ise of the qualities in which he excels. What
this weak point is, it will always be hard to define with any accuracy
even in a given case. It may be better expressed indirectly; thus
Plato's weak point is exactly that in which Aristotle is strong, and
_vice versa_; and so, too, Kant is deficient just where Goethe is
great.

Now, mankind is fond of venerating something; but its veneration is
generally directed to the wrong object, and it remains so directed
until posterity comes to set it right. But the educated public is
no sooner set right in this, than the honor which is due to genius
degenerates; just as the honor which the faithful pay to their saints
easily passes into a frivolous worship of relics. Thousands of
Christians adore the relics of a saint whose life and doctrine are
unknown to them; and the religion of thousands of Buddhists lies more
in veneration of the Holy Tooth or some such object, or the vessel
that contains it, or the Holy Bowl, or the fossil footstep, or the
Holy Tree which Buddha planted, than in the thorough knowledge and
faithful practice of his high teaching. Petrarch's house in Arqua;
Tasso's supposed prison in Ferrara; Shakespeare's house in Stratford,
with his chair; Goethe's house in Weimar, with its furniture; Kant's
old hat; the autographs of great men; these things are gaped at with
interest and awe by many who have never read their works. They cannot
do anything more than just gape.

The intelligent amongst them are moved by the wish to see the objects
which the great man habitually had before his eyes; and by a strange
illusion, these produce the mistaken notion that with the objects they
are bringing back the man himself, or that something of him must
cling to them. Akin to such people are those who earnestly strive to
acquaint themselves with the subject-matter of a poet's works, or to
unravel the personal circumstances and events in his life which have
suggested particular passages. This is as though the audience in a
theatre were to admire a fine scene and then rush upon the stage to
look at the scaffolding that supports it. There are in our day enough
instances of these critical investigators, and they prove the truth of
the saying that mankind is interested, not in the _form_ of a work,
that is, in its manner of treatment, but in its actual matter. All it
cares for is the theme. To read a philosopher's biography, instead of
studying his thoughts, is like neglecting a picture