THE GREAT MAN'S TERMS 279 



ward originally offered has to be raised several times Book iv 

 before a sum is reached which will induce the witness 

 to come forward, so must any community, as the 

 condition of becoming civilised, raise the rewards of which they 



, r - . r themselves feel 



greatness to such a figure that the possessors ot to besuffitient. 

 latent superiorities will be induced to develop and 

 use them. And hence the great man not only causes 

 progress by what he does, but he influences also the 

 entire structure of society, by his character, which 

 regulates the terms on which he will consent to 

 do it. 



This is the point at which the science of sociology Hence the 



M . -11 -11 S reat man ' s 



primarily comes in contact with the practical prob- character and 



lems of to-day. That all progress is due to the 

 efforts of the superior minority is a truth which, 

 taken by itself, and apart from other truths allied to it, societ y- 

 we can merely recognise and assent to. We can do 

 nothing to alter it ; nor will the fact of our recognis- 

 ing it, if taken by itself, tend to alter or guide our 

 conduct. We are not even able to settle the number 

 of males and females which shall be produced in 

 each family. Still less can we settle or increase the 

 number of individuals who shall bring into the 

 world with them talents more than ordinary. But 

 though no community can do anything to settle or 

 alter the percentage of potential greatness that will 

 be born into it from generation to generation, it can 

 settle or alter the social conditions and rewards by 

 means of which this potential greatness shall be 

 developed and enabled to use itself; and a very 

 large part, though not the whole, of political wisdom 



