45 6 CONCLUSION. 



of his triumph : the prophet's mantle falls ; the 

 fiery chariot, that uplifted his ardent soul to the 

 Empyrean, bears him back to earth ; the divine 

 enthusiasm that inspired his answer to the riddle 

 of his being, has left him, and, as a child, he cries 

 aloud to the spirit that has forsaken him, — • 



" An infant crying in the night, 

 An infant crying for the light, 

 And with no language but a cry." 



And when he finds the Sphinx, enthroned amid the 

 desert sands far from the pleasant paths of life, he 

 cannot read the ambiguous smile that plays around 

 her face. It may be much that she is not grimly 

 unresponsive to his plea, but he cannot tell whether 

 he have answered her aright, whether her smile 

 betoken the approval and encouragement of a 

 goddess to be won by toil and abstinence, or the 

 mocking irony of a demon whom no thought can 

 fathom and no sacrifice appease. And even though 

 he abide to sit at the feet of the Sphinx, if so be 

 that his steadfast gaze may read the signs of her 

 countenance in the light of long experience ; yet 

 anon will the wild storms of fortune tear him away, 

 and the light of life fade out, the rushing pinions of 

 Time sweep him along into darkness, and the bitter 

 waters of Death engulf the questioner. For life is 

 too fragmentary and experience too chequered 

 wholly to dissipate a dread that springs from the 

 heart rather than from the reason, and shrinks too 

 vehemently from the cruelties of the world's ways 

 to be consoled by the subtleties of a metaphysical 

 demonstration. 



§ 14. Thus the end of philosophy is to confess 

 its impotence to make the supreme decision be- 



