The Five Great Philosophies of LifeHyde, William De Witt
Philosophy
The Five Great Philosophies of Life
Hyde, William De Witt
Ethics; Philosophy, Ancient
surrounds him with friends; cushions him in ease and security. Over
against this man who is really unrighteous, but has all the advantages
that come from being supposed to be righteous, he sets the man who is
really righteous, and clothes him with all the disabilities which come
from being supposed to be unrighteous. "Let him be scourged and racked;
let him have his eyes burnt out, and finally, after suffering every kind
of evil, let him be impaled." Then, says Plato, when both have reached
the uttermost extreme, the one of righteousness treated shamefully and
cruelly, the other of unrighteousness treated honourably and
obsequiously, let judgment be given which of them is the happier of the
two. Translating the language of the "Gorgias" and the "Republic" into
modern equivalents: Who would we rather be, a man who by successful
manipulation of dishonest financial schemes had come to be a
millionnaire, the mayor of his city, the pillar of the church, the
ornament of the best society, the Senator from his state, or the
Ambassador of his country at a European Court; or a man who in
consequence of his integrity had won the enmity of evil men in power,
and been sent in disgrace to State prison; a man whom no one would speak
to; whom his best friends had deserted, whose own children were being
brought up to reproach him? Which of the two men would we rather be? And
we must not introduce any consideration of reversals hereafter.
Supposing that death ends all, and that there is no God to reverse the
decisions of men; suppose these two men were to die as they lived,
without hope of resurrection; which of the two would we rather be for
the next forty years of our lives, assuming that after that there is
nothing?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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