But so thoroughly had the spirit of self-righteousness and intolerance got hold of the world that until very recently all those who advocated tolerance upon the basis that “we cannot ever possibly know who is right and who is wrong” did so at the risk of their lives and usually couched their warnings in such careful Latin sentences that not more than one or two of their most intelligent readers ever knew what they meant.
CHAPTER VI
THE PURE OF LIFE
Here is a little problem in mathematics which is not out of place in a book of history. Take a piece of string and make it into a circle, like this:
I
In this circle all diameters will of course be equal.
AB = CD = EF = GH and so on, ad infinitum.
But turn the circle into an ellipse by slightly pulling two sides. Then the perfect balance is at once disturbed. The diameters are thrown out of gear. A few like AB and EF have been greatly shortened. Others, and especially CD, have been lengthened.
II