250 THE CONTEOL OF LIFE 



Retinues of airy kings, 



Skirts of angels, starry wings, 



His fathers shining in bright fables. 



His children fed at heavenly tables. 



'Tis the privilege of Art 



Thus to play its cheerful part. ..." 



Again, to descend from the sublime to the tedious, 

 all the innumerable societies and associations that seem 

 to crowd us in our life are, when regarded with biological 

 detachment, more or less j&t and proper parts of the 

 external systematisation on which progressive human 

 evolution largely depends. 



Coming down to a homely example, let us go to the 

 ant which has carried state-socialism to such extremes. 

 Several generations of ants inhabit the same anthill, 

 and what we are trying to express is that the ants' 

 permanent products, and all that these stand for as 

 liberating stimuli, mean much in the evolution of ants. 

 So much the more in the evolution of men. 



§ 10. MAN'S IMPERIUM IN IMPERIO 



There is a Latin proverb that asks " who watches 

 the watchman ? " One must raise this question in 

 regard to social selection. How can we be sure that 

 the social selection is working in the right direction ? 

 In point of fact, we are sure that it often does not. To 

 advertise for a gardener " without encumbrances," to 

 penalise maternity, to ' sweat ' labour, to underpay some 

 teachers and ministers so that they are bound to remain 

 celibate, to acquiesce in arrangements that tend to break 

 up family hf e, all this is selective in effect — and selective 



