priest gives
a still shrewder reason for the same policy. "Never contend," he says,
"with a man who has nothing to lose; for thereby you enter into an unequal
conflict. The other enters without anxiety; having lost everything,
including shame, he has no further loss to fear." I think that this is an
immoral teaching, though a very prudent one; but I need scarcely to tell
you that it is still a principle in modern society not to contend with a
man who has no reputation to lose. I think it is immoral, because it is
purely selfish, and because a good man ought not to be afraid to denounce
a wrong because of making enemies. Another point, however, on which the
"Havamal" and the priest agree, is more commendable and interesting. "We
do not think much of a man who never contradicts us; that is no sign he
loves us, but rather a sign that he loves himself. Original and
out-of-the-way views are signs of superior ability."

I should not like you to suppose, however, that the whole of the book from
which I have been quoting is of the same character as the quotations.
There is excellent advice in it; and much kindly teaching on the subject
of generous acts. It is a book both good and bad, and never stupid. The
same man who tells you that friendship is seldom unselfish, also declares
that life would be a desert without friends, and that there is no magic
like a good turn--that is, a kind act. He teaches the importance of
getting good will by honest means, although he advises us also to learn
how to injure. I am sure that nobody could read the book without benefit.
And I may close these quotations from it with the following paragraph,
which is the very best bit of counsel that could be given to a literary
student:

Be slow and sure. Quickly done can be quickly undone. To last an
eternity requires an eternity of preparation. Only excellence
counts. Profound intelligence is the only foundation for
immortality. Worth much costs much. The precious metals are the
heaviest.

But so far as the question of human conduct is concerned, the book of
Gracian is no more of a religious book than is the "Havamal" of the
heathen North. You would find, were such a book published to-day and
brought up to the present time by any shrewd writer, that Western morality
has not improved in the least since the time before Christianity was
established, so far as the rules of society go. Society is not, and can
not be, religious, because