Page:Popular Works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1889) Vol 2.djvu/69

 answer, even if this should be so, what then is this Honour? Whence has this thought of the judgment which others may pass upon us, particularly of the judgment of future generations whose praise or blame shall echo over our graves unheard by us;—whence has it acquired this amazing power which enables it to suppress and extinguish the personal life of the Hero? Is it not obvious that in the depths of his mind there lies a principle which tells him that only on one condition can his life be of any value to him,—can be even endurable by him;—this, namely, that the voices of Mankind at large shall unite in ascribing a value to it? Is not this very thought the Idea of the Race, and of its judgment as a on the Individual, and the admission that the  alone is entitled to pass the final judgment upon true merit? Is it not the supposition that this final judgment must be grounded on the inquiry whether the Individual has or has not devoted himself to the ?—and is it not a silent, respectful acquiescence in this judgment proceeding on these premises?—in a word, is not this Idea precisely that in which we have placed the Life according to Reason? But let us more thoroughly investigate this matter.

The Hero acts:—undoubtedly then, I add, he acts in a certain way;—in order, it is said, thereby to acquire fame in the eyes of Present and Future Ages:—undoubtedly then, I add again, without having first interrogated the Present and Future Ages whether they would laud a life so employed;—without, I add yet again, having had it in his power to seek counsel of experience in any way upon this question; because his mode of action, so surely as it proceeds upon an Idea, is a new, hitherto unknown mode, upon which therefore no human judgment has ever yet been pronounced. But, it is said, he reckons so securely on fame being the result of this mode of action, that he is ready to peril his life on the accuracy of his calculations. How does he know, then, that he has not miscalculated?