Their
originality is so great that not only is their divergence from others
obvious, but their individuality is expressed with such force, that
all the men of genius who have ever existed show, every one of them,
peculiarities of character and mind; so that the gift of his works is
one which he alone of all men could ever have presented to the world.
This is what makes that simile of Ariosto's so true and so justly
celebrated: _Natura lo fece e poi ruppe lo stampo._ After Nature
stamps a man of genius, she breaks the die.
But there is always a limit to human capacity; and no one can be a
great genius without having some decidedly weak side, it may even be,
some intellectual narrowness. In other words, there will foe some
faculty in which he is now and then inferior to men of moderate
endowments. It will be a faculty which, if strong, might have been an
obstacle to the exercise of the qualities in which he excels. What
this weak point is, it will always be hard to define with any accuracy
even in a given case. It may be better expressed indirectly; thus
Plato's weak point is exactly that in which Aristotle is strong, and
_vice versa_; and so, too, Kant is deficient just where Goethe is
great.
Now, mankind is fond of venerating something; but its veneration is
generally directed to the wrong object, and it remains so directed
until posterity comes to set it right.
Pages:
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162