Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson

[690] This essay first appeared in the first series of Essays, published in 1841. Unlike most of the other essays in the volume, no earlier form of it exists, and it was probably not delivered first as a lecture.

Dr. Richard Garnett says in his Life of Emerson: "The object of this fine essay quaintly entitled Circles is to reconcile this rigidity of unalterable law with the fact of human progress. Compensation illustrates one property of a circle, which always returns to the point where it began, but it is no less true that around every circle another can be drawn.... Emerson followed his own counsel; he always keeps a reserve of power. His theory of Circles reappears without the least verbal indebtedness to himself in the splendid essay on Love."

[691]St. Augustine. A celebrated father of the Latin church, who flourished in the fourth century. His most famous work is his Confessions, an autobiographical volume of religious meditations.

[692]Another dawn risen on mid-noon. "Another morn has risen on mid-noon." Milton, Paradise Lost, Book V.

[693]Greek sculpture. The greatest development of the art of sculpture that the world has ever known was that which took place in Greece, with Athens as the center, in the fifth century before Christ. The masterpieces which remain are the models on which modern art formed itself.

[694]Greek letters. In literature—in drama, philosophy and history—Greece attained an excellence as signal as in art. Emerson as a scholar, felt that the literature of Greece was more permanent than its art. Would an artist be apt to take this view?

[695]New arts destroy the old, etc. Tell the ways in which the improvements and inventions mentioned by Emerson have been superseded by others; give the reasons. Mention other similar cases of more recent date.

[696]The life of man is a self-evolving circle, etc. "Throw a stone into the stream, and the circles that propagate themselves are the beautiful type of all influence."—Emerson, in Nature.

[697]The heart refuses to be imprisoned. It is a superstition current in many countries that an evil spirit cannot escape from a circle drawn round it.

[698]Crass. Gross; coarse.

[699]The continual effort to raise himself above himself, etc.

"Unless above himself he can Erect himself, how poor a thing is man!" Samuel Daniel.

[700]If he were high enough, etc.

Have I a lover Who is noble and free?— I would he were nobler Than to love me.Emerson,The Sphinx.

[701]Aristotle and Plato. Plato was a famous Greek philosopher who flourished in the fourth century before Christ. He was the disciple of Socrates, the teacher of Aristotle, and the founder of the academic school of philosophy. His exposition of idealism was founded on the teachings of Socrates. Aristotle, another famous Greek philosopher, was for twenty years the pupil of Plato. He founded the peripatetic school of philosophy, and his writing dealt with all the then known branches of science.

[702]Berkeley. George Berkeley was a British clergyman of the eighteenth century. He was the author of works on philosophy which are marked by extreme subjective idealism.

[703]Termini. Boundaries or marks to indicate boundaries. In Roman mythology, Terminus was the god who presided over boundaries or landmarks. He is represented with a human head, but without feet or arms,—to indicate that he never moved from his place.

[704]Pentecost. One of three great Jewish festivals. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon the infant Christian church, with the gift of tongues. See Acts ii. 1-20.

[705]Hodiernal. Belonging to our present day.

[706]Punic. Of Carthage, a famous ancient city, and state of northern Africa. Carthage was the rival of Rome, but was, after long warfare, overcome in the second century before Christ.

[707]In like manner, etc. Emerson always urged that in order to get the best from all, one must pass from affairs to thought, society to solitude, books to nature.

"See thou bring not to field or stone The fancies found in books; Leave authors' eyes, and fetch your own, To brave the landscape's look."Emerson,Waldeinsamkeit.

[708]Petrarch. (See note 563.)

[709]Ariosto. A famous Italian author of the sixteenth century, who wrote comedies, satires, and a metrical romance, Orlando Furioso.

[710] "Then shall also the Son", etc. See 1 Corinthians xv. 28: Does Emerson quote the passage verbatim?

[711]These manifold tenacious qualities, etc. It is remarked of Emerson that the idea of the symbolism of nature which he received from Plato, was the source of much of his pleasure in Swedenborg, the Swedish mystic philosopher. Emerson says in his volume on Nature: "The noblest ministry of nature is to stand as an apparition of God."

[712] "Forgive his crimes," etc. This is quoted from Night Thoughts by the English didactic poet, Edward Young.

[713]Pyrrhonism. A doctrine held by a follower of Pyrrho, a Greek philosopher of the third century before Christ, who founded the sceptical school. He taught that it is impossible to attain truth, and that men should be indifferent to all external circumstances.

[714]I own I am gladdened, etc. Emerson always held fast to the consoling thought that there was no evil without good, none out of which Good did not or could not come.

[715]Sempiternal. Everlasting; eternal.

[716]Oliver Cromwell. An Englishman of the middle classes who became the military and civil leader of the English Revolution of the seventeenth century. He refused the title of king; but as Lord Protector of the English commonwealth, he exercised royal power.