’Tis not Courage, but Temerity, for Men to Venture their Lives,
Reputations, and Fortunes upon Unequal Encounters; Unless where they are
Oblig’d by an Over-ruling Impulse of Honour, Conscience, and Duty, to
stand All Hazards. That which the World Accounts Brave, is in Truth, no
Better then Brutal, where there is not Reason, Justice, and Prudence to
Direct and Govern it. ’Tis One thing for a Man to be Firm, and Fearless,
against Honest Dangers, let them appear never so Terrible, when his
Honour for that Purpose; his Country, or his Conscience, calls upon him
to Encounter them: But to run his Head against Stone Walls, or to put
his Shoulders to a Sear-Breach, to Attempt insuperable Difficulties, and
Needlessly to Provoke Invincible Enemies, purely out of a Vain Opinion of
his Own Strength; This would be just the Moral of the _Ram_ here in the
Fable.