Les ruines, ou méditation sur les révolutions des empires

CHAPTER IV.

"desolation, the feeling of the evils that torment my fellow men has profoundly afflicted my soul." I said to myself sighing: Ah! is man then created only for anguish and for pain? and I applied my mind to the meditation of our evils, to discover their remedies. I said: "I will separate myself from corrupt societies; I will distance myself from palaces where the soul is depraved by satiety, and from huts where it is debased by misery. I will go into solitude to live among the ruins; I will question the ancient monuments on the wisdom of past times; I will evoke from the heart of the tombs the spirit which, formerly in Asia, created the splendor of states and the glory of peoples. I will ask the ashes of legislators by what motives empires rise and fall; from what causes the prosperity and misfortunes of nations are born; upon what principles, finally, the peace of societies and the happiness of men must be established."

I became silent; and, with my eyes lowered, I awaited the response of the Genius. Peace, he said, and