“Surely.”
“And these things the best you possess, or have you anything more precious?”
“What can you mean?”
“I mean that which employs these; which weights all things; which takes counsel and resolve.”
“Oh, you mean the soul.”
“You take me rightly; I do mean the soul. By Heaven, I hold that far more precious than all else I possess. Can you show me then what care you bestow on a soul? For it can scarcely be thought that a man of your wisdom and consideration in the city would suffer your most precious possession to go to ruin through carelessness and neglect.”
“Certainly not.”
“Well, do you take care of it yourself? Did any one teach you the right method, or did you discover it yourself?”
Now here comes in the danger: first, that the great man may answer, “Why, what is that to you, my good fellow? are you my master?” And then, if you persist in troubling him, may raise his hand to strike you. It is a practice of which I was myself a warm admirer until such experiences as these befell me.