bring peace to my thoughts, to enlighten my heart."

53. Of this the sage is fully aware, though no superhuman happiness
may have descended upon him. The upright man knows it too, though he
be less wise than the sage, and his consciousness less fully
developed; for an act of goodness or justice brings with it a kind
of inarticulate consciousness that often becomes more effective,
more faithful, more loving, than the consciousness that springs into
being from the very deepest thought. Acts of this nature bring,
above all, a special knowledge of happiness. Strive as we may, our
loftiest thoughts are always uncertain, unstable; but the light of a
goodly deed shines steadily on, and is lasting. There are times when
deep thought is no more than merely fictitious consciousness; but an
act of charity, the heroic duty fulfilled--these are true
consciousness; in other words, happiness in action. The happiness of
Marcus Aurelius, who condones a mortal affront; of Washington,
giving up power when he feared that his glory was leading his people
astray--the happiness of these will differ by far from that of some
mean-souled, venomous creature who might (if such a thing may be
assumed) by mere chance have discovered some extraordinary natural
law. Long is the road that leads from the satisfied brain to the
heart at rest, and only such joys will nourish there as are proof
against winter's storms. Happiness is a plant that thrives far more
readily in moral than in intellectual life. Consciousness--the
consciousness of happiness, above all--will not choose the intellect
as a hiding-place for the treasure it holds most dear. At times it
would almost seem as if all that is loftiest in intellect, fraught
with most comfort, is transformed into consciousness only when
passed through an act of virtue. It suffices not to discover new
truths in the world of thought or of fact. For ourselves, a truth