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Nor would I have the reader think that what has
hitherto been said has been discoursed so much to blame as
to cure that vicious and infectious malady of loquaciousness.
For though we surmount and vanquish the vices of the mind
by judgment and exercise, yet must the judgment precede.
For no man will accustom himself to avoid and, as it were,
to extirpate out of his soul those vices, unless he first
abominate them. Nor can we ever detest those evil habits
of the mind as we ought to do, but when we rightly judge
by reason's light of the prejudice they do us, and the ignominy we sustain thereby. For example, we consider and
find that these profuse babblers, desirous of being beloved, are universally hated; while they study to gratify,
they become troublesome; while they seek to be admired,
they are derided. If they aim at profit, they lose all their
labor; in short, they injure their friends, advantage their
enemies, and undo themselves. And therefore the first
remedy and cure for this spreading malady will be this, to
reckon up all the shameful infamies and disasters that
attend it.
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 4.
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