For the rest, to descend to the practical point of view from these
regions haunted by more or less dangerous phantoms, it is certain that
the duel, that is to say the possibility of securing justice for one's
self outside the law and yet according to rule, responds to a need of
which we cannot deny the existence. For we live in the midst of a
society that does not protect us enough to deprive us, in all
circumstances, of the right dearest to man's instinct.
It is unnecessary, I think, to enumerate the cases in which the
protection afforded by society is insufficient. It would take less long
to name those in which it suffices. Doubtless, for men who are lawfully
weak and defenceless, it would be desirable that things were different;
but for those who are capable of defending themselves it is most
salutary that things should be as they are, for nothing suppresses
initiative and personal character so greatly as does a too-zealous and
too-constant protection. Remember that, before all, we are beings of
prey and strife; that we must be careful not completely to extinguish
within ourselves the qualities of primitive man, for it was not without
reason that nature placed them there. If it is wise to restrain their
excess, it is prudent to preserve their principle. We do not know the
offensive tricks which the elements or the other forces of the universe
have in store for us; and woe be to us, in all likelihood, if one day
they find us entirely devoid of the spirit of vengeance, mistrust,
anger, brutality, combativeness, and of many other faults, which are all
very blameworthy from the human point of view, but which, far more than
the most loudly-extolled abstemious virtues, have helped us to conquer
the great enemies of our kind.