him to rise and address the assembly. And no sooner did this one do
so, than the whole convocation dispersed, as if to their yams; and
with a grin, the little old man leaped from his seat, and stretched
his legs on a mat.

The fire was now extinguished, and the temple deserted.



CHAPTER LV
Wherein Babbalanja Comments Upon The Speech Of Alanno


As we lingered in the precincts of the temple after all others had
departed, sundry comments were made upon what we had seen; and having
remarked the hostility of the lunatic orator toward Dominora,
Babbalanja thus addressed Media:--

"My lord, I am constrained to believe, that all Vivenza can not be of
the same mind with the grandiloquent chief from Hio-Hio. Nevertheless,
I imagine, that between Dominora and this land, there exists at bottom
a feeling akin to animosity, which is not yet wholly extinguished;
though but the smoldering embers of a once raging fire. My lord, you
may call it poetry if you will, but there are nations in Mardi, that
to others stand in the relation of sons to sires. Thus with Dominora
and Vivenza. And though, its majority attained, Vivenza is now its own
master, yet should it not fail in a reverential respect for its
parent. In man or nation, old age is honorable; and a boy, however
tall, should never take his sire by the beard. And though Dominora did
indeed ill merit Vivenza's esteem, yet by abstaining from