CHAPTER II. Perseverance.-Justus et tenax.-Necessity and great Effects of Perseverance. -To persevere, our Purpose ought to be good, the Means adapted to the Purpose and the Purpose to the Means; the Means concentrated.-Repeated Action may supply Power; undaunted Perseverance may finally decide by a Trifle.-Fortitude.-Alarmists.-Excitement and Injustice.-Rabies civica.— Calmness of Soul.-Political Fretfulness.-Great Souls are calm.-Peevishness.-Political Grumblers (Frondeurs).-Chief Points respecting Firmness. -Consistency.-Inconsistency.-Obstinacy. XII. THE graceful spirit of the Greeks attributed even to the serious historian the dedication of each part of his work to one of the muses. If I could have graced the divisions of this book with the names of great and good men, in whose contemplation the mind gathers strength and reassurance, I should have inscribed this division, in which I purpose to treat of Perseverance, with the name of Columbus. Ponder his life, weigh his motives, examine his strength of mind and tenacity of purpose, unsubdued by sneer, haughtiness or clamor, disappointment or difficulty, unshaken by storm, rebellion, treachery, or ingratitude; strong from his first obscure setting out in his great career, in the hours of peril, in command or chains, in wealth and in poverty, to the last moment of his illustrious life: and you will have a better commentary, and a real and more inspiring example, than any abstract words can give, of those impressive lines in which the ancient poet has embodied the two substantial virtues of every citizen and of every man who means to do what is right and not to leave this life without bequeathing some good performed upon his fellow-men: "Justum et tenacem propositi virum Mente quatit solida, neque Auster "Dux inquieti turbidus Adriæ, Impavidum ferient ruinæ ;" — words which have been hallowed since the brave Cornelius de Witt breathed them on the rack, and expressed his firmness against an impassioned prince and an infuriated populace, who would not be appeased but by the pure blood of the patriotic hearts of him and his great brother John de Witt.2 XIII. Perseverance, firmness, fortitude, constancy, courage and calmness, manfulness, dignity of mind, self-esteem, and consistency, are each the same in principle, and only different terms applied to a different degree of intensity or different relations and circumstances, or they stand to each other in the relation of principle and application, or, lastly, they are very nearly akin to one another, and one can hardly be imagined to exist without the other. If we have made up our mind to be just, that is, to do what is right ("ex æquo et bono jus constat, quod ad veritatem et ad utilitatem communem videtur pertinere"),3 we cannot adhere to our purpose without perseverance. Every purpose and object in life, through all spheres of action, require their proportionate degree of perseverance: the tillage of the ground requires its degree of perseverance, in the same I Horace, Carm., lib. iii. 3. 2 This stern page of history contains one of those periods in the annals of mankind which deserve the manly and serious consideration of every true lover of his kind. Nowhere, perhaps, are the fearful power of ill-founded and senseless rumor, the exasperation of the multitude even against the wisest and most unsullied patriots, and the fortitude of the just patriot, exemplified in a bolder instance than in this case. History has done ample justice to the characters and great statesmanship of the brothers John and Cornelius de Witt, and the verdict of not guilty has long been pronounced by posterity, despite the nefarious attempts of some writers. The best sources respecting the murder of these patriots are to be found in Van Campen, History of the Netherlands, Hamburg, 1833 (in Heeren and Uckert's series in German), vol. ii. p. 247. 3 Ad Herenn. manner as the study of a science, the diffusion of a great truth or other benefit to mankind, the carrying of a great measure or the delivery of a country from foes, foreign or domestic, do in their respective spheres; and the greater the object is which we feel in conscience bound to obtain, the greater is likewise the effort necessary for its attainment. To break a road over the high Alps, or pave it through morasses, requires greater labor than the laying out of a path over even ground; and to shed the light of truth in ages of darkness calls for stronger minds and firmer souls than the application of well-established truths to some single case. This no one ever denied; yet in practice we are apt to forget it. Difficulties, derision, clamor, defeats, or the despair of receiving due acknowledgment, are apt to dishearten sometimes the best and wisest. Yet had not Lady Montagu or Jenner persevered, the one in introducing inoculation, the other in proving the benefit of vaccination, despite all lampoons, derision, and the outcry of fanaticism against them, men would to this day, perhaps, be subject to one of the most malignant diseases. Had not Frederic the Great of Prussia persevered in promoting the cultivation of the potato against a riotous opposition in several parts of his dominions, many individuals would have suffered famine in later times. They trusted to the truth or justice of their cause, and that, as Napoleon expressed it, "public opinion would come round again." But let us ask here, at once, is this return of public opinion, this acknowledgment of truth, a comfort to which man may look forward as an unfailing reward, which in the end cannot escape him? It is undoubtedly and happily true that respecting public measures, in far the greater number of cases, the gradual acknowledgment of truth and justice will supersede passionate excitement and infatuation, and, still more, a man or a measure will gather additional strength from such a return of public opinion, after having been deprived of it for a period. A citizen never wields greater power than when he has firmly stood the trial, unmoved and calm, and when public opinion returns to him, not he to it. Yet it is equally true that your life may pass in darkness, the best intentions may be misunderstood or reviled, and what is not true may by repetition acquire the appearance of substantiated fact. A man may tell the truth like Marco Polo, and yet, like him, be decried as a liar to his grave; century after century may hold him up as an impostor, until after the lapse of ages his strict veracity may at length be firmly established. We ought not to deceive ourselves: appearances may in some cases be so strong against us, and by accident or whatever other cause evidence to the contrary may be so totally destroyed, that the truth can never be known. A bitter fate indeed. And what then? Then, indeed, nothing is left except what is still the last and highest support, that derived from Him who is the inspiring motive of all noble and heroic actions. Your conscience remains; and even a heathen said, "Justice and honesty are truly commendable in their own nature." XIV. That the citizen be honestly and firmly persevering, requires that his purpose be good and his cause just; that he adapt his means to his purpose, and his purpose to his means; that he concentrate his means for the one great object in view; that he be ever mindful that repeated and uninterrupted action. may compensate for the absence of great power; and that in cases of the greatest trial, when the struggle comes at the last between nearly balanced powers, a trifle must decide. The first of these positions is clear; for perseverance is power, and may be and has frequently been employed in the service of wicked ends. The second is, perhaps, equally clear; yet a forgetfulness of this rule has disheartened many wellintentioned men, while in other cases presumptuous men have Marco Polo, when on returning from the East he gave an account of his father's and his own travels, was totally disbelieved, proverbially called a liar, an mentioned by his fellow-citizens by nicknames only, which expressed their contempt. The various late embassies to China, however, and the accounts of those who have personal knowledge of it, confirm in a surprising manner Polo's veracity. See, among other wor' s, Davis, The Chinese. frittered away their talents and gifts, which otherwise might have been employed to excellent purposes, and they themselves have ended with a disappointed temper which is ever apt to betray men into acts of injustice, or entangle them even in nefarious designs projected by men more prudent and less principled. We have seen in several previous passages that without a degree of enthusiasm, and inspired love of the Good, men are in want of a principal inducement to be good; utility alone is insufficient to guide or support us. This enthusiasm, however, must be balanced by modesty, which will teach us that we should not assume our opinion as the sole guide, and that we must temper our desires and endeavors according to the different spheres of action in which it has pleased a higher hand to place us. Not a few have injured the best causes because their ambition went beyond their talent and they would not suffer the first place to be occupied by an abler man; or because they strove for objects wholly unattainable. The canvas which a vessel carries must be in proportion to the hull and cargo. A distinguished man, who was more variously endowed than most men, and most active throughout his life, one of the master-men of his age, Leonardo da Vinci, took the sentence of Terence, "If that cannot be which thou wilt, will that which can be," for the motto of his life. He went farther, and says, "Wise is he that guides his will by that which he cannot perform." The third principle-to concentrate our strength upon one great object is equally important; for a man cannot fight. two battles at one time, and it is true in the moral world, as in the physical, that a force effects most in a straight line, and loses the more obliquely it is applied. Singleness of purpose lends great strength. The clear perception of what we want, I 44 "Quando non potest id fieri quod vis, id velis quod possit." Andria, ii. 1, 5. A sonnet of Leonardo's begins,— "Chi non può quel che vuol quel che può voglia, Che quel che non si può folle è volere : Adunque saggio è l'huomo da tenere Che da quel che non può suo voler toglia." |