Daemon and man are opposites; man passes from heterogeneous objects to the
simplicity of fire, and the Daemon is drawn to objects because through
them he obtains power, the extremity of choice. For only in men's minds
can he meet even those in the Condition of Fire who are not of his own
kin. He, by using his mediatorial shades, brings man again and again to
the place of choice, heightening temptation that the choice may be as
final as possible, imposing his own lucidity upon events, leading his
victim to whatever among works not impossible is the most difficult. He
suffers with man as some firm-souled man suffers with the woman he but
loves the better because she is extravagant and fickle. His descending
power is neither the winding nor the straight line but zigzag,
illuminating the passive and active properties, the tree's two sorts of
fruit: it is the sudden lightning, for all his acts of power are
instantaneous. We perceive in a pulsation of the artery, and after slowly
decline.