man will praise a thing only so far as he hopes to be able to imitate it himself.  Further, it is a suspicious sign if a reputation comes quickly; for an application of the laws of homogeneity will show that such a reputation is nothing but the direct applause of the multitude.  What this means may be seen by a remark once made by Phocion, when he was interrupted in a speech by the loud cheers of the mob.  Turning to his friends who were standing close by, he asked:  Have I made a mistake and said something stupid?[1]

[Footnote 1:  Plutarch, Apophthegms.]

Contrarily, a reputation that is to last a long time must be slow in maturing, and the centuries of its duration have generally to be bought at the cost of contemporary praise.  For that which is to keep its position so long, must be of a perfection difficult to attain; and even to recognize this perfection requires men who are not always to be found, and never in numbers sufficiently great to make themselves heard; whereas envy is always on the watch and doing its best to smother their voice.  But with moderate talent, which soon meets with recognition, there is the danger that those who possess it will outlive both it and themselves; so that a youth of fame may be followed by an old age of obscurity.  In the case of great merit, on the other hand, a man may remain unknown for many years, but make up for it later on by attaining a brilliant reputation.  And if it should be that this comes only after he is no more, well! he is to be reckoned amongst those of whom Jean Paul says that extreme unction is their baptism.  He may console himself by thinking of the Saints, who also are canonized only after they are dead.

Thus what Mahlmann[1] has said so well in Herodes holds good; in this world truly great work never pleases at once, and the god set up by the multitude keeps his place on the altar but a short time: 

Ich denke, das wahre Grosse in der Welt Ist immer nur Das was nicht gleich gefaellt Und wen der Poebel zum Gotte weiht, Der steht auf dem Altar nur kurze Zeit.

[Footnote 1:  Translator’s Note.—­August Mahlmann (1771-1826), journalist, poet and story-writer.  His Herodes vor Bethlehem is a parody of Kotzebue’s Hussiten vor Naumburg.]

It is worth mention that this rule is most directly confirmed in the case of pictures, where, as connoisseurs well know, the greatest masterpieces are not the first to attract attention.  If they make a deep impression, it is not after one, but only after repeated, inspection; but then they excite more and more admiration every time they are seen.