The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



would have seen the apparently dead Scor- 

 pion return to life and thus assert its pro- 

 found ignorance of suicide. 



Apart from man, no living thing knows 

 the last resource of a voluntary end, because 

 none has a knowledge of death. As for us, 

 to feel that we have the power to escape from 

 the miseries of life is a noble prerogative, 

 upon which it is good to meditate, as a sign 

 of our elevation above the commonalty of 

 the animal world; but in point of fact it be- 

 comes cowardice if from the possibility we 

 pass to action. 



He who proposes to go to that length 

 should at least repeat to himself what Con- 

 fucius, the great philosopher of the yellow 

 race, said five-and-twenty centuries ago. 

 Having surprised a stranger in the woods 

 fixing to the branch of a tree a rope where- 

 with to hang himself, the Chinese sage ad- 

 dressed him in words the gist of which was 

 as follows : 



" However great your misfortunes, the 

 greatest of all would be to yield to despair. 

 All the rest can be repaired; this one is irre- 

 parable. Do not believe that all is lost for 

 you and try to convince yourself of a truth 

 which has been proved indisputable by the 

 experience of the centuries. And that truth 

 408 



