and though people
have done what they could to hide them, the little publication of them
spoils all, for what was best in them was the wish to hide them.

160

Sneezing absorbs all the functions of the soul, as well as work does;
but we do not draw therefrom the same conclusions against the greatness
of man, because it is against his will. And although we bring it on
ourselves, it is nevertheless against our will that we sneeze. It is not
in view of the act itself; it is for another end. And thus it is not a
proof of the weakness of man, and of his slavery under that action.

It is not disgraceful for man to yield to pain, and it is disgraceful to
yield to pleasure. This is not because pain comes to us from without,
and we ourselves seek pleasure; for it is possible to seek pain, and
yield to it purposely, without this kind of baseness. Whence comes it,
then, that reason thinks it honourable to succumb under stress of pain,
and disgraceful to yield to the attack of pleasure? It is because pain
does not tempt and attract us. It is we ourselves who choose it
voluntarily, and will it to prevail over us. So that we are masters of
the situation; and in this man yields to himself. But in pleasure it is
man who yields to pleasure. Now only mastery and sovereignty bring
glory, and only slavery brings shame.

161

_Vanity._--How wonderful it is that a thing so evident as the vanity of
the world is so little known, that it is a strange and surprising thing
to say that it is foolish to seek greatness!

162

He who will know fully the vanity of man has only to consider the causes
and effects of love. The cause is a _je ne sais quoi_ (Corneille),[76]
and the effects are dreadful. This _je ne sais quoi_, so small an object
that we cannot recognise it, agitates a whole country, princes, armies,
the entire world.

Cleopatra's nose: had it been shorter, the whole aspect of the world
would have been altered.

163

_Vanity._--The cause and the effects of love: Cleopatra.

164

He who does not see the vanity of the world is himself very vain. Indeed
who do not see it but youths who are absorbed in fame, diversion, and
the thought of the future? But take away diversion, and you will see
them dried up with weariness. They feel then their nothingness without
knowing it; for it is indeed to be unhappy to be in insufferable sadness
as soon as we are reduced to thinking of self, and have no diversion.

165

_Thoug