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12 ESSAYS OF MONTAIGNE

rough and uneven surfaces; and like cupping-glasses, too, which draw up and suck only bad blood.' I have determined to dare to say every thing that I dare to do, and I dislike thoughts even that are not fit to publish. The worst of my actions and conditions does not seem to me so vile as I find vile and cowardly the not daring to avow it. Every one is discreet in confession; one should be so in action; boldness in doing wrong is in some sort atoned for and held in check by boldness in confession. (¢) He who should oblige himself to tell every thing would oblige himself to do nothing about which we are forced to be silent. God grant that the excess of my free-speaking may lead our men toward liberty, rising above these dastardly and hypocritical virtues born of our imperfections, that at the expense of my extravagance I may lead them on even to the point of good sense! To tell of one’s vice, it must be seen and studied. They who conceal it from.others usually conceal it from themselves, and do not deem it sufficiently hidden if they see it; they withdraw it, and disguise it to their own consciousness. Quare vitia sua nemo confitetur? Quia etiam nunc in illis est; somnium nar- rare vigilantis est’ The ills of the body are revealed by growing worse; we find that what we call a cold or a sprain is gout. The ills of the soul are obscured by their strength; the most diseased man is least aware of them.’ It is because of this that they must often be brought to life with a pitiless hand, laid bare, and torn from the depths of our bosom. As in the matter of good deeds, so likewise in the matter of evil deeds, there is sometimes satisfaction in confession. Is there any repulsiveness in misdoing which dispenses us from con- fession? (4) It pains me to dissemble, so that I avoid taking another man’s secret into my keeping, not having the courage to disavow my knowledge; I can be silent about it, but deny it I can not without an effort and discomfort. To be very secret, one must be so by nature, not by obligation. It is little, in the service of princes, to be secret if one be not also

1 See Plutarch, Of the tranquillity of the mind.

  • Why is it that no one confesses his own faults? Because he is still

subject to them; it is only a waking man who can tell his dream. — Seneca, Epistle §3.

  • See [did,

Gor gle

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