Note 133 — OSCAR BIE (continued 6)
E. E. (Ernest Edward) Kellett translation
Some of us would be inclined to follow this train of thought in another direction. The question would not be—May great artists break the law and be blameless? (the Pope practically held that they might; if Benvenuto Cellini does not lie about his own case) but—What right has the public to obtain a full account of any man’s private life?
Vulgar curiosity, and an unacknowledged desire on the part of the reader to find that the great man is “even such a one as himself,” have more to do with the popularity of certain biographies than their writers would care to acknowledge.
The “Life” of a great man should be a faithful report of his Greatness. His weakness and folly, often exceeding that of commonplace people simply because of the vastly greater range of his temptations, is no business of ours, and should never be printed, except in so far as it is necessary to make clear the plain story of his career.