the depth of his nostalgic longing for a moral world: "Gods, what has become of the thatch roofs and the rustic hearths were moderation and virtue used to dwell? What fatal splendor has replaced Roman simplicity?" (Discourse, p. 12). At the core of Rousseau's morality then, was the idea that the simple and the rustic contained all that was good. However, mere simplicity and rusticity did not form the whole of Rousseau's morality. Indeed neither simplicity nor rusticity was inherently moral. Rather, each became moral only to the extent they precluded man from becoming idle. Idleness created art and science; art and science created more idleness. Rousseau held, that as this cycle continued, morality would give way to a world in which men devoured men and could not co-exist "...without obstructing, supplanting, deceiving, betraying, destroying" each other (Last Reply, p. 85 and Preface to Narcissus, p. 105).Rousseau, though he felt that he lived in just such a world, did not seek to destroy the arts and sciences and so break this cycle of degenerating morality. There could be no positive outcome to stopping the cycle, for society, once corrupted, was beyond redemption (Observations, p. 51). Rather, Rousseau thought that in a permanently corrupted world, the arts and sciences would serve to distract immoral men and divert them from mischief (Observations, p. 51, Discourse, p. 5, and Preface to Narcissus, p. 110 n). Although his nostalgia was thus tempered by the knowledge that paradise, once lost, remains forever vanquished, Rousseau's sense of alienation remained unchecked. Indeed, even the frontispiece of the Discourse proclaims his alienation, "Here I am the barbarian because they do not understand me" (Ovid). Though Rousseau stated that his life was governed by the three values of truth, virtue, and freedom, he found little evidence of them in the world (Letter to Malesherbes II). Rather what he found was "Much babbling, rich people, a...
