Volume Ii Part 34 (2/2)

_The Wanderer_: I thought a man's shadow was his vanity. Surely vanity would never say, ”Am I, then, to flatter?”

_The Shadow_: Nor does human vanity, so far as I am acquainted with it, ask, as I have done twice, whether it may speak. It simply speaks.

_The Wanderer_: Now I see for the first time how rude I am to you, my beloved shadow. I have not said a word of my supreme _delight_ in hearing and not merely seeing you. You must know that I love shadows even as I love light. For the existence of beauty of face, clearness of speech, kindliness and firmness of character, the shadow is as necessary as the light. They are not opponents-rather do they hold each other's hands like good friends; and when the light vanishes, the shadow glides after it.

_The Shadow_: Yes, and I hate the same thing that you hate-night. I love men because they are votaries of life. I rejoice in the gleam of their eyes when they recognise and discover, they who never weary of recognising and discovering. That shadow which all things cast when the suns.h.i.+ne of knowledge falls upon them-that shadow too am I.

_The Wanderer_: I think I understand you, although you have expressed yourself in somewhat shadowy terms. You are right. Good friends give to each other here and there, as a sign of mutual understanding, an obscure phrase which to any third party is meant to be a riddle. And we are good friends, you and I. So enough of preambles! Some few hundred questions oppress my soul, and the time for you to answer them is perchance but short. Let us see how we may come to an understanding as quickly and peaceably as possible.

_The Shadow_: But shadows are more shy than men. You will not reveal to any man the manner of our conversation?

_The Wanderer_: _The manner_ of our conversation? Heaven preserve me from wire-drawn, literary dialogues! If Plato had found less pleasure in spinning them out, his readers would have found more pleasure in Plato. A dialogue that in real life is a source of delight, when turned into writing and read, is a picture with nothing but false perspectives.

Everything is too long or too short.-Yet perhaps I may reveal the _points on which_ we have come to an understanding?

_The Shadow_: With that I am content. For every one will only recognise your views once more, and no one will think of the shadow.

_The Wanderer_: Perhaps you are wrong, my friend! Hitherto they have observed in my views more of the shadow than of me.

_The Shadow_: More of the shadow than of the light? Is that possible?

_The Wanderer_: Be serious, dear fool! My very first question demands seriousness.

1.

OF THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE.-Probability, but no truth; the semblance of freedom, but no freedom-these are the two fruits by virtue of which the tree of knowledge cannot be confounded with the tree of life.

2.

THE WORLD'S REASON.-That the world is _not_ the abstract essence of an eternal reasonableness is sufficiently proved by the fact that that _bit of the world_ which we know-I mean our human reason-is none too reasonable. And if _this_ is not eternally and wholly wise and reasonable, the rest of the world will not be so either. Here the conclusion _a minori ad majus, a parte ad totum_ holds good, and that with decisive force.

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