And this will be fairly easy; for no matter how excellently a man's soul may be inclined to the performance of a good action, in ninety cases out of a hundred he is driven away from it by dread of the consequences.

Your moral teachers seldom think of this--that the consequences of a good action are often more disastrous than those of an evil one.

But if a man is going to die, he can do good with impunity.

He can simply wallow in practical virtue.
When the boomerang of his beneficence comes back to hit him on the head--_he won't be there to feel it_.

He can thus hoist Destiny with its own petard, and, besides, being eumoirous, can spend a month or two in a peculiarly diverting manner.