THE KEY OF THE MYSTERIES
is the black veil of its face . . . the tumbril rolls on, and the
shuddering crowd follows it. . .
Soon one more century will be judged by history, and one
will write upon a mighty tomb of ruins:
“Here ends the parricide century! The century which
murdered its God and its Christ!”
In war, one has the right to kill, in order not to die: but
in the battle of life the most sublime of rights is that of dying
in order not to kill.
Intelligence and love should resist oppression unto death—
but never unto murder.
Brave man, the life of him who has offended you is in your
hands; for he is master of the life of others who cares not for
his own... Crush him beneath your greatness : pardon him!
“ But is it forbidden to kill the tiger which threatens us?”
“Tf it isa tiger with a human face, it is finer to let him
devour us,—yet, for all that, morality has here nothing to
say.”
“But if the tiger threatens my children ?”
“Let Nature herself reply to you!”
Harmodius and Aristogiton had festivals and statues in
Ancient Greece. The Bible has consecrated the names of
Judith and Ehud, and one of the most sublime figures of the
Holy Book is that of Samson, blind and chained, pulling
down the columns of the temple, as he cried: “Let me die
with the Philistines!”
And yet, do you think that, if Jesus, before dying, had
gone to Rome to plunge his dagger in the heart of Tiberius,
He would have saved the world, as He did, in forgiving His
executioners, and in dying for even Tiberius?
E2 51