210

The last act is tragic, however happy all the rest of the play is; at the last a little earth is thrown upon our head, and that is the end for ever.

211

We are fools to depend upon the society of our fellow-men.  Wretched as we are, powerless as we are, they will not aid us; we shall die alone.  We should therefore act as if we were alone, and in that case should we build fine houses, etc.?  We should seek the truth without hesitation; and, if we refuse it, we show that we value the esteem of men more than the search for truth.

212

Instability.[89]—­It is a horrible thing to feel all that we possess slipping away.

213

Between us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the frailest thing in the world.

214

Injustice.—­That presumption should be joined to meanness is extreme injustice.

215

To fear death without danger, and not in danger, for one must be a man.

216

Sudden death alone is feared; hence confessors stay with lords.

217

An heir finds the title-deeds of his house.  Will he say, “Perhaps they are forged?” and neglect to examine them?

218

Dungeon.—­I approve of not examining the opinion of Copernicus; but this...!  It concerns all our life to know whether the soul be mortal or immortal.

219

It is certain that the mortality or immortality of the soul must make an entire difference to morality.  And yet philosophers have constructed their ethics independently of this:  they discuss to pass an hour.

Plato, to incline to Christianity.

220

The fallacy of philosophers who have not discussed the immortality of the soul.  The fallacy of their dilemma in Montaigne.

221

Atheists ought to say what is perfectly evident; now it is not perfectly evident that the soul is material.

222

Atheists.—­What reason have they for saying that we cannot rise from the dead?  What is more difficult, to be born or to rise again; that what has never been should be, or that what has been should be again?  Is it more difficult to come into existence than to return to it?  Habit makes the one appear easy to us; want of habit makes the other impossible.  A popular way of thinking!

Why cannot a virgin bear a child?  Does a hen not lay eggs without a cock?  What distinguishes these outwardly from others?  And who has told us that the hen may not form the germ as well as the cock?

223

What have they to say against the resurrection, and against the child-bearing of the Virgin?  Which is the more difficult, to produce a man or an animal, or to reproduce it?  And if they had never seen any species of animals, could they have conjectured whether they were produced without connection with each other?