483페이지 중 219페이지

"These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings.

Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous and

magnificent, yet so vicious and base? He appeared at one time a

mere scion of the evil principle and at another as all that can

be conceived of noble and godlike. To be a great and virtuous man

appeared the highest honour that can befall a sensitive being; to

be base and vicious, as many on record have been, appeared the

lowest degradation, a condition more abject than that of the

blind mole or harmless worm. For a long time I could not conceive

how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why

there were laws and governments; but when I heard details of vice

and bloodshed, my wonder ceased and I turned away with disgust

and loathing.