If the reader will consider the extent to which these ideas
agree in thought and even in expression, and in the wide difference
between them in point of date and nationality, he cannot doubt but
that they are at one with the facts of life. It was certainly not
under the influence of those passages that, about twenty years ago, I
tried to get a snuff-box made, the lid of which should have two fine
chestnuts represented upon it, if possible in mosaic; together with a
leaf which was to show that they were horse-chestnuts. This symbol was
meant to keep the thought constantly before my mind. If anyone wishes
for entertainment, such as will prevent him feeling solitary even when
he is alone, let me recommend the company of dogs, whose moral and
intellectual qualities may almost afford delight and gratification.
[Footnote 1: Opera: ed. Wagner, 1. 224.]
Still, we should always be careful to avoid being unjust. I am often
surprised by the cleverness, and now and again by the stupidity of my
dog; and I have similar experiences with mankind. Countless times,
in indignation at their incapacity, their total lack of discernment,
their bestiality, I have been forced to echo the old complaint that
folly is the mother and the nurse of the human race:
_Humani generis mater nutrixque profecto
Stultitia est_.
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