2502. There was such poison in them that it blunted all my power to engage in truths and goodness, taking away all zeal. They have been with me for several days and have so troubled me in thinking and doing serious things, things true and good, and in seeing them, that I hardly knew what to do. Such is the influence of their poisons. When they are in the company of good spirits, they bring on them a sluggishness in doing good and the duties of their function. Therefore when that kind of spirit comes among those who are inclined to performing useful tasks in the commonwealth, or into their societies, then all their ardor is dampened. So the human race is being led astray mainly by them, for which reason kings reject such people from their courts, for they inflict great harm on societies, leading them away from truths and goodness so that finally they are caught up in the pursuit of those things as something sweet, that is, of living sumptuously, dressing magnificently, enjoying nothing but idleness, harboring hatred toward those who are hard working and zealous for truth and goodness. They are destroyers of the human race. For it is generally known that people who begin to indulge in idleness take the greatest pleasure in it, like beggars who once they become accustomed to that laziness then hold back and remove themselves from every effort to be members of civil society, or to be citizens. They cannot be called citizens, but destroyers of citizens. 1748, 3 July.