says, "To-day shall suffice for me," whether it be in the high
intellectual plane or in the low earthly one, has fallen into the grip
of the world that passeth away; and that is a danger which Omar's advent
has certainly not lessened.

The second reason for care in this neighbourhood is that epicureanism is
only safe for those whose tastes lie in the direction of the simple
life. Montaigne has wisely said that it is pernicious to those who have
a natural tendency to vice. But vice is not a thing which any man loves
for its own sake, until his nature has suffered a long process of
degradation. It is simply the last result of a habit of luxurious
self-indulgence; and the temptation to the self-indulgent, the present
world in one form or another, comes upon everybody at times. There are
moods when all of us want to break away from the simple life, and feel
the splendour of the dazzling lights and the intoxication of the strange
scents of the world. To surrender to these has always been, and always
will be, deadly. It is the old temptation to cease to strive, which we
have already found to be the keynote of Goethe's _Faust_. Kingsley, in
one of the most remarkable passages of _Westward Ho!_ describes two of
Amyas Leigh's companions, settled down in a luscious paradise of earthly
delights, while their comrades endured the never-ending hardships of the
march. By the sight of that soft luxury Amyas was tempted of the devil.
But as he gazed, a black jaguar sprang from the cliff above, and
fastened on the fair form of the bride of one of the recreants. "O Lord
Jesus," said Amyas to himself, "Thou hast answered the devil for me!"

It does not, however, need the advent of the jaguar to introduce the
element of sheer tragedy into luxurious life. In his _Conspiracy of
Pontiac_, Parkman tells with rare eloquence the character of the Ojibwa
Indians: "In the calm days of summer, the Ojibwa fisherman pushes out