o the lower animals alone;
but in a metaphorical and spiritual sense it is, alas! true of nearly
all men as well. All their plans and projects are merged in the desire
of physical enjoyment, physical well-being. They may, indeed, have
personal interests, often embracing a very varied sphere; but still
these latter receive their importance entirely from the relation in
which they stand to the former. This is not only proved by their
manner of life and the things they say, but it even shows itself in
the way they look, the expression of their physiognomy, their gait and
gesticulations. Everything about them cries out; _in terram prona_!

It is not to them, it is only to the nobler and more highly endowed
natures--men who really think and look about them in the world, and
form exceptional specimens of humanity--that the next lines are
applicable;

_Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri
Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus_.

* * * * *

No one knows what capacities for doing and suffering he has in
himself, until something comes to rouse them to activity: just as in
a pond of still water, lying there like a mirror, there is no sign of
the roar and thunder with which it can leap from the precipice, and
yet remain what it is; or again, rise high in the air as a fountain.
When water is as cold as ice, you can have no idea of the latent
warmth contained in it.

* * * * *

Why is it that, in spite of all the mirrors in the world, no one
really knows what he looks like?

A man may call to mind the face of his friend, but not his own. Here,
then, is an initial difficulty in the way of applying the maxim, _Know
thyself_.

This is partly, no doubt, to be explained by the fact that it is
physically impossible for a man to see himself in the glass except
with face turned straight towards it and perfectly motionless; where
the expression of the eye, which counts for so much, and really gives
its whole character to the face, is to a great extent lost. But
co-existing with this physical impossibility, there seems to me to be
an ethical impossibility of an analogous nature, and producing the
same effect. A man cannot look upon his own reflection as though the
person presented there were _a stranger_ to him; and yet this is
necessary if he is to take _an objective view_. In the last resort,
an objective view means a deep-rooted feeling on the part of the