§ 4. On Modesty

711. Modesty is taken in a twofold sense: 1. broadly, insofar as it moderates diverse passions in which some difficulty is found; and then it contains four species, namely, humility, studiousness, modesty of external movements, and modesty of attire. Modesty in this general sense is defined: "the virtue by which someone contains himself within the measure and limits of his state, talent, and fortune as regards both internal and external motions and the whole apparatus of his affairs."¹³⁹⁷ 2. In the strict sense modesty is a virtue inclining a man to preserve decorum in external things. We shall treat briefly the several species of modesty broadly taken.

¹³⁹⁷ Billuart, De temperantia diss. 7, a. 4.