IV

ADMIRATIONS AND INCOMPATIBILITIES


Diogenes Laertius tells us that when Zeno consulted the oracle as to
what he should do in order to attain happiness in life, the deity
replied that he should assimilate himself with the dead. Having
understood, he applied himself exclusively to the study of books.

Thus speaks Laertius, in the translation of Don Jose Ortiz y Sanz. I
confess that I should not have understood the oracle. However, without
consulting any oracle, I have devoted myself for some time to reading
books, whether ancient and modern, both out of curiosity and in order to
learn something of life.




CERVANTES, SHAKESPEARE, MOLIERE


For a long time, I thought that Shakespeare was a writer who was unique
and different from all others. It seemed to me that the difference
between him and other writers was one of quality rather than of
quantity. I felt that, as a man, Shakespeare was of a different kind of
humanity; but I do not think so now. Shakespeare is no more the
quintessence of the world's literature than Plato and Kant are the