Gulliver's Travels Parts I and II

Although we usually call Reward and Punishment, the two Hinges upon which all Government turns; yet I could never observe this Maxim to be put in Practice by any Nation, except that of Lilliput...And these People thought it a prodigious Defect of Policy among us, when I told them that our Laws were enforced only by Penalties, without any Mention of Reward.  It is upon this account that the Image of Justice, in their Courts of Judicature, is formed with six Eyes, two before, as many behind, and on each Side one, to signify Circumspection; with a Bag of Gold open in her right Hand, and a Sword sheathed in her left, to shew she is more disposed to reward than to punish.  (Part I, towards the beginning of Chapter VI)

In addition to finding this the most humorous and enjoyable text we have read thus far, I was especially interested in Gulliver's descriptions of the Lilliputian system of government.  The above paragraph presents an image of Justice that I have never seen before.  Our judicial system is represented by a scale and commonly associated with the phrase "checks and balances."  There is certainly no room for reward for those who adhere to laws.  Is this, as the Lilliputians say, a "Defect of Policy among us?"  Or is our system, that which focuses on Punishment more than Reward, a more practical and effective one?

I want to bring up one other topic that I found central to the author's discoveries while traveling:

Undoubtedly Philosophers are in the Right when they tell us, that nothing is great or little otherwise than by Comparison...  (Part II, middle of Chapter I)

I really enjoyed the discussion that followed regarding "the relativity of our judgment of size" (footnote pg. 94).  Gulliver's perception of himself is altered after his stay with both the Lilliputians and the Brobdingnagians.  To the former, he is referred to as "Man-Mountain," whereas the latter treat him as humans treat "any little hateful Animal which we have a Mind to destroy" (pg. 95).  This really put things in perspective for me, as I think it did for Gulliver as well.  I don't really have a question, so I'll leave you with the words that kept me pondering: "Who knows but that even this prodigious Race of Mortals might be equally overmatched in some distant Part of the World, whereof we have yet no Discovery?" (pg. 95)