CHAP. III.] 



EXAMPLES OP ANTITHETA. 



251 



For. 



CEREMONIES. 



Against. 



A graceful deportment is the 

 true ornament of virtue. 



If we follow the vulgar in the 

 use of words, why not in habit and 

 gesture ? 



He who observes not decorum 

 in smaller matters may be a great 

 man, but is unwise at times. 



Virtue and wisdom, without all 

 respect and ceremony, are, like 

 ioreign languages, unintelligible 

 to the vulgar. 



He who knowa not the sense of 

 the people, neither by congruity 

 nor observation, is senseless. 



Ceremonies are the translation 

 oi virtue into our own language. 



What can^be more disagreeable 

 than in common life to copy the 

 stage ? 



Ingenuous behaviour procures 

 esteem, but affectation and cun 

 ning, hatred. 



Better a painted face and curled 

 hair, than a painted and curled 

 behaviour. 



He is incapable of great matters 

 who breaks his mind with trifling 

 observations. 



Affectation is the glossy corrup 

 tion oi ingenuity. 



For. 



CONSTANCY. 



Against. 



Constancy is the foundation of 

 virtue. 



He is miserable who has no 

 notion of what he shall be. 



If human judgment cannot be 

 constant to things, let it at least 

 be true to itself. 



Even vice is set off by constancy. 



Inconstancy of fortune with in 

 constancy of mind makes a dark 



Constancy, like a churlish por- 

 teress, turns away many useful 

 informations. 



It is just that constancy should 

 endure crosses, for it commonly 

 brings them. 



The shortest folly is the best. 



CRUELTY. 



Fortune, like Proteus, is brought 

 to herself by persisting. 



For. 



No virtue is so often delinquent 

 .as clemency. 



Cruelty proceeding from revenge 

 is justice; if from danger, pru 

 dence. 



He who shows mercy to his 

 enemy denies it to himself. . , . 



Phlebotomy is as necessary in 

 the body politic as in the body 

 natural. 



For. DELAY. 



Fortune sells many things to the 

 hasty which she gives to the slow. 



Hurrying to catch the begin 

 nings of things is .grasping at 

 hadows. 



Against. 



He who delights in blood ii 

 either a wild beast or a fury. 



To a good man, cruelty seems a 

 mere tragical fiction. 



Again*. 



Opportunity offers the handle o 

 the bottle first, then the belly. . 



Opportunity, like the Sibyl, di 

 minishes the commodity .but ea* 

 bances the price. 



