XXVII. But how shall we reconcile what we have just now said against
the nobility, with what we said but a little before in their favour?
Easily, by saying this prerogative is not laudable, but honourable.
The arguments we have just urged impugn its laudabillty, those we are
about to use are affirmative of its honour. This is a distinction
pointed out by Aristotle, between virtue and all the other excellences
which illustrate the human race. Virtue, he says, is laudable; riches,
nobility, and power, deserve no praise, but have a pretension to be
honoured. So that there is nothing in nobility which a man should
boast or be vain of; but there is something in it, which those who are
inferior to them in rank should reverence and respect. This distinction
will reconcile all difficulties, and assure to the nobility esteem,
without fomenting their vanity.