W. H. D. Rouse
speaker
684 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Aug 2026
last heard 1 Aug
W. H. D. Rouse’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
Appearances
his lonely year with the anchorites among the mountains the strict discipline in his teacher's house at antioch his weariness of duty his distaste for poverty his discontent with worship and to-day said he i have been thinking that i am a fool my life is swept as bare as an hermit's cell there is nothing in it but a dream a thought of god which does not satisfy me
the singular smile deepened on his companion's face you are ready then he suggested to renounce your new religion and go back to that of your father
no i renounce nothing i accept nothing i do not wish to think about it i only wish to live a very reasonable wish and i think you are about to see its accomplishment indeed i may even say that i can put you in the way of securing it do you believe in magic
i have told you already that i do not know whether i believe in anything this is not a day on which i care to make professions of faith i believe in what i see i want what will give me pleasure well said the old man soothingly as he plucked a leaf from the laurel-tree above them and dipped it in the spring let us dismiss the riddles of belief i like them as little as you do you know this is a castilian fountain
the emperor hadrian once read his fortune here from a leaf dipped in the water let us see what this leaf tells us it is already turning yellow how do you read that wealth said hermes laughing as he looked at his mean garments
and here is a bud on the stem that seems to be swelling what is that pleasure answered hermas bitterly and here is a tracing of wreaths upon the surface what do you make of that what you will said hermas not even taking the trouble to look suppose we say a success and fame
yes said the stranger it is all written here i promise that you shall enjoy it all but you do not need to believe in my promise i am not in the habit of requiring faith of those whom i would serve no such hard conditions for me there is only one thing that i ask this is the season that you christians call the christmas and you have taken up the pagan custom of exchanging gifts
well if i give to you you must give to me it is a small thing and really the thing you can best afford to part with a single word the name of him you profess to worship let me take that word and all that belongs to it entirely out of your life so that you shall never need to hear it or speak it again you will be richer without it i promise you everything and this is all i ask in return do you consent
yes i consent said irmus mocking if you take your price a word you can keep your promise a dream the stranger laid the long cool wet leaf softly across the young man's eyes an icicle of pain darted through them every nerve in his body was drawn together there in a knot of agony then all the tangle of pain seemed to be lifted out of him
a cool languor of delight flowed back through every vein and he sank into a profound sleep three parting but no farewell
there is a slumber so deep that it annihilates time it is like a fragment of eternity beneath its enchantment of vacancy a day seems like a thousand years and a thousand years might well pass as one day it was such a sleep that fell upon hermes in the grove of daphne
an immeasurable period an interval of life so blank and empty that he could not tell whether it was long or short had passed over him when his senses began to stir again the setting sun was shooting arrows of gold under the glossy laurel leaves he rose and stretched his arms grasping a smooth branch above him
and shaking it to make sure that he was alive then he hurried back toward antioch treading lightly as if on air the ground seemed to spring beneath his feet already his life had changed he knew not how something that did not belong to him had dropped away he had returned to a former state of being he felt as if anything might happen to him and he was ready for anything
he was a new man yet curiously familiar to himself as if he had done with playing a tiresome part and returned to his natural state he was buoyant and free without a care a doubt a fear as he drew near to his father's house he saw a confusion of servants in the porch and the old steward ran down to meet him at the gate
lord we have been seeking you everywhere the master is at the point of death and has sent for you since the sixth hour he calls your name continually come to him quickly lord for i fear the time is short hermes entered the house at once nothing could amaze him to-day his father lay on an ivory couch in the inmost chamber with shrunken face and restless eyes his lean fingers picking incessantly at the silken coverlet
my son he murmured hermes my son it is good that you have come back to me i have missed you i was wrong to send you away you shall never leave me again you are my son my heir i have changed everything hermes my son come nearer close beside me take my hand my son
the young man obeyed and kneeling by the couch gathered his father's cold twitching fingers in his firm warm grasp
life is passing long rich prosperous the last sands i cannot stay them my religion good policy julian was my friend but now he is gone where my soul is empty nothing beyond very dark i am afraid but you know something better you found something that made you willing to give up your life for it it must have been almost like dying
yet you were happy what was it you found see i am giving you everything i have forgiven you now forgive me tell me what is it your secret your faith give it to me before i go
At the sound of this broken pleading, a strange passion of pity and love took the young man by the throat.
Showing 301–320 of 684 · page 16 of 35
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