"He is taller and better-looking than I, as good a speaker, with as keen an eye for country. Only one thing keeps him from being my equal. He lacks the element of the monstrous.
For this I love him.
I contain the monstrous. All my field commanders do. Hephaestion is a philosopher; they are warriors. He is a knight and a gentleman; they are murderers. Don't mistake me; Hephaestion has depopulated districts. He has presided over massacres. Yet these do not touch him. He remains a good man. He suffers as I do not. He will not give voice to it, but the executions today appalled him. They appalled me, too, but for different reasons. I despise the inutility of such measures; he hates their cruelty. I scourge myself for failure of attention and imaginations. He looks into the eyes of the condemned and dies with them."
"The Virtues of War"
Steven Pressfield
Out of all the books I have read, I think my favorite paragraph out of all of them is the one I just quoted above. I realized that is a weighty statement. I have read a lot of good books. There have been quotes and sentences that I have loved better, there have been books that I love more, but in the paragraph department, that one wins the prize.
Why?
I don't know for sure.
Maybe because in a few short sentences you know Hephaestion. You don't know his favorite color or if he is married or has kids, but you know him as a person; you know his character.
Maybe I love it because it is written by his friend, and that friend is able to point out his good points, his weak points, and the ways that they compliment each other. His friend was Alexander the Great. "The Virtues of War" is a first-hand account written from Alexander's perspective about all of his campaigns. Alexander the Great had to be monstrous. He couldn't have done all that he did if he had Hephaestion's disposition. Alexander knows this, but he also sees the benefit of his friend's goodness. "He remains a good man." Alexander loves his friend not because they are the same, but because they are different.
Maybe I love it because of the way the words flow. Maybe because I can relate to Hephaestion. Or to Alexander. Or both.
I know that this is a strange paragraph to love; it doesn't really make sense. But all I know is that I do love it. Just because I can't pinpoint exactly why doesn't change the fact. Sometimes I think we over-evaluate things too much. We enjoy something but can't say why exactly, so then we feel like we shouldn't enjoy it as much. I don't want to be that person.
May you find joy in the things that you love without a good reason.
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