THE LIFE OF GEORG SIMMEL xxix 
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aloofness left him a lonely figure. He saw from his objec- 
tive standpoint better than others what was happening to 
Europe, and he suffered more deeply than those who had 
been carried away by the rampant chauvinism of the time. 
Simmel died like an ancient philosopher. Fully con- 
scious of the fact that his days were limited, resigned to 
his fate, he occupied himself with the corrections of his 
last work. It has been felt as the final tragedy of his ca- 
reer that he should begin the synthetic period of his think- 
ing when his bodily existence had begun its decay, that he 
should formulate a metaphysics of life when death had al- 
ready called him. Perhaps it was his greatest triumph. 
He at any rate did not feel that tragedy. In the utterances 
of his last days there was complete resignation. According 
to himself, he had given the world all he had to give. New 
applications, new formulations of his ideas he might have 
given, had he continued to live, but nothing fundamen- 
tally new could have been expected of him. In that feeling 
of having given his best he found the strength to die a 
beautiful death amid great physical suffering and grave 
doubts regarding the future of European culture. 
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