West, conviction means
sincerity to one's self. But sincerity to one's self has not much
meaning to Oriental peoples, little accustomed to the subtleties of a
critical spirit. Honesty and imposture are words which, in our rigid
consciences, are opposed as two irreconcilable terms. In the East,
they are connected by numberless subtle links and windings. The
authors of the Apocryphal books (of "Daniel" and of "Enoch," for
instance), men highly exalted, in order to aid their cause,
committed, without a shadow of scruple, an act which we should term a
fraud. The literal truth has little value to the Oriental; he sees
everything through the medium of his ideas, his interests, and his
passions.

History is impossible, if we do not fully admit that there are many
standards of sincerity. All great things are done through the people;
now we can only lead the people by adapting ourselves to its ideas.
The philosopher who, knowing this, isolates and fortifies himself in
his integrity, is highly praiseworthy. But he who takes humanity with
its illusions, and seeks to act with it and upon it, cannot be blamed.
Caesar knew well that he was not the son of Venus; France would not be
what it is, if it had not for a thousand years believed in the Holy
Ampulla of Rheims. It is easy for us, who are so powerless, to call
this falsehood, and, proud of our timid honesty, to treat with
contempt the heroes who have accepted the battle of life under other
conditions. When we have effected by our scruples what they
accomplished by their falsehoods, we shall have the right to be severe
upon them. At least, we must make a marked distinction between
societies like our own, where everything takes place in the full light
of reflection, and simple and credulous communities, in which the
beliefs that have governed ages have been born. Nothing great has been
established which does not rest on a legend. The only culprit in such
cases is the humanity which is willing to be deceived.

CHAPTER XVI.

MIRACLES.

Two means of proof--miracles and the accomplishment of
prophecies--could alone, in the opinion of the contemporaries of
Jesus, establish a supernatural mission. Jesus, and especially his
disciples, employed these two processes of demonstration in perfect
good faith. For a long time, Jesus had been convinced that the
prophets had written only in reference to him. He recognized himself
in their sacred oracles; he regarded himself as the mi