I. Virtue and Wickedness fly with nearly the same velocity from the
human eye, and are both almost equally concealed from the discernment
and penetration of mankind. The first lies hid under the veil of
modesty, the second behind the parapet of hypocrisy. The vicious
disguises himself with the colouring of virtue, the virtuous disdains
and effaces all false tints or glosses.
II. The number of hypocrites in the world is much greater than is
generally imagined. There is no vice so transcendant, for all bad
people are hypocrites. This may seem a paradox, and you may say to me,
are there no men who make parade and ostentation of vice? I answer yes,
but not of all their vices. They endeavour by their boasting to hide
their confusion, and discover that part of their soul which they are
unable to conceal. They place a crown on the image of vice, in order
to give dignity to the figure; and although arrogant wickedness is
worse than timid, the last is despised, and the first feared. An unruly
passion breaks down all the fences of reserve, and the delinquent,
not being able to conceal his shame and disgrace by dissimulation,
endeavours by his pride and arrogance to make himself dreaded. This
is practising a new hypocrisy, with which he belies and endeavours to
put a trick on his own conscience. The crime appears odious in his
eyes, therefore by putting on a false semblance and air of gallantry,
he attempts to dazzle the eyes of other people. To protect from
public insult, him, who is a notorious bad man, no other method is so
effectual, as that of openly exposing his faults to the world with
daring impudence.
III. But observe attentively these very people, and you will find, that
although they behave with this audacity, they at the very time they
are doing it, endeavour to conceal other vices they are infected with,
and also to make ostentation of virtues which they do not possess. They
will own they are incontinent, prodigals, ambitious, and audacious;
but they blazon their gratitude to their benefactors, their steadiness
in their friendships, and their fidelity to their promises. It is
certain, that the vice of ingratitude is one of the most common and
most vulgarised in all the world; but with all this, you will not find
any man who does not take pains to justify himself on this head; and
I say the same of lying, of perfidy, and of other vices. It follows
then, that upon a critical enquiry, you will not find a vicious man
who is not a hypocrite. We should not suppose that open and avowed
profligates, or debauchees, have no other blemishes, than such as shew
themselves outwardly. There is no virtue such a man would not trample
upon, if it was an impediment to his pursuits, nor an opposite vice to
that virtue, which he would not employ as an instrument, to gratify his
ruling passion. Do you think a very lewd man, for all the boastings of
his innocence in matters of justice, and in points of _meum_ and _tuum_
honesty, would not, if he found himself without money of his own, make
use of that of another person which was confided to his keeping, to
purchase the enjoyment of his favourite object? or that the ardently
ambitious man, for all the vociferations of his gratitude, would not
turn his back on his benefactor, whenever this baseness would be a
means of recommending him to the good graces of one, who could advance
him to a higher degree of preferment, than it was in the power of his
old friend to procure for him?
IV. So that it is very rare to find a perverse person, who, over and
above those glaring vices which manifest themselves so palpably, is not
tainted with others, which he affects to hide; and in case there do
not predominate in him other passions besides those, which on account
of their vehemence are so very conspicuous, these of themselves are
sufficient to betray him into faults, which arise from, and are the
offspring of other distinct passions, when the committing those faults
is indispensably necessary for attaining the objects or purposes of the
ruling passion. Alexander in his natural disposition, was certainly not
a cruel man, notwithstanding which, he was guilty of cruel actions; for
such were the putting to death his friend Clytus, and the philosopher
Calisthenes. His predominant passions were vain-glory and pride.
Clytus fell a victim to the first, for having preferred the actions of
Alexander’s father Philip to his; and Calisthenes fell a victim to the
last, for having deterred people from idolizing Alexander as the son of
Jupiter.
V. Sometimes the false appearance of a vice is put on politically, or
with a view of deriving some advantage from it. A man feigns himself
vindictive, when in reality he is not so, in order that the fear of
his vengeance may deter people from offending. This most frequently
happens, when the vice affected is meritorious in the eyes of him who
rules. Sejanus would never have obtained the favour of Tiberius, by
appearing a lover of justice; nor Tigilinus, nor Petronius, that of
Nero, by seeming modest and continent.
VI. It is probable, that from the motive of falling in with the humour
of wayward and evil-minded princes, there have been politicians who
were contradictory hypocrites, and have wore the semblance of vices
which their natures revolted at; and what is worse, in order to prove
they were tainted with them, have put a violence on their inclinations,
and although it was with reluctance, have brought themselves to commit
disorders which their dispositions abhorred. When people make a merit
of delinquency, instead of that hypocrisy which is properly such on
account of its counteracting virtue, they study another which is the
reverse of it, because it feigns vice.
VII. But these very persons will affect to appear sincere, constant,
grateful, and men of veracity. There never was any man, who was not
desirous of dissembling or concealing those vices, which were opposite
to the virtues, which constitute what is commonly called a good man,
and therefore, the hypocrites who affect the shew of these virtues are
innumerable.
VIII. I do not deny, that a man’s being more under the dominion of some
vices than others, depends in a great measure on his constitution,
which may be compared to a soil, where some passions take deeper root,
and grow more vigorous than others. This man, without attempting to
restrain it, suffers himself to be carried away by incontinence, but
abhors cheating: another gives himself up to gluttony and drunkenness,
but looks upon perfidy with horror and indignation. Thus it is; but
his enmity to these vices, lasts no longer than till he has occasion
for their assistance to indulge his passion for the others. Catiline,
in the early part of his life, appeared to have no other passions than
those of incontinence, ostentation, and prodigality; but these vices
having reduced him to poverty, and he on that account not being able
to continue his pursuits of them, formed the design of tyrannizing
over the republic, in order to extricate himself from indigence. In
consequence of this, he became ambitious, fierce, cruel, relentless,
and perfidious.
IX. I am of opinion, that nobody should put much confidence in those,
who are called good sort of men, if they see them much impressed
with, or under the influence of particular passions. That vice which
domineers over them, is to themselves the ultimate end or object, to
which they direct all their attentions; or the idol, to which, if their
occasions required it, they would sacrifice all other considerations. I
do not pretend that there are no exceptions to this rule; the natural
abhorrence of one vice, may predominate over the inclination to commit
another. But I in all cases, and at all events, would sooner place my
confidence in him, who from a religious fear of God has a regard to
his conscience in all his actions, than in the man, who only from his
natural disposition and temperament, or from a punctilio of honour,
practises those virtues, which are commonly understood to constitute
the character of what the world calls a good man; temperament lets
go the rein, when the ruling passion becomes impetuous, and shews an
eagerness to press forward; and honour loses its influence, when it is
believed the commission of the bad act will not be known. The fear of
God never ceases to operate.
X. The famous Magdalen Scudery, in her book, intituled, Moral
Conversations, relates a remarkable story of a man, who risqued his
life for a friend in three duels; but this friend afterwards, having
occasion to beg he would lend him a small sum of money which he stood
in need of, he refused to comply with his request. Who would believe,
that a man who on repeated occasions, had hazarded his life for his
friend, would have failed him in a thing of so much less consequence?
He was both covetous and intrepid, but his avarice made him consider
his life as less valuable than his money. His friendship contended with
his ruling passion, and the last, as the most prevalent, pressed down
and stifled the finer feelings.
XI. One of the greatest mistakes which men commit in their confidences,
is that of trusting those, whom they have known to be unfaithful to
others. This is an error which all men condemn, and which almost
every one falls into. I confide my secret to him, who has recommended
himself to my favour, by revealing that of another person. I give
my friendship to the man, who in compliment to me has abandoned the
patron who before protected him. This is the effect of our love for,
and the superior conceit we entertain of ourselves. Every one fancies,
that he has in himself a most powerful attraction, that will keep the
heart of a person fixed and attached to him, who has been unfaithful
to other people. He thinks, that it was the power of his singular
merit, which made the man abandon his benefactor or friend, for the
sake of allying himself to him. He is so full of his own consequence
and rare qualities, that it never enters his imagination, nor does
he even harbour the least suspicion, that this very person may see,
or pretend to see, a higher degree of merit in another man, to which
he might make the same sacrifice of his friendship. Princes and
great men, whom the habit of being flattered is apt to make the most
presumptuous, are those who are most liable to fall into this snare.
How often do we see in courts, treachery rewarded with promotion! The
maxim that we love the treason, but hate the traitor, is received by
all the world in theory, but has very few votaries in practice. The
traitor is displeasing to him, who dislikes the treason; but he who
interests himself in the treason, looks on the traitor with favourable
eyes. This is derived in a great measure, from calling things by
wrong names. Treason is termed obsequiousness, and a traitor called
friend; and jointly with this, they are apt to interpret, that some
honest motive intervened to excite to the action; and in case they
can’t find out any other than that of interest or convenience, they
applaud the ability displayed in chusing the most beneficial side.
Queen Elizabeth of England was a striking exception to this rule. An
unfaithful Spaniard, sold to her for a stipulated price, a town in the
Low Countries; and after he had so done, to avoid the punishment due to
his demerit, went over to, and resided in England, where he offered his
service to the Queen as an able military officer; to which she replied,
“Go your ways, when I have occasion for any one to commit an act of
treachery, I will make use of you.”