so lavishly. It is the instinctive
recognition of this unveiling of the
soul of man which gives the tragedy
such impressiveness even when it is
haltingly represented on the stage,
and which subdues the imagination
to its mood when the solitary reader
comes under its spell. The life of
the race is sacred in those great pas-
sages which record its sufferings; and
nothing makes us so aware of our
unity with our kind in all times and
under all circumstances as the com-
munity of suffering in which, actively
or passively, all men share.

In the tragedy the student of liter-
ature is brought into the most inti-
mate relation with his race in those
moments when its deepest experiences
are laid bare; he enters into its life
when that life is passing through its
most momentous passages; he is pres-

[[227]]

p226 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p227w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p228

v?