388 On Genius. 
rits of a far higher order. But when this 
susceptibility of excitement is the gift of na- 
ture—when it continues through life to influ- 
ence the whole range of our associations —it 
then becomes the cause of what we call Ge- 
nius.(2) 
(i) Akenside has beautifully described the effect of very strong 
excitement on the mind ; Pleasures of Imagination, Book II, 137, &e. 
The flame of passion, thro’ the struggling soul 
Deep-kindled, shows across that sudden blaze 
The object of its rapture, vast of size, 
With fiercer colours and a night of shade. 
Then nature speaks 
Her genuine language, and the words of men, 
Big with the very motion of their souls, 
Declare, with what accumulated force 
The impetuous nerve of passion urges on 
The native weight and energy of things. 
The case of nations resembles tliat of individuals. In those states of 
society, which furnish the strongest excitements, we usually find the 
greatest development of Genius. Hence it rarely attains to maturity unde 
a Lespotism, but thrives with uncommon vigour in a Republic. Lon- 
ginus, (de Sublim, Sect. 44) while he expresses a doubt whether slavery 
be not fitter for hisdegenerate contemporaries than liberty, ascribes not- 
withstanding to the indolent, voluptuous and sordid habits which uni” 
formly mark the subjects of a despotic government, the notorious defi- 
ciency, which characterized his age, in all the loftier and sublimer kinds 
of eloquence. The fact was, men no longer felt the noble enthusiasm,— 
the stirring excitement, which once fired their souls: @Yeusob xwAAISe 
XOb Youlmwrate Acywy yaproTos (THN EAEY@OEPIAN Aeyw). 
Very nearly the same sentiments are put by the author of the Dialogue 
on thecauses of the decay of Eloquence (c.40 and 41.) into the mouth 
of Maternus, who maintains that a great and distinguished eloquence is 
the nursling of licentiousness, and cannot exist in any well-constituted 
form of government. The excitements of popular applause, which, 
under the old Republic, were sufficient to enflame the most frigid ora- 
tors, were wholly wanting under the quiet despotism of the lower 
