Essays By Ralph Waldo Emerson Part 20

[Footnote 343: Scipio. (See note 205.) Plutarch in his _Morals_ gives another version of the story: "When Paetilius and Quintus accused him of many crimes before the people; 'on this very day,' he said, 'I conquered Hannibal and Carthage. I for my part am going with my crown on to the Capitol to sacrifice; and let him that pleaseth stay and pa.s.s his vote upon me.' Having thus said, he went his way; and the people followed him, leaving his accusers declaiming to themselves."]

[Footnote 344: Socrates. (See note 187.)]

[Footnote 345: Prytaneum. A public hall at Athens.]

[Footnote 346: Sir Thomas More. An English statesman and author who was beheaded in 1535 on a charge of high treason. The incident to which Emerson refers is one which showed his "pleasant wit"

undisturbed by the prospect of death. As the executioner was about to strike, More moved his head carefully out of reach of the ax. "Pity that should be cut," he said, "that has never committed treason."]

[Footnote 347: Blue Laws. Any rigid Sunday laws or religious regulations. The term is usually applied to the early laws of New Haven and Connecticut which regulated personal and religious conduct.]

[Footnote 348: Epaminondas. (See note 329.)]

[Footnote 349: Olympus. A mountain of Greece, the summit of which, according to Greek mythology, was the home of the G.o.ds.]

[Footnote 350: Jerseys. Consult a history of the United States for a full account of Was.h.i.+ngton's campaign in New Jersey.]

[Footnote 351: Milton. (See note 151.)]

[Footnote 352: Pericles. A famous Greek statesman of the fifth century before Christ, in whose age Athens was preeminent in naval and military affairs and in letters and art.]

[Footnote 353: Xenophon. A Greek historian of the fourth century before Christ.]

[Footnote 354: Columbus. Give an account of his life.]

[Footnote 355: Bayard. Chevalier de Bayard was a French gentleman of the fifteenth century. He is the French national hero, and is called "The Knight without fear and without reproach."]

[Footnote 356: Sidney. Probably Sir Philip Sidney, an English gentleman and scholar of the sixteenth century who is the English national hero as Bayard is the French; another brave Englishman was Algernon Sidney, a politician and patriot of the seventeenth century.]

[Footnote 357: Hampden. John Hampden was an English statesman and patriot who was killed in the civil war of the seventeenth century.]

[Footnote 358: Colossus. The Colossus of Rhodes was a gigantic statue--over a hundred feet in height--of the Rhodian sun G.o.d. It was one of the seven wonders of the world; it was destroyed by an earthquake about two hundred years before Christ.]

[Footnote 359: Sappho. A Greek poet of the seventh century before Christ. Her fame remains, though most of her poems have been lost.]

[Footnote 360: Sevigne. Marquise de Sevigne was a French author of the seventeenth century.]

[Footnote 361: De Stael. Madame de Stael was a French writer whose books and political opinions were condemned by Napoleon.]

[Footnote 362: Themis. A Greek G.o.ddess. The personification of law, order, and justice.]

[Footnote 363: A high counsel, etc. Such was the advice given to the Emerson boys by their aunt, Miss. Mary Moody Emerson: "Scorn trifles, lift your aims; do what you are afraid to do; sublimity of character must come from sublimity of motive." Upon her monument are inscribed Emerson's words about her: "She gave high counsels. It was the privilege of certain boys to have this immeasurably high standard indicated to their childhood, a blessing which nothing else in education could supply."]

[Footnote 364: Phocion. A Greek general and statesman of the fourth century before Christ who advised the Athenians to make peace with Philip of Macedon. He was put to death on a charge of treason.]

[Footnote 365: Lovejoy. Rev. Elijah Lovejoy, a Presbyterian clergyman of Maine who published a periodical against slavery. In 1837 an Illinois mob demanded his printing press, which he refused to give up.

The building containing it was set on fire and when Lovejoy came out he was shot.]

[Footnote 366: Let them rave, etc. These lines are misquoted, being evidently given from memory, from Tennyson's _Dirge_. In the poem occur these lines:

"Let them rave.

Thou wilt never raise thine head From the green that folds thy grave-- Let them rave."

MANNERS

[Footnote 367: The essay on _Manners_ is from the Second Series of _Essays_, published in 1844, three years after the First Series. The essays in this volume, like those in the first, were, for the most part, made up of Emerson's lectures, rearranged and corrected. The lecture on _Manners_ had been delivered in the winter of 1841. He had given another lecture on the same subject about four years before, and several years later he treated of the same subject in his essay on _Behavior_ in _The Conduct of Life_. You will find it interesting to read _Behavior_ in connection with this essay.]

[Footnote 368: Feejee islanders. Since this essay was written, the people of the Feejee, or Fiji, Islands have become Christianized, and, to a large extent, civilized.]

[Footnote 369: Gournou. This description is found in _A Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids_, by Belzoni, an Italian traveler and explorer.]

[Footnote 370: Borgoo. A province of Africa.]

[Footnote 371: Tibboos, Bornoos. Tribes of Central Africa, mentioned in Heeren's _Historical Researches_.]

[Footnote 372: Honors himself with architecture. Architecture was a subject in which Emerson was deeply interested. Read his poem, _The Problem_.]

[Footnote 373: Chivalry. Chivalry may be considered "as embodying the Middle Age conception of the ideal life of ... the Knights"; the word is often used to express "the ideal qualifications of a knight, as courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms." Fully to understand the order of Knighthood and the ideals of chivalry, you must read the history of Europe in the Middle Ages.]

[Footnote 374: Sir Philip Sidney. (See note 356.)]

[Footnote 375: Sir Walter Scott. (1771-1832). His historical novels dealing with the Middle Ages have some fine pictures of the chivalrous characters in which he delighted.]

[Footnote 376: Masonic sign. A sign of secret brotherhood, like the sign given by one Mason to another.]

[Footnote 377: Correlative abstract. Corresponding abstract name. Sir Philip Sidney, himself the ideal gentleman, used the word "gentlemanliness." He said: "Gentlemanliness is high-erected thoughts seated in a heart of courtesy."]

[Footnote 378: Gentilesse. Gentle birth and breeding. Emerson was very fond of the pa.s.sage on "gentilesse" in Chaucer's _Wife of Bath's Tale_.]

[Footnote 379: Feudal Ages. The Middle Ages in Europe during which the feudal system prevailed. According to this, land was held by its owners on condition of certain duties, especially military service, performed for a superior lord.]

[Footnote 380: G.o.d knows, etc. Why is this particularly true of a republic such as the United States?]

[Footnote 381: The incomparable advantage of animal spirits. Why does Emerson regard this as of such importance? In his journals he frequently comments on his own lack of animal spirits, and says that it unfits him for general society and for action.]

[Footnote 382: The sense of power. "I like people who can do things,"

wrote Emerson in his journal.]

[Footnote 383: Lundy's Lane. Give a full account of this battle in the War of 1812.]

[Footnote 384: Men of the right Caesarian pattern. Men versatile as was Julius Caesar, the Roman, famous as a general, statesman, orator, and writer.]

[Footnote 385: Timid maxim. Why does Emerson term this saying "timid"?]

[Footnote 386: Lord Falkland. Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland, was an English politician who espoused the royalist side; he was killed in battle in the Civil War.]

[Footnote 387: Saladin. A famous sultan of Egypt and Syria who lived in the twelfth century. Scott describes him as possessing an ideal knightly character and introduces him, disguised as a physician and also as a wandering soldier in his historical romance, _The Talisman_.]