man's memory; and virtue was never so beholding to human nature, as[1] it received his due at the second hand. Neither had the fame of Cicero, Seneca, Plinius Secundus[2] borne her age so well, if it had not been joined with some vanity in themselves; like unto varnish, that makes ceilings not only shine but last. But all this while, when I speak of vain-glory, I mean not of that property that Tacitus doth attribute to Mucianus;[3] Omnium, quæ dixerat feceratque, arte quâdam ostentator:[4] for that proceeds not of vanity but of natural magnanimity and discretion; and in some persons is not only comely, but gracious. For excusations,[5] cessions,[6] modesty itself well governed are but arts of ostentation. And amongst those arts there is none better than that which Plinius Secundus speaketh of, which is to be liberal of praise and commendation to others, in that wherein a man's self hath any perfection. For saith Pliny very wittily, In commending another you do yourself right; for he that you commend is either superior to you in that you commend, or inferior. If he be inferior, if he be to be commended, you much
- ↑ As. That.
- ↑ Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Pliny the Younger, 62–113 A.D., a Roman author. He was the nephew of the elder Pliny, the naturalist, and the friend of Trajan and Tacitus. His Epistles and a eulogy of Trajan have been preserved.
- ↑ Marcus Licinius Crassus Mucianus was a grandson of Licinius Crassus of the first triumvirate. He was consul in 66 A.D., governor of Syria, 67 A.D., and consul again in 70 and 72 A.D. He died in or before 77 A.D. The phrase is borrowed from Livy, XXVI. 19, who uses it of Scipio Africanus, "Fuit Scipio non veris tantum virtutibus mirabilis, sed arte quoque quadam ab juventa in ostentationem earum compositus."
- ↑ Tacitus's words are "omniumque quae diceret atque ageret arte quadam ostentator," and by a certain art a vaunter of all that he had said or done. Cornelii Taciti Historiarum Liber II. 80.
- ↑ Excusations. Excuses.
- ↑ Cessions. Concessions.
