Yet  the  ecstasy  of  the  man  of  genius  affords  while  it
lasts  the  perfect  counterpart  of  the  bliss  which  springs
from  absolute  self-renunciation,  and  the  entire  dissipa-
tion of  the  illusion  which  persuades  man  of  his  indi-
viduality.
'  We  know  that  our  happiest  moments  are  those
when  (by  aesthetic  contemplation)  we  are  freed  from
the  fierce  impulse  of  Will,  and  rise  as  it  were  above  the
heavy  atmosphere  of  earth.  P>om  this  we  may  infer
how  blessed  must  be  the  life  of  a  man  whose  will  is
subdued  for  ever ;  not  at  rare  intervals,  as  in  the
enjoyment  of  the  beautiful,  but  extinguished,  ercept
that  last  glimmering  spark  which  sustains  the  body  and
will  perish  with  it.  Such  a  man,  who  has  after  many
bitter  combats  conquered  his  own  nature,  remains  only
as  a  purely  intellectual  being — an  untarnished  mirror
of  the  universe.  Nothing  has  power  to  disturb  or
agitate  him,  for  he  has  severed  all  the  thousand  threads
of  the  Will,  which  bind  us  to  the  world  and  draw  us
hither  and  thither  in  constant  pain,  under  the  form  of


HIS  ETHICS  AND  ESTHETICS.  233

desire,  fear,  envy,  anger.  He  can  now  look  back  calm
and  smiling  on  the  juggleries  of  this  world,  which  were
once  able  to  move  and  even  disturb  his  mind.  Now
they  stand  as  indifferently  before  him  as  the  chessmen
after  the  game  is  played  out,  or  like  discarded  masks,
that  mocked  and  disquieted  us  during  the  Carnival.
