XLVIII. There remains for us to say something on two particulars, by
the intervention of which, vice is frequently reverenced as virtue:
The first is the exterior resemblance of certain vices to certain
virtues; for as every virtue is placed between two vicious extremes,
many of these last wear the appearance of the first. Thus prodigality
often passes for liberality, rashness for valour, obstinacy for
firmness, cunning for prudence, and pusillanimity for moderation. It is
also the same with respect to many other things.
XXIX. The second is, the material commission of an act, abstracted from
the turpitude of the end it was done to answer. If we were to explore
the motives that intervene in an infinite number of actions, which are
right to outward appearance; we should perceive, they were derived from
indirect principles, and performed to answer perverse purposes. It is
very common for one vice to be an obstacle to the external operation
or execution of another. This man is continent to avoid spending his
money; that, because he is terrified by the danger of the enterprize.
In the first, continence is the child of avarice; in the second, of
pusillanimity. This one puts on the shew of humility, because he is
a candidate for favour and promotion; another, to avoid the exposing
himself to a quarrel. In the first, humility springs from ambition, in
the second it is derived from cowardice. Much, more might be said on
these two heads; but, as the subject matter of them has been largely
treated of in various other books, we shall rest the thing here, and
content ourselves with the slight observations we have already made.