Aesthetica

Figurarum augentium agmen claudat exclamatio, non ea tantum, qua talia cogitantur, quae eloquenter legendo cum aliqua vocis intensione proferenda sunt, propter magnitudinem, sed et illa, quae cryptice designat, non sine admiratione talia menti nostrae obversari, quae iam cogitamus. Quoniam enim parva ac proletaria non solent in admirationem sui rapere, denotatur eo ipso, quod pulcre cogitantem subit mirari, magnum aliquid esse, quod animo voluit. Quando legis apud Terentium:

Let exclamation close the line of augmenting figures: not only that by which such things are thought as must, when read eloquently, be uttered with some intensity of voice because of their magnitude, but also that which cryptically designates that such things as we are now thinking present themselves to our mind not without admiration. For since small and common things are not accustomed to seize one into admiration of themselves, by the very fact that wonder comes upon the one thinking beautifully it is indicated that the thing which he has intended in mind is something great. When you read in Terence:

Ad. V, 3. nonne comice saltim magna exspectas, quae resciverit clamans? Eiusdem scriptoris in Andria Pamphilus ita quasi genesin paullo post futurae exclamationis describit:

Adelphoe V.3, do you not at least comically expect great things that the crying speaker has learned? In the same author's Andria, Pamphilus describes, as it were, the genesis of an exclamation soon to come:

V. 4. Iamque non parva laetari videbitur post pauca concludens:

V.4. And now he will seem to rejoice at no small things when, a little later, he concludes:

Figurarum augentium agmen claudat exclamatio, non ea tantum, qua talia cogitantur, quae eloquenter legendo cum aliqua vocis intensione proferenda sunt, propter magnitudinem, sed et illa, quae cryptice designat, non sine admiratione talia menti nostrae obversari, quae iam cogitamus.

Let exclamation close the line of augmenting figures: not only that by which such things are thought as must, when read eloquently, be uttered with some intensity of voice because of their magnitude, but also that which cryptically designates that such things as we are now thinking present themselves to our mind not without admiration.

Quoniam enim parva ac proletaria non solent in admirationem sui rapere, denotatur eo ipso, quod pulcre cogitantem subit mirari, magnum aliquid esse, quod animo voluit.

For since small and common things are not accustomed to seize one into admiration of themselves, by the very fact that wonder comes upon the one thinking beautifully it is indicated that the thing which he has intended in mind is something great.

Quando legis apud Terentium:

When you read in Terence:

Ad. V, 3. nonne comice saltim magna exspectas, quae resciverit clamans?

Adelphoe V.3, do you not at least comically expect great things that the crying speaker has learned?

Eiusdem scriptoris in Andria Pamphilus ita quasi genesin paullo post futurae exclamationis describit:

In the same author's Andria, Pamphilus describes, as it were, the genesis of an exclamation soon to come:

V. 4. Iamque non parva laetari videbitur post pauca concludens:

V.4. And now he will seem to rejoice at no small things when, a little later, he concludes:

Quanta quanta sit in materiis aesthetica magnitudo, neque tamen illam assequatur, nisi subiectivae simul magnitudinis capax, quam magnanimitatem et gravitatem aestheticam diximus, § 189. Haec erit absoluta magnitudo ingenii et pectoris, § 45, sed non connata solum, verum etiam innutrita exercitiis, usu, § 51, ac disciplina, § 63, non ea mortua, sed plenis appetitionibus eliciendis sufficiens, quantam omnia magnitudinem, hinc et dignitatem, absolutam aestheticam habitura pulcre cogitanda requirunt, § 178.

However great aesthetic magnitude may be in the materials, it nevertheless does not attain it unless it is at the same time capable of subjective magnitude, which we have called magnanimity and aesthetic gravity, § 189. This will be an absolute magnitude of talent and heart, § 45, but not only one born with us; rather, also one nourished by exercises, practice, § 51, and discipline, § 63; not that dead kind, but one sufficient for eliciting full appetitions, as much magnitude, and hence dignity, as all things to be thought beautifully, if they are to have absolute aesthetic magnitude, require, § 178.

Quanta quanta sit in materiis aesthetica magnitudo, neque tamen illam assequatur, nisi subiectivae simul magnitudinis capax, quam magnanimitatem et gravitatem aestheticam diximus, § 189. Haec erit absoluta magnitudo ingenii et pectoris, § 45, sed non connata solum, verum etiam innutrita exercitiis, usu, § 51, ac disciplina, § 63, non ea mortua, sed plenis appetitionibus eliciendis sufficiens, quantam omnia magnitudinem, hinc et dignitatem, absolutam aestheticam habitura pulcre cogitanda requirunt, § 178.

However great aesthetic magnitude may be in the materials, it nevertheless does not attain it unless it is at the same time capable of subjective magnitude, which we have called magnanimity and aesthetic gravity, § 189. This will be an absolute magnitude of talent and heart, § 45, but not only one born with us; rather, also one nourished by exercises, practice, § 51, and discipline, § 63; not that dead kind, but one sufficient for eliciting full appetitions, as much magnitude, and hence dignity, as all things to be thought beautifully, if they are to have absolute aesthetic magnitude, require, § 178.

Quando itaque nunc in omni pulcre cogitaturo magnum animum poscimus, non sedet animo Ciceronis illa notio, quae forsan in ipso severioris horizonte rationis ac purioris exaggerata nimium ac iusto augustior probari posset, ubi Quaest. Tusc. IV, 61:

When, therefore, we now require a great mind in everyone who is about to think beautifully, that notion of Cicero does not sit in our mind, which perhaps could be approved within the very horizon of a stricter and purer reason, though exaggerated too much and more august than is right, where in Tusculan Questions IV.61 he says:

Catone maioris comitatis et humanitatis erimus heic contenti, modo possit ac velit absolute magna sectari, abstinere ab ineptiis, vilibus, ac humillimis, §§ 191, 195.

Here we shall be content with a Cato of greater affability and humanity, provided that he can and will pursue things absolutely great and abstain from silly, vile, and very low things, §§ 191, 195.

Quando itaque nunc in omni pulcre cogitaturo magnum animum poscimus, non sedet animo Ciceronis illa notio, quae forsan in ipso severioris horizonte rationis ac purioris exaggerata nimium ac iusto augustior probari posset, ubi Quaest. Tusc. IV, 61:

When, therefore, we now require a great mind in everyone who is about to think beautifully, that notion of Cicero does not sit in our mind, which perhaps could be approved within the very horizon of a stricter and purer reason, though exaggerated too much and more august than is right, where in Tusculan Questions IV.61 he says:

Catone maioris comitatis et humanitatis erimus heic contenti, modo possit ac velit absolute magna sectari, abstinere ab ineptiis, vilibus, ac humillimis, §§ 191, 195.

Here we shall be content with a Cato of greater affability and humanity, provided that he can and will pursue things absolutely great and abstain from silly, vile, and very low things, §§ 191, 195.

Neque quaerimus in pulcre cogitaturo quovis virum probata sic pietate gravem ac meritis venerabilem, ut vel solo nutu silentium tumultuantibus imponere valeat, multo minus hominem qui fronte gravi tristique supercilio suas opiniones aliis contumaciter obtrudat, minime omnium unum ex iis, qui

Nor do we seek, in just anyone about to think beautifully, a man so venerable by tested "piety, grave and worthy by merits," that he can impose silence on tumultuous people by a nod alone; much less a human being who, "with grave brow and sad eyebrow," stubbornly thrusts his opinions upon others; least of all one of those who

Nobis sufficit animus absolute magnorum, adeoque dignorum etiam, et potens et constanter avidus, seduloque cauturus, quae iam reprehendit Lucilius,

For us a mind of absolutely great things, and therefore also of dignified things, is enough: a mind both able and constantly eager, and one that will diligently guard against what Lucilius already reproved,

Neque quaerimus in pulcre cogitaturo quovis virum probata sic pietate gravem ac meritis venerabilem, ut vel solo nutu silentium tumultuantibus imponere valeat, multo minus hominem qui fronte gravi tristique supercilio suas opiniones aliis contumaciter obtrudat, minime omnium unum ex iis, qui

Nor do we seek, in just anyone about to think beautifully, a man so venerable by tested "piety, grave and worthy by merits," that he can impose silence on tumultuous people by a nod alone; much less a human being who, "with grave brow and sad eyebrow," stubbornly thrusts his opinions upon others; least of all one of those who

Nobis sufficit animus absolute magnorum, adeoque dignorum etiam, et potens et constanter avidus, seduloque cauturus, quae iam reprehendit Lucilius,

For us a mind of absolutely great things, and therefore also of dignified things, is enough: a mind both able and constantly eager, and one that will diligently guard against what Lucilius already reproved,

Hanc ingenii pectorisque magnitudinem et potentialem optamus, partem characteris generalis in felici aesthetico, S. II–VI, et tunc, quando ad pulcre cogitandum accedit, actualem, qua non alio solum tempore forsan et aliis occasionibus, sed et nunc, et ea ratione, qua iam res eget, possit, non velit solum antecedenter incompletis ex solicitationibus, sed etiam efficienter decernat, magna absolute, hinc et digna, quibus nihil insit pusilli, nihil humilis et abiecti, mente, praecordiisque concipere. Regnet in eiusdem persona, quam Cicero describit de Inv. II, 166, dignitas (subiectiva),

We desire this magnitude of talent and heart both as potential, a part of the general character in the happy aesthetician, Sects. II–VI, and then, when he approaches beautiful thinking, as actual: by it he can, not only at some other time perhaps and on other occasions, but also now, and in that manner which the present matter requires; he not only wills from antecedently incomplete solicitations, but also efficiently resolves, to conceive in mind and in the heart things absolutely great, and hence worthy, in which there is nothing petty, nothing low and abject. Let there reign in the same person's person the dignity, subjective dignity, which Cicero describes in De inventione II.166:

Hanc ingenii pectorisque magnitudinem et potentialem optamus, partem characteris generalis in felici aesthetico, S. II–VI, et tunc, quando ad pulcre cogitandum accedit, actualem, qua non alio solum tempore forsan et aliis occasionibus, sed et nunc, et ea ratione, qua iam res eget, possit, non velit solum antecedenter incompletis ex solicitationibus, sed etiam efficienter decernat, magna absolute, hinc et digna, quibus nihil insit pusilli, nihil humilis et abiecti, mente, praecordiisque concipere.

We desire this magnitude of talent and heart both as potential, a part of the general character in the happy aesthetician, Sects. II–VI, and then, when he approaches beautiful thinking, as actual: by it he can, not only at some other time perhaps and on other occasions, but also now, and in that manner which the present matter requires; he not only wills from antecedently incomplete solicitations, but also efficiently resolves, to conceive in mind and in the heart things absolutely great, and hence worthy, in which there is nothing petty, nothing low and abject.

Regnet in eiusdem persona, quam Cicero describit de Inv. II, 166, dignitas (subiectiva),

Let there reign in the same person's person the dignity, subjective dignity, which Cicero describes in De inventione II.166:

Si quibus pulcre cogitaturis actualis deest absoluta magnitudo animi, dignitasque personae, quam huc usque vidimus, sunt illi PULCELLI LEVICULIQUE MICROLOGI. (leptologi.)

If any persons about to think beautifully lack the actual absolute magnitude of mind and the dignity of person which we have seen up to this point, they are those pretty little, light little micrologists, or leptologi.

magnum alias poetam Lucretium ibi lege, ubi L. III. rem unam ex maximis et gravissimis hoc elevat exordio:

read Lucretius, otherwise a great poet, in the place where in Book III he lowers one of the greatest and gravest matters with this opening:

e.c. Huius vitii scopulus vix evitabitur, non solum infra horizontem aestheticum posita sibi themata legentibus, sed etiam supra eundem constituta, quoties haec nihilominus cum festiva quadam urbanitate non sine salibus ac iocis exponere laborant. §§ 120, 121.

etc. The rock of this fault will scarcely be avoided, not only by those choosing for themselves themes placed below the aesthetic horizon, but also by those choosing themes set above that horizon, whenever they nevertheless work to set these forth with a certain festive urbanity, not without witticisms and jokes, §§ 120, 121.

Si quibus pulcre cogitaturis actualis deest absoluta magnitudo animi, dignitasque personae, quam huc usque vidimus, sunt illi PULCELLI LEVICULIQUE MICROLOGI. (leptologi.)

If any persons about to think beautifully lack the actual absolute magnitude of mind and the dignity of person which we have seen up to this point, they are those pretty little, light little micrologists, or leptologi.

magnum alias poetam Lucretium ibi lege, ubi L. III. rem unam ex maximis et gravissimis hoc elevat exordio:

read Lucretius, otherwise a great poet, in the place where in Book III he lowers one of the greatest and gravest matters with this opening:

e.c. Huius vitii scopulus vix evitabitur, non solum infra horizontem aestheticum posita sibi themata legentibus, sed etiam supra eundem constituta, quoties haec nihilominus cum festiva quadam urbanitate non sine salibus ac iocis exponere laborant. §§ 120, 121.

etc. The rock of this fault will scarcely be avoided, not only by those choosing for themselves themes placed below the aesthetic horizon, but also by those choosing themes set above that horizon, whenever they nevertheless work to set these forth with a certain festive urbanity, not without witticisms and jokes, §§ 120, 121.

Interim non nisi absolutam levitatem in omni pulcre cogitaturo culpari volo. §§ 355, 356. Potest aliquando pectus ingeniumque sane magnum, quantum Virgilii, Incolumi gravitate iocum tentare, potest idem ferri in comparative minus magna et digna, quae tamen absolute sint, §§ 198, 201. hinc ab ipso auctore dicantur levia secundum § 179 interpretando. Huc exordium mellificii, Georg. IV, 4:

Meanwhile I wish only absolute levity to be blamed in everyone who is about to think beautifully, §§ 355, 356. Sometimes a heart and talent truly great, as great as Virgil's, can "attempt a joke with gravity unharmed"; the same can be carried into things comparatively less great and worthy, which nevertheless are absolute, §§ 198, 201. Hence they may be called light by the author himself, when interpreted according to § 179. To this belongs the exordium of the honey-making, Georgics IV.4:

Interim non nisi absolutam levitatem in omni pulcre cogitaturo culpari volo. §§ 355, 356. Potest aliquando pectus ingeniumque sane magnum, quantum Virgilii, Incolumi gravitate iocum tentare, potest idem ferri in comparative minus magna et digna, quae tamen absolute sint, §§ 198, 201. hinc ab ipso auctore dicantur levia secundum § 179 interpretando. Huc exordium mellificii, Georg. IV, 4:

Meanwhile I wish only absolute levity to be blamed in everyone who is about to think beautifully, §§ 355, 356. Sometimes a heart and talent truly great, as great as Virgil's, can "attempt a joke with gravity unharmed"; the same can be carried into things comparatively less great and worthy, which nevertheless are absolute, §§ 198, 201. Hence they may be called light by the author himself, when interpreted according to § 179. To this belongs the exordium of the honey-making, Georgics IV.4:

In medio relinquamus, nunc aesthetici, statum animi in Demosthene, quem damnat Cicero, in quaest. tusc. V, 103, iam non populari quadam trutina, sed aurificis statera examinaturus, quae probet, § 250. quando:

Let us leave in the middle, now as aestheticians, the state of mind in Demosthenes which Cicero condemns in Tusculan Questions V.103, since he is now going to examine it not by a certain popular balance, but by the scales of a goldsmith, which would test it, § 250, when he says:

In medio relinquamus, nunc aesthetici, statum animi in Demosthene, quem damnat Cicero, in quaest. tusc. V, 103, iam non populari quadam trutina, sed aurificis statera examinaturus, quae probet, § 250. quando:

Let us leave in the middle, now as aestheticians, the state of mind in Demosthenes which Cicero condemns in Tusculan Questions V.103, since he is now going to examine it not by a certain popular balance, but by the scales of a goldsmith, which would test it, § 250, when he says:

Pulcelli habitualiter micrologi, leviculique minutiarum sectatores sint illi PYGMAEI HELICONIS, Parnassiique reptilia. Parvulas in his animulas natura tales, numarios poetastros, et hoc genus omne, ridentes suo abundare ingenio iubeamus, hilaresque eo ablegemus ad suas imagines,

Let those pretty little habitual micrologists and light little pursuers of minutiae be those pygmies of Helicon and creeping things of Parnassus. Let us laughingly bid the little souls in them, such by nature, the money-making poetlings, and all this kind to abound in their own talent, and cheerfully send them off to their own images,

Uni illi dolent, honestamque merentur misericordiam, quos iniuriae temporum, barbariesque locorum, in quibus vixerunt, saporque depravatus aequalium, vel honoratissimorum, eo compulit, ut animarum sic satis magnarum frivole prodigi vel in nugis ac ineptiis, vel omnino humillimis turpitudinibus, otium tererent, aut conspurcato pectore simul ingenium deturparent.

Those alone grieve and deserve honorable pity whom the injuries of the times, the barbarism of the places in which they lived, and the depraved taste of contemporaries, even of the most honored, drove to this point: that, being thus frivolously prodigal of souls sufficiently great, they wasted leisure either in trifles and ineptitudes, or in utterly lowest disgraces, or, with the heart befouled, at the same time disfigured their talent.

Pulcelli habitualiter micrologi, leviculique minutiarum sectatores sint illi PYGMAEI HELICONIS, Parnassiique reptilia.

Let those pretty little habitual micrologists and light little pursuers of minutiae be those pygmies of Helicon and creeping things of Parnassus.

Parvulas in his animulas natura tales, numarios poetastros, et hoc genus omne, ridentes suo abundare ingenio iubeamus, hilaresque eo ablegemus ad suas imagines,

Let us laughingly bid the little souls in them, such by nature, the money-making poetlings, and all this kind to abound in their own talent, and cheerfully send them off to their own images,

Uni illi dolent, honestamque merentur misericordiam, quos iniuriae temporum, barbariesque locorum, in quibus vixerunt, saporque depravatus aequalium, vel honoratissimorum, eo compulit, ut animarum sic satis magnarum frivole prodigi vel in nugis ac ineptiis, vel omnino humillimis turpitudinibus, otium tererent, aut conspurcato pectore simul ingenium deturparent.

Those alone grieve and deserve honorable pity whom the injuries of the times, the barbarism of the places in which they lived, and the depraved taste of contemporaries, even of the most honored, drove to this point: that, being thus frivolously prodigal of souls sufficiently great, they wasted leisure either in trifles and ineptitudes, or in utterly lowest disgraces, or, with the heart befouled, at the same time disfigured their talent.

Absolutam, quam huc usque consideravimus, animi, ingenii pectorisque magnitudinem, praesertim eam, quae nonnunquam etiam comparative maximis proportionate tamen pingendis, sine dedecore, pulcre sufficiat, probe contemplanti patebit moralis illa necessitas et pulcrae eruditionis, et morum laudabilium in felici aesthetico, quae nonnunquam doctores artis insigniter pulcrae eo abripuit, ut generatim loquendo regulam constituerent, quae iusto durior aliis est visa, iustoque latior.

To one contemplating well the absolute magnitude of mind, talent, and heart which we have considered up to this point, especially that magnitude which sometimes beautifully suffices, without disgrace, for painting even things comparatively greatest in a proportionate way, that moral necessity will be evident: both of beautiful erudition and of praiseworthy morals in the happy aesthetician, which has sometimes carried away the teachers of an especially beautiful art to such a point that, speaking generally, they established a rule which has seemed to others too harsh and too broad.

Absolutam, quam huc usque consideravimus, animi, ingenii pectorisque magnitudinem, praesertim eam, quae nonnunquam etiam comparative maximis proportionate tamen pingendis, sine dedecore, pulcre sufficiat, probe contemplanti patebit moralis illa necessitas et pulcrae eruditionis, et morum laudabilium in felici aesthetico, quae nonnunquam doctores artis insigniter pulcrae eo abripuit, ut generatim loquendo regulam constituerent, quae iusto durior aliis est visa, iustoque latior.

To one contemplating well the absolute magnitude of mind, talent, and heart which we have considered up to this point, especially that magnitude which sometimes beautifully suffices, without disgrace, for painting even things comparatively greatest in a proportionate way, that moral necessity will be evident: both of beautiful erudition and of praiseworthy morals in the happy aesthetician, which has sometimes carried away the teachers of an especially beautiful art to such a point that, speaking generally, they established a rule which has seemed to others too harsh and too broad.

Conceditur Horatii lex: A.P. 309.

Horace's law is granted, Ars poetica 309:

Quando autem contextum et sequentia conferentes sapere heic interpretamur philosophiae practicae practice peritum esse: tum, multis iusto plura postulasse videbimur. Pari in culpa censetur esse Cicero, qui id ponit in primis,

But when, comparing the context and what follows, we interpret to be wise here as being practically skilled in practical philosophy, then we shall seem to many to have demanded more than is right. Cicero is judged to be in the same fault, since he puts this first:

seque fatetur oratorem, si modo sit, non ex rhetorum officinis, sed ex academiae spatiis exstitisse, tandem oratorem describit virum bonum dicendi peritum. Nec Quintilianus notam effugiet, qui adhuc expressius:

and he admits that the orator, if indeed there is one, has arisen not from the workshops of rhetoricians, but from the spaces of the Academy; finally, he describes the orator as a good man skilled in speaking. Nor will Quintilian escape the mark, since he says still more expressly:

Conceditur Horatii lex: A.P. 309.

Horace's law is granted, Ars poetica 309:

Quando autem contextum et sequentia conferentes sapere heic interpretamur philosophiae practicae practice peritum esse: tum, multis iusto plura postulasse videbimur.

But when, comparing the context and what follows, we interpret to be wise here as being practically skilled in practical philosophy, then we shall seem to many to have demanded more than is right.

Pari in culpa censetur esse Cicero, qui id ponit in primis,

Cicero is judged to be in the same fault, since he puts this first:

seque fatetur oratorem, si modo sit, non ex rhetorum officinis, sed ex academiae spatiis exstitisse, tandem oratorem describit virum bonum dicendi peritum.

and he admits that the orator, if indeed there is one, has arisen not from the workshops of rhetoricians, but from the spaces of the Academy; finally, he describes the orator as a good man skilled in speaking.

Nec Quintilianus notam effugiet, qui adhuc expressius:

Nor will Quintilian escape the mark, since he says still more expressly:

Quid autem? Quemadmodum eruditio male simulatur coram eruditis: ita et boni mores coram moratioribus. Quam primum ibi non nihil supinae ignorantiae, hic inconditorum morum sub vulpe latentium pellucet: peracta res est, et ex iudicum maxime competentium sententia turpitudinem turpius tegens condemnaris. Quoniam itaque iam extra dubitationem positum est, nihil pudendae ignorantiae, nihil abiecti plebeiique debere phaenomenon fieri in pulcre cogitandis: primo quaeritur, an dissimulari satis apte possit animus utrinque laevus, deinde difficilius id saltim erit, quam aperto pectore talem et ingenio et moribus te sistere, qualis es, doctorum autem est regulas, quas possunt, facillimas praescribere; tandem, si detur aliquem, ingentem simulandi per habitum, posse virum bonum ita mentiri, ut ne minima quidem in eius cogitandi ratione transpareat mentis animique pravitas, quis vetat, eum virum bonum aesthetice verisimiliterque dicere, donec constet contrarium? §§ 15, 16, 211.

But what then? Just as learning is badly simulated before the learned, so too good morals are badly simulated before the more moral. As soon as in the former case something of supine ignorance, or in the latter something of unformed morals hidden under the fox, shines through, the matter is finished, and by the judgment of the most competent judges you are condemned as covering shame more shamefully. Since, therefore, it has now been placed beyond doubt that nothing of shameful ignorance, nothing abject and plebeian, ought to become a phenomenon in things thought beautifully, first it is asked whether a mind awkward on both sides can be concealed aptly enough; then at least this will be more difficult than, with open heart, presenting yourself in talent and morals as you are. But it belongs to teachers to prescribe the easiest rules they can; finally, if it is granted that someone, immense in the habit of simulating, can so lie as a good man that not even the least depravity of mind and soul shines through in his way of thinking, who forbids calling him a good man aesthetically and plausibly, until the contrary is established? §§ 15, 16, 211.

Quid autem?

But what then?

Quemadmodum eruditio male simulatur coram eruditis: ita et boni mores coram moratioribus.

Just as learning is badly simulated before the learned, so too good morals are badly simulated before the more moral.

Quam primum ibi non nihil supinae ignorantiae, hic inconditorum morum sub vulpe latentium pellucet: peracta res est, et ex iudicum maxime competentium sententia turpitudinem turpius tegens condemnaris.

As soon as in the former case something of supine ignorance, or in the latter something of unformed morals hidden under the fox, shines through, the matter is finished, and by the judgment of the most competent judges you are condemned as covering shame more shamefully.

Quoniam itaque iam extra dubitationem positum est, nihil pudendae ignorantiae, nihil abiecti plebeiique debere phaenomenon fieri in pulcre cogitandis: primo quaeritur, an dissimulari satis apte possit animus utrinque laevus, deinde difficilius id saltim erit, quam aperto pectore talem et ingenio et moribus te sistere, qualis es, doctorum autem est regulas, quas possunt, facillimas praescribere; tandem, si detur aliquem, ingentem simulandi per habitum, posse virum bonum ita mentiri, ut ne minima quidem in eius cogitandi ratione transpareat mentis animique pravitas, quis vetat, eum virum bonum aesthetice verisimiliterque dicere, donec constet contrarium? §§ 15, 16, 211.

Since, therefore, it has now been placed beyond doubt that nothing of shameful ignorance, nothing abject and plebeian, ought to become a phenomenon in things thought beautifully, first it is asked whether a mind awkward on both sides can be concealed aptly enough; then at least this will be more difficult than, with open heart, presenting yourself in talent and morals as you are. But it belongs to teachers to prescribe the easiest rules they can; finally, if it is granted that someone, immense in the habit of simulating, can so lie as a good man that not even the least depravity of mind and soul shines through in his way of thinking, who forbids calling him a good man aesthetically and plausibly, until the contrary is established? §§ 15, 16, 211.