tutissimus ibis; omne mimium vertitur in vitium; est modus in rebus, etc., medium tenuere beati; virtus est medium vitiorum et utrinque reductum-[�You will go most safely in the middle� (Virgil); �Every excess develops into a vice�; �There is a mean in all things, etc.� (Horace); �Happy they who steadily pursue a middle course�; �Virtue is the mean between two vices and equally removed from either� (Horace).]-contain a poor sort of wisdom, which has no definite principles; for this mean between two extremes, who will assign it for me?

Avarice (as a vice) is not distinguished from frugality (as a virtue) by merely being the latter pushed too far; but has a quite different principle (maxim), namely placing the end of economy not in the enjoyment of one's means, but in the mere possession of them, renouncing enjoyment; just