perish. For I am not Eternity, but a human being--a part of the whole,
as an hour is part of the day. I must come like the hour, and like the
hour must pass!




CLXXXVII

And now we are sending you to Rome to spy out the land; but none send
a coward as such a spy, that, if he hear but a noise and see a shadow
moving anywhere, loses his wits and comes flying to say, The enemy are
upon us!

So if you go now, and come and tell us: "Everything at Rome is terrible:
Death is terrible, Exile is terrible, Slander is terrible, Want is
terrible; fly, comrades! the enemy are upon us!" we shall reply, Get you
gone, and prophesy to yourself! we have but erred in sending such a spy
as you. Diogenes, who was sent as a spy long before you, brought us back
another report than this. He says that Death is no evil; for it need not
even bring shame with it. He says that Fame is but the empty noise of
madmen. And what report did this spy bring us of Pain, what of Pleasure,
what of Want? That to be clothed in sackcloth is better than any purple
robe; that sleeping on the bare ground is the softest couch; and in
proof of each assertion he points to his own courage, constancy, and
freedom; to his own healthy and muscular frame. "There is no enemy
near," he cries, "all is perfect peace!"