ded the matter were of themselves evidence that after all it was
the temperament that was at fault. Cecil Rhodes, it is recorded, once
asked Lord Acton why Mr. Bent, the explorer, did not pronounce certain
ruins to be of Phoenician origin. Lord Acton replied with a smile that
it was probably because he was not sure. "Ah!" said Cecil Rhodes, "that
is not the way that Empires are made." A true, interesting, and
characteristic comment; but it also contains a lesson that people who
are not sure should not attempt to make empires, or undertake tasks
that involve the welfare of many.

And so there remains the duty to me, after my piece of experience, to
gather up the fragments that remain, to interpret. Dante assigns the
lowest place in the lower world to those who refuse a great
opportunity, but he is speaking of those who perversely reject a great
task, which is plainly in their power, for some false and low motive.
But the case is different for those who have a great temptation put
before them, and who, desiring to do what is right, have it brought
home to them in a convincing way that it is not their opportunity. No
one ought to assume great responsibilities if he is not equal to them.
One of the saddest things ever said on a human deathbed was what was
said by a great ecclesiastic, who had disappointed the hopes that had
been formed of him. In his last moments he turned to one who stood near
him and murmured, "I have held a great post, and I have not been equal
to it." The misery was that no one could sincerely contradict him. It
is not a piece of noble self-sacrifice to have assumed confidently a
great responsibility to which one is not equal. It is a mere mistake,
and a mistake which is even more reprehensible than the mistake of
being over-persuaded into attempting a task for which one is not
fitted. One is given reason and common sense and prudence that one may
use them, and to act contrary to their dictates because those who do
not know you so well as you know yourself advise you cheerfully that it
will probably be all right, is an act of criminal folly. Heavy
responsibilities are lightly assumed nowadays, because the temptations
of power and publicity are very strong, and because too high a value is
set upon worldly success. It is a plainer and simpler duty for those
who wish to act rightly, and who have formed a deliberate idea of own
limitations, to refuse great positions humbly and seriously, if they
know that t