E4Cap13
Chapter — Part IV
Latin
Sed ad hæc ars et vigilantia requiritur. Sunt enim homines varii (nam rari sunt qui ex rationis præscripto vivunt) et tamen plerumque invidi et magis ad vindictam quam ad misericordiam proclives. Unumquemque igitur ex ipsius ingenio ferre et sese continere ne eorum affectus imitetur, singularis animi potentiæ opus est. At qui contra homines carpere et vitia potius exprobrare quam virtutes docere et hominum animos non firmare sed frangere norunt, ii et sibi et reliquis molesti sunt; unde multi præ nimia scilicet animi impatientia falsoque religionis studio inter bruta potius quam inter homines vivere maluerunt ut pueri vel adolescentes qui parentum jurgia æquo animo ferre nequeunt, militatum confugiunt et incommoda belli et imperium tyrannidis præ domesticis commodis et paternis admonitionibus eligunt et quidvis oneris sibi imponi patiuntur dummodo parentes ulciscantur.
English (Elwes 1883)
But for this there is need of skill and watchfulness. For men are diverse (seeing that those who live under the guidance of reason are few), yet are they generally envious and more prone to revenge than to sympathy. No small force of character is therefore required to take everyone as he is, and to restrain one's self from imitating the emotions of others. But those who carp at mankind, and are more skilled in railing at vice than in instilling virtue, and who break rather than strengthen men's dispositions, are hurtful both to themselves and others. Thus many from too great impatience of spirit, or from misguided religious zeal, have preferred to live among brutes rather than among men; as boys or youths, who cannot peaceably endure the chidings of their parents, will enlist as soldiers and choose the hardships of war and the despotic discipline in preference to the comforts of home and the admonitions of their father: suffering any burden to be put upon them, so long as they may spite their parents.
Modern English
But for this, skill and vigilance are needed. People vary — those who live by the guidance of reason are few — and are generally envious and more prone to revenge than to compassion. To bear with each person according to their own character, and to hold oneself back from imitating their affects, demands a singular strength of mind. Those who, by contrast, are skilled at finding fault with people and reproaching vices rather than teaching virtue, who know how to break minds rather than strengthen them — they are a burden to themselves and to others.
For this reason many, out of excessive impatience of spirit or misguided religious zeal, have preferred to live among brutes rather than among people. Like boys or adolescents who cannot endure their parents' reproaches calmly and run off to enlist — choosing the hardships of war and a tyrant's command over the comforts of home and a father's counsel — and who will bear any burden as long as they can spite their parents.