20.—The constancy of the wise is only the talent of concealing the agitation of their hearts.
[Thus wisdom is only hypocrisy, says a commentator. This definition of constancy is a result of maxim 18.]
21.—Those who are condemned to death affect sometimes a constancy and contempt for death which is only the fear of facing it; so that one may say that this constancy and contempt are to their mind what the bandage is to their eyes.
[See this thought elaborated in maxim 504.]
22.—Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it.
23.—Few people know death, we only endure it, usually from determination, and even from stupidity and custom; and most men only die because they know not how to prevent dying.
24.—When great men permit themselves to be cast down by the continuance of misfortune, they show us that they were only sustained by ambition, and not by their mind; so that PLUS a great vanity, heroes are made like other men.
[Both these maxims have been rewritten and made conciser by the author; the variations are not worth quoting.]
25.—We need greater virtues to sustain good than evil fortune.
["Prosperity do{th} best discover vice, but adversity do{th} best discover virtue."—Lord Bacon, Essays{, (1625), "Of Adversity"}.]