will again teach mankind that the laws of nature and the precepts of
wisdom and truth cannot be infringed with impunity.



CHAPTER XII.

LESSONS OF TIMES PAST REPEATED ON THE PRESENT.


Thus spoke the Genius. Struck with the justice and coherence of his
discourse, assailed with a crowd of ideas, repugnant to my habits yet
convincing to my reason, I remained absorbed in profound silence. At
length, while with serious and pensive mien, I kept my eyes fixed on
Asia, suddenly in the north, on the shores of the Black sea, and in the
fields of the Crimea, clouds of smoke and flame attracted my attention.
They appeared to rise at the same time from all parts of the peninsula;
and passing by the isthmus into the continent, they ran, as if driven
by a westerly wind, along the oozy lake of Azof, and disappeared in the
grassy plains of Couban; and following more attentively the course of
these clouds, I observed that they were preceded or followed by swarms
of moving creatures, which, like ants or grasshoppers disturbed by the
foot of a passenger, agitated themselves with vivacity. Sometimes these
swarms appeared to advance and rush against each other; and numbers,
after the concussion, remained motionless. While disquieted at this
spectacle, I strained my sight to distinguish the objects.

Do you see, said the Genius, those flames which spread over the earth,
and do you comprehend their causes and effects?