[127]
Man's modesty has followed1
this careful contrivance of Nature's; all right-minded
people keep out of sight what Nature has hidden
and take pains to respond to Nature's demands as
privately as possible; and in the case of those parts
of the body which only serve Nature's needs, neither
the parts nor the functions are called by their real
names. To perform these functions—if only it be
done in private—is nothing immoral; but to speak
of them is indecent. And so neither public performance of those acts nor vulgar mention of them
is free from indecency.
[p. 131]
1 Modesty.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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