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.The man who eludes our most in-nocent questions, who gives no satisfaction to our most inoffensive inquiries, whoplainly wraps himself up in impenetrable obscurity, seems, as it were, to build awall about his breast.We run forward to get within it, with all the eagerness ofharmless curiosity; and feel ourselves all at once pushed back with the rudest andmost offensive violence.The man of reserve and concealment, though seldom a very amiable character,29is not disrespected or despised.He seems to feel coldly towards us, and we feelas coldly towards him.He is not much praised or beloved, but he is as little hatedor blamed.He very seldom, however, has occasion to repent of his caution, andis generally disposed rather to value himself upon the prudence of his reserve.Though his conduct, therefore, may have been very faulty, and sometimes evenVII.iv 310 The Theory of Moral Sentiments Adam Smithhurtful, he can very seldom be disposed to lay his case before the casuists, or tofancy that he has any occasion for their acquittal or approbation.It is not always so with the man, who, from false information, from inad-30vertency, from precipitancy and rashness, has involuntarily deceived.Though itshould be in a matter of little consequence, in telling a piece of common news,for example, if he is a real lover of truth, he is ashamed of his own carelessness,and never fails to embrace the first opportunity of making the fullest acknowledg-ments.If it is in a matter of some consequence, his contribution is still greater;and if any unlucky or fatal consequence has followed from his misinformation,he can scarce ever forgive himself.Though not guilty, he feels himself to be inthe highest degree, what the ancients called, piacular, and is anxious and eager tomake every sort of atonement in his power.Such a person might frequently be dis-posed to lay his case before the casuists, who have in general been very favourableto him, and though they have sometimes justly condemned him for rashness, theyhave universally acquitted him of the ignominy of falsehood.But the man who had the most frequent occasion to consult them, was the man31of equivocation and mental reservation, the man who seriously and deliberatelymeant to deceive, but who, at the same time, wished to flatter himself that he hadreally told the truth.With him they have dealt variously.When they approved verymuch of the motives of his deceit, they have sometimes acquitted him, though, todo them justice, they have in general and much more frequently condemned him.The chief subjects of the works of the casuists, therefore, were the conscien-32tious regard that is due to the rules of justice; how far we ought to respect thelife and property of our neighbour; the duty of restitution; the laws of chastityand modesty, and wherein consisted what, in their language, are called the sinsof concupiscence; the rules of veracity, and the obligation of oaths, promises, andcontracts of all kinds.It may be said in general of the works of the casuists that they attempted, to33no purpose, to direct by precise rules what it belongs to feeling and sentimentonly to judge of.How is it possible to ascertain by rules the exact point at which,in every case, a delicate sense of justice begins to run into a frivolous and weakscrupulosity of conscience? When it is that secrecy and reserve begin to grow intodissimulation? How far an agreeable irony may be carried, and at what precisepoint it begins to degenerate into a detestable lie? What is the highest pitch offreedom and ease of behaviour which can be regarded as graceful and becoming,and when it is that it first begins to run into a negligent and thoughtless licen-tiousness? With regard to all such matters, what would hold good in any one casewould scarce do so exactly in any other, and what constitutes the propriety andVII.iv 311 The Theory of Moral Sentiments Adam Smithhappiness of behaviour varies in every case with the smallest variety of situation.Books of casuistry, therefore, are generally as useless as they are commonly tire-some
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