mode of deciding questions between individuals. In presenting this
comparison I expose myself to criticism only from those who have
not considered this interesting subject in the light of history
and of reason. The parallel is complete. Modern war is the duel of
the Dark Ages, magnified, amplified, extended so as to embrace
nations; nor is it any less a duel because the combat is quickened
and sustained by the energies of self-defence, or because, when a
champion falls and lies on the ground, he is brutally treated. An
authentic instance illustrates such a duel; and I bring before you
the very pink of chivalry, the Chevalier Bayard, "the knight
without fear and without reproach," who, after combat in a chosen
field, succeeded by a feint in driving his weapon four fingers
deep into the throat of his adversary, and then, rolling with him,
gasping and struggling, on the ground, thrust his dagger into the
nostrils of the fallen victim, exclaiming, "Surrender, or you are
a dead man!"--a speech which seemed superfluous; for the second
cried out, "He is dead already; you have conquered." Then did
Bayard, brightest among the Sons of War, drag his dead enemy from
the field, crying, "Have I done enough?" [Footnote: La tresjoyeuse,
plaisante et recreative Hystoire, composee par le Loyal Serviteur,
des Faiz, Gestes, Triumphes et Prouesses du Bon Chevalier
sans Paour et sans Reprouche, le Gentil Seigneur de Bayart:
Petitot, Collection des Memoires relatifs a l'Histoire de France,
Tom. XV. pp. 241, 242.] Now, because the brave knight saw
fit to do these things, the combat was not changed in original
character. It was a duel at the beginning and at the end. Indeed,
the brutality with which it closed was the natural incident of a
duel. A combat once begun opens the way to violence, and the
conqueror too often surrenders to the Evil Spirit, as Bayard in
his unworthy barbarism.