To many seemed superfluous—as, no cause
Could e'er for such exalted confidence[324]
Exist; so, none is now for fixed[325] despair:
The two extremes are equally disowned
By reason: if, with sharp recoil, from one
You have been driven far as its opposite,
Between them seek the point whereon to build
Sound expectations. So doth he advise[326]
Who shared at first the illusion; but was soon
Cast from the pedestal of pride by shocks