(ii.) EXTREMES OF COURTESY.

1. The man whose law is the law of pleasure, violates the ideal of courtesy. If he simply follows pleasure, he is obsequious; if gain enter into his calculations, then he is a flatterer.

2. The man who violates the ideal of courtesy by way of defect is the peevish irritable man who quarrels with everyone.

7. SINCERITY.

There is a virtue to be exhibited in the words which a man uses, independently of the consequences which flow from them. Truthfulness, or sincerity, is the perfection of human converse. It is a mean between the pretentiousness of the boastful man and the false modesty of the diffident man.

The characteristics of Sincerity are, therefore, a religious horror of falsehood as a thing disgraceful and base per se, an uprightness and integrity more delicate and penetrating than even justice itself. It is the disposition to speak the truth, though nothing seems to depend upon it; and it has its roots in an honesty of purpose and its fruits in honesty and truthfulness of life. In its shrinking from exaggeration it is inclined, if anything, to understate the truth; reticence being less offensive than exaggeration.

VIOLATIONS OF SINCERITY.

1. Boastfulness is the generic term to express various modes in which the ideal of integrity is violated in the direction of excess. (a) If boastfulness have no special purpose to serve, it is the outcome of emptyheadedness and vice; the boastful man of this type being a vain, foolish and worthless character. (8) If, however, boasting has a purpose to serve, and that purpose be glory or honour, it is not so very reprehensible; but if its object be gain, it is a very discreditable habit. It is of course under either aspect a state of the will and not a merely latent tendency, and the will requires to be acted upon either by (a) the bent of the character or (B) a special motive operating at the moment.

2. Self-depreciation is that undue fear of exaggeration which leads a man to say less than the truth, especially when speaking of his own merits. [There is, however, another form of self-disparagement, which is either false modesty,' or 'pride aping humility,' and thinly disguises a conceited vanity.] Though self-depreciation is a falling short of perfect sincerity and straight-forwardness, it is often, in its moderate forms, the mark of a graceful refinement.

8.-HUMOUR.

There is an element of rest in life, and rest gives room for relaxation, and relaxation calls for the exercise of an appropriate virtue. That virtue is humour-' a mean' between frivolity and moroseness.

(i.) CHARACTERISTICS OF PERFECT HUMOUR.

The playful versatility of good-humour is analogous to the lithesome movements of the body. Its essential feature is that 'good-taste,' 'tact' or dexterity'; and that is best represented by the character of a perfect gentleman. There is a characteristic difference between the humour of an educated and of an uneducated man. The open scurrility of the Old Comedy is a very different thing from the polished innuendo of the New. Perfect humour, therefore, must be the humour of a gentleman; and this condition will apply not only to what a man says, but also to the approval he gives of the jests of others. As there are things which

a man will not do himself (and which even the legislator forbids him to do), so there are things to which he ought not to listen: he must be a law to himself.'

(ii.) CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EXTREMES.

1. Buffoonery is wit, stript of all considerations of delicacy or opportuneness.

2. Boorishness is poverty of invention, combined with peevishness of temper.

9.-SENSE OF SHAME.

Sense of Shame is not, properly speaking, a virtue; it is rather a physical emotion like fear than a formed attitude of the moral nature. Its definition as an apprehension of dishonour' shows that it is rather emotional than moral. It is indeed but a check upon the passions of youth, and is inappropriate to age. Old men ought not to do anything for which to be ashamed: an honest life will be conscious of no evil, whether absolute or conventional evil. To be liable to a feeling of shame would be to argue the existence of passions which none but youth should know. Even in the case of youth it is only an hypothetical good:-' if he were to do so and so, he would feel shame.' Better never to do evil than having done evil to feel ashamed of it.

TRANSLATION.

C.-LIBERALITY.

i.-Characteristics of Liberality explained.

(a) THE SPHERE OF LIBERALITY DEFINED.

Definition of liberality.

Continuing our examination of the social virtues, let us now discuss the virtue of liberality, which is commonly regarded as the perfect attitude of mind in regard to questions of property. The praise which is bestowed upon the liberal man is not for his exploits in war, nor for his behaviour under circumstances where self-control is tested, nor yet for the justice of his decisions, but has regard simply to the disposal or acquisition of property and more particularly to its disposal (property' being here used to denote anything which has a value which can be estimated in current coin).

Liberality also is a form of excellence shown by the appetitive soul, and, therefore, it is a virtue which we may examine immediately after Temperance, Now liberality is an ideal state of mind in regard to money--an ideal which we realize, that is, when we spend neither more nor less than what is right, but give all that we have to spend in a befitting matter, upon deserving objects, and with right motives. When the liberal man is praised, it is not for his services in war, nor for acting as the temperate man acts, nor yet again for the equity of his awards (as the just man is), but for his dealings in the bestowal and acquisition of property; and praise is more abundantly accorded him for the way in which he gives; (property' being here used to include everything which has an appreciable value in current coin).

(b) MODES IN WHICH THE PRINCIPLE OF LIBERALITY IS VIOLATED. The states of excess and defect in money-matters are prodigality on the one hand, and avarice on the other.

Failure of charity

from excess defect.

or

We apply the epithet avaricious' uniformly to those who are more eager than they ought to be in regard to money. On the other hand we sometimes use the term 'prodigality' with complex associations.

Use of words: com

plex associations of 'prodigality.'

We call men 'prodigals' when they are weakly self-indulgent and spend their property upon vicious indulgences; and consequently men of this stamp are accounted the most dissolute of their kind, as having many vices combined in one. But they are not called prodigals in the strict and natural sense of the word: the word 'prodigal' is intended to mean one who has a single thought, that of wasting or ruining his property, the prodigal being one who is ruined through his own fault: i.e. the wasting of his property seems to be a form of self-destruction,' since his very life and livelihood depend upon the possession of means. It is in this strict sense, therefore, that I now employ the term 'prodigality.'

Liberality is, therefore, the ideal state in regard to money, while avarice is the corruption by way of defect, and prodigality the corruption by way of excess.

But we speak of prodigality not only as an excess in regard to money, but sometimes we call even sensualists' prodigals,' inasmuch as they squander large sums to gratify their selfish tastes, and prodigality of this type we call a vice. It is for this reason that prodigals of this class are the most abandoned of men, since they have many vices all in one, being at once ruined in fortune and dissolutely abandoned in the pursuit of pleasure. Hence they are not properly called by a single name indicating only a single vice (since the term prodigal' is intended to imply one who has only a single vice, that of ruining his substance -the prodigal' being one who is ruined through his own fault, since the wasting of his substance seems to be a form of self-destruction, life and livelihood depending upon the possession of means). However, we call those also who are weakly self-indulgent, and who spend their money upon their own sensual gratifications, prodigals;' though we confine the term 'avaricious' to those who grasp after money more keenly than is right, and who are defective in regard to liberality.

(c) THE VIRTUE OR VICE OF A THING DEPENDENT UPON ITS USES. Now whatever admits of use may be put to a good or a bad use; and as wealth is one of those things which are capable of use, and a man puts a thing to its best use when he has the virtue related thereto, it follows that a man will put wealth to its best possible use when he has the virtue related to money: when, that is, he is liberal-minded.

The right use of money is the virtuous disposition of it according to charity.

Now since it is possible for us to use everything which admits of use, well or ill (e.g., our reputation or our food), and wealth is of precisely this nature, since there is a definite use for it in the conduct of life, it is, therefore, possible to put wealth to a good or bad use; and inasmuch as a man will put a thing to a proper use only when he has the virtue related to that thing, he will only put his wealth to its most perfect use when he has the virtue related to money-when, that is, he is liberal-minded.

(d) THE SPECIAL USE OF MONEY IS IN SPENDING RATHER THAN

Now the use

The characteristic

of charity is a virtuous spending

IN RECEIVING.

of money seems to consist in spending and giving, while the acquisition of money lies rather in the receiving and safe keeping thereof; consequently it is more distinctly characteristic of the liberalminded man that he gives to proper persons than that he receives from proper persons, or than that he refrains from taking whence he ought not.

rather than virtuous receiving.

1. It is a greater proof of moral worth that a man confers benefits upon others, than that he receives them himself, and that he himself performs noble actions, than that he refrains from disgraceful ones. It is obvious that the effect consequent upon giving is that a man does a kindness to another, and is thus an instrument for noble deeds; whereas the effect consequent upon his receiving is that he is himself the recipient of favours, or at most that he takes no unfair advantage.

2. Thanks are accorded to one who makes a gift, not to one who abstains from unlawful gains; and of course praise is greater in proportion.

3. It is easier to abstain from taking than it is to give: men are far less disposed to give away what is their own than to forbear taking what is another's.

4. Again, it is only those who give who have the name of 'charitable: those who forbear taking are not praised on the score of their charitableness, but, if at all, with special reference to their justice; while those who simply receive what is their due are absolutely not praised at all.

5. Again, charitable men are, as a rule, more personally beloved than any other class who are esteemed for their own worth, inasmuch as they are serviceable to their fellows; but their service depends upon the gifts they make.

Now the use of money is nothing else whatever but spending and giving. The receiving and saving of money seems to be not use but possession. Consequently the charitable man is more concerned with the expenditure of money than with the acquisition of it; and it is of more importance for him to know in what manner he ought to spend, and with what motives and upon what persons, than it is for him to know in what manner he ought to receive, and with what aims and from what class of persons. In fact the charitable man is concerned, as has been shown, with the use of wealth; and use consists in giving rather than in receiving.

1. It seems to be a much greater merit to do a kindness than to receive one, to perform noble acts than to abstain from vicious ones; and in the case of giving there is involved at once a kindness done to another and a noble deed performed by one's self; whereas, in receiving, there lies only the having a