In his journal entry of 16 May 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson writes of his brother:

Charles died at New York, Monday afternoon, 9 May. His prayer that he might not be sick was granted him. He was never confined to a bed. He rode out on Monday afternoon with Mother, promised himself to begin his journey with me on my arrival, the next day; on reaching home, he stepped out of the carriage alone, walked up the steps and into the house without assistance, sat down on the stairs, fainted and never recovered. Beautiful without any parallel in my experience of young men, was his life, happiest his death. Miserable is my own prospect from whom my friend is taken. Clean and sweet was his life, untempted almost, and his action on others all-healing, uplifting and fragrant. ...

His virtues were like the victories of Timoleon, and Homer's verses, they were so easy and natural. ... His senses were those of a Greek. I owe to them a thousand observations. To live with him was like living with a great painter. I used to say that I had no leave to see things till he pointed them out, and afterwards I never ceased to see them.

A lovely, loving memorial to his late brother. (But a fascinating sidelight: the occurrence in an Emerson essay on Milton of "His virtues remind us of what Plutarch said of Timoleon's victories, that they resembled Homer's verses, they ran so easy and natural." ... and ... "He had the senses of a Greek." Hmmmm!)

(cf. RalphWaldoEmerson (5 Aug 2003), ...)

TopicLiterature - 2007-01-07

(correlates: ThornEd, MercifulSchadenfreude, UnintendedConsequences, ...)