,the ,service by ,henry ,david ,thoreau ,contents ,i4 ,qualities of the ,recruit ,,ii4 ,what ,music ,shall ,we ,have8 ,,iii4 ,not ,how ,many1 ,but ,where the ,enemy ,are ,i4 ,qualities of the ,recruit ,spes sibi quisque4 ,virgil ,each one his own hope4 ,the brave man is the elder son of creation1 who has stept buoyantly into his inheritance1 while the coward1 who is the younger1 waiteth patiently till he decease4 ,he rides as wide of this earth's gravity as a star1 and by yielding incessantly to all the impulses of the soul1 is constantly drawn upward and becomes a fixed star4 ,his bravery deals not so much in resolute action1 as healthy and assured rest2 its palmy state is a staying at home and compelling alliance in all directions4 ,so stands his life to heaven1 as some fair sunlit tree against the western horizon1 and by sunrise is planted on some eastern hill1 to glisten in the first rays of the dawn4 ,the brave man braves nothing1 nor knows he of his bravery4 ,he is that sixth champion against ,thebes1 whom1 when the proud devices of the rest have been recorded1 the poet describes as 8bearing a full-orbed shield of solid brass10 8,but there was no device upon its circle1 ,for not to seem just but to be is his wish40 ,he does not present a gleaming edge to ward off harm1 for that will oftenest attract the lightning1 but rather is the all-pervading ether1 which the lightning does not strike but purify4 ,so is the profanity of his companion as a flash across the face of his sky1 which lights up and reveals its serene depths4 ,earth cannot shock the heavens1 but its dull vapor and foul smoke make a bright cloud spot in the ether1 and anon the sun1 like a cunning artificer1 will cut and paint it1 and set it for a jewel in the breast of the sky4 ,his greatness is not measurable2 not such a greatness as when we would erect a stupendous piece of art1 and send far and near for materials1 intending to lay the foundations deeper1 and rear the structure higher than ever2 for hence results only a remarkable bulkiness without grandeur1 lacking those true and simple proportions which are independent of size4 ,he was not builded by that unwise generation that would fain have reached the heavens by piling one brick upon another2 but by a far wiser1 that builded inward and not outward1 having found out a shorter way1 through the observance of a higher art4 ,the ,pyramids some artisan may measure with his line2 but if he gives you the dimensions of the ,parthenon in feet and inches1 the figures will not embrace it like a cord1 but dangle from its entablature like an elastic drapery4 ,his eye is the focus in which all the rays1 from whatever side1 are collected2 for1 itself being within and central1 the entire circumference is revealed to it4 ,just as we scan the whole concave of the heavens at a glance1 but can compass only one side of the pebble at our feet4 ,so does his discretion give prevalence to his valor4 8,discretion is the wise man's soul0 says the poet4 ,his prudence may safely go many strides beyond the utmost rashness of the coward2 for1 while he observes strictly the golden mean1 he seems to run through all extremes with impunity4 ,like the sun1 which1 to the poor worldling1 now appears in the zenith1 now in the horizon1 and again is faintly reflected from the moon's disk1 and has the credit of describing an entire great circle1 crossing the equinoctial and solstitial colures1--without detriment to his steadfastness or mediocrity4 ,the golden mean1 in ethics1 as in physics1 is the centre of the system1 and that about which all revolve2 and1 though to a distant and plodding planet it be the uttermost extreme1 yet one day1 when that planet's year is complete1 it will be found to be central4 ,they who are alarmed lest ,virtue should so far demean herself as to be extremely good1 have not yet wholly embraced her1 but described only a slight arc of a few seconds about her2 and from so small and ill-defined a curvature1 you can calculate no centre whatever2 but their mean is no better than meanness1 nor their medium than mediocrity4 ,the coward wants resolution1 which the brave man can do without4 ,he recognizes no faith but a creed1 thinking this straw1 by which he is moored1 does him good service1 because his sheet-anchor does not drag4 8,the house-roof fights with the rain2 he who is under shelter does not know it40 ,in his religion the ligature1 which should be muscle and sinew1 is rather like that thread which the accomplices of ,cylon held in their hands1 when they went abroad from the temple of ,minerva1--the other end being attached to the statue of the goddess4 ,but frequently1 as in their case1 the thread breaks1 being stretched2 and he is left without an asylum4 ,the divinity in man is the true vestal fire of the temple1 which is never permitted to go out1 but burns as steadily1 and with as pure a flame1 on the obscure provincial altars as in ,numa's temple at ,rome4 ,in the meanest are all the materials of manhood1 only they are not rightly disposed4 ,we say1 justly1 that the weak person is 8flat10--for1 like all flat substances1 he does not stand in the direction of his strength1 that is1 on his edge1 but affords a convenient surface to put upon4 ,he slides all the way through life4 ,most things are strong in one direction2 a straw longitudinally2 a board in the direction of its edge2 a knee transversely to its grain2 but the brave man is a perfect sphere1 which cannot fall on its flat side1 and is equally strong every way4 ,the coward is wretchedly spheroidal at best1 too much educated or drawn out on one side1 and depressed on the other2 or may be likened to a hollow sphere1 whose disposition of matter is best when the greatest bulk is intended4 ,we shall not attain to be spherical by lying on one or the other side for an eternity1 but only by resigning ourselves implicitly to the law of gravity in us1 shall we find our axis coincident with the celestial axis1 and by revolving incessantly through all circles1 acquire a perfect sphericity4 ,mankind1 like the earth1 revolve mainly from west to east1 and so are flattened at the pole4 ,but does not philosophy give hint of a movement commencing to be rotary at the poles too1 which in a millennium will have acquired increased rapidity1 and help restore an equilibrium8 ,and when at length every star in the nebul and ,milky ,way has looked down with mild radiance for a season1 exerting its whole influence as the polar star1 the demands of science will in some degree be satisfied4 ,the grand and majestic have always somewhat of the undulatoriness of the sphere4 ,it is the secret of majesty in the rolling gait of the elephant1 and of all grace in action and in art4 ,always the line of beauty is a curve4 ,when with pomp a huge sphere is drawn along the streets1 by the efforts of a hundred men1 ,i seem to discover each striving to imitate its gait1 and keep step with it1--if possible to swell to its own diameter4 ,but onward it moves1 and conquers the multitude with its majesty4 ,what shame1 then1 that our lives1 which might so well be the source of planetary motion1 and sanction the order of the spheres1 should be full of abruptness and angularity1 so as not to roll nor move majestically6 ,the ,romans 8made ,fortune sirname to ,fortitude10 for fortitude is that alchemy that turns all things to good fortune4 ,the man of fortitude1 whom the ,latins called fortis is no other than that lucky person whom fors favors1 or vir summae fortis4 ,if we will1 every bark may 8carry ,csar and ,csar's fortune40 ,for an impenetrable shield1 stand inside yourself2 he was no artist1 but an artisan1 who first made shields of brass4 ,for armor of proof1 mea virtute me involvo1--,i wrap myself in my virtue2 8,tumble me down1 and ,i will sit ,upon my ruins1 smiling yet40 ,if you let a single ray of light through the shutter1 it will go on diffusing itself without limit till it enlighten the world2 but the shadow that was never so wide at first1 as rapidly contracts till it comes to naught4 ,the shadow of the moon1 when it passes nearest the sun1 is lost in space ere it can reach our earth to eclipse it4 ,always the ,system shines with uninterrupted light2 for as the sun is so much larger than any planet1 no shadow can travel far into space4 ,we may bask always in the light of the ,system1 always may step back out of the shade4 ,no man's shadow is as large as his body1 if the rays make a right angle with the reflecting surface4 ,let our lives be passed under the equator1 with the sun in the meridian4 ,there is no ill which may not be dissipated like the dark1 if you let in a stronger light upon it4 ,overcome evil with good4 ,practice no such narrow economy as they1 whose bravery amounts to no more light than a farthing candle1 before which most objects cast a shadow wider than themselves4 ,nature refuses to sympathize with our sorrow2 she has not provided for1 but by a thousand contrivances against it3 she has bevelled the margin of the eyelids1 that the tears may not overflow on the cheeks4 ,it was a conceit of ,plutarch1 accounting for the preference given to signs observed on the left hand1 that men may have thought 8things terrestrial and mortal directly over against heavenly and divine things1 and do conjecture that the things which to us are on the left hand1 the gods send down from their right hand40 ,if we are not blind1 we shall see how a right hand is stretched over all1--as well the unlucky as the lucky1--and that the ordering ,soul is only right-handed1 distributing with one palm all our fates4 ,what first suggested that necessity was grim1 and made fate to be so fatal8 ,the strongest is always the least violent4 ,necessity is my eastern cushion on which ,i recline4 ,my eye revels in its prospect as in the summer haze4 ,i ask no more but to be left alone with it4 ,it is the bosom of time and the lap of eternity4 ,to be necessary is to be needful1 and necessity is only another name for inflexibility of good4 ,how ,i welcome my grim fellow1 and walk arm in arm with him6 ,let me too be such a ,necessity as he6 ,i love him1 he is so flexile1 and yields to me as the air to my body4 ,i leap and dance in his midst1 and play with his beard till he smiles4 ,i greet thee1 my elder brother6 who with thy touch ennoblest all things4 ,then is holiday when naught intervenes betwixt me and thee4 ,must it be so1--then is it good4 ,the stars are thy interpreters to me4 ,over ,greece hangs the divine necessity1 ever a mellower heaven of itself2 whose light gilds the ,acropolis and a thousand fanes and groves4 ,,ii4 ,what ,music ,shall ,we ,have8 ,each more melodious note ,i hear ,brings this reproach to me1 ,that ,i alone afford the ear1 ,who would the music be4 ,the brave man is the sole patron of music2 he recognizes it for his mother tongue2 a more mellifluous and articulate language than words1 in comparison with which1 speech is recent and temporary4 ,it is his voice4 ,his language must have the same majestic movement and cadence that philosophy assigns to the heavenly bodies4 ,the steady flux of his thought constitutes time in music4 ,the universe falls in and keeps pace with it1 which before proceeded singly and discordant4 ,hence are poetry and song4 ,when ,bravery first grew afraid and went to war1 it took ,music along with it4 ,the soul is delighted still to hear the echo of her own voice4 ,especially the soldier insists on agreement and harmony always4 ,to secure these he falls out4 ,indeed1 it is that friendship there is in war that makes it chivalrous and heroic4 ,it was the dim sentiment of a noble friendship for the purest soul the world has seen1 that gave to ,europe a crusading era4 ,war is but the compelling of peace4 ,if the soldier marches to the sack of a town1 he must be preceded by drum and trumpet1 which shall identify his cause with the accordant universe4 ,all things thus echo back his own spirit1 and thus the hostile territory is preoccupied for him4 ,he is no longer insulated1 but infinitely related and familiar4 ,the roll-call musters for him all the forces of ,nature4 ,there is as much music in the world as virtue4 ,in a world of peace and love music would be the universal language1 and men greet each other in the fields in such accents as a ,beethoven now utters at rare intervals from a distance4 ,all things obey music as they obey virtue4 ,it is the herald of virtue4 ,it is ,god's voice4 ,in it are the centripetal and centrifugal forces4 ,the universe needed only to hear a divine melody1 that every star might fall into its proper place1 and assume its true sphericity4 ,it entails a surpassing affluence on the meanest thing2 riding over the heads of sages1 and soothing the din of philosophy4 ,when we listen to it we are so wise that we need not to know4 ,all sounds1 and more than all1 silence1 do fife and drum for us4 ,the least creaking doth whet all our senses1 and emit a tremulous light1 like the aurora borealis1 over things4 ,as polishing expresses the vein in marble1 and the grain in wood1 so music brings out what of heroic lurks anywhere4 ,it is either a sedative or a tonic to the soul4 ,i read that 8,plato thinks the gods never gave men music1 the science of melody and harmony1 for mere delectation or to tickle the ear2 but that the discordant parts of the circulations and beauteous fabric of the soul1 and that of it that roves about the body1 and many times for want of tune and air1 breaks forth into many extravagances and excesses1 might be sweetly recalled and artfully wound up to their former consent and agreement40 ,a sudden burst from a horn startles us1 as if one had rashly provoked a wild beast4 ,we admire his boldness2 he dares wake the echoes which he cannot put to rest4 ,the sound of a bugle in the stillness of the night sends forth its voice to the farthest stars1 and marshals them in new order and harmony4 ,instantly it finds a fit sounding-board in the heavens4 ,the notes flash out on the horizon like heat lightning1 quickening the pulse of creation4 ,the heavens say1 ,now is this my own earth4 ,to the sensitive soul the ,universe has her own fixed measure1 which is its measure also1 and as this1 expressed in the regularity of its pulse1 is inseparable from a healthy body1 so is its healthiness dependent on the regularity of its rhythm4 ,in all sounds the soul recognizes its own rhythm1 and seeks to express its sympathy by a correspondent movement of the limbs4 ,when the body marches to the measure of the soul1 then is true courage and invincible strength4 ,the coward would reduce this thrilling sphere-music to a universal wail1--this melodious chant to a nasal cant4 ,he thinks to conciliate all hostile influences by compelling his neighborhood into a partial concord with himself2 but his music is no better than a jingle1 which is akin to a jar1--jars regularly recurring4 ,he blows a feeble blast of slender melody1 because ,nature can have no more sympathy with such a soul than it has of cheerful melody in itself4 ,hence hears he no accordant note in the universe1 and is a coward1 or consciously outcast and deserted man4 ,but the brave man1 without drum or trumpet1 compels concord everywhere1 by the universality and tunefulness of his soul4 ,let not the faithful sorrow that he has no ear for the more fickle and subtle harmonies of creation1 if he be awake to the slower measure of virtue and truth4 ,if his pulse does not beat in unison with the musician's quips and turns1 it accords with the pulse-beat of the ages4 ,a man's life should be a stately march to an unheard music2 and when to his fellows it may seem irregular and inharmonious1 he will be stepping to a livelier measure1 which only his nicer ear can detect4 ,there will be no halt1 ever1 but at most a marching on his post1 or such a pause as is richer than any sound1 when the deeper melody is no longer heard1 but implicitly consented to with the whole life and being4 ,he will take a false step never1 even in the most arduous circumstances2 for then the music will not fail to swell into greater volume1 and rule the movement it inspired4 ,,iii4 ,not ,how ,many1 ,but ,where the ,enemy ,are --,what's brave1 what's noble1 ,let's do it after the high ,roman fashion4 ,shakespeare ,when my eye falls on the stupendous masses of the clouds1 tossed into such irregular greatness across the cope of my sky1 ,i feel that their grandeur is thrown away on the meanness of my employments4 ,in vain the sun1 thro' morning and noon rolls defiance to man1 and1 as he sinks behind his cloudy fortress in the west1 challenges him to equal greatness in his career2 but1 from his humbleness he looks up to the domes and minarets and gilded battlements of the ,eternal ,city1 and is content to be a suburban dweller outside the walls4 ,we look in vain over earth for a ,roman greatness1 to take up the gantlet which the heavens throw down4 ,idomeneus would not have demurred at the freshness of the last morning that rose to us1 as unfit occasion to display his valor in2 and of some such evening as this1 methinks1 that ,grecian fleet came to anchor in the bay of ,aulis4 ,would that it were to us the eve of a more than ten years' war1--a tithe of whose exploits1 and ,achillean withdrawals1 and godly interferences1 would stock a library of ,iliads4 ,better that we have some of that testy spirit of knight errantry1 and if we are so blind as to think the world is not rich enough nowadays to afford a real foe to combat1 with our trusty swords and double-handed maces1 hew and mangle some unreal phantom of the brain4 ,in the pale and shivering fogs of the morning1 gathering them up betimes1 and withdrawing sluggishly to their daylight haunts1 ,i see ,falsehood sneaking from the full blaze of truth1 and with good relish could do execution on their rearward ranks1 with the first brand that came to hand4 ,we too are such puny creatures as to be put to flight by the sun1 and suffer our ardor to grow cool in proportion as his increases2 our own short-lived chivalry sounds a retreat with the fumes and vapors of the night2 and we turn to meet mankind1 with its meek face preaching peace1 and such non-resistance as the chaff that rides before the whirlwind4 ,let not our ,peace be proclaimed by the rust on our swords1 or our inability to draw them from their scabbards2 but let her at least have so much work on her hands as to keep those swords bright and sharp4 ,the very dogs that bay the moon from farmyards o' these nights1 do evince more heroism than is tamely barked forth in all the civil exhortations and war sermons of the age4 ,and that day and night1 which should be set down indelibly in men's hearts1 must be learned from the pages of our almanack4 ,one cannot wonder at the owlish habits of the race1 which does not distinguish when its day ends and night begins2 for1 as night is the season of rest1 it would be hard to say when its toil ended and its rest began4 ,not to it --returns ,day1 or the sweet approach of even or morn1 ,or sight of vernal bloom1 or summer's rose1 ,or flocks or herds1 or human face divine2 ,but cloud instead1 and ever-during dark ,surrounds4 ,and so the time lapses without epoch or era1 and we know some half-score of mornings and evenings by tradition only4 ,almost the night is grieved and leaves her tears on the forelock of day1 that men will not rush to her embrace1 and fulfill at length the pledge so forwardly given in the youth of time4 ,men are a circumstance to themselves1 instead of causing the universe to stand around1 the mute witness of their manhood1 and the stars to forget their sphere music and chant an elegiac strain1 that heroism should have departed out of their ranks and gone over to humanity4 ,it is not enough that our life is an easy one2 we must live on the stretch1 retiring to our rest like soldiers on the eve of a battle1 looking forward with ardor to the strenuous sortie of the morrow4 8,sit not down in the popular seats and common level of virtues1 but endeavor to make them heroical4 ,offer not only peace-offerings but holocausts unto ,god40 ,to the brave soldier the rust and leisure of peace are harder than the fatigues of war4 ,as our bodies court physical encounters1 and languish in the mild and even climate of the tropics1 so our souls thrive best on unrest and discontent4 ,the soul is a sterner master than any ,king ,frederick2 for a true bravery would subject our bodies to rougher usage than even a grenadier could withstand4 ,we too are dwellers within the purlieus of the camp4 ,when the sun breaks through the morning mist1 ,i seem to hear the din of war louder than when his chariot thundered on the plains of ,troy4 ,the thin fields of vapor1 spread like gauze over the woods1 form extended lawns whereon high tournament is held2 ,before each van ,prick forth the aery knights1 and couch their spears1 ,till thickest legions close4 ,it behoves us to make life a steady progression1 and not be defeated by its opportunities4 ,the stream which first fell a drop from heaven1 should be filtered by events till it burst out into springs of greater purity1 and extract a diviner flavor from the accidents through which it passes4 ,shall man wear out sooner than the sun8 and not rather dawn as freshly1 and with such native dignity stalk down the hills of the ,east into the bustling vale of life1 with as lofty and serene a countenance to roll onward through midday1 to a yet fairer and more promising setting8 ,in the crimson colors of the west ,i discover the budding hues of dawn4 ,to my western brother it is rising pure and bright as it did to me2 but only the evening exhibits in the still rear of day1 the beauty which through morning and noon escaped me4 ,is not that which we call the gross atmosphere of evening the accumulated deed of the day1 which absorbs the rays of beauty1 and shows more richly than the naked promise of the dawn8 ,let us look to it that by earnest toil in the heat of the noon1 we get ready a rich western blaze against the evening4 ,nor need we fear that the time will hang heavy when our toil is done2 for our task is not such a piece of day-labor1 that a man must be thinking what he shall do next for a livelihood1--but such1 that as it began in endeavor1 so will it end only when no more in heaven or on earth remains to be endeavored4 ,effort is the prerogative of virtue4 ,let not death be the sole task of life1--the moment when we are rescued from death to life1 and set to work1--if indeed that can be called a task which all things do but alleviate4 ,nor will we suffer our hands to lose one jot of their handiness by looking behind to a mean recompense2 knowing that our endeavor cannot be thwarted1 nor we be cheated of our earnings unless by not earning them4 ,it concerns us1 rather1 to be somewhat here present1 than to leave something behind us2 for1 if that were to be considered1 it is never the deed men praise1 but some marble or canvas1 which are only a staging to the real work4 ,the hugest and most effective deed may have no sensible result at all on earth1 but may paint itself in the heavens with new stars and constellations4 ,when in rare moments our whole being strives with one consent1 which we name a yearning1 we may not hope that our work will stand in any artist's gallery on earth4 ,the bravest deed1 which for the most part is left quite out of history1--which alone wants the staleness of a deed done1 and the uncertainty of a deed doing1--is the life of a great man4 ,to perform exploits is to be temporarily bold1 as becomes a courage that ebbs and flows1--the soul1 quite vanquished by its own deed1 subsiding into indifference and cowardice2 but the exploit of a brave life consists in its momentary completeness4 ,every stroke of the chisel must enter our own flesh and bone2 he is a mere idolater and apprentice to art who suffers it to grate dully on marble4 ,for the true art is not merely a sublime consolation and holiday labor1 which the gods have given to sickly mortals2 but such a masterpiece as you may imagine a dweller on the tablelands of central ,asia might produce1 with threescore and ten years for canvas1 and the faculties of a man for tools1--a human life2 wherein you might hope to discover more than the freshness of ,guido's ,aurora1 or the mild light of ,titian's landscapes1--no bald imitation nor even rival of ,nature1 but rather the restored original of which she is the reflection4 ,for such a masterpiece as this1 whole galleries of ,greece and ,italy are a mere mixing of colors and preparatory quarrying of marble4 ,of such sort1 then1 be our crusade1--which1 while it inclines chiefly to the hearty good will and activity of war1 rather than the insincerity and sloth of peace1 will set an example to both of calmness and energy2--as unconcerned for victory as careless of defeat1--not seeking to lengthen our term of service1 nor to cut it short by a reprieve1--but earnestly applying ourselves to the campaign before us4 ,nor let our warfare be a boorish and uncourteous one1 but a higher courtesy attend its higher chivalry1--though not to the slackening of its tougher duties and severer discipline4 ,that so our camp may be a palstra1 wherein the dormant energies and affections of men may tug and wrestle1 not to their discomfiture1 but to their mutual exercise and development4 ,what were ,godfrey and ,gonsalvo unless we breathed a life into them and enacted their exploits as a prelude to our own8 ,the ,past is the canvas on which our idea is painted1--the dim prospectus of our future field4 ,we are dreaming of what we are to do4 ,methinks ,i hear the clarion sound1 and clang of corselet and buckler1 from many a silent hamlet of the soul4 ,the signal gun has long since sounded1 and we are not yet on our posts4 ,let us make such haste as the morning1 and such delay as the evening4 ,henry ,d4 ,thoreau ,july1 #ahdj4