gesticulations. Everything about them cries out; _in terram prona_!

It is not to them, it is only to the nobler and more highly endowed
natures--men who really think and look about them in the world, and
form exceptional specimens of humanity--that the next lines are
applicable;

_Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri
Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus_.

* * * * *

No one knows what capacities for doing and suffering he has in
himself, until something comes to rouse them to activity: just as in
a pond of still water, lying there like a mirror, there is no sign of
the roar and thunder with which it can leap from the precipice, and
yet remain what it is; or again, rise high in the air as a fountain.
When water is as cold as ice, you can have no idea of the latent
warmth contained in it.

* * * * *

Why is it that, in spite of all the mirrors in the world, no one
really knows what he looks like?

A man may call to mind the face of his friend, but not his own. Here,
then, is an initial difficulty in the way of applying the maxim, _Know
thyself_.

This is partly, no doubt, to be explained by the fact that it is