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wretch. It had rejected, almost before it had admitted him. So that his
first three steps into the dense shadow of society had opened three
gulfs beneath him.
And it was by a treacherous transfiguration that his disaster had begun;
and catastrophe had approached him with the aspect of apotheosis!
Ascend had signified Descend!
His fate was the reverse of Job's. It was through prosperity that
adversity had reached him.
O tragical enigma of life! Behold what pitfalls! A child, he had
wrestled against the night, and had been stronger than it; a man, he had
wrestled against destiny, and had overcome it. Out of disfigurement he
had created success; and out of misery, happiness. Of his exile he had
made an asylum. A vagabond, he had wrestled against space; and, like the
birds of the air, he had found his crumb of bread. Wild and solitary, he
had wrestled against the crowd, and had made it his friend. An athlete,
he had wrestled against that lion, the people; and he had tamed it.
Indigent, he had wrestled against distress, he had faced the dull
necessity of living, and from amalgamating with misery every joy of his
heart, he had at length made riches out of poverty. He had believed
himself the conqueror of life. Of a sudden he was attacked by fresh
forces, reaching him from unknown depths; this time, with menaces no
longer, but with smiles and caresses. Love, serpent-like and sensual,
had appeared to him, who was filled with angelic love. The flesh had
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