"None the less
I still came out no wiser than I went."
All of these masters and teachers made their mark, probably won their
hold, in the first place, by dint of character, not of some peculiar
views of theology and philosophy. Doubtless it was the same with
Socrates, with Buddha. To be like them, not to believe with them, is the
thing needful. But the younger we are, the less, perhaps, we see this
clearly, and we persuade ourselves that there is some mystery in these
men's possession, some piece of knowledge, some method of thinking which
will lead us to certainty and to peace. Alas, their secret is
incommunicable, and there is no more a philosophic than there is a royal
road to the City.
This may seem a digression from Adventures among Books into the Book of
Human Life. But while much of education is still orally communicated by
lectures and conversations, many thoughts which are to be found in books,
Greek or German, reach us through the hearing. There are many pupils who
can best be taught in this way; but, for one, if there be aught that is
desirable in a book, I then, as now, preferred, if I could, to go to the
book for it.
Yet it is odd that one remembers so little of one's undergraduate
readings, apart from the constant study of the ancient classics, which
might not be escaped. Of these the calm wisdom of Aristotle, in moral
thought and in politics, made perhaps the deepest impression.
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