From this it is plain that, whereas it is very difficult to win fame, it is not hard to keep it when once attained; and also that a reputation which comes quickly does not last very long; for here too, _quod cito fit, cito perit_. It is obvious that if the ordinary average man can easily recognize, and the rival workers willingly acknowledge, the value of any performance, it will not stand very much above the capacity of either of them to achieve it for themselves. _Tantum quisque laudat, quantum se posse sperat imitari_--a man will praise a thing only so far as he hopes to be able to imitate it himself. Further, it is a suspicious sign if a reputation comes quickly; for an application of the laws of homogeneity will show that such a reputation is nothing but the direct applause of the multitude. What this means may be seen by a remark once made by Phocion, when he was interrupted in a speech by the loud cheers of the mob. Turning to his friends who were standing close by, he asked: _Have I made a mistake and said something stupid?_[1] [Footnote 1: Plutarch, _Apophthegms_.] Contrarily, a reputation that is to last a long time must be slow in maturing, and the centuries of its duration have generally to be bought at the cost of contemporary praise. For that which is to keep its position so long, must be of a perfection difficult to attain; and even to recognize this perfection requires men who are not always to be found, and never in numbers sufficiently great to make themselves heard; whereas envy is always on the watch and doing its best to smother their voice. But with moderate talent, which soon meets with recognition, there is the danger that those who possess it will outlive both it and themselves; so that a youth of fame may be followed by an old age of obscurity. In the case of great merit, on the other hand, a man may remain unknown for many years, but make up for it later on by attaining a brilliant reputation. And if it should be that this comes only after he is no more, well! he is to be reckoned amongst those of whom Jean Paul says that extreme unction is their baptism. He may console himself by thinking of the Saints, who also are canonized only after they are dead. Thus what Mahlmann[1] has said so well in _Herodes_ holds good; in this world truly great work never pleases at once, and the god set up by the multitude keeps his place on the altar but a short time: _Ich denke, das wahre Grosse in der Welt Ist immer nur Das was nicht gleich gefällt Und wen der Pöbel zum Gotte weiht, Der steht auf dem Altar nur kurze Zeit_. [Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--August Mahlmann (1771-1826), journalist, poet and story-writer. His _Herodes vor Bethlehem_ is a parody of Kotzebue's _Hussiten vor Naumburg_.]