Page:The first and last journeys of Thoreau - lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts.djvu/62

 are now at hand. But still I know that as man stood in Thebes so does he stand in Dunstable to-day.

The sap of all noble schemes drieth up, and the schemers return again and again, in despair, to "common sense and labor;" but to return is not the right way, nor will it be the last.

Such is the testimony of the poet, and Time seems longer than Eternity; but there are secret articles which the historian can never know, as often in the treaties of states there are secret articles inserted which are of more importance than all the rest. So in our treaties with the gods, the faintest and most secret clauses are ever the most vital. All things teach Man to be calm and patient. The language of excitement is only picturesque; but you must be calm to utter oracles, not such as the Delphic priestess uttered. Enthusiasm is a supernatural serenity. Such is the oldest history. Mankind seem anciently to have exercised the passive virtues; and all these active Saxon qualities seem modern.

While lying on our oars under the [14]