For no subordinate official can be the direct recipient of
the royal commands, as he knows only the signature of his immediate
superior; and this is repeated all the way up into the highest ranks,
where the under-secretary attests the minister's signature, and the
minister that of the king. There are analogous stages to be passed
before a genius can attain widespread fame. This is why his reputation
most easily comes to a standstill at the very outset; because the
highest authorities, of whom there can be but few, are most frequently
not to be found; but the further down he goes in the scale the more
numerous are those who take the word from above, so that his fame is
no more arrested.
We must console ourselves for this state of things by reflecting that
it is really fortunate that the greater number of men do not form a
judgment on their own responsibility, but merely take it on authority.
For what sort of criticism should we have on Plato and Kant, Homer,
Shakespeare and Goethe, if every man were to form his opinion by what
he really has and enjoys of these writers, instead of being forced by
authority to speak of them in a fit and proper way, however little
he may really feel what he says. Unless something of this kind took
place, it would be impossible for true merit, in any high sphere, to
attain fame at all.
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