The world is
returning to savagery. Remember the history of all times and of all
peoples--an endless repetition of schisms, deceptions, stupidity,
superstition and cannibalism--not so long ago--as late as the Thirty
Years War--there was cannibalism in Europe; human flesh was cooked
and eaten.... Liberty, Equality, Fraternity! How fine they sound! But
better for Fraternity ever to remain a mere ideal than to be
introduced by the butt-end of a rifle."
Constantine took off his cap, and his bony forehead seemed pale and
green in the ghostly darkness of the night. His eyes were deep
sunken, and for an instant his face resembled a skull.
"I am bewildered, brother; I feel so utterly alone! I am wretched and
disillusioned. In what does man transcend the beast?..." He turned
towards the west, and a cruel, rapacious, predatory look flitted over
his face; he took a piece of bread from his overcoat pocket and
handed it to Vilyashev:
"Eat, brother; you are hungry."
From the valley uprose the muffled chime of a church bell, and a low
baying of dogs could be heard round the village settlements. Great
gusts of wind swept over the earth, which shook and trembled beneath
their rush. In thin, high, piercing notes it ascended--the song of
the winds to the setting sun.
"Listen," continued Constantine; "I was thinking of the Annunciation .
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