. The literature of all nations and all ages; history, character, and incident . us asideand assert their turn—warns us how, even as we see one gen-eration pass, another will see us pass, and they in like wisemust do the same. My God, what are we ? if I look beforeme, how fearful the infinity where I am not! if I look back-ward, how vast the space where equally I am not! and whata mere speck I fill in this boundless abyss of time ! Nothing!That brief interval can scarcely separate me from nothing-ness. I was sent as one of many,—I was not needed, and theworlds tragedy were no less played out h
. The literature of all nations and all ages; history, character, and incident . us asideand assert their turn—warns us how, even as we see one gen-eration pass, another will see us pass, and they in like wisemust do the same. My God, what are we ? if I look beforeme, how fearful the infinity where I am not! if I look back-ward, how vast the space where equally I am not! and whata mere speck I fill in this boundless abyss of time ! Nothing!That brief interval can scarcely separate me from nothing-ness. I was sent as one of many,—I was not needed, and theworlds tragedy were no less played out had I never appearedupon its theatre ! It is not even the compass of your wholelife which divides you from this nothingness—it is nevermore than one brief moment. Now we possess that moment—as I speak it passes away, and with it we too should passdid we not unconsciously seize hold of the next, and so on,until at last a moment will come to which we cannot cleave,howsoever earnestly we reach forth, and then we fall. . .Truly mine age is as nothing in respect of Thee!. Forever endeared to fame as tlie saintly Fenelon, isFrancois de Salignac de la Motte (1651-1715), who is bestremembered by his work of instruction written for the youngDuke of Burgundy, the grandson of Louis XIV, This work,which he entitled Les Aventures de Tel^maque, The Ad-ventures of Telemachus, forms a curious contrast to Machi-avellis Prince (II Principe). Fenelons prose epic wasmeant for his royal pupil (or pupils), and was publishedonly through the faithlessness of a servant. In it the Arch-bishop of Cambrai undoubtedly sought to influence KingLouis as well as his young scholar. A prudent counsellorof Madame de Maintenon, he speaks, in one of his lettersto her, of their common political conduct as the siege ofthe king. T^ldmaque abounds in political allusions. As his-torian Martin declares: Idomeneus, trained in ideas ofpride and haughtiness ; too much absorbed in the details ofaffairs; neglecting the
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