Greek gods. The
D'Artagnan romances have attempted the old hero's resuscitation. The
movement of the "Three Musketeers" is mechanical rather than human.
D'Artagnan's honor is limited to his fealty to his king. He has no
more sense of delicacy toward women, or honor for them as women, than
Achilles had. Some of his doings are too defamatory to be thought of,
much less mentioned. No! Excuse me from D'Artagnan and the rest of
Dumas' heroes. They may be French, but they are not heroic. About
Dumas' romances there is a gallop which, with the unwary, passes for
action and art. But he has not, of his own motion, conceived a single
woman who was not seduced or seducible, nor a single man who was not a
libertine; for "The Son of Porthros" [Transcriber's note: Porthos?] and
his bride are not of Dumas' creation. He is not open to the charge of
having drawn the picture of one pure man or woman. Zola is the natural
goal of Dumas; and we enjoy neither the route nor the terminus. Louis
XIV, Charles II, and George IV are modeled after the old licentious
pretense at manhood, but we may all rejoice that they deceive nobody
now. Our civilization has outgrown them, and will not, even in second
childhood, take to such playthings.

But what was the old hero's chief failure? The answer is, He lacked
conscience. Duty had no part in his scheme of action, nor in his
vocabulary of word or thought. Our word "virtue" is the bodily
importation of the old Roman word "virtus," but so changed in meaning
that the Romans could no more comprehend it than they could the
Copernican theory of astronomy. With them, "virtus" meant
strength--that only--a battle term. The solitary application was to
fortitude in conflict. With us, virtue is shot through and through
with moral quality, as a gem is shot through with light, and
monopolizes the term as light monopolizes the gem. This change is
radical and astonishing, but discloses a change which has
revolutionized the world. The old hero was conscienceless--a
characteristic apparent in Greek civilization. What Greek patriot,
whether Themistocles or Demosthenes, applied conscience to patriotism?
They were as devoid of practical conscience as a Metope of the
Parthenon was devoid of life. Patriotism was a transient sentiment.
Demosthenes could become dumb in the presence of Philip's gold; and in
a fit of pique over mistreatment at the hands of his brother-citizens,
Themistocles became a traitor