hero always combines in himself all wished-for ideals. Cyrano's attitude is certainly beautiful and impressive; Cassius's behavior has a theatrical effect. Both heroes prepare to die effectively, in which attempt Cyrano succeeds. This attitude betrays a wish for death in the unconscious of our author, the meaning of which we have already discussed at length as the motive for her poem of the moth. The wish of young girls to die is only an indirect expression, which remains a pose, even in case of real death, for death itself can be a pose. Such an outcome merely adds beauty and value to the pose under certain conditions. That the highest summit of life is expressed through the symbolism of death is a well-known fact; for creation beyond one's self means personal death. The coming generation is the end of the preceding one. This symbolism is frequent in erotic speech. The lascivious speech between Lucius and the wanton servant-maid in Apuleius ("Metamorphoses," lib. ii: 32) is one of the clearest examples:
"Proeliare, inquit, et fortiter proeliare: nec enim tibi cedam,
nec terga vortam. Cominus in aspectum, si vir es, dirige; et
grassare naviter, et occide moriturus. Hodierna pugna non habet
missionem.—Simul ambo corruimus inter mutuos amplexus animas
anhelantes."[1]
This symbolism is extremely significant, because it
shows how easily a contrasting expression originates and
- ↑ "Fight," she said, "and fight bravely, for I will not give away an inch nor turn my back. Face to face, come on if you are a man! Strike home, do your worst and die! The battle this day is without quarter . . . till, weary in body and mind, we lie powerless and gasping for breath in each other's arms."
