|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: sorrowful consideration that my acquirements are now useless, and
that none of my pleasures can be again enjoyed. The rest, whose
minds have no impression but of the present moment, are either
corroded by malignant passions or sit stupid in the gloom of
perpetual vacancy."
"What passions can infest those," said the Prince, "who have no
rivals? We are in a place where impotence precludes malice, and
where all envy is repressed by community of enjoyments."
"There may be community," said Imlac, "of material possessions, but
there can never be community of love or of esteem. It must happen
that one will please more than another; he that knows himself
|
