This is how he grows; by being defeated, decisively
By constantly greater beings.
- Rainer Maria Rilke, The Man Watching
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
ché la diritta via era smarrita
In the middle of the road of my life
I awoke in a dark wood
Where the true way was wholly lost
- Dante Alighieri, La Divina Commedia, Inferno: Canto I
trans Dorothy Sayers and Barbara Reynolds