Emerson's Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (book series to read txt) 📖
- Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson
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[140] Optimism and Pessimism. The meanings of these two opposites are readily made out from the Latin words from which they come.
[141] St. Bernard de Clairvaux (1091-1153), French ecclesiastic.
[142] Jesus. Holmes writes of Emerson: "Jesus was for him a divine manifestation, but only as other great human souls have been in all ages and are to-day. He was willing to be called a Christian just as he was willing to be called a Platonist.... If he did not worship the 'man Christ Jesus' as the churches of Christendom have done, he followed his footsteps so nearly that our good Methodist, Father Taylor, spoke of him as more like Christ than any man he had known."
[143] The first his refers to Jesus, the second to Shakespeare.
[144] Banyan. What is the characteristic of this tree that makes it appropriate for this figure?
SELF-RELIANCE[145] Ne te, etc. "Do not seek for anything outside of thyself." From Persius, Sat. I. 7. Compare Macrobius, Com. in Somn. Scip., I. ix. 3, and Boethius, De Consol. Phil., IV. 4.
[146] Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletcher's Honest Man's Fortune.
[147] These lines appear in Emerson's Quatrains under the title Power.
[148] Genius. See the paragraph on genius in Emerson's lecture on The Method of Nature, one sentence of which runs: "Genius is its own end, and draws its means and the style of its architecture from within, going abroad only for audience, and spectator."
[149] "The man that stands by himself, the universe stands by him also."—Emerson, Behavior.
[150] Plato (429-347 b.c.), (See note 36.)
[151] Milton (1608-1674), the great English epic poet, author of Paradise Lost.
O skill'd to sing of Time or Eternity,
God-gifted organ-voice of England,
Milton, a name to resound for ages."Tennyson.
[152] "The great poet makes feel our own wealth."—Emerson, The Over-Soul.
[153] Then most when, most at the time when.
[154] "The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity."—Emerson, Address to the Senior Class in Divinity College, Cambridge.
[155]
And half conceal the soul within."
Tennyson, In Memoriam, V. I.
[156] Trust thyself. This is the theme of the present essay, and is a lesson which Emerson is never tired of teaching. In The American Scholar he says:
"In self-trust all the virtues are comprehended." In the essay on Greatness:
"Self-respect is the early form in which greatness appears.... Stick to your own.... Follow the path your genius traces like the galaxy of heaven for you to walk in."
Carlyle says:
"The fearful unbelief is unbelief in yourself."
[157] Chaos (Χάος), the confused, unorganized condition in which the world was supposed to have existed before it was reduced to harmony and order; hence, utter confusion and disorder.
[158] These, i.e., children, babes, and brutes.
[159] Four or five. Supply the noun.
[160] Nonchalance, a French word meaning indifference, coolness.
[161] Pit in the playhouse, formerly, the seats on the floor below the level of the stage. These cheap seats were occupied by a class who did not hesitate to express their opinions of the performances.
[162] Eclat, a French word meaning brilliancy of success, striking effect.
[163] "Lethe, the river of oblivion."—Paradise Lost. Oblivion, forgetfulness.
[164] Who. What is the construction?
[165] Nonconformist, one who does not conform to established usages or opinions. Emerson considers conformity and consistency as the two terrors that scare us from self-trust. (See note 182.)
[166] Explore if it be goodness, investigate for himself and see if it be really goodness.
Paul, I. Thes. v. 21.
[167] Suffrage, approval.
Thrice is he arm'd that hath his quarrel just;
And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted."
Shakespeare, II. Henry VI., III. 2.
[168] "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." —Hamlet, ii. 2.
[169] Barbadoes, an island in the Atlantic Ocean, one of the Lesser Antilles. The negroes, composing by far the larger part of the population, were formerly slaves.
[170] He had rather have his actions ascribed to whim and caprice than to spend the day in explaining them.
[171] Diet and bleeding, special diet and medical care, used figuratively, of course.
[172] Read Emerson's essay on Greatness.
[173] The precise man, precisely what kind of man.
[174] "By their fruits ye shall know them."—Matthew, vii. 16 and 20.
[175] With, notwithstanding, in spite of.
[176] Of the bench, of an impartial judge.
[177] Bound their eyes with ... handkerchief, in this game of blindman's-buff.
[178] "Pin thy faith to no man's sleeve; hast thou not two eyes of thy own?"—Carlyle.
[179] Give examples of men who have been made to feel the displeasure of the world for their nonconformity.
[180] "Nihil tam incertum nec tam inæstimabile est quam animi multitudinis."—Livy, xxxi. 34.
Claudianus, De IV. Consul. Honorii, 302.
[181] The other terror. The first, conformity, has just been treated.
[182] Consistency. Compare, on the other hand, the well-known saying, "Consistency, thou art a jewel."
[183] Orbit, course in life.
[184] Somewhat, something.
[185] See Genesis, xxxix. 12.
[186] Pythagoras (fl. about 520 b.c.), a Greek philosopher. His society was scattered and persecuted by the fury of the populace.
[187] Socrates (470?-399 b.c.), the great Athenian philosopher, whose teachings are the subject of most of Plato's writings, was accused of corrupting the youth, and condemned to drink hemlock.
[188] Martin Luther (1483-1546) preached against certain abuses of the Roman Catholic Church and was excommunicated by the Pope. He became the leader of the Protestant Reformation.
[189] Copernicus (1473-1543) discovered the error of the old Ptolemaic system of astronomy and showed that the sun is the centre of our planetary system. Fearing the persecution of the church, he hesitated long to publish his discovery, and it was many years after his death before the world accepted his theory.
[190] Galileo (1564-1642), the famous Italian astronomer and physicist, discoverer of the satellites of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn, was thrown into prison by the Inquisition.
[191] Sir Isaac Newton. (See note 53.)
[192] Andes, the great mountain system of South America.
[193] Himmaleh, Himalaya, the great mountain system of Asia.
[194] Alexandrian stanza. The Alexandrian line consists of twelve syllables (iambic hexameter). Neither the acrostic nor the Alexandrine has the property assigned to it here. A palindrame reads the same forward as backward, as:
"Signa te signa; temere me tangis et angis";
or the inscription on the church of St. Sophia, Constantinople:
[195] The reference is to sailing vessels, of course.
[196] Scorn eyes, scorn observers.
[197] Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (1708-1778), this distinguished statesman and orator. He became very popular as a statesman and was known as "The Great Commoner."
[198] Adams. The reference is presumably to Samuel Adams (1722-1803), a popular leader and orator in the cause of American freedom. He was a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Emerson may have in mind, however, John Adams (1735-1826), second president of the United States.
[199] Spartan. The ancient Spartans were noted for their courage and fortitude.
[200] Julius Cæsar (100-44 b.c.), the great Roman general, statesman, orator, and author.
[201] St. Anthony (251-356), Egyptian founder of monachism, the system of monastic seclusion.
[202] George Fox (1624-1691), English founder of the Society of Friends or Quakers.
[203] John Wesley (1703-1791), English founder of the religious sect known as Methodists.
[204] Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846), English philanthropist and abolitionist.
[205] Scipio (235-184 b.c.), the great Roman general who defeated Hannibal and decided the fate of Carthage. The quotation is from Paradise Lost, Book IX., line 610.
[206] In the story of Abou Hassan or The Sleeper Awakened in the Arabian Nights Abou Hassan awakes and finds himself treated in every respect as the Caliph Haroun Al-raschid. Shakespeare has made use of a similar trick in Taming of the Shrew, where Christopher Sly is put to bed drunk in the lord's room and on awaking is treated as a lord.
[207] Alfred the Great (849-901), King of the West Saxons. He was a wise king, a great scholar, and a patron of learning.
[208] Scanderbeg, George Castriota (1404-1467), an Albanian chief who embraced Christianity and carried on a successful war against the Turks.
[209] Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632), King of Sweden, the hero of Protestantism in the Thirty Years' War.
[210] Hieroglyphic, a character in the picture-writing of the ancient Egyptian priests; hence, hidden sign.
[211] Parallax, an angle used in astronomy in calculating the distance of a heavenly body. The parallax decreases as the distance of the body increases.
[212] The child has the advantage of the experience of all his ancestors. Compare Tennyson's line in Locksley Hall:
[213] "Why should we grope among the dry bones of the past, or put the living generation into masquerade out of its faded wardrobe? The sun shines to-day also."—Emerson, Introd. to Nature, Addresses, etc.
[214] Explain the thought in this sentence.
[215] Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.
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