"He does not think it worth his while under these circumstances, to 'gird up the loins of his mind.'"
— Godwin, William (1756-1836)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange; Printed by Richard Wilson
Date
1831
Metaphor
"He does not think it worth his while under these circumstances, to 'gird up the loins of his mind.'"
Metaphor in Context
One of the reasons of the latter phenomenon consists in the torpedo effect of what we may call, under the circumstances, the difference of ranks. The schoolmaster is a despot to his scholar; for every man is a despot, who delivers his judgment from the single impulse of his own will. The boy answers his questioner, as Dolon answers Ulysses in the Iliad, at the point of the sword. It is to a certain degree the same thing, when the boy is questioned merely by his senior. He fears he knows not what, -- a reprimand, a look of lofty contempt, a gesture of summary disdain. He does not think it worth his while under these circumstances, to "gird up the loins of his mind." He cannot return a free and intrepid answer but to the person whom he regards as his equal. There is nothing that has so disqualifying an effect upon him who is to answer, as the consideration that he who questions is universally acknowledged to be a being of a higher sphere, or, as between the boy and the man, that he is the superior in conventional and corporal strength.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" at Electronic Text Center at UVA Library
Citation
Godwin, William. Thoughts on Man. London: Richard Wilson, 1831. Online edition by Charles Keller and Christine Ruotolo, UVa Electronic Text Center, 1997. <Link to UVa's Electronic Text Center>
Date of Entry
08/11/2005
