Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/361

 THE MEANING OF THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 347

I was born as free as Caesar : so were you : We both have fed as well : and we can both Endure the winter's cold as well as he.

Ye gods, it doth amaze me, A man of such a feeble temper should So get the start of the majestic world, And bear the palm alone.

Men at some time are masters of their fates :

The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

" Brutus " and " Caesar ; " what should be in that " Caesar " ?

Why should that name be sounded more than yours ?

Write them together, yours is as fair a name";

Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well.

Weigh them, it is as heavy ; conjure with 'em, " Brutus " will start a spirit as soon as " Caesar," Now, in the names of all the gods at once, Upon what meat does this our Caesar feed, That he is grown so great ?

-Jul. Cae. Act. I. Sc. II.

That is, men have taken the measure of themselves in the person of more strenuous men. Great men have served to show what is latent in little men. Rare men have explored the possi- bilities of life for mediocre men, and average life has tended to achieve the fullness and diversity of many exceptional 1 Extraordinary men have roused desires dormant in the ordinary man, and thus humanity has progressively found itself. Human- ity has expressed itself, and asserted itself, and exerted itself in its most forceful specimens, and in them and their works the rest of men have learned to know their own nature, and power, and destiny.

The social movement of today is the onward march of that same average humanity towards further gains indicated as within human reach, because they have actually been compassed by some men. We are simply continuing the series of movements by which all historical nu n have proved their power to take up