{"id":"01KG8AKFC1CDSD71WZQ17FBW9V","cid":"bafkreibedim2xo2gv7dilwcwz6h3nnij6gv6bbjws342xpbblhgs52iq3a","type":"section","properties":{"description":"# Section in Billy Budd\n## Overview\nThis is a section of text extracted from the file [billy_budd.txt](arke:01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY), specifically lines 1417-1452. It is part of section \"V\" [V](arke:01KG8AJTEX0PCWZNN5BNG3WKQM) of the novel. The previous section is labeled \"X\" [X](arke:01KG8AKFBZ25VFD37G7SXH5G3F).\n\n## Context\nThe text is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The source file, [billy_budd.txt](arke:01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY), contains the full text of the novel *Billy Budd*.\n\n## Contents\nThis section discusses the character Claggart and his \"mania of an evil nature,\" which the narrator describes as innate and \"a depravity according to nature.\" It also questions whether this phenomenon might explain some criminal cases that puzzle the courts, and suggests including \"clerical proficients\" in legal proceedings to assess moral responsibility. The section concludes by stating that the chapter is necessary to explain the hidden nature of the master-at-arms, and that the narrative will continue with \"an added hint or two in connection with the accident of the mess.\"\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:36.085Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"Section in Billy Budd","end_line":1452,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:05.323Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":1417,"text":"the 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"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTEX0PCWZNN5BNG3WKQM","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKFBZ25VFD37G7SXH5G3F","peer_type":"section","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:05.505Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:36.365Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}