368
DOCS.
373,
374 AUGUST
1917
elements;
and
I
believe
(for
the
near future)
in
a
richer and
more far-reaching
civilization
than that
of
today-a
civilization in
which
the intellectual
elements
of
Asia will
bring
to
impoverished Europe
the
potential
for
new development.
I
have
written
two works
inspired by
the
present:
a distressing
novel that
is
a
crisis of
the
soul
amidst
the
madness
of
the passions,-and
a
fanciful and satirical
piece.-[3]
I
read with
enraptured
interest the
admirable book
by
Prof.
Nicolai.[4]
He
is
a
friend
of
yours,
I
believe.
Would
you please
let him know how much
I
like
him.
I
have been
taking
nourishment from him
these
last
months.-
For all that,
it
is fine to
discover in this
terrible
epoque
some grand
liberated and
serene
souls
like
his.
It
is
sufficient
recompense
to
me
for
the
immense
stupidity
which
is
the
new
universal Flood. The Ark
is
afloat. In the end it
will
safely
touch land.
In fond and devoted
sympathy,
I
am,
dear
Sir, yours sincerely,
Romain
Rolland.
374. To
Romain Rolland
[Arosa,]
Wednesday,
22 August 1917
Highly
esteemed Romain
Rolland,
I
am
touched
by
the
cordial interest
you
have in
a
person
whom
you
have
seen
but
a
single
time.[1] I
would
definitely
not
neglect
to
visit
you
if
my
health
were a
bit
more
stable;
but the
smallest
undertaking
often takes
its
toll afterwards.
The
bad
observations
we
have
had to
make
of
people’s
actions
in the
interim have not
made
me
more
pessimistic, though,
than
I
was
in
reality
two
years
ago.[2]
I
even
find
that the
surge
of
imperialistic mentality,
which dominates influential sectors
in
Germany,
has subsided
somewhat.[3]
Yet
I
still find
that
it would be
extremely
dangerous
to
form
a
pact
with
Germany
as
it
is
today.
Through
the
military
success
of
1870[4]
and
through
the
successes
in
the
fields
of
trade and
industry,
this
country
has taken
up
a
kind of
religion
of
might,
which
has found
adequate
and
by
no means
exaggerated expression
in
Treitschke.[5]
This
religion
holds almost all intellectuals
in
its
sway;
it has
driven out almost
com-
pletely
the
ideals of Goethe’s and
Schiller’s
time.
I
know
people
in
Germany
whose
private
lives
are guided
by
a
virtually
unbounded
altruism,
but
who
were
waiting
with
the
greatest
impatience
for
the
declaration of
an
unlimited subma-
rine
war.[6] I
am
firmly
convinced
that
this
straying
of
minds
can
only
be steered
by
hard
facts. These
people
must
be shown
that
it
is
necessary
to
have
consid-
eration for non-Germans
as worthy equals,
that it
is
essential to
earn
the
trust
of
foreign countries,
in order
to
be able to
exist,
that the
set
goals
cannot
be
achieved
through
force and
betrayal. Fighting against
the
goal
itself with intel-
lectual
weapons
seems
hopeless
to
me; people
like
Nicolai
are
labeled with sincere
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