ce and of assurance
in the immortality of his verses, and in this respect the author's
opinion was constant and uniform. He never scruples to express it,...
and perhaps there is no writer of ancient or modern times who, for the
quantity of such writings left behind him, has so frequently or so
strongly declared that what he had produced in this department of
poetry 'the world would not willingly let die.'"]

A method of underrating good work often used by envy--in reality,
however, only the obverse side of it--consists in the dishonorable and
unscrupulous laudation of the bad; for no sooner does bad work gain
currency than it draws attention from the good. But however effective
this method may be for a while, especially if it is applied on a large
scale, the day of reckoning comes at last, and the fleeting credit
given to bad work is paid off by the lasting discredit which overtakes
those who abjectly praised it. Hence these critics prefer to remain
anonymous.

A like fate threatens, though more remotely, those who depreciate and
censure good work; and consequently many are too prudent to attempt
it. But there is another way; and when a man of eminent merit appears,
the first effect he produces is often only to pique all his rivals,
just as the peacock's tail offended the birds. This reduces them to
a deep silence; and their silence is so unanimous that it savors of
preconcertion. Their tongues are all paralyzed. It is the _silentium
livoris_ described by Seneca. This malicious silence, which is
technically known as _ignoring_, may for a long time interfere with
the growth of reputation; if, as happens in the higher walks of
learning, where a man's immediate audience is wholly composed of rival
workers and professed students, who then form the channel of his fame,
the greater public is obliged to use its suffrage without being able
to examine the matter for itself. And if, in the end, that malicious
silence is broken in upon by the voice of praise, it will be but
seldom that this happens entirely apart from some ulterior aim,
pursued by those who thus manipulate justice. For, as Goethe says in
the _West-oestlicher Divan_, a man can get no recognition, either from
many persons or from only one, unless it is to publish abroad the
critic's own discernment:

_Denn es ist kein Anerkenen,
Weder Vieler, noch des Einen,
Wenn es nicht am Tage foerdert,
Wo man selbst was moechte scheinen_.

The credit you allow to