306 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



poor ignorant creatures, to whom a small band of the 

 elect, marked with a sign, are to impart reason, 

 justice, and glory. 



" Avaunt with the faint-hearted and the fastidious ! 

 avaunt with the over-nice, who would fain emerge 

 without a speck of mud from the battle with stupidity 

 and evil ! They are not fitted for a work which 

 demands piety rather than disgust, a proud and lofty 

 heart, true kindness, which often differs very much 

 from superficial philanthropy ; something, in short, of 

 the wide-embracing sentiment of Scipio Africanus, 

 who, in reply to some trivial cavilling said: 'On 

 such and such a day I won the battle of Zama ; let 

 us go up to the Capitol and return thanks to the 

 gods.' 



" It is to the East that you owe that gait, as of the 

 Arab horse, which has sometimes startled your more 

 timid friends. The East inspires a craving for grand 

 adventures, for in the East the era of grand and fruit- 

 ful adventures is not yet run out. The sight of 

 sheep without a shepherd inspires one with the idea of 

 taking charge of the flock. How often in Syria I 

 have envied the sub -lieutenant who accompanied me ! 

 It may be that the man who is destined to found 

 order and civilisation in the East is even now growing 

 to manhood in some cadet school. You avoid in your 

 appreciation of man the narrow judgments of implac- 

 able idea-mongers, who believe that all races of men 

 are of equal value, and of flint-hearted theorists 



