,,mountain ,,paths          ,,the       
,,works ,,of ,,maurice ,,maeterlinck    
,,essays      ,,the ,,treasure ,,of     
,,the ,,humble    ,,wisdom ,,and        
,,destiny    ,,the ,,life ,,of ,,the    
,,bee    ,,the ,,buried ,,temple        
,,the ,,double ,,garden    ,,the        
,,measure ,,of ,,the ,,hours    ,,on    
,,emerson1 ,,and ,,other ,,essays       
,,our ,,eternity    ,,the ,,unknown     
,,guest    ,,the ,,wrack ,,of ,,the     
,,storm    ,,mountain ,,paths           
,,plays      ,,sister ,,beatrice1 ,,and 
,,ardiane ,,and ,,barbe ,,bleue         
,,joyzelle1 ,,and ,,monna ,,vanna       
,,the ,,blue ,,bird1 ,a ,,fairy ,,play  
,,mary ,,magdalene    ,p,,ll,,as ,,and  
,m,,lisande1 ,,and ,,other ,,plays      
,,princess ,,maleine    ,,the           
,,intruder1 ,,and ,,other ,,plays       
,,aglavaine ,,and ,,selysette    ,,the  
,,miracle ,,of ,,saint ,,anthony        
,,the ,,betrothal2 ,a ,,sequel ,,to     
,,the ,,blue ,,bird ,,poems             
,,holiday ,,editions      ,,our ,,friend

 ,,the ,,dog    ,,the ,,swarm    ,,death
    ,,thoughts ,,from ,,maeterlinck     
,,the ,,blue ,,bird    ,,the ,,life ,,of
 ,,the ,,bee    ,,news ,,of ,,spring    
,,and ,,other ,,nature ,,studies        
,,the ,,light ,,beyond                  
,mountain ,paths      ,,by    ,,maurice 
,,maeterlinck      ,translated by       
,,alexander ,,teixeira ,,de ,,mattos    
,illustration        ,,new ,,york       
,,dodd1 ,,mead ,,and ,,company    #aiai 
,,copyright1 #aiai    ,,by ,,dodd1      
,,mead ,,and ,,company1 ,,inc4    ,all  
rights reserved          ,,contents     
,,chapter                               
,,page          ,i  ,,the ,,power ,,of  
,,the ,,dead                #c          
,,ii  ,,messages ,,from ,,beyond ,,the  
,,grave      #ae        ,,iii  ,,bad    
,,news                            #ca   
,,iv  ,,the ,,soul ,,of ,,nations       
#da          ,v  ,,the ,,mothers        
#ea         ,,vi  ,,three ,,unknown     
,,heroes                #ei        ,,vii
  ,,wasted ,,beauties                   

#gg       ,,viii  ,,the ,,insect ,,world
                    #hg         ,,ix    
,,evil-,,speaking                       
#abc          ,x  ,,of ,,gambling       
#acc         ,,xi  ,,the ,,riddle ,,of  
,,progress             #afe        ,,xii
  ,,the ,,two ,,lobes                   
#agi       ,,xiii  ,,hope ,,and         
,,despair                   #aia        
,,xiv  ,,macrocosm ,,and ,,microcosm    
#bja         ,,xv  ,,heredity ,,and     
,,preexistence          #bac            
,,xvi  ,,the ,,great ,,revelation       
#bbi       ,,xvii  ,,the ,,necessary    
,,silence              #bga      ,,xviii
  ,,karma                               
#bha          ,,the ,,power ,,of ,,the  
,,dead          ,,mountain ,,paths      
,i    ,,the ,,power ,,of ,,the ,,dead   
#a    ,in that curious little           
masterpiece ,a ,beleagured ,city1 ,mrs4 
,oliphant  shows us the dead of a       
provincial town suddenly waxing         
indignant over  the conduct and the     
morals of those inhabiting the town     

which they  founded4 ,they rise up in   
rebellion1 invest the houses1 the       
streets1  the market-places and1 by the 
pressure of their innumerable multitude1
  all-powerful though invisible1 repulse
 the living1 thrust them out  of doors  
and1 setting a strict watch1 permit them
 to return to their  roof-trees only    
after a treaty of peace and penitence   
has purified  their hearts1 atoned for  
their offences and ensured a more worthy
  future4    ,undoubtedly a great truth 
underlies this fiction1 which appears to
 us  far-fetched because we perceive    
only material and ephemeral realities4  
,the dead life and move in our midst far
 more really and effectually  than the  
most venturesome imagination could      
depict4 ,it is very doubtful  whether   
they remain in their graves4 ,it even   
seems increasingly certain  that they   
never allowed themselves to be confined 
there4 ,under the  tombstones where we  
believe them to lie imprisoned there are
 only a few  ashes1 which are no longer 

theirs1 which they have abandoned       
without  regret and which in all        
probability they no longer deign to     
remember4  ,all that was themselves     
continues to have its being in our      
midst4 ,how  and under what aspect8     
,after all these thousands1 perhaps     
millions of  years1 we do not yet know2 
and no religion has been able to tell us
  with satisfying certainty1 though all 
have striven to do so2 but we  may1 by  
means of certain tokens1 hope to learn4 
#b    ,without further considering a    
mighty but obscure truth1 which it is   
for the moment impossible to state      
precisely or to render palpable1  let us
 concern ourselves with one which cannot
 be disputed4 ,as ,i have  said         
elsewhere1 whatever our religious faith 
may be1 there is at any  rate one place 
where our dead cannot perish1 where they
 continue to  exist as really as when   
they were in the flesh and often more   
actively2  and this living              
abiding-place1 this consecrated spot1   

which for those  whom we have lost      
becomes ,heaven or ,hell according as we
 draw nearer  to or travel farther from 
their thoughts and their desires1 is    
within  ourselves4    ,and their        
thoughts and their desires are always   
higher than our own4 ,it  is1 therefore1
 by uplifting ourselves that we approach
 them4 ,it is we  who must take the     
first steps1 for they can no longer     
descend1 whereas  it is always possible 
for us to rise2 for the dead1 whatever  
they may  have been in life1 become     
better than the best of us4 ,the least  
worthy  of them1 in shedding the body1  
have shed its vices1 its littlenesses1  
its weaknesses1 which soon pass from our
 memory as well2 and the spirit  alone  
remains1 which is pure in every man and 
able to desire only what  is good4      
,there are no wicked dead1 because there
 are no wicked souls4  ,this is why1 as 
we purify ourselves1 we restore life to 
those who were  no more and transform   
our memory1 which they inhabit1 into    

,heaven4      #c    ,and what was always
 true of all the dead is far more true  
to-day1 when  only the best are chosen  
for the tomb4 ,in the region which we   
believe  to be under the earth1 which we
 call the ,kingdom of the ,shades and   
which in reality is the ethereal region 
and the ,kingdom of ,light1 there  are  
at this moment disturbances no less     
profound than those which we  have      
experienced on the surface of the earth4
 ,the young dead have  invaded it from  
every side2 and since the beginning of  
this world they  have never been so     
numerous1 so full of energy and zeal4   
,whereas in  the customary sequence of  
the years the dwelling-place of those   
who  leave us receives only weary and   
exhausted lives1 there is not one in    
this incomparable host who1 to borrow   
,pericles' expression1 8has not         
departed from life at the height of     
glory40 ,not one of them but has  gone  
up1 not down1 to his death clad in the  
greatest sacrifice that  man can make   

for an idea that cannot die4 ,all that  
we have hitherto  believed1 all that we 
have striven to attain beyond ourselves1
 all that  has lifted us to the level at
 which we stand1 all that has overcome  
the evil days and the evil instincts of 
human nature3 all this could  have been 
no more than lies and illusions if such 
men as these1 such  a mass of merit and 
of glory1 were really annihilated1 had  
for ever  disappeared1 were for ever    
useless and voiceless1 for ever without 
influence in a world to which they have 
given life4      #d    ,it is hardly    
possible that this could be so as       
regards the external  survival of the   
dead2 but it is absolutely certain that 
it is not so  as regards their survival 
in ourselves4 ,here nothing is lost and 
no  one perishes4 ,our memories are     
to-day peopled by a multitude of heroes 
struck down in the flower of their youth
 and very different from the  pale and  
languid cohort of the past1 composed    
almost wholly of the sick  and the old1 

who had already ceased to exist before  
leaving the earth4  ,we must tell       
ourselves that now1 in every one of our 
homes1 both in our  cities and in the   
country-side1 both in the palace and in 
the meanest  hovel1 there lives and     
reigns a young dead man in the glory of 
his  strength4 ,he fills the poorest1   
darkest dwelling with a splendour of    
which it had never ventured to dream4   
,his constant presence1 imperious  and  
inevitable1 diffuses and maintains a    
religion and ideas which it  had never  
known before1 hallows everything around 
it1 makes the eyes  look higher1        
prevents the spirit from descending1    
purifies the air  that is breathed and  
the speech that is held and the thoughts
 that are  mustered there and1 little by
 little1 ennobles and uplifts the whole 
people on a scale of unexampled         
vastness4      #e    ,such dead as these
 have a power as profound1 as fruitful  
as life and  less precarious4 ,it is    
terrible that this experience should    

have been  made1 for it is the most     
pitiless and the first in such enormous 
masses  that mankind has undergone2 but1
 now that the ordeal is over1 we shall  
soon gather the most unexpected fruits4 
,it will not be long before we  see the 
differences widen and the destinies     
diverge between the nations  which have 
acquired all these dead and all this    
glory and those which  were deprived of 
them2 and we shall perceive with        
amazement that the  nations which have  
lost the most are those which have kept 
their riches  and their men4 ,there are 
losses which are inestimable gains2 and 
there  are gains whereby the future is  
lost4 ,there are dead whom the living   
cannot replace and the mere thought of  
whom accomplishes things which  our     
bodies cannot perform4 ,there are dead  
whose energy surpasses death  and       
recovers life2 and we are almost every  
one of us at this moment the            
mandataries of a being greater1 nobler1 
graver1 wiser and more truly  living    

than ourselves4 ,with all those who     
accompany him1 he will be our  judge1 if
 it be true that the dead weigh the soul
 of the living and  that our happiness  
depends on their verdict4 ,he will be   
our guide and  our protector1 for it is 
the first time1 since history has       
revealed its  misfortunes to us1 that   
man has felt so great a host of such    
mighty  dead soaring above his head and 
speaking within his heart4    ,we shall 
live henceforward under their laws1     
which will be more just  but not more   
severe nor more cheerless than ours2 for
 it is a mistake  to suppose that the   
dead love nothing but gloom3 they love  
only that  justice and that truth which 
are the eternal forms of happiness4     
,from the depths of this justice and    
this truth in which they are  all       
immersed1 they will help us to destroy  
the great falsehoods of  existence2 for 
war and death1 if they sow innumerable  
miseries and  misfortunes1 have at least
 the merit of destroying as many lives  

as  they occasion evils4 ,and all the   
sacrifices which they have made for us  
will have been in vain--and this is not 
possible--if they do not first  of all  
bring about the fall of the lies on     
which we live and which it  is not      
necessary to name1 for each of us knows 
his own and is ashamed  of them and will
 be eager to make an end of them4       
,they will teach us1 before all else1   
from the depths of our hearts  which are
 their living tombs1 to love those who  
outlive them1 since it  is in them alone
 that they wholly exist4                
,,messages ,,from ,,beyond ,,the ,,grave
          ,,ii    ,,messages ,,from     
,,beyond ,,the ,,grave      #a    ,sir  
,oliver ,lodge is one of the most       
distinguished men of learning in  our   
day4 ,he is also one of the oldest1 most
 active and most prominent  members of  
that well-known ,society for ,psychical 
,research which1  founded in #ahhb1 has 
ever since striven to study with        
irreproachable  scientific precision all

 the wonderful1 inexplicable1 occult and
  supernatural phenomena which have     
always baffled and still elude  the     
comprehension of mankind4 ,in addition  
to his purely scientific  works1 of     
which1 not being qualified to judge1 ,i 
do not speak1 he is  the author of some 
extremely remarkable books1 such as ,man
 and the  ,universe1 ,the ,ether of     
,space and ,the ,survival of ,man1 in   
which  the loftiest and most daring     
metaphysical speculations are constantly
  controlled by the most prudent1 wise  
and steadfast common sense4    ,sir     
,oliver ,lodge1 therefore1 is at the    
same time a philosopher and a           
practical1 working scientist1 accustomed
 to scientific methods which  do not    
readily allow him to go astray2 he has1 
in a word1 one of the  best-balanced    
brains that we could hope to meet2 and  
he is convinced  that the dead do not   
die and that they are able to           
communicate with  us4 ,he has tried to  
make us share his conviction in ,the    

,survival of  ,man4 ,i am not sure that 
he has quite succeeded4 ,true1 he gives 
us  a certain number of extraordinary   
facts1 but they are facts which1  in the
 last resort1 can be explained by the   
unconscious intervention  of            
intelligences other than those of the   
dead4 ,he does not bring us  the        
irrefutable proof1 such as we should    
consider1 for instance1  the revelation 
of an incident1 a detail1 a piece of    
information so  absolutely unknown to   
any living creature that it could come  
only from  a spirit no longer of this   
world4 ,we must admit1 however1 that    
such a  proof is1 as he says1 as        
difficult to conceive as to provide4    
#b    ,sir ,oliver's youngest son1      
,raymond1 was born in #ahhi1 became an  
engineer and enlisted for the duration  
of the war in ,september1 #aiad4  ,he   
was sent out to ,flanders early in the  
spring of #aiae2 and1 on the  #adth of  
,september of the same year1 before     
,ypres1 while the company  under his    

command was leaving the front-line      
trench1 he was hit in the  left side by 
a splinter of a shell2 and he died a few
 hours later4    ,he was1 as a          
photograph shows us1 one of those       
admirable young ,british  soldiers who  
are the perfect type of a robust1 fresh1
 joyous humanity1  clean and bright1 and
 whose death seems the more cruel and   
the more  incredible as it annihilates a
 greater aggregate of strength1 hope and
  beauty4    ,his father has dedicated  
to his memory a volume entitled1        
,raymond1 or  ,life and ,death2 and we  
are at first somewhat bewildered at     
seeing  that it is not1 as one might    
expect1 a book of lamentation1 regrets  
and  tears1 but the accurate1           
deliberately impassive and at times     
almost  cheerful report of a man of     
learning who thrusts aside his sorrow so
  that he may see clearly before him1   
wrestles with the thought of death  and 
beholds the rising dawn of an immense   
and very strange hope4      #c    ,i    

will not linger over the first part of  
the volume1 which aims at  making us    
acquainted with ,raymond ,lodge4 ,it    
contains some forty letters  written in 
the trenches1 the testimony of his      
brother-officers'  devotion to him1     
details of his death and so on4 ,the    
letters1 ,i may  say in passing1 are    
charmingly vivid and marked by a        
delicate and  delightful humour whose   
only object is to reassure those who are
 not  themselves in danger4 ,i have not 
time to dwell upon them2 and they are   
not what most interests us here4    ,but
 the second part1 which ,sir ,oliver    
,lodge calls ,supernormal  ,portion1    
passes from the life that exists on the 
surface of our earth  and introduces us 
into a very different world4    ,in the 
very first lines1 the author reminds us 
that he has 8made no  secret of his     
conviction1 not merely that personality 
persists1 but  that its continued       
existence is more entwined with the life
 of every  day than has been generally  

imagined2 that there is no real breach  
of continuity between the dead and the  
living2 and that methods of             
intercommunion across what has seemed to
 be a gulf can be set going in  response
 to the urgent demand of affection2 that
 in fact1 as ,diotima  told ,socrates   
7,symposium1 #bjb and #bjc71 #8,love    
bridges the ,chasm4'0    ,sir ,oliver   
,lodge1 then1 is persuaded that his son1
 though dead1 has  not ceased to exist  
and that he has not gone far from those 
who love  him4 ,raymond1 in fact1 seeks 
to communicate with his father as early 
as eleven days after his death4 ,we know
 that these communications or  so-called
 communications from beyond the         
grave--let us not prejudge  the issue   
for the moment--are made through the    
agency of a medium who  is or believes  
himself to be inspired or possessed by  
the deceased or  by a familiar spirit   
speaking in his name and repeating what 
the latter  reveals to him4 ,the medium 
conveys his information either orally or

 by  automatic writing1 or again1       
although this is very rare in the       
present  instance1 by table-turning4    
,but ,i will pass over these            
preliminaries1  which would carry us too
 far1 and come straight to the          
communication  which is1 ,i think1 the  
most astonishing of all and perhaps the 
only  one that cannot be explained1 or  
at least is exceedingly difficult to    
explain1 by the intervention of the     
living4    ,about the end of ,august1   
#aiae1 that is to say1 not many days    
before  his death1 ,raymond1 who1 as we 
have seen1 was near ,ypres1 had been    
photographed with the officers of his   
battalion by a travelling  photographer4
 ,on the #bgth of ,september following1 
in the course of a  sitting with the    
medium ,peters1 the spirit speaking by  
,peters' mouth  said1 suddenly3    8,you
 have several portraits of this boy4    
,before he went away you had  a good    
portrait of him--two1 no1 three4 ,two   
where he is alone and one  where he is  

in a group of other men4 ,he is         
particular that ,i should  tell you of  
this4 ,in one you see his               
walking-stick40    ,now at that time the
 members of ,sir ,oliver ,lodge's family
 did not know  of the existence of this 
group4 ,they attached no great          
importance1  however1 to the revelations
 but in subsequent sittings1 notably on 
the  #crd of ,december1 before the      
photographs had arrived1 before they    
were  seen1 more detailed information   
was received4 ,according to the spirit's
  statements1 the photograph was of a   
dozen officers or more1 taken  out of   
doors1 in front of a sort of shelter    
7the medium kept drawing  vertical lines
 in the air74 ,some were sitting down   
and some were  standing up at the back4 
,raymond was sitting2 somebody was      
leaning on  him4 ,there were several    
photographs taken4    ,on the #gth of   
,december1 the photographs arrived at   
,mariemont1 ,sir  ,oliver's house near  
,edgbaston4 ,there were three copies1   

all differing  slightly1 of the same    
group of twenty-one officers1 those in  
the back  row standing up1 the others   
seated4 ,the group was taken outside a  
sort  of temporary wooden structure1    
such as might be a hospital shed1 with  
six conspicuous nearly vertical lines on
 the roof4 ,raymond was one of  those   
sitting on the ground in front2 his     
walking-stick1 mentioned  in the first  
revelation1 was lying across his feet4  
,and a striking  piece of evidence is   
that his is the only instance where one 
man is  leaning or resting his hand on  
the shoulder of another1 in two of the  
photographs1 or1 in the third1 his leg4 
,this manifestation is one of the most  
remarkable that have hitherto  been     
obtained1 because it eliminates almost  
entirely any telepathic  interference1  
that is to say1 any subconscious        
intercommunication  between the persons 
present at the sitting1 all of whom were
 absolutely  unaware of the existence of
 the photographs4 ,if we refuse to admit

  the intervention of the               
deceased--which should1 ,i agree1 be    
admitted  only in the last resort--we   
must1 in order to explain the           
revelation1  suppose that the           
subconsciousness of the medium or of one
 of those  present entered into         
communication1 through the vast mazes   
and deserts  of space and amid millions 
of strange souls1 with the              
subconsciousness  of one of the officers
 or of one of the people who had seen   
these  photographs whose existence there
 was no reason for suspecting4 ,this is 
possible2 but it is so fortuitous1 so   
prodigious that the survival and        
intervention of the deceased would1 in  
the circumstances1 seem almost  less    
supernatural and more probable4      #d 
,i will not enter into the details of   
the numerous sittings which  preceded or
 followed this one2 nor will ,i even    
undertake to summarize  them4 ,to share 
the emotion aroused1 we must read the   
reports which  faithfully reproduce     

these strange dialogues between the     
living and  the dead4 ,we receive the   
impression that the departed son comes  
daily  closer and closer to life and    
converses more and more easily1 more and
  more familiarly with all those who    
loved him before he was overtaken  by   
the shadows of the grave4 ,he recalls to
 each of them a thousand  little        
forgotten incidents4 ,he remains among  
his own kindred as though  he had never 
left them4 ,he is always present and    
prepared to answer4  ,he mingles so     
completely in their whole life that no  
one any longer  thinks of mourning his  
loss4 ,they question him about his      
present  state1 ask him where he is1    
what he is1 what he is doing4 ,he needs 
no  pressing2 he at once declares       
himself astonished at the incredible    
reality of that new world4 ,he is very  
happy there1 reforming himself1         
condensing himself1 so to speak1 and    
gradually finding himself again4  ,the  
existence of the intelligence and of the

 will1 disencumbered of  the body1 is   
freer1 lighter1 of greater range and    
diffusion1 but  continues very like what
 it was in the flesh4 ,the environment  
is no  longer physical but spiritual2   
and there is a translation to another   
plane rather than the break1 the        
complete overthrow1 the extraordinary   
transitions which we are pleased to     
imagine4 ,after all1 is it not  fairly  
plausible8 ,and are we not wrong in     
believing that death changes            
everything1 from one day to the next1   
and that there is a sudden and          
inconceivable abyss between the hour    
which precedes decease and that  which  
follows it8 ,is it in conformity with   
the habits of nature8 ,is  the          
life-force which we carry within        
ourselves and which doubtless  cannot be
 extinguished1 is that force to so great
 a degree crippled and  cramped by our  
body that1 when it leaves this body1 it 
becomes1 then  and there1 entirely      
different and unrecognizable8    ,but ,i

 must set a limit to speculation and1   
lest ,i exceed the limits of  this      
essay1 ,i must pass by two or three     
revelations less striking than  that of 
the photograph1 but pretty strange      
notwithstanding4 ,obviously1  it is not 
the first time that such manifestations 
have occurred2 but  these are really of 
a higher quality than those which crowd 
several  volumes of the ,proceedings4   
,do they furnish the proof for which we 
ask8 ,i do not think so2 but will any   
one ever be able to supply us  with that
 compelling proof8 ,what can the        
discarnate spirit do when  trying to    
establish that it continues to exist8   
,if it speak to us of  the most secret1 
the most private incidents of a common  
past1 we reply  that it is we who are   
reviving those memories within          
ourselves4 ,if it  aim at convincing us 
by its description of the world beyond  
the grave1  not all the most glorious   
and unexpected pictures of that world   
which  it might trace are worth anything

 as evidence1 for they cannot be        
controlled4 ,if we seek a proof by      
asking it to foretell the future1 it    
confesses that it does not know the     
future much better than we do1  which is
 likely enough1 seeing that any         
knowledge of this kind implies  a sort  
of omniscience and consequently         
omnipotence which can hardly be         
acquired in a moment4 ,all that remains 
to it1 therefore1 is such little        
snatches of evidence and uncertain      
attempts at proof as we find here4  ,it 
is not enough1 ,i admit2 for            
psychometry1 that is to say1 a similar  
manifestation of clairvoyance between   
one living subconsciousness  and        
another1 gives almost equally           
astonishing results4 ,but here as  there
 these results show at least that we    
have around us wandering  intelligences1
 already enfranchised from the narrow   
and burdensome  laws of space and       
matter1 that sometimes know things which
 we do not  know or no longer know4 ,do 

they emanate from ourselves1 are they   
only  manifestations of faculties as yet
 unknown1 or are they external1         
objective and independent of ourselves8 
,are they merely alive in the  sense in 
which we speak of our bodies1 or do they
 belong to bodies  which have ceased to 
exist8 ,that is what we cannot yet      
decide2 but it  must be acknowledged    
that1 once we admit their existence1    
which at this  date is hardly           
contestable1 it becomes much less       
difficult to agree  that they belong to 
the dead4    ,this at least may be said3
 if experiments such as these do not    
demonstrate positively that the dead are
 able directly1 manifestly  and almost  
materially to mingle with our existence 
and to remain in  touch with us1 they   
prove that they continue to live in us  
much more  ardently1 profoundly1        
personally and passionately than had    
hitherto  been believed2 and that in    
itself is more than we dared hope4      
,,bad ,,news          ,,iii    ,,bad    

,,news      #a    ,for more than four   
years1 evil tidings passed night and day
 over almost  half the world of men4    
,never since our earth came into being  
were they  known to spread in crowds so 
dense and busy and commanding4 ,in the  
happy days of peace1 we would come upon 
the gloomy visitants here and  there1   
travelling over hill and dale1 nearly   
always alone1 sometimes in  couples1    
rarely in companies of three1 timid and 
shy1 seeking to pass  unnoticed and     
humbly undertaking the smallest messages
 of sorrow that  destiny confided to    
their charge4 ,now they go with heads   
erect2 they  are almost arrogant2 and   
swollen with their importance1 they     
neglect  any misfortunes that are not   
deathly4 ,they encumber the roads1 cross
  the seas and rivers1 invade the       
streets1 do not forget the by-ways and  
climb the most rugged and stony tracks4 
,there is not a hovel cowering  in the  
dingiest and most obscure suburb of a   
great city1 not a cottage  hidden in the

 recesses of the poorest hamlet of the  
most inaccessible  mountain1 which      
escapes their search and towards which  
one of them1  detached from the sinister
 band1 does not hasten with its little  
footstep1 eager1 pitiless and sure4     
,each has its goal whence nothing  can  
divert it4 ,through time and space1 over
 rocks and walls they press  onward1    
swift and determined1 blind and deaf to 
all that would retard  them1 thinking   
only of fulfilling their duty1 which is 
to announce as  soon as may be to the   
most sensitive and defenceless heart the
 greatest  sorrow that can fall upon it4
      #b    ,we watch them pass as      
emissaries of destiny4 ,to us they seem 
as fatal  as the very misfortune of     
which they are but the heralds2 and no  
one  dreams of barring the way before   
them4 ,so soon as one of them arrives1  
all unexpected1 in our midst1 we leave  
everything1 we rush forward1 we  gather 
round it4 ,almost a religious fear      
compasses it about2 we whisper          

reverently2 and we should bow no lower  
in the presence of a messenger  of ,god4
 ,not only would no one dare to         
contradict it1 or advise it1 or  beg it 
to be patient1 to grant a few hours of  
respite1 to hide in the  darkness or to 
arrive by a longer road2 on the         
contrary1 all compete in  offering it   
zealous if humble service4 ,the most    
compassionate1 the most  pitiful are the
 most assiduous and obsequious1 as      
though there were no  duty more         
unmistakable1 no act of charity more    
meritorious than to lead  the dark envoy
 by the shortest and the quickest way to
 the heart which  it is to strike4      
#c    ,once again1 we are here          
confounding that which belongs to       
destiny with  that which belongs to     
ourselves4 ,the misfortune was perhaps  
not to be  avoided2 but a great part of 
the sorrows that attend it remain in our
  power4 ,it is for us to be careful of 
them1 to direct them1 to subdue  them1  
disarm them1 delay them1 turn them aside

 and sometimes even to  stop them       
altogether4    ,in effect1 we hardly yet
 know the psychology of sorrow1 which is
 as  deep1 as complex and as worthy of  
study as the passions to which  we      
devote so much of our time4 ,in everyday
 life1 it is true1 great  sorrows1      
though not so rare as we could have     
wished1 were nevertheless  too widely   
scattered for us to study them easily1  
step by step4 ,to-day1  alas1 they are  
the ground of all our thoughts2 and we  
are learning  at last that1 even as love
 or happiness or vanity1 they have their
  secrets1 their habits1 their          
illusions1 their sophistries1 their dark
  corners1 their baffling mazes and     
their unforeseen abysses2 for man1      
whether he love or rejoice or weep1     
remains ever constant to himself6    ,it
 is not true1 as we too willingly agree1
 that1 since unhappiness  must be known 
sooner or later1 our only duty is to    
reveal it at the  earliest moment1 for  
the sorrow that is yet green is very    

different  from the sorrow that is      
already fading4 ,it is not true1 as we  
admit  without question1 that anything  
is better than ignorance or uncertainty 
and that there is a sort of cowardice in
 not forthwith announcing the  bad news 
which we know to those whom it must     
prostrate in the dust4 ,on  the         
contrary1 cowardice lies in ridding     
ourselves of the bad news as  quickly as
 we may and in not bearing its whole    
burden1 secretly and  alone1 as long as 
we are able4 ,when the bad news arrives1
 our first  duty is to set it apart1 to 
prevent it from spreading1 to master it 
as  we would a malefactor or a stalking 
pestilence1 to close all means of       
escape1 to mount guard over it1 so that 
it cannot break forth and do  harm4 ,our
 duty is not merely1 as the best of us  
and the most prudent  seem to believe1  
to usher in the bad news with a thousand
 precautions1  with short and muffled1  
sidelong and measured steps1 by the     
back-door1  into the dwelling which it  

is to devastate2 rather is it our duty  
definitely to forbid its entrance and to
 have the courage to chain it  in our   
own dwelling1 which it will fill with   
unjust and insupportable  reproaches and
 upbraidings4 ,instead of making        
ourselves the easy echo  of its cries1  
we should think only of stifling its    
voice4 ,each hour  that we thus pass in 
restless and painful intimacy with the  
hateful  prisoner is an hour of         
suffering which we accept for ourselves 
and  which we spare the victim of fate4 
,it is almost certain that the          
malignant recluse will end by escaping  
our vigilance2 but here the very        
minutes have their value and there is no
 gain1 however small1 that we  are      
entitled to neglect4 ,the hour-glass    
that measures the phases of  sorrow is  
much finer and truer than that which    
marks the stages of  pleasure4 ,the time
 that passes between the death of one   
whom we love  and the moment when we    
hear of his death is as full of pain as 

it is  of days4 ,most to be feared of   
all is the first blow of misfortune2  it
 is then that the heart is smitten and  
torn with a wound that will  never heal4
 ,but this blow has not its shattering  
and sometimes mortal  force unless it   
strike its victim at once and1 so to    
speak1 fresh from  the event4 ,every    
hour that is interposed deadens the     
sting and lessens  its virulence4 ,a    
death already some weeks old no longer  
wears the  same face as that which is   
made known on the very day when it      
occurs2  and1 if a few months have      
covered it1 it is no longer a death1 it 
has  become a memory4 ,the days that    
divide us from it have almost the same  
value whether they pass before we hear  
of it or afterwards4 ,they remove       
beforehand from the eyes and heart the  
blinding horror of the loss2  they step 
forward and draw it out of the clutch of
 madness into a past  like that which   
softens regret4 ,they weave a sort of   
retrospective  memory which stretches   

into the past and grants straightway all
 that  true memory would have given     
little by little1 hour by hour1 during  
the long months that part the first     
despair from the sorrow which grows     
wise and reconciled and ready to hope   
anew4          ,,the ,,soul ,,of        
,,nations          ,,iv    ,,the ,,soul 
,,of ,,nations      #a    ,in the       
admirable and touching pages in which   
,octave ,mirbeau bequeaths  his last    
thoughts to us1 the great friend whose  
loss is mourned by  all who in this     
world hunger and thirst after justice   
expresses  his surprise at finding how  
in the supreme moments of its life the  
collective soul of the ,french nation   
differs from the soul of each of  the   
individuals of which it is composed4    
,he had devoted the best part of his    
work to examining1 dissecting1          
presenting in a blinding and sometimes  
unbearable light and  stigmatizing with 
unequalled eloquence and bitterness the 
weaknesses  and selfishness1 the folly  

and meannesses1 the vanity and sordid   
money-sense1 the lack of conscience1    
honesty1 charity1 dignity1 the  shameful
 stains on the life of his              
fellow-countrymen4 ,and behold1  in the 
hour of insistent duty1 there arises    
suddenly1 as in a fairy  scene1 out of  
the quagmire which he had so long       
stirred with rough and  generous        
disgust1 the purest1 noblest1 most      
patient1 fraternal and  whole-hearted   
spirit of heroism and sacrifice that the
 world has ever  known1 not only in the 
most glorious days of its history1 but  
even in  the time of its most romantic  
legends1 which were but glorious dreams 
which it never hoped to realize4    ,i  
could say as much of another nation1    
which ,i know well1 since it  lives in  
the land where ,i was born4 ,the        
,belgians1 in the guise in which  we saw
 them daily1 appeared to give us no     
promise of a noble soul4  ,they seemed  
to us narrow and limited1 a little      
commonplace1 honest  in a mean1         

inglorious way1 without ideals or       
generous aspirations1  wholly absorbed  
by their petty material welfare1 their  
petty local  wrangles4 ,yet1 when the   
same hour of duty sounded for them1 more
  menacing and formidable than those of 
the other nations1 because it  preceded 
all of them in a terrible mystery2 while
 there was everything  to gain and      
nothing to lose1 save honour1 if they   
proved faithless to  a plighted word2 at
 the first call of their conscience     
aroused as by a  thunderbolt1 without   
hesitating or glancing at what they had 
to meet or  undergo1 with an unanimous  
and irresistible impulse1 they          
astonished  mankind by a decision such  
as no other people had ever taken and   
saved  the world1 well knowing that     
themselves could not be saved4 ,and this
  assuredly is the noblest sacrifice    
that the heroes and martyrs who have    
hitherto appeared to be the professed   
exponents of sublime courage are  able  
to achieve upon this earth of ours4     

,on the other hand1 to those of us who  
had had occasion to mix with  ,germans1 
who had lived in ,germany and believed  
that they knew ,german  manners and     
letters1 it seemed beyond doubt that the
 ,bavarians1  ,saxons1 ,hanoverians and 
,rhinelanders1 notwithstanding some     
defects of  education rather than       
character which grated upon us a little1
 also  possessed certain qualities1     
notably a genial kindness1 a gravity1 a 
laboriousness1 a steadiness1 an         
uncomplaining temper1 a simplicity  in  
their domestic life1 a sense of duty and
 a habit of taking life                 
conscientiously1 which we had never     
known or had succeeded in losing4  ,so1 
despite the warnings of history1 we were
 struck dumb with amazement  and at     
first refused to believe the early tales
 of atrocities which  were not          
incidental1 as in every war1 but        
deliberate1 premeditated1  systematic   
and perpetrated with a light heart by an
 entire people  setting itself of sober 

purpose and with a sort of perverse     
pride  outside the pale of humanity1    
transforming itself of a sudden into a  
pack of devils more formidable and      
destructive than all those which  ,hell 
had hitherto belched forth into our     
world4      #b    ,we knew already and  
,dr4 ,gustave ,le ,bon had demonstrated 
to us in a  curious way that the soul of
 a crowd does not resemble the soul  of 
any of its component members4 ,according
 to the leaders and the  circumstances  
that control it1 the collective soul is 
sometimes  loftier1 juster1 more        
generous and most often more impulsive1 
more  credulous1 more cruel1 more       
barbarous and blind4 ,but a crowd has   
only  a provisional1 momentary soul1    
which does not survive the short-lived  
and nearly always violent event that    
calls it into being2 and its  contingent
 and transitory psychology is hardly    
able to tell us how the  profound1      
lasting and1 so to speak1 immortal soul 
of a nation takes  shape4      #c    ,it

 is quite natural that a nation should  
not know itself at all and  that its    
acts should plunge it into a state of   
bewilderment from which  it does not    
recover until history has explained them
 to a greater or  lesser degree4 ,none  
of the men who make up a nation knows   
himself2  still less does any of them   
know his fellows4 ,not one of us really 
knows who or what he is2 not one of us  
can say what he will do in  unexpected  
circumstances which are a trifle more   
serious than those  which form the      
customary tissue of life4 ,we spend our 
existence in  questioning and exploring 
ourselves2 our acts are as much a       
revelation  to ourselves as to others2  
and1 the nearer we draw to our end1 the 
farther stretches the vista of that     
which still remains for us to  discover4
 ,we own but the smallest part of       
ourselves2 the rest1 which is  almost   
the whole1 does not belong to us at all1
 but merges in the past  and the future 
and in other mysteries more unknown than

 the future or  the past4    ,what is   
true of each one of us is very much more
 true of a great nation  composed of    
millions of men4 ,that represents a     
future and a past  stretching           
incomparably farther than those of a    
single human life4 ,we  admit and       
constantly repeat that a nation is      
guided by its dead4 ,it is  certain that
 the dead continue to live in it a far  
more active life  than is generally     
believed and that they control it       
unknown to itself1  even as1 at the     
other end of the ages1 the men of the   
future1 that  is to say1 all those who  
are not yet born1 all those whom it     
carries  within itself as it does its   
dead1 play no less important a part in a
  nation's decisions4 ,but in its very  
present1 at the moment when it is       
living and putting forth its activity on
 this earth1 in addition to  the power  
of those who no longer are and those who
 are not yet1 there  is outside the     
nation1 outside the aggregate of bodies 

and brains that  make it up1 a host of  
forces and faculties which have not     
found or have  not wished to take their 
place1 or which do not abide in the     
nation  consistently1 and which         
nevertheless belong to it as essentially
 and  direct it as effectively as those 
which are comprised within it4 ,what    
our body contains when we believe       
ourselves circumscribed is little in    
comparison with what it does not        
contain2 and it is in what the body     
does not contain that the highest and   
most powerful part of our being  seems  
to dwell4 ,we must not forget that it   
grows stronger each day  that we neither
 die nor come into being1 in a word1    
that we are not  wholly incarnate1 and  
that1 on the other hand1 our flesh      
comprises  much more than ourselves4 ,it
 is this that constitutes all the       
floating  forces which make up the real 
soul of a people1 forces very much      
deeper  and more numerous than those    
which seem fixed in the body and the    

spirit4 ,they do not show themselves in 
the petty incidents of daily  life1     
which concern only the mean and narrow  
covering in which a nation  goes        
sheltered2 but they unite1 join forces  
and reveal their passionate  ardour at  
the grave and tragic hours when         
everlasting destiny is at  stake4 ,they 
then lay down decisions which history   
inscribes on her  records1 decisions    
whose grandeur1 generosity and heroism  
astonish even  those who have taken them
 more or less unknown to themselves and 
often  in spite of themselves1 decisions
 which are manifested in their own  eyes
 as an unexpected1 magnificent and      
incomprehensible revelation of          
themselves4          ,,the ,,mothers    
,v    ,,the ,,mothers      #a    ,it was
 they who bore the main burden of       
suffering in this war4    ,in our       
streets and open spaces and all along   
the roads1 in our  churches1 in our     
towns and villages1 in every house1 we  
come into  contact with mothers who have

 lost their son or are living in an     
anguish more cruel than the certainty of
 death4    ,let us try to understand    
their loss4 ,they know what it means1   
but they  do not tell the men4    ,their
 son is taken from them at the fairest  
moment of his life1 when  their own is  
in its decline4 ,when a child dies in   
infancy1 it is as  though his soul had  
hardly gone1 as though it were lingering
 near the  mother who brought it into   
the world1 awaiting the time when it may
  return in a new form4 ,the death which
 visits the cradle is not the  same as  
that which spreads terror over the      
earth2 but a son who dies  at the age of
 twenty does not come back again and    
leaves not a gleam  of hope behind him4 
,he carries away with him all the future
 that his  mother had remaining to her1 
all that she gave to him and all his    
promise3 the pangs1 anguish and smiles  
of birth and childhood1 the joys  of    
youth1 the reward and the harvest of    
maturity1 the comfort and the  peace of 

old age4    ,he carries away with him   
something much more than himself3 it is 
not  his life only that comes to an end1
 it is numberless days that finish      
suddenly1 a whole generation that       
becomes extinct1 a long series of       
faces1 of little fondling hands1 of play
 and laughter1 all of which  fall at one
 blow on the battle-field1 bidding      
farewell to the sunshine  and reentering
 the earth which they will not have     
known4 ,all this the  eyes of our       
mothers perceive without understanding2 
and this is why1 at  certain times1 the 
weight and sadness of their glance are  
more than any  of us can bear4      #b  
,and yet they do not weep as the mothers
 wept in former wars4 ,all their  sons  
disappear one by one2 and we do not hear
 them complain or moan  as in days gone 
by1 when great sufferings1 great        
massacres and great  catastrophes were  
surrounded by the clamours and          
lamentations of the  mothers4    ,they  
do not gather in the public places1 they

 do not utter  recriminations1 they rail
 at no one1 they do not rebel4 ,they    
swallow  their sobs and stifle their    
tears1 as though obeying a command which
  they have passed from one to the      
other1 unknown to the men4    ,we do not
 know what it is that sustains them and 
gives them the  strength to endure the  
remnant of their lives4 ,some of them   
have other  children2 and we can        
understand that they transfer to these  
the love  and the future which death has
 shattered4 ,many of them have never    
lost  or are striving to recover their  
faith in the eternal promises2 and  here
 again we can understand that they do   
not despair1 for the mothers  of the    
martyrs did not despair either4 ,but    
thousands of others1 whose  home is for 
ever deserted and whose sky is peopled  
by none but pale  phantoms1 retain the  
same hope as those who keep on hoping4  
,what gives  them this courage which    
astonishes whenever we behold it8       
,when the best1 the most compassionate1 

the wisest among us meet one of  these  
mothers who has just stealthily wiped   
her eyes1 so that the sight  of her     
unhappiness may not offend others who   
are happier1 when we seek  for words    
which1 uttered amid the glaring         
directness of the most awful  sorrow    
that can strike a human heart1 shall not
 sound like odious or  ridiculous lies1 
we can hardly find anything to say to   
her4 ,we speak  to her of the justice   
and the beauty of the cause for which   
her hero  fell1 of the immense and      
necessary sacrifice1 of the remembrance 
and  gratitude of mankind1 of the       
irreality of life1 which is measured not
  by the length of days but by the lofty
 height of duty and glory4 ,we  add     
perhaps that the dead do not die1 that  
there are no dead1 that  those who are  
no more live nearer to our souls than   
when they were in  the flesh and that   
all that we loved in them lingers in our
 hearts so  long as it is visited by our
 memory and revived by our love4        

,but1 even while we speak1 we feel the  
emptiness of what we say4 ,we  are      
conscious that all this is true only for
 those whom death has  not hurled into  
the abyss where words are nothing more  
than childish  babble2 that the most    
ardent memory cannot take the place of a
 dear  reality which we touch with our  
hands or lips2 and that the most        
exalted thought is as nothing compared  
with the daily going out and  coming in1
 the familiar presence at meals1 the    
morning and evening  kiss1 the fond     
embrace at the departure and the        
intoxicating delight  at the return4    
,the mothers know and feel this better  
than we do2 and  that is why they do not
 answer our attempts at consolation and 
why  they listen to them in silence1    
finding within themselves other  reasons
 for living and hoping than those which 
we1 vainly searching the  whole horizon 
of human certainty and thought1 try to  
bring them from  the outside4 ,they     
resume the burden of their days without 

telling us  whence they derive their    
strength or teaching us the secret of   
their  self-sacrifice1 their resignation
 and their heroism4          ,,three    
,,unknown ,,heroes          ,,vi        
,,three ,,unknown ,,heroes      #a      
,the ,belgian government published last 
year a ,reply to the ,german ,white     
,book of #aj ,may #aiae4    ,this reply 
gives peremptory and categorical denials
 to all the  allegations in the ,white  
,book on the subject of francs-tireurs1 
of  attacks by civilians and of the     
,belgian women's cruelty to the ,german 
prisoners and wounded4 ,it contains a   
body of authentic and overwhelming      
evidence upon the massacres at ,andenne1
 ,dinant1 ,louvain and ,aerschot  which 
enables history here and now to         
pronounce its verdict with even  greater
 certainty than the most scrupulous jury
 of a criminal court4    ,among the most
 frightful incidents reported in these  
accounts by  eye-witnesses1 ,i would    
linger to-day upon only two of those    

which  marked the sack of ,aerschot2 not
 that they are more odious or cruel     
than the others--on the contrary1 beside
 the unprovoked murders and  wholesale  
executions at ,andenne1 ,dinant and     
,louvain1 which are of  unsurpassable   
horror1 they seem almost kindly--but ,i 
select them for  the very reason that   
they display more clearly than in its   
most violent  excesses what we may call 
the normal mentality of the ,german army
 and  the abominable things which it did
 when it believed itself to be acting   
with justice1 moderation and humanity4  
,i select them above all because  they  
show us the admirable and touching state
 of mind1 as displayed  amidst a        
terrible ordeal1 of a little ,belgian   
city1 the most innocent  of all the     
victims of this war1 and offer for our  
contemplation  instances of simple and  
heroic self-sacrifice which have escaped
 notice  and which it is well to bring  
to light1 for they are as beautiful as  
the most splendid examples in the       

fairest pages of ,plutarch4      #b     
,aerschot is a humble and happy little  
town in ,flemish ,brabant1 one of  those
 modest unknown clusters of habitations 
which1 like ,dinant1 for  ever to be    
regretted and buried in the past1 nobody
 used to visit1  because they contained 
no buildings of note1 but which retained
 and  represented all the more1 in the  
depths of their silence and their       
placid isolation1 ,flemish life in its  
most special1 intimate1 intense1        
traditional1 suave and peaceable aspect4
 ,in these half-rustic little  cities we
 find hardly any industries1 at most a  
malt-kiln or two1  a corn-mill1 an      
oil-works1 a chicory-factory4 ,their    
life is almost  agricultural2 and the   
well-to-do inhabitants live on the      
produce or  the rents of their fields1  
their meadows and their woods4 ,the     
houses  in the church-square are        
substantial-looking1 more or less       
cubical in  shape and painted virgin    
white2 their carriage-gates are adorned 

with  glittering brasses4 ,all through  
the week the square is almost deserted  
and wakens into life only on market-days
 and on ,sunday mornings1 at  the hour  
of high mass4 ,in a word1 it is a       
picture of tranquillity1  of placid     
waiting for meals and repose1 of drowsy1
 easy existence  and perhaps of         
happiness1 if happiness consists in     
being happy in  a half-slumber free of  
remote ambitions1 exaggerated passions  
or  over-eager dreams4    ,it was here1 
in this peaceful sojourn of immemorial  
restfulness1 which  not even the war had
 hitherto disturbed below the surface1  
that1 on  the #aith of ,august1 #aiad1  
at nine o'clock in the morning1 after   
the  retreat of the last ,belgian       
soldiers1 the square was suddenly       
invaded  by a dense and endless stream  
of ,german troops4 ,the burgomaster's   
son1 a lad of fifteen1 hurried to close 
the ,venetian shutters of his  father's 
house and was wounded in the leg by one 
of the bullets which  the victors fired 

at random through the windows4    ,at   
ten o'clock1 the ,german officer in     
command sent for the burgomaster1  ,m4  
,tielemans1 to appear at the ,town-hall4
 ,he was received with  insults1 hustled
 and abused for a ,schweinhund1 or      
pig-dog1 a species  of animal which     
appears to be indigenous to ,germany4   
,next1 ,colonel ,stenger1 commanding the
 #hth infantry brigade1 and his  two    
aides-de-camp took up their quarters in 
the burgomaster's house in  the         
church-square and1 ,i may add in        
passing1 forthwith broke open all  the  
drawers in their rooms1 after which they
 went to the balcony and  watched the   
march-past of their troops4    ,at four 
o'clock in the afternoon1 obsessed by   
the delusion of  francs-tireurs1 some   
soldiers1 seized with panic1 began to   
fire  shots in the streets4 ,the        
colonel1 standing on the balcony1 was   
hit by  a ,german bullet and fell4 ,one 
of the aides-de-camp rushed downstairs  
shouting3    8,the colonel is dead6 ,i  

want the burgomaster60    ,m4 ,tielemans
 felt that his time was come3    8,this 
is a serious matter for me10 he said to 
his wife4    ,she squeezed his hand and 
urged him to keep courage4 ,the         
burgomaster  was arrested and           
ill-treated by the soldiers4 ,in vain   
his wife remarked  to the captain that  
her husband and son could not have      
fired1 since  they possessed no weapons4
    8,that makes no difference10 replied
 the bully in uniform2 8he's            
responsible4 ,also10 he added1 8,i want 
your son40    ,this son was the boy of  
fifteen who had been wounded in the leg4
 ,as  he had a difficulty in walking1   
because of his wound1 he was brutally   
jostled before his mother's eyes and    
escorted with kicks to the  ,town-hall1 
there to join his father4    ,meanwhile 
this same captain1 persisting in his    
contention that his  men had been fired 
upon1 compelled ,madame ,tielemans to go
 through  the house with him1 from      
cellar to attic4 ,he was obliged to     

observe  that all the rooms were empty  
and all the windows closed4 ,throughout 
this inspection1 he threatened the poor 
woman with his revolver4 ,her  daughter 
placed herself between her mother and   
their sinister visitor1  who did not    
understand4 ,when they returned to the  
hall downstairs1 the  mother asked him3 
8,what is to become of us80    ,coldly1 
he replied3    8,you will be shot2 so   
will your daughter and your servants40  
,the pillage and the methodical setting 
on fire of the town now began4  ,all the
 houses on the right-hand side of the   
square were in flames4  ,from time to   
time1 the soldiers apostrophized the    
women1 shouting3    8,you're going to be
 shot1 you're going to be shot60        
99       99       99       99       99  
8,at that moment10 says ,madame         
,tielemans1 in her sworn deposition1    
8the soldiers were leaving our house1   
their arms filled with bottles  of wine4
 ,they opened the windows and removed   
all the contents of our  rooms4 ,i      

turned away so as not to behold the     
pillage4 ,by the lurid  light of the    
burning houses1 my eyes fell upon my    
husband1 my son and  my brother-in-law1 
accompanied by some other gentlemen who 
were being  led to execution4 ,never    
shall ,i forget the sight nor the look  
on the  face of my husband seeking his  
house for the last time and asking      
himself what had befallen his wife and  
daughter1 while ,i1 lest ,i should  sap 
his courage1 could not call out1 #8,i am
 here6'0           99       99       99 
99       99    ,the hours passed4 ,the  
women were driven out of the town and   
led like a  herd of cattle1 along a road
 strewn with corpses1 to a distant      
meadow1  where they were penned until   
morning4 ,the men were arrested and     
their  hands tied behind their backs    
with copper wire so cruelly tightened as
  to draw blood4 ,they were gathered    
into groups and made to lie down so     
that their heads touched the ground and 
they were unable to make any  movement4 

,the night was spent in this way1 with  
the town burning and  the pillage and   
orgy continuing4    ,between five and   
six in the morning1 the military        
authorities decided  that the executions
 should begin and that one of the       
largest groups  of prisoners1 composed  
of about a hundred civilians1 should be 
present  at the death of the            
burgomaster1 his son and his brother4   
,an officer  informed the burgomaster   
that his hour had come4 ,on hearing     
these  words1 a citizen of ,aerschot1   
,claes van ,nuffel by name1 went up to  
the  officer1 begged him to spare the   
chief magistrate's life and offered  to 
die in his stead4 ,he added that he was 
the burgomaster's political  adversary1 
but that he considered that1 at this    
moment1 ,m4 ,tielemans  was essential to
 the town4    8,no10 replied the        
officer1 harshly1 8we must have the     
burgomaster40    ,m4 ,tielemans stood   
up1 thanked ,m4 van ,nuffel and said    
that he would  die with an easy mind1 as

 he had spent his existence doing all   
the  good in his power1 and that he     
would not beg for mercy4 ,he entreated1 
however1 that the lives of his          
fellow-citizens and of his son1 a boy of
  fifteen and his mother's last         
consolation1 might be spared4 ,the      
officer  grinned and made no reply4 ,the
 burgomaster's brother next asked for   
mercy1 not for himself but for his      
brother and his nephew4 ,his request    
fell on deaf ears4 ,the lad then got up 
and took his place between his  father  
and his uncle4 ,six soldiers took aim at
 ten yards' distance2 the  officer      
lowered his sword2 and1 as the widow of 
the heroic burgomaster  says1 8the best 
man in this world had ceased to exist40 
#c    ,i will now quote from the        
evidence of ,m4 ,gustave ,nys1 an       
eye-witness of  the horrible drama which
 nearly numbered him among its victims3 
8,the other civilians were thereupon    
placed in rows of three4 ,the    third  
in each row was to leave it and fall out

 behind the dead    bodies1 in order to 
be shot4 ,all the civilians had their   
hands tied    behind their backs4 ,my   
brother and ,i stood next to each other3
 ,i was    number two2 my brother ,omer1
 twenty years of age1 was number three4 
,i asked the officer1 #8,may ,i change  
places with my brother8 ,it makes    no 
difference to you who falls under your  
bullets2 but it does to my    mother1   
who is a widow1 for my brother has      
finished his studies and    is more     
useful to her than ,i am4' ,once again  
he refused to listen    to my prayer4   
#8,fall out1 number three6' ,my brother 
and ,i embraced2    and he joined the   
others4 ,there were thirty of them1     
drawn up in    line4 ,then a horrible   
scene took place3 the ,german soldiers1 
walking    slowly along the row1 killed 
three at each discharge of their rifles1
    waiting between the volleys for the 
officer's word of command40      #d     
,incidents such as these would pass     
unperceived if one did not take the     

trouble to seek them out and to collect 
them piously amid the huge  mass of     
tragedies which for more than four years
 upset and ravaged  the unhappy country 
tortured by its invaders4 ,had they     
occurred in  the history of ,greece or  
,rome1 they would have found a place    
among  the great deeds that honour our  
earth and deserve to live for ever  in  
the memory of man4 ,it is our duty to   
make them known for a moment  and to    
engrave in our recollection the names of
 those who were their  heroes4 ,thus set
 down1 simply and plainly1 as befits    
historic truth1  in depositions sworn   
under oath before a nameless registrar  
who has  stripped them of any literary  
or sentimental embellishment1 they give 
at first but a very faint idea of the   
intensity of the tragedy and  the value 
of the sacrifice4 ,there is here no     
question of a glorious  death faced amid
 the excitement of the fighting1 on a   
vast field of  battle4 ,nor are we      
considering an indefinite or overhanging

 menace1 or  an uncertain1 remote and   
perhaps avoidable danger4 ,we have to do
 with  an obscure1 solitary1 horrible   
and imminent death in a ditch2 and the  
six rifle-barrels are there1 aimed      
almost point-blank1 ready1 upon a  sign 
of the officer who accepts your offer1  
to change you1 in a second1  into a heap
 of bleeding flesh and to send you to   
the unknown1 terrible  region which man 
dreads all the more when he is still    
full of strength  and life4 ,there is   
not a moment's interval nor a gleam of  
hope between  question and answer1      
between existence with all its joys and 
death  with all its horrors4 ,there is  
no encouragement1 no word or gesture  of
 stimulation or support1 no reward2 in  
an instant1 all is given in  exchange   
for nothing2 it is sheer self-sacrifice 
standing naked and so  pure that we are 
surprised that not even ,germans were   
conquered by its  beauty4    ,there was 
but one manner in which they could have 
extricated themselves  without dishonour

 and that was to pardon the two victims2
 or else1  supposing the thing which was
 not1 which never is the case1 that a   
death was absolutely necessary1 there   
was a second solution1 which was  to    
accept the offer and to kill the martyr 
whom they ought to have  worshipped on  
their knees4 ,in this way they would    
only have acted as  the worst of        
savages4 ,but they discovered a third1  
which doubtless1  before them1 the      
,carthaginians alone would have invented
 and adopted4  ,for that matter1 they   
exceeded the fiercest savagery and      
equalled the  abominable ,punic morality
 in another case which brings to mind   
that of  ,regulus and which will be the 
third instance of heroism that ,i intend
  to recall4      #e    ,a few days     
after the events which ,i have narrated1
 on the #bcrd of  ,august1 #aiad1       
,dinant became the scene of wholesale   
massacres which  involved exactly six   
hundred and six victims1 including      
eleven children  under five years old1  

twenty-eight of ages between ten and    
fifteen and  seventy-one women4         
,nothing can give an idea of the horror 
and infamy of these massacres1  which   
form one of the most disgraceful and    
terrible pages in the long  and         
monstrous history of ,teuton shame4 ,but
 it is not my purpose to  speak of this 
for the moment4 ,there would be too much
 to tell4 ,i wish  to-day only to       
separate from the mass an episode in    
which the hero  of ,dinant-la-,wallone  
is worthy of a place beside his two     
brethren of  ,aerschot in ,flanders4    
,just outside ,dinant1 near the famous  
,roche  ,bayard1 the legendary  glory of
 the fair and smiling little township1  
the ,germans occupied the  right bank of
 the ,meuse and were beginning to build 
a bridge of boats4  ,the ,french1 hidden
 in the bushes and the windings of the  
left bank1  were firing on the          
engineers4 ,their fire was not very     
well-sustained2  and the ,germans1      
without the least justification1 drew   

the conclusion  that it was due to      
francs-tireurs1 who1 for that matter1   
throughout  this ,belgian campaign1     
never existed except in their           
imagination4 ,at  that moment1 eighty   
hostages1 taken from among the          
inhabitants of  ,dinant1 were collected 
and kept in sight at the foot of the    
rock4 ,the  ,german officer sent one of 
them1 ,m4 ,bourdon1 a clerk attached to 
the  law-courts1 to the left bank1 to   
inform the enemy that1 if the firing    
continued1 all the hostages would be    
instantly shot4 ,m4 ,bourdon  crossed   
the ,meuse1 fulfilled his mission and   
pluckily returned to  reconstitute      
himself a prisoner4 ,he assured the     
officer that he had  convinced himself  
that there were no francs-tireurs and   
that only  ,french soldiers of the      
regular army were taking part in the    
defence of  the other bank4 ,a few more 
bullets fell2 and the officer caused the
  eighty hostages to be shot1 beginning1
 that he might be punished as he        

deserved for his heroic faithfulness to 
his pledged word1 with the poor  clerk1 
his wife1 his daughter and his two sons1
 one of whom was a mere  child of       
fifteen4          ,,wasted ,,beauties   
,,vii    ,,wasted ,,beauties      #a    
,under the grey skies and the           
disheartening rains of this autumnal    
,july1  ,i think of the light which ,i  
have left behind me4 ,i have left it    
down  there1 on the now empty shores of 
the ,mediterranean1 and ,i ask myself   
in vain why ,i parted from it4 ,yet ,i  
was one of the last to tear myself      
away4 ,all the others leave in the early
 days of ,april1 recalled by  legendary 
memories of the deceitful spring-tides  
of the north1 nor do  they realize that 
they are losing a great happiness4      
,it is good1 it is wise to escape1 amid 
the blue of sea and sky1 the  icy months
 of our winters1 dismal as punishment2  
but1 although in the  south these months
 are warmer and above all more luminous 
than ours1  they do not quite make up to

 us for the darkness and the frost of   
our  native climes4 ,the brightest and  
warmest hours1 in spite of all1  retain 
an after-taste of cloud and snow2 they  
are beautiful1 but timid2  swiftly and  
fearfully they hasten towards the night4
 ,now man1 who is  born of the sun1 like
 all things1 has need of his hereditary 
portion of  primitive heat and          
all-pervading light4 ,he has within him 
numberless  deep-seated cells which     
retain the memory of the resplendent    
days of  the prime and become unhappy   
when they cannot reap their harvest of  
rays4 ,man can live in the gloom1 but at
 long last he loses the smile  and the  
confidence that are so essential4       
,because of our twilit summers  it      
becomes indispensable to restore the    
balance between darkness and  light and 
sometimes to drive away1 by superb      
excesses of sunshine1 the  cold and the 
dark that invade our very souls4      #b
    ,it reigns at a few hours' distance 
from us1 the incomparable steady sun    

which we no longer see4 ,those who leave
 before mid-,june do not know  what     
happens when they are gone4 ,lo and     
behold1 the real actors in this         
wonderful fairyland spring up on every  
side as though they had been  awaiting  
the departure of intruding and mocking  
witnesses4 ,during the  winter1 in the  
presence of the official visitors1 they 
have played but  a tempered prologue1 a 
little colourless1 a little slow1 a     
little timid  and restrained4 ,but now  
of a sudden the great lyrical acts blaze
 forth  upon the intoxicated earth4     
,the heavens open their vistas to the   
uttermost limits of the blue1 to  the   
supreme heights where the glory and     
rapture of ,god are outspread2  and all 
the flowers rend the gardens1 the rocks 
and the heaths1 to  uplift themselves   
and leap towards the gulf of gladness   
which draws  them into space4 ,the      
camomiles have gone mad2 for six weeks  
they  hold outstretched1 to invisible   
lovers1 their great round clusters  like

 shields of glowing snow4 ,the scarlet1 
tumultuous mantle of the                
,bougainvilleas blinds the houses whose 
dazzled windows blink amid  the flames4 
,the yellow roses cover the hills with a
 saffron-coloured  cloak2 the pink      
roses1 of the lovely1 innocent pink of  
maiden blushes1  flood the valleys1 as  
though the divine well-springs of the   
dawn1 which  elaborate the ideal flesh  
of women and angels1 had overflowed the 
earth4 ,others climb the trees1 scale   
pillars1 columns1 house-fronts1         
porches1 leap up and fall1 rise again   
and multiply1 jostle one  another1 lie  
one on top of the other1 forming so many
 bunches of  effervescing delight1 so   
many silent swarms of impassioned       
petals4  ,and the innumerable1 diverse  
and imperious scents that flow through  
this ocean of mirth1 like rivers which  
do not mingle1 rivers whose  source we  
recognize at every breath6 ,here is the 
cold1 green torrent  of the             
rose-geranium1 the trickle of           

clove-carnations1 the bright1  limpid   
stream of lavender1 the resinous eddy of
 the pine-barren and  the wide1 still1  
luscious lake1 of an all but dizzy      
sweetness1 of the  orange-blossom1 which
 drowns the country-side in the vast1   
unmeasured  fragrance of the azure      
heavens1 recognized at last4      #c    
,i do not believe that the world        
contains anything more beautiful  than  
those gardens and valleys of the        
,provenal coast during the six  or seven
 weeks when departing spring still      
mingles its verdure with  the first     
warmth of advancing summer4 ,but what   
gives this wonderful  exultation of     
nature a melancholy which we do not find
 in any other  spot is the inhuman and  
almost painful solitude in which it is  
revealed4 ,here1 amid this desert1 this 
silence1 this emptiness1 from  the      
vine-arbours to the terraces and from   
the terraces to the porches  of a       
thousand abandoned villas1 reigns a     
rivalry of beauty which  reaches a      

poignant agony of intensity1 exhausting 
every energy1 form  and colour4 ,there  
is here a sort of magic password1 as    
though all the  powers of grace and     
splendour that nature holds concealed   
had united  to give at the same moment1 
to a spectator unknown to men1 one      
great1  decisive proof of the blessings 
and the glories of the earth4 ,there is 
here a sort of unparalleled expectation1
 awful and unendurable1 which  over the 
hedges1 the gates and the walls watches 
for the coming of a  mighty god2 an     
ecstatic silence which demands a        
supernatural presence2  a wild1         
exasperated impatience pouring from     
every side over the roads  where nothing
 now passes save the mute and diaphanous
 procession of the  hours4      #d      
,alas1 how many beauties are wasted in  
this world6 ,here is enough to  feed our
 eyes till death6 ,here is the          
wherewithal to gather memories  which   
would support our souls even to the     
tomb6 ,here is that which  would provide

 thousands of hearts with the supreme   
sustenance of life6    ,in the main1    
when we come to think of it1 all that is
 best in us1 all  that is pure1 happy   
and limpid in our intelligence and our  
feelings1  has its origin in a few      
beautiful spectacles4 ,if we had never  
seen  beautiful things1 we should       
possess only poor and ugly images       
wherewith to clothe our ideas and       
emotions1 which would perish of cold    
and wretchedness like those of the      
blind4 ,the great highway which  climbs 
from the plains of existence to the     
radiant heights of human  consciousness 
would be so gloomy1 so bare and so      
deserted that our  thoughts would very  
soon lack the strength and courage to   
tread it2 and  where our thoughts no    
longer pass it is not long before the   
briars and  the cruel horrors of the    
forest return4 ,a beautiful spectacle   
which we  might have seen1 which was    
ours1 which seemed to call us and from  
which  we fled can never be replaced4   

,nothing more can grow in the spot where
  it awaited us4 ,it leaves in our soul 
a great barren area1 in which we  shall 
find naught but thorns on the day when  
we most need roses4 ,our  thoughts and  
our actions derive their energy and     
their shape from the  things which our  
eyes have beheld4 ,between the heroic   
deed1 the duty  accomplished1 the       
sacrifice generously accepted and the   
beautiful  landscape which we have seen 
in the past there is very often a closer
  and more vital connection than that   
which our memory has retained4 ,the     
more we see of beautiful things the     
better fitted we become to perform  good
 actions4 ,if our inner life is to      
thrive1 we need a magnificent  store of 
wonderful spoils4          ,,the        
,,insect ,,world          ,,viii        
,,the ,,insect ,,world      #a    ,henri
 ,fabre1 as all the world now knows1 is 
the author of half a  score of          
well-filled volumes in which1 under the 
title of ,souvenirs  entomologiques1#a  

he set down the results of fifty years  
of  observation1 study and experiment on
 the insects that seem to us the        
best-known and the most familiar3       
different species of wasps and wild     
bees1 a few gnats1 flies1 beetles and   
caterpillars2 in a word1 all  those     
vague1 unconscious1 rudimentary and     
almost nameless little lives  which     
surround us on every side and which we  
contemplate with eyes that  are amused1 
but already thinking of other things1   
when we open our  window to welcome the 
first hours of spring1 or when we go    
into the  gardens or the fields to bask 
in the blue summer days4      #b    ,we 
take up at random one of these great    
volumes and naturally expect to  find   
first of all the very learned and rather
 dry lists of names1 the  very          
fastidious and exceedingly quaint       
specifications of those huge1  dusty    
graveyards of which all the             
entomological treatises that we have    
read so far seem almost wholly to       

consist4 ,we therefore open the book    
without zest and without unreasonable   
expectations2 and forthwith1  from      
between the open leaves1 there rises and
 unfolds itself1 without  hesitation1   
without interruption and almost without 
remission to the  end of the four       
thousand pages1 the most extraordinary  
of tragic fairy  plays that it is       
possible for the human imagination1 not 
to create or  to conceive1 but to admit 
and to acclimatize within itself4       
,indeed1 there is no question here of   
the human imagination4 ,the insect  does
 not belong to our world4 ,the other    
animals1 the plants even1               
notwithstanding their dumb life and the 
great secrets which they  cherish1 do   
not seem wholly foreign to us4 ,in spite
 of all1 we feel  a certain earthly     
brotherhood in them4 ,they often        
surprise and amaze  our intelligence1   
but do not utterly upset it4 ,there is  
something1 on  the other hand1 about the
 insect that does not seem to belong to 

the  habits1 the ethics1 the psychology 
of our globe4 ,one would be inclined  to
 say that the insect comes from another 
planet1 more monstrous1  more energetic1
 more insane1 more atrocious1 more      
infernal than our  own4 ,one would think
 that it was born of some comet that had
 lost its  course and died demented in  
space4 ,in vain does it seize upon life 
with  an authority1 a fecundity         
unequalled here below3 we cannot        
accustom  ourselves to the idea that it 
is a thought of that nature of whom we  
fondly believe ourselves to be the      
privileged children and probably  the   
ideal to which all the earth's efforts  
tend4 ,only the infinitely  small       
disconcerts us still more greatly2 but  
what really is the  infinitely small1   
other than an insect which our eyes do  
not see8 ,there  is1 no doubt1 in this  
astonishment and lack of understanding a
 certain  instinctive and profound      
uneasiness inspired by those existences 
incomparably better-armed1              

better-equipped than our own1 by those  
creature made up of a sort of compressed
 energy and activity in which  we       
suspect our most mysterious adversaries1
 our ultimate rivals and1  perhaps1 our 
successors4      #c    ,but it is time1 
under the conduct of an admirable guide1
 to penetrate  behind the scenes of our 
fairy play and to study at close        
quarters the  actors and                
supernumeraries1 loathsome or           
magnificent1 as the case may  be1       
grotesque or sinister1 heroic or        
appalling1 gifted or stupid and  almost 
always improbable and unintelligible4   
,and here1 to begin with1 taking the    
first that comes1 is one of those       
individuals1 frequent in the ,south1    
where we can see it prowling  around the
 abundant manna which the mule scatters 
heedlessly along  the white roads and   
the stony paths3 ,i mean the ,sacred    
,scarab of  the ,egyptians1 or1 more    
simply1 the ,dung-beetle1 the brother of
 our  northern ,geotrupes1 a big        

,coleopteron all clad in black1 whose   
mission  in this world is to shape the  
more savoury parts of his find into an  
enormous ball which he must next roll to
 the underground dining-room  where the 
incredible digestive adventure is to    
take its course4 ,but  destiny1 jealous 
of all undiluted bliss1 before admitting
 him to that  abode of sheer delight1   
imposes upon the grave and probably     
sententious  beetle tribulations without
 number1 which are nearly always        
complicated  by the arrival of an       
untoward parasite4    ,hardly has he    
begun1 by dint of great efforts of his  
forehead and his  bandy legs1 to roll   
the toothsome sphere backwards1 when an 
indelicate  colleague1 who has been     
awaiting the completion of the work1    
appears  and hypocritically offers his  
services4 ,the other well knows that1 in
  this case1 help and services1 besides 
being quite unnecessary1 will  soon mean
 partition and dispossession2 and he    
accepts the enforced  collaboration     

without enthusiasm4 ,but1 so that their 
respective  rights may be clearly       
marked1 the lawful owner invariably     
retains his  original place1 that is to 
say1 he pushes the ball with his        
forehead1  whereas the compulsory guest 
pulls it towards him on the other side4 
,and thus it jogs along between the two 
gossips1 amid interminable              
vicissitudes1 flurried falls1 ludicrous 
tumbles1 till it reaches the  place     
chosen to receive the treasure and to   
become the banqueting-hall4  ,on        
arriving1 the owner sets about digging  
out the refectory1 while  the sponger   
pretends to go innocently to sleep on   
the top of the  bolus4 ,the excavation  
becomes visibly wider and deeper2 and   
soon the  first ,dung-beetle dives      
bodily into it4 ,this is the moment for 
which  the cunning auxiliary was        
waiting4 ,he nimbly scrambles down from 
the  blissful eminence and1 pushing it  
with all the energy that a bad          
conscience gives1 strives to gain the   

offing4 ,but the other1 who is  rather  
distrustful1 interrupts his laborious   
digging1 looks over the  edge1 sees the 
sacrilegious rape and leaps out of the  
hole4 ,caught in  the act1 the shameless
 and dishonest partner makes untold     
efforts to  play upon the other's       
credulity1 turns round and round the    
inestimable  orb and1 embracing it and  
propping himself against it1 with mock  
heroic  exertions1 pretends to be       
frantically supporting it on a          
non-existent  slope4 ,the two           
expostulate with each other in silence1 
gesticulate  wildly with their mandibles
 and tarsi and then1 with one accord1   
bring  back the ball to the burrow4     
,it is pronounced sufficiently spacious 
and comfortable4 ,they introduce  the   
treasure1 they close the entrance to the
 corridor2 and now in the  propitious   
darkness and the warm damp1 where the   
magnificent stercoral  globe alone holds
 sway1 the two reconciled messmates sit 
down face  to face4 ,then1 far from the 

light and the cares of day and in the   
great silence of the subterranean shade1
 solemnly commences the most  fabulous  
banquet whereof abdominal imagination   
ever evoked the absolute  beatitudes4   
,for two whole months1 they remain      
cloistered2 and1 with their paunches    
gradually hollowing out the             
inexhaustible sphere1 definite          
archetypes  and sovereign symbols of the
 pleasures of the table and the delights
 of  the belly1 they eat without        
stopping1 without interrupting          
themselves  for a second1 day or night4 
,and1 while they gorge1 steadily1 with a
  movement perceptible and constant as  
that of a clock1 at the rate of  three  
millimetres a minute1 an endless1       
unbroken ribbon unwinds and  stretches  
itself behind them1 fixing the memory   
and recording the  hours1 days and weeks
 of the prodigious feast4      #d       
,after the ,dung-beetle1 that dolt of   
the company1 let us greet1 also  in the 
order of the ,coleoptera1 the model     

household of ,minotaurus  typhaeus1 who 
is pretty well-known and extremely      
gentle1 in spite of  his dreadful name4 
,the female digs a huge burrow which is 
often more  than a yard and a half deep 
and which consists of spiral staircases1
  landings1 passages and numerous       
chambers4 ,the male loads the rubbish   
on the three-pronged fork that surmounts
 his head and carries it to  the        
entrance of the conjugal dwelling4      
,next1 he goes into the fields  in quest
 of the harmless droppings left by the  
sheep1 takes them down  to the first    
story of the crypt and reduces them to  
flour with his  trident1 while the      
mother1 right at the bottom1 collects   
the flour and  kneads it into huge      
cylindrical loaves1 which will presently
 be food  for the little ones4 ,for     
three whole months1 until the provisions
 are  deemed sufficient1 the unfortunate
 husband1 without taking nourishment  of
 any kind1 exhausts himself in this     
gigantic work4 ,at last1 his task       

accomplished1 feeling his end at hand1  
so as not to encumber the house  with   
his wretched remains1 he spends his last
 strength in leaving  the burrow1 drags 
himself laboriously along and1 lonely   
and resigned1  knowing that he is       
henceforth good for nothing1 goes and   
dies far away  among the stones4        
,here1 on another side1 are some rather 
strange caterpillars1 the               
,processionaries1 which are not rare2 as
 it happens1 a single string  of them1  
five or six yards long1 has just climbed
 down from my  umbrella-pines and is at 
this moment unfolding itself in the     
walks  of my garden1 carpeting the      
ground traversed with transparent  silk1
 according to the custom of the race4   
,to say nothing of the  meteorological  
apparatus of unparalleled delicacy which
 they carry  on their backs1 these      
caterpillars1 as everybody knows1 have  
this  remarkable quality1 that they     
travel only in a troop1 one after the   
other1 like ,breughel's blind men or    

those of the parable1 each of them      
obstinately1 indissolubly following its 
leader2 so much so that1 our  author    
having one morning disposed the file on 
the edge of a large  stone vase1 thus   
closing the circuit1 for seven whole    
days1 during  an atrocious week1 amid   
cold1 hunger and unspeakable weariness1 
the  unhappy troop on its tragic round1 
without rest1 respite or mercy1  pursued
 the pitiless circle until death        
overtook it4      #e    ,but ,i see that
 our heroes are infinitely too numerous 
and that we  must not linger over our   
descriptions4 ,we may at most1 in       
enumerating  the more important and     
familiar1 bestow on each of them a      
hurried  epithet1 in the manner of old  
,homer4 ,shall ,i mention1 for instance1
 the  ,leucospis1 a parasite of the     
,mason-bee1 who1 to slay his brothers   
and  sisters in their cradle1 arms      
himself with a horn helmet and a barbed 
breastplate1 which he doffs immediately 
after the extermination1 the  safeguard 

of a hideous right of primogeniture8    
,shall ,i tell of the  marvellous       
anatomical knowledge of the ,tachytes1  
of the ,cerceris1 of  the ,ammophila1 of
 the ,languedocian ,sphex and many other
 wasps1 who1  according as they wish to 
paralyse or to kill their prey or their 
adversary1 know exactly1 without ever   
blundering1 which nerve-centres  to     
strike with their sting or their        
mandibles8 ,shall ,i speak of the art   
of the ,eumenes1 who transforms her     
stronghold into a complete museum       
adorned with shells and with grains of  
translucent quartz2 of the  magnificent 
metamorphosis of the ,grey ,locust2 of  
the musical instrument  owned by the    
,cricket1 whose bow numbers one hundred 
and fifty  triangular prisms that set in
 motion simultaneously the four         
dulcimers  of the wing-case8 ,shall ,i  
sing the fairy-like birth of the nymph  
of the  ,onthophagus1 a transparent     
monster1 with a bull's snout1 that seems
  carved out of a block of crystal8     

,would you behold the ,flesh-fly1 the   
common ,blue-bottle1 daughter of the    
maggot1 as she issues from the  earth8  
,listen to our author3      8,she       
disjoints her head into two movable     
halves1 which1 each    distended with   
its great red eye1 by turns separate and
 reunite4 ,in    the intervening space1 
a large1 glassy hernia rises and        
disappears1    disappears and rises4    
,when the two halves move asunder1 with 
one    eye forced back to the right and 
the other to the left1 it is as         
though the insect were splitting its    
brain-pan in order to expel the         
contents4 ,then the hernia rises1 blunt 
at the end and swollen into    a great  
knob4 ,next1 the forehead closes and the
 hernia retreats1    leaving visible    
only a kind of shapeless muzzle4 ,in    
short1 a frontal    pouch1 with deep    
pulsations1 momentarily renewed1 becomes
 the    instrument of deliverance1 the  
pestle wherewith the newly-hatched      
,dipteron bruises the sand and causes it

 to crumble4 ,gradually1 the    legs    
push the rubbish back and the insect    
advances so much towards    the         
surface40      #f    ,and monster after 
monster passes1 such as the imagination 
of ,bosch or  ,callot never conceived6  
,the larva of the ,rosechafer1 which1   
though it  has legs under its belly1    
always travels on its back2 the         
,blue-winged  ,locust1 unluckier still  
than the ,flesh-fly and possessing      
nothing  wherewith to perforate the     
soil1 to escape from the tomb and reach 
the light but a cervical bladder1 a     
viscous blister2 and the ,empusa1  who1 
with her curved abdomen1 her great      
projecting eyes1 her legs with          
knee-pieces armed with cleavers1 her    
halberd1 her abnormally tall  mitre1    
would certainly be the most devilish    
goblin that ever walked the  earth1 if1 
beside her1 the ,praying ,mantis were   
not so frightful that  her mere aspect  
deprives her victims of their power of  
movement when  she assumes1 in front of 

them1 what the entomologists have termed
 8the  spectral attitude40      #g      
,one cannot mention1 even casually1 the 
numberless industries1 nearly  all of   
absorbing interest1 exercised among the 
rocks1 under the ground1  in the walls1 
on the branches1 the grass1 the flowers1
 the fruits and  down to the very bodies
 of the subjects studied2 for we        
sometimes find  a treble superposition  
of parasites1 as in the ,oil-beetles2   
and we see  the maggot itself1 the      
sinister guest at the last feast of all1
 feed  some thirty brigands with its    
substance4    ,among the ,hymenoptera1  
which represent the most intellectual   
class in  the world which we are        
studying1 the building-talents of our   
wonderful  ,hive-bee are certainly      
equalled1 in other orders of            
architecture1  by those of more than one
 wild and solitary bee and notably by   
the  ,megachile1 or ,leaf-cutter1 a     
little insect which is nothing to look  
at and which1 to house its eggs1        

manufactures honey-pots formed of a     
multitude of disks and ellipses cut with
 mathematical precision from  the leaves
 of certain trees4 ,for lack of space1  
,i am unable1 to my  great regret1 to   
quote the beautiful and pellucid pages  
which ,fabre1  with his usual           
conscientiousness1 devotes to the       
exhaustive study of  this admirable     
work2 nevertheless1 since the occasion  
offers1 let us  listen to his own words1
 though it be but for a moment and in   
regard to  a single detail3      8,with 
the oval pieces1 it becomes another     
matter4 ,what model has the             
,megachile when cutting her neat        
ellipses out of the delicate material   
for her wallets1 the robinia-leaves8    
,what ideal pattern guides her          
scissors8 ,what system of measurement   
tells her the dimension8 ,one    would  
like to picture the insect as a living  
pair of compasses1    capable of tracing
 an elliptic curve by a certain natural 
inflexion    of its body1 even as our   

arm traces a circle by swinging from the
    shoulder4 ,a blind mechanism1 the   
mere outcome of its organization1       
would alone be responsible for its      
geometry4 ,this explanation would       
tempt me if the large oval pieces were  
not accompanied by much    smaller ones1
 also oval1 which are used to fill the  
empty spaces4 ,a    pair of compasses   
which changes its radius of its own     
accord and    alters the curve according
 to the plan before it appears to me an 
instrument somewhat difficult to believe
 in4 ,there must be something    better 
than that4 ,the circular pieces of the  
lid suggest it to us4      8,if1 by the 
mere flexion inherent in her structure1 
the ,leaf-cutter    succeeds in cutting 
out ovals1 how does she manage to cut   
out rounds8    ,can we admit the        
presence of other wheels in the         
machinery for the    new pattern1 so    
different in shape and size8 ,however1  
the real point    of the difficulty does
 not lie there4 ,those rounds1 for the  

most    part1 fit the mouth of the jar  
with almost exact precision4 ,when the  
cell is finished1 the bee flies hundreds
 of yards away to make the    lid4 ,she 
arrives at the leaf from which the disk 
is to be cut4 ,what    picture1 what    
recollection has she of the pot to be   
covered8 ,why1    none at all3 she has  
never seen it2 she does her work        
underground1 in    utter darkness6 ,at  
the utmost1 she can have the indications
 of touch3    not actual indications1 of
 course1 for the pot is not there1 but  
past indications1 useless in a work of  
precision4 ,and yet the disk to    be   
cut out must have a fixed diameter3 if  
it were too large1 it would    not go   
in2 if too small1 it would close badly1 
it would slip down on    the honey and  
suffocate the egg4 ,how shall it be     
given its correct    dimensions without 
a pattern8 ,the bee does not hesitate   
for a moment4    ,she cuts out her disk 
with the same celerity which she would  
display    in detaching any shapeless   

lobe that might do for a stopper2 and   
that disk1 without further measurement1 
is of the right size to fit    the pot4 
,let whoso will explain this geometry1  
which in my opinion    is inexplicable1 
even when we allow for memory begotten  
of touch and    sight40    ,let us add  
that the author calculated that1 to form
 the cells of a  kindred ,megachile1 the
 ,silky ,megachile1 exactly #a1jfd of   
these ellipses  and disks would be      
required2 and they must all be collected
 and shaped  in the course of an        
existence that lasts a few weeks4       
#h    ,who would imagine that the       
,pentatoma1 on the other hand1 the poor 
and  evil-smelling ,wood-bug1 has       
invented a really extraordinary         
apparatus  wherewith to leave the egg8  
,and first let us state that this egg is
  a marvellous little box of snowy      
whiteness1 which our author thus        
describes3      8,the microscope        
discovers a surface engraved with dents 
similar to    those of a thimble and    

arranged with exquisite symmetry4 ,at   
the    top and bottom of the cylinder is
 a wide belt of a dead black2 on    the 
sides1 a large white zone with four big1
 black spots evenly    distributed4 ,the
 lid1 surrounded by snowy cilia and     
encircled with    white at the edge1    
swells into a black cap with a white    
knot in the    centre4 ,altogether1 a   
striking burial urn1 with the sudden    
contrast    between the coal-black and  
the fleecy white4 ,the ,etruscans would 
have    found a magnificent model here  
for their funeral pottery40    ,the     
little bug1 whose forehead is too soft1 
covers her head1 to raise  the lid of   
the box1 with a mitre formed of three   
triangular rods1 which  is always at the
 bottom of the egg at the moment of     
delivery4 ,her limbs  being sheathed    
like those of a mummy1 she has nothing  
wherewith to put  her rods in motion    
except the pulsations produced by the   
rhythmic flow  of blood in her skull and
 acting after the manner of a piston4   

,the  rivets of the lid gradually give  
way2 and1 as soon as the insect is      
free1 it lays aside its mechanical      
helmet4    ,another species of bug1     
,reduvius personatus1 who lives mostly  
in  lumber-rooms1 where she lies hidden 
in the dust1 has invented a still  more 
astonishing system of hatching4 ,here1  
the lid of the egg is not  riveted1 as  
in the case of the ,pentatomae1 but     
simply glued4 ,at the  moment of        
liberation1 the lid rises and we see3   
8444 a spherical vesicle emerge from the
 shell and gradually expand1    like a  
soap-bubble blown through a straw4      
,driven farther and farther    back by  
the extension of this bladder1 the lid  
falls4      8,then the bomb bursts2 in  
other words1 the blister1 swollen beyond
    its capacity of resistance1 rips at 
the top4 ,this envelope1 which is    an 
extremely tenuous membrane1 generally   
remains clinging to the edge    of the  
orifice1 where it forms a high1 white   
rim4 ,at other times1    the explosion  

loosens it and flings it outside the    
shell4 ,in those    conditions1 it is a 
dainty cup1 half spherical1 with torn   
edges1    lengthened out below into a   
delicate1 winding stalk40    ,now1 how  
is this miraculous explosion produced8  
,fabre assumes that3      8,very slowly1
 as the tiny creature takes shape and   
grows1 this    bladder-shaped reservoir 
receives the products of the work of    
respiration performed under the cover of
 the outer membrane4 ,instead    of     
being expelled through the egg-shell1   
the carbonic acid1 the    incessant     
result of the vital oxidization1 is     
accumulated in this    sort of          
gasometer1 inflates and distends it and 
presses upon the lid4    ,when the      
insect is ripe for hatching1 a          
superadded activity in the              
respiration completes the inflation1    
which perhaps has been preparing        
since the first evolution of the germ4  
,at last1 yielding to the    increasing 
pressure of the gaseous bladder1 the lid

 becomes unsealed4    ,the chick in its 
shell has its air-chamber2 the young    
,reduvius has    its bomb of carbonic   
acid3 it frees itself in the act of     
breathing40      #i    ,one would never 
weary of dipping eagerly into these     
inexhaustible  treasures4 ,we imagine1  
for instance1 that1 from seeing cobwebs 
so  frequently displayed in all manner  
of places1 we possess adequate  notions 
of the genius and methods of our        
familiar spiders4 ,far from  it3 the    
realities of scientific observation call
 for an entire volume  crammed with     
revelations of which we had no          
conception4 ,i will simply  name1 at    
random1 the symmetrical arches of the   
,clotho ,spider's nest1  the astonishing
 funicular flight of the young of our   
,garden ,spider1 the  diving-bell of the
 ,water ,spider1 the live telephone-wire
 which connects  the web with the leg of
 the ,cross ,spider hidden in her       
parlour and  informs her whether the    
vibration of her toils is due to the    

capture of  a prey or a caprice of the  
wind4    ,it is impossible1 therefore1  
short of having unlimited space at one's
  disposal1 to do more than touch1 as it
 were with the tip of the  phrases1 upon
 the miracles of maternal instinct1     
which1 moreover1 are  confounded with   
those of the higher manufactures and    
form the bright  centre of the insect's 
psychology4 ,one would1 in the same way1
 require  several chapters to convey a  
summary idea of the nuptial rites which 
constitute the quaintest and most       
fabulous episodes of these new  ,arabian
 ,nights4    ,the male of the ,spanish  
,fly1 for instance1 begins by frenziedly
  beating his spouse with his abdomen   
and his feet1 after which1 with  his    
arms crossed and quivering1 he remains  
long in ecstasy4 ,the  newly-wedded     
,osmiae clap their mandibles terribly1  
as though it were a  matter rather of   
devouring each other2 on the other hand1
 the largest  of our moths1 the ,great  
,peacock1 who is the size of a bat1 when

 drunk  with love finds his mouth so    
completely atrophied that it becomes no 
more than a vague shadow4 ,but nothing  
equals the marriage of the ,green       
,grasshopper1 of which ,i cannot speak  
here1 for it is doubtful whether  even  
,latin possesses the words needed to    
describe it seemingly4    ,all said1 the
 marriage-customs are dreadful and1     
contrary to that  which happens in every
 other world1 here it is the female of  
the pair  that stands for strength and  
intelligence and also for the cruelty   
and tyranny which appear to be their    
inevitable outcome4 ,almost every       
wedding ends in the violent and         
immediate death of the husband4 ,often1 
the bride begins by eating a certain    
number of suitors4 ,the prototype  of   
these fantastic unions could be supplied
 by the ,languedocian  ,scorpions1 who1 
as we know1 carry lobster-claws and a   
long tail  supplied with a sting1 the   
prick of which is extremely dangerous4  
,they  have a prelude to the festival in

 the shape of a sentimental stroll1     
claw in claw2 then1 motionless1 with    
fingers still gripped1 they  contemplate
 each other blissfully1 interminably2   
day and night pass  over their ecstasy1 
while they remain face to face1         
petrified with  admiration4 ,next1 the  
foreheads come together and touch2 the  
mouths--if  we can give the name of     
mouth to the monstrous orifice that     
opens  between the claws--are joined in 
a sort of kiss2 after which the union   
is accomplished1 the male is transfixed 
with a mortal sting and the  terrible   
spouse crunches and gobbles him up with 
gusto4    ,but the ,mantis1 the ecstatic
 insect with the arms always raised in  
an  attitude of supreme invocation1 the 
horrible ,mantis religiosa or  ,praying 
,mantis1 does better still3 she eats her
 husbands 7for the  insatiable creature 
sometimes consumes seven or eight in    
succession7  while they strain her      
passionately to their heart4 ,her       
inconceivable  kisses devour1 not in a  

metaphorical1 but in an appallingly real
  fashion1 the ill-fated choice of her  
soul stomach4 ,she begins with  the     
head1 goes down to the thorax1 nor stops
 till she comes to the  hind-legs1 which
 she deems too tough4 ,she then pushes  
away the  unfortunate remains1 while a  
new lover1 who was quietly awaiting the 
end of the monstrous banquet1 heroically
 steps forward to undergo the  same     
fate4      #aj    ,henri ,fabre is      
indeed the revealer of this new world1  
for1 strange  as the admission may seem 
at a time when we think that we know all
  that surrounds us1 most of those      
insects minutely described in the       
vocabularies1 learnedly classified and  
barbarously christened1 had  hardly ever
 been observed in real life or          
thoroughly investigated in  all the     
phases of their brief and evasive       
appearances4 ,he has devoted  to        
surprising their little secrets1 which  
are the reverse of our  greatest        
mysteries1 fifty years of a solitary    

existence1 misunderstood1  poor1 often  
very near to penury1 but lit up every   
day by the joy  which a truth brings1   
which is the greatest of all human joys4
 ,petty  truths1 ,i shall be told1 those
 presented by the habits of a spider or 
a  grasshopper4 ,there are no petty     
truths to-day2 there is but one truth1  
whose looking-glass1 to our uncertain   
eyes1 seems broken1 though its  every   
fragment1 whether reflecting the        
evolution of a planet or the  flight of 
a bee1 contains the supreme law4    ,and
 these truths thus discovered had the   
good fortune to be grasped  by a mind   
which knew how to understand what they  
themselves can but  ambiguously express1
 to interpret what they are obliged to  
conceal and1  at the same time1 to      
appreciate the shimmering beauty1 almost
 invisible  to the majority of mankind1 
that shines for a moment around all that
  exists1 especially around that which  
still remains very close to nature  and 
has hardly left its primeval sanctuary4 

,to make of these long annals the       
generous and delightful work of         
literature that they are and not the    
monotonous and arid record of  finical  
descriptions and trivial acts that they 
might have been1  various and so to     
speak conflicting gifts were needed4 ,to
 the patience1  the precision1 the      
scientific minuteness1 the protean and  
practical  ingenuity1 the energy of a   
,darwin in the face of the unknown1 to  
the  faculty of expressing what has to  
be expressed with order1 clearness  and 
certainty1 the venerable anchorite of   
,srignan adds many of those  qualities  
which are not to be acquired1 certain of
 those innate good  poetic virtues which
 cause his sure and supple prose1 though
 a trifle  provincial1 a trifle         
antiquated1 a trifle primitive1 to take 
its place  among the excellent prose of 
the day1 prose of the kind that has its 
own atmosphere1 in which we breathe     
gratefully and tranquilly and  which we 
find only in masterpieces4    ,lastly1  

there was needed--and this was not the  
least requirement of  the work--a mind  
ever ready to cope with the riddles     
which1 among  those little objects1 rise
 up at every step as enormous as those  
which  fill the skies and perhaps more  
numerous1 more imperious and more       
strange1 as though nature had here given
 a freer scope to her last  wishes and  
an easier outlet to her secret thoughts4
 ,fabre shrinks from  none of those     
boundless problems which are            
persistently put to us by  all the      
inhabitants of that tiny world where    
mysteries are heaped up  in a denser and
 more bewildering fashion than in any   
other4 ,he thus  meets and faces1 turn  
by turn1 the redoubtable questions of   
instinct  and intelligence1 of the      
origin of species1 of the harmony or the
  accidents of the universe1 of the life
 lavished upon the abysses of  death1   
without counting the no less vast1 but  
so to speak more human  problems which1 
among infinite others1 are inscribed    

within the  range1 if not within the    
grasp1 of our intelligence3             
parthenogenesis2  the prodigious        
geometry of the wasps and bees2 the     
logarithmic spiral  of the snail2 the   
antennary sense2 the miraculous force   
which1 in  absolute isolation1 without  
the possible introduction of anything   
from  the outside1 increases the volume 
of the ,minotaurus' egg tenfold1  where 
it lies1 and1 during seven to nine      
months1 nourishes with an  invisible and
 spiritual food1 not the lethargy1 but  
the active life of  the scorpion and of 
the young of the ,lycosa and the ,clotho
 ,spider4 ,he  does not attempt to      
explain them by one of those            
generally-acceptable  theories1 such as 
that of evolution1 which merely shifts  
the ground  of the difficulty and which1
 ,i may say in passing1 emerges from    
these  volumes in a somewhat sorry      
plight1 after being sharply confronted  
with  incontestable facts4      #aa     
,waiting for chance or a god to         

enlighten us1 he is able1 in the        
presence of the unknown1 to preserve    
that great religious and  attentive     
silence which is dominant in the best   
minds of the day4 ,there  are those who 
say3    8,now that you have reaped a    
plentiful harvest of details1 you should
  follow up analysis with synthesis and 
generalize the origin of instinct  in an
 all-embracing view40    ,to these he   
replies1 with the humble and magnificent
 loyalty that  illumines all his work3  
8,because ,i have stirred a few grains  
of sand on the shore1 am ,i in a        
position to know the depths of the      
ocean8      8,life has unfathomable     
secrets4 ,human knowledge will be erased
 from    the archives of the world      
before we possess the last word that a  
,gnat    has to say to us4444           
8,success is for the loud talkers1 the  
self-convinced dogmatists2    everything
 is admitted on condition that it be    
noisily proclaimed4    ,let us throw off
 this sham and recognize that1 in       

reality1 we    know nothing about       
anything1 if things were probed to the  
bottom4    ,scientifically1 ,nature is a
 riddle without a definite solution to  
satisfy man's curiosity4 ,hypothesis    
follows on hypothesis2 the              
theoretical rubbish-heap accumulates2   
and truth ever eludes us4 ,to    know   
how not to know might well be the last  
word of wisdom40    ,evidently1 this is 
hoping too little4 ,in the frightful    
pit1 in the  bottomless funnel wherein  
whirl all those contradictory facts     
which  are resolved in obscurity1 we    
know just as much as our cave-dwelling  
ancestors2 but at least we know that we 
do not know4 ,we survey the  dark faces 
of all the riddles1 we try to estimate  
their number1 to  classify their varying
 degrees of dimness1 to obtain an idea  
of their  position and their extent4    
,that already is something1 pending the 
day of the first gleams of light4 ,in   
any case1 it means doing in the         
presence of the mysteries all that the  

most upright intelligence can do        
to-day2 and that is what the author of  
this incomparable ,iliad does1  with    
more confidence than he professes4 ,he  
gazes at them attentively4  ,he wears   
out his life in surprising their most   
minute secrets4 ,he  prepares for them1 
in his thoughts and in ours1 the field  
necessary for  their evolutions4 ,he    
increases the consciousness of his      
ignorance in  proportion to their       
importance and learns to understand more
 and more  that they are                
incomprehensible4                       
,,evil-,,speaking          ,,ix         
,,evil-,,speaking      #a    8,see no   
evil1 hear no evil1 speak no evil10 say 
the three sacred  monkeys carved over   
the gate of the ,buddhist temple of     
,iyeyasu at ,nikko4    ,we all of us    
speak ill of one another3      8,no     
one10 ,pascal remarks1 8speaks of us in 
our presence as he does in    our       
absence4 ,the union that exists among   
men is based solely on this    mutual   

deceit2 and few friendships would       
survive if each knew what    his friend 
says when he is not there1 though he be 
speaking of him in    all sincerity and 
without passion4      8,i lay it down as
 a fact that1 if all men knew what they 
say of one    another1 there would not  
be four friends in this world40    ,if  
you do away with evil-speaking1 you do  
away with three-fourths of  our         
conversation2 and an unbearable silence 
will hover over every  gathering4       
,evil-speaking or calumny--for it is    
extremely difficult to  separate the two
 sisters2 and in reality any            
evil-speaking is likely to  be          
calumnious1 inasmuch as we know others  
even less well than we know             
ourselves--evil-speaking1 which feeds   
all that creates disunion between  men  
and poisons their intercourse1 is       
nevertheless the chief motive  that     
brings them together and enables them to
 enjoy the pleasures of  society4       
,but the ravages which it wreaks all    

around us are too well-known and  have  
too often been described to make it     
necessary for us to portray  them once  
again4 ,let us here consider only the   
harm which it does to  him who indulges 
in it4 ,it accustoms him to see only the
 petty sides  of men and things2 little 
by little it conceals from him the bold 
outlines1 the great unities1 the heights
 and depths containing the only  truths 
that count and endure4    ,in reality1  
the evil which we find in others1 the   
evil which we speak  of them1 exists    
within ourselves3 from ourselves we     
derive it2 upon  ourselves it recoils4  
,we perceive clearly only those defects 
which are  ours1 or which we are on the 
point of acquiring4 ,within ourselves is
  kindled the evil flame whose          
reflection we perceive on others4 ,each 
of  us diligently searches out1 among   
those who surround him1 the vice or  the
 defect that reveals to the             
clear-sighted the vice or the defect  to
 which he himself is thrall4 ,there is  

no more ingenuous or intimate           
confession1 even as there is no better  
examination of conscience1 than  to ask 
one's self3    8,what is the fault which
 ,i most willingly impute to my         
neighbour80    ,you may be sure that    
this is the fault which you are most    
inclined to  commit and that you most   
readily see what is happening in the    
shallows  to which you yourself are     
descending4 ,he who speaks ill of others
 is1  in short1 merely his own traducer2
 and evil-speaking is1 in essence1  but 
the story of our own falls1 transposed  
or anticipated4      #b    ,we surround 
ourselves with all the evil that we     
attribute to the  victims of our gossip4
 ,it takes form at our own expense2 it  
lives  and feeds upon the best of our   
substance2 it accumulates all about  us1
 peopling and encumbering our atmosphere
 with phantoms1 at first  grotesque1    
inconsistent1 docile1 timid and         
ephemeral1 which gradually  become      
persistent1 add to their strength and   

stature1 speak with louder  voice and   
develop into very real and imperious    
entities which ere long  will issue     
orders and assume the direction of most 
of our thoughts and  actions4 ,we are   
less and less masters in our own houses2
 we feel our  character slowly sapped of
 its strength2 and we find ourselves    
sooner  or later enclosed within a sort 
of enchanted circle which it is all but 
impossible to break1 a circle in which  
we no longer know whether we are        
defaming our brethren because we are    
growing as bad as they1 or whether  we  
are growing bad because we defame them4 
#c    ,we should accustom ourselves to  
judge all men as we judge the heroes  of
 this war4 ,it is certain that1 if any  
one had the pitiful courage to          
undertake their belittlement1 he would  
find1 in any gathering of these  men1   
almost as many vices1 pettinesses or    
blemishes as in any human  gathering    
chosen at random in any town or village4
 ,he would tell you  that it contained  

hopeless drunkards1 unscrupulous        
libertines1 uncouth1  narrow and greedy 
peasants1 mean and rapacious            
shopkeepers1 callous1  lewd and cheating
 artisans1 sordid1 envious clerks and1  
among young men  of better birth1 idle1 
presumptuous1 selfish and arrogant      
wastrels4  ,he would add that many of   
them did their duty only because there  
was  no way of avoiding it2 that they   
went forward1 despite themselves1  to   
brave a death which they hoped to       
escape1 because they well knew  that    
they could not escape the death which   
would threaten them if they  refused to 
face the first4 ,he might say all this  
and many other things  which would      
appear more or less true2 but there is  
something far more  true1 which is the  
great and magnificent truth that enfolds
 and uplifts  all the rest3 it is the   
thing which they really did2 it is the  
fact  that they willingly offered       
themselves to death in order to         
accomplish  what they regarded as a     

duty4 ,it cannot be denied3 if all those
 who  had vices and imperfections and   
the desire to shun danger had refused   
to accept the sacrifice1 no force in the
 world could have compelled  them to it2
 for they would represent a force at    
least equal to that  which would have   
sought to impel them4 ,we must therefore
 believe that  these imperfections1     
these vices1 these ignoble desires were 
very  superficial and in any case       
incomparably less powerful and less     
deeply  rooted than the great flood of  
feeling which carried all before it4    
,and this is why1 when we think of those
 dead or mutilated heroes1 the  petty   
thoughts which ,i have described do not 
even enter our minds4 ,and  it is right 
that this should be so4 ,in the heroic  
whole they count  for no more than      
rain-drops in the ocean4 ,all has been  
swept away1  all has been made equal by 
sacrifice1 suffering and death1 in the  
one  untarnished beauty4    ,but let us 
not forget that it is almost the same   

with all men2 and  that these heroes    
were not of a different nature from the 
neighbour  whom we are incessantly      
villifying4 ,death has purified and     
consecrated  them2 but we are all of us 
daily in the presence of the sacrifice1 
the  suffering and1 above all1 the death
 which will purify and consecrate  us in
 our turn4 ,we are almost all subject to
 the same ordeals which1  because they  
are less frequent and less glorious1    
appeal no less to the  same profound    
virtues2 and1 if so many men1 chosen at 
hazard from among  us1 have proved      
themselves worthy of our admiration1 it 
is because1  after all1 we are doubtless
 better than we seem2 for1 while those  
others mingled in our life1 even they   
did not appear to be much better  than  
ourselves4          ,,of ,,gambling     
,x    ,,of ,,gambling      #a    ,paulo 
minora4 ,this essay1 ,i need hardly say1
 consists of notes made  before the war 
and put in order now1 at a time when    
victory allows our  thoughts to stray   

for a moment from the great tragedy in  
which the  destinies of mankind have    
been at stake4 ,for the rest1 the       
subject1  however frivolous it may at   
first sight appear1 sometimes touches or
  seems to touch problems which it is   
not unfitting to examine1 were  it only 
to realize that they are perhaps        
illusive4 ,moreover it is  unfortunately
 probable that1 when peace is restored1 
our allies will  visit in too numerous  
and confiding crowds the dubious havens 
of  delight which we are about to enter4
 ,i have no pretension to serve them  as
 a guide nor to teach them how to fight 
against the whims of fortune2  but a    
handful of them may find in these lines1
 if not useful hints or  profitable     
advice1 at least some few reflections or
 observations which  will pave the way  
for their own experiments or render them
 easier4      #b    ,let us then pay a  
last visit to one of those green tables 
which spread  their length in the       
somewhat disreputable place of which ,i 

have written  elsewhere#b as the        
8,temple of ,chance40 ,to-day ,i would  
rather call  it the ,factory of ,chance1
 for it is here that1 for more than half
 a  century1 without respite or repose1 
on weekdays1 ,sundays and holidays      
alike1 daily from ten o'clock in the    
morning till twelve o'clock at  night1  
with croupiers unintermittently         
relieving one another1 men have         
obstinately manufactured ,chance and    
doggedly consulted the formless and     
featureless god that shrouds good luck  
and ill within his shadow4    ,we do not
 yet know what he is nor what he wants2 
we are not even sure  that he exists2   
but surely it would be astonishing if no
 result of any  kind1 no clue to the    
tantalizing puzzle1 had emerged from    
this endless  effort1 the most gigantic1
 the most costly1 the most methodical   
that  has ever been made on the brink of
 this gloomy abyss1 if nothing had  been
 born of all this furious work1 however 
trivial1 however unhealthy  and useless 

it may appear4    ,in any case1 at these
 tables1 as at all places where passions
 become  intensified1 we are able to    
make interesting observations and1 among
  other things1 to behold at first hand1
 violently foreshortened and  harshly   
illuminated1 certain aspects of man's   
lifelong struggle with  the unknown4    
,the drama1 which as a rule is long     
drawn out1 projecting  itself into space
 and time and breaking up amid          
circumstances that  escape our eyes1 is 
here knit together1 gathered into a     
ball1 held1  so to speak1 in the hollow 
of the hand4 ,but1 for all its speed1   
its  abruptness of movement and its     
extreme compression1 it remains as      
complex and mysterious as those which go
 on indefinitely4 ,until the  ivory ball
 that rolls and hops around the wheel   
falls into its red or  black            
compartment1 the unknown veiling its    
choice or its destiny is as             
impenetrable as that which hides from us
 the choice or the destiny of  the      

stars4 ,the movements of the planets can
 be calculated almost to a  second2 but 
no mathematical operation can measure or
 predict the course  of the little white
 ball4    ,your most skilful players1   
indeed1 have given up trying4 ,not one  
of  them any longer seriously relies on 
intuition1 presentiment1 second  sight1 
telepathy1 psychic forces or the        
calculation of probabilities  in the    
attempt to foresee or determine the fall
 of a destiny no larger  than a         
hazel-nut4 ,all the scientific part of  
human knowledge has  failed2 and all the
 occult and magical side of that same   
knowledge has  been equally             
unsuccessful4 ,the mathematicians1 the  
prophets1 the seers1  the sorcerers1 the
 sensitives1 the mediums1 the           
psychometrists1 the  spiritualists who  
call upon the dead for assistance1 all  
alike are  blind1 confounded and        
impotent before the wheel and before    
,destiny's  thirty-seven compartments4  
,here ,chance reigns supreme2 and       

hitherto1  though it all happens before 
our eyes1 though it is repeated to      
satiety  and may be held1 let me say    
once more1 in the hollow of our hand1 no
  one has yet been able to determine a  
single one of its laws4      #c    ,yet 
such laws seem to exist2 and thousands  
of players have ruined  themselves in   
following their forms or their elusive  
and deceptive  traces4 ,let us take a   
bundle of those records or permanences1 
published at ,monte ,carlo1 which give  
day by day the list of  all the numbers 
that have come up at one of the roulette
 or  trente-et-quarante tables4 ,as     
everybody knows1 these numbers are      
arranged in long parallel columns1 the  
black on the left and the red  on the   
right4 ,when we look at one of these    
sheets1 containing as a  rule ten       
columns of sixty-five numbers each--dead
 and harmless cyphers  now1 though once 
so dangerous1 once destructive of so    
many hopes and  perhaps inspiring more  
than one disaster--we observe a tendency

 towards  a fairly perceptible          
equilibrium between the red and the     
black4 ,most  often the two chances     
balance each other1 singly or in little 
groups1  a black1 a red1 two blacks1    
three reds1 three blacks1 two reds and  
so  on4 ,when we come upon a series of  
five1 six1 seven1 eight1 sometimes      
eight1 nine1 ten1 eleven1 twelve        
consecutive blacks1 we are almost       
certain of finding not far away a       
compensating series of five1 six1       
seven1 eight or ten reds4 ,there is a   
very real rhythm1 a sort of  breathing  
or a cadenced movement to and fro of the
 mysterious creature  which we call     
,chance4 ,this rhythm or balance is     
moreover confirmed by  the final        
statistics of the day1 from which we    
learn that1 in a total  of six hundred  
and so many spins of the ball1 the      
difference between  the black and the   
red very seldom exceeds twenty or       
thirty2 and this  difference is even    
smaller in the total for the week1 that 

is to say1  in a total of nearly five   
thousand spins1 when it is usually      
reduced to  a few units4      #d    ,the
 monster has other strange habits4 ,we  
see1 for instance1 that it is  not      
uncommon for a number to come up twice  
in succession2 and it is  undeniable    
that1 in each day's play1 two or three  
numbers are obviously  favoured1 so much
 so that we may hurl out a challenge to 
logic and  declare that the more        
frequently a number occurs the more     
chances it  has of reappearing4 ,this   
seems to conflict with the law of       
equilibrium  which we have remarked2 but
 it must be observed that this          
equilibrium  will be recovered later1   
that by the end of the week the         
difference  will no longer be very great
 and that they will almost disappear    
when  the month is over4 ,the           
equilibrium is more slowly restored     
because we  must multiply the number of 
series by eighteen and a half to reach  
the  proportions of the even chances4   

,players note yet another law which1 for
 that matter1 is but a corollary  of the
 former habit1 but which has something  
curiously human about it3  the chances  
which lag behind show a greater         
eagerness to regain their  lost ground  
at the moment that follows more or less 
closely upon a  halt1 as though they had
 recovered their breath after a brief   
rest on  the landing of a staircase4    
,let us add at once that it is wise to  
distrust these fluctuating habits  and  
these gropings after laws4 ,for         
instance1 red has been known to beat    
black by seventy per cent4 in the course
 of a day's play4 ,black1 on  the other 
hand1 as people still remember at ,monte
 ,carlo1 one day came  up twenty-nine   
times in succession and the second dozen
 twenty-eight  times without a break4   
,chance has not our nerves2 it is not1  
like us1  impatient to make good its    
losses or to carry off its gains4 ,it   
takes  its time1 awaits its hour and    
does not trouble to keep step with our  

ways of life4      #e    ,players as a  
rule attribute these habits or caprices 
to a trick of the  croupier's hand4     
,this is hardly tenable4 ,after all1 we 
know how the  thing is done4 ,the ball  
drops into its compartment and the      
croupier  announces1 for instance3      
8#ac1 black1 impair and manque40    ,the
 losses are raked in1 the winnings are  
paid out1 the players renew  their      
stakes1 there is sometimes a brief      
dispute1 somebody asks for  change and  
so on4 ,these operations vary a good    
deal in length2 and  all this time the  
wheel carrying the ball is making       
hundreds of  revolutions4 ,the croupier 
stops it at last1 takes the ball1       
reverses  the wheel and sends the ball  
spinning in the opposite direction4 ,it 
is  impossible under these conditions   
for his particular trick of the hand  to
 exercise any influence whatever4       
,besides1 we can easily see from  the   
chart of the permanences that the change
 of croupier does not  perceptibly      

affect the rhythm of the even chances4  
,it is not the man  who controls the    
rhythm but the rhythm that controls the 
man4      #f    ,these gropings after   
laws in what would seem a negation of   
all or any  law2 these strivings on the 
part of ,chance to quit its own domain  
and to organize its chaos2 this god who 
denies himself and seeks to  destroy    
himself by his own hand2 these          
incomprehensible stammerings1  these    
awkward efforts to achieve utterance and
 assume consciousness are  rather       
curious1 we must admit4 ,for the rest1  
it is these efforts1 these  hankerings  
after equilibrium1 this embryonic rhythm
 that constitute  the gamblers' good and
 bad luck4 ,if ,chance were simply      
,chance as we  conceive it on first     
principles1 one would stake any sum     
anyhow and  at any moment4 ,i am well   
aware that1 according to the most       
learned  theorists on roulette1 each    
coup is independent of all the others   
and begins as if nothing had happened   

before1 as if nothing were to  happen   
afterwards1 as if the table were fresh  
from the shop1 the wheel  from the      
factory and the croupier from the hands 
of ,god4 ,in theory  this is quite      
accurate2 but we have just seen that in 
practice it does  not seem to be so4    
,for that matter1 it seems impossible to
 explain the  reason4 ,players are      
satisfied to observe the fact1 while    
yielding to  a dangerous but very human 
tendency to exaggerate the scope and the
  certainty of their observations4      
,they are too ready to see laws where   
there is only a mass of  coincidences as
 fleeting as clouds4 ,it is of course   
necessary that  the reds and blacks1    
emerging successively from nowhere1     
should find  a place somewhere and form 
certain groups2 and1 if it is rather    
surprising that at the end of the month 
their numbers are nearly equal1  it     
would be no less surprising if one of   
the colours were to prevail  largely    
over the other4 ,it is perfectly true   

that1 at first sight1 the  reds and     
blacks seem to balance on the permanence
 sheets2 but it is  also true that1 when
 we examine more closely1 a series of   
five or six  reds1 for instance1        
interrupted by one or two blacks1 not   
infrequently  begins a fresh run2 and   
ill-luck may well have it that1 at this 
moment1  the player1 in his search for  
equilibrium1 will start punting on the  
black and in a few coups behold the     
disappearance of all the winnings       
slowly and laboriously wrested from     
,chance1 which is niggardly when one  is
 winning and extremely generous--to the 
bank--when one is losing4 ,for  that    
matter1 he will suffer the same         
disappointment if he bets on the        
variation1 in other words1 against the  
equilibrium1 and will too often         
discover that these laws1 when he puts  
his trust in them1 are writ in  water1  
whereas they seem to be graven in bronze
 so soon as they betray  him4      #g   
,in order to profit by these laws1 which

 are perhaps fallacious and in  any case
 untrustworthy1 and to secure himself   
against their treachery1  he has        
contrived a host of ingenious systems   
which sometimes enable him  to win but  
most often merely retard his ruin4      
,but1 before speaking of these systems1 
let us begin by saying that  we shall   
concern ourselves here only with the    
even chances1 red or  black1 pair or    
impair1 passe or manque4 ,these are     
sufficiently  complicated in themselves 
and set us problems that would be enough
  to exhaust all the shrewdness of a    
human life4 ,as for any other than  the 
even chances1 en plein1  cheval1        
transversales1 carrs1  douzaines and so 
forth1 these1 both in theory and in     
practice1 escape  all control1          
calculation or explanation4    ,whatever
 system he adopt1 the gambler is always 
tossing heads or tails  against the     
bank4 ,he has a chance and the bank has 
a chance2 but zero  gives the bank odds 
against him2 and1 though zero is        

apparently a very  mild tax1 since at   
rouge-et-noir in thirty-six chances the 
bank has  only half a chance more than  
the player1 it is bound to be ruinous in
  the end4 ,to escape the abruptness of 
a decision which1 if he placed  all that
 he possessed on the red or the black1  
would end the game at a  single stroke1 
the player divides his stake1 so as to  
be able to defy a  large number of      
chances1 hoping that1 thanks to a       
skilfully graduated  progression1 he    
will end by lighting on a favourable    
series in which  the gains will exceed  
the losses4 ,this is the underlying     
principle of  all the systems1 which are
 never anything but more or less        
ingenious1  prudent and complicated     
martingales4 ,there are not1 there never
 will be  any others1 in the absence of 
a miracle which has not yet occurred1 of
  an intuition which foresees what the  
ball will decide1 or of an unknown      
force which will oblige it to act as a  
player wishes4      #h    ,i have no    

intention of reviewing all these        
systems1 which are  innumerable and of  
unequal value3 the paroli pure and      
simple1 that  artless1 violent1 doubled 
stake which leads straight to disaster2 
the ,d',alembert and all its variants2  
the descending progressions2 the        
differential methods2 the montant belge2
 the parolis intermittents2  the        
snowball2 the photographie2 the staking 
of equal amounts on  certain groups of  
figures1 which is a ,chinese puzzle     
demanding days  of patient observation  
before it is attacked2 and many others  
which ,i  forget1 from the most         
clear-cut to the most mysterious1 which 
are sold  at a high price1 to credulous 
beginners1 in sealed envelopes          
containing  what is everybody's secret  
and with all or nearly all of which ,i  
have become acquainted thanks to the    
kindness of an erudite player4  ,a      
detailed account of those most          
frequently used will be found in        
,d',albigny's treatise ,les ,martingales

 modernes1 in ,gaston ,vessillier's     
,thorie des systmes gomtriques1 in      
,hulmann's ,trait des jeux  dits de     
hasard1 in ,tho d',alost's ,thorie      
scientifique nouvelle des  jeux de la   
roulette1 trente-et-quarante1 etc41 and1
 above all1 in the  ,revue de ,monte    
,carlo1 which has given a system in     
every issue since  the day of its       
foundation some fifteen years ago4      
,whether mystic or transparent1 all     
these methods present more or less  the 
same dangers1 being all founded on the  
quicksands of equilibrium  and temporary
 disturbance4 ,if they are very         
cautious1 the loss is  trifling1 but the
 gain is still smaller2 if they are     
bold1 the gain is  great1 but the loss  
is two or three times greater4 ,the best
 of them1  in order to continue the     
defence of a moderate stake and of what 
has  already been sacrificed1 involve   
the risking on the cloth1 at a given    
moment1 of all the previous winnings1   
which are soon followed by the  sums    

held in reserve4 ,this is the inevitable
 revenge of the bank1 at  which you     
thought that you were nibbling with     
impunity1 but which  suddenly opens wide
 its jaws1 like a blind and drowsy      
crocodile1 and  swallows profits and    
capital at a single gulp4      #i       
,the players hearten themselves by      
maintaining that they have an           
incontestable advantage over the bank4  
,they begin to play1 they 8punt0  when  
they like and as they like and they     
withdraw when they please1  whereas the 
bank is compelled to play without       
stopping1 to accept every  stake and to 
meet every coup up to the limit of the  
maximum1 which1  as we know1 is six     
thousand francs on the even chances4    
,this advantage  is a real one if the   
player1 after winning a big sum1 goes   
away and  does not come back again4 ,but
 the lucky gambler1 even more infallibly
  than the one who has no luck1 will    
return to the enchanted table and  in so
 doing loses the only elective weapon   

that he had against his  enemy4 ,to     
choose your time for punting is but an  
illusory privilege1  because everything1
 at any moment1 is equally shifting and 
uncertain2  and you never know          
beforehand when the precarious and      
deceptive law of  equilibrium will      
reassert itself4 ,after a long sequence 
of blacks1 you  wager on a fine series  
of reds1 a certain run1 you would say2  
but no  sooner have you staked your     
money than the series gives up the ghost
  and remorseless black resumes its     
devastating course2 or else you do  the 
opposite3 you bet on black and it is red
 that settles down for a  run4 ,at      
whatever moment you start punting1 you  
are always fighting  red against black1 
that is to say1 one to one4 ,once more1 
the only  real advantage is that you can
 go away when you like2 but where is the
  gambler1 whether losing or winning1   
who is able to go away and not come     
back8      #aj    ,after mature         
examination1 all these systems merely   

carve the brutal  and crushing mass of  
luck into small pieces4 ,they act as a  
defensive  padding against the blows of 
,chance1 making them less grave4 ,they  
prolong the player's life or his agony4 
,they enable the owner of a  modest     
purse to stake as often as the          
multimillionaire1 who would  confine    
himself to betting double or quits      
indefinitely1 if he were  not stopped by
 the fatal barrier of the maximum4 ,but 
all mathematical  operations1 all       
combinations of figures flutter and     
struggle like  blind captives between   
bronze walls4 ,they merely dash         
themselves  in vain against these walls1
 whether black or red3 both remain      
invulnerable and impregnable2 and from  
their imprisoning embrace there  is no  
escape4      #aa    ,does this mean that
 there is no such thing as a defensible 
method  and that the most skilful       
calculations have not revealed a means  
of  defeating ,chance8 ,in theory1 ,i   
cannot bring myself to believe that     

baseless calculations will ever do what 
they have not done up to the  present4  
,it is none the less true that1 in      
practice1 we come upon  some which      
struggle with fair success against      
ill-luck4 ,for instance1  a friend of   
mine1 a ,british officer1 has a system  
which he has been  using for a long time
 and which yields astonishing results4  
,it is1 of  course1 a progression1 the  
whole of whose virtue lies in an        
ingenious  and very simple key that     
seems to act as a sort of talisman4 ,i  
have  not found this method in any of   
either the recognized or the catchpenny 
treatises4 ,it has its dangers1 like the
 others2 it has its difficult  moments1 
when1 to save your anticipated profits  
and your earlier  losses1 you have to   
risk a rather large amount4 ,but1 if you
 prudently  stop playing during runs    
which are too obstinately hostile1 if   
you  allow the storm to pass as it      
spreads over a large number of chances1 
you end by obtaining the necessary      

compensation4 ,at any rate1 it has      
never seriously failed my friend so far4
      #ab    ,nevertheless it must not  
be supposed that we have only to use    
this  system blindly and automatically4 
,as with other systems1 a certain       
science1 a certain experience1 a certain
 deftness are indispensable4  ,though   
science and experience are evasive      
qualities here1 fugitive and  at the    
mercy of ,chance1 they are by no means  
illusory4 ,the careful and  experienced 
player understands how to approach and  
nurse his luck1 or  at least how not to 
thwart it4 ,he guesses the beginning and
 the end  of a favourable series4 ,he   
foresees alternations and               
intermittences2  and1 when he does not  
succeed in grasping their rhythm1 he    
prefers  to abstain from playing1 rather
 than encounter them inopportunely4  ,he
 makes more than one mistake1 but makes 
far fewer than those who1  faithful to  
the very scientific theory of the       
absolute independence of  each coup1    

back either colour at any moment4 ,he   
does not surrender  to the fixed        
rigidity of logic1 he does not throw the
 gauntlet down to  fate1 he does not    
defy the animosity of fortune4 ,he is   
never obstinate4  ,he does not struggle 
on1 sullenly1 to his last coin1 against 
an  iniquitous run1 in order to gain the
 bitter satisfaction of learning  the   
utmost depths of his ill-luck and the   
injustice of fate4 ,he has  no          
self-conceit1 no prejudices1 no         
inflexible opinions4 ,he is docile1     
plastic and accommodating4 ,devoid of   
all false shame1 he cheerfully  abandons
 his pretensions and pays court to      
fortune4 ,he retraces his  steps and    
retracts at fitting times4 ,he stops1   
starts afresh1 yields1  tacks about1    
allows himself to be borne upon the tide
 and comes safely  to harbour1 while the
 arrogant1 overbold and headstrong pilot
 founders  in deep water4    ,beyond all
 else1 he studies the character and     
temper of the table at  which he takes  

his seat1 for each table has its        
psychology1 its habits1  its history1   
which vary from day to day and yet by   
the end of the year  form a homogeneous 
whole wherein all temporary errors1 all 
anomalies  and injustices are           
compensated4 ,the question is to know on
 what page  of this history he should   
prepare to play his part4 ,he will not  
learn  this at once4 ,it is of little   
use for him to peep at the notes and    
permanences of the players who have come
 before him4 ,what he wants is  the     
immediate contact1 the very breath of   
the hidden god4 ,but the god  is already
 thrilling into life1 taking shape and  
countenance1 giving  a whispered hint of
 his intentions1 speaking words of      
approval or  condemnation2 and the      
tragic struggle begins between the      
player1 so  infinitely small1 and       
,chance1 so enormous and omnipotent4    
#ac    ,now that the battle is joined1  
now that the player has done what he    
could to summon and welcome luck1 there 

is nothing left for him to do  but wait2
 for luck1 when all is said1 will remain
 the supreme power  that pronounces the 
final verdict1 the formidable and       
inevitable  unknown factor in every     
combination4 ,the best of systems cannot
  overcome an abnormal and pitiless run 
of bad luck which makes you stake       
incessantly on the losing colour4 ,a run
 like this1 without favourable          
intermittences1 is extremely rare but   
always possible4 ,it corresponds1  for  
that matter1 with the extraordinary     
strokes of good luck1 which  seem more  
frequent only because they attract more 
attention4 ,from time  to time we see a 
man1 or rather let me say a woman--for  
it is nearly  always female players who 
have these inspirations--walk up to the 
table and with a high hand and not the  
least hesitation gamble en  plein or en 
cheval1 on a transversale or carr1 and  
win time  after time1 as though she saw 
beforehand where the ball would fall4   
,these moments of intuition are always  

very brief2 and1 if the player  insists 
or grows stubborn1 she will soon lose   
whatever she has won4  ,it is none the  
less true that1 when we observe this    
very obvious and  striking phenomenon1  
we wonder whether there is not something
 more in  it than mere coincidence4     
,when all is said1 can luck be anything 
other  than a passing and dazzling      
intuition of what will flash into       
actuality  before everybody's eyes a    
second later8 ,is not the compartment   
which  does not yet contain the little  
ball1 but which in an instant will snap 
it up and hold it1 is not this          
compartment already1 somewhere1 a thing 
of the present and even of the past8    
,but these are questions which  would   
lead us too far afield in space and     
time4      #ad    ,be this as it may1 to
 return to the system of which we were  
speaking1  even if ,i were at liberty to
 divulge its secret ,i should not do so4
  ,i am not a very austere moralist and 
,i look upon gambling as one of  those  

profoundly human evils which we shall   
never be able to uproot  and which1 for 
all our efforts1 will always reappear in
 a new form4  ,still1 the least that we 
can do is not to encourage it4 ,the     
gambler1 ,i  mean the inveterate1 almost
 professional gambler1 is not           
interesting4  ,to begin with1 he is an  
idler and nearly always a part of the   
world's  flotsam1 with no justification 
for his existence4 ,if he be rich1 he   
is making the most foolish1 the most    
dismal use of his money that can  be    
imagined4 ,if he be poor1 he is even    
less easily to be forgiven3 he  should  
know better than to sacrifice his days  
and too often the welfare  and the peace
 of mind of those dependent on him to a 
will-o'-the-wisp4  ,underlying the      
gambler we find too often a sluggard1 an
 incompetent1  a boneless egoist1 greedy
 of vulgar and unmerited pleasures1 a   
dissatisfied and inefficient individual4
 ,gambling is the stay-at-home1         
imaginary1 squalid1 mechanical1 anmic   

and unlovely adventure of those  who    
have never been able to encounter or    
create the real1 necessary  and salutary
 adventures of life4 ,it is the feverish
 and unhealthy  activity of the wastrel4
 ,it is the purposeless and desperate   
effort of  the debilitated1 who no      
longer possess or never possessed the   
courage  and patience to make the       
honest1 persevering effort1 the         
unspasmodic1  unapplauded effort which  
every human life demands4    ,there is  
also a great deal of puerile vanity     
about the gambler4 ,taken  for all in   
all1 he is a child still seeking his    
place in the universe4  ,he has not yet 
realized his position4 ,he thinks       
himself peerless in the  face of        
destiny4 ,in his self-infatuation he    
expects the unknown or the  unknowable  
to do for him what it does not do for   
any one whomsoever4  ,and he expects    
this for no reason1 simply because he is
 himself and  because others have not   
that privilege4 ,he must tempt fate     

incessantly1  hurriedly1 anxiously1 in  
,i know not what idle and pretentious   
hope of  learning to know himself from  
without4 ,whatever fortune's decision   
may be1 he will find cause for preening 
himself4 ,if he have no luck1  he will  
feel flattered because he is specially  
persecuted by fortune2  if he be lucky1 
he will think all the more highly of    
himself because  of the exceptional     
gifts which she bestows upon him4 ,for  
the rest1 he  does not need to believe  
that he deserves these gifts2 on the    
contrary1  the less right he has to     
them1 the prouder he will be of them2   
and the  unjust and manifestly          
undeserved chance which makes them his  
will form  the best part of the         
vainglorious satisfaction which he will 
contrive  to extract from them4      #ae
    ,it would be extremely surprising1  
,i said when ,i began1 if this          
indefatigable and exhaustive enquiry    
into ,chance1 pursued for over  fifty   
years1 had failed to yield some sort of 

result4 ,i am wondering1  at the end of 
this investigation1 what that result is4
 ,at the cost of  an insane waste of    
money1 time1 physical1 nervous and moral
 energy and  spiritual forces perhaps   
more precious still1 it has taught us   
that  ,chance is in short ,chance1 that 
is to say1 an aggregate of effects      
whereof we do not know the causes4 ,but 
we knew as much as this before2  and our
 new discovery is a little derisory4 ,we
 have seen the shadowy  appearance of   
certain laws or habits from which a few 
players appear  to derive advantage1    
though this advantage is always         
precarious4 ,but  these apparent laws1  
which tend obscurely and uncertainly to 
instil a  little order into ,chance1    
are1 like ,chance itself1 but           
inconsistent  and ephemeral summaries of
 results from unknown causes4 ,upon the 
whole  we have learnt nothing1 unless   
perhaps it be that we were wrong to     
attach greater importance to those      
manifestations of destiny than  they    

possess4 ,if we look at them more       
closely1 we find that there is  nothing 
more behind all these catastrophes and  
all these mysteries of  luck than the   
catastrophe and the mysteries which we  
put there4 ,we link  our fate to the    
fate of a little ball which is not      
responsible for it2  and1 because we    
entrust it for a moment with our        
fortune1 we fondly  imagine that        
mysterious moral powers are bent on     
directing and ending  its course at the 
right or wrong moment4 ,it knows nothing
 of all this2  and1 though the lives of 
thousands of men depended on its fall to
 the  right or the left of the point at 
which it stops1 it would not care4 ,it  
has laws of its own1 which it must obey 
and which are so complex that  we do not
 even try to explain them4 ,it is just a
 little ball1 honestly  seeking the     
little red or black hole in which to go 
to sleep and having  nothing very much  
to tell us of the secrets of a luck or  
destiny which  exist only within        

ourselves4          ,,the ,,riddle ,,of 
,,progress          ,,xi    ,,the       
,,riddle ,,of ,,progress      #a        
,this war1 which is one such as had     
never yet been waged upon this  earth of
 ours1 leads us to consider the great   
problem of the future of  mankind4      
,dare we hope that humanity will one day
 renounce these monstrous  follies and  
that they will become altogether        
impossible8 ,to this  question1 if we   
wish to meet it at its source1 ,i see   
but one reply1  which ,i have already   
given elsewhere and which ,i will here  
recapitulate  and complete1 namely1 that
 we are engulfed in a universe which has
 no  more limit in time than it has in  
space1 which had no beginning1 as it    
will have no end1 and which has behind  
it as many myriads of myriads of  years 
as it discovers ahead of it4            
,yesterday's eternity and to-morrow's   
are precisely identical4 ,all that the  
universe is going to do it must  have   
already done1 for it has had as many    

opportunities of doing so as  it will   
ever have4 ,all the things that it has  
not done are things which  it will never
 be able to do1 because nothing will be 
added1 in space  or time1 to what it has
 already possessed in space or time4 ,it
 has  necessarily made in the past all  
the efforts and all the experiments     
which it will make in the future2 and   
all that has gone before1 having  been  
subject to the same chances1 is perforce
 the same as all that is  to follow4    
#b    ,it is probable1 therefore1 that  
there was once an infinity of worlds    
similar to our own1 even as it is likely
 that there is an infinity of  such     
similar worlds at present1 the infinity 
of space being comparable  with that of 
time4 ,these coincidences1 however      
difficult for us to  picture1 must      
inevitably occur and recur in the       
immeasurable and the  innumerous in     
which we are immersed1 that is1 unless  
the infinity of  possible combinations  
be less unlimited than those of time and

 space4    ,this is where our capacity  
of imagination halts1 for it is easier  
for  us to conceive the infinities of   
space and time than the infinity of     
combinations4 ,to obtain some idea of   
the latter1 we should have to           
understand the substance and the nature1
 the laws and the forces1 in a  word1   
the whole riddle of existence4 ,none the
 less is it true that this  possible    
infinity of combinations is our only    
hope2 without it there  would be nothing
 more to expect of a universe which     
obviously would  have tried and         
exhausted everything before our coming4 
,but1 if this number of combinations is 
really infinite1 it is open to  us to   
say that the earth is an experiment     
which had not yet been made  and an     
experiment which has failed1 since      
suffering and evil have the  upper hand 
of happiness and goodness4 ,if the      
experiment has failed1  we are its      
victims2 but we are not forbidden to    
hope that our efforts  will in some way 

modify combinations which will be more  
fortunate in  other places or at another
 time4 ,if the experiment has failed1 it
 does  not follow that others have not  
succeeded and are not more fortunate1   
at this very moment1 in other worlds    
than ours4 ,we may even suppose  that1  
in the infinity of these combinations   
and experiments1 the most  successful   
tend to become fixed and crystallized   
and that1 in view of  their infinite    
number1 they will bring about           
successfully in the future  what they   
have not brought about successfully in  
the past4 ,this is a  hazardous glimmer2
 but ,i doubt whether any others will be
 discovered to  keep us uplifted above  
despair4      #c    ,let us for a moment
 assume that the experiment of this     
world had not  miscarried as it has2    
that the mind of man1 which1 since the  
beginning1  has been struggling         
painfully against matter and winning but
 a few  brief1 uncertain and precarious 
victories1 were a million times more    

powerful and better-armed4 ,it would no 
doubt have triumphed over all  that     
weighs us down and keeps us where we    
are2 it would have freed  itself from   
the apparently illusory fetters of space
 and time4 ,it is  not unreasonable to  
admit that1 among the myriads of worlds 
which  people the infinite1 there are   
some in which these better conditions   
are realized4 ,perhaps1 after all1 it   
would be impossible to imagine  anything
 that does not exist somewhere in       
reality1 for we may very  rightly       
maintain that our imaginings can be     
nothing more than stray  reflections of 
things that already exist4 ,now1 if we  
lived in one of  those worlds and if we 
could see1 as we should perhaps be      
allowed  to see1 all that is happening  
at this moment on the earth which we    
now inhabit and on others which are     
perhaps even worse and more             
unfortunate1 it seems to us that we     
should know neither rest nor ease  until
 we had intervened and helped to make it

 better and wiser and more  habitable4  
#d    ,for that matter1 no one can tell 
us that this is not so now and that  all
 our spiritual victories1 all that      
seems1 at certain moments1 to  be       
leading us towards a future less hideous
 than the past1 all the  mysterious     
currents of good that sometimes flow    
through our world1 all  that awaits us  
after death1 no one1 ,i say1 can tell us
 that all this is  not due to the       
intervention of one of those worlds4 ,it
 is true that we  cannot perceive the   
act of intervention1 that we are hardly 
sensible  of it2 but it is also true    
that these creatures of a higher world1 
being of necessity less encumbered with 
matter and more spiritual than  we1 must
 necessarily remain invisible to us4 ,in
 the infinity of the  firmament we      
discover myriads of worlds that are     
material worlds like  our own2 and we   
are able to discover only these1 because
 all that does  not more or less closely
 resemble our own world must needs      

escape us4  ,but the space lying between
 the stars1 which to us appears void1 is
  infinitely wider than the space which 
they themselves occupy2 and it  would be
 strange indeed if it were not filled   
with worlds which we  cannot perceive at
 all1 or rather if it were not itself   
one vast world  which our eyes are      
incapable of taking in4    ,it is1      
moreover1 thinkable that1 if we do not  
see these other worlds1  they1 not being
 material worlds1 do not perceive matter
 and are  consequently as unaware of us 
as we are unaware of them2 for we are   
doubtless mistaken in believing that1   
because we are visible to one  another1 
we are necessarily visible to all other 
beings4 ,on the  contrary1 there is     
reason to presume that these spiritual  
beings pass  through us without         
suspecting our presence and that1 as    
they are  conscious and sensible only of
 that which emanates from the spirit1   
they do not suspect or discover our     
existence except in so far as we        

approach the conditions in which they   
exist4      #e    ,consider the earth in
 its origin3 at first1 a shapeless      
nebula1  becoming gradually more and    
more condensed2 next1 a globe of fire1  
of  rocks in fusion1 whirling for       
millions of years through space1 with   
no other object than that of forming    
into a mass and cooling3 an             
inconceivable incandescence1 which none 
of our sources of heat can  enable us to
 picture2 an essential1 scientific1     
absolute barrenness  which may well have
 proclaimed itself irremediable and     
everlasting4  ,who would have thought   
that from these torrents of matter in   
eruption1  which seemed to have         
destroyed for ever all life or the least
 germ of  life1 there would emerge each 
and every form of life itself1 from the 
most enormous1 the strongest1 the most  
enduring1 the most impetuous1  the most 
abundant1 down to the slightest1 the    
least visible1 the most  precarious1 the
 most ephemeral1 the most exiguous8 ,who

 above all could  have dared foresee    
that they would give birth to what seems
 so utterly  alien to the liquefied or  
pasty rocks and metals that alone formed
 the  surface1 the nucleus and the very 
entity of our globe1 ,i mean our human  
intelligence and consciousness8      #f 
,is it possible to imagine a more       
unexpected evolution and ending8  ,what 
could astonish us after so great an     
astonishment and what are  we not       
entitled to hope of a world which1 after
 being what it was1  has produced what  
we see and what we are8 ,considering    
that it started  from a sort of negation
 of life1 from integral barrenness and  
from  worse than nothing1 in order to   
end in us1 where will it not end after  
starting from ourselves8 ,if its birth  
and formation have elaborated  such     
prodigies1 what prodigies may not its   
existence1 its indefinite  prolongation 
and its dissolution hold in store for   
us8 ,there are an  immeasurable distance
 and inconceivable transformations      

between the  one frightful material of  
the early days and the human thought of 
this moment2 and there will doubtless be
 a like distance and like               
transformations as difficult to conceive
 between the thought of this  moment and
 that which will succeed it in the      
infinity of time4    ,it seems as if1 in
 the beginning1 our earth did not know  
what to do  with its material and with  
its force1 which inter-devoured each    
other4  ,in the vast1 flaming void in   
which it was being consumed1 it had not 
yet the shadow of an object or an idea2 
to-day1 it has so many that  our        
scholars wear out their lives to no     
purpose in seeking them and  are        
overwhelmed by the number of its        
mysterious and inexhaustible            
combinations4    ,at that time it       
disposed of but a single force1 the most
 destructive  that we knew1 fire4 ,if   
everything was born of fire1 which      
itself seemed  to be born only to       
destroy1 what will not be born of that  

which seems  to be born only to produce1
 beget and multiply8 ,if it was able to 
do so  much with the lava and the       
red-hot cinders which were the only     
elements  that it possessed1 what will  
it not be able to do with all that it   
will  end by possessing8      #g    ,it 
is well sometimes to tell ourselves that
 we are at least living in a  world     
which has not yet exhausted its future  
and which is much nearer  to its        
beginning than to its end4 ,it was born 
only yesterday and has  but lately      
disentangled its original chaos4 ,it is 
at the starting-point  of its hopes and 
its experiments4 ,we believe that it is 
making for  death1 whereas all its past1
 on the contrary1 shows that it is much 
more probably making for life4 ,in any  
case1 as its years pass by1 the         
quantity and still more the quality of  
the life which it engenders  and        
maintains tend to increase and to       
improve4 ,it has given us only  the     
first-fruits of its miracles2 and in all

 likelihood there is no  more connection
 between what it was and what it is than
 there will be  between what it is and  
what it will be4 ,no doubt1 when its    
greatest  marvels burst into being1 we  
shall no longer possess the lives which 
we possess to-day2 but we shall still be
 there under another form1 we  shall    
still be existing somewhere1 on its     
surface or in its depths2 and  it is not
 utterly improbable that one of its last
 prodigies will reach  us in our dust1  
awaken us and recall us to life1 in     
order to impart to  us at last the share
 of happiness which we had not enjoyed  
and to teach  us that we were wrong not 
to interest ourselves1 on the further   
side of  our graves1 in the destiny of  
this earth of ours1 of which we had     
never  ceased to be the immortal        
offspring4          ,,the ,,two ,,lobes 
,,xii    ,,the ,,two ,,lobes      #a    
,a soldier writes me the following      
letter from the front3      8,there are 
quagmires and skeletons in the forest4  

,i have discovered    and admired the   
ruined gods under the still living and  
wonderful    vegetation3 their spirit   
has evaporated4 ,the odour of ,christ   
has    little charm for me2 ,i prefer   
that of ,buddha4 ,what ,i adore in him  
is the fundamental contradiction that   
seeks to assure us of our    immortality
 by proving our inevitable annihilation4
 ,he taught1    in the same breath1 the 
illusion of the ,ego and its periodical 
reincarnation1 an obvious absurdity     
which implies a knowledge of the        
profoundest truth1 of the very nature of
 being1 at the same time and            
alternately collective and individual4  
,this discovery1 which he did    not    
formulate1 should have led him elsewhere
 than to ,nirvana1 that    paradise of  
unripe fruits4444      8,man is so      
fashioned as to perceive only one half  
of the universe2    and the mind of     
ordinary texture sees barely a          
hemisphere of truth4    ,afflicted with 
a congenital #8nervous headache1'       

humanity thinks with    only one half of
 its brain1 with the eastern lobe or the
 western1 the    ancient or the modern2 
its mind nibbles its own tail2 the      
antinomies    pursue one another in an  
endless circle1 which ,kant believed    
that he    had discovered1 but which    
,buddha had striven to open4 ,he        
possessed    the complementary virtues2 
he was religious and rational2 while he 
summed up within himself the mysticism  
of the east1 his was the most           
scientific of the minds of antiquity1 at
 a time when science did not    exist   
but was merged in philosophy4 ,the      
moderns who have sought to    condense  
into a system the collective and hardly 
initiated effort    of science have     
pitiably failed1 for they have thought  
only as    westerners1 entangled in the 
contradiction of idealistic aspirations 
and materialistic arguments1 whereas    
,buddha's formula might still    and    
almost without breaking down contain    
this gigantic effort and    yet not     

hamper it4 ,from the death of the       
prince-philosopher1 down to    the      
flights of contemporary science1 true   
thought has not advanced    one step2   
,arab or ,christian spiritualism and its
 reagent1 positivist    or scientific   
materialism1 are recoils in contrary    
directions1 false    monisms which1     
taking the extreme for the supreme1 seek
 to fix the    centre of gravity on the 
circumference of the wheel4 ,the        
explorers of    the ,beyond must set out
 from the cross-roads of religious      
synthesis    and scientific analysis and
 drag these rival sisters by the hand4  
8,truth shines at the centre of a circle
 of onlookers and we must pass          
through its flame to recognize a brother
 in the adversary opposite4    ,we must 
reach the centre of space to discern the
 identity of its    cardinal points3    
#8,totum et ,nihil1 ,alter et ,ego4'    
,the longing to    convert others must  
yield to the need of completing and     
balancing    our own point of view4 ,in 

the sacred forest1 which pioneers have  
penetrated on all sides and in all ages1
 the more greatly daring must           
necessarily draw nearer one to the      
other4 ,even if they cannot meet1       
they can hear one another and give one  
another mutual encouragement4    ,the   
most modest cry of discovery may be     
welcome in the solitude and    silence  
in which the truth of the future is     
ripening44440      #b    ,i thought it  
well to preserve this page4 ,it sets    
forth1 in a  remarkable1 though perhaps 
too rapid summary1 two or three of the  
great problems which in reality are only
 one and to which1 unless we  give up   
everything1 we are bound to attempt the 
answer3 the problems  of immortality or 
annihilation1 of flux and reflux1 of    
existence  alternatively collective and 
individual1 of exteriorization and      
interiorization1 which make up the      
mighty cosmic rhythm whereof our  life  
and death are but infinitesimal         
pulsations4      #c    ,but let us begin

 by observing that the fundamental      
contradiction  which seeks to assure us 
of our immortality by proving our       
inevitable  annihilation is not to be   
found in ,buddha and that it is not true
 to  say that he teaches in the same    
breath the illusion of the ,ego and  its
 periodical reincarnation4 ,the doctrine
 of reincarnation is not  ,buddha's4 ,he
 found it ready-made2 it existed before 
him and was so  deeply rooted in his    
people that he does not even dream of   
disputing  it4 ,from the exoteric point 
of view1 he tries only to disarm it1 to 
deprive it of its sting1 to render it   
harmless4 ,he tries to reduce  life to  
the point where it can find nothing     
wherewith to reincarnate  itself4       
,according to the exoteric doctrine1    
which is but a preparation  for esoteric
 truth1 life is naught but suffering2   
and its only aim is  the redemption or  
the extinction of suffering4 ,this      
extinction is  to be found in ,nirvana1 
which is not annihilation but the       

absorption  of the individual into the  
universe4 ,ordinary death1 by reason of 
the perpetual reincarnation of the same 
individual1 cannot suppress  suffering4 
,we must therefore find a sort of       
superdeath1 which makes  any            
reincarnation impossible2 and this      
superdeath can be obtained  only by the 
man who has been striving to die all his
 life long and  who has deliberately cut
 off all the ties that bind him to      
existence3  all love1 all hope1 all     
desire1 all possession4 ,when1 at the   
end of  this systematic and voluntary   
superdeath1 the actual death arrives1 it
  will no longer find a living germ     
capable of achieving reincarnation4     
,this superdeath1 thus obtained1 will   
precede by many centuries or            
millenaries purification1 final         
redemption and the absorption into the  
absolute ,one4    ,it has been said that
 this is exactly the reverse of the     
doctrine of  ,christ4 ,with ,buddha1    
life is only the gate of death2 with    

,christ1 death  is the gate of life4 ,in
 reality1 it is the same thing and      
everything  ends by the absorption into 
the divine1 for the doctrine of ,christ 
is  nothing more than a mutilated branch
 of the great trunk of the mother       
religion4    ,here we have the solution 
offered to us by the most wonderful     
mind1  the greatest sage that humanity  
has ever known2 by one who knew things  
which we no longer know and which1 it   
may be1 we shall never recover4  ,it is 
the foundation of the religion of five  
hundred millions of men4  ,there is     
nothing nearer to the ultimate truth4   
#d    ,let us observe1 however1 that the
 problem of immortality or  annihilation
 ought not to be set in these terms1    
since the word  annihilation cannot be  
employed1 save in a metaphorical sense1 
to  denote a life which we no longer    
comprehend1 seeing that ,nihil or       
nothingness is the one thing whose      
existence is utterly impossible and     
whose non-existence is absolutely       

certain4    ,as for immortality1 here   
again there is ambiguity1 for1 as       
annihilation cannot exist1 immortality  
is inevitable2 and the only  question   
that remains to be solved is whether    
this immortality will  or will not be   
accompanied by some sort of continuance 
of our present  consciousness4    ,but1 
while it is probable that the problem of
 immortality1 more or  less accompanied 
by consciousness1 will long remain in   
suspense1  the answer to the problem of 
the 8nervous headache10 or rather of    
congenital hemiphlegia1 is doubtless    
easier to find4 ,in any case1  it       
occupies a domain which our direct      
investigations are able to  explore4 ,it
 is1 after all1 an historical and       
geographical question4  ,it seems that  
there are in fact in the human brain an 
eastern lobe  and a western lobe1 which 
have never acted at the same time4 ,the 
one  produces1 here1 reason1 science and
 consciousness2 the other secretes1     
yonder1 intuition1 religion and         

subconsciousness4 ,one reflects only    
the infinite and the unknowable2 the    
other is interested only in  what it is 
able to delimit1 in what it may hope to 
understand4 ,they  represent1 employing 
a perhaps imaginary image1 the conflict 
between  the material and the moral     
ideal of humanity4 ,they have more than 
once endeavoured to penetrate each      
other1 to mingle and to work in         
concert2 but the western lobe1 at least 
over the most active part of  the world1
 has hitherto paralysed and almost      
annihilated the efforts of  the other4  
,we are indebted to it for extraordinary
 progress in all the  material sciences1
 but also for such catastrophes as those
 which we are  undergoing to-day1       
catastrophes which1 if we are not       
careful1 will not  be the last nor the  
worst4 ,the time would seem to have come
 to awaken  the paralysed lobe2 but we  
have neglected it so greatly that we no 
longer quite know what it is capable of 
doing4          ,,hope ,,and ,,despair  

,,xiii    ,,hope ,,and ,,despair      #a
    ,the same soldier1 who has become my
 war-time 8god-child10 writes to me     
again3      8,i experience an ineffable 
delight in remaining the average man and
    in professing emptiness4 ,i felt a  
great peace descend within me on    the 
day when ,i resigned myself to the      
common lot1 in other words1    to       
ignorance and death4 ,i have found life 
by renouncing it and1 now    that ,i am 
no longer anything1 ,i feel rich indeed4
 ,do not tempt me in    the direction of
 that subtle spiritual vanity which     
constitutes one    of the most          
formidable obstacles to the final       
liberation from self4    ,proud ,i      
certainly was and ,i am still only too  
much so2 but we cannot    extract       
virtues otherwise than from our vices4  
,more ardently than    when ,i embraced 
the phantom of individual superiority1  
,i stretch    my arms towards           
homogeneous equality1 towards the       
fullness of    vacancy44440      #b     

,he is right2 but he is thinking1 here1 
with the eastern lobe of his  brain1 the
 ,asiatic lobe2 and the philosophy of   
this lobe counsels only  inaction and   
renunciation1 the 8enchantment of the   
disenchanted10 as  ,renan used to say1  
or rather the satisfaction of despair4  
,certainly all  we that see1 all that we
 feel and all that we know pledges us to
 this  despair1 which our               
meditations--above all1 those of this   
same ,asiatic  lobe--may1 for that      
matter1 render very spacious and as     
beautiful1  almost as habitable1 as     
hope4 ,but what do we know1 as compared 
with  what we do not know8 ,we are      
ignorant of all that goes before and of 
all  that comes after us1 in a word1 of 
the whole universe4 ,our despair1  which
 appears at first the last word and the 
last effort of wisdom1 is  therefore    
based upon what we know1 which is       
nothing1 whereas the hope  of those whom
 we believe to be less wise can be based
 upon what we do  not know1 which is    

everything4    ,moreover1 if we would be
 quite just1 there is more than one     
reason for  hoping which we will not    
recall here2 let us confess therefore   
that in  this nothing which we know     
there exists naught but despair and that
  hope can lie only in that everything  
which we do not know4 ,but1 instead  of 
listening only to our eastern lobe1     
which counsels us to accept  this       
inactive ignorance and to bury our lives
 therein1 is it not more  reasonable at 
the same time to set our western lobe to
 work1 the lobe  which seeks to discover
 that everything8 ,it is possible that  
here too1  when all is said1 it will    
find despair2 but it is unlikely1 for we
  cannot imagine a world which would be 
merely an act of despair4 ,now1  if the 
world is not an act of despair1 nothing 
that exists in it has  reason to        
despair4 ,in any case and in the        
meanwhile1 this search will  doubtless  
permit us to hope as long as the world  
exists4      #c    ,one of the most     

dangerous temptations that assail him   
who scrutinizes  nature and who sees1 as
 he advances in his enquiries1 that her 
mysteries become more and more numerous1
 reaching forth unendingly  in every    
direction1 is the temptation to grow    
discouraged by the  impossible task and 
to abandon it4 ,he drops his weapons4   
,on the last  slope of life             
particularly1 he is too much inclined to
 resign himself1  to go no farther      
forward1 to make no further effort1 to  
fall into a  humour of saying1 8,what is
 the good80 and to drop asleep and learn
  nothing more1 since he has learnt that
 he will never know anything4    ,he is 
already sensible of this wish to        
surrender at discretion when he         
considers the humblest1 the lowliest of 
the sciences4 ,what will it be  when he 
attempts to embrace them all8 ,the mind 
goes astray1 becomes  dizzy1 asks to    
close its eyes4 ,it must not close them4
 ,that would be  the basest treachery   
that man could commit4 ,we have no other

 thing to  do in this life of ours than 
to seek to know where we are4 ,we find  
no  other reason for our existence2 we  
have no other duty4 ,not to know  is    
merely vexatious2 no longer to seek to  
know is the supreme1 the  irremediable  
misfortune1 the unpardonable desertion4 
#d    ,yet1 without renouncing1 it is   
not well that we should feed ourselves  
upon too petty illusions4 ,we should    
always keep before our eyes certain     
verities which put us in our place4     
,there is no doubt that we shall  never 
know everything2 and so long as we do   
not know everything we  shall be just as
 though we knew nothing4 ,it is         
extremely possible1 as  the ,rig-,veda  
suggests1 that ,god ,himself1 or the    
first cause1 does not  know everything4 
,it is equally possible that the        
universe has not yet1  in any of its    
parts1 become conscious of itself2 that 
it knows not  whence it came nor whither
 it is going1 what it was nor what it   
will  be1 what it has accomplished nor  

what it is seeking to accomplish2  and1 
on the other hand1 it is probable that1 
if it has not yet learnt  these things1 
it will never learn them1 seeing that1  
as ,i have already  said1 there is no   
reason why it should be able1 in the    
infinity of time  which will come after 
us1 to do what it has not been able to  
do in the  infinity of time which went  
before4      #e    ,if there be a       
consciousness of the universe1 a ,god1  
,he knows all that  ,he should know1 or 
,he will never know it4 ,and1 if ,he    
knows it1 why has  ,he done what ,he has
 done1 which cannot lead to anything1   
seeing that ,he  might already have led 
us where we ought to go8 ,why did ,he   
not prefer  nothingness1 or at least    
that which we call nothingness1 the only
 form  of lasting happiness1 immovable1 
incontestable and comprehensible8    ,we
 could understand1 if need were1 an     
immobile1 immutable1 eternal  universe1 
a finished universe2 but we cannot      
understand a universe  in movement1 or  

one1 at least1 of which all the parts   
that we see are  incessantly in         
movement1 evolving through space and    
time1 a universe  hurling itself at a   
dizzy rate of speed towards an end which
 it will  never attain1 since it has not
 yet attained it4    ,we may say1 to    
console ourselves1 that all despair     
comes only from the  limited nature of  
our purview2 but it is fair to add that 
our purview  limits all hope in the same
 way4          ,,macrocosm ,,and        
,,microcosm          ,,xiv              
,,macrocosm ,,and ,,microcosm      #a   
,the biologists tell us that the human  
embryo repeats1 very rapidly  during the
 early months of its development and    
more slowly during the  later months1   
all the forms of life which preceded man
 upon this earth4    ,the round speck   
which is the germ becomes a hollow      
sphere1 a sort  of sac with a double    
wall1 which is known as the gastrula and
 whose  orifice of invagination1 when it
 closes1 receives the name of the       

blastopore4 ,this is protozoic life1 the
 as yet gelatinous beginning of  animal 
life1 and is followed1 after            
transformations that would take too     
long to enumerate1 by polypoid life4    
,next1 on either side of the head1      
appear the branchial arches1            
corresponding with the gills of the     
fish4 ,at the end of the first  month1  
the limbs are still no more than mere   
buds2 on the other hand1  the embryo is 
provided with a tail1 which1 folded     
against the body1  nearly touches the   
forehead4 ,it now has the appearance of 
a tadpole  and lives a life which is    
wholly aquatic1 bathed in the amniotic  
fluid  which represents for it the water
 in which the embryos of fish and  frogs
 move about freely4    ,it now becomes a
 matter of forming a resolution and     
knowing what to do  with it4 ,the embryo
 is almost in the situation occupied by 
life at the  origin of the species2 and 
nature1 as though to humiliate man or to
  humiliate herself by remembering her  

mistakes and hesitations1 returns  to   
her gropings1 her asymmetrics1 her      
repentances1 her unsuccessful           
experiments4 ,tentative forms1 such as  
the dorsal cord1 are reabsorbed2  the   
primitive kidneys disappear1 to make    
room for the final kidneys1  which are  
enormous1 filling the greater portion of
 the peritoneal  cavity4 ,enormous too  
is the liver1 which invades almost the  
whole of  the visceral cavity2 enormous 
the head1 almost as large as the rest   
of the body2 and in this enormous head  
the primitive ocular vesicles  are      
formed1 themselves enormous1 as is the  
umbilical vesicle4 ,this is  the        
incoherent and monstrous period         
corresponding with the period of        
madness and gigantism when nature1 as   
yet inexperienced1 was blindly          
sketching uncertain creatures1          
formidable1 unbalanced and anomalous1   
birds1 crocodiles1 elephants and fish in
 one1 as though she had not  as yet     
decided what to do1 not yet completed   

her classifications1  disentangled her  
laws1 or acquired the sense of          
proportion1 of balance1  or of          
conditions essential to the maintenance 
of the life which she was  creating4    
#b    ,this1 roughly speaking1 is the   
recapitulation which occurs before  our 
eyes1 but of which1 no doubt1 many      
incidents escape us or do not           
sufficiently attract our attention1 for 
it is possible that they  reproduce     
types with which we are not acquainted  
and which have not  even left geological
 traces1 seeing that the number of      
species which  have disappeared is      
infinitely greater than that of the     
species which  we know4    ,dr4 ,hlan   
,jaworski may therefore very justly     
assert that the embryonic  period       
corresponds with the geological period4 
,and1 even as1 in the  great terrestrial
 evolution1 we observe the gradual      
disappearance of  the armour-plated     
fishes1 the monstrous reptiles and the  
gigantic  mammals1 so1 in the minor     

embryonic evolution1 we see the         
primitive  kidney1 the dorsal cord and  
the umbilical vesicle dissolve1 while   
the  liver diminishes and the           
disproportion between the head and the  
rest of  the body is lessened4 ,in a    
word1 nature is learning wisdom1        
recognizing  her errors1 profiting by   
her experience1 doing her best to repair
 her  blunders and acquiring a sense of 
equilibrium1 economy and form4    ,dr4  
,jaworski finds other analogies between 
the geological period  corresponding    
with man's appearance upon earth and the
 birth of the  child1 analogies which   
are ingenious1 but rather more          
hazardous4 ,birth  is in fact preceded  
by a miniature deluge1 caused by the    
tearing of  the foetal envelopes1 which 
allow the amniotic fluid to escape4     
,then  the child1 at the moment of      
entering into life1 suddenly experiences
 a  sort of glacial period2 it passes1  
in fact1 from an environment with  a    
temperature of over #ih to the outer    

air1 which is barely #fj or  #fe4 ,the  
sense of cold is so terrible that it    
wrests a first cry of  suffering from   
the new-born child4      #c    ,what is 
the meaning of this strange             
recapitulation8    ,dr4 ,jaworski thinks
 that1 if the brief process of embryonic
 evolution  which prepares the way for  
the birth of man repeats the great      
process  of terrestrial evolution1 this 
latter1 on its side1 might well be but  
a vast embryonic period that is         
preparing for a birth which we cannot   
as yet imagine4 ,i do not know whether  
he will succeed in maintaining  this    
stupendous theory4 ,if he does1 he will 
really have made us1 as he  promises to 
do1 8take a step towards the essence of 
things40 ,meanwhile1  thanks to his     
preparatory studies1 he will always have
 made us take  another and a very useful
 step towards a truth which this time is
  incontestable1 which1 though less     
unexpected1 has never been elucidated   
with so much patience and which is no   

less big with consequences4      #d     
,dr4 ,jaworski1 then1 undertakes to     
demonstrate that the human body  unites 
in itself1 in a plainly recognizable    
form1 all the living  creatures which   
now exist upon earth and which have     
existed since  the origin of life4 ,in  
other words1 each creature sums up in   
itself  all those which have preceded   
it2 and man1 the last-comer1 contains   
within himself the whole biological     
tree1 so much so that1 if we could      
distribute his body1 if we could        
segregate each of his organs and keep   
it alive in isolation1 we should be able
 to reconstitute all existing  forms1 to
 repeople the earth with all the species
 which it has borne1  from the primitive
 protoplasm to the synthesis1 the final 
achievement1  which is man4    ,we might
 perhaps go farther than ,dr4 ,jaworski 
and declare1 with the  occultists of the
 east1 that we likewise contain within  
us1 in the germ  or in a rough-hewn     
state1 all the creatures and all the    

forms that will  come after us4 ,but    
here we should be leaving the domain of 
science  proper to lose ourselves in a  
speculation which by its very nature is 
incapable of verification4      #e      
,so it is not merely in a figurative    
sense1 such as that foreshadowed by  the
 current idiom1 where it speaks of the  
vascular tree1 the branches  of nerves1 
or the ovarian cluster2 it is not merely
 by analogy1 but in  a literal and      
strictly scientific sense that our      
heart1 fundamentally1  is nothing but a 
medusa and our kidneys sponges1 that our
 intestines  represent the polyps and   
our skeleton the polypites1 that our    
reproductive organs are worms or        
molluscs1 that the vertebral column  and
 the spinal marrow take the place of the
 ,echinodermata1 while the  ,brachiopoda
 and the ,ctenophora would be derived   
from our eye and the  reptiles found in 
our digestive apparatus1 the birds in   
our respiratory  organs and so on4    ,i
 repeat1 there is no question here of   

metaphors or of more or less            
approximate1 elastic and plausible      
correspondences but of rigorously  and  
meticulously established proofs4    ,i  
cannot1 of course1 set before you the   
details of ,dr4 ,jaworski's  exegesis4  
,it would not permit of the slightest   
solution of continuity  and1 in the     
three volumes published so far1 it leads
 us to conclusions  which are very      
difficult to contest4 ,people used to   
assert1 without  attaching too much     
faith to what they said or scrutinizing 
it too  closely1 that man is a          
microcosm4 ,it seems to be clearly      
proved to-day  that this is not merely  
literally defensible1 but scientifically
  accurate4 ,we are a prehistoric       
colony1 immense and innumerous1 a living
  agglomeration of all that lives1 has  
lived and probably will live upon       
earth4 ,we are not only the sons or     
brothers of the worms1 the reptiles1    
the fish1 the frogs1 the birds1 the     
mammals and no matter what monsters     

have defiled or affrighted the surface  
of the globe3 we bear them  within us2  
our organs are no other than themselves2
 we nourish all  their types2 they are  
only awaiting an opportunity to escape  
from us1  to reappear1 to reconstitute  
themselves1 to develop and to plunge us 
once again into terror4 ,in this        
respect1 quite as much as in respect  of
 the secret thoughts1 the vices and the 
phantoms with which we are  filled1 we  
might repeat the words which ,emerson's 
old man used to speak  to his children1 
when they were frightened by a strange  
face in the  dark passage3              
8,children1 you will never see anything 
worse than yourselves60    ,if all the  
species were to disappear and only man  
remained1 none  would be lost and all   
might be reborn of his body1 as though  
they were  coming out of ,noah's ark1   
from the almost invisible protozoa down 
to  the formidable antediluvian colossi 
which could lick the roofs of our       
houses4    ,it is therefore fairly      

probable that all these species take    
part in  our existence1 in1 our         
instincts1 in all our feelings1 in all  
our  thoughts2 and here once more we are
 led back to the great religions of     
,india1 which foresaw all the truths    
that we are gradually discovering  and  
which already1 thousands of years ago1  
were telling us that man  is everything 
and that he must recognize his essence  
in every living  creature4              
,,heredity ,,and ,,preexistence         
,,xv    ,,heredity ,,and ,,preexistence 
#a    ,the law of heredity which insists
 that the descendants shall suffer  by  
the faults and profit by the virtues of 
their ancestors comprises  truths that  
are no longer disputed4 ,they shine     
forth1 visible to the  eyes of all4 ,the
 child of a drunkard will bear the      
burden of his  father's vice all his    
life long1 from the day of his birth to 
that of  his death1 in body and in mind4
 ,one might say that by this irrefutable
  example nature had intended           

ostentatiously to affirm and manifest   
the implacable character of her law1 as 
though to make us understand  that she  
takes no account whatever of our        
conceptions of justice and  injustice   
and that she acts on an unvarying       
principle in all the  obscure           
circumstances in which we cannot follow 
the inextricable  windings of her will4 
,this example1 if we had no other1 would
 be enough  to brand that inhuman will  
with infamy4 ,there is no law more      
repugnant  to our reason1 to our sense  
of responsibility1 nor one which does a 
deeper injury to our trust in the       
universe and the unknown spirit  that   
rules it4 ,of all life's injustices1    
this is the most glaring and  the least 
comprehensible4 ,for most of the others 
we find excuses or  explanations2 but1  
when we remember that a new-born child1 
a child  which did not ask to be born1  
is1 from the moment of inhaling its     
first  breath of air1 smitten with      
irremediable insolvency1 with a         

ferocious1  irrevocable sentence and    
with evils which it will drag to the    
grave1 it  seems to us that not one of  
the most hateful tyrants that history   
has  cursed would have dared to do what 
nature does quietly every day4    ,but  
do we really bear the burden of the     
errors of the dead8 ,in the  first      
place1 is it quite certain that the dead
 are really dead and no  longer dwell   
within us8 ,it is a fact that we        
continue them1 that we  are the durable 
part of what they were4 ,we cannot deny 
that we are  still subject to their     
influence1 that we reproduce their      
features and  their characters1 that we 
represent them almost entirely1 that    
they  continue to live and to act in us2
 it is therefore very natural that  they
 also should continue to bear the       
consequences of an action or a  way of  
living which their departure has not    
interrupted4    8,but10 you may say1 8,i
 had no part in this action1 this habit1
 this  vice for which ,i am paying      

to-day4 ,i was not consulted2 ,i had no 
opportunity of uttering a protest1 of   
checking my father1 or my  grandfather1 
as he went to his ruin down the fatal   
precipice4 ,i was not  born2 ,i did not 
yet exist60    ,how do you know8 ,may   
there not be a fundamental mistake in   
the idea  of heredity as we conceive it8
 ,at one end of the beam of those scales
  which we accuse of injustice hangs    
heredity1 but the other is borne  down  
by something different1 which we have   
never taken into account1  for it has   
not yet a name1 something which is the  
antithesis of  heredity1 which cleaves  
into the future instead of emerging from
 the  past and which we might call      
preexistence or prenatality4    ,even as
 our dead still live in us1 so we have  
already lived in them4  ,there is no    
reason to believe that the future1 which
 is full of life1  is less active and   
less potent than the past1 which is full
 of the  dead4 ,instead of descending1  
should we not rather ascend the course  

of  the years to discover the source of 
our actions8    ,we know not in what    
fashion those already dwell in us who   
shall be  born of us1 down to the last  
generation2 but that they do dwell in us
  is certain4 ,whatever the number of   
our descendants1 in the sequence of  the
 ages1 whatever the transformations     
which the elements1 climates1  countries
 and centuries may cause them to        
undergo1 they will keep  intact1 through
 all vicissitudes1 the principle of life
 which they have  derived from us4 ,they
 have not obtained it elsewhere or they 
could not  be what they are4 ,they have 
really issued from us2 and1 if they have
  issued from us1 it is because they    
were in us from the first4 ,what were   
they doing within us1 all these         
innumerable1 accumulated lives8 ,is it  
permissible to suppose that they were   
absolutely inactive8 ,then what  were   
their functions1 what their power8 ,what
 divided them from us8 ,when  did we    
begin1 where did they end8 ,at what     

point did their thoughts and  their     
desires mingle with ours8    8,how could
 they think and act in us10 you ask1    
8having as yet no brain80    ,true2 but 
they had ours4 ,the dead too are without
 a brain2 nevertheless  no one will deny
 that they continue to think and act in 
us4 ,this brain  of which we are so     
proud is not the source but the         
condenser of thought  and will4 ,like   
the ,leyden jar or the ,ruhmkorff coil1 
it exists1 it is  animated only so long 
as the electric fluid of life passes    
through it  or resides in it4 ,it does  
not produce this fluid1 it collects it2 
what matters is not its convolutions1   
which may be compared with the  windings
 of an induction-coil1 but the life that
 flows through it2 and  what can this   
life be1 if it be not the sum of all the
 existences which  are accumulated      
within us1 which are not extinguished at
 our death1  which begin before our     
birth and which continue us1 forwards1  
and  backwards1 into the infinity of    

time8      #b    ,writers of essays and 
novels have at times endeavoured to     
represent  these diverse lives which we 
harbour within us2 and each of us1 if he
  question himself sincerely and        
profoundly1 will discover in himself    
two or three clearly-defined types1     
which have nothing in common but  the   
body in which they reside1 which rarely 
agree among themselves1  which are      
incessantly striving to gain the upper  
hand and which put up  with one another 
as best they can1 in order to go through
 an existence  whose aggregate forms our
 ego4 ,this ego will be good or bad1    
remarkable  or insignificant1 more or   
less generous or selfish1 calm or       
uneasy1  pacific or pugnacious1 heroic  
or pusillanimous1 hesitating or decided 
and enterprising1 brutal or refined1    
crafty or loyal1 active or idle1  chaste
 or lascivious1 modest or vainglorious1 
proud or obsequious1  unreliable or     
steadfast1 according to the authority   
which the type  that captures the best  

positions of the heart or brain is able 
to  assume over the others4 ,but1 even  
in the life that appears the most       
stable1 the most homogeneous1 the       
best-balanced1 this authority will      
never be final or undisputed4 ,the      
dominant type will find itself for  ever
 disputed1 attacked1 thwarted1          
disturbed1 circumvented1 harassed1      
tempted1 deceived1 betrayed and         
sometimes cunningly dethroned by one  of
 the rival or subordinate types which it
 failed to distrust or which  it did not
 watch narrowly enough4 ,we behold      
unexpected coalitions1  fantastic       
compromises1 regrettable defections1    
fierce competitions1  incessant         
intrigues and positive revolutions1     
especially at the  critical periods and 
at each moment of important happenings2 
and all  this prodigious inward tragedy 
does not cease for an instant until the 
hour of death4      #c    ,but1 once    
again1 why seek only in the past and    
among our ancestors for  the actors in  

this drama which is the essential drama 
of humanity8 ,what  justification have  
we for supposing that the dead alone    
play all the  parts8 ,why should those  
from whom we have issued possess more   
influence  than those who will issue    
from us8 ,the first are remote from our 
bodily  selves1 they are separated from 
us by unfathomable mysteries and their  
survival may perhaps be called in       
question2 the others inhabit our  flesh 
and their existence is incontestable4   
,we have just seen that the  argument   
deduced from the absence of any brain is
 not invincible4    8,but10 you will    
perhaps go on to say1 8how do you       
suppose that1 when  they have not yet   
lived1 they can possess habits1 virtues 
and vices1  preferences and experience1 
in a word1 all that constitutes a       
character  and cannot be acquired save  
by contact with life80    ,but the same 
objection could be raised1 in most      
cases1 with regard  to our ancestors4   
,generally speaking1 when we issued from

 them1 they  were still young2 they were
 not yet what they became and what we   
shall  become after them4 ,they had not 
yet adopted the habits1 the ways of     
thinking or feeling1 or cultivated the  
virtues or the vices which are          
reproduced in us4 ,the stubborn little  
mediocrity whom we all feel  within us1 
frugal1 cautious and shabby in his      
dealings1 was still  perhaps a prodigal1
 high-spirited and reckless youth2 the  
rake was  still perhaps chaste1 the     
thief had never stolen and the murderer 
may  have had a horror of bloodshed4    
,all this is almost equally immaterial  
and equally potential in both cases2 the
 only present points at issue  are the  
amorphous tendencies and forces whereon 
the brain which we  receive from these  
and pass on to those bestows a form4    
,it is therefore very possible that the 
little mediocrity1 the rake1  the thief 
or the murderer1 far from being dead1   
are not yet born and  are taking as     
active a part as our ancestors in the   

agitations and  sometimes in the conduct
 of our existence4 ,this is what the    
most  ancient and the most venerable    
religions of humanity always foresaw  or
 revealed1 receiving it perhaps on the  
authority of an unknown and  loftier    
source2 and of these religions          
,christianity1 with its dogma  of       
original sin1 is but an imperfect echo4 
,even to-day1 more than six  hundred    
millions of human beings believe in the 
preexistence of the  soul1 in successive
 lives and in reincarnation4 ,in the    
eyes of these  religions1 the little    
mediocrity who begot us several         
centuries ago  is the same who1 a little
 less paltry1 a little less narrow1     
improved  by his previous life and his  
passage through the mysteries of death1 
is awaiting within us the moment of     
rebirth and who1 while waiting1  shares 
our instincts1 our feelings and our     
thoughts4 ,he does not  wait in         
solitude2 he is but one life in the host
 of lives which have  preceded us and   

which come back to live in us again2 and
 all these past  and future lives form  
the sum total of our own4      #d    ,we
 will not here discuss this doctrine of 
successive lives and of the  expiatory  
and purifying reincarnation1 which is   
the noblest and1 up  to now1 the only   
acceptable explanation of nature's      
injustices that  has been discovered4   
,in the present state of our knowledge1 
it can be  only a magnificent theory or 
a statement impossible of proof4 ,let us
  not forsake the indisputable ground on
 which heredity and preexistence  have  
their being4 ,heredity is an acquired   
fact1 an experimental truth2            
preexistence is a logical necessity4 ,it
 is not indeed possible to  conceive    
that what will be born of us does not   
already exist within us  in fact1 in    
principle1 in the germ1 in essence or in
 potentiality2  and1 from the moment of 
its existence in a fashion probably more
  spiritual than material1 it is far    
less surprising that it should be  more 

or less responsible for thoughts and    
actions to which it could not  be wholly
 a stranger4    ,in any case1 heredity1 
which is incontestable1 and             
preexistence1  which is necessary1      
remind us yet once again that each of us
 is not a  single being1 isolated1      
permanent1 hermetically sealed1         
independent of  others and separated    
from all things in time and space1 but a
 porous  vase dipping into the infinite2
 a sort of cross-roads1 where all the   
paths of the past1 the present and the  
future meet2 an inn beside the  eternal 
highways1 where all the lives which make
 up our own foregather  for a few days' 
sojourn4 ,we believe ourselves dead when
 they leave the  inn2 and we fancy that 
they too have perished4 ,it is more     
likely that  this is not so at all4     
,they are merely quitting the ruined    
hostel to  install themselves in a new  
and more habitable house4 ,they carry   
with  them their debts and their        
obligations2 they remove to their new   

abode  their instincts1 their habits1   
their ideals1 their passions also1 their
  merits and their faults1 their        
acquisitions and their memories4 ,the   
house is different1 but the guests are  
the same2 and the old life will  resume 
its course in the new dwelling and will 
be perhaps a little  nobler1 perhaps a  
little fairer1 perhaps filled with a    
little brighter  light4          ,,the  
,,great ,,revelation          ,,xvi     
,,the ,,great ,,revelation      #a      
,we despair of ever knowing the origin  
of the universe1 its aim1 its  laws1 or 
its intentions2 and we end by doubting  
whether there be any4  ,it were wiser   
very humbly to confess that we are not  
able to conceive  them4 ,it is probable 
that1 if the universe to-morrow were to 
yield us  the key of its riddle1 we     
should be as incapable of understanding 
how  to use it as is a dog to whom we   
show the key of a clock4 ,in revealing  
its great secret to us1 it would teach  
us hardly anything2 or at least  the    

revelation would have but an            
insignificant influence upon our  life1 
our happiness1 our ethics1 our efforts1 
and our hopes4 ,it would  soar at such  
heights that no one would perceive it2  
at most it would  disencumber the sky of
 our religious illusions1 leaving only  
the  infinite void of the ether in their
 place4      #b    ,for that matter1    
there is no saying but that we once     
possessed this  revelation4 ,it is      
highly possible that the religions of   
nations which  have disappeared1 such as
 the ,lemurians1 the ,atlanteans and    
many  others1 were aware of it and that 
we have discovered its remains in the   
esoteric traditions that have come down 
to us4 ,it must not indeed be  forgotten
 that there exists1 side by side with   
the outward1 scientific  history1 a     
secret history of mankind which derives 
its substance  of legends1 myths1       
hieroglyphics1 strange monuments and    
mysterious  writings from the hidden    
meaning of the primitive books4 ,one    

thing  is certain1 that1 though the     
imagination of those who interpret this 
occult history is often venturesome1 all
 that they declare is not to be         
despised and deserves to be examined    
more seriously one day than has         
hitherto been done4    ,the essence of  
this esoteric revelation is very well   
summed up by ,m4  ,marc ,saunier1 a     
disciple of ,fabre d',olivet and        
,saint-,yves d',alveydre1  in his book1 
,la ,lgende des symboles4      8,the    
,initiates10 he says1 8have always      
regarded each continent as    a being   
subject to the same laws as man4 ,for   
them1 the minerals    constitute its    
skeleton1 the flora its flesh1 the fauna
 its    nerve-cells and the human races 
the grey matter of its brain4 ,this     
continent itself is but an organ of the 
earth1 wherein each man is    treated as
 a thinking cell and whereof the thought
 is represented by    the sum of human  
thoughts4 ,the earth itself is but an   
organ of the    solar system1 which in  

turn is considered as an individual2 and
 our    solar system thus becomes merely
 an organ of another being of the       
infinite1 whose heart would appear in   
the star ,alpha in ,aries4 ,and         
lastly1 by a final synthesis1 we come to
 the ,cosmos1 which expresses    the    
general sum of all things1 in a being   
whose body is the world    and whose    
thought is the universal intelligence1  
exalted by the    religions to the rank 
of a deity40    ,the basis of their     
doctrine is plainly evolutionistic4     
,each continent  has merely transformed1
 in its own time and according to its   
own ideal1  the seeds which came from   
the ,hyperborean tracts2 and man is but 
the  result of an animal evolution4 ,for
 the rest1 they borrow it in part  from 
the ,hindus1 thus anticipating by many  
thousands of years the  latest          
hypotheses of our modern science4       
#c    ,but1 without loitering in these  
shifting sands1 let us go direct to     
clear and reliable sources4 ,we possess1

 in the sacred and secret books  of     
,india1 of which we know only an        
infinitesimal part1 a cosmogony  which  
no ,european conception has ever        
surpassed4 ,it would not be  correct to 
say that it attained1 at the first      
endeavour1 the ultimate  limits beyond  
which the mind of man could not venture 
without  dissolving in the infinite1 for
 it was the work of centuries of which  
we do not know the tale2 but it         
indisputably preceded all the others1   
its birth was earlier than anything that
 we know and1 at the beginning  of all  
things1 it exceeded in grandeur all that
 we have learnt and all  that we can    
imagine4    ,it was the first1 for      
instance1 long before our historic      
periods1 to  give us a dizzy yet        
concrete idea of the infinity of time4  
,the ,book of  ,manu teaches us that    
twelve thousand years of mortals are but
 a day and  a night to the gods2 their  
year1 therefore1 consisting of three    
hundred  and sixty days1 numbers        

#d1cbj1jjj years4 ,a thousand years of  
the gods  make but one of ,brahma's     
days1 that is to say1 #d1cbj1jjj1jjj    
human  years1 representing the total    
life of our globe2 and ,brahma's night  
is  of equal duration4 ,three hundred   
and sixty of these days and nights  make
 one of this god's years2 and a hundred 
of these years constitute  one of his   
lives1 that is to say1 the duration of  
the universe1 which  is represented by  
the formidable figure of                
#caa1jij1jjj1jjj1jjj  years4 ,after this
 he begins a new life4 ,at present we   
have not yet  attained the noon of      
,brahma's actual day nor half the       
life-time of our  terrestrial globe4    
,to complete this outline of the        
stupendous chronology of the ,vedas1  ,i
 continue to profit by some notes       
received from my war-time godson1  who  
has a thorough knowledge of this unduly 
neglected science4 ,for  the rest1 it   
will be seen that chronology and        
cosmogony are here in  intimate         

connection3      8,the day of ,brahma   
7#d1cbj1jjj1jjj years7 is divided into  
fourteen    lives of ,manu1 consisting  
alternately of seven ,manvantaras and   
seven    ,pralayas4 ,the word           
,manvantara signifies the interval      
between two    ,manus3 one of these     
appears in the dawn and the other in the
 twilight    of this period of          
terrestrial activity4 ,the morning ,manu
 gives the    ,manvantara its name and  
the evening ,manu presides over the     
,pralaya1    that is to say1 the period 
of dissolution1 or negative status quo1 
death1 sleep1 or inertia1 as the case   
may be1 which divides two waves    of   
life4      8,universal evolution is a   
chain without beginning or end1 each    
link of which in turn appears and       
disappears in our field of              
consciousness4 ,brahma himself dies only
 to be reborn4 ,but for the    sovereign
 of the worlds1 as for a random star or 
the least of    organized creatures1    
there is death and dissolution only from

 the    individual point of view4       
,darkness is the ransom to be paid for  
light1 the evening balances the morning1
 age is the price of youth    and death 
the reverse of life4 ,in reality1       
however1 all evolution is    at the same
 time continuous and discontinuous2 the 
,manvantaras and    ,pralayas are at    
once simultaneous and successive2 each  
individual    life is engendered by its 
elemental double and engenders its      
residual    double4 ,every decline of   
life in a given place coincides with an 
increase of being in a corresponding    
place and proceeds by means of    a     
rebirth in a fresh place4               
,fundamentally1 there is no individual  
life4 ,we are at once ourselves and     
another1 ourselves and several          
others1 ourselves and all others1       
ourselves and the ,universe1            
ourselves and infinity4      8,the      
evolution of our terrestrial globe is an
 infinitesimal cycle of    this         
universal evolution1 corresponding      

merely with a day and a night    of     
,brahma1 and is divided into fourteen   
cycles1 each consisting of    a         
,manvantara and a ,pralaya4 ,the cycle  
of organic evolution upon our           
solidified globe represents only one of 
these subdivisions1 that is    to say1  
the radius of the organic sphere is only
 a fourteenth part    of the radius of  
the mineral sphere4 ,mineral evolution  
is manifestly    continuous from the    
formation of the globe to its           
dissolution4 ,if1    between the periods
 of geological activity1 there exists a 
,pralaya    of any kind1 this latter1   
despite the etymology of the word1 must 
be not a dissolution1 which would be    
perfectly inconceivable from    the     
logical and scientific point of view1   
but a period of inertia    or abatement1
 of which the hypothesis is readily     
admissible    and of which the glacial  
periods1 occurring in the very course   
of the present ,manvantara1 afford us an
 example4 ,in the earlier    cycles of  

,manu1 the earth passed in succession   
through the various    stages of        
condensation which science regards as   
igneous and which    correspond with the
 ethereal1 gaseous and liquid evolution 
of the    elements4 ,during these long  
periods1 the life of the present existed
    potentially in the soul of the earth
 and actually on other globes    than   
ours40      #d    ,but we will proceed  
no further with this outline1 which     
would become  so complicated as to be   
inextricable4 ,let us remember simply   
the  magnificent doctrine of the        
reincarnation1 which is the most ancient
  reply1 the only decisive and1 no      
doubt1 the most plausible reply1 to  all
 the problems of justice and injustice1 
the immortal torture of  mortals1 and   
its corollary1 the law of ,karma1 which1
 as my godson  so truly says1 8is the   
most wonderful of ethical discoveries3  
it  represents abstract liberty and is  
enough to enfranchise the human  will   
from any superior or even infinite      

being4 ,we are our own creators  and the
 sole captains of our fate2 no other    
than ourselves rewards  or punishes us2 
there is no sin1 but only consequences2 
there is no  morality1 but only         
responsibilities4 ,now ,buddha taught   
that1 merely by  virtue of this sovran  
law1 the individual must be reborn to   
reap what  he has sowed2 and this       
certainty of rebirth was enough to      
neutralize  the horror of death40       
99       99       99       99       99  
,is all this nothing more than          
imagination1 than the dreams of brains  
more ardent than our own1 the           
hallucinations of ascetics which amaze  
the young and the immobility or the echo
 of immemorial traditions  bequeathed by
 other races1 or by races anterior to   
man and more  spiritual8 ,it is         
impossible to decide2 but1 whatever its 
origin1 it is  certain that the monument
 whereof we have seen but a corner of   
the  pedestal is prodigious and that it 
has not a human aspect4 ,all that we    

can say is that our modern sciences1    
notably archology1 geology and  biology1
 confirm rather than invalidate either  
of these revelations4      #e    ,but   
this is not the question for the moment4
 ,let us suppose that one  of these     
revelations1 for instance1 that of the  
sacred books of ,india1  were true1     
incontestable and scientifically proved 
by our researches2  or that an          
interplanetary communication or a       
declaration of some  superhuman being no
 longer permitted us to doubt its       
authenticity3 what  influence would such
 a revelation have upon our life8 ,what 
would it  transform in our life1 what   
novel element would it add to our       
morality  or our happiness8 ,no doubt it
 would work but a very slight change4   
,it  would pass too high above us2 it   
would not descend to our level2 it      
would not touch us2 we should lose      
ourselves in its immensity2 and upon    
the whole1 knowing everything1 we should
 be neither happier nor wiser  than when

 we knew nothing4    ,not to know what  
he has come upon this earth to do3 that 
is man's great  and everlasting torment4
 ,now we must perforce admit that the   
actual  truth of the universe1 if some  
day we learn it1 will probably be very  
similar to one or other of those        
revelations which1 while appearing to   
teach us everything1 teach us nothing at
 all4 ,it will at least possess  the    
same inhuman character4 ,it will        
necessarily be as unlimited in both     
space and time1 as abysmal1 as foreign  
to our senses and our brain4  ,the more 
tremendous1 the more majestic the       
revelation1 the greater  chance will it 
have of being true2 but also1 the more  
remote from us  it is1 the less will it 
interest us4 ,we can hardly hope to     
escape  from this discouraging dilemma3 
those revelations1 explanations or      
interpretations which are too petty will
 not satisfy us1 because we  shall      
instinctively feel them to be           
insufficient2 while those which are  too

 great will pass us by too far to affect
 us4      #f    ,it nevertheless seems  
desirable that this revelation of the   
sacred  books of ,india should be       
authentic and that our knowledge1 still 
so  slight1 so unimportant1 so timid and
 so incoherent1 should gradually        
confirm1 as indeed it unwittingly does  
daily1 certain points scattered  through
 the boundless immensity of this        
immemorial truth4    ,it would in any   
case1 even if it did not succeed in     
affecting us  directly1 possess the     
advantage of enlarging our horizon1     
which is  narrower than we suppose1     
until it embraces infinity2 of studding 
this infinity with magnificent          
landmarks2 of animating it1 peopling    
it1 filling it with wonderful faces1    
making it a living1 perceptible1  almost
 comprehensible thing4    ,we all know  
that we dwell in infinity2 but this     
infinity is1 for us1  only a bare and   
barren word1 a black and uninhabitable  
void1 a formless  abstraction1 a        

lifeless expression1 to which our       
imagination can  give only a momentary  
vitality1 at the cost of a tiring1      
solitary1  unskilful1 unassisted1       
ungrateful and unfruitful effort4 ,we   
hold  ourselves1 in fact1 pent in this  
terrestrial world of ours and in our    
brief historic ages2 and at the most we 
raise our eyes1 from time to  time1     
towards the other planets of our solar  
system and project our  thoughts1 which 
are discouraged from the beginning1 as  
far as the  nebulous periods that       
preceded man's advent on our globe4     
,more and more  deliberately we are     
directing the whole activity of our     
intelligence  upon ourselves2 and1 by a 
regrettable optical illusion1 the more  
it  restricts its field of action1 the  
deeper we believe it to be probing4     
,our thinkers and philosophers1 fearing 
lest they should stray as their         
predecessors did before them1 no longer 
concern themselves with any  but the    
least disputable aspects1 problems and  

secrets2 but1 if these  are the least   
disputable1 they are also the least     
sublime2 and man1 in  his quality as a  
terrestrial animal1 becomes the sole    
object of their  investigations4 ,the   
scientists1 on the other hand1 are      
accumulating  minor data and            
observations whose weight is stifling   
them2 yet they no  longer dare to thrust
 them aside or open them out1 so as to  
ventilate  them by some general law1    
some salutary hypothesis1 for those     
which  they have hitherto ventured to   
advance have been pitiably contradicted1
  one after the other1 and scouted by   
experience4    ,nevertheless1 they are  
right to act as they do and to continue 
their  investigations according to their
 narrow and restricted methods2 but  we 
are entitled to observe that1 the closer
 they believe that they  have drawn to a
 fugitive truth1 the greater are their  
uncertainty and  confusion1 the more    
precarious1 imaginary and insufficient  
seem the  foundations upon which they   

based their confidence and the more     
fully  do they perceive the immense     
distance that still divides them from   
the  least of life's secrets4 ,as one of
 the most illustrious of them1 ,sir     
,william ,grove1 prophetically remarked3
      8,the day is fast approaching when
 it will be confessed that the          
,forces we know are but the phenomenal  
manifestations of ,realities we    know 
nothing about1 but which were known to  
the ,ancients and by them               
worshipped40      #g    ,this1 indeed1  
is what we are bound to think if we     
study slightly this  primitive          
revelation1 this ancient wisdom and what
 has grown out of it4  ,man once knew   
more than he now knows4 ,he was ignorant
 perhaps of the  enormous mass of petty 
details which we have observed and      
classified  and which have enabled us to
 subdue certain forces which he never   
thought of turning to account3 but it is
 probable that he understood  better    
than we do their nature1 their essence  

and their origin4    ,the higher        
civilization of humanity1 which history 
traces back  tentatively to five or six 
thousand years before ,christ1 is       
perhaps far  more ancient2 and1 without 
admitting1 as has been asserted1 that   
the  ,egyptians kept astronomical       
records through a period of six hundred 
and  thirty thousand years1 we may      
consider it as established that their   
observations embraced two precessional  
cycles1 two sidereal years1 or          
fifty-one thousand1 seven hundred and   
thirty-six solar years4 ,now they       
themselves were not initiators but      
initiates1 who derived all that they    
knew from a more ancient source4 ,it was
 the same with the ,semites1  in the    
matter of their primitive books and     
their ,kabbalah2 and the  ,greeks1 among
 whom all those who really taught us    
something about the  origin and         
constitution of the world and its       
elements1 about nature and  divinity1   
mind and matter1 men such as ,hesiod1   

,pythagoras1 ,anaxagoras1  ,plato and   
the ,neo-,platonists1 were likewise     
initiates1 that is to say1  they were   
men who1 having travelled in ,egypt or  
,india1 had drunk of the  same one and  
immemorial spring4 ,our prehistoric     
religions1 ,scandinavian  or ,germanic  
and the ,druidism of the ,celts1 those  
of ,china and ,japan1 of  ,mexico and   
,peru1 despite numerous deformations1   
were also derived from  the same source1
 even as our great western metaphysics1 
which preceded  our modern materialism1 
with its somewhat sordid outlook1 and   
notably  the metaphysics of ,leibnitz1  
,kant1 ,schelling1 ,fichte and ,hegel   
have  approached it and1 more or less   
unconsciously1 slaked their thirst at   
it4    ,it is therefore certain that    
through the ,greeks1 through the ,bible1
  through ,christianity1 which is its   
last echo1 for the author of the        
,apocalypse and ,st4 ,paul were         
initiates1 we are all steeped in this   
revelation2 that there is not and never 

has been any other2 that it  is the     
great human or superhuman revelation2   
and that consequently  it would be right
 and salutary to study it more          
attentively and more  profoundly than we
 have hitherto done4      #h    ,where  
does the source of this revelation lie8 
,we place it in the  east because nearly
 everything that we know about it is    
found in  the sacred books of ,india4   
,but it is almost certainly of western  
or  rather ,hyperborean origin and dates
 back to those wonderful vanished       
,atlanteans1 whose last ,protoscythian  
colonies flourished over eleven         
thousand years ago and whose existence  
can no longer be denied4    ,remember   
that famous passage in ,plato3          
8,one day1 when ,solon was conversing   
with the priests of ,sas on the         
history of the remote ages1 one of them 
said3      8#8,o ,solon1 ,solon1 you    
,greeks are always children6444 ,there  
is not    an opinion1 not a tradition of
 knowledge among you that is old4444    

,you know nothing of that noble race of 
heroes of whom you are a    remnant4444 
,nine thousand years1 as our annals     
record1 have elapsed    since what ,i am
 about to tell you4444 ,the most famous 
of your actions    was the overthrow of 
the island of ,atlantis1 which lay over 
against    the ,pillars of ,hercules1   
was greater than ,libya and ,asia put   
together    and was the passage to other
 islands and to a great ocean whereof   
the ,mediterranean ,sea was but a       
harbour2 and within the ,pillars the    
empire of ,atlantis reached in ,europe  
to ,tyrrhenia and in ,libya to          
,egypt4 ,this mighty power was arrayed  
against ,egypt and ,greece and    all   
the ,mediterranean countries4 ,then your
 city did bravely and won    renown     
throughout the earth4 ,for1 risking her 
own existence1 she    repelled the      
invader and gave liberty to all the     
nations within the    ,pillars4 ,soon   
after1 earthquakes arose and floods2 and
 your warlike    race was swallowed up  

by the earth2 and the island of         
,atlantis also    disappeared in the    
sea4'0    ,this page in the ,timus is   
the first glimpse that history properly 
so-called affords of the immense chaos  
of the antediluvian period4  ,modern    
researches and discoveries have         
confirmed it step by step4 ,to  quote   
,roisel1 who devoted a remarkable book  
to the ,atlanteans1 a work  less        
well-known than those of ,scott ,elliott
 and ,rudolf ,steiner1 but one  that    
does not admit of the slightest doubt3  
8,it is proved that1 long before the    
historic ages1 the ,atlanticans    had  
acquired a marvellous science whose     
elements mankind is hardly    beginning 
to reconstitute and whose mighty relics 
are found in    ancient ,gaul1 ,egypt1  
,persia1 ,india and the central portion 
of the    ,american continent4 ,more    
than ten thousand years before our era1 
they    knew the precession of the      
equinoxes1 the slow changes which many  
stars experience in their courses and   

the thousand secrets of nature4    ,they
 had processes of which modern industry 
has not yet fathomed the    mysteries40 
#i    ,the outcome of these studies is  
that humanity never underwent a         
disaster to be compared with the        
disappearance of ,atlantis4 ,it will    
perhaps need thousands of years to      
repair that loss and to reascend  to the
 level of a civilization which had      
certainties of which we  laboriously    
glean the scattered remnants1 regarding 
the origin and  movements of the        
universe1 the energy of matter1 the     
unknown forces  of this and other       
worlds1 the life beyond the grave and a 
social  organization and political      
economy similar to those of the bees4   
,nothing could better prove the         
uselessness of man's effort than this   
unparalleled loss1 if we did not strive 
to hope in spite of all4    ,a nation of
 wonderful metallurgists1 who had       
discovered the means of  tempering      
copper for which we are still seeking1 a

 nation of fabulous  engineers1 whose   
geometry1 as ,professor ,smyth tells us1
 began where  ,euclid's ends1 they      
lifted and transported to enormous      
distances1 by  mysterious methods1 rocks
 weighing fifteen hundred tons and      
strewed  the world with those fantastic 
moving stones known as 8mad stones0  and
 8stones of truth10 stones weighing five
 hundred tons and so  ingeniously poised
 on one of their corners that a child   
can move them  with its finger1 whereas 
the united impetus of two hundred men   
would  be incapable of overturning them1
 stones which1 from the geological      
point of view1 never belong to the spot 
where they are found4 ,a nation  of     
explorers who had traversed and         
colonized the whole surface of  the     
earth1 a nation of scholars1            
mathematicians and astronomers1  they   
appear to have been above all things    
ruthless rationalists and  logicians1   
endowed with1 so to speak1 a metallic   
brain1 the lateral  lobes of which were 

much more highly developed than ours4   
,they applied  their incomparable       
faculties exclusively to the study of   
the exact  sciences2 and the sole object
 of their energies was the conquest of  
truth4 ,but the study of the invisible  
and the infinite1 under their  powerful 
scrutiny1 itself becomes an exact       
science2 and the main idea  of their    
cosmogony1 by virtue of which everything
 issues from the ocean  of cosmic matter
 or from the boundless waves of the     
eternal ether1 soon  to return and to   
reemerge1 disfigured and overladen with 
numberless  myths by the imagination of 
their degenerate descendants or         
settlers3  this main idea forms the base
 of every religion4 ,it is improbable   
that  man will ever discover one to     
equal it or replace it4      #aj    ,it 
is in the sacred books of ,india that we
 find the surest and most  plentiful    
traces of this cosmogony or of this     
revelation4 ,less than a  century ago1  
men were almost wholly unaware of the   

existence of these  sacred books4 ,their
 interpreters have taken two different  
paths4 ,on  the one hand1 scholars whom 
we may describe as official have        
supplied  translations of a certain     
number of texts1 which might also be    
called  official1 texts which they do   
not always understand and which their   
readers understand even less4 ,on the   
other hand1 initiates1 genuine  or      
pretended1 with the assistance of adepts
 of an occult fraternity1  have         
suggested a new and more impressive     
interpretation of these same  texts or  
of others still more secret4 ,they      
still1 rightly or wrongly1  inspire a   
certain distrust4 ,we are obliged to    
admit the authenticity  and the         
antiquity of certain traditions1 of     
certain primitive and  essential        
writings1 though it is impossible to    
assign an approximate  date to them1 so 
completely are they merged in the mists 
of the  prehistoric ages4 ,but they are 
almost incomprehensible without keys and

  commentaries2 and it is here that our 
doubts and hesitations begin4 ,a  large 
number of those commentaries are        
likewise very ancient and in  their turn
 need keys2 others appear to be more    
recent2 lastly1 others  seem to be      
contemporary2 and it is often difficult 
to draw a dividing  line between that   
which may well exist in the original and
 that which  the interpreters believe to
 exist in the original or which they    
more or  less deliberately add to it4   
,now the most striking1 the most        
impressive  and in any case the most    
lucid part of the doctrine is often     
contained  in the commentaries4         
,next1 as ,i have observed1 comes the   
question of the keys1 which  is         
intimately connected with the foregoing4
 ,these keys are more  or less workable 
and command more or less respect2       
sometimes they  seem fanciful or        
arbitrary2 they are delivered only with 
curious  precautions1 singly and        
grudgingly2 and they are apt to unlock  

several  superimposed meanings4 ,and all
 this is accompanied by fantastic       
reticences1 by so-called dangerous or   
terrible secrets1 withheld at  the      
decisive moment1 and by revelations     
which1 it is contended1 cannot  be      
communicated until many centuries have  
elapsed4 ,doors through which  we were  
about to pass are slammed in our faces  
just as we were at last  catching a     
glimpse of a long-promised horizon2 and 
behind each of them  hides a supreme    
initiate1 a still living master1 the    
sacred guardian  of the ultimate        
mysteries1 who knows all things1 but can
 or will say  nothing4    ,observe1     
moreover1 that a host of more or less   
intelligent  illuminati1 of elderly     
women and unbalanced spinsters1 of      
simple-minded people who accept1 blindly
 and off-hand1 that which  they do not  
understand1 of discontented1            
unsuccessful1 vain or crafty  persons   
who fish in troubled waters1 in a word1 
all the usual suspect  mob that gathers 

round any more or less mysterious       
doctrine1 science  or phenomenon1 has   
discredited these first esoteric        
interpretations1  of which the very     
source is none too dear4 ,lastly1 let us
 add that the  burning of the famous    
library of ,alexandria1 in which all the
 knowledge  of the east was amassed1 the
 destruction in the sixteenth century1  
under the ,mogul ,akbar1 of thousands of
 ,sanskrit volumes1 the systematic  and 
merciless demolition1 especially during 
the first few centuries  of the ,church 
and in the ,middle ,ages1 of all that   
referred or alluded  to this dreaded and
 embarrassing revelation1 have deprived 
us of our  best means of control4 ,the  
adepts1 it is true1 assert on the other 
hand  that the true texts1 as well as   
the ancient commentaries which alone    
enable them to be understood1 still     
exist in the secret crypts and          
subterranean libraries of ,thibet or the
 ,himalayas1 libraries of books  more   
innumerable than any which we possess in

 the west1 and that they  will reappear 
in a more enlightened age4 ,it is       
possible1 but in the  meanwhile they are
 of no help to us4      #aa    ,be this 
as it may1 what we have is enough to    
perplex us greatly2  and the control    
allowed by the fragments which have been
 saved from  historic antiquity         
absolutely removes all suspicion of more
 or less  recent fraud or deception in  
respect of the essentials4 ,moreover1   
any  fraud or deception of this nature  
seems hardly possible and would be  so  
ingenious that we should be obliged to  
marvel at it as a phenomenon  almost as 
remarkable as that whereof it would be  
seeking to give the  illusion2 and we   
should have to admit that the mind of   
man has never  insinuated itself so far 
into the infinity of time and space1 or 
into the origin of things1 and has never
 risen to such heights4 ,had  this      
revelation profited by all the          
attainments of our latter-day  science  
and thought1 it could not have furnished

 us with theories  more satisfactory1   
more logical1 more coherent1 more       
plausible1 more  synthetic1 or worthier 
of the infinity which they strive to    
embrace  and often seem to attain1 on   
the rhythm of the eternities1 the ebb   
and flow of the eternal ,becoming1 the  
never-ending cycle and the  periodic    
existences of the ego1 the birth1       
movement and evolution of  the worlds1  
the divine breath and the intelligence  
that animate it1 on  ,maya1 the eternal 
illusion of ignorance1 the struggle for 
life1 natural  selection1 the gradual   
development and transformation of stars 
and  men1 the functions and energies of 
the ether1 immortal and infallible      
justice1 the intermolecular and         
fantastic activity of matter1 on the    
nature of the soul and the existence of 
the vast1 nameless power that  governs  
the universe1 in a word1 on all the     
riddles that assail and all  the        
mysteries that overwhelm us4    ,but1   
let us hasten to repeat it1 there could 

not seriously be any  question of fraud1
 because the texts or traditions that   
might be  regarded with suspicion are   
corroborated by other texts1 such as the
  sacred inscriptions of ,egypt1 which  
no one thinks of contesting4 ,at  most  
we may come upon a few passages         
antedated by the imprudent  zeal of     
adepts or commentators1 a few           
interpolations which merely  embroider  
the majestic lines4 ,taking it as a     
whole1 we have to do with  a revelation 
which dates back infinitely farther than
 all that we  have called the           
prehistoric ages1 wherefore it is       
legitimate that our  astonishment should
 be unbounded4      #ab    ,very good1  
it will be said1 this interpretation of 
the universe1 this  anthropocosmogenesis
 is the loftiest1 the most spacious1 the
 most  wonderful1 the most unassailable 
that has ever been conceived2 it  teems 
in every part with human thought and    
imagination2 but what is  it all based  
upon8 ,when all is said1 we have here   

only magnificent  hypotheses1 boldly    
disguised as authoritative1 dogmatic and
 peremptory  declarations1 but every one
 incapable of verification4 ,this is the
  objection which ,i myself put forward1
 a little hastily1 in one of the  early 
chapters of ,our ,eternity4    ,it is   
indeed undeniable that we shall not for 
some time to come1 that  perhaps we     
shall never know the truth about the    
origin and the end of  the universe or  
any of the other problems which these   
declarations  profess to solve4 ,but it 
is curious to note that science1 despite
  itself1 is daily drawing nearer to one
 or other of these declarations  and    
that it is unable to set aside or to    
contradict any of them4 ,there  is for  
example1 a certain study of the genesis 
of the elements1 by the  well-known     
chemist1 ,sir ,william ,crookes1 which  
unconsciously becomes  plainly          
occultist1 while the discovery of the   
radioactivity of matter  reproduces     
precisely the theory of vortices of the 

initiate ,anaxagoras4  ,it is the same1 
mutatis mutandis1 with the function     
attributed to  the ether1 the latest1   
indispensable postulate of our          
scientists4 ,it  is the same with the   
supreme and essential functions of      
certain minute  glands of which modern  
medicine is only now beginning to       
rediscover  the importance and which    
probably hold hidden the primordial     
secrets  of life3 the thyroid gland1    
which directs growth and intelligence2  
the suprarenal gland1 which governs the 
unconscious muscle that is the  heart2  
and the pineal gland1 the most          
mysterious of all1 which brings  us into
 relation with the unknown worlds4 ,it  
is the same again with  astronomy1 when 
the manifest insufficiency of our       
so-called cosmic  laws1 notably that of 
gravitation1 propounds a host of        
questions which  only the cosmogony of  
the east is able to answer4 ,but this   
would  require a long enquiry1 which ,i 
am not qualified to undertake4    ,for  

the rest1 nothing obliges us to accept  
these declarations as  dogmas4 ,there is
 no question here of a religion which   
imposes upon us  its blind faith1 its   
,credo quia absurdum4 ,we are quite     
entitled to  regard them as mere        
hypotheses1 as immense1 incomparable    
antediluvian  poems1 of which the       
,mosaic ,genesis is but a disfigured    
fragment4  ,but1 even as hypotheses or  
poems1 it must be admitted that they are
  prodigious1 that we have nothing      
better1 nothing more probable to set    
against them and that1 in view of their 
incontestable antiquity1 of  their      
prehistoric origin1 they seem really    
superhuman4    ,must we admit1 as the   
occultists contend1 that they come to us
 from  beings superior to man1 from more
 spiritual entities1 living under       
unknown conditions1 who occupied our    
earth or the neighbouring planets       
before our coming2 from a               
,lemuro-,atlantean civilization which1  
in  its megalithic monuments1 has left  

indelible traces in the memory of  the  
peoples and on the face of our earth8   
,it is quite possible2 but  here again  
we are free to await the confirmations  
of ,hindu1 ,egyptian1  ,chaldean1       
,assyrian and ,persian archology1 which 
on this point1 as on  so many others1   
has not spoken its last word4      #ac  
,i am well aware that this revelation1  
as apparently all those which  may be   
made in the course of time1 dates back  
to and ends in the  unknowable1 the     
insoluble mystery of divinity1 of being1
 or existence2  and it necessarily stops
 short before the barrier of this       
unknowable1  which is as impenetrable   
and impregnable as a cliff that is      
infinite in  every dimension and formed 
of a single block of black diamond4     
,there is  nothing to be done2 we can   
but halt2 we cannot even seek to        
outflank  it1 to approach it from the   
other side1 for the other side1 if we   
could  reach it1 would necessarily be   
like the side in front of us1 seeing    

that the non-existence of everything    
would be just as inexplicable1  just as 
incomprehensible as its existence4 ,it  
is true that1 in the  secret recesses of
 the doctrine1 the universe and all that
 it contains  is known as ,maya1 that is
 to say1 the eternal illusion1 so that  
the two  irreconcilable mysteries unite 
in a still greater mystery which man's  
intelligence can no longer approach4    
,fundamentally1 the primitive riddle1   
the primordial mystery not  being       
elucidated1 all the rest illumines only 
the steps that lead  from comparative   
knowledge to absolute ignorance4 ,it    
will probably  be the same with all the 
revelations that may address themselves 
to  man's intelligence so long as he    
continues on this planet1 for this      
intelligence doubtless has limits which 
no effort can enlarge4 ,but in  the     
meantime it is certain that these steps1
 which lead to nothing1  nevertheless1  
at the first onset and from the earliest
 days led him  to the highest point     

which his intelligence has attained or  
can hope  to attain4 ,the most ancient  
explanation embraces straightway all the
  attempts at explanation that have     
hitherto been offered4 ,it harmonizes   
the positivism of science with the most 
transcendental idealism2 it  accepts    
matter and spirit2 it reconciles the    
mechanical impulsion  of atoms and      
worlds with their intelligent guidance4 
,it gives us  an unconditioned divinity1
 8a causeless cause of all the causes10 
worthy of the universe which is this    
divinity itself and of which all  the   
divinities that have succeeded it in all
 our religions are but  scattered1      
mutilated and unrecognizable members4   
,it offers us1 lastly1  in its law of   
,karma1 by virtue of which each being   
undergoes in his  successive lives the  
consequences of his actions and         
gradually purifies  himself1 the        
loftiest1 justest and most unassailable1
 the most fertile1  consoling and       
hopeful moral principle that could ever 

be proposed to  man4 ,because of all    
this it appears worthy of investigation1
 respect  and admiration4      #ad      
,this respect and admiration1 however1  
do not militate against our  liberty to 
choose or reject many things1 or to     
reserve them while we  wait for further 
light4 ,when we are told1 for instance1 
that the ,cosmos  is guided by an       
infinite series of hierarchies of       
sensient beings1 each  having a mission 
to fulfil1 which are the agents of the  
,karmic and  ,cosmic laws2 when it is   
added that each of these beings was a   
man in  an earlier ,manvantara1 or is   
preparing to become one in the present  
or  in a future ,manvantara1 that they  
are perfected men1 or nascent men1  and 
that1 in their higher and less material 
spheres1 they do not differ  morally    
from terrestrial human beings save in   
that they do not possess  the sense of  
personality and of emotional nature2    
when1 lastly1 we are  assured that what 
we call unconscious ,nature is in       

reality a complex of  forces manipulated
 by semi-intelligent beings             
7,elementals7 directed by  the ,high    
,planetary ,spirits 7,dhyani-,shohans71 
whose total forms the ,word  ,manifest  
of the non-manifest ,logos and          
constitutes at the same time  both the  
intelligence of the universe and its    
immutable law1 we can do  homage to the 
ingenuity of these speculations1 as to  
that of thousands  of others which      
perhaps embrace the truth more closely  
than our best  and most recent          
scientific hypotheses2 we are free to   
take what we  please from them and to   
leave what we please4 ,all this1 ,i     
grant1 is  by no means proved1 is not   
verified1 or cannot be verified1 save in
  certain details1 whereas the great    
fundamental outlines will probably      
always escape the control of our        
unequipped intelligence4 ,but what we   
must1 ,i repeat1 admire without reserve 
is the prodigious spiritual  edifice    
offered by the sum total of this        

revelation1 the immense  intellectual   
effort which1 since the dawn of         
humanity1 has attempted  to unravel the 
unfathomable chaos of the origin1       
structure1 progress1  direction and end 
of the universe and which appears to    
have succeeded  to this extent1 that    
hitherto nothing has been found that    
equals it1 or  is not inspired by it or1
 often unconsciously1 returns to it4    
#ae    ,i said in the first part of this
 essay that too lofty a revelation1     
even were it incontestable1 would have  
hardly any influence upon our  life1    
that it would change little in it1 that 
it would occur too far  from us in the  
immensity of space and that it would not
 sink into our  hearts and minds4 ,was  
it thus with that of which we are now   
speaking1  which is the only truly      
superhuman and yet acceptable and almost
  unassailable revelation that we have  
had8 ,yes and no1 according to the      
point of view which we take up4 ,all    
that it contains of too great a         

character1 except its notion of         
eternity1 has not really modified our   
ideas1 has not permeated into our       
habits4 ,it has not even profoundly     
affected the peoples who have handed it 
down to us and who1 abandoning  any     
endeavour to understand it1 have        
transformed it into a barbarous  and    
monstrous anthropomorphic polytheism4   
,it is more or less the same            
everywhere4 ,all the religions1 from the
 pagan religions of ,china and  ,japan1 
,gaul and ancient ,germany1 ,mexico and 
,peru1 down to ,christianity  with its  
variants and its offshoots1 have issued 
from it2 but all  have not been able to 
live and govern men1 save by disfiguring
 and  mutilating it1 by dwarfing it to  
the lowest stature of the souls of      
their time1 by altering it beyond       
recognition4 ,it is therefore highly    
probable that matters would be the same 
with any other and greater  revelation1 
if such were possible1 even though this 
had all the signs  of a divine1 direct1 

authentic1 indubitable1 irrefutable1    
irrecusable  revelation1 in a word1 with
 that which we are still awaiting       
without  daring to hope for it4         
,,the ,,necessary ,,silence             
,,xvii    ,,the ,,necessary ,,silence   
#a    ,the practitioners of occult      
science in the east tell us of certain  
dwellers in the solitudes of ,thibet and
 the ,himalayas1 ,initiates1  ,masters1 
heirs to the wisdom of the 8,sons of    
,light10 or the 8,seven  ,primordials10 
who possess the seven keys which enable 
them to  understand the sacred          
prehistoric texts4 ,they are said to be 
the silent  depositories of the secret  
of the intermolecular or interetheric   
forces1 by the aid of which the races of
 beings who preceded man upon  this     
earth used to transport to enormous     
distances monoliths of more  than five  
hundred tons' weight1 which have no     
relation to the stones  that surround   
them and whose arrangement and          
astronomical orientation  manifestly    

reveal the intervention of an           
intelligent and even a highly           
scientific mind4    ,these monoliths are
 sometimes carved1 as for instance the  
famous  colossal idols in the valley of 
,bamian1 in ,afghanistan1 of which one  
is  #agc feet high1 or the five hundred 
and fifty monsters of ,easter ,island1  
in ,polynesia1 which1 we may observe in 
passing1 remain one of the most         
insoluble and perplexing riddles in the 
world4 ,hewn out of basalt1  reclining  
or standing erect upon their platforms1 
these sculptures1  one of which measures
 over #ij feet in height1 are           
undoubtedly the most  ancient human     
effigies to be found upon our earth4    
,official science  ascribes to them an  
antediluvian origin1 while esoteric     
tradition  regards them as portraits of 
the giants of the last ,atlantean race1 
which became degenerate and lapsed into 
witchcraft shortly before the           
disappearance of the mysterious         
continent whereof ,easter ,island is    

supposed to be merely one of the loftier
 summits to-day emerging from  the      
lonely ,pacific4    ,i have before me as
 ,i write the photographs of some of    
these haunting  giants2 and ,i do not   
believe that in our most oppressive     
nightmares  it would be possible to     
imagine faces more formidable1 more     
impassive  and unfeeling1 more eternally
 ferocious1 more coldly supercilious1   
more pitilessly disdainful and icily    
omnipotent4 ,are they ,selenites or     
,martians1 with their tightly-closed1   
implacable mouths and those eyes  of    
theirs1 hollow1 like wells of           
malediction1 or protuberant and framed  
in an airman's goggles8 ,they are not in
 any way simian1 as one might  have     
supposed1 but rather represent          
demoniacal and abstract entities1  such 
as evil1 doom and fatality4 ,they seem  
not so much inhuman as  prehuman or     
posthuman2 and they bear a horrible     
relation to certain  ancestral memories 
which slumber in the marrow of our      

bones1 warning us  that such faces      
undoubtedly once existed4      #b       
,but let us return to our great         
,initiates4 ,they are1 it appears1      
reputed  to be the guardians of the     
irresistible and incommensurable        
sidereal  force1 the force which        
supports and directs the worlds and     
which is  capable1 if it were misused1  
of destroying in a moment the whole     
human  species1 all that lives upon the 
earth and this very earth itself2  but  
it is also capable1 if it were wisely   
tamed1 of ensuring man an  ultimate     
royalty1 perhaps access to other        
heavenly bodies and1 in any  case1 a    
power so great that the ,golden ,age    
which existed of old1 thanks  to the    
subjection of this force1 might flourish
 once more upon our  planet4    ,all    
this is possible2 and1 for the moment1  
we need not go into the  matter4 ,but   
that1 possessing the secret of this     
force and of many  others1 transmitted  
from ,hierophant to ,candidate1 or1 as  

they say  8from mouth to ear10 the      
experts in occult science do not divulge
 it  and place it at the service of     
humanity3 this is the great reproach    
brought against them2 and for all those 
who are not aware that the  end of      
,initiation is not power and material   
happiness but wisdom1  development and  
the uplifting of the inner being it is  
the best proof  that they are cheats and
 impostors4 ,it may be that1 driven into
 a  corner1 they are silent because they
 have nothing to tell us2 but the       
argument is not so unanswerable as those
 who avail themselves of it  are        
inclined to think4 ,we shall perhaps see
 this before long4 ,it is  indeed not   
impossible that one day some accident of
 knowledge will  place one or other of  
our scientists in a position analogous  
to that  of these ,masters or           
,initiates4 ,to him also the terrible   
question of  the necessary silence will 
then present itself4 ,we have but lately
  witnessed in this war the insensate   

and demoniacal use which man has  made  
of certain inventions4 ,what will happen
 if other energies are  placed in his   
hands1 energies far more formidable1    
which we seem to be  on the point of    
discovering and releasing8    ,man is   
not ready to know more of such matters  
than he now knows4 ,the  safety of the  
species is at stake4 ,humanity1 which is
 hardly emerging  from its infancy1 or  
has only just attained the dangerous    
period of  adolescence 7it would be     
about sixteen or seventeen years of age1
  according to ,dr4 ,jaworski's         
well-supported and striking historic    
parallel71 has already passed the limit 
of the inventions which it  is able to  
assimilate or endure without incurring  
the risk of death4  ,almost all of them1
 from the subjection of steam and the   
still dubious  taming of electricity1   
have done it incomparably more harm than
 good4  ,explosives1 for example1 which 
have helped it to build a few roads--a  
work which the ,romans1 for that matter1

 did quite as well as we do--to  open up
 a few mines1 to pierce a few tunnels1  
have cost it millions of  young lives4  
,perhaps it is time1 not to check the   
investigations of science1 but  to      
control its discoveries and to reserve1 
as the occultists wisely  did1 for a    
select circle of ,initiates1 rigorously 
tested and bound by  inviolable oaths1  
the secret of those too perilous        
energies around  which we are feeling   
our way and which are on the point of   
revealing  themselves and becoming      
public property4 ,our moral evolution is
 several  centuries behind our          
scientific evolution2 and it is more    
than probable  that the latter1 being   
too swift and too intensive1 may        
disastrously  impede the former4 ,it    
will profit no one to travel in three   
hours from  ,paris to ,pekin1 from      
,pekin to ,new ,york and from ,new ,york
 to ,calcutta1  if these repeated and   
miraculous journeys leave those who take
 them  in the same frame of mind on     

their arrival as on their departure4    
,we are more or less in the same        
position as ,russia1 whose heart and    
spirit were not steadfast enough1 not   
resolute enough1 to bear what the  head 
had too quickly and too artificially    
stored up4 ,nothing is more  quickly    
disseminated or more readily assimilated
 than the results of  science2 nothing1 
on the other hand1 is more slow1 more   
painful or more  precarious than moral  
evolution2 and yet it is upon this      
alone1 as we  are realizing more and    
more clearly1 that man's happiness and  
future  depend4          ,,karma        
,,xviii    ,,karma      #a    ,stripped 
of its innumerable and inextricable     
oriental complications1  which may      
possibly correspond with realities but  
which cannot be  verified1 ,karma1 the  
infallible ,law of ,retribution1 is1    
when all is  said1 what we1 speaking    
more vaguely and without believing in it
  unduly1 call ,immanent ,justice4 ,our 
,immanent ,justice is a somewhat  idle  

shadow4 ,true1 it often manifests itself
 after monstrous actions1  great vices1 
sins or iniquities2 but we rarely have  
the opportunity  of seeing it intervene 
in the thousand petty acts of injustice1
  cruelty1 weakness1 dishonesty and     
baseness of ordinary life1 though  the  
aggregate of these paltry but incessant 
misdeeds may weigh heavier  than the    
most notorious crime4 ,in any case1 its 
action being more  dispersed1 more      
diffuse1 slower and more often moral    
than material1  nearly always escapes   
our observation2 and1 as1 on the other  
hand1 it  appears to cease at the moment
 of death1 it hardly ever has time to   
demand its due and usually arrives too  
late at the bedside of a sick  or dying 
man1 who has lost consciousness or no   
longer has the time to  expiate his     
offences4    ,karma then1 if you will1  
is ,immanent ,justice2 only1 it is no   
longer  an inconstant goddess1          
inconsistent1 incoherent1 impotent1     
erratic1  capricious1 inexact1          

forgetful1 timid1 inattentive1 sluggish1
 evasive1  intangible and bounded by the
 tomb1 but a god1 vast and inevitable as
  ,destiny1 a god who fills up each     
outlet1 each horizon1 each crevice  of  
every existence and who is omnipresent1 
omniscient1 omnipotent1  infallible1    
impassible and incorruptible4 ,he is in 
us1 as we are in  him4 ,he is ourselves4
 ,he is more than we3 he is what we are1
 while  he is still what we were and is 
already what we shall become4 ,we  are  
small1 evanescent and ephemeral2 he is  
great1 imperturbable1  immovable1       
eternal4 ,nothing escapes him of that   
which escapes us and  no doubt will     
escape us even beyond the tomb4 ,not an 
action1 not a  wish1 not a thought1 not 
the shadow of an intention but is       
weighed more  strictly than it was      
weighed by the forty-two posthumous     
judges who  awaited the soul on that    
further shore of which we are told in   
one of  the most ancient texts in the   
world1 the ,egyptian ,book of the ,dead4

  ,all is set down1 dated1 valued1      
verified1 classified1 entered as debit  
or credit1 as reward or expiation1 in   
the immense and eternal index  of the   
astral records4 ,there can be nothing   
that he does not know1  because he has  
taken part in all that he judges2 and he
 judges us not  from the depth of our   
present ignorance1 but from the height  
of all  that we shall learn much later4 
,he is not only our intelligence and our
  consciousness of to-day1 which are    
hardly waking and no longer count  their
 errors2 he is even now1 for they       
already dwell within us1 though  they be
 inactive1 impotent1 dumb and blind1 our
 intelligence and our  consciousness to 
come1 when they shall have attained1 in 
the course of  the ages and of the      
innumerable developments1 expiations and
 ascents1  the loftiest summits of      
,wisdom and ,discernment4    ,at the    
hour of our death the account seems     
closed2 but he is simply  asleep and    
will resume his hold of us again4 ,he   

will slumber perhaps  for hundreds1 nay1
 thousands of years in 8,devachan10 that
 is to say1 in  the state of            
unconsciousness which prepares us for a 
new incarnation2  but1 when we awake1 we
 shall find the assets and liabilities  
added up  beyond recall2 and our ,karma 
will merely continue the life which we  
have laid aside4 ,it will continue to be
 ourselves in that life and to  see the 
consequences of our faults and our      
deserts burst into flower  and          
afterwards to see other causes bear     
fruit in other effects1 until  the      
consummation of the ages when every     
thought born upon this earth  ends by   
losing sight of it4      #b    ,karma1  
as we see1 is1 when all is said1 the    
immortal entity which man  fashions by  
his deeds and thoughts and which follows
 him1 or rather  envelops and absorbs   
him1 through his successive lives and   
changes1  even as he incessantly        
changes1 while preserving every previous
  impress4 ,man's thoughts1 as this     

doctrine very truly says1 build up his  
character2 his deeds make his           
environment4 ,what man has thought1 that
  he has become2 his qualities and      
natural gifts adhere to him as the      
results of his ideas4 ,he is1 in all    
truth1 created by himself4 ,he is  in   
the fullest sense of the word           
responsible for all that he is4 ,he is  
contained in the net of all that he has 
done4 ,he can neither undo nor  destroy 
the past2 but1 so long as the effects of
 the past are yet to  come1 it is       
possible for him to alter them or to    
divert them by fresh  exertions4        
,nothing can affect him that he has not 
set in movement2  no evil can befall him
 that he has not deserved4 ,in the      
infinite  evolution of the eternities he
 will never find himself in the presence
  of any judge other than himself4      
#c    ,it is certain that the idea of   
this supreme judge1 who is our          
consciousness uninterrupted throughout  
the centuries and the  millenaries1 who 

is each one of us grown more and more   
enlightened1  more and more             
incorruptible and infallible1 leads to  
the highest1  sincerest and purest      
system of morals that it is possible to 
conceive  or to justify here below4 ,the
 judge and the defendant are no longer  
face to face2 they are one within the   
other and form but one and the  same    
person4 ,they can hide nothing from each
 other2 and both have the  same urgent  
interest in discovering the least fault1
 the slightest  shadow and in purifying 
themselves as quickly and as completely 
as  possible1 in order to put an end to 
the reincarnations and to live at  last 
in the ,one ,being4 ,the best1 the      
saintliest are near doing so from  the  
moment when they quit this life2 but1   
detached from all things1  they do not  
cease to act for the good of all men1   
for already they know  all things4 ,they
 go farther than the mystic ,christian  
who expects a  reward from without3 they
 are their own reward4 ,they go farther 

than  ,marcus ,aurelius1 the great type 
of the man without illusions1 who       
continues to act without hoping that his
 action can profit others3 they  know   
that nothing is useless1 that nothing   
can be wasted2 it is when  they no      
longer need anything whatever that they 
work with the greatest  ardour4         
,contrary to what is too generally      
believed1 this system of morals which   
leads to absolute repose extols         
activity4 ,hear1 in this connection1    
the great teachings of the              
,bhagavad-,gita1 the ,lord's ,song1     
which  is perhaps1 as its translators1  
not without good reason1 think1 the     
most beautiful1 that is to say1 the most
 exalted book known up to the  present  
time3      8,thy business is with the   
action only1 never with its fruits2 so  
let    not the fruit of action be thy   
motive4444 ,perform action 444 dwelling 
in union with the divine1 renouncing    
attachments and balanced evenly    in   
success and failure4444 ,pitiable are   

they who work for fruit4444    ,man     
winneth not freedom from action by      
abstaining from activity1 nor    by mere
 renunciation doth he rise to           
perfection4444 ,perform thou    right   
action1 for action is superior to       
inaction2 and1 inactive1 even    the    
maintenance of thy body would not be    
possible4 ,the world is bound    by     
action1 unless performed for the sake of
 sacrifice4444      8,he who seeth      
inaction in action and action in        
inaction1 he is wise    among men1 he is
 harmonious1 even while performing all  
action4 ,whose    works are all free    
from the moulding of desire1 whose      
actions are    burned up by the fire of 
wisdom1 him the wise have called a sage4
    ,having abandoned attachment to the 
fruit of action1 always content1        
nowhere seeking refuge1 he is not doing 
anything1 although doing    actions4444 
,he should be known as a perpetual      
ascetic1 who neither    hateth nor      
desireth2 free from the pairs of        

opposites 444 he is    easily set free  
from bondage44440    ,and remember that 
this1 which forms part of the           
,mahabharata1 the  greatest epic on     
earth1 was written four or five thousand
 years ago4      #d    ,whatever we may 
think of the plausibility of the        
doctrine or  revelation1 we cannot      
dispute that this morality and this     
justification  of justice are the most  
ancient and at the same time the most   
beautiful  and reassuring that the mind 
of man has imagined4 ,but they are based
  upon a postulate which we are perhaps 
too much inclined to refuse  blindly4   
,it asks us in fact to admit that our   
existence does not end at  the hour of  
our death and that the spirit1 or the   
vital spark1 which  does not perish1    
seeks an asylum and reappears in other  
bodies4 ,at  first the postulate seems  
monstrous and unacceptable2 but on      
closer  examination its aspect becomes  
much less strange1 less arbitrary  and  
less unreasonable4 ,it is1 to begin     

with1 certain that1 if all  things      
undergo transformation1 nothing perishes
 or is annihilated in  a universe which 
knows no nothingness and in which       
nothingness alone  remains absolutely   
inconceivable4 ,what we call nothingness
 could  therefore be only another mode  
of existence1 of persistence and of     
life2 and1 if we cannot admit that the  
body1 which is only matter1  is         
annihilated in its substance1 it is no  
less difficult to admit  that1 if it    
were animated by a spirit--which it is  
hardly possible to  dispute--this spirit
 should disappear without leaving a     
trace of any  kind4    ,so the first    
point of the postulate and the most     
important is of  necessity granted4     
,there remains the second point1 that of
 the  successive reincarnations4 ,here1 
it is true1 we have only hypotheses  and
 probabilities4 ,it is necessary that   
this spirit1 this soul1 this  vital     
spark or principle1 this idea1 this     
immaterial substance--it  matters little

 what name we give it--must go or reside
 somewhere1  must do or become          
something4 ,it may wander in the        
infinity of space  and time1 dissolve1  
lose itself and disappear1 or at least  
mingle  and become confused with what it
 encounters there1 and finally  become  
absorbed in that boundless spiritual or 
vital energy which  appears to animate  
the universe4 ,but1 of all hypotheses1  
the least  probable is not that which   
tells us that1 on leaving a body which  
has  become uninhabitable1 instead of   
escaping and wandering through the      
illimitable vast that fills it with     
terror1 it looks about it for a  lodging
 resembling that which it has lately    
quitted4 ,obviously this  is only an    
hypothesis2 but in our complete and     
terrible ignorance it  presents itself  
before any other4 ,we have nothing to   
support it save  the most ancient       
tradition of humanity1 a tradition      
perhaps prehuman  and in any case       
absolutely general2 and experience tends

 to show that  at the base of these     
traditions and these instances of       
universal assent  there is nearly always
 a great truth and that they must be    
accorded  a greater importance and a    
greater value than have hitherto been   
attributed to them4      #e    ,as      
regards evidence1 or rather premonitory 
suggestions of evidence1 we  have       
scarcely anything beyond the experiments
 of ,colonel de ,rochas1  who1 by means 
of hypnotic passes1 succeeded in making 
a few exceptional  mediums retrace not  
only the whole course of their present  
lives1  back to their earliest          
childhood1 but also that of a certain   
number  of previous existences4 ,it     
cannot be denied that these extremely   
serious experiments1 which were very    
scientifically conducted1 are most      
bewildering2 but the danger of          
unconscious suggestion or telepathy is  
not and doubtless will never be         
sufficiently remote to allow them to    
become really conclusive4    ,we find   

further1 on pursuing the same train of  
ideas1 certain cases of  reincarnation1 
like that of one of ,dr4 ,samson's      
little daughters1 as  related in the    
,annales des sciences psychiques for    
,july1 #aiac4 ,this  case1 which is     
almost undisputed1 is exceedingly       
curious2 but1 though  it is not unique1 
those which resemble it are too rare to 
allow us to  rely upon them4    ,there  
remains what are known as prenatal      
reminiscences4 ,it happens  fairly often
 that a man who finds himself in an     
unfamiliar country1 in  a city1 a       
palace1 a church1 a house1 or a garden1 
which he is visiting  for the first     
time1 is conscious of a strange and very
 definite  impression that he 8has seen 
it before40 ,it suddenly seems to him   
that this landscape1 these vaulted      
ceilings1 these rooms and the very      
furniture and pictures which he finds in
 them are quite well-known to  him and  
that he recollects every nook and corner
 and every detail4  ,which of us but    

has1 at least once in his life1 vaguely 
experienced  some such impression8 ,but 
the recollections are often so definite 
that  the person in whom they occur is  
able to act as a guide through the      
house or park which he has never        
explored and to describe beforehand     
what his party will find in this or that
 room or at the turn of this  or that   
avenue4 ,is it really a recollection of 
previous existences1  a telepathic      
phenomenon or an ancestral and          
hereditary memory8 ,the  same question  
suggests itself touching certain innate 
aptitudes or  faculties1 by virtue of   
which we see children of genius1        
musicians1  painters1 mathematicians or 
simple artisans1 who know from the      
outset1  without learning them1 nearly  
all the secrets of their art or craft4  
,who will venture to decide8    ,this is
 about all that we can cite in favour of
 the doctrine of  reincarnation4 ,it is 
not enough to weigh down the scales4    
,but all the  other suppositions1       

theories or religions1 excepting        
spiritualism1  which for the rest is    
perfectly consistent with successive    
existences1  have less solid foundations
 and are even1 to be truthful1 devoid of
  any4 ,it would therefore be ungracious
 on their part to reproach the          
supposition which we are considering    
with the instability of the  arguments  
whereon it is based4    ,once again1 how
 desirable it would be that all this    
were true6 ,there  would be no more     
moral uncertainties1 no more uneasiness 
in respect of  justice4 ,and it is so   
beautiful1 so complete1 that it is      
perhaps real4  ,it is difficult indeed  
to admit that such a dream is untrue    
from first  to last1 a dream which has  
been dreamed so long1 since the         
beginning of  the world1 by so many     
thousands of millions of men and which1 
despite  numerous and far-reaching      
distortions1 has1 when all is said1 been
 the  one dream of humanity4 ,it is not 
possible to prove that it is based  upon

 truth2 but1 unlike most of the         
religions derived from it1 it is  not   
possible either to demonstrate that it  
is imaginary and fabricated  throughout2
 and1 there being this doubt1 why should
 not reason1 which  it never offends1 be
 allowed to accept it and at heart to   
hope and  act as though it were true1   
while waiting for science to confirm it 
completely1 or to invalidate it1 or to  
give us another hypothesis which  it    
will perhaps never be able to elaborate8
    ,what at first repels many of those 
who investigate it is the unduly        
assured and arbitrary insistence upon a 
thousand petty details1  probably       
interpolated1 as in all religions1 by   
inferior minds1 animated  by a narrow   
and maladroit zeal4 ,but these details1 
viewed from a  certain elevation1 do not
 in any way alter the great outlines1   
which  remain immeasurable1 admirable   
and unspoiled4      #f    ,for the rest1
 whether reincarnation be accepted or   
rejected1 there is  surely such a thing 

as survival1 since death and nothingness
 cannot be  conceived2 and the whole    
matter is once more reduced to the      
problem  of continued identity4 ,even in
 reincarnation this identity1 from our  
present1 limited point of view1 would   
possess only a relative interest1       
seeing that1 all memory of previous     
existences being abolished1 it  would   
necessarily evade us4 ,let us ask       
ourselves1 moreover1 whether  this      
question of personality without solution
 of continuity does  really possess the 
importance which we attach to it and    
whether this  importance is not a       
delusion1 a temporary blindness of our  
egoism1 of  our terrestrial             
intelligence4 ,for the fact remains that
 we interrupt  it and lose it every     
night without disquieting ourselves4 ,it
 is enough  for us to be certain that we
 shall recover it on awaking2 and we are
  reassured4 ,but suppose that this were
 not the case and that one evening  we  
were warned that we should not recover  

it1 that on the following  morning we   
should have forgotten all our past      
existence and should  begin a new life1 
without any memory to connect us with   
the old4 ,should  we feel the same      
terror1 the same despair1 as if we had  
been told  that we should never wake    
again and that we should be hurled into 
our  death8 ,i do not believe it1 ,i    
even think that we should accept our lot
  fairly cheerfully4 ,it would not      
greatly matter to us that we should     
have to lose the memory of a past1      
consisting1 like the past of all of  us1
 of more evil than good1 provided that  
life continued4 ,it would no  longer be 
our life1 it would no longer have       
anything in common with  the life of the
 day before2 nevertheless we should not 
believe that  we were losing it and we  
should retain a vague hope of recovering
 or  recognizing something of ourselves 
in the existence before us4 ,we  should 
take pains to prepare for this          
existence1 to insure it against         

misfortune and distress1 to make it1 in 
advance1 as pleasant and as  happy as   
possible4 ,it might and ought to be so1 
not only if we believe  in              
reincarnation1 because the case would be
 almost identical1 but also  if we do   
not believe in it1 since a survival of  
some sort is almost  certain and        
absolute annihilation is actually       
inconceivable4      #g    ,perhaps with 
a little courage and goodwill it would  
be possible for us1  even in this life1 
to look higher and farther1 to shed for 
an instant  that narrow and dismal      
egoism which refers all things to self1 
to tell  ourselves that the intelligence
 or the good which our thoughts and     
efforts diffuse in the spiritual spheres
 are not wholly lost1 even  when it is  
not certain that the little nucleus of  
trivial habits and  commonplace         
recollections that we are possesses them
 exclusively4 ,if  the good actions     
which we have performed1 the noble or   
merely honest  intentions or thoughts   

which we have experienced attach        
themselves and  give value to a life in 
which we shall not recognize our own1   
this is  not a sufficient reason to     
regard them as useless or to deny them  
all  merit4 ,it is well to remind       
ourselves at times that we are nothing  
if we are not everything and to learn   
from now onwards to interest  ourselves 
in something that is not solely         
ourselves and already to  live the      
ampler1 less personal1 less egotistical 
life which presently1  without any      
doubt1 whatever may be our creed1 will  
be our eternal life1  the only life that
 matters and the only life for which it 
is wise to  prepare ourselves4      #h  
,if we do not accept reincarnation1     
,karma none the less exists3  a         
mutilated ,karma1 it is true2 a         
diminished ,karma1 devoid of            
spaciousness1 with an horizon limited by
 death1 beginning its work and  doing   
its best in the brief spell of time     
which it has before it1 but  less       

negligible1 less impotent1 less inactive
 and ineffective than  is supposed4     
,acting within its narrow sphere1 it    
gives us a fairly  accurate albeit very 
incomplete idea of what it would        
accomplish in  the wider sphere which we
 deny it4 ,but this would lead us back  
to the  highly debatable question of    
mundane justice4 ,it is almost          
insoluble1  because its decisive        
operations1 being inward and secret1    
escape  observation4 ,following many    
others1 who1 for the rest1 have         
explained  it better than ,i1 ,i have   
spoken of it elsewhere1 particularly in 
,wisdom and ,destiny and in ,the        
,mystery of ,justice2#c but1 as ,queen  
,scheherazade might say1 it would serve 
no useful purpose to repeat it4      #i 
,let us then return to ,karma properly  
so-called1 the ideal ,karma4 ,it        
rewards goodness and punishes evil in   
the infinite sequence of our  lives4    
,but first of all1 some will ask1 what  
is this goodness1 what  is this evil1   

what is the best or the worst of our    
petty thoughts1  our petty intentions1  
our petty ephemeral actions1 compared   
with  the boundless immensity of time   
and space8 ,is there not an absurd      
disproportion between the hugeness of   
the reward or punishment and the        
pettiness of the fault or merit8 ,why   
mix the worlds1 the eternities  and the 
gods with things which1 however         
monstrous or admirable at  first1 are   
not slow1 even within the trivial limits
 of our life1  to lose gradually all the
 importance which we ascribed to them1  
to  vanish1 to fade into oblivion8 ,that
 is true2 but we must needs speak  of   
human things in terms of human beings   
and on the human scale4 ,what  we call  
good or evil is that which works us good
 or evil1 that which  benefits or harms 
ourselves or others2 and1 so long as we 
live upon  this earth and have not      
disappeared1 we must needs attach to    
good  and evil an importance which in   
themselves they do not possess4 ,the    

noblest religions1 the proudest         
metaphysical speculations1 so soon as   
they involve human morality1 human      
evolution and the human future1  have   
always been obliged to reduce themselves
 to human proportions1 to  become       
anthropomorphous4 ,this is an invincible
 necessity1 by virtue of  which1 despite
 the horizons that tempt us on every    
hand1 it behoves us  to limit our ideas 
and our outlook4      #aj    ,let us    
then limit them and once more ask       
ourselves1 this time remaining  within  
our sphere1 what1 after all1 is this    
evil which ,karma punishes8  ,if we go  
to the very root of the matter1 evil    
always arises from a lack  of           
intelligence1 from an erroneous and     
incomplete judgment1 obscured  or       
restricted by our egoism1 which allows  
us to perceive only the  proximate or   
immediate advantages of an action       
harmful to ourselves  or others1 while  
concealing the remote but inevitable    
consequences  which such an action      

always ends by begetting4 ,the whole    
science of  ethics1 after all1 is based 
only upon intelligence2 and what we call
  heart1 sentiments1 character is in    
fact nothing but accumulated and        
crystallized intelligence1 inherited or 
acquired1 which has become  more or less
 unconscious and is transformed into    
habits or instincts4  ,the evil which we
 do we do only because of a mistaken    
egoism1 which  sees the limits of its   
being too near at hand4 ,as soon as     
intelligence  raises the point of view  
of this egoism1 the limits extend1 widen
 and  end by disappearing4 ,the terrible
 and insatiable ego loses its centre  of
 attraction and avidity and knows       
itself1 finds itself and loves  itself  
in all things4 ,let us not believe      
blindly in the intelligence of  the     
wicked who succeed1 or in the happiness 
of the criminal4 ,we ought  rather to   
see the converse1 that is to say1 the   
often hideous reality  of the success2  
moreover1 this intelligence1 in the     

shape of skill1  cunning or disloyalty1 
is a specialized intelligence1 confined 
within  a narrow circuit and1 like a    
constricted jet of water1 very effective
  when directed at a single point2 but  
it is not a true and general1  spacious 
and generous intelligence4 ,wherever the
 latter reveals  itself1 we necessarily 
find honesty1 justice1 forbearance1 love
 and  kindness1 because there is a lofty
 and full horizon and because there  is 
an instinctive or conscious knowledge of
 human proportions1 of the  eternity of 
existence and the brevity of life1 of   
man's position in the  universe1 of the 
mysteries that compass him about and the
 secret bonds  that unite him to all    
things that we see as well as to all    
things that  we do not see upon earth   
and in the heavens4      #aa    ,is     
,karma1 then1 supposed to punish lack of
 intelligence8 ,and1 in the  first      
place1 why not8 ,it is the only real    
evil upon this earth2 and1  if all men  
were superlatively intelligent1 none    

would be unhappy4  ,but where would the 
justice of it be8 ,we possess the       
intelligence  which nature has bestowed 
upon us2 it is she1 not we1 that should 
be held responsible4 ,let us understand 
one another4 ,karma does not  inflict   
punishment1 properly speaking2 it simply
 places us1 after  our successive       
existences and slumbers1 on the plane on
 which our  intelligence left us1       
surrounded by our actions and our       
thoughts4 ,it  keeps a check and a      
record4 ,it takes us such as we have    
made ourselves  and gives us the        
opportunity to make ourselves anew1 to  
acquire what  we lack and to raise      
ourselves to the level of the highest4  
,we are  bound to raise ourselves1 but  
the slowness or rapidity of our ascent  
depends only upon ourselves4 ,when all  
is said1 the apparent injustice  which  
grants more intelligence to some than to
 others is but a question  of date1 a   
law of growth1 of evolution1 which is   
the fundamental law  of all the lives   

that we know1 from the infusoria to the 
stars4 ,we  could at most complain of   
coming later than the rest2 but the     
rest1  in their turn1 might with more   
reason complain of being called too     
soon1 of being unable to profit at once 
by all that has been acquired  since    
their birth4 ,to avoid recrimination1   
therefore1 we should all  have been on  
the same plane from the outset2 we      
should all have been  born at the same  
time4 ,but then the world would have    
been complete1  perfect1 immutable1     
immobile1 from the first moment of its  
existence  and ours4 ,this would perhaps
 have been preferable2 but it is not so 
and it is1 no doubt1 impossible that it 
should be so2 in any case1 no  system of
 metaphysics1 no religion1 not even the 
first1 the greatest1  the loftiest1 the 
mother of all the rest1 ever thought of 
rejecting the  indisputable and         
indubitable law of endless movement1 of 
the eternal  ,becoming2 and it must be  
admitted that everything appears to     

justify  it4 ,it is probable that there 
would be nothing if it were otherwise   
and  that there can only be something on
 condition that it becomes better  or   
worse1 that it rises or falls1 that it  
constitutes itself in order  to         
deconstitute and reconstitute itself and
 that movement is more  essential than  
being or substance4 ,it is so because it
 is so4 ,there is  nothing to be done1  
nothing to be said2 we can but state the
 fact4 ,we  are in a world in which     
matter would perish and disappear sooner
 than  movement1 or rather in which     
matter1 time1 space1 duration1 existence
  and movement are but one and the same 
thing4      #ab    ,but we also live in 
a world in which our reason encounters  
only the  impossible1 the insoluble and 
the incomprehensible4 ,the supreme      
interpretations do no more than shift   
the riddle1 to permit us to  obtain     
glimpses from a higher standpoint of the
 boundless immensity in  which we are   
striving4 ,therefore1 apart from the    

puerile explanations  which1 after      
successive changes of form1 all the     
religions have  drawn from the original 
religion1 three hypotheses and no more  
offer  themselves for our choice3 on the
 one hand1 nothingness1 inertia and     
absolute death1 which are inconceivable2
 on the other hand1 chance and  its     
eternal renewals1 which are without     
change1 hope1 object or end1 or  which1 
if they led to anything1 would lead     
either to an inconceivable  annihilation
 or to the third hypothesis1 according  
to which the best  becomes infinite1    
even to total absorption in the         
imperfectible1 the  immutable1 the      
immovable1 which1 as ,i have said       
elsewhere1#d must have  occurred already
 in the eternity that precedes us1 since
 there is no  reason why that which     
could not take place in this eternity   
should take  place in the eternity to   
come1 which is no more infinite1 is no  
more  extensive and offers no more      
chances than the past eternity and which

  is not of a different nature4    ,the 
mother religion itself1 the only one    
which is still acceptable1  which takes 
account of everything and which has     
foreseen everything1  does not escape   
this last dilemma by extending to       
thousands of  millions of years the     
duration of a year of ,brahma1 that is  
to  say1 the period of evolution1 of    
expiration1 of externalization and      
activity1 and to an equal number of     
thousands of millions of years  the     
duration of a night of this god1 that is
 to say1 the period of  involution1 of  
inspiration1 of internalization1 of     
slumber or inertia1  during which all is
 reabsorbed into the divinity or the    
sole absolute4  ,it does not escape it  
either by next multiplying these days   
and nights  by a hundred years which    
form one life and this life by a hundred
  lives which lead to figures that defy 
expression1 after which another         
universe begins4    ,here1 too1 there   
would be either an eternal              

recommencement without hope  or object1 
or1 if there be progression1 final      
perfection and immobility  which ought  
already to be attained4 ,let each draw  
from all this such  conclusions as he   
please or can1 or bow once more1 in     
silence1 before  the ,unknowable4       
,,the ,,end          ,,footnotes3    #a 
,the ,english translation of ,fabre's   
works1 by ,alexander ,teixeira de       
,mattos1 is issued in ,america by the   
publishers of the present volume4    #b 
,in the volume1 published in #aijd1     
entitled ,the ,double ,garden4--,a4  ,t4
 de ,m4    #c ,the first essay in ,the  
,buried ,temple4--,a4 ,t4 de ,m4    #d  
,in ,our ,eternity4--,a4 ,t4 de ,m4     
,,transcriber',s ,,notes3               
,italicized text is surrounded by       
underscores3 italics4    ,obvious       
typographical errors have been          
corrected4