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as an offering to men , who as yet are ignorant of 

 their value , for wheat must become equally the 

 food of ail human families , ail called to the same 

 progress by the same labours. You , voluntary ex- 

 iles, you , freely devoted to ail the wants of hurha- 

 nity , you will eat the fruits of the forest,and wild 

 roots. Orpheus, thou canst teach both the religion 

 of funerals and the rites of marriage , which are 

 one and the same thing. Society cannot form itself 

 without creating the domestic lie ; property, a sort 

 of identification of man with the earth by culture , 

 becomes sacred by sepulchres , and thus it is , the 

 whole of human kind, will onelday become an im- 

 mense family. But the yoke of saws , to be salutary, 

 must be freely accepted. Go my children , erelông 

 forelorn orphans ; go , but live together like brother 

 and sister , till you find a place, where to fix your 

 dwelling. Imitate the birds , who migrate and 

 ■who abstain from love till they arrive in a coun- 

 try where the Gods instruct them how to build 

 a nest for their future progeny. Orpheus , 1 confide 

 to you the chastity of Eurydice ; let the certainty 

 of having her for .a spouse be sufficient for thee. 

 The men thou formest , will have ancestors by the 

 faith of sepulchres ; they will have descendants 

 by the holiness of marriage ; as for thee , thou 

 canst not have ancestors , and who knows if thou 

 wilt ever have children ? Let Jupiter and Métis 

 hold the place of ancestors for thee ; and the 

 improved race of man , be thy noble posterity. 

 Orpheus, Eurydice, drvine couple, consent to be 



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