Genii

“ At this speech, I changed colour, and trembled from head to foot. The tailor inquired the cause, when suddenly the floor of my chamber opened. The old man, who had not the patience to wait, appeared, and presented himself to us with the hatchet and cord. This was in fact the Genius, who had ravished the beautiful princess of the Isle of Ebony, and who had thus come in disguise, after having treated her with the greatest barbarity. “I am a Genius,” he said to us, “a son of the daughter of Eblis, prince of the Genii. Is not this thy hatchet?” ”

“ He said also, that the good Genii are as the benigne eyes of God, running to and fro in the world, with love and pitty beholding the innocent endeavours of harmless and single hearted men, ever ready to do them good, and to help them ”

“ The Genii have the power of making themselves seen or invisible at pleasure. Some of them delight in mischief, and raise whirlwinds, or lead travellers astray. The Arabians used to say that shooting stars were arrows shot by the angels against the Genii when they approached too near the forbidden regions of bliss. ”

“ For from my early reading of fairy tales and genii, etc., etc., my mind had been habituated to the Vast, and I never regarded my senses in any way as the criteria of my belief. I regulated all my creeds by my conceptions, not by my sight, even at that age. Should children be permitted to read romances, and relations of giants and magicians and genii? I know all that has been said against it; but I have formed my faith in the affirmative. I know no other way of giving the mind a love of the Great and the Whole. ”

“ The inventive genius requisite for the construction of a mechanism capable of producing such extraordinary results may be readily imagined, if not appreciated, by a non-scientific reader. This wonderful contrivance, whose fame, embellished with many fabulous additions, extended to the limits of the Peninsula, was mentioned with awe by the ignorant, who considered it as a mysterious talisman to be attributed to the supernatural powers of the genii and solely adapted to the unholy operations of magic. ”

“ In the course of time a second genius was believed to exist, of an evil nature, who, as the instigator of all wrong-doing, was ever at war with the beneficent genius; and on the issue of the conflict between these antagonistic influences, depended the fate of the individual. The genii were depicted as winged beings, greatly resembling our modern representations of guardian angels. ”

“ They assigned genii, not only to every person, but also to every house, every city, and every province. [70] These genii are considered as good, beneficent, [71] and worthy of the worship of those who invoke them. They were represented sometimes under the form of a serpent, sometimes as a child or a youth. Flowers, incense, cakes, and wine were offered to them. [72] Men swore by the names of the genii. [73] It was a great crime to perjure one's self after having sworn by the genius of the emperor, says Tertullian ”

“ There is a Latin word “ genius,” meaning originally a spirit inhabiting a special place. It is from this word that our English common noun “genius” is taken, meaning a specially gifted or inspired person, e.g. “a man of genius.” But in the Arabian Nights a completely different Arabic word is found, viz. "jinn" with its feminine form “ jinni.” This was written in English “ genie ” and was confused with the word “genius.” The plural of genie when used in this sense is genii, which is really the plural of the Latin word genius. ”

“ The next morning Prince Ahmed set out by daybreak, without taking leave either of the sultan or any of his court, according to custom. The sorceress saw him coming, and watched him and his attendants till she suddenly lost sight of them in the rocks. The steepness of the rocks formed a strong barrier to men, whether on horseback or on foot, so that the sorceress judged that the prince and his retinue had suddenly retired either into some cavern or some underground place, the abode of genii or fairies. ”

“ I would go further on.’
‘There lies,’ said Genius, ‘up on yonder peak
A Prize, alone, I have not cared to seek.’
Up, up they went—as swift, as sure as Time,
They seemed to soar: (in truth they did but climb) ,
And there in sight of all the world beneath—
Ambition crowned fair Genius with a wreath.
All day they journeyed, swift from place to place;
Ambition led, and Genius joined the chase.
In every realm of fancy, or of thought,
All depths they sounded, and all heights they sought. ”

“ Genius, where it is present, sees its object only—never sees itself;—as the sound eye fixes itself upon something beyond it, but never looks round upon its own brightness. In such an one the Idea does certainly not abide. What is it, then, that animates him,—that moves him to those eager and restless efforts which we behold? It is mere pride and self-conceit, and the desperate purpose, despite of natural disqualification, to assume a character which does not belong to him;—these animate, impel, and spur him on, and stand to him in the room of Genius. ”

“ Still mounting near and nearer to the light,
Impelled alone by love of upward flight,
So Genius soars—it does not need to climb—
Upon God‐given wings, to heights sublime.
Some sportman's shot, grazing the singer's throat,
Some venomous assault of birds of prey,
May speed its flight toward the realm of day,
And tinge with triumph every liquid note.
So deathless Genius mounts but higher yet,
When Strife and Envy think to slay or fret.
There is no balking Genius. Only death
Can silence it, or hinder. ”

“ What parts, what gems, what colors shine,— Ah, but I miss the grand design. Like vaulters in a circus round Who leap from horse to horse, but never touch the ground. For Genius made his cabin wide, And Love led Gods therein to bide. The atom displaces all atoms beside, And Genius unspheres all souls that abide. ”

“ When the fisherman heard this he gave himself up for lost, yet he did not the less continue by prayer and supplication to entreat the Genie from his purpose. But when he found that there was no heart left in him to be moved, then for the first time he bestirred his wits, and remembering how that which is evil contains far less wisdom than that which is good, and so falls ever the more readily into the trap prepared for it, he spoke thus: "O Genie, since thou art determined on my death, there is yet a certain thing touching thine honour that I would first know. ”

“ Immediately the form of the Genius began to change into smoke, and extended itself as before over both the shore and the sea; and then, collecting itself, began to enter the vase, and continued to do so in a slow and equal manner, till nothing remained without. A voice immediately issued forth, saying, “Now then, thou credulous fisherman, dost thou believe me now I am in the vase?” But instead of answering the Genius, he immediately took the leaden cover, and put it on the vase. “Genius,” he cried, “it is now your turn to ask pardon, and choose what sort of death is most agreeable to you. ”

“ By following strictly the laws that govern the evolution of life, we control the formation of the body and brain. Strong mental traits become intensified by cultivation from generation to generation and finally culminate in one glorious outburst of power, called Genius. But there is one peculiarity about mind. It resembles that wonderful century plant which, after decades of developing, flowers and dies. Genius is the long unfolding bloom of mind, and leaves no posterity. We carefully prepare for the future development of Genius. ”

“ He endeavoured still to appease the genie, and said, “Alas! be pleased to take pity on me, in consideration of the service I have done you.” “I have told thee already,” replied the genie, “it is for that very reason I must kill thee.” “That is strange,” said the fisherman, “are you resolved to reward good with evil? The proverb truly says, ‘He who does good to one who deserves it not, is always ill rewarded.’” “Do not lose time,” interrupted the genie; “all thy chattering shall not divert me from my purpose; make haste, and tell me what kind of death thou preferrest?” ”

“ To all that can be said of the preponderance of the Past, the single word Genius is a sufficient reply. The divine resides in the new. The divine never quotes, but is, and creates. The profound apprehension of the Present is Genius, which makes the Past forgotten. Genius believes its faintest presentiment against the testimony of all history; for it knows that facts are not ultimates, but that a state of mind is the ancestor of everything. ”

“ He believed that Genius,—a kind of mystic, God-inspired faculty, that lived on intuition and not on painfully acquired knowledge,—discovers at a glance the secrets of nature and ethics and history. "Where we see only the confused light of the Milky Way, they see stars." Though he would have himself disclaimed the title to genius, he had a supreme confidence in his own thought. ”

“ Thrills through all the poet’s numbers,
Which are hallow’d by this grace.
As in life, in numbers also
Grace is greatest good of all;
He who has it, ne’er transgresses
In his prose or in his verses.
Genius call we such a poet
Of the mighty grace of God;
He is undisputed monarch
Of the boundless realms of fancy.
He to God alone accounteth,
Not to man, and, as in lifetime,
So in art the mob have power
To destroy, but not to judge us. ”

“ Genius, inspired by invention, rends the veil that separates existence from possibility; peeps into the dark, and catches a shape, a feature, or a colour, in the reflected ray.
52. Talent, though panting, pursues genius through the plains of invention, but stops short at the brink that separates the real from the possible. Virgil followed Homer in making Mezentius speak to Rhœbus, but shrank from the reply of the prophetic courser. ”

“ To have been something, even in childhood, to the formation of a noble nature; to have borne on those slight shoulders half the load of a man’s grand labour; and now to see Genius moving calm in its clear career; and to say inly, ‘Of that genius I am a part!’”
HELEN (sadly and humbly) .—“A part! Oh, no! A part? I don’t understand you.”
VIOLANTE.—“Take the child Beatrice from Dante’s life, and should we have a Dante? What is a poet’s genius but the voice of its emotions? All things in life and in Nature influence genius; but what influences it the most are its own sorrows and affections.” ”

“ We have as many Instances of Originals, this way, as any Nation can produce. Men, who without the help of Learning, by the meer Force of natural Ability, have produced Works which were the Delight of their own Times, and have been the Wonder of Posterity. It has been a Question, whether Learning would have improved or spoiled them. There appears somewhat so nobly Wild and Extravagant in these great Genij, as charms infinitely more, than all the Turn and Polishing which enters into the French Bel Esprit, or the Genius improved by Reading and Conversation. ”

“ There lie the dry bones of giant epics waiting Genius's hand to make them live. He gave them not only the broad outward facts—the bones; but those smaller touches that are the body and soul of a story, true or false, wanting which the deeds of heroes sound an almanac ”

“ Forms which were dull and hideous become endowed with grace and beauty, and vegetable existence rises to the scale of celestial life. Then, too, Genius appears clad in a panoply of translucent armour, grasping in his hand the whole terrestrial surface, and making every rood of earth subservient to his purposes;—Genius, the child of civilization, the mother of the Arts! ”

“ Is there not something comprehensive in the grasp of a society which to great mechanical invention, and the best institutions of property, adds the most daring theories; which explores the subtlest and most universal problems? At the manifest risk of repeating what every other Age has thought of itself, we might say, we think the Genius of this Age more philosophical than any other has been, righter in its aims, truer, with less fear, less fable, less mixture of any sort. ”

“ Softly it falls—yes, almost fearfully—from the fervid lips of some lone world-neglected persecuted man—some patient toil-worn son of science, whom Genius loves to call her own—though, haply, to the schools, to fortune and to fame unknown. One whose transcendent, superconscious mind has dared, Prometheus-like, to snatch from heaven the fire of the immortal gods and offer it in benefits to all mankind. ”

“ It is through the agency of mind that a few secrets are disclosed to us, and for our use. We call the recipient and the inventor Genius. It is given, as it is wanted, at the right time, and for the preordained purpose. ”

“ This disposition of things, which is as wise as it is necessary, leaves but one course open to the youthful student who cannot know with certainty whether or not Genius dwells within him; this, namely, that he continue to act as though there were latent within him that which must at last come to light; that he subject himself to all conditions, and place himself in all circumstances, in which, if present, it may come to light; that, with untiring Industry and true devotion of his whole mind, he avail himself of all the means which Learned Culture offers to him. ”

“ The difference, however, between the genius and the ingenium, is not very material; as the ingenium or disposition, was supposed by the ancients to be prompted by the genius, or tutelar spirit, who presided over and directed all the actions of mankind. ”

“ If all should be put into one Way of Life, or brought up to one Business. Or if in the Choice of Employment for Them, their several Biass and Capacity be not consulted, but the roving Genius mew'd up in a Closet, and confounded among Books: And the studious and thoughtful Genius sent to wander about the World, and be perfectly scattered and dissipated, for want of proper Application and closer Confinement. Whereas, one such a Family wisely educated, and dispos'd in the World, would prove an extensive Blessing to Mankind, and appear with a distinguished Glory ”