16
Cette clémence dont on fait une vertu se pratique tantôt par vanité, quelquefois par paresse, souvent par crainte, et presque toujours par tous les trois ensemble.
16.--This clemency of which they make a merit, arises oftentimes from
vanity, sometimes from idleness, oftentimes from fear, and almost always
from all three combined.
[La Rochefoucauld is content to paint the age in which he lived. Here
the clemency spoken of is nothing more than an expression of the policy
of Anne of Austria. Rochefoucauld had sacrificed all to her; even the
favour of Cardinal Richelieu, but when she became regent she bestowed
her favours upon those she hated; her friends were forgotten.--Aimé
Martin. The reader will hereby see that the age in which the writer
lived best interprets his maxims.]
17
La modération des personnes heureuses vient du calme que la bonne fortune donne à leur humeur.
17.--The moderation of those who are happy arises from the calm which
good fortune bestows upon their temper.
18
La modération est une crainte de tomber dans l'envie et dans le mépris que méritent ceux qui s'enivrent de leur bonheur; c'est une vaine ostentation de la force de notre esprit; et enfin la modération des hommes dans leur plus haute élévation est un désir de paraître plus grands que leur fortune.
18.--Moderation is caused by the fear of exciting the envy and contempt
which those merit who are intoxicated with their good fortune; it is a
vain display of our strength of mind, and in short the moderation of men
at their greatest height is only a desire to appear greater than their
fortune.
19
Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d'autrui.
19.--We have all sufficient strength to support the misfortunes of
others.
[The strongest example of this is the passage in Lucretius, lib. ii.,
line I:-- "Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis E terra magnum
alterius spectare laborem." ]
20
La constance des sages n'est que l'art de renfermer leur agitation dans le cœur.
20.--The constancy of the wise is only the talent of concealing the
agitation of their hearts.
[Thus wisdom is only hypocrisy, says a commentator. This definition of
constancy is a result of maxim 18.]
