Debauchery, moreover, the first result of the principles of death, is a terrible millstone for grinding the energies.
The rich said: "There is nothing real but riches, all else is a dream; let us enjoy and then let us die." Those of moderate fortune said: "There is nothing real but oblivion, all else is a dream; let us forget and let us die." And the poor said: "There is nothing real but unhappiness, all else is a dream; let us blaspheme and die." Is this too black?
Is it exaggerated?
What do you think of it?
Am I a misanthrope?
Allow me to make a reflection.
In reading the history of the fall of the Roman Empire, it is impossible to overlook the evil that the Christians, so admirable when in the desert, did to the State when they were in power.

"When I think," said Montesquieu, "of the profound ignorance into which the Greek clergy plunged the laity, I am obliged to compare them to the Scythians of whom Herodotus speaks, who put out the eyes of their slaves in order that nothing might distract their attention from their work....

No affair of State, no peace, no truce, no negotiations, no marriage could be transacted by any one but the clergy.

The evils of this system were beyond belief." Montesquieu might have added: Christianity destroyed the emperors but it saved the people.

It opened to the barbarians the palaces of Constantinople, but it opened the doors of cottages to the ministering angels of Christ.