But, if that which he affirms of himself be attributable to the idea of man or animals in general, he will not be so greatly pleased: he will, on the contrary, feel pain, if he conceives that his own actions fall short when compared with those of others.

This pain (III.
xxviii.) he will endeavour to remove, by putting a wrong construction on the actions of his equals, or by, as far as he can, embellishing his own.
It is thus apparent that men are naturally prone to hatred and envy, which latter is fostered by their education.

For parents are accustomed to incite their children to virtue solely by the spur of honour and envy.

But, perhaps, some will scruple to assent to what I have said, because we not seldom admire men's virtues, and venerate their possessors.

In order to remove such doubts, I append the following corollary.
Corollary .-- No one envies the virtue of anyone who is not his equal.
Proof .-- Envy is a species of hatred (III.xxiv.