--Gentlemen who are kind enough to listen to me, the words of Scripture
which serve as text for my brief discourse to-day are these:
_Let the dead bury their dead._ We will therefore occupy ourselves no
more with Damocles.--The last time that I saw you all together was to
hear me speak of my eagle; Damocles died of it; leave the dead ... it
is nevertheless because of him, or rather thanks to his death, that now
I have killed my eagle....
--Killed his eagle!!! cried every one.
--That reminds me of an anecdote.... Let us grant I have said nothing.
I
In the beginning was Tityrus.
And Tityrus being alone and completely surrounded by swamps was
bored.--Then Menalcas passed by, who put an idea into the head of
Tityrus, a seed in the swamp before him. And this idea was the seed and
this seed was the Idea. And with the help of God the seed germinated
and became a little plant, and Tityrus in the evening and in the
morning knelt before it, thanking God for having given it to him. And
the plant became tall and great, and as it had powerful roots it very
soon completely dried up the soil around it, and thus Tityrus had at
last firm earth on which to set his feet, rest his head, and strengthen
the works of his hands.
When this plant had grown to the height of Tityrus, Tityrus tasted the
joy of sleeping stretched under its shadow. Now, this tree, being an
oak-tree, grew enormously; so much so that soon Tityrus’ hands were
no longer sufficient to till and hoe the earth around the oak--to
water the oak, to prune, to trim, to decorticate, to destroy the
caterpillars, and to ensure in due season the picking of its many
and diverse fruits. He engaged, therefore, a tiller and a hoer, and
a trimmer and a decorticator, and a man to destroy the caterpillars,
and a man to water the oak, and two or three fruit boys. And as each
had to keep strictly to his own speciality, there was a chance of each
person’s work being well done.
In order to arrange for the paying of the wages, Tityrus had to have
an accountant, who soon shared with a cashier the worries of Tityrus’
fortune; this grew like the oak.
Certain arguments arising between the trimmer, and the pruner, and the
depilator--as to where each man’s work began and finished, Tityrus saw
the necessity of an arbitrator, who called for two lawyers to expose
both sides of the question.
Tityrus took a secretary to record their judgments, and as they were
only recorded for future reference, there had to be a keeper of the
rolls.
On the soil meanwhile houses appeared one by one, and it was necessary
to have police for the streets, to guard against excesses. Tityrus,
overcome by work, began to feel ill. He sent for a doctor who told him
to take a wife--and finding the work too much for him, Tityrus was
forced to choose a sheriff, and he himself was therefore appointed
mayor. From this time he had only very few hours of leisure, when he
could fish with a line from the windows of his house, which still
continued to open on the swamp.
Then Tityrus instituted bank holidays so that his people might enjoy
themselves; but as this was expensive and no one was very rich,
Tityrus, in order to be able to lend them all money, first began by
raising it from each of them separately.
Now the oak in the middle of the plain (for in spite of the town,
in spite of the effort of so many men, it had never ceased to be
the plain), the oak, as I said, in the middle of the plain, had no
difficulty in being placed so that one of its sides was in shadow and
the other in the sunshine. Under the oak then, on the shady side
Tityrus rendered justice; on the sunny side he fulfilled his natural
necessities. And Tityrus was happy, for he felt his life was useful to
others and fully occupied.