TflE RUIN OF HOPE. 1 29 



such an escape from misery by a return to uncon- 

 sciousness is Impossible. 



Thus we must resign ourselves to our fate, and, 

 to adapt a famous image of Plato's, allow the 

 immortal steeds of Progress and of Reason to drag 

 the chariot of the Soul with reckless speed adown 

 the race-course of life, while the reluctant mortal 

 charioteer makes vain essays to break the rush, 

 and succeeds only in racking and rending his car 

 asunder. And so the mad course will go on, until 

 '' terreimni equite7n gravatiisl'^ the Pegasus of Pro- 

 gress kicks over the traces, wrecks the chariot, and 

 leaves the blanched bones of the charioteer to mark 

 the melancholy track for successors neither wiser nor 

 more fortunate. 



§ 23. Thus ruin, final and Irretrievable, has 

 overtaken the attempt to deal with life, such as It 

 Is, or rather, to regard the present appearances of 

 thinofs as self-sufficlno- and ultimate : there remains 

 only the poor consolation of knowing that we have 

 brought this ruin upon ourselves. 



For perhaps the reflection may obtrude that we 

 are ourselves responsible for the disaster, in that we 

 insisted on Ignoring the heavenly nature of our 

 ideals. If we must needs drag the chariot of the 

 soul through the mire of earth, and feed our 

 Pegasus on the sordid fare most alien from the 

 ambrosia that formed his proper nourishment ; if we 

 deny him the use of his wings, and keep him down 

 to the dusty track that dimmed his sight, and if 

 thus we fail, is it so sure that we may rightly blame 



I the divine steeds of Reason and of Evolution .^ 

 To this question the following section of this 

 essay will attempt to give an answer. 

 1 " Spurning his earth-born rider." 

 R. of s. K 



