This is not necessarily because he
was greater than any of these men; for, before this could be asserted,
the question would have to be settled: How is greatness to be estimated?
One can hardly conceive that in any age of the world or any combination
of circumstances a capacity and temperament like that of Caesar or
Napoleon would not force itself into prominence and control. On the
other hand, it is easy to suppose that, if precisely such a great moral
question and peculiar crisis as gave to Lincoln his opportunity had not
arisen contemporaneously with his years of vigor, he might never have
got farther away from obscurity than does the ordinary member of
Congress. Does this statement limit his greatness, by requiring a rare
condition to give it play? The question is of no serious consequence,
since the condition existed; and the discussion which calls it forth is
also of no great consequence. For what is gained by trying to award him
a number in a rank-list of heroes? It is enough to believe that probably
Lincoln alone among historical characters could have done that especial
task which he had to do. It was a task of supreme difficulty, and like
none which any other man ever had to undertake; and he who was charged
with it was even more distantly unlike any other man in both moral and
mental equipment. We cannot force lines to be parallel, for our own
convenience or curiosity, when in fact they are not parallel.
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