the inspirer of
the muses; the sun of the god seems to pale before that of the great
King. Nature and art combine to celebrate the glory of the sovereign
by a perpetual hosannah. All that generations of kings have amassed in
pictures, statues and precious movables is distributed as mere
furniture in the glittering apartments of the chateau. The
intoxicating perfumes of luxury and power throw one into a sort of
ecstasy that makes comprehensible the exaltation of this monarch,
enthusiastic over himself, who, in chanting the hymns composed in his
praise, shed tears of admiration."




CHAPTER IV