As it is a rare thing for even one man out of many millions to tread
the path that leads to immortality, he must of necessity be very
lonely. The journey to posterity lies through a horribly dreary
region, like the Lybian desert, of which, as is well known, no one has
any idea who has not seen it for himself. Meanwhile let me before
all things recommend the traveler to take light baggage with him;
otherwise he will have to throw away too much on the road. Let him
never forget the words of Balthazar Gracian: _lo bueno si breve, dos
vezes bueno_--good work is doubly good if it is short. This advice is
specially applicable to my own countrymen.
Compared with the short span of time they live, men of great intellect
are like huge buildings, standing on a small plot of ground. The size
of the building cannot be seen by anyone, just in front of it; nor,
for an analogous reason, can the greatness of a genius be estimated
while he lives. But when a century has passed, the world recognizes it
and wishes him back again.
If the perishable son of time has produced an imperishable work, how
short his own life seems compared with that of his child! He is like
Semela or Maia--a mortal mother who gave birth to an immortal son; or,
contrarily, he is like Achilles in regard to Thetis.
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