Chapter XI

Chapter XI.—Truth and Custom.

“There is a certain great difference, O men of Greece, between truth and custom.  For truth is found when it is honestly sought; but custom, whatsoever be the character of the custom received, whether true or false, is strengthened by itself without the exercise of judgment; and he who has received it is neither pleased with it as being true, nor grieved with it as false.  For such an one has believed not by judgment, but by prejudice, resting his own hope on the opinion of those who have lived before him on a mere peradventure.  And it is not easy to cast off the ancestral garment, though it be shown to himself to be wholly foolish and ridiculous.