238 AGNOSTICISM VII 



sion that I had neither art nor part with any of 

 these denominations, except the last. The one 

 thing in which most of these good people were 

 agreed was the one thing in which I differed from 

 them. They were quite sure they had attained a 

 certain "gnosis," had, more or less successfully, 

 solved the problem of existence; while I was 

 quite sure I had not, and had a pretty strong 

 conviction that the problem was insoluble. And, 

 with Hume and Kant on my side, I could not 

 think myself presumptuous in holding fast by that 

 opinion. Like Dante, 



Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita 

 Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, 



but, unlike Dante, I cannot add, 



Che la diritta via era smarrita. 



On the contrary, I had, and have, the firmest 

 conviction that I never left the " verace via " the 

 straight road ; and that this road led nowhere else 

 but into the dark depths of a wild and tangled 

 forest. And though I have found leopards and 

 lions in the path ; though I have made abundant 

 acquaintance with the hungry wolf, that " with 

 privy paw devours apace and nothing said," as 

 another great poet says of the ravening beast; and 

 though no friendly spectre has even yet offered his 

 guidance, I was, and am, minded to go straight on, 

 until I either come out on the other side of the 



