Tuesday, October 7:
R. had a good night, and he writes a new page in his article about animals; we talk a lot about the question with which he is wholly occupied. He says man's variety of motives makes him, if he is not fully mature, little superior to an animal in terms of truthfulness and simplicity. The artist is also assailed by too many motives, and the only genuine artist is the one who is able to tame them to form a whole.
Much about the regard in which ancient civilizations held animals; he says the difficulty of his task lies in not going too far, not putting in too much, for there is no end to the material. In the evening we read half of Plutarch's essay on terrestrial and marine animals, with infinite enjoyment.