ABSTRACT
The man lay on his deathbed and the priest sat at his side, his face pressed to his lips to hear his final words. These came in a halting whisper. “Yes my friend”, the penitent said, “I do repent”. The priest blessed him and urged him gently to make the best use of his last minutes by confessing all the sins on his mind. “I don’t understand”, the man replied, “any more than you have understood me”. He then told his confessor that he had no faith in God and no expectation of Heaven or Hell. His lone regret was that he had not indulged his appetites more fully while he lived: “I only plucked an occasional flower when I could have gathered an ample harvest of fruit – such are the just grounds for the regrets I have”. But the priest’s advice was not entirely ignored. Determined to make the most of his last moments of life, the man resolved to die in the arms of “six women lovelier than the light of day”. In a final act of effrontery, he invited the priest to “partake of the feast” with him.
