[151] “Per l’ asprezza della penitenza e continuo piagnere, era diventato quasi cieco, e poco vedea.”—Fioretti, III. He had “wholly shattered his body,” says Thomas of Celano (Second Life of St. F., Ch. CLX.). [152] A discussion of the subject, with special reference to the rapid decay of the Franciscan Order, will be found in Mr. G. G. Coulton’s paper ‘The Failure of the Friars,’ in the _Hibbert Journal_ for January, 1907. See also criticisms on this paper by two English Franciscans, Friar Cuthbert and Friar Stanilaus, in the same journal for April, 1907, and Mr. Coulton’s rejoinder, July, 1907. [153] When the ascetic ideal is regarded as admirable in a saint, it naturally leads to still more lamentable perversions by being practised by persons who have never withdrawn themselves from ordinary social relations. Thus a Catholic priest has lately given as an instance of the “spiritual tendency and unworldliness of the Irish peasant” the case of a farmer’s wife, the mother of a large family, who, by a long course of secret austerities, brought herself “to an untimely grave, and, no doubt,” adds the reverend author, “a martyr’s crown.” To keep herself in health and do her duty to her husband and children would, it appears, have been “worldliness.” Such cases, we are told, are not uncommon. (Scenes and Sketches in an Irish Parish, by the Rev. J. Guinan, C.C., 4th ed., 1906, p. 87.) [154] The Teaching of Epictetus, by T. W. Rolleston, p. 36. Dissertations, III, xxii. [155] Suns that have set return as bright, But we, when sets our little light, Sleep on through one eternal night.—Catullus, V. [156] The Nature and Origin of Life, by Felix Le Dantec, p. 22 (Engl. trans., 1907). [157] The Evolution of Matter. [158] Of course the question remains, What compressed the spring? If Matter and Motion are continually wasting, it follows that they must at some time have been originated, and that the power which originated them is not dependent on them. [159] The Teaching of Epictetus, p. 103. Dissertations, II, v, 24, etc. [160] See pp. 186, 187. [161] See, _e.g._, the opening of the Phædrus. [162] For a discussion of this subject I may refer the reader to an article by the writer in the _Hibbert Journal_ for April, 1906: ‘The Resurrection: A Layman’s Dialogue.’ [163] ὥσπερ ζῷον ἓν ὅλον. Poetics, XXIII, 1. He is speaking of the design of a narrative poem. [164] What is Art?, by Leo Tolstoy. English translation by Aylmer Maude, pp. 44-5. [165] What is Art?, chap. v. [166] I do not mean to exclude the possibility that man may have first learned his _capacity_ for art by making signs intended for quite other purposes, such as identification of tribehood, etc. [167] What is Art?, p. 153. [168] Fifteen Sermons, III. [169] What is Art?, p. 146. [170] _Ibid._, p. 148. [171] What is Art?, p. 163.