VALUES AND FINAL CAUSES 99 



greater degree by our moral and mental qualities, and they 

 are then described in terms borrowed from the external 

 world. We admire a gigantic intellect, and swiftness of 

 apprehension or judgement. Magnanimous, broad, ele 

 vated are terms of praise ; narrow-minded, pusillanimous, 

 base, of depreciation. A feeling of the same kind is set up 

 by the sight of machinery ; the skill and strength of 

 a steam-engine inspire us with wonder and delight. The 

 pleasure of proceeding with great speed is due principally 

 to the same instinct, which has stimulated men in all ages 

 to seek for means of accelerated motion the ultimate aim 

 being increased power and efficiency in the human being 

 itself. 



There is something even in atrocious crimes which, not 

 withstanding the shock to our moral sense, excites in us 

 a feeling which is akin to respect. Herostratus was not 

 wholly disappointed in his bid for immortality. But great 

 ness must be joined to active power or efficiency (it is diffi 

 cult to find a word which is exactly appropriate) in order 

 to gain a full measure of esteem. The ascetics of Egypt, 

 by their unheard-of austerities, commanded a respect which 

 was little short of worship, but it was short-lived, owing to 

 the poverty of the results ; and the same thing is still 

 true in the case of the ascetics of the East. If extreme 

 asceticism is productive, and not divorced from the prac 

 tical business of life, it does not fail to retain and enhance 

 the esteem which is acquired by its mere greatness. 



There are few things which raise so general a respect as 

 colossal wealth, or a renown so enduring and so widespread 

 as that of a great conqueror. If the only thing commanded 

 by wealth were pleasure, it would not be valued as highly 

 as it is. Probably its only clear and indisputable advantage 

 lies in the respect which we are now attempting to account 

 for ; and that this is due to the enormous accession of power 

 to affect both the present and the future, which is incident 

 to the possession of great wealth, can, I think, hardly be 

 doubted. In poverty, on the other hand, there is nothing 

 that can justify a reasonable contempt ; it has been recom- 



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