It frequently happens that where the second line is sublime, the third, in which he meant to rise still higher, is perfect bombast.
Finally, Blair borrowed the saying from Longinus, a celebrated Greek critic and rhetorical writer, who, in a Treatise On the Sublime, uses the same expression, with this slight modification, that he makes the transition a gradual one, while Blair, Paine, and Napoleon make it but a step.[[35]]
Evil communications corrupt good manners.—1 Cor. xv. 33.
φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρησθ’ ὁμιλίαι κακαί.—Menander.
Bonos corrumpunt mores congressus mali.—Tertullian: Ad Uxorem.
He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.—Eccl. i. 18.
From ignorance our comfort flows,
The only wretched are the wise.—Prior.