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Show OR, THE RHODIAN GENIUS. 407 then, the action and disturbance produced are soon again succeeded by unfruitful repose. "It is otherwise, however, when the same substances are brought together in the bodies of plants and animals. In these, the vital force or power reigns supreme, and, regardless of the mutual amity or enmity of the atoms recognised by Democritus, commands the union of ubstances which in inanimate nature shun each other, and separates those which are ever seeking to enter into combination. "Now come nearer to me, my friends; look with me on the first of the pictures before us, and recognise in the Rhodian Genius, in the expression of youthful energy, in the butterfly on his sh~ulder, and in the commanding glance of his eye, the symbol of vital force animating each individual germ of the organic creation. At his feet are the earthy elements, desiring to mix and unite, conformably to their particular te~dencies. The Genius, holding aloft his lighted torch with commanding gesture, controls and constrains them, without regard to their ancient rights, to obey his laws. "Now view with me the new picture which the tyrant has sent to me for explanation : turn your eyes from the image of life to that of death. The butterfly has left its former place and soars upwards; the extinguished torch is reversed, the head of the youth has sunk: the spirit has fled to other spheres, and the vital force is dead. Now the youths and maidens joyfully join hands, the earthy substances resume their ancient rights : they are freed from the chains that bound them, and follow impetuously after long restraint the impulse to union. Thus inert matter, animated awhile by vital force, passes through an innumerable diversity of forms, and perhaps in the same substance which once enshrined the spirit of Pythagoras, a poor worm may have enjoyed a momentary existence. "Go, Polycles, and tell Dionysius what thou hast heard ;-and you my friends, Euryphamos, Lysis, and Scopas, come nearer to me and support me; I feel that, in my weakened frame, the enfeebled vital power will not long hold in subjection the earthy substances, which reclaim their ancient liberty. Lead me once again to the Precile, and thence to the sea-shore; soon you will collect my ashes." |