ON XÉFOLIÜS. #

supreme ambition produces a real good only when the gathering of circumstances is such that its own interest is linked to the general interest. What then can I learn from these philosophers? Where is the foundation of what they claim to teach? In what consists this sovereign good sovereign good: the "summum bonum," the ultimate goal of human life which they promise?

However, just as having failed to do something useful in one's time is no reason not to do something else that may be no less useful, I am going to work from memory and compose for myself a manual of HARMONIOUS CONSEQUENCES.

But as it is important for my happiness to leave this world without any of my brothers having cause to complain about me, I shall write it in such a way that it cannot, in any case, compromise anyone.

If by chance this writing should one day fall into the hands of the public, every author shall be free to reclaim whatever they find in it belonging to them, which I can no longer restore to them—for the good things I have read have become my very flesh and blood. Nevertheless, far from wishing to appropriate the property of others, I willingly offer my own to whoever shall desire to make use of it for their—