The wings of Time are black and white,
Pied with morning and with night.
Mountain tall and ocean deep
Trembling balance duly keep.
In changing moon, in tidal wave,
Glows the feud1 of Want and Have.
Gauge2 of more and less through space
Electric star and pencil plays.
The lonely Earth amid the balls
That hurry through the eternal halls,
A makeweight flying to the void,
Or compensatory spark,
Shoots across the neutral Dark.
Man’s the elm, and Wealth the vine;
Stanch5 and strong the tendrils twine6:
Though the frail7 ringlets thee deceive,
None from its stock that vine can reave.
Fear not, then, thou child infirm,
There’s no god dare wrong a worm.
Laurel crowns cleave8 to deserts,
And power to him who power exerts;
Hast not thy share? On winged feet,
Lo! it rushes thee to meet;
And all that Nature made thy own,
Floating in air or pent in stone,
Will rive the hills and swim the sea,
And, like thy shadow, follow thee.
ESSAY III Compensation
Ever since I was a boy, I have wished to write a discourse9 on Compensation: for it seemed to me when very young, that on this subject life was ahead of theology, and the people knew more than the preachers taught. The documents, too, from which the doctrine10 is to be drawn11, charmed my fancy by their endless variety, and lay always before me, even in sleep; for they are the tools in our hands, the bread in our basket, the transactions of the street, the farm, and the dwelling-house, greetings, relations, debts and credits, the influence of character, the nature and endowment of all men. It seemed to me, also, that in it might be shown men a ray of divinity, the present action of the soul of this world, clean from all vestige12 of tradition, and so the heart of man might be bathed by an inundation13 of eternal love, conversing14 with that which he knows was always and always must be, because it really is now. It appeared, moreover, that if this doctrine could be stated in terms with any resemblance to those bright intuitions in which this truth is sometimes revealed to us, it would be a star in many dark hours and crooked15 passages in our journey that would not suffer us to lose our way.
I was lately confirmed in these desires by hearing a sermon at church. The preacher, a man esteemed17 for his orthodoxy, unfolded in the ordinary manner the doctrine of the Last Judgment18. He assumed, that judgment is not executed in this world; that the wicked are successful; that the good are miserable19; and then urged from reason and from Scripture20 a compensation to be made to both parties in the next life. No offence appeared to be taken by the congregation at this doctrine. As far as I could observe, when the meeting broke up, they separated without remark on the sermon.
Yet what was the import of this teaching? What did the preacher mean by saying that the good are miserable in the present life? Was it that houses and lands, offices, wine, horses, dress, luxury, are had by unprincipled men, whilst the saints are poor and despised; and that a compensation is to be made to these last hereafter, by giving them the like gratifications another day, — bank-stock and doubloons, venison and champagne21? This must be the compensation intended; for what else? Is it that they are to have leave to pray and praise? to love and serve men? Why, that they can do now. The legitimate22 inference the disciple23 would draw was, — ‘We are to have such a good time as the sinners have now’; — or, to push it to its extreme import, — ‘You sin now; we shall sin by and by; we would sin now, if we could; not being successful, we expect our revenge to-morrow.’
The fallacy lay in the immense concession24, that the bad are successful; that justice is not done now. The blindness of the preacher consisted in deferring25 to the base estimate of the market of what constitutes a manly26 success, instead of confronting and convicting the world from the truth; announcing the presence of the soul; the omnipotence27 of the will: and so establishing the standard of good and ill, of success and falsehood.
I find a similar base tone in the popular religious works of the day, and the same doctrines28 assumed by the literary men when occasionally they treat the related topics. I think that our popular theology has gained in decorum, and not in principle, over the superstitions30 it has displaced. But men are better than this theology. Their daily life gives it the lie. Every ingenuous31 and aspiring32 soul leaves the doctrine behind him in his own experience; and all men feel sometimes the falsehood which they cannot demonstrate. For men are wiser than they know. That which they hear in schools and pulpits without after-thought, if said in conversation, would probably be questioned in silence. If a man dogmatize in a mixed company on Providence33 and the divine laws, he is answered by a silence which conveys well enough to an observer the dissatisfaction of the hearer, but his incapacity to make his own statement.
I shall attempt in this and the following chapter to record some facts that indicate the path of the law of Compensation; happy beyond my expectation, if I shall truly draw the smallest arc of this circle.
POLARITY, or action and reaction, we meet in every part of nature; in darkness and light; in heat and cold; in the ebb35 and flow of waters; in male and female; in the inspiration and expiration36 of plants and animals; in the equation of quantity and quality in the fluids of the animal body; in the systole and diastole of the heart; in the undulations of fluids, and of sound; in the centrifugal and centripetal37 gravity; in electricity, galvanism, and chemical affinity38. Superinduce magnetism39 at one end of a needle; the opposite magnetism takes place at the other end. If the south attracts, the north repels40. To empty here, you must condense there. An inevitable41 dualism bisects nature, so that each thing is a half, and suggests another thing to make it whole; as, spirit, matter; man, woman; odd, even; subjective43, objective; in, out; upper, under; motion, rest; yea, nay44.
Whilst the world is thus dual42, so is every one of its parts. The entire system of things gets represented in every particle. There is somewhat that resembles the ebb and flow of the sea, day and night, man and woman, in a single needle of the pine, in a kernel45 of corn, in each individual of every animal tribe. The reaction, so grand in the elements, is repeated within these small boundaries. For example, in the animal kingdom the physiologist46 has observed that no creatures are favorites, but a certain compensation balances every gift and every defect. A surplusage given to one part is paid out of a reduction from another part of the same creature. If the head and neck are enlarged, the trunk and extremities47 are cut short.
The theory of the mechanic forces is another example. What we gain in power is lost in time; and the converse48. The periodic or compensating49 errors of the planets is another instance. The influences of climate and soil in political history are another. The cold climate invigorates. The barren soil does not breed fevers, crocodiles, tigers, or scorpions51.
The same dualism underlies52 the nature and condition of man. Every excess causes a defect; every defect an excess. Every sweet hath its sour; every evil its good. Every faculty53 which is a receiver of pleasure has an equal penalty put on its abuse. It is to answer for its moderation with its life. For every grain of wit there is a grain of folly55. For every thing you have missed, you have gained something else; and for every thing you gain, you lose something. If riches increase, they are increased that use them. If the gatherer gathers too much, nature takes out of the man what she puts into his chest; swells56 the estate, but kills the owner. Nature hates monopolies and exceptions. The waves of the sea do not more speedily seek a level from their loftiest tossing, than the varieties of condition tend to equalize themselves. There is always some levelling circumstance that puts down the overbearing, the strong, the rich, the fortunate, substantially on the same ground with all others. Is a man too strong and fierce for society, and by temper and position a bad citizen, — a morose57 ruffian, with a dash of the pirate in him;—— nature sends him a troop of pretty sons and daughters, who are getting along in the dame’s classes at the village school, and love and fear for them smooths his grim scowl58 to courtesy. Thus she contrives59 to intenerate the granite61 and felspar, takes the boar out and puts the lamb in, and keeps her balance true.
The farmer imagines power and place are fine things. But the President has paid dear for his White House. It has commonly cost him all his peace, and the best of his manly attributes. To preserve for a short time so conspicuous62 an appearance before the world, he is content to eat dust before the real masters who stand erect63 behind the throne. Or, do men desire the more substantial and permanent grandeur64 of genius? Neither has this an immunity65. He who by force of will or of thought is great, and overlooks thousands, has the charges of that eminence66. With every influx67 of light comes new danger. Has he light? he must bear witness to the light, and always outrun that sympathy which gives him such keen satisfaction, by his fidelity68 to new revelations of the incessant69 soul. He must hate father and mother, wife and child. Has he all that the world loves and admires and covets70? — he must cast behind him their admiration71, and afflict72 them by faithfulness to his truth, and become a byword and a hissing73.
This law writes the laws of cities and nations. It is in vain to build or plot or combine against it. Things refuse to be mismanaged long. Res nolunt diu male administrari. Though no checks to a new evil appear, the checks exist, and will appear. If the government is cruel, the governor’s life is not safe. If you tax too high, the revenue will yield nothing. If you make the criminal code sanguinary, juries will not convict. If the law is too mild, private vengeance74 comes in. If the government is a terrific democracy, the pressure is resisted by an overcharge of energy in the citizen, and life glows with a fiercer flame. The true life and satisfactions of man seem to elude75 the utmost rigors76 or felicities of condition, and to establish themselves with great indifferency under all varieties of circumstances. Under all governments the influence of character remains77 the same, — in Turkey and in New England about alike. Under the primeval despots of Egypt, history honestly confesses that man must have been as free as culture could make him.
These appearances indicate the fact that the universe is represented in every one of its particles. Every thing in nature contains all the powers of nature. Every thing is made of one hidden stuff; as the naturalist78 sees one type under every metamorphosis, and regards a horse as a running man, a fish as a swimming man, a bird as a flying man, a tree as a rooted man. Each new form repeats not only the main character of the type, but part for part all the details, all the aims, furtherances, hindrances79, energies, and whole system of every other. Every occupation, trade, art, transaction, is a compend of the world, and a correlative of every other. Each one is an entire emblem80 of human life; of its good and ill, its trials, its enemies, its course and its end. And each one must somehow accommodate the whole man, and recite all his destiny.
The world globes itself in a drop of dew. The microscope cannot find the animalcule which is less perfect for being little. Eyes, ears, taste, smell, motion, resistance, appetite, and organs of reproduction that take hold on eternity81, — all find room to consist in the small creature. So do we put our life into every act. The true doctrine of omnipresence is, that God reappears with all his parts in every moss82 and cobweb. The value of the universe contrives to throw itself into every point. If the good is there, so is the evil; if the affinity, so the repulsion; if the force, so the limitation.
Thus is the universe alive. All things are moral. That soul, which within us is a sentiment, outside of us is a law. We feel its inspiration; out there in history we can see its fatal strength. “It is in the world, and the world was made by it.” Justice is not postponed83. A perfect equity84 adjusts its balance in all parts of life. {Oi chusoi Dios aei enpiptousi}, — The dice85 of God are always loaded. The world looks like a multiplication-table, or a mathematical equation, which, turn it how you will, balances itself. Take what figure you will, its exact value, nor more nor less, still returns to you. Every secret is told, every crime is punished, every virtue86 rewarded, every wrong redressed87, in silence and certainty. What we call retribution is the universal necessity by which the whole appears wherever a part appears. If you see smoke, there must be fire. If you see a hand or a limb, you know that the trunk to which it belongs is there behind.
Every act rewards itself, or, in other words, integrates itself, in a twofold manner; first, in the thing, or in real nature; and secondly88, in the circumstance, or in apparent nature. Men call the circumstance the retribution. The causal retribution is in the thing, and is seen by the soul. The retribution in the circumstance is seen by the understanding; it is inseparable from the thing, but is often spread over a long time, and so does not become distinct until after many years. The specific stripes may follow late after the offence, but they follow because they accompany it. Crime and punishment grow out of one stem. Punishment is a fruit that unsuspected ripens89 within the flower of the pleasure which concealed90 it. Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed91; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed.
Whilst thus the world will be whole, and refuses to be disparted, we seek to act partially93, to sunder94, to appropriate; for example, — to gratify the senses, we sever92 the pleasure of the senses from the needs of the character. The ingenuity95 of man has always been dedicated96 to the solution of one problem, — how to detach the sensual sweet, the sensual strong, the sensual bright, &c., from the moral sweet, the moral deep, the moral fair; that is, again, to contrive60 to cut clean off this upper surface so thin as to leave it bottomless; to get a one end, without an other end. The soul says, Eat; the body would feast. The soul says, The man and woman shall be one flesh and one soul; the body would join the flesh only. The soul says, Have dominion97 over all things to the ends of virtue; the body would have the power over things to its own ends.
The soul strives amain to live and work through all things. It would be the only fact. All things shall be added unto it power, pleasure, knowledge, beauty. The particular man aims to be somebody; to set up for himself; to truck and higgle for a private good; and, in particulars, to ride, that he may ride; to dress, that he may be dressed; to eat, that he may eat; and to govern, that he may be seen. Men seek to be great; they would have offices, wealth, power, and fame. They think that to be great is to possess one side of nature, — the sweet, without the other side, — the bitter.
This dividing and detaching is steadily98 counteracted99. Up to this day, it must be owned, no projector100 has had the smallest success. The parted water reunites behind our hand. Pleasure is taken out of pleasant things, profit out of profitable things, power out of strong things, as soon as we seek to separate them from the whole. We can no more halve101 things and get the sensual good, by itself, than we can get an inside that shall have no outside, or a light without a shadow. “Drive out nature with a fork, she comes running back.”
Life invests itself with inevitable conditions, which the unwise seek to dodge102, which one and another brags103 that he does not know; that they do not touch him; — but the brag104 is on his lips, the conditions are in his soul. If he escapes them in one part, they attack him in another more vital part. If he has escaped them in form, and in the appearance, it is because he has resisted his life, and fled from himself, and the retribution is so much death. So signal is the failure of all attempts to make this separation of the good from the tax, that the experiment would not be tried, — since to try it is to be mad, — but for the circumstance, that when the disease began in the will, of rebellion and separation, the intellect is at once infected, so that the man ceases to see God whole in each object, but is able to see the sensual allurement105 of an object, and not see the sensual hurt; he sees the mermaid’s head, but not the dragon’s tail; and thinks he can cut off that which he would have, from that which he would not have. “How secret art thou who dwellest in the highest heavens in silence, O thou only great God, sprinkling with an unwearied Providence certain penal54 blindnesses upon such as have unbridled desires!”
The human soul is true to these facts in the painting of fable106, of history, of law, of proverbs, of conversation. It finds a tongue in literature unawares. Thus the Greeks called Jupiter, Supreme108 Mind; but having traditionally ascribed to him many base actions, they involuntarily made amends109 to reason, by tying up the hands of so bad a god. He is made as helpless as a king of England. Prometheus knows one secret which Jove must bargain for; Minerva, another. He cannot get his own thunders; Minerva keeps the key of them.
“Of all the gods, I only know the keys
That ope the solid doors within whose vaults110
His thunders sleep.”
A plain confession111 of the in-working of the All, and of its moral aim. The Indian mythology112 ends in the same ethics113; and it would seem impossible for any fable to be invented and get any currency which was not moral. Aurora114 forgot to ask youth for her lover, and though Tithonus is immortal115, he is old. Achilles is not quite invulnerable; the sacred waters did not wash the heel by which Thetis held him. Siegfried, in the Nibelungen, is not quite immortal, for a leaf fell on his back whilst he was bathing in the dragon’s blood, and that spot which it covered is mortal. And so it must be. There is a crack in every thing God has made. It would seem, there is always this vindictive116 circumstance stealing in at unawares, even into the wild poesy in which the human fancy attempted to make bold holiday, and to shake itself free of the old laws, — this back-stroke, this kick of the gun, certifying117 that the law is fatal; that in nature nothing can be given, all things are sold.
This is that ancient doctrine of Nemesis118, who keeps watch in the universe, and lets no offence go unchastised. The Furies, they said, are attendants on justice, and if the sun in heaven should transgress119 his path, they would punish him. The poets related that stone walls, and iron swords, and leathern thongs120 had an occult sympathy with the wrongs of their owners; that the belt which Ajax gave Hector dragged the Trojan hero over the field at the wheels of the car of Achilles, and the sword which Hector gave Ajax was that on whose point Ajax fell. They recorded, that when the Thasians erected121 a statue to Theagenes, a victor in the games, one of his rivals went to it by night, and endeavoured to throw it down by repeated blows, until at last he moved it from its pedestal, and was crushed to death beneath its fall.
This voice of fable has in it somewhat divine. It came from thought above the will of the writer. That is the best part of each writer, which has nothing private in it; that which he does not know; that which flowed out of his constitution, and not from his too active invention; that which in the study of a single artist you might not easily find, but in the study of many, you would abstract as the spirit of them all. Phidias it is not, but the work of man in that early Hellenic world, that I would know. The name and circumstance of Phidias, however convenient for history, embarrass when we come to the highest criticism. We are to see that which man was tending to do in a given period, and was hindered, or, if you will, modified in doing, by the interfering122 volitions of Phidias, of Dante, of Shakspeare, the organ whereby man at the moment wrought123.
Still more striking is the expression of this fact in the proverbs of all nations, which are always the literature of reason, or the statements of an absolute truth, without qualification. Proverbs, like the sacred books of each nation, are the sanctuary124 of the intuitions. That which the droning world, chained to appearances, will not allow the realist to say in his own words, it will suffer him to say in proverbs without contradiction. And this law of laws which the pulpit, the senate, and the college deny, is hourly preached in all markets and workshops by flights of proverbs, whose teaching is as true and as omnipresent as that of birds and flies.
All things are double, one against another. — Tit for tat; an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth; blood for blood; measure for measure; love for love. — Give and it shall be given you. — He that watereth shall be watered himself. — What will you have? quoth God; pay for it and take it. — Nothing venture, nothing have. — Thou shalt be paid exactly for what thou hast done, no more, no less. — Who doth not work shall not eat. — Harm watch, harm catch. — Curses always recoil125 on the head of him who imprecates them. — If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own. — Bad counsel confounds the adviser126. — The Devil is an ass16.
It is thus written, because it is thus in life. Our action is overmastered and characterized above our will by the law of nature. We aim at a petty end quite aside from the public good, but our act arranges itself by irresistible127 magnetism in a line with the poles of the world.
A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will, or against his will, he draws his portrait to the eye of his companions by every word. Every opinion reacts on him who utters it. It is a thread-ball thrown at a mark, but the other end remains in the thrower’s bag. Or, rather, it is a harpoon128 hurled129 at the whale, unwinding, as it flies, a coil of cord in the boat, and if the harpoon is not good, or not well thrown, it will go nigh to cut the steersman in twain, or to sink the boat.
You cannot do wrong without suffering wrong. “No man had ever a point of pride that was not injurious to him,” said Burke. The exclusive in fashionable life does not see that he excludes himself from enjoyment130, in the attempt to appropriate it. The exclusionist in religion does not see that he shuts the door of heaven on himself, in striving to shut out others. Treat men as pawns131 and ninepins, and you shall suffer as well as they. If you leave out their heart, you shall lose your own. The senses would make things of all persons; of women, of children, of the poor. The vulgar proverb, “I will get it from his purse or get it from his skin,” is sound philosophy.
All infractions of love and equity in our social relations are speedily punished. They are punished by fear. Whilst I stand in simple relations to my fellow-man, I have no displeasure in meeting him. We meet as water meets water, or as two currents of air mix, with perfect diffusion132 and interpenetration of nature. But as soon as there is any departure from simplicity133, and attempt at halfness, or good for me that is not good for him, my neighbour feels the wrong; he shrinks from me as far as I have shrunk from him; his eyes no longer seek mine; there is war between us; there is hate in him and fear in me.
All the old abuses in society, universal and particular, all unjust accumulations of property and power, are avenged134 in the same manner. Fear is an instructer of great sagacity, and the herald135 of all revolutions. One thing he teaches, that there is rottenness where he appears. He is a carrion136 crow, and though you see not well what he hovers137 for, there is death somewhere. Our property is timid, our laws are timid, our cultivated classes are timid. Fear for ages has boded138 and mowed139 and gibbered over government and property. That obscene bird is not there for nothing. He indicates great wrongs which must be revised.
Of the like nature is that expectation of change which instantly follows the suspension of our voluntary activity. The terror of cloudless noon, the emerald of Polycrates, the awe140 of prosperity, the instinct which leads every generous soul to impose on itself tasks of a noble asceticism141 and vicarious virtue, are the tremblings of the balance of justice through the heart and mind of man.
Experienced men of the world know very well that it is best to pay scot and lot as they go along, and that a man often pays dear for a small frugality142. The borrower runs in his own debt. Has a man gained any thing who has received a hundred favors and rendered none? Has he gained by borrowing, through indolence or cunning, his neighbour’s wares107, or horses, or money? There arises on the deed the instant acknowledgment of benefit on the one part, and of debt on the other; that is, of superiority and inferiority. The transaction remains in the memory of himself and his neighbour; and every new transaction alters, according to its nature, their relation to each other. He may soon come to see that he had better have broken his own bones than to have ridden in his neighbour’s coach, and that “the highest price he can pay for a thing is to ask for it.”
A wise man will extend this lesson to all parts of life, and know that it is the part of prudence143 to face every claimant, and pay every just demand on your time, your talents, or your heart. Always pay; for, first or last, you must pay your entire debt. Persons and events may stand for a time between you and justice, but it is only a postponement144. You must pay at last your own debt. If you are wise, you will dread145 a prosperity which only loads you with more. Benefit is the end of nature. But for every benefit which you receive, a tax is levied146. He is great who confers the most benefits. He is base — and that is the one base thing in the universe — to receive favors and render none. In the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them, or only seldom. But the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent, to somebody. Beware of too much good staying in your hand. It will fast corrupt147 and worm worms. Pay it away quickly in some sort.
Labor148 is watched over by the same pitiless laws. Cheapest, say the prudent149, is the dearest labor. What we buy in a broom, a mat, a wagon150, a knife, is some application of good sense to a common want. It is best to pay in your land a skilful151 gardener, or to buy good sense applied152 to gardening; in your sailor, good sense applied to navigation; in the house, good sense applied to cooking, sewing, serving; in your agent, good sense applied to accounts and affairs. So do you multiply your presence, or spread yourself throughout your estate. But because of the dual constitution of things, in labor as in life there can be no cheating. The thief steals from himself. The swindler swindles himself. For the real price of labor is knowledge and virtue, whereof wealth and credit are signs. These signs, like paper money, may be counterfeited153 or stolen, but that which they represent, namely, knowledge and virtue, cannot be counterfeited or stolen. These ends of labor cannot be answered but by real exertions154 of the mind, and in obedience155 to pure motives156. The cheat, the defaulter, the gambler, cannot extort157 the knowledge of material and moral nature which his honest care and pains yield to the operative. The law of nature is, Do the thing, and you shall have the power: but they who do not the thing have not the power.
Human labor, through all its forms, from the sharpening of a stake to the construction of a city or an epic158, is one immense illustration of the perfect compensation of the universe. The absolute balance of Give and Take, the doctrine that every thing has its price, — and if that price is not paid, not that thing but something else is obtained, and that it is impossible to get any thing without its price, — is not less sublime159 in the columns of a leger than in the budgets of states, in the laws of light and darkness, in all the action and reaction of nature. I cannot doubt that the high laws which each man sees implicated160 in those processes with which he is conversant161, the stern ethics which sparkle on his chisel-edge, which are measured out by his plumb162 and foot-rule, which stand as manifest in the footing of the shop-bill as in the history of a state, — do recommend to him his trade, and though seldom named, exalt163 his business to his imagination.
The league between virtue and nature engages all things to assume a hostile front to vice164. The beautiful laws and substances of the world persecute165 and whip the traitor166. He finds that things are arranged for truth and benefit, but there is no den34 in the wide world to hide a rogue167. Commit a crime, and the earth is made of glass. Commit a crime, and it seems as if a coat of snow fell on the ground, such as reveals in the woods the track of every partridge and fox and squirrel and mole168. You cannot recall the spoken word, you cannot wipe out the foot-track, you cannot draw up the ladder, so as to leave no inlet or clew. Some damning circumstance always transpires169. The laws and substances of nature — water, snow, wind, gravitation — become penalties to the thief.
On the other hand, the law holds with equal sureness for all right action. Love, and you shall be loved. All love is mathematically just, as much as the two sides of an algebraic equation. The good man has absolute good, which like fire turns every thing to its own nature, so that you cannot do him any harm; but as the royal armies sent against Napoleon, when he approached, cast down their colors and from enemies became friends, so disasters of all kinds, as sickness, offence, poverty, prove benefactors171: —
“Winds blow and waters roll
Strength to the brave, and power and deity172,
Yet in themselves are nothing.”
The good are befriended even by weakness and defect. As no man had ever a point of pride that was not injurious to him, so no man had ever a defect that was not somewhere made useful to him. The stag in the fable admired his horns and blamed his feet, but when the hunter came, his feet saved him, and afterwards, caught in the thicket173, his horns destroyed him. Every man in his lifetime needs to thank his faults. As no man thoroughly174 understands a truth until he has contended against it, so no man has a thorough acquaintance with the hindrances or talents of men, until he has suffered from the one, and seen the triumph of the other over his own want of the same. Has he a defect of temper that unfits him to live in society? Thereby175 he is driven to entertain himself alone, and acquire habits of self-help; and thus, like the wounded oyster176, he mends his shell with pearl.
Our strength grows out of our weakness. The indignation which arms itself with secret forces does not awaken177 until we are pricked178 and stung and sorely assailed179. A great man is always willing to be little. Whilst he sits on the cushion of advantages, he goes to sleep. When he is pushed, tormented180, defeated, he has a chance to learn something; he has been put on his wits, on his manhood; he has gained facts; learns his ignorance; is cured of the insanity181 of conceit183; has got moderation and real skill. The wise man throws himself on the side of his assailants. It is more his interest than it is theirs to find his weak point. The wound cicatrizes and falls off from him like a dead skin, and when they would triumph, lo! he has passed on invulnerable. Blame is safer than praise. I hate to be defended in a newspaper. As long as all that is said is said against me, I feel a certain assurance of success. But as soon as honeyed words of praise are spoken for me, I feel as one that lies unprotected before his enemies. In general, every evil to which we do not succumb184 is a benefactor170. As the Sandwich Islander believes that the strength and valor185 of the enemy he kills passes into himself, so we gain the strength of the temptation we resist.
The same guards which protect us from disaster, defect, and enmity, defend us, if we will, from selfishness and fraud. Bolts and bars are not the best of our institutions, nor is shrewdness in trade a mark of wisdom. Men suffer all their life long, under the foolish superstition29 that they can be cheated. But it is as impossible for a man to be cheated by any one but himself, as for a thing to be and not to be at the same time. There is a third silent party to all our bargains. The nature and soul of things takes on itself the guaranty of the fulfilment of every contract, so that honest service cannot come to loss. If you serve an ungrateful master, serve him the more. Put God in your debt. Every stroke shall be repaid. The longer the payment is withholden, the better for you; for compound interest on compound interest is the rate and usage of this exchequer186.
The history of persecution187 is a history of endeavours to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand. It makes no difference whether the actors be many or one, a tyrant188 or a mob. A mob is a society of bodies voluntarily bereaving189 themselves of reason, and traversing its work. The mob is man voluntarily descending190 to the nature of the beast. Its fit hour of activity is night. Its actions are insane like its whole constitution. It persecutes191 a principle; it would whip a right; it would tar3 and feather justice, by inflicting192 fire and outrage193 upon the houses and persons of those who have these. It resembles the prank194 of boys, who run with fire-engines to put out the ruddy aurora streaming to the stars. The inviolate195 spirit turns their spite against the wrongdoers. The martyr196 cannot be dishonored. Every lash197 inflicted198 is a tongue of fame; every prison, a more illustrious abode199; every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged200 word reverberates201 through the earth from side to side. Hours of sanity182 and consideration are always arriving to communities, as to individuals, when the truth is seen, and the martyrs202 are justified203.
Thus do all things preach the indifferency of circumstances. The man is all. Every thing has two sides, a good and an evil. Every advantage has its tax. I learn to be content. But the doctrine of compensation is not the doctrine of indifferency. The thoughtless say, on hearing these representations, — What boots it to do well? there is one event to good and evil; if I gain any good, I must pay for it; if I lose any good, I gain some other; all actions are indifferent.
There is a deeper fact in the soul than compensation, to wit, its own nature. The soul is not a compensation, but a life. The soul is. Under all this running sea of circumstance, whose waters ebb and flow with perfect balance, lies the aboriginal204 abyss of real Being. Essence, or God, is not a relation, or a part, but the whole. Being is the vast affirmative, excluding negation205, self-balanced, and swallowing up all relations, parts, and times within itself. Nature, truth, virtue, are the influx from thence. Vice is the absence or departure of the same. Nothing, Falsehood, may indeed stand as the great Night or shade, on which, as a background, the living universe paints itself forth206; but no fact is begotten207 by it; it cannot work; for it is not. It cannot work any good; it cannot work any harm. It is harm inasmuch as it is worse not to be than to be.
We feel defrauded208 of the retribution due to evil acts, because the criminal adheres to his vice and contumacy, and does not come to a crisis or judgment anywhere in visible nature. There is no stunning209 confutation of his nonsense before men and angels. Has he therefore outwitted the law? Inasmuch as he carries the malignity210 and the lie with him, he so far deceases from nature. In some manner there will be a demonstration211 of the wrong to the understanding also; but should we not see it, this deadly deduction212 makes square the eternal account.
Neither can it be said, on the other hand, that the gain of rectitude must be bought by any loss. There is no penalty to virtue; no penalty to wisdom; they are proper additions of being. In a virtuous213 action, I properly am; in a virtuous act, I add to the world; I plant into deserts conquered from Chaos214 and Nothing, and see the darkness receding215 on the limits of the horizon. There can be no excess to love; none to knowledge; none to beauty, when these attributes are considered in the purest sense. The soul refuses limits, and always affirms an Optimism, never a Pessimism216.
His life is a progress, and not a station. His instinct is trust. Our instinct uses “more” and “less” in application to man, of the presence of the soul, and not of its absence; the brave man is greater than the coward; the true, the benevolent217, the wise, is more a man, and not less, than the fool and knave218. There is no tax on the good of virtue; for that is the incoming of God himself, or absolute existence, without any comparative. Material good has its tax, and if it came without desert or sweat, has no root in me, and the next wind will blow it away. But all the good of nature is the soul’s, and may be had, if paid for in nature’s lawful219 coin, that is, by labor which the heart and the head allow. I no longer wish to meet a good I do not earn, for example, to find a pot of buried gold, knowing that it brings with it new burdens. I do not wish more external goods, — neither possessions, nor honors, nor powers, nor persons. The gain is apparent; the tax is certain. But there is no tax on the knowledge that the compensation exists, and that it is not desirable to dig up treasure. Herein I rejoice with a serene220 eternal peace. I contract the boundaries of possible mischief221. I learn the wisdom of St. Bernard, — “Nothing can work me damage except myself; the harm that I sustain I carry about with me, and never am a real sufferer but by my own fault.”
In the nature of the soul is the compensation for the inequalities of condition. The radical222 tragedy of nature seems to be the distinction of More and Less. How can Less not feel the pain; how not feel indignation or malevolence223 towards More? Look at those who have less faculty, and one feels sad, and knows not well what to make of it. He almost shuns224 their eye; he fears they will upbraid225 God. What should they do? It seems a great injustice226. But see the facts nearly, and these mountainous inequalities vanish. Love reduces them, as the sun melts the iceberg227 in the sea. The heart and soul of all men being one, this bitterness of His and Mine ceases. His is mine. I am my brother, and my brother is me. If I feel overshadowed and outdone by great neighbours, I can yet love; I can still receive; and he that loveth maketh his own the grandeur he loves. Thereby I make the discovery that my brother is my guardian228, acting229 for me with the friendliest designs, and the estate I so admired and envied is my own. It is the nature of the soul to appropriate all things. Jesus and Shakspeare are fragments of the soul, and by love I conquer and incorporate them in my own conscious domain230. His virtue, — is not that mine? His wit, — if it cannot be made mine, it is not wit.
Such, also, is the natural history of calamity231. The changes which break up at short intervals232 the prosperity of men are advertisements of a nature whose law is growth. Every soul is by this intrinsic necessity quitting its whole system of things, its friends, and home, and laws, and faith, as the shell-fish crawls out of its beautiful but stony233 case, because it no longer admits of its growth, and slowly forms a new house. In proportion to the vigor50 of the individual, these revolutions are frequent, until in some happier mind they are incessant, and all worldly relations hang very loosely about him, becoming, as it were, a transparent234 fluid membrane235 through which the living form is seen, and not, as in most men, an indurated heterogeneous236 fabric237 of many dates, and of no settled character in which the man is imprisoned238. Then there can be enlargement, and the man of to-day scarcely recognizes the man of yesterday. And such should be the outward biography of man in time, a putting off of dead circumstances day by day, as he renews his raiment day by day. But to us, in our lapsed239 estate, resting, not advancing, resisting, not cooperating with the divine expansion, this growth comes by shocks.
We cannot part with our friends. We cannot let our angels go. We do not see that they only go out, that archangels may come in. We are idolaters of the old. We do not believe in the riches of the soul, in its proper eternity and omnipresence. We do not believe there is any force in to-day to rival or recreate that beautiful yesterday. We linger in the ruins of the old tent, where once we had bread and shelter and organs, nor believe that the spirit can feed, cover, and nerve us again. We cannot again find aught so dear, so sweet, so graceful240. But we sit and weep in vain. The voice of the Almighty241 saith, ‘Up and onward242 for evermore!’ We cannot stay amid the ruins. Neither will we rely on the new; and so we walk ever with reverted243 eyes, like those monsters who look backwards244.
And yet the compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a loss of wealth, a loss of friends, seems at the moment unpaid245 loss, and unpayable. But the sure years reveal the deep remedial force that underlies all facts. The death of a dear friend, wife, brother, lover, which seemed nothing but privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius; for it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life, terminates an epoch246 of infancy247 or of youth which was waiting to be closed, breaks up a wonted occupation, or a household, or style of living, and allows the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character. It permits or constrains248 the formation of new acquaintances, and the reception of new influences that prove of the first importance to the next years; and the man or woman who would have remained a sunny garden-flower, with no room for its roots and too much sunshine for its head, by the falling of the walls and the neglect of the gardener, is made the banian of the forest, yielding shade and fruit to wide neighbourhoods of men.
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feud
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| n.长期不和；世仇；v.长期争斗；世代结仇 | |
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gauge
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| v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器 | |
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tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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asteroid
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| n.小行星；海盘车(动物) | |
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stanch
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| v.止住（血等）；adj.坚固的；坚定的 | |
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twine
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| v.搓，织，编饰；（使）缠绕 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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cleave
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| v．(clave；cleaved)粘着，粘住；坚持；依恋 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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inundation
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| n.the act or fact of overflowing | |
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conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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deferring
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| v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的现在分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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omnipotence
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| n.全能，万能，无限威力 | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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aspiring
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| adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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expiration
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| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
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centripetal
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| adj.向心的 | |
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affinity
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| n.亲和力，密切关系 | |
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magnetism
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| n.磁性，吸引力，磁学 | |
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repels
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| v.击退( repel的第三人称单数 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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dual
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| adj.双的；二重的，二元的 | |
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subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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kernel
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| n.(果实的)核，仁；(问题)的中心，核心 | |
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physiologist
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| n.生理学家 | |
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extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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compensating
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| 补偿，补助，修正 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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scorpions
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| n.蝎子( scorpion的名词复数 ) | |
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underlies
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| v.位于或存在于（某物）之下( underlie的第三人称单数 )；构成…的基础（或起因），引起 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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penal
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| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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morose
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| adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的 | |
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scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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contrives
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| （不顾困难地）促成某事( contrive的第三人称单数 )； 巧妙地策划，精巧地制造（如机器）； 设法做到 | |
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contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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influx
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| n.流入，注入 | |
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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covets
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| v.贪求，觊觎( covet的第三人称单数 ) | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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afflict
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| vt.使身体或精神受痛苦，折磨 | |
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hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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rigors
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| 严格( rigor的名词复数 )； 严酷； 严密； （由惊吓或中毒等导致的身体）僵直 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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naturalist
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| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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hindrances
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| 阻碍者( hindrance的名词复数 )； 障碍物； 受到妨碍的状态 | |
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emblem
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| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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equity
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| n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票 | |
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dice
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| n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险 | |
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86
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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87
redressed
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| v.改正( redress的过去式和过去分词 )；重加权衡；恢复平衡 | |
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88
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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89
ripens
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的第三人称单数 ) | |
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90
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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91
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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92
sever
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| v.切开，割开；断绝，中断 | |
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93
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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94
sunder
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| v.分开；隔离；n.分离，分开 | |
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95
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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96
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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97
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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98
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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99
counteracted
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| 对抗，抵消( counteract的过去式 ) | |
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100
projector
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| n.投影机，放映机，幻灯机 | |
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101
halve
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| vt.分成两半，平分；减少到一半 | |
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102
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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103
brags
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| v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的第三人称单数 ) | |
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104
brag
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| v./n.吹牛，自夸；adj.第一流的 | |
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105
allurement
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| n.诱惑物 | |
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106
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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107
wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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108
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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109
amends
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| n. 赔偿 | |
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110
vaults
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| n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴 | |
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111
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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112
mythology
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| n.神话，神话学，神话集 | |
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113
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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114
aurora
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| n.极光 | |
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115
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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116
vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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117
certifying
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| （尤指书面）证明( certify的现在分词 )； 发证书给…； 证明（某人）患有精神病； 颁发（或授予）专业合格证书 | |
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118
nemesis
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| n.给以报应者，复仇者，难以对付的敌手 | |
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119
transgress
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| vt.违反，逾越 | |
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120
thongs
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| 的东西 | |
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121
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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122
interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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123
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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124
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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125
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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126
adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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127
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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128
harpoon
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| n.鱼叉；vt.用鱼叉叉，用鱼叉捕获 | |
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129
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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130
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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131
pawns
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| n.（国际象棋中的）兵( pawn的名词复数 )；卒；被人利用的人；小卒v.典当，抵押( pawn的第三人称单数 )；以（某事物）担保 | |
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132
diffusion
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| n.流布；普及；散漫 | |
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133
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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134
avenged
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| v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复 | |
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135
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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136
carrion
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| n.腐肉 | |
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137
hovers
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| 鸟( hover的第三人称单数 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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138
boded
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| v.预示，预告，预言( bode的过去式和过去分词 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待 | |
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139
mowed
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| v.刈，割( mow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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140
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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141
asceticism
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| n.禁欲主义 | |
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142
frugality
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| n.节约，节俭 | |
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143
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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144
postponement
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| n.推迟 | |
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145
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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146
levied
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| 征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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147
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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148
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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149
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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150
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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151
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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152
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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153
counterfeited
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| v.仿制，造假( counterfeit的过去分词 ) | |
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154
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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155
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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156
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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157
extort
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| v.勒索，敲诈，强要 | |
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158
epic
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| n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的 | |
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159
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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160
implicated
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| adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的 | |
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161
conversant
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| adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的 | |
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162
plumb
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| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
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163
exalt
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| v.赞扬，歌颂，晋升，提升 | |
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164
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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165
persecute
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| vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰 | |
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166
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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167
rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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168
mole
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| n.胎块；痣；克分子 | |
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169
transpires
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| （事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的第三人称单数 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生 | |
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170
benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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171
benefactors
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| n.捐助者，施主( benefactor的名词复数 )；恩人 | |
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172
deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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173
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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174
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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175
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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176
oyster
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| n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人 | |
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177
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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178
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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179
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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180
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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181
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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182
sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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183
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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184
succumb
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| v.屈服，屈从；死 | |
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185
valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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186
exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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187
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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188
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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189
bereaving
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| v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的现在分词 )；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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190
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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191
persecutes
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的第三人称单数 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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192
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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193
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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194
prank
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| n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己 | |
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195
inviolate
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| adj.未亵渎的，未受侵犯的 | |
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196
martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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197
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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198
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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199
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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200
expunged
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| v.擦掉( expunge的过去式和过去分词 )；除去；删去；消除 | |
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201
reverberates
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| 回响，回荡( reverberate的第三人称单数 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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202
martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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203
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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204
aboriginal
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| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
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205
negation
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| n.否定；否认 | |
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206
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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207
begotten
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 )；产生，引起 | |
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208
defrauded
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| v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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209
stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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210
malignity
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| n.极度的恶意，恶毒；（病的）恶性 | |
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211
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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212
deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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213
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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214
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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pessimism
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| n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者 | |
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benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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malevolence
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| n.恶意，狠毒 | |
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shuns
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的第三人称单数 ) | |
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upbraid
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| v.斥责，责骂，责备 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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iceberg
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| n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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membrane
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| n.薄膜，膜皮，羊皮纸 | |
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heterogeneous
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| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
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fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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reverted
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| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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unpaid
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| adj.未付款的，无报酬的 | |
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epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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constrains
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| 强迫( constrain的第三人称单数 )； 强使； 限制； 约束 | |
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