Chapter 7: Effects of Sublimity of the Soul
One must understand, my dear friend, that, as in the common life of mankind, nothing which it is great is to despise—wealth, esteem, reputation, tyranny, and as many other external qualities as we might find in a tragic hero; nor will these things appear very good to a man of sense since to consider oneself superior to these is itself reckoned a good, and, of course, more than at those esteem, etc.), look down on them through greatness of soul; in this way we must also look into what appears lofty in sections of poems and speeches and writings, to see whether it has just an outer image of greatness, with a lot of random decoration, but which when looked into is found to be puffed up, the kind of thing which it is better to sense oneself superior to than to wonder at. 2. You see, by true sublimity our soul somehow is both lifted up and—taking on a kind of exultant resemblance—filled with delight and great glory, as if our soul itself had created what it just heard. 3. Whenever a man of sense, experienced in speeches and writings, hears something very often but does not have his soul uplifted, and whenever what he hears does not leave deep in his mind more to theorize on than what was actually said, if you look well into it, you will see that it falls into a state of withering underdevelopment and is not a true sublimity inasmuch as it is held in the mind only while it is heard. You see, what is really great has much about which to theorize and is difficult, or rather, beyond our capacity to with stand, and the memory of it is strong and hard to let go of. 4. On the whole, consider it a rule that those sublimities are fine and true to nature which are satisfying throughout all time and to all men. You see, whenever men of different behaviors, lives, emulations, ages, and speeches and writings all have one and the same opinion about something, then the agreed upon opinion, arising out of a discordant group, takes on for the object of wonder an assuring strength which does not lend itself to debate.
