sanity" of love. (hh) He says that amidst the phenomena which appear so threatening he sees already the signs of that new nascent disposition of love among men; that the armed nations no longer hate one another, that in the struggle of the wealthy classes with the poor there is no longer manifested the triumph of the victors, but the sincere compassion of the victors for the conquered and dissatisfaction and shame on account of the victory; he sees, above all, he says, centres of love attraction form, growing like a snowball, and inevitably sure to attract everything living, which so far has not yet united with them, and he sees that by thus changing the disposition love will destroy all the evil from which people suffer.
(ii) I think that, even if we may disagree as to the nearness of the change which Dumas predicts, or even the possibility itself of such a love infatuation of men for one another, no one will dispute the fact that, if this happened, humanity would be freed from the great majority of misfortunes which beset and menace it now.[1] (jj) It cannot be denied that, if men did what thousands of years ago was prescribed not only by Christ, but also by all the sages of the world, that is, if, though unable to love one another as themselves, men did not do to one another what they do not want that others should do to them, if men abandoned themselves to altruism instead of egoism, if the structure of life from being individualistic were changed to a collectivistic one, as the men of science express the same idea in their bad jargon, the lives of men,
- ↑ The French version of (jj) differs in wording but not in essence from the Russian. It is preceded by the following passage: "The only objection, or rather the only question which can be put to Dumas, is this: If the love of our neighbour is possible, inherent in human nature, why have so many thousand years passed (for the commandment of loving God and our neighbour is not Christ's, but even that of Moses) without its being practised by men, who know this means of happiness? What cause impedes the manifestation of this natural sentiment, which is so beneficent to humanity?"
