9 and after freei.ng himself from the fear of the de:vil, cultivates it in others; and the bully, who procures the invasion and pillage of his neighbours, that he may return laden with booty, and followed by slaves, these two, hand in hand, have succeeded in imposing. upon primitive .society ,customs advantageous fo both of them, but tending to perpe~uate their domination of the masses, Profiting by the indolence, the fears, the inertia of the crowd, and thanks to the continual repetition of the same acts, they have permanently established customs which have become a solid oasis for.their -0wn domination. For this purpose, they-would have made use, in the first place, of that tendency to run in a groove, so highly developed in mankind. In children .and all savages it attains striking prop-ortions, and it IDl\Y also be observed in animals, Man, when he is at all superstitious, is always afraid to introduce any sort of change into existing conditions; he generally venerates what is ancient, "Our fathers <lid so _and .so; they got on pretty well; they brought you up; they were not unhappy ; do the same !" the old say to the young, every time the latter wish to alter things. , The unknown frightens them, they prefer to cling to the past, even when that past represents poverty, oppression and sla.very. It may even he said that the more miserable-a man is, the more he dreads every sort of change, lest it may make hini m-0re ,vretched still. Some ray of hope, a few scraps of comfort, must penetrate his gloomy abode before he can begin to desire better things, to criticise the old ways of living, and p'.repare to imperil them for tb.e sake ·of bringing about a change. So long as he is not imbued with hope, so long as he is not freed from the tutelage of those who utilise his superstition and his fears, he prefers remaining in his former position. If the young desire any change, the old raise ·a cry of alarm against the innovators. Some savage.s wou!d rather die ttian transgress the customs of their country, because they have been told from childhood that the least inh·action of est-ablished routine would bring ill-luck, and ruin the whole tribe. Even in the present day, what numbers of politicians, economists, and would-be revolutionists -act under the same impression, and cling to a vanishing past. Bow many care only to B1blioteca Gino Bianco
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