Emerson had wanted since boyhood to write on compensation, the law by which nature balances every gain with a loss and every crime with its punishment. Drawing on farm, street and the Greek myths, he argues that justice is not postponed to another world but works here and now, and that the soul itself stands beyond all compensation.
One of the best-loved pieces from Emerson’s Essays: First Series, short enough for a single sitting. Download the free EPUB.