would have us believe.

"When credulity does not proceed from inveterate stupidity, it is always
the result of apathy and weakness.

"Unhappiness and misfortune attend those who are voluntarily feeble.

"Their defect deprived them of the joy derived from happy efforts. They
will be the prey of duplicity and untruth.

"They are the vanquished in life, and scarcely deserve the pity of the
conqueror; for their defeat lacks grandeur, since it has never been
aurioled by the majestic strength of conflict."

Following this, the Shogun speaks to us of those whom he calls the ardent
seekers after illusion.

One evening he related the following story: "Some men started off for an
island, which they perceived in the distance.

"It looked like a large, detached red spot, amid the flaming rays of the
setting sun, and the men told of a thousand wonders about this unknown
land, as yet untrodden by the foot of man.

"The first days of the journey were delightful. The oars lay in the
bottom of the boat untouched, and they just allowed themselves to drift
with the tide. They disembarked, singing to the murmur of the waters, and
gathered the fruits growing on the shores, to appease their hunger.

"But the stream, which was bearing them onward, did not retain long its