The Essays of Montaigne — Volume 09 by Michel de Montaigne
page 50 of 67 (74%)
page 50 of 67 (74%)
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displeasure that afflicts us sleeping and waking with various tormenting
imaginations: "Quippe ubi se multi, per somnia saepe loquentes, Aut morbo delirantes, protraxe ferantur, Et celata diu in medium peccata dedisse." ["Surely where many, often talking in their sleep, or raving in disease, are said to have betrayed themselves, and to have given publicity to offences long concealed."--Lucretius, v. 1157.] Apollodorus dreamed that he saw himself flayed by the Scythians and afterwards boiled in a cauldron, and that his heart muttered these words "I am the cause of all these mischiefs that have befallen thee." Epicurus said that no hiding-hole could conceal the wicked, since they could never assure themselves of being hid whilst their conscience discovered them to themselves. "Prima est haec ultio, quod se Judice nemo nocens absohitur." ["Tis the first punishment of sin that no man absolves himself." or: "This is the highest revenge, that by its judgment no offender is absolved."--Juvenal, xiii. 2.] As an ill conscience fills us with fear, so a good one gives us greater confidence and assurance; and I can truly say that I have gone through several hazards with a more steady pace in consideration of the secret knowledge I had of my own will and the innocence of my intentions: |
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