E3DA5
Definition of an Emotion — Part III
Latin
Contemptus est rei alicujus imaginatio quæ mentem adeo parum tangit ut ipsa mens ex rei præsentia magis moveatur ad ea imaginandum quæ in ipsa re non sunt quam quæ in ipsa sunt. Vide scholium propositionis 52 hujus. Definitiones venerationis et dedignationis missas hic facio quia nulli quod sciam affectus ex his nomen trahunt.
English (Elwes 1883)
Contempt is the conception of anything which touches the mind so little, that its presence leads the mind to imagine those qualities which are not in it rather than such as are in it (cf. III. lii. note).
The definitions of veneration and scorn I here pass over, for I am not aware that any emotions are named after them.
Modern English
Contempt is the imagination of a thing that touches the mind so little that the thing's very presence leads the mind to imagine what is not in it rather than what is. See the scholium of E3P52 (E3P52S).
I omit here the definitions of veneration and disdain, since I know of no affects that take their names from these.