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able to offer Eurydice ail that a man wishes to ofler 

 to the woman of his choice, he would départ in 

 spite of the danger, which would surround him. 

 It is not to try the experiment of Leucade ; he has 

 intimately associated himself with the immense 

 class of those for whom as yet the capacity of good 

 and evil does not exist ; mortals who must be rais- 

 ed to the rank of raen ; but his generous heart 

 refuses to make Eurydice share in such a perilous 

 destiny. He speaks thus to the sage Titan , who 

 has so favourabJy received him , and whose dearest 

 interests he would not betray : « Noble old man , 

 have the gods vainly placed in my soul an immense 

 désire to tear savage hordes from the barbaiïty in 

 which I see them plunged, as in a mire? Armed 

 Pallas , half serpent, is the admirable emblem of 

 dawning humanity. She is attended by the Dios- 

 cures , children of Jupiter , and she plays on the 

 flûte. When the progress of humanity will be more 

 advanced, this half serpent, which at présent crawls 

 on the fertile earth, will walk erect in its dignity 

 and indépendance. In -vain the jealous Titans would 

 tear the heart from the strong breast of Bacchus ; 

 and the heart is the seat of the civil soul. I have 

 reaped , it is true, no harvest from my first attempts, 

 but of what avail would courage be , had we mere- 

 ly to act in the easy path of success. I will go to 

 the wise Egypt and Ihere learn ail the sublime 

 marvels of poetry and of morals. There I shall 

 learn the différent natures of soûls , if really a dif- 

 férent nature exists , and I will cause myself to be 



