Labor, wide as the earth,
has its summit in heaven. Sweat of the brow; and up from that to the
sweat of the brain, sweat of the heart; which includes all Kepler
calculations, Newton meditations, all sciences, all spoken epics, all
acted heroisms, martyrdoms,--up to that 'Agony of bloody sweat,' which
all men have called divine! O brother, if this is not 'worship,' then I
say the more pity for worship; for this is the noblest thing yet
discovered under God's sky." Work implies power, and power in the
individual is what society needs to keep it within proper bounds. Social
life requires the will of the single mind and hand; republicanism is
therefore the dream of fanatics, and ought not to be tolerated anywhere.
Popular rights are a fiction which the strong hand ought to dissipate at
a thrust. The greatest men are the greatest despots, and the exercise of
their unlimited authority is what entitles them to our worship. Napoleon
III. preaches the pure gospel of politics in his _Life of Julius Caesar_.
Absolute subjection--call it slavery, if you please--is the proper state
of large bodies of helpless humanity, who are absolutely dependent upon
some master of iron will for guidance and development.
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