Page:Conventional Lies of our Civilization.djvu/138

124 follow the dictates of a superficial democracy, I shall cast my vote for the plebeian, about whom 1 know nothing, simply to manifest my adherence to the principle of equality; but if on the contrary, the interests of the community are really dear to me, if I am conscientiously anxious to increase at least the probability that the public welfare is entrusted to clean and powerful hands, then I shall vote for the aristocrat. I am not acquainted with him, it is true, but between the two unknown candidates) he is the one who has the strongest reasons for being faithful to his post; the chances are in his favor. Why? Not on account of the usual stereotyped reply: because he has received a better education, and the principles of chivalry were instilled into him at an early age. This is a reply that leaves us too often in the lurch. Aristocratic birth is no guarantee of a good moral training; every one knows examples of princes who grew up amid most deplorable surroundings and became in time not only liars, cowards and cheats, but common thieves or fine thieves, if it makes stealing any finer to steal jewels instead of cotton handkerchiefs. No, the guarantee of a higher moral level in the aristocrat does not lie in his training or education, but in his pride of family, we might call it ancestral self-conceit.

He identifies himself and his fortunes with his family to an extraordinary degree, and merges his own individuality into the higher individuality of his house, more than is possible with the plebeian. The latter is himself, otherwise nothing, hence an entity; the former is the representative of an entire family. He knows that his actions will reflect a lustre upon all the bearers of his name, as their actions and honors are reflected upon him. A member of the aristocracy is a collective individual, in whom the ancestors, contemporary members and future