To put the question yet again, why can suffering be a compensation for “owing”? — Because the infliction of suffering produces the highest degree of happiness, because the injured party will get in exchange for his loss (including his vexation at his loss) an extraordinary counter-pleasure: the infliction of suffering — a real feast, something that, as I have said, was all the more appreciated the greater the paradox created by the rank and social status of the creditor.
