ABSTRACT
It will be found, I believe, a pretty just Observation, that many more Vices and Follies arrive in the World through Excess than Neglect. Passion hurries ten beyond the Mark, for one whom Indolence holds short of it. As there never was a better Rule for the Conduct of human Life than what is convey’d in that excellent short Sentence-—Ne quid nimis,2 so there is none so seldom observed. No Character is oftner represented on the Stage of the World than that of Justice Overdo in the Nest of Fools;3 Men often become ridiculous or odious by over-acting even a laudable Part: For Virtue itself, by growing too exuberant, and (if I may be allowed a Metaphor) by running to Seed changes its very Nature, and becomes a most pernicious Weed of a most beautiful Flower.
