HOMO MILITANS 



Angkor-Thorn. He entered through a sombre gateway, covered with 

 monstrous Brahma statues ; but even here the primeval forest, with its 

 population of snakes and monkeys, persisted, while in its midst the 

 innumerable vestiges of architecture and sculpture, reminiscent of the 

 ancient grandeur, had become virtually amalgamated with the vege- 

 tation. Let me quote Loti: 



'Car il y a un entetement de destruction meme chez les plantes. Le 

 Prince de la Mort, que les Brahmes appellent Shiva, celui qui a sus- 

 cite a chaque bete l'ennemi special qui la mange, a chaque creature 

 ses microbes rongeurs, semble avoir prevu, depuis la nuit des origines, 

 que les homines tenteraient de se prolonger un peu en construisant 

 des choses durables; alors, pour aneantir leur oeuvre, il a imagine, 

 entre mille autres agents destructeurs, les parietaires, et surtout ce 

 "figuier des ruines" auquel rien ne resiste. 



'C'est le "figuier des ruines" qui regne aujourd'hui en maitre sur 

 Angkor. Au-dessus des palais, au-dessus des temples qu'il a patiem- 

 ment desagreges, partout il deploie en triomphe son pale branchage 

 lisse, aux mouchetures de serpent, et son large dome de feuilles.' 



To be sure, many factors other than tropical plant growth have 

 cooperated in the dissolution of one of the grandest expressions of 

 human culture. Nevertheless, here one finds the most striking demon- 

 stration of the transitoriness of human endeavour which, even in its 

 most durable forms, can be maintained only by perpetual struggle 

 against non-human forms of life. 



In passing it may be remarked that the preceding passages also 

 serve to cast a new light on the proud device of the House of Orange, 

 'Je Maintiendrai' ; in its opposition to navxa qsi it is perhaps the loft- 

 iest of watchwords of all times. 



It is almost superfluous to indicate that the manifestations of human 

 culture are subject to attack by living agencies other than the tropical 

 vegetation mentioned above in connexion with the extreme case of 

 the annihilation of mighty structures. Most of these expressions are 

 after all of a much more fragile kind. One needs but think of paint- 

 ings, whose organic substructure provides a fully acceptable nutrient 

 substrate for many insects, moulds, and bacteria. It is gratifying that, 

 when the dangers of war were perceived in our country, the respon- 

 sible authorities paid timely attention to this fact by storing the paint- 

 ings and tapestries of our museums in underground vaults where, 



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