THINGS AND THOUGHTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2666, 19 April 1905, Page 77

THINGS AND THOUGHTS.

By John Christie,

— A Personal Application. —

"We pay all our debts in time or eternity, ' said the lecturer on moral philosophy ; Avhereupon a graceless young worMling whispered to his classniate : "If my creditors would only give me eternity to pay mine in, how happy 1 should be!"

— Questions. —

When a woman says that she is your friend and will not marry you, does she not give the very best possible proof of her friendship by resolving not to become your wife? Or does this involve an invidicus reflection on the venerable institution of marriage or on you, on account of your place in the woman's esteem ; or on the woman herself as a possible factor in your unhappiness, or on the disposition of the person who asks the original questien?

— Philistines. —

Some people have so much virtue and so little charm that we wish they had less of the one and more of the other ; others who abound in charm — on show occasions and on the parade grounds 'if ive — are wofully deficient in virtue, understood as integrity, trustwortEiness, staying power, solid wor+h. Both of these Iypes are distinctly Philistine, and tbe only Iruly civilised man is he who combines grace of manner with goodness of heart, anu. goodness of heart with grace of manner.

— Good Humour. —

Make the must of Nature as she is — of things as they are ; and then they will not be merely what they appear to ba on a microscopic view. They will not only b-s more tolerable in themselves than they once seemed to be, but will gain something from good humour ; which will thus, while being a happy thing in itself, qualify other things to r edd to your happiness. "-"* — Satan acd Napoleon. —

Think of Milton's Satan as a type or character, without iciereiiee to fable or tradition, and -of Napoleon,' apart from the pettier details of his life and chiefly in connection _jrifai his ail but' immeasurable intellectual power, ambition, and resourcefulness, and a. somewhat interesting similarity will f be found to subsist between them. Indeed, this is so surely the case that it might almost be said that, in the first instance. Nature made Milton, then Milton made Sat^n, and afterwards Nature, copying Milton's handiwork, made Napoleon, the most powerful militant intellect known to history. Had Napoleon lived before or at the time Milton wrote "Paradise Lost,*' he would assuredly have been looked on as the original of the poet's Titanic creation. For although Milton's Satan may not be human in the ordinary sense, after the manner pf a, man with a complex nature subject to many minor moods and tendencies, yet ho exhibits on a scale of vastness seme paramount human qualities ; and these are pos&sssed by Napoleon in a degree sufficient -to suggest a comparison between him and the hero of the poet.

The morality of the characters and conduct of Satan and Napoleon need not be considered in connection with this comparison*:" nor thu limitation of the wisdom which leads them to attempt impossibilities. But look at the unquenchable courage and unfailing energy with which they turn round upon Fate, and contrive new means to retrieve ti.eir fortunes at the moment of direst disaster.* This surely is a proof of transcendent intellect, though no doubt the very greatest genius would be exemplified in not undertaking a task beyond the power of accomplishment. In this sense Satan and Napoleon — considered dramatically as actual human forces, or as types of fuch forces — do not stand in the front rank ; though they are in the front rank of those who, attempting stupendous enterprises, fail t.o achieve the uttermost. and yet exhibit unexhausted powers, even when confronted with overwhelming defeat.

I»et those who are interested in this comparison turn to the words which Milton, in the first book of "l'aradise Lost," puts in the mouth of Satan :

"What though the field be lost, All is not lost ;

Since, through experience of this great event, In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced, We may with more successful hope resolve :

And, reassembling our afflicted powers, Consult how we henceforth may most offend Our enemy, our own loss how repair, How overcome this dire calamity. The same feelings are expressed, and almost the same words used, in the sixth book, where Raphael, in telling Adam how Gabriel and Satan had fought, quotes Satan as saying to his routed legions : Abandon fear; to strength and counsel joined Think nothing hard, much less to be despaired.

Now, the history of Napoleon teems with proofs of similar courage and resourcefulness in that marvellous 'man, and perhaps the last instance is the most remarkable of all. On the 19th of June, 1815, the day after Waterloo, he writes to his brother Joseph in a. strain which is in the verj^ tone and temper, and even essentially in the words, of Milton's immortal hero. All is not lost. I suppose that by collecting all my forces, I shall still have a hundred and fifty thousand men remaining. The federated! troops and the best of°the National Guard will furnish aae a hundred thousand men ; and the depot battalions fifty thousand more. Thus I shall have three hundred thousand soldiers, with whom I can at once oppose the enemy. I will horse my artillery with carriage horses. I will raise a hundred thousand conscripts. I viil arm them with muskets taken from

the iioyalists, and from the ill-disposed m-ambeis of the National Guard. I will raise the whole of Dauphine, the Lycn nai«, and Burgundy. 1 will overwhelm the enemy. But the people must help me, and not bewilder me. I am going to Laori. I shall doubtless find people there. I have no news of Grouchy. If lie has not been taken, as I fear, I may have fifty thousand men within three days. With them I can keep the enemy engaged, and give France ard Paris time to do their duty. The Austrians march slowly, the Prussians are afraid of the peasants, and dare not advance too fast ; everything may y-et be retrieved. Write me what effect this horrible piece of bad luck has nroduoed in the Chamber. I

believe the deputies will feel convinced that their duty, in this crowning moment, is to rally round me, and' save France.

Pave the way, so that they may support me worthily. Above all, let them show courage and decision ! — (Lady Mary Loyd"s Translation.)

This, surely, has the spirit of a thousand trumpet-calls in it. France, whether willing or not, was not in a condition to respond with the necessary energy ; but cculd anything excel Napoleon's apps-al as an exhibition of intellectual resourcefulness and invincible courage 7 This genius for stupendous effort and enterprise is sur-ely very magnificent, even as a spectacle, supplied by the character and conduct of both Satan and Napoleon. In both cases, to >, the spectacle is of the greatest dramatic and epical interest ; and it is hard to sey whether it is more so in the case of tne intellectually imperial man, +hf> miration of Nature, than it is in that of the imperious archangel, the creation of man. The fact that the inexhaustible mental vigour disclosed in the one instance is so like that shown in the other is surely, at least, a unique testimony to the creative power of ihe poet; just as it is to the splendid genius of the man wno, in the a-ctun.l shock of vast and terrible events, spontaneously exhibits the highest qualities and talents with which one of the greatest human minds has invested the greatest epical character in literature.

Of course other issues are involved ; but these are not now under consideration. All that at present concerns us is the energy, the courage, exhibited by the poet's hero and the greatest soldier of modern tinier — -each at the moment of overwhelming disaster. The similarity in genius — in intellectual character — that emerges from the comparison is surely not without in-

! terest : and if the subject were further | studied ifc mig-ht be found that the likeness ! /is traceable not only in the intellect itself, j but in the physiognomy.

Care Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride Waiting revenge : cruel his eye, but cast Signs of remorse and passion to behold The fellows of his crime. i Napoleon, not less than Milton's Sntan, ! misjht be immortally painted with this meworable aspect. It is characteristic of the one hardly less than it is of the other ; a thin^ not to he wondered at in preeminent personalities of the same pre--eminent intellectual type.