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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: tenderness of affection. And in that bitter song of the Iliad, this
man, though aided continually by the wisest of the gods, and burning
with the desire of justice in his heart, becomes yet, through ill-
governed passion, the most unjust of men: and, full of the deepest
tenderness in his heart, becomes yet, through ill-governed passion,
the most cruel of men. Intense alike in love and in friendship, he
loses, first his mistress, and then his friend; for the sake of the
one, he surrenders to death the armies of his own land; for the sake
of the other, he surrenders all. Will a man lay down his life for
his friend? Yea--even for his DEAD friend, this Achilles, though
goddess-born, and goddess-taught, gives up his kingdom, his country,
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