Facts，however，are awkward things to disconcert，and they are obstinate.The author of this book has seen，with his own eyes，eight leagues distant from Brussels，——there are relics of the Middle Ages there which are attainable for everybody，——at the Abbey of Villers，the hole of the oubliettes，in the middle of the field which was formerly the courtyard of the cloister，and on the banks of the Thil，four stone dungeons，half under ground，half under the water.They were in pace.
Each of these dungeons has the remains of an iron door，a vault，and a grated opening which，on the outside，is two feet above the level of the river，and on the inside，six feet above the level of the ground.
Four feet of river flow past along the outside wall.
The ground is always soaked.The occupant of the in pace had this wet soil for his bed.In one of these dungeons，there is a fragment of an iron necklet riveted to the wall；in another，there can be seen a square box made of four slabs of granite，too short for a person to lie down in，too low for him to stand upright in.
A human being was put inside，with a coverlid of stone on top.
This exists.
It can be seen.It can be touched.
These in pace，these dungeons，these iron hinges，these necklets，that lofty peep-hole on a level with the river's current，that box of stone closed with a lid of granite like a tomb，with this difference，that the dead man here was a living being，that soil which is but mud，that vault hole，those oozing walls，——what declaimers！
BOOK SEVENTH.——PARENTHESIS
Ⅲ ON WHAT CONDITIONS ONE CAN RESPECT THE PAST
Monasticism，such as it existed in Spain，and such as it still exists in Thibet，is a sort of phthisis for civilization.
It stops life short.
It simply depopulates.
Claustration，castration.It has been the scourge of Europe.
Add to this the violence so often done to the conscience，the forced vocations，feudalism bolstered up by the cloister，the right of the first-born pouring the excess of the family into monasticism，the ferocities of which we have just spoken，the in pace，the closed mouths，the walled-up brains，so many unfortunate minds placed in the dungeon of eternal vows，the taking of the habit，the interment of living souls.Add individual tortures to national degradations，and，whoever you may be，you will shudder before the frock and the veil，——those two winding-sheets of human devising.
Nevertheless，at certain points and in certain places，in spite of philosophy，in spite of progress，the spirit of the cloister persists in the midst of the nineteenth century，and a singular ascetic recrudescence is，at this moment，astonishing the civilized world.
The obstinacy of antiquated institutions in perpetuating themselves resembles the stubbornness of the rancid perfume which should claim our hair，the pretensions of the spoiled fish which should persist in being eaten，the persecution of the child's garment which should insist on clothing the man，the tenderness of corpses which should return to embrace the living.
'Ingrates！'says the garment，'I protected you in inclement weather.Why will you have nothing to do with me？'
'I have just come from the deep sea，'says the fish.
'I have been a rose，'says the perfume.'I have loved you，'says the corpse.
'I have civilized you，'says the convent.
To this there is but one reply：
'In former days.'
To dream of the indefinite prolongation of defunct things，and of the government of men by embalming，to restore dogmas in a bad condition，to regild shrines，to patch up cloisters，to rebless reliquaries，to refurnish superstitions，to revictual fanaticisms，to put new handles on holy water brushes and militari**，to reconstitute monasticism and militari**，to believe in the salvation of society by the multiplication of parasites，to force the past on the present，——this seems strange.
Still，there are theorists who hold such theories.These theorists，who are in other respects people of intelligence，have a very ****** process；they apply to the past a glazing which they call social order，divine right，morality，family，the respect of elders，antique authority，sacred tradition，legitimacy，religion；and they go about shouting，'Look！take this，honest people.'This logic was known to the ancients.
The soothsayers practise it.They rubbed a black heifer over with chalk，and said，'She is white，Bos cretatus.'
As for us，we respect the past here and there，and we spare it，above all，provided that it consents to be dead.
If it insists on being alive，we attack it，and we try to kill it.
Superstitions，bigotries，affected devotion，prejudices，those forms all forms as they are，are tenacious of life；they have teeth and nails in their smoke，and they must be clasped close，body to body，and war must be made on them，and that without truce；for it is one of the fatalities of humanity to be condemned to eternal combat with phantoms.
It is difficult to seize darkness by the throat，and to hurl it to the earth.
A convent in France，in the broad daylight of the nineteenth century，is a college of owls facing the light.
A cloister，caught in the very act of asceticism，in the very heart of the city of'89 and of 1830 and of 1848，Rome blossoming out in Paris，is an anachronism.In ordinary times，in order to dissolve an anachronism and to cause it to vanish，one has only to make it spell out the date.But we are not in ordinary times.
Let us fight.
Let us fight，but let us make a distinction.
The peculiar property of truth is never to commit excesses.
What need has it of exaggeration？
There is that which it is necessary to destroy，and there is that which it is simply necessary to elucidate and examine.
What a force is kindly and serious examination！Let us not apply a flame where only a light is required.
So，given the nineteenth century，we are opposed，as a general proposition，and among all peoples，in Asia as well as in Europe，in India as well as in Turkey，to ascetic claustration.Whoever says cloister，says marsh.
