|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Memorabilia by Xenophon: yet something very like it. The mass of men no doubt hold a different
language: if a man is all abroad on some matter of which the mass of
mankind are ignorant, they do not pronounce him "mad";[8] but a like
aberration of mind, if only it be about matters within the scope of
ordinary knowledge, they call madness. For instance, any one who
imagined himself too tall to pass under a gateway of the Long Wall
without stooping, or so strong as to try to lift a house, or to
attempt any other obvious impossibility, is a madman according to
them; but in the popular sense he is not mad, if his obliquity is
confined to small matters. In fact, just as strong desire goes by the
name of passion in popular parlance, so mental obliquity on a grand
The Memorabilia |
