, and that they may at least save the
honor of their literary taste, since nothing else is left them.

From this it is plain that, whereas it is very difficult to win
fame, it is not hard to keep it when once attained; and also that a
reputation which comes quickly does not last very long; for here
too, _quod cito fit, cito perit_. It is obvious that if the ordinary
average man can easily recognize, and the rival workers willingly
acknowledge, the value of any performance, it will not stand very much
above the capacity of either of them to achieve it for themselves.
_Tantum quisque laudat, quantum se posse sperat imitari_--a man will
praise a thing only so far as he hopes to be able to imitate it
himself. Further, it is a suspicious sign if a reputation comes
quickly; for an application of the laws of homogeneity will show that
such a reputation is nothing but the direct applause of the multitude.
What this means may be seen by a remark once made by Phocion, when he
was interrupted in a speech by the loud cheers of the mob. Turning
to his friends who were standing close by, he asked: _Have I made a
mistake and said something stupid?_[1]

[Footnote 1: Plutarch, _Apophthegms_.]

Contrarily, a reputation that is to last a long time must be slow
in maturing, and the centuries of its duration have generally to be
bought at the cost of contemporary praise. For that which is to keep
its position so long, must be of a perfection difficult to attain; and
even to recognize this perfection requires men who are not always to
be found, and never in numbers sufficiently great to make themselves
heard; whereas envy is always on the watch and doing its best to
smother their voice. But with moderate talent, which soon meets with
recognition, there is the danger that those who possess it will
outlive both it and themselves; so that a youth of fame may be
followed by an old age of obscurity. In the case of great merit, on
the other hand, a man may remain unknown for many years, but make up
for it later on by attaining a brilliant reputation. And if it should
be that this comes only after he is no more, well! he is to be
reckoned amongst those of whom Jean Paul says that extreme unction is
their baptism. He may console himself by thinking of the Saints, who
also are canonized only after they are dead.

Thus what Mahlmann[1] has said so well in _Herodes_ holds good; in
this world truly great work never pleases at once, and the god set u