ur being
according to the guidance of reason. The man, therefore, who is ignorant
of himself is ignorant of the foundation of all the virtues, and
consequently is ignorant of all the virtues. Again, to act in conformity
with virtue is nothing but acting according to the guidance of reason,
and he who acts according to the guidance of reason must necessarily
know that he acts according to the guidance of reason. He, therefore,
who is ignorant of himself, and consequently (as we have just shown)
altogether ignorant of all the virtues, cannot in any way act in
conformity with virtue, that is to say, is altogether impotent in mind.
Therefore the greatest pride or despondency indicates the greatest
impotence of mind.

Hence follows, with the utmost clearness, that the proud and the
desponding are above all others subject to emotions.

Despondency, nevertheless, can be corrected more easily than pride,
since the former is an emotion of sorrow, while the latter is an emotion
of joy, and is therefore stronger than the former.

Pride is joy arising from a man's having too high an opinion of himself.
This opinion a proud man will endeavor, as much as he can, to cherish,
and therefore, will love the presence of parasites or flatterers (the
definitions of these people are omitted, because they are too well
known), and will shun that of the noble-minded who think of him as is
right.

It would take too much time to enumerate here all the evils of pride,
for the proud are subject to all emotions, but to none are they less
subject than to those of love and pity. It is necessary, however, to
observe here that a man is also called proud if he thinks too little of
other people, and so, in this sense, pride is to be defined as joy which
arises from the false opinion that we are superior to other people,
while despondency, the contrary to this pride, would be defined as
sorrow arising from the false opinion that we are inferior to other
people. This being understood, it is easy to see that the proud man is
necessarily envious, and that he hates those above all others who are
the most praised on account of their virtues. It follows, too, that his
hatred of them is not easily overcome by love or kindness and that he is
delighted by the presence of those only who humor his weakness, and from
a fool make him a madman.

Although despondency is contrary to pride, the despondent man is closely
akin to the proud man. For since the sorrow of t