Ask my foot if their lauding and luring strains please it! Verily, to such measure and ticktack, it liketh neither to dance nor to stand still.

To small virtues would they fain lure and laud me; to the ticktack of small happiness would they fain persuade my foot.

I pass through this people and keep mine eyes open; they have become smaller , and ever become smaller:⁠— the reason thereof is their doctrine of happiness and virtue.

For they are moderate also in virtue⁠—because they want comfort. With comfort, however, moderate virtue only is compatible.

To be sure, they also learn in their way to stride on and stride forward: that, I call their hobbling .⁠—Thereby they become a hindrance to all who are in haste.