One Hundred Best Books | Page 5

intimation within the
walls of reason or of system. It comes; it goes; it is; it is not. The
Hundred Best Books did not bring it; the Hundred Best Books cannot
take it away. Strangely and wonderfully it blends itself with those
vague memories of what we have read, somewhere, sometime, and not
always alone. Strangely and wonderfully it blends itself with those
other moments when the best books in the world seem irrelevant, and
all "culture" an impertinent intrusion; but however it comes and
however it goes, it is the thing that makes our gravity ridiculous; our
philosophy pedantic. It is the thing that gives to the "amusements" of
the imagination that touch of burning fire; that breath of wider air; that
taste of sharper salt, which, arriving when we least expect it, and
least--heaven knows--deserve it, makes any final opinion upon the stuff
of this world vain and false; and any condemnation of the opinions of
others foolish and empty. It destroys our assurances as it alleviates our
miseries, and in some unspeakable way, like a primrose growing on the
edge of a sepulchre, it flings forth upon the heavy night, a fleeting
signal, "Bon espoir y gist au fond!"

ONE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS
1. THE PSALMS OF DAVID.
The Psalms remain, whether in the Latin version or in the authorized
English translation, the most pathetic and poignant, as well as the most
noble and dignified of all poetic literature. The rarest spirits of our race
will always return to them at every epoch in their lives for consolation,

for support and for repose.
2. HOMER. THE ODYSSEY. _Butcher and Lang's Prose Translation_.
The Odyssey must continue to appeal to adventurous persons more
powerfully than any other of the ancient stories because, blent with the
classic quality of its pure Greek style, there can be found in it that
magical element of thrilling romance, which belongs not to one age,
but to all time.
3. THE BACCHANALS. THE BACCHÆ OF EURIPIDES. Translated
by Professor Gilbert Murray.
Euripides, the favourite poet of John Milton and Goethe, is the most
modern in feeling, the most romantic in mood of all the Greek poets.
One is conscious that in his work, as in the sculpture of Praxiteles, the
calm beauty of the Apollonian temper is touched by the wilder rhythm
of the perilous music of Dionysus.

4. HORACE. Any selection in Latin of The Odes of Horace and
complete prose translation published by Macmillan.
Flawlessly hammered out, as if from eternal bronze--"aere
perennius"--The Odes of Horace are the consummate expression of the
pride, the reserve, the tragic playfulness, the epicurean calm, the
absolute distinction of the Imperial Roman spirit. A few lines taken at
random and learned by heart would act as a talisman in all hours to
drive away the insolent pressure of the vulgar and common crowd.

5. CATULLUS. Any Latin edition and the prose translation published
by Macmillan bound up with Tibullus.
Catullus, the contemporary of Julius Caesar, is, of all the ancient lyrical
poets, the one most modern and neurotic in feeling. One discerns in his
work, breathing through the ancient Roman reserve, the pressure of that
passionate and rebellious reaction to life, which we enjoy in the most
magical of all later poets from Villon to Verlaine.
6. DANTE 'S DIVINE COMEDY. _Best edition the "Temple
Classics," in three small volumes, with the Italian original and English
prose translation on opposite pages_.
Dante's poetry can legitimately be enjoyed in single great passages, of
which there are more in the "Inferno" than in the other sections of the

poem. His peculiar quality is a certain blending of mordant realism
with a high and penetrating beauty. There is no need in reading him to
vex oneself with symbolic interpretations. He is at his best, when from
behind his scholastic philosophy, bursts forth, in direct personal
betrayal, his pride, his humility, his passion, and his disdain.
7. RABELAIS. _The English translation with the Doré illustrations_.
Rabelais is the philosopher's Bible and his book of outrageous jests. He
is the recondite cult of wise and magnanimous spirits. He reconciles
Nature with Art, Man with God, and religious piety with shameless
enjoyment. His style restores to us our courage and our joy; and his
noble buffoonery gives us back the sweet wantonness of our youth.
Rabelais is the greatest intellect in literature. No one has ever had a
humor so large; an imagination so creative, or a spirit so
world-swallowing, so humane, so friendly.

8. CANDIDE. Any French edition or English translation.
Voltaire was a true man of action, a knight of the Holy Ghost. He
plunged fiercely into the human arena, and fought through a laborious
life, against obscurantism, stupidity and tyranny. He had a clear-cut,
aristocratic mind.