A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille

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All this sounded like the ravings of a lunatic, yet the Kohen was not
mad. It seemed also like the mockery of some teasing demon; but the
gentle and self-denying Kohen was no teasing demon, and mockery with
him was impossible. I was therefore more bewildered than ever at this
reiteration of sentiments that were so utterly incomprehensible. He,
on the other hand, seemed as astonished at my sentiments and as
bewildered, and we could find no common ground on which to meet.
"I remember now," said the Kohen, in a musing tone, "having heard of
some strange folk at the Amir, who profess to feel as you say you
feel, but no one believes that they are in earnest; for although they
may even bring themselves to think that they are in earnest in their
professions, yet after all everyone thinks that they are
self-deceived. For you see, in the first place, these feelings which
you profess are utterly unnatural. 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