ory of the soul; never losing sight of Karma,
and that man is his own adverse destiny; finishing all with the
triumph of the soul, the Magician, in _The Tempest._ And I count
him less than that Blind Titan in Bardism, who, setting out to
justify the ways of God to men, did verily justify the ways of
fate to the Soul; and showed the old, old truth, so dear to the
Celtic bards, that in the very depths of hell the Soul has not
yet lost all her original brightness; but is mightily superior
to hell, death, fate, sorrow and the whole pack of them;--I count
him less than the "Evening Dragon" of _Samson Agonistes,_ whose
last word to us is

"Nothing is here for tears; nothing to wail
Or knock the breast; no weakness or contempt."

And I found him less that One with the grand tragic visage, whose
words so often quiver with unshed tears, who went forth upon his
journey

.... _pei dolci pomi
Promessi a me per lo verace Duca;
Ma fino al centro pria convien ch'io tomi:_--

"to obtain those sweet apples (of Paradise) promised me by my
true Leader; but first is"--convien--how shall you translate the
pride and resignation of that word?--"it behoves," we must say,
"it convenes"--"first it is convenient that I should fall as far
as to the center (of hell);"--who must end the gloom and terror
of that journey, that fall, with

_E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle,_

"And then we came forth to behold again the Stars;" and who came
from his ascent through purifying Purgatory with

_Rifatto si, come piante novelle
Rinnovellate di novella fronda,
Puro e disposto a salire alle stelle_--

"So made anew, like young plants in spring with fresh foliage, I
was pure and disposed to come forth among the Stars;"--and who
must end his _Paradiso_ and his life-work announcing

_L'amor che muove il sole e le altre stelle,_

"The Love that moves the sun and the other Stars." Ah, glory
to this Dante! Glory to the man who would end nothing but
with the stars!

III. GREEKS AND PERSIANS

Now to consider what this Blind Maeonides did for Greece.
Sometime last Century a Black Potentate from Africa visited
England, and was duly amazed at all he saw. Being a very
important person indeed, he was invited to pay his respects to
Queen Victoria. he told her of the many wonders he had seen;
and took occasion to ask her, as the supreme authority, how such
things came to be. What was