Explore "Balzac" by Edgar Saltus on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae est. " -- SENECA, _De Tranquillitate Animi_, c. 15.
From Balzac's early manhood his entire existence was consumed in a feverish pursuit of wealth; and had the mines of California been discovered at an earlier date, there is little doubt that he would have exchanged his pen for a pick, and sought, in a red shirt, to realize the millions with which he dowered his characters.