Literature

Revenge is retaliation of an evil done against somebody  as seen in Electra where together with her brother Orestes, seek out to revenge against their mother Clytemnestra and step father Aegisthus for the murder of their father. They resolve to murder their mother alongside their step father showing how far revenge actions can go beyond the accepted social norms. Their revenge takes place eight years later after their fathers death clearly illustrating that time cannot heal hatred one has against another. The two had been seeking out to revenge all this time and feel confident about their action which they are not remorseful at all as they see it as well supported by their ancestors as illustrated in the chorus Men long dead are draining blood To answer blood From those that killed them . Here they come. Their hands are red with blood. They drip with the blood of sacrifice (pg 66).
    Hate and revenge cannot be deterred by blood relations and family ties. The murder of king Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestras conspiracy with Aegisthus shows that hatred brought about by personal interests supersedes family ties.  During the murder of their mother, Orestes is cheered on by his sister Electra as they kill their blood mother mercilessly without appreciating that she is their mother and deserves all the love and respect from them  You did not pity him Nor the father who gave him life. strike again. (pg 65). Despite the cursing she puts on them, they accomplish their mission. This hate driven action shows that emotional feelings can control someones body taking over all the actions they do.
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                                                     Thucydides
    The strong do what they wish like doing since they feel they have the prowess to do so while the weak do what they must do according to the situation at hand just for survival. Malian being a subject to Lacedaemon was obliged to remain loyal to it besides maintaining neutrality. The strong take on what is best to their interest and not mind about the fate of the others with arrogance as illustrated in the debate where the Athenians answer that The end of our empire, if end it should, does not frighten us We will now proceed to show you that we are come here in the interest of our empire (The Melian Conference 1). Despite the Melians pleas to the Atheans to maintain peace and neutrality by avoiding to create amenities with all neutrals, the Atheans insist that no nation can alarm them showing how arrogant the strong can get. The weak strive to do what they must do to survive as in the case of the Melians on protection of the gods and help from the Lacedaemonians who insist on maintaining peace and urging the Atheans to respect their neutrality as well as the international laws citing this would earn them many friends. This clearly indicates that the Melians did what they must do which was to maintain peace and neutrality.
    The question of how a nation such as the Melians could stand firmly against the strong Athenians and still expect to win arises through their decision not to give in to the demands of the Atheans. They relied on fortune and help of the Lacedaemonians. We will not in a moment deprive of freedom a city that has been inhabited these seven hundred years but we put our trust in the fortune by which the gods have preserved it until now, and in the help of men, that is, of the Lacedaemonians and so we will try and save ourselves. Meanwhile we invite you to allow us to be friends to you and foes to neither party and to retire from our country after making such a treaty (The Melian Conference 1).This answer only provoked the Atheans into war which saw them take on hostilities toward the Melians and surrounded their city which shows that the strong do not alter their decisions in favor of the weak but work on what they think is best for them.
    From this though the strong do what they wish while the weak do what they must, survival for the fittest still prevails and either side can come out victorious but for the case of the Atheans and the Meleans, the strong did what they wished like leading to the destruction of the weak.

                                                           The Golden Ass

    The golden ass undergoes much suffering  in the hands of the boy in charge who lashes him mercilessly besides loading him with great bundles of fire wood which the ass equates to one prepared for elephants to carry. moreover he laded me with such great burthens of wood that you would thinke they had been rather prepared for Elephants (William Ch. 28). This is part of suffering the ass goes through in its efforts to achieve freedom from his state and back to the normal human form. This story gives an allusion of the bible story of Jesus of how he had to undergo great suffering and humiliation to fulfill his mission of saving mankind. This shows that one is able to endure great suffering to achieve the goal he is targeting despite the price he has to pay even though there might be means and ways of escaping from the situation.
    In his endeavors to save mankind, Jesus was humiliated and mocked by his oppressors who twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head ( Mathew 2729) , which resembles how the ass was tormented by the boy whom  He gathered a posy of thorns, selecting those with sharp and venomous prickles then he twisted and knotted them in a bundle which he tied under my tail as a pendulous cross for me to bear-for at every step the spindles were pulled against me, prickling and scoring me with their spikes (pg 158-159).
    Individuals causing pain on others only achieve psychological satisfaction of afflicting pain on their victims who incidentally this gives them hope and strength to pursue their targets. The oppressors are mostly fearful individuals who out of malice are there to cause intimidation to their victims to deter them from achieving their goals or do so for their own personal gains. As in the case of the boy, he might have been tired of cutting firewood and sought out means to eliminate the ass for him to rest from the tiresome job. The boy falsely accused the ass of sexual immorality by indulging in sex with any woman he came across, For he espyeth any woman passing by the way, whether she be old or marryed, or if it be a young child, hee will throw his burthen from his backe, and runneth fiercely upon them. And after that he hath thrown them downe, he will stride over them to commit his buggery and beastly pleasure (William Ch. 29).
 Jesus accusers were individuals against his teaching and afraid of the crowd he was pulling towards himself those who were getting converted by his teachings thus resorted to accuse him by his teachings (Mt.2664-67)