I confounded the pitiful lies of
men; I dared to unveil their nature; to follow the progress of time,
and the things by which it has been disfigured; and comparing the
man of art with the natural man, to show them, in their pretended
improvement, the real source of all their misery. My mind, elevated by
these contemplations, ascended to the Divinity, and thence, seeing
my fellow creatures follow in the blind track of their prejudices that
of their errors and misfortunes, I cried out to them, in a feeble
voice, which they could not hear: "Madmen! know that all your evils
proceed from yourselves!"
From these meditations resulted the discourse on Inequality, a
work more to the taste of Diderot than any of my other writings, and
in which his advice was of the greatest service to me.* It was,
however, understood but by few readers, and not one of these would
ever speak of it. I had written it to become a competitor for the
premium, and sent it away fully persuaded it would not obtain it; well
convinced it was not for productions of this nature that academies
were founded.
* At the time I wrote this I had not the least suspicion of the
grand conspiracy of Diderot and Grimm, otherwise I should easily
have discovered how much the former abused my confidence, by giving to
my writings that severity and melancholy which were not to be found in
them from the moments he ceased to direct me. The passage of the
philosopher, who argues with himself, and stops his ears against the
complaints of a man in distress, is after his manner: and he gave me
others still more extraordinary, which I could never resolve to make
use of.
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