Un ensayo
de Samuel Johnson
The
Rambler: No. 127. Tuesday, 4 June 1751.
Coepisti melius quàm desinis: ultima primis Cedunt: dissimiles hic
vir, et ille puer.Ovid, HEROIDES, IX.23-24.
Succeeding years thy early fame destroy; Thou, who began'st a man,
wilt end a boy.
Politian, a name eminent
among the restorers of polite literature, when he published a collection of
epigrams, prefixed to many of them the year of his age at which they were
composed. He might design by this information, either to boast the early
maturity of his genius, or to conciliate indulgence to the puerility of his
performances. But whatever was his intent, it is remarked by Scaliger, that he
very little promoted his own reputation, because he fell below the promise
which his first productions had given, and in the latter part of his life
seldom equalled the sallies of his youth.
It is not uncommon for
those who at their first entrance into the world were distinguished for attainments
or abilities, to disappoint the hopes which they had raised, and to end in
neglect and obscurity that life which they began in celebrity and honour. To the
long catalogue of the inconveniencies of old age, which moral and satirical
writers have so copiously displayed, may be often added the loss of fame.
The advance of the human
mind towards any object of laudable persuit, may be compared to the progress of
a body driven by a blow. It moves for a time with great velocity and vigour,
but the force of the first impulse is perpetually decreasing, and though it
should encounter no obstacle capable of quelling it by a sudden stop, the
resistance of the medium through which it passes, and the latent inequalities
of the smoothest surface will in a short time by continued retardation wholly
overpower it. Some hindrances will be found in every road of life, but he that
fixes his eyes upon any thing at a distance necessarily loses sight of all that
fills up the intermediate space, and therefore sets forward with alacrity and
confidence, nor suspects a thousand obstacles by which he afterwards finds his
passage embarrassed and obstructed. Some are indeed stopt at once in their
career by a sudden shock of calamity, or diverted to a different direction by
the cross impulse of some violent passion; but far the greater part languish by
slow degrees, deviate at first into slight obliquities, and themselves scarcely
perceivelat what
time their ardour forsook them, or when they lost sight of their original
design.
Weariness
and negligence are perpetually prevailing by silent encroachments, assisted by
different causes, and not observed till they cannot, without great difficulty,
be opposed. Labour necessarily requires pauses of ease and relaxation, and the
deliciousness of ease commonly makes us unwilling to return to labour. We,
perhaps, prevail upon ourselves to renew our attempts, but eagerly listen to
every argument for frequent interpositions of amusement; for when indolence has
once entered upon the mind, it can scarcely be dispossessed but by such efforts
as very few arerwilling
to exert.
It is the fate of industry
to be equally endangered by miscarriage and success, by confidence and
despondency. He that engages in a great undertaking with a false opinion of its
facility, or too high conceptions of his own strength, is easily discouraged by
the first hindrance of his advances, because he had promised himself an equal
and perpetual progression without impediment or disturbance; when unexpected
interruptions break in upon him, he is in the state of a man surprised by a
tempest where he purposed only to bask in the calm, or sport in the shallows.
It is not
only common to find the difficulty of an enterprize greater, but the profit
less, than hope had pictured it. Youth enters the world with very happy
prejudices in her own favour. She imagines herself not only certain of
accomplishing every adventure, but of obtaining those rewards which the
accomplishment may deserve. She is not easily persuaded to believe that the
force of merit can be resisted by obstinacy and avarice, or its lustre darkened
by envy and malignity. She has not yet learned that the most evident claims to
praise or preferment may be rejected by malice against conviction, or by
indolence without examination; that they may be sometimes defeated by
artifices, and sometimes overborn by clamour; that in the mingled numbers of
mankind, many need no other provocation to enmity than that they find
themselves excelled; that others have ceased their curiosity, and consider
every man who fills the mouth of report with a new name, as an intruder upon
their retreat, and disturber of their repose; that some are engaged in
complications of interest which they imagine endangered by every innovation;
that many yield themselves up implicitly to every report which hatred
disseminates or folly scatters; and that whoever aspires to the notice of the
publick, has in almost every man an enemy and a rival; and must struggle with
the opposition of the daring, and elude the stratagems of the timorous, must
quicken the frigid and soften the obdurate, must reclaim perverseness and
inform stupidity.
It is no wonder that when
the prospect of reward has vanished, the zeal of enterprize should cease; for
who would persevere to cultivate the soil which he has, after long labour,
discovered to be barren? He who had pleased himself with anticipated praises,
and expected that he should meet in every place with patronage or friendship,
will soon remit his vigour, when he finds that from those who desire to be
considered as his admirers nothing can be hoped but cold civility, and that
many refuse to own his excellence, lest they should be too justly expected to
reward it.
A man thus cut off from the
prospect of that port to which his address and fortitude had been employed to
steer him, often abandons himself to chance and to the wind, and glides
careless and idle down the current of life, without resolution to make another
effort, till he is swallowed up by the gulph of mortality.
Others
are betrayed to the same desertion of themselves by a contrary fallacy. It was
said of Hannibal that he wanted nothing to the completion of his martial
virtues, but that when he had gained a victory he should know how to use it. The
folly of desisting too soon from successful labours, and the haste of enjoying
advantages before they are secured, is often fatal to men of impetuous desire,
to men whose consciousness of uncommon powers fills them with presumption, and
who, having born opposition down before them, and left emulation panting
behind, are early persuaded to imagine that they have reached the heights of
perfection, and that now being no longer in danger from competitors, they may pass
the rest of their days in the enjoyment of their acquisitions, in contemplation
of their own superiority, and in attention to their own praises, and look
unconcerned from their eminence upon the toils and contentions of meaner
beings.
It is not sufficiently
considered in the hour of exultation, that all human excellence is comparative;
that no man performs much but in proportion to what others accomplish, or to
the time and opportunities which have been allowed him; and that he who stops
at any point of excellence is every day sinking in estimation, because his
improvement grows continually more incommensurate to his life. Yet, as no man
willingly quits opinions favourable to himself, they who have once been justly
celebrated, imagine that they still have the same pretensions to regard, and seldom
perceive the diminution of their character while there is time to recover it.
Nothing then remains but murmurs and remorse; for if the spendthrift's poverty
be imbittered by the reflection that he once was rich, how must the idler's
obscurity be clouded by remembering that he once had lustre!
These errors all arise from
an original mistake of the true motives of action. He that never extends his
view beyond the praises or rewards of men, will be dejected by neglect and
envy, or infatuated by honours and applause. But the consideration that life is
only deposited in his hands to be employed in obedience to a Master who will
regard his endeavours, not his success, would have preserved him from trivial
elations and discouragements, and enabled him to proceed with constancy and
chearfulness, neither enervated by commendation, nor intimidated by censure.
