Page:Conventional Lies of our Civilization.djvu/142

could be inherited like physical beauty, muscular development and a fine figure. There would then be living in the world a small class of Shakespeares, Goethes, Schillers Byrons, Moliêres,—between this class and the great multitude there would be an enormous space; and the difference between them would be constantly growing greater. This small group could not endure the ordinary conditions of existence and would either attempt to have certain special laws enacted for their benefit, thus forming a small state incomprehensible to the masses within the State, or else they would have the common laws adapted to their necessities, which would be ruinous to the people at large, as much so as if they were compelled to live in and breathe an atmosphere of pure oxygen. The higher intelligence always conquers the lower, even if the latter is combined with far superior bodily strength. Where a mentally more developed race comes in conflict with one less developed, the latter invariably succumbs. Perhaps an aristocracy of genius even if small in numbers, would have the same influence upon the people as the whites have upon the red-skins and negroes. But such an aristocracy will never appear in this world. Genius expends so much vital energy in its ordinary activity, that none is left for the propagation of the species. What a strange division of labor there is in the human race! Common men have the task of looking after the material preservation and perpetuation of their race, while to the men of rare talents is entrusted only the work of promoting the intellectual development of the race, as occasion offers. A man can not beget both thoughts and children. Genius is like the centifolious rose, whose vital energies are all concentrated in the blossom, which thus becomes the ideal type of its species, but in this evolution the power of reproducing its kind is lost. Goethe, Walter