said, "were at the head of an authentic and fruitful culture, whatever
their valor might be, and until now everybody had drawn upon it." Their
hatreds were concentrated within their own country. "I cannot endure
Germany. The spirit of servility and pettiness penetrates everywhere.
. . . I believe only in French culture, and what the rest of Europe calls
culture appears to me to be a mistake. The few individual cases of lofty
culture that I met in Germany were of French origin."

"You know," continued Argensola, "that in quarrelling with Wagner about
the excess of Germanism in his art, Nietzsche proclaimed the necessity
of mediterraneanizing music. His ideal was a culture for all Europe, but
with a Latin base."

Julius von Hartrott replied most disdainfully to this, repeating the
Spaniard's very words. Men who thought much said many things. Besides,
Nietzsche was a poet, completely demented at his death, and was no
authority among the University sages. His fame had only been recognized
in foreign lands. . . . And he paid no further attention to the youth,
ignoring him as though he had evaporated into thin air after his
presumption. All the professor's attention was now concentrated on
Desnoyers.

"This country," he resumed, "is dying from within. How can you doubt
that revolution will break out the minute war is declared? . . .
Have you not noticed the agitation of the boulevard on account of the
Caillaux trial? Reactionaries and revolutionists have been assaulting
each other for the past three days. I have seen them challenging one
another with shouts and songs as if they were going to come to blows
right in the middle of the street. This division of opinion will become
accentuated when our troops cross the frontier. It will then be civil