ces
present themselves in a crowd towards the infinitely great, so that we
lose ourselves in them, and no longer see virtues. We find fault with
perfection itself.

358

Man is neither angel nor brute, and the unfortunate thing is that he who
would act the angel acts the brute.[134]

359

We do not sustain ourselves in virtue by our own strength, but by the
balancing of two opposed vices, just as we remain upright amidst two
contrary gales. Remove one of the vices, and we fall into the other.

360

What the Stoics propose is so difficult and foolish!

The Stoics lay down that all those who are not at the high degree of
wisdom are equally foolish and vicious, as those who are two inches
under water.

361

_The sovereign good. Dispute about the sovereign good._--_Ut sis
contentus temetipso et ex te nascentibus bonis._[135] There is a
contradiction, for in the end they advise suicide. Oh! What a happy
life, from which we are to free ourselves as from the plague!

362

_Ex senatus-consultis et plebiscitis_ ...

To ask like passages.

363

_Ex senatus-consultis et plebiscitis scelera exercentur._ Sen. 588.[136]

_Nihil tam absurde dici potest quod non dicatur ab aliquo
philosophorum._ Divin.[137]

_Quibusdam destinatis sententiis consecrati quae non probant coguntur
defendere._ Cic.[138]

_Ut omnium rerum sic litterarum quoque intemperantia laboramus._
Senec.[139]

_Id maxime quemque decet, quod est cujusque suum maxime._[140]

_Hos natura modos primum dedit._[141] Georg.

_Paucis opus est litteris ad bonam mentem._[142]

_Si quando turpe non sit, tamen non est non turpe quum id a multitudine
laudetur._

_Mihi sic usus est, tibi ut opus est facto, fac._[143] Ter.

364

_Rarum est enim ut satis se quisque vereatur._[144]

_Tot circa unum caput tumultuantes deos._[145]

_Nihil turpius quam cognitioni assertionem praecurrere._ Cic.[146]

_Nec me pudet, ut istos, fateri nescire quid nesciam._[147]

_Melius non incipient._[148]

365

_Thought._--All the dignity of man consists in thought. Thought is
therefore by its nature a wonderful and incomparable thing. It must have
strange defects to be contemptible. But it has such, so that nothing is
more ridiculous. How great it is in its nature! How vile it is in its
defects!

But what is this thought? How foolish it is!

366

The mind of this sovereign judge of the world is not so independent that
it is not liable to be