ut tearing.

"'Now, the money which I possess is heavy, my bag is worn out.

"'I shall not, therefore, put my money in this bag or, at least, I shall
take care to line it beforehand with a solid piece of leather.

"'From this moment,' I proceeded, 'there only remains one thing for you
to do, always consult common sense before coming to any conclusion, and
you will always succeed.

"'As for your opinion concerning the hatred of the gods for you, if
you will once more call common sense to your assistance you will
reason as follows:

"'Gracious divinities protect only wise people.

"'Now, I have acted like a fool.

"'It is, therefore, natural that they should turn away from me.'

"How many useless imprecations would be avoided," adds the Shogun, "if it
were given to men to know how to employ the arguments which common sense
dictates, in order to distribute the weight of the mistakes committed
among those who deserve the burden, without, at the same time, forgetting
to assume our own share of the responsibility if we have erred.

"Nothing is more sterile than regrets or reproaches when they do not
carry with them the resolution never again to fall into the same error."

Afterward the philosopher demonstrates to us the necessity of abstracting
all personality from the exercises which combine for the attainment of
common sense.

"There is," said he, "an obstacle against which all stupid people
stumble; it is the act of reasoning under the influence of passion.

"Those who have not decided to renounce this method of arguing will never
be able to give a just decision.

"There are self-evident facts, which certain people refuse to admit,
because this statement of the truth offends their sympathies or impedes
their hatreds, and they force themselves to deny the evidence, hoping
thus to deceive others regarding it.

"But truth is always the strongest and they soon become the solitary
dupes of their own wilful blindness.

"The man of common sense knows how to recognize falsehood wherever he
meets it; he knows how vain it is to conceal a positive fact and also how
dangerous it is to deceive oneself, a peril which increases in power, in
proportion to the effort made to ignore it.

"He does not wish to imitate those pusillanimous people who prefer to
live in the agony of doubt rather than to look misfortunes in the
face. He who is determined to acquire common sense will use the
following argument:

"Doubt is a con