moderation which is usually recommended in virtuous practices:

Insani sapiens nomen ferat, aequus uniqui

Ultra quam satis est virtutem si petat ipsam. *

* Horace. [�Let the wise man bear the name of fool, and the just of unjust, if he pursue virtue herself beyond the proper bounds.�]

For otherwise it is absurd to imagine that one could be too wise or too virtuous. The emotion always belongs to the sensibility, no matter by what sort of object it may be excited. The true strength of virtue is the mind at rest, with a firm, deliberate resolution to bring its law into practice. That is the state of health in the moral life; on the contrary, the emotion, even when it is excited by the idea of the good, is a momentary