Page:Language of the Eye.djvu/86

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68
THE LANGUAGE

the sculptors of ancient Greece and Rome; the plains of Marathon, and the straits of Thermopylæ; the games (Olympic) are again seen; the radiant eyes of the gladiator again roll in anguish, and the great amphitheatre again heaves with the weight of the thousands who praise the tragedy of Euripides, and the comedy of Sophocles.

Time and its worlds of definition present no boundaries to the sight of mind and genius. Many a tyrannical spirit has quailed before the soul's declarations, communicated through the eye. Many a fainting heart has been encouraged by one glistening ray from this lamp of the soul. Many a pardon, many a promise, many a vow has required no greater declaration than that which the beam of the eye has emitted. Ali Pasha selected one man from twelve thousand (who had offended him twenty years before), and ordered him to be shot. Cohorts of soldiers and mailed men have watched a Caractacus or a Napoleon, whilst the beams from the eye have so aroused, encouraged, and persuaded men to die in triumph and rejoicing. Desdemona could see the soul of Othello through those glistening avenues. Saint Peter was sinking in the waves, until he looked to the eyes of his Lord. By the motion of this wonderful organ, the dying one has said, "I am hastening to my mansion in heaven, and angels guard my head. I fear no evil."