CHARACTER AND MAXIMS OF MALUS. 167 



CHARACTER OF MALUS. MAXIMS AND PRECEPTS. 



SUSCEPTIBILITY OF MALUS ON QUESTIONS OF SCI- 

 ENTIFIC PRIORITY. 



Our colleague was of a middle height and size. In 

 spite of his reserved and cold manners, he had a friendly- 

 heart. An excellent son, a tender and irreproachable 

 husband, a devoted friend, he has left behind him, in 

 the minds of all who knew him, the reputation, so much 

 to be envied, of a truly good man. His conduct, always 

 beyond reproach even in the most difficult conjunctures, 

 was not merely dictated by an instinctive sense of right. 

 In the leisure of his bivouacs in Egypt he had put down 

 on scattered papers the thoughts and maxims on which 

 he considered that his conduct ought to be modelled. I 

 will here cite some of them which would not disgrace, I 

 think, the most celebrated collections published by any 

 of our philosophers. 



" All the actions of life ought to tend towards the per- 

 fection of the soul and to social harmony." 



" Hope is a source of happiness which is not to be 

 neglected." 



" I will found my enjoyments on the affections of the 

 heart, the visions of the imagination, and the spectacle of 

 nature." 



" We must exercise patience, as the virtue most abso- 

 lutely necessary for happiness in our moral existence." 



" Mediocrity is a desirable condition of life, since it 

 requires little expense." 



" A great part of life often depends on circumstances. 

 There are good things of which we must take advantage 

 as they may occur ; as we enjoy the spring of the year ; 

 the brightness of a fine day ; or the odour of a rose." 



