Do not smile at my saying so. Of Arithmetic, Geometry, and Chemistry, you can know but little, at the utmost; but that little, well learnt, serves you well. And a little Latin, well learnt, will serve you also, and in a higher way than any of these.
'Fors' is the best part of three good English words, Force, Fortitude, and Fortune. I wish you to know the meaning of those three words accurately.
'Force' (in humanity), means power of doing good work. A fool, or a corpse, can do any quantity of mischief; but only a wise and strong man, or, with what true vital force there is in him, a weak one, can do good.
'Fortitude' means the power of bearing necessary pain, or trial of patience, whether by time, or temptation.
'Fortune' means the necessary fate of a man: the ordinance of his life which cannot be changed. To 'make your Fortune' is to rule that appointed fate to the best ends of which it is capable.
Fors is a feminine word; and Clavigera, is, therefore, the feminine of 'Claviger.'
Clava means a club. Clavis, a key. Clavus, a nail, or a rudder.
Gero means 'I carry.' It is the root of our word 'gesture' (the way you carry yourself); and, in a curious bye-way, of 'jest.'
Clavigera may mean, therefore, either Club-bearer, Key-bearer, or Nail-bearer.
Each of these three possible meanings of Clavigera corresponds to one of the three meanings of Fors.
Fors, the Club-bearer, means the strength of Hercules, or of Deed.
Fors, the Key-bearer, means the strength of Ulysses, or of Patience.
Fors, the Nail-bearer, means the strength of Lycurgus, or of Law.
I will tell you what you may usefully know of those three Greek persons in a little time. At present, note only of the three powers: 1. That the strength of Hercules is for deed, not misdeed; and that his club--the favourite weapon, also, of the Athenian hero Theseus, whose form is the best inheritance left to us by the greatest of Greek sculptors, (it is in the Elgin room of the British Museum, and I shall have much to tell you of him--especially how he helped Hercules in his utmost need, and how he invented mixed vegetable soup)--was for subduing monsters and cruel persons, and was of olive-wood. 2. That the Second Fors Clavigera is portress at a gate which she cannot open till you have waited long; and that her robe is of the colour of ashes, or dry earth. [2] 3. That the third Fors Clavigera, the power of Lycurgus, is Royal as well as Legal; and that the notablest crown yet existing in Europe of any that have been worn by Christian kings, was--people say--made of a Nail.
