It was better, youth
Should strive, through acts uncouth,
Towards making, than repose on aught found made.[23]
Thus progress! Nevertheless, the Rabbi, whilst recognizing to the full the value of the present life as a thing per se, bearing its peculiar uses, its perfect development advancing from youth through manhood until age shall “approve of youth, and death complete the same!” with the unity yet recognizes also continuity; and at the close of the old life can stand upon the threshold of the new “fearless and unperplexed,” “what weapons to select, what armour to indue,” for use in the renewed struggle he foresees awaiting him. To the Greek life was equally, nay, surpassingly beautiful, the human faculties equally worthy of cultivation. As in Nature, so with man (and here is employed the third of his illustrations): (3) the wild flower, i.e., according to his interpretation, the possessor of the single artistic faculty—Homer, Terpander, Phidias—
Was the larger; I have dashed
Rose-blood upon its petals, pricked its cup’s
Honey with wine, and driven its seed to fruit,
And show a better flower if not so large:
I stand myself. (ll. 147-151.)
Whilst the Rabbi esteems himself as clay in the hands of the potter, the Greek admits no personal pride in the multiplicity or magnitude of his gifts. All alike he refers to “the gods whose gift alone it is,” continuing the reflection—
Which, shall I dare
(All pride apart) upon the absurd pretext
That such a gift by chance lay in my hand,
Discourse of lightly, or depreciate?
It might have fallen to another’s hand: what then? (ll. 152-156.)
So far with Ben Ezra. But where the Rabbi can say with confidence
Thence shall I pass, approved
A man, for aye removed
From the developed brute: a god though in the germ. (xiii.)
With Arthur
I pass but shall not die,
merely shall I