It's shameful to hate someone you praise. But it's even more shameful to hate someone for something they should be pitied for.
It is shameful to hate him whom you praise: but how much more shameful is it to hate a man for something for which he deserves to be pitied?
Some people are bound to fight against us — not just because it's right, but because it's honorable. One defends his father, another his brother, another his country, another his friend. Yet we don't forgive them for doing what we would blame them for not doing. Strangely, we often admire the action but hate the person who did it. But a truly great and just man respects even his bravest enemies — especially those who stubbornly defend their freedom and country. He wishes he had such people as his own countrymen and soldiers.
Some men are bound to oppose us not only on the ground of justice, but of honour: one is defending his father, another his brother, another his country, another his friend: yet we do not forgive men for doing what we should blame them for not doing; nay, though one can hardly believe it, we often think well of an act, and ill of the man who did it. But, by Hercules, a great and just man looks with respect at the bravest of his enemies, and the most obstinate defender of his freedom and his country, and wishes that he had such a man for his own countryman and soldier.