136 CONSCIOUSNESS 



not common to the family, the clan, or the neigh- 

 bourhood as a whole. In grammar the idea of 

 personality is expressed by the nominative case 

 of the first personal pronoun : in Sanskrit and 

 most European languages this differs radically 

 from the oblique cases a distinction which 

 perhaps marks the growth of a consciousness that 

 man, when he comes to the front of the stage, 

 should be distinguished from man when he stands 

 back with the rest of the company. Beyond a 

 doubt, go back as far as we may, the leaders and 

 rulers of the people have had a very clear idea 

 of their personal importance : the proclamations 

 of the kings of Egypt and Assyria were drafted 

 in a vein of most flamboyant self-conceit. But 

 their egotism was as naive as that of the patriarch 

 of a herd of antelope ; and they regarded them- 

 selves rather as instruments of the Divine than 

 as independent authorities. Amongst the com- 

 mon people, not a flicker appeared of inde- 

 pendance or self-respect. There were, in those 

 days, no popular revolutions : history was con- 

 cerned with the fortunes of dynasties. Indeed, 

 in classical days the condition of slavery was 

 accepted by white men with an apathetic con- 

 tentedness which to modern ideas appears very 

 strange. Self -consciousness appears to be a 

 faculty the authority of which has increased of 

 recent years, and is still increasing, under the 

 influence of egotistical habits of mind. 



In consciousness, as in a mirror, we see re- 

 flected the drama of our inner lives, the impres- 

 sions and memories which guide and pay court to 

 us, the impulses which tempt, cajole, or admonish 

 us, the habits which constrain us, and the balan- 

 cing deliberations of our reason and will. We see 



