The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races: With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence in the Civil and Political History of MankindGobineau, Arthur, comte de
Philosophy
The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races: With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence in the Civil and Political History of Mankind
The mere accident of conquest cannot destroy the principle of vitality
in a people. At most, it may suspend for a time the exterior
manifestations of that vitality, and strip it of its outward honors. But
so long as the blood, and consequently the culture of a nation, exhibit
sufficiently strong traces of the initiatory race, that nation exists;
and whether it has to deal, like the Chinese, with conquerors who are
superior only materially; or whether, like the Hindoos, it maintains a
struggle of patience against a race much superior in every respect; that
nation may rest assured of its future--independence will dawn for it one
day. On the contrary, when a nation has completely exhausted the
initiatory ethnical element, defeat is certain death; it has consumed
the term of existence which Heaven had granted it--its destiny is
fulfilled.[60]
I, therefore, consider the question as settled, which has been so often
discussed, as to what would have been the result, if the Carthaginians,
instead of succumbing to the fortune of Rome, had conquered Italy. As
they belonged to the Phenician family, a stock greatly inferior to the
Italian in political capacity, they would have been absorbed by the
superior race after the victory, precisely as they were after the
defeat. The final result, therefore, would have been the same in either
case.
The destiny of civilizations is not ruled by accident; it depends not on
the issue of a battle, a thrust of a sword, the favors or frowns of
fickle fortune. The most warlike, formidable, and triumphant nations,
when they were distinguished for nothing but bravery, strategical
science, and military successes, have never had a nobler fate than that
of learning from their subjects, perhaps too late, the art of living in
peace. The Celts, the nomad hordes of Central Asia, are memorable
illustrations of this truth.
The whole of my demonstration now rests upon one hypothesis, the proof
of which I have reserved for the succeeding chapters: THE MORAL AND
INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITIES OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF THE HUMAN FAMILY.
FOOTNOTES:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive