Part 27 (1/2)

The poetry of earth is never dead: When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run Frorasshopper's--he takes the lead In suhts, for, when tired out with fun, He rests at ease beneath so never: On a lone winter evening, when the frost Has wrought a silence, fro, in war ever, And see sorassy hills

XLIV THE POWER AND DANGER OF THE CaeSARS

THOMAS DE QUINCEY--1785-1859

_From_ THE CaeSARS

To this view of the ile circumstance, which in some measure altered the whole for the individual who happened to fill the office The eht be viewed under two aspects; there was the man, and there was the office In his office he was iht still be raised, by means of a mercenary army, as to the claims of the particular individual who at any tie of the character hich he was clothed ainst himself; and here it is, at this point, that the character of Roman emperor became truly and mysteriously awful

Gibbon has taken notice of the extraordinary situation of a _subject_ in the Roman empire who should attempt to fly from the wrath of the Caesar

Such was the ubiquity of the emperor that this was metaphysically hopeless Except across pathless deserts or ast barbarous nomads, it was impossible to find even a transient sanctuary froitive went down to the sea, there he , and fled to the uttermost parts of the earth, there was also Caesar in the person of his lieutenants But, by a dreadful counter-charer and retribution which withered the hopes of the poor humble prisoner, met and confounded the emperor himself, when hurled frodoms of the earth, to one in that situation, becaht, if it were even successful for the moment, did but a little retard his inevitable doom And so evident was this, that hardly in one instance did the fallen prince _attempt_ to fly; passively he met the death which was inevitable, in the very spot where ruin had overtaken him Neither was it possible even for a merciful conqueror to show mercy; for, in the presence of an army so mercenary and factious, his own safety was but too deeply involved in the extermination of rival pretenders to the crown

Such, amidst the sacred security and inviolability of the office, was the hazardous tenure of the individual Nor did his dangers always arise from persons in the rank of competitors and rivals Sometimes it menaced him in quarters which his eye had never penetrated, and from enemies too obscure to have reached his ear By way of illustration ill cite a case froh to have furnished the plot of a roe in that reign The story is narrated by Herodian, and the outline was this:--A slave of noble qualities, and of radations of bondage, deter continual terror upon the town and neighborhood which had witnessed his humiliation For this purpose he resorted to the woody recesses of the province (so to his wild encarees he succeeded in training a very fory of his own nature, and partly froistrates, the robber captain rose from less to more, until he had for fortified cities

In this stage of his adventures he encountered and defeated several of the ie detachrew of consequence sufficient to draw upon himself the emperor's eye, and the honor of his personal displeasure In high wrath and disdain at the insults offered to his eagles by this fugitive slave, Coainst hi with ieance was noakened; the i from every quarter upon the same centre; and the slave became sensible that in a very short space of time he must be surrounded and destroyed

In this desperate situation he took a desperate resolution: he assembled his troops, laid before the it into effect, and then dismissed them as independent wanderers So ends the first chapter of the tale

The next opens in the passes of the Alps, whither, by various routes, of seven or eight hundred miles in extent, these h the very igantic enterprise, in which the means were as audacious as the purpose, the conspirators were to rendezvous, and first to recognize each other, at the gates of Rome From the Danube to the Tiber did this band of robbers severally pursue their perilous routes through all the difficulties of the road and the jealousies of the eance--vengeance against that ainst the continued to prosper; the conspirators ed; and those also would have prospered but for a trifling accident The season was one of general carnival at Rouises which the license of this festival time allowed, the murderers were to have penetrated as maskers to the emperor's retirement, when a casual word or toke the suspicions of a sentinel One of the conspirators was arrested; under the terror and uncertainty of the moment, he made much ampler discoveries than were expected of him; the other accomplices were secured: and Coers of those who had sought hih all the depths of the Illyrian forests, and the difficulties of the Alpine passes It is not easy to find words of adetic hardihood of a slave--who, by way of answer and reprisal to an edict su him to persecution and death, deterh no less a person than the master of the world--to seek him out in the inmost recesses of his capital city, of his private palace, of his consecrated bed-chaer in his heart, as the adequate reply to the iainst hirandeur and hallowed privileges of the Roman emperor's office, were the extraordinary perils which randeur to a region above the clouds and vapors of earth: the officer ht find his personal security as unsubstantial as those wandering vapors Nor is it possible that these circumstances of violent opposition can be better illustrated than in this tale of Herodian Whilst the ehty arms were stretched out to arrest some potentate in the heart of Asia, a poor slave is silently and stealthily creeping round the base of the Alps, with the purpose of winning his way as asome potent rebel of the Orient, at a distance of two thousand leagues, and he overlooks the dagger which is within three stealthy steps, and one tiger's leap, of his own heart All the heights and the depths which belong to lory and hest and lowest in hu in the station of the Rohstudy of all whom history has emblazoned with colors of fire and blood, or has crowned most lavishly with diadems of cyprus and laurel

XLV UNTHOUGHTFULNESS

DR ARNOLD--1795-1842

_A Lecture delivered in Rugby Chapel_

The state of spiritual folly is, I suppose, one of the most universal evils in the world For the nureat; of those, Iwell; of those who are careless about everything, carried about by every breath of opinion, without knowledge, and without principle But the terreat many more than these; it takes in not those only who are in the coreat many who are in the common sense of the term clever, and many who are even in the cohtful, and wise It is but too evident that some of the ablest ree spiritually fools And thus, it is not without much truth that Christian writers have dwelt upon the insufficiency of worldly wisdom, and have warned their readers to beware, lest, while professing themselves to be wise, they should be accounted as fools in the sight of God

But the opposite to this notion, that those who are, as it were, fools in worldly h this also is true in a certain sense, and under certain peculiar circuenerally, it is the very reverse of truth; and the careless and incautious language which has been often used on this subject, has been extremely mischievous On the contrary, he who is foolish in worldly matters is likely also to be, and s of God And the opposite belief has arisen norance and innocence, hich norant persons seem to solace thee, you do not bring him to the state of an infant, but to that of a brute; and of one of the nant of the brute creation For you do not lessen or weaken the th and his passions, the passions leading to self-indulgence, the strength which enables hiratification He will not think, it is true, to any good purpose; it is very possible to destroy in him the power of reflection, whether as exercised upon outward things, or upon himself and his own nature, or upon God But you cannot destroy the power of adaptinghis purposes by fraud or falsehood; you take only his wisdo which e and the ards earthly things, is s; he who cannot raise hiher? he who is without reason and conscience, how shall he be endoith the spirit of God?

It isexperience of this truth, which rieve over a want of interest in your own i, whenever I observe it,--over the prevalence of a thoughtless and childish spirit arieve for, is one which extends itself, but too ie, as ht be expected, even more than to hueneral lessons, are quite as ignorant and as careless about their Bibles; those who have no interest in general literature, in poetry, or in history, or in philosophy, have certainly no greater interest, I do not say in works of theology, but in works of practical devotion, in the lives of holy men, in meditations, or in prayers Alas, the interest of their s far lower than the very lowest of all which I have na only a little higher than their present pursuits, could not but be encouraging; it would, at least, show that theupwards It hest, it may learn to love earthly excellence, and rest there contented, and seek for nothing more perfect; but that, at any rate, is a future and ent evil It is better to love earthly excellence than earthly folly; it is far better in itself, and it is, by dom of God

There is another case, however, which I cannot but think is more frequent now than formerly; and if it is so, it may be worth while to direct our attention to it Conorance are not what I wish to speak of now, but a character advanced above these; a character which does not neglect its school-lessons, but really attains to considerable proficiency in the fro a real abhorrence What, then, you will say, is wanting here? I will tell you what see--a spirit of htfulness There is quickness and cleverness; much pleasure, perhaps, in distinction, but little in ie for its own sake, whether human or divine There is, therefore, but little power of co what is read; and, consequently, what is read passes away, and takes no root in the mind This same character shows itself in matters of conduct; it will adopt, without scruple, the ht and wrong; it will not, and cannot, frohtness of its mind, concern itself seriously about what is evil in the conduct of others, because it takes no regular care of its oith reference to pleasing God; it will not do anything loicked, but it will soh at those who do; and it will by no e, nay, it will soher spirit, and asserts a more manly and Christian standard of duty

One cause of this consists in the number and character and cheapness, and peculiar mode of publication, of the works of amusement of the present day The works of amusement published only a very few years since were co, and therefore less attractive; they were dearer, and therefore less accessible; and, not being published periodically, they did not occupy thea time, nor keep alive so constant an expectation; nor, by thus dwelling upon thethemselves into it as it were drop by drop, did they possess it so largely, coloring even, infrequent matter for conversation

The evil of all these circumstances is actually enormous Thepersons, have no great appetite for intellectual exercise; but they have sothened and increased But here to this weak and delicate appetite is presented an abundance of thefood possible It snatches it greedily, and is not only satisfied, but actually conceives a distaste for anything siiven us to lead us on to knowledge, finds its full gratification in the details of an exciting and protracted story, and then lies down as it were gorged, and goes to sleep Other faculties claim their turn, and have it We know that in youth the healthy body and lively spirits require exercise, and in this they ed; but the time and interest which remain over when the body has had its enjoyment, and the mind desires its share, this has been already wasted and exhausted upon things utterly unprofitable: so that the uidly, and feels it to be no more than a burden The mere lessons may be learnt fro persons of ability would fasten eagerly upon soe, and there expatiate, drinking in health and strength to the ives to it bodily vigor,--that is tired pree which else iteffort to retain

Great and grievous as is the evil, it is peculiarly hard to find the re were books of downright wickedness, we ht forbid their open circulation; we ht conjure you to shun them as you would any other clear sin, whether of word or deed But they are not wicked books for the most part; they are of that class which cannot be actually prohibited; nor can it be pretended that there is a sin in reading the published so cheap, and at regular intervals; but yet these two circumstances make them so peculiarly injurious All that can be done is to point out the evil; that it is real and serious I am very sure, and its defects are most deplorable on the minds of the fairest promise; but the remedy for it rests with yourselves, or rather with each of you individually, so far as he is himself concerned That an unnatural and constant excitement of the mind is most injurious, there is no doubt; that excitement involves a consequent weakness, is a law of our nature than which none is surer; that the weakness of mind thus produced is and ht, to that reflection which alone is wisdoely by experience And that without reflection there can be no spiritual understanding, is at once evident; while without spiritual understanding, that is, without a knowledge and a study of God's will, there can be no spiritual life And therefore childishness and unthoughtfulness cannot be light evils; and if I have rightly traced the prevalence of these defects to its cause, although that cause , yet surely it is well to call your attention to it, and to re works of amusement, as in every other lawful pleasure, there is and ht of God; that, like other lawful pleasures, we must beware of excess in it; and not only so, but if we find it hurtful to us, either because we have used it too freely in times past, or because our nature is too weak to bear it, that then we are bound most solemnly to abstain from it; because, however lawful in itself, or to others who can practise it without injury, whatever is to us an hindrance in the way of our intellectual and moral and spiritual improvement, that is in our case a positive sin

_There is a book, who runs may read, which heavenly truth imparts; And all the lore its scholars need,--pure eyes and Christian hearts