The Divine Invasion by Philip K. Dick Page A

law."
    "You are not God."
    "God willed the law, dog."
    "You have said it, then, yourself; you have answered your own question. Now let me die.
    When he told Elias about the dog who died, Elias said:
     
    Go, stranger, and to Lacedaemon tell
    That here. obeying her behests, we fell.
     
    "That was for the Spartans who died at Thermopylae," Elias said.
    "Why do you tell me that?" Emmanuel said.
    Elias said:
     
    Go tell the Spartans, thou that passeth by,
    That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.
     
    "You mean the dog," Emmanuel said.
    "I mean the dog," Elias said.
    "There is no difference between a dead dog in a ditch and the Spartans who died at Thermopylae." He understood. "None," he said. "I see."
    "If you can understand why the Spartans died you can understand it all," Elias said.
     
    You who pass by, a moment pause;
    We, here, obey the Spartan laws.
     
    "Is there no couplet for the dog?" Emmanuel asked.
    Elias said:
     
    Passer, this enter in your log:
    As Spartan was, so, too, the dog.
     
    "Thank you," Emmanuel said.
    "What was the last thing the dog said?" Elias said.
    "The dog said, 'Now let me die.'"
    Elias said:
     
    Lasciatemi morire!
    E chi volete voi che mi conforte
    In cosi dura sorte,
    In cosi gran martire?
     
    "What is that?" Emmanuel said.
    "The most beautiful piece of music written before Bach," Elias said. "Monteverdi's madrigal 'Lamento D'Arianna.' Thus:
     
    Let me die!
    And who do you think can comfort me
    in my harsh misfortune,
    in such grievous torment?
     
    "Then the dog's death is high art," Emmanuel said. "The highest art of the world. Or at least celebrated, recorded, in and by high art. Am I to see nobility in an old ugly dying dog with a crushed chest?"
    "If you believe Monteverdi, yes," Elias said. "And those who revere Monteverdi."
    "Is there more to the lament?"
    "Yes, but it does not apply. Theseus has left Ariadne; it is unrequited love."
    "Which is more awesome?" Emmanuel said. "A dying dog in a ditch or Ariadne spurned?"
    Elias said, "Ariadne imagines her torment, but the dog's is real."
    "Then the dog's torment is worse," Emmanuel said. "It is the greater tragedy." He understood. And, strangely, he felt content. It was a good universe in which an ugly dying dog was of more worth than a classic figure from ancient Greece. He felt the tilted balance right itself, the scales that weighed it all. He felt the honesty of the universe, and his confusion left him. But, more important, the dog understood its own death. After all, the dog would never hear Monteverdi's music or read the couplet on the stone column at Thermopylae. High art was for those who saw death rather than lived death. For the dying creature a cup of water was more important.
    "Your mother detested certain art forms," Elias said. "In particular she loathed Linda Fox."
    "Play me some Linda Fox," Emmanuel said.
    Elias put an audio cassette into the tape transport, and he and Emmanuel listened.
     
    Flow not so fast, ye fountains,
    What
     
    "Enough," Emmanuel said. "Shut it off." He put his hands over his ears. "It's dreadful." He shuddered.
    "What's wrong?" Elias put his arm around the boy and lifted him up to hold him. "I've never seen you so upset."
    "He listened to that while my mother was dying!" Emmanuel stared into Elias's bearded face.
    I remember, Emmanuel said to himself. I am beginning to remember who I am.
    Elias said, 'What is it?" He held the boy tight.
    It is happening, Emmanuel realized. At last. That was the first of the signal that I—I myself—prepared. Knowing it would eventually fire.
    The two of them gazed into each other's faces. Neither the boy nor the man spoke. Trembling, Emmanuel clung to the old bearded man; he did not let himself fall.
    "Do not fear," Elias said.
    "Elijah," Emmanuel said. "You are Elijah who comes first. Before the great and terrible day."
    Elias, holding the boy and rocking him gently, said, "You have nothing to fear on that day."
    "But he does," Emmanuel said. "The Adversary