OF MODERATION As if we had an infectious touch, we, by our manner of handling, corrupt things that in themselves are laudable and good: we may grasp virtue so that it becomes vicious, if we embrace it too stringently and with too violent a desire.

Those who say, there is never any excess in virtue, forasmuch as it is not virtue when it once becomes excess, only play upon words: "Insani sapiens nomen ferat, aequus iniqui, Ultra quam satis est, virtutem si petat ipsam." ["Let the wise man bear the name of a madman, the just one of an unjust, if he seek wisdom more than is sufficient." -- Horace, Ep., i.

6, 15.] ["The wise man is no longer wise, the just man no longer just, if he seek to carry his love for wisdom or virtue beyond that which is necessary."] This is a subtle consideration of philosophy.

A man may both be too much in love with virtue, and be excessive in a just action.

Holy Writ agrees with this, Be not wiser than you should, but be soberly wise .-- [St.
Paul, Epistle to the Romans, xii.