The immemorial Way, the nexus of practical reason that surrounds and supports all human beings and summons them to ethical maturity, teaches that defeat is no refutation. Might is not right. Early in youth, Lewis had learned that honour was due to wisdom, not to power. Many years later, however, he would learn the wisdom of Juvenal’s statement honouring one particular kind of power: “Nature confesses that she has given to the human race the tenderest hearts, by giving us the power to weep. This is the best part of us.”†††
