n the contemplation
of one object, that it is unable to think of others; and
although men, as a rule, are a prey to many emotions--and very few
are found who are always assailed by one and the same--yet there
are cases, where one and the same emotion remains obstinately
fixed. We sometimes see men so absorbed in one object, that,
although it be not present, they think they have it before them;
when this is the case with a man who is not asleep, we say he is
delirious or mad; nor are those persons who are inflamed with
love, and who dream all night and all day about nothing but their
mistress, or some woman, considered as less mad, for they are
made objects of ridicule. But when a miser thinks of nothing but
gain or money, or when an ambitious man thinks of nothing but
glory, they are not reckoned to be mad, because they are
generally harmful, and are thought worthy of being hated. But,
in reality, Avarice, Ambition, Lust, &c., are species of madness,
though they may not be reckoned among diseases.

PROP. XLV. Hatred can never be good.

Proof.--When we hate a man, we endeavour to destroy him (III.
xxxix.), that is (IV. xxxvii.), we endeavour to do something that
is bad. Therefore, &c. Q.E.D.

N.B. Here, and in what follows, I mean by hatred only hatred
towards men.

Corollary I.--Envy, derision, contempt, anger, revenge, and
other emotions attributable to hatred, or arising therefrom, are
bad; this is evident from III. xxxix. and IV. xxxvii.

Corollary II.--Whatsoever we desire from motives of hatred is
base, and in a State unjust. This also is evident from III.
xxxix., and from the definitions of baseness and injustice in IV.
xxxvii. note.

Note.--Between derision (which I have in Coroll. I. stated to
be bad) and laughter I recognize a great difference. For
laughter, as also jocularity, is merely pleasure; therefore, so
long as it be not excessive, it is in itself good (IV. xli.).
Assuredly nothing forbids man to enjoy himself, save grim and
gloomy superstition. For why is it more lawful to satiate one's
hunger and thirst than to drive away one's melancholy? I reason,
and have convinced myself as follows: No deity, nor anyone else,
save the envious, takes pleasure in my infirmity and discomfort,
nor sets down to my virtue the tears, sobs, fear, and the like,
which axe signs of infirmity of spirit; on the contrary, the
greater the pleasure wherewith we are affected, the greater the
perfection whereto