Great men are under no illusion with respect to their superiority; they see it and know it, but they are none the less modest.  The more they have, the better they know what they lack.  They are less vain of their superiority over us than ashamed by the consciousness of their weakness, and among the good things they really possess, they are too wise to pride themselves on a gift which is none of their getting.  The good man may be proud of his virtue for it is his own, but what cause for pride has the man of intellect?  What has Racine done that he is not Pradon, and Boileau that he is not Cotin?

The circumstances with which we are concerned are quite different.  Let us keep to the common level.  I assumed that my pupil had neither surpassing genius nor a defective understanding.  I chose him of an ordinary mind to show what education could do for man.  Exceptions defy all rules.  If, therefore, as a result of my care, Emile prefers his way of living, seeing, and feeling to that of others, he is right; but if he thinks because of this that he is nobler and better born than they, he is wrong; he is deceiving himself; he must be undeceived, or rather let us prevent the mistake, lest it be too late to correct it.

Provided a man is not mad, he can be cured of any folly but vanity; there is no cure for this but experience, if indeed there is any cure for it at all; when it first appears we can at least prevent its further growth.  But do not on this account waste your breath on empty arguments to prove to the youth that he is like other men and subject to the same weaknesses.  Make him feel it or he will never know it.  This is another instance of an exception to my own rules; I must voluntarily expose my pupil to every accident which may convince him that he is no wiser than we.  The adventure with the conjurer will be repeated again and again in different ways; I shall let flatterers take advantage of him; if rash comrades draw him into some perilous adventure, I will let him run the risk; if he falls into the hands of sharpers at the card-table, I will abandon him to them as their dupe.[Footnote:  Moreover our pupil will be little tempted by this snare; he has so many amusements about him, he has never been bored in his life, and he scarcely knows the use of money.  As children have been led by these two motives, self-interest and vanity, rogues and courtesans use the same means to get hold of them later.  When you see their greediness encouraged by prizes and rewards, when you find their public performances at ten years old applauded at school or college, you see too how at twenty they will be induced to leave their purse in a gambling hell and their health in a worse place.  You may safely wager that the sharpest boy in the class will become the greatest gambler and debauchee.  Now the means which have not been employed in childhood have not the same effect in youth.  But we must bear in mind my constant plan and take the thing at its worst.  First I