Sanctuary Read Online Free PDF

Cole’s for emphasis. “We’re close, man. Just give me another year.”
    Cole said nothing, and crossed his arms.
    “You and me, buddy. Living the dream, just like old times in Vegas, huh?” Cole wasn’t budging, so Brandon let a pointed edge creep back into his voice. “Or are you gonna pussy out?”
    Cole swiftly raised a hand as if to strike the wall, but restrained himself, grunted, then swung at the air and yelled in frustration.
    Brandon backed away from him, grabbed his putter, and waited until Cole cooled off. Cole didn’t often get so upset. He rested his head against a wall and gave a tired sigh that worried Brandon much more than his fit of yelling had.
    “You ever heard of master-slave morality, Cole?” Brandon had recently seen a gangster film featuring a discussion of master-slave morality, and he’d been looking forward to discussing its brilliant implications with Cole.
    “No,” said Cole.
    Brandon set a ball down on the green and positioned himself for a swing. “Philosophy, buddy. You should read some. You see, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome used what’s called ‘master morality.’ They believed that a man’s virtue was determined by his strength, his will. Right and wrong didn’t exist. The only truth was power, and the only rules were those you made for yourself.” He paused to make sure Cole was listening. When he saw he did indeed have his friend’s attention, he smiled and lined up his shot. “The Greeks were keenly aware that life is finite. Death is inevitable. And the best we can do during life is distract ourselves from the inevitability of death. Unfortunately not everyone can have everything they want, but a few of us can. Do you know who those few are, Cole? The Romans did.”
    Cole remained silent on the matter. Brandon putted his ball, but yet again it zipped over the hole.
    “The people who take what they want are the ones who get what they want. Rome’s elite class conquered the known world with this simple idea. Their pleasure depended on their willingness to seize their happiness from the weak and cowardly. You see, Cole, the only choice that a man ever needs to make is which to be: the master or the slave. I like that idea, I sure do. And let me tell you why I like it. You’re into painting, so let’s say I stole a valuable painting from that old lady next door. Is that a bad thing to do?”
    “Obviously.”
    Brandon putted again, curving the ball too far left this time. “Well, the painting would make me happy. I don’t know or care about that lady. My life is better for having taken the painting, and because I didn’t get caught, there are no negative consequences. So why not take it?”
    Brandon putted a third time… too far left again. He dropped the club, and Cole jumped a bit when it clanked against the wooden floor.
    “The only reason not to take it is slave morality. The foreigners, Christians, and slaves in Rome saw that they were doomed to lives of servitude, and in their petty jealousy, they invented right and wrong. Through clever subversion, they spread the lie that powerful was synonymous with evil . Their Roman masters, simply following their own bliss by exerting their will, were made to seem villainous.”
    Brandon took a few steps toward Cole as he neared the end of the speech he’d prepared. This was the good part.
    “And then something strange happened. Something unthinkable . The masters started believing the slaves. They started believing that kindness and humility were virtues, and thus the masters became slaves themselves. The emperor Constantine was the first of them. He made Christianity the empire’s official religion. The idiot masses had corrupted the elite.”
    Cole whacked Brandon’s shins lightly with his cane, stopping his approach. “So you and me are the elite and Crystal is the masses in this scenario?” Cole said. “That’s charming. I hope you realize that if everyone followed master morality, the world would