A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10

part in this commerce, must not be reckoned. If this saint were in the

world, he would doubtless do good, but while he is not in the world, we have no reason to give him the name of virtuous: he will be good for himself, and not for us.

But, say you, if an hermit is gluttonous, drunken, given up to a secret debauch with himself, he is vicious; he is therefore virtuous, if he h...