But such striving is, as Robert Browning tells us in _Rabbi ben Ezra_
and _The Statue and the Bust_, the critical and all-important point in
human character and destiny. It is this which distinguishes pagan from
idealist in the end. Faust's errors fall off from him like a discarded
robe; the essential man has never ceased to strive. He has gone indeed
to hell, but he has never made his bed there. He is saved by want of
satisfaction.
LECTURE IV
CELTIC REVIVALS OF PAGANISM
OMAR KAYYAM AND FIONA MACLEOD
It is extremely difficult to judge justly and without prejudice the
literature of one's own time. So many different elements are pouring
into it that it assumes a composite character, far beyond the power of
definition or even of epigram to describe as a whole. But, while this is
true, it is nevertheless possible to select from this vast amalgam
certain particular elements, and to examine them and judge them fairly.
The field in which we are now wandering may be properly included under
the head of ancient literature, although in another sense it is the most
modern of all.
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