CHAPTER IV. 
THE ANTS:—CIVIL WAR—EXTERMINATION 
OF THE COMMUNITY. 
It is the tyrant’s punishment that he could not, 
even if he would, easily deliver his captive. So 
long as my nightingale sings, I know that he cares 
little for his cage, and I bear his captivity lightly; 
but when the time of song has gone by, I share 
his melancholy, and the question again and again 
p recurs to my mind, “ How can I release him ? ” 
He no longer knows how to fly; in truth, is almost 
without wings. If I set him free, he would 
perish before he had gone a couple of 
steps. The liberties which he takes at Paris in a large chamber, and 
here, at Fontainebleau, in a small garden, are, really, of but little im¬ 
portance. He does not profit by them; almost always remains con- 
