THE SCAR OF ULYSSES
comes, we do not know, but the goal is clearly stated: Jeruel in the
land of Moriah. What place this indicateil
is
not clear-"Moriah"
especially may be a later correction of some other word. But in any
case the goal was given, and in any case it is a matter of some sacred
spot which was to be given a particular consecration by being con–
nected with Abraham's sacrifice. Just as little as "early in the morn–
ing" serves as a temporal indication does "Jeruel in the land of
Moriah" serve as a geographical indication; and in both cases alike,
the complementary indication is not given, for we know as little of
the hour at which Abraham lifted up his eyes as we do of the place
from which he set forth-J eruel is significant not so much as the
goal of an earthly journey, in its geographical relation to other
places, as it is through its special election, through its relation to
God, who designated it as the scene of the act, and therefore it must
be named.
In the narrative itself, a third chief character appears : Isaac.
While God and Abraham, the servingmen, the ass, and the imple–
ments are simply named, without the mention of any qualities or any
other sort of definition, Isaac once receives an appositive; God says,
Take Isaac, thine only son, whom thou lovest. But this is not a char–
acterization of Isaac as a person, apart from his relation to his
father and apart from the story; he may be handsome or ugly, in–
telligent or stupid, tall or short, pleasant or unpleasant- we are not
told. Only what we need to know about him as a personage in the
action, here and now, is elucidated-so that it may become apparent
how terrible Abraham's temptation is, and that God is fully aware of
it. By this example of the contrary, we see the significance of the
descriptive adjectives and digressions of the Homeric poems; with their
indications of the earlier and as it were absolute existence of the
persons described, they prevent the reader from concentrating ex–
clusively on a present crisis; even when the most terrible things are
occurring, they prevent the establishment of an overwhelming sus–
pense. But here, in the story of Abraham's sacrifice, the overwhelming
suspense is present; what Schiller makes the goal of the tragic poet
-to rob us of our emotional freedom, to turn our intellectual and
spiritual powers (Schiller says "our activity") in one direction, to con–
centrate them there- is effected in this Biblical narrative, which
certainly deserves the epithet epic.
