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But, just as I told you before, the fool sees his neighbor’s peccadillo and fails to see his own enormous crime.

Rectitude makes this statement in Part Two, section 66.1, when she is discussing the nature of greed and whether women have more of a propensity for avarice than men. Her words take on the nature of an aphorism and resemble a Biblical phrase or the moral to an allegorical tale. They are basically a means of restating the tenet “Judge not lest ye be judged” and show the degree to which the book is intended to instruct people in proper conduct. Rectitude’s observation emphasizes the heart of the critiques Christine makes throughout her work. Women would not be so maligned, she argues, if men were not so concerned with searching for and exaggerating their flaws. If men scrutinized their own failings, they could hardly match up to the shortcomings of others. Peccadillos are minor behavioral missteps or slight social mistakes. When compared to immoral or destructive acts, their importance is negligible. In making this statement, Rectitude is pinpointing the major source of the world’s conflicts and misrepresentations. Christian teachings, and Christine’s own ethic, teach acceptance and tolerance and stress individual improvement as opposed to severe criticism or self-inflation at another’s expense.

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