THE PASSIONS. 457 



For the life of women is a battle-field : virtue is their 

 courage, and peace of mind is their reward. It is cer- 

 tainly an extraordinary fact that women should be 

 subjected to a severe social discipline, from which 

 men are almost entirely exempt. As we have shown, 

 it is explained by history ; it is due to the ancient 

 subjection of women to the man. But it is not 

 the women who are to be pitied : it is they who 

 alone are free ; for by that discipline they are pre- 

 served from the tyranny of vice. It would be well 

 for men if they also were ruled by a severe opinion. 

 The passions are always foes, but it is only when they 

 have been encouraged that they are able to become 

 masters ; it is only when they have allied themselves 

 with habit that their terrible power becomes known. 

 They resemble wild beasts which men feed and cherish 

 until they are themselves devoured by their playmates. 

 What miseries they cause, how many intellects they 

 paralyze, how many families they ruin, how many 

 innocent hearts they break asunder, how many lives 

 they poison, how many young corpses they carry to 

 the tomb ! What fate can be more wretched than 

 that of the man who resigns himself to them ? 

 As to the beautiful mind of Mendelssohn every sound, 

 whatever it might be. the bubbling of a brook, the 

 rustling of the wind among the trees, the voice of a 

 bird, even the grating of a wheel inspired a musical 

 idea, so — how melancholy is the contrast ! — so — how 

 deep is the descent ! — so to the mind that is steeped 

 in sensuality, every sight, every sound, calls up an 

 impure association. The voluptuary dreads to be alone; 

 his mind is a monster that exhibits foul pictures to his 

 eyes : his memories are temptations : he struggles, he 

 resists, but it is all in vain : the habits which once 



