a fair field, and to show myself his equal or
superior. The object striven for is the individual's own ideal, and those
whom he successively passes on his course mark but successive stages on
his progress toward that ideal. Thus, in the pursuit of moral excellence,
it is only a mean and a bad man who can imagine that he gains anything by
detracting from the merit of others; but he who is sincerely contending
for a high place among virtuous men, rejoices in the signal examples of
goodness of every kind which it is his privilege to emulate, and rejoices
most of all that the ideal of perfect excellence--once only actualized in
human form--is so pure and lofty that it may be his life-work to approach
it without reaching it.

Emulation is not envy, nor need it lead to envy. Among those who strive
for superiority there need be no collision. The natural desire is to _be_,
not to _seem_, superior; to have the consciousness, not the mere outward
semblance, of high attainment; and of attainment, not by a conventional,
but by an absolute standard; and this aim excludes none,--there may be as
many first places as there are deserving candidates for them. Then, too,
there is so wide a diversity of ideals, both in degree and in kind, there
are so many different ruling aims, and so many different routes by which
these aims are pursued, that there need be little danger of mutual
interference. Even as regards external rewards, so far as they depend on
the bounty of nature, the constitution of society, or the general esteem
and good will of men, the success of one does not preclude the equal
success of many; but, on the other hand, the merited prosperity and honor
of the individual cannot fail to be of benefit to the whole community. It
is only in offices contingent on election or appointment that the aspirant
incurs a heavy risk of failure; but when we consider how meanly men are
often compelled to creep into office and to grovel in it, it can hardly be
supposed that a genuine desire of superiority holds a prominent place
among the motives of these who are willingly dependent on patronage or on
popular suffrage.

These desires, according as one or another has the ascendency, prompt to
action, without reference to the good or the evil there may be in the
action; and they therefore need the control of reason, and of the
principles which reason recognizes in the government of conduct.

Section III.