less people." Tragedy,
said to be moralizing, wastes in counterfeit effusions the little virtue
that still remains. "When a man has been admiring the noble feats in the
fables what more is expected of him? After paying homage to virtue is
he not discharged from all that he owes to it? What more would they have
him do? Must he practice it himself? He has no part to play, he is not a
comedian."--The sciences, the fine arts, the arts of luxury, philosophy,
literature, all this serve only to effeminate and distract the mind;
all that is only made for the small crowd of brilliant and noisy insects
buzzing around the summits of society and sucking away all public
substance.--As regards the sciences, but one is important, that of our
duties, and, without so many subtleties and so much study, our innermost
conscience suffice to show us the way.--As regards the arts and the
skills, only those should be tolerated which, ministering to our prime
necessities, provide us with bread to feed us, with a roof to shelter
us, clothing to cover us, and arms with which to defend ourselves.--In
the way of existence that only is healthy which enables us to live in
the country, artlessly, without display, in family union, devoted to
cultivation, living on the products of the soil and among neighbors that
are equals and with servants that one trusts as friends.[3336]--As for
the classes, but one is respectable, that of laboring men, especially
that of men working with their own hands, artisans and mechanics,
only these being really of service, the only ones who, through their
situation, are in close proximity to the natural state, and who
preserve, under a rough exterior, the warmth, the goodness and the
integrity of primitive instincts.--Accordingly, let us call by its true
name this elegance, this luxury, this urbanity, this literary delicacy,
this philosophical eccentricity, admired by the prejudiced as the flower
of the life of humanity; it is only mold and mildew. In like manner
esteem at its just value the swarm that live upon it, namely, the
indolent aristocracy, the fashionable world, the privileged who direct
and make a display, the idlers of the drawing room who talk, divert
themselves and regard themselves as the elect of humanity, but who are
simply so many parasites. Whether parasitic or excretory, one attracts
the other, and the tree can only be well if we get rid of both.

If civilization is bad, society is worse. [3337] For this