Arab Idolatry: there was no answer in these. A Hero, as I repeat, has
this first distinction, which indeed we may call first and last, the Alpha
and Omega of his whole Heroism, That he looks through the shows of things
into _things_. Use and wont, respectable hearsay, respectable formula:
all these are good, or are not good. There is something behind and beyond
all these, which all these must correspond with, be the image of, or they
are--_Idolatries_; "bits of black wood pretending to be God;" to the
earnest soul a mockery and abomination. Idolatries never so gilded, waited
on by heads of the Koreish, will do nothing for this man. Though all men
walk by them, what good is it? The great Reality stands glaring there upon
_him_. He there has to answer it, or perish miserably. Now, even now, or
else through all Eternity never! Answer it; _thou_ must find an
answer.--Ambition? What could all Arabia do for this man; with the crown
of Greek Heraclius, of Persian Chosroes, and all crowns in the Earth;--what
could they all do for him? It was not of the Earth he wanted to hear tell;
it was of the Heaven above and of the Hell beneath. All crowns and
sovereignties whatsoever, where would _they_ in a few brief years be? To
be Sheik of Mecca or Arabia, and have a bit of gilt wood put into your
hand,--will that be one's salvation? I decidedly think, not. We will
leave it altogether, this impostor hypothesis, as not credible; not very
tolerable even, worthy chiefly of dismissal by us.

Mahomet had been wont to retire yearly, during the month Ramadhan, into
solitude and silence; as indeed was the Arab custom; a praiseworthy custom,
which such a man, above all, would find natural and useful. Communing with
his own heart, in the silence of the mountains; himself silent; open to the
"small still voices:" it was a right natural custom! Mahomet was in his
fortieth year, when having withdrawn to a cavern in Mount Hara, near Mecca,
during this Ramadhan, to pass the month in prayer, and meditation on those
great questions, he one day told his wife Kadijah, who with his household