Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



bleeding on the road (for this probably has to be 

 done with every vice or virtue some time or other), 

 it will rise up and follow you, carrying a magic 

 key round its neck, meek and serviceable now, 

 instead of dangerous and demoniac as before. 



Deceit is difficult to deal with. In some sense 

 it is the worst fault that can be. It seems to 

 disorganise and ultimately to destroy the character. 

 Yet I am bold to say that this defect has its uses. 

 Severely examined perhaps it will be found that 

 no one can live a day free from it. And beyond 

 that — is not " a noble dissimulation " part and 

 parcel of the very greatest characters : like Socrates, 

 " the white soul in a satyr form " ? When the 

 divine has descended among men has it not always, 

 like Moses, worn a veil before its face ? and what 

 is Nature herself but one long and organised system 

 of deception ? 



Veracity has an opposite effect. It knits all 

 the elements of a man's character — rendering 

 him solid rather than fluid ; yet carried out too 

 literally and pragmatically it condenses and solidi- 

 fies the character overmuch, making the man 

 woodeny and angular. And even of that essential 

 Truth (truth to the inward and ideal perfection) 

 which more than anything else perhaps constitutes 

 a man — it is to be remembered that even here 

 there must be a limitation. No man can in act 

 or externally be quite true to the ideal — though 

 in spirit he may be. If he is to live in this world 

 and be mortal, it must be by virtue of some partiality, 

 some defect. 



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