The sun., 1892-03-06


vation. the result OF fixed idea that
he had no money to pay for food.
Chopin. during the last years of his lifo. was
beset by melancholy which went ns far as
insanity. One day George Sand and her son.
being late in returning from Il walk. Chopin
began to imagine and finally believed that
they were dead: then he saw himself dead.
drowned in O lake. and drops of frozen water
fell upon his breast They were simply drops
ofrain falling on him from a roof. but he could
not be made to believe this even when George
Sand pointed it out. J. S. Mill was seized dur
ing the autumn Of 1926 with an attack Of in
sanity. which he has himself described.
1t is notorious that many men OF genius
have abused alcoholic drinks. Alexander died.
1t is said after having emptled ten times the
goblet OF Hercules. and it was without doubt
in an alcoholic I,AroXism. while pursuing naked
the courtesan That's. that he killed his dearest
friend. Cesar was often carried homo on the
shoulders OF his soldiers. Neither Socrates
nor Acibiades. nor Cato. nor Seneca. nor
Peter tho Great nor his wife Gather
inc. nor his daughter Elizabeth could 10
credited with temperance. Tiberius Nero was
called by the Romans Biberius Nero. Sep
timius Severus and NIohammed ii. succumbed
to drunkenness or delirum trelnens. Among
confirmed drunkards must be reckoned tho
Constable Of Bourbon and Avicenna. the latter
OF whom was said to have spent tho second
half Of his life In showing tho uselessness Of
the studies to which he had devoted the first
half. Excessively addicted to drink. also.
ha,c been many famous painters. as.
for instance. the Caracci. Jan Steen. Bar
batel!i. and Turner. The same thing may
k>n, 10 altSta ,,aL
Alfred de Musset. MnrGer. Addison. Steele.
Carew. Sheridan. Burns. Charles Lamb. James
Thomson. and Hartley Colcridge. or the lat
ter 1t was said that he wrote like an angel and
drank like a Ash. III father. like Madame dc
Stael and De Quincy. abused opium. Many
musical composers likewise were great drink
ers Such were Dussek. Handel. and Glnck.
1t is also to be noted that plete absence
OF moral sense is frequently found among men
Of genius as we'll as among tho insane. 1t is
an old Latin proverb that tho moro learned
a man is. the worse he is.' II am SICK" said
George Sand. of great men: should like to
see them all in Plutarcf. There they do not
make one suffer. So long as they live they
are wicked. persecuting. fantastic. despotic.
bitter. suspicious; they confuse in the
same proud contempt the goats and tho
sheep. They are worse to their friends than to
good-stupid II you will" Sallust. who wrote
such beautiful discourses on virtue. passed
his lifo in debauchcry Speusippus. the disci-
pie Of Plato. was killed in tho act Of adultery.
Democritus IL said to have blinded himself
because he could not look at a woman without
desiring her. Aristippus. under the mask OF
austerity. abandoned himself to the most dis
solute habits Theognis wrote moral maxims.
particularly on happy death. and be-
Queathed his patrimony to prostitute leav-
ing his own family destitute. 1t is curious to
observe that the writer's who have been most
chaste in their lives arc least SO In their
writings. and vice versa. Flaubert wrote in
one of his letters: Poor Bouilhot used to say
to me. There never was so moral n man who
loved immortality SO much as you There is
truth in that. Is it a result OF my pride or OF a
certain perversityf" George Sand and Sallust
exhibit the opposite phe nomenon.
Apropos Of the incapacity OF genius for sym
pGthy. Lombroso tells us that he has observed
many men OF genius when they had scarcely
reached the age Of puberty Among all of
them he has noted strange apathy for every
thing which does not concern them: as though
plunged in hypnotic condition. they do not as
a rule perceive the troubles OF others, or even
tho most pressing needs OF those who are dear
est to them: II by chance they observe them.
they grow tender and at once hasten to ut end
to them: but 1t is fire OF straw soon
extinguished. and 1t gives place to indifference
and wearness. schopenhauer doubtless had
this emotional anRsthesia in mind when ho
said that genius is solitary. and 80 perhaps
had Goethe when he wrote that genius is only
related to its time by its defects II will be ro-
membered that Goethe. Dante, Leopard.
Byron. and Heine were reproached with feel
ityn ~ 30 hat
country ltis we'll known that Tostoi disnp-
proves Of patriotism.
v.
In Lombroso's opinion this dsoas sed apathy.
aailu Tor