_Fest._ Good: let us hear No more about your nature, "which first shrank From all that marked you out apart from men!" _Par._ I touch on that; these words but analyze The first mad impulse: 't was as brief as fond, For as I gazed again upon the show, I soon distinguished here and there a shape Palm-wreathed and radiant, forehead and full eye. Well pleased was I their state should thus at once Interpret my own thoughts:--"Behold the clue To all," I rashly said, "and what I pine To do, these have accomplished: we are peers. They know and therefore rule: I too, will know!" You were beside me, Festus, as you say; You saw me plunge in their pursuits whom fame Is lavish to attest the lords of mind, Not pausing to make sure the prize in view Would satiate my cravings when obtained, But since they strove I strove. Then came a slow And strangling failure. We aspired alike, Yet not the meanest plodder, Tritheim counts A marvel, but was all-sufficient, strong Or staggered only at his own vast wits; While I was restless, nothing satisfied, Distrustful, most perplexed. I would slur over That struggle; suffice it, that I loathed myself As weak compared with them, yet felt somehow A mighty power was brooding, taking shape Within me; and this lasted till one night When, as I sat revolving it and more, A still voice from without said--"Seest thou not, Desponding child, whence spring defeat and loss? Even from thy strength. Consider: hast thou gazed Presumptuously on wisdom's countenance, No veil between; and can thy faltering hands, Unguided by the brain the sight absorbs, Pursue their task as earnest blinkers do Whom radiance ne'er distracted? Live their life If thou wouldst share their fortune, choose their eyes Unfed by splendor. Let each task present Its petty good to thee. Waste not thy gifts In profitless waiting for the gods' descent, But have some idol of thine own to dress With their array. Know, not for knowing's sake, But to become a star to men forever; Know, for the gain it gets, the praise it brings, The wonder it inspires, the love it breeds: Look one step onward, and secure that step!" And I smiled as one never smiles but once, Then first discovering my own aim's extent, Which sought to comprehend the works of God, And God himself, and all God's intercourse With the human mind; I understood, no less, My fellows' studies, whose true worth I saw, But smiled not, well aware who stood by me. And softer came the voice--"There is a way: 'T is hard for flesh to tread therein, imbued With frailty--hopeless, if indulgence first Have ripened inborn germs of sin to strength: Wilt thou adventure for my sake and man's, Apart from all reward?" And last it breathed--