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The last passage in the CLT Verbal Reasoning section is always a set of two shorter passages paired because of some similarity in their topic or focus. The first passage is typically from an ancient source; the second passage comes from either a document connected to a founding moment (such as the Magna Carta or the U.S. Constitution) or a historically significant writing (such as the passage seen below). Although the total number of words is about the same as in other passages, the pairing of two different passages together presents a different sort of challenge compared to the rest of the section.
The Journey Method and the Historical/Founding Documents Passage
The major difference in the use of the Journey Method with the paired passage is that, because each passage is shorter, there is less of an opportunity to move to the faster “gear” of the journey. There may be some opportunities to skim in the middle paragraph(s) of these passages, but the length of the passage (typically three paragraphs) means that, almost as soon as there is an opportunity to “zoom out” and read mostly for big ideas, the last paragraph arrives, calling on the reader to zoom back in and consider how the end of the passage bring its ideas into clearer focus.
The other difference is this: while reading the second passage, you should repeatedly be asking yourself, How does this passage relate to the first one I read? What similar themes do I notice? Do the different circumstances of the more modern passage lead to a difference in focus? There will always be some similarity between the two passages, but the careful reader will be rewarded by noticing differences as well.
Practice Passage
The first passage below is taken from the “The City of God” by Saint Augustine, translated by Marcus Dods (1871; reprinted by Hendrickson Publishers in 2013). Augustine wrote this book in part to defend Christianity from the charge that it had caused the fall of Rome to invading tribes. The second passage is taken from Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Resistance to Civil Government” (in Aesthetic Papers, Boston, 1849), later known as “Civil Disobedience”. In 1846, Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax, in protest against a government that supported slavery and was waging war on Mexico. These passages have been adapted and excerpted from the originals; these modifications have not substantially changed the content or intent.
PASSAGE 1
As we read the first paragraph slowly, following the Journey Method, we realize that this is a different sort of opening paragraph. Augustine’s commentary on this event, we can assume, will come in the following paragraphs; for now, we need to understand the account of the general Regulus in order to understand from subsequent paragraphs why Augustine is telling his story.
Note that Regulus shows loyalty to his Roman countrymen (by persuading the senate to do what was best for the republic), but also to his enemies who had taken him prisoner (by keeping his oath to them by returning to Carthage even though the Romans did not require him to do so). This choice ended sadly for him, but we can be sure Augustine will have more to say about his life than simply that he was betrayed at its end. For now, it will be enough to note his loyalty and honor and read on with an expectation of the lessons Augustine will draw from Regulus’ life in order to advance a broader argument.
Here Augustine’s argument truly begins, and because of that, we should modify the usual Journey Method practice and continue to read slowly at this juncture; we need to make sure we understand the argument well, and the first paragraph was a kind of prologue. Since the readings in the paired passage portion of the CLT are shorter, there is usually not much opportunity to shift one’s reading to a faster pace.
The author’s first sentence makes his argument clear: Regulus worshiped the (Roman) gods and look how he turned out! Obviously being religious does not protect a person from tragedy. As we continue reading, we learn that Augustine has brought up the story of this pagan worshiper to defend Christianity (as noted in the prefatory information introducing this passage, above). If the gods don’t protect their worshipers and ensure that their lives are peaceful and easy, why is Christianity asked to offer to Christians a life of ease and safety? Why would anyone say that failing to worship the gods is what has caused the fall of Rome? Augustine’s rhetorical questions have answers that the reader is meant to supply: it is not religion of any sort that is to blame for Rome’s tragedy.
Augustine builds his argument to the next step: the virtue of being faithfully religious is not to escape suffering in the earthly life. And if that’s true for an individual, it must also be true of a community of individuals. Knowing that Augustine is talking more broadly about the fall of Rome, we can infer two larger points: first, that religion is not to blame for the fall of Rome, and second, that there is a blessedness still awaiting a city like Rome if it will be true to its God (although that blessedness is more to come in the next life than in this one).
As we prepare to read the next passage, we should make sure we grasp the main idea of what we just read. Paired passages on the CLT are always related, so we can expect that the next passage also will somehow discuss a relationship between religion and the worldly affairs of the state.
PASSAGE 2
Passage 2 carries us forward more than fourteen centuries, to Massachusetts in the 1840s, where Thoreau has refused to pay a tax to his own government. Like Augustine in his second paragraph, Thoreau opens with rhetorical questions, and the answers he expects are plain: no, a citizen should never hand his conscience over to the legislator, since every man has a conscience precisely in order to use it. The rest of the paragraph states the principle outright: we should be “men first, and subjects afterward,” and our first respect is owed to what is right, not to the law. As always in the paired passage, the second thread in our thinking should be the question, How does this relate to Passage 1? Regulus, too, answered to an obligation that no law imposed on him; the Romans “did not compel him to return,” yet he went back to Carthage because he had sworn to. What Thoreau’s conscience will cost him is not yet clear, so we read on with that question in mind.
Here the comparison with Passage 1 comes into sharper focus. Regulus was free to stay in Rome, but he returned to captivity in Carthage because honor required it. Thoreau makes a similar claim about prison: when a government jails people unjustly, the just man belongs in jail beside them. He then answers an objection his readers are likely to raise, that a man behind bars has lost his influence. Not so, he says: truth is stronger than error, and a person who has suffered a little injustice himself can fight it “more eloquently and effectively” than one who has not.
Notice a difference as well. Regulus kept faith with his own city, by advising the senate well, and with his enemies, by keeping his oath to them. Thoreau’s prison is a protest against his own government, a way of refusing it his cooperation. Both men accept confinement for the sake of what is right, but Regulus’ honor kept him loyal to Rome even as it sent him back to his enemies, while Thoreau’s conscience sets him against the State he lives in.
The last paragraph turns from argument to experience. Thoreau has refused to pay his poll tax for six years, and he describes the one night he spent in jail for it. The thick stone walls and iron door strike him as foolish, because all they can hold is his body; his thoughts, the only part of him that was really “dangerous,” follow the jailers out the door. This is the closest link to Passage 1. Augustine allowed that Regulus, “even while a prisoner and enduring these bodily torments,” might still enjoy “the blessedness of a virtuous soul.” Both writers separate what can be done to a person’s body from what remains free in his soul or mind.
What differences do we see between the passages, with all their similarities? The first is the price. Regulus was tortured and put to death; Thoreau spent a single night in jail, and he can afford to smile at it. The second is the purpose. Augustine told Regulus’ story to defend Christianity from the charge that it had caused the fall of Rome, and his argument turns on the gods and the life to come. Thoreau’s aim is political: he wants his fellow citizens to stop lending their support to a government that does wrong. Passage 1 led us to expect a passage about religion and the affairs of the state, and Passage 2 does set a higher obligation against the demands of government. But in these paragraphs the place of the gods is taken by conscience: Thoreau appeals not to any religion but to the moral sense he believes every citizen already has.
Introduction
Last CLT Verbal Reasoning passage: two paired, shorter passages
First: ancient source; second: historical/founding document
Challenge: compare/contrast themes, focus, and context
The Journey Method and the Historical/Founding Documents Passage
Less opportunity to skim due to passage length (typically three paragraphs)
Must shift quickly between close reading and big-picture understanding
Key strategy: while reading Passage 2, constantly relate it to Passage 1 (themes, differences, context)
Passage 1: Augustine, “The City of God”
Story of Regulus: Roman general, honors oath to enemies, returns to Carthage, is killed
Loyalty and honor to both Rome and Carthaginians
Augustine’s argument:
Worship of gods does not guarantee happiness or protection in this life
Both pagan and Christian religions share belief in afterlife
Religion not to blame for Rome’s fall; virtue is its own reward, not material prosperity
Main idea: True virtue/blessedness is internal and spiritual, not dependent on worldly outcomes
Passage 2: Martin Luther King, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
Just laws can be applied unjustly (e.g., parade permit used to deny First Amendment rights)
Law becomes unjust when it deprives fundamental rights
Civil disobedience:
Break unjust laws openly, lovingly, and accept penalties to awaken community conscience
Highest respect for law shown by accepting punishment for principled disobedience
Positive view of conscience, negative view of anarchy
Historical/religious examples:
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego; early Christians; Socrates; Boston Tea Party
Commonality: disobeyed unjust laws for higher moral principles
Comparing the Passages
Both discuss loyalty to higher principles (virtue, conscience, justice) over personal comfort or safety
Both use historical/religious examples to illustrate moral action in face of injustice
Key difference: Augustine defends religion from blame for political disaster; King advocates civil disobedience as a means of achieving justice
Reflection Questions
Understand and apply the Journey Method to paired passages
Consider how paired passages challenge comprehension and analysis skills
Practice relating themes and arguments across different historical and rhetorical contexts
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The last passage in the CLT Verbal Reasoning section is always a set of two shorter passages paired because of some similarity in their topic or focus. The first passage is typically from an ancient source; the second passage comes from either a document connected to a founding moment (such as the Magna Carta or the U.S. Constitution) or a historically significant writing (such as the passage seen below). Although the total number of words is about the same as in other passages, the pairing of two different passages together presents a different sort of challenge compared to the rest of the section.
The Journey Method and the Historical/Founding Documents Passage
The major difference in the use of the Journey Method with the paired passage is that, because each passage is shorter, there is less of an opportunity to move to the faster “gear” of the journey. There may be some opportunities to skim in the middle paragraph(s) of these passages, but the length of the passage (typically three paragraphs) means that, almost as soon as there is an opportunity to “zoom out” and read mostly for big ideas, the last paragraph arrives, calling on the reader to zoom back in and consider how the end of the passage bring its ideas into clearer focus.
The other difference is this: while reading the second passage, you should repeatedly be asking yourself, How does this passage relate to the first one I read? What similar themes do I notice? Do the different circumstances of the more modern passage lead to a difference in focus? There will always be some similarity between the two passages, but the careful reader will be rewarded by noticing differences as well.
Practice Passage
The first passage below is taken from the “The City of God” by Saint Augustine, translated by Marcus Dods (1871; reprinted by Hendrickson Publishers in 2013). Augustine wrote this book in part to defend Christianity from the charge that it had caused the fall of Rome to invading tribes. The second passage is taken from Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Resistance to Civil Government” (in Aesthetic Papers, Boston, 1849), later known as “Civil Disobedience”. In 1846, Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax, in protest against a government that supported slavery and was waging war on Mexico. These passages have been adapted and excerpted from the originals; these modifications have not substantially changed the content or intent.
PASSAGE 1
As we read the first paragraph slowly, following the Journey Method, we realize that this is a different sort of opening paragraph. Augustine’s commentary on this event, we can assume, will come in the following paragraphs; for now, we need to understand the account of the general Regulus in order to understand from subsequent paragraphs why Augustine is telling his story.
Note that Regulus shows loyalty to his Roman countrymen (by persuading the senate to do what was best for the republic), but also to his enemies who had taken him prisoner (by keeping his oath to them by returning to Carthage even though the Romans did not require him to do so). This choice ended sadly for him, but we can be sure Augustine will have more to say about his life than simply that he was betrayed at its end. For now, it will be enough to note his loyalty and honor and read on with an expectation of the lessons Augustine will draw from Regulus’ life in order to advance a broader argument.
Here Augustine’s argument truly begins, and because of that, we should modify the usual Journey Method practice and continue to read slowly at this juncture; we need to make sure we understand the argument well, and the first paragraph was a kind of prologue. Since the readings in the paired passage portion of the CLT are shorter, there is usually not much opportunity to shift one’s reading to a faster pace.
The author’s first sentence makes his argument clear: Regulus worshiped the (Roman) gods and look how he turned out! Obviously being religious does not protect a person from tragedy. As we continue reading, we learn that Augustine has brought up the story of this pagan worshiper to defend Christianity (as noted in the prefatory information introducing this passage, above). If the gods don’t protect their worshipers and ensure that their lives are peaceful and easy, why is Christianity asked to offer to Christians a life of ease and safety? Why would anyone say that failing to worship the gods is what has caused the fall of Rome? Augustine’s rhetorical questions have answers that the reader is meant to supply: it is not religion of any sort that is to blame for Rome’s tragedy.
Augustine builds his argument to the next step: the virtue of being faithfully religious is not to escape suffering in the earthly life. And if that’s true for an individual, it must also be true of a community of individuals. Knowing that Augustine is talking more broadly about the fall of Rome, we can infer two larger points: first, that religion is not to blame for the fall of Rome, and second, that there is a blessedness still awaiting a city like Rome if it will be true to its God (although that blessedness is more to come in the next life than in this one).
As we prepare to read the next passage, we should make sure we grasp the main idea of what we just read. Paired passages on the CLT are always related, so we can expect that the next passage also will somehow discuss a relationship between religion and the worldly affairs of the state.
PASSAGE 2
Passage 2 carries us forward more than fourteen centuries, to Massachusetts in the 1840s, where Thoreau has refused to pay a tax to his own government. Like Augustine in his second paragraph, Thoreau opens with rhetorical questions, and the answers he expects are plain: no, a citizen should never hand his conscience over to the legislator, since every man has a conscience precisely in order to use it. The rest of the paragraph states the principle outright: we should be “men first, and subjects afterward,” and our first respect is owed to what is right, not to the law. As always in the paired passage, the second thread in our thinking should be the question, How does this relate to Passage 1? Regulus, too, answered to an obligation that no law imposed on him; the Romans “did not compel him to return,” yet he went back to Carthage because he had sworn to. What Thoreau’s conscience will cost him is not yet clear, so we read on with that question in mind.
Here the comparison with Passage 1 comes into sharper focus. Regulus was free to stay in Rome, but he returned to captivity in Carthage because honor required it. Thoreau makes a similar claim about prison: when a government jails people unjustly, the just man belongs in jail beside them. He then answers an objection his readers are likely to raise, that a man behind bars has lost his influence. Not so, he says: truth is stronger than error, and a person who has suffered a little injustice himself can fight it “more eloquently and effectively” than one who has not.
Notice a difference as well. Regulus kept faith with his own city, by advising the senate well, and with his enemies, by keeping his oath to them. Thoreau’s prison is a protest against his own government, a way of refusing it his cooperation. Both men accept confinement for the sake of what is right, but Regulus’ honor kept him loyal to Rome even as it sent him back to his enemies, while Thoreau’s conscience sets him against the State he lives in.
The last paragraph turns from argument to experience. Thoreau has refused to pay his poll tax for six years, and he describes the one night he spent in jail for it. The thick stone walls and iron door strike him as foolish, because all they can hold is his body; his thoughts, the only part of him that was really “dangerous,” follow the jailers out the door. This is the closest link to Passage 1. Augustine allowed that Regulus, “even while a prisoner and enduring these bodily torments,” might still enjoy “the blessedness of a virtuous soul.” Both writers separate what can be done to a person’s body from what remains free in his soul or mind.
What differences do we see between the passages, with all their similarities? The first is the price. Regulus was tortured and put to death; Thoreau spent a single night in jail, and he can afford to smile at it. The second is the purpose. Augustine told Regulus’ story to defend Christianity from the charge that it had caused the fall of Rome, and his argument turns on the gods and the life to come. Thoreau’s aim is political: he wants his fellow citizens to stop lending their support to a government that does wrong. Passage 1 led us to expect a passage about religion and the affairs of the state, and Passage 2 does set a higher obligation against the demands of government. But in these paragraphs the place of the gods is taken by conscience: Thoreau appeals not to any religion but to the moral sense he believes every citizen already has.
