{"id":"01KG6G85H6EYQM8XGHSMKC0VYA","cid":"bafkreid4bkwvzvgebqjq7i4shk747wg4hgjppd7rtqum446c7orw4ta25i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1473,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:16.150Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":1412,"text":"These men are true madmen, and of the most dangerous sort, for their\r\nlunacy is not continuous, but occasional; evoked by some special object;\r\nit is secretive and self-contained, so that when most active it is to\r\nthe average mind not distinguished from sanity, and for the reason above\r\nsuggested that whatever its aim may be, and the aim is never disclosed,\r\nthe method and the outward proceeding is always perfectly rational.\r\n\r\nNow something such was Claggart, in whom was the mania of an evil\r\nnature, not engendered by vicious training or corrupting books or\r\nlicentious living, but born with him and innate, in short, ‘a depravity\r\naccording to nature.’\r\n\r\nCan it be this phenomenon, disowned or not acknowledged, that in some\r\ncriminal cases puzzles the courts? For this cause have our juries at\r\ntimes not only to endure the prolonged contentions of lawyers with their\r\nfees, but also the yet more perplexing strife of the medical experts\r\nwith theirs? But why leave it to them? Why not subpœna as well the\r\nclerical proficients? Their vocation bringing them into peculiar contact\r\nwith so many human beings, and sometimes in their least guarded hour, in\r\ninterviews very much more confidential than those of physician and\r\npatient; this would seem to qualify them to know something about those\r\nintricacies involved in the question of moral responsibility; whether in\r\na given case, say, the crime proceeded from mania in the brain or rabies\r\nof the heart. As to any differences among themselves these clerical\r\nproficients might develop on the stand, these could hardly be greater\r\nthan the direct contradictions exchanged between the remunerated medical\r\nexperts.\r\n\r\nDark sayings are these, some will say. But why? It is because they\r\nsomewhat savour of Holy Writ in its phrase ‘mysteries of iniquity.’\r\n\r\nThe point of the story turning on the hidden nature of the\r\nmaster-at-arms has necessitated this chapter. With an added hint or two\r\nin connection with the accident of the mess, the resumed narrative must\r\nbe left to vindicate as it may its own credibility.\r\n\r\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n                                   XI\r\n\r\n\r\n                      Pale ire, envy and despair.\r\n\r\n\r\nThat Claggart’s figure was not amiss, and his face, save the chin, well\r\nmoulded, has already been said. Of these favourable points he seemed not\r\ninsensible, for he was not only neat but careful in his dress. But the\r\nform of Billy Budd was heroic; and if his face was without the\r\nintellectual look of the pallid Claggart’s, not the less was it lit,\r\nlike his, from within, though from a different source. The bonfire in\r\nhis heart made luminous the rose-tan in his cheek.\r\n\r\nIn view of the marked contrast between the persons of the twain, it is\r\nmore than probable that when the master-at-arms in the scene last given\r\napplied to the sailor the proverb ‘_Handsome is as handsome does_,’ he\r\nthere let escape an ironic inkling, not caught by the young sailors who\r\nheard it, as to what it was that had first moved him against Billy,\r\nnamely, his significant personal beauty.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6G6NZQDT19J9MSHXZPHRXV","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6G85H6WQNCKA5S4H2NKA41","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6G85H63T3MNP0ZM4NGANMX","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:17.574Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:48:24.443Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}