“The Rule consists of three parts; there is the list of things that qualify, the list of things that must not be done, and the list of things that must be done.  Qualification exacts a little exertion as evidence of good faith and it is designed to weed out the duller dull and many of the base.”

He goes on to tell of certain intellectual qualifications and disciplines.

“Next to the intellectual qualification comes the physical, the man must be in sound health, free from certain foul, avoidable and demoralizing diseases, and in good training.  We reject men who are fat, or thin, or flabby, or whose nerves are shaky—­we refer them back to training.  And finally the man or woman must be fully adult.”

“Twenty-one?  But you said twenty-five!”

“The age has varied.  At first it was twenty-five or over; then the minimum became twenty-five for men and twenty-one for women.  Now there is a feeling that it ought to be raised.  We don’t want to take advantage of mere boy and girl emotions—­men of my way of thinking, at any rate, don’t—­we want to get our Samurai with experiences, with settled mature conviction.  Our hygiene and regimen are rapidly pushing back old age and death, and keeping men hale and hearty to eighty and more.  There’s no need to hurry the young.  Let them have a chance of wine, love and song; let them feel the bite of full-blooded desire, and know what devils they have to reckon with...

“We forbid a good deal.  Many small pleasures do no great harm, but we think it well to forbid them none the less, so that we can weed out the self-indulgent.  We think that a constant resistance to little seductions is good for a man’s quality.  At any rate, it shows that a man is prepared to pay something for his honour and privileges.  We prescribe a regimen of food, forbid tobacco, wine, or any alcoholic drink, all narcotic drugs...

“Originally the Samurai were forbidden usury, that is to say, the lending of money at fixed rates of interest.  They are still under that interdiction, but since our commercial code practically prevents usury altogether, and our law will not recognize contracts for interest upon private accommodation loans to unprosperous borrowers,” (he is speaking of Utopia), “it is now scarcely necessary.  The idea of a man growing richer by mere inaction and at the expense of an impoverished debtor is profoundly distasteful to Utopian ideas, and our State insists pretty effectually now upon the participation of the lender in the borrower’s risks.  This, however, is only one part of a series of limitations of the same character.  It is felt that to buy simply in order to sell again brings out many unsocial human qualities; it makes a man seek to enhance profits and falsify values, and so the Samurai are forbidden to buy or sell on their own account or for any employer save the State, unless by some process of manufacture they change the nature of the commodity (a mere change in bulk or packing