THE ANATOMY OF COURAGE.
BY PRINCE PUCKLER MUSKAU.
IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND.
As for the article of courage and its various manifestations, it is a very peculiar thing: I have thought much about it, and observed a great deal; and I am convinced that, except in romances, there are very few men who at all times show distinguished, and none at all who possess perfect courage. I should esteem any man who maintained the contrary of himself, and who asserted that he did not know what fear was, a mere braggart; but, nevertheless, I should not consider it my duty to tell him so, to his face. There are endless varieties of courage, which may, however, be comprised under three general dispositions of temperament, and six principal rubrics; within this arrangement a thousand modifications still remain, but I cannot here pursue them.
We come, first, to three sorts of that courage which alone can be called natural, and which, like all that nature gives directly, is perfect; that is, without any mixture of fear so long as it lasts, and which, therefore, has only a temporary influence. These are,
1. Courage from passion, such as love, anger, vengeance, and so forth.
2. From hunger, or the want of any thing indispensable to existence.
3. From habit, which, according to a law of nature, hardens completely against particular kinds of permanent danger.
All the others are artificial, but not, therefore, imperfect; that is, they are not always without admixture of fear, the result either of a dawning, or on already advanced state of civilization. They may be divided into
a. Courage out of vanity.
b. Out of a feeling of honour.