As he recalled the achievement of the morning, he felt a glow of
exaltation. Looking back upon it his mind had been as clear as a
crystal, exquisitely responsive to the will. Every bolt and nut of the
complex mechanism had been in perfect order. The very words he had
wished to use had sprung to his lips, the very tones in which he sought
to embody them had proceeded out of his mouth. So profoundly harmonious
had been his mind in its most intimate workings, that he had been able
to convey fine shades of meaning to the jury without addressing to them
a single word.
Already he seemed to know all that was salient in the character of each
individual who composed it. As he rejoiced in the masterful strength
in which he was now cloaked so valiantly, he felt it had only to abide
with him throughout the afternoon, and a signal victory would crown his
efforts. And it would abide with him throughout that period, because
all the power of his nature, which when aroused to action he felt to be
without a limit, was pledged to this contingency. In this overmastering
flush of virility in which he walked now, he stood revealed to himself
as a Titan. Bestriding the crowded pavements he seemed to be in a world
of pygmies. What was there in the life around him that could stem this
vital force? No longer did he doubt that it was in him to dominate the
judge, the jury, and the prosecution. They were none of his clay;
their mould was not the mighty one nature had used for his fashioning.
With an extraordinary boldness and elasticity in his steps he walked
back into the court. How dear, how precious, had the fetid and hideous
room become to him already! It is a ruthless joy that consumes the
orator, when, clad in his strength, he stands up in that forum which
previously his failures have caused him to dread, but which the lust
of triumph has rendered indispensable to his being. This day would be
written in its memorials. It would mark the first of a succession of
achievements within its precincts, achievements which would cause his
name to be handed down in its archives forever. Who among the listless
occupants of the surrounding benches foresaw that they were on the
threshold of another miracle that was about to happen in the world? Who
among them foresaw that a demigod was about to rise in their midst?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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