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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Theaetetus by Plato: their phraseology is termed the affidavit, is recited at the time: and
from this he must not deviate. He is a servant, and is continually
disputing about a fellow-servant before his master, who is seated, and has
the cause in his hands; the trial is never about some indifferent matter,
but always concerns himself; and often the race is for his life. The
consequence has been, that he has become keen and shrewd; he has learned
how to flatter his master in word and indulge him in deed; but his soul is
small and unrighteous. His condition, which has been that of a slave from
his youth upwards, has deprived him of growth and uprightness and
independence; dangers and fears, which were too much for his truth and
honesty, came upon him in early years, when the tenderness of youth was
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