The Sacred Beetle and Others 



melted down and absorbed by the Gallic 

 nation. 



To-day the foreigner is stealthily making 

 his way into our midst. We are threatened 

 with a second barbarian invasion, peaceful, 

 it is true, but yet disturbing. Will our 

 language, so clear and so harmonious, be- 

 come an obscure' jargon, harsh with exotic 

 gutturals? Will our generous character be 

 dishonoured by rapacious hucksters? Will 

 the land of our fathers cease to be a country 

 and become a caravanserai? There is a fear 

 of it, unless the old Gallic blood runs swift 

 and strong once more and engulfs the stream 

 of invaders. 



Let us hope that it may be so and let us 

 listen to what the horned Dung-beetle has 

 to teach us. A large family demands food. 

 But progress brings new needs, which cost 

 much to satisfy; and our revenues are far 

 from increasing at the same rate. When 

 men have not enough for six or five or four, 

 they are content to live as a family of three 

 or two, or even to remain single. Guided 

 by such principles as these, a nation, in its 

 successive stages of progress, is on the road 

 to suicide. 



Let us go back then to where we were, 

 suppress our artificial needs, those unwhole- 



368 



