The Confession of a Child of the Century | Page 5

will merely follow you a short distance
growling and showing his teeth; but if you allow yourself to be
frightened into a movement of terror, if you but make a sudden step, he
will leap at your throat and devour you; that when the first bite has
been taken there is no escaping him.
In European history it has often happened that a sovereign has made
such a movement of terror and his people have devoured him; but if
one had done it, all had not done it at the same time--that is to say, one
king had disappeared, but not all royal majesty. Before the sword of
Napoleon majesty made this movement, this gesture which ruins
everything, not only majesty but religion, nobility, all power both
human and divine.

Napoleon dead, human and divine power were reestablished, but belief
in them no longer existed. A terrible danger lurks in the knowledge of
what is possible, for the mind always goes farther. It is one thing to say:
"That may be" and another thing to say: "That has been;" it is the first
bite of the dog.
The fall of Napoleon was the last flicker of the lamp of despotism; it
destroyed and it parodied kings as Voltaire the Holy Scripture. And
after him was heard a great noise: it was the stone of St. Helena which
had just fallen on the ancient world. Immediately there appeared in the
heavens the cold star of reason, and its rays, like those of the goddess
of the night, shedding light without heat, enveloped the world in a livid
shroud.
There had been those who hated the nobles, who cried out against
priests, who conspired against kings; abuses and prejudices had been
attacked; but all that was not so great a novelty as to see a smiling
people. If a noble or a priest or a sovereign passed, the peasants who
had made war possible began to shake their heads and say: "Ah! when
we saw this man in such a time and place he wore a different face."
And when the throne and altar were mentioned, they replied: "They are
made of four planks of wood; we have nailed them together and torn
them apart." And when some one said: "People, you have recovered
from the errors which led you astray; you have recalled your kings and
your priests," they replied: "We have nothing to do with those
prattlers." And when some one said "People, forget the past, work and
obey," they arose from their seats and a dull jangling could be heard. It
was the rusty and notched sabre in the corner of the cottage chimney.
Then they hastened to add: "Then keep quiet, at least; if no one harms
you, do not seek to harm." Alas! they were content with that.
But youth was not content. It is certain that there are in man two occult
powers engaged in a death-struggle: the one, clear-sighted and cold, is
concerned with reality, calculation, weight, and judges the past; the
other is athirst for the future and eager for the unknown. When passion
sways man, reason follows him weeping and warning, him of his
danger; but when man listens to the voice of reason, when he stops at

her request and says: "What a fool I am; where am I going?" passion
calls to him: "Ah, must I die?"
A feeling of extreme uneasiness began to ferment in all young hearts.
Condemned to inaction by the powers which governed the world,
delivered to vulgar pedants of every kind, to idleness and to ennui, the
youth saw the foaming billows which they had prepared to meet,
subside. All these gladiators glistening with oil felt in the bottom of
their souls an insupportable wretchedness. The richest became
libertines; those of moderate fortune followed some profession and
resigned themselves to the sword or to the church. The poorest gave
themselves up with cold enthusiasm to great thoughts, plunged into the
frightful sea of aimless effort. As human weakness seeks association
and as men are gregarious by nature, politics became mingled with it.
There were struggles with the 'garde du corps' on the steps of the
legislative assembly; at the theatre Talma wore a wig which made him
resemble Caesar; every one flocked to the burial of a Liberal deputy.
But of the members of the two parties there was not one who, upon
returning home, did not bitterly realize the emptiness of his life and the
feebleness of his hands.
While life outside was so colorless and so mean, the inner life of
society assumed a sombre aspect of silence; hypocrisy ruled in all
departments of conduct; English ideas, combining gayety with devotion,
had disappeared. Perhaps Providence was already preparing new ways,
perhaps the herald angel of future