Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-02-26
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
Know then myself, presume not God to scan
The proper study of mankind is man.

Know then myself presume not God to scan
The proper study Of mankind is man.
SO Alexander Pope begins the argu-
ment Of the second epistle OF his
Essay on Man." the first epistle of
which was considered the other day in
this column.
Pope gets off to a good start" as
the race boss fans say, the second
line of that couplet being one of the
most quoted sayings in all English
literature.
This thought is, in fact, the central
idea of the entire essay. 1t looked
backward to Plato, in a sense, and
forward to Herbert Spencer, with his
| theory of the unknowable.
The entire opening of this second
epistle is Pope at his best, Pope the
keen wit, yet Pope the temperate
lover of human nature, seeing the
folly of his fellow human beings
equally with their good points.
One OF the sad features of life and
living is that he who points out the
bad along with the good will be re-
membered chiefly because of the
cracks he took at mankind. and hard
~ at all because of the beauty of his
love.
Yet 1t is almost impossible for one
10 have a proper love for his fellows
unless he is able to see their foibles
Then, only. can he weigh their worth
against their folly and know that the
former always far outweighs the latter.
So 1t was with Pope His cracking
would not allow him to essay the
role off superoptimist, Or sing whole
heartedly Pippa Passa's song. Gods
in His Heaven, all's right with! the
world"
Pope was not so sure about that.
EGn iu Nv ha hi fy,
ming God. The proper study of man
kind is man, he said, echoing the
know Thyself"
Man is a being darkly wise, and
rudely great the poet said, recalling
the words OF st. Paul about how now
we see as through a glass, darkly.
Great minds in all ages have thought
much the same. One of the most in
teresting studies in literature is to
trace the great root-thoughts of man
kind.
With that nice balancing of one
thing against another of which Pope
was a master, he brands man as
sole judge of truth, in endless error
hurled; the glory, jest and riddle of
the world!' Then come those climac-
teric lines:
Go, wondrous creature, mount where science
guides;
Go, measure earth, weigh air and state the
tides;
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old Time and regulate the sun:
60. soar with Plato TO the empyreaI sphere,
To the first good. first perfect aud first fair:
Or tread the may round his followers trod,
AND quitting sense call Initiating God,
As Eastern priests In giddy circles run
And turn their heads to initiate the sun.
Go. teach eternal wisdom how to rule
Then drop into myself and be a fooll
do not call that bitter; 1 call that
great. Even today, perhaps, with our
radio and other scientific discoveries,
we are somewhat in need of the
wholesome, pungent adnonition of
the old poet.
The poet took a fanciful fling that
presaged H. G. Wells, when he then
wrote:
Superior beings. when Of late they saw
mortal man unfold all natures law.
Admired such wisdom in earthly shape,
And showed Newton we show ape.
The two guiding principles of man,
the poet tells us. are self-love and
reason, both of which are necessary,
although the former is the stronger.
"Self-Iove and reason to one end
aspire" he says. Pain their aver
sion, pleasure their desire" He speaks
of love, hope and JOY, fair pleasure S
smiling train, and hate, fear and
grief. the family of pain" He
enunciates his famous idea of a
ruling passion" in each human