nt energy to
enforce his will on those whom he despised, yet allowed to dictate to him
even in matters which he ought to have kept absolutely under his own
control.

I shall always maintain that Rhodes, without his so-called friends, would
most certainly have been one of the greatest figures of his time and
generation. He had a big soul, vast conceptions, and when he was not
influenced by outward material details--upon which, unfortunately for
himself as well as for his reputation in history, he allowed his mind to
dwell too often--his thoughts were always directed toward some higher
subject which absorbed his attention, inspired him, and moved him
sometimes to actions that drew very near to the heroic. He might have gone
to his grave not only with an unsullied, but also with a great reputation
based on grounds that were noble and splendid had he shaken off the
companions of former times. Unhappily, an atmosphere of flattery and
adulation had become absolutely necessary to him, and he became so used to
it that he did not perceive that his sycophants never left him alone for a
moment. They watched over him like a policeman who took good care no
foreign influence should venture to approach.

The end of all this was that Rhodes resented the truth when it was told
him, and detested any who showed independence of judgment or appreciation
in matters concerning his affairs and projects. A man supposed to have an
iron will, yet he was weak almost to childishness in regard to these
flattering satellites. It amused him to have always at his beck and call
people willing and ready to submit to his insults, to bear with his fits
of bad temper, and to accept every humiliation which he chose to offer.

Cecil Rhodes never saw, or affected never to see, the disastrous influence
all this had on his life.

I remember asking him how it came that he seldom showed the desire to go
away somewhere quite alone, if even for a day or two, so as to remain
really tete-a-tete with his own reflections. His reply was most
characteristic: "What should I do with myself? One must have people about
to play cards in the evening." I might have added "and to flatter one,"
but refrained. This craving continually to have someone at hand to bully,
scold, or to make use of, was certainly one of the failings of Rhodes'
powerful mind. It also indicated in a way that thirst for power which
never left him until the last moment of his life. He had within him the