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the effeminate. But that talent is lost while the individual conscience broadens. I don't think that things are going any better in other countries than in ours. Everywhere the superior interests are strange to the masses.

I would try to raise a flag! But that would be, my friend, doing an adventure of the type of Luis Napoleon appearing at Boulogne with an eagle on his head. Later on, when the time of his mission was up, he had no need for the eagle. Working on the "Julian Emperor," I have become a fatalist. To be honest, this work is a sort of flag. Don't be afraid, however, of finding in it a thesis. I study the characters, the events that collide, the history, in one word. I don't get involed to bring about any moral, unless the moral of history gives you it's philosophy. It's clear that a moral will come out of the work; it will be the pronounced judgement, in the end, about the parts that fight, and their distribution of victory. But everything will not be clarified but by the performance.

Letter VII

Dresde, April 4, 1872

...You tell me incredible things. Me who believed you were in total happiness, in total triumph! It's impossible for you not to have an army behind you. Remember that you take the recruited into combat. The first time they will ease-off, the second time they will be fine, and the third they will follow their leader to assault and victory.

The liberal press rejects you. Naturally. I have expressed to you once my despise for the political freedoms. Then you contradicted me. But later, after some experiments, you must have seen clearly. My friend, the liberals are the worst enemies of liberty. An absolute government is more favorable to the freedom of thought. That