. We are so made that we cannot help
loving death; it is a sort of instinct. We are also created in such a
way that we cannot help longing after poverty. The pauper must always,
among all men, be the most envied of mortals. Nature, too, has made us
such that the passion of love, when it arises, is so vehement, so
all-consuming that it must always struggle to avoid requital. This is
the reason why, when two people find that they love each other, they
always separate and avoid one another for the rest of their lives.
This is human nature. We cannot help it; and it is this that
distinguishes us from the animals. Why, if men were to feel as you say
you feel, they would be mere animals. Animals fear death; animals love
to accumulate such things as they prize; animals, when they love, go
in pairs, and remain with one another. But man, with his intellect,
would not be man if he loved life and desired riches and sought for
requited love."

I sank back in despair. "You cannot mean all this," I said.

He threw at me a piteous glance. "What else can you believe or feel?"
said he.

"The very opposite. We are so made that we hate and fear death; to us
he is the King of Terrors. Poverty is terrible also, since it is
associated with want and woe; it is, therefore, natural to man to
strive after riches. As to the passion of love, that is so vehement
that the first and only thought is requital. Unrequited love is
anguish beyond expression--anguish so severe that the heart will often
break under it."

The Kohen clasped his hands in new bewilderment.

"I cannot understand," said he. "A madman might imagine that he loved
life and desired riches; but as to love, why even a madman could not
think of requital, for the very nature of the passion of love is the
most utter self-surrender, and a shrinking from all requital;
wherefore, the feeling that leads one to desire requital cannot be
love. I do not know what it can be--indeed, I never heard of such a
thing before, and the annals of the human race make no mention of such
a feeling. For what is love? It is the ardent outflow of the whole
being--the yearning of one human heart to lavish all its treasures
upon another. Love is more than self-denial; it is self-surrender and
utter self-abnegation. Love gives all away, and cannot possibly
receive anything in return. A requital of love would mean selfishness,
which would be self-contradiction. The more one loves, the more he
must shrink fro