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font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ancient Rome and Modern America;, by Guglielmo Ferrero</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Ancient Rome and Modern America;</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0;'>A Comparative Study of Morals and Manners</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Guglielmo Ferrero</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 8, 2021 [eBook #66901]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT ROME AND MODERN AMERICA; ***</div> - -<div class="transnote covernote"> -<p class="center larger">Transcriber's Note</p> - -<p>Cover created by Transcriber and placed into the Public Domain.</p> -</div> - -<div class="newpage p4 center wspace"> -<h1><span class="vspace">ANCIENT ROME AND<br /> -MODERN AMERICA</span></h1> - -<p class="larger bold vspace">A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MORALS<br /> -AND MANNERS</p> - -<div class="vspace"> -<p class="p2">BY<br /> -<span class="large">GUGLIELMO FERRERO</span><br /> -<span class="small">AUTHOR OF “THE GREATNESS AND DECLINE OF ROME,” ETC.</span></p> - -<p class="p4"><span class="large">G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS</span><br /> -NEW YORK AND LONDON<br /> -<span class="bold">The Knickerbocker Press</span> -</p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="newpage p4"> -<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1914</span><br /> - -BY<br /> - -<span class="larger">GUGLIELMO FERRERO</span></p> - -<p class="p2">Third Impression</p> - -<p class="bold">The Knickerbocker Press, New York</p> -</div></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">iii</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PUBLISHERS_NOTE">PUBLISHER’S NOTE</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> reader will find in the following pages reference -to another work by Dr. Ferrero which will shortly -come into publication under the title of <i>Between the -Old World and the New</i>. It is in order to explain that -<i>Between the Old World and the New</i> was brought into -print in continental editions (in Italy, in France and -elsewhere) before the publication of the present work. -The author has, however, decided, that for the English-speaking -readers of the two volumes it would be advisable -to change the order of publication and to issue -first this study of Morals and Manners. The second -book, <i>Between the Old World and the New</i>, will appear, -in New York and in London, early in the autumn of -1914.</p> - -<p> -<span class="smcap">New York</span>,<br /> -<i>April, 1914</i>. -</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">v</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table id="toc" summary="Contents"> -<tr class="small"> - <td colspan="2"> </td> - <td class="tdr">PAGE</td> -</tr> -<tr class="first"> - <td class="tdc part" colspan="3"><i>PART ONE</i></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">What is Progress?</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_3">3</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc part" colspan="3"><i>PART TWO</i></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc subpart" colspan="3">ANCIENT HISTORY AND THE MODERN WORLD</td> -</tr> -<tr class="small"> - <td class="tdr">CHAPTER</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">I.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Ancient Social Systems and Contemporary America</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_21">21</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">II.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Quantity and Quality</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_40">40</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">III.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Woman and Home</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_60">60</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">IV.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Lesson of the Fall of the Roman Empire</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_77">77</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">V.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Ups and Downs</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_97">97</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc part" colspan="3"><i>PART THREE</i></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc subpart" colspan="3">EUROPE AND AMERICA</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">I.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The American Definition of Progress</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_115">115</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">II.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Facts and Motives in the Modern World</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_139">139</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">III.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">More or Better?</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_161">161</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">IV.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Lost Paradise of Beauty</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_182">182</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">V.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Beyond Every Limit</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_201">201</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">VI.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Riddle of America</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_223">223</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc part" colspan="3"><i>PART FOUR</i></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc subpart" colspan="3">POLITICS AND JUSTICE IN ANCIENT ROME</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">I.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Trial of Verres</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_251">251</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">II.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Trial of Clodius</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_275">275</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">III.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Trial of Piso</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_299">299</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc part" colspan="3"><i>PART FIVE</i></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">The Limit of Sport</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_331">331</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="ANCIENT_ROME_AND_MODERN_AMERICA">ANCIENT ROME AND MODERN AMERICA</h2> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak part" id="Part_I"><span class="smcap">Part I</span><br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">What Is Progress?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span></span></span></h2> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_3" class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="WHAT_IS_PROGRESS">WHAT IS PROGRESS?</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> object of the essays collected in this volume, -with the exception of three which recount three -curious episodes in Roman history, is the investigation -of the most important differences between the ancient -world and the modern, between Europe and America; -in what way and in what particulars the civilisations of -the ancients and of Europe have been modified respectively -by the course of centuries and by the passage of -the Atlantic. The essays were printed in the first -instance in a monthly publication—<i>Hearst’s Magazine</i>—for -the perusal of the multitude of hasty readers who -are content to skip from argument to argument, and -they are now republished in book form for the benefit -of those readers who may care to dwell on each argument -with greater deliberation. This volume may -be considered as the bridge which connects the <i>Greatness -and Decline of Rome</i> with a third work which, under -the title of <i>Between the Old World and the New</i>, will be -published shortly in New York and London.</p> - -<p>A comparison between the ancient world and the -modern, between Europe and America, suggested to a -writer of ancient history by two long tours in the New<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span> -World—such is the subject of this volume; and such is -the subject of the further book which at an early date -will again take up a number of the matters outlined in -these papers and will submit these to more exhaustive -consideration. But neither in this volume nor in its -successor must the reader expect the comparison to -resolve itself into a definite judgment; and if he imagines -that he has discovered such a verdict, he may rest -assured that he is mistaken. This book, and the other -which will follow it, have been written with the express -purpose of emphasising how vain it is to spend our time, -as we do, passing judgment on the progress or decadence -of the times, of nations, and of civilisations; of showing -how easy it is to reverse all the reasonings by which, -impelled by passions, interests, prejudices, or illusions, -we strive now to exalt, now to abase ourselves by comparison -with the ancients and by contrasting the inhabitants -of one continent with those of another; -of indicating what an easy and sure target irony and -dialectic have in all the doctrines, opinions, and beliefs -with which man endeavours to establish his by-no-means -sure judgments—all the doctrines, including -that of progress, at least in the sense in which progress -is generally understood.</p> - -<p>Including that of progress? the American reader will -exclaim, with some misgiving. But are we not living -in the age of progress? Can that idea of progress -which every morning rises with the sun and sheds new -splendour on the two worlds on either side of the Atlantic,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span> -and with the sun arouses them to their accustomed -tasks—can it be that this idea is but an illusion? No. -The author of these two books has not so much confidence -in his own wisdom as to try to discover whether -man is really progressing or not; whether he is moving -down the valley of the centuries towards a fixed goal, -or towards an illusion which retreats with each step he -takes in its direction. There is one point only which -the author proposes to make clear. There are at the -present day, on the one hand, those who despise the -present and worship the past, extol Europe and depreciate -America; on the other hand, those who declare -that they would not give one hour of the marvellous -present in which they live for all the centuries of the -past, and who rate America far more highly than they -do Europe. The author sets out to show that the -reason why the eternal disputes between the partisans -of these divergent views are so inconclusive, is that in -this discussion, as in so many others, each side postulates -two different definitions of progress, and in their -discussions of the past and of the present, of Europe -and of America, they start from this dual definition -as if it were single and agreed. The result is that -they cannot understand and never will understand, if -they discuss for a thousand years, each other’s point -of view.</p> - -<p>The worshippers of the present and the admirers of -America argue, more or less consciously, from a definition -of progress which would identify it with the increase<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span> -of the power and speed of machines, of riches, and of -our control over nature, however much that control -may involve the frenzied squandering of the resources -of the earth, which, while immense, are not inexhaustible. -And their arguments are sound in their application -to the present age, and also to America, if we grant -that their definition of progress is the true one. For -though steam- and electricity-driven machinery claims -Europe as its birthplace, it has reached maturity and -has accomplished and is accomplishing its most extraordinary -feats in America, where, so to speak, it found -virgin soil to exploit. But the opposite school indignantly -denies that men are wasting their time and -contributing nothing to the improvement and progress -of the world, when they strive to embellish it or to -instruct it, to soothe and to restrain its unbridled -passions. In their view, the masterpieces of art, the -great religions, the discoveries of science, the speculations -of philosophy, the reform of laws, customs, and -constitutions, are milestones along the road to progress. -According to these, our age, intent only on making -money, ought to be ashamed when it compares itself -with the past. Machines are the barbarians of modern -times, which have destroyed the fairest works of ancient -civilisations. History will show the discovery of -America to have been little less than a calamity.</p> - -<p>So two persons who, starting from these two definitions -of progress, set to work to judge the past and the -present, Europe and America, will never succeed in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span> -understanding each other, any more than two persons -who, wishing to measure a thing together, adopt two -different measures. And the discussion will be the -more vain and confused, the less clearly and precisely -the thought of each disputant apprehends the primary -definition of progress, which does duty as a measure -for each. Indeed, this unfortunate state of affairs is -commoner than is generally supposed at the present -day, with the need for hurry which pursues us in every -act and at every moment, and with the great whirl of -ideas and words which eddies around us. To decide, -then, whether our times are or are not greater than those -of the ancients, whether America is superior to Europe -or Europe to America, we must discover which of these -two definitions is the true one. But is it possible to -prove that one of these definitions of progress is true -and the other false? How many to-day would dare -to deny that man made the world progress when, by -the use of fire, he launched on the path of victory the -locomotive across the earth and the steamer across the -ocean? Or when he captured and led through threads -of copper the invisible force of electricity adrift in the -universe? Or when he embellished the world with -arts, and enlightened it with studies, and tempered the -innate ferocity of human nature with laws, religion, and -customs? It is clear that neither of these two definitions -will succeed in putting the other out of court, -until men are willing either to superhumanise themselves -completely, renouncing material goods in favour<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span> -of spiritual joys, or, sacrificing the latter to the former, -to bestialise themselves. So long as men with few -exceptions continue to desire riches and the control -of nature, as well as beauty, wisdom, and justice, -both these definitions of progress will be <em>partially</em> true. -Each will present to us one aspect of progress. It will -be impossible, if we adopt only one of the two, to decide -whether we are progressive or decadent, whether -America is worth more or less than Europe. Every -epoch and people will seem at one time and another to -be progressive or decadent, to be superior or inferior, -according as the one or the other definition is the basis -of judgment.</p> - -<p>“But,” the reader will say, “why not then combine -the two definitions in one? Why not say that progress -is the increase of all the good things which man desires: -of riches, of wisdom, of power, of beauty, of justice?” -But in order to make of these two definitions a single -complete and coherent definition, we should have to -be certain that it is possible by a single effort to increase -all the good things of life. Is it possible, and -to what extent is it possible? That is a second grave -question which this book and its successor endeavour -to answer.</p> - -<p>Many and various matters relating to Europe and -America are discussed in this book. Still more various -and diverse are the discussions in <i>Between the Old World -and the New</i>, which presents a series of dialogues occupying -the leisure hours of a two weeks’ voyage, in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span> -course of which persons of different degrees of culture -and diverse casts of thought discuss Hamlet and progress, -machinery and Homer, the Copernican system -and riches, science and Vedanta philosophy, Kant and -love, Europe and America, Christian Science and sexual -morality. These matters are discussed fitfully with -mad rushes zigzag over the universe; and the fits and -rushes have somewhat dismayed certain critics on this -side of the Atlantic. “What a jumble!” they cry. -“What an encyclopædia, what an enormity it is! -What can Homer and machinery, Hamlet and America, -Copernicus and emigration have in common?”</p> - -<p>In short, the perusal of <i>Between the Old World and the -New</i> in the original Italian has produced upon more -than one critic the same effect as if he had come back -to his house to find all his belongings, his letters, his -furniture, his clothes, shifted and turned upside down. -“What demon has been at work here?” he cries in -dismay. Such critics are not altogether wrong from -their point of view. Nevertheless, this demon, which -is always urging man to turn his home upside down -in the hopes of arranging it better, no adjuration will -succeed in exorcising from our epoch. I hope that, -when presented in the form of a book, these dialogues -will produce a less alarming impression on America. -Accustomed as she is to seeing such demons raging in -her house, she should not permit herself to be prevented -from taking breath in the satisfaction of having done -well, by the ambition to do better. To be sure, between<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span> -the so-called Homeric question and steam-engines, -between the discovery of America and the tendencies -of philosophy, between the troubles which torment us -in private life and the French Revolution, between -transatlantic emigration and the architecture of New -York, there is a connection. It is a profound, an organic, -a vital connection; for, in the last four centuries, little -by little, almost imperceptibly at first, then with a -speed which increased gradually up to the French Revolution, -finally, at headlong speed from the Revolution -to the present day, the world has changed in every part, -in form, spirit, and order. And it has changed in form, -order, and spirit, because it has changed the order of its -demands upon man. In compensation for the liberty -granted him in everything else, it has demanded of him -a rapidity, a punctuality, an intensity, and a passivity -of obedience in his work, such as no other epoch has -ever dreamed of being able to exact from lazy human -nature.</p> - -<p>From the French Revolution onwards, throughout -Europe and throughout America, the political parties, -the social classes, and institutions, and the philosophical -doctrines which supported the principle of authority, -little by little, but everywhere and unintermittently, -have given way before the onslaught of the parties, the -classes, and the doctrines which support the principle -of liberty. The former have been forced sooner or -later to allow the right of free criticism and discussion -to oust the ancient duty of tacit obedience in the state,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span> -in religion, in the school, and ultimately in the family. -Poets and philosophers have extolled the liberation of -man from ancient servitudes as the most glorious victory -man can vaunt. A victory, certainly; but over -whom? Over himself, as it seems; since the limits, -within which man was content to rest confined until -the French Revolution, he himself had erected and -invested with sacred terrors. It is clear that the slave, -the tyrant, and the liberator were one and the same -person. Moreover, one may well think that, in gaining -his liberty, man has not been born again to a new destiny -nor has he regenerated his own nature; rather has he -learned to employ his own energies in a different way. -Man had lived for centuries within strict limits, which -confined in a narrow compass his curiosity, ambition, -energy, and pride. But within those limits he had lived -with greater comfort and less anxiety than we are living, -without racking his brains to invent or to understand -something new every day, not spurred on every hour to -produce at greater speed and in greater abundance, not -exasperated by the multitude of his needs nor agitated -from morning to night by the pursuit of the means to -satisfy them. But after the discovery of America and -the first great astronomical discoveries which shed -glory on the beginning of the sixteenth century, there -arose in man the first sparks of ambition to seek new -ways in the world outside the ancient limits. The -philosophies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, -and still more the first discoveries of science, lent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span> -boldness to these ambitions. One day men realised -that Prometheus, that clumsy thief, had stolen from -the gods only a tiny spark of the fire. They planned -a second robbery, discovered coal and electricity, and -invented the steam-engine. And behold! the French -Revolution, which confounded and upset, from one -end of Europe to the other, boundaries, laws, institutions, -and traditions—ideal and material limits. Then -at last man realised that he could conquer and exploit -the whole earth with iron and fire. At the same time -as liberty, a new, untiring, formidable eagerness invaded -the two worlds. All the limits which, for so -many centuries, had confined in a narrow circle the -energy and aspirations of even the most highly venerated -of men fell one after the other to the ground. -They fell, because the human mind could not have -launched out into the unknown to essay so many new -marvels if those ancient limits which imprisoned it had -remained standing. The multitude would not have -bowed their necks to the hard discipline of their new -work, if in compensation they had not been liberated -from other, more ancient, disciplinary restrictions.</p> - -<p>In short, the great era of iron and fire began, in -which the principle of liberty was destined to assault -the principle of authority in its last entrenchments, -and to drive it right away to the farthest frontiers of -political, moral, and intellectual anarchy. But for -this very reason the era of iron and fire has seen the -gradual confusion and reduction to wavering uncertainty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span> -of all the criteria which served to distinguish -the beautiful from the ugly, the true from the false, -good from evil. These criteria have become confused -because they are and can be nothing else but limits; -limits which are precise and sure so long as they are -restricted, but become feeble the more they are enlarged. -But how can a century, which has made itself -so powerful by dint of overturning the ancient limits -on every hand, be expected to respect these limits in -the spiritual world? As a result we find a civilisation -which has built railways, studded the Atlantic with -steamers, exploited America, and multiplied the world’s -riches a hundredfold in fifty years,—we find it obsessed -by grotesque doubts and eccentric uncertainties with -regard to the <i>Iliad</i> and the <i>Odyssey</i>, in which generation -after generation, accustomed to respect amongst other -limits those imposed by literary traditions, had unhesitatingly -agreed to recognise two masterpieces composed -by a poet of genius. So we see the epoch which has -overturned and destroyed so many thrones and altars -and made Reason and Science march in triumph -through the smoking ruins of a score of revolutions,—we -see it obsessed on a sudden by a thousand scruples, -halt, ask itself what is truth, whether it exists, and if it -can be recognised. We see it rack its brains to decide -whether what we know is a real and objective something -or only a creation of our fancy. All these scruples and -doubts are, as it were, the brow of a slope down which -our epoch slides at headlong speed towards the abyss<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span> -of nothingness. And in the century which has given -man liberty, the certainty of food, comfort in abundance, -and so many guarantees against the oppression -of individuals and authorities as were known to no -previous century; in the century which, by overthrowing -so many limits, has banished from our midst so -many reasons for hatred and war, do we not hear a -thousand voices on every side cursing man for a miserable -slave and accusing the times of being corrupt; -crying that conditions must be purified with fire and -sword, according to some, with war, according to others, -with revolution? Having once transgressed the limits, -man has become insatiable. The more he possesses, the -more he wants. He no longer acknowledges any restraint -in his desires.</p> - -<p>The quantity which vanquishes quality, the liberty -which vanquishes authority, the desires which blaze -out anew each time they are satisfied—these are the -forces and the phenomena which shape and fashion -our civilisation. For this reason we can, it is true, -accumulate vast hordes of wealth and conquer the -earth with iron and fire. But we must resign ourselves -to living in a new Tower of Babel, in the midst of a -confusion of tongues. The æsthetic, intellectual, and -moral confusion of our times is the price nature exacts -for the treasures which she is obliged to resign into our -power. This book and its successor have been written -with the object of throwing light on the obscure but -vital bond which links together in a living unity the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span> -most diverse phenomena of contemporary life. They -have not been written, as some have thought, with the -view of comparing the ancient and the modern civilisations, -Europe and America, to the detriment of the one -or of the other; much less with the view of denouncing -the régime of liberty, on the ground that it corrupts the -world, and of demanding that it be suppressed. To -find fault with the tendency of a civilisation, one must -postulate the fact that history has gone wrong. And -what criterion, what standard is there which justifies -a man in declaring to successive generations that they -ought to have held different objects in view, and -adopted other means to attain them?</p> - -<p>No: the author’s only object has been to sound the -depths of life, in the hope of tracing that unity from -which flow forth and into which flow back again so -many apparently diverse phenomena; that unity in -which alone thought can find some respite from its -weary search after the secret of its own being and of -that of things in general. Without a doubt each one -of us attains only provisional success in his search for -this unity; but is not every work of man only provisional, -and what are we but beings destined to live only for -an instant? Therefore, I have endeavoured in this -book to reveal, by way of an analytical and rational -exposition, set out in the simplest and plainest terms, -the vital bond of this unity. But, inasmuch as a unity -is a synthesis, and analysis necessarily modifies and -disfigures while trying to explain, I have availed myself<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span> -in my other work of what is perhaps the most effective -method of representing the phenomena of life in their -synthesis: I mean, art. For this reason I have written -a dialogue, in which I have made my characters begin -by wandering haphazard over a wide field and jumping, -apparently at random, from one to another of a series -of widely different topics. But at the end the various -topics are gathered into a united whole, showing the -bond which unites them, in the speeches of the most -acute and intelligent of the passengers; especially in -that speech which coincides with the entry of the ship -from the open Atlantic, the free high-road of the new -world, into the Mediterranean, the confined arena of -ancient civilisation. <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Livre désordonné et pourtant bien -ordonné</i> is the verdict of a French critic, André Maurel. -How glad I should be if all my readers subscribed to -this verdict! In truth, this tragic conflict of the two -worlds, of the two civilisations, of man with himself, -for licence to dispense with the limits of which he, in -fact, has need if he is to enjoy the most exquisite fruits -of life, is a picture so vast as to overtax the resources -of the painter. But the painter has worked at his -canvas with so much ardour and passion that he hopes -to find on the other side of the Atlantic, as on this, -readers willing to view the defects in his work -with the intelligent indulgence of which really cultured -men are always so liberal; readers prompt to -feel some quickening in response to the few sparks -of beauty and of truth which the author may have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span> -succeeded in infusing into his work. It is a small -thing, no doubt. But do not even the tiny rivulets -which flow through the valleys unite to form the -mighty rivers in the plain?</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak part" id="Part_II"><span class="smcap">Part II</span><br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">Ancient History and the Modern World</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_21" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="II-I">I<br /> - -<span class="subhead">ANCIENT SOCIAL SYSTEMS AND CONTEMPORARY AMERICA</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">At</span> the end of the year 1906, while sojourning in -Paris, where I had been giving at the Collège de -France a course of lectures on Roman history, I received -an invitation from Emilio Mitré, the son of the -famous Argentine general, to undertake a long expedition -to South America. This invitation evoked general -surprise. What, my friends asked, was I, the historian -of the ancient world, going to do in the newest of new -worlds, in ultra-modern countries, in countries without -a past and caring only for the future, where industry -and agriculture fill the place which for the ancients was -occupied by war? Why, if I was willing to leave my -studies and my books for one moment, did I not repair -to Egypt or the East, the scene of so much of the history -which I had recounted, where the Romans have left so -many traces of the world which has passed away, and -where so many important excavations, tending to -enrich history with new documentary evidence, are in -progress?</p> - -<p>I answered my questioners by pointing out that I was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span> -not a bookworm, whose interest was confined to ancient -books and archæological parchments; that life in all -its aspects interested me, and that I was, therefore, -curious, after devoting so much attention to ancient -peoples, to study awhile the most modern of nations, -the newest comers in the history of our civilisation. -Did my friends suppose that, because I had written a -history of Rome, I had pledged myself never again to -direct my gaze to modern life? But, though I explained -the reason for my voyage in this way, I, no less than -my friendly objectors, was convinced at that time that -my travels in America would be only a parenthesis in my -intellectual life. In other words, I thought that I was -going to America in search of an intellectual diversion, -hoping for some relaxation for my mind, obsessed for -the last ten years by ancient history, in bringing it to -bear on an entirely different world. That this diversion -would be useful to me, I had no doubt; but not -because America might help me to a better understanding -of ancient Rome, but because to change every -now and again the subject-matter of my studies and to -enrich my mind with new impressions always seemed -to me one of the most profitable intellectual exercises, -especially for a historian to whom a wide experience of -human nature is a necessity. To-day, after having -made not one, but two journeys to America, after having -seen not only the two largest and most flourishing states -of South America, but also that North America which, -more than all the other states of the New World, represents<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span> -in the eyes of contemporaries the more modern -part of our civilisation, the reign of machinery, the -empire of business, the rule of money, I am no longer -of this opinion. It is my present belief that a journey -in the New World is of supreme benefit intellectually to -a historian of the ancient world; and that, in order to -understand the life and history of Greek or Roman -society, it is perhaps just as important to visit the -countries of America as Asia Minor or Northern Africa. -That is what I said on one of the last days of my stay -in the United States to a genial professor of ancient -history connected with Cornell University, with whom -I was discussing the most famous schools of the present -day for the pursuit of historical studies, and the methods -adopted in these schools. “Many of you Americans,” -I said, “go to European universities to study ancient -history. It seems to me that you might well invite -many European professors to come and go through a finishing -course in America, studying not only in libraries -but in the live world, and observing what happens -in American society. Nobody is in a better position -than are you to understand ancient society.” My -remark may seem at first sight a paradox. But it is no -paradox, if one goes to the root of the problem. For -what we, men of the twentieth century, call ancient -civilisations, were really, when they flourished, new and -young civilisations, with but few centuries of history -behind them; and so are the American civilisations of -the present day. For this reason, we find in ancient<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span> -civilisations, on however much reduced a scale, many -phenomena which are now peculiar to American social -systems; while we should look for them in vain in -European civilisation, which has more right to call itself -ancient civilisation than have the civilisations of Greece -and of Rome. This I propose briefly to prove.</p> - -<p>One of the social phenomena which are most characteristic -of North America, but which would be looked -for in vain in Europe, is the munificence of the donations -of wealthy men to the public. Families of great wealth -in America nowadays feel it incumbent on them, as a -social duty, to spend a part of their substance on -the people; to encourage education and culture, to -bestow benefactions, to help the more needy classes, -and to assist with their purses the public authorities in -the execution of their functions. In Europe, the case -is different. Large fortunes may be numerous, but -they are kept more in the background than in America. -Rich men are much more selfish in the enjoyment of -their riches. Even the richest are, as a rule, content -to leave some small sum in their wills to the poor, or to -some educational institution. But donations in excess -of four thousand pounds are rare, and make a great -stir. It is for this reason that certain sections of society -in Europe accuse the upper classes of selfishness and -hold up before them American generosity as an example -to follow. But this censure is exaggerated, for the -times and the social conditions are different in Europe. -The history of the ancient world shows that this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span> -generosity on the part of the rich is a phenomenon -peculiar to a certain stage in the development of society, -which recurs in all flourishing and prosperous, but as -yet not very ancient, societies. In these, some of the -public functions are assumed by the rich, because the -State has not yet had the time to bring them under its -control and to direct them according to laws by it -established. If the millionaires of America have, as a -matter of fact, but few imitators in Europe, they can -boast numberless forerunners in the histories of Greece -and Rome. In Athens to begin with, and, later, in -the Roman Empire, to mention only the most famous -states of the ancient world, education, charity, public -amusements, even public works, such as roads, theatres, -and temples, were always in part left by the State to -the generosity of wealthy individuals, who felt it their -duty to contribute out of their means to the public -welfare.</p> - -<p>Amongst the inscriptions which have reached us -from the Roman world, and which have been collected -in the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum</i>, we find a -considerable number referring to these donations. In -all the provinces of the vast Empire, in all the cities -great and small, stories have been found recounting, -often in forcible terms, the donation by some citizen, -during his life or at his death, of a certain sum to the -city, it might be to construct or repair an edifice, it -might be to distribute grain to the people in time of -dearth, or to give bounties of oil on festive occasions,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span> -or to assure to the people the enjoyment of certain -periodical spectacles, or to supplement the finances of the -city, which had been thrown into disorder by excessive -expenditure, or which were not equal to all the calls -made upon them. Every city, then, had her own -millionaire benefactors, her little Carnegies, her Huntingtons, -Morgans, and Rockefellers in miniature, whose -generosity was necessary to the public good, and to -whom were raised in gratitude monuments, many of -which have come down to our time.</p> - -<p>The Roman Emperor himself was, at first at any -rate, only the most generous and the best known of -these rich donors: a kind of Carnegie, Morgan, and -Rockefeller of the Empire. Suetonius, for instance, -tells us what sums Augustus spent in the course of his -life, out of his private patrimony, on public objects. -Augustus himself, in the famous <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Monumentum Ancyranum</i>, -the great inscription found in Asia, in which he -gives a clear résumé of the story of his life, enumerates -many of the gifts which he made to the public out of his -own pocket. On several occasions, he simply liquidated -the deficit in the Empire’s budget out of his private -purse. At another time, he repaired at his own expense -the roads of Italy which after the civil wars had through -neglect fallen into disrepair. On countless occasions, he -spent money for public works, for the relief of famine, for -popular amusements, for all the forms of beneficence -then customary, without paying any regard to the -serious inroads he was making on the fortune which he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span> -would have to leave to his own heirs. This is exactly -what many wealthy men are doing to-day in the New -World. It would be in accord with the facts to say -that those striking largesses were one of the means by -which imperial authority was gradually concentrated -at the heart of the Roman State, and surrounded itself -with so much gratitude, so many interests, and so many -hopes as to be able definitely to secure the principal -position amongst all the organs of the State.</p> - -<p>But if the Emperor was the most generous of the -public benefactors, he was not the only one. The chief -men throughout the Empire followed his example, some -of them on so elaborate a scale as to challenge comparison -with the most munificent American millionaires, -when account is taken of the difference in the standards -of riches in the respective epochs. The best-known -figure among these donors is Herodes Atticus, an immensely -rich Athenian of the second century <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> -What was his origin, and whence he got his money, we -do not know. Probably he belonged to one of those -families which had accumulated immense property in -the provinces, during the first century of the Christian -era, a century of rapidly acquired and great fortunes. -This much is certain, that he applied himself to study, -and became what was then called a rhetor, corresponding -more or less closely to what we term a professor -of literature, not however with a view to earning a -livelihood, but with the object of cultivating his own -and other people’s minds. Highly cultured, erudite,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span> -and at the same time one of the richest men in the -Empire, Herodes was a great friend of Antoninus Pius -and of Marcus Aurelius. But, great as was his reputation -for wisdom and literary taste, and notwithstanding -the enhancement of his prestige through the friendships -of the two celebrated emperors, he left a name in the -social history of the Roman world more particularly because -of the vast sums he gave away all over the Empire. -At Athens, he repaired in a splendid way the most ancient -and famous buildings of that celebrated city. He presented, -repaired, and maintained theatres, aqueducts, -temples, and stadia in the cities of Greece and Italy.</p> - -<p>For the rest, several of the most highly admired -buildings and most imposing ruins in Rome are actually -gifts made to the public by ancient citizens. Out of -them all, I may cite the Pantheon, that marvellous -Pantheon, which we all still admire in the heart of -Rome, the monument which stands deathless while the -stream of ages flows by. This was constructed by -Agrippa, the friend of Augustus, at his own expense, and -can be compared in this respect to Carnegie Hall in New -York. Agrippa built the Pantheon from the same -notions of civic zeal that impelled Carnegie to endow -New York with his great Hall. And the two monuments, -built by the personal munificence of two ultra-wealthy -citizens, with an interval of twenty centuries -between them, express the same desire to extend to the -whole people a share in the enjoyment of the donor’s -private fortune.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span></p> - -<p>Naturally, my earliest studies in Roman history led -me to fix my attention on this bountiful munificence on -the part of private persons in the ancient world, by -which the rich, either spontaneously or at the call of -public opinion, took upon themselves a share of the -public burdens. But I had not fully grasped the meaning -of this system, until I visited America, and saw the -colleges, schools, and hospitals founded and subsidised, -the museums and universities endowed, and all the -other public institutions aided with millions of dollars -by the rich business men and bankers of America. -For Europeans, living on a continent where nowadays -the State has almost monopolised these functions and -exercises them zealously, seeming to resent the interference -of private persons, it is difficult to picture -correctly a social system in which private generosity is -at once possible and necessary, the advantages by -which such generosity is accompanied, and the manner -in which it is exercised.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>The munificence of the wealthy citizens is only a -special instance of a more general and more extensive -phenomenon in which America approaches more nearly -to the ancient world than Europe; I mean, in that her -society is less essentially bureaucratic. In the ancient -world, there was no bureaucratic organisation in any of -the Greco-Asiatic monarchies founded by Alexander or -in the latest period of the Roman Empire which could -be considered to resemble even remotely, on a smaller<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span> -scale and merely in broad outlines, that which flourishes -in the Europe of to-day. Now, in the most splendid -moments of Greek and Roman history, we find states -in which all the public functions, even the executive -ones, were elective; so that they all changed periodically -according to the whims of an electoral body. The need -for technical training and professional education for -the exercise of certain executive functions was so little -recognised that even the command of the military -forces and the chief magistracy were filled by public -election. A general became a general, not in the course -of his professional career, but at the will of the people, -assembled in the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">comitia</i>; and with generals chosen in -this way, Rome conquered the world. It is impossible -to imagine a social constitution in more striking contradiction -to the social constitution of contemporary -Europe, which entrusts all the executive functions to a -bureaucracy professionally trained, formed into a rigid -hierarchy, and dependent on the State, over which the -people have practically no power. Men in Europe -become generals or judges because they have studied -the art of war or law in special schools, not because the -majority of an electoral body have thought it opportune -to entrust the office to an individual who has been -clever enough to appeal to them more strongly than do -his rivals.</p> - -<p>This difference was and is one of the greatest difficulties -met with by European historians in the study of -the ancient world. I am of opinion, for example, that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span> -this is one of the weakest points in Mommsen’s history. -Accustomed to see bureaucratic states at work, European -historians find it difficult to imagine how those -states can have prospered in which the magistrates -changed periodically, sometimes every year, and in -which there was no professional division between the -different functions. Instinctively, they tend also to -paint the ancient state in the colours of the European -state, attributing to it the same virtues and the same -defects, and, therefore, representing its weaknesses as -well as its merits in a false light. For an American, on -the other hand, especially for a North American, the -difficulty of understanding the ancient states is -much less formidable. Certainly the principle of professional -specialisation is much more highly developed -in modern American society than it was in the ancient -societies. Modern civilisation is nowadays too -complex and too technical to admit of the principle -of popular election being applied indiscriminately, as -at Athens or Rome, to all the public offices. What -sensible man would consent to-day, even in the -purest of democracies, to the election of the admirals, -for instance, by universal suffrage? Nevertheless, -in the American confederation many of the public -offices, which are now entrusted in Europe to the -professional bureaucracy, are elective. And this fact -by itself is enough to represent a distinct <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">rapprochement</i> -between American society and ancient -society.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span></p> - -<p>For this reason, an inhabitant of New York can more -easily than an inhabitant of London or Paris picture to -himself certain aspects of the life of the Athens or Rome -of ancient days; especially the continual and frequent -succession of elections, and the complete change of -interests and of directing forces involved in the change -of the magistrates in office. It is true that we in Europe -have periodical elections, as in America. Periodically, -in the Old, as in the New World, the people assemble -to exercise their sovereign right by means of the ballot. -But if, regarded superficially, the act and the procedure -are identical, their value and importance are different. -The populace in the old states of Europe elect only -consultative and legislative bodies, while the executive -power remains to a great extent independent of the -people, residing in a professional bureaucracy whose -members cannot be changed from day to day.</p> - -<p>In America, on the contrary, as in ancient Athens and -Rome, many of the magistrates who hold in their hands -and exercise directly governing powers are periodically -changed at the will of the people, which, therefore, -moulds more directly the government and its different -organs and more directly inspires and controls its -particular functions, just as it used to control them in -the ancient states.</p> - -<p>It is not strange, therefore, that we find ancient Rome -reappearing in one of the most important juridical institutions -of the United States, an institution which we -should search for in vain in Europe, great mistress of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span> -laws though she be accounted. One of the American -institutions which seems to Europeans most contrary -to the modern spirit, and for that reason most deserving -of severe blame, is the right of “injunctions” with -which American magistrates are invested. To Europe, -where the bureaucracy, though immovable and little -subject to control, cannot step outside the precise -prescriptions of the law in the exercise of its functions, -this discretionary power of the American magistrates -seems little less than an instrument of intolerable -tyranny. A brilliant European, who is a distinguished -professor of literature in one of the universities of North -America, but who, notwithstanding a very lengthy -sojourn in the American republic, has preserved intact -the ideas and the spirit of the Old World, said to me one -day in New York: “In this land of liberty, there is one -tyranny more terrible than all the tyrannies of Europe, -that of the judicial power!” That a magistrate should -have the power to give orders, be they of only momentary -validity, which are the expressions of his own will -and not of the letter of the law, seems to the European -a monstrous thing, a relic of the ancient tyrannies, -which harmonises but ill with republican institutions.</p> - -<p>A historian of the ancient world, on the other hand, -is in a position to understand more easily this seeming -contradiction. The injunction is nothing else than the -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">edictum</i> of the Roman magistrate; the power, that is to -say, which the Roman magistrate possessed, and which -the American magistrate, maybe in a less degree,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span> -possesses, of making good with his personal authority -the lacunæ and deficiencies in the law, on every occasion -when public order or the principles of justice seemed -to demand it urgently. In the eyes of ancient Rome, the -magistrate was not only, as in the bureaucratic states -of Europe, the cautious and impartial servant and -executor of the law. He was also the living personification -of the State and of the general interest, invested -with full powers of exercising his own judgment, over -and above the laws, on behalf of the State and of the -general interest, when the law was found wanting. In -short, by reinforcing the authority of the magistrates, -the ancient states endeavoured to make amends for the -weakening of the State which was bound to ensue from -the continual electoral changes and the instability of -all the offices; while Europe, on the other hand, which, -with her rigid bureaucracies, has made the power of the -State so strong, can rigorously limit the powers of her -functionaries with laws of immense scope. But one -last remnant of the ancient conception, tempered by -the modern spirit of the State, survives in North America, -where, the elective principle being more extensively -applied than in the states of Europe, the tendency is, -by way of compensation, to reinforce by some discretionary -power, like the “injunction,” some at least of the -judicial offices. Perhaps we may explain in this way -the fact that some European writers in the nineteenth -century have ventured to assert that the ancients never -knew what liberty was, even in what were apparently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span> -the most democratic republics; while others have -maintained that more liberty is to be found in the constitutional -monarchies of Europe than in the authoritative -American republics.</p> - -<p>Another instance still more curious is afforded us by -those dictators who, under varying titles and with -varying success, have appeared in almost all the republics -of Spanish America, after the emancipation of these -territories from the mother country. The latest of these -dictators was Porfirio Diaz, who governed Mexico for -so many years. Europe has never properly understood -these dictators. She has mistaken them for caricatures, -now of Nero, now of Napoleon, and has drawn -the conclusion that the republics in question were -impregnated with the disease of tyranny, and could not -exist in a state of liberty. But a historian of the -ancient world recognises at once in these dictators a -modern incarnation of a figure which constantly appears -in ancient history, the Greek τύραννος, the Roman -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">princeps</i>. Pisistratus and Augustus, not Nero and -Napoleon, are the prototypes of these dictators. States -based on an electoral system which is not controlled by -organised parties or by other social forces calculated to -ensure its working in conformity with precise and certain -rules, are subject to eruptions of disorder, which -end in establishing the personal power of that individual -who succeeds in making the political and administrative -machine work with comparative regularity. -Augustus was throughout forty-one years re-elected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span> -every five or ten years head of the republic, because he -had succeeded, by his influence and personal ability, in -making the machine of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">comitia</i> and senate run -smoothly, at a time when the Roman aristocracy, which -had controlled it for centuries, could no longer, owing -to its own discords, do so. The reason why the power of -Augustus was prolonged and extended in all directions -until it became a dictatorship for life, cloaked under -legal forms, was that he alone seemed capable of ensuring -a wise government and of preventing civil wars. -And was not just this the real reason for the long tenure -of power by Porfirio Diaz in Mexico, and for his prolonged -presidency, which was merely a dictatorship -masquerading under republican forms? Anyone who -wishes to understand the government of Mexico during -the last forty years might find the history of Augustus -of great service; just as a profound knowledge of the -recent history of Mexico might help to the understanding -of the ancient history of Augustus.</p> - -<p>A profound study of ancient history is, therefore, an -excellent preparation for the rapid understanding of -certain parts, at any rate, of the American constitution -and of American society; just as a knowledge of America -should be an excellent aid to the study of ancient -history. In fact, in the course of my travels and observations -in America, after having devoted ten years to -the study of a large section of ancient history, I have -realised how much the ancient history, which I had -studied in Europe, helped me to understand America;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span> -and how much the America which I had before my eyes -helped me to a better understanding of the distant -reality of that vanished world of long ago. And if we -follow the track of these studies and reflections, I think -that we shall be able to attribute also a more precise -meaning to that epithet of “young,” which is constantly -applied to America. Who does not talk a hundred -times a year of old Europe and young America? Now -what do these two much-used and much-abused epithets -mean? That Europe has a longer history than -America? In that case the contrasting terms would -not mean much. For that is a simple chronological -statement, which only demands a knowledge of the -fact that America was not discovered till 1492 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> -Do they mean that America is more vigorous, more -active, more daring than Europe, just as young men -usually possess these qualities in a greater degree than -the old? As a matter of fact, many people do use the -two adjectives in this sense. But, in that case, they -assume as proved one of the most complex, one of the -deepest and most difficult problems of modern life, -that is to say, the problem whether a comparison can -be struck between Europe and America, and if so, on -the basis of what criterion? That there should be those -who strike this comparison and resolve it in this way, -is not surprising. But no one will be found to pretend -that the judgment contained in those two words -“young” and “old,” thus interpreted, can or ought to -be accepted as true by everyone.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span></p> - -<p>On the other hand, it is possible to agree on a more -narrow and precise interpretation of these words; to -say that America is young and Europe old, because -America reproduces some of the characters and phenomena -which we find in antiquity, that is to say, in the -remotest epochs of our history. European civilisation, -as the result of her migration to America, there to found -new states and societies, has really become, in a certain -sense, regenerated, because she has again become, in the -light of certain characteristics and certain institutions, -what she was twenty centuries ago. And if the “youth” -of America is understood in this sense, it is not rash -to argue that it too will grow old. The study of -ancient history can be of a certain practical value to -those who consider America with the object of divining, -in this great community, the tendencies and inclinations -of the future. For students of that history can bring -a plausible criterion of prevision to their observations. -In fact, it is not rash to suppose, at least if some unknown -force does not unexpectedly divert the course of -events in the New World, that all the parts of American -life and society which most resemble ancient society are -destined to disappear gradually, as America grows older -and elaborates a complex and artificial civilisation; -just as the ancient institutions and ideas of which we -find so many traces in America gradually disappeared -in Europe in the progress of time, as civilisation in the -Old World became artificial and complex. If this -prophecy is not fallacious, we should expect history,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span> -which eternally repeats herself, to require the man of -the New World to witness the same phenomena whose -more gradual realisation they have already witnessed -in the ancient world. In the New World also, we -should expect to see a society regulated by elective and -authoritative institutions gradually become bureaucratic -and at the same time fetter every branch of -political and administrative powers with the tight -bonds of rigid juridical principles. This will be a slow, -but profound transformation, in the course of which -many things will change their position and value. -Perhaps the inexhaustible public munificence of the -millionaires will become exhausted, and the State will -grow in prestige and influence, if not in power.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_40" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="II-II">II<br /> - -<span class="subhead">QUANTITY AND QUALITY</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap b"><span class="smcap1">Suetonius</span> recounts that one day a man presented -himself to the Emperor Vespasian, and showed -him the models of a machine, thanks to which the -Emperor could have finished off the construction of -certain of his great public works with fewer labourers, -and at a great saving of expense. Vespasian was full -of praise for the man’s ingenuity, and recompensed him -with a sum of money; but he subsequently had the -model destroyed, saying that he did not wish to have -any machines which would cause his people to go -hungry. Applying the standard of modern ideas, how -should we judge this sentiment and act? Of course, we -should consider it a strange and absurd mistake. Suetonius, -on the contrary, quotes the incident to prove -how wise Vespasian was. In this divergence of opinion -is revealed the essential difference between ourselves -and the ancients, between modern civilisation and -Greco-Roman civilisation, for all that these resemble -each other in so many particulars; the principal difference -between the ancient world and America. Although,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span> -as I have shown in my preceding essay, America in certain -of its institutions and forms of social life resembles -the ancient world more than Europe, this comparison -does not hold true so far as the instruments of economic -production are concerned. In this respect America is -much further removed from the ancient world than is -Europe, and represents to-day the beginning of a new -era and a new civilisation, whose spirit and tendencies -would be quite incomprehensible to a re-embodied -Greek or Roman.</p> - -<p>Greco-Roman antiquity never dreamed that it might -be a useful, beautiful, glorious work to invent machines -of increasing speed and power, and therefore never gave -a thought to those technical elaborations which are the -pride of our times. It possessed the elementary machines, -the lever, jack-screw, the inclined plane; but -it never tried to combine these into more complicated -machines. In particular, it never called into play the -effort to which all the mechanism of modern times owes -its birth; that is to say, it never tried to endow its -machines with a more rapid motion than the muscles -of men or of animals can endow them with, or to search -nature for motive forces of greater power than these. -It availed itself only sparingly and on rare occasions -of the force of running water or of the wind. The -latter it used only for navigation, and even then with -regret, hesitation, and fear, as if it were doing an illicit -and shameful thing. It knew of no combustible other -than the wood of the trees. Notwithstanding the fact<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span> -that Pliny the elder has preserved for us so much -precious information about agriculture and the ancient -arts and industries, his writings contain scarcely a -single hint suggesting that the men of his civilisation -had any desire to make the instruments of economic -production more perfect and effective. In one place, -the sail, as compared with the oar, inspires him to -write a passage in which the modern reader imagines -just at first that he has lighted on a sentiment containing -a distant echo of contemporary enthusiasm for -progress. “Is there a greater marvel in the whole -world?” he writes.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>A grass exists [flax, of which sails are made] which brings -Egypt and Italy so close together that two prefects of -Egypt, Galerius and Balbillus, crossed from Alexandria to -the straits of Messina, one in seven days and the other in -six; and that last summer the senator Valerius Marianus -reached Alexandria from Pozzuoli in a light wind in nine -days. There is a grass which brings me in seven days from -Gades, the harbour near the Pillars of Hercules, to Ostia, -in four from this side of Spain, in three from the province -of Narbonne, in two from Africa, as C. Flavius, the envoy -of the proconsul Vilius Crispus, found.</p> -</div> - -<p>Does it not seem as if we were reading an anticipation -by eighteen hundred years of that hymn which moderns -so often raise to the power of steam and to the great -ocean liners which cross the Atlantic in five or six days? -But ours is only a brief illusion. The wonder and the -admiration of Pliny are soon over, and a sort of awe -takes their place. “<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Audax vita, scelerum plena!</i>” he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span> -quickly adds. “Creature full of wicked daring!” The -invention of sails seems to him almost a sacrilegious -impiety, and his view was that of all the ancients.</p> - -<p>In short, the few victories which the ancients had -won over nature were to them a cause of embarrassment -rather than of enthusiasm; for they saw in them -merely a proof of the perversity and foolhardiness of -human pride. If a contemporary of Sophocles or -Horace came back to the world, he would probably -just at first be terrified by what he saw all round him, -as by the spectacle of a gigantic and unheard-of madness. -Machinery, which to us seems the most marvellous -instrument of our energy and intelligence, -appeared to the ancients a danger, an enemy, and -almost a sacrilege: an attempt to rebel against the gods -and their wishes. Consequently, they invented and -adopted machines—and those but simple and primitive -ones—only for use in war, especially for siege-work. -The necessity of conquering made them forget to some -extent their usual fears.</p> - -<p>So great a difference in thought and feeling, in a -matter which to us seems of such vital importance, -must arise from deep-seated causes. Why did the -ancients invent and construct so few machines, and hold -in such fear the few they had? Why did they wish the -hand of man to be the principal and the most powerful -among the instruments of production? Many attribute -the inferiority of the ancients in this department to the -comparatively undeveloped state of science. Vast and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span> -profound knowledge of science, they say, is required -for the construction of modern machines. The ancients -did not possess this knowledge; therefore, they conclude, -they could not construct the machines.</p> - -<p>But, in this deduction there are two exaggerations. -The services of science, especially in early times, to -machines and their progress, are exaggerated; so also -is the scientific ignorance of the ancients. Science has -helped materially to perfect certain machines, but has -actually invented scarcely one. Many of the marvellous -machines which, at a giddy rate, multiply riches -all round us, have been conceived for the first time in -the minds of artisans, <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">contre-maîtres</i>, managers of factories, -and other persons more expert in practice than -rich in scientific lore. The founder of the great mechanical -industry, Arkwright, who invented the cotton-spinning -machine, was a barber. Watt, the inventor -of the steam-engine, though perhaps a better-educated -man than Arkwright, was not in any sense a great -scientist. For the rest, whoever knows the history of -machinery is aware that science did not begin to concern -herself with machinery, or to inquire whether her -studies might help inventors with useful suggestions, -until the great mechanical industry had already invaded -the world. Science, then, only followed a movement -which had already begun, and did not give it the first -impulse.</p> - -<p>Furthermore, the scientific ignorance of the ancients -is exaggerated. Ancient science is not so well-known<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span> -as ancient art and literature; and it certainly did not -make very striking progress during the last brilliant -period of ancient history—the Roman Empire. Therefore -to many, whose knowledge regarding it is comparatively -superficial, the ancient world may seem empty -of scientific wisdom. But such is not the case. If the -Romans never applied much thought to the scientific -study of nature, the Greeks for their part had laid the -foundations of many sciences, and had laid them -boldly and truly. Even the Copernican system had -been anticipated by Greek astronomers, like Aristarchus -of Samos and Seleucus of Seleucia, who had maintained -that the earth revolved round the sun, and that the -firmament was much more vast than was generally -supposed.</p> - -<p>We need not, therefore, believe that the ancients -were not able to construct more complicated machines -than those they used, because they lacked scientific -knowledge. It would be nearer the truth to say that -they did not make much effort to raise sciences out of -the necessarily narrow domain of purely theoretical -problems, because, independent as they were of machinery, -they had no need of the practical aids which -science, if developed in certain directions, can lend to -the construction of machines. In fact, we men of the -present day encourage the sciences to search and investigate -in every direction and to try every path, not -from a disinterested love of the True nor from an -intellectual curiosity to spy out the mysteries of nature;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span> -but because we hope that we shall discover, in the -course of our all-embracing search, laws or bodies or -forces which will help us to subdue and exploit nature.</p> - -<p>The ancients then abstained from inventing and -constructing machines, not from lack of knowledge but -from lack of will. The effort seemed to them useless, -nay, pernicious; and the enterprise did not attract -them. It remains, therefore, to consider why the -ancients, in their great struggle to extend the dominion -of man over nature, felt no need of help from swift -engines of iron, and, therefore, did not make the effort -necessary to invent them. This is a question of the -highest importance for the history of civilisation, for -by its solution only can we gain an insight into what is -perhaps the most profound difference between ancient -and modern civilisation. The difference consists in -this: while our civilisation is a mechanical-scientific -civilisation, the ancient was above all things an artistic -civilisation. Therefore our civilisation tends in the -main to multiply the needs and the consumption of -man, so as to quicken production as much as possible, -while the ancient civilisation tended to limit man’s -needs and consumption, to hold up to esteem and -imitation customs of simplicity and parsimony which -involved a reduction in consumption, and therefore in -production. If we are to grasp the very essence of our -history, we must understand clearly how indisolubly -united are the artistic civilisation and -the ideal of a simple life, the mechanical-scientific<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span> -civilisation and the ideal of a life of extravagance -and luxury.</p> - -<p>Even at the present day, many will be found to extol -the greatness, the wealth, and the might of the Roman -Empire as a marvel never surpassed in history. But -this is a delusion. The Roman Empire seemed marvellously -wealthy and powerful to the ancients, because -they had never yet seen greater wealth and greater -might. But what are the wealth and the might of -the Roman Empire compared with the might and the -wealth of the great modern states of Europe and -America? One observation will suffice to give an idea -of the difference. We are justified in deducing from the -great number of facts and data in our possession that -in the most flourishing and wealthy centuries the -budget of the Empire, the sum total, that is, of all the -items of expenditure which the central government at -Rome had to meet—expenditure on the most important -public services of so immense an empire, which -comprised the whole basin of the Mediterranean, and -a large part of Europe, Asia, and Africa—fell short, far -short, of the municipal budget of the city of New -York. Only the man who is conversant with the -customs of the past in their minutest details can -fully estimate how much simpler, poorer, and more -economical the civilisation of the ancients was than -that which has permeated America and Europe -since the invention of the steam-engine and electricity, -when the riches of the New World, exploited<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span> -intensively with the help of machinery, began to -flood the earth.</p> - -<p>Consuming little, and content with a life of simplicity -and poverty, the ancients had no need to produce -much or to produce at great speed. So they had -no requirement for machines, whether steam- or electricity-driven. -The few simple machines, which the -hand of man or the muscular force of domestic animals -can operate,—the domestic loom, the horse-propelled -mill,—sufficed. Therefore, they had no need of science -to help them to construct new machines of greater -size and power. They had no need to work at high -pressure. They could work slowly, with their hands -and with a few simple instruments, and with them produce -beautiful, accurate, and finished articles, which -aspired to a lofty and difficult ideal of perfection. -Accordingly, art occupied in the ancient world the -position which science occupies in modern civilisation. -It was not a refined luxury for the few, but an elementary -and universal necessity. Governments and wealthy -citizens were obliged to adorn their cities with monuments, -sculptures, and pictures, to embellish squares, -streets, and houses, because the masses wished the cities -to be beautiful, and would have rebelled against an -authority which would have them live in an unadorned -city; just as nowadays they would rebel against a -municipal authority which would have them dwell in -a city without light, or against a government which -placed obstacles and hindrances in the way of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span> -construction of railways. In those times, the requirement -was that everything, down to the household -utensils, even of the most modest description and -destined for the use of the poorer classes, be inspired -with a breath of beauty. Anyone who visits a museum -of Greco-Roman antiquities, in which are exposed to -view objects found in rich and highly cultivated districts,—that -of Naples, for example, where so many -objects excavated from the ashes of Pompeii are to be -seen,—can easily convince himself of this curious -phenomenon, and realise more vividly, by contrast, the -carelessness, roughness, and commonplace vulgarity of -the objects made by modern machinery. In short, if -the quantity of the things produced by the industry -of the ancients was small, for that very reason, and -by way of compensation, their quality was refined and -excellent.</p> - -<p>The contrary is the case in the modern world. -The quantity of the things which modern industry, -thanks to electricity- and steam-driven machinery, -produces, is prodigious. No century ever witnessed -the realisation of the miracle of abundance in a -more marvellous way. But the quality of the things -suffers in consequence. The ugliness and the crude -vulgarity of so many objects, which in much poorer -times had an elegance and a beauty which have now -vanished, are the price we pay for the abundance of our -times. The necessities of man have increased beyond -all measure, and to satisfy them lavish and rapid production<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span> -is required. The need for rapid production -accounts for the invention of so many machines. But -it is not possible to secure the manufacture by rigid -hands of iron of so many things at such speed, and at -the same time to impart to them an exquisitely artistic -appearance, revealing the personal excellence of the -artist. It is as much as we can do to impart to them a -coarse and rude appearance of beauty, with a few -ornamentations copied casually from the beautiful -things which our fathers succeeded in creating in -poorer and less busy times. Machinery, driven by -steam or electricity, has the advantage of speed over -the hand of man. It can produce in the same time a -much greater number of objects. For this reason it has -triumphed in a time like ours, in which the increased -necessities of the world demand an extraordinary -growth in production. But the hand of man,—that -living and mind-inspired machine,—if it cannot compete -with machines of iron for speed, is alone capable -of imparting to things that perfection, that grace, and -that excellence of form which can fill us with a joy -which is different from, but perhaps more intense than, -that afforded by easy and coarse abundance.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>This contrast between ancient and modern times, -between the civilisations which preceded the French -Revolution and the modern American civilisation, should -and would have received more attention than it has, -had not the students of antiquity been too prone to lose<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span> -their way in the maze of a dead erudition. We are -proud of our wealth and power. We are proud of -having extended our dominion over the whole planet, -only a small part of which was known to the ancients, -and that but vaguely. We are proud of having surprised -so many of nature’s secrets, of having deciphered -the mystery of so many laws, of having thrown light -on so many lurking-places of disease and death, of -having shaken ourselves free from so many vain fears -which tormented our ancestors, of having released -ourselves from so many yokes—political, moral, and -intellectual—which used to weigh upon their necks. -We feel ourselves strong, sure of ourselves and of our -destiny as no men before us in history, in face of the -blind forces of the Universe, so many of which we have -subjected to our dominion and forced to serve our -necessities, our ambitions, and our whims.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, in the midst of all this wealth, this -power, and this knowledge, a dull sense of disquietude -vexes men’s souls. Man is not yet content. Every day -he finds new pretexts or motives for complaining. One -of the most oft-repeated of these pretexts or motives is, -that the world is becoming uglier. If in our cities any -beautiful part remains, it is nearly always the old part. -In the historical cities, the new parts are horrible, and -form a strange contrast with the older. The altogether-new -cities—especially those which have sprung up in -the last century in America—appear to the artistic eye -almost always like a sort of anteroom to the infernal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span> -regions. Architecture has become a mother of monsters. -Sculpture and painting, which were once upon -a time the two most select amongst the decorative arts, -protected and pampered by the great ones of the earth -and adored by the masses, are reduced to the necessity -of employing a thousand artifices to extort orders out -of the negligent malevolence of an epoch, whose ornaments -and monuments seem an encumbrance and an -excrescence rather than a beauty. There was a time -when the dress of men and women was a work of art. -At the present day, only that of women has preserved -a certain artistic grace and beauty. Let us not -dwell upon the countless other forms of ugliness which -have invaded our houses with the furniture, the carpets, -the candelabra, and the china.</p> - -<p>The artistic mediocrity of our epoch is surpassed only -by the superficiality and confusion of its tastes. Each -succeeding year sees that which used to appear the -height of elegance and beauty to its predecessors, despised, -neglected, and forgotten. All the styles of the -past and all the styles of the different countries swirl -round us, before the fickle gusts of fashion. Every -picture which excites admiration for a moment is -quickly forgotten by the fickle taste of an age which -ransacks every corner in search of the beautiful, because -nowhere can the beautiful be found. Many ask -themselves what is the origin of this strange corruption -of taste and of the æsthetic sense. But no two people -agree on the answer. This one attributes the degeneration<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span> -to the decadence of traditions, and therefore -proposes to open schools and to institute courses of -instruction. That one, on the other hand, traces the -responsibility to the lack of liberty afforded the public -taste and the genius of the artists, a condition of things -for which these same traditions are to blame. Such a -one therefore inveighs against the schools and the rules -of tradition, and would like to see them all swept away. -Nobody can explain how it happens that so rich, so -wise, and so powerful a civilisation does not succeed in -being beautiful, and shows itself powerless to infuse a -breath of beauty into anything it creates, be it big or -little, into its cities or into the small objects of daily use.</p> - -<p>But the history of civilisation explains this apparent -mystery. A civilisation cannot deck itself with the -most exquisite beauties of art, if it cannot persuade -itself to live with a certain simplicity and to work with -a certain deliberation. What kills art in our civilisation -is the mad desire for wealth, the giddy increase of -necessities, the universal craze for speed, the effort to -multiply production, the general restlessness of body -and mind. Beauty is not so simple and commonplace -a thing as to admit of its examples being multiplied by -machinery in furious haste. Whether in big things or -in little, it can only be the result of a long and steady -effort of the intellect and the will, which must be expressed -at all costs through the medium of that living -and marvellous machine, the human hand. If we wish -to accumulate round us the wealth of the world at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span> -express speed, if we wish to produce and to consume -with giddy rapidity, we must not be too exacting in our -demands for quality and beauty in the things produced. -We cannot have a great deal in this world, and have -that great deal beautiful.</p> - -<p>Therefore, speaking still more generally, we might -say that in the ancient civilisation the dominant principle -was quality, in the modern civilisation, on the other -hand, quantity. In ancient times, the more cultured, -powerful, and wealthy a nation became, the greater -efforts it made to produce in every branch of human -activity but few things, but to ensure the materialisation -in those things of a difficult and lofty ideal of -perfection which should find common acceptance and -admiration. Men of our time, on the other hand, -direct their efforts towards production in large quantities, -and at great speed, and are proud of seeing their -power and grandeur expressed in the formidable figures -of modern statistics. That the goods produced are of -deteriorating quality is of small account. Thus the -ancient civilisations tended, so to speak, towards -eternity, towards the manufacture of things which, if -not eternal in the precise meaning of the word, should -last a long time, should conquer the ages, and should -succeed in conveying to distant posterity a supreme -image of their past existence. In very truth, after -numberless catastrophes and pillagings, the material -remains of ancient civilisations, which are piously -preserved to this day, are very numerous. Our age produces<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span> -in great quantities, but maybe not a single one -of the buildings and material objects produced by it in -such abundance can hope to conquer the ages. Everything -is precarious, ephemeral, destined to live a few -months or a few years; destined to a premature death -from the very first hour of its birth.</p> - -<p>And this diversity crops up again in every branch of -human activity; in industrial as in intellectual activity, -in art as in literature. We look upon the literatures of -Greece and Rome as a treasure of inestimable value, -almost as the foundation of our culture; and we still -recommend them as models to all who wish to learn the -difficult art of writing and of speaking with precision, -elegance, and clearness. And yet how little the ancients -wrote and read compared with ourselves! The press -did not exist; paper, now the cheapest of materials, was a -rare luxury—the papyrus was a most precious Egyptian -monopoly. Consequently, the number of persons who -could provide themselves with books was very small, -and such persons were found only among the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">élite</i> of -culture or of wealth. The only opportunities of reading -the people had were afforded by the public notices, and -by the laws engraved on bronze or marble tablets. In -those times, there was nothing to correspond in any way -at all with the newspapers of to-day. In view of the -very scanty numbers of the readers of books, those also -who wrote them were bound to be few in number; these -could not write much. With but very few exceptions, -the works bequeathed to us by the ancients are by no<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span> -means voluminous. Of all the qualities commonly found -in Greek and Latin writers, sobriety and conciseness are -the most prominent. These virtues were to some extent -the product of circumstances. For in times in which -paper was so dear, and every copy of a book had to -be prepared specially by an amanuensis, conciseness -and brevity were the two qualities of importance to -insure the wide circulation and preservation of a book.</p> - -<p>It was, however, just the circumstance that the ancients -wrote so little that enabled them to carry the art -of writing to an indescribable pitch of perfection; that -enabled them to obtain that clearness, that harmony, -that cadence and proportion of phrase, that concentration -which has made them the great masters of the -literary art for all time. And to-day!—A wolfish, insatiable -hunger for printed paper and reading matter is -the scourge of our civilisation. Look at the Pantagruelian -literary orgies to which Europe and America -surrender themselves! Every day brings its daily paper, -every week its journals, illustrated or otherwise, every -month its reviews and magazines. Then we have the -special publications devoted to a particular art, a -particular profession, a particular industry, a favourite -sport, in number without end. We have, too, the -volumes of every kind and quality with which a crowd -of publishers congests the book market: novels, poems, -books of travel, science, political economy, religion, -sport. Who could enumerate all the kinds of books -which are published nowadays? Many of these, it is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span> -true, do not find readers, but many do; and a certain -number, so many readers as to be sold in thousands, in -tens of thousands, and to be scattered broadcast all -over the world.</p> - -<p>But to satisfy a public which is so greedy of reading, -an extraordinary number of writers is required at the -present day, from the obscure editors of provincial -journals to the favoured few who succeed in winning -world-fame, and in reaching the position of sovereigns -or, if you prefer it, satraps of literature. And all this -enormous multitude of writers is compelled to write -prolifically and rapidly, because the public wants to -read voraciously. It must choose diverse topics, and -vary its themes according to the varieties of fashion and -events. On the other hand, it is no longer compelled -to be concise, both because the public often likes prolixity, -which makes reading comfortable and easy, and -because, nowadays, printing is so cheap and facile. -But the art of writing is being lost through this haste, -this instability of public interest, this prolixity. Every -tongue is becoming a muddy mixture of words and -phrases which have dripped from every point of heaven -on to the daily language and literature. Taste is being -corrupted, with writers as with readers, deteriorating -now into negligence and carelessness, now into affectation -and grotesqueness.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Quality and quantity: these are the two principles of -the two civilisations, the ancient and the modern.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span> -They are two opposite principles, a circumstance which -explains why in the last fifty years the gradual triumph -of the civilisation of machinery or of industry on a large -scale, which aims at multiplying the quantity of riches, -has been accompanied by a decline in classical studies. -The new generation, even that portion of it that represents -the educated classes, has broken away from the -study of a world which, though resembling the modern -world in so many of its ideas and institutions, differed -from the present era in the fundamental conception of -life, and professed an entirely different idea of perfection.</p> - -<p>However, if the two principles are mutually exclusive, -we must ask ourselves, which is true and which false, -which is good and which is not. Who is in the right,—we, -who wish to fill the world with riches, even at the -cost of disfiguring it and making it hideous; or the -ancients, who were content to live a life of greater simplicity, -of more leisurely and more peaceful activity, -but wished to spend it in a persevering effort to materialise -their ideals of beauty? In how many of the -confused disputes which set the men of our times by -the ears is this problem obscurely implied, though the -disputants are unaware of it? But the problem is a -terrible one, because it involves all the fundamental -problems of contemporary life and the very destiny of -the gigantic operations to which our own generation, -and those which preceded it, have applied themselves -with such frenzied activity.</p> - -<p>So I will not attempt to solve the formidable problem.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span> -Yet may I be permitted to express a thought, simple in -itself, but one which presents itself with the smiling -countenance of hope. It is, that “opposite” principles -do not mean “irreconcilable” principles. Is it not -just possible that this craze for work, for riches, and for -speed, of which we are victims, may slacken somewhat, -and give men time to collect their thoughts, and to -piece together again the shattered grandeur of the -modern world in the image of a more serene and composed -beauty? Are men really doomed to become -more insatiable, the richer they become; or will the -day arrive when they will think it wiser to employ a -larger part of the immense riches they possess, not in -producing other riches, but in embellishing the world, -seeing that beauty is no less a joy in life than wealth, -and that we ourselves, though all athirst for gold, prove -that it is so, by searching untiringly in every corner for -the few remains of ancient beauty?</p> - -<p>I feel that I have not the courage to answer this -question with a brutal “No”; and I hope that many -others will be of the same opinion. For one cannot -help thinking that one of the most marvellous epochs -in history would really begin on the day on which -Europe and America succeeded in reconciling in a new -civilisation the two opposite principles of quantity and -quality, and in employing the extraordinary riches at -their disposal in adorning and beautifying the world, -which their energy and audacity have so immeasurably -enlarged in recent centuries.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_60" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="II-III">III<br /> - -<span class="subhead">WOMAN AND HOME</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap b"><span class="smcap1">Some</span> years ago, in the course of the excavations -which are being made with such success in Egypt, -a papyrus was found which is now known among -archæologists by the name of <i>The Petition of Dionysia</i>. -This papyrus, which belongs to the second century <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, -contains on one side some books of the <i>Iliad</i>, on the -other a defence presented by a certain Dionysia to an -Egyptian court, before which she was defending an -action brought against her by her own father affecting -her dowry and other questions of interest. To escape -paying his daughter and her husband the sums which -they demanded, the father had directed the husband -to return him his daughter, and had dissolved the -marriage. But the daughter, on her side, maintained in -her defence that the father had forfeited his right to -dissolve her marriage and to separate her from her -husband, because her marriage was a “written” marriage—established, -that is to say, by an act or document -in writing. If it had been an “unwritten” -marriage, Dionysia would not have contested her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span> -father’s right in that case to dissolve it, for no motive -whatever, merely because it so pleased him.</p> - -<p>It would be difficult to imagine a document more -strange than this, from the point of view of the ideas -which prevail at the present day in European and -American society. Matrimony is for us an act of so -great social importance that the state alone—that is to -say, the law, and the law courts—can recognise or -dissolve it. To leave the destiny of a family at the -mercy of the will of the father of one of the two parties, -to recognise as his the right to destroy a family at any -moment to suit his individual interest, without being -accountable to anyone for so doing, would seem to us a -monstrous thing. And yet this monstrous thing seemed -to the whole of antiquity, with few restrictions and -reservations, legitimate, reasonable, and wise. Differences -in the organisation of the family existed in -different countries and in different centuries; but they -were but superficial, unessential differences. On one -point, the whole world agreed: that matrimony should -never be considered an act to be left to the will of the -contracting parties, but a business transaction which -the young people should leave to their fathers to arrange.</p> - -<p>Matrimony, as it was in Rome, will serve to give a -clear idea of the ancient world’s conception of the -family. In Rome, fathers often betrothed their sons -when they were still children. They made them marry -when they were still quite young, the males before they -were twenty, the girls at about sixteen; and they had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span> -the right to oblige them at any moment to divorce each -other, without being forced to give any reason or -explanation. A man might be an exemplary husband, -might live with his wife in the most perfect bliss. If -the son’s wife, for one reason or another, did not suit -the fancy of his father, the son might be obliged any -day to put her away. Amongst others to whom this -happened was no less a person than Tiberius, at a time -when he had already become one of the first figures in -the Empire, and had commanded armies in battle. He -had married a daughter of Agrippa, and loved her -devotedly. The couple were considered in Rome a -model of affection and faithfulness. But, at a certain -moment, Augustus, who was the adoptive father of Tiberius, -judged that for political motives another marriage -might have suited Tiberius better; and he, accordingly, -obliged Tiberius to divorce her. Tiberius was so much -upset, that—as Suetonius tells us—every time he met -his first wife in society, he burst into tears—he, who -was one of the most formidable generals of his time; -so that Augustus had to take measures to prevent their -meeting each other. And yet Tiberius had to give way; -for his father, in the eyes of the law and in accordance -with the ideas current in his time, was absolute arbiter -in these matters! Not even a man in the circumstances -of Tiberius, who had already been consul, could think -of rebelling against the paternal authority.</p> - -<p>These few facts suffice to prove how often the ideas -which to one epoch and to one civilisation seem the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span> -most natural, the most evident, and the most simple, -are, on the contrary, complex and difficult ideas, at -which mankind has arrived only after a long effort, and -weary struggles. Is there anything which seems to us -more reasonable than to leave to young people, who -wish to found a family, ample liberty of judgment and -of choice in the matter of the person with whom they -will have to pass their lives? Fathers, it is true, often -help their sons by giving advice. They readily place -at the disposal of their children their own experience. -But it is only in very rare instances that they maintain -a struggle <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">à outrance</i>, to withhold their children from a -marriage on which their hearts are set, or to force on -them a repugnant alliance. We consider that the -individual’s happiness may depend to some extent on -his marriage. It is, therefore, just that everybody -should have ample liberty of choice. If the law purported -to restore to fathers the right to make or unmake -their sons’ marriages, we are convinced that at the -present day the vast majority of fathers would refuse -to assume such a responsibility, and would consider -such a power unjust, excessive, and tyrannical. There -is not a father to-day who, however averse he may be -to a marriage desired by his son or daughter, does not -end by telling him or her, provided a little firmness is -shown in resisting his arguments, that after all it is not -he, but his son or daughter who has to take the husband -or wife in question. Indeed, this inclination to pliability -on the part of fathers towards their sons is increasing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span> -every day. Every day sees a growing disinclination -on the part of fathers to fetter, in a matter of such delicacy -and of such importance to the personal happiness -of the young, the freedom of the latter’s inclinations, -the spontaneous rush of their feelings. Besides, what -would be the use of having conquered liberty in so many -other spheres, if it were withheld in this which, especially -to the young, seems the most important of all: the -liberty of yielding to the impulse of that passion which -at a certain moment of life is the strongest of all, love?</p> - -<p>And yet no idea would have appeared more absurd -and scandalous to the men of the ancient world, the -contemporaries of Pericles and Cæsar. The difference -is so radical and profound that it must arise from important -reasons. In fact, whoever compares ancient -with modern times easily recognises that the rights of -sentiment and the principles of liberty have been able -to triumph in modern society only by virtue of a complete -transformation in social customs and ordinances, -which has stripped the family in our times of much of -its social importance. To-day the family is purely and -simply a form of social life in common. Man and -woman cannot live solitary lives. A powerful instinct -impels them towards each other. Even when the -instinct is not felt, or is spent, the man needs to live in -the company of other human beings, to have round -him a circle of persons with whom he may find himself -in relations of the closest intimacy. To-day the family -performs this profoundly human office—this office and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span> -practically no other. Nowadays, man and woman -study, work, take part in government, compete for the -conquest of wealth and power, and exercise an influence -on society—engage in all these activities quite -outside the family.</p> - -<p>But it was not so in ancient times. The family was -then an independent economic organisation, in which -the woman had a predominant part. She wove and -spun, providing every member of the family with -clothes. She made bread, she dried the fruits for the -winter, she seized the right moment for laying in the -necessary supplies of provisions—a most important -task, in times in which commerce was much less developed -than it is now. In poor or moderately wealthy -families, the women wove and performed similar tasks -with their own hands. Rich women learned to do these -tasks as children, but later contented themselves with -superintending their performance by women slaves or -freedwomen. But, especially in the rich families, the -woman could contribute a great deal to the prosperity -or the ruin of the house, according as she was or was -not active in the performance of her work, zealous in -her surveillance, energetic and shrewd in giving her -orders, moderate in her expenditure. Even to-day the -woman can contribute a great deal, in the wealthy -classes, to the prosperity of the family. But for this -she requires only one negative virtue, for all that this -virtue is not too common or easily acquired: to know -how to confine her expenses within reasonable limits,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span> -and not to be too ready to gratify her whims. In -ancient times, on the contrary, if a woman was to be -useful to her family she needed as well a positive virtue: -to know how to produce much and well. This explains -how we come to know that certain emperors’ wives, -Livia for instance, directed the weaving operations in -their homes personally and with great zeal, and that -Augustus was particular not to wear any togas but -those woven in his house under the eyes of his wife. -The Emperor and his wife by their example meant to -recall to all the Roman women the duty of attending -with zeal and alacrity to their domestic duties.</p> - -<p>The ancient family, especially among the upper -classes, was also a school. The ancient world had few -institutions of public education; and private instruction -did not reach a high level of development, except in the -closing years of the Empire. Though Rome was the -greatest military power in the world, the family took -the place of military schools, which were then non-existent. -The officers, who all belonged to the nobility, -were prepared in the family. The father was the first -military instructor of his sons, and on him fell the duty -of making good soldiers of them. This, indeed, was -one of the reasons why the aristocracy became indispensable -to the Roman Empire; because it alone could -prepare the officers and generals in the family.</p> - -<p>In short, the ancient family was a sort of political -society. Its members were bound to support and help -each other in difficult and dangerous contingencies, to a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span> -much greater extent than they are nowadays. In -political struggles, for instance, they were all of one -colour. It was the most difficult and unheard of thing, -if indeed not impossible, for a son or a son-in-law to -attach himself to a different political party from that of -his father or his father-in-law. If a member of the -family was implicated in a lawsuit, or financially embarrassed, -the family was bound to help him much more -energetically, and at much greater risk, than in our -day. We see this phenomenon most clearly in Roman -history. After the aristocracy split into two opposing -parties,—the conservative and the popular, to borrow -modern expressions,—a man’s position in one or the -other party was determined, almost always, by his -birth. He belonged to one party or the other, according -as his own family belonged to one or the other. -Take Cæsar, for example. Why was Cæsar always -a member of the democratic party, and bound to -follow its vicissitudes, to the extent of becoming its -leader and occasioning a civil war, overturning the -ancient government, and establishing a dictatorship -which, reviving as it did the saddest memories of -Sulla’s reaction, could not fail to be odious to the -majority, and which was the cause of Cæsar’s death? -It was not the result of any special inclination or ambition -of his own. Several times he tried to cross over to -the other party, which had much more power and -authority; or at any rate, to reach an understanding -with it. But his effort was of no avail. He was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span> -the nephew of Marius, the most celebrated among the -leaders of the popular party, and the one whom the -other party most detested. The first impulse towards -the whole of the great dictator’s extraordinary career -was given by this relationship; he had in the end to -bring about a second revolution, because his uncle had -already caused one.</p> - -<p>It is easy then to understand for what reason, in -times in which the family performed so many social -offices and was the pivot of so many interests, marriage -was not considered as an act to be left to the full discretion -of the young and to their love, and why the -fathers were conceded the right to decide for themselves -in such matters. A marriage involved grave -political, economic, and moral responsibilities for the -members of both clans. Therefore the young people -were required to sacrifice to the common interests of -their clan some part of their personal inclinations. -In compensation, they had the advantage, in case of -danger and of need, of being able to count on the family -much more than they can nowadays; the family arrogated -to itself, it is true, certain rights in connection -with their choice, but in return did not abandon them -to their fate in the hour of need.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>In short, the ancient marriage, organised though it -was on lines which appear to us tyrannical, presented -certain advantages which, if considered carefully, will -be seen to compensate, at least in part, for the restricted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span> -liberty of choice. In the great transformation of civilisation -of which the modern marriage is the product, -men have, it is true, gained, on the one hand, greater -liberty, but have lost, on the other, certain advantages -which, in the ancient world, were guaranteed to them by -the closer and more vigorous solidarity of the family. -Women, on the contrary, have gained much more in the -passage from the ancient to the modern world, because -in exchange for what they have gained, they have lost -practically nothing. The organisation of the modern -family is distinguished from that of the ancient especially -by the much greater concessions it makes to -the woman. Feminists complain loudly of the present -condition of woman. It is certain, however, at least to -anyone with any knowledge of the history of the past, -that at no epoch have women been so little oppressed -by men and at no epoch have they enjoyed so many -advantages as at present.</p> - -<p>In fact, if in the ancient marriage so little liberty of -choice was reserved to the man, it is easy to understand -that not a ghost of it was conceded to the woman. The -man had in addition one advantage. Constrained to -submit to the will of the father as long as the latter was -alive, he became, when the father died, absolute master -of his wife, because he could then repudiate her and -marry another, how and when he chose. The almost -unfettered liberty of divorce, without any motive, or -for the most futile motives, might well be some compensation -to the man for the subjection in which the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span> -father, while alive, kept him. For the woman, there was -no compensation at all. As long as her father lived, -she had to obey the man to whom her father gave her. -When the father was no more, she still remained in the -power of her husband, who could not only repudiate -her without any motive, but even marry her to another. -In the history of Rome, especially, the men used and -abused this privilege in a way, which to us seems sometimes -ridiculous, sometimes revolting, and always extravagant. -Especially in the last century of the republic, -when the struggles between the parties became intense, -the most eminent statesmen adopted the habit of consolidating -their alliances with marriages. Therefore, -we see every political vicissitude of importance shrouded -in a curious web of divorces and marriages. Now one -great man hands his wife over to another, now he -marries the other’s daughter, now gives him his sister -to wife. The poor women wander from one house to -the other, change husbands from one year to another, -with the same facility with which, nowadays, a traveller -changes his inn. For all these marriages lasted only as -long as the political combination on account of which -they were entered into. When the combination was -dissolved, divorce broke up all or most of these families, -and the husbands set themselves to contract new -marriages. It was so easy for the husband to get a -divorce. He needed only to write his wife a letter -announcing his intention!</p> - -<p>Life, then, was bound to be not over-agreeable in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span> -Cæsar’s time for an affectionate, delicate, virtuous -woman who desired the quiet joys of family life. When -we contemplate from afar the historical grandeur and -the glory of ancient Rome, we ought not to forget the -multitude of hapless women which Rome was forced -to sacrifice—a precious holocaust indeed—to her fortune -and power. How many women’s broken hearts, -how many women’s shattered lives went to make up the -foundations of Roman grandeur! Nevertheless, even -the greatest evils are never without some small admixture -of good; and that sorrowful plight of woman in -ancient times, especially of the Roman woman, was -offset by one advantage of which liberty has robbed -the woman of to-day. That is, that in ancient times, a -woman, whether fair or plain, clever or foolish, attractive -or insipid, was certain to be married, and that too -while she was still young. The husband could not -choose her; but she was sure of finding him, and that -without undue delay.</p> - -<p>In fact, nowhere in the ancient world do we find any -striking traces of a feminine celibacy like that which -existed later under the influence of Christianity in the -convents, or like that which is to-day again coming into -prominence for social and economic reasons, without -any religious impress or need of monastic vows, especially -in the great industrial countries. It seems that -women of the upper and middle classes, if they were not -positively deformed and physically unsuited for matrimony, -all married. Furthermore, inasmuch as marriages,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span> -especially among the upper classes, were -arranged from political and social motives, no account -was taken of the beauty of the bride, but of her social -position, her family, and so on. Historians always tell -us how many wives the numerous prominent figures in -Roman history married, and to what families they -belonged. But it is rare for them to tell us whether they -were beautiful or ugly, intelligent or stupid, pleasing or -unpleasing; these details seemed to them of but trifling -importance. One of the few exceptions to this rule is -Livia, the last wife of Augustus. All the writers vie in -celebrating her rare beauty (to which the statues also -bear witness), her wisdom, intelligence, and virtue. But -Livia seems really to have been a miracle; for it is a fact -that, having married Augustus in her earliest youth, -she succeeded in living with him all her life.</p> - -<p>Fifteen or sixteen years was considered the suitable -age for a bride. Sometimes girls were married when -they were barely fourteen, while nowadays it is rare -for a girl to marry before she is twenty, and the -majority marry between the ages of twenty and thirty. -Furthermore, in many states of the ancient world the -legal age for matrimony, both for the woman and the -man, was much lower than it is to-day in European and -American legal codes. This is not surprising. In all -times and in all places in which matrimony is considered -not as a personal matter of sentiment, but as a -social act which must be regulated and directed by the -parents, the object is to marry off the young people as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span> -quickly as possible. Often they are actually betrothed -when they are still children, and share each other’s -games of running and jumping. This was a fairly -common practice in ancient Rome amongst the nobility, -as it is a thriving custom in the China of to-day. -Nor is it difficult to understand the reason for this procedure, -which, considered by itself, seems to us extravagant -and senseless. Love in all times and in all places -is a most intractable passion. It is, therefore, more -easy in such matters, for the elders to impose their wills -and cold-blooded arrangements, on girls of fourteen or -fifteen and boys of seventeen or eighteen, than on -women or men of twenty-five. Naturally such precocious -marriages, contracted between young people -who had not yet had a taste of the world, were not free -from dangers and serious inconveniences. But these -dangers and inconveniences appeared to contemporary -eyes less great than those which would have arisen, if -the young had been left to follow the dictates of their -own feelings.</p> - -<p>In conclusion, another advantage which the ancient -marriage, with all its many hardships and its want of -sympathy, assured to the woman was what one might -call the legal protection of virtue. Nowhere was this -protection greater and stronger than in ancient Rome. -In Rome, the legitimacy of a marriage did not depend, -as it does now in Europe and America, on the fulfilment -of certain formalities before a priest or a magistrate, -but on the moral situation of the woman. An <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">ingenua<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span> -et honesta</i> woman, to use the expression then current, -meaning a free-born woman of irreproachable habits, -could live with a man only in the capacity of his legitimate -wife. No formality in the presence of any magistrate -was required. The fact of living with a man and -being <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">ingenua et honesta</i> sufficed to assure to a woman -and her own children all the rights appertaining to a -wife and to legitimate offspring. On the other hand, a -woman who had lived a dissolute life, had engaged in -certain employments considered, and justly considered, -disgraceful for a woman, or who had been convicted -of adultery, could never become a legitimate wife or -enjoy the privileges and rights of a legitimate wife. -There was no ceremony before a priest or magistrate -which could make a legitimate wife of her. She was by -law a <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">concubina</i>, and in that capacity for a long time had -no rights. Only in the course of time could she hope to -get the rights, much restricted and of little importance -as they were, which the law gradually conceded to the -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">concubina</i>.</p> - -<p>To transport this ancient conception of matrimony -into modern society would doubtless not be possible, -because it contradicts the great democratic principle of -the equality of all before the law, on which our social -organisation rests. But considered by itself this ancient -conception of matrimony is without a doubt more -lofty and more noble, and in particular more favourable -to the woman, than the modern one. For it did not -reduce the status of legitimate wife to what is practically<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span> -a formality, but made it the exclusive privilege -of the virtuous woman, and therefore assured the -virtuous woman of a kind of privileged legal position, -protecting her effectively against the intrigues and -seductions of the attractive and gay women who, in the -modern régime, are usually the more dangerous to the -peace and happiness of the virtuous women, the less -austere are their habits. In ancient Rome, the law -guaranteed the virtuous woman that at least no one of -these women should be able to rob her of the post of -honour which she occupied in the family.</p> - -<p>The comparison of the ancient marriage with the -modern marriage once more proves to us, then, how -complex are human affairs, and how difficult it is to -pass an absolute and definitive judgment upon them. -Certainly, at first sight, the condition of the woman in -the ancient family seems to us a horrible one, resembling -that of a slave. We wonder how nations that had risen -to a lofty level of social, intellectual, and moral development -could have tolerated it. But when we consider -the matter more attentively, we find that even this -condition, wretched though it was in certain respects, -was not without certain advantages, which may perhaps -explain to us why women put up with it for so -many centuries. The liberty which the woman of the -present day enjoys has countless advantages; but it has -made matrimony for her a struggle, in which, if some -triumph, others are worsted, and those who triumph -are not always the most virtuous and the most wise.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span> -Also, in this order of things, liberty is an excellent thing, -especially for the fortunate and the brave; but the -fortunate and the brave, where marriages and love are -concerned, are not always those who possess the qualities -which conduce most effectively to the progress of -the world and the improvement of the human species. -Modern liberty has set a high price on beauty and -intelligence in woman, which is all to the good; but it -has also made coquetry, frivolity, and vapidity into -qualities which are useful for the conquest of man, who -is not always a reasonable being and is even less reasonable -than usual when he is in love—which is <em>not</em> -all to the good. For there is no doubt that between -twenty and thirty years of age a man is much more -sensitive to the attractions of a frivolous and seductive -girl than to those of a serious and sensible woman.</p> - -<p>All human things, then, have their advantages and -their disadvantages, and that perhaps is why the world -never tires of its experiments in diverse directions and -on every topic. Absolute perfection is unattainable—a -fact which should make us careful not to boast too -loudly of the times in which we live, nor to be too ready -to disparage what preceding generations have done.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_77" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="II-IV">IV<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE LESSON OF THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap l"><i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr"><span class="smcap1">“L’histoire</span> est un recommencement perpétuel</i>,” a -French writer has said. If the forms in which -history manifests itself are infinitely various, the forces -which inspire it are always the same, and are everywhere -at work, on a large scale or on a small, openly or -secretly. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that -the decadence of the Roman Empire is being repeated -in our time in the modern world.</p> - -<p>This assertion may seem paradoxical and strange. -What! are we moderns on the downward grade? Why, -one hears of nothing but progress on every side. Never -was there an epoch more proud of its loudly vaunted -achievements. The sciences are adding discovery to -discovery. The wealth of the world is increasing with -giddy rapidity. Comfort and culture are spreading in -every class and in every country. One after another, -most recondite treasures of the earth are falling -into our hands. We are gradually fighting down all the -forces of nature which for so long a time kept our -ancestors at a distance, impeded them, even threatened<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span> -them with death, from the law of gravity to the most -insidious maladies. Is it permissible to talk of decadence -at the very moment when man has made -himself lord of the whole earth, and is even learning to -fly? History cannot show a richer, wiser, more powerful, -more daring epoch than the present one. No wonder -that most people would resent the suggestion that we, -in the flush of our brilliant successes, are seeing the -repetition of that ancient and terrible history of the -last centuries of the Roman Empire, which was one of -the saddest and deadliest episodes in the world’s history.</p> - -<p>And yet that history is repeating itself, to a certain -extent at any rate. The showy wealth and the noisy -triumphs of modern civilisation veil, but do not hide, -this <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">recommencement de l’histoire</i> from him who studies, -in a spirit of philosophy, our times and the decadence -of the Roman Empire. It is true that there are immense -differences between the two civilisations and the two -epochs. But notwithstanding these differences, what -wonderful resemblances there are! Consider especially -that disease which corrupted the trunk of the Roman -Empire, and which is beginning slowly, subtly, insidiously -to eat the heart out of the modern world.</p> - -<p>The disease which killed the Roman Empire was, in -fact, excessive urbanisation. Neither the attacks of -barbarism from outside, nor those of Christianity from -within, would have prevailed against its might and its -massive weight, if the strength of the colossus had not -been already undermined by this internal cancer. But,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span> -slowly and steadily, the disease had spread through the -trunk of the Empire, and had attacked its most vital -organs one after the other, fostered on its deadly errand -by wealth, peace, art, literature, culture, religion, all -the blessings which men most long for and most prize.</p> - -<p>In order to understand this extraordinary phenomenon -of Roman history, we must hark back to the -generations that lived quietly and in a relatively happy -state in the flowery times of Rome’s real power and -greatness. After two centuries of war, at the beginning -of the Christian era, peace was finally established in the -great Empire which Rome had conquered. In the days -of peace, the barbarian West learned from the Romans -how to cultivate the earth, to cut the forests, to excavate -the minerals, to navigate the rivers, to speak and -to write Latin. It became civilised, and bought the -manufactures of the ancient industrial cities of the -East. Every fresh market of the West, as it was -opened up, gave a stimulus to the ancient industries of -the East, which found in such market a new clientèle. -Contact with the barbarism of the West rapidly gave -fresh youth to the old civilisation of the East,—Egypt, -Syria, Asia Minor,—which had decayed somewhat in -the great crisis of the last century of the republic. -Everywhere fresh lands were brought under cultivation, -methods of agriculture were perfected, minerals -were searched for, new industries and new branches of -commerce were opened up. Prosperity and luxury -preceding in every nation, even the most barbarous,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span> -and in every class, even the poorest, which acquired a -taste for the luxuries of civilisation.</p> - -<p>An epoch of rapid increase of wealth, of lucky enterprises, -of frequent, close, and varied commercial and -intellectual intercourse between the most distant -peoples, began. In every part of the Empire, in Gaul -as well as in Asia Minor, in Spain as well as in Africa, -these new trades, these new industries and agricultural -enterprises gave rise to a prosperous middle class and -to provincial aristocracies,—<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">nouveaux riches</i> families,—which -gradually came to form the governing class of the -Empire, migrated to the cities, strode to enlarge them, -to embellish them, and to make them more comfortable, -reproducing in every part of the Empire the splendours -of the urban civilisation after the Greco-Asiatic model -as perfected by the practical Roman spirit of organisation. -In every province, the example of the Emperor -in Rome found imitators. In the first and second centuries, -every rich family spent part of its possessions on -the embellishment of the cities, and made provision for -the common people of profits, comforts, and pleasures: -they built palaces, villas, theatres, temples, baths, and -aqueducts. They distributed grain, oil, amusements, -and money. They endowed public services and assumed -the rôle of pious founders.</p> - -<p>The Empire covered itself with cities great and small, -rivalling each other in splendour and wealth; and into -these cities, at the expense of depopulating the countryside -where nobody was willing any longer to live, it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span> -attracted the peasantry, the village artisans, and the -yeomanry. In these cities, schools were opened in -which the youth of the middle class were taught -eloquence, literature, and philosophy, and trained for -official posts, the number of which increased from generation -to generation, and for the liberal professions. -Thus, in the second century <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, the Empire spread, in -the sun of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">pax Romana</i>, which illumined the world, -its countless marble-decked cities, as our time spreads, -in the sun of modern civilisation, the confused and -smoky opulence of its cities, large and moderate-sized, -crowded, disordered, a blaze of light by night, bristling -with chimneys and shrouded in black fog by day. In -other words, the most important phenomenon in the -whole history of the Roman Empire, during the first -two centuries of the Christian era, is, as in the nineteenth -century, the rapid growth and enrichment of the -cities.</p> - -<p>The phenomenon was not then so rapid nor on so -large a scale as it is to-day; not a single city in the -Empire, not even Rome, ever attained, in my opinion, -a population of one million inhabitants. The cities -which seemed big in those days would be only of -moderate size now. Populations and riches were -smaller. But the phenomenon in itself was the same.</p> - -<p>From the third century onwards, the excessive urbanisation -in the Roman Empire, which had been the -cause of the splendour and apparent wealth of the -preceding century, began to change into a dissolving<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span> -force, which drove that brilliant world back into the -chaos from which urbanisation had evolved it. Little -by little, the expenditure of the urban civilisation, the -cities and their increasing luxury, out-distanced the -fertility of the countryside, and, from that moment, -the latter began to be depopulated and sterilised by the -cities. With each succeeding generation, the impulse -towards the cities became stronger. The numbers and -the requirements of the modern population increased. -The State and the wealthy classes were inundated with -requests, prayers, and threats, urging them to satisfy -these requirements, to adorn and enrich ever more and -more the cities, which were the glory and splendour of -the Empire.</p> - -<p>In order to feed, amuse, and clothe crowded city-populations; -to carry through the construction of the -magnificent monuments whose ruins we still admire; -to provide work for the industries and arts of the cities,—agriculture -was, little by little, ground down by ever-increasing -burdens. The position of the peasant, in the -solitude of the depopulated countryside, became ever -more sad and gloomy, just as the cities became fairer, -bigger, fuller of amusement and festivals. The impulse -towards the cities increased, and one day the -Empire awoke to find that its cities were swarming with -beggars, idlers, vagabonds, masons, plasterers, sculptors, -painters, dancers, actors, singers—in short, the -whole tribe of the artisans of pleasure and of luxury. -But in the fields, which were expected to feed all these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span> -men who had crowded into the cities to work or to idle, -there was a dearth of peasants to cultivate the land. -Also, with the disappearance of the rural population, -the problem of recruiting the army, which drew its -soldiers then, as always, from the country, became -increasingly serious. While the cities tricked themselves -out with magnificent monuments, the Empire -was threatened with a dearth of bread and of soldiers.</p> - -<p>It must be owned that the Empire struggled against -this menace with desperate vigour. It introduced the -villeinage of the soil. It tried to bind the peasants to -the land. It established heredity of trade or calling. -But the effort was fruitless. Aggravated by one of the -most tremendous intellectual blunders in the annals of -history, the crisis became insoluble. The agriculture -of the Empire, and with it the Empire itself, received -its death-blow. The East and the West split apart, and, -left to itself, the West went to pieces. The greatest -of the works of Rome, the Empire founded by her in -Europe, including the immense territory bounded by -the Rhine and the Danube, lay a vast ruin: a ruin of -shattered monuments, of peoples relapsed into barbarism, -of perished arts, of forgotten tongues, of laws -thrown to the four winds, of roads, villages, cities -razed from the face of the earth, swallowed up in the -primeval forest which slowly and tenaciously thrust -out its tentacles, in that cemetery of a past civilisation, -and entwined the giant bones of Rome!</p> - -<p>But the reader will say: “But that is not happening,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span> -and never will happen, to contemporary civilisation. -Even if it cannot be denied that there is a certain -analogy between the history of the first two centuries -of the Empire and that of modern times, the analogy -stops short at this point. The world will never witness -another catastrophe like that of the Roman Empire; -or at any rate, nobody now alive will witness it.”</p> - -<p>I heartily concur in this opinion. Modern civilisation -will resist the ills which assail it better than -ancient civilisation resisted them. But it will be able -to do so because it is stronger, not because it does not -contain within itself the germ of the cancer which -destroyed the Roman world. Many symptoms prove -this. I will dilate upon one of them only, the most -serious, the most salient, the most generally recognised -and felt, even though few up to the present have seen -in it an analogy and a resemblance to the great historical -crisis of the fall of the Roman Empire. I refer -to the rise in the cost of living.</p> - -<p>To-day, Europe and America resound from one end -to another with a chorus of complaints from men and -women who have to live in the cities. Rent, bread, -milk, meat, vegetables, eggs, clothes—everything, in -short, is rising in price. Even people in the thirties -can remember having witnessed times of fable, a kind -of mythical golden age, in which things were worth -practically nothing compared with their price to-day. -Governments are besieged with entreaties, threats, and -prayers to provide supplies, but they do not know how<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span> -to do so. What is the cause, what the remedy, of this -strange phenomenon? Some lay the blame on the -taxes; some on Protection; some on the merchants and -speculators.</p> - -<p>And indeed, at first sight, the phenomenon seems -inexplicable. At no period of history was there such -a determined rush to make money as at the present -time. No age had at its disposal so many and such -effective means of making it. The men of to-day are -obsessed to such an extent by the frenzy for work that -they no longer have time to live. Statistics tell us in -exact figures the yearly increase in the production of -the world. So the earth ought to be wallowing in -abundance, an abundance such as the world has never -seen heretofore. How comes it, then, that men everywhere -complain, and most loudly in the richest countries, -of the intolerable dearness of everything? What -is the object, what the effect, of the work of the man of -to-day, if not abundance but scarcity is the recompense -of daily toil?</p> - -<p>This scarcity is a graver and more complex phenomenon -than those who most complain of it suppose, -and is not the fault of government or traders. It is a -veritable <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">recommencement de l’histoire</i>, and the study -of the Roman Empire can be of the greatest service in -helping us to understand it. It is the first serious, -universally felt symptom of that excessive urbanisation -which was the ruin of ancient Rome. This modern -society arises from the over-development of the cities,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</span> -from the too rapid increase in the needs and luxuries -of the multitudes who live in the cities. Men and -money concentrate in the cities, and swell the urban -industries and luxury, public and private, intent on -putting into operation all the marvels which the fertile -modern genius, inspired by competition in the race for -progress, is continually inventing. The countryside, -on the other hand, has in the last half-century been -left too much to itself, and agriculture has been too -much neglected, exactly as began to be the case in the -Roman Empire at the beginning of the second century -of the Christian era. It is easy to guess what must be -the natural consequence of this lop-sided arrangement. -The cities grow bigger; industries increase in number -and in size; the luxury and the needs of the masses, -crowded together in the cities, augment. On the other -hand, there is no proportionate increase in the productiveness -of the land. And so the increase in wealth -is accompanied by an increasing scarcity of the fruits -of the earth; and the things which serve to clothe and -feed us—cotton, linen, hemp, wool, cereals, meat, -vegetables—nearly all rise in price much more than -do manufactured goods. This explains the scarcity -that vexes the cities in proportion to their growth in -size.</p> - -<p>In no country is this phenomenon more apparent and -interesting than in the United States. Which of the -nations of the world could more easily revel in the most -marvellous abundance of everything which it is possible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</span> -to conceive? The United States has no lack of territories -to cultivate; or of capital, which accumulates -every year in immeasurable quantity; or of strong -arms, Europe providing her with immigrants in the -prime of life; or of the spirit of enterprise and of -untiring energy. And yet, in no country of Europe are -complaints of the expense of living more generally and -loudly raised than in the United States. Why? Because -in America the disproportion between the progress -of the country and that of the cities, between -industrial progress and agricultural progress, is even -greater than in Europe, the home of populations which -for centuries have been accustomed to a country life. -Consequently the scarcity is greater and more vexatious -in the United States, because the wealth of that country -is greater than that of Europe.</p> - -<p>Someone will say: “However that may be, if this -scarcity which we are experiencing is the most obvious -symptom of the excessive urbanisation from which our -civilisation is suffering, the suffering cannot be a very -serious matter; it must be far from assuming the grave -and dangerous aspect which it bore in the time of the -Roman Empire. So in this respect also we can consider -ourselves lucky; this excessive urbanisation does not -cause us more than a certain material uneasiness, -which is felt by the middle and lower classes in the -cities. In the Roman Empire, on the other hand, -it produced a historical catastrophe.” All that is true, -without a doubt, but precisely on this account ought<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">88</span> -the lesson, with which the history of the fall of the -Roman Empire is pregnant, to be read and pondered.</p> - -<p>In the Roman Empire, too, for a long time, just as -now in Europe and America, this excessive urbanisation -only occasioned a by-no-means intolerable material -uneasiness to the most numerous and poorest classes of -town-dweller. In the first and second centuries,—that -is to say, in the two most prosperous and splendid centuries -of the Empire,—numerous inscriptions remind us -of gifts made by rich citizens or precautions taken by -the cities to meet the scarcity of victuals which pressed -hard upon the poorer classes. It is scarcely necessary -to mention Rome in this connection, so notorious is the -fact. From the day when it became the metropolis of a -vast Empire, the scarcity of victuals became a permanent -feature of the city; and the State had to furnish -the city with the famous <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">frumentationes</i>, which were, -in the last two centuries of the Republic and throughout -the Empire, one of Rome’s most serious preoccupations. -Mistress of a mighty Empire, Rome was for centuries -sure of being obeyed in the most distant provinces by -the people that her sword had conquered; but there -was never a day in the year when she was sure of -keeping the wolf from the door!</p> - -<p>In the Roman Empire also, then, for a long time the -excessive urbanisation made itself felt in the shape of a -troublesome, but by no means intolerable, rise in the -cost of living in the cities. Why did it gradually bring -about a terrific social dissolution? Because the Roman<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</span> -Empire, instead of leaving its cities to fight down this -evil, tried to abolish it by artificial means; and those -artificial means it applied ever more and more extensively, -the more serious the evil became. The crisis of -the cities of the Empire began in the third century, -which saw the depopulation of the countryside, and the -diminution of agricultural production, while in the -cities, on the other hand, victuals were rising in price, -and the number of beggars was increasing in a most -alarming way. If the State had allowed this crisis to -run its natural course, what would have happened? -Of course things would of themselves have regained -their equilibrium little by little. Part of the urban -proletariat, unable to live in the overcrowded cities, -and seeing themselves condemned to a sort of chronic -famine and gradual extinction, would have returned -to work in the fields. When the drain on the population -of the countryside becomes too great, the evil -admits of only one remedy: and that is, that life in the -cities should be allowed to become unbearable to a -certain number of the citizens, so that they may be -tempted to exchange it for life and work in the fields.</p> - -<p>But the Roman State could not bring itself to let the -evil follow its natural course. The large cities, beginning -with Rome, had too great influence with the -Government; and throughout the Empire the city -beautiful and rich had come to represent the model of -civilisation. Little by little, the State let itself be persuaded -to do for each of its cities what it had done for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</span> -Rome ever since its earliest conception of a world-policy -under the delusion that it could thus stave off -the impending crisis. With a view to easing the misery -of the urban proletariat, it took public works in hand -in every direction, regardless of their utility. It distributed -victuals free or at half-price. It multiplied -philanthropic institutions and encouraged the wealthy -families to imitate and to assist it. But all these -schemes cost money, which the State could secure only -by increasing the taxes on agriculture, while the -wealthy families had to spend in the cities the bulk of -the wealth which they derived from their country -property. The result was that life was artificially made -easier and more comfortable in the cities, and harder -and more difficult in the country, whereas the natural -trend of circumstances would have produced the opposite -effect. The evil, treated in so ridiculous a way, -became worse. The exodus of the peasants into the -cities increased, and brought a corresponding increase -in the demands on the public purse for the amelioration -of the conditions of city life. The intensification of the -evil was met by an increase in the dose of the very -remedy which aggravated it—useless expenditure in -the cities, ruinous taxes on agriculture. Matters went -from worse to worse, until the system reached the -limit of its elasticity, and the whole social fabric collapsed -in a colossal catastrophe.</p> - -<p>This is precisely the mistake which modern civilisation -must learn to avoid. The catastrophe of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span> -Roman Empire teaches us moderns one lesson: and -that is, that the evil from which the great cities of the -civil world are suffering at present is a salutary, health-giving, -and beneficent visitation. For it puts a natural -brake on the growth of cities and of their luxury, and -keeps the population in the fields, where the rise in -the price of living brings profit, greater comfort, and -improved living in its train. It is, in short, the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">vis -medicatrix naturæ</i>, which tends to restore the balance -between agriculture and industry, between the city -and the country, a balance which the development -of modern civilisation has upset. Therefore all the -artificial measures which pretend to mitigate this evil, -at the very moment when the force of circumstances -demands that this development shall stop, must be -pernicious. While they tide over a trifling evil of -the moment, they lay up for the future troubles and -difficulties and dangers of infinitely greater gravity.</p> - -<p>Even if modern civilisation adopted in its entirety -the policy pursued by the Roman Empire, and tried to -eradicate the evil with the same deadly artificial measures -which only aggravated it, there would still doubtless -be no ground for fearing a catastrophe in the future -analogous to that which overwhelmed Greco-Roman -civilisation. Modern civilisation is too vast, too powerful, -too deep-rooted, to have any fear of a similar fate. -But if not destroyed, modern civilisation might be -profoundly shaken and weakened in the event of its -imitating the policy of Rome and seeking to favour the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span> -cities overmuch at the expense of the country;—all the -more shaken and weakened, because, dazzled as we all -are by the triumphs of the world in which we live, and -by the surface marks of its powers and grandeur, it is -much more difficult for us than it was for the ancients -in a similar case to discern the signs of old age in it, -and the cracks which are spreading in the edifice in -which we live.</p> - -<p>There is a further lesson to be learned by us moderns -from the history of the decadence of the Roman Empire: -and that is, not to mistake the glamour of the -external manifestations of wealth and power for signs -of real wealth and power. A civilisation is not always -in reality richer and stronger in times when it bears -the most visible marks of so being; we are rather apt to -find that, when it is most dazzling in outward seeming, -its decadence has already begun. We often halt in -stupefaction and admiration before the great ruins of -ancient Rome, especially those offered by the European -provinces of the Empire. We think how great, powerful, -and rich must have been the Empire which could -rear monuments so massive that all the centuries have -not been able to sweep them entirely from the face of -the earth. And yet, if we are to look at these relics in -their right light, we must remember that practically -all the great Roman monuments whose remains survive -to our day on a large scale, belong to the third, fourth, -and fifth centuries of the Christian era—to the centuries -of decadence and dissolution. As the Empire weakens<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span> -and ages, its monuments become more and more -elaborate and colossal. A fairly safe rule for guessing -the century to which Roman monuments belong is to -assume that the more imposing the ruins, the later is -the epoch to which they should be attributed.</p> - -<p>For Rome herself, the time of the greatest expansion, -splendour, and population was the middle of the fourth -century—that is to say, when her decadence was already -far advanced. Not till then did Rome become, for the -number and size of her temples, the magnificence of -her baths, her basilicas, and her private palaces, for the -beauty of her public gardens, for her size and population, -the first and most marvellous city of the Empire: -the portent which evokes the admiration of the whole -world. How much smaller, on the other hand, how -much more simple and modest was she in the first -century, a time when the Empire really was at its most -flourishing epoch, with its frontiers safe, its population -on the up-grade, its cities developing themselves by a -process of growth which was still a perfectly natural -one, agriculture, trade, and industries in a sound condition, -and the State well organised and strong.</p> - -<p>Nor is this a historical paradox. It is only what -always happens to a greater or less extent. In families -as in nations and civilisations, ostentation, display, the -doing on a grand scale everything, even what might be -done on a small scale without detriment, or even -advantageously, are a sign of decadence rather than of -progress. The passion for the colossal and the enormous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span> -is not a healthy passion, nor does it flourish in epochs -of strength and sound moral and social equilibrium; it -is a passion which thrives in epochs of decadence, epochs -convulsed by a deep-seated disproportion between desires -and reality, a thirst for excitements and violent -sensations, lavish in the expenditure of labour and of -wealth to procure a fallacious illusion of grandeur and -power, spurred on by a spirit of rivalry and of competition -which easily degenerates into false pride.</p> - -<p>Not the least of the causes contributing to the maintenance -and increase in the ancient cities of that sumptuousness -of festivals, ceremonies, and monuments which -gradually ruined the Roman Empire was the rivalry -between the big, the medium-sized, and the small cities -of the Empire, between provinces and districts, between -classes, families, professions, sects, and religions. When -a city built a theatre, or baths, or a basilica, at once her -sister-cities wanted one too, as big or bigger. If a rich -family built or endowed a temple or baths, the other -families wished to do the same or more. There was a -continual competition between the religions to have the -finest temple or the most sumptuous ceremonial. That -explains why a little city like Verona, for instance, -has an enormous amphitheatre, in which the whole -population of the city could be accommodated several -times over. That explains why the provinces, the cities -and private individuals, in this competition of display -and magnificence, all showered enormous wealth on -that display, wealth which would have been better<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span> -spent in defending the Empire or in preserving its -economic resources. Many of those remains which -evoke our admiration to-day meant, in the days when -they reared their proud bulk to the sky, the ruin of the -Empire!</p> - -<p>And now let us search our own consciences. Can we -honestly declare that our epoch is untainted by this -mania for grandeur and display, this spirit of sterile -public and private rivalry, which caused the ancient -Roman Empire to squander such vast treasures, and -cloaked its fatal decadence with a vesture of splendour? -I cannot suppose that our freedom from such taint -would be maintained by anyone who remarked the -headlong growth of public and private luxury, the ever -swelling vanity of nations, professions, and classes, the -tendency to mistake in everything the grandeur of -colossal proportions for the grandeur of intrinsic virtue. -Whoever casts his eyes around him, in America as well -as in Europe, sees this impression gaining ground on all -sides and acquiring force. It fouls the stream of -politics, religion, literature, philosophy and art. It -corrupts or transforms the spirit of the upper as well -as of the lower classes. Not only that, but there is -a prevailing tendency to consider this impression a -sign of force, a proof of greatness and of progress. The -history of Rome admonishes us, then, to distrust this -illusion, and to sound the spirit of our civilisation to its -deepest depths—that spirit which to us seems a limpid -mirror of perfection, while it is really very much the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">96</span> -opposite. If, after twenty centuries of work and study, -we find ourselves, fortunate heirs of an ancient civilisation, -in a position to live more safely and more comfortably -than did our ancestors on this little globe, we -are not, therefore, justified in altering the moral values -and virtues to suit our pleasures. The vices, the faults, -the depraved inclinations of twenty centuries ago remain -the same to-day and modern civilisation would be -guilty of the gravest of errors if, deaf to the great lesson -preached by the ruins of Rome, she boasted of those -very defects which destroyed in the ancient world one -of the greatest works of human brain and energy that -history has to offer.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_97" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">97</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="II-V">V<br /> - -<span class="subhead">UPS AND DOWNS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">We</span> are always talking about progress. But does -“progress” mean only the multiplication of -wealth and of the power and speed of machines, in -other words, of our mastery over nature? This would be -a rash assertion. “Progress” implies further improvement -of, and increase in, the virtues, and the diminution -of the vices inherent in human nature. Now, can anyone -who knows the history of ancient civilisation, the -life, the customs, the ideas, and the moral outlook of the -Greeks and Romans, say that we have become better -than they? And if he can say so, how much better have -we become? Have we become better in every department -of life, or are there some things in which we show -a falling-off?</p> - -<p>There can be no doubt that we are braver than the -ancients. Our control of fire has obliged us to be continually -making calls upon our bravery. The formidable -machines which we set in motion; the explosives -which we use so largely; the murderous forces of nature, -like electricity, which we have brought into subservience;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">98</span> -the thousand dangerous exploits on the sea, in the -bowels of the earth, and in the giddy heights of the air -in which thousands, nay millions, of engineers and -workmen daily risk their lives, have steeled our -temperaments to quell that blind and instinctive fear -which lies deep down in human nature.</p> - -<p>War is the supreme test of this increased courage. -War has become rarer, it is true, than it was in the -ancient world; but how much more terrible and awe-inspiring -has it become, both by land and by sea, since -fire replaced steel as the principal weapon! The only -forms of fire known to the ancients as useful in war -were boiling oil, which was often used in sieges, and -the so-called Greek fire, which was employed in naval -battles—a mysterious compound, into which one suspects, -petroleum entered, for it was much used by the -nations and cities of the Black Sea. But both of these -were but children’s toys compared with the guns, -shrapnel, and torpedoes of modern warfare. We are -justified, therefore, in asserting that the men who took -part in the battles of Marathon, Cannæ, and Zama did -not need to have hearts so stout or courage so intrepid -as the men who faced each other in the great battles of -the Napoleonic era, in the American Civil War, in the -battles between the Russians and Japanese, or in the -recent Balkan War.</p> - -<p>But if we are more courageous, we are at the same -time less cruel, a fact which throws our superior courage -into greater relief. One of the characteristic differences<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">99</span> -between contemporary civilisation and those which -preceded it, up to the French Revolution, is the total -suppression of the bloody spectacles which, under so -many aspects and forms, were one of the most sinister -delights of our ancestors. We find the greatest difficulty -in understanding how so highly civilised a people as the -Romans, with so many thoughts and feelings in common -with ourselves, could have been roused to such a -pitch of intoxication by the games of gladiators and -the baiting of wild beasts. And yet the popular passion -for these bloody games was such that even the emperors, -in whom they inspired feelings of horror and repulsion, -like Augustus, were compelled to attend the gory -spectacles, so as not to appear, by their absence, to -rebuke those who supported them and to run counter -to the absorbing passion of the masses for them.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, if an ancient Roman came back -to the world, and saw an American stadium packed with -people from top to bottom, he would be not a little -puzzled to explain what could have induced so many -thousands of persons to have flocked together from afar -merely to watch a football match,—to collect in such -crowds, endure such a long journey, and such discomfort, -just to get a distant view of some youths kicking -their legs in the air! It would seem to them a truly -insipid and tiresome spectacle. Their tastes ran to a -gory struggle, reminiscent of war, to fights between men -and animals, blood in bucketfuls.</p> - -<p>Christianity initiated that education of men’s feelings<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span> -which has made us gradually turn away our eyes -in horror from these atrocious diversions. But how -slow and difficult this education has been! It can safely -be said not to have reached its climax until after the -Revolution. Only the nineteenth century, intent on -mitigating and humanising the penal law in every -direction, has finally succeeded in abolishing the last -of these cruel spectacles, capital punishment. Right -up to the end of the eighteenth century, condemned -prisoners were executed throughout Europe with much -pomp and in the full light of day, in the central squares -of the cities, at times and places at which everybody -could attend, as if at a public festival. Indeed, executions -were invariably attended by an immense public, -attracted by cruel curiosity to see a man going to his -death. By diminishing the number of death sentences, -and by executing culprits in prison yards in the presence -of a handful of witnesses, or, as is still done in France, -in public, but at dawn, with the public kept at as great -a distance as possible, the nineteenth century has put -the crown on one of the most far-reaching and wonderful -moral transformations of the human mind, a -transformation which owes its birth to the words of -Christ uttered twenty centuries ago, and has given -modern civilisation one notable reason for boasting -itself superior to the ancient.</p> - -<p>But if we are more courageous and more humane, we -are, on the other hand, in no way more sober or more -temperate. As far as these virtues are concerned, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span> -ancient world cuts a much better figure in history than -does the modern. We have deteriorated. The modern -world eats and drinks to excess. It indulges to excess -in alcoholic drinks and stimulants. The only intoxicating -drinks known to the ancients were wine and beer, -and wine they always drank mixed with water. They -did not know alcohol, nor consequently, liqueurs, now -so numerous and so highly appreciated; they did not -know tea, coffee, or tobacco. We can assert positively -that drunkenness was the rarest of vices in the ancient -world, while frugality was the commonest of virtues. -We need not take too seriously those orgies of the -wealthy to which ancient writers—especially Latin -writers—so often allude, or the banquets at which -dishes of parrots’ tongues were served, or pearls dissolved -in vinegar were drunk. These stories bear a -strong family likeness to the legends current in Europe -about “the corrupt state of American society,” and -are due to the same tendency. They are the exaggerated -and violent reaction of an ancient puritanism -against the natural advances of luxury and against that -kind of moral slackening which always accompanies -the increase of wealth. Just as the dispassionate and -unprejudiced European, when he examines at close-quarters -the so-called “corrupt state of American -society,” readily recognises that the high-sounding -expression only indicates certain defects and weaknesses -which certainly are reprehensible, but which are -common to the whole of modern civilisation and not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span> -peculiar to America, so the famous Roman orgies and -the banquets, which have made so much stir, would -seem to us, if a miracle allowed us to attend them, very -modest and unassuming affairs compared to our -ostentatious displays.</p> - -<p>As far, then, as sobriety and temperance are concerned, -we cannot confront our ancestors with too -haughty a mien. And what shall we say about the -purity of our customs? That is a much more difficult -problem, perhaps an absolutely insoluble one. At -least I, for my part, do not feel myself competent to -solve it. To judge from Greco-Latin literature and art, -one would say that in the ancient world, with the -exception of a few countries and certain epochs, such -as the centuries during which Rome was controlled by -a puritan aristocracy, the customs of both men and -women were very free and easy. But literature and -art often afford untrustworthy evidence on which to -base a judgment as to the customs of an epoch. For -vice, wrong, and crime, though they may shock the -moral sense, are more interesting subjects for art than -are virtue and honesty. In short, literature and art -always seek to describe what is rare, exceptional, and -dramatic. Therefore, if we wish to judge the moral -state of an epoch from its literature and art, we must -know how far and in what degree the faults and vices -described or chosen for artistic representation are common, -what is the rule, and how many are the exceptions. -And how are we to find this out? We shall have to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span> -know the moral state of the epoch, and literature will -not help us to this knowledge.</p> - -<p>Anybody who judged Paris from the novels or dramas -which deal with Parisian life would be forced to conclude -that the French metropolis spends the whole of -its time in amorous adventures. But anyone who -<em>knows</em> Paris is aware, what is after all an <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">a priori</i> supposition, -that love occupies in its life a very much less -prominent place than in its literature; and that the -writers of dramas and novels go to love for their subject -by preference, because love admits of more attractive -treatment than do struggles for money or the -rivalries of political ambitions and the crosses of the -intellectual life. For the rest, when we wish to judge -the customs of an epoch or of a people, we must not -forget that it is not always the epochs or the nations -which lament most loudly the depravity of customs -that are the most corrupt. Far from it! Often the -epochs which bewail their own vices most bitterly -are those in which the moral conscience is still lively -and robust and, therefore, protests against the evil. -The epochs which are dumb, and seem most virtuous, -have often reached such a pitch of depravity, that they -have become indifferent to the evil.</p> - -<p>A striking instance of this curious phenomenon is to -be found in the history of Rome. Horrible stories are -told of the first period of the Empire,—extending from -Augustus to Nero,—during which the family of the Julio-Claudii -were at the helm of the State. History and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span> -literature are full of scandals, and of laments over the -depravity of the times. In the second period, on the -other hand,—that of the Flavii and Antonines,—the -scandals and protests cease. The depravity of the -preceding century seems suddenly to have mysteriously -disappeared. The Roman world has, by a kind of -miraculous conversion, in a few years turned virtuous. -In fact, not a few historians have thought that this -miracle did come about, and have credited it to the -virtuous emperors of the second century. After so -many bad emperors, Rome at last got some good ones; -and the trick was done! But anybody who studies the -facts with a little patience will have no hesitation in -concluding that the times of the Antonines were at -least as corrupt as those of the Julio-Claudii; but that, -while in the first century of the Christian era the ancient -Puritan spirit of Rome was still alive and vigorous, -and therefore protested against the deterioration of -customs with such energy that its protests have reached -even to our ears, in the epoch of the Antonines, on the -other hand, this spirit was spent. Consequently, -everybody resigned himself to the evil, either despairing -of being able to cure it, or not giving it a thought. -And so, of the two epochs, that which was painted in -the blacker colours was, perhaps, really the better.</p> - -<p>It is impossible, then, to decide whether our customs -are better or worse than those of the ancients. It is -certain, on the other hand, that we are much more -human than they. For with us, a sentiment, which with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span> -the ancients was very weak, if not non-existent, is lively -and profound, the sentiment of the moral equality of -every individual. The ancients simply refused to recognise -in the slave and in the free man, in the nobleman -and in the plebeian, in the citizen and in the foreigner, -human creatures made of the same clay and animated -by the same spirit, whom the mysterious accidents of -fortune had placed in different situations, and all of -whom had certain sacred and inviolable rights in the -supreme domain of justice. A few philosophers dared -just to hint at such doctrines, but without laying too -much stress upon them. And theirs were voices crying -in the wilderness. The free man, the patrician, and the -citizen felt themselves creatures of another species and -of a higher nature than slaves, plebeians, and foreigners, -towards whom the former group might have capricious -bursts of benevolence, but to whom they never regarded -themselves as bound by any obligation. Hence came -that asperity which appears in all the social relations of -ancient peoples,—in their laws, their customs, their -wars, their political quarrels,—and which often seems -to us in so striking a contrast with the lofty and noble -culture which adorned the ancient states.</p> - -<p>Augustus, for instance, was a grave, well-balanced, -and prudent man, who avoided all extremes. Yet the -ancient writers tell us to his credit that he had amongst -his numerous freedmen several men of the loftiest -intellect, of wide knowledge, and of transparent honesty, -who had rendered him great services; but that, though<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span> -he held them in great honour, he never invited any of -them to his table. Such an act of familiarity between -freedmen and patricians would have seemed to the -ancients derogatory, and so they praised Augustus for -having avoided it. To us, on the other hand, this attitude -of reserve on the part of the great Emperor seems -strange and incomprehensible, as it would seem on the -part of a great and wealthy manufacturer who was -ashamed to dine with the heads of departments of his -business.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, the difference between rich and -poor was much less marked in the ancient world than it -is in the modern. This is, perhaps, the most striking -and important of the lines of cleavage between the -world of antiquity and that of to-day. The idea of the -moral equality of men, who are all sons of God, which -was disseminated by Christianity; the idea of political -and social equality, which was promulgated by the -French Revolution, have in modern civilisation cut at -the roots of the ancient distinctions of class, of religion, -and even to a certain extent of nationality. But modern -society is organising itself, in compensation, into -a hierarchy of wealth. Men may consider themselves -in theory all equal to one another; but each tries to -associate with those persons who have approximately -the same means as he, because it is they who are able to -have the same habits as he has. Precisely because the -modern world is so rich and so luxurious, the modes of -living among the richest, the rich, and the moderately<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span> -well-to-do classes show striking differences. And what -is true of the modes of living is also true of tastes and -inclinations. Everybody realises nowadays that differences -or resemblances in habits, tastes, and inclinations -are what most attract and repel men and influence -them in treating each other as equals or unequals, when -custom and tradition have established no other moral -difference between them. The motor-car is as powerful -a barrier between the social classes of to-day as was -aristocratic prejudice before the Revolution.</p> - -<p>In ancient times, on the other hand, precisely because -the world was then so much poorer and simpler, the -difference in the mode of living between poor and rich -was much smaller. Both lived in closer contact, treating -each other really as equals, provided always that -they were of the same rank socially and politically. -Augustus, who could not have freedmen, however -enlightened, to dinner, invited poor, but free-born, -plebeians. A rich Roman would never have entertained -a freedman in his house or at his table, or treated him as -an equal, even if the latter had been as rich as, or richer -than, himself. On the other hand, he welcomed and -treated as an equal a citizen free-born like himself, -however miserable and reduced to living on his bounty.</p> - -<p>If, therefore, the ancient conception of the social -relations was less humane and less generous than ours, -it was not wanting in a certain moral grandeur that is -wanting to ours, inasmuch as in estimating a man, it -subordinated his wealth to ideal qualities, such as free<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">108</span> -birth, or good birth, or citizenship. So it maintained in -society certain moral values which were not to be -bought with money. The poorest of Roman citizens -was conscious and proud of possessing something of -inestimable value, which the richest and most opulent -of Roman freedmen could not acquire for all his -wealth; and this sentiment was a very real alleviation -of, and compensation for, his poverty. Dare we assert -that in this respect our social system does not fall short -of the ancient one? Such an assertion would be, in my -opinion, a very bold one. The gravest weakness in -modern society consists precisely in this continual increase -of the power of money, as an all-regulating force -and universal standard. If the social evolution which -we are witnessing continues on the path on which it has -started, in a short time there will be nothing in life -worth having which is not purchasable for money; and -then what means will there be left of bridling the greed -and envy of the poor?</p> - -<p>But this superiority of ancient society was in its -turn the effect of a different conception of wealth, of -its rights, its duties, and its objects. It is an exaggeration -to credit the ancients with a simplicity and a contempt -for riches, qualities which serve as a strange -contrast with the greed and the insatiable thirst for gold -which possess the moderns. In ancient times, it is -true, men preached moderation in desires and taught -the art of being contented with but little, with greater -zeal and success than it is taught in modern times.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">109</span> -Nevertheless, the men of those days, with but few exceptions, -were not less greedy than we, and not less apt to -consider wealth as the greatest of life’s blessings. Those -who could, accumulated large private fortunes with the -same frenzy and the same insatiate greed that inflame -so many speculators and business men of the present -day; and many of those who were content to live the -simple life were converts to this noble and lofty philosophy -from necessity rather than from conviction. The -wealth of the ancient world was infinitely smaller than -that of the modern world. Consequently a large number -of persons had to be content to live the simple life. -On this account the religions and the philosophers -invented many theories and doctrines to prove that -simplicity and parsimony were more desirable than -opulence and luxury. That is the reason for the -numberless theories regarding austerity that antiquity -invented.</p> - -<p>But though the ancients desired riches as much as we -do, they were not infatuated by the desire to multiply -them to the same extent as the moderns. In this -respect, the ancients may truly be said to have been -more austere and disinterested than we. And the -difference between their thoughts and feelings on the -subject and our own is seen most strikingly in one -fundamental principle, which is, as it were, the keystone -of the whole fabric of ideas and sentiments which -concern riches; I mean, the question of putting money -out at interest. To modern society it seems the most<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span> -natural thing in the world that money should earn -interest. Nowadays, the number of those who lend or -invest capital in the countless ways offered by modern -finance is infinite. Every one of these big and little -capitalists, who possess State bonds, shares in railways -or industrials, or bank or commercial securities, would -be thunderstruck if anyone told him that he was behaving -in an unseemly way. Matters have reached a -point at which the distinction between investment and -usury is fading from our minds. And yet numberless -generations, and not a few of the most brilliant civilisations -in history, professed the idea that any business of -that sort was unbecoming. The ancients as a rule, with -but few casual exceptions, judged it unfitting for a man -of the respectable classes to earn money in any other -way than either from land and houses—realty—or from -direct participation in commerce and the arts; never -from money lent at interest to others. That was -usury; and was considered nearly always, with but few -exceptions of time and place, as the exercise of a degrading -profession. Wealthy men, with large sums of -money at their disposal, were able, and were expected, to -help those who needed money; but with gratuitous, -not with interest-bearing loans. The letters of Cicero, -for instance, are full of references to these gratuitous -loans, for which the great orator, when short of money, -often asked his friends. When he was in funds, he lent -to those who were in need. In short, the lending of -money without interest to upright and honourable persons<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span> -was considered in those days a duty of the rich.</p> - -<p>Of course, ideas like these about money and interest -were bound to retard the development of the ancient -world and the increase of wealth. But they were ideas -which kept alive in men’s minds a certain noble disinterestedness -of which it would be difficult to find -traces to-day, and which makes amends for many of -the asperities of ancient civilisation.</p> - -<p>Considering, then, the separate virtues one by one, -we find that in some we have progressed, in others we -have not. Therefore, in certain respects we are better -than the ancients, in others we are worse. Must we -conclude that the good and the evil balance each other, -and that, therefore, there has been no real moral progress -from the ancient world to the modern? That -would be, in my opinion, a very bold assertion. It is, -in fact, undeniable that our moral life is richer in principles -than that of the ancients, because we have retained -many of the ancient principles, and have added -to them the moral principles which were invented by the -civilisations which flourished after the fall of the Roman -Empire. We appreciate the virtues of patriotism, civic -affection, and valour in war which were proper to the -ancient cities. To them we add the sense of legality -and right, the need for precise and prompt justice, -which were invented by the ancient jurists and perfected -by the moderns. We add charity, mercy, love -of our neighbour, horror of cruel amusements, virtues -which Christ taught us. We add the sentiment of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span> -dignity and the rights of man, which was created by the -philosophy of the eighteenth century and by the French -Revolution. We add certain other brand-new sentiments, -the creation of the civilisation of machinery, -which are, therefore, stronger in America than in -Europe: ardour for the new, enthusiasm for progress, -confidence in our own strength. In war, we fight like -the Romans, and in peace, we turn our eyes away from -bloody spectacles. We should hold the gladiatorial -games in no whit less horror than the most pious of -Christian monks. We trade like the Phœnicians and -we love knowledge like the Greeks. We appreciate -liberty and we appreciate authority. Does not all this -constitute real progress? And does it not suffice to -counterbalance certain other defects of ours, such as -intemperance and the immoderate desire for riches?</p> - -<p>I think so. But that does not mean that we are at -liberty to abandon ourselves freely to our vices and -defects, under the pretext that they are compensated -for by other virtues. It is the duty of every civilisation, -as of every man, to make himself as perfect as possible. -And this duty we must not forget, not even in the midst -of the immeasurable triumphs of the richest, most -powerful, and wisest civilisation that has ever yet seen -the light of day.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak part" id="Part_III"><span class="smcap">Part III</span><br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">Europe and America</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_115" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="III-I">I<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE AMERICAN DEFINITION OF PROGRESS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> two visits I paid to South and North America -between 1907 and 1909 were the result of a lucky -chance, not of a prearranged plan. In 1906, after having -been plunged for ten years in the study of Roman -history, I had no idea of crossing the Atlantic, much less -of writing a book on America and Europe. I had never -dreamt that my long researches in the great cemetery -of the ancient world might start me suddenly one day -along the road which leads to the New World. But -destiny willed it so. In November of 1906, by invitation -of the Collège de France, I delivered in Paris a -course of lectures on the history of Augustus, in which -I summarised the fourth and fifth volumes of my -<i>Greatness and Decline of Rome</i>. There happened to be -at Paris at that time a distinguished Argentine, Señor -Emilio Mitré, son of that General Mitré who was one -of the Republic’s most conspicuous politicians during -the second half of the nineteenth century. He himself -was a man of importance in the political world, and -proprietor of the <i xml:lang="es" lang="es">Nacion</i>, which is not only the biggest,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span> -most serious, and most authoritative newspaper in -Latin America, but one of the leading newspapers of the -world. I had contributed to this paper for years, so I -called on Mitré in Paris. He came to hear my lectures, -and the day before the concluding one, November -29th,—he was due to sail for Buenos Aires on December -1st,—he came to me with a proposal that I should go to -Argentina and there deliver some lectures. I accepted, -impelled chiefly by curiosity to see that vast and rich -country which, for the last ten years, had been so much -talked about in Italy, and to which during the last half-century -so many Italians had emigrated. I accordingly -prepared my lectures, and on June 7, 1907, I sailed from -Genoa for Buenos Aires with my wife and little boy. -Every European who crosses the Atlantic and can wield -his pen with any sort of effect writes his impressions -when he gets back. Naturally, therefore, I too had -promised several reviews and one publisher to bring -back with me a volume of “Impressions of Argentina.”</p> - -<p>At six <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span> on June 8th, we put in to Barcelona. -Directly the steamer came alongside, the Brazilian -consul came on board in search of me. He handed me -a despatch from Baron di Rio Branco, the Brazilian -Minister of Foreign affairs, who invited me in the name -of the Brazilian Academy to stop at Rio, and read a -paper there. I begged the consul to telegraph to Baron -di Rio Branco that I could not stop on my voyage out, -as I was expected at Buenos Aires; but that on my -return I should be delighted to accept his kind invitation.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span> -As the steamer was to put in at Rio, I could -arrange matters with him <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">en route</i>. As the steamer -resumed her journey, and passed out of the Mediterranean -into the vast wilderness of the ocean, I busied -myself with some books of philosophy which I had -brought along, amongst them, some of Buddha’s discourses, -which had just been published in an Italian translation.</p> - -<p>On June 24th, at 5 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span>, we reached the bay of Rio, -one of the most marvellous spots in the world. But -while we were gazing from the deck in admiration at -the gloomy mountains standing round about and the -woods which covered them, at the city rising from the -sea towards the mountains, and the roseate glow of -the setting sun upon the bay, we descried a steam launch -laden with people coming towards us. It was a deputation -from the Brazilian Academy and from the Ministry -of Foreign Affairs, which was coming to take us for a -motor tour through the city, and afterwards to take -us to dinner at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where -Baron di Rio Branco was expecting us. We hastened -ashore, and found some motors waiting for us at the -Pharoux jetty. We jumped in, and were off.</p> - -<p>As long as life lasts, I shall never forget that drive -at sunset, between the dying light of evening and the -first gleams of the electric lamps, which were just beginning -to light up the marvellous city built in the -midst of the remains of the primeval forest on the -borders of the sea, on the hills, and on the mountains.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span> -I shall never forget our dash through endless streets, -with hurried glimpses of multi-coloured houses, sumptuous -palaces half hidden in superb gardens, avenues of -gigantic palms which stretched far away into the -night, glorious promenades along the seashore, and -mountain peaks which beetled above the city. I -longed to stop the car. But time pressed, and after -having hurriedly traversed the whole city, we reached, -about 7.30 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span>, Itamaraty (as the palace of the -Ministry of Foreign Affairs is called), where a select -company of men and women were awaiting us in rooms -ablaze with light. As soon as we had been introduced, -dinner was served; a most sumptuous dinner, into -which, among the most luscious ragoûts of the French -cuisine, the thoughtful Minister of Foreign Affairs had -introduced several Brazilian dishes. I remember the -<i xml:lang="pt" lang="pt">palmiti</i>, a dish of palm-pith, cooked as we cook asparagus, -and really delicious; and <i>bakury</i>, a white fruit from -the equator, preserved in syrup, which reminded me -strongly of the smell of magnolia and gave me the -illusion of eating marvellous flowers.</p> - -<p>Speeches followed the dinner, whereupon we returned -on shipboard, but before doing so I had arranged -in a corner of the drawing-room with Baron di Rio -Branco, Giuseppe Graça Aranha, now Brazilian Minister -at the Hague, and a distinguished writer, who was -then the Minister’s secretary, and Machado de Assis, -the great writer who was then President of the Brazilian -Academy, that I would stop a couple of months in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span> -Brazil on my way back, repeat my Buenos Aires -lectures, and visit the country. At 11 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span>, the steamer -weighed anchor and left the dark bay, in which there -was nothing now to be seen but the glitter of an infinite -number of tiny lights.</p> - -<p>That night, however, I did not sleep, so stunned and -dazzled was I by that first fantastic glimpse of America, -which will remain one of the most singular experiences -of my life, though, so far, my life has not been devoid -of strange and curious chances. I had started from -Europe with no, or practically no, knowledge of the -two Americas, excepting the little I had picked up here -and there in books and papers which I happened to -read. Consequently, my opinion of America was the -same as that formed by other Europeans: that it was -the country of material realities, of business, of fortunes -made rapidly, of wealth stripped of every ornament, -poetry, beauty, and ideal refinement; that rude and -bustling America with which all cultured Europeans love -to contrast Europe as the continent of the Ideal, where -beauty, wisdom, and every refinement of civil life -flourish. And behold! my first impression of America -was as of a strip of India, and the first American city -I had seen reminded me of the East, and especially, -for some reason or other, of Bagdad, or rather, of the -somewhat fantastic idea of Bagdad which I had conceived -in the days when I read more often and more -ardently than I do now, the <i>Orientales</i> of Victor Hugo, -and the other romantic poets of the middle of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span> -nineteenth century. And in that city, I had been present -at a succulent and magnificent banquet, at which, -amidst the refinements of the old civilisation of Europe, -I had tasted the unknown rarities of the tropics, in the -company of elegant, cultured, and refined guests, with -whom I had discussed in French the latest literary and -artistic novelties, as if we had been on the banks of the -Seine. Was it a reality or a dream?</p> - -<p>Quite other surprises were, however, in store for me -on my wanderings in America. Four days later, on -June 27th, we reached Buenos Aires, where we were -joyfully welcomed by a number of kind folk, who had -spared neither trouble nor care to make our stay agreeable -to us. Then began four months of really strenuous -life, to borrow Theodore Roosevelt’s favourite expression. -Conferences, receptions, banquets, visits to hospitals, -schools, factories, workshops, and ranches; trips -by boat, train, and motor-car. It was a real <i xml:lang="pt" lang="pt">moto -perpetuo</i>. I passed the month of July at Buenos Aires. -In August, I plunged into the interior, visiting successively -Rosario, Mendoza, Cordova, Tucuman, Santiago, -dell ’Estero, Santa Fé, Paraná, and penetrating right -up to the foot of the Andes. I travelled about ten -thousand kilometres in the railway train, observing, -collecting documents, asking and answering questions, -and discussing problems. All these, however, were -labours less tiring than another, which became by degrees -the principal preoccupation of my mind during -those two months: the endeavour to put to flight a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span> -demon which kept obstinately springing up before my -eyes, in conversations, on journeys, during visits, during -dinner-parties, notwithstanding all the efforts I -made to keep it at a distance; and which seemed determined -to reappear at every moment and wound me in -the inmost recesses of my European pride and in my -most touchy European susceptibilities. What was this -demon? It was American progress. Every day I had -pointed out to me on my rapid journeys, immense and -marvellous ranches, herds of many thousand head, -markets overflowing with wealth, magnificent schools, -and superb hospitals. I was given descriptions and -demonstrations, in figures and in fact, of the rapid -spread of cultivation, the increase of production, the -bewildering prosperity of the banks, the expansion of -Buenos Aires, now become the second city of the Latin -world in wealth and population, after Paris. They were -all interesting things to observe and study. Nevertheless, -too many of those who showed them to me implicitly -or explicitly established comparisons between -this rapid increase and transformation in everything -Argentine, and the more deliberate advance of the -great nations of Europe, and deduced the conclusion -that Argentina was a more progressive and advanced -country.</p> - -<p>The word “progress” is one of those which is much -misused in Europe. I had no sooner landed in Argentina, -however, than I recognised that the word had -quite a different sound and significance on that side<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span> -of the water from what it has in Europe. The standard -by which my new transatlantic friends were unanimous -in measuring progress was the rapidity of transformation -and the magnitude of the results. New, modern, -larger, were to them synonyms of progress and of -improvement. Consequently, they had only to cast -their eyes round their own country to find reasons for -self-satisfaction. But this conception of progress at -first somewhat amused and somewhat irritated me, -just as the naïve touches of vanity in the young often -amuse and irritate grown men. Many a time, when -we were discussing the progress of Argentina and the -comparisons, tacit or explicit, which were made with -Europe, have I said to my Argentine friends:</p> - -<p>“Undoubtedly the effort which you are making is a -noble one, and a paying one. In thirty years, you have -increased your wealth ten-, twenty-, even thirty-fold. -You have been wonderfully quick in extending cultivation, -railways, and population over the vast territory -which Fortune has given you. You are now flooding -the world with riches, and, profiting by the experience -of others, you can transform, reshape, and make perfect -your public services, your institutions, and your whole -mode of living in the smallest number of years.</p> - -<p>“You make a great mistake, however, if you think -that the contrast between the rapidity of your growth -and your changes and the slowness and immutability -of Europe is any proof of your own nearer approach to -perfection. That rapidity is a phenomenon of youth.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span> -A child’s weight and height double themselves every -six months, year, two years, or three years in the first -years of its life; while an adult stops growing or grows -so slowly as to be hardly aware that he is doing so. -Would you deduce from this that a boy of six years of -age is superior to a man of forty? No. Childhood and -manhood are two phases of life. Each has its own -necessity, its own function, its own advantages and -disadvantages. It is no more possible to compare them -than it is to compare day and night, dawn and twilight, -winter and summer; I can see no essential difference -between the countries of Europe and your own. We -are all children of the same civilisation; we have been -nursed at the same breast. We are all like one to the -other, though we may differ one from the other as -brothers, or, if you prefer it, as cousins do. So an -American progress, different from European progress, -does not exist, though there are countries whose -transformation, owing to external circumstances, may -be retarded or accelerated. You have political institutions -and social orders of less antiquity, and, therefore, -of less rigidity and less strength than those of Europe. -You also have a territory to exploit which is vaster, -very much vaster, and much more easy to exploit, -because civilisation supplies you, ready to hand, with -almost perfect instruments for such exploitation. There -you have the real difference between us.”</p> - -<p>Though these arguments were listened to with -courteous attention, they made but a slight impression<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span> -on my hearers. I very soon realised that American progress, -the rapid increase, that is to say, of the wealth of -Argentina and the incessant modernisation of the customs -and institutions of the country, were a sort of -national religion, which was accepted by most people -with a blind credence. So in the end, I was persuaded -that this ardent faith in progress must be attributed -to the preponderating influence of Buenos Aires, that -immense city, almost half the population of which is -composed of European immigrants in search of wealth. -For it is the largest port, the principal emporium, and -the financial centre of the Republic, through which -passes most of the export and import trade, nearly all -the great stream of wealth which flows out from the -vast territory over the world, and from the world -ebbs back to it again: a rich American city, after the -European picture of such. It is only natural that a city -whose wealth and size are being multiplied by the -rapid development of the country should have adopted -American progress as its religion, and should, through -its influence, have imposed that religion on the whole -country. The conclusion of the matter was, however, -that the Argentine conception of progress was not and -could not be anything but the passing exaltation of a -fortunate country which, profiting by circumstances -unusually favourable, could watch its wealth growing -round it with bewildering rapidity. That, at any rate, -was the conclusion I came to, and I thought it both -reasonable and justifiable.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span></p> - -<p>With this idea in my head, after a laborious, agreeable, -and instructive stay of two months in Argentina, I -sailed for Rio, making on my way thither a brief halt at -Montevideo. I expected to find in Rio another American -city like Buenos Aires. I was, however, mistaken. -Brazil is not, like Argentina, a single body with one -enormous head. Its economic activity is more diffuse -and centres in different cities,—for coffee, in São -Paulo; for rubber, in Manaos; for each one of the other -great articles of production, in other cities scattered -over the vast territory. Rio de Janeiro, though the -chief political and intellectual centre of the Confederation, -cannot, therefore, be called either the emporium -or the port, or the economic capital <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">par excellence</i>. -Consequently, it differs widely from Buenos Aires. It -is less crowded, noisy, and busy. It lives, I might almost -say, in the shade of its gardens and between the -forest and the sea, quietly and reposedly. It is the -only great American city I have visited in which people -walk at a leisurely pace and not at headlong speed; -and it not only lives reposedly, but it thinks, and even -dreams a little.</p> - -<p>While at Buenos Aires, we had lived surrounded by -men of action; we found at Rio a coterie composed -almost exclusively of intellectuals—literary men, journalists, -historians, philosophers, and jurists. Most of -them were state officials and members of the Brazilian -Academy,—an academy founded about ten years ago -and modelled exactly on the lines of the Académie<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span> -Française,—composed, like it, of forty members, elected -in the same way, and admitted with the same ceremonial. -In a small inn situated on the slopes of Corcovado, -on the outskirts of the town and the forest, whose -roads were shaded by secular trees, we lived for six -weeks, just as Plato and his friends lived in the gardens -of the Academy; discussing art, literature, philosophy, -right, and morality with the friends whom Graça -Aranha, the diplomatist and man of letters chosen by -Baron di Rio Branco to do us the honours of Brazil, -gathered round us almost daily. At no moment of my -life have I felt myself so much detached from, and so -superior to, the accustomed preoccupations which form -the groundwork of ordinary existence in the modern -world. And when I found myself living amongst persons -for whom the culture of Europe represented the -supreme blessing of life, the greatest pride of civilisation, -for a moment I believed myself freed from that -demon of American progress which had dogged me in -Argentina.</p> - -<p>It was an illusion, however, which did not last long. -Brazil is a country slightly older than Argentina. -Owing to this reason, to its much greater size, to the -variety of its climates and lands, which make it impossible -to concentrate in a single city the direction of -the whole of national life, and to other contingent -reasons which it would take too long to enumerate here, -Brazil has not developed in the last twenty years so -rapidly as has Argentina. It has, however, developed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span> -much more quickly than any European country. I -speedily saw that the rapidity of this progress was the -great national pride of the Brazilians, even of those -men of letters, philosophers, and writers, who professed -to be such devoted disciples and admirers of Europe. -In the same way the great national preoccupation was -the acceleration, as far as possible, of the progress and -increase of riches, and the exploiting and modernisation -of the country, so that Brazil might not appear inferior -in this particular to the other great states of America. -An energetic administration had just finished the resanitation -of Rio de Janeiro, destroying, at the cost of -vast public works, all the breeding-places of yellow -fever which up till then had infested it. The administration -was then renovating it from top to bottom, -opening streets and squares in the middle of the old -quarters, constructing spacious promenades and gardens, -and sumptuous public edifices, in a word, giving -air and light and splendour and beauty to a city which -was already beautiful in addition to being placed in -a unique situation. I think there must be very few -cities which in a few years have managed to destroy -and rebuild, according to new plans, so large a part of -themselves. Naturally the work has cost millions; -but on the few occasions on which I timidly dared to -make a remark to this effect, I received the laughing -answer: “We are optimists; and we believe in progress!” -This ædilitian transformation of Rio de Janeiro filled -with pride all Brazilians, including my lettered and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span> -philosophical friends, on account of its rapidity and -grandeur; and their pride was swelled by the thought -that no European states, but perhaps the United States -of North America alone, their great elder brother, could -have done so much.</p> - -<p>Everybody thought, moreover, that the whole of -Brazil ought to be modernised just like Rio, from top -to bottom. I visited São Paulo, the great coffee-producing -state. I traversed from end to end Minas -Gerães, the great agricultural and mineral state which, -as a symbol, as it were, of its intention to modernise -itself entirely, has recently constructed a smiling and -graceful new capitol, Bello Horizonte, in a most picturesque -position crowning the hoary Ouro Preto. -Everywhere I found politicians, officials, professors, -literary men, commercial men, bankers, Brazilian and -European immigrants, united in the same thought: -that railways must be built, machinery bought, able -engineers engaged, mines explored, cultivation extended, -and industries founded to increase the -country’s rate of progress by modernising it entirely. -It was useless for me to try to prove even to those of -my Rio acquaintances who were endowed with the -highest and finest intellectual culture, that this -conception of progress was too simple and material; -that real progress is not to make new or to make -quickly, but to make better; that it is not enough -to augment wealth, but that it is necessary also -to put it to good use, a more difficult problem than<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span> -the producing of it. I tried to convince my friends that -if so simple and material a notion of progress acquired -a strong hold on the popular mind, the public would -infallibly be impelled to create, not a lofty and noble -civilisation, but a sort of opulent barbarism. In Brazil, -as much as in Argentina, my arguments beat harmlessly -against a faith and a passion which demands no proofs. -“American Progress” for the Brazilians too was the -great historical force of the future, which is going to -create the new world, and the new civilisation whose -dim foreshadowing seems to be agitating the masses -at the present time.</p> - -<p>We returned to Italy in November. I recrossed the -ocean from Rio de Janeiro to Genoa in fifteen days, -during which I reread my books of philosophy. But -the pages of Bergson, Kant, and Comte, which I read -in mid-ocean, no longer riveted my attention as they -had on the way out. For in the time for thought -afforded me by the crossing, far from the world and its -troubles, I plunged day by day in a more intense meditation -on American progress, which, of all the things -and phenomena I had witnessed, was that which had -left on me the liveliest impressions. It was clear that -it was not a theoretical idea, but a passion, a faith, a -religion fervently embraced by nearly everybody. All -the arguments which I had advanced to subject it to -criticism had been fruitless; and not only ignorant men, -and those eager to make money, but the most highly -cultivated minds, the very intellectual élite of America,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">130</span> -were blind to the contradictions and logical shortcomings -of this conception. Nevertheless, was not this -but an additional reason for studying this phenomenon -thoroughly? It is not ideas which move and transform -the world, but passions; and a passion, even if it be -absurd, is a thousand times more powerful than a wise -idea.</p> - -<p>Now it was not difficult to see what would happen if -this religion of American progress spread through the -world. Europe would lose, so to speak, her rights of -historical primogeniture, and all her ancient civilisation -would lose a great part of its value. If the rapid -increase of riches is the supreme measure of civilisation, -and if, in consequence, the efforts of a people must -be concentrated on everything which can accelerate -this increase, it is clear that the most ancient, populous, -and glorious countries of Europe will not be able to -keep pace with the young countries and with the -nations which are masters of vast territories; and that, -bit by bit, the most glorious civilisations of Europe will -come to be regarded by the eyes of the rising generations -as relics and fossils of another age. This danger -no longer appeared to me so distant and hypothetical -as to many other Europeans. After what I had seen -in America, many facts and thoughts and tendencies -to which I had hitherto paid scarcely any attention in -Europe, seemed to me to acquire a new significance. -I saw everywhere, even in the ancient world, traces and -proofs of the rapid spread of the American idea of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">131</span> -progress, especially among the nations like Germany, -which have developed industry to a great, perhaps a -too great, extent; and in all the countries, classes, and -professions which have identified their interests most -completely with those of industry. So the enemy who -threatened the destruction of the ancient civilisation of -Europe had already invaded the Old World.</p> - -<p>It was while I was meditating on these thoughts in -mid-ocean that the idea occurred to me of writing -something different from a book of impressions on -Argentina and Brazil. Too many books of impressions -of the two Americas are written in Europe; and literature -of this sort, as copious as it is useless, has justly -satiated the public. Inasmuch as this idea of progress -implies a great conflict of tendencies, from which may -arise a profound upheaval of our civilisation, why -should I not contrast in a book the two conceptions of -progress, that which America has created and is trying -to impose on the world, and that which is even now -professed in Europe by the classes most faithful to -tradition, and which they ought to seek to defend? If -I succeeded in giving a vivid representation of this -conflict, should I not have described a living part of -America better than if I had merely accumulated -thousands of detached impressions and observations? -And so the idea flashed across my mind of writing a -dialogue introducing some Europeans and Americans -who on board a steamer in mid-ocean discussed Europe -and America, that is to say, progress, in the sense<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">132</span> -proper to the word as well as in the sense given to it -by the Americans. Is not the dialogue an ancient and -glorious literary form? It is true that for many reasons -it has lately been neglected, one particular reason being, -that in modern life, busy and exhausting as it is, it is -difficult to find a scene which will give verisimilitude -to a conversation lasting several days. Modern civilisation -is a civilisation of much action and little discussion. -However, there is still one scene left in modern life on -which one can stage with artistic verisimilitude a discussion -lasting several days: a transatlantic liner. A -liner is perhaps the only spot in the modern world -where one may find discussion holding the field. -Usually discussions on board ship deal with frivolous -and empty topics. Why might not a writer suppose, -however, that for once in a way, four or five serious-minded -persons met on board a liner and began a -casual talk which later developed into a discussion -of one of the gravest of the problems which oppress -our own generation, no less than every one of its -predecessors?</p> - -<p>Among the persons whose acquaintance I had made -during the voyage, some appeared to me to lend themselves -to the rôle of interlocutor in the dialogue. So, -directly I got back, I began to sketch out my dialogue. -It was then that I experienced a curious phenomenon. -With every fresh attempt I made to embody in certain -characteristic personages the American idea of progress, -as I had observed it in so many of my friends on that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">133</span> -side, and the European idea, as I had many times -defended it, both ideas seemed to me to evaporate, -and to lose consistency and colour. That conflict of -tendencies, ideas, and passions which had seemed to me -so lively and so profound in my meditations in mid-ocean -appeared to have melted away after I had -touched the soil of old Europe. The dialogue which I -was writing seemed to me cold, dead, and academic.</p> - -<p>I was torn in two directions by these difficulties, uncertain -whether to abandon the enterprise, and asking -myself whether American progress had not been a -passing hallucination of the voyage; when towards the -middle of February, 1908, I received from North -America a new surprise of a still greater and more -agreeable nature, in the shape of a letter from Baron -Eduardo Mayor de Planches, at that time Italian -Ambassador at Washington, in which he told me that -President Roosevelt at his last diplomatic reception -had expressed to him his wish to see me in the United -States, and to have me as his guest for a few days at -the White House before his presidential term ended. -At any time, so courteous an invitation from a man for -whose culture, intellect, and statesmanlike qualities I -had so great an admiration, would have given me much -pleasure. My joy was much increased, however, by -the fact of its having arrived two months after my -return from South America. A visit to the United -States directly after one to South America was a rare -stroke of luck. For, to tell the truth, in visiting Brazil<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span> -and Argentina, I had seen only a fragment of the New -World. But to come to know that great New-World -State which by itself personifies America in the eyes of -all, and to come to know the two largest states of South -America into the bargain, was equivalent to saying -that I had studied at least what was most important, -characteristic, and deserving of study in the boundless -continent which Columbus discovered. All the curiosity -to which the rumours and legends current in -Europe about the United States had given birth in me, -and which was dominant in the recesses of my mind, -awoke to life. I forgot the problem of progress, the -doubts which tormented me, and the problems which -I had posed to myself on my travels in Argentina, as -well as the dialogue I intended to write, in my preparation -for my fresh journey and for the lectures in Roman -history which I was scheduled to give at the Lowell -Institute, at Columbia University, and at the University -of Chicago. I set to work to read as many books -as I could about North America. I resumed the mantle -of Roman historian to prepare my course of lectures -and gave no further thought to the book on America -which I had promised to write.</p> - -<p>On November 1, 1908, I sailed for New York, and a -three months’ course of the intense life began again for -me; rapid journeys, incessant visits, interviews with -journalists, hundreds of conversations, banquets, receptions, -speeches, and inquiries. I visited schools, hospitals, -universities, prisons, law-courts, factories, banks,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span> -and co-operative enterprises. I made the acquaintance -of millionaires and artisans, industrialists and professors, -lawyers and journalists. I managed to get a -peep into the wealthy abodes of the rich families of the -great cities of the East, and into the little houses in -which the middle classes drag out a crowded and -pinched existence. I witnessed the frenzy for work, -the incessant activity, the unending agitation which -wears out every class in America. Most important of -all, however, I saw reappear before me—and this time -in gigantic form, monstrous, unrestrained, almost sublime -in its savage energy—that demon of American -progress which had impressed me so much in Brazil -and Argentina, comparatively small though it had -there appeared to me, and which in Europe seemed to -me to have almost melted away. Was it not this which -imbued everything American with that startling air of -novelty, extravagance, and grandeur, which stunned -and almost frightened me? So I devoted myself not -only to the accumulation of impressions, informations, -and recollections in profusion; I also set to work in -the tumult of American life to think again about -American progress. I made an effort to dive deeper -down into the nature of this strange phenomenon, to -guard against its melting away from before me when I -got back to Europe. And at last, one day, I really -thought I had found the clue.</p> - -<p>My wife and I had been invited to luncheon with a -cultured and clever author, who knew three languages,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span> -had received an extensive and liberal education, -and lived by her pen, writing for newspapers, translating, -and giving lessons. She belonged, in fact, to what -one might call the intellectual middle class. She lived -with a sister in a street of old New York, occupying a -little flat of the kind in which many middle-class New -Yorkers live. One reached it by a little wooden staircase, -and entered it by a little door, opening on to a -little corridor, which gave access to four tiny rooms, -whose floors creaked under foot and whose walls let the -voices and noises of the neighbours and co-lodgers be -clearly heard. Outside the windows and extending to -the court-yard, the fire-escapes reminded one that the -house, partly constructed of wood, might at any moment -catch fire like a match. Naturally there were no -servants in the house. With her sister’s help the -charming author, when she returned home, laid -down the pen and became cook and chambermaid. -The luncheon, considered from an artistic point of -view, gave us clearly to understand, that the hands -which had prepared it did not possess any very considerable -technical skill. That did not prevent us, -however, from enjoying ourselves mightily, so interesting -and pleasant was the company.</p> - -<p>Now, while I was eating my luncheon, and looking -round me, I thought that America must certainly be -much wealthier than the wealthiest of European countries. -A woman as richly endowed with intellect and -culture as my kind hostess, who lived by her pen in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span> -Paris, Rome, or London, would certainly earn less than -she. And yet the foreign woman could live in better -style, keep a servant to relieve her of the most troublesome -and humble of her domestic duties, live in a large -and less inflammable house, and have fresher and -better prepared food to eat. If she married a man of -her own station, she could more easily and with less -stint, bring into the world, rear, and educate a family.</p> - -<p>From my hostess, I passed on to think of all the -other persons of the same station in life, of those -middle classes which are everywhere the support and -foundation of democratic institutions and the great -reserve of energy of modern civilisation. In New York, -Boston, and Philadelphia, the great cities of the East, -I had seen several families belonging to this class. I -had even been the recipient of their confidences and -complaints. At that moment, I realised clearly how -much more difficult and laborious, owing to the greater -cost of food and lodging, the extreme difficulty of finding -servants, and the enormous expense of rearing, and -still more of educating, children must be the life -of those middle classes in the great cities of the United -States than in the great cities of Europe. Like my -hostess, a business clerk, a humble employé, or an -artisan in the most select industries, though he gains less -in Paris or in London than in New York, can live much -better in the former towns. He can eat better, lodge -more comfortably, employ someone to help in the household, -and rear his family without excessive drudgery.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span></p> - -<p>Then I asked myself: “But what is the use of wealth, -then, if it is not a means of living better, of securing -some extra ease, comfort, or pleasure? What is the -reason for this startling paradox, of riches turning -from a blessing into a torment? How comes it that -America, which has shown such energy in the exploitation -of the immense wealth hidden in her boundless -territory, has not followed up her conquests by converting -these riches to the benefit of the whole population? -How is it that, in this fortunate country, it is -these middle classes who suffer most who yet have an -influence on the Government such as they have in no -European country? Why can we find in poorer -countries individuals and classes who are happier -because they are better satisfied with their condition?”</p> - -<p>It was by reflecting on this problem that I at last -arrived at a comprehension of the real nature of -American progress, and that I finally lighted on the -subject, the frame, and the key of the dialogue over -which I had so long worried. How and in what way, I -shall recount in the following chapter.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_139" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="III-II">II<br /> - -<span class="subhead">FACTS AND MOTIVES IN THE MODERN WORLD</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">Like</span> every other European, I had gone to North -America with the fixed idea that it was the -country of the practical spirit <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">par excellence</i>, and that -the Americans were all men who did not lose themselves -in dreams, but lived in reality, intent on shaping -it to their own ends, and acquiring by the most rapid -means the tangible and sure blessings of life—riches, -prosperity, power, and the mastery over nature. I -was convinced that they knew better than anyone else -the art of increasing the comforts, and diminishing the -difficulties, of life by the intelligent use of the means -furnished by nature, fortune, and preceding generations. -I expected, therefore, to find in America, many facts -and few ideas; an intelligent and vigorous egoism -omnipresent; scanty traces of idealism, and but little -faith in the transcendent principles which so often lead -dreamers—individuals and nations—to toil and fight -for fair but unreal chimeras, in the vain hope of distant -glory or grandeur.</p> - -<p>So my first surprise, and a very great one it was,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span> -arose from my examination at close quarters, of the -policy pursued by the United States in dealing with the -immense herds of immigrants, who yearly pour into -their harbours from all parts of the Old World. In -South America, I had closely observed the cautious -prudence and really practical sagacity with which the -republics try to prevent the continual immigration of -foreigners from disturbing too profoundly the political -balance of the State, by reserving the government to -small oligarchies born and educated in the country, -and therefore capable of directing public affairs with -a certain continuity of projects and of national spirit. -This policy of the South American republics is, I know, -severely criticised in Europe, and especially in Italy, -by too many persons who judge the affairs of the New -World by the standard of the ideas of the Old. But to -a historian of Rome, like myself, to whom history has -taught the great internal difficulties which were caused -in every ancient state by the μέτοιχοι or <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">peregrini</i>, -this policy seemed practical and reasonable, at least -if it be granted that the principal task of every state -is that of solving in the best possible way the problems -of the hour and leaving to the future its own problems.</p> - -<p>To grant every year citizenship in a new state to a -great number of men born and educated in distant -lands, who come stuffed with ideas and tendencies, -opinions which correspond in no wise with the utterly -different situation they find in the new country; to give -them political rights which they do not want or give a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span> -thought to; to make them, almost by force, the pillars -of a political constitution which they generally do not -understand; to hope to transform them in a flash from -subjects of ancient European monarchies into citizens -of young American republics—is not all this to do -violence to the practical ideas of government, and to -multiply the already great difficulties among which -every representative régime works, without any compensating -advantage, not even that of planting the -immigrants firmly in the new country? The vast -multitudes which are to-day crossing from Europe to -America no longer go, as they did once, in search of -liberty beyond the ocean. They go in search of higher -salaries, an easier and larger existence, and greater -probability of bettering themselves. To open to the -children of immigrants on the same terms as to home-born -children the high schools, the professions, and the -public offices—in short, all the roads by which the son -of a peasant or artisan can climb to the higher <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">bourgeoisie</i>—is -a surer means of planting firmly in the country -the crowds carried to America on the wave of emigration -than the concession to them of electoral rights. -And that is just what the states of South America, -with their practical spirit, have done and are doing.</p> - -<p>With these impressions and opinions, I arrived from -South America in the America which symbolises in the -eyes of the world the practical spirit. And in this -America, to my no small surprise, I found the opposite -policy to this in actual operation, with all the effects<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span> -which I imagined must follow it; in particular, the -growing difficulty of making democratic institutions -work smoothly, with an electoral body so swollen, so -enormous, and so varied and heterogeneous. I often -had occasion, when speaking or writing in the United -States, to remember that the cosmopolitan electoral -body which is the base of the democracy of the United -States recalls that of Rome, where the freedmen—the -immigrants of the time—became citizens, and were -inscribed in the electoral lists, whatever their national -origin, and even if they were all foreigners, barbarians -some of them, uncivilised the rest. Nevertheless, there -is between the United States and Ancient Rome one -essential difference; and that is, that in the Roman -Republic, the electoral operations were concentrated in -the capital, so that the number of persons who took part -in them, the really active electoral body, was extremely -small; while in the United States, the electors are -numbered by millions, and are scattered over a continent. -Do not most of the difficulties and inconveniences -of which I have heard America complain in -connection with its internal politics arise from the -enormous size of the electoral body and from its -heterogeneity? For both of these are unique phenomena -in the history of the world, as until now every -democracy has governed small, and often the tiniest -of, states. So this experiment, which America is making, -without being compelled to do so by any historical -necessity, is a new and bold one, the final result of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span> -which it is difficult to foretell. As a matter of fact, -the ancient national oligarchies, which governed North -America, for so many years after it had gained its -independence, did not open the doors of the constitution -to the immigrant multitudes who threatened, if -admitted, to swamp them. It would have been easy to -keep at least the first Europe-born generation out of -politics, because—as I have already said—the greater -number of immigrants arrive in America without the -vaguest idea, much less ambition, of obtaining what, -in a democracy, are the political rights of a citizen, -and only want big salaries.</p> - -<p>How, then, has the United States come to this -pass? Certainly historical accidents have contributed -to set the Union in this direction. Historical accidents -would, however, not have sufficed, if they had not been -helped by that conception of democracy, not practical -but mystical, so to speak, which I have found obtains -among so many Americans. The rights of the people -are not in America a political doctrine, to be employed -by the nation and its governors in compassing certain -ends of general utility, and to be applied only in the -measure and with the limitations and qualifications -which make it fruitful of good results and prevent it -from giving rise to inconveniences. It is a transcendent -principle, an article of faith, as it were, to be applied -and developed without too much regard to the immediate -consequences, which must be endured with -patience if they are for the moment unpleasant or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span> -dangerous, in the conviction that the principle, being -just and true, must finally produce beneficial effects.</p> - -<p>So, little by little, I was led to ask myself whether -by chance, in politics at any rate, the South Americans -and the Europeans were not more practical than the -North Americans, and whether the North Americans, -on the other hand, were not great idealists; at least, if -by the practical spirit is understood the art of solving -present difficulties by the quickest and simplest devices -with only an immediately realisable benefit in -view, instead of multiplying difficulties with future -benefits in view or for love of an idea or a principle. -The amazement and uncertainty caused by this preliminary -survey of the very foundations of the American -constitution were increased, however, by my -subsequent observation of the numberless philanthropic -works, educational institutions, intellectual, political, -or social foundations which owe their existence to the -inexhaustible generosity of the American upper classes. -For though Europeans may think that every American -thinks only of making money, a few weeks of travel -and of observation were enough to convince me that -America is quite as richly, perhaps more richly endowed -than Europe with wealthy men whose only -thought it is to spend their money for the good of their -fellows, for the progress of the nation, in a word, for -objects of public utility.</p> - -<p>However, though American philanthropic works may -equal and often exceed those of Europe in number and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span> -in value, I have often had occasion to notice one -difference between those of the two continents: and -that is, that the American works are not unusually -inspired by a more intense, I might almost say a more -ingenuous faith in the power of man over the miseries -and difficulties of life. The American often addresses -himself with fervour, energy, and great intellectual and -pecuniary effort to the eradication of ills which the -European regards as incurable and irresponsive to -treatment. And this American faith in the power to -rectify, revive, and purify nature often struck me, no -less than many other Europeans, as fringing on the -chimerical. In short, even in what are called social -works, the American often seemed to me more idealist, -more of a dreamer, and less practical than the European; -more ready, that is to say, to venture on a struggle -against the innumerable ills of life without being quite -sure of possessing adequate means for conquering them, -at the summons of a mystical faith in the progress of -the world.</p> - -<p>As the result of all my observations, I kept asking -myself whether by chance the United States, notwithstanding -their great practical activity, might not be a -much more mystical, idealistic, and visionary people -than the European gives them credit for. But I did -not dare answer the question with a resolute Yes or No. -I could not answer No, because that would have involved -ignoring facts which were daily obtruding themselves -on my notice. On the other hand, I dared not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span> -answer Yes, because I was afraid of being accused of -excessive fondness for paradoxes, and of wishing to do -violence to current opinions at every opportunity and -at all costs. So I went groping around for a truth -which so far I conjectured rather than saw.</p> - -<p>I had reached this point in my reflections and observations -when I was invited to luncheon by our -friend the author and journalist whom I have mentioned -in the preceding chapter. When I saw her -home and mode of life, I could not help asking myself: -For what reason is the general standard of wealth -higher, while that of living is no higher, in America than -in Europe? Why are dwellings in the great American -cities so small, the distances so great, the communications -so difficult, provisions so dear, that notwithstanding -the vast riches of the country, life is for the -masses and the middle classes more expensive and -difficult than in many much less wealthy cities of -Europe? The primary answer was not difficult: Because -the cities have become too big and populous, -because their growth has been too rapid in comparison -with the progress of agriculture, and because a section -at least of their inhabitants has contracted too expensive -habits and is accustomed to a life of too great -luxury. This primary answer, however, gave rise to a -second question: Why have the cities grown so rapidly, -and with the cities the luxury of every class? This too -was easily explained: Because of the rapid development -of industries. America is a vast continent of great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span> -natural wealth, where capital accumulates rapidly. -Owing to her ability to accumulate capital readily, and -to find work for the numberless hands which the overcrowded -districts of Europe have been supplying for -the last hundred years to those American countries -which have need of them, America has been able, not -only to extend her agriculture rapidly and to exploit her -mines, but also, and in particular, to multiply her -industries to the point of packing her larger cities with -so dense a crowd of inhabitants that life has become -difficult for the majority of the town populations.</p> - -<p>At this point, however, one conclusion seemed to -emerge from the preceding observations. Suppose -North America, instead of employing all the capital -at her disposal in her many industries, as well as the -capital borrowed from European countries poorer than -herself, had done as France is doing in Europe, namely, -had invested part of her capital in foreign countries, in -loans to governments, cities, railways, industries, -trades, and agricultural enterprises, what would have -happened? The demand for labour would doubtless -have been less in America, and therefore the emigration -to it would not have been so startling. Her industries -would have developed less, and her cities would not -have increased so rapidly. The United States would -now have a smaller population to support, and one -better distributed between the cities and the country; -would have fewer cities, and those smaller. The band -of fortunates who have made huge wealth out of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">148</span> -rapid and prodigious development of the cities would -be smaller, but the middle and lower classes would -enjoy a more comfortable and easier existence. Their -condition would resemble much more closely that of -the middle and lower classes in Europe. They would -earn lower wages, but those wages, though numerically -less, would procure them greater comforts and pleasures.</p> - -<p>It was now that, after my many discussions with -others, and my extended solitary meditation on the -difficult problem, I thought that I had finally confuted -the troublesome doctrine of American progress. What -is that progress of which the Americans are so proud -but the unbridled rush of enterprise which has so -rapidly multiplied the industries, enlarged the cities, -and increased the population and wealth of the United -States? But in that case it was clear that American -progress contradicted itself. By inciting the American -people to gather together capital and workers, to open -their gates to millions of European emigrants, to invest -their gains in new enterprises or in the enlargement of -old enterprises, to redouble and multiply in every -direction efforts and enterprises, so as to form of them -a mountain with which to scale the heavens, the spirit -of progress had created in America an opulence which -teemed with difficulties, contradictions, and embarrassments, -and which meant for a large part of the population -a condition somewhat resembling that of King -Midas: seeing riches all round him, and not being able -to enjoy them. But to produce riches with no prospect<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">149</span> -of enjoying them is an absurdity. Much wiser, therefore, -was old Europe, which, taught by the experience -of centuries, refused to let herself be dazzled by this -idea of progress, and instead of heaping up riches at -top speed as does the New World, was more careful in -her choice of new riches to create so that she might -enjoy them; so that she might make of them a fount -of well-being, not a cause of difficulty for mankind.</p> - -<p>This was the moment at which I was inclined to -think that all the ideas of America and the optimistic -spirit which animates them, beginning with the idea of -progress, could only be a passing ebullition and the -merry madness of youth. This nation, I said to myself, -favoured as it is at the moment by unusual facilities -for the creation of wealth, has been so much carried -away by its success as to make of riches, which are and -can be only a means, an end in themselves. A longer -experience of history will convince America of its -mistake. One day, however, as I was again pondering -intently over the facts I had observed, which seemed -to prove that the Americans were often dreamers, -idealists, almost mystics in matters in which the Europeans -show themselves eminently practical, an idea -flashed across my mind. What if American progress, -which to me had seemed up to then to be but a youthful -madness, should prove, if thoroughly analysed, to be -only an idealistic and semi-mystical conception of -wealth itself? What if this nation, accused of desiring -only the immediate possession of worldly goods, was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span> -wearing itself out in an unbridled and diabolical activity -from dawn till sundown, not with the object of -increasing its happiness and pleasure, but for a distant -end, transcending the egoism and even the consciousness -of the individual? What if all, without knowing it, -or impelled as it were by a superior, if not directly -mystical force, were labouring and even suffering for -this end—a new end, to which history can show us no -parallel; the conquest of an immense continent from -one sea to the other, by means of a new instrument -unknown to our forefathers: steam- or electricity-driven -machinery?</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>From progress, from the democratic and philanthropic -ideality of the Americans, from the economic -difficulties with which our kind hostess had to wrestle, -to machinery and to the conquest of the great territory -of the United States, may seem a risky, violent, and -unexpected transition or transitions. As a matter of -fact, I could not have executed so bold a transition -unaided. I was helped by my wife, in an indirect, but, -for that very reason, strange and decisive way. In -fact, without her help I should not have succeeded in -finding my bearings in the chaos of my American experiences, -nor in understanding how and to what extent -the Old World and the New World are opposed to each -other; as a result, I could not have written the philosophical -dialogue on Europe and America, which will -be published shortly. It seems to me necessary, then,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span> -to recount how this help was given me; and I hope that -my brief account will not be read without interest.</p> - -<p>Several years before we embarked on our journeys -to the two Americas, my wife had begun a long and -deep study of modern machinery and of the great -mechanical industry. Though a daughter of Cesare -Lombroso, who was a great inventor, she is temperamentally -inclined to the ancient more than to the new, -and therefore little disposed by nature to admire the -gigantic disorder of modern society which other minds -find so intoxicating. Her innate antipathy to the -civilisation of steam and electricity had been increased -a thousandfold by observation of the profound -perturbation which the great mechanical industry has -caused in a country of ancient civilisation like Italy, -densely populated and living on the resources of a -small territory devoid of great natural riches. But -when she at last made of machinery an object of -methodical study, her researches and the evidence she -had patiently accumulated transformed this antipathy -into a complex and bold theory, the cardinal idea of -which I think I can express as follows. Machinery -produces only apparent wealth and prosperity, because -instead of diminishing the effort necessary to -produce the things we need, and therefore their price, -in reality it increases it. The mechanical industry -demands immense capital to construct the machines -and set them going; immense quantities of raw material -to keep the machinery always busy; the concentration<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">152</span> -of the industry in places where combustibles or the -motive forces abound; consequently an enormous development -in the means of communication, for the -exchange of products and raw materials, and a dense -population accustomed to produce and consume as -much as possible. Therefore, the civilisation of steam- or -electricity-driven machines cannot develop without -rapidly exhausting nature, so to speak—mines, or -forests, or the fertility of the soil. That explains why it -flourishes chiefly in vast and naturally wealthy territories, -which it rapidly exploits and impoverishes. -Indeed, it explains why it is always seeking for new, -rich territories, seeking to penetrate unexplored continents, -like Africa, as soon as it has conquered America. -Nor is it difficult to understand why nations which live -in countries of limited natural resources get more harm -than good, and often become involved in vexatious -crises, from the introduction of mechanical civilisation. -It is clear, too, how that civilisation must result in -making life ever more and more expensive, and therefore -forcing men to despoil the earth and to work ever -harder, without ever attaining to satisfaction.</p> - -<p>These ideas were the subject of long and lively discussions -between my wife, her father, and myself. -These discussions, as was natural with discussions arising -out of a doctrine which was maturing in the mind of a -patient seeker after truth, were, so to speak, eccentric; -they revolved now round one point, now round another. -Nevertheless, the central point round which they ultimately<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">153</span> -revolved was this: whether the wealth for which -man has to thank machinery is real or apparent. I -said that, since machinery produces much and at great -speed, there seemed to me no room for doubt that it -increased the sum of benefits at man’s disposal, and -therefore enriched the world. My wife replied that if -machinery produces much, it also consumes enormously, -more indeed than it produces, so that a mechanical -civilisation must always feel itself tormented by the -necessity of having more than it possesses, and, therefore, -must be always in a state of indigence. So the -discussions went on, lively and long, without either -of the parties convincing the other; and at last I came -to the conclusion that our <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">amour propre</i> must be making -us persist in the sophistical discussion of an unreal -question.</p> - -<p>When I got to America, however, I saw that the -question we were discussing was anything but unreal; -for it was these ideas and discussions which enabled me -to collate our friend’s economic difficulties with the -mystical spirit which pervades so large a part of -American life, and to understand the nature of American -progress. Were not the economic difficulties encountered -especially in the big cities, notwithstanding -the immense wealth of the country, by the most -numerous classes of America, the decisive proof that -really, as my wife asserted, the wealth created by a -mechanical civilisation is to some extent only apparent? -That notwithstanding the great depredation of nature<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span> -carried out with means furnished by science, men’s -needs increase faster than their riches; therefore that -mechanical civilisation revolves in the vicious circle -of an insoluble contradiction? All the same, if America -had set herself with less eagerness to exploit by means -of machinery her immense natural resources; if she had -not welcomed so many millions of men from all parts -of the world; if she had not invested in machinery and -industries and railways such a vast amount of capital, -without a doubt we should find a smaller number of -people living, and living more comfortably, in America -to-day; but the conquest of the vast continent would -not have reached its present pitch, and the world -would not have witnessed that unparalleled event in its -history, the bewildering development of the United -States.</p> - -<p>In fact, we must not forget, if we wish to realise what -a miracle the civilisation of machinery has succeeded -in accomplishing in the New World, how slow and -difficult was the expansion of mankind over the world -up to the end of the eighteenth century, that is, -during a period when men worked with their hands and -travelled over their planet on their own legs, or on -those of animals little swifter than themselves. The -great plains acted as so many great barriers in the -way of men’s occupation of the land, because men lost -their way in them. Consequently men tended to -settle on little tracts of land, in such a way as to be -near one another, to be able to communicate easily<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span> -with one another, and to exchange their products. -Everybody knows how slow has been in Europe the -advance of civilisation from south to north; how many -centuries were required for the passage of the Alps and -expansion into Gaul, how many for the crossing of the -Rhine and extension as far as the Elbe, and again for -the passage of the Elbe and the advance towards the -Vistula and the great plains of Eastern Europe. In -America itself—in the South as well as in the North—up -to the end of the eighteenth century, the progress of -population and civilisation was very slow and difficult.</p> - -<p>In the twentieth century, on the other hand, a -prodigy occurred, thanks to steam-engines and all the -other machines of which the steam-engine is the parent. -With these machines, men can exploit more rapidly and -thoroughly all the wealth of the earth, and with the railways -can export the wealth produced, even from the most -remote and buried regions, which thus can be peopled -and exploited. Civilisation, following the railway-lines, -and armed with fire and machines, in little more than -fifty years extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific, -crossing and occupying, however summarily, the immense -territories of the interior, and binding together -with a network of communications and interests, -cities, climates, and territories without number from -east to west, from north to south. But machinery is -an inanimate instrument, only to be imbued with -creative force by the thought and will of man. In -consequence, this miracle of history would not have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span> -come about if a bold and energetic people had not -multiplied machines with extraordinary rapidity over -the whole immensity of their territory; if they had not -subordinated to this supreme end every other good, -æsthetic beauty, the preservation of traditions, the -purity of the national spirit, and even the conveniences -of life which wealth can give. American progress is -then a transcendent and mystical idea which inflames -America with passion and impels it to accomplish the -new and rapid conquest of its own territory. And logic -wastes its time looking for and laying bare contradictions -in it savouring of the absurd. Doubtless, to work -with frenzied zeal at creating riches in order to be -unable to enjoy them is an absurdity if judged in the -light of the interest of each individual; but are not all -ideals absurd, when judged in the light of the interest of -the individual? What does it matter to the soldier who -dies in battle that his country emerges victorious from -the conflict in which it is engaged, seeing that he will -not be able to enjoy the fruits of the victory? From the -point of view of personal interest, it is better to live in -a country disgraced and diminished by a defeat than -to die in a country aggrandised by a victory. So the -privations to which I had seen exposed in the intimacy -of her home, that kind hostess of ours, who had offered -us luncheon in her modest flat, no longer seemed an -absurd contradiction of life. Her privations were -transfigured into a small personal sacrifice necessary for -the fulfilment of a great national work, transcending<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span> -the interest and the wishes of every individual -American.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Thus at last I had grasped American progress and its -apparent incongruities. It was an ideal of life, born and -rapidly matured in a new continent during the past -half century, at a time when the conquest of the vast -territory by means of machinery was becoming more -widespread and more intense. It was the ideal of life -which, overshadowing all the others, had called forth -from the depths of American society the marvellous -energy which has staggered the world. When I had -once found the key to this enigma, many phenomena -of American life seemed to me clearer. I could easily -explain to myself why the public attached less weight -to politics on that side than in Europe, and regarded the -defects and shortcomings in its political institutions with -an indifference which to Europeans seems strange; in -particular, why it preferred having them in a condition -full of defects and inconveniences rather than any reform -which increased the power of the State and limited the -initiative of the individual. I could explain also how it -had succeeded in keeping alive that spirit of liberty, -not in politics only, but in religion, administration, -customs, and culture which often strikes Europeans as -either excessive or bizarre. The great national work—the -conquest of the continent—is accomplished much -more by personal initiative than with the help and -under the direction of the State; the important point,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span> -therefore, is that personal energy should be subjected -in this great work to the smallest possible number of -limits and restrictions.</p> - -<p>Lastly, I could explain why in American society, to -borrow a rather quaint philosophical expression, the -category of quantity prevails over that of quality. -During my first few weeks in America, I used to smile -when I heard some Americans go into ecstasies at the -thought that everything in America was big, from the -country to the cities, the factories, and the statistics of -population; when they gloated over comparisons between -their own country and the little countries of -Europe, and statements of the comparative superiority -in size of things in their own country. I no longer -smiled, however, when I realised what American progress -represented. A civilisation, whose principal instrument -for the accomplishment of its work and for -establishing itself in the world is machinery, must -necessarily consider the quantitative criterion the supreme -criterion of perfection. In what respect, indeed, -is machinery, regarded as an instrument of production, -superior to the human hand? Everybody knows that its -superiority consists not in quality, but in the quantity, -of its output. Machinery produces much and quickly. -The hand produces little and slowly. The hand, however, -can attain a standard of perfection which is -denied machinery. Man will never succeed in constructing -a machine capable of sculpturing the Venus -of Milo or of weaving the marvellous tapestries which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span> -we admire in the museums of Europe. Everything of a -high degree of perfection is exclusively handmade; -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">vice versa</i>, the hand, however, it may strive and labour -and practise, will never succeed in attaining in its work -the giddy rapidity of which steam- and electricity-driven -machines are capable, or in producing in so short -a time so many good things. Consequently, in a -civilisation in which machinery predominates, men will -be continually making fresh efforts to live faster and -faster, and to produce and consume more and more -rapidly. They will not be, on the other hand, too -exacting on the score of quality. They will be content -with things which look nice, without demanding extraordinary -excellence or finish in details. They will be -better pleased to consume many examples of products -of inferior durability than one single example of products -of great perfection. Consequently, vagaries of -taste, continual movement, ready forgetfulness of traditions, -and abundance of mediocrity, will be salient -characteristics of machine-ruled civilisation. The great -works of art which were the glory of past régimes -will disappear for the present, which will see them -replaced by objects of medium quality offered in greater -quantity.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, I found all these characteristics -in North America, and they no longer offended me. -They seemed to me necessary qualities of a society -which sets out to conquer a boundless territory with -machinery. Nevertheless, at this point, having solved<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span> -the American problem, I was confronted with the -European problem under a new aspect. If American -progress, if machinery, if the quantitative criterion of -perfection are necessary weapons for the accomplishment -of the great historical work to which the United -States have set themselves, how are we to explain the -fact that in the states of Europe also machines are -being multiplied, the American idea of progress is -spreading, and the quantitative criterion of perfection -is prevailing gradually? All of them except Russia, -which in many respects resembles the United States, -are countries of an old civilisation, live in small tracts -of territory, and have not immense continents to exploit.</p> - -<p>At this point I saw hovering over Europe and America -a new, vaster, and more general problem, which dominates -the two worlds and bestrides the Atlantic like a -great bridge: the struggle between quantity and quality.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_161" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="III-III">III<br /> - -<span class="subhead">MORE OR BETTER?</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">It</span> is an undoubted fact that Europe is becoming -Americanised; that the American idea of progress—understood -to mean the increase of wealth and the -perfectioning of the instruments of production—is penetrating -European society. No profound knowledge of -European society is needed to recognise this. I would -even go so far as to say that the only idea which in the -last fifty years has sunk deep into the minds of the -masses in Europe is this American idea of progress. -I must, however, also confess that before I went to -America I belonged to that group of Europeans, -numerous enough, especially among the cultured and -upper classes, which laments this “Americanisation” -of Europe, and considers it to be a sort of mental -aberration and decadence on the part of the Old World. -The idea is fairly wide-spread in Europe. It may -startle a good many Americans; but it will not seem -paradoxical to those who spare a moment’s reflection -for the history of European civilisation up to the -French Revolution.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span></p> - -<p>There is no doubt that, considered from the point of -view of our ancient history, this idea of progress, interpreted -American-fashion, is a kind of revolutionary -dissolving force. Perhaps the upheaval which it has -produced and is producing in Europe can almost be -compared with that which Christianity caused in the -ancient civilisation, when it destroyed in the Greco-Latin -world the political and military spirit which had -been the mainstay of that world. Indeed, we must not -forget that from the dawn of history up to the French -Revolution succeeding generations had lived in Europe -contented with little, faithful to traditions, and holding -every innovation to be a danger and every enterprise -a revolt against God and against the memory of their -ancestors. It is true that even in those days men -usually preferred ease to poverty and were not insensible -to the magnetism of gold. Even then, each succeeding -generation saw an increase in the wealth of the -world and in the spread of population over the face of -the earth. But how slow and spasmodic was the increase! -Up to the time of the French Revolution it is -impossible to discern in history any differences in wealth -and population at intervals of less than a century. The -change produced by each generation was so small as to -be barely recognisable. In compensation, the men of -that time strove to make the world fairer and better. -Art and religion were their absorbing preoccupation.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>From Greece [says one of the characters in my dialogue], -which taught the world to write and to sculp, up to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span> -Middle Ages which built the fairest cathedrals and the -most fantastic palaces of all times; from the Egypt of -the Ptolemies, from which the last rays of Hellenic beauty -illumined the Mediterranean world, up to the Rome of the -popes and up to the Venice of the sixteenth century, which -flaunted her marble pomp in the eyes of the world, up to -the France of the eighteenth century, which immortalised -her three sovereigns in three world-compelling decorative -styles; from Augustus, who protected Horace and Virgil, -up to Louis XIV, who protected Racine and Molière, and -up to the Marquise de Pompadour, who strove to make -Paris the metropolis of elegance,—was not the perpetuation -of a form of beauty the supreme ambition of every nation -and of every state? Consider the countless efforts made to -establish in the world the reign either of sanctity or of -justice or both, from the Roman Empire which created -law, up to Christianity which strove to cleanse human -nature of sin, and up to the French Revolution, which -proclaimed to the world the age of liberty, fraternity, and -equality.</p> -</div> - -<p>Such was that old Europe which created the numberless -masterpieces of architecture, sculpture, and -painting, now so much admired by the Americans; -that old Europe which discovered America, created -science, and produced the French Revolution. -But what remains of that old Europe? American -progress is busy to-day destroying it; in particular, -the artistic spirit is rapidly disappearing from the continent -which for centuries was the world’s teacher of -beauty.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Do you seriously believe [asks another of my characters, -he who in the dialogue defends America and the new ideals<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span> -of life] that it is any use nowadays lamenting the fact -that some rare genius is unable at the present day to give -birth to his immortal masterpiece in the solitude of his -pride? At a time when man is inventing increasingly -powerful machinery, and is conquering the earth, the sea, -the air, the vast treasures hidden in every nook and cranny -of the universe; with these marvellous tools in his hand is -recognising that he is becoming the wizard visioned in -the legends of centuries; while the masses are clamouring -for bread, victuals, education, ease, security, pleasures, -air, light, liberty, all God’s blessings in prodigious and -yearly-increasing quantities?</p> -</div> - -<p>These words are not the vapourings of a fanciful -individual. They are repeated a hundred times daily -in Europe, in a more or less elegant form, for they -express the kernel of the thought of the Europe which -is being Americanised. I could quote many examples -in support of my contention. I will quote one only, a -characteristic one. A foreigner may often see in the -smaller Italian cities ancient monuments—churches or -palaces—which are gradually falling into ruin. The -nonchalance of the authorities or the ignorance and -stinginess of the proprietors suffer time to do its deadly -work, or even help to accelerate it by befouling the last -relics of a past beauty. The foreigner shakes his head, -sighs, mutters harsh judgments, and asks himself <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sotto -voce</i> whether the inhabitants of that little town are -barbarians. His stupor would be increased, however, -if he could speak with one of the locals and open his -mind freely to him. “We barbarians?”—would answer -the local shop-keeper, lawyer, doctor, or artisan. To<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span> -prove to the foreigner how wrong he was, they would -tell him that that little town has actually got electric -light! The municipality, which cannot find a few -thousand francs for keeping this or that great monument -in a decent state, will spend large sums on lighting -with electric light streets in which after 9 <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span> there -is nobody to be seen. The adoption of electric light -is an act of progress, and nowadays even the shop-keeper -and the artisan understand progress in this -American sense; while, with the exception of a few -cultured and art-loving persons, who have no influence -whatever, nobody ever thinks it a barbarism to allow -an old monument built by our fathers to fall into -ruin.</p> - -<p>This is a trifling instance; but it indicates the new -spirit which is now pervading and conquering the -whole of Europe. The most evident proof of this -triumph of American progress is the decadence or disappearance -of all the schools of art. Europe was in -past centuries, in harder and more difficult times than -the present, the glorious mother and mistress of civilisation, -because under diverse forms, she managed to -create and keep going schools of literature, sculpture, -painting, architecture, and music. To-day, these schools -have almost all disappeared; and the few survivors, -with very few exceptions, are in a state of decadence. -On the other hand, schools of electricity, dyeing, weaving, -mechanics, commerce, and chemistry abound and -flourish; they are the only schools the masses now<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">166</span> -require. In past centuries, the states and aristocracies -of Europe had in various ways protected and encouraged -the arts; and this protection had been one of the -principal reasons for their progress. Now this is no -longer the case. The wealthy classes of Europe to-day -consider it much more dignified and elegant to build -motor-cars and aeroplanes than to help painting and -sculpture. As to the states, if one of them tries to -encourage some art, protests pour in from every side -that the expenditure is a wasting of the people’s money -in the most idiotic way. Italy was for centuries the -mistress of the world in every art. Yet even in Italy -bitter complaints are made to-day about the few -millions which the public bodies have spent in the last -thirty years in raising monuments to the great men of -the Revolution. On the other hand, how can sculpture -flourish, if nobody will pay the sculptors for the works -which they are capable of executing? And for what -reason is the State, which possesses ancient monuments, -unable to spend another million or two on keeping -alive the tradition of an art which has shed no little -glory on the Nation? Is not this tradition, too, a -national heirloom? But the first-born daughter of -Beauty no longer understands these simple truths. -Infected by the spirit of American progress, she -protests that the money spent on art is wasted; -she is right willing that hundreds of millions be -spent on the encouragement of the mechanical and -iron industries.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">167</span></p> - -<p>There is no need to wonder, therefore, if many Europeans -regret the Americanisation of the old continent -as a kind of grievous madness. Europe—especially its -upper classes—lives a great deal—it could hardly -help living—in its past history. I have already said, -that I, too, when I undertook my journeys to America, -was more or less of this same cast of thought. But in -America, confronted with this frenzy of desires and of -works which has attracted from all parts of the world -and fused into one people so many millions of souls, has -created so many cities and produced so much wealth, -it was no longer possible for me to shut my eyes to the -fact that so vast and profound a phenomenon must -depend on causes much more complex and grave than -a simple mistake or mental aberration. For what reason -was Europe ready to destroy even her secular tradition -of art for the sake of emulating that rapidity of execution -and audacity of enterprise which I was then -witnessing in the New World? This was the problem -which presented itself to me, after I had grasped the -meaning of American progress; and which I succeeded -in solving with the help of my wife’s investigations into -the history of machinery.</p> - -<p>“Christopher Columbus,” says one of my characters, -in <i>Between the Old World and the New</i>, “not only discovered -America, but re-endowed man with the globe -which God had already given him, inasmuch as he -enabled man at last to know it.” Europe had remained -content up to the fifteenth century to live in her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">168</span> -little territory, ignorant of how great the world was. -That earlier limitation, however, only increased the -force of the impulse, given to man by the discovery of -America, to scour and ransack the oceans, with the -object of discovering and possessing the whole plane. -Between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries, -then, Europe saw the world expanding around her. -With the expansion of the world, however, came an -increase in the longing to possess it, to master it, and to -exploit it. How was Europe to do so, with means so -scanty, and under the sway of the ancient ideas, which -said to man, “Dare not!” which taught him to change -as little as possible the order of things under which he -had grown up, and not to yield to the temptation of -over-ardent desires and of over-lofty ambitions?</p> - -<p>Then began, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, -that effort of thought and of will which, slowly -at first, was destined gradually to arm our civilisation -with all the weapons necessary for the conquest and -exploitation of the earth. The sciences began their -advances. The first machines were invented and -applied. The idea of liberty of progress, of the rights -of man, and of the popular will began to undermine the -ancient beliefs and traditions. Nevertheless, it is probable -that these would have long resisted, and that the -ancient ties which restrained the human will from the -great enterprises would have slackened, but not broken -for who knows how many more centuries, if it had not -been for that immense event which convulsed the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</span> -history of Europe and America, the French Revolution. -The French Revolution and the great wars to which it -gave rise made such and so great breaches in the -ancient prison-walls of traditions and principles in -which our civilisation was confined that man could -thereafter easily escape through them and wander -freely over the vast world.</p> - -<p>In fact, after the French Revolution, we see the -beginning of a new history of the world. The ideas of -liberty and of progress invade Europe and America. -In every class and in every nation comes an awakening -of new desires for comfort and culture. Industry develops, -railways spread, inventions multiply. Cities -become thronged and increase rapidly. The great new -phenomenon of the history of the world, the intensive -exploitation of America, begins. The new wealth, -especially that produced in such abundance in America, -whets men’s appetites. Gradually the desire for comfort, -ease, and culture spreads to multitudes more -numerous and to new nations, drives followers along -in the steps of pioneers, in turn prompts others to -follow them, and brings crowding on the heels of riches -already realised, the hungry greed of the masses; in a -word, impels all Europe and all America to the conquest -of the earth.</p> - -<p>In consequence, not only America, but also Europe, -saw the beginning fifty years ago of what might be -truly called the Golden Age of human history, the epoch -of abundance.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>What has man dreamt of [exclaims one of my characters]—what -has man dreamt of, since the dawn of time, but the -Terrestrial Paradise, the Promised Land, the Garden of the -Hesperides, the Age of Gold, Arabia Félix; one single thing, -under various names, the empire of nature and abundance? -Is not the great myth which centuries have mildly fantasied -now at last materialising under our eyes?</p> -</div> - -<p>But every medal has its reverse side; and we have -had to pay, and to pay dearly, for this fabulous abundance -which man had vainly visioned for centuries.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>The modern world [says another of my characters] -has crowned quantity at the expense of quality—which is, -after all, an eternal law. For I can make in a certain time -things of a certain quality, that is to say, resembling a -certain model of perfection which I have before my eyes or -in my mind. But in that case, I cannot make any quantity -of it which I may require. I must rest content with that -quantity which I can manage, working with all my zeal. -I can say, on the other hand: I want so many things of a -certain quality. But in that case, I can no longer prescribe -the time necessary to finish them as my fancy bids me. Or -again: I wish in so much time to make such a quantity. -Very well; but in that case, I must put up with the best -quality I can get. So that whoever wants to increase the -quantity, and to curtail the time must abate his demand -for quality. And that is just what we are doing to-day -in this civilisation of ours, in which quantity reigns -supreme.</p> -</div> - -<p>In the light of this idea that decadence in art, and in -so many other refinements of life, which many Europeans -impute to America, seemed to me no longer the -effect of an aberration on the part of the masses, but a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span> -sort of compensation. We pay, and we ought to pay, -for the rapid fortunes so commonly made nowadays. -We pay, we ought to pay, for the speed of the trains, -the motor-cars, the aeroplane, the telegraph; and the -price is the mediocrity which pervades everything. We -cannot have, we must not want, everything in this -world,—railways as well as beautiful pictures, aeroplanes -as well as the marvellous furniture which the -great French artists used to make in the eighteenth -century, speed as well as good manners. For among -the reproaches hurled at America by Europe is that of -having banished from Europe by the example of her -democracy the good manners of our ancient ceremonial, -and substituted for it a rather over-simple and over-casual -cordiality. But can we expect the polished form, -for which the eighteenth century was famous, to survive -in the social relations of a civilisation which, like -ours, is always in a hurry? Among men, who live -between the train, the motor-car, and the telephone?</p> - -<p>Every epoch directs all its efforts towards a supreme -goal, which for it is the all-important one. There have -been epochs ablaze with religious fervour, whose chief -aspiration it was to diffuse and to defend the faith. -There have been epochs with a profound sense of the -ambition for glory, which fought great wars. Others -again have turned their attention to the fostering of the -arts and sciences. Our civilisation aims, in the first -place, at the mastery over nature, and the intensive -exploitation of all the riches of the earth. We enjoy the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span> -advantages of it. We are not inclined to abjure railways -and telegraphs. We have no wish again to run -the risk of famine, which was such an ever-present one -to the civilisations of the past. We enjoy the incredible -abundance and liberty of the day and are by no means -eager to return to the pristine régime of discipline and -parsimony. We Europeans also, then, must resign -ourselves to paying the price which all these advantages -cost, and to living in an epoch in which art cannot -flourish in any high degree, in which religion will no -longer have the strength to emanate waves of mystical -ardour, and even science will be cultivated only so far -as it can be of immediate service to practical ends, by -intensifying and making more prolific the exploitation -of natural riches. For this, too, is a phenomenon -noticeable to-day in every part of Europe: disinterested -studies are falling into disfavour. Rich as it is, the -world of to-day is less capable of searching after the -true for the sole pleasure of expanding the field of -knowledge, than it was two centuries ago, when it was -so much poorer. Even scientists nowadays want to -see their discoveries turned into money.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>The Americanisation of Europe, then, is a fatal -phenomenon. Europe, from the moment when she -aspired to great wealth and to the dominion of nature, -was called upon to renounce her claim to many of the -treasures of her ancient and refined culture. This was -the conclusion at which I rested for a moment. And<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span> -yet at this point, I, as a European, felt a misgiving. -If matters stood thus, was not Europe fatally doomed -to become even more thoroughly Americanised in the -future? At the present time, the appetites and ambitions -of all classes in Europe, even the most numerous, -have been given free rein. Everybody, from the aristocrat -of ancient lineage to the most obscure peasant, -wishes to earn, spend, and accumulate as much as he -can. There is no power, human or divine, which can -pretend to drive back towards its historical fountainhead -this immense torrent of greed and ambition. -Europe, thus, is fated to become increasingly oblivious -of the traditions of its ancient and disinterested culture; -to struggle to imitate and compete with America in the -production of great riches at greater speed. And, as -America with her immense territories and smaller store -of traditions is better equipped for the competition, so -Europe must necessarily become ever more and more -decadent in the future. The continent destined to -dominate the civilisation of the future, as Europe -dominated it up to the middle of the nineteenth century, -will be America.</p> - -<p>There are not wanting persons in Europe who take a -delight in repeating from time to time this prophecy, -which to the ears of a European sounds somewhat -lugubrious. For a moment, when in America, I, too, -somewhat discouraged by the vitality of which the -American spirit of progress gives proof, felt myself -inclined to give ear to these prophets, whom hitherto<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span> -in Europe I had always contradicted. Yes, culture in -Europe was destined to become ever more decadent -before the invasion of progress interpreted in the -American sense; quantity, that is to say, the nations -with vast territories at their disposal and capable of -rapidly producing vast wealth, would rule supreme in -the future, while the forces of idealism would lose a -great part of their ancient empire over the world.</p> - -<p>America, however, actually America, proved to me -that the ancient culture represented by Europe is not -destined to die out, and that, if Europe is being Americanised, -America in compensation is being induced by -an eternal impulse to Europeanise herself! I, like so -many other Europeans, had gone to America, persuaded -that the American’s only thought is to make -money. But in America, I, too, ended with the conviction -that no country in Europe expends so much money, -labour, and zeal on founding museums, schools, universities, -and new religions; on fostering, in the midst of -the mechanical civilisation and the realm of quantity, -the arts, the religious spirit, and the disinterested -sciences; on preventing the loss of that intellectual -legacy of the past, in which Europe takes an ever-decreasing -interest, occupied as she is in developing her -industries and her trade. If, out of deference to history, -rather than to the present day, we may grant that -Europe represents in the world’s history the effort -directed to the perfecting of a lofty culture, artistic, -scientific, religious, or philosophic,—there is no doubt<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span> -but that America is to-day becoming Europeanised; -is seeking, that is to say, to employ the vast riches -which she has accumulated by the intensive exploitation -of her territory in the promotion of the progress of -art, knowledge, and the religious spirit. Doubtless, not -all the efforts she makes are successful; but they are -numerous, intense, and obstinate. Indeed, if America -is open to any reproach in this relation, it is, in my -opinion, to that of feeling too ardent an admiration -for lofty culture—art and science in particular—an -admiration which sometimes blunts the critical sense, -and does not permit her to distinguish what in the -world of the ideal is authentic from what is counterfeit, -the real gold from pinchbeck. In fact, one can find in -no European country so lively and profound a trust in -science as in America. Europe knows that science can -do a great deal and has done a great deal, but that it -often promises, or raises hopes of, more than it can do. -Not so in America. Among the cultured, as among the -lower classes, faith in the power of science is practically -unlimited. There is no marvel which the American -does not expect to see issuing from the scientist’s closet. -Even the mystical movements in America, whose trend -is anti-scientific, like to trick themselves out with the -name of “Science,” which has a kind of magic sound -and glamour for the men of the New World.</p> - -<p>There is the same universal enthusiasm for art in -America. It might be said that America is determined -to admire everything which might possibly be beautiful,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">176</span> -of every country, every epoch, and every school. It is -true that the most engrossing preoccupation of the -Americans is not that of fostering the arts; they must -still keep their minds fixed on the conquest of their -great continent. But it is also true that, in the moments -of leisure, when they can think of something -other than business, they fling open, so to speak, their -arms to the arts of the whole world. Just as all the -styles of architecture can be found in the great buildings -of New York, so all the arts which have flourished in -the course of centuries in Asia and Europe have been -transplanted into the New World. America, I might -almost say, wishes to taste and understand all the -beauties which the past has created; classical literature -as well as contemporary European literature, Italian -as well as German music, Greek sculpture as well as -the French sculpture of the eighteenth and nineteenth -centuries, Italian as well as Dutch painting, Japanese -decorative art as well as the styles of the fourteenth, -fifteenth, and sixteenth Louis. New York, from this -point of view, is a real artistic cosmopolis.</p> - -<p>If, then, Europe is gradually destroying her ancient -culture, and her great traditions, in order to construct -railways and factories, to found banks and to initiate -commercial enterprises, America, on the other hand, -wishes to employ the wealth gained by the intensive -exploitation of her vast continent in creating an art -and a science. How can we explain this contrast? -“The snobbery of a parvenue nation,” it pleases the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">177</span> -European, with a shrug of the shoulders, to label it. -But anyone with any knowledge of America and much -knowledge of human nature will not rest content with -so glib an explanation. It is true that, thanks to -machinery, to America, and to the idea of liberty and -progress, quantity is to-day triumphant in the world. -Men wish to enjoy abundance. Can they, however, -confine their wish to abundance, to the increase, that -is to say, of the quantity of things they possess? Observe -a peasant who comes to town, turns artisan, and -earns a higher wage. What does he do? Does he buy -with his higher wage a second pair of boots, or a second -suit in addition to and like the one he wore when he was -poor? No. He adopts the town fashions and buys -more elegant shoes and clothes, in appearance at least, -that is to say, like those worn by the upper classes. In -every country of America and Europe, the differences -in dress between the upper and lower classes, once so -great, are disappearing. And why? Because the people -want to dress like the “Swells”; and modern industry -spares no trouble to give them at little cost the means -of satisfying their ambition. In other words, the -workman wants to invest his higher wage in the purchase -of finer, or what he thinks are finer, clothes, than -those he wore before, because to possess a suit of superior -clothes is to him a greater joy than to have two -suits of the same workmanship as those he wore when -he was poorer. In other words, quantity soon satiates, -and at a certain stage man needs to translate it into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span> -quality, and to employ his wealth to procure for himself, -not a greater number of things, but more beautiful -and better things, otherwise wealth is useless.</p> - -<p>If this need is lively and profound in the minds of the -people, how much stronger must it be in the richer -classes, those with great resources at their disposal! -A man who possesses ten millions and another who -possesses one hundred cannot eat ten and a hundred -times as much respectively as the modest lord of only -one million, live in a house ten or a hundred times as -vast, or buy himself ten or a hundred hats where the -other buys only one. If they used their wealth in that -way, they would be considered mad, and with good reason. -They must then strive to procure for themselves, -with their superior wealth, things of superior beauty or -quality, to translate their wealth into beauty and merit, -quantity into quality. There are, it is true, men who -desire wealth only for the pleasure of creating it, and -who are indifferent to the other pleasures which it -brings. At no time, perhaps, were these men so numerous -as at present among the great bankers, merchants, -and manufacturers who now rule the economic destinies -of the modern world. But even to-day, these men, who -love money as the artist loves his art, in itself and not -for the pleasures which it can give, are in a minority. -And so they will always be, because even if—impossible -hypothesis—anybody in the upper classes developed -such a fervid enthusiasm for banking, industry, and -commerce, as to arrive at considering wealth only as an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span> -end in itself, a means of displaying his own ability, -there would still be the women. Unless it be wished -that even in the wealthy classes, women should engage -in business and work, women will be bound always -to consider wealth as an instrument for the advancement -of life, procuring for its possessor joys more -select and articles of superior quality.</p> - -<p>In fact, this and no other is the origin of snobbery. -Snobbery is, I know, an obvious target for sarcasm at -the present day. And it is easy to laugh at the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">nouveau -riche</i> who is determined at all costs, even at the price -of sacrifice and snubs, to frequent houses and circles -which formerly were closed to him; who is glad to go -for trips in a motor-car, even if they cause him suffering, -or to go to the opera even if he falls asleep there, because -he thinks that by doing so, he is living up to the -standard of the highest elegance. But if he were not -under this delusion, what would be the use of his -wealth to him? What compensation would he have -for the fatigues and perils he had incurred in its acquisition? -Snobbery is simply an effort to translate quantity -into quality to which man is impelled by the very -increase of wealth. There never was so much snobbery -as there is at the present time, because there never was -so much wealth.</p> - -<p>Without a doubt, modern snobbery is full of grotesque -deceptions. The world never contained so many -<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">nouveaux riches</i>, unprepared to enjoy the real refinements -of life, and destined to be the victims of every<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span> -sort of fraud. How often and in how many instances -do we not see the tragi-comedy of <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme</i>, -Molière’s immortal comedy, acted over again -at the present day? But one can also find, in America -perhaps more abundantly than in Europe, families -whose wealth dates back several generations, in which -families the mania for the accumulation of riches has -died down, and which have time, inclination, and culture -enough to employ their wealth on behalf of the -most lofty activities of the mind. These are the American -families who ransack Europe for works of art, who -found schools and museums, who give work to architects, -painters, and sculptors, who directly or indirectly -stimulate an ever-increasing number of the rising -generation not to concentrate on the making of money, -but to devote themselves to those intellectual labours -of which, till a short while ago, Europe had the -monopoly. And it is the existence of this portion of -American society and its tendencies that entitle us to -say that America is being Europeanised.</p> - -<p>Europe, then, wishing to live a larger life, after -centuries of penury and stint, is becoming Americanised, -and is sacrificing a part of her splendid traditions -of lofty culture to her desire to learn from America the -art of producing new wealth rapidly. America, on the -other hand, having accumulated immense wealth by -the intensive exploitation of her territory, is becoming -Europeanised; she is turning, that is to say, to the arts, -sciences, and most lofty forms of higher culture, to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span> -perfect which Europe has laboured for centuries. Yet -at this point I think I hear the reader cry:</p> - -<p>“Is not this all to the good? Does it not establish a -marvellous balance between the two worlds? Does it -not prove that our civilisation is the richest, most -powerful, best balanced, and most perfect which has -ever existed? Ought Europe to have gone on living -for ever in misery, intent only on the perfecting of -culture, and America to have had never a thought for -anything but the multiplication of wealth?”</p> - -<p>To be sure, if this exchange of wealth and culture -between the two continents could be effected as well -and easily as it can be described, our epoch would be in -very truth an epoch of fabulous felicity. We might -claim to be, in comparison with preceding generations, -a generation of supermen. Unfortunately, the difficulties -are greater than they seem at first sight to be. -What they are will be seen in the next chapter; we shall -then see that it has become much easier to produce new -wealth than to employ it in the creation of a lofty and -refined civilisation; and that this is the secret torment -which afflicts Europe and America.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_182" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">182</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="III-IV">IV<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE LOST PARADISE OF BEAUTY</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> bewildering growth in the wealth of America -has affected in many different ways the whole -world. Economists are studying its effects with much -zeal. One, and not the least curious, of them, is the -rise in the value of antiques. From Etruscan ceramics -to French furniture of the eighteenth century, from -Greek statues to Italian pictures of every epoch, from -Tanagra statuettes to the lace, embroideries, tapestries, -manuscripts, glass, and filigree from every part of the -world, all the artistic furniture of Europe, Asia, and -Africa which has survived the ravages of time has -trebled and quadrupled its value. Few financial speculations -proved more successful in Europe than the -collection about fifty years ago of antiques.</p> - -<p>Many instances could be quoted to prove this. -Everybody, even in America, I suppose, has heard -recently of the great Paris tailor who set to work thirty -years ago to collect statues, pictures, and French <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">objets -d’art</i> of the eighteenth century. He spent about three -millions on his collection; and he put it up for auction<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span> -last year and cleared fourteen millions! An occurrence -which made less noise, because it was on a smaller scale, -but analogous to the foregoing, is the following: A -journalist, a man of taste and a great admirer of -beautiful antiques, came to Rome. Everybody called -him a maniac, because, though he had a family, he -spent all his savings in buying from the small antique -dealers and in the Campo di Fiori lamps, books, stuffs, -and every other bit of antique he could lay hands on. -Well, he died ten years ago, and left his family nothing -but a houseful of fine antiques. The family, which -did not share his mania, sold them, and realised a fortune, -the income of which was, and is, enough to support -them in comfort. If the journalist had been -discreet and had invested his savings in shares and -bonds, probably his family would now be living in a -very much humbler way.</p> - -<p>It is unnecessary to quote further evidence in support -of so notorious a fact. Ask any European antiquarian -the reason for this appreciation, and he will reply unhesitatingly, -“America.” America for the last thirty -years has been making assaults on the antiquities-market -with all the tenacity of her untiring activity, -and the might of her new-made wealth. Some people -in Europe—those who have antiques to sell—are very -glad that it should be so. Others lament, complaining -that Europe is emptying herself of her treasures in -favour of the New World. Most people, however, -smile at what they consider a proof of the incurable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span> -snobbery of the New World. Europe is very ready to -accuse America of loving antiques only because they -are rare and, therefore, dear; of fighting dollar-duels -about them, only to prove their own wealth, without -any power of judging and distinguishing between the -good and the bad, though even among antiques there -are ugly as well as beautiful ones, representing comparative -grades of beauty. And this accusation too is, -in its general application, unjust and unsubstantial. -Anybody who has had any extensive dealings with the -wealthy houses of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, -Washington, and Chicago, knows that they contain -many Americans who are competent judges and buyers -of artistic antiques. It is true that, from this point of -view, the big American houses cannot yet challenge -comparison with the big European houses. Nevertheless, -numberless are the marvellous ceramics from the -Far East, numberless the magnificent pieces of French -eighteenth century furniture, numberless the pieces of -wonderful lace, glass, and antique <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">boiseries</i> which it -has been my good fortune to see, not without an -occasional pang, in America.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, this reproach, which, couched in -its usual form, is unjust, contains a modicum of truth, -which however applies to Europe as well as to America. -I have often had occasion to notice in wealthy modern -houses—in Europe as well as in America, but in America -more than in Europe—that they are adorned -with many extremely beautiful old pieces, but that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span> -these are too numerous, and too heterogeneous. You -find in a modern drawing-room material of every epoch -and from all parts of the world; from ancient Greece, -and from China of the last century, from the Italian -Middle Ages and from contemporary Persia. Consequently -modern houses are too much like small -museums, in which numbers of wonderful little antiques, -picked up wherever they were to be had, are exposed -to view, and in which the modern furniture and adornments -serve as the show-case in which the antiques are -displayed, instead of being, as they were in the eighteenth -century, the principal decoration, of which some -beautiful antique was the appropriate ornament and -complement. This inversion of the natural order of -things would be inexplicable, were we not all of us -persuaded more or less consciously that old things must -necessarily be more beautiful than modern ones. For -this reason we are willing that what we make, the -modern, shall be subordinated and serve as a tool to -the antique.</p> - -<p>In short, the antique, in Europe as in America, has -acquired nowadays a value of its own in art, merely -on the score of its antiquity. I need not dwell on the -strangeness of this prejudice in favour of antiques in -an age and in countries in which, directly one leaves -the field of art behind, one finds so keen a craze for the -modern. Not to be up-to-date is at the present day the -greatest reproach we can fling at a man in Europe and -in America, especially in America. Why then does<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">186</span> -modernity in art arouse, not only in old Europe, but -also, and perhaps more, in young America, so much -diffidence and mistrust? Why do we, notwithstanding -the attempts which modern artists make to emulate -the ancients or to create new things, turn to the past -when we want to possess or enjoy something really -beautiful? May this contradiction be the effort of a -last surviving prejudice? For centuries, man was -educated to consider all antique things, only because -they were antique, preferable to modern ones. In -many respects, we have conquered this venerable prejudice. -May our attachment to the antique in art be -the last and most persistent survival of this sentiment, -itself destined to disappear?</p> - -<p>No. This persistent attachment to the antique in -art is not prejudice; it is the effect of the incurable -artistic weakness of our epoch. Men are following a -profound and sure instinct when, in their desire for -beauty, they turn to the antique; for art is as it were the -lost Paradise of our civilisation, whose atmosphere we -are always breathing, but to which the entrance is -forbidden us. It is a phenomenon of contemporary -life which usually attracts but little attention; and yet -how strange it is! The need for the adornment of life -with beautiful things—for translating quantity into -quality, as I said above—has not diminished among -the wealthy classes, and could not diminish, because it -is a profoundly human need. The world’s upper classes -never had so much wealth at their disposal as now, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">187</span> -never had so keen a desire to spend a considerable part -of it in the purchase of beautiful things. How many -artistic masterpieces could have been paid for, and how -many painters, sculptors, and architects of genius -liberally rewarded with half the sums which have been -spent in raising fourfold or sixfold the value of the -antiquities of Europe, Asia, and Africa? Indeed the -immense growth in the world’s wealth has profited -the dead, not the living, in the world of art, antiquities -and not the modern arts. And it was inevitable that -this should be so. Why?</p> - -<p>Because modern times are not adapted to be a golden -age of art, for a psychological and moral reason, which, -however, is not to be sought in the practical and commercial -spirit of modern times. Many of the fairest -palaces and pictures which we admire in Italy were -commissioned by merchants who were no less practical -than modern bankers. The reason is to be sought elsewhere, -and it is more profound. Modern civilisation -has conquered with its railways, telegraphs, and steam-boats, -the whole earth. In fifty years, it has succeeded -in conquering continents so vast as North America. -It has created riches so fabulous, in a word, it has -achieved so much power, because it has broken through -all the limits within which the spirit of tradition confined -past generations. Escaping from these limits, it -has learned to create at great speed. Speed and the tireless -spirit of innovation are the two formidable weapons -which have given our civilisation the victory in her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span> -struggle with nature and with the other more conservative -and more deliberate civilisations. But the -qualities necessary to artistic excellence are just the two -opposite qualities: the spirit of tradition and laborious -deliberateness.</p> - -<p>We moderns, victims of the giddy pace at which we -live, may be somewhat oblivious of the fact; but it is a -fact that anyone who knows history cannot ignore. -To create and foster an art really worthy of the name,—Greek -sculpture, Italian painting, the French decorative -art of the eighteenth century,—the immense sums -at our disposal are useless, and the sciences of steam and -electricity of no avail. I have already had occasion to -prove this in the preceding chapters. The nations and -the generations which have created the most famous -arts and whose relics are still our delight, were poor -and ignorant compared with us. In order to create and -foster art, it is necessary to educate generations of -artists to do good work and generations of amateurs to -understand and appreciate it. Neither the artists nor -the public taste can be educated without a spirit of -tradition and of æsthetic discipline, which induces the -public to allow the artists the time necessary for the -perfecting of their respective arts in all their details; -which induces the artist to recognise the legitimate -requirements of the public for which he works, and to -seek to satisfy it by adapting his own work to those -requirements.</p> - -<p>Anyone can see, however, that nowadays these two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span> -conditions have become well-nigh impossible. In the -gigantic confusion of the modern world, races, cultures, -and populations are continually intermingling. Generations -follow each other with the fixed determination -not to continue what their immediate predecessor has -done but to do something different. Ancient traditions -are dying out, and no new ones are being formed or can -be formed. Change is the order of the day. Sons but -rarely adopt their father’s professions, and not a few -die in lands other than those in which they were born. -Modern society is agitated by a continual process of -renewal, which is the deep-seated source of her energy -and activity, but is also a reason for her artistic decadence. -In this continual mobility of bodies, wills, -and ideas; in this perpetual change of tendencies, tastes, -and standards, art is losing her bearings and, alone in -this age of bold enterprises, is becoming greedy and -diffident.</p> - -<p>Public and artists, instead of helping each other, have -grown timid. The public no longer does what it likes. -It no longer has any standard of judgment. It has -become timid and diffident. It is obsessed by the fear -of mistaking a masterpiece for a deception or a deception -for a masterpiece. This uncertainty of tastes and -desires in the public in its turn bewilders the artists. -When the painter, the sculptor, the musician, and the -poet try to find in the desires and inclinations of the -public the sure indication which in times past used to -be the support and guidance of artists in their creations,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span> -they find that the public is ready to admire anything, -but has no marked preference for anything in particular. -The artist is free, but his liberty is a liberty which -embarrasses and paralyses him.</p> - -<p>Under these circumstances, the adroit artists quickly -learn the art of exploiting the uncertainties and inexperiences -of the public, and win riches and honours. -The crazy and the charlatans seek to intimidate the public -by perpetrating novelties of extravagant audacity. -Serious and conscientious artists there are nowadays, -of course, but everyone has new formulæ of his -own art, differing from those of everyone else, and -proclaims his to be the only true, fruitful, and admirable -formulæ, at the same time denouncing all others as -freaks. By what standard are we to judge these -quarrels? Bewildered by so many different attempts -and judgments, the public ends by turning to the -antique. It has a vague idea that the past ages may -have been inferior to our own in all other respects, but -in art were superior to it. It knows that a work of art -at least one century old may be more or less beautiful, -but that it is at least a serious work of art, conceived -and carried out in good faith, not for the mystification of -an ingenuous public by some daring theory of novelty.</p> - -<p>So the Europeans are wrong in ridiculing the passion -of the Americans for ancient things. This passion has -the same origin on the other side of the Atlantic as it -has on this. In art, our civilisation is destined to -remain inferior to ancient civilisations, which it has<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span> -overshadowed with its wisdom, its power, and its -wealth. This is the reason for the rapid growth in the -value of the antique in art, even in the age of modernity -<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">à outrance</i>. We need feel no shame in avowing it -openly. Civilisations and epochs, like individuals, cannot -have and expect everything; and the share which -has fallen to us of the good things of the earth is so -large, that we can readily console ourselves for the -loss of this particular one.</p> - -<p>Who reasoned thus would reason wisely. Nevertheless, -the fact is of greater importance than it appears. -It shows that the balance between the ancient culture -of Europe and the spirit of American culture—that -balance which might perhaps have produced the most -brilliant civilisation in history—will never be perfectly -secured, at least so long as the conditions of the world -remain what they now are. America will be able to -continue her Europeanisation, and Europe her Americanisation, -as we have seen is the case. But this -interchange of influences will not have as its only result -the increase of the wealth of Europe and of the culture -of America. It will give birth in the two worlds to a -discontent and an unrest which nothing will be able to -allay.</p> - -<p>In fact, the more its upper classes come under the -influence of the culture of the Old World, the more -ardent will become the admiration and desire of -America for the antique,—for that beauty which the -civilisations preceding our own created with such<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span> -wealth and perfection of forms; the more strongly will -it be convinced of our artistic inferiority, and persuaded -that one of the treasures of life we have lost irreparably, -and can only enjoy in the relics of other generations. -Every picture or statue or artistic object which crosses -the ocean and enters America, every museum which a -rich Maecenas opens in the New World to the public -or which a city or a state creates, every chair founded, -and every book of artistic history printed,—everything, -in fact, which brings the spirit of America into contact -with the masterpieces of ancient European art, and -awakens recognition and admiration for them, makes -America at the same time recognise how comparatively -decadent is that which our times produce; reveals to it -that lost Paradise of Beauty around whose closed gates -we are now condemned to hover. This contact with -the artistic achievement of the past becomes, therefore, -at the same time a gadfly of discontent and unrest to -the upper and cultured classes.</p> - -<p>By an inverse process, the further the spirit of American -progress penetrates into Europe, the more completely -does it detach the Old World from its past, and, -therefore, irritates, grieves, and disgusts the classes -which have enough culture to recognise and admire the -marvellous arts of that past. With every ten years -that elapse, we feel that our past, with all its radiant -glories, has receded a hundred years; that we are plunging -into a new world, in which riches, knowledge, and -our power over nature will increase, but which will<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span> -be ugly, inharmonious, and vulgar compared with the -centuries which preceded it. Many Americans fail to -understand why Europe cherishes so many latent -antipathies to America, which has never done her -any harm, directly at least. The real reason for these -antipathies must be looked for in the artistic decadence -which accompanies the development of modern civilisation. -That civilisation has not been created by America -alone, but by America and Europe combined. Europe -and America, therefore, share the responsibility -for this decadence. Yet it suits the European book -from time to time to see in America the symbol of the -civilisation of railways, steam, electricity, business, and -industry on a large scale; and Europeans gladly vent -on America their spleen for whatever in this civilisation, -pregnant with good and with evil, offends them and -arouses regret.</p> - -<p>In short, there is an insoluble contradiction between -progress, as our age understands the word,—between the -“American” progress, as many Europeans call it,—and -art. This contradiction has as yet attracted but little -notice, in the still great confusion in which we live, in -the initial tumult of this new civilisation which is invading -the earth. It will be noticed, however, more and -more strongly, as generation succeeds generation, and -in many families the primary hunger for wealth is -satiated and gives way to the desire to “translate -quantity into quality”: as American love for the -historical beauties of the Old World increases, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span> -Europe takes further lessons in the multiplication of her -wealth. There is no escape or salvation for our civilisation -from the discontent and unrest which will arise -from this contradiction. It is a torment which will -grow with the growth of wealth and culture; which -nations and classes will feel more acutely the richer -and the more cultivated they become; from which perhaps, -one day, America will suffer more severely than -many European nations; which will oppress the upper -classes much more heavily than the people. The latter, -indeed, will not feel it at all, and will alone be able to -live in modern civilisation, as contented as man ever -can be in this world.</p> - -<p>History often has strange surprises in store. The -civilisation of machinery tended at its birth to appear -as a death-blow to the working classes, a godsend to the -upper classes. For years and years, socialism, generalising -from the initial rubs, predicted and pretended to -prove that the great mechanical industry must enrich -a small oligarchy inordinately, and reduce to the -blackest wretchedness the great mass of the population; -that a new feudalism of capitalists, fiercer than the -barons of the Middle Ages, would seize all the good -things of the world. A century passes, and we find this -civilisation giving complete satisfaction only to the -workmen, because it can content the workmen only -from the double point of view of quantity and quality. -It gives them an abundance which only a small fraction -of the people enjoyed up to a century ago; and, at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span> -the same time, bestows on them a luxury which fully -satisfies their yet simple and unsophisticated æsthetic -sense. We may smile when we see in a workman’s -home mirrors and clocks which are the rudest imitations -of masterpieces of the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles, -hideous reproductions from a German factory; and -coarse carpets which are poor European copies of -beautiful Turkish and Persian models, the result of the -substitution of the iron teeth of a machine for the -industrious fingers of the human hand, and of decadent -aniline dyes for the brilliant and unfading vegetable -colours. The workman, however, does not know the -matchless models of which these objects are the ugly -copies, and, inasmuch as every æsthetic verdict arises -out of a comparison, these reproductions represent for -him the summit of perfection, and entirely satisfy his -need for beautiful things round about him.</p> - -<p>To the upper classes, on the other hand, this civilisation -has given immense and imposing wealth, such as -no epoch had ever considered possible; but it has deprived -them of the means of enjoying it. Wealth -becomes nowadays more useless, the greater it becomes, -because a multi-millionaire cannot build himself a house, -wear clothes, or buy objects a hundred times finer and -better than the possessor of only a few millions. We no -longer have artists capable of accomplishing miracles. -The men of great wealth are forced to compete with -each other for the relics of past beauty at fabulous -prices, when they are not inclined to spend all their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">196</span> -wealth for the benefit of others. These relics are not -sufficient, however, to satisfy the desire for beauty and -art which grows in our times with the growth of wealth -and of culture. On the contrary, they only make us -feel more acutely the decadent vulgarity of everything, -with but few exceptions, which our age produces.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Someone will say that, after all, this torment is not a -very serious one; and that men will easily find means of -consoling themselves. No epoch, as I have already said, -can have everything; and modern civilisation bestows -on the wealthy classes of our times numberless compensations -for the ugliness of the modern world. One of -these should be enough by itself to content even the -most discontented: that kind of bodily and mental -ubiquity which is enjoyed, thanks to the prodigious -inventions of modern genius. Cannot the wealthy, -thanks to their riches, remove from one continent to -another, travel, have dealings and acquaintances in, -and receive communications from, every part of the -world, come to know the most distant and recondite -beauties of nature and of art—in a word, live over the -whole globe? A modern great man may well feel -himself almost a demigod compared with the men of -two centuries ago, so great is the sway his money gives -him over the forces of nature, so easily can he escape -from the tyranny which space and time used to exercise -over men up to a century ago. May not the intoxication -of this proud sway be worth as much as the pleasure<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">197</span> -which the works of Phidias, Michelangelo, Raphael, -and Houdon gave to our ancestors?</p> - -<p>It is true that the pride of our knowledge and the -intoxication of our power stun us, and therefore help us -to bear with greater patience the want of more æsthetic -pleasures. But this compensation, like all compensations, -is of its very nature provisional. It is not possible -utterly to destroy a need inherent in human nature. -There is at the present day a certain tendency in the -world to consider art as a superfluous frivolity, as a -luxury only to be thought of in moments of leisure. -Art and such-like superfluities are contrasted with what -are called the serious occupations, the practical realities -of life: industry, commerce, inventions, business, and -wealth. Those who hold this opinion forget, however, -that the sculptures of Phidias and the paintings of -Raphael appeared in the world long before the steam-engine -and the Voltaic pile. Are we, too, prepared in -face of this fact to affirm, with the most advanced -champion of the American idea of progress in my -dialogue, that “history was off the track up to the discovery -of America”? That if men had had any sense, -they would have invented machinery and developed -the sciences first, and then created and developed the -arts? But even if we were prepared to maintain this -paradoxical theory, another fact of common observation -would be there to prove to us that beauty is not a -luxury and whim of gentlemen of leisure, but a primary, -universal, and indestructible need of our minds, which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">198</span> -every human creature seeks to satisfy as best it can. -Do we not see every day that the peasant and the -artisan, items in modern civilisation though they are, -no sooner have a little money than they try to procure -for themselves ornaments, either for their persons or for -their homes, which may be as tawdry as you like, but -which to them seem beautiful and well worth the expenditure -of some of the little money they have? Have -we not seen that one of the merits of modern civilisation -is that of satisfying the æsthetic needs of the masses? -Why should we not expect, then, to find the same need, -though in a refined and intense form, felt by those to -whom superior intelligence and energy, or the favour -of fortune, has granted the power to accumulate wealth -in large quantities, those, in other words, who have at -their disposal greater means of procuring for themselves -the pleasures and good things of life?</p> - -<p>No: the artistic impotence of modern civilisation is -likely to prove, to judge by the first effects which are -now beginning to manifest themselves, a graver phenomenon -than is at present realised. The upper classes -in Europe and America will not be able to go on for an -indefinite length of time living with a consciousness that -the world in which they find themselves is ugly, coarse, -and decadent in comparison with preceding civilisations; -feeling the inferiority of the present more acutely -the more they study, and at the same time extending -still further their sway over the world and accumulating -new riches to console themselves for it. This would be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">199</span> -a state of moral want of balance; and moral want of -balance cannot continue indefinitely, just as physical -want of balance cannot continue indefinitely. Either -our civilisation will abate its aspirations to the level -of the mediocrity which it is capable of producing in art, -destroying in itself the remembrance of and regret for -those ancient civilisations which created so many beautiful -things; or it will have to put itself into a position -to satisfy not only the æsthetic needs of the masses, but -also those of the more cultured and refined strata of -society. The first supposition appears improbable, or -at least no man of sense will wish to consider it possible. -It would mean a relapse of the world into barbarism, -the end of all the traditions and all the studies which -have been and still are an indispensable element of -intellectual and moral refinement. So we are left with -the other hypothesis, which assumes that man will -make up his mind one day to make an effort to create -arts of his own, which will survive comparison with -those of the past.</p> - -<p>Yet the task is an arduous one. As I have already -said, an art is not created or perfected without the -spirit of tradition and of discipline; and the attempt -in our times to re-infuse vigour into the spirit of tradition -and of discipline, if only in the measure necessary -for the progress of art, is an enterprise, the difficulties -of which everyone can understand without a long -explanation. It cannot be effected without a profound -intellectual and moral reform, which will bring about a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">200</span> -change in many things besides the originality and power -of the arts which are to-day languid and decadent. So -the struggle between American progress and art may -well be a more important phenomenon than is at -present apparent; and may well entail transformations -of far-reaching extent.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_201" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">201</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="III-V">V<br /> - -<span class="subhead">BEYOND EVERY LIMIT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">For</span> century after century, our civilisation lay low -in its Mediterranean lair. It knew but a small -part of Europe, Asia, and Africa; and no pricks of curiosity -impelled it to ascertain how far the world extended -over land and sea beyond the vague bounds which -marked the limit of its efforts. That small part of the -world satisfied the ambitions of our ancestors, though -they certainly were not shy and craven. Confined in -that narrow corner of the earth and with only the scanty -resources which it could provide, they created literatures, -arts, philosophies, states, laws, and religions. -Some of these creations are alive to this day, and help -us distant descendants to shed a little beauty and to -impose a little order on the modern world.</p> - -<p>Between the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries -there began a great change in the history of our civilisation. -Impelled by the wish to reach India by way of -the Atlantic, our forefathers began to explore the earth. -Gradually geographical exploration became the preoccupation -of governments, the passion of the public,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">202</span> -and the business of a great number of persons who made -almost a vocation of these daring voyages. And behold -one fine day, one grand day, the most fortunate and -daring of the navigators who were exploring the Atlantic -in every direction discovered America. In mid-Atlantic -there lay two connected continents, stretching from -one hemisphere to the other, covering many latitudes -and a great variety of clime, and much of this vast -territory was still but sparsely inhabited. It was then -that our forefathers realised how vast and rich was the -earth, and how small and poor in comparison seemed -that Mediterranean world in which for so many centuries -they had lived. It was then that they began to -pass beyond the limits within which they had been so -long confined, to invade and to conquer the outside -world.</p> - -<p>The Pillars of Hercules, which had been the impassable -geographical limit of the ancient Mediterranean -world, were not, however, the only bounds which they -passed; they transcended also the moral and intellectual -limits which until then had circumscribed their thoughts -and actions. All the time that the ancient Mediterranean -civilisation, turned loose into the Atlantic, was -striking root and expanding in America, an uninterrupted -sequence of events and movements was -taking place in Europe, destroying ancient laws, ancient -traditions, and ancient discipline; upsetting, in other -words, the bounds placed in the past to the thought, -the sentiment, and the will of Man. The most important<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">203</span> -of these events were: the Protestant Reformation, -the philosophies of the seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries, the advances of science, the French Revolution -and its wars, the birth and the development of the -great industrial movement, and the all but universal -triumph of democratic ideas.</p> - -<p>Little by little, while the aspect of the globe changed, -a great revolution was taking place in the spirit of the -ancient Christian civilisation in Europe, which from -being dictatorial and traditionalist became free and -progressive. Religion, which for so many centuries -had been a kind of severe moral discipline, a life of -prohibitions, scruples, rules, precepts, ceremonies, and -rites, changed into a kind of free contemplation of the -Deity in which the individual conscience had full play. -Everybody became his own high priest.</p> - -<p>The ceremonial of social life, which at no time had -been so complicated, serious, and exacting, gradually -became so far simplified as no longer to encumber man -in his every movement and activity. The State, which -at one time, hand-in-hand with religion, watched over -the customs and life of its citizens, accorded greater and -greater liberty to them. To-day everybody, provided -he contributes to society his daily sum of work, is free -to live and think as he likes. Severe laws used once -upon a time to regulate men’s luxuries and pleasures. -Every class was forbidden to spend its money in any -way other than that prescribed by these laws. There -were times of the year in which men were forbidden to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">204</span> -amuse themselves, and, when amusements were allowed, -the laws took care that they should not degenerate into -vice. Nowadays the whole year is one long festival -and carnival for all who have money to spend; and -together with freedom in pleasure men have acquired -also a freedom in vice which would scandalise our -friends the ancients, if they might come back to life -again.</p> - -<p>Every authority is losing power. The people discuss -the government and the laws; children take the first -opportunity of escaping from the authority of their -parents. The younger generation is convinced that it -knows more than the older, and values the latter’s -experience at zero. Traditions are losing their force -and academics their prestige. Everyone holds the -opinion he likes in religious, artistic, political, and moral -questions; just as he is free to regulate his own conduct, -at his own risk and peril, as he pleases, with the sole -obligation of respecting the limits imposed by the laws, -which are for the most part neither numerous nor -embarrassing.</p> - -<p>What is the deep-lying cause of this duplex and contemporaneous -movement? Why has the old Christian -civilisation of Europe felt itself in the last four centuries -unable any longer either to contain itself within the -ancient material limits or within the ancient ideal -limits? Why, at the same moment as it advances to -the conquest of new continents, does it destroy within -itself all the ancient disciplinary restrictions? Because<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">205</span> -in these last centuries it has gradually discovered that -the earth is much vaster and richer than it suspected; -that it contains, in old Europe, as well as in young -America, treasures in much greater abundance than -it had ever pictured in its dreams; and that it can invent -tools which bring these rapidly within its reach. -Gradually, as man found that he could rob nature of her -immense treasures, there arose and spread from generation -to generation through all classes in Europe and -America a craze for wealth and a mad ambition to win -the mastery over nature, such as the world had never -yet seen.</p> - -<p>To satisfy this craze and this ambition, however, it -was necessary to break many of the innumerable bonds—religious, -moral, æsthetic, and political,—which -limited the energy and initiative of our forefathers. -How could so many millions of men have brought -themselves to emigrate to America, if the spirit of -tradition had not been weakened in Europe, and if -everybody had continued to hold, as they did once upon -a time, that the greatest good fortune a man could have -was that of being buried in the church in which he had -been baptised? Even to-day there are those who -lament the diminution, in all the Christian churches -during the last few centuries, of the number, complexity, -and rigour of the rites and ceremonies, just as others -lament that the ceremonial of social life and etiquette -is dying out. But would not men who are obliged to -work, travel, and rush about as we do nowadays find<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">206</span> -themselves embarrassed beyond the point of endurance -by a religion which made them spend too much time -over rites, and by a complicated etiquette like that -which still prevails in the states of the East, requiring a -large part of the day to be spent in compliments and -ceremonies? Europeans often laugh at the architecture -of New York; and I must confess that I, too, found it -distinctly bizarre. On the other hand, could that vast -city have grown and renovated itself so rapidly in -the last century, and have found accommodation for the -countless multitudes which throng to it from all the -corners of the world, if those who built it had troubled -themselves to observe the rules formulated by the great -architects of the sixteenth century, in the days when it -took as much time to build a palace and a church as it -now does to construct a city?</p> - -<p>Modern society, if compared with the societies which -preceded it, may seem in many of its aspects—and in -fact it is—ugly, poor in artistic beauty, coarse, and -brutal. It may even seem atheistic and irreverent, -frivolous and superficial in matters of religion, and, in -certain respects, morally lax or downright licentious. -This kind of disorder, however, which is such a common -subject of heart-burning, is only the necessary effect of -the outburst of our energy over the world and nature -on its path of conquest. A civilisation cannot produce, -refine, or perfect arts or traditions of elegance and of -social life, or a morality and a religion, if it does not -adopt an attitude of reserve, if it does not limit itself<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">207</span> -to some extent, if it does not sacrifice its other ambitions -and aspirations to this object. A civilisation like -ours, whose supreme aspiration it is to extend in the -shortest possible time and as far as it can its empire -over the world; to surpass all the limits which nature -seeks to oppose to its restless ambitions and to the -multiform energy of man, must needs sacrifice beauty, -refinement, elegance, and moral delicacy to rapidity, -energy, activity, and daring. The discovery and development -of new countries, the marvellous progress of -America, the discoveries of science, the perfection of -machinery, the ideas of liberty which emerge triumphant -from political revolutions and changes in customs, -the weakening of the spirit of authority in every department -of social life, the abolition of so many limits -which once entangled the movements of man, are -all phenomena which are mutually and indissolubly -connected.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>“Yes,” many will say; “and they are phenomena -which all go to make up the grandeur and glory of the -modern world. We have power, wealth, knowledge, -and liberty, the four blessings of which our forefathers -had little, if any, knowledge. What cause have we -then to grumble? And amongst all the blessings which -modern times shower upon us, perhaps the most -precious—more precious than wealth, power, and -knowledge—is liberty. If we have no reason to regret -the past, it is chiefly because our forefathers lived,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">208</span> -imprisoned, and in suffering, within limits which we -have overstepped. Is there any greater joy for a man -than that of being able in thought, feeling, and action -to follow the inner impulse of his own conscience, -instead of making it bend to an external will, whether it -be that of the law, or that of the public, or that of a -tradition? Surely the modern world is the greatest as -well as the most fortunate which has ever existed?”</p> - -<p>That is what many people think, and thoughts like -this breed the optimism which at the present day cheers -so many minds. This thought is, moreover, partially -true; but only partially. For in the intoxication of -their triumph over nature, of the riches which they -have conquered so easily and in such abundance, men -seem not to recognise that this civilisation without -limits is little by little allowing that same unbridled -energy to hurry it into excesses which threaten to drive -it back into that very state of barbarism from which it -has made so many efforts to escape. The impetus -which it has acquired, now that it has cast off so many -of its ancient restraints, is great; but the danger is -precisely that this impetus may carry it too far.</p> - -<p>I have already said that amongst the limits abolished -by modern civilisation are those which preceding civilisations -had placed on luxury. How great a change has -taken place in men’s ideas on this subject during two -centuries! Simplicity and austerity were considered -for centuries virtues proper to saints and heroes. -Christianity had gone so far as to glorify poverty in so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">209</span> -many words. Man, by increasing his needs, only increased -the number of his masters and tyrants; only -multiplied for himself occasions for sorrow. The more -simply a man could live, the freer, stronger, and happier -he was. In short, in ancient times, up to the French -Revolution, religion, law, and tradition set limits on -every side to man’s desire to possess and to enjoy; -and these limits were so numerous and so close, that -they entailed no little suffering on the generations constrained -to live within them. That is why we have upset -them all. And what is the result? That we no -longer have any sure criterion by which to distinguish -reasonable consumption from insensate waste, legitimate -need from vice. We can no longer say what are the -limits at which it is reasonable and wise for the peasant, -the artisan, the small tradesman, the man of leisure, -the millionaire, the multi-millionaire, the child, the -woman, the old man, respectively, to cry a halt to their -desires. All men and all classes arrogate to themselves -the right to desire, to spend, even to waste as -much as they can. No one has any clear idea of a -standard by which to distinguish what he may desire -and what he ought to deny himself. A kind of universal -prodigality is becoming obligatory in every class; and -modern civilisation is hurrying towards an unbridled, -gross, and oppressive orgy. There is already a large -number of men in Europe and America who eat, drink, -and smoke to excess; who over-indulge in intoxicating -and stimulating drinks; and who spend themselves in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">210</span> -that continual whirl of diversions and distractions which -form so large a part of modern life. The number is -fated, however, to grow yet larger, rapidly and indefinitely. -Is not production increasing on every side? -Is not progress for us first and foremost the continual -increase of production? And what avails it to produce -more, if the riches produced do not find consumers?</p> - -<p>The modern world, in freeing men’s desires from all -the ancient limits and restraints, has given a vigorous -impulse to human industry. In order to satisfy the -increased needs of the masses, man has invented -machinery, and has put a premium on the new countries. -But precisely because there is no longer limit or -restraint to men’s desires, industry, which in the past was -the handmaiden of human needs, is now becoming their -tyrant. It is creating and multiplying our needs with -a view to their subsequent satisfaction. In order that -it may never be short of work, it is tempting men in a -thousand ways to desire and to consume more. Therefore -our civilisation has made of riches not the fitting -means of satisfying reasonable and legitimate needs, -but an end in themselves. We are obliged to produce -them in order to consume them, and to consume them -in order to produce them. Every moment which a man -does not spend in producing riches, he must spend in -consuming the riches produced by others; so that he -can never stay still for one instant, but must jump from -occupation to amusement, and from amusement back -again to occupation. He must try to make the day as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">211</span> -long as possible, accustoming himself to do everything -at full speed, and cutting down the hours of sleep as -much as possible. Everybody knows that we moderns, -especially in the great cities, are losing the habit of -sleeping.</p> - -<p>We have not yet mentioned, however, the most -serious drawbacks of the present-day lack of any fixed -limit to men’s desires. In the past ages, the efforts of -religion were directed to educating men to self-introspection; -to teaching them to explore their own consciences, -to render account to themselves of their own -sins and vices, and to try to amend them. One might -even go so far as to say that from one point of view -Christianity was principally a melancholy meditation -on the perversity of human nature, and an effort to -purify it through meditation, suffering, and the love of -God. One has only to read the letters of Saint Catherine, -or the <i>Divine Comedy</i>, or Pascal’s <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Pensées</i> to realise -to what an extent the moral refinement which is the -fruit of these meditations preoccupied the loftiest minds, -and, at second hand, the great ones of the earth in past -centuries. A considerable part of the energies of every -generation was consumed in this introspective effort, -instead of in action; for centuries and centuries, saints, -moralists, and preachers abounded in Europe, while -men of action, fit to conquer the world and its riches, -nature and her secrets, were scarce.</p> - -<p>This searching of the inward parts was not always -soothing by any manner of means. For the past<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">212</span> -century and a half, numerous writers and philosophers -have denounced it as one of the refinements of torture -with which religion in the past made men’s lives a -burden to them. Perhaps, however, they are wrong; -for this effort, which religion made for so many centuries -to habituate man to self-introspection, self-knowledge, -and self-judgment, demands a less superficial explanation. -However great be the force of the laws and the -vigilance of public opinion, there can be no convenient -order in a social system, if man does not help by exercising -some sort of surveillance over himself, if he does -not give ear to an inward voice, forbidding him to take -advantage of every opportunity of doing evil with -impunity which may offer itself. This necessity for -self-restraint is particularly urgent in connection with -three duties: the duty of speaking the truth, the duty of -checking one’s own inclination to pleasure, especially -in the relations between the sexes, and the duty of not -using one’s own strength improperly at the expense of -the weak. Many are the times when we could tell a -lie with impunity, or even with advantage to ourselves, -if we wished to do so; and yet it is necessary that we -should speak the truth spontaneously, in order that -justice may triumph. How easy it is for the man who -has become the slave of vice to evade the eyes of his fellows -and to satisfy in secret his most perverse passions! -And what system of laws can be conceived which will be -wise and perfect enough to bar all the countless ways -in which the stronger can impose upon the weaker?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">213</span></p> - -<p>Every religion with more or less success—and none -with more success than Christianity—in centuries past -helped law and public opinion to regulate this most -important part of morality. They all made a sacred -thing of an oath, which is nothing but a covenant which -every individual enters into with himself to speak -the truth, even when he could lie with impunity or -with advantage to himself. They all created a sexual -morality to regulate love, marriage, and the family. -They endeavoured in various ways to awaken in the -consciences of the rich and powerful the recognition -of certain duties of moderation and charity towards -the weak and the poor. Nowadays, on the contrary, -men no longer have time to examine their consciences, -or to reflect on their own vices and defects, or on their -own duties and rights. The whole atmosphere of our -lives is exterior to ourselves; we are always moving -about and always busy. We have become almost -incapable of meditation and self-introspection. Our -times no longer lay any store by this education of our -inner feelings. The only discipline they impose on -man is that of work. Everybody, whether of high -degree or of low, is required, under penalty of losing his -daily bread or of dropping in the social scale, to fill with -exactness, precision, diligence, and correctness, the rôle, -be it little or big, which has been allotted to him in the -immense operations of our times. But, for the rest, -everyone is to-day much more free than he was in the -past to adjust his line of action to his own beliefs, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">214</span> -to make for himself his own standard and his own laws.</p> - -<p>The result is that all the scruples and internal restraints -with which religion endowed the conscience of -man in the past are growing rusty from disuse. Our -civilisation, rich and splendid as it is, threatens to be -spoiled by fraud, by evil habits, and by oppression. -There is no doubt about it; not even in these days is the -discipline of work sufficient in itself to keep the State -in good order. Man is not a living machine, destined -only to produce riches. When he leaves his office and -comes back into the world, the modern man there finds -a family, sons, parents, friends, persons of the other sex -who may attract him, men richer and more powerful -than himself, others weaker and poorer, political institutions -and public problems; in short, opportunities of -doing good or evil, temptations dangerous but agreeable, -and duties painful but necessary. And our times not -only give him practically no moral assistance to conquer -these temptations and to perform these duties, but -rather in many ways incite him to yield to the temptations, -and to exercise his cunning in evading the duties. -Fraud in particular is becoming simply second nature to -our civilisation. What is the great industrial movement -of modern times but a continual deception for cloaking -the deterioration which it is bringing about in the -quality of things as the price of increasing the quantity -of them? Every day sees an increase in the number of -cleverly faked objects, which are not what they seem; -and science—especially chemistry—is the highly paid<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">215</span> -accomplice which furnishes industry with the means of -imposing this colossal deception on an inexperienced -and ingenuous public. In other words, commerce and -industry, which play so large a part in modern life, are -becoming more and more a colossal deception in which -he succeeds best and makes most money who is cleverest -at lying to the public and at foisting on them goods of -inferior quality though superior in outward seeming. -Now if we see in a social system, on the one hand, -a weakening of all the internal restraints which keep a -man from lying and cheating, and, on the other, a premium -put on that same lying and cheating, must we -not expect to find fraud permeating the whole system? -And what will our customs be like, what will life be like, -in the days when nobody any longer feels any remorse -or scruple in cheating his neighbour, and when everybody -becomes cheat and cheated turn and turn about, -cheat in matters which he understands, cheated in those -in which he has to rely on other people?</p> - -<p>The growing depravity of customs, furthermore, -threatens us with no less a danger. I do not wish to -exaggerate the horrors of the modern Babylons, as -Catholic priests and Protestant ministers are apt to do. -Their grief at seeing the rising generation turn a deaf -ear to their wise counsels makes them take too gloomy a -view of the present state of affairs. Nevertheless, it is -certain that the customs of modern civilisation are -hurrying it towards a dangerous crisis. The internal -restraints are being relaxed, and temptations and facilities<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">216</span> -are multiplying with the growth of riches and of -cities, and with the increasing mobility of persons of -both sexes, so many of whom it prompts to leave their -native village or country. Especially in the big cities -where everyone is unknown, can easily hide away, and -is watched by nobody; where money has greater power -over men’s minds because there is more of it and more of -it is needed,—virtue runs serious and continual risks. -Without being aware of it, we are undoing, little by -little, Christianity’s great contribution to the chastening -of our customs, by suppressing many of the limits -which Christianity had established with such labour in -the midst of the unbridled licence of the ancient world. -We are travelling, therefore, step by step back towards -paganism, with all its conveniences and all its perils. -Already, in fact, we can see cropping up here and -there in the richer and more highly civilised countries -and classes that mortal sickness which killed the ancient -civilisations: sterility. One of the reasons why all the -most flourishing ancient civilisations have perished is -that at the moment of their greatest glory the population -suddenly began to dwindle; and this sterility which -killed them was the effect to a large extent of the licence -of their customs. Love remains fertile only so long as -it restrains itself and limits itself. Christianity, by -subjecting men’s customs to discipline—one of the -noblest of its services to mankind—succeeded for -centuries in maintaining in Europe and America an -incessant fertility, which has proved to be one of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">217</span> -most potent causes of the increase of our power. But -now we can see, with the return of the world to paganism, -the beginning of a new era of sterility, especially in -the big cities and in the most ancient and most wealthy -states.</p> - -<p>Lastly, I have referred to another danger which -threatens this our social system, victim as it is of its -limitless desires; I mean the increase in the opportunities -for the strong to abuse their strength. This is -certainly the least of the three evils; for thanks to the -diffusion of culture and of liberty, the weak have learned -and are able, to unite in their own defence. Some -balance of justice is obtained and will continue to be -obtained by opposing force to force. The balance, -however, will be in external things rather than in men’s -convictions. For in this unbridled and limitless chase -after money and enjoyment, of which the world is the -theatre, the spirit of charity is obscured; and men’s -minds become accustomed to a hardness and brutality -which may perhaps one day startle the world in a disagreeable -and terrible way.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>It may seem to some of my readers that I take a -delight in uttering gloomy prognostications of the future -of modern civilisation. Such, however, is not my intention. -Who would dare to deny that, notwithstanding -its defects, the civilisation in which we have the -good fortune to live is the most splendid and powerful -on which the sun has ever shone? But its very grandeur,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">218</span> -which is to so large an extent the fruit of our -boldness in overthrowing most of the limits which -preceding civilisations had placed to human energy, -gives birth to a new and formidable problem which is -already beginning to confront our speed-loving civilisation, -and which is itself, too, a problem of limits, perhaps -of the limit <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">par excellence</i>. And that problem may be -expressed in one question: <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Quousque tandem?</i> Up to -what point, in our desire to conquer the world and its -treasures, to multiply riches, and to increase our power -over nature, must we and can we sacrifice beauty, and -the forms, ceremonies, and refinements of life, moral and -æsthetic? Up to what point must we and can we make -legitimate use of the liberty which the modern world has -given us; and at what point does abuse of it begin?</p> - -<p>This is the vital problem which I have posed and -tried to dissect in the dialogue which my travels in -America inspired me to write: the problem treated in -the speeches and discussions of the many characters, -European and American, who figure in that dialogue. -It may seem strange, at first sight, that a discussion of -the Old World and the New, in which the contending -parties propose to prove which is superior to the other, -should end in this second problem, apparently so unlike -the first; whether it is necessary or not to place a limit -on the unbridled activity and immoderate desires of our -times. Anyone who has read the present series of -essays, however, will be less likely to find this conclusion -singular and obscure. I have repeatedly said, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">219</span> -tried to prove, that there is too great a tendency on -both sides of the Atlantic to find an antagonism between -Europe and America. If certain tendencies are stronger -in one of the two continents, and weaker in the other, -these are differences of quantity, not of quality. America -is becoming Europeanised, and Europe Americanised. -However little reflection and cool reasoning the European -may bring to his abuse of America on the score of -its excessive zeal in the production of riches, or the -American to his abuse of Europe on account of the -scanty remains of the spirit of tradition and conservatism -in the Old World, each will recognise that he is at -the same time inveighing against his own continent. -In fact, Europe applies herself with no less zeal than -America to the production of greater wealth; and -America is no less anxious than Europe to enjoy the -advantages which may even now accrue to the world -from the spirit of tradition.</p> - -<p>Consequently the discussion of the question whether -America is superior to Europe or Europe to America is -a futile enterprise and labour lost; because the balance -between the differences is rapidly adjusting itself. -Nevertheless, if any difference exists to-day between the -two continents, it is undoubtedly this: that all the -phenomena of social life in America are simpler and -clearer, and less overlaid and obscured by traditions, -institutions, and century-old ideas and sentiments than -in Europe. For this reason, the careful observer will -find in America a much more profitable field for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">220</span> -study of the dangerous tendencies and exaggerations of -modern civilisation which are common to Europe and -America. Of these dangerous tendencies, the one which -has struck me most in the course of my travels in -America, and has given me most food for thought, is -precisely this, which I have treated in this my latest -work and which forms, as it were, the crown to the -whole discussion of the dialogue. Modern civilisation -has accomplished miracles and marvels without number, -since she left behind her the limits, material and -ideal, within which the timid generations of old confined -themselves,—since she outstepped and upset these -limits on her way to conquer the earth, riches, and -liberty. Now, however, precisely because she has -crossed all the limits and no longer has any before her, -she finds herself impelled on every side, in politics, -customs, morals, art, and philosophy, to excesses which -may one day prove very dangerous. Men are beginning -to have a vague presentiment of this danger. They do -not clearly see, however, the quarter from which it -threatens. They disquiet themselves without thoroughly -diagnosing the evil. And this disquietude may -perhaps explain the pessimism which afflicts a civilisation -so flourishing and fortunate in many respects as -that of our own times.</p> - -<p>For this reason, I thought that the great problem of -the limits might grow little by little, on board a transatlantic -liner, out of a discussion about America. An -Italian, who has made money in America, and who, like<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">221</span> -so many Europeans who have made their fortune thus, -is an admirer of the New World, one evening launches -out into a eulogy of young America at the expense of -old Europe. He extols the civilisation of machinery, -progress, and liberty, by contrast with what remains in -Europe of the ancient civilisation whose efforts were -directed to improving the quality of things rather than -augmenting their quantity; which left the world poor -while it created arts, religions, moralities, and rights. -The discussion becomes heated, complicated, and diffuse -until, under the guiding influence of an old savant who -knows Europe and America too, it concentrates on this -point: Granted that man was well-advised to exceed -the ancient limits within which preceding civilisations -had confined him, to hurl himself on the world and to -conquer it; up to what point may man aspire to liberty -in every department of life, without endangering in the -long run the most precious fruits of his conquest?</p> - -<p>The book does not pretend to solve this formidable -problem. No philosopher, no writer, no book could -solve it. It can only be solved by a radical revolution -in the ideas, sentiments, and interests of the masses. -But the book which I have written purports to throw -light on some, at least, of the essential aspects of the -problem. It endeavours to make it clear to the men of -our time, by harping on a principle of great antiquity, -great simplicity, and great modesty, which may be -perhaps usefully recalled to the memory of present -generations, in Europe as well as in America. That<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">222</span> -principle is, that man is a being of limits; and that he -ought, therefore, to observe in his desires a certain mean. -A civilisation must remember that it is the sum of the -efforts of a great many individuals; that these individuals -may be very numerous, but that each one is a -small limited being; and that the sum of their efforts -cannot be infinite. Consequently, a civilisation must -not let its desires and wishes extend untrammelled in -every direction. It must learn to confine itself within -limits.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_223" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">223</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="III-VI">VI<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE RIDDLE OF AMERICA</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">In</span> Argentina, there are vast and luxuriant valleys, -over which the train seems to creep toward the very -edge of a horizon which ever recedes as the traveller -advances. From time to time, four or five red one-storied -houses, clustered behind a station, recall to his -mind the fact that this wilderness is actually inhabited. -In Brazil, so far as the eye can see, there are ranges of -mountains, shadowy even in brilliant daylight, in the -midst of which, from time to time, one mountain stands -out more distinctly than its fellows. The shadowy hills -are those still covered by the primeval forest; the others, -those where the timber has been burned off and replaced -by coffee plantations; but even here there is no trace of -human life. One must travel long hours by railroad -before even catching sight of a village.</p> - -<p>In North America, or at least in its Eastern States, -there are vast and desolate tracts. From time to time -a village appears, bristling with chimneys. Then the -traveller slips on into the deserted country. Another -village appears, only in its turn to disappear. Then all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">224</span> -at once the train begins to rush through the midst of -houses. On, on it goes. The houses never cease to -follow it. Huge edifices rise from the midst of the little -dwellings like giants from a crowd of dwarfs. Automobiles -and trolley cars move through the streets. It -is a great city; half a million, a million, two million men -are crowded together there in the shadow of a thousand -chimneys, surrounded on every side by an almost -deserted country. What a strange sight are these -wildernesses to a European accustomed to live in one of -the crowded countries of the Old World where men have -built their houses everywhere, from the shores of the -sea up to the highest habitable slopes of the mountains!</p> - -<p>In observing a phenomenon so novel to his experience, -the historian of antiquity is deeply interested; and as he -studies it, like so many other Europeans in the presence -of the same spectacle, he forgets his own preoccupations. -The riddle of America rises before him and the desire -of finding an answer to it turns him from his former -studies. For America is a true riddle to Europeans. -During the past thirty years, not only the United -States, but even smaller American countries like Brazil -and Argentina, have impressed themselves sharply upon -the attention of Europe. The Old World has been -compelled to recognise that America has in her turn -become a mighty historic force; and that she exercises -an influence on the Old World which grows continuously -greater. When one reflects that, only a century and a -half ago, all these American states were merely poverty-stricken<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">225</span> -colonies of Europe, harshly exploited by their -European masters, one cannot suppress amazement at -the rapidity with which their destiny has changed.</p> - -<p>What power is it which has worked this miracle? -On this point, it is impossible to feel any doubt; the -power is wealth. These plains and these mountains -which look so deserted are tilled, mined, worked with -intensest energy; and every year, with a generosity -which seems inexhaustible, they yield to the men who -have toiled over them prodigious quantities of cereals, -tobacco, coffee, wool, gold, silver, iron, oil—an enormous -torrent of riches which pours over the entire -world. The great industrial cities of North America -manufacture these raw materials with profits so large -and swiftly won that to the Old World they seem fantastic. -In these plains, in these valleys, in these mountains, -in these cities, labourers receive higher wages, -merchants and manufacturers make their fortunes -faster, capitalists come into contact with mightier -interests, landlords draw higher rents from this prosperity—all -the sources of profit are more abundant -than in Europe. And these conditions have made it -possible for a few of Fortune’s favourites to pile up in -the course of a single lifetime wealth whose vastness -makes the brain swim. America has, in fact, succeeded -in producing riches at a rate of speed that man has never -yet attained elsewhere in the world. She has been the -principal factor in the fabulous increase of the world’s -wealth during the last fifty years. Her riches have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">226</span> -become one of the historic forces of our civilisation, and -one of the principal preoccupations of the European -mind.</p> - -<p>Whence come these vast riches and whither do they -go? How is it that America can grow rich so much -faster than Europe? Is it thanks to far more fortunate -physical conditions, which bear no relation to the deserts -of man? Or is it in consequence of moral and intellectual -qualities which are lacking in Europeans? And -what will be the ultimate effect of this economic superiority? -Riches may be the goal of an individual’s -efforts; for a nation they can only be means to conquer -the other good things of life which we call civilisation: -glory, grandeur, power, beauty, knowledge, moral -refinement. Can America, and will she, make use of -her riches to rob Europe of the intellectual and moral -leadership which the latter still possesses? Or will these -riches, too swiftly won, exercise an evil influence simultaneously -upon Europe and America, by making both -continents more materialistic?</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Such is the riddle of America, which, for some time -past, has been steadily forcing itself upon the attention of -Europe. To arrive at an answer, we must know whether -the influence of a too swift economic development of -the New World upon the higher activities of the mind, -upon morals, upon science, art, and religion is beneficial -or the reverse. The detractors of America—and there -are many of them in Europe—affirm without hesitation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">227</span> -that the Americans are barbarians laden with gold; that -they think only of making money, and that, in consequence -of their riches, they lower the level of Europe’s -ancient civilisation and infect its beautiful traditions -with a crass materialism. Admirers of America, on -the contrary—and of these there are as many in Europe -as there are detractors—will tell you that the New -World is giving to the Old a unique example of energy, -activity, intelligence, and daring. Let old Europe then -give heed; beyond the Atlantic, young rivals are girding -themselves with new weapons to dispute with her the -superiority of which she is proud. What must one -think of these conflicting answers to the puzzle?</p> - -<p>Let us begin with the reasoning of the detractors: -“Americans are barbarians laden with gold.” In order -to simplify the discussion, let us limit our examination -to the United States, which is justly entitled to represent -contemporary America with all its qualities and -all its defects. No long sojourn within the borders of -the United States is necessary to convince a person that -in the great Republic people think only of making -money. A writer partial to paradox might well amuse -himself with proving that the Americans are more -idealistic than the Europeans, or even that they are a -mystical people. Anyone who cares to find arguments -to establish this thesis may well be embarrassed by -their number. For instance, would a people which despised -the higher activities of the mind have been able -to create the philosophical doctrine which is popularly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">228</span> -known to us under the name of “Pragmatism”? The -Pragmatist affirms that all ideas capable of rendering -useful service are true. He takes utility as his standard -of the measure of truth. This theory has seemed to -many writers of the Old World a decisive proof of the -practical mind of the American people, who never forget -their material interests, even in connection with metaphysical -questions. This, however, is a mistake. -Pragmatism does not propose to subordinate the ideal to -practical interest. Its purpose is to reconcile opposing -doctrines by proving that all ideas, even those which -seem mutually exclusive, can help us to become wiser, -stronger, better. What service is there then in struggling -to make one idea triumph over another instead of -allowing men to draw from each idea the good which -each can yield? In a word, Pragmatism, as America -has conceived it, is a mighty effort to give the right of -expression in modern civilisation to all religious and -philosophical doctrines which in the past have stained -the world with their sanguinary struggles.</p> - -<p>A beautiful doctrine this, which may lend itself to -many objections; but true or false, it proves that the -people who have conceived it, far from despising the -ideal, have such respect for all ideas and all beliefs, that -they have not the courage to repel a single one. Such -a people wishes to learn all and understand all.</p> - -<p>Another proof of this same characteristic is furnished -by American universities. Europeans have all heard -descriptions of these great American universities,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">229</span> -Harvard and Columbia, for example. They are true -cities of learning with vast and splendid buildings, -gardens, pavilions, laboratories, museums, libraries, -athletic fields for physical exercises, pools where -students can go to swim. They are enormously rich -and, at the same time, always in dire straits. How can -that be? Because no speciality or item of perfection is -allowed to be lacking. All the languages and the -literatures of the world which have reached any degree of -importance, all the histories, all the sciences,—judicial, -social, moral, physical, natural,—all the divisions of -mathematics, and all the philosophies, are taught there -by hundreds of professors. Private citizens of the rich -classes, bankers, manufacturers, merchants, have in a -great degree met from their private purses the steadily -growing needs of the universities.</p> - -<p>There is the same tendency in art. That American -cities are ugly, I willingly admit. It would need much -courage, no doubt, to brand this affirmation as false, -but it would also be unjust to deny that America is -making mighty efforts to beautify her cities. All the -schools of architecture in Europe, especially that of -Paris, are full of Americans hard at work. The sums -which cities, states, banks, insurance companies, -universities, and railroads, have spent in beautifying -their magnificent edifices is fabulous. Not all these -buildings, by any means, are masterpieces, but there are -many which are very beautiful. America has architects -of indisputable worth. In Europe, men like to repeat<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">230</span> -that Americans buy at extravagant prices objects of -ancient art, or things that pass for such, not distinguishing -those which are beautiful and ancient from -those which are inferior and counterfeit. But those who -have seen something of the houses of rich Americans -know that, although there are snobs and dupes in -America, as everywhere else, there are also people who -know the meaning of art, who know how to buy beautiful -things, and who search the world over for them. You -will find in the streets of New York every variety of -architecture, just as you find in its libraries all the -literatures of the world, and in its theatres all the music, -and in its houses all the decorative arts.</p> - -<p>“The barbarian laden with gold” is, then, a legendary -personage, but it is not at all surprising that such a -conception should exist. Modern society is organised -in such fashion that it is impossible even to conceive of -a people at once rich and ignorant. Industry, business, -agriculture, demand nowadays very special technical -knowledge, and a very complete social organisation; -that is to say, they imply a scientific, political, and -judicial civilisation of a reasonably high order. Thus -America is not at all uninterested in the higher activities -of the mind. It would be more just to say that as -a nation, and without regard to individual instances, she -interests herself in such activities less than in industry, -in business, and in agriculture. But is not this also the -case with Europe? Who would dare affirm that the -progress of the arts and sciences and letters is at this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">231</span> -moment the principal concern of the governments and -of the influential classes of the Old World? We Europeans -have only to listen to what people round about -us are saying. Their talk is all of bringing the cultivation -of the land to economic perfection, of opening coal -and iron mines, of harnessing waterfalls, of developing -industries, of increasing exports. Kings who rule “by -the grace of God” publicly declare that nothing interests -them so much as the business of their countries!</p> - -<p>If all this were characteristic only of American barbarism, -we should be obliged to admit that Europe is -Americanising herself with disconcerting rapidity. But -this economic effort of Europe in turn presents nothing -that need surprise us; like the American development, -it is only the dizzy acceleration of a vast historic movement -whose beginnings go back to the far distant day -when an obscure and obstinate Genoese set sail, and in -the midst of the waters of the Atlantic crossed the -impassable boundary of the Old World. Yes, before -that day, Europe had created admirable arts and literatures, -profound philosophies, consoling religions, lofty -morals, wise systems of justice, but—she was poor. -She produced little, and produced it slowly; she had -defied tradition and authority; she had fettered human -energy by a multitude of laws, precepts, and prejudices. -To humble men’s pride, she kept repeating to them that -they were feeble and corrupt creatures. She taught -them to use Virgil’s beautiful figure that they were like -“a rower who painfully forces his boat against the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">232</span> -current of the stream. Evil be on his head if for one -instant he forgets, and ceases to struggle against the -current’s force; in that moment, he is lost; the flood -sweeps away his fragile boat.”</p> - -<p>One fine day, however, Europe discovered a vast -continent in the midst of the ocean. Then it dawned -upon her that Prometheus had been but a clumsy thief, -for he had stolen only a tiny spark of fire; she discovered -mines, coal, and electricity. She created the steam-engine -and all the other machines which have been -derived from it. She succeeded in multiplying riches -with a rapidity unimagined by remoter ancestors. -From that moment, man no longer contented himself -with dreaming of the Promised Land. He wished to go -there. He destroyed all the traditions, the laws, and -institutions which place limitations upon the store of -human energy. He learned to work swiftly. At a -single stroke, he conquered liberty and riches, and he -conceived the idea of progress. If America seems to-day -to symbolise this movement, which has turned the -world topsy-turvy, the movement was derived from -Europe. After having conceived the idea of such a -revolution, could Europe remain untouched by it?</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>It would appear then that the riddle of America is -very simple. The answer contains nothing to make us -uneasy. The riches of the New World threaten no -catastrophe to the noblest traditions of our civilisation. -For New York’s wealth is only a part of the riches<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">233</span> -produced in the same economic development in the -two worlds. The ultimate development of these -mighty riches might be merely a general advance, both -material and ideal, of Europe and America. Rich and -prosperous Americans might try to assimilate the culture -of Europe, and on her part Europe, in her effort to -increase her own riches, might seek to equal America. -But a historian of antiquity who returns from America -cannot share this optimism. In the lap of modern -civilisation, there are twin worlds struggling with each -other for leadership. But these two worlds are not, as -people are apt to think, Europe and America. Their -names are Quality and Quantity.</p> - -<p>The civilisations from which our own is sprung were -poor indeed. They set limits to their desires, their -ambitions, their spirit of initiative, their audacity, their -originality. They brought forth slowly and a little at a -time, and suffered continuously from the insufficiency -of their material resources. They looked upon the -amassing of wealth merely as a painful necessity; but, -in all things, they sought to attain the difficult model of -perfection, whether in art, or in literature, or in the -realms of morality and religion. The aristocratic -character of almost all the industries of the past, the -importance which was formerly bestowed on the decorative -arts and on all questions of personal morality, -ceremonial, and form—these are all proofs of it. It was -Quality, not Quantity, which carried our forefathers -forward. All the limitations to which these civilisations<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">234</span> -were subject, so astonishing to us to-day, were only the -necessary cost of these perfections which men once so -ardently desired. We have turned upside down the -world our ancestors lived in. We have made our goal -the multiplication of riches. We have won liberty, -but we have been obliged to abandon almost all the -ancient ideals of perfection, sacrificing Quality in -everything.</p> - -<p>How many of the difficulties which torture this -brilliant period of ours so cruelly are the result of this -duel between Quality and Quantity! Look, for example, -at the present crisis in the study of the classics. Why -did men formerly study Homer and Cicero with passionate -zeal? Because, in those days, the great Greek and -Latin writers were the models of that literary perfection, -so greatly admired by the influential classes, which was -not merely an ornament of the mind. The attainment -of perfection often carried with it the admiration of the -public, fame, sometimes even glory and high rank. -In this last century, however, these models have lost -much of their prestige, either on account of the multitude -of literatures which have come to be known and -liked, or because they have proved troublesome to a -period compelled to write too much and too quickly. -Just imagine a candidate for the presidency of the -United States who should pronounce ten or fifteen long -orations daily and who should in each discourse show -himself the perfect orator according to the rules of -Cicero or Quintilian! The day when classical culture<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">235</span> -ceased to be an official school of literary taste, on that -day it was condemned to die; and scientific philology, -which we have sought to set up in its place, can only -serve to bury its corpse. No longer models for posterity, -the books of the ancient authors have become -like any others, and are less interesting for -the majority of readers than the works of modern -literatures.</p> - -<p>It is the fashion nowadays to discuss the crisis which -threatens all the arts. We must, however, remember to -preserve a distinction. We must divide the arts into -two categories: those which serve to amuse men by -helping them to pass the time agreeably, like music, -the theatre, and, to a certain degree, literature; and -those which serve to beautify the world, like architecture, -sculpture, painting, and all the decorative arts. -It is patent that the crisis which we are considering is -much more serious among the arts embraced by the -second category. No epoch has spent so much money -in beautifying the world as has our own; no age has -supported so formidable an army of architects, sculptors, -decorators, and cabinet-makers; no age has built -so many cities, palaces, monuments, bridges, plazas, -and gardens. In the midst of lavish plenty, why are -we so discontented with the results obtained; why have -not Americans, in view of the enormous sums which -they have spent to beautify their cities, succeeded in -building a St. Mark’s or a Notre Dame? They have all -the materials,—money, artists, the desire to create<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">236</span> -beautiful things. What then do they lack? They -lack one single thing—time.</p> - -<p>One day, in New York, I was praising an example -of American architecture to an American architect of -great talent. “Yes, yes,” he answered with a touch -of satire, “my fellow countrymen would willingly spend -a hundred million dollars to build a church as beautiful -as St. Mark’s in Venice, but they would command -me, as a condition of my undertaking the work, to -finish it within eighteen months.”</p> - -<p>That is a significant phrase. How is it possible to -beautify a world which is incessantly in transformation, -wherein nothing is stable, and which wishes to multiply -everything it possesses—buildings, as it would furniture? -To create beautiful palaces, to construct beautiful -furniture, to attain the distant ideal of perfection, -time is essential—time and wise deliberation, reasonable -limitation of the multiplicity of human demands, -and a certain stability in taste. No one could have -built St. Mark’s or Notre Dame in eighteen months, -and France could not have created her famous decorative -styles of the eighteenth century if public taste had -been so fickle as ours, and if everybody at that time -had wished every ten years to change his furniture.</p> - -<p>The crises in classical studies and in the decorative -arts are, however, still relatively slight in comparison -with the general intellectual and moral confusion into -which the doctrine of Quantity has plunged men’s -minds, by substituting a standard of Quantity in place<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">237</span> -of the traditional standard of Quality. If my phrase is -obscure, examples may possibly elucidate what I say. -We all know, for instance, that, in recent years, the citizens -of the United States have waged a bitter campaign -against the trusts, the great banks, the railroads, and -insurance companies; in fact, against all the vast powers -of money. In newspaper articles, in public speeches, -and in whole volumes filled with accusations, these trusts -have been charged with being centres of corruption, -instruments of a new despotism not less odious than the -political despotism of old. They are decried as scandalous -conspiracies to despoil honest men of the legitimate -fruits of their labour. The campaign has -penetrated to the very heart of the nation; but in the -face of the enormous indignation of the masses, there -has been exhibited both in America and Europe the -Olympian calm of economists and men of great affairs, -who have denounced this movement of protest as a return -to Mediæval ideas, and who in the face of a vast -outcry have paid enthusiastic homage to modern -finance, its enormous enterprises, and its tremendous -organisation.</p> - -<p>How can there be so vast a difference of opinion in -an age so intelligent and educated as ours? Is half the -world struck blind to-day, and is sight given to the -other half alone? No, there is neither incurable blindness, -nor sight vouchsafed only to a few. The sole -reason for the confusion is that men employ different -standards in measuring the same thing, and for this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">238</span> -reason find it impossible to understand each other. If -one accepts the quantitative standard, if one admits -that the supreme object of life is to produce an enormous -pile of riches as rapidly as possible, the economists -are right. The injustices and cruelties denounced by -the adversaries of high finance are merely negligible -inconveniences in a régime of economic liberty of which -the modern world is naturally proud, for it is to this -liberty that the modern world owes most of its wealth. -Yet we must remember that the idea of leaving the -wages of each individual to be determined by the -blind play of economic forces was foreign to all the -civilisations that preceded our own. They always -sought to correct the principles of business in order to -keep them in accord with the principles of charity and -justice. To carry out this policy, they did not even -hesitate to limit the development of industry and -business, for example, by forbidding interest on money. -Former ages subordinated economic development to an -ideal of moral perfection; they placed Quality above -Quantity. If, however, one applies this standard of -qualitative measure to the modern world, it is these -detractors of high finance who have the right on their -side. Many methods employed by modern finance, -useful as they are from an economic point of view, are -for the above-mentioned reason none the less repugnant -to a moral and slightly sensitive conscience. Detractors -and defenders may dispute to the end of time. -They will never understand each other, for they start<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">239</span> -from different premises, which never can be reconciled -to each other.</p> - -<p>It is this continual confusion between quantitative -and qualitative standards which prevents the modern -world from steering a true course amid the gravest -moral questions. Take, for example, the question of -progress. Is there an idea more popular to-day, or a -word more often repeated, than “progress”? And yet -if to every person who pronounces this word we were to -put the question, “What do you mean by progress?” -few indeed would be able to answer with precision. -There is a thing still stranger. In this century of -progress, the whole world deplores ten times a day the -decadence of all things. How can such a contradiction -be explained? The answer is simply that the same act -may be judged as a phenomenon of progress or of -decadence, according as it is viewed from the standpoint -of Quality or of Quantity. Set an architect and a -locomotive builder to disputing about the modern -world. The former will maintain that the world is -reverting to barbarism because it multiplies cities, and -hastily and hideously constructed villages without -being able to create a single one of those marvellous -monuments which are the glory of the Middle Ages. -The latter will reply that the world moves forward, -because the population, number, and size of the cities, -the amount of cultivated land, the extension of railroads, -increase without cessation. The interlocutors -will never come to understand each other, just as two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">240</span> -men who look at the world through spectacles of different -colours can never agree on the colour of their environment. -The riddle of America, which for some time -past has bothered Europe so much, is merely another -example of this permanent confusion of standards which -characterises the age in which we live.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>America is neither the monstrous country where men -think solely of making money, nor the country of marvels -boasted by her admirers. It is the country where -the principles of Quantity, which have become so -powerful during the last one hundred and fifty years, -have achieved their most extraordinary triumph. An -active, energetic, vigorous nation has found itself -master of an enormous territory, portions of which were -very fertile and other portions very rich in mines and -forests, at the very moment when our civilisation finally -invented the machine which makes possible the exploitation -of vast countries and the swift creation of -wealth: the steam-engine.</p> - -<p>Less cumbered by old traditions than the elder -nations, and with a vast continent in front of her, -America has marched along the new roads of history -with a rapidity and an energy for which there is no -precedent. Ten, fifteen, thirty times in a single century -has she multiplied her population, her cities, and -all the wealth coveted by man. She has created, in -careless and prodigal profusion, a society which has -subordinated all former ideas of perfection to a new<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">241</span> -ideal; ever building on a grander scale and ever building -more swiftly. No, it is not true that America is indifferent -to the higher activities of mind, but the effort -which she spends upon the arts and sciences is, and will -long remain, subordinate to the great historic task of -the United States, the intensive cultivation of a huge -continent. Intellectual things will remain subordinate, -although very many Americans of the upper classes -would wish that it were otherwise.</p> - -<p>In just the same way, it is not accurate to say that, -in contrast to American barbarism, Europe reaps the -harvest of civilisation; just as it would be unfair to say -that the Old World is done for, exhausted by its petrifying, -inevitable routine. The ancient societies of Europe -have likewise entered into the quantitative phase of -civilisation. The new demon has also got hold of them. -In Europe, as well as in America, the masses of people -long for a more comfortable existence; public and private -expenses pile up with bewildering speed. Thus -in the Old World also the production of wealth must be -increased, but this enterprise is far more difficult in -Europe than in America. The population of Europe is -much more dense than that of the New World; a portion -of its lands is exhausted; the great number of political -subdivisions and the multiplicity of tongues increase -enormously the difficulties of conducting business on a -great scale. Traditions handed down from the time -when men toiled to produce slowly and in small quantities -things shaped toward a far-distant ideal of perfection<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">242</span> -are still strong among its people. Europe, then, -has the advantage over America in the higher activities -of the mind, but she cannot help being more timid, -more sluggish, and more limited in her economic -enterprises. America and Europe may each be judged -superior or inferior to the other according as the critic -takes for his standard the criteria of Quality or of -Quantity. If a civilisation approximates perfection in -proportion to the rapidity with which she produced -riches, America is the model to be followed; if, on the -contrary, perfection is expressed by the measure of the -higher activities of the spirit, Europe leads the way.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>The riddle, then, seems solved, but the reader may -object that it is solved only by admitting that we dwell -in a perpetual condition of misunderstanding; that the -modern world is a sort of Tower of Babel where men -speak a tongue which others cannot understand. If -this agreeable news were the only thing brought back -by the historian of antiquity from his two voyages to -America, he might better perhaps have spared himself -the trouble! Such might well be the conclusion of this -long argument! Nevertheless, it is indisputable that -the modern world demands two contradictory things, -speed and perfection. We wish to conquer the earth -and its treasures with all possible haste. To this end, -we have created tremendous machinery and have -uncovered new forces in nature. It is a huge task, no -doubt, but to accomplish it we must renounce almost<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">243</span> -all the artistic and moral perfections which used to be -at once the torment and joy and pride of our forefathers. -It is a painful necessity indeed, against which our age -revolts, and from which it seeks in vain every possible -channel of escape.</p> - -<p>Let us strip off the last shred of illusion. Deterioration -must ever continue amongst the ideals of perfection -which our ancestors worshipped, so long as population -multiplies and the demands and aspirations of all -classes, as well as all expenses, public and private, -continue to increase on the scale and with the momentum -with which they are increasing at this moment. -Even if this formidable revolution should slacken a -trifle, the ideal of Quantity must spread its empire over -the earth, morality and beauty must of necessity be -subordinated to the prime necessities of constructing -machines ever increasing in speed and power, of expanding -cultivated land, and of working new mines. Art, -like industry, agriculture, like literature, will be compelled -to increase their production to the continuous -deterioration of their quality, and our secret discontent -will grow in proportion as our triumphs increase. Unable -ourselves to decide between Quality and Quantity, -we shall never know whether the great drama of the -world at which we are looking is a marvellous epoch of -progress or a melancholy tragedy of decadence.</p> - -<p>From this singular situation, there is only one possible -way of escape; a method which has no precedent in -the world’s history. It is that very method, however,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">244</span> -which men will not hear spoken of. It would be absolutely -essential to create a movement of public opinion -through religious, political, or moral means, which -should impose upon the world a reasonable limit to its -desires. To the age in which we live, it seems impossible -to express an idea seemingly more absurd than this. -The material situation of every one of us is to-day -bound up with this formidable movement, which drives -men ceaselessly to increase the making and spending of -wealth. Think what an economic crisis there would be -if this movement were to slow down. All the moral -systems which governed the world down to the French -Revolution forced upon men the belief that they would -grow more perfect as they grew simpler. When religion -and custom were not sufficient to teach men to set -limits to their needs and desires, then these old moral -systems had recourse to sumptuary laws. In direct -contrast to this, the nineteenth century affirms that -man grows more perfect in proportion as he produces -and consumes. So confusing are the definitions of -legitimate desires and vices, of reasonable expenses and -inordinate luxury, that in this century it is almost -impossible to differentiate between the one and the -other.</p> - -<p>A vast revolution has been brought into being, the -greatest, perhaps, which history can show; but if the -new principles which our century has borne to the front -should be developed until they insured the ultimate and -supreme triumph of Quantity, would it be possible to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">245</span> -escape what would amount to the demolition of the -whole fabric of the glorious civilisation bequeathed to -us by the centuries; religious doctrines and the principles -upon which morality is based, as well as all the -traditions of the arts?</p> - -<p>History knows better than do we the dusky roads of -the future, and it is idle for us to wish to see the way -along them; but in spite of our ignorance of the future, -we have duties toward the past and toward ourselves, -and is it not one of these duties to call the attention of -our generation to the possibility of this catastrophe, -even if our generation likes to turn its face away from -it? Very often during my travels in America, I used -to ask myself whether men of various intellectual interests -might not find in this duty something to strengthen -their conscience for the part which they must play in -the world.</p> - -<p>If we except medicine, which aims to cure our bodily -ills, those sciences which are concerned with discoveries -useful to industry, and those arts which entertain the -public, all other branches of intellectual activity are -to-day in dire confusion. Is there a pious clergyman -who has not asked himself in moments of discouragement -what good it is to preach the virtues of the Christian -faith in a century whose dynamic power springs -from an exaltation of pride and an emancipation of -passion which amount almost to delirium? What -intelligent historian is there who does not now and then -ask himself why he persists in telling over again the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">246</span> -events of the past to a generation which no longer looks -ahead, and which rushes violently on the future, head -down like a bull? What philosopher is there who, as -he pursues his transcendental preoccupation, does not -feel himself sometimes hopelessly adrift, like a being -fallen upon the earth, from another planet, in an age -which no longer is passionately interested in anything -except economic reality? What artist is there who -seeks not only to make money, but to reach the perfection -of his ideal, who has not cursed a thousand times -this frenzied hurly-burly in the midst of which we live?</p> - -<p>From time to time, it is true, there seems to be a -genuine revival of the ancient ideal; men suddenly -appear who seem to interest themselves afresh in the -progress of religion, in the future of morality, in the -history of the past, in the problems of metaphysics, in -the artistic records of civilisation long since dead. -These are, however, only passing phenomena, and they -are not enduring enough to give artists and philosophers -the definite consciousness of playing a well-thought-out -and useful part.</p> - -<p>If all intellectual activities of to-day tend to become -either lucrative professions or government careers; it is -because nowadays such careers aim either at the acquisition -of money or the attainment of social position, and -no longer find their end in the careers themselves. -And yet—how many times as he travelled across the -territory of the two Americas, watching all day fields -of wheat and rye, or plantations of maize or coffee,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">247</span> -extending to the very edge of the solitary horizon, how -many times has the historian of antiquity brooded over -those fragments of marble wrought by the Greeks in -such perfection, which we admire in our museums, and -pondered upon the fragments of the great Roman -system of jurisprudence preserved in the “<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Corpus -juris</i>.” Did not the Greeks and Romans succeed in -reaching this marvellous perfection in the arts and laws -because there came a time when they were willing to -cease extending the limits of their empire over the earth -and all the treasures it contains? Have we not conquered -vast deserts with our railroads just because we -have been able to renounce almost all the artistic and -moral perfections which were the glory of the ancients?</p> - -<p>In the light of this idea, the historian felt that he had -come to understand all the better ancient civilisation -and our own, and that his eyes were able to pierce more -deeply into the shadowy depths of human destiny. A -civilisation which pursues its desire for perfection -beyond a certain limit ends by exhausting its energy in -the pursuit of an object at once too narrow and impossible -of attainment. On the other hand, a civilisation -which allows itself to be intoxicated by the madness -of mere size, by speed, by quantity, is destined to end -in a new type of crass and violent barbarism. But the -point where these two opposing forces of life find their -most perfect equilibrium changes continually from age -to age; and any epoch approaches more or less near this -point according to the degree of activity of the two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">248</span> -forces struggling within it. The artist, the priest, the -historian, the philosopher, in moments of discouragement, -when they feel themselves assailed by the temptation -to think only of a career or of money, may well -find new strength in the idea that each of them is working -in his different way to preserve an ideal of perfection -in men’s souls—it may be a perfection of art or of -morality, of the intellect or of the spirit. Let them -remember that this ideal, limited as it may seem, serves -as a dike to prevent our civilisation from being engulfed -in an overwhelming flood of riches and from -sinking in an orgy of brutality. This task is so great -and so noble that those who strive for it ought surely to -feel that they do not live in vain.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">249</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak part" id="Part_IV"><span class="smcap">Part IV</span><br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">Politics and Justice in Ancient Rome<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">251</span></span></span></h2> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_251" class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="IV-I">I<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE TRIAL OF VERRES</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">In</span> the early days of the year 70 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, a deputation -from the cities of Sicily arrived at Rome and -sought an interview with a young Senator, who was already -famed for his eloquence, by name Marcus Tullius -Cicero. What could be the object of the Sicilians’ -visit to Rome and to the modest house of the young -Senator, whose strict probity and modest means made it -impossible for him to receive his visitors in a sumptuous -palace? Justice was the object of their visit. For -three years, from 75 to 73 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, Sicily had been governed -by a young pro-prætor, a scion of an illustrious house, -who had powerful friends amongst the party in power: -Caius Cornelius Verres. Daring, imprudent, covetous, -fond of art and its products and of the pleasures of life, -emboldened by a rapid and fortunate career, the -young pro-prætor had certainly much abused his -power in the provinces and had too readily turned to -account the corrupt notions of the times in the amassing -of a huge fortune by all the means, licit and illicit, which -a pro-prætor could use and abuse, though in doing so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">252</span> -he had offended the interests and susceptibilities of -others, and had made a great number of enemies. That -is the only conclusion to be drawn from the fact that, -after his departure, the cities, accustomed though they -were to insolent and overbearing governors, decided -in this instance to present an indictment and had -recourse to the young Senator who five years before -had been quæstor in Sicily, and who had left behind -him in the island a great reputation for culture, generosity -and honesty. When he left the island, this young -Senator had himself said to the Sicilians in a speech -delivered at Lilybæum: “If at any time you have -need of me, come and fetch me.”</p> - -<p>The Sicilians had remembered this promise. The -laws of ancient Rome allowed any citizen to cite in the -courts any other citizen whom he suspected of having -broken the laws. Would Cicero cite Verres in Sicily’s -behalf? The proposal of the Sicilian cities was a proof -of remarkable confidence, but it was at the same time -a dangerous honour. Verres was a rich man; he was -powerful and had any number of helpers and supporters -among the party in power. Of even greater assistance -to Verres than the friendship of the influential was the -feeling of community of interest amongst the dominant -faction. This faction was the faction of Sulla, that is -to say, the more conservative portion of the nobility, -which, after a terrible civil war waged against the -Democratic party, had succeeded in seizing the reins -of government of the Republic. It was a faction<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">253</span> -composed of widely differing ingredients. It comprised -not a few honourable and upright men, who would -naturally wish the provinces to be governed humanely -and uprightly. But great though the desire might be -that the Empire should be governed well, still greater -was the desire to preserve, together with the constitution -imposed by Sulla on the Empire, the power bequeathed -by him. At this juncture, the opposite party -had been conquered but not destroyed, and its survivors -were restlessly alert for every opportunity of injuring -the dominant faction with all the arms provided by the -constitution, amongst which one of the most dangerous -was precisely the initiation of scandalous charges -against prominent persons. Consequently, legal proceedings -and scandals intended to discredit the State -had, since Sulla’s time, been looked on with much -disfavour by the dominant party, even honourable -members of which, faced with the choice between the -harm which one of these processes caused to the party -and to the authority of the State and the injury to -justice resulting from the escape of a powerful culprit -unpunished, nearly always preferred the second.</p> - -<p>In fact, for years past, the dominant party had -strained every nerve to prevent these processes, thus -encouraging the less honourable governors to abuse -their authority. The result had been the rise in the -public conscience of a feeling of uneasiness, discontent, -and irritation, which the stories, often exaggerated, of -the cruelty and violence of the governors served only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">254</span> -to accentuate. And by none at that moment was this -uneasiness more acutely felt than by Cicero. Cicero -belonged to a family of equestrian rank—middle-class -we should call it—from Arpino. He was a <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">homo novus</i>, -a self-made man, to use a modern expression, because -he was the first of the family to become a member of -the Senate. He was not very rich and, though a man -of intelligence and vigour, he was somewhat lacking -in courage. Consequently, he was not the man to -dare open defiance of the wrath, or a frontal attack -on the interests, of the dominant caste; rather were -these violent and terrible accusations so repugnant to -his nature that he had never brought himself hitherto -to assume the rôle of prosecutor in any action. He had -always preferred the more humane part of defender. -He was, however, an honourable man, with small -affection—like all the equestrian order—for the faction -and government formed by Sulla; and he was fully -conscious of the obligation imposed on him by the -promise which he had made so solemnly to the Sicilians. -Besides, he was young—only thirty-six years old—and -was still a man of secondary importance. A case of -great public interest, which set all Italy talking, and -in which he was the popular protagonist, might be of -great service to his lofty and legitimate ambitions. In -addition, things had been moving fast recently, to the -detriment of the party in power, who were accused on -all sides of outrage and corruption. The consuls for -that year were Pompey and Crassus, who, though<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">255</span> -members of the Sullan party, had come forward as -candidates with a Democratic programme, promising -no less than that they would restore to the tribunes of -the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">plebs</i> those powers of which Sulla had stripped -them. There was a feeling in the air which seemed to -promise that just for once the infamies of a governor -might receive condign punishment from outraged -public opinion.</p> - -<p>The young advocate realised that the decisive moment -of his life had come. He agreed to prosecute Verres. -But what crime or crimes should he lay to his charge? -At this point emerges the first strange feature in the -history of this strange case. The budget of charges, -recriminations, and denunciations against Verres, -which the Sicilians lodged with Cicero, comprised -enough and to spare of crimes of every sort, some of -which were actually of a capital nature. For instance, -Verres was accused of having ordered Roman citizens -to execution—which was a capital offence. But what -did Cicero do? He carefully singled out the least -serious charge and persuaded the Sicilians to lay an -indictment <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">de pecuniis repetundis</i>—to demand, that -is to say, that Verres should be condemned to pay one -hundred million <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">prezzi</i> (twenty-five million francs) -as a penalty for having levied unauthorised taxes. -How are we to explain this forbearance? Cicero in his -speeches against Verres denounces him as a monster -and a wild beast. He launches the most terrible -invectives against his villainies. There is no need,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">256</span> -however, to interpret too literally his glowing periods. -Not even Cicero could forget, while he was accusing -Verres, that he himself and the man he was accusing -belonged to the same class, and were members -of the same aristocracy, which controlled the vast -Roman Empire. However keen might be the indignation -aroused by the misdeeds of Verres, not even -the strictest section of the aristocracy would have -approved too relentless a line of attack, or one which -involved the accused in too serious danger. Personal -hatred was a less powerful factor than the sentiment of -caste and the interest each man felt in securing a mitigation -of the severity of the laws in favour of his fellows, -in anticipation of a similar privilege for himself when -occasion might arise. Therefore Cicero acted wisely -in his clients’ interests when he chose that charge -which promised the least danger to the defendant; -for he knew that otherwise the latter would have an -easier task in escaping conviction.</p> - -<p>The weakness of the attack, however, as always -happens, emboldened the accused. Verres did not -hesitate one moment to make a political matter of his -case. He had recourse to all the most influential -members of his party. He begged Q. Hortensius, who -was the greatest orator and the cleverest advocate of -the day, to defend him. In every possible way, he -tried to enlist in his support party interests and caste -consciousness. He represented the indictment as a -machination of the Democratic party, of the opposition,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">257</span> -to bring obloquy on the party which had been -restored to power by Sulla. He, Verres, was the victim, -in whose person it was hoped to strike a blow at the -whole of the Conservative aristocracy, and at Sulla’s -life work! This view of the matter was at this juncture -not unconvincing, so that Verres, when he began the -struggle, found himself supported by powerful friends.</p> - -<p>His first move had for its object the elimination of -Cicero as prosecutor. The Roman law, though it -allowed anyone to constitute himself accuser of a -citizen who had violated the laws, did not permit an -unlimited number of people to get up and accuse a -single individual. For, in that case, the law would -have worked oppressively, cruelly, and unconscionably. -The accusation had to be lodged by a single person; -and if several persons asked to be allowed to accuse an -individual, it was the duty of the authority to choose -one of them as the accuser. Verres accordingly tried -to find a rival for Cicero. A certain Quintus Cecilius -Negro, a Roman citizen, but of Sicilian origin and a -Hebrew by religion, who had been Verres’s quæstor -in Sicily, appeared before the Prætor, declaring that -he wished to prosecute Verres, and demanding the -privilege over Cicero on the pretext that he had been -insulted by Verres in Sicily. As a matter of fact, there -had been a violent quarrel between them about a -certain Agonis, a freedwoman of the temple of Venus -at Eryx, who practised the profession reserved in the -ancient world for the slaves of the temples of Venus.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">258</span></p> - -<p>So a preliminary trial was necessary to decide which -should be the accuser, Cecilius or Cicero, and this -trial took place in the early months of the year 70. -Cicero made a powerful speech in which he clearly -insinuated that Cecilius was playing a part with the -connivance of Verres; that the former, if he were -chosen to be the accuser, would conduct the prosecution -in the way best calculated to secure Verres’s -acquittal. He added in more precise terms that the -case was of the greatest political importance, inasmuch -as it was bound to prove definitely to the provinces -whether there was or was not justice to be had in Rome; -whether the subjects of Rome might expect to find -their rights impartially defended in the courts of the -Republic, or whether—as the enemies of Rome and the -adversaries of the dominant party were repeating on -all sides—the aristocracy were nothing but a corrupt -and rapacious association without bowels of mercy -for the victims whom they tortured.</p> - -<p>Cicero was successful in this first skirmish. He -obtained recognition from the court as the prosecutor -of Verres, and was granted one hundred and ten days -in which to proceed to Sicily to collect the proofs of -his accusation. He started at once.</p> - -<p>At Rome, the struggle between the party with the -purse and the Democratic opposition, encouraged by the -support of the two all-powerful Consuls, waxed furious. -Pompey and Crassus induced the Senate to restore to -the Tribunes their ancient powers. They re-established<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">259</span> -the censorship and by the instrumentality of the two -newly elected Censors, they ejected from the Senate -many of the more contemptible of Sulla’s partisans. -Marcus Aurelius Cotta proposed a reform of the courts -which would have removed the latter almost entirely -from the influence of the dominant party.</p> - -<p>Naturally, these discussions, these laws, and these -proposals served only to increase the general excitement; -and of this excitement Verres took advantage -to identify still further his own cause with that of the -party in power. He placed at the disposal of the party -the wealth he had well or badly earned in his province -as well as his influence and his personality. The party -on their side chose as candidates for the consulship -Q. Hortensius, his defending counsel, and Quintus -Metellus, who was a great friend of Verres; for the -prætorship, Marcus Metellus, a brother of Quintus -and no less than Quintus a friend of Verres. They -opposed with all their force the law proposed by Cotta, -which would have transformed the courts in a manner -most unfavourable to Verres’s interests. The Democratic -party in their turn took the Sicilians’ cause -under their protection, to the extent of choosing Cicero, -their illustrious advocate, as candidate for the ædileship.</p> - -<p>Thus the elections of the year 70 promised to be -bound up in the trial of Verres. They seemed likely -to be the means by which the two parties would -endeavour to influence public opinion in favour of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">260</span> -prosecution or of the defence. Unfortunately, when -Cicero, after an absence of about two months returned -to Rome from Sicily, with abundant matter in the -shape of documents and proofs, he found the situation -of the popular party, and consequently his action -against Verres—for its fate was bound up in that of the -party—gravely compromised by a rupture which had -arisen between the two Consuls. There was no love -lost between Pompey and Crassus. Each was jealous -of the other. In putting themselves at the head of the -Democratic party, they had been guided by ambition -and political calculations. But they were both too rich, -and had too many ties with, and friendships among, -the dominant party—from which both of them came—to -be able to infuse much zeal and sincerity into their -services to the opposition. As a result, each had ended -by attacking the other; and these attacks, after some -months of activity, had paralysed the Democratic -party, and restored boldness and confidence to the -Conservative party, which was now resolved to wreck -the law of judicial reform and to obtain Verres’s acquittal, -the two triumphs at which it aimed.</p> - -<p>When Cicero returned, the elections were imminent, -and because of their imminence everyone was in a state -of preoccupation and uncertainty. It would not have -been prudent for either party to incur the risk of the -trial before the elections. So the trial was postponed -without any difficulty or opposition. It was the month -of June; and, in the following July, the elections would,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">261</span> -as usual, take place. Those for the consulship and -prætorship were a great triumph for Verres. Quintus -Hortensius and Quintus Metellus were elected Consuls; -Marcus Metellus was elected Prætor. Verres had -conquered all along the line! The evening of the day -on which the Consuls were elected, Verres was publicly -congratulated on the result near the Arch of Fabius -by several members of the aristocracy; and one of them, -Caius Curion, told him in so many words that “the -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">comitia</i> had acquitted him.” Cicero was naturally -much upset; but he did not lose heart. He discontinued -for some time working up his case, and devoted -himself entirely to his election to the ædileship. The -Democratic party had realised that, after their want -of success in the elections to the consulship and the -prætorship, a further failure in the shape of Cicero’s -non-election would seriously compromise their chances -in the prosecution of Verres. In fact, Verres and his -friends were working like demons against Cicero, using -against him all the resources of money, intrigue, and -calumny. Those were days of anxiety and turmoil -for Cicero, the days of the struggle, but, thanks to the -energetic support on this occasion of Pompey, Cicero -was elected.</p> - -<p>The elections over, attention was again directed to -the trial, the opening of which was fixed for the 5th of -August; and the two parties began to sharpen their -weapons for the decisive and supreme issue. There -were two phases to a Roman trial; in the initial phase,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">262</span> -the prosecutor had the first word, opening his case, and -the defendant replied; the witnesses also were heard. -Then followed a suspension of the proceedings, after -which the prosecutor once more spoke and the defendant -once more replied. Then the jury—for the Court -was composed of a jury drawn by lot from the body -of Senators and presided over by the Prætor—gave its -verdict. Those in favour of acquittal wrote an A -(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">absolvo</i>) on the waxed tablet, those in favour of conviction -wrote a C (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">condemno</i>). Cicero’s intention was to -abbreviate his opening statement as much as possible; -then to bring forward a large number of witnesses whom -he had brought from Sicily and collected in Rome, so -as to make a complete history of the whole of Verres’s -political life and administration. The charge against -Verres was that he had extorted forty million <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sestertii</i> -from the provincials. But it would not satisfy Cicero -to prove only this point. He wanted to show that -Verres had been guilty of the countless rascalities -which the popular voice attributed to him, beginning -from the time of his first occupation of the office of -quæstor; in short, to reconstruct with the help of witnesses -and documentary evidence the whole of his -public and private life. To strengthen the impression -made by his case, he intended to bring the witnesses -forward in groups corresponding to the different -charges, and to introduce one group after the other, -prefacing the introduction of each group with a short -explanatory speech, in such a way as to focus the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">263</span> -attention of the public each time on a definite and -precise episode in Verres’s career.</p> - -<p>This method of procedure on the part of the prosecution -may seem to us barbarous and inhuman. We -should think it atrocious if, even against the greatest -of scoundrels, the prosecution instituted an inquiry -into the whole of his life in order to punish him for, -and to convict him of, a single offence. Against such -methods, we should not expect anyone, however innocent, -to be able to defend himself. And yet, so greatly -do feelings and ideas change in the world—Verres and -most of his friends had hopes of finding their best line -of defence in this relentless prosecution. An all-embracing -accusation, such as Cicero intended to make, -might, it is true, annihilate a man; but it required much -time, days and days of discussion. Now, time was the -ally on which Verres and his friends counted most -confidently. The trial began on the 5th of August; -the 16th to the 31st of August were the dates fixed -for the celebration of the games which Pompey had -promised for years past in memory of his victories over -Sertorius. During this interval, the trial would have -to be suspended. Further suspensions would be -necessary from the 4th to the 19th of September, -because of the Roman games; from the 26th of October -to the 4th of November because of the games of Victory; -from the 4th to the 17th of November because of the -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">ludi plebei</i>. Thanks to this abundance of games, then, -there was a prospect, especially when Cicero’s wish to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">264</span> -amplify the indictment was taken into account, that -the discussion would be unduly prolonged. Other -pretexts for postponement would surely not be wanting. -In the meantime public interest would flag; -and, if one could look forward to the new year, -the presidency of the jury would pass to the new -Prætor, Marcus Metellus, who was an intimate friend -of Verres. With his connivance, it would be easy to -find a way of bringing the prosecution to an end with -a convenient acquittal. In fact, Hortensius advised -Verres to let Cicero call as many witnesses as he wished, -and to let them talk freely, without contradicting them -and without being drawn into a discussion with them, -but listening to them in austere and contemptuous -silence.</p> - -<p>The doubtful and decisive point, then, of this great -struggle was this: whether greater success would attend -Cicero in his efforts to move the public with his tenacious -and insistent accusations, or Verres and his friends -in their efforts to tire out that public with their passive -resistance. At last, on August 5th, the trial, the -preparations for which had occupied so many months, -began. The public expectations and curiosity were -immense. The struggles and intrigues of the parties -had by now converted the trial into a political event. -The Democratic opposition wanted Verres to be convicted, -so as to inflict a humiliation on the dominant -party and to be able to accuse it of countenancing the -pillage of the provinces. The Conservative party<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">265</span> -wished for Verres’s acquittal so as to be able to assert -that these accusations of misgovernment, like so many -others that had been launched on previous occasions -against other governors, were calumnies concocted by -the Democratic party, and noxious calumnies to boot, -inasmuch as they jeopardised the prestige of the Empire -amongst its subjects. Rome was, during these weeks, -full of Italians from the North and South, who had come -for the elections, the games, and the new census; hence -the trial gained in general interest and importance. -During the days of waiting for the Pompeian games to -begin, this great trial, in which Hortensius and Cicero, -the Conservative aristocracy and the Popular party, -were to be pitted against each other, promised to -be an interesting way of passing the time for all those -strangers who had nothing to do. In ancient Rome, -as in all parts of the world nowadays, trials were a -gratuitous spectacle much to the taste of the public. -Thus, on that morning of the 5th of August, an immense -crowd thronged the Forum, round the benches on which -the judges, the prosecution, the defendant, and his -supporters were to take their seats.</p> - -<p>Verres showed a proud and resolute bearing, and -appeared surrounded by a crowd of influential friends. -Cicero had the first word, and made a short speech, -in which he did not refer to any of the facts to which -his witnesses were expected to testify, saying that he -would let them speak for themselves. He preferred -to deal generically with the political and moral importance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">266</span> -of the trial. He said that the provinces, nay, -the whole Empire was anxiously following the proceeding -which would tell whether there were judges -and any hope of justice in Rome. He concluded with -a dexterous reference to the suspicions of corruption -which were flying about, and to the boasts that Verres -was supposed to have made of his ability, with the help -of his money, to flout with impunity every court of -justice. It was for Hortensius to reply to Cicero’s -speech; but he complained that it had been so vague -and generic that it contained no single point which he -could seize and demolish.</p> - -<p>Then began a long procession of witnesses, and a -fierce and venomous lot they were, with terrible tales -for the ears of the judges and the public! In order to -secure Verres’s conviction and sentence to a fine of one -hundred million <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sestertii</i>, under the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">lex de pecuniis -repetundis</i>, Cicero produced witnesses who accused -him of every sort of crime; of having committed acts -of sacrilege, of having gone shares with the pirates -whom he ought to have harried and destroyed, of -having been guilty of numberless acts of peculation -and malversation, and of having condemned Roman -citizens to death! To prove these charges, Cicero had -unearthed hundreds of witnesses from every class of -society, of both sexes, and of all ages, who, carefully -coached and prepared beforehand, entered the witness-box -to add their quota to the fierce attacks on Verres. -It is difficult to judge how much of these impassioned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">267</span> -and violent stories was true, and how much pure -invention, as we have no documentary evidence relating -to this trial other than the speeches for the prosecution. -Besides, Verres, as we have said, did not avail himself -of the right of cross-examination which the law allowed -him. He allowed the avalanche of charges to slide -unchecked down the slope, and to hurl itself into the -valley, hoping that it would stop of its own accord. -However, it is not improbable that the evidence contained -no small number of exaggerations. A Sicilian -friend of mine, an eminent politician and a man with a -profound knowledge of his native island, is constantly -reminding me that, even at the present day, the Sicilians -throw so much passion into their political struggles -that great circumspection is required in sifting the -accusations hurled by one side against the other, when -rivalry and party animosity come into play. “Only -imagine,” he says, “how it must have been in ancient -times.” Besides, everyone who reads Cicero’s speeches -cannot help feeling, from time to time, that the list of -villainies he enumerates is really too long even for the -greatest villain that ever lived.</p> - -<p>Although we to-day can pass a dispassionate judgment -on the events of twenty centuries ago, their -contemporaries, embroiled in the turmoil of unbridled -passions, were not capable of so great detachment. -At this point, a phenomenon occurred which neither -Cicero, Hortensius, nor Verres had foreseen. Public -opinion, which had been grumbling for a long time at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">268</span> -the excesses of the oligarchical government, and which -was ready to extend blind credence to such charges as -the subtle propaganda of the democratic opposition -devised, gave birth to one of those formidable and -unexpected movements which no human force can -resist. Day by day, as the evidence of the witnesses -spread from the Forum through the city, was digested, -embroidered, exaggerated from mouth to mouth,—in -those days, conversation performed the function of -newspapers, with the same defects, imprecision, and -exaggeration, as the latter,—an ungovernable wave of -indignation against Verres swept over Rome. No one -set himself to sift the evidence dispassionately, or by -subtle analysis to separate the true from the legendary. -The weightier and the more terrible the charges against -Verres, the more readily they found credence. Each -succeeding day saw an increase in the public indignation -and fury, as well as in the crowd that filled the Forum. -On the day on which a witness deposed that Verres had -condemned to death a Roman citizen who had in vain -cried, “<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Civis Romanus sum</i>,” such a hubbub and commotion -arose among the public that the Prætor was -obliged to close the sitting in hot haste, for fear of -some great calamity if the case proceeded. For five, -six, seven, even for ten days, Verres and his defenders -faced the storm, hoping that the wind would shift, -that, after the first burst of passion was spent, public -opinion would veer round, regain self-control, and re-enter -a state of calm, conducive to reasoning and discussion.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">269</span> -Each morning saw the inexorable figure of -Cicero at the head of a new handful of witnesses, who -came to re-kindle the public indignation by revelations -of new crimes and villainies, real or imaginary.</p> - -<p>When, after fourteen days of discussion, the first -phase of the case came to an end and there was a suspension -of proceedings pending the second phase, -Verres, his defenders, and his friends, were obliged to -hold a council of war. The situation was desperate. -The hope of tiring out public opinion with the length of -the proceedings had proved a vain illusion. There was -no longer room for hope that the court might acquit -Verres. Even if every one of the judges had been convinced -of the entire and complete innocence of Verres, -they would not have dared to acquit him in face of -the excited state of public opinion, for fear of being -suspected of corruption. Rome, Italy, the Empire, -would have declared with one voice that the judges -had absolved Verres because they had been bought -with the gold which he had extorted in such quantities -from the Sicilians. The public clamoured for their -victim. Besides, even supposing that the judges -had the inconceivable courage to acquit Verres, his -political career, after such a scandal, was at an end. -What use was it then to persist with the struggle, -when the battle was already irretrievably lost? It was -best to give in. Verres had better not show himself -further at the trial, and had better go into voluntary -exile. In that case, he was sure to be fined much less<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">270</span> -heavily, and to save his patrimony from the wreck -of his political fortunes.</p> - -<p>Verres bowed his head to destiny, which had chosen -him to be, in the eyes of Italy and the Empire, the -victim sacrificed to expiate the misdeeds and the outrages -committed by all the Roman governors since the -restoration of Sulla. When the trial began again, -for the second and decisive phase, he did not put in an -appearance. He had already gone into exile. Such -was the delight of the judges that, by declaring himself -guilty, he had spared them the unpleasant and -responsible task of doing so themselves, that they -inflicted upon him the lightest of punishments. They -condemned him to pay, not <em>one hundred</em> millions, as -the Sicilians demanded, but only <em>three</em> millions of -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sestertii</i>. A fine of three million <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sestertii</i> was the judicial -imprimatur on a trial, in the course of which a member -of the Roman aristocracy had been accused by a host -of witnesses of the greatest atrocities and outrages, -some of which, if true, would have sufficed to bring -him to the scaffold.</p> - -<p>When we read the violent speeches which Cicero -wrote after the trial, and which he would have pronounced, -if it had continued into its second phase, -in order to sum up and point the moral of the terrible -evidence which had been given against Verres; when we -compare these speeches and the charges which they -formulate, annotate, and tabulate with the lenient and -light penalty inflicted, we can, at first blush, only feel<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">271</span> -surprise. The historian asks himself whether the -whole of this trial—which is certainly one of the most -famous in the history of the world—was not a sort of -comedy played by actors of great skill for the benefit -of an ignorant and ingenuous public. Such a judgment -would, however, be too severe. Cicero was an honourable -and upright man, and defended the cause of his -Sicilian clients with sincerity and loyalty. No, this -trial was not simply a judicial episode. It was a -political drama, and, like all political dramas, was overlaid -with phenomena which to a certain extent hide -its real nature and essence from the eyes of posterity -as it hid these from those of its contemporaries. It -must not be forgotten that all the actors in this trial, -the accused, the prosecutor, the defending counsel, and -the judges, belonged to the same aristocracy. At a -certain moment this aristocracy had found itself -compelled, by intestinal quarrels and by a complex -political situation, to sacrifice, in a trial at law, one of -its members in order to satisfy public opinion, Italy, -and the Empire; in order to prove that it was not true, -as a whole party was busy whispering about Rome, -that the Roman governors, provided they belonged to -the Conservative aristocracy, were allowed to do what -they liked in the provinces and that their subjects were -abandoned defenceless to their caprices and their -greed. But the particular member of the aristocracy -whom it was found necessary to sacrifice, whether he -were or were not so great a villain as his enemies<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">272</span> -asserted, had friends, protectors, and supporters who -exerted an influence sufficiently great amongst the -dominant party to admit of too ruthless an attack -being made upon him.</p> - -<p>Cicero himself who apparently attacks Verres with -such fury, in reality endeavours to do him as little -harm as possible. At every stage of his comments on -the serious evidence of the witnesses, he says that, if -Verres is not convicted under the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">lex de pecuniis -repetundis</i>, he will accuse him of a greater crime, as -though to persuade him that the prosecution has had -the utmost possible regard for him. In short, the -trial and the condemnation of Verres were a twofold -satisfaction which the Roman aristocracy was forced -to offer to the public opinion of Italy and to the -provinces; but, while offering it, she tried, in every -possible way, to temper the blow to the predestined -victim. In fact, Verres, though forced to renounce -every political ambition, was able to live the life of a -<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">grand seigneur</i> quietly in Italy. And that is actually -what he did, devoting himself especially to the collection -of those works of art for which he had such a passion. -After the trial, there is no mention of him in Roman -history. He disappears; and, after the year 70, his -name does not reappear till more than twenty-seven -years later as one of the victims of the famous proscriptions -organised in 43 and 42 by Antonius, Lepidus, -and Octavianus: the same proscriptions in which -Cicero, his accuser, perished. Inasmuch as Verres<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">273</span> -had been for the elapsed twenty-seven years but an -obscure spectator of the political struggles of Rome, -it is clear that he must have been included in the lists -of the proscribed because his riches excited the cupidity -of the Triumvirs.</p> - -<p>The famous trial, while it cut short Verres’s political -career, brought Cicero’s to the heights of success. The -trial of Verres made of Cicero, who up to that time -had been a promising young man, one of the foremost -political figures in Rome. The Conservative aristocracy -recognised in him an orator whose eloquence -might be terrible. The Democratic party was grateful -to him for the humiliation which he had inflicted on -the dominant party. Italy and the provinces welcomed -in him the honourable Senator, the disinterested advocate, -the intrepid defender of down-trodden justice, -the man who had publicly affirmed, at no small risk -to himself, that Rome owed it to her own honour to -govern with equity and uprightness the immense -empire of which fortune had made her mistress. -Assuredly, Cicero deserved such admiration, even -though his attack on Verres had not been so bitter -as the public supposed.</p> - -<p>The trial of Verres is the first great page in Cicero’s -history. Who could, however, have prophesied to -him, in 70, that history would write the name of Verres -beside his own yet once again, but on the last page, -that of a tragic and glorious death? How life teems -with strange coincidences! These two men who confronted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">274</span> -each other in one of the most famous legal -duels in history, who separated with faces turned -towards such diverse destinies—the conqueror to find -glory and power, the conquered to find obscurity and -seclusion—were fated to meet once more in life, at the -last hour, on the brink of the same abyss.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_275" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">275</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="IV-II">II<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE TRIAL OF CLODIUS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">In</span> December of the year 62 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, the festival of the -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Bona Dea</i> was being celebrated as usual in Rome. -This goddess was one of Rome’s strangest deities. She -represented fertility; and the object of the December -ceremonies was to move the goddess to grant that all -the fountains of fertility which nourish the life and -prosperity of a nation might flow copiously throughout -the year. Women only were admitted to the festivities, -which were due to take place at night in the house -of the Consul or of the Prætor. The wife of the Prætor -or of the Consul presided; the lady members of the -aristocracy took part; but the master of the house, with -all the male slaves, was required to absent himself. -It was popularly believed that the man who dared to -take part in the mysteries of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Bona Dea</i> would be -immediately struck blind.</p> - -<p>In that particular year, the ceremonies took place in -the house of Julius Cæsar, who was Prætor at the time, -under the presidency of his wife, Pompeia, and his -mother, Aurelia. Cæsar had left the house, which had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">276</span> -been decorated as the rites required. All the ladies -of the aristocracy had assembled there, and the mysterious -ceremonies were being carried on through the -night, as usual, when in one of the rooms a slave -belonging to Cæsar’s mother encountered a musician -who seemed to have lost her way in the huge house, and -not to know what she ought to do or where to go. The -slave asked the stranger whom or what she was looking -for. The musician did not answer. The slave, her -suspicions aroused by the other’s silence, persisted -with her questions. The musician was driven at last -to say that she was looking for one of Pompeia’s slaves, -by name Abra. But Aurelia’s slave was horror-struck -when she heard the musician’s voice. It was the voice -of a man! At once, with loud screams, she gave the -alarm. A man, a man disguised as a woman, was -present at the sacred rites of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Bona Dea</i>! The -musician bolted. Cæsar’s mother, a dignified and -energetic woman, suspended the ceremonies, immediately -ordered all the doors to be shut, and, followed by -all the matrons, searched the house thoroughly from -top to bottom. At last the musician was found hidden -in Abra’s room; and several of the ladies present -believed they recognised in her a young Roman patrician, -famous in Rome for the blueness of his blood, -and for his extravagance: Publius Clodius. He was -expelled from the house, and the meeting broke up.</p> - -<p>Next day, all Rome knew that Publius Clodius had -dared to try to profane the mysteries of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Bona Dea</i>;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">277</span> -and the news created an immense sensation. Publius -Clodius was the youthful descendant of one of Rome’s -most ancient, illustrious, and famous patrician houses. -His father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and -his great-great-grandfather had all been Consuls. -Thus he belonged to one of those families which impersonated -in the eyes of Italy the glory, the power, and the -virtue of Rome. That the youthful scion of one of -these venerated families should have dared to commit -such a sacrilege was a thing which would have made -a painful impression in Rome at any time. But the -moment was a critical and uncertain one. The impression -made by the conspiracy of Catiline was still lively -and fresh. Everywhere, especially in the more respectable -section of society, a feeling of disgust mingled -with fear prevailed. The public was in favour of -severe measures. All seriously minded people gave it -as their opinion that the prevailing licence of manners, -and especially the effrontery of the young men, must -be curbed, if the Empire was not to crumble into decay. -If matters had come to such a pass that a Claudius, a -man whose name had for so many centuries spelt to the -Romans all the austere and traditional virtues of the -Roman citizenship of old, dared profane the most -sacred rites of religion, what might not be feared at -the hands of a creedless, dissolute, corrupt youth, -which was preparing to invade, with the new generation, -the official posts of the Republic?</p> - -<p>Great, therefore, was the public indignation; and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">278</span> -strict party, captained by Cato, a small party but -active and powerful in the Senate, perceived that now -was the moment to make an example. That Clodius -had, up to that time, served the Conservative party, -the aristocratic community which Sulla had restored -to power; that in the conspiracy of Catiline he had -zealously helped Cicero and defended the cause of -the order, counted for little, nay, rather was it all to the -good. It was necessary to show the people that the -aristocracy could still, as in the good old times, bring -themselves to strike at their own members, when they -failed in their most sacred duties.</p> - -<p>The tales which soon spread among the public as to -the reasons for the sacrilege only served to fan the -flame of indignation. It was whispered that Clodius -was the paramour of Pompeia, Cæsar’s wife; and that -he had endeavoured, with the connivance of Abra, -Pompeia’s slave, to gain an entrance into the festivities, -for the purpose of an assignation with her! The sacrilege, -therefore, was twofold. The rites of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Bona -Dea</i> were intended to assure the prosperity of the -people. It was infamous that a young aristocrat should -have dared to take advantage of them to further an -intrigue of gallantry. An example must be made; -this was for several days the general chorus throughout -Rome. The most sacred things of the Republic could -not be left a prey to this corrupt and depraved youth. -The cynicism of a few dissolutes must not be allowed to -expose the Republic to the wrath of the gods!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">279</span></p> - -<p>An example must be made—certainly! But how? -The law contained no provision applying to such an act -as Clodius had committed. Anyone desirous of prosecuting -him would not have known what law to invoke -in order to hale him before the judges. The case was -unprecedented; and it had never occurred to anyone to -write it down a crime, with a definite legal imprimatur -attached. The ancient code was extremely formal, especially -in questions of rites and religion, and so Clodius’s -deed remained a wicked, impious, and shameful one, -which was calculated to cover him with infamy, but -which could not be punished by the law. Sensible, -cautious, and prudent people, in the Senate, and out of -it, lost no time in convincing themselves on this point; -while Clodius, his friends, and his family, which was a -most influential one, began to intercede, to pray, and to -intrigue. It was true that Clodius had committed an -act of unpardonable levity, which would ruin his political -career for all time. But it was an act for which -there was no punishment, save the reprobation of all -good citizens.</p> - -<p>So colourless a solution was, however, not at all to -the taste of the public, which was deeply moved by the -sacrilege, and roused to fury against these great families -who abused their power in so scandalous a way. The -public demanded a severer punishment. The small -Pietist party, feeling itself backed by public opinion, -brought the matter before the Senate, by the mouth -of an obscure Senator named Quintus Cornificius.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">280</span> -Cornificius proposed that the College of Pontiffs be -consulted, and their opinion asked as to the gravity and -character of the crime committed by Clodius. The -proposal was an ingenious one. According to ancient -ideas, it was incumbent on the State itself to take -precautions that the gods should have no motive for -losing their tempers with the people and the city, -and thereupon wreaking vengeance upon Rome. With -the public thrown into such a state of fear and commotion -by Clodius’s sacrilege, the Senate could not -refuse to consult the Pontiffs, to learn from them -whether this act constituted an outrage against the -gods, and, if so, an outrage of what gravity. The -College of Pontiffs answered that the act was <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nefas</i>—the -technical expression which indicated the gravest of -delinquencies towards the divinity. Their answer -could not have been otherwise. Nevertheless, however -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nefas</i> the act might be, there was no law which -punished it.</p> - -<p>So when the answer of the College of Pontiffs reached -the Senators, the latter found themselves confronted -with the following situation. A very grave and -scandalous crime had been committed by one of the -best-known members of the aristocracy. This crime -had stirred the public indignation to its depths, and had -been declared <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nefas</i> by the College of Pontiffs. Yet -there was no way of punishing it, because the arsenal -of the law did not provide the weapons necessary for -its punishment. The danger inherent in this state of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">281</span> -affairs was obvious. The public, infuriated and dismayed, -would never believe that Clodius could not be -punished—because the laws had never even imagined -that such an abomination could ever be committed by a -Roman. The public would declare that Clodius had -escaped his richly-deserved punishment because he -belonged to one of the most conspicuous and influential -families in Rome. The aristocracy was superior to the -law; it could even provoke with impunity the wrath of -the gods against the city! What was to be done? -Public opinion, in its agitated state, kept egging on the -Senate; and the Pietist and ruthless party, profiting by -the popular agitation, attempted a daring move, proposing -to the Senate that it should invite the Consuls to -make a special law, which should have retrospective -force, and should declare Clodius’s act on a plane with -the crime of incest,—make it equivalent, that is, to the -seduction of a vestal virgin, a crime which, according -to ancient law, was punishable with death, and which -fell to be judged by the College of Pontiffs. Nevertheless, -no one, not even Cato, could delude himself -into thinking that the College of Pontiffs would condemn -Clodius to death. Consequently, the law proposed -to constitute a special tribunal,—which would -not be that of the Pontiffs, nor the usual jury, chosen by -lot. The Prætor would himself constitute it, choosing -it from the panel of judges. It was hoped in this way to -contrive a Court which would condemn Clodius at -least to exile.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">282</span></p> - -<p>It is not difficult to realise how daring and dangerous -it was to propose such a <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">privilegium</i>, as the Romans -used to call exceptional laws, in times of uproar like -those, and in the midst of the fierce discords which already -for so many reasons were splitting up the Roman -aristocracy. But the indignation and commotion of -the public, superstitious and fearful as it was, were too -lively. Cæsar himself had felt the necessity of throwing -a sop to the public by divorcing Pompeia; and the Senate -dared not reject the rash proposal, even though -many wise men, like Cicero, thought that it would be -more prudent to let Clodius fry in his own grease. -The two Consuls were invited to draft the law and to -get it approved by the people.</p> - -<p>From this moment, however, difficulties began; and, -in a few weeks, the prosecution of Clodius assumed a -new aspect. It became a political matter. That the -act he had committed was an abominable one, no one in -Rome denied; but that in order to secure his punishment -a law should be passed which would not only be a -special one, but—most important point of all—would -introduce the principle of the selection of judges by the -Prætor,—no, to this the Popular, Democratic party -could not consent. Always concerned not to leave in -the hands of Sulla’s party, which was still so powerful in -the Senate and throughout the Republic, too many -weapons to employ against their enemies, the Popular -party had recently taken to demanding with the utmost -emphasis the most rigorous observance of legal forms,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">283</span> -especially in proceedings in the law-courts, which were -such a convenient means, in the hands of the preponderant -party, of getting rid of the latter’s adversaries. In -fact, at that moment the Popular party had begun an -agitation against the illegalities committed in the -course of the repression of Catiline’s conspiracy. -This law, therefore, sounded like a challenge. As a -matter of fact, of the two Consuls whose duty it was to -bring it forward, one, Marcus Pupius Piso, though he -had not dared resist the proposal openly in the Senate, -was opposed to it; and, while he made a show of obeying -the orders of the Senate and actually did, with his -colleague, propose the law, he busied himself behind -the scenes to secure its rejection. The other Consul, -Marcus Valerius Messala, on the other hand, was an -enthusiastic supporter of the law; but it was whispered -about that a tribune of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">plebs</i>, if the law was brought -forward, would veto it. Clodius and his relations -worked away vigorously. All the wise and prudent -men, even Cicero, held themselves in reserve, keeping -an eye on the progress of events without compromising -themselves too far; so that Cicero, writing at the end of -January, 61, to Atticus, could give him to understand between -the lines that the law would never be passed, and -that the whole business would be brought to a stand-still -by the fizzing away of the public anger. For the -rest, this was the secret wish of all level-headed citizens, -who, like Cicero, feared dreadful calamities, if the business -were allowed to assume more serious proportions.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">284</span></p> - -<p>But all the wiseacres reckoned without Cato and the -Pietist party, and without the obstinacy of Messala, -who, irritated by the stolid opposition of his colleague, -countered it with a determined effort to get the law -passed. Between them all, they worked and spoke -with such effect that they succeeded in obtaining the -support of Pompey, and in bringing the law before the -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">comitia</i> in the first fortnight of February. Piso, however, -was no less resolutely determined than Messala -that the law he had proposed should not be passed, and, -as it was his turn to preside over the meeting, he had -recourse that day to every sort of subtle device to -prevent the law being passed. He even went so far as -to distribute to the voters only that tablet which they -would use in rejecting the law. When the heads of the -Conservative party, Cato, Hortensius, and Favonius, -heard of this extraordinary intrigue, they hurried to the -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">comitia</i> and began to address the people. Cato distinguished -himself by a virulent attack on Piso. The -speeches were effectual in preventing the law from being -put to the vote, and therefore from being, as it assuredly -would have been, rejected. They could not, however, -procure its approval, which, from Clodius’s point of -view, and for the moment at any rate, came to much the -same thing.</p> - -<p>Men’s passions began to get the better of them. The -<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">amour propre</i> of the two small factions came more -prominently into play the more the case assumed a -political aspect. Inasmuch as the opposition of one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">285</span> -of the two Consuls who had proposed the law was the -greatest impediment to the approval of the law, means -must be found for getting rid of Piso. The Pietists -thought of exerting pressure upon him by means of the -Senate. They summoned a meeting of the Senate on -urgent business, and proposed a motion inviting the -Consuls once more to join in recommending the law to -the popular vote; in other words, intimating to Piso -that he had better abandon his attitude of obstruction. -A lively discussion ensued. The friends of Clodius -opposed the motion with great energy; but it was -carried by four hundred votes to fifteen. A truly -crushing majority! Clodius’s act was so offensive to the -public that few Senators dared openly to side with -him, even though they were conscious that the law -which was meant to bring him to book was fraught -with danger.</p> - -<p>Piso, however, did not allow this vote of the Senate -to influence him. The discontent of the Popular party -was increasing, and the public agitation, not in favour -of Clodius, but against the law, was gathering force, -being focussed on that particular provision which -undoubtedly was the most dangerous, namely, the -authority given to the Prætor to choose the judges -from the panel of jurors instead of entrusting the choice -to the fortune of the lot. The law, it is true, established -this procedure only for the purposes of the action -against Clodius. But was not the precedent a dangerous -one? Would it not be possible, after this first<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">286</span> -experiment, to try to apply the same method to other -cases? That would result in putting into the hands of -the preponderant party a formidable weapon for the -destruction of its adversaries: the giving to the Prætor -in office the power to choose the judges who should be -summoned to decide the numberless cases by means of -which that party sought to deprive their rivals of their -most influential leaders.</p> - -<p>So the struggle waxed fiercer and fiercer. Piso -would not give way, and the Popular party supported -him, never mentioning Clodius, but asserting that the -law was unjust, dangerous, and deadly—that the -death-blow would be given to the Republic on the day -on which a magistrate, elected by, and bound by ties to, -one party, was invested with the power to choose the -judges for every law-suit. The Pietist party, supported -by the majority of the Senate, and by the Sullan -association, adopted the opposite tactics. It made -light of the provisions of the law and the dangers -anticipated and denounced by the Popular party. It -protested that Clodius had committed a horrible -sacrilege, and could not be allowed to go unpunished -without compromising still further in the eyes of the -disgusted and affrighted masses the waning authority -of the State. Intrigues and plots thickened on this side -and on that. Both sides endeavoured to influence public -opinion, but in this attempt the Popular party was -the more successful. For that party, by dint of dogged -and dexterous efforts, and without paying any regard<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">287</span> -to the votes of the Senate, which was almost unanimously -favourable to the opposite party, succeeded in -persuading the public that the law was immoderate, -tyrannical, and dangerous, especially in the matter of -the powers entrusted to the Prætor.</p> - -<p>The day arrived when the more enlightened men of -the Conservative party realised that the law, in the form -in which it had been drafted, would never be approved. -Piso by himself, helped by the Popular party and by the -growing mistrust of public opinion, sufficed to checkmate -the majority of the Senate and the party in power. -It was necessary, therefore, to devise a compromise. -And the man who devised it was Hortensius, the great -orator who ten years before had been Verres’s defending -counsel. He proposed that the two Consuls should -abandon their law; and that Fusius Calenus, who was -tribune of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">plebs</i>, should bring forward another, in -which the first part of the preceding law, that which -made of Clodius’s act an incest, should be retained, -but the second part should be modified in such a way -that the judges summoned to administer it should not -be the College of Pontiffs but the ordinary jury, chosen -in the ordinary way, that is to say, by lot, and not, as -the law of the two Consuls proposed, by the Prætors. -By this equable compromise Hortensius hoped to -satisfy all parties—he disarmed the opposition of the -Popular party, which would not dare, now that the -law had been purged of the provision which aroused -the greatest mistrust in the public, to persist in its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">288</span> -opposition, and to risk appearing too openly to desire -the protection of Clodius. He gave a sop to public -opinion, which was deeply stirred and offended by the -scandal. He gave satisfaction to the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">amour propre</i> -of the Conservative party, by presenting them with the -head of Clodius. As a matter of fact, he thought—and -this was the argument he used to persuade the most -recalcitrant of the Pietist party—that it was not -necessary to alter the mode of choosing the judges. -Clodius’s guilt was so evident that it was quite impossible -to imagine that a court of law, however corrupt, -could acquit him.</p> - -<p>The first of Hortensius’s anticipations quickly came -true. The law, thus modified, passed without difficulty. -At once, several citizens hastened to indict Clodius -of incest. Matters had not gone far, however, before -everyone perceived that Hortensius’s second anticipation, -that the conviction of Clodius was inevitable, -would not be realised so easily. Months had passed; -the first impression of horror made on the public had -faded. The Conservative party—the same that had -made such efforts to save Verres—was too deeply -committed to obtaining the conviction of Clodius at -whatever cost, for the Popular party not to take Clodius -under its protection, though it did so covertly and -without compromising itself too far. Crassus and -Cæsar in particular, without appearing on the scene, -were disposed to do whatever they could, to help -Clodius, and to procure him, if it were possible, an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">289</span> -acquittal, an outcome which in no less a degree than -the conviction of Verres, would have been a rebuff for -the party which Sulla had installed in the government, -and which, notwithstanding all the reverses which it -had undergone in recent years, was still so powerful. -Clodius on his side worked with the energy of despair -to escape conviction, which would have shattered his -political career irreparably and forever.</p> - -<p>The trial took place at the beginning of May, in the -midst of a curiosity and excitement which may be easily -imagined. The two parties had by now decided to face -each other once again, as in Verres’s time, in the confined -arena of a law-court. The judges were chosen by -lot, and the defendant especially availed himself of the -right which the law conceded to both sides, of challenging -a certain number of them. Nobody was surprised -at this, as everyone knew that the struggle would be a -fierce one, or rather a hopeless one, for the accused. -Indeed, how could Clodius escape conviction, when his -guilt was so manifest? In declaring his act to be -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">incestum</i>, the law had already condemned him in -anticipation. When, however, the jury had been -impannelled, and the trial opened, an unexpected and -dramatic incident occurred. Clodius defended himself -by saying that the matrons present at the feast -in honour of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Bona Dea</i> had been deceived. They -had mistaken somebody else for him. On that day he -was actually not in Rome, but at Iteramna (Terni)!</p> - -<p>Just at first, this alibi made the public laugh. Nobody<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">290</span> -took it seriously. It seemed to everyone that -Clodius was joking and wished to make fun of the Court, -or that he was trying a desperate coup. But here, too, -they were wrong. Clodius intended that his point be -taken quite seriously, and had prepared his defence -much more cleverly than his adversaries, emboldened -by the certainty of victory, supposed. People were -not slow to realise this, as the trial went on and on, -without producing that proof of Clodius’s guilt which -everybody thought so easy and certain, and without -destroying his daring alibi. The first step was to put -Clodius’s slaves to the torture,—a step which was -allowed in a case in which “incest” was imputed. This -procedure was, however, barren of results. Clodius -had sent the five slaves of whose evidence he was -particularly afraid, partly to his brother in Greece, and -partly to a distant property of his in the Alps. Then -came Cæsar, who had been cited as a witness, and by -whose evidence also the enemies of Clodius set great -store. Had he not divorced his wife immediately after -the scandal? This divorce clearly indicated that -Cæsar considered his wife guilty; a state of mind which -gave ground for hope that he would revenge himself -by charging Clodius. Cæsar, however, had too great an -interest in pleasing Crassus, whose desire to give the -Democratic party the satisfaction of procuring the -acquittal of Clodius was growing keener and keener. -So Cæsar deposed under examination that he knew -nothing and could say nothing, as, in conformity with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">291</span> -religious precepts, he was out of the house that evening. -Great was the irritation and disappointment of the -prosecutors, one of whom thereupon, in order to put -Cæsar in a difficulty, asked Cæsar for what reason, if he -knew nothing and could say nothing, he had divorced -his wife immediately after the scandal had broken out. -Cæsar then, assuming a solemn air, pronounced the -famous phrase: “Because Cæsar’s wife must be above -suspicion,” a phrase which historians have proceeded to -quote as a proof of his precocious monarchical ambitions -and of his masterful temperament. On the -contrary, the phrase was merely a <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">boutade</i>, devised to -elude an embarrassing question in a political trial, -which none of those who heard it took too seriously, and -in saying which Cæsar himself knew quite well that -nobody would take him at his word. In fact, the public -smiled at the idea of the elegant and debt-laden demagogue, -who was known to all for his somewhat free -opinions and customs, having become all at once so -jealous of the spotless reputation of his house.</p> - -<p>At any rate, as a loophole the answer was a clever one; -and the prosecutors could not press the question. So -Julia, Cæsar’s sister, and Aurelia, his mother, came -forward. Both deposed that, on the night on which -the mysteries of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Bona Dea</i> were celebrated, a man -had been surprised in Cæsar’s house; but that they -could not say with certainty that the defendant was the -man. We should be doing an injustice to the memory -of the two noble dames if we suspected that this evidence<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">292</span> -was not candid, but prompted by concern for the political -interests and friendships of their brother and son. -Is it not probable that, in the confusion and disorder of -the just-discovered scandal, neither may have scrutinised -the man in female disguise with so much attention -and particularity as to be able to recognise him subsequently -in court, where Clodius denied the identity -with so much assurance? Therefore this evidence -also was in Clodius’s favour; for there was nobody who -could affirm positively that the man surprised in the -middle of the rites of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Bona Dea</i> was the accused.</p> - -<p>Next came the evidence adduced by Clodius, to -prove his alibi. It took the form of a certain C. -Causinius Schola, who deposed frankly and resolutely -that the gentlemen of the jury might take it from him -that at a certain hour on the day of the mysteries of -the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Bona Dea</i>, he had conversed with Clodius at Iteramna, -which was ninety thousand <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">passi</i> distant from -Rome. This evidence, after that of Cæsar, Julia, and -Aurelia, made the acquittal of Clodius inevitable. -Certain proofs of his guilt there were none. The -improbable alibi, which at the beginning nobody had -taken seriously, threatened to triumph owing to the -doubts and scruples of a few witnesses, the adroit -reticence of others, and thanks to the subterranean -workings of Clodius’s friends, backed by Crassus’s gold.</p> - -<p>Then came a second and even more unexpected surprise. -At the very moment when Clodius seemed to -have emerged victorious, there appeared to destroy his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">293</span> -alibi.... Who? Cicero himself. Cited as witness, -Cicero deposed that on the day of the mysteries, three -hours before the hour at which Causinius declared that -he had spoken to Clodius at Terni, Clodius had come -to call on him at his house in Rome! What had happened? -Cicero had up to that time adopted a distinctly -reserved attitude, making it clear that he, who since -the suppression of Catiline’s conspiracy had become -one of the leading figures in the State, had no wish to be -mixed up in so trivial and stupid an affair. For what -reason did he thus hurl himself all at once, at the close -of the trial, into the thick of the fight, and opposing his -evidence to that of Causinius, seem to challenge the -jury to choose between his word—the word of a man of -consular rank, the word of one of the three or four most -famous men in the Empire—and that of this obscure -and probably corrupt witness? Had he yielded to the -pressure of the Conservative party, which, realising that -the prey was slipping from their grasp, had wished to -make a supreme attempt to destroy the alibi which -had been so adroitly prepared by Clodius? Had he, -upright and honourable man as he was, yielded to his -disgust at seeing a comedy, which had been staged with -such ability, completely successful? Or had he yielded -to pressure and to considerations of the sort of which -Plutarch speaks? Plutarch says that Cicero’s wife, -Terentia, was jealous of Clodia, Clodius’s sister, whom -she suspected of having cast eyes upon Cicero; and had -so much worried Cicero, by harping upon the subject,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">294</span> -and accusing him of sparing Clodius out of regard for -the sister, that Cicero, in order to convince her that her -jealousy was groundless, gave the evidence he did.</p> - -<p>Which of these suppositions is the true one we do not -know, and we never shall know. What, however, is -certain is that Cicero’s evidence appeared at once to be -the death-blow to Clodius. Clodius’s defenders perceived -this so clearly that they all rose in their seats, -hurling threats and insults at Cicero, hoping to intimidate -him and to obliterate the impression made by his -evidence. Cicero retorted in the same key. One -section of the public, that favourable to Clodius, -supported the advocates. An uproar ensued. The -judges rose from their seats, and formed a circle round -Cicero, as if to defend him. It seemed for one moment -that the partisans were coming to blows. In short, -the whole affair was a scandal, but one which made -Clodius’s position even more grave. Everyone realised -that he considered himself lost. Was it, in truth, -possible that the jury should hesitate between Cicero’s -asseveration and that of Causinius? Clodius himself, -as soon as the uproar had quieted down, realised that -he could not accuse Cicero, a man of such authority, of -lying. Indeed, he did not deny that the fact was as -stated; but he said that after having spoken with -Cicero he had immediately left Rome for Terni. To -which it was easy to reply that in three hours one cannot -cover a distance of ninety thousand <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">passi</i>; and this -reply did not admit of answer, confutation, or sophistication.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">295</span> -The falseness of the alibi was the gravest of -proofs against Clodius, and that which was bound to -compromise his cause most gravely in the opinion of the -public and of the judges.</p> - -<p>On the evening of the day on which Cicero gave his -evidence, there was not a soul in Rome who did not -think that the great orator had dealt the youthful and -turbulent patrician his <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">coup de grâce</i>. But Cicero’s -evidence, the tumult and threats which had succeeded, -the self-assurance of the Conservatives, who were now -confident of securing a conviction, only intensified the -bitterness of public feeling. Strange rumours and -whispers began to circulate through Rome, originating -no one knew where. It was said that, on the day the -verdict was given, blood would flow amid scenes of -terrible violence. Some of the judges took fright and -asked the Senate for the protection of an armed bodyguard, -which the Senate gave them. Round Cicero the -Conservative party organised a kind of permanent -demonstration, arranging that he should be accompanied -everywhere by a number of friends ready to defend -him. The idea was to persuade the public in -every possible way that Clodius intended to sneak away, -or even to use violence, so sure was he of conviction, -to shackle the free judgment of the Court. That -conviction was a certainty was the general opinion. In -the midst of these rumours, fears, and suspicions the -case drew rapidly to a close. In the crowded Forum, -surrounded by the swords of the bodyguard supplied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">296</span> -by the Senate for the protection of the judges, the -Court finally pronounced its verdict—but how -different it was from that which was universally -expected. By thirty-one votes to twenty-five Clodius -was acquitted!</p> - -<p>The surprise, the scandal, the jubilation, the amusement, -according to each man’s disposition and party, -were great in Rome when this result was announced. -In truth, whoever, after the lapse of so many centuries, -reads the history of the trial will find no difficulty in -believing Cicero when he accuses Crassus of having -secured Clodius’s acquittal by the exercise of pressure -and corruption. In no other way can be explained -the fact that a Roman Court of law, forced to choose -between Cicero and Causinius, believed Causinius. -Nevertheless, it is certain that Clodius was much helped -in this struggle by the political mistakes of the Conservative -party, by their blind relentlessness, and -by the obstinacy with which they had endeavoured -for so long to bring about, to the detriment of Clodius, -a change in the method of choosing the judges. At this -epoch, justice in Rome was much too much exposed to -the influence of politics. If, however, the times were -disturbed, if the parties were divided by acute discord -and men’s minds inflamed by the memories of a terrible -civil war, the sense of justice was, nevertheless, not yet -so much blunted by party passions as to allow the -dominant party to abuse their own power beyond a -certain point. Clodius might be a man little deserving<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">297</span> -of public interest; but there were many persons in -Rome to whom it was repugnant that, even for the -purpose of punishing a sacrilege, recourse should be -had to means so unusual, revolutionary, and extreme.</p> - -<p>So the Popular party, with the support of the -general sentiment of legality, had succeeded in checkmating -the Conservative party, the Sullan association. -The checkmate in itself was, however, not a serious -one, because the trial of Clodius had not been so -important and complex that his acquittal could seriously -weaken the strength of the Conservative party. -The indirect consequences, on the other hand, were -most serious. The first was that Clodius went over -body and soul to the Popular party, and became the -boldest and most violent of its leaders. If the Conservative -party had followed Cicero’s advice and -abandoned Clodius to the infamy which his act must -have brought upon him, there would have been an end -of Clodius. The man who had profaned the mysteries -of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Bona Dea</i> would not have dared to show himself -any more in public. By persecuting him as it did, -and by giving him the chance of posing before the -public as the victim of its persecutions, this unpopular -party saved his career, or at least helped to enable him -to continue to play a part in the political world of Rome, -and a part fraught with danger to the State. Clodius, -realising that, after the trial, he could no longer hope -for anything from the Conservative party in which he -had grown up and in whose ranks he had fought, turned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">298</span> -to the Popular party; and, in order to make that party -forget his origin, his relations, and the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Bona Dea</i> -scandal, became the most violent and turbulent of its -chiefs. It is this trial which has made of Clodius the -famous demagogue of whom history tells, who in a few -years contributed so much, with his agitations, his -laws, his violent acts, and his enmities, to the destruction -of the little order and concord that were left in -the Republic. The most violent of his enmities was -that which he entertained for Cicero. From this trial -dates the deadly enmity between the two, which was -not the least of the causes of the great disorder into -which the Republic fell, which gave birth to the civil war.</p> - -<p>The trial of Clodius is, then, one of the events which -paved the way for the catastrophe of the Republic. -What an object lesson it is for political parties! In the -excitement of the struggle, such parties reck nothing, -while they deal each other slashing blows, of the hatred -and rancour which they sow broadcast. But this -hatred and rancour undermine in men’s minds the sentiments -of concord, loyalty, moderation, tolerance, and -equity, without which the social order cannot in the -long run subsist; it is one of the most potent causes of -the great catastrophes of history. A revolution is -usually only the ultimate effect of a long succession -of violent acts, affronts, and injustices which have -exasperated the public mind, in which feelings of -rancour accumulate and ferment until one day they -explode.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_299" class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">299</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="IV-III">III<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE TRIAL OF PISO</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Nearly</span> a century had passed since the trial of -Verres, and more than eighty years since the -trial of Clodius. The quarrels of the Roman aristocracy, -which had given birth to those two extraordinary -and sensational trials, had kindled the spark of two -dreadful civil wars, in the course of which the Empire -had narrowly escaped complete dissolution. Gradually, -however, order had been re-established. From -the midst of the discords of the aristocracy, one family -had emerged and succeeded in acquiring preponderating -influence: the family of the Cæsars. First, Augustus -for forty-two years, and, for the three years succeeding -his death, his stepson and adopted son Tiberius, had -governed the State as <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">principes</i>, or life-presidents, -accumulating in their own hands powers of the most -diverse kinds—the supreme command of the legions, -the presidency of the Senate, the high-priesthood, the -surveillance of the most important provinces—and at -the same time making every effort to keep the ancient -machinery of republican government working with as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">300</span> -little friction as possible under such widely different -conditions and in control of an empire of so much -vaster extent. No law had laid it down that this power -should be hereditary; but the force of circumstances—the -exhaustion of the ancient nobility, the weakness -of the Senate, the dying out of all the parties and -all the powerful cabals which for centuries had bulked -so large in the Republic—made of this family, little -by little, the mistress of the Empire’s destinies.</p> - -<p>If, however, the violent disputes of parties no longer -raged in the Senate; if blows were no longer exchanged -in the Forum when the election of the magistrates or -the discussion of the laws was toward; if the threat of -civil war no longer hovered continually over the heads -of all, concord was not, for all that, re-established in -the ranks of the aristocracy which surrounded Cæsar’s -family and which ought to have helped that family to -govern the immense Empire. Men’s feelings were as -much divided as ever, though for different motives. -Tiberius, the second <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">princeps</i> in three years chosen by -the Senate as successor of Augustus, was hated by one -section of the Roman aristocracy, which judged him too -old-fashioned—too closely bound to the traditions of -the old nobility and of his family, the Claudii; too stern, -hard, and rigid; too much out of sympathy with the new -customs and new refinements that were beginning to -flow from Egypt into Italy; too close-fisted and too keen -a professor of a scrupulous and strict financial policy; -worst of all, too cautious in his foreign policy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">301</span></p> - -<p>An old warrior, who had passed the best years of -his life fighting on the Rhine and the Danube against -the barbarians, a consummate diplomat, head and -shoulders above all his contemporaries in matters -of war and diplomacy, Tiberius had convinced himself -that Rome had not strength enough to extend her -empire beyond the Rhine and the Danube, and that, -therefore, she ought to rest content with the empire -which she had already won, which was, after all, vast -enough for a tiny aristocracy like that which was -seated at Rome. The malcontents, however,—and -there were many of these, especially among the younger -generation,—not only did not recognise Tiberius’s -wisdom, but imputed this sagacious prudence of his -to inexperience, to fear, or to envy of the young and -brilliant Germanicus.</p> - -<p>The son of Drusus, the brother whom Tiberius had -so much loved, the adopted son of Tiberius, who had -been enjoined by Augustus to adopt him, intelligent, -brilliant, generous, well-educated, handsome, affable, -inclined to be light-headed and casual like most youths -who are fortune’s favourites, Germanicus was the idol -of all the enemies of Tiberius. He was, and he was -conscious of being, their idol, and, without assuming too -openly an attitude of opposition, he willingly let himself -be worshipped and extolled by the faction opposed to -his adoptive father, which faction was strong enough to -exercise an effective pressure on the Senate and throughout -the State. In fact, Germanicus, who after the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">302</span> -death of Augustus had been sent by Tiberius to take -command of the legions of the Rhine, had dared to -follow a policy of his own, differing from that of Tiberius, -on the Rhine, crossing the great river on his -own initiative, and making a long and hazardous incursion -into the territories abandoned by Rome after -the defeat of Varus.</p> - -<p>This incursion—the first step taken by Rome to -avenge Varus and his legions, which had been betrayed -and butchered in the great forest—had evoked such -enthusiasm in Rome and in Italy; Germanicus was so -popular; the expansionist party, always strong and -now reinforced by all the enemies of Tiberius, had made -so much of the daring act of the young general, -that Tiberius had not dared to intervene, to repress, -or to moderate the dashing initiative of his young -nephew and adopted son. So he let Germanicus go -on. On no account and at no cost would Tiberius, -however, again begin beyond the Rhine a dangerous -and expensive policy of provocation and expansion. -Therefore, after having allowed Germanicus to cover -himself with glory through his expedition, to collect and -to bury in the great forests the bones of the butchered -legions, and to lay waste the territories of the tribes -which had taken part in the war against Rome, he -called him back, in order to send him—in the year 17 -of the Christian era—to the East, complications and -difficulties having arisen in Cappadocia and Armenia. -He was not prepared to leave this ambitious, active,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">303</span> -bold youth, the tool of his own enemies, too long at -grips with the warlike German tribes. He was afraid -that the all-powerful craving for glory might lead -Germanicus to provoke in the end some great and -dangerous war. In Rome, the party which favoured -the reconquest of Germany was still powerful. Tiberius -did not want to reconquer that region. In the -East, amongst unwarlike nations, the danger was less -urgent.</p> - -<p>So Germanicus was sent to the East—but, by way of -compensation for his recall, he was given unusually large -powers. When the time came to approve the decree -which conferred these powers upon him, the party of -his friends in the Senate proposed and carried a motion -giving him power overriding that of all the governors of -the separate provinces of the whole East; the result -being that he was constituted a sort of governor-general -or even viceroy. Whether Tiberius was personally in -favour of this decree, which placed half the Empire -in the absolute power of a young man of little more than -thirty years of age, or not, we do not know. The -probability is that he was not, and that on this occasion -also Tiberius was the victim of the intrigues and cabals -of the party which favoured his nephew and adopted -son. It was very difficult for him to oppose laws which -heaped honours on the public darling, Germanicus, -because the public imputed his opposition to base -motives, such as jealousy, envy, or the fear of opposition. -What is certain, at any rate, is that, after this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">304</span> -decree, Tiberius suddenly changed the governor in -Syria, the most important province in the East, the -choice of whose governors rested with him. He replaced -the mediocre person who then occupied the post -by a first-rate man, Cneius Piso, a descendant of one of -the most noble Roman families, of a family which had -distinguished itself in the civil wars by its aversion to -the Cæsarian party; of a family, in short, which was -aristocratic, traditionalist, and conservative to the -core. Cneius Piso himself was a determined, conservative, -and energetic man, a firm partisan of the old -policy with which Rome had kept in subjection and -governed so many nations for hundreds of years.</p> - -<p>Tiberius’s idea is quite clear to anyone who examines -it impartially. He did not wish to leave the East at the -mercy of Germanicus, who was intelligent and good, but -still young, inexperienced, and not always deliberate, -and who was easily influenced by light-headed, irresponsible, -and often vicious and corrupt flatterers. -He wished to place, at Germanicus’s elbow in the -East, a serious, mature, energetic, and cautious man; -a man who could, so to speak, counterbalance him, -retrieve his more serious mistakes, keep an eye on everything -he did or said, and in every case warn him in time -of the more grave eventualities. Can we label such a -device a crime? Or the sinister expression of a morbid -jealousy, as Tacitus would have us do? Was it not rather -the wise precaution of a cautious statesman, who did -not wish to rob an intelligent youth of the opportunities<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">305</span> -of distinguishing himself and of becoming proficient -in the government of a world which would, perhaps, -one day devolve upon him, though Tiberius was at the -same time anxious that the other’s inexperience should -not involve too much danger to the Empire and to -himself? But the wisest precautions are on occasions -the seed of disasters of the first magnitude.</p> - -<p>And so they were in this case. In the year 18 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, -Germanicus and Piso started, one after the other, at a -short interval of time, for the East, but they lost no -time in coming to loggerheads. The first incident -occurred at Athens, which first Germanicus, and then -Piso, made a stage in the journey. Germanicus, who -was an ardent admirer of Greek culture, had wished to -do honour in every possible way to the great city in -which the fire of ancient culture had burned with the -most dazzling brightness. He had entered Athens -almost like a private person, with only one lictor in -attendance; and had exchanged the most flowery and -amiable speeches with the magistrates of the city. -This attitude, however, had seemed too affable to a -Roman of the old stamp, like Piso, who considered that -the representative of the power of Rome ought never -to repose too great authority and confidence in the -subject nations and cities, even if they called themselves -Greece and Athens, and could pride themselves on -having listened to Socrates and on having been the first -to applaud the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides. -So Piso also stopped at Athens, but with the object<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">306</span> -of cancelling by a brusque and harsh demeanour the -impression which might have been made by the imprudent -affability of Germanicus. He, in his turn, made a -speech, full of stern reproof and almost veiled threats -to the Athenians, which seemed to everybody to be a -disavowal of the speeches of Germanicus; as if Piso -intended to convey to the people of Athens that Germanicus -had spoken on his own account and not in the -name of the Roman government.</p> - -<p>Germanicus was an impressionable young man, but -really kind-hearted and conciliatory. He did not take, -in bad part, the kind of disavowal which Piso had inflicted -on him, all the more because he knew that Piso -was the mouthpiece of a perhaps harsh version of the -admonitions of Tiberius’s experienced wisdom. Round -Germanicus, however, there stood a large party of -flatterers and intriguers who had fixed on him as the -future emperor—Tiberius was already an old man—; -also, Germanicus had to wife Agrippina, a virtuous and -highly educated woman, who loved and admired him -intensely, but was at the same time very ambitious, -passionate, and uncritical, prone to mistake for just -and wise everything which appeased her ardent and not -ungenerous passions. Piso was accompanied to the -East by his wife, Plancina, a great friend of Livia, -Tiberius’s mother, and a great enemy of Agrippina. -The interested flatteries of friends, the fiery temperament -of Agrippina, her blind love for her husband, and -her hatred for Plancina, in a short time transformed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">307</span> -into a violent personal conflict what Tiberius had -intended to be a discreet collaboration between a man -of ripe age and experience, and a young man full of -good intentions but at times lacking in ballast.</p> - -<p>For the rest, the matters which Germanicus and Piso -had been sent to the East to settle were complicated -and difficult, and therefore afforded countless opportunities -and pretexts for quarrels. Rome found herself -involved in a grave difficulty in the East. Some years -before, the Parthians, left without a king, had sent to -Italy for Vonones, a son of their old King Phraates, who -had been educated in Rome at the house of Augustus. -To have at the head of the Parthian Empire a king who -had been educated on the banks of the Tiber was a -stroke of luck for Rome. The Parthians, however, -very soon discovered that Vonones had become too -much Latinised at Rome, and had forgotten too completely -the ideas and customs of his nation. Consequently, -they had turned him out and elected in his -stead Artabanus. Vonones had fled to Armenia, and -had succeeded in getting elected King of the Armenians. -But Artabanus, not wishing his predecessor to become -king of a vast empire marching with his own, from -which he might retrieve in due course the crown of the -Parthians, had succeeded also by means of various -intrigues and threats in getting Vonones expelled from -Armenia.</p> - -<p>The difficulty which Tiberius had charged Germanicus -and Piso to study and resolve on the spot was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">308</span> -actually this: whether Rome should or should not give -ear to Vonones’s clamour and replace him on the throne -of Armenia. The difficulty was a serious one, as each of -the two opposing courses promised grave dangers. By -replacing Vonones on the throne of Armenia, Rome -might implicate herself in serious quarrels, and perhaps -in a war, with the King of the Parthians, who was -opposed to Vonones’s restoration. By not replacing -him, Rome appeared to sacrifice to the hatred of the -Parthian King this faithful client of hers, whose only -fault was that he had been educated in Rome; to be -inclined to recognise that a prince who had been too -thoroughly Romanised could not govern an Oriental -state,—a confession which certainly would not encourage -the protected sovereigns of Asia, great and small, -to bring themselves too closely into touch with the -affairs, ideas, and customs of the protecting state. In -point of fact, Germanicus and Piso, who were already -embittered against each other by the incidents at -Athens, came into open conflict on this point. Germanicus -and his supporters were in favour of sacrificing -Vonones to the resentment of the King of the Parthians -and to the national susceptibilities of the East; while -Piso, more loyal to the authoritative traditions of -the old Roman policy, which were faithfully reflected in -his own more cautious judgment, decided to defend -Vonones. Rome must not abandon the cause of this -her faithful servant in the East!</p> - -<p>Germanicus had, by virtue of a decree of the Senate,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">309</span> -supreme powers in the East; as a result his opinion -carried the day, notwithstanding all the efforts that -Piso made to prevent his sacrificing Vonones, whom -Piso by way of compensation entertained, treated with -honour, and openly took under his protection. Towards -the middle of the year 18, Germanicus crowned Zenon -King of the Armenians in Artaxata, a son of Polemon, -King of Pontus. When, however, Germanicus asked -Piso to send into Armenia a section of the legions placed -under his command, to make an armed demonstration -in favour of the new sovereign, Piso refused. Theoretically -and by virtue of the decrees of the Senate, Germanicus -had the right to give orders to Piso, and Piso -ought to have obeyed them. On the other hand, -Piso represented Tiberius; and with Germanicus, as -with every other human authority, it was not enough -to possess the power, there was needed also the hardihood -to use it. In the face of Piso’s energy and the -authority of Tiberius, who stood behind Piso, Germanicus -did not dare to insist.</p> - -<p>It is easy, however, to picture the fury and rage of -Germanicus’s friends and flatterers, to whom this -kind of surveillance to which Germanicus was subjected -became more intolerable, the more it limited -indirectly their own authority. In their fury, they -determined to have their revenge, and they were not -long in finding an opportunity, though it cost them dear. -Artabanus, the King of the Parthians, encouraged by -the pliability of Germanicus, sent to ask him to forbid<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">310</span> -Vonones to live in Syria, on the ground that, as that -province bordered on his Empire, Vonones could easily -use it as a base from which to intrigue against him. In -view of the fact that Vonones was in Syria as the guest -of Piso, the Parthian King was asking Germanicus in -so many words to forbid Piso to protect him. The -demand was, in truth, excessive and somewhat humiliating -for Rome; but Germanicus’s <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">entourage</i> saw in this -demand a means of humiliating Piso, and worked and -talked to such effect that Germanicus conceded to it -and shut Vonones up in a city in Cilicia. A checkmate -had been inflicted on Piso, but the price of it was a -humiliation for Rome. Piso and his party had good -reason for accusing Germanicus and his <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">entourage</i> -of compromising with singular levity the prestige of -Rome in the East.</p> - -<p>At the end of the year 18, then, the conflict between -Germanicus, invested by a decree of the Senate with -the general governorship of the East and supported -by a numerous party of Tiberius’s opponents, and Piso, -who, as charged by Tiberius with the governorship -of Syria, the most important province in the East, -represented in the East the will of the Emperor, had -become so acute and violent as to upset in a most -dangerous manner the whole Eastern policy of Rome. -The conflict became still more grave in the following -year. At the beginning of the year 19, Germanicus, -who was an enlightened young man, and therefore -desirous of travelling and seeing the famous spots, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">311</span> -monuments, and the customs of various nations, made -with Agrippina an extensive trip through Egypt, impelled -by curiosity to visit that ancient and celebrated -country, which even then exercised so mysterious a -fascination on the minds of the peoples of the West.</p> - -<p>While he was on his way to see the Pyramids, however, -was interrogating the mysterious smile of the -Sphinx, and was cleaving the sacred stream of the Nile, -Piso profited by his absence to avenge himself for the -checkmate which he had suffered the year before on -Vonones’s account. Either on his own initiative, or, it -may be, because he had meanwhile received instructions -from Tiberius, Piso abolished or modified many of the -dispositions which Germanicus, by virtue of his extraordinary -powers, had made for Syria, the year before. -Imagine the fury of Germanicus, of Agrippina, and of -his friends and flatterers, on his return! Was this then -all the deference Piso paid to the decrees of the Senate -and of the authority conferred by them on Germanicus? -Did Piso think himself lord of the East, because he was -the friend and representative of Tiberius? On Germanicus’s -return there were some violent altercations -between him and Piso. This time, Germanicus, -impelled by passion, by the incitements of his flatterers, -and also by the fear of losing all authority in the eyes of -the province if he should yield once more, plucked up -courage to resort to extreme measures. In the exercise -of his extraordinary powers, he ordered Piso to give up -the governorship of the province which Tiberius had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">312</span> -entrusted to him. This step, in view of the fact that -Piso was the representative of Tiberius, was a bold one, -but it was quite a legal one. In disobeying it, Piso was -obliged to assume an attitude of open defiance of the -laws. Since Germanicus had dared to make use of this -power, and on this occasion showed that he meant -business and was determined to carry the matter -through, it was Piso’s duty to give way and obey, -subject to the right of protest to Tiberius and of -obtaining from him just compensation for the affront -he had received.</p> - -<p>Piso resigned his office and left the province; and -travelled at an easy rate in short stages towards Italy. -When he arrived at Seleucia, he was overtaken by the -news that Germanicus was seriously ill at Antioch. He -halted, waiting for new and more authentic news; which -arrived in a few days, and announced to him the young -man’s death. What was his illness? We do not know. -Untimely deaths were frequent in the family of -Augustus. It seemed as if many of the younger members -had not the strength to stand the life of drudgery -and fatigue to which he compelled them, by way of -preparation for the government of the Empire. However -that may be, Piso no sooner knew that Germanicus -was dead than he returned to Syria with the object of -re-occupying the province. How great, however, was -his surprise to learn that it had been decided -amongst the friends of Germanicus, after the latter’s -death, to entrust the command of the legions and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">313</span> -government of the province to one of themselves, -Gnæus Senzius!</p> - -<p>This nomination of Senzius was illegal—there can be -no doubt about that. With the death of Germanicus, -the extraordinary power by which he had momentarily -removed Piso from the province, himself assuming -its government, came to an end; therefore the province -and the command of the armed forces re-devolved -on Piso. The friends of Germanicus had no right or -power to nominate a substitute for him. But for what -reason had they arrived at so grave a decision? Germanicus -was surrounded in the East by many friends, -many admirers, and many flatterers, who had placed -their hopes in him, as the future emperor. His death -was, therefore, a disaster for the ambitions and aspirations -of many. On the other hand, it had been sudden, -unforeseen, and mysterious; a fact which, in times when -the causes and symptoms of illness were much less -easily recognised than they are at present, readily lent -itself to the engendering of suspicions, especially the -suspicion of poisoning, then so common and so easy. -Before the corpse of Germanicus had been burnt, -Agrippina and all the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">entourage</i> of the dead man’s -intimates were persuaded, and were stating openly, -that Germanicus had been poisoned,—and poisoned by -Piso in revenge. Hence arose the necessity of their -preventing Piso, even at the cost of a breach of the laws, -from re-occupying his province, in which they wished to -be left supreme, so as to be able to collect the proofs of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">314</span> -the crime of which Germanicus was the reported -victim. For instance, they imprisoned an old woman -called Martina, who was said to be an intimate friend -of Plancina, a witch by profession. Her they accused -of having supplied the poison, and of having sent it -to Rome.</p> - -<p>When Piso first heard of the accusation, he did not -take it very seriously, and tried to force a re-entry into -the province from which his adversaries were illegally -excluding him. Perhaps he hoped that when he, the -legitimate pro-consul, presented himself, the oppositions, -which the others pretended to be ready to make, -would fade away. In this he was disappointed. Gnæus -Senzius resisted, a few insignificant skirmishes took -place, and a civil war on a small scale was about to -begin. The prospect, however, frightened both sides, -and, not wishing that so small a matter of principle -should result in a real civil war, both parties—Piso, Senzius, -and the friends of Germanicus—agreed to go in a -body to Rome and to submit the question to the -Emperor. And so they did.</p> - -<p>When, however, they arrived, they found Italy and -Rome in an incredible state of agitation. Germanicus -was most popular, not only because he was really -attractive to a great many people, but because everybody -in his admiration and sympathy for him vented -the discontent and repulsion which the rough character -and iron policy of Tiberius inspired in one. The -popular voice had gone so far as to say that Germanicus<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">315</span> -had made up his mind to restore, when he became -Emperor, the republic of ancient times in every detail, -and that Tiberius on this account suspected and hated -him! Not only, then, was his premature death bitterly -lamented by everybody; but the explanation which his -friends gave of it—that Germanicus had died of poison -by the contrivance of Piso—was immediately accepted -as true, evident, and proved. Even at the present day, -the masses are easily convinced of tales of crimes and -poisonings. Imagine how it must have been in those -days! And the desire for vengeance followed hard on -the general feeling of grief and horror. The wish was -expressed on all sides that Piso should be given an -exemplary punishment; it was impossible to allow so -execrable a crime to go unpunished. Would some -noble friend of Germanicus, then, arise and revenge his -death? At the same time, other rumours, no less -fantastic, were being whispered from ear to ear. No; -the trial would never take place. Piso was secretly -protected by Tiberius, and Plancina by Livia. Nobody -would dare attack them!</p> - -<p>The arrival of Agrippina, who, at the end of 19 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, -reached Brindisi with Germanicus’s ashes; the transportation -of the ashes to Rome in the midst of the most -moving demonstrations of grief on the part of the -Italian cities; the solemn celebration of the funeral rites -in Rome, made the situation still more serious. Public -exasperation increased, not only against Piso, but also -against Tiberius. Tiberius and Livia had not taken<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">316</span> -part in the funeral ceremonies for Germanicus at Rome; -the latter because she was too old and infirm, the former -because he had avoided recently as much as possible -investing family ceremonies with superfluous official -importance. The public, however, began to accuse -these two of not being at all displeased at the death of -Germanicus. Of course, that young man had always -given umbrage to Tiberius. Had not the latter recalled -him from Germany, so that he should not cover himself -with too much glory?</p> - -<p>It was not long before even graver charges began to be -whispered about. Piso had arrived at Rome by way of -the Tiber, disembarking near the Tomb of the Cæsars, -the resting-place of the ashes of his victim, and with a -large retinue of friends had made an ostentatious -progress to his house above the Forum, where he had -given a great banquet. It was clear, then, that he had -no fears. He defied public opinion and the Courts. -And his attitude was justified, for he had acted on the -orders of Tiberius, and possessed a letter from him in -which these orders were given. That letter was his -shield of defence against every danger! In point of -fact, public suspicion was by now being diverted from -Piso against a higher target. It was being directed -straight against Tiberius and Livia. And Agrippina, -whom grief was robbing of the little sense which nature -had given her, added fuel to the enmities and suspicions -in the public and the Senate through her -lamentations, her recriminations, and her accusations,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">317</span> -which were as vehement as they were unfounded.</p> - -<p>When at last, therefore, certain persons,—Fulcinius -Trio, Vitellius, and Veranius,—incited by public opinion, -by the friends of Germanicus, who cried for vengeance, -and by Agrippina, who would hear of no mercy, -decided to accuse Piso and Plancina of poison, as well as -Piso and his son Marcius of having tried to stir up civil -war, Tiberius found himself in a most grave dilemma. -It seems that trials such as these, involving persons of -the highest rank and acts of a political character, could -not be set in motion without the approval of the -Emperor, who had the additional privilege of deciding -whether the case should come before the ordinary tribunal,—the -jury, as in trials of Verres and Clodius,—or -whether he ought to entrust it instead to the Senate. -Tiberius did not believe in the imputation of poison, -which was the only really grave charge brought against -Piso,—the other charge, that of civil war, being more -in the nature of a second string. He did not believe in -the poison charge, just as no sensible and impartial -man believed in it, just as Tacitus, years later, did not -believe in it, even though, with his usual malice, he has -done all he could to induce posterity to accept it as -true. Tiberius did not believe in it, for not only was -there no proof of the charge itself, but it was in itself -absurd. In fact, the accusers, when forced to explain -when and in what way Piso had poisoned Germanicus, -had found themselves reduced to asserting that, at a -banquet to which Germanicus had invited Piso, and at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">318</span> -which Piso was seated at a considerable distance from -Germanicus, Piso, at a moment when Germanicus was -looking in another direction, had poured the poison into -his wine, actually in the midst of his host’s numerous -servants and in the presence of the guests! This story -may be taken as a sample of the whole accusation. -Tiberius then knew that the charge was a romance, -created and magnified by the political and partisan -enmities which amongst the Roman nobility were so -violent, by the credulity of the public, by the unreasoning -hatred the people felt towards himself and the -supreme authority with which he had been invested. -He would, therefore, gladly have cut the trial short at -the very beginning.</p> - -<p>Could he do so, however? This Emperor, whom so -many inexperienced historians have represented as a -terrible despot, was in reality possessed of much less -power as head of the State than his present-day detractors -suppose. He was obliged to take into account -public opinion, however obtuse and mad it might be. -He was vaguely suspected of having prompted Piso -to poison Germanicus, or at least of having willingly -shut his eyes to the crime. If he prevented the charge -being brought, would not this be the strongest confirmation -of this mad calumny? Would not the whole -populace murmur in their anger that the unfortunate -Germanicus had been robbed, first of life, and then of -vengeance,—and by the man who was his adoptive -father? This, in the eyes of the ancients, constituted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">319</span> -the gravest dereliction of family obligations. The trial -was a satisfaction which the public demanded; and -the Emperor—that pretended despot, lord of the whole -State—had not power enough to refuse it.</p> - -<p>So Tiberius was forced to consent to the trial. Being, -however, a wise and level-headed man, he remitted it -to the Senate, the one of the two tribunals which might -be expected with greater reason to be enlightened and -serene. The other—the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">quæstio</i>, or, as we should say, -the jury—was too closely in contact with public -opinion, and not likely to be able to exercise calm -judgment in a case in which public opinion was so -much excited and prejudiced against the principal -defendant. The Senate, on the contrary, was the -gravest body in the Republic, and might be expected -to rise superior to popular passions in the exercise of its -judicial functions. Nevertheless, even in the Senate, -the friends of Germanicus and the enemies of Tiberius -were to be found in force. Not only this, but a fierce -antipathy divided the ancient from the new nobility. -During the fifty years which followed the end of the -civil wars, many recently ennobled families had entered -the Senate. Amongst these, the families of ancient -nobility, those whose glory dated back to the grand era -of the Republic, at this time formed only a small yet -haughty minority, which lived apart, despised the new -nobility, and kept aloof as far as possible. Now Piso -belonged to one of these ancient families, and to one of -the most glorious of them. The constitution of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">320</span> -Senate as the tribunal, meant, therefore, entrusting -the decision of the case to the new, upstart nobility, -which was full of blind rancour against the haughtiness -of the old families.</p> - -<p>In any case there was no other tribunal; and between -the two evils, Tiberius could only choose the lesser. -However, he realised so clearly the gravity of the -dangers which surrounded the course of justice, in the -midst of so many frenzied passions, in this trial which -had been engineered by insensate hatreds and rancours, -that when, as president of the Senate, he had to open -the sessions, he made a speech, the gist of which Tacitus -has preserved for us. Whoever reads it cannot help -recognising the spirit of profound wisdom and equity -which inspires it. Tiberius explained quite clearly to -the Senate that the charge of poisoning levelled against -Piso, if true, would be an extremely serious matter. -He reminded them, however, that Piso was a prominent -man, who had rendered eminent services to the Republic -and belonged to one of the most ancient and noble -families in Rome. They must, therefore, bring the -most serene impartiality to bear on their judgment, -forgetting who was the accused, if they found him -guilty, forgetting who was the victim, if they found him -innocent. However great his affection for Germanicus -might be, nothing would induce him to wish for the -sacrifice on the latter’s tomb, of an innocent man, for -the satisfaction of the insensate mania for revenge -which had taken possession of the public.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">321</span></p> - -<p>The speech was a wise and humane one; but what -could sober words, even from an Emperor’s mouth, -avail when passions are aroused? The Senate allotted -two days to the prosecution, three to the defence. -There was to be an interval of six days between the -two sections of the trial. For two whole days, the -accusers talked, reconstructing, as Cicero had done -in Verres’s case, the whole history of Piso’s life. They -went so far as to accuse him of having misgoverned the -previous provinces he had had; they went minutely into -the history of his government in Syria, and repeated -the fantastic story of the poisoning. Tacitus himself -recognised that the charges were very weak, especially -the accusation of poisoning, which was the only serious -one. Accordingly, the first impression made by the trial -was very uncertain. The public was prejudiced in -favour of the prosecution; in the Senate there was a -strong party hostile to Piso. After all, however, the -Senate was a great political body, and many of its -members could not but recognise that the charges were -slender ones. Everybody felt that the issue depended -on Tiberius, who could, according as he showed himself -favourable or the reverse, weigh down the scales on the -side of acquittal or of conviction. Everybody, therefore, -looked towards him, with hope or with anxiety. -But Tiberius listened to the prosecution without moving -an eyelid, as impassive as a statue, without allowing a -glimpse into his secret thoughts on the subject. Could -he act otherwise? If he had shown himself favourable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">322</span> -to Piso, he would have been accused of shielding the -murderers of Germanicus, through hatred of his adopted -son or even through actual complicity in the crime. -He could not and would not attach himself, however, to -the mob which cried for Piso’s head, innocent or guilty. -He was too haughty and too serious a man to descend to -such baseness. Recognise that public opinion was a -force of which account must be taken,—this he was -prepared to do; pander to it like a slave, at the cost of -honour and justice,—no.</p> - -<p>Rarely had a Roman Emperor found himself placed, -by the suspicions of the public, by the mad passions of -the people, by the perfidious malevolence of the cabals -and <em>coteries</em>, in a more difficult position. The six days -that elapsed between the prosecution and the defence -must have been thorny days for Tiberius. Inasmuch -as a nod from him could weigh down the scales, both -parties tried to influence him. Piso and his friends -worked to induce him and Livia to make up their minds -to intervene openly in the Senate on behalf of outraged -innocence. The other side endeavoured to frighten -him. They accused Tiberius <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sotto voce</i> of having -favoured Piso unjustly in his speech to the Senate, in -which he had already assumed the charge of poisoning -to be untrue. They circulated the story of the compromising -letter in Piso’s possession which the latter -threatened to read in the Senate, if Tiberius did not -help him. Meanwhile Agrippina was filling Rome -with her lamentations and imprecations, and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">323</span> -public agitation was increasing. Cries were heard on -every side that Germanicus must be avenged. Piso’s -position was tragic. But Tiberius would not depart -from the line of conduct, that of impartiality, which -he had marked out for himself—hoping, perhaps, that -the trial would furnish him sooner or later with an -opportunity of preserving justice without laying himself -open to suspicions of too debasing a nature. He -allowed Livia, however, to interest herself openly in -behalf of Plancina against whom also charges were -levelled; and Livia’s intervention might be indirectly -of service to Piso, as it made it clear, to those who cared -to see, that Germanicus’s own grandmother did not -believe in the charge of poisoning.</p> - -<p>Piso was an energetic man. Confident in the justice -of his case, he reappeared in the Senate when, after -the lapse of six days, the sessions again began; and -defended himself in a clever, energetic, and resolute -speech. He seems to have been especially happy in the -way in which he shattered the charge of poisoning. -He demanded that his own slaves, and those belonging -to Germanicus who had been present at the famous -banquet at which it was suggested that he had put -poison in the dead man’s wine, should be put to the -torture. The speech made a lively impression, and -would probably have saved Piso, had not serious disorders -broken out in Rome while he was speaking in the -Senate. An immense popular demonstration invaded -the precincts of the Senate, while he was speaking,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">324</span> -howling for his execution, and crying that, if the Senate -acquitted him, they had serious thoughts of avenging -Germanicus by lynching the judges. A section burst -into the Forum, overturned the statues, and made as if -to drag them away to the Gemoniæ and to break them -in pieces. It was found necessary to send Piso to his -house with an escort of soldiers, in order to save him -from violence.</p> - -<p>What was the origin of these demonstrations? Were -they the natural explosion of popular passion, fed by the -ready credulity of the masses? Were they stirred up by -the enemies of Tiberius and Piso, to impress the hesitating -section of the Senate? We shall never know. -All that is certain is that, by the evening of the day on -which these demonstrations took place, nobody in Rome, -least of all the accused, was any longer under the delusion -that Piso could be acquitted of the charge, however -absurd and unjust it might be. The Senate, weakened by -so many internal dissensions and by so many civil wars, -was no longer a strong enough assembly to dare resist -this mad fury on the part of the masses. By evening, -Piso had lost all heart and had already made up his -mind to give up the struggle. But his sons gathered -round him and put into him fresh courage. Renewed -efforts were made to induce Tiberius to oppose his -authority to the torrent of calumny and insensate hate. -Had Tiberius left room for one glimmer of light? or did -Piso’s sons and friends delude themselves and delude -him? It is certain that next day Piso again plucked up<span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">325</span> -courage and returned to the Senate, where he continued -his defence, parrying and countering fresh attacks, -with his eyes ever fixed on Tiberius, the man who more -than anyone else was persuaded of his innocence, and -from whom a word might be so useful to him. Tiberius, -however, did not dare pronounce that word. Surrounded -as he was by so many enemies and suspicions, -not even he—the lord of the world, as the historians -call him—felt himself strong enough to engage in open -duel with the public opinion of Rome and the majority -in the Senate. So, when he perceived that Tiberius -himself could not or would not help him, Piso abandoned -the struggle. Returning home that evening, -he anticipated his certain conviction by committing -suicide during the night.</p> - -<p>The public had gained their victim, to comfort them -in their grief for the premature loss of Germanicus. -The enemies of Piso were, however, not content, and -proposed that the name of Piso be erased from the -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">fasti</i>, and that the half of his goods be confiscated; that -his son Marcus be imprisoned for ten years, only -Plancina, out of regard for Livia, being allowed to go -unpunished. But Tiberius judged that the blood of -Piso was expiation enough for a crime which nobody -had committed; and, since the public had had their -bloody satisfaction, he intervened openly, and, by -virtue of his authority, prevented the erasure of Piso’s -name from the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">fasti</i>, as well as the confiscation of his -goods and the condemnation of his son.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">326</span></p> - -<p>The trial of Piso was one of the most savage of all the -judicial dramas in Roman history. The trial of Clodius -had been a comedy, that of Verres a tragi-comedy, that -of Piso was pure tragedy and terrible tragedy. For it -was an episode in the gradual extermination of the old -and glorious Roman nobility, which was being brought -about by the new social forces which, during the years -of peace, had grown up under the shadow of the imperial -authority. How sad a spectacle are these trials which -from time to time recur in history! The penal law -ought to be the sacred instrument of justice, which -punishes the wrong-doers, and defends and comforts the -good citizens. The world is, however, full of wicked -passions; and wicked passions find fertile soil in political -parties, social classes, and public opinion—that vague -power which has come so much to the fore in the last -hundred years. These evil passions, from time to time, -seize hold of the instruments of justice, and convert -them into instruments of torment and persecution for -the torture, the defamation, and the extermination of -the innocent, for whom there is no way of escape, no -refuge, and no pity.</p> - -<p>These trials prove one thing,—a truth which perhaps -the modern world, in which the power of public opinion -has increased so much, ought always to bear in mind. -And that is, that the stronger public opinion is in a -state, the more necessary it is for that state to have an -unperturbed, independent, enlightened judicature, -armed with a vigorous and clear doctrine of justice,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">327</span> -backed by a powerful government, which can hold its -own against the most violent gusts of public opinion, -and execute real justice in the teeth of the crooked -malevolence of the masses. Otherwise justice can only -too easily degenerate into a kind of tragic farce.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">329</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak part" id="Part_V"><span class="smcap">Part V</span><br /> - -<span class="subhead"><span class="smcap">The Limit of Sport</span></span></h2> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">331</span></p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="toclink_331" class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_LIMIT_OF_SPORT1">THE LIMIT OF SPORT<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor smaller">1</a></h2> -</div> - -<p>“Αριστον ὕδωρ,” says Pindar. “Water is good,” as -it is often translated. But why should a hymn in -honour of a victor in the games begin with a sentiment -which would be much better suited to an anti-alcoholic -league? ὕδωρ here does not mean water; -it is the corresponding word to the Latin <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sudor</i>, which -means sweat,—the symbol of the physical effort made -by the athlete. “Excellent is sweat,” that is to say, -the effort made by the victor in training himself and in -winning an arduous victory.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> Speech delivered at the opening of the Congress of the Psychology -of Sport at Lausanne, May 6, 1913.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Αριστον ὕδωρ, then, says the clarion voice of one of the -noblest sons of Greece, the great poet who, in honour -of the sport of his times, has clothed in lyric poetry the -dazzling myths of Hellenic polytheism. The motto -has travelled down the ages, and we, too, are assembled -here to interpret it after the fashion of our times. Is -it not inevitable that the speech I have to make should -be merely a development of this undying theme, -ἄριστον ὕδωρ? And yet you would be justified in -asking why this task should devolve on this occasion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">332</span> -upon a man who spends his whole life in plying a tool—the -pen—which is too light to convince him of the -truth of Pindar’s apothegm. It is true that there was a -time when he who has the honour of addressing you was -not yet an examiner of historical documents nor a -student of philosophical problems; when he was, on the -contrary, an ardent gymnast. I will even confess to -you that the first time his name appeared in the newspapers, -it was in the accounts of gymnastic and athletic -meetings, in connection with which some amiable reporters -thought it proper to comment on his squirrel-like -agility. But those times are, alas! long past. -The over-violent passion for physical exercises which -was his between the ages of ten and fifteen years obliged -him suddenly to drop them. He has allowed his -muscles gradually to be invaded and eaten up by that -physical laziness which enervates so many thinkers -of the present day, and which upsets the balance of -their bodily forces.</p> - -<p>You see, then, that these far-distant memories -cannot give me authority to claim a right, however -small, to address you on this occasion. I am a stranger -in this world of sport, which has developed so rapidly -in the last thirty years. I have followed only at a -distance the movement which has given it birth, and I -should find myself in great difficulties if I had to -discuss in its details one of the numberless questions -attaching to this form of contemporary activity. -What authority, then, have I for addressing you on this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">333</span> -occasion? None. And the kindness which Baron de -Coubertin has shown in honouring me with an invitation -to address you, though most flattering to me, cannot -fill the void left by manifest incompetence for the -task. You will tell me that I should have done better -to remember the wise advice Homer gave the cobbler, -and to refuse this honour of which I was not worthy. -And you will be right. But I would excuse myself by -telling you first of all that it is difficult to refuse anything -to so distinguished and amiable a man and to so -ardent an advocate of the causes he makes his own as -M. de Coubertin. Secondly, if I am a sportsman who -long ago has made his final exit, I am also a man who -tries, as far as his feeble wits will allow him, to understand -that life outside himself in which he can take no -immediate and direct part.</p> - -<p>Is not that the rôle, and in a certain sense the obsession, -of the historian? The historian must understand -all the forms and phenomena of life; crimes, intrigues, -battles, wars, revolutions, loves, hatreds, perfidies, -the hidden weaknesses of great men, the blind impulses -of the masses, the noblest and the basest sentiments -which actuate the human mind. If we were required -to have experienced everything that we are required to -understand, the profession of historian would be -the most difficult and the most dangerous in the -world; for, in order to qualify, a man would have at -least to run the risk of the galleys or of the -scaffold. Without a doubt, this necessity of understanding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">334</span> -all the forms of the life outside is also one of -the great weaknesses of historians. Often they make -mistakes; even more often, the picture they give of -things seems but pale by contrast with the living reality, -to those who have actually lived that reality. I am -quite sure that this will be my fate, if I talk to you about -things which you know better than do I. That, however, -is the inevitable drawback of the profession, and -I shall go through with my task, relying on your kind -indulgence.</p> - -<p>I shall talk to you, then, about sport in modern life -as a man who has considered it from outside. I shall -philosophise awhile about sport, if you will allow me; -for to philosophise about a thing is often a polite way -of talking about a thing regarding which the speaker -has little knowledge to people whose knowledge regarding -it is considerable. And I will ask myself this -question: What is and what ought to be the function -of sport in modern society? What is its rôle, and what -are its limits? Put thus, the question is but a particular -form of a more general question which philosophers -have long been asking themselves: What is the -mutual and reciprocal rôle of the different human -activities? It is a well-known truth that with the -advances of civilisation social life undergoes an inward -process of differentiation. Commerce separates from -industry, industry from war, war from government, -government from the intellectual activities, which in -their turn become specialised,—art, science, religion,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">335</span> -etc. We get professions, corporations, institutions, and -classes corresponding to all these different activities; -men, that is to say, who have passions, ambitions, -desires, needs, and interests, and who quickly come into -conflict with one another. What parts ought to be -allowed to all these different activities? Which is -the most necessary, the most noble, and the most -exalted? Which ought to be surrounded with the -greatest respect, covered with the greatest honours, -and recompensed with the most considerable rewards?</p> - -<p>Men have answered this question in countless different -ways. It is, however, easy to discover in many of -these answers a common tendency that is a proneness -to consider as first and all-important the corporation, -profession, or institution to which each inquirer belongs. -A savant is easily convinced that the end of life is the -search after the truth. In his eyes, the universe must -exist only in order that men of science may discover its -laws and its secrets. For artists, on the other hand, -the world has been created to enable them to adorn it -with pictures, statues, or buildings. For the soldier -war is the end of existence, while the merchant sees in -commerce the beneficent force which makes the world -go round. And so on. All these theories seem sober -fact to those who formulate them; unfortunately the -others, those who belong to a different class or profession, -reject them as absurd and ridiculous errors.</p> - -<p>How are the various views to be reconciled? A certain -number of philosophers have tried to raise themselves<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">336</span> -above these too narrow or too biassed points of -view, and to find solutions of general value. Many -have been proposed; now is not the time to discuss the -principal ones. So I will confine myself to expounding -to you that one of these theories which seems to me -the simplest, the most ingenious, and the most useful -for the resolution of the problem which we have set -ourselves in connection with sport. It is the theory -of the limits. All human activities ought to be -reciprocal limits.</p> - -<p>Take art and morality for instance: What relation -ought they to bear to each other? The question has -been discussed with ardour. Artists, and many of -their friends, have tried to postulate a violent schism -between the two, proclaiming that art has the right to -search for beauty wherever she can find it, without -bothering herself about morality. Super-moralists, on -the contrary, have tried to make art the slave of -morality, asserting that the former ought to be always -ready to obey its orders and to sacrifice herself to its -demands. But would it not be more reasonable and -more human to say that art and morality are reciprocal -limits? Morality is one of art’s limits; without wishing -to make her its slave, it can and must prevent her from -seeking beauty in certain subjects and certain incidents -which would be dangerous to morals or to the pure-mindedness -of the public. The forms of beauty are so -numerous. Why should not art refrain for moral reasons -from seeking for some of them? But art on her side<span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">337</span> -is a limit of morality; she is in no way anxious to dominate -it, but she can and must prevent morality from -going astray in its search for perfection. Those who -are familiar with history know that a spice of artistic -taste has always been the best remedy for the -most dangerous or the most repugnant excesses of -asceticism.</p> - -<p>Let us take another example. A question which has -much exercised men’s minds is whether art and science -ought to set before themselves practical ends, or whether -they are in themselves ends. There are people who -would like to subordinate the rest of the world to art -and to science. This entails requiring of art and -science that they should seek beauty and truth without -having in view any utilitarian end, without troubling -themselves to ask whether they are useful or hurtful to -man. Others again propose to subordinate art and -science to the rest of the world, asserting that every -art and every science which does not serve practical -ends is a waste of time and trouble. Here, too, it -seems to me that it would be more human to say that -science and art seek truth and beauty, not utility. -Utility, then, is not the end of art and of science; -but it is one of their limits. The truths which the -human mind can discover, like the forms of beauty -which it can create, are infinite.</p> - -<p>Is it strange, then, that man, unable to discover all -the truths or to create all the forms of beauty, should -choose for preference those which, in addition to conferring<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">338</span> -intellectual or æsthetic pleasure, help him to -live? Can anyone see anything absurd in this? If a -man set to work to build edifices with the sole object of -pleasing the eye through harmonious lines, he could -build them as fancy prompted him; there would be no -limit either to the variety of forms or to the number of -different constructions. Will anybody be found to -maintain that art has the right to fill the world with -beautiful edifices which are of no use for anything? -No, practical considerations have their claim. Even -the epochs in which architecture flourished most bravely -built edifices which, while beautiful to look at, served -also definite ends; and nobody has ever protested -against the limitations which this practical consideration -imposed.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>Similarly sport must, in my opinion, be considered -as a limit; the limit necessary to the excesses of an -intellectual and sedentary civilisation, which exposes -the nervous system to formidable trials. M. de Coubertin -has analysed this aspect of modern life so well in his -<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Essais de psychologie sportive</i>, that I beg leave to quote -one of the numerous fine passages from that book:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">La vie moderne n’est plus ni locale ni spéciale; tout y -influe sur tout. D’une part la rapidité et la multiplicité -des transports ont fait de l’homme un être essentiellement -mobile, pour le quel les distances sont de plus en plus insignifiantes -à franchir et sollicitent, par conséquent, de fréquents -changements de lieu; d’autre part l’égalisation des points -de départ et la possibilité d’élévations rapides vers le pouvoir<span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">339</span> -et la fortune ont excité les appétits et les ambitions -des masses à un point inconnu jusqu’ ici.... Ce double -élément a transformé de façon fondamentale l’effort -humain. L’effort d’autre-fois était régulier et constant; une -certaine sécurité résultant de la stabilité sociale, le protégeait. -Surtout, il n’était pas cérébral a un degré excessif. -Celui d’aujourd’hui est tout autre. L’inquiétude et -l’espérance l’environnent avec une intensité particulière. -C’est que l’échec et la réussite ont dé nos jours des conséquences -énormes. L’homme peut à la fois tout craindre -et tout espérer. De cet état de chose est née une agitation -que les transformations de la vie extérieure encouragent et -accroissent. Au dedans et au dehors le cerveau est entretenu -dans une sorte d’ébullition incessante. Les points de -vue, les aspects des choses, les combinaisons, les possibilités, -tant pour les individus que pour les collectivités, se succèdent -si rapidement qu’il faut pour en tenir compte et les utilises -au besoin se tenir toujours en éveil et comme en une -mobilisation permanente.</p> -</div> - -<p>This picture of modern life is perfect. Never has -man lived in such a state of permanent and growing -excitement. If the men of the ancient world could -come to life again, their first impression, you may be -sure, would be that mankind had gone mad. It is this -excitement which has produced the formidable explosion -of energy that we are witnessing on our little planet, -which for ages had lived in comparative tranquillity. -But has not this formidable tension of the world-soul -itself need of limits? Can we conceive its being allowed -to increase indefinitely until the time when the nervous -system breaks down as inevitably it must? Can we -conceive our perpetual agitation being left without any<span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">340</span> -limit save exhaustion, insanity, or death? The question -answers itself. The limits to the over-excitement of -our nerves raise one of the most serious problems of our -epoch; a problem with a thousand different aspects, -which involves morals as well as hygiene, politics as -well as the intellectual life. Now sport may be one of -these limits, if it be practised—again I borrow from M. -de Coubertin—with calmness, “<span xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">s’il devient cet empire -du Matin Calme d’où les deux vampires de notre -civilisation—la hâte et la foule—sont chassés</span>”; if it -be made, not one more in the long list of causes of -excitement and exhaustion, but a health-giving diversion, -a beneficent force capable of spraying the nerves -with that divine ambrosia, now so rare and so precious—healthy -sleep and peace of mind. No one who is -convinced of the supreme necessity for limits can doubt -that this conception of sport is the truest, worthiest, -and most beneficial; indeed, the only one that is in its -turn susceptible of a limit and runs no risk of losing itself -in excesses,—those excesses of sport, in its quality -of spectacle for the masses, whose brutalising and -corrupt effects are notorious.</p> - -<p>A balancing force, a counterpoise to the intellectual -excesses of a sedentary, nervous civilisation which is -agitated by a perpetual excitement, that is what sport -ought to be. I hasten to add that I cannot claim the -credit for this definition, not that it is in itself a very -striking discovery. An opponent might even say that -it is almost a platitude; a special application of that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">341</span> -principle which is as old as the hills, and which the -Greeks expressed in their formula, μηδὲν ἅγαν, nothing -in excess. Granted; but it is sometimes a good -thing to repeat platitudes, for human wisdom is not -an inexhaustible mine of ever-new principles and ideas. -Its treasure-house is stored with platitudes, which have -only become such because man is always requiring their -repetition. Besides, when questions touching moral -and social life are under discussion, the intellectual -point of view is not by any means the most important. -Those principles of wisdom which seem the easiest -and simplest to announce are not those which are always -the simplest in practice, and the easiest to carry into -execution. μηδὲν ἅγαν—nothing in excess—has been -to men the cry of wisdom since the beginning of time. -Is it not the clearest and the simplest of principles? -Need one be a profound philosopher to understand that -moderation in the use of everything, even of good things, -is necessary? This truth is indeed one which the -simplest mind is capable of understanding. Yet life -is but an eternal struggle against excesses of all sorts, to -which man is continually tempted to give way. Why? -Because though the precept be clear and evident, to -apply it man has to struggle with his passions, with his -own interests, and those of others, and with the illusions -and errors that assail him on all sides. Consequently, -he must be under no illusion.</p> - -<p>You are at one in a conception of sport which is the -noblest and wisest possible, because it regards sport<span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">342</span> -as a balancing force between the diverse elements of -social life. You band together and join forces in order -to popularise this conception. It is a useful and a wise -task; but it will expose you to wearisome struggles, and -you must be prepared for many a bitter disappointment. -In every epoch, those who have wished to -introduce equilibrium into life have had to struggle -against this mysterious force which drives men into -every excess. But in no epoch and in no civilisation -perhaps has this struggle been so difficult and wearisome -as it is in contemporary civilisation. It is a -phenomenon which few people nowadays take clearly -and precisely into account; but which is, nevertheless, -the keystone of the greatest difficulties by which our -civilisation is beset. Yes, there is no doubt about it, we -are living at an extraordinary crisis in history. Man -has never been so powerful, so wise, so rich, so sure of -himself and of his future. He has dared to lift his eyes -and gaze steadily at the sombre mystery of things, -before which he had for so many centuries bowed his -head in trembling. He has conquered the world and -torn from it its most recondite treasures. He has cast -aside all the supports which sustained our ancestors in -their toilsome march through life—traditions, religions, -beliefs, all the principles of unquestioning obedience. -He had succeeded to a certain degree in conquering -space and time. All the civilisations which preceded the -French Revolution seem, if we compare them with ours, -small, limited, timid, poor, and inadequate.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">343</span></p> - -<p>Yet modern man does not seem to have any very -distinct and sure consciousness of his actual greatness. -He may be elated by an occasional fit of glowing pride, -but as often as not he is discontented. He grumbles; -he sincerely deplores the vices and imperfections of his -day. A broad and deep current of pessimism flows -through the fabulous wealth and the wonders of our -times. Why? Because our civilisation is by the very nature -of its constitution unable to thrive save on excesses; -and it can thrive only on excesses because it has acquired -so much power by overturning nearly all the limits within -which previous civilisations had confined themselves.</p> - -<p>How marvellous an epic, but how disquieting in its -novelty and its grandeur, is this gradual awakening of -human daring and pride, of which the history of the last -four centuries is full! For its first appearance dates -back to the great geographical discoveries of the -fifteenth century, and to that which was the greatest -of all those discoveries—America.</p> - -<p>A few years later saw the astronomic revolution. -Ancient thought, after long deliberation, had decided to -enclose the universe in a confined system, with established -limits. Copernicus took no notice of these limits, -and launched out in thought into the infinite. The -impression produced on the men of the sixteenth century -by these two great events was profound. The -bold spirits who had dared to cross the two limits considered -insuperable on earth and in the sky had come -back with a rich booty of land and stars.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">344</span></p> - -<p>Was the world then greater and man more powerful -than the ancients had thought, and had the ancients -been wrong in seeking to limit the efforts of human -genius so strictly? Gradually, during the seventeenth -and eighteenth centuries, the effort of the human spirit -to free itself from the ancient limits continued, increased, -and became bolder and more methodical. Subtle and -ingenious philosophies delivered masked but clear -attacks on the limits which marked the bounds of -Good and Evil, Truth and Error; on tradition, on -century-old institutions, on authority in all its forms. -They pretended to wish to ascertain whether the limits -were solidly planted in the right place; but in reality -they undermined their foundations. Little by little an -idea crept into men’s minds, an idea which was the -negation of all the limits within which the world had -lived until then; an idea which was bound to upset the -conception of social and moral life; the idea of liberty, -applied to religion, culture, and politics. At the same -time, by means of science and fire, man sought very -timidly, if not to free himself from, at least to enlarge, -the limits which nature seemed to have set to his forces. -The strata of coal began to be discovered and -exploited. Men set themselves to invent machines -more complicated and more rapid than those of which -their fathers made use; the steam-engine, the fountainhead -of all the formidable agitation which has -invaded the world, made its appearance; the great -era of iron and of fire began. And lo! finally a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">345</span> -formidable cataclysm, of which man had never seen -the like in a few years, upset traditions, and wrought -havoc amongst states, institutions, and old-established -laws. To the strains of the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Marseillaise</i>, on -the ruins of the Bastile, on the fields of Marengo and -Austerlitz, the work sketched out by Columbus and -Copernicus, continued by Galileo, Descartes, Voltaire, -Rousseau, and Kant, was completed. Man arose, -tore up, and overturned all the ancient limits and -planted the new ones with his own hands, at his own -good pleasure, not only for himself but also for the -authorities of Heaven and earth, who had until then -imposed their limits upon him.</p> - -<p>Then began the extraordinary drama of which we -are the spectators. Rich, wise, and free, armed with -fire and science, mistress of a large part of the earth -and, in particular, of a continent so vast and rich as -America, irked no longer by any limit, not by extent -nor by weight nor by matter and its laws which it has -conquered, thanks to discoveries and to machines, nor -by God, whom it has banished to the infinite, itself -usurping His earthly throne, our civilisation expanded -in every direction, as it were, carried away by the intoxication -of the unlimited. Man rose erect like a giant, -to face nature and the past; and like a giant whom -none can resist he swept on and conquered the world.</p> - -<p>Like a giant, indeed, but like a giant who totters at -every step. This civilisation of ours has become so -powerful because it has overturned all the limits; but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">346</span> -just because it has overturned nearly all the limits, it -has become increasingly difficult for it to limit itself -in the good as well as in the bad; I mean to say, that the -bad tends to become worse, and the good to become bad. -If the strength of the forces of creation and initiative is -in our epoch greater than ever it was in any previous -epoch, the same may be said of the weakness of the forces -of equilibrium, whose function it is to check the most -dangerous exaggerations and excesses. What an -interesting comparison might be made between the -present and the past from this point of view; and how -many instances could be cited in proof of this assertion! -I shall instance just one, a simple and homely, -but clear, one. Once delivered from all the bonds which -limited his efforts of yore, man has succeeded in the -last century in creating an abundance of material -goods such as the world had never thought possible -even when it dreamed of the Terrestrial Paradise, the -Golden Age, and the Garden of the Hesperides; all of -them myths in which man had been pleased, during -centuries of the life of struggle, to objectify his most -ardent desires. It is all very well for men of the present -day to complain that life is difficult and full of struggles. -Those who know the difficulties which beset preceding -centuries will feel a strong temptation to laugh at their -complaints. The modern world has contrived abundance -in everything; in the necessities of life, such as -bread, and in things which become very dangerous -when they are over-abundant, like alcoholic drinks,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">347</span> -tobacco, and all stimulants. Many are the reproaches -hurled against our epoch on the score of the increase in -alcoholism; many are the remedies devised for this evil. -But would not the only and the simplest remedy be -that adopted by our ancestors, the limitation of the -production of liquors? The masses would no longer -be able to poison themselves when the quantity of -these liquors was scarcely sufficient—as it used to be—for -the requirements of a moderate consumption. -The world, on the contrary, will continue to get gloriously -drunk, so long as the production of wine, beer, -and spirits increases. Now why is it that this, the -only efficacious remedy, is just the one which our -epoch cannot bring itself to apply? Why do we see -everywhere governments taking measures of more or -less efficacy against alcoholism and at the same time -contributing, directly or indirectly, to the increase in -the production of alcoholic drinks?</p> - -<p>The reason is, that nothing is more difficult for our -civilisation than to impose a limit on anything. Its -impetus carries it too far in everything. It is almost -a law of its constitution. We have, to a great extent, -lost the sense of just measure, because we have weakened -or destroyed nearly all the authorities and moral -forces which used to make the limits respected. Our -greatness and our power are partly due to disequilibrium; -and often enough we are called on to pay the -tragic penalty for this at the moment when we least -expect the call.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">348</span></p> - -<p>This is, however, a long digression, and you may with -reason ask me to return to the matter which interests -us. I have not lost sight of it; for this digression has a -very close connection with our subject.</p> - -<p>This epoch which misuses everything, misuses and -will misuse sport. It will make it—it has already -begun to make it—one more of the elements of excitement, -of competition, and of exhaustion, already alas! -only too numerous. No illusions are possible on this -score. It might even be said that sport is one of the -things of which our epoch will probably make the -greatest misuse. History justifies us in this fear, for -it proves to us that even those civilisations, like the -Greek and Roman, which succeeded in limiting themselves -in everything else, misused games. Is it likely -that our civilisation, which misuses toilsome activities -like work, will easily preserve a just measure in amusements? -Besides, you have only to look round you to -see interests forming groups, coalitions, and organisations -for the purpose of exploiting, in this field also, -the morbid need for excitement which has taken hold -of the masses; their desire for amusements and distractions -and even their incorrigible weakness for -games of chance. Those, then, who wish to purge sport -of its elements of haste and crowd, to transform it—I -borrow once more M. de Coubertin’s happy phrase—into -the “Empire du Matin Calme,” will have a -singularly difficult task before them. If, however, the -task is difficult, it is for that all the nobler. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">349</span> -modern world has need, great and urgent need, of balance, -measure, and harmony, if it is not to run the risk -of being stifled by the excess of its energy. Do not let -yourselves be deceived by its assurance, its pride, the -blind confidence in its powers which it affects, the -haughty challenge it so often throws to the humble -wisdom of past generations. We are richer, wiser, more -powerful than were our grandfathers. But because we -have discovered America and invented railways we -have not become demi-gods; we are still only men. -All the weaknesses of human nature which the moralists -of olden times discovered and analysed so subtly still -subsist in us, and still distract us; we must pay nature, -the great equaliser, the price for the advantages secured -to us by the sum of the work of preceding generations; -and many are the forms in which that payment is made. -Nervous illnesses, insanity, and suicides are on the -increase. Sterility is spreading, especially in the -peoples and countries that have been most highly -favoured by the development of modern civilisation.</p> - -<p>A discontent as deep as it is unreasonable seems to -pervade the world, with each improvement in the -conditions of every class. One might say that man has -become insatiable. The more blessings are heaped -upon him, the more he complains. The more he -possesses, the more he thinks himself poor and needy. -The fewer are the causes for grief and the dangers -around him, the more wretched he feels. These -apparent paradoxes, these inexplicable contradictions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">350</span> -are only the warnings life utters to remind men of the -μηδὲν ἅγαν of ancient wisdom. The modern world suffers -from the excesses to which it abandons itself, -even if it will not acknowledge this fact. Those who -try to recall the modern world to a more harmonious -ideal of life do it a service whose usefulness is most -strikingly proved by the attitude of resentment it -assumes towards their efforts.</p> - -<p>Ladies and Gentlemen: I feel somewhat ashamed -that my contribution to your work must be merely -these few general considerations. Dissertations on -the ends to be aimed at are easy enough to concoct, -but the task is apt to be a theoretical one -of little enough utility. The important thing in all -the great social problems is the means of attaining -those ends. That is the point upon which all our -efforts, all our intelligence, all our wills, must converge. -I cannot be of any use to you in that, by -reason of my incompetence. I can only attend this -congress as an onlooker anxious to learn, come not to -purvey information but to convey it away. I must -then confine myself at the conclusion of my speech to -wishing your task and your labours all the success -which your energy, your enthusiasm, and your faith -deserve. But this wish of mine, though sterile in -itself, owing to my inability to take an active part in -your work, is none the less cordial. By birth, by -natural tendencies, and by education, I belong to a -culture which has always tended to harmony, moderation,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">351</span> -and equilibrium. I have passed a portion of my -life in studying the ancient civilisations which created -so many beautiful and profound things because they -succeeded in limiting themselves. I have visited and -studied also those vast new civilisations on the other -side of the Atlantic, which seem to be aiming at -the realisation of the perfect type of the unlimited -civilisation.</p> - -<p>It is not possible to have been born in Italy, to have -studied ancient civilisations, and to have examined -at first hand the tendencies of modern civilisation in -Europe and America, without being convinced that our -epoch is allowing itself to be seduced by too material -and gross a conception of progress. Progress cannot be -merely the accumulation of wealth, accelerated by the -inventions and great discoveries of science, nor the -hurried transformation of everything, the perpetual -change which is the mania of our epoch. There is, -there must be, another conception, more lofty than -this conception of progress; a conception of progress as -the accumulated effort of generations. Is it not true -that each generation creates forms of beauty, and -discovers new truths and virtues? Can we not say that -generations really do show progress, if they succeed in -preserving the creations of preceding epochs, and in -erecting on them as a basis more complex and elevated -creations of their own?</p> - -<p>Often and often, reflecting on the differences between -the ancient world and our epoch, have I said to myself<span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">352</span> -that the history of the world would be able to chronicle -a great step forward on the day that we succeeded in -uniting in modern sport the æsthetic sense of the -Greeks, the modesty and decency for which Christianity -is responsible, and the democratic, practical, -and active spirit of our epoch. Is that simply the -dream of an ignoramus who does not know what is -possible and what is not? You may say so. But if -your congress can bring our civilisation any nearer to -this ideal, it will have done something for real progress, -a work which will merit the approbation of all those -who wish to see man’s every effort concentrated on the -betterment of the spiritual life. I give you then, my -good wishes for your success in your efforts in this -direction; and I hope that you will not take my good -wishes amiss, even though they come from a writer -who is not competent to appraise at its true value the -full worth of your noble efforts.</p> - -<p class="p2 center">THE END</p> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made -consistent when a predominant preference was found -in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.</p> - -<p>Misspellings of non-English words have been retained.</p> - -<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced -quotation marks were remedied when the change was -obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.</p> -</div></div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT ROME AND MODERN AMERICA; ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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