The Swarm 
nature with eyes still dazzled by the pre- 
sence of imaginary gods. 
20 
Why do they thus renounce sleep, the 
delights of honey and love, and the ex- 
quisite leisure enjoyed, for instance, by their 
winged brother, the butterfly? Why not 
live as he lives? It is not hunger that 
urges them on. Two or three flowers suf- 
fice for their nourishment, and in one hour 
they will visit two or three hundred, to 
gather a treasure whose sweetness they never 
will taste. Why all this toil and distress, and 
whence comes this mighty assurance? Is 
it so certain, then, that the new generation 
whereunto you offer your lives will merit 
the sacrifice, will be more beautiful, happier, 
will do something you have not done? Your 
aim is clear to us, clearer than our own; 
you desire to live, as long as the world itself, 
in those that come after you; but what can 
the aim be of this great aim; what the mis- 
sion of this existence eternally renewed ? 
And yet may it not be that these questions 
57 
