Nothing made a happy slave, but a degraded man. In proportion as the mind grew callous to its degradation, and all sense of manly pride was lost, the slave felt comfort. In fact, he was no longer a man. If he were to define a man, he would say with Shakspeare,
"Man is a being, holding large discourse,
Looking before and after."
A slave was incapable of either looking before or after.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Nothing made a happy slave, but a degraded man. In proportion as the mind grew callous to its degradation, and all sense of manly pride was lost, the slave felt comfort. In fact, he was no longer a man. If he were to define a man, he would say with Shakspeare,
"Man is a being, holding large discourse,
Looking before and after."
A slave was incapable of either looking before or after." in the context of "Speech in the House of Commons (12 May 1789), quoted in The Parliamentary History of England, From the Earliest Period to the Year 1803, Vol. XXVIII (1816), column 71" to mean that wisdom is timeless.