32
VIRTUE AND
VICE: There are in this world people who claim to be virtuous by avoiding vice,
a strange breed if ever there was one, but a breed which can be found in
virtually every country on earth.
To be sure, there are often among their
number many virtuous men, but that is only because the men in question are not
ashamed to indulge in certain vices which they mistakenly describe as
virtues. Indeed, when it comes to
theorizing, they know only too well how to condemn vice as they understand it,
which, in a world where one man's meat is often another man's poison, is hardly
surprising!
But it is not enough, my virtuous friends,
to condemn the vices of other types of people, and thereupon imagine that one
has condemned vice altogether, when one is still apparently virtuous enough to
possess certain personal vices, and to find these vices so acceptable that they
conveniently pass for virtues. For the
virtues of these rather priggish individuals exist by dint of the vices of the
other types, whereas, in reality, it is only by dint of their own vices that
they have any virtues at all.
It is ignorance of the exact nature of
their personal vices which has gradually led them to see virtue in terms of
condemning the vices, or assumed vices, of other types of people. But this is a very limited view and, if I may
be so bold as to say, one which ultimately does a grave disservice to the
concept of virtue! For virtues are
seldom found in a person without any vices.
However that may be, let us do what we can
to cultivate our vices, you virtuous men, and see to it that the relationship between
virtue and vice is maintained, in the honourable name of our most esteemed
virtues, the continuous prevalence of which more than adequately attests to a
well-balanced partnership!
As, however, for those 'hypocrites of
virtue' (though some of them are less hypocritical than simply deluded), I
don't specifically intend to deprive them of the pleasure they evidently obtain
from the vice of condemning other people's vices, but I should certainly feel
that some progress had been made if they subsequently came to inquire a little
more thoroughly into the nature and extent of their own vices, in
order to safeguard their virtues all the more!
So beware, you virtuous men, those lopsided
creatures who would have you remove your vices in the interests of your
virtues, believing that a man can be virtuous without the assistance of vice!
See to it that you are not led astray by
such men. For it is not your fate to
become fragmented, but to remain whole!
