“Your shaggy ears are turned not to him whose words are wisest but to him who makes the most noise; and the natural fear which in the days of the cave-dwellers was the wise counsellor of your ancestors and of mine—the fear that created the gods and crime—makes you turn from the unfortunate and deprives you of pity. And you do not even want to be just. The white face of the new goddess Justice is strange to you, and you prostrate yourself before the old gods, black like yourself with fear and violence. You admire brute force, thinking it the sovereign power, because you do not know that it destroys itself. You do not know that all chains must fall before a just idea.
“You do not know that true strength lies in wisdom and that through wisdom alone the nations rise to greatness. You do not know that that which makes the glory of the nations is not the senseless clamour raised in public places, but the noble thought concealed in some garret, which, spreading one day over the whole world, will change its face. You do not know that those who have suffered imprisonment, outrage and exile, for justice’ sake, have honoured their country in the act. You do not understand.”
CHAPTER VIII
Monsieur Bergeret was in his study chatting with his pupil, Monsieur Goubin.
“I found to-day,” he said, “in a friend’s library, a little book which is extremely rare and perhaps unique. Whether he is ignorant of its existence, or thinks it of little value, Brunet does not mention it in his Manual. It is a little duodecimo entitled: Les charactères et pourtraictures tracés d’après les modelles anticques. It was printed in the year 1538 in the learned Rue Saint-Jacques.”
“Do you know the author?” inquired Monsieur Goubin.
“The author is a certain Master Nicole Langelier, a Parisian,” replied Monsieur Bergeret. “His style is not so pleasant as that of Amyot, but it is clear and full of meaning. I enjoyed reading his book, and copied out a chapter that struck me as very curious. Would you care to hear it?”
“Very much,” replied Monsieur Goubin.