{"id":"01KG8AKPBK3HFXAH0Q7SE6N6SJ","cid":"bafkreiacp5phbjh6bw5evza66hicgwgbobijfsnds5jmyo6xj7dcuzehe4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4137,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.927Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":4088,"text":"Continued Babbalanja, “Previous to the time assigned to their\r\nfulfillment, those prophecies were bruited through Mardi; hence,\r\nprevious to the time assigned to their fulfillment, full knowledge of\r\nthem may have come to the nations concerned. Now, my lord, was it\r\npossible for those nations, thus forwarned, so to conduct their\r\naffairs, as at, the prophesied time, to prove false the events revealed\r\nto be in store for them?”\r\n\r\n“However that may be,” said Mohi, “certain it is, those events did\r\nassuredly come to pass:—Compare the ruins of Babbelona with book ninth,\r\nchapter tenth, of the chronicles. Yea, yea, the owl inhabits where the\r\nseers predicted; the jackals yell in the tombs of the kings.”\r\n\r\n“Go on, Babbalanja,” said Media. “Of course those nations could not\r\nhave resisted their doom. Go on, then: vault over your premises.”\r\n\r\n“If it be, then, my lord, that—”\r\n\r\n“My very worshipful lord,” interposed Mohi, “is not our philosopher\r\ngetting off soundings; and may it not be impious to meddle with these\r\nthings?”\r\n\r\n“Were it so, old man, he should have known it. The king of Odo is\r\nsomething more than you mortals.”\r\n\r\n“But are we the great gods themselves,” cried Yoomy, “that we discourse\r\nof these things.”\r\n\r\n“No, minstrel,” said Babbalanja; “and no need have the great gods to\r\ndiscourse of things perfectly comprehended by them, and by themselves\r\nordained. But you and I, Yoomy, are men, and not gods; hence is it for\r\nus, and not for them, to take these things for our themes. Nor is there\r\nany impiety in the right use of our reason, whatever the issue. Smote\r\nwith superstition, shall we let it wither and die out, a dead, limb to\r\na live trunk, as the mad devotee’s arm held up motionless for years? Or\r\nshall we employ it but for a paw, to help us to our bodily needs, as\r\nthe brutes use their instinct? Is not reason subtile as\r\nquicksilver—live as lightning—a neighing charger to advance, but a\r\nsnail to recede? Can we starve that noble instinct in us, and hope that\r\nit will survive? Better slay the body than the soul; and if it be the\r\ndirest of sins to be the murderers of our own bodies, how much more to\r\nbe a soul-suicide. Yoomy, we are men, we are angels. And in his\r\nfaculties, high Oro is but what a man would be, infinitely magnified.\r\nLet us aspire to all things. Are we babes in the woods, to be scared by\r\nthe shadows of the trees? What shall appall us? If eagles gaze at the\r\nsun, may not men at the gods?”\r\n\r\n“For one,” said Media, “you may gaze at me freely. Gaze on. But talk\r\nnot of my kinsmen so fluently, Babbalanja. Return to your argument.”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRBVMTTT67SE8KFJCTVQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKPBC67RW9MBKMTKAYM9Q","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKQ1A66ENFECN6YABWYCF","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:12.659Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.985Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}