Acephalous civilization is beyond conception. It is
from three cities, Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, that the
modern world has been evolved. They did their
work. Of Jerusalem there now remains but a gibbet,
Calvary ; of Athens, a ruin, the Parthenon ; of Rome,
a phantom, its empire. Are these cities dead, then ?
No. A broken eggshell does not necessarily imply
that the egg has been destroyed; it rather signifies that the bird has come forth from it, and lives. From out of those shells lying yonder – Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem – the human ideal has sprung and soared.
From Rome has come Power; from Athens, Art ;
from Jerusalem, Freedom ; the great, the beautiful,
the true. . . . . And they live anew in Paris, which
in one way has resuscitated Rome, in another Athens,
and in another Jerusalem ; for from the cry of Golgotha
came the principle of the Rights of Man. And
Paris also had had its crucified; one that has been
crucified for eighteen hundred years - its People. But
the function of Paris has been to spread ideas. Its
never ending duty is to scatter truths over the
world, a duty it incessantly discharges. Paris is
a sower, sowing the darkness with sparks of light. It
is Paris which, without a pause, stirs up the fire of
Progress, It casts superstitions and fanaticism, and hatred and folly and prejudice on to this fire, and
from the darkness comes a blaze of light. . . Moreover, Paris is like the centre of our nervous system ;each of its quivers is felt throughout the world. And, further, it is like a ship sailing on through storms and whirlpools to unknown Atlantides, and ever towing the fleet of mankind in its wake.
There can be no greater ecstasy than that which
પૃષ્ઠ:Saraswati Chandra Part 4.pdf/૬૩૯
આ પાનું પ્રમાણિત થઈ ગયું છે.
