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You may copy it, give it away or re-use + it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License <a href= + "#pglicense" class="tei tei-ref">included with this eBook</a> or + online at <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license" class= + "tei tei-xref">http://www.gutenberg.org/license</a></p> + </div> + <pre class="pre tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> +Title: History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne (Vol. 1 of + 2) + +Author: William Edward Hartpole Lecky + +Release Date: March 25, 2012 [Ebook #39273] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS FROM AUGUSTUS TO CHARLEMAGNE (VOL. 1 OF 2)*** +</pre> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"></div> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.73em"><span style= + "font-size: 173%">History of</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.73em"><span style= + "font-size: 173%">European Morals</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.44em"><span style= + "font-size: 144%">From Augustus to Charlemagne</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em"><span style= + "font-size: 120%">By</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.44em"><span style= + "font-size: 144%">William Edward Hartpole Lecky, M.A.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em"><span style= + "font-size: 120%">Ninth Edition</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em"><span style= + "font-size: 120%">In Two Volumes</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em"><span style= + "font-size: 120%">Vol. 1.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em">London</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em">Longmans, Green, And + Co.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em">1890</p> + </div> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Contents</span></h1> + + <ul class="tei tei-index tei-index-toc"> + <li><a href="#toc1">Advertisement To The Third Edition.</a></li> + + <li><a href="#toc3">Preface.</a></li> + + <li><a href="#toc5">Chapter I. The Natural History Of + Morals.</a></li> + + <li><a href="#toc7">Chapter II. The Pagan Empire.</a></li> + + <li><a href="#toc9">Chapter III. The Conversion Of Rome.</a></li> + + <li><a href="#toc11">Footnotes</a></li> + </ul> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-body" style= + "margin-bottom: 6.00em; margin-top: 6.00em"> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagev">[pg v]</span><a name="Pgv" id="Pgv" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="toc1" id="toc1"></a> <a name="pdf2" id="pdf2"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Advertisement To The Third + Edition.</span></h1> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I have availed + myself of the interval since the last edition, to subject this book + to a minute and careful revision, removing such inaccuracies as I + have been able myself to discover, as well as those which have been + brought under my notice by reviewers or correspondents. I must + especially acknowledge the great assistance I have derived in this + task from my German translator, Dr. H. Jolowicz—now, unhappily, no + more—one of the most conscientious and accurate scholars with whom I + have ever been in communication. In the controversial part of the + first chapter, which has given rise to a good deal of angry + discussion, four or five lines which stood in the former editions + have been omitted, and three or four short passages have been + inserted, elucidating or supporting positions which had been + misunderstood or contested.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">January + 1877.</span></span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagevii">[pg vii]</span><a name= + "Pgvii" id="Pgvii" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="toc3" id="toc3"></a> <a name="pdf4" id="pdf4"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Preface.</span></h1> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The questions with + which an historian of Morals is chiefly concerned are the changes + that have taken place in the moral standard and in the moral type. By + the first, I understand the degrees in which, in different ages, + recognised virtues have been enjoined and practised. By the second, I + understand the relative importance that in different ages has been + attached to different virtues. Thus, for example, a Roman of the age + of Pliny, an Englishman of the age of Henry VIII., and an Englishman + of our own day, would all agree in regarding humanity as a virtue, + and its opposite as a vice; but their judgments of the acts which are + compatible with a humane disposition would be widely different. A + humane man of the first period might derive a keen enjoyment from + those gladiatorial games, which an Englishman, even in the days of + the Tudors, would regard as atrociously barbarous; and this last + would, in his turn, acquiesce in many sport <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="pageviii">[pg viii]</span><a name="Pgviii" id="Pgviii" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> which would now be emphatically condemned. And + in addition to this change of standard, there is a continual change + in the order of precedence which is given to virtues. Patriotism, + chastity, charity, and humility are examples of virtues, each of + which has in some ages been brought forward as of the most supreme + and transcendent importance, and the very basis of a virtuous + character, and in other ages been thrown into the background, and + reckoned among the minor graces of a noble life. The heroic virtues, + the amiable virtues, and what are called more especially the + religious virtues, form distinct groups, to which, in different + periods, different degrees of prominence have been assigned; and the + nature, causes, and consequences of these changes in the moral type + are among the most important branches of history.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In estimating, + however, the moral condition of an age, it is not sufficient to + examine the ideal of moralists. It is necessary also to enquire how + far that ideal has been realised among the people. The corruption of + a nation is often reflected in the indulgent and selfish ethics of + its teachers; but it sometimes produces a reaction, and impels the + moralist to an asceticism which is the extreme opposite of the + prevailing spirit of society. The means which moral teachers possess + of acting upon their fellows, vary greatly in their nature and + efficacy, and the age of the highest moral teaching is often not that + of the highest general <span class="tei tei-pb" id="pageix">[pg + ix]</span><a name="Pgix" id="Pgix" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> level + of practice. Sometimes we find a kind of aristocracy of virtue, + exhibiting the most refined excellence in their teaching and in their + actions, but exercising scarcely any appreciable influence upon the + mass of the community. Sometimes we find moralists of a much less + heroic order, whose influence has permeated every section of society. + In addition, therefore, to the type and standard of morals inculcated + by the teachers, an historian must investigate the realised morals of + the people.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The three + questions I have now briefly indicated are those which I have + especially regarded in examining the moral history of Europe between + Augustus and Charlemagne. As a preliminary to this enquiry, I have + discussed at some length the rival theories concerning the nature and + obligations of morals, and have also endeavoured to show what virtues + are especially appropriate to each successive stage of civilisation, + in order that we may afterwards ascertain to what extent the natural + evolution has been affected by special agencies. I have then followed + the moral history of the Pagan Empire, reviewing the Stoical, the + Eclectic, and the Egyptian philosophies, that in turn flourished, + showing in what respects they were the products or expressions of the + general condition of society, tracing their influence in many + departments of legislation and literature, and investigating the + causes of the deep-seated corruption which baffled all the efforts of + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagex">[pg x]</span><a name="Pgx" id= + "Pgx" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> emperors and philosophers. The + triumph of the Christian religion in Europe next demands our + attention. In treating this subject, I have endeavoured, for the most + part, to exclude all considerations of a purely theological or + controversial character, all discussions concerning the origin of the + faith in Palestine, and concerning the first type of its doctrine, + and to regard the Church simply as a moral agent, exercising its + influence in Europe. Confining myself within these limits, I have + examined the manner in which the circumstances of the Pagan Empire + impeded or assisted its growth, the nature of the opposition it had + to encounter, the transformations it underwent under the influence of + prosperity, of the ascetic enthusiasm, and of the barbarian + invasions, and the many ways in which it determined the moral + condition of society. The growing sense of the sanctity of human + life, the history of charity, the formation of the legends of the + hagiology, the effects of asceticism upon civic and domestic virtues, + the moral influence of monasteries, the ethics of the intellect, the + virtues and vices of the decaying Christian Empire and of the + barbarian kingdoms that replaced it, the gradual apotheosis of + secular rank, and the first stages of that military Christianity + which attained its climax at the Crusades, have been all discussed + with more or less detail; and I have concluded my work by reviewing + the changes that have taken place in the position of women, and in + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagexi">[pg xi]</span><a name="Pgxi" id= + "Pgxi" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the moral questions connected with + the relations of the sexes.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In investigating + these numerous subjects, it has occasionally, though rarely, happened + that my path has intersected that which I had pursued in a former + work, and in two or three instances I have not hesitated to repeat + facts to which I had there briefly referred. I have thought that such + a course was preferable to presenting the subject shorn of some + material incident, or to falling into what has always the appearance + of an unpleasing egotism, by appealing unnecessarily to my own + writings. Although the history of the period I have traced has never, + so far as I am aware, been written from exactly the point of view + which I have adopted, I have, of course, been for the most part + moving over familiar ground, which has been often and ably + investigated; and any originality that may be found in this work must + lie, not so much in the facts which have been exhumed, as in the + manner in which they have been grouped, and in the significance that + has been ascribed to them. I have endeavoured to acknowledge the more + important works from which I have derived assistance; and if I have + not always done so, I trust the reader will ascribe it to the great + multitude of the special histories relating to the subjects I have + treated, to my unwillingness to overload my pages with too numerous + references, and perhaps, in some cases, to the difficulty that all + who <span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagexii">[pg xii]</span><a name= + "Pgxii" id="Pgxii" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> have been much + occupied with a single department of history must sometimes have, in + distinguishing the ideas which have sprung from their own + reflections, from those which have been derived from books.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There is one + writer, however, whom I must especially mention, for his name occurs + continually in the following pages, and his memory has been more + frequently, and in these latter months more sadly, present to my mind + than any other. Brilliant and numerous as are the works of the late + Dean Milman, it was those only who had the great privilege of his + friendship, who could fully realise the amazing extent and variety of + his knowledge; the calm, luminous, and delicate judgment which he + carried into so many spheres; the inimitable grace and tact of his + conversation, coruscating with the happiest anecdotes, and the + brightest and yet the gentlest humour; and, what was perhaps more + remarkable than any single faculty, the admirable harmony and + symmetry of his mind and character, so free from all the + disproportion, and eccentricity, and exaggeration that sometimes make + even genius assume the form of a splendid disease. They can never + forget those yet higher attributes, which rendered him so unspeakably + reverend to all who knew him well—his fervent love of truth, his wide + tolerance, his large, generous, and masculine judgments <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="pagexiii">[pg xiii]</span><a name="Pgxiii" id= + "Pgxiii" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of men and things; his almost + instinctive perception of the good that is latent in each opposing + party, his disdain for the noisy triumphs and the fleeting popularity + of mere sectarian strife, the fond and touching affection with which + he dwelt upon the images of the past, combining, even in extreme old + age, with the keenest and most hopeful insight into the progressive + movements of his time, and with a rare power of winning the + confidence and reading the thoughts of the youngest about him. That + such a writer should have devoted himself to the department of + history, which more than any other has been distorted by ignorance, + puerility, and dishonesty, I conceive to be one of the happiest facts + in English literature, and (though sometimes diverging from his + views) in many parts of the following work I have largely availed + myself of his researches.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I cannot conceal + from myself that this book is likely to encounter much, and probably + angry, contradiction from different quarters and on different + grounds. It is strongly opposed to a school of moral philosophy which + is at present extremely influential in England; and, in addition to + the many faults that may be found in its execution, its very plan + must make it displeasing to many. Its subject necessarily includes + questions on which it is exceedingly difficult for an English writer + to touch, and the portion of <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "pagexiv">[pg xiv]</span><a name="Pgxiv" id="Pgxiv" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> history with which it is concerned has been + obscured by no common measure of misrepresentation and passion. I + have endeavoured to carry into it a judicial impartiality, and I + trust that the attempt, however imperfect, may not be wholly useless + to my readers.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">London</span></span>: <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">March + 1869</span></span>.</p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page001">[pg 001]</span><a name= + "Pg001" id="Pg001" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="toc5" id="toc5"></a> <a name="pdf6" id="pdf6"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Chapter I. The Natural History Of + Morals.</span></h1> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A brief enquiry + into the nature and foundations of morals appears an obvious, and, + indeed, almost an indispensable preliminary, to any examination of + the moral progress of Europe. Unfortunately, however, such an enquiry + is beset with serious difficulties, arising in part from the extreme + multiplicity of detail which systems of moral philosophy present, and + in part from a fundamental antagonism of principles, dividing them + into two opposing groups. The great controversy, springing from the + rival claims of intuition and utility to be regarded as the supreme + regulator of moral distinctions, may be dimly traced in the division + between Plato and Aristotle; it appeared more clearly in the division + between the Stoics and the Epicureans; but it has only acquired its + full distinctness of definition, and the importance of the questions + depending on it has only been fully appreciated, in modern times, + under the influence of such writers as Cudworth, Clarke, and Butler + upon the one side, and Hobbes, Helvétius, and Bentham on the + other.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page002">[pg + 002]</span><a name="Pg002" id="Pg002" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Independently of + the broad intellectual difficulties which must be encountered in + treating this question, there is a difficulty of a personal kind, + which it may be advisable at once to meet. There is a disposition in + some moralists to resent, as an imputation against their own + characters, any charge of immoral consequences that may be brought + against the principles they advocate. Now it is a peculiarity of this + controversy that every moralist is compelled, by the very nature of + the case, to bring such charges against the opinions of his + opponents. The business of a moral philosophy is to account for and + to justify our moral sentiments, or in other words, to show how we + come to have our notions of duty, and to supply us with a reason for + acting upon them. If it does this adequately, it is impregnable, and + therefore a moralist who repudiates one system is called upon to show + that, according to its principles, the notion of duty, or the motives + for performing it, could never have been generated. The Utilitarian + accuses his opponent of basing the entire system of morals on a + faculty that has no existence, of adopting a principle that would + make moral duty vary with the latitude and the epoch, of resolving + all ethics into an idle sentiment. The intuitive moralist, for + reasons I shall hereafter explain, believes that the Utilitarian + theory is profoundly immoral. But to suppose that either of these + charges extends to the character of the moralist is altogether to + misconceive the position which moral theories actually hold in life. + Our moral sentiments do not flow from, but long precede our ethical + systems; and it is usually only after our characters have been fully + formed that we begin to reason about them. It is both possible and + very common for the reasoning to be very defective, without any + corresponding imperfection in the disposition of the man.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The two rival + theories of morals are known by many names, and are subdivided into + many groups. One of them is generally described as the stoical, the + intuitive, the independent <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page003">[pg + 003]</span><a name="Pg003" id="Pg003" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> or + the sentimental; the other as the epicurean, the inductive, the + utilitarian, or the selfish. The moralists of the former school, to + state their opinions in the broadest form, believe that we have a + natural power of perceiving that some qualities, such as benevolence, + chastity, or veracity, are better than others, and that we ought to + cultivate them, and to repress their opposites. In other words, they + contend, that by the constitution of our nature, the notion of right + carries with it a feeling of obligation; that to say a course of + conduct is our duty, is in itself, and apart from all consequences, + an intelligible and sufficient reason for practising it; and that we + derive the first principles of our duties from intuition. The + moralist of the opposite school denies that we have any such natural + perception. He maintains that we have by nature absolutely no + knowledge of merit and demerit, of the comparative excellence of our + feelings and actions, and that we derive these notions solely from an + observation of the course of life which is conducive to human + happiness. That which makes actions good is, that they increase the + happiness or diminish the pains of mankind. That which constitutes + their demerit is their opposite tendency. To procure <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the greatest happiness for the greatest number,”</span> + is therefore the highest aim of the moralist, the supreme type and + expression of virtue.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is manifest, + however, that this last school, if it proceeded no further than I + have stated, would have failed to accomplish the task which every + moralist must undertake. It is easy to understand that experience may + show that certain actions are conducive to the happiness of mankind, + and that these actions may in consequence be regarded as supremely + excellent. The question still remains, why we are bound to perform + them. If men, who believe that virtuous actions are those which + experience shows to be useful to society, believe also that they are + under a natural obligation to seek the happiness of others, rather + than their <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page004">[pg + 004]</span><a name="Pg004" id="Pg004" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + own, when the two interests conflict, they have certainly no claim to + the title of inductive moralists. They recognise a moral faculty, or + natural sense of moral obligation or duty as truly as Butler or as + Cudworth. And, indeed, a position very similar to this has been + adopted by several intuitive moralists. Thus Hutcheson, who is the + very founder in modern times of the doctrine of <span class= + "tei tei-q">“a moral sense,”</span> and who has defended the + disinterested character of virtue more powerfully than perhaps any + other moralist, resolved all virtue into benevolence, or the pursuit + of the happiness of others; but he maintained that the excellence and + obligation of benevolence are revealed to us by a <span class= + "tei tei-q">“moral sense.”</span> Hume, in like manner, pronounced + utility to be the criterion and essential element of all virtue, and + is so far undoubtedly a Utilitarian; but he asserted also that our + pursuit of virtue is unselfish, and that it springs from a natural + feeling of approbation or disapprobation distinct from reason, and + produced by a peculiar sense, or taste, which rises up within us at + the contemplation of virtue or of vice.<a id="noteref_1" name= + "noteref_1" href="#note_1"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">1</span></span></a> A similar + doctrine has more recently been advocated by Mackintosh. <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page005">[pg 005]</span><a name="Pg005" id="Pg005" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> It is supposed by many that it is a + complete description of the Utilitarian system of morals, that it + judges all actions and dispositions by their consequences, + pronouncing them moral in proportion to their tendency to promote, + immoral in proportion to their tendency to diminish, the happiness of + man. But such a summary is clearly inadequate, for it deals only with + one of the two questions which every moralist must answer. A theory + of morals must explain not only what constitutes a duty, but also how + we obtain the notion of there being such a thing as duty. It must + tell us not merely what is the course of conduct we <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">ought</span></em> to + pursue, but also what is the meaning of this word <span class= + "tei tei-q">“ought,”</span> and from what source we derive the idea + it expresses.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Those who have + undertaken to prove that all our morality is a product of experience, + have not shrunk from this task, and have boldly entered upon the one + path that was open to them. The notion of there being any such + feeling as an original sense of obligation distinct from the + anticipation of pleasure or pain, they treat as a mere illusion of + the imagination. All that is meant by saying we ought to do an action + is, that if we do not do it, we shall suffer. A desire to obtain + happiness and to avoid pain is the only possible motive to action. + The reason, and the only reason, why we should perform virtuous + actions, or in other words, seek the good of others, is that on the + whole such a course will bring us the greatest amount of + happiness.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We have here then + a general statement of the doctrine which bases morals upon + experience. If we ask what constitutes virtuous, and what vicious + actions, we are told that the first are those which increase the + happiness or diminish the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page006">[pg + 006]</span><a name="Pg006" id="Pg006" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + pains of mankind; and the second are those which have the opposite + effect. If we ask what is the motive to virtue, we are told that it + is an enlightened self-interest. The words happiness, utility, and + interest include, however, many different kinds of enjoyment, and + have given rise to many different modifications of the theory.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Perhaps the lowest + and most repulsive form of this theory is that which was propounded + by Mandeville, in his <span class="tei tei-q">“Enquiry into the + Origin of Moral Virtue.”</span><a id="noteref_2" name="noteref_2" + href="#note_2"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">2</span></span></a> According + to this writer, virtue sprang in the first instance from the cunning + of rulers. These, in order to govern men, found it necessary to + persuade them that it was a noble thing to restrain, instead of + indulging their passions, and to devote themselves entirely to the + good of the community. The manner in which they attained this end was + by acting upon the feeling of vanity. They persuaded men that human + nature was something nobler than the nature of animals, and that + devotion to the community rendered a man pre-eminently great. By + statues, and titles, and honours; by continually extolling such men + as Regulus or Decius; by representing those who were addicted to + useless enjoyments as a low and despicable class, they at last so + inflamed the vanity of men as to kindle an intense emulation, and + inspire <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page007">[pg 007]</span><a name= + "Pg007" id="Pg007" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the most heroic + actions. And soon new influences came into play. Men who began by + restraining their passions, in order to acquire the pleasure of the + esteem of others, found that this restraint saved them from many + painful consequences that would have naturally ensued from + over-indulgence, and this discovery became a new motive to virtue. + Each member of the community moreover found that he himself derived + benefit from the self-sacrifice of others, and also that when he was + seeking his own interest, without regard to others, no persons stood + so much in his way as those who were similarly employed, and he had + thus a double reason for diffusing abroad the notion of the + excellence of self-sacrifice. The result of all this was that men + agreed to stigmatise under the term <span class= + "tei tei-q">“vice”</span> whatever was injurious, and to eulogise as + <span class="tei tei-q">“virtue”</span> whatever was beneficial to + society.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The opinions of + Mandeville attracted, when they were published, an attention greatly + beyond their intrinsic merit, but they are now sinking rapidly into + deserved oblivion. The author, in a poem called the <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Fable of the Bees,”</span> and in comments attached to + it, himself advocated a thesis altogether inconsistent with that I + have described, maintaining that <span class="tei tei-q">“private + vices were public benefits,”</span> and endeavouring, in a long + series of very feeble and sometimes very grotesque arguments, to + prove that vice was in the highest degree beneficial to mankind. A + far greater writer had however already framed a scheme of morals + which, if somewhat less repulsive, was in no degree less selfish than + that of Mandeville; and the opinions of Hobbes concerning the essence + and origin of virtue, have, with no very great variations, been + adopted by what may be termed the narrower school of + Utilitarians.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">According to these + writers we are governed exclusively by our own interest.<a id= + "noteref_3" name="noteref_3" href="#note_3"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">3</span></span></a> Pleasure, + they assure us, is the only <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page008">[pg + 008]</span><a name="Pg008" id="Pg008" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + good,<a id="noteref_4" name="noteref_4" href="#note_4"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">4</span></span></a> and moral + good and moral evil mean nothing more than our voluntary conformity + to a law that will bring it to us.<a id="noteref_5" name="noteref_5" + href="#note_5"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">5</span></span></a> To love + good simply as good, is impossible.<a id="noteref_6" name="noteref_6" + href="#note_6"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">6</span></span></a> When we + speak of the goodness of God, we mean only His goodness to + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page009">[pg 009]</span><a name="Pg009" + id="Pg009" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> us.<a id="noteref_7" name= + "noteref_7" href="#note_7"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">7</span></span></a> Reverence + is nothing more than our conviction, that one who has power to do us + both good and harm, will only do us good.<a id="noteref_8" name= + "noteref_8" href="#note_8"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">8</span></span></a> The + pleasures of piety arise from the belief that we are about to receive + pleasure, and the pains of piety from the belief that we are about to + suffer pain from the Deity.<a id="noteref_9" name="noteref_9" href= + "#note_9"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">9</span></span></a> Our very + affections, according to some of these writers, are all forms of + self-love. Thus charity springs partly from our desire to obtain the + esteem of others, partly from the expectation that the favours we + have bestowed will be reciprocated, and partly, too, from the + gratification of the sense of power, by the proof that we can satisfy + not only our own desires but also the desires of others.<a id= + "noteref_10" name="noteref_10" href="#note_10"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">10</span></span></a> Pity is + an emotion arising from a vivid realisation of sorrow that may befall + ourselves, suggested by the sight of the sorrows of others. We pity + especially those who have not <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page010">[pg 010]</span><a name="Pg010" id="Pg010" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> deserved calamity, because we consider + ourselves to belong to that category; and the spectacle of suffering + against which no forethought could provide, reminds us most forcibly + of what may happen to ourselves.<a id="noteref_11" name="noteref_11" + href="#note_11"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">11</span></span></a> + Friendship is the sense of the need of the person befriended.<a id= + "noteref_12" name="noteref_12" href="#note_12"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">12</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">From such a + conception of human nature it is easy to divine what system of morals + must flow. No character, feeling, or action is naturally better than + others, and as long as men are in a savage condition, morality has no + existence. Fortunately, however, we are all dependent for many of our + pleasures upon others. Co-operation and organisation are essential to + our happiness, and these are impossible without <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page011">[pg 011]</span><a name="Pg011" id="Pg011" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> some restraint being placed upon our + appetites. Laws are enacted to secure this restraint, and being + sustained by rewards and punishments, they make it the interest of + the individual to regard that of the community. According to Hobbes, + the disposition of man is so anarchical, and the importance of + restraining it so transcendent, that absolute government alone is + good; the commands of the sovereign are supreme, and must therefore + constitute the law of morals. The other moralists of the school, + though repudiating this notion, have given a very great and + distinguished place to legislation in their schemes of ethics; for + all our conduct being determined by our interests, virtue being + simply the conformity of our own interests with those of the + community, and a judicious legislation being the chief way of + securing this conformity, the functions of the moralist and of the + legislator are almost identical.<a id="noteref_13" name="noteref_13" + href="#note_13"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">13</span></span></a> But in + addition to the rewards and punishments of the penal code, those + arising from public opinion—fame or infamy, the friendship or + hostility of those about us—are enlisted on the side of virtue. The + educating influence of laws, and the growing perception of the + identity of interests of the different members of the community, + create a public opinion favourable to all the qualities which are + <span class="tei tei-q">“the means of peaceable, sociable, and + comfortable living.”</span><a id="noteref_14" name="noteref_14" href= + "#note_14"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">14</span></span></a> Such are + justice, gratitude, modesty, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page012">[pg 012]</span><a name="Pg012" id="Pg012" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> equity, and mercy; and such, too, are purity + and chastity, which, considered in themselves alone, are in no degree + more excellent than the coarsest and most indiscriminate lust, but + which can be shown to be conducive to the happiness of society, and + become in consequence virtues.<a id="noteref_15" name="noteref_15" + href="#note_15"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">15</span></span></a> This + education of public opinion grows continually stronger with + civilisation, and gradually moulds the characters of men, making them + more and more disinterested, heroic, and unselfish. A disinterested, + unselfish, and heroic man, it is explained, is one who is strictly + engrossed in the pursuit of his own pleasure, but who pursues it in + such a manner as to include in its gratification the happiness of + others.<a id="noteref_16" name="noteref_16" href= + "#note_16"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">16</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is a very old + assertion, that a man who prudently sought his own interest would + live a life of perfect virtue. This opinion is adopted by most of + those Utilitarians who are least inclined to lay great stress upon + religious motives; and as they maintain that every man necessarily + pursues exclusively his own happiness, we return by another path to + the old Platonic doctrine, that all vice is ignorance. Virtue is a + judicious, and vice an injudicious, pursuit of pleasure. Virtue is a + branch of prudence, vice is nothing more than <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page013">[pg 013]</span><a name="Pg013" id="Pg013" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> imprudence or miscalculation.<a id= + "noteref_17" name="noteref_17" href="#note_17"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">17</span></span></a> He who + seeks to improve the moral condition of mankind has two, and only + two, ways of accomplishing his end. The first is, to make it more and + more the interest of each to conform to that of the others; the + second is, to dispel the ignorance which prevents men from seeing + their true interest.<a id="noteref_18" name="noteref_18" href= + "#note_18"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">18</span></span></a> If + chastity or truth, or any other of what we regard as virtues, could + be shown to produce on the whole more pain than they destroy, or to + deprive men of more pleasure than they afford, they would not be + virtues, but vices.<a id="noteref_19" name="noteref_19" href= + "#note_19"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">19</span></span></a> If it + could be shown that <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page014">[pg + 014]</span><a name="Pg014" id="Pg014" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> it + is not for our own interest to practise any of what are admitted to + be virtues, all obligation to practise them would immediately + cease.<a id="noteref_20" name="noteref_20" href= + "#note_20"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">20</span></span></a> The + whole scheme of ethics may be evolved from the four canons of + Epicurus. The pleasure which produces no pain is to be embraced. The + pain which produces no pleasure is to be avoided. The pleasure is to + be avoided which prevents a greater pleasure, or produces a greater + pain. The pain is to be endured which averts a greater pain, or + secures a greater pleasure.<a id="noteref_21" name="noteref_21" href= + "#note_21"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">21</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">So far I have + barely alluded to any but terrestrial motives. These, in the opinion + of many of the most illustrious of the school, are sufficient, but + others—as we shall see, I think, with great reason—are of a different + opinion. Their obvious resource is in the rewards and punishments of + another world, and these they accordingly present as the motive to + virtue. Of all the modifications of the selfish theory, this alone + can be said to furnish interested motives for virtue which are + invariably and incontestably adequate. If men introduce the notion of + infinite punishments and infinite rewards distributed by an + omniscient Judge, they can undoubtedly supply stronger reasons for + practising virtue than can ever be found for practising vice. While + admitting therefore in emphatic terms, that any sacrifice of our + pleasure, without the prospect of an equivalent reward, is a simple + act of madness, and unworthy of a rational being,<a id="noteref_22" + name="noteref_22" href="#note_22"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">22</span></span></a> these + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page015">[pg 015]</span><a name="Pg015" + id="Pg015" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> writers maintain that we may + reasonably sacrifice the enjoyments of this life, because we shall be + rewarded by far greater enjoyment in the next. To gain heaven and + avoid hell should be the spring of all our actions,<a id="noteref_23" + name="noteref_23" href="#note_23"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">23</span></span></a> and + virtue is simply prudence extending its calculations beyond the + grave.<a id="noteref_24" name="noteref_24" href= + "#note_24"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">24</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page016">[pg 016]</span><a name="Pg016" + id="Pg016" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> This calculation is what we + mean by the <span class="tei tei-q">“religious motive.”</span><a id= + "noteref_25" name="noteref_25" href="#note_25"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">25</span></span></a> The + belief that the nobility and excellence of virtue could incite us, + was a mere delusion of the Pagans.<a id="noteref_26" name= + "noteref_26" href="#note_26"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">26</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Considered simply + in the light of a prudential scheme, there are only two possible + objections that could be brought against this theory. It might be + said that the amount of virtue required for entering heaven was not + defined, and that therefore it would be possible to enjoy some vices + on earth with impunity. To this, however, it is answered that the + very indefiniteness of the requirement renders zealous piety a matter + of prudence, and also that there is probably a graduated scale of + rewards and punishments adapted to every variety of merit and + demerit.<a id="noteref_27" name="noteref_27" href= + "#note_27"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">27</span></span></a> It might + be said too that present pleasures are at least certain, and that + those of another world are not equally so. It is answered that the + rewards and punishments offered in another world are so + transcendently great, that according to the rules of ordinary + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page017">[pg 017]</span><a name="Pg017" + id="Pg017" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> prudence, if there were only a + probability, or even a bare possibility, of their being real, a wise + man should regulate his course with a view to them.<a id="noteref_28" + name="noteref_28" href="#note_28"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">28</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Among these + writers, however, some have diverged to a certain degree from the + broad stream of utilitarianism, declaring that the foundation of the + moral law is not utility, but the will or arbitrary decree of God. + This opinion, which was propounded by the schoolman Ockham, and by + several other writers of his age,<a id="noteref_29" name="noteref_29" + href="#note_29"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">29</span></span></a> has in + modern times found many adherents,<a id="noteref_30" name= + "noteref_30" href="#note_30"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">30</span></span></a> and been + defended through a variety of motives. Some have upheld it on the + philosophical ground that a law can be nothing but the sentence of a + lawgiver; others from a desire to place morals in permanent + subordination to theology; others in order to answer objections to + Christianity derived from apparently immoral acts said to have been + sanctioned by the Divinity; and others because having adopted strong + Calvinistic sentiments, they were at once profoundly opposed to + utilitarian morals, and at the <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page018">[pg 018]</span><a name="Pg018" id="Pg018" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> same time too firmly convinced of the total + depravity of human nature to admit the existence of any trustworthy + moral sense.<a id="noteref_31" name="noteref_31" href= + "#note_31"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">31</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the majority of + cases, however, these writers have proved substantially utilitarians. + When asked how we can know the will of God, they answer that in as + far as it is not included in express revelation, it must be + discovered by the rule of utility; for nature proves that the Deity + is supremely benevolent, and desires the welfare of men, and + therefore any conduct that leads to that end is in conformity with + His will.<a id="noteref_32" name="noteref_32" href= + "#note_32"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">32</span></span></a> To the + question why the Divine will should be obeyed, there are but two + answers. The first, which is that of the intuitive moralist, is that + we are under a natural obligation of gratitude to our Creator. The + second, which is that of the selfish moralist, is that the Creator + has infinite rewards and punishments at His disposal. The latter + answer appears usually to have been adopted, and the most eminent + member has summed up with great succinctness the opinion of his + school. <span class="tei tei-q">“The good of mankind,”</span> he + says, <span class="tei tei-q">“is the subject, the will of God the + rule, and everlasting happiness the motive and end of all + virtue.”</span><a id="noteref_33" name="noteref_33" href= + "#note_33"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">33</span></span></a></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page019">[pg 019]</span><a name="Pg019" id="Pg019" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We have seen that + the distinctive characteristic of the inductive school of moralists + is an absolute denial of the existence of any natural or innate moral + sense or faculty enabling us to distinguish between the higher and + lower parts of our nature, revealing to us either the existence of a + law of duty or the conduct that it prescribes. We have seen that the + only postulate of these writers is that happiness being universally + desired is a desirable thing, that the only merit they recognise in + actions or feelings is their tendency to promote human happiness, and + that the only motive to a virtuous act they conceive possible is the + real or supposed happiness of the agent. The sanctions of morality + thus constitute its obligation, and apart from them the word + <span class="tei tei-q">“ought”</span> is absolutely unmeaning. Those + sanctions, as we have considered them, are of different kinds and + degrees of magnitude. Paley, though elsewhere acknowledging the + others, regarded the religious one as so immeasurably the first, that + he represented it as the one motive of virtue.<a id="noteref_34" + name="noteref_34" href="#note_34"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">34</span></span></a> Locke + divided them into Divine rewards and punishments, legal penalties and + social penalties;<a id="noteref_35" name="noteref_35" href= + "#note_35"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">35</span></span></a> Bentham + into physical, political, moral or popular, and religious—the first + being the bodily evils that result from vice, the second the + enactments of legislators, the third the pleasures and pains arising + from social intercourse, the fourth the rewards and punishments of + another world.<a id="noteref_36" name="noteref_36" href= + "#note_36"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">36</span></span></a></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page020">[pg 020]</span><a name="Pg020" id="Pg020" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">During the greater + part of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the controversy in + England between those who derived the moral code from experience, and + those who derived it from intuitions of the reason, or from a special + faculty, or from a moral sense, or from the power of sympathy, turned + mainly upon the existence of an unselfish element in our nature. The + reality of this existence having been maintained by Shaftesbury, was + established with an unprecedented, and I believe an irresistible + force, by Hutcheson, and the same question occupies a considerable + place in the writings of Butler, Hume, and Adam Smith. The + selfishness of the school of Hobbes, though in some degree mitigated, + may be traced in every page of the writings of Bentham; but some of + his disciples have in this respect deviated very widely from their + master, and in their hands the whole tone and complexion of + utilitarianism have been changed.<a id="noteref_37" name="noteref_37" + href="#note_37"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">37</span></span></a> The two + means by which this transformation <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page021">[pg 021]</span><a name="Pg021" id="Pg021" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> has been effected are the recognition of our + unselfish or sympathetic feelings, and the doctrine of the + association of ideas.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That human nature + is so constituted that we naturally take a pleasure in the sight of + the joy of others is one of those facts which to an ordinary observer + might well appear among the most patent that can be conceived. We + have seen, however, that it was emphatically denied by Hobbes, and + during the greater part of the last century it was fashionable among + writers of the school of Helvétius to endeavour to prove that all + domestic or social affections were dictated simply by a need of the + person who was beloved. The reality of the pleasures and pains of + sympathy was admitted by Bentham;<a id="noteref_38" name="noteref_38" + href="#note_38"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">38</span></span></a> but in + accordance with the whole spirit of his philosophy, he threw them as + much as possible into the background, and, as I have already noticed, + gave them no place in his summary of the sanctions of virtue. The + tendency, however, of the later members of the school has been to + recognise them fully,<a id="noteref_39" name="noteref_39" href= + "#note_39"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">39</span></span></a> though + they <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page022">[pg 022]</span><a name= + "Pg022" id="Pg022" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> differ as to the + source from which they spring. According to one section our + benevolent affections are derived from our selfish feelings by an + association of ideas in a manner which I shall presently describe. + According to the other they are an original part of the constitution + of our nature. However they be generated, their existence is + admitted, their cultivation is a main object of morals, and the + pleasure derived from their exercise a leading motive to virtue. The + differences between the intuitive moralists and their rivals on this + point are of two kinds. Both acknowledge the existence in human + nature of both benevolent and malevolent feelings, and that we have a + natural power of distinguishing one from the other; but the first + maintain and the second deny that we have a natural power of + perceiving that one is better than the other. Both admit that we + enjoy a pleasure in acts of benevolence to others, but most writers + of the first school maintain that that pleasure follows unsought for, + while writers of the other school contend that the desire of + obtaining it is the motive of the action.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But by far the + most ingenious and at the same time most influential system of + utilitarian morals is that which owes its distinctive feature to the + doctrine of association of Hartley. This doctrine, which among the + modern achievements of ethics occupies on the utilitarian side a + position corresponding in importance to the doctrine of innate moral + faculties as distinguished from innate moral ideas on the intuitive + side, was not absolutely unknown to the ancients, though they never + perceived either the extent to which it may be carried or the + important consequences that might be deduced from it. Some traces of + it may be found in <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page023">[pg + 023]</span><a name="Pg023" id="Pg023" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + Aristotle,<a id="noteref_40" name="noteref_40" href= + "#note_40"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">40</span></span></a> and some + of the Epicureans applied it to friendship, maintaining that, + although we first of all love our friend on account of the pleasure + he can give us, we come soon to love him for his own sake, and apart + from all considerations of utility.<a id="noteref_41" name= + "noteref_41" href="#note_41"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">41</span></span></a> Among + moderns Locke has the merit of having devised the phrase, + <span class="tei tei-q">“association of ideas;”</span><a id= + "noteref_42" name="noteref_42" href="#note_42"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">42</span></span></a> but he + applied it only to some cases of apparently eccentric sympathies or + antipathies. Hutcheson, however, closely anticipated both the + doctrine of Hartley and the favourite illustration of the school; + observing that we desire some things as themselves pleasurable and + others only as means to obtain pleasurable things, and that these + latter, which he terms <span class="tei tei-q">“secondary + desires,”</span> may become as powerful as the former. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Thus, as soon as we come to apprehend the use of wealth + or power to gratify any of our original desires we must also desire + them. Hence arises the universality of these desires of wealth and + power, since they are the means of gratifying all our + desires.”</span><a id="noteref_43" name="noteref_43" href= + "#note_43"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">43</span></span></a> The same + principles were carried much farther by a clergyman named Gay in a + short dissertation which is now almost forgotten, but to which + Hartley ascribed the first suggestion of his theory,<a id= + "noteref_44" name="noteref_44" href="#note_44"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">44</span></span></a> and in + which indeed the most valuable part of it is clearly laid down. + Differing altogether from Hutcheson as to the existence of any innate + moral sense or principle <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page024">[pg + 024]</span><a name="Pg024" id="Pg024" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of + benevolence in man, Gay admitted that the arguments of Hutcheson to + prove that the adult man possesses a moral sense were irresistible, + and he attempted to reconcile this fact with the teaching of Locke by + the doctrine of <span class="tei tei-q">“secondary desires.”</span> + He remarks that in our reasonings we do not always fall back upon + first principles or axioms, but sometimes start from propositions + which though not self-evident we know to be capable of proof. In the + same way in justifying our actions we do not always appeal to the + tendency to produce happiness which is their one ultimate + justification, but content ourselves by showing that they produce + some of the known <span class="tei tei-q">“means to + happiness.”</span> These <span class="tei tei-q">“means to + happiness”</span> being continually appealed to as justifying motives + come insensibly to be regarded as ends, possessing an intrinsic value + irrespective of their tendency; and in this manner it is that we love + and admire virtue even when unconnected with our interests.<a id= + "noteref_45" name="noteref_45" href="#note_45"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">45</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The great work of + Hartley expanding and elaborating these views was published in 1747. + It was encumbered by much physiological speculation into which it is + needless for us now to enter, about the manner in which emotions act + upon the nerves, and although accepted enthusiastically by Priestley + and Belsham, and in some degree by Tucker, I do not think that its + purely ethical speculations had much influence until they were + adopted by some leading utilitarians in the <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page025">[pg 025]</span><a name="Pg025" id="Pg025" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> present century.<a id="noteref_46" name= + "noteref_46" href="#note_46"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">46</span></span></a> Whatever + may be thought of the truth, it is impossible to withhold some + admiration from the intellectual grandeur of a system which starting + from a conception of human nature as low and as base as that of + Mandeville or Hobbes professes without the introduction of a single + new or nobler element, by a strange process of philosophic alchemy, + to evolve out of this original selfishness the most heroic and most + sensitive virtue. The manner in which this achievement is effected is + commonly illustrated by the passion of avarice. Money in itself + possesses absolutely nothing that is admirable or pleasurable, but + being the means of procuring us many of the objects of our desire, it + becomes associated in our minds with the idea of pleasure; it is + therefore itself loved; and it is possible for the love of money so + completely to eclipse or supersede the love of all those things which + money procures, that the miser will forego them all, rather than part + with a fraction of his gold.<a id="noteref_47" name="noteref_47" + href="#note_47"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">47</span></span></a></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page026">[pg 026]</span><a name="Pg026" id="Pg026" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The same + phenomenon may be traced, it is said, in a multitude of other + forms.<a id="noteref_48" name="noteref_48" href= + "#note_48"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">48</span></span></a> Thus we + seek power, because it gives us the means of gratifying many desires. + It becomes associated with those desires, and is, at last, itself + passionately loved. Praise indicates the affection of the eulogist, + and marks us out for the affection of others. Valued at first as a + means, it is soon desired as an end, and to such a pitch can our + enthusiasm rise, that we may sacrifice all earthly things for + posthumous praise which can never reach our ear. And the force of + association may extend even farther. We love praise, because it + procures us certain advantages. We then love it more than these + advantages. We proceed by the same process to transfer our affections + to those things which naturally or generally procure praise. We at + last love what is praiseworthy more than praise, and will endure + perpetual obloquy rather than abandon it.<a id="noteref_49" name= + "noteref_49" href="#note_49"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">49</span></span></a> To this + process, it is said, all our moral sentiments must be ascribed. Man + has no natural benevolent feelings. He is at first governed solely by + his interest, but the infant learns to associate its pleasures with + the idea of its mother, the boy with the idea of his family, the man + with those of his class, his church, his country, and at last of all + mankind, and in each case an independent affection is at length + formed.<a id="noteref_50" name="noteref_50" href= + "#note_50"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">50</span></span></a> The + sight of suffering in others awakens in the child a painful + recollection of his own sufferings, which parents, by appealing to + the infant imagination, still further strengthen, and besides, + <span class="tei tei-q">“when several children are educated together, + the pains, the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page027">[pg + 027]</span><a name="Pg027" id="Pg027" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + denials of pleasure, and the sorrows which affect one gradually + extend in some degree to all;”</span> and thus the suffering of + others becomes associated with the idea of our own, and the feeling + of compassion is engendered.<a id="noteref_51" name="noteref_51" + href="#note_51"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">51</span></span></a> + Benevolence and justice are associated in our minds with the esteem + of our fellow-men, with reciprocity of favours, and with the hope of + future reward. They are loved at first for these, and finally for + themselves, while opposite trains of association produce opposite + feelings towards malevolence and injustice.<a id="noteref_52" name= + "noteref_52" href="#note_52"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">52</span></span></a> And thus + virtue, considered as a whole, becomes the supreme object of our + affections. Of all our pleasures, more are derived from those acts + which are called virtuous, than from any other source. The virtuous + acts of others procure us countless advantages. Our own virtue + obtains for us the esteem of men and return of favours. All the + epithets of praise are appropriated to virtue, and all the epithets + of blame to vice. Religion teaches us to connect hopes of infinite + joy with the one, and fears of infinite suffering with the other. + Virtue becomes therefore peculiarly associated with the idea of + pleasurable things. It is soon loved, independently of and + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page028">[pg 028]</span><a name="Pg028" + id="Pg028" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> more than these; we feel a + glow of pleasure in practising it, and an intense pain in violating + it. Conscience, which is thus generated, becomes the ruling principle + of our lives,<a id="noteref_53" name="noteref_53" href= + "#note_53"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">53</span></span></a> and + having learnt to sacrifice all earthly things rather than disobey it, + we rise, by an association of ideas, into the loftiest region of + heroism.<a id="noteref_54" name="noteref_54" href= + "#note_54"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">54</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The influence of + this ingenious, though I think in some respect fanciful, theory + depends less upon the number than upon the ability of its adherents. + Though little known, I believe, beyond England, it has in England + exercised a great fascination over exceedingly dissimilar + minds,<a id="noteref_55" name="noteref_55" href= + "#note_55"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">55</span></span></a> and it + does undoubtedly evade some of the objections to the other forms of + the inductive theory. Thus, when intuitive moralists contend that our + moral judgments, being instantaneous and effected under the manifest + impulse of an emotion of sympathy or repulsion, are as far as + possible removed from that cold calculation of interests to which the + utilitarian reduces them, it is answered, that the association of + ideas is <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page029">[pg + 029]</span><a name="Pg029" id="Pg029" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + sufficient to engender a feeling which is the proximate cause of our + decision.<a id="noteref_56" name="noteref_56" href= + "#note_56"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">56</span></span></a> Alone, + of all the moralists of this school, the disciple of Hartley + recognises conscience as a real and important element of our + nature,<a id="noteref_57" name="noteref_57" href= + "#note_57"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">57</span></span></a> and + maintains that it is possible to love virtue for itself as a form of + happiness without any thought of ulterior consequences.<a id= + "noteref_58" name="noteref_58" href="#note_58"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">58</span></span></a> The + immense value this theory ascribes to education, gives it an unusual + practical importance. When we are balancing between a crime and a + virtue, our wills, it is said, are necessarily determined by the + greater pleasure. If we find more pleasure in the vice than in the + virtue, we inevitably gravitate to evil. If we find more pleasure in + the virtue than in the vice, we are as irresistibly attracted towards + good. But the strength of such motives may be immeasurably enhanced + by an early association of ideas. If we have been accustomed from + childhood to associate our ideas of praise and pleasure with + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page030">[pg 030]</span><a name="Pg030" + id="Pg030" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> virtue, we shall readily yield + to virtuous motives; if with vice, to vicious ones. This readiness to + yield to one or other set of motives, constitutes disposition, which + is thus, according to these moralists, altogether an artificial + thing, the product of education, and effected by association of + ideas.<a id="noteref_59" name="noteref_59" href= + "#note_59"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">59</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It will be + observed, however, that this theory, refined and imposing as it may + appear, is still essentially a selfish one. Even when sacrificing all + earthly objects through love of virtue, the good man is simply + seeking his greatest enjoyment, indulging a kind of mental luxury + which gives him more pleasure than what he foregoes, just as the + miser finds more pleasure in accumulation than in any form of + expenditure.<a id="noteref_60" name="noteref_60" href= + "#note_60"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">60</span></span></a> There + has been, indeed, one attempt to emancipate the <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page031">[pg 031]</span><a name="Pg031" id="Pg031" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> theory from this condition, but it + appears to me altogether futile. It has been said that men in the + first instance indulge in baneful excesses, on account of the + pleasure they afford, but the habit being contracted, continue to + practise them after they have ceased to afford pleasure, and that a + similar law may operate in the case of the habit of virtue.<a id= + "noteref_61" name="noteref_61" href="#note_61"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">61</span></span></a> But the + reason why men who have contracted a habit continue to practise it + after it has ceased to give them positive enjoyment, is because to + desist, creates a restlessness and uneasiness which amounts to acute + mental pain. To avoid that pain is the motive of the action.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The reader who has + perused the passages I have accumulated in the notes, will be able to + judge with what degree of justice utilitarian writers denounce with + indignation the imputation of selfishness, as a calumny against their + system. It is not, I think, a strained or unnatural use of language + to describe as selfish or interested, all actions which a man + performs, in order himself to avoid suffering or acquire the + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page032">[pg 032]</span><a name="Pg032" + id="Pg032" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> greatest possible enjoyment. + If this be so, the term selfish is strictly applicable to all the + branches of this system.<a id="noteref_62" name="noteref_62" href= + "#note_62"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">62</span></span></a> At the + same time it must be acknowledged that there is a broad difference + between the refined hedonism of the utilitarians we have last + noticed, and the writings of Hobbes, of Mandeville, or of Paley. It + must be acknowledged, also, that not a few intuitive or stoical + moralists have spoken of the pleasure to be derived from virtue in + language little if at all different from these writers.<a id= + "noteref_63" name="noteref_63" href="#note_63"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">63</span></span></a> The main + object of the earlier members of the inductive school, was to depress + human nature to their standard, by resolving all the noblest actions + into coarse and selfish elements. The main object of some of the more + influential of the later members of this school, <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page033">[pg 033]</span><a name="Pg033" id="Pg033" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> has been to sublimate their conceptions + of happiness and interest in such a manner, as to include the highest + displays of heroism. As we have seen, they fully admit that + conscience is a real thing, and should be the supreme guide of our + lives, though they contend that it springs originally from + selfishness, transformed under the influence of the association of + ideas. They acknowledge the reality of the sympathetic feelings, + though they usually trace them to the same source. They cannot, it is + true, consistently with their principles, recognise the possibility + of conduct which is in the strictest sense of the word unselfish, but + they contend that it is quite possible for a man to find his highest + pleasure in sacrificing himself for the good of others, that the + association of virtue and pleasure is only perfect when it leads + habitually to spontaneous and uncalculating action, and that no man + is in a healthy moral condition who does not find more pain in + committing a crime than he could derive pleasure from any of its + consequences. The theory in its principle remains unchanged, but in + the hands of some of these writers the spirit has wholly altered.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Having thus given + a brief, but, I trust, clear and faithful account of the different + modifications of the inductive theory, I shall proceed to state some + of the principal objections that have been and may be brought against + it. I shall then endeavour to define and defend the opinions of those + who believe that our moral feelings are an essential part of our + constitution, developed by, but not derived from education, and I + shall conclude this chapter by an enquiry into the order of their + evolution; so that having obtained some notion of the natural history + of morals, we may be able, in the ensuing chapters, to judge, how far + their normal progress has been accelerated or retarded by religious + or political agencies.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Psychology,”</span> it has been truly said, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“is but developed <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page034">[pg 034]</span><a name="Pg034" id="Pg034" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> consciousness.”</span><a id="noteref_64" name= + "noteref_64" href="#note_64"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">64</span></span></a> When + moralists assert, that what we call virtue derives its reputation + solely from its utility, and that the interest or pleasure of the + agent is the one motive to practise it, our first question is + naturally how far this theory agrees with the feelings and with the + language of mankind. But if tested by this criterion, there never was + a doctrine more emphatically condemned than utilitarianism. In all + its stages, and in all its assertions, it is in direct opposition to + common language and to common sentiments. In all nations and in all + ages, the ideas of interest and utility on the one hand and of virtue + on the other, have been regarded by the multitude as perfectly + distinct, and all languages recognise the distinction. The terms + honour, justice, rectitude or virtue, and their equivalents in every + language, present to the mind ideas essentially and broadly differing + from the terms prudence, sagacity, or interest. The two lines of + conduct may coincide, but they are never confused, and we have not + the slightest difficulty in imagining them antagonistic. When we say + a man is governed by a high sense of honour, or by strong moral + feeling, we do not mean that he is prudently pursuing either his own + interests or the interests of society. The universal sentiment of + mankind represents self-sacrifice as an essential element of a + meritorious act, and means by self-sacrifice the deliberate adoption + of the least pleasurable course without the prospect of any pleasure + in return. A selfish act may be innocent, but cannot be virtuous, and + to ascribe all good deeds to selfish motives, is not the distortion + but the negation of virtue. No Epicurean could avow before a popular + audience that the one end of his life was the pursuit of his own + happiness without an outburst of indignation and contempt.<a id= + "noteref_65" name="noteref_65" href="#note_65"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">65</span></span></a> No man + could consciously make this—which according to the selfish theory is + the only rational and indeed possible motive of action—the deliberate + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page035">[pg 035]</span><a name="Pg035" + id="Pg035" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> object of all his + undertakings, without his character becoming despicable and degraded. + Whether we look within ourselves or examine the conduct either of our + enemies or of our friends, or adjudicate upon the characters in + history or in fiction, our feelings on these matters are the same. In + exact proportion as we believe a desire for personal enjoyment to be + the motive of a good act is the merit of the agent diminished. If we + believe the motive to be wholly selfish the merit is altogether + destroyed. If we believe it to be wholly disinterested the merit is + altogether unalloyed. Hence, the admiration bestowed upon Prometheus, + or suffering virtue constant beneath the blows of Almighty malice, or + on the atheist who with no prospect of future reward suffered a + fearful death, rather than abjure an opinion which could be of no + benefit to society, because he believed it to be the truth. Selfish + moralists deny the possibility of that which all ages, all nations, + all popular judgments pronounce to have been the characteristic of + every noble act that has ever been performed. Now, when a philosophy + which seeks by the light of consciousness to decipher the laws of our + moral being proves so diametrically opposed to the conclusions + arrived at by the great mass of mankind, who merely follow their + consciousness without endeavouring to frame systems of philosophy, + that it makes most of the distinctions of common ethical language + absolutely unmeaning, this is, to say the least, a strong presumption + against its truth. If Molière's hero had been speaking prose all his + life without knowing it, this was simply because he did not + understand what prose was. In the present case we are asked to + believe that men have been under a total delusion about the leading + principles of their lives which they had distinguished by a whole + vocabulary of terms.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is said that + the case becomes different when the pleasure sought is not a gross or + material enjoyment, but the satisfaction of performed virtue. I + suspect that if men <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page036">[pg + 036]</span><a name="Pg036" id="Pg036" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + could persuade themselves that the one motive of a virtuous man was + the certainty that the act he accomplished would be followed by a + glow of satisfaction so intense as more than to compensate for any + sacrifice he might have made, the difference would not be as great as + is supposed. In fact, however—and the consciousness of this lies, I + conceive, at the root of the opinions of men upon the subject—the + pleasure of virtue is one which can only be obtained on the express + condition of its not being the object sought. Phenomena of this kind + are familiar to us all. Thus, for example, it has often been observed + that prayer, by a law of our nature and apart from all supernatural + intervention, exercises a reflex influence of a very beneficial + character upon the minds of the worshippers. The man who offers up + his petitions with passionate earnestness, with unfaltering faith, + and with a vivid realisation of the presence of an Unseen Being has + risen to a condition of mind which is itself eminently favourable + both to his own happiness and to the expansion of his moral + qualities. But he who expects nothing more will never attain this. To + him who neither believes nor hopes that his petitions will receive a + response such a mental state is impossible. No Protestant before an + image of the Virgin, no Christian before a pagan idol, could possibly + attain it. If prayers were offered up solely with a view to this + benefit, they would be absolutely sterile and would speedily cease. + Thus again, certain political economists have contended that to give + money in charity is worse than useless, that it is positively noxious + to society, but they have added that the gratification of our + benevolent affections is pleasing to ourselves, and that the pleasure + we derive from this source may be so much greater than the evil + resulting from our gift, that we may justly, according to the + <span class="tei tei-q">“greatest happiness principle,”</span> + purchase this large amount of gratification to ourselves by a slight + injury to our neighbours. The political economy involved in this very + characteristic <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page037">[pg + 037]</span><a name="Pg037" id="Pg037" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + specimen of utilitarian ethics I shall hereafter examine. At present + it is sufficient to observe that no one who consciously practised + benevolence solely from this motive could obtain the pleasure in + question. We receive enjoyment from the thought that we have done + good. We never could receive that enjoyment if we believed and + realised that we were doing harm. The same thing is pre-eminently + true of the satisfaction of conscience. A feeling of satisfaction + follows the accomplishment of duty for itself, but if the duty be + performed solely through the expectation of a mental pleasure + conscience refuses to ratify the bargain.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There is no fact + more conspicuous in human nature than the broad distinction, both in + kind and degree, drawn between the moral and the other parts of our + nature. But this on utilitarian principles is altogether + unaccountable. If the excellence of virtue consists solely in its + utility or tendency to promote the happiness of men, we should be + compelled to canonise a crowd of acts which are utterly remote from + all our ordinary notions of morality. The whole tendency of political + economy and philosophical history which reveal the physiology of + societies, is to show that the happiness and welfare of mankind are + evolved much more from our selfish than from what are termed our + virtuous acts. The prosperity of nations and the progress of + civilisation are mainly due to the exertions of men who while + pursuing strictly their own interests, were unconsciously promoting + the interests of the community. The selfish instinct that leads men + to accumulate, confers ultimately more advantage upon the world than + the generous instinct that leads men to give. A great historian has + contended with some force that intellectual development is more + important to societies than moral development. Yet who ever seriously + questioned the reality of the distinction that separates these + things? The reader will probably exclaim that the key to that + distinction is to be found in the motive; but it is one of the + paradoxes of the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page038">[pg + 038]</span><a name="Pg038" id="Pg038" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + utilitarian school that the motive of the agent has absolutely no + influence on the morality of the act. According to Bentham, there is + but one motive possible, the pursuit of our own enjoyment. The most + virtuous, the most vicious, and the most indifferent of actions, if + measured by this test, would be exactly the same, and an + investigation of motives should therefore be altogether excluded from + our moral judgments.<a id="noteref_66" name="noteref_66" href= + "#note_66"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">66</span></span></a> Whatever + test we adopt, the difficulty of accounting for the unique and + pre-eminent position mankind have assigned to virtue will remain. If + we judge by tendencies, a crowd of objects and of acts to which no + mortal ever dreamed of ascribing virtue, contribute largely to the + happiness of man. If we judge by motives, the moralists we are + reviewing have denied all generic difference between prudential and + virtuous <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page039">[pg + 039]</span><a name="Pg039" id="Pg039" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + motives. If we judge by intentions, it is certain that however much + truth or chastity may contribute to the happiness of mankind, it is + not with philanthropic intentions that those virtues are + cultivated.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is often said + that intuitive moralists in their reasonings are guilty of + continually abandoning their principles by themselves appealing to + the tendency of certain acts to promote human happiness as a + justification, and the charge is usually accompanied by a challenge + to show any confessed virtue that has not that tendency. To the first + objection it may be shortly answered that no intuitive moralist ever + dreamed of doubting that benevolence or charity, or in other words, + the promotion of the happiness of man, is a duty. He maintains that + it not only is so, but that we arrive at this fact by direct + intuition, and not by the discovery that such a course is conducive + to our own interest. But while he cordially recognises this branch of + virtue, and while he has therefore a perfect right to allege the + beneficial effects of a virtue in its defence, he refuses to admit + that all virtue can be reduced to this single principle. With the + general sentiment of mankind he regards charity as a good thing only + because it is of use to the world. With the same general sentiment of + mankind he believes that chastity and truth have an independent + value, distinct from their influence upon happiness. To the question + whether every confessed virtue is conducive to human happiness, it is + less easy to reply, for it is usually extremely difficult to + calculate the remote tendencies of acts, and in cases where, in the + common apprehension of mankind, the morality is very clear, the + consequences are often very obscure. Notwithstanding the claim of + great precision which utilitarian writers so boastfully make, the + standard by which they profess to measure morals is itself absolutely + incapable of definition or accurate explanation. Happiness is one of + the most indeterminate and undefinable words in the language, and + what are the conditions of <span class="tei tei-q">“the greatest + possible happiness”</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page040">[pg + 040]</span><a name="Pg040" id="Pg040" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> no + one can precisely say. No two nations, perhaps no two individuals, + would find them the same.<a id="noteref_67" name="noteref_67" href= + "#note_67"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">67</span></span></a> And even + if every virtuous act were incontestably useful, it by no means + follows that its virtue is derived from its utility.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It may be readily + granted, that as a general rule those acts which we call virtuous, + are unquestionably productive of happiness, if not to the agent, at + least to mankind in general, but we have already seen that they have + by no means that monopoly or pre-eminence of utility which on + utilitarian principles, the unique position assigned to them would + appear to imply. It may be added, that if we were to proceed in + detail to estimate acts by their consequences, we should soon be led + to very startling conclusions. In the first place, it is obvious that + if virtues are only good because they promote, and vices only evil + because they impair the happiness of mankind, the degrees of + excellence or criminality must be strictly proportioned to the + degrees of utility or the reverse.<a id="noteref_68" name= + "noteref_68" href="#note_68"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">68</span></span></a> Every + action, every disposition, every class, every condition of society + must take its place on the moral scale precisely in accordance with + the degree in which it promotes or diminishes human happiness. Now it + is extremely questionable, whether some of the most monstrous forms + of sensuality which it is scarcely possible to name, cause as much + unhappiness as some infirmities of temper, or procrastination or + hastiness of judgment. It is scarcely doubtful that a modest, + diffident, and retiring nature, distrustful of its own abilities, and + shrinking with humility from conflict, produces on the whole less + benefit to the world than the self-assertion of an audacious and + arrogant nature, which is impelled to every struggle, and developes + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page041">[pg 041]</span><a name="Pg041" + id="Pg041" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> every capacity. Gratitude has + no doubt done much to soften and sweeten the intercourse of life, but + the corresponding feeling of revenge was for centuries the one + bulwark against social anarchy, and is even now one of the chief + restraints to crime.<a id="noteref_69" name="noteref_69" href= + "#note_69"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">69</span></span></a> On the + great theatre of public life, especially in periods of great + convulsions when passions are fiercely roused, it is neither the man + of delicate scrupulosity and sincere impartiality, nor yet the + single-minded religious enthusiast, incapable of dissimulation or + procrastination, who confers most benefit upon the world. It is much + rather the astute statesman earnest about his ends but unscrupulous + about his means, equally free from the trammels of conscience and + from the blindness of zeal, who governs because he partly yields to + the passions and the prejudices of his time. But however much some + modern writers may idolize the heroes of success, however much they + may despise and ridicule those far nobler men, whose wide tolerance + and scrupulous honour <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page042">[pg + 042]</span><a name="Pg042" id="Pg042" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + rendered them unfit leaders in the fray, it has scarcely yet been + contended that the delicate conscientiousness which in these cases + impairs utility constitutes vice. If utility is the sole measure of + virtue, it is difficult to understand how we could look with moral + disapprobation on any class who prevent greater evils than they + cause. But with such a principle we might find strange priestesses at + the utilitarian shrine. <span class="tei tei-q">“Aufer meretrices de + rebus humanis,”</span> said St. Augustine, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“turbaveris omnia libidinibus.”</span><a id="noteref_70" + name="noteref_70" href="#note_70"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">70</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Let us suppose an + enquirer who intended to regulate his life consistently by the + utilitarian principle; let us suppose him to have overcome the first + great difficulty of his school, arising from the apparent divergence + of his own interests from his duty, to have convinced himself that + that divergence does not exist, and to have accordingly made the + pursuit of duty his single object, it remains to consider what kind + of course he would pursue. He is informed that it is a pure illusion + to suppose that human actions have any other end or rule than + happiness, that nothing is intrinsically good or intrinsically bad + apart from its consequences, that no act which is useful can possibly + be vicious, and that the utility of an act constitutes and measures + its value. One of his first observations will be that in very many + special cases acts such as murder, theft, or falsehood, which the + world calls criminal, and which in the majority of instances would + undoubtedly be hurtful, appear eminently productive of good. Why + then, he may ask, should they not in these cases be performed? The + answer he receives is that they would not really be useful, because + we must consider the remote as well as the immediate consequences of + actions, and although in particular instances a falsehood or even a + murder might appear beneficial, it is one of the most important + interests of mankind <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page043">[pg + 043]</span><a name="Pg043" id="Pg043" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + that the sanctity of life and property should be preserved, and that + a high standard of veracity should be maintained. But this answer is + obviously insufficient. It is necessary to show that the extent to + which a single act of what the world calls crime would weaken these + great bulwarks of society is such as to counterbalance the immediate + good which it produces. If it does not, the balance will be on the + side of happiness, the murder or theft or falsehood will be useful, + and therefore, on utilitarian principles, will be virtuous. Now even + in the case of public acts, the effect of the example of an obscure + individual is usually small, but if the act be accomplished in + perfect secrecy, the evil effects resulting from the example will be + entirely absent. It has been said that it would be dangerous to give + men permission to perpetrate what men call crimes in secret. This may + be a very good reason why the utilitarian should not proclaim such a + principle, but it is no reason why he should not act upon it. If a + man be convinced that no act which is useful can possibly be + criminal, if it be in his power by perpetrating what is called a + crime to obtain an end of great immediate utility, and if he is able + to secure such absolute secrecy as to render it perfectly certain + that his act cannot become an example, and cannot in consequence + exercise any influence on the general standard of morals, it appears + demonstrably certain that on utilitarian principles he would be + justified in performing it. If what we call virtue be only virtuous + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">because</span></em> it is useful, it can only be + virtuous <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">when</span></em> it is useful. The question of + the morality of a large number of acts must therefore depend upon the + probability of their detection,<a id="noteref_71" name="noteref_71" + href="#note_71"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">71</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page044">[pg 044]</span><a name="Pg044" + id="Pg044" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> and a little adroit hypocrisy + must often, not merely in appearance but in reality, convert a vice + into a virtue. The only way by which it has been attempted with any + plausibility to evade this conclusion has been by asserting that the + act would impair the disposition of the agent, or in other words + predispose him on other occasions to perform acts which are generally + hurtful to society. But in the first place a single act has no such + effect upon disposition as to counteract a great immediate good, + especially when, as we have supposed, that act is not a revolt + against what is believed to be right, but is performed under the full + belief that it is in accordance with the one rational rule of morals, + and in the next place, as far as the act would form a habit it would + appear to be the habit of in all cases regulating actions by a + precise and minute calculation of their utility, which is the very + ideal of utilitarian virtue.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If our enquirer + happens to be a man of strong imagination and of solitary habits, it + is very probable that he will be accustomed to live much in a world + of imagination, a world peopled with beings that are to him as real + as those of <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page045">[pg + 045]</span><a name="Pg045" id="Pg045" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + flesh, with its joys and sorrows, its temptations and its sins. In + obedience to the common feelings of our nature he may have struggled + long and painfully against sins of the imagination, which he was + never seriously tempted to convert into sins of action. But his new + philosophy will be admirably fitted to console his mind. If remorse + be absent the indulgence of the most vicious imagination is a + pleasure, and if this indulgence does not lead to action it is a + clear gain, and therefore to be applauded. That a course may be + continually pursued in imagination without leading to corresponding + actions he will speedily discover, and indeed it has always been one + of the chief objections brought against fiction that the constant + exercise of the sympathies in favour of imaginary beings is found + positively to indispose men to practical benevolence.<a id= + "noteref_72" name="noteref_72" href="#note_72"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">72</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Proceeding farther + in his course, our moralist will soon find reason to qualify the + doctrine of remote consequences, which plays so large a part in the + calculations of utilitarianism. It is said that it is criminal to + destroy human beings, even when the crime would appear productive of + great utility, for every instance of murder weakens the sanctity of + life. But experience shows that it is possible for men to be + perfectly indifferent to one particular section of human life, + without this indifference extending to others. Thus among the ancient + Greeks, the murder or exposition of the children of poor parents was + continually practised with the most absolute callousness, without + exercising any appreciable influence upon the respect for adult life. + In the same manner what may be termed religious unveracity, or the + habit of propagating what are deemed useful superstitions, with the + consciousness of their being false, or at least suppressing or + misrepresenting the facts that might invalidate <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page046">[pg 046]</span><a name="Pg046" id="Pg046" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> them, does not in any degree imply + industrial unveracity. Nothing is more common than to find extreme + dishonesty in speculation coexisting with scrupulous veracity in + business. If any vice might be expected to conform strictly to the + utilitarian theory, it would be cruelty; but cruelty to animals may + exist without leading to cruelty to men, and even where spectacles in + which animal suffering forms a leading element exercise an injurious + influence on character, it is more than doubtful whether the measure + of human unhappiness they may ultimately produce is at all equivalent + to the passionate enjoyment they immediately afford.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This last + consideration, however, makes it necessary to notice a new, and as it + appears to me, almost grotesque development of the utilitarian + theory. The duty of humanity to animals, though for a long period too + much neglected, may, on the principles of the intuitive moralist, be + easily explained and justified. Our circumstances and characters + produce in us many and various affections towards all with whom we + come in contact, and our consciences pronounce these affections to be + good or bad. We feel that humanity or benevolence is a good + affection, and also that it is due in different degrees to different + classes. Thus it is not only natural but right that a man should care + for his own family more than for the world at large, and this + obligation applies not only to parents who are responsible for having + brought their children into existence, and to children who owe a debt + of gratitude to their parents, but also to brothers who have no such + special tie. So too we feel it to be both unnatural and wrong to feel + no stronger interest in our fellow-countrymen than in other men. In + the same way we feel that there is a wide interval between the + humanity it is both natural and right to exhibit towards animals, and + that which is due to our own species. Strong philanthropy could + hardly coexist with cannibalism, and a man who had no hesitation in + destroying human life for the sake of obtaining the skins + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page047">[pg 047]</span><a name="Pg047" + id="Pg047" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of the victims, or of freeing + himself from some trifling inconvenience, would scarcely be eulogised + for his benevolence. Yet a man may be regarded as very humane to + animals who has no scruple in sacrificing their lives for his food, + his pleasures, or his convenience.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Towards the close + of the last century an energetic agitation in favour of humanity to + animals arose in England, and the utilitarian moralists, who were + then rising into influence, caught the spirit of their time and made + very creditable efforts to extend it.<a id="noteref_73" name= + "noteref_73" href="#note_73"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">73</span></span></a> It is + manifest, however, that a theory which recognised no other end in + virtue than the promotion of human happiness, could supply no + adequate basis for the movement. Some of the recent members of the + school have accordingly enlarged their theory, maintaining that acts + are virtuous when they produce a net result of happiness, and vicious + when they produce a net result of suffering, altogether irrespective + of the question whether this enjoyment or suffering is of men or + animals. In other words, they place the duty of man to animals on + exactly the same basis as the duty of man to his fellow-men, + maintaining that no suffering can be rightly inflicted on brutes, + which does not produce a larger amount of happiness to man.<a id= + "noteref_74" name="noteref_74" href="#note_74"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">74</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The first + reflection suggested by this theory is, that it <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page048">[pg 048]</span><a name="Pg048" id="Pg048" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> appears difficult to understand how, on + the principles of the inductive school, it could be arrived at. + Benevolence, as we have seen, according to these writers begins in + interest. We first of all do good to men, because it is for our + advantage, though the force of the habit may at last act irrespective + of interest. But in the case of animals which cannot resent + barbarity, this foundation of self-interest does not for the most + part<a id="noteref_75" name="noteref_75" href="#note_75"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">75</span></span></a> exist. + Probably, however, an association of ideas might help to solve the + difficulty, and the habit of benevolence generated originally from + the social relations of men might at last be extended to the animal + world; but that it should be so to the extent of placing the duty to + animals on the same basis as the duty to men, I do not anticipate, or + (at the risk of being accused of great inhumanity), I must add, + desire. I cannot look forward to a time when no one will wear any + article of dress formed out of the skin of an animal, or feed upon + animal flesh, till he has ascertained that the pleasure he derives + from doing so, exceeds the pain inflicted upon the animal, as well as + the pleasure of which by abridging its life he has deprived it.<a id= + "noteref_76" name="noteref_76" href="#note_76"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">76</span></span></a> And + supposing that <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page049">[pg + 049]</span><a name="Pg049" id="Pg049" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + with such a calculation before him, the utilitarian should continue + to feed on the flesh of animals, his principle might carry him to + further conclusions, from which I confess I should recoil. If, when + Swift was writing his famous essay in favour of employing for food + the redundant babies of a half-starving population, he had been + informed that, according to the more advanced moralists, to eat a + child, and to eat a sheep, rest upon exactly the same ground; that in + the one case as in the other, the single question for the moralist + is, whether the repast on the whole produces more pleasure than pain, + it must be owned that the discovery would have greatly facilitated + his task.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The considerations + I have adduced will, I think, be sufficient to show that the + utilitarian principle if pushed to its full logical consequences + would be by no means as accordant with ordinary moral notions as is + sometimes alleged; that it would, on the contrary, lead to + conclusions utterly and outrageously repugnant to the moral feelings + it is intended to explain. I will conclude this part of my argument + by very briefly adverting to two great fields in which, as I believe, + it would prove especially revolutionary.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The first of these + is the field of chastity. It will be necessary for me in the course + of the present work to dwell at greater length than I should desire + upon questions connected with this virtue. At present, I will merely + ask the reader to conceive a mind from which all notion of the + intrinsic excellence or nobility of purity was banished, and to + suppose such a mind comparing, by a utilitarian standard, a period in + which sensuality was almost unbridled, such as the age of Athenian + glory or the English restoration, with a period of austere virtue. + The question which of these societies was morally the best would thus + resolve itself solely into the question in which there was produced + the greatest amount of enjoyment and the smallest amount of + suffering. The pleasures of domestic life, the pleasures resulting + from a <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page050">[pg 050]</span><a name= + "Pg050" id="Pg050" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> freer social + intercourse,<a id="noteref_77" name="noteref_77" href= + "#note_77"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">77</span></span></a> the + different degrees of suffering inflicted on those who violated the + law of chastity, the ulterior consequences of each mode of life upon + well-being and upon population, would be the chief elements of the + comparison. Can any one believe that the balance of enjoyment would + be so unquestionably and so largely on the side of the more austere + society as to justify the degree of superiority which is assigned to + it?<a id="noteref_78" name="noteref_78" href="#note_78"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">78</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The second sphere + is that of speculative truth. No class of men have more highly valued + an unflinching hostility to superstition than utilitarians. Yet it is + more than doubtful whether upon their principles it can be justified. + Many superstitions do undoubtedly answer to the Greek conception + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page051">[pg 051]</span><a name="Pg051" + id="Pg051" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of slavish <span class= + "tei tei-q">“fear of the gods,”</span> and have been productive of + unspeakable misery to mankind, but there are very many others of a + different tendency. Superstitions appeal to our hopes as well as to + our fears. They often meet and gratify the inmost longings of the + heart. They offer certainties when reason can only afford + possibilities or probabilities. They supply conceptions on which the + imagination loves to dwell. They sometimes even impart a new sanction + to moral truths. Creating wants which they alone can satisfy, and + fears which they alone can quell, they often become essential + elements of happiness, and their consoling efficacy is most felt in + the languid or troubled hours when it is most needed. We owe more to + our illusions than to our knowledge. The imagination, which is + altogether constructive, probably contributes more to our happiness + than the reason, which in the sphere of speculation is mainly + critical and destructive. The rude charm which in the hour of danger + or distress the savage clasps so confidently to his breast, the + sacred picture which is believed to shed a hallowing and protecting + influence over the poor man's cottage, can bestow a more real + consolation in the darkest hour of human suffering than can be + afforded by the grandest theories of philosophy. The first desire of + the heart is to find something on which to lean. Happiness is a + condition of feeling, not a condition of circumstances, and to common + minds one of its first essentials is the exclusion of painful and + harassing doubt. A system of belief may be false, superstitious, and + reactionary, and may yet be conducive to human happiness if it + furnishes great multitudes of men with what they believe to be a key + to the universe, if it consoles them in those seasons of agonizing + bereavement when the consolations of enlightened reason are but empty + words, if it supports their feeble and tottering minds in the gloomy + hours of sickness and of approaching death. A credulous and + superstitious nature may be degraded, but in the many cases where + superstition <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page052">[pg + 052]</span><a name="Pg052" id="Pg052" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + does not assume a persecuting or appalling form it is not unhappy, + and degradation, apart from unhappiness, can have no place in + utilitarian ethics. No error can be more grave than to imagine that + when a critical spirit is abroad the pleasant beliefs will all + remain, and the painful ones alone will perish. To introduce into the + mind the consciousness of ignorance and the pangs of doubt is to + inflict or endure much suffering, which may even survive the period + of transition. <span class="tei tei-q">“Why is it,”</span> said + Luther's wife, looking sadly back upon the sensuous creed which she + had left, <span class="tei tei-q">“that in our old faith we prayed so + often and so warmly, and that our prayers are now so few and so + cold?”</span><a id="noteref_79" name="noteref_79" href= + "#note_79"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">79</span></span></a> It is + related of an old monk named Serapion, who had embraced the heresy of + the anthropomorphites, that he was convinced by a brother monk of the + folly of attributing to the Almighty a human form. He bowed his + reason humbly to the Catholic creed; but when he knelt down to pray, + the image which his imagination had conceived, and on which for so + many years his affections had been concentrated, had disappeared, and + the old man burst into tears, exclaiming, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“You have deprived me of my God.”</span><a id= + "noteref_80" name="noteref_80" href="#note_80"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">80</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These are indeed + facts which must be deeply painful to all who are concerned with the + history of opinion. The possibility of often adding to the happiness + of men by diffusing abroad, or at least sustaining pleasing + falsehoods, and the suffering that must commonly result from their + dissolution, can hardly reasonably be denied. There is one, and but + one, adequate reason that can always justify men in critically + reviewing what they have been taught. It is, the conviction that + opinions should not be regarded as mere mental luxuries, that truth + should be deemed an end distinct from and superior to utility, and + that it is a moral duty to <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page053">[pg + 053]</span><a name="Pg053" id="Pg053" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + pursue it, whether it leads to pleasure or whether it leads to pain. + Among the many wise sayings which antiquity ascribed to Pythagoras, + few are more remarkable than his division of virtue into two distinct + branches—to be truthful and to do good.<a id="noteref_81" name= + "noteref_81" href="#note_81"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">81</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Of the sanctions + which, according to the utilitarians, constitute the sole motives to + virtue, there is one, as I have said, unexceptionably adequate. Those + who adopt the religious sanction, can always appeal to a balance of + interest in favour of virtue; but as the great majority of modern + utilitarians confidently sever their theory from all theological + considerations, I will dismiss this sanction with two or three + remarks.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the first + place, it is obvious that those who regard the arbitrary will of the + Deity as the sole rule of morals, render it perfectly idle to + represent the Divine attributes as deserving of our admiration. To + speak of the goodness of God, either implies that there is such a + quality as goodness, to which the Divine acts conform, or it is an + unmeaning tautology. Why should we extol, or how can we admire, the + perfect goodness of a Being whose will and acts constitute the sole + standard or definition of perfection?<a id="noteref_82" name= + "noteref_82" href="#note_82"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">82</span></span></a> The + theory which teaches that the arbitrary will of the Deity is the one + rule of morals, and the anticipation of future rewards and + punishments the one reason for conforming to it, consists of two + parts. The first annihilates the goodness of God; the second, the + virtue of man.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page054">[pg + 054]</span><a name="Pg054" id="Pg054" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Another and + equally obvious remark is, that while these theologians represent the + hope of future rewards, and the fear of future punishments, as the + only reason for doing right, one of our strongest reasons for + believing in the existence of these rewards and punishments, is our + deep-seated feeling of merit and demerit. That the present + disposition of affairs is in many respects unjust, that suffering + often attends a course which deserves reward, and happiness a course + which deserves punishment, leads men to infer a future state of + retribution. Take away the consciousness of desert, and the inference + would no longer be made.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A third remark, + which I believe to be equally true, but which may not be acquiesced + in with equal readiness, is that without the concurrence of a moral + faculty, it is wholly impossible to prove from nature that supreme + goodness of the Creator, which utilitarian theologians assume. We + speak of the benevolence shown in the joy of the insect glittering in + the sunbeam, in the protecting instincts so liberally bestowed among + the animal world, in the kindness of the parent to its young, in the + happiness of little children, in the beauty and the bounty of nature, + but is there not another side to the picture? The hideous disease, + the countless forms of rapine and of suffering, the entozoa that live + within the bodies, and feed upon the anguish of sentient beings, the + ferocious instinct of the cat, that prolongs with delight the agonies + of its victim, all the multitudinous forms of misery that are + manifested among the innocent portion of creation, are not these also + the works of nature? We speak of the Divine veracity. What is the + whole history of the intellectual progress of the world but one long + struggle of the intellect of man to emancipate itself from the + deceptions of nature? Every object that meets the eye of the savage + awakens his curiosity only to lure him into some deadly error. The + sun that seems a diminutive light revolving around his world; the + moon and the stars that appear formed only to light his path; the + strange <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page055">[pg 055]</span><a name= + "Pg055" id="Pg055" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> fantastic diseases + that suggest irresistibly the notion of present dæmons; the terrific + phenomena of nature which appear the results, not of blind forces, + but of isolated spiritual agencies—all these things fatally, + inevitably, invincibly impel him into superstition. Through long + centuries the superstitions thus generated have deluged the world + with blood. Millions of prayers have been vainly breathed to what we + now know were inexorable laws of nature. Only after ages of toil did + the mind of man emancipate itself from those deadly errors to which + by the deceptive appearances of nature the long infancy of humanity + is universally doomed.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">And in the laws of + wealth how different are the appearances from the realities of + things! Who can estimate the wars that have been kindled, the + bitterness and the wretchedness that have been caused, by errors + relating to the apparent antagonism of the interests of nations which + were so natural that for centuries they entangled the very strongest + intellects, and it was scarcely till our own day that a tardy science + came to dispel them?</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">What shall we say + to these things? If induction alone were our guide, if we possessed + absolutely no knowledge of some things being in their own nature + good, and others in their own nature evil, how could we rise from + this spectacle of nature to the conception of an all-perfect Author? + Even if we could discover a predominance of benevolence in the + creation, we should still regard the mingled attributes of nature as + a reflex of the mingled attributes of its Contriver. Our knowledge of + the Supreme Excellence, our best evidence even of the existence of + the Creator, is derived not from the material universe but from our + own moral nature.<a id="noteref_83" name="noteref_83" href= + "#note_83"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">83</span></span></a> It is + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page056">[pg 056]</span><a name="Pg056" + id="Pg056" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> not of reason but of faith. In + other words it springs from that instinctive or moral nature which is + as truly a part of our being as is our reason, which teaches us what + reason could never teach, the supreme and transcendent excellence of + moral good, which rising dissatisfied above this world of sense, + proves itself by the very intensity of its aspiration to be adapted + for another sphere, and which constitutes at once the evidence of a + Divine element within us, and the augury of the future that is before + us.<a id="noteref_84" name="noteref_84" href="#note_84"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">84</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These things + belong rather to the sphere of feeling than of reasoning. Those who + are most deeply persuaded of their truth, will probably feel that + they are unable by argument to express adequately the intensity of + their conviction, but they may point to the recorded experience of + the best and greatest men in all ages, to the incapacity of + terrestrial things to satisfy our nature, to the manifest tendency, + both in individuals and nations, of a pure and heroic life to kindle, + and of a selfish and corrupt life to cloud, these aspirations, to the + historical fact that no philosophy and no scepticism have been able + permanently to repress them. The lines of our moral nature tend + upwards. In it we have the common root of religion and of ethics, for + the same consciousness that tells us that, even when it is in fact + the weakest element of our constitution, it is by right supreme, + commanding and authoritative, teaches us also that it is Divine. All + the nobler religions that have governed mankind, have done so by + virtue of the affinity of their teaching with this nature, by + speaking, as common religious language correctly describes it, + <span class="tei tei-q">“to the heart,”</span> by appealing not to + self-interest, but to that Divine element of self-sacrifice which is + latent in every soul.<a id="noteref_85" name="noteref_85" href= + "#note_85"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">85</span></span></a> The + reality of this moral nature is the one great <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page057">[pg 057]</span><a name="Pg057" id="Pg057" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> question of natural theology, for it + involves that connection between our own and a higher nature, without + which the existence of a First Cause were a mere question of + archæology, and religion but an exercise of the imagination.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I return gladly to + the secular sanctions of utilitarianism. The majority of its + disciples assure us that these are sufficient to establish their + theory, or in other words, that our duty coincides so strictly with + our interest when rightly understood, that a perfectly prudent would + necessarily become a perfectly virtuous man.<a id="noteref_86" name= + "noteref_86" href="#note_86"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">86</span></span></a> Bodily + vice they tell us ultimately brings bodily weakness and suffering. + Extravagance is followed by ruin; unbridled passions by the loss of + domestic peace; disregard for the interests of others by social or + legal penalties; while on the other hand, the most moral is also the + most tranquil disposition; benevolence is one of the truest of our + pleasures, and virtue may become by habit, an essential of enjoyment. + As the shopkeeper who has made his fortune, still sometimes continues + at the counter, because the daily routine has become necessary to his + happiness, so the <span class="tei tei-q">“moral hero”</span> may + continue to practise that virtue which was at first the mere + instrument of his pleasures, as being in itself more precious than + all besides.<a id="noteref_87" name="noteref_87" href= + "#note_87"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">87</span></span></a></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page058">[pg 058]</span><a name="Pg058" id="Pg058" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This theory of the + perfect coincidence of virtue and interest rightly understood, which + has always been a commonplace of moralists, and has been advocated by + many who were far from wishing to resolve virtue into prudence, + contains no doubt a certain amount of truth, but only of the most + general kind. It does not apply to nations as wholes, for although + luxurious and effeminate vices do undoubtedly corrode and enervate + national character, the histories of ancient Rome and of not a few + modern monarchies abundantly prove that a career of consistent + rapacity, ambition, selfishness, and fraud may be eminently conducive + to national prosperity.<a id="noteref_88" name="noteref_88" href= + "#note_88"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">88</span></span></a> It does + not apply to imperfectly organised societies, where the restraints of + public opinion are unfelt and where force is the one measure of + right. It does not apply except in a very partial degree even to the + most civilised of mankind. It is, indeed, easy to show that in a + polished community a certain low standard of virtue is essential to + prosperity, to paint the evils of unrestrained passions, and to prove + that it is better to obey than to violate the laws of society. But if + turning from the criminal or the drunkard we were to compare the man + who simply falls in with or slightly surpasses the average morals of + those about <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page059">[pg + 059]</span><a name="Pg059" id="Pg059" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + him, and indulges in a little vice which is neither injurious to his + own health nor to his reputation, with the man who earnestly and + painfully adopts a much higher standard than that of his time or of + his class, we should be driven to another conclusion. Honesty it is + said is the best policy—a fact, however, which depends very much upon + the condition of the police force—but heroic virtue must rest upon a + different basis. If happiness in any of its forms be the supreme + object of life, moderation is the most emphatic counsel of our being, + but moderation is as opposed to heroism as to vice. There is no form + of intellectual or moral excellence which has not a general tendency + to produce happiness if cultivated in moderation. There are very few + which if cultivated to great perfection have not a tendency directly + the reverse. Thus a mind that is sufficiently enlarged to range + abroad amid the pleasures of intellect has no doubt secured a fund of + inexhaustible enjoyment; but he who inferred from this that the + highest intellectual eminence was the condition most favourable to + happiness would be lamentably deceived. The diseased nervous + sensibility that accompanies intense mental exertion, the weary, + wasting sense of ignorance and vanity, the disenchantment and + disintegration that commonly follow a profound research, have filled + literature with mournful echoes of the words of the royal sage, + <span class="tei tei-q">“In much wisdom is much grief, and he that + increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.”</span> The lives of men of + genius have been for the most part a conscious and deliberate + realisation of the ancient myth—the tree of knowledge and the tree of + life stood side by side, and they chose the tree of knowledge rather + than the tree of life.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Nor is it + otherwise in the realm of morals.<a id="noteref_89" name="noteref_89" + href="#note_89"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">89</span></span></a> The + virtue which is most conducive to happiness is plainly that which + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page060">[pg 060]</span><a name="Pg060" + id="Pg060" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> can be realised without much + suffering, and sustained without much effort. Legal and physical + penalties apply only to the grosser and more extreme forms of vice. + Social penalties may strike the very highest forms of virtue.<a id= + "noteref_90" name="noteref_90" href="#note_90"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">90</span></span></a> That + very sentiment of unity with mankind which utilitarians assure us is + one day to become so strong as to overpower all unsocial feelings, + would make it more and more impossible for men consistently with + their happiness to adopt any course, whether very virtuous or very + vicious, that would place them out of harmony with the general + sentiment of society. It may be said that the tranquillity of a + perfectly virtuous mind is the highest form of happiness, and may be + reasonably preferred not only to material advantages, but also to the + approbation of society; but no man can fully attain, and few can even + approximate, to such a condition. When vicious passions and impulses + are very strong, it is idle to tell the sufferer that he would be + more happy if his nature were radically different from what it is. If + happiness be his object, he must regulate his course with a view to + the actual condition of his being, and there can be little doubt that + his peace would be most promoted by a compromise with vice. The + selfish theory of morals applies only to the virtues of temperament, + and not to that much higher form of virtue which is sustained in + defiance of temperament.<a id="noteref_91" name="noteref_91" href= + "#note_91"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">91</span></span></a> We have + no doubt a certain pleasure in cultivating our good tendencies, but + we have by no means the same pleasure in repressing our bad ones. + There are men whose whole lives are spent in willing one thing, and + desiring the opposite. In such cases as these <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page061">[pg 061]</span><a name="Pg061" id="Pg061" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> virtue clearly involves a sacrifice of + happiness; for the suffering caused by resisting natural tendencies + is much greater than would ensue from their moderate + gratification.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The plain truth is + that no proposition can be more palpably and egregiously false than + the assertion that as far as this world is concerned, it is + invariably conducive to the happiness of a man to pursue the most + virtuous career. Circumstances and disposition will make one man find + his highest happiness in the happiness, and another man in the + misery, of his kind; and if the second man acts according to his + interest, the utilitarian, however much he may deplore the result, + has no right to blame or condemn the agent. For that agent is + following his greatest happiness, and this, in the eyes of + utilitarians, in one form or another, is the highest, or to speak + more accurately, the only motive by which human nature can be + actuated.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We may remark too + that the disturbance or pain which does undoubtedly usually accompany + what is evil, bears no kind of proportion to the enormity of the + guilt. An irritability of temper, which is chiefly due to a + derangement of the nervous system, or a habit of procrastination or + indecision, will often cause more suffering than some of the worst + vices that can corrupt the heart.<a id="noteref_92" name="noteref_92" + href="#note_92"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">92</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But it may be said + this calculation of pains and pleasures is defective through the + omission of one element. Although a man who had a very strong natural + impulse towards some vice would appear more likely to promote the + tranquillity of his nature by a moderate and circumspect + gratification of that <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page062">[pg + 062]</span><a name="Pg062" id="Pg062" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + vice, than by endeavouring painfully to repress his natural + tendencies, yet he possesses a conscience which adjudicates upon his + conduct, and its sting or its approval constitutes a pain or pleasure + so intense, as more than to redress the balance. Now of course, no + intuitive moralist will deny, what for a long time his school may be + almost said to have been alone in asserting, the reality of + conscience, or the pleasures and pains it may afford. He simply + denies, and he appeals to consciousness in attestation of his + position, that those pains and pleasures are so powerful or so + proportioned to our acts as to become an adequate basis for virtue. + Conscience, whether we regard it as an original faculty, or as a + product of the association of ideas, exercises two distinct + functions. It points out a difference between right and wrong, and + when its commands are violated, it inflicts a certain measure of + suffering and disturbance. The first function it exercises + persistently through life. The second it only exercises under certain + special circumstances. It is scarcely conceivable that a man in the + possession of his faculties should pass a life of gross depravity and + crime without being conscious that he was doing wrong; but it is + extremely possible for him to do so without this consciousness having + any appreciable influence upon his tranquillity. The condition of + their consciences, as Mr. Carlyle observes, has less influence on the + happiness of men than the condition of their livers. Considered as a + source of pain, conscience bears a striking resemblance to the + feeling of disgust. Notwithstanding the assertion of Dr. Johnson, I + venture to maintain that there are multitudes to whom the necessity + of discharging the duties of a butcher would be so inexpressibly + painful and revolting, that if they could obtain flesh diet on no + other condition, they would relinquish it for ever. But to those who + are inured to the trade, this repugnance has simply ceased. It has no + place in their emotions or calculations. Nor can it be reasonably + questioned that most men by an assiduous <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page063">[pg 063]</span><a name="Pg063" id="Pg063" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> attendance at the slaughter-house could acquire + a similar indifference. In like manner, the reproaches of conscience + are doubtless a very real and important form of suffering to a + sensitive, scrupulous, and virtuous girl who has committed some + trivial act of levity or disobedience; but to an old and hardened + criminal they are a matter of the most absolute indifference.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Now it is + undoubtedly conceivable, that by an association of ideas men might + acquire a feeling that would cause that which would naturally be + painful to them to be pleasurable, and that which would naturally be + pleasurable to be painful.<a id="noteref_93" name="noteref_93" href= + "#note_93"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">93</span></span></a> But the + question will immediately arise, why should they respect this + feeling? We have seen that, according to the inductive theory, there + is no such thing as natural duty. Men enter into life solely desirous + of seeking their own happiness. The whole edifice of virtue arises + from the observed fact, that owing to the constitution of our nature, + and the intimacy of our social relations, it is necessary for our + happiness to abstain from some courses that would be immediately + pleasurable and to pursue others that are immediately the reverse. + Self-interest is the one ultimate reason for virtue, however much + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page064">[pg 064]</span><a name="Pg064" + id="Pg064" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the moral chemistry of Hartley + may disguise and transform it. Ought or ought not, means nothing more + than the prospect of acquiring or of losing pleasure. The fact that + one line of conduct promotes, and another impairs the happiness of + others is, according to these moralists, in the last analysis, no + reason whatever for pursuing the former or avoiding the latter, + unless such a course is that which brings us the greatest happiness. + The happiness may arise from the action of society upon ourselves, or + from our own naturally benevolent disposition, or, again, from an + association of ideas, which means the force of a habit we have + formed, but in any case our own happiness is the one possible or + conceivable motive of action. If this be a true picture of human + nature, the reasonable course for every man is to modify his + disposition in such a manner that he may attain the greatest possible + amount of enjoyment. If he has formed an association of ideas, or + contracted a habit which inflicts more pain than it prevents, or + prevents more pleasure than it affords, his reasonable course is to + dissolve that association, to destroy that habit. This is what he + <span class="tei tei-q">“ought”</span> to do according to the only + meaning that word can possess in the utilitarian vocabulary. If he + does not, he will justly incur the charge of imprudence, which is the + only charge utilitarianism can consistently bring against vice.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That it would be + for the happiness as it would certainly be in the power of a man of a + temperament such as I have lately described, to quench that + conscientious feeling, which by its painful reproaches prevents him + from pursuing the course that would be most conducive to his + tranquillity, I conceive to be self-evident. And, indeed, on the + whole, it is more than doubtful whether conscience, considered apart + from the course of action it prescribes, is not the cause of more + pain than pleasure. Its reproaches are more felt than its approval. + The self-complacency of a virtuous man reflecting with delight upon + his own exceeding merit, is frequently <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page065">[pg 065]</span><a name="Pg065" id="Pg065" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> spoken of in the writings of moral + philosophers,<a id="noteref_94" name="noteref_94" href= + "#note_94"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">94</span></span></a> but is + rarely found in actual life where the most tranquil is seldom the + most perfect nature, where the sensitiveness of conscience increases + at least in proportion to moral growth, and where in the best men a + feeling of modesty and humility is always present to check the + exuberance of self-gratulation.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In every sound + system of morals and religion the motives of virtue become more + powerful the more the mind is concentrated upon them. It is when they + are lost sight of, when they are obscured by passion, unrealised or + forgotten, that <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page066">[pg + 066]</span><a name="Pg066" id="Pg066" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + they cease to operate. But it is a peculiarity of the utilitarian + conception of virtue that it is wholly unable to resist the solvent + of analysis, and that the more the mind realises its origin and its + nature, the more its influence on character must decline. The + pleasures of the senses will always defy the force of analysis, for + they have a real foundation in our being. They have their basis in + the eternal nature of things. But the pleasure we derive from the + practice of virtue rests, according to this school, on a wholly + different basis. It is the result of casual and artificial + association, of habit, of a confusion by the imagination of means + with ends, of a certain dignity with which society invests qualities + or actions that are useful to itself. Just in proportion as this is + felt, just in proportion as the mind separates the idea of virtue + from that of natural excellence and obligation, and realises the + purely artificial character of the connection, just in that + proportion will the coercive power of the moral motive be destroyed. + The utilitarian rule of judging actions and dispositions by their + tendency to promote or diminish happiness, or the maxim of Kant that + man should always act so that the rule of his conduct might be + adopted as a law by all rational beings, may be very useful as a + guide in life; but in order that they should acquire moral weight, it + is necessary to presuppose the sense of moral obligation, the + consciousness that duty, when discovered, has a legitimate claim to + be the guiding principle of our lives. And it is this element which, + in the eye of reason, the mere artificial association of ideas can + never furnish.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If the patience of + the reader has enabled him to accompany me through this long train of + tedious arguments, he will, I think, have concluded that the + utilitarian theory, though undoubtedly held by many men of the + purest, and by some men of almost heroic virtue, would if carried to + its logical conclusions prove subversive of morality, and especially, + and in the very highest degree, unfavourable to <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page067">[pg 067]</span><a name="Pg067" id="Pg067" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> self-denial and to heroism. Even if it + explains these, it fails to justify them, and conscience being traced + to a mere confusion of the means of happiness with its end, would be + wholly unable to resist the solvent of criticism. That this theory of + conscience gives a true or adequate description of the phenomenon it + seeks to explain, no intuitive moralist will admit. It is a complete + though common mistake to suppose that the business of the moralist is + merely to explain the genesis of certain feelings we possess. At the + root of all morals lies an intellectual judgment which is clearly + distinct from liking or disliking, from pleasure or from pain. A man + who has injured his position by some foolish but perfectly innocent + act, or who has inadvertently violated some social rule, may + experience an emotion of self-reproach or of shame quite as acute as + if he had committed a crime. But he is at the same time clearly + conscious that his conduct is not a fit subject for moral + reprobation, that the grounds on which it may be condemned are of a + different and of a lower kind. The sense of obligation and of + legitimate supremacy, which is the essential and characteristic + feature of conscience, and which distinguishes it from all the other + parts of our nature, is wholly unaccounted for by the association of + ideas. To say that a certain course of conduct is pleasing, and that + a certain amount of pain results from the weakening of feelings that + impel men towards it, is plainly different from what men mean when + they say we ought to pursue it. The virtue of Hartley is, in its last + analysis, but a disease of the imagination. It may be more + advantageous to society than avarice; but it is formed in the same + manner, and has exactly the same degree of binding force.<a id= + "noteref_95" name="noteref_95" href="#note_95"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">95</span></span></a></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page068">[pg 068]</span><a name="Pg068" id="Pg068" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These + considerations will help to supply an answer to the common + utilitarian objection that to speak of duty as distinct from + self-interest is unmeaning, because it is absurd to say that we are + under an obligation to do any thing when no evil consequences would + result to us from not doing it. Rewards and punishments it may be + answered are undoubtedly necessary to enforce, but they are not + necessary to constitute, duty. This distinction, whether it be real + or not, has at all events the advantage of appearing self-evident to + all who are not philosophers. Thus when a party of colonists occupy a + new territory they divide the unoccupied land among themselves, and + they murder, or employ for the gratification of their lusts, the + savage inhabitants. Both acts are done with perfect impunity, but one + is felt to be innocent and the other wrong. A lawful government + appropriates the land and protects the aboriginals, supporting its + enactments by penalties. In the one case the law both creates and + enforces a duty, in the other it only enforces it. The intuitive + moralist simply asserts that we have the power of perceiving that + certain courses of action are higher, nobler, <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page069">[pg 069]</span><a name="Pg069" id="Pg069" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> and better than others, and that by the + constitution of our being, this fact, which is generically distinct + from the prospect of pleasure or the reverse, may and ought to be and + continually is a motive of action. It is no doubt possible for a man + to prefer the lower course, and in this case we say he is deserving + of punishment, and if he remains unpunished we say that it is unjust. + But if there were no power to reward or punish him, his acts would + not be indifferent. They would still be intelligibly described as + essentially base or noble, shameful though there were none to + censure, admirable though there were none to admire.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That men have the + power of preferring other objects than happiness is a proposition + which must ultimately be left to the attestation of consciousness. + That the pursuit of virtue, however much happiness may eventually + follow in its train, is in the first instance an example of this + preference, must be established by that common voice of mankind which + has invariably regarded a virtuous motive as generically different + from an interested one. And indeed even when the conflict between + strong passions and a strong sense of duty does not exist it is + impossible to measure the degrees of virtue by the scale of + enjoyment. The highest nature is rarely the happiest. Petronius + Arbiter was, very probably, a happier man than Marcus Aurelius. For + eighteen centuries the religious instinct of Christendom has + recognised its ideal in the form of a <span class="tei tei-q">“Man of + Sorrows.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Considerations + such as I have now urged lead the intuitive moralists to reject the + principles of the utilitarian. They acknowledge indeed that the + effect of actions upon the happiness of mankind forms a most + important element in determining their moral quality, but they + maintain that without natural moral perceptions we never should have + known that it was our duty to seek the happiness of mankind when it + diverged from our own, and they deny that virtue was either + originally evolved from or is necessarily <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page070">[pg 070]</span><a name="Pg070" id="Pg070" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> proportioned to utility. They acknowledge that + in the existing condition of society there is at least a general + coincidence between the paths of virtue and of prosperity, but they + contend that the obligation of virtue is of such a nature that no + conceivable convulsion of affairs could destroy it, and that it would + continue even if the government of the world belonged to supreme + malice instead of supreme benevolence. Virtue, they believe, is + something more than a calculation or a habit. It is impossible to + conceive its fundamental principles reversed. Notwithstanding the + strong tendency to confuse cognate feelings, the sense of duty and + the sense of utility remain perfectly distinct in the apprehension of + mankind, and we are quite capable of recognising each separate + ingredient in the same act. Our respect for a gallant but dangerous + enemy, our contempt for a useful traitor, our care in the last + moments of life for the interests of those who survive us, our clear + distinction between intentional and unintentional injuries, and + between the consciousness of imprudence and the consciousness of + guilt, our conviction that the pursuit of interest should always be + checked by a sense of duty, and that selfish and moral motives are so + essentially opposed, that the presence of the former necessarily + weakens the latter, our indignation at those who when honour or + gratitude call them to sacrifice their interests pause to calculate + remote consequences, the feeling of remorse which differs from every + other emotion of our nature—in a word, the universal, unstudied + sentiments of mankind all concur in leading us to separate widely our + virtuous affections from our selfish ones. Just as pleasure and pain + are ultimate grounds of action, and no reason can be given why we + should seek the former and avoid the latter, except that it is the + constitution of our nature that we should do so, so we are conscious + that the words right and wrong express ultimate intelligible motives, + that these motives are generically different from the others, that + they are <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page071">[pg + 071]</span><a name="Pg071" id="Pg071" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of + a higher order, and that they carry with them a sense of obligation. + Any scheme of morals that omits these facts fails to give an accurate + and adequate description of the states of feeling which consciousness + reveals. The consciences of men in every age would have echoed the + assertion of Cicero that to sacrifice pleasure with a view of + obtaining any form or modification of pleasure in return, no more + answers to our idea of virtue, than to lend money at interest to our + idea of charity. The conception of pure disinterestedness is + presupposed in our estimates of virtue. It is the root of all the + emotions with which we contemplate acts of heroism. We feel that man + is capable of pursuing what he believes to be right although pain and + disaster and mental suffering and an early death be the consequence, + and although no prospect of future reward lighten upon his tomb. This + is the highest prerogative of our being, the point of contact between + the human nature and the divine.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In addition to the + direct arguments in its support, the utilitarian school owes much of + its influence to some very powerful moral and intellectual + predispositions in its favour—the first, which we shall hereafter + examine, consisting of the tendency manifested in certain conditions + of society towards the qualities it is most calculated to produce, + and the second of the almost irresistible attraction which unity and + precision exercise on many minds. It was this desire to simplify + human nature, by reducing its various faculties and complex + operations to a single principle or process, that gave its great + popularity to the sensational school of the last century. It led most + metaphysicians of that school to deny the duality of human nature. It + led Bonnet and Condillac to propose an animated statue, endowed with + the five senses as channels of ideas, and with faculties exclusively + employed in transforming the products of sensation, as a perfect + representative of humanity. It led Helvétius to assert that the + original faculties of all men were precisely the same, all the + difference <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page072">[pg + 072]</span><a name="Pg072" id="Pg072" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + between what we call genius and what we call stupidity arising from + differences of circumstances, and all the difference between men and + animals arising mainly from the structure of the human hand. In + morals, theories of unification are peculiarly plausible, and I think + peculiarly dangerous, because, owing to the interaction of our moral + sentiments, and the many transformations that each can undergo, there + are few affections that might not under some conceivable + circumstances become the parents of every other. When Hobbes, in the + name of the philosophy of self-interest, contended that <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Pity is but the imagination of future calamity to + ourselves, produced by the sense of another man's + calamity;”</span><a id="noteref_96" name="noteref_96" href= + "#note_96"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">96</span></span></a> when + Hutcheson, in the name of the philosophy of benevolence, argued that + the vice of intemperance is that it impels us to violence towards + others, and weakens our capacity for doing them good;<a id= + "noteref_97" name="noteref_97" href="#note_97"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">97</span></span></a> when + other moralists defending the excellence of our nature maintained + that compassion is so emphatically the highest of our pleasures that + a desire of gratifying it is the cause of our acts of + barbarity;<a id="noteref_98" name="noteref_98" href= + "#note_98"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">98</span></span></a> each of + these theories, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page073">[pg + 073]</span><a name="Pg073" id="Pg073" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + extravagant as it is, contains a germ of undoubted psychological + truth. It is true that a mind intensely apprehensive of future + calamities would on that account receive a shock at the sight of the + calamities of others. It is true that a very keen and absorbing + sentiment of benevolence would be in itself sufficient to divert men + from any habit that impaired their power of gratifying it. It is true + that compassion involves a certain amount of pleasure, and + conceivable that that pleasure might be so intensified that we might + seek it by a crime. The error in these theories is not that they + exaggerate the possible efficacy of the motives, but that they + exaggerate their actual intensity in human nature and describe + falsely the process by which the results they seek to explain have + been arrived at. The function of observation in moral philosophy is + not simply to attest the moral sentiments we possess, leaving it to + the reason to determine deductively how they may have been formed; it + is rather to follow them through all the stages of their + formation.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">And here I may + observe that the term inductive, like most others that are employed + in moral philosophy, may give <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page074">[pg 074]</span><a name="Pg074" id="Pg074" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> rise to serious misconception. It is properly + applied to those moralists who, disbelieving the existence of any + moral sense or faculty revealing to us what is right and wrong, + maintain that the origin of those ideas is simply our experience of + the tendency of different lines of conduct to promote or impair true + happiness. It appears, however, to be sometimes imagined that + inductive moralists alone think that it is by induction or experience + that we ought to ascertain what is the origin of our moral ideas. But + this I conceive to be a complete mistake. The basis of morals is a + distinct question from the basis of theories of morals. Those who + maintain the existence of a moral faculty do not, as is sometimes + said, assume this proposition as a first principle of their + arguments, but they arrive at it by a process of induction quite as + severe as any that can be employed by their opponents.<a id= + "noteref_99" name="noteref_99" href="#note_99"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">99</span></span></a> They + examine, analyse, and classify their existing moral feelings, + ascertain in what respects those feelings agree with or differ from + others, trace them through their various phases, and only assign them + to a special faculty when they think they have shown them to be + incapable of resolution, and generically different from all + others.<a id="noteref_100" name="noteref_100" href= + "#note_100"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">100</span></span></a></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page075">[pg 075]</span><a name="Pg075" id="Pg075" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This separation is + all that is meant by a moral faculty. We are apt to regard the term + as implying a distinct and well defined organ, bearing to the mind + the same kind of relation as a limb to the body. But of the existence + of such organs, and of the propriety of such material imagery, we + know nothing. Perceiving in ourselves a will, and a crowd of + intellectual and emotional phenomena that seem wholly different from + the properties of matter, we infer the existence of an immaterial + substance which wills, thinks, and feels, and can classify its own + operations with considerable precision. The term faculty is simply an + expression of classification. If we say that the moral faculty + differs from the æsthetic faculty, we can only mean that the mind + forms certain judgments of moral excellence, and also certain + judgments of beauty, and that these two mental processes are clearly + distinct. To ask to what part of our nature moral perceptions should + be attributed, is only to ask to what train of mental phenomena they + bear the closest resemblance.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If this simple, + but often neglected, consideration be borne <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page076">[pg 076]</span><a name="Pg076" id="Pg076" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> in mind, the apparent discordance of intuitive + moralists will appear less profound than might at first sight be + supposed, for each section merely elucidates some one characteristic + of moral judgments. Thus Butler insists upon the sense of obligation + that is involved in them, contends that this separates them from all + other sentiments, and assigns them in consequence to a special + faculty of supreme authority called conscience. Adam Smith and many + other writers were especially struck by their sympathetic character. + We are naturally attracted by humanity, and repelled by cruelty, and + this instinctive, unreasoning sentiment constitutes, according to + these moralists, the difference between right and wrong. Cudworth, + however, the English precursor of Kant, had already anticipated, and + later metaphysicians have more fully exhibited, the inadequacy of + such an analysis. Justice, humanity, veracity, and kindred virtues + not merely have the power of attracting us, we have also an + intellectual perception that they are essentially and immutably good, + that their nature does not depend upon, and is not relative to, our + constitutions; that it is impossible and inconceivable they should + ever be vices, and their opposites, virtues. They are, therefore, it + is said, intuitions of the reason. Clarke, developing the same + rational school, and following in the steps of those moralists who + regard our nature as a hierarchy of powers or faculties, with + different degrees of dignity, and an appropriate order of supremacy + and subordination, maintained that virtue consisted in harmony with + the nature of things. Wollaston endeavoured to reduce it to truth, + and Hutcheson to benevolence, which he maintained is recognised and + approved by what his respect for the philosophy of Locke induced him + to call <span class="tei tei-q">“a moral sense,”</span> but what + Shaftesbury had regarded as a moral <span class= + "tei tei-q">“taste.”</span> The pleasure attending the gratification + of this taste, according to Shaftesbury and Henry More, is the motive + to virtue. The doctrine of a moral sense or faculty was the basis of + the ethics of Reid. Hume maintained that <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page077">[pg 077]</span><a name="Pg077" id="Pg077" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> the peculiar quality of virtue is its utility, + but that our affections are purely disinterested, and that we arrive + at our knowledge of what is virtuous by a moral sense implanted in + our nature, which leads us instinctively to approve of all acts that + are beneficial to others. Expanding a pregnant hint which had been + thrown out by Butler, he laid the foundation for a union of the + schools of Clarke and Shaftesbury, by urging that our moral decisions + are not simple, but complex, containing both a judgment of the + reason, and an emotion of the heart. This fact has been elucidated + still further by later writers, who have observed that these two + elements apply in varying degrees to different kinds of virtue. + According to Lord Kames, our intellectual perception of right and + wrong applies most strictly to virtues like justice or veracity, + which are of what is called <span class="tei tei-q">“perfect + obligation,”</span> or, in other words, are of such a nature, that + their violation is a distinct crime, while the emotion of attraction + or affection is shown most strongly towards virtues of imperfect + obligation, like benevolence or charity. Like Hutcheson and + Shaftesbury, Lord Kames notices the analogies between our moral and + æsthetical judgments.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These last + analogies open out a region of thought widely different from that we + have been traversing. The close connection between the good and the + beautiful has been always felt, so much so, that both were in Greek + expressed by the same word, and in the philosophy of Plato, moral + beauty was regarded as the archetype of which all visible beauty is + only the shadow or the image. We all feel that there is a strict + propriety in the term moral beauty. We feel that there are different + forms of beauty which have a natural correspondence to different + moral qualities, and much of the charm of poetry and eloquence rests + upon this harmony. We feel that we have a direct, immediate, + intuitive perception that some objects, such as the sky above us, are + beautiful, that this perception of beauty is totally different, and + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page078">[pg 078]</span><a name="Pg078" + id="Pg078" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> could not possibly be derived, + from a perception of their utility, and that it bears a very striking + resemblance to the instantaneous and unreasoning admiration elicited + by a generous or heroic action. We perceive too, if we examine with + care the operations of our own mind, that an æsthetical judgment + includes an intuition or intellectual perception, and an emotion of + attraction or admiration, very similar to those which compose a moral + judgment. The very idea of beauty again implies that it should be + admired, as the idea of happiness implies that it should be desired, + and the idea of duty that it should be performed. There is also a + striking correspondence between the degree and kind of uniformity we + can in each case discover. That there is a difference between right + and wrong, and between beauty and ugliness, are both propositions + which are universally felt. That right is better than wrong, and + beauty than ugliness, are equally unquestioned. When we go further, + and attempt to define the nature of these qualities, we are met + indeed by great diversities of detail, but by a far larger amount of + substantial unity. Poems like the Iliad or the Psalms, springing in + the most dissimilar quarters, have commanded the admiration of men, + through all the changes of some 3,000 years. The charm of music, the + harmony of the female countenance, the majesty of the starry sky, of + the ocean or of the mountain, the gentler beauties of the murmuring + stream or of the twilight shades, were felt, as they are felt now, + when the imagination of the infant world first embodied itself in + written words. And in the same way types of heroism, and of virtue, + descending from the remotest ages, command the admiration of mankind. + We can sympathise with the emotions of praise or blame revealed in + the earliest historians, and the most ancient moralists strike a + responsive chord in every heart. The broad lines remain unchanged. No + one ever contended that justice was a vice or injustice a virtue; or + that a summer sunset was a repulsive object, or that the sores upon a + human <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page079">[pg 079]</span><a name= + "Pg079" id="Pg079" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> body were beautiful. + Always, too, the objects of æsthetical admiration were divided into + two great classes, the sublime and the beautiful, which in ethics + have their manifest counterparts in the heroic and the amiable.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If, again, we + examine the undoubted diversities that exist in judgments of virtue + and of beauty, we soon discover that in each case a large proportion + of them are to be ascribed to the different degrees of civilisation. + The moral standard changes within certain limits, and according to a + regular process with the evolutions of society. There are virtues + very highly estimated in a rude civilisation which sink into + comparative insignificance in an organised society, while conversely, + virtues that were deemed secondary in the first become primary in the + other. There are even virtues that it is impossible for any but + highly cultivated minds to recognise. Questions of virtue and vice, + such as the difference between humanity and barbarity, or between + temperance and intemperance, are sometimes merely questions of + degree, and the standard at one stage of civilisation may be much + higher than at another. Just in the same way a steady modification of + tastes, while a recognition of the broad features of beauty remains + unchanged, accompanies advancing civilisation. The preference of + gaudy to subdued tints, of colour to form, of a florid to a chaste + style, of convulsive attitudes, gigantic figures, and strong + emotions, may be looked for with considerable confidence in an + uninstructed people. The refining influence of cultivation is in no + sphere more remarkable than in the canons of taste it produces, and + there are few better measures of the civilisation of a people than + the conceptions of beauty it forms, the type or ideal it endeavours + to realise.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Many diversities, + however, both of moral and æsthetical judgments, may be traced to + accidental causes. Some one who is greatly admired, or who possesses + great influence, is distinguished by some peculiarity of appearance, + or introduces some peculiarity of dress. He will soon find countless + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page080">[pg 080]</span><a name="Pg080" + id="Pg080" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> imitators. Gradually the + natural sense of beauty will become vitiated; the eye and the taste + will adjust themselves to a false and artificial standard, and men + will at last judge according to it with the most absolute + spontaneity. In the same way, if any accidental circumstance has + elevated an indifferent action to peculiar honour, if a religious + system enforces it as a virtue or brands it as a vice, the + consciences of men will after a time accommodate themselves to the + sentence, and an appeal to a wider than a local tribunal is necessary + to correct the error. Every nation, again, from its peculiar + circumstances and position, tends to some particular type, both of + beauty and of virtue, and it naturally extols its national type + beyond all others. The virtues of a small poor nation, living among + barren mountains, surrounded by powerful enemies, and maintaining its + independence only by the most inflexible discipline, watchfulness, + and courage, will be in some degree different from those of a rich + people removed from all fear of invasion and placed in the centre of + commerce. The former will look with a very lenient eye on acts of + barbarity or treachery, which to the latter would appear unspeakably + horrible, and will value very highly certain virtues of discipline + which the other will comparatively neglect. So, too, the conceptions + of beauty formed by a nation of negroes will be different from those + formed by a nation of whites;<a id="noteref_101" name="noteref_101" + href="#note_101"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">101</span></span></a> the + splendour of a tropical sky or the savage grandeur of a northern + ocean, the aspect of great mountains or of wide plains, will not only + supply nations with present images of sublimity or beauty, but will + also contribute to form their standard and affect their judgments. + Local customs or observances become so interwoven with our earliest + recollections, that we at last regard them as essentially + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page081">[pg 081]</span><a name="Pg081" + id="Pg081" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> venerable, and even in the + most trivial matters it requires a certain effort to dissolve the + association. There was much wisdom as well as much wit in the picture + of the novelist who described the English footman's contempt for the + uniforms of the French, <span class="tei tei-q">“blue being + altogether ridiculous for regimentals, except in the blue guards and + artillery;”</span> and I suppose there are few Englishmen into whose + first confused impression of France there does not enter a + half-instinctive feeling of repugnance caused by the ferocious + appearance of a peasantry who are all dressed like butchers.<a id= + "noteref_102" name="noteref_102" href="#note_102"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">102</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It has been + said<a id="noteref_103" name="noteref_103" href= + "#note_103"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">103</span></span></a> that + <span class="tei tei-q">“the feelings of beauty, grandeur, and + whatever else is comprehended under the name of taste, do not lead to + action, but terminate in delightful contemplation, which constitutes + the essential distinction between them and the moral sentiments to + which in some points of view they may doubtless be likened.”</span> + This position I conceive to be altogether untenable. Our æsthetical + judgment is of the nature of a preference. It leads us to prefer one + class of objects to another, and whenever other things are equal, + becomes a ground for action. In choosing the persons with whom we + live, the neighbourhood we inhabit, the objects that surround us, we + prefer that which is beautiful to that which is the reverse, and in + every case in which a choice between beauty and deformity is in + question, and no counteracting motive intervenes, we choose the + former, and avoid the latter. There are no doubt innumerable events + in life in which this question does not arise, but there are also + very many in which we are not called upon to make a moral judgment. + We say a man is actuated by strong moral principle who chooses + according to its dictates in every case involving a moral judgment + that comes naturally before him, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page082">[pg 082]</span><a name="Pg082" id="Pg082" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> and who in obedience to its impulse pursues + special courses of action. Corresponding propositions may be + maintained with perfect truth concerning our sense of beauty. In + proportion to its strength does it guide our course in ordinary life, + and determine our peculiar pursuits. We may indeed sacrifice our + sense of material beauty to considerations of utility with much more + alacrity than our sense of moral beauty; we may consent to build a + shapeless house sooner than to commit a dishonourable action, but we + cannot voluntarily choose that which is simply deformed, rather than + that which is beautiful, without a certain feeling of pain, and a + pain of this kind, according to the school of Hartley, is the precise + definition of conscience. Nor is it at all difficult to conceive men + with a sense of beauty so strong that they would die rather than + outrage it.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Considering all + these things, it is not surprising that many moralists should have + regarded moral excellence as simply the highest form of beauty, and + moral cultivation as the supreme refinement of taste. But although + this manner of regarding it is, as I think, far more plausible than + the theory which resolves virtue into utility, although the Greek + moralists and the school of Shaftesbury have abundantly proved that + there is an extremely close connection between these orders of ideas, + there are two considerations which appear to show the inadequacy of + this theory. We are clearly conscious of the propriety of applying + the epithet <span class="tei tei-q">“beautiful”</span> to virtues + such as charity, reverence, or devotion, but we cannot apply it with + the same propriety to duties of perfect obligation, such as veracity + or integrity. The sense of beauty and the affection that follows it + attach themselves rather to modes of enthusiasm and feeling than to + the course of simple duty which constitutes a merely truthful and + upright man.<a id="noteref_104" name="noteref_104" href= + "#note_104"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">104</span></span></a> Besides + this, as the Stoics and Butler have shown, the position <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page083">[pg 083]</span><a name="Pg083" id="Pg083" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of conscience in our nature is wholly + unique, and clearly separates morals from a study of the beautiful. + While each of our senses or appetites has a restricted sphere of + operation, it is the function of conscience to survey the whole + constitution of our being, and assign limits to the gratification of + all our various passions and desires. Differing not in degree, but in + kind from the other principles of our nature, we feel that a course + of conduct which is opposed to it may be intelligibly described as + unnatural, even when in accordance with our most natural appetites, + for to conscience is assigned the prerogative of both judging and + restraining them all. Its power may be insignificant, but its title + is undisputed, and <span class="tei tei-q">“if it had might as it has + right, it would govern the world.”</span><a id="noteref_105" name= + "noteref_105" href="#note_105"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">105</span></span></a> It is + this faculty, distinct from, and superior to, all appetites, + passions, and tastes, that makes virtue the supreme law of life, and + adds an imperative character to the feeling of attraction it + inspires. It is this which was described by Cicero as the God ruling + within us; by the Stoics as the sovereignty of reason; by St. Paul as + the law of nature; by Butler as the supremacy of conscience.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The distinction of + different parts of our nature, as higher or lower, which appears in + the foregoing reasoning, and which occupies so important a place in + the intuitive system of morals, is one that can only be defended by + the way of illustrations. A writer can only select cases in which + such distinctions seem most apparent, and leave them to the feelings + of his reader. A few examples will, I hope, be sufficient to show + that even in our pleasures, we are not simply determined by the + amount of enjoyment, but that there is a difference of kind, which + may be reasonably described by the epithets, higher or lower.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If we suppose a + being from another sphere, who derived his conceptions from a purely + rational process, without the <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page084">[pg 084]</span><a name="Pg084" id="Pg084" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> intervention of the senses, to descend to our + world, and to enquire into the principles of human nature, I imagine + there are few points that would strike him as more anomalous, or + which he would be more absolutely unable to realise, than the + different estimates in which men hold the pleasures derived from the + two senses of tasting and hearing. Under the first is comprised the + enjoyment resulting from the action of certain kinds of food upon the + palate. Under the second the charm of music. Each of these forms of + pleasure is natural, each can be greatly heightened by cultivation, + in each case the pleasure may be vivid, but is very transient, and in + neither case do evil consequences necessarily ensue. Yet with so many + undoubted points of resemblance, when we turn to the actual world, we + find the difference between these two orders of pleasure of such a + nature, that a comparison seems absolutely ludicrous. In what then + does this difference consist? Not, surely, in the greater intensity + of the enjoyment derived from music, for in many cases this + superiority does not exist.<a id="noteref_106" name="noteref_106" + href="#note_106"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">106</span></span></a> We are + all conscious that in our comparison of these pleasures, there is an + element distinct from any consideration of their intensity, duration, + or consequences. We naturally attach a faint notion of shame to the + one, while we as naturally glory in the other. A very keen sense of + the pleasures of the palate is looked upon as in a certain degree + discreditable. A man will hardly boast that he is very fond of + eating, but he has no hesitation in acknowledging that he is very + fond of music. The first <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page085">[pg + 085]</span><a name="Pg085" id="Pg085" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + taste lowers, and the second elevates him in his own eyes, and in + those of his neighbours.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Again, let a man + of cheerful disposition, and of a cultivated but not very fastidious + taste, observe his own emotions and the countenances of those around + him during the representation of a clever tragedy and of a clever + farce, and it is probable that he will come to the conclusion that + his enjoyment in the latter case has been both more unmingled and + more intense than in the former. He has felt no lassitude, he has not + endured the amount of pain that necessarily accompanies the pleasure + of pathos, he has experienced a vivid, absorbing pleasure, and he has + traced similar emotions in the violent demonstrations of his + neighbours. Yet he will readily admit that the pleasure derived from + the tragedy is of a higher order than that derived from the farce. + Sometimes he will find himself hesitating which of the two he will + choose. The love of mere enjoyment leads him to the one. A sense of + its <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">nobler</span></em> character inclines him to the + other.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A similar + distinction may be observed in other departments. Except in the + relation of the sexes, it is probable that a more intense pleasure is + usually obtained from the grotesque and the eccentric, than from the + perfections of beauty. The pleasure derived from beauty is not + violent in its nature, and it is in most cases peculiarly mixed with + melancholy. The feelings of a man who is deeply moved by a lovely + landscape are rarely those of extreme elation. A shade of melancholy + steals over his mind. His eyes fill with tears. A vague and + unsatisfied longing fills his soul. Yet, troubled and broken as is + this form of enjoyment, few persons would hesitate to pronounce it of + a higher kind than any that can be derived from the exhibitions of + oddity.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If pleasures were + the sole objects of our pursuit, and if their excellence were + measured only by the quantity of enjoyment they afford, nothing could + appear more obvious than that the man would be esteemed most wise who + attained <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page086">[pg + 086]</span><a name="Pg086" id="Pg086" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> his + object at least cost. Yet the whole course of civilisation is in a + precisely opposite direction. A child derives the keenest and most + exquisite enjoyment from the simplest objects. A flower, a doll, a + rude game, the least artistic tale, is sufficient to enchant it. An + uneducated peasant is enraptured with the wildest story and the + coarsest wit. Increased cultivation almost always produces a + fastidiousness which renders necessary the increased elaboration of + our pleasures. We attach a certain discredit to a man who has + retained those of childhood. The very fact of our deriving pleasure + from certain amusements creates a kind of humiliation, for we feel + that they are not in harmony with the nobility of our nature.<a id= + "noteref_107" name="noteref_107" href="#note_107"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">107</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Our judgments of + societies resemble in this respect our judgments of individuals. Few + persons, I think, who have compared the modes of popular life in + stagnant and undeveloped countries like Spain with those in the great + centres of industrial civilisation, will venture to pronounce with + any confidence that the quantum or average of actual realised + enjoyment is greater in the civilised than in the semi-civilised + society. An undeveloped nature is by no means necessarily an unhappy + nature, and although we possess no accurate gauge of happiness, we + may, at least, be certain that its degrees do not coincide with the + degrees of prosperity. The tastes and habits of men in a backward + society accommodate themselves to the narrow circle of a few + pleasures, and probably <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page087">[pg + 087]</span><a name="Pg087" id="Pg087" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + find in these as complete satisfaction as more civilised men in a + wider range; and if there is in the first condition somewhat more of + the weariness of monotony, there is in the second much more of the + anxiety of discontent. The superiority of a highly civilised man lies + chiefly in the fact that he belongs to a higher order of being, for + he has approached more nearly to the end of his existence, and has + called into action a larger number of his capacities. And this is in + itself an end. Even if, as is not improbable, the lower animals are + happier than man,<a id="noteref_108" name="noteref_108" href= + "#note_108"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">108</span></span></a> and + semi-barbarians than civilised men, still it is better to be a man + than a brute, better to be born amid the fierce struggles of + civilisation than in some stranded nation apart from all the flow of + enterprise and knowledge. Even in that material civilisation which + utilitarianism delights to glorify, there is an element which the + philosophy of mere enjoyment cannot explain.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Again, if we ask + the reason of the vast and indisputable superiority which the general + voice of mankind gives to mental pleasures, considered as pleasures, + over physical ones, we shall find, I think, no adequate or + satisfactory answer on the supposition that pleasures owe all their + value to the quantity of enjoyment they afford. The former, it is + truly said, are more varied and more prolonged than the latter but on + the other hand, they are attained with more effort, and they are + diffused over a far narrower circle. No one who compares the class of + men who derive their pleasure chiefly from field sports or other + forms of physical enjoyment with those who derive their pleasure from + the highest intellectual sources; no one who compares the period of + boyhood when enjoyments are chiefly animal with early <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page088">[pg 088]</span><a name="Pg088" id="Pg088" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> manhood when they are chiefly + intellectual, will be able to discover in the different levels of + happiness any justification of the great interval the world places + between these pleasures. No painter or novelist, who wished to depict + an ideal of perfect happiness, would seek it in a profound student. + Without entering into any doubtful questions concerning the relations + of the body to all mental states, it may be maintained that bodily + conditions have in general more influence upon our enjoyment than + mental ones. The happiness of the great majority of men is far more + affected by health and by temperament,<a id="noteref_109" name= + "noteref_109" href="#note_109"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">109</span></span></a> + resulting from physical conditions, which again physical enjoyments + are often calculated to produce, than by any mental or moral causes, + and acute physical sufferings paralyse all the energies of our nature + to a greater extent than any mental distress. It is probable that the + American inventor of the first anæsthetic has done more for the real + happiness of mankind than all the moral philosophers from Socrates to + Mill. Moral causes may teach men patience, and the endurance of felt + suffering, or may even alleviate its pangs, but there are + temperaments due to physical <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page089">[pg 089]</span><a name="Pg089" id="Pg089" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> causes from which most sufferings glance almost + unfelt. It is said that when an ancient was asked <span class= + "tei tei-q">“what use is philosophy?”</span> he answered, + <span class="tei tei-q">“it teaches men how to die,”</span> and he + verified his words by a noble death; but it has been proved on a + thousand battle-fields, it has been proved on a thousand scaffolds, + it is proved through all the wide regions of China and India, that + the dull and animal nature which feels little and realises faintly, + can meet death with a calm that philosophy can barely rival.<a id= + "noteref_110" name="noteref_110" href="#note_110"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">110</span></span></a> The + truth is, that the mental part of our nature is not regarded as + superior to the physical part, because it contributes most to our + happiness. The superiority is of a different kind, and may be + intelligibly expressed by the epithets higher and lower.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">And, once more, + there is a class of pleasures resulting from the gratification of our + moral feelings which we naturally place in the foremost rank. To the + great majority of mankind it will probably appear, in spite of the + doctrine of Paley, that no multiple of the pleasure of eating pastry + can be an equivalent to the pleasure derived from a generous action. + It is not that the latter is so inconceivably intense. It is that it + is of a higher order.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This distinction + of kind has been neglected or denied by most utilitarian + writers;<a id="noteref_111" name="noteref_111" href= + "#note_111"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">111</span></span></a> and + although an attempt has recently <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page090">[pg 090]</span><a name="Pg090" id="Pg090" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> been made to introduce it into the system, it + appears manifestly incompatible with its principle. If the reality of + the distinction be admitted, it shows that our wills are so far from + tending necessarily to that which produces most enjoyment that we + have the power even in our pleasures of recognising a higher and a + wholly different quality, and of making that quality rather than + enjoyment the object of our choice. If it be possible for a man in + choosing between two pleasures deliberately to select as preferable, + apart from all consideration of consequences, that which he is + conscious gives least enjoyment <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page091">[pg 091]</span><a name="Pg091" id="Pg091" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> because he recognises in it a greater + worthiness, or elevation, it is certain that his conduct is either + wholly irrational, or that he is acting on a principle of judgment + for which 'the greatest happiness' philosophy is unable to account. + Consistently with that philosophy, the terms higher and lower as + applied to different parts of our nature, to different regions of + thought or feeling, can have no other meaning than that of productive + of more or less enjoyment. But if once we admit a distinction of + quality as well as a distinction of quantity in our estimate of + pleasure, all is changed. It then appears evident that the different + parts of our nature to which these pleasures refer, bear to each + other a relation of another kind, which may be clearly and justly + described by the terms higher and lower; and the assertion that our + reason reveals to us intuitively and directly this hierarchy of our + being, is a fundamental position of the greatest schools of intuitive + moralists. According to these writers, when we say that our moral and + intellectual is superior to our animal nature, that the benevolent + affections are superior to the selfish ones, that conscience has a + legitimate supremacy over the other parts of our being; this language + is not arbitrary, or fantastic, or capricious, because it is + intelligible. When such a subordination is announced, it corresponds + with feelings we all possess, falls in with the natural course of our + judgments, with our habitual and unstudied language.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The arguments that + have been directed against the theory of natural moral perceptions + are of two kinds, the first, which I have already noticed, being + designed to show that all our moral judgments may be resolved into + considerations of utility; the second resting upon the diversity of + these judgments in different nations and stages of civilisation, + which, it is said, is altogether inexplicable upon the supposition of + a moral faculty. As these variations form the great stumbling-block + in the way of the doctrine I am maintaining, and as they <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page092">[pg 092]</span><a name="Pg092" id="Pg092" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> constitute a very important part of the + history of morals, I shall make no apology for noticing them in some + detail.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the first + place, there are many cases in which diversities of moral judgment + arise from causes that are not moral, but purely intellectual. Thus, + for example, when theologians pronounced loans at interest contrary + to the law of nature and plainly extortionate, this error obviously + arose from a false notion of the uses of money. They believed that it + was a sterile thing, and that he who has restored what he borrowed, + has cancelled all the benefit he received from the transaction. At + the time when the first Christian moralists treated the subject, + special circumstances had rendered the rate of interest extremely + high, and consequently extremely oppressive to the poor, and this + fact, no doubt, strengthened the prejudice; but the root of the + condemnation of usury was simply an error in political economy. When + men came to understand that money is a productive thing, and that the + sum lent enables the borrower to create sources of wealth that will + continue when the loan has been returned, they perceived that there + was no natural injustice in exacting payment for this advantage, and + usury either ceased to be assailed, or was assailed only upon the + ground of positive commands.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Thus again the + question of the criminality of abortion has been considerably + affected by physiological speculations as to the time when the fœtus + in the womb acquires the nature, and therefore the rights, of a + separate being. The general opinion among the ancients seems to have + been that it was but a part of the mother, and that she had the same + right to destroy it as to cauterise a tumour upon her body. Plato and + Aristotle both admitted the practice. The Roman law contained no + enactment against voluntary abortion till the time of Ulpian. The + Stoics thought that the infant received its soul when respiration + began. The Justinian code fixed its animation at forty days after + conception. In modern <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page093">[pg + 093]</span><a name="Pg093" id="Pg093" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + legislations it is treated as a distinct being from the moment of + conception.<a id="noteref_112" name="noteref_112" href= + "#note_112"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">112</span></span></a> It is + obvious that the solution of such questions, though affecting our + moral judgments, must be sought entirely outside the range of moral + feelings.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the next place, + there is a broad distinction to be drawn between duties which rest + immediately on the dictates of conscience, and those which are based + upon positive commands. The iniquity of theft, murder, falsehood, or + adultery rests upon grounds generically distinct from those on which + men pronounce it to be sinful to eat meat on Friday, or to work on + Sunday, or to abstain from religious assemblies. The reproaches + conscience directs against those who are guilty of these last acts + are purely hypothetical, conscience enjoining obedience to the Divine + commands, but leaving it to reason to determine what those commands + may be. The distinction between these two classes of duties becomes + apparent on the slightest reflection, and the variations in their + relative prominence form one of the most important branches of + religious history.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Closely connected + with the preceding are the diversities which result from an ancient + custom becoming at last, through its very antiquity, or through the + confusion of means with ends, an object of religious reverence. Among + the many safeguards of female purity in the Roman republic was an + enactment forbidding women even to taste wine, and this very + intelligible law being enforced with the earliest education, became + at last, by habit and traditionary reverence, so incorporated with + the moral feelings of the people, that its violation was spoken of as + a monstrous crime. Aulus Gellius has preserved a passage in which + Cato observes, <span class="tei tei-q">“that the husband has an + absolute authority over his wife; it is for him to condemn and punish + her, if she has been <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page094">[pg + 094]</span><a name="Pg094" id="Pg094" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + guilty of any shameful act, such as drinking wine or committing + adultery.”</span><a id="noteref_113" name="noteref_113" href= + "#note_113"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">113</span></span></a> As soon + as the reverence for tradition was diminished, and men ventured to + judge old customs upon their own merits, they were able, by steadily + reflecting upon this belief, to reduce it to its primitive elements, + to separate the act from the ideas with which it had been associated, + and thus to perceive that it was not necessarily opposed to any of + those great moral laws or feelings which their consciences revealed, + and which were the basis of all their reasonings on morals.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A confused + association of ideas, which is easily exposed by a patient analysis, + lies at the root of more serious anomalies. Thus to those who reflect + deeply upon moral history, few things, I suppose, are more + humiliating than to contrast the admiration and profoundly + reverential attachment excited by a conqueror, who through the + promptings of simple vanity, through love of fame, or through greed + of territory, has wantonly caused the deaths, the sufferings, or the + bereavements <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page095">[pg + 095]</span><a name="Pg095" id="Pg095" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of + thousands, with the abhorrence produced by a single act of murder or + robbery committed by a poor and ignorant man, perhaps under the + pressure of extreme want or intolerable wrong. The attraction of + genius and power, which the vulgar usually measure by their material + fruits, the advantages acquired by the nation to which he belongs, + the belief that battles are decided by providential interference, and + that military success is therefore a proof of Divine favour, and the + sanctity ascribed to the regal office, have all no doubt conspired to + veil the atrocity of the conqueror's career; but there is probably + another and a deeper influence behind. That which invests war, in + spite of all the evils that attend it, with a certain moral grandeur, + is the heroic self-sacrifice it elicits. With perhaps the single + exception of the Church, it is the sphere in which mercenary motives + have least sway, in which performance is least weighed and measured + by strict obligation, in which a disinterested enthusiasm has most + scope. A battle-field is the scene of deeds of self-sacrifice so + transcendent, and at the same time so dramatic, that in spite of all + its horrors and crimes, it awakens the most passionate moral + enthusiasm. But this feeling produced by the thought of so many who + have sacrificed their life-blood for their flag or for their chief, + needs some definite object on which to rest. The multitude of + nameless combatants do not strike the imagination. They do not stand + out, and are not realised, as distinct and living figures conspicuous + to the view. Hence it is that the chief, as the most prominent, + becomes the representative warrior; the martyr's aureole descends + upon his brow, and thus by a confusion that seems the very irony of + fate, the enthusiasm evoked by the self-sacrifice of thousands sheds + a sacred glow around the very man whose prodigious egotism had + rendered that sacrifice necessary.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Another form of + moral paradox is derived from the fact that positive religions may + override our moral perceptions in <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page096">[pg 096]</span><a name="Pg096" id="Pg096" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> such a manner, that we may consciously admit a + moral contradiction. In this respect there is a strict parallelism + between our intellectual and our moral faculties. It is at present + the professed belief of at least three-fourths of the Christian + Church, and was for some centuries the firm belief of the entire + Church, that on a certain night the Founder of the Christian faith, + being seated at a supper table, held His own body in His own hand, + broke that body, distributed it to His disciples, who proceeded to + eat it, the same body remaining at the same moment seated intact at + the table, and soon afterwards proceeding to the garden of + Gethsemane. The fact of such a doctrine being believed, does not + imply that the faculties of those who hold it are of such a nature + that they perceive no contradiction or natural absurdity in these + statements. The well-known argument derived from the obscurity of the + metaphysical notion of substance is intended only in some slight + degree to soften the difficulty. The contradiction is clearly + perceived, but it is accepted by faith as part of the teaching of the + Church.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">What + transubstantiation is in the order of reason the Augustinian doctrine + of the damnation of unbaptised infants, and the Calvinistic doctrine + of reprobation, are in the order of morals. Of these doctrines it is + not too much to say, that in the form in which they have often been + stated, they surpass in atrocity any tenets that have ever been + admitted into any pagan creed, and would, if they formed an essential + part of Christianity, amply justify the term <span class= + "tei tei-q">“pernicious superstition,”</span> which Tacitus applied + to the faith. That a little child who lives but a few moments after + birth and dies before it has been sprinkled with the sacred water is + in such a sense responsible for its ancestors having 6,000 years + before eaten some forbidden fruit that it may with perfect justice be + resuscitated and cast into an abyss of eternal fire in expiation of + this ancestral crime, that an all-righteous and all-merciful Creator + in the full exercise of those attributes deliberately <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page097">[pg 097]</span><a name="Pg097" id="Pg097" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> calls into existence sentient beings whom + He has from eternity irrevocably destined to endless, unspeakable, + unmitigated torture, are propositions which are at once so + extravagantly absurd and so ineffably atrocious that their adoption + might well lead men to doubt the universality of moral perceptions. + Such teaching is in fact simply dæmonism, and dæmonism in its most + extreme form. It attributes to the Creator acts of injustice and of + barbarity, which it would be absolutely impossible for the + imagination to surpass, acts before which the most monstrous excesses + of human cruelty dwindle into insignificance, acts which are in fact + considerably worse than any that theologians have attributed to the + devil. If there were men who while vividly realising the nature of + these acts naturally turned to them as the exhibitions of perfect + goodness, all systems of ethics founded upon innate moral perceptions + would be false. But happily this is not so. Those who embrace these + doctrines do so only because they believe that some inspired Church + or writer has taught them, and because they are still in that stage + in which men consider it more irreligious to question the + infallibility of an apostle than to disfigure by any conceivable + imputation the character of the Deity. They accordingly esteem it a + matter of duty, and a commendable exercise of humility, to stifle the + moral feelings of their nature, and they at last succeed in + persuading themselves that their Divinity would be extremely offended + if they hesitated to ascribe to him the attributes of a fiend. But + their moral feelings, though not unimpaired by such conceptions, are + not on ordinary subjects generically different from those of their + neighbours. With an amiable inconsistency they can even find + something to revolt them in the lives of a Caligula or a Nero. Their + theological estimate of justice and mercy is isolated. Their doctrine + is accepted as a kind of moral miracle, and as is customary with a + certain school of theologians, when they <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page098">[pg 098]</span><a name="Pg098" id="Pg098" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> enunciate a proposition which is palpably + self-contradictory they call it a mystery and an occasion for + faith.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In this instance a + distinct moral contradiction is consciously admitted. In the case of + persecution, a strictly moral and logical inference is drawn from a + very immoral proposition which is accepted as part of a system of + dogmatic theology. The two elements that should be considered in + punishing a criminal are the heinousness of his guilt and the injury + he inflicts. When the greatest guilt and the greatest injury are + combined, the greatest punishment naturally follows. No one would + argue against the existence of a moral faculty, on the ground that + men put murderers to death. When therefore theologians believed that + a man was intensely guilty who held certain opinions, and that he was + causing the damnation of his fellows if he propagated them, there was + no moral difficulty in concluding that the heretic should be put to + death. Selfish considerations may have directed persecution against + heresy rather than against vice, but the Catholic doctrines of the + guilt of error, and of the infallibility of the Church, were amply + sufficient to justify it.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It appears then + that a dogmatic system which is accepted on rational or other + grounds, and supported by prospects of rewards and punishments, may + teach a code of ethics differing from that of conscience; and that in + this case the voice of conscience may be either disregarded or + stifled. It is however also true, that it may be perverted. When, for + example, theologians during a long period have inculcated habits of + credulity, rather than habits of enquiry; when they have persuaded + men that it is better to cherish prejudice than to analyse it; better + to stifle every doubt of what they have been taught than honestly to + investigate its value, they will at last succeed in forming habits of + mind that will instinctively and habitually recoil from all + impartiality and intellectual honesty. If men continually violate a + duty they may at last cease to feel its obligation. But this, though + it <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page099">[pg 099]</span><a name= + "Pg099" id="Pg099" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> forms a great + difficulty in ethical enquiries, is no argument against the reality + of moral perceptions, for it is simply a law to which all our powers + are subject. A bad intellectual education will produce not only + erroneous or imperfect information but also a false ply or habit of + judgment. A bad æsthetical education will produce false canons of + taste. Systematic abuse will pervert and vitiate even some of our + physical perceptions. In each case the experience of many minds under + many conditions must be appealed to, to determine the standard of + right and wrong, and long and difficult discipline is required to + restore the diseased organ to sanity. We may decide particular moral + questions by reasoning, but our reasoning is an appeal to certain + moral principles which are revealed to us by intuition.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The principal + difficulty I imagine which most men have in admitting that we possess + certain natural moral perceptions arises from the supposition that it + implies the existence of some mysterious agent like the dæmon of + Socrates, which gives us specific and infallible information in + particular cases. But this I conceive to be a complete mistake. All + that is necessarily meant by the adherents of this school is + comprised in two propositions. The first is that our will is not + governed exclusively by the law of pleasure and pain, but also by the + law of duty, which we feel to be distinct from the former, and to + carry with it the sense of obligation. The second is that the basis + of our conception of duty is an intuitive perception that among the + various feelings, tendencies, and impulses that constitute our + emotional being, there are some which are essentially good, and ought + to be encouraged, and some which are essentially bad, and ought to be + repressed. They contend that it is a psychological fact that we are + intuitively conscious that our benevolent affections are superior to + our malevolent ones, truth to falsehood, justice to injustice, + gratitude to ingratitude, chastity to sensuality, and that in all + ages and countries the path of virtue has been towards <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page100">[pg 100]</span><a name="Pg100" id="Pg100" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the higher and not towards the lower + feelings. It may be that the sense of duty is so weak as to be + scarcely perceptible, and then the lower part of our nature will be + supreme. It may happen that certain conditions of society lead men to + direct their anxiety for moral improvement altogether in one or two + channels, as was the case in ancient Greece, where civic and + intellectual virtues were very highly cultivated, and the virtue of + chastity was almost neglected. It may happen that different parts of + our higher nature in a measure conflict, as when a very strong sense + of justice checks our benevolent feelings. Dogmatic systems may + enjoin men to propitiate certain unseen beings by acts which are not + in accordance with the moral law. Special circumstances may + influence, and the intermingling of many different motives may + obscure and complicate, the moral evolution; but above all these one + great truth appears. No one who desires to become holier and better + imagines that he does so by becoming more malevolent, or more + untruthful, or more unchaste. Every one who desires to attain + perfection in these departments of feeling is impelled towards + benevolence, towards veracity, towards chastity.<a id="noteref_114" + name="noteref_114" href="#note_114"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">114</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Now it is manifest + that according to this theory the moral unity to be expected in + different ages is not a unity of standard, or of acts, but a unity of + tendency. Men come into the world with their benevolent affections + very inferior in power to their selfish ones, and the function of + morals is to invert this order. The extinction of all selfish feeling + is impossible for an individual, and if it were general, it would + result in the dissolution of society. The question of morals must + always be a question of proportion or of degree. At <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page101">[pg 101]</span><a name="Pg101" id="Pg101" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> one time the benevolent affections + embrace merely the family, soon the circle expanding includes first a + class, then a nation, then a coalition of nations, then all humanity, + and finally, its influence is felt in the dealings of man with the + animal world. In each of these stages a standard is formed, different + from that of the preceding stage, but in each case the same tendency + is recognised as virtue.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We have in this + fact a simple, and as it appears to me a conclusive, answer to the + overwhelming majority of the objections that are continually and + confidently urged against the intuitive school. That some savages + kill their old parents, that infanticide has been practised without + compunction by even civilised nations, that the best Romans saw + nothing wrong in the gladiatorial shows, that political or revengeful + assassinations have been for centuries admitted, that slavery has + been sometimes honoured and sometimes condemned, are unquestionable + proofs that the same act may be regarded in one age as innocent, and + in another as criminal. Now it is undoubtedly true that in many cases + an historical examination will reveal special circumstances, + explaining or palliating the apparent anomaly. It has been often + shown that the gladiatorial shows were originally a form of human + sacrifice adopted through religious motives; that the rude nomadic + life of savages rendering impossible the preservation of aged and + helpless members of the tribe, the murder of parents was regarded as + an act of mercy both by the murderer and the victim; that before an + effective administration of justice was organised, private vengeance + was the sole preservative against crime,<a id="noteref_115" name= + "noteref_115" href="#note_115"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">115</span></span></a> and + political assassination against usurpation; that the insensibility of + some savages to the criminality of theft arises from the fact that + they were accustomed to <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page102">[pg + 102]</span><a name="Pg102" id="Pg102" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + have all things in common; that the Spartan law, legalising theft, + arose partly from a desire to foster military dexterity among the + people, but chiefly from a desire to discourage wealth; that slavery + was introduced through motives of mercy, to prevent conquerors from + killing their prisoners.<a id="noteref_116" name="noteref_116" href= + "#note_116"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">116</span></span></a> All + this is true, but there is another and a more general answer. It is + not to be expected, and it is not maintained, that men in all ages + should have agreed about the application of their moral principles. + All that is contended for is that these principles are themselves the + same. Some of what appear to us monstrous acts of cruelty, were + dictated by that very feeling of humanity, the universal perception + of the merit of which they are cited to disprove,<a id="noteref_117" + name="noteref_117" href="#note_117"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">117</span></span></a> and + even when this is not the case, all that can be inferred is, that the + standard of humanity was very low. But still humanity was recognised + as a virtue, and cruelty as a vice.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">At this point, I + may observe how completely fallacious is the assertion that a + progressive morality is impossible upon the supposition of an + original moral faculty.<a id="noteref_118" name="noteref_118" href= + "#note_118"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">118</span></span></a> To such + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page103">[pg 103]</span><a name="Pg103" + id="Pg103" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> statements there are two very + simple answers. In the first place, although the intuitive moralist + asserts that certain qualities are necessarily virtuous, he fully + admits that the degree in which they are acted upon, or in other + words, the standard of duty, may become progressively higher. In the + next place, although he refuses to resolve all virtue into utility, + he admits as fully as his opponents, that benevolence, or the + promotion of the happiness of man, is a virtue, and that therefore + discoveries which exhibit more clearly the true interests of our + kind, may throw new light upon the nature of our duty.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The considerations + I have urged with reference to humanity, apply with equal force to + the various relations of the sexes. When the passions of men are + altogether unrestrained, community of wives and all eccentric forms + of sensuality will be admitted. When men seek to improve their nature + in this respect, their object will be to abridge and confine the + empire of sensuality. But to this process of improvement there are + obvious limits. In the first place the continuance of the species is + only possible by a sensual act. In the next place the strength of + this passion and the weakness of humanity are so great, that the + moralist must take into account the fact that in all societies, and + especially in those in which free scope had long been given to the + passions, a large amount of indulgence will arise which is not due to + a simple desire of propagating the species. If then incest is + prohibited, and community of wives replaced by ordinary polygamy, a + moral improvement will have been effected, and a standard of virtue + formed. But this standard soon becomes the starting-point of new + progress. If we examine the Jewish law, we find the legislator + prohibiting adultery, regulating the degrees <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page104">[pg 104]</span><a name="Pg104" id="Pg104" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> of marriage, but at the same time authorising + polygamy, though with a caution against the excessive multiplication + of wives. In Greece monogamy, though not without exceptions, had been + enforced, but a concurrence of unfavourable influences prevented any + high standard being attained among the men, and in their case almost + every form of indulgence beyond the limits of marriage was permitted. + In Rome the standard was far higher. Monogamy was firmly established. + The ideal of female morality was placed as high as among Christian + nations. Among men, however, while unnatural love and adultery were + regarded as wrong, simple unchastity before marriage was scarcely + considered a fault. In Catholicism marriage is regarded in a twofold + light, as a means for the propagation of the species, and as a + concession to the weakness of humanity, and all other sensual + enjoyment is stringently prohibited.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In these cases + there is a great difference between the degrees of earnestness with + which men exert themselves in the repression of their passions, and + in the amount of indulgence which is conceded to their lower + nature;<a id="noteref_119" name="noteref_119" href= + "#note_119"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">119</span></span></a> but + there is no difference in the direction of the virtuous impulse. + While, too, in the case of adultery, and in the production of + children, questions of interest and utility do undoubtedly intervene, + we are conscious that the general progress turns upon a totally + different order of ideas. The feeling of all men and the language of + all nations, the sentiment which though often weakened is never + wholly effaced, that this appetite, even in its most legitimate + gratification, is a thing to be veiled and withdrawn from sight, all + that is known under the names of decency and indecency, concur in + proving that we have an innate, intuitive, instinctive perception + that there is something degrading in the sensual part of our nature, + something <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page105">[pg + 105]</span><a name="Pg105" id="Pg105" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> to + which a feeling of shame is naturally attached, something that jars + with our conception of perfect purity, something we could not with + any propriety ascribe to an all-holy being. It may be questioned + whether anyone was ever altogether destitute of this perception, and + nothing but the most inveterate passion for system could induce men + to resolve it into a mere calculation of interests. It is this + feeling or instinct which lies at the root of the whole movement I + have described, and it is this too that produced that sense of the + sanctity of perfect continence which the Catholic church has so + warmly encouraged, but which may be traced through the most distant + ages, and the most various creeds. We find it among the Nazarenes and + Essenes of Judæa, among the priests of Egypt and India, in the + monasteries of Tartary, in the histories of miraculous virgins that + are so numerous in the mythologies of Asia. Such, for example, was + the Chinese legend that tells how when there was but one man with one + woman upon earth, the woman refused to sacrifice her virginity even + in order to people the globe, and the gods honouring her purity + granted that she should conceive beneath the gaze of her lover's + eyes, and a virgin-mother became the parent of humanity.<a id= + "noteref_120" name="noteref_120" href="#note_120"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">120</span></span></a> In the + midst of the sensuality of ancient Greece, chastity was the + pre-eminent attribute of sanctity ascribed to Athene and Artemis. + <span class="tei tei-q">“Chaste daughter of Zeus,”</span> prayed the + suppliants in Æschylus, <span class="tei tei-q">“thou whose calm eye + is never troubled, look down upon us! Virgin, defend the + virgins.”</span> The Parthenon, or virgin's temple, was the noblest + religious edifice of Athens. Celibacy was an essential condition in a + few of the orders of priests, and in several orders of priestesses. + Plato based his moral system upon the distinction between the bodily + or sensual, and the spiritual or rational part of our nature, the + first being the sign of our degradation, and the second of our + dignity. The <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page106">[pg + 106]</span><a name="Pg106" id="Pg106" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + whole school of Pythagoras made chastity one of its leading virtues, + and even laboured for the creation of a monastic system. The + conception of the celestial Aphrodite, the uniter of souls, unsullied + by the taint of matter, lingered side by side with that of the + earthly Aphrodite or patroness of lust, and if there was a time when + the sculptors sought to pander to the excesses of passion there was + another in which all their art was displayed in refining and + idealising it. Strabo mentions the existence in Thrace of societies + of men aspiring to perfection by celibacy and austere lives. Plutarch + applauds certain philosophers who vowed to abstain for a year from + wine and women in order <span class="tei tei-q">“to honour God by + their continence.”</span><a id="noteref_121" name="noteref_121" href= + "#note_121"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">121</span></span></a> In Rome + the religious reverence was concentrated more especially upon married + life. The great prominence accorded to the Penates was the religious + sanction of domesticity. So too, at first, was the worship so popular + among the Roman women of the Bona Dea—the ideal wife who according to + the legend had, when on earth, never looked in the face or known the + name of any man but her husband.<a id="noteref_122" name= + "noteref_122" href="#note_122"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">122</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“For altar and hearth”</span> was the + rallying cry of the Roman soldier. But above all this we find the + traces of a higher ideal. We find it in the intense sanctity + attributed to the vestal virgins whose continence was guarded by such + fearful penalties, and supposed to be so closely linked with the + prosperity of the state, whose prayer was believed to possess a + miraculous power, and who were permitted to drive through the streets + of Rome at a time when that privilege was refused even to the + Empress.<a id="noteref_123" name="noteref_123" href= + "#note_123"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">123</span></span></a> We find + it in the legend of Claudia, who, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page107">[pg 107]</span><a name="Pg107" id="Pg107" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> when the ship bearing the image of the mother + of the gods had been stranded in the Tiber, attached her girdle to + its prow, and vindicated her challenged chastity by drawing with her + virgin hand, the ponderous mass which strong men had sought in vain + to move. We find it in the prophetic gift so often attributed to + virgins,<a id="noteref_124" name="noteref_124" href= + "#note_124"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">124</span></span></a> in the + law which sheltered them from the degradation of an execution,<a id= + "noteref_125" name="noteref_125" href="#note_125"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">125</span></span></a> in the + language of Statius, who described marriage itself as a fault.<a id= + "noteref_126" name="noteref_126" href="#note_126"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">126</span></span></a> In + Christianity one great source of the attraction of the faith has been + the ascription of virginity to its female ideal. The Catholic + monastic system has been so constructed as to draw many thousands + from the sphere of active duty; its irrevocable vows have doubtless + led to much suffering and not a little crime; its opposition to the + normal development of our mingled nature has often resulted in grave + aberrations of the imagination, and it has placed its ban upon + domestic affections and sympathies which have a very high moral + value; but in its central conception that the purely animal side + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page108">[pg 108]</span><a name="Pg108" + id="Pg108" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of our being is a low and a + degraded side, it reflects, I believe, with perfect fidelity the + feelings of our nature.<a id="noteref_127" name="noteref_127" href= + "#note_127"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">127</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To these + considerations some others of a different nature may be added. It is + not true that some ancient nations regarded polygamy as good in the + same sense as others regarded chastity. There is a great difference + between deeming a state permissible and proposing it as a condition + of sanctity. If Mohammedans people paradise with images of + sensuality, it is not because these form their ideal of holiness. It + is because they regard earth as the sphere of virtue, heaven as that + of simple enjoyment. If some pagan nations deified sensuality, this + was simply because the deification of the forces of nature, of which + the prolific energy is one of the most conspicuous, is among the + earliest forms of religion, and long precedes the identification of + the Deity with a moral ideal.<a id="noteref_128" name="noteref_128" + href="#note_128"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">128</span></span></a> If + there have <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page109">[pg + 109]</span><a name="Pg109" id="Pg109" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + been nations who attached a certain stigma to virginity, this has not + been because they esteemed sensuality intrinsically holier than + chastity; but because a scanty, warlike people whose position in the + world depends chiefly on the number of its warriors, will naturally + make it its main object to encourage population. This was especially + the case with the ancient Jews, who always regarded extreme + populousness as indissolubly connected with national prosperity, + whose religion was essentially patriotic, and among whom the + possibility of becoming an ancestor of the Messiah had imparted a + peculiar dignity to childbirth. Yet even among the Jews the Essenes + regarded virginity as the ideal of sanctity.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The reader will + now be in a position to perceive the utter futility of the objections + which from the time of Locke have been continually brought against + the theory of natural moral perceptions, upon the ground that some + actions which were admitted as lawful in one age, have been regarded + as immoral in another. All these become absolutely worthless when it + is perceived that in every age virtue has consisted in the + cultivation of the same feelings, though the standards of excellence + attained have been different. The terms higher and lower, nobler or + less noble, purer or less pure, represent moral facts with much + greater fidelity than the terms right or wrong, or virtue or vice. + There is a certain sense in which moral distinctions are absolute and + immutable. There is another sense in which they are altogether + relative and transient. There are some acts which are so manifestly + and grossly opposed to our moral feelings, that they are regarded as + wrong in the very earliest stages of the cultivation of these + feelings. There are distinctions, such as that between truth and + falsehood, which from their nature assume at once a sharpness of + definition that separates them from mere <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page110">[pg 110]</span><a name="Pg110" id="Pg110" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> virtues of degree, though even in these cases + there are wide variations in the amount of scrupulosity that is in + different periods required. But apart from positive commands, the + sole external rule enabling men to designate acts, not simply as + better or worse, but as positively right or wrong, is, I conceive, + the standard of society; not an arbitrary standard like that which + Mandeville imagined, but the level which society has attained in the + cultivation of what our moral faculty tells us is the higher or + virtuous part of our nature. He who falls below this is obstructing + the tendency which is the essence of virtue. He who merely attains + this, may not be justified in his own conscience, or in other words, + by the standard of his own moral development, but as far as any + external rule is concerned, he has done his duty. He who rises above + this has entered into the region of things which it is virtuous to + do, but not vicious to neglect—a region known among Catholic + theologians by the name of <span class="tei tei-q">“counsels of + perfection.”</span> No discussions, I conceive, can be more idle than + whether slavery, or the slaughter of prisoners in war, or + gladiatorial shows, or polygamy, are essentially wrong. They may be + wrong now—they were not so once—and when an ancient countenanced by + his example one or other of these, he was not committing a crime. The + unchangeable proposition for which we contend is this—that + benevolence is always a virtuous disposition—that the sensual part of + our nature is always the lower part.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">At this point, + however, a very difficult problem naturally arises. Admitting that + our moral nature is superior to our intellectual or physical nature, + admitting, too, that by the constitution of our being we perceive + ourselves to be under an obligation to develope our nature to its + perfection, establishing the supreme ascendency of moral motives, the + question still remains whether the disparity between the different + parts of our being is such that no material or intellectual + advantage, however great, may be rightly purchased <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page111">[pg 111]</span><a name="Pg111" id="Pg111" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> by any sacrifice of our moral nature, + however small. This is the great question of casuistry, the question + which divines express by asking whether the end ever justifies the + means; and on this subject there exists among theologians a doctrine + which is absolutely unrealised, which no one ever dreams of applying + to actual life, but of which it may be truly said that though + propounded with the best intentions, it would, if acted upon, be + utterly incompatible with the very rudiments of civilisation. It is + said that an undoubted sin, even the most trivial, is a thing in its + essence and in its consequences so unspeakably dreadful, that no + conceivable material or intellectual advantage can counterbalance it; + that rather than it should be committed, it would be better that any + amount of calamity which did not bring with it sin should be endured, + even that the whole human race should perish in agonies.<a id= + "noteref_129" name="noteref_129" href="#note_129"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">129</span></span></a> If this + be the case, it is manifest that the supreme object of humanity + should be sinlessness, and it is equally manifest that the means to + this end is the absolute suppression of the desires. To expand the + circle of wants is necessarily to multiply temptations, and therefore + to increase the number of sins. It may indeed elevate the moral + standard, for a torpid sinlessness is not a high moral condition; but + if every sin be what these theologians assert, if it be a thing + deserving eternal agony, and so inconceivably frightful that the ruin + of a world is a less evil than its commission, even moral advantages + are utterly incommensurate with it. No heightening of the moral tone, + no depth or ecstasy of devotion, can for a moment be placed in the + balance. The consequences of this doctrine, if applied to actual + life, would be <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page112">[pg + 112]</span><a name="Pg112" id="Pg112" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> so + extravagant, that their simple statement is a refutation. A + sovereign, when calculating the consequences of a war, should reflect + that a single sin occasioned by that war, a single blasphemy of a + wounded soldier, the robbery of a single hencoop, the violation of + the purity of a single woman, is a greater calamity than the ruin of + the entire commerce of his nation, the loss of her most precious + provinces, the destruction of all her power. He must believe that the + evil of the increase of unchastity, which invariably results from the + formation of an army, is an immeasurably greater calamity than any + material or political disasters that army can possibly avert. He must + believe that the most fearful plague or famine that desolates his + land should be regarded as a matter of rejoicing, if it has but the + feeblest and most transient influence in repressing vice. He must + believe that if the agglomeration of his people in great cities adds + but one to the number of their sins, no possible intellectual or + material advantages can prevent the construction of cities being a + fearful calamity. According to this principle, every elaboration of + life, every amusement that brings multitudes together, almost every + art, every accession of wealth that awakens or stimulates desires, is + an evil, for all these become the sources of some sins, and their + advantages are for the most part purely terrestrial. The entire + structure of civilisation is founded upon the belief that it is a + good thing to cultivate intellectual and material capacities, even at + the cost of certain moral evils which we are often able accurately to + foresee.<a id="noteref_130" name="noteref_130" href= + "#note_130"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">130</span></span></a> The + time may come when the man who lays the foundation-stone of a + manufacture will be able to predict with assurance in what proportion + the drunkenness and the unchastity of his city will be increased by + his enterprise. <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page113">[pg + 113]</span><a name="Pg113" id="Pg113" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> Yet + he will still pursue that enterprise, and mankind will pronounce it + to be good.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The theological + doctrine on the subject, considered in its full stringency, though + professed by many, is, as I have said, realised and consistently + acted on by no one; but the practical judgments of mankind concerning + the extent of the superiority of moral over all other interests vary + greatly, and this variation supplies one of the most serious + objections to intuitive moralists. The nearest practical approach to + the theological estimate of a sin may be found in the ranks of the + ascetics. Their whole system rests upon the belief that it is a thing + so transcendently dreadful as to bear no proportion or appreciable + relation to any earthly interests. Starting from this belief, the + ascetic makes it the exclusive object of his life to avoid sinning. + He accordingly abstains from all the active business of society, + relinquishes all worldly aims and ambitions, dulls by continued + discipline his natural desires, and endeavours to pass a life of + complete absorption in religious exercises. And in all this his + conduct is reasonable and consistent. The natural course of every man + who adopts this estimate of the enormity of sin is at every cost to + avoid all external influences that can prove temptations, and to + attenuate as far as possible his own appetites and emotions. It is in + this respect that the exaggerations of theologians paralyse our moral + being. For the diminution of sins, however important, is but one part + of moral progress. Whenever it is forced into a disproportionate + prominence, we find tame, languid, and mutilated natures, destitute + of all fire and energy, and this tendency has been still further + aggravated by the extreme prominence usually given to the virtue of + gentleness, which may indeed be attained by men of strong natures and + vehement emotions, but is evidently more congenial to a somewhat + feeble and passionless character.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Ascetic practices + are manifestly and rapidly disappearing, and their decline is a + striking proof of the evanescence of <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page114">[pg 114]</span><a name="Pg114" id="Pg114" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> the moral notions of which they were the + expression, but in many existing questions relating to the same + matter, we find perplexing diversity of judgment. We find it in the + contrast between the system of education usually adopted by the + Catholic priesthood, which has for its pre-eminent object to prevent + sins, and for its means a constant and minute supervision, and the + English system of public schools, which is certainly not the most + fitted to guard against the possibility of sin, or to foster any very + delicate scrupulosity of feeling; but is intended, and popularly + supposed, to secure the healthy expansion of every variety of + capacity. We find it in the widely different attitudes which good men + in different periods have adopted towards religious opinions they + believe to be false; some, like the reformers, refusing to + participate in any superstitious service, or to withhold on any + occasion, or at any cost, their protest against what they regarded as + a lie; others, like most ancient, and some modern philosophers and + politicians, combining the most absolute personal incredulity with an + assiduous observance of superstitious rites, and strongly censuring + those who disturbed delusions which are useful or consolatory to the + people; while a third class silently, but without protest, withdraw + themselves from the observances, and desire that their opinions + should have a free expression in literature, but at the same time + discourage all proselytising efforts to force them rudely on + unprepared minds. We find it in the frequent conflicts between the + political economist and the Catholic priest on the subject of early + marriages, the former opposing them on the ground that it is an + essential condition of material well-being that the standard of + comfort should not be depressed, the latter advocating them on the + ground that the postponement of marriages, through prudential + motives, by any large body of men, is the fertile mother of sin. We + find it most conspicuously in the marked diversities of tolerance + manifested in different communities towards amusements which may in + themselves be perfectly innocent, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page115">[pg 115]</span><a name="Pg115" id="Pg115" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> but which prove the sources or the occasions of + vice. The Scotch Puritans probably represent one extreme, the + Parisian society of the empire the other, while the position of + average Englishmen is perhaps equidistant between them. Yet this + difference, great as it is, is a difference not of principle, but of + degree. No Puritan seriously desires to suppress every + clan-gathering, every highland game which may have occasioned an + isolated fit of drunkenness, though he may be unable to show that it + has prevented any sin that would otherwise have been committed. No + Frenchman will question that there is a certain amount of + demoralisation which should not be tolerated, however great the + enjoyment that accompanies it. Yet the one dwells almost exclusively + upon the moral, the other upon the attractive, nature of a spectacle. + Between these there are numerous gradations, which are shown in + frequent disputes about the merits and demerits of the racecourse, + the ball, the theatre, and the concert. Where then, it may be asked, + is the line to be drawn? By what rule can the point be determined at + which an amusement becomes vitiated by the evil of its + consequences?</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To these questions + the intuitive moralist is obliged to answer, that such a line cannot + be drawn, that such a rule does not exist. The colours of our moral + nature are rarely separated by the sharp lines of our vocabulary. + They fade and blend into one another so imperceptibly, that it is + impossible to mark a precise point of transition. The end of man is + the full development of his being in that symmetry and proportion + which nature has assigned it, and such a development implies that the + supreme, the predominant motive of his life, should be moral. If in + any society or individual this ascendency does not exist, that + society or that individual is in a diseased and abnormal condition. + But the superiority of the moral part of our nature, though + unquestionable, is indefinite not infinite, and the prevailing + standard is not at all times the same. The moralist can only lay down + general <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page116">[pg 116]</span><a name= + "Pg116" id="Pg116" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> principles. Individual + feeling or the general sentiment of society must draw the + application.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The vagueness that + on such questions confessedly hangs over the intuitive theory, has + always been insisted upon by members of the opposite school, who 'in + the greatest happiness principle' claim to possess a definite + formulary, enabling them to draw boldly the frontier line between the + lawful and the illicit, and to remove moral disputes from the domain + of feeling to that of demonstration. But this claim, which forms the + great attraction of the utilitarian school, is, if I mistake not, one + of the grossest of impostures. We compare with accuracy and + confidence the value of the most various material commodities, for we + mean by this term, exchangeable value, and we have a common measure + of exchange. But we seek in vain for such a measure enabling us to + compare different kinds of utility or happiness. Thus, to take a very + familiar example, the question may be proposed, whether excursion + trains from a country district to a seaport town produce more good + than evil, whether a man governed by moral principles should + encourage or oppose them. They give innocent and healthy enjoyment to + many thousands, they enlarge in some degree the range of their ideas, + they can hardly be said to prevent any sin that would otherwise have + been committed, they give rise to many cases of drunkenness, each of + which, according to the theological doctrine we have reviewed, should + be deemed a more dreadful calamity than the earthquake of Lisbon, or + a visitation of the cholera, but which have not usually any lasting + terrestrial effects; they also often produce a measure, and sometimes + no small measure, of more serious vice, and it is probable that + hundreds of women may trace their first fall to the excursion train. + We have here a number of advantages and disadvantages, the first + being intellectual and physical, and the second moral. Nearly all + moralists would acknowledge that a few instances of immorality would + not prevent the excursion train being, on the whole, a good thing. + All would acknowledge that <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page117">[pg + 117]</span><a name="Pg117" id="Pg117" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + very numerous instances would more than counterbalance its + advantages. The intuitive moralist confesses that he is unable to + draw a precise line, showing where the moral evils outweigh the + physical benefits. In what possible respect the introduction of + Benthamite formularies improves the matter, I am unable to + understand. No utilitarian would reduce the question to one of simple + majority, or would have the cynicism to balance the ruin of one woman + by the day's enjoyment of another. The impossibility of drawing, in + such cases, a distinct line of division, is no argument against the + intuitive moralist, for that impossibility is shared to the full + extent by his rival.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There are, as we + have seen, two kinds of interest with which utilitarian moralists are + concerned—the private interest which they believe to be the ultimate + motive, and the public interest which they believe to be the end, of + all virtue. With reference to the first, the intuitive moralist + denies that a selfish act can be a virtuous or meritorious one. If a + man when about to commit a theft, became suddenly conscious of the + presence of a policeman, and through fear of arrest and punishment + were to abstain from the act he would otherwise have committed, this + abstinence would not appear in the eyes of mankind to possess any + moral value; and if he were determined partly by conscientious + motives, and partly by fear, the presence of the latter element + would, in proportion to its strength, detract from his merit. But + although selfish considerations are distinctly opposed to virtuous + ones, it would be a mistake to imagine they can never ultimately have + a purely moral influence. In the first place, a well-ordered system + of threats and punishments marks out the path of virtue with a + distinctness of definition it could scarcely have otherwise attained. + In the next place, it often happens that when the mind is swayed by a + conflict of motives, the expectation of reward or punishment will so + reinforce or support <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page118">[pg + 118]</span><a name="Pg118" id="Pg118" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the + virtuous motives, as to secure their victory; and, as every triumph + of these motives increases their strength and weakens the opposing + principles, a step will thus have been made towards moral perfection, + which will render more probable the future triumph of unassisted + virtue.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">With reference to + the interests of society, there are two distinct assertions to be + made. The first is, that although the pursuit of the welfare of + others is undoubtedly one form of virtue, it does not include all + virtue, or, in other words, that there are forms of virtue which, + even if beneficial to mankind, do not become virtuous on that + account, but have an intrinsic excellence which is not proportioned + to or dependent on their utility. The second is, that there may + occasionally arise considerations of extreme and overwhelming utility + that may justify a sacrifice of these virtues. This sacrifice may be + made in various ways—as, when a man undertakes an enterprise which is + in itself perfectly innocent, but which in addition to its great + material advantages will, as he well knows, produce a certain measure + of crime; or when, abstaining from a protest, he tacitly countenances + beliefs which he considers untrue, because he regards them as + transcendently useful; or again, when, for the benefit of others, and + under circumstances of great urgency, he utters a direct falsehood, + as, for example, when by such means alone he can save the life of an + innocent man.<a id="noteref_131" name="noteref_131" href= + "#note_131"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">131</span></span></a> But the + fact, that in these cases considerations of extreme utility are + suffered to override <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page119">[pg + 119]</span><a name="Pg119" id="Pg119" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + considerations of morality, is in no degree inconsistent with the + facts, that the latter differ in kind from the former, that they are + of a higher nature, and that they may supply adequate and legitimate + motives of action not only distinct from, but even in opposition to + utility. Gold and silver are different metals. Gold is more valuable + than silver; yet a very small quantity of gold may be advantageously + exchanged for a very large quantity of silver.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The last class of + objections to the theory of natural moral perceptions which it is + necessary for me to notice, arises from a very mischievous + equivocation in the word natural.<a id="noteref_132" name= + "noteref_132" href="#note_132"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">132</span></span></a> The + term natural man is sometimes regarded as synonymous with man in his + primitive or barbarous condition, and sometimes as expressing all in + a civilised man that is due to nature as distinguished from + artificial habits or acquirements. This equivocation is especially + dangerous, because it implies one of the most extravagant excesses to + which the sensational philosophy could be pushed—the notion that the + difference between a savage and a civilised man is simply a + difference of acquisition, and not at all a difference of + development. In accordance with this notion, those who deny original + moral distinctions have ransacked the accounts of travellers for + examples of savages who appeared destitute of moral sentiments, and + have adduced them as conclusive evidence of their position. Now it + is, I think, abundantly evident that these narratives are usually + exceedingly untrustworthy.<a id="noteref_133" name="noteref_133" + href="#note_133"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">133</span></span></a> They + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page120">[pg 120]</span><a name="Pg120" + id="Pg120" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> have been in most cases + collected by uncritical and unphilosophical travellers, who knew + little of the language and still less of the inner life of the people + they described, whose means of information were acquired in simply + traversing the country, who were more struck by moral paradox, than + by unostentatious virtue, who were proverbially addicted to + embellishing and exaggerating the singularities they witnessed, and + who very rarely investigated their origin. It should not be forgotten + that the French moralists of the last century, who insisted most + strongly on this species of evidence, were also the dupes of one of + the most curious delusions in the whole compass of literary history. + Those unflinching sceptics who claimed to be the true disciples of + the apostle who believed nothing that he had not touched, and whose + relentless criticism played with withering effect on all the holiest + feelings of our nature, and on all the tenets of traditional creeds, + had discovered one happy land where the ideal had ceased to be a + dream. They could point to one people whose pure and rational + morality, purged from all the clouds of bigotry and enthusiasm, shone + with an almost dazzling splendour above the ignorance and + superstition of Europe. Voltaire forgot to gibe, and Helvétius + kindled into enthusiasm, when China and the Chinese rose before their + minds, and to this semi-barbarous nation they habitually attributed + maxims of conduct that neither Roman nor Christian virtue had ever + realised.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But putting aside + these considerations, and assuming the fidelity of the pictures of + savage life upon which these writers rely, they fail to prove the + point for which they are adduced. The moralists I am defending, + assert that we possess a natural power of distinguishing between the + higher and lower parts of our nature. But the eye of the mind, like + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page121">[pg 121]</span><a name="Pg121" + id="Pg121" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the eye of the body, may be + closed. Moral and rational facilities may be alike dormant, and they + will certainly be so if men are wholly immersed in the gratification + of their senses. Man is like a plant, which requires a favourable + soil for the full expansion of its natural or innate powers.<a id= + "noteref_134" name="noteref_134" href="#note_134"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">134</span></span></a> Yet + those powers both rational and moral are there, and when quickened + into action, each will discharge its appointed functions. If it could + be proved that there are savages who are absolutely destitute of the + progressive energy which distinguishes reason from instinct and of + the moral aspiration which constitutes virtue, this would not prove + that rational or moral faculties form no part of their nature. If it + could be shown that there is a stage of barbarism in which man knows, + feels and does nothing that might not be known, felt and done by an + ape, this would not be sufficient to reduce him to the level of the + brute. There would still be this broad distinction between them—the + one possesses a capacity for development which the other does not + possess. Under favourable circumstances the savage will become a + reasoning, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page122">[pg + 122]</span><a name="Pg122" id="Pg122" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + progressive, and moral man: under no circumstances can a similar + transformation be effected in the ape. It may be as difficult to + detect the oakleaf in the acorn as in the stone; yet the acorn may be + converted into an oak: the stone will always continue to be a + stone.<a id="noteref_135" name="noteref_135" href= + "#note_135"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">135</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The foregoing + pages will, I trust, have exhibited with sufficient clearness the + nature of the two great divisions of moral philosophy—the school + which proceeds from the primitive truth that all men desire + happiness, and endeavours out of this fact to evolve all ethical + doctrines, and the school which traces our moral systems to an + intuitive perception that certain parts of our nature are higher or + better than others. It is obvious that this difference concerning the + origin of our moral conceptions forms part of the very much wider + metaphysical question, whether our ideas are derived exclusively from + sensation or whether they spring in part from the mind itself. The + latter theory in antiquity was chiefly represented by the Platonic + doctrine of pre-existence, which rested on the conviction that the + mind has the power of drawing from its own depths certain conceptions + or ideas which cannot be explained by any post-natal experience, and + must therefore, it was said, have been acquired in a previous + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page123">[pg 123]</span><a name="Pg123" + id="Pg123" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> existence. In the seventeenth + century it took the form of a doctrine of innate ideas. But though + this theory in the form in which it was professed by Lord Herbert of + Cherbury and assailed by Locke has almost disappeared, the doctrine + that we possess certain faculties which by their own expansion, and + not by the reception of notions from without, are not only capable + of, but must necessarily attain, certain ideas, as the bud must + necessarily expand into its own specific flower, still occupies a + distinguished place in the world of speculation, and its probability + has been greatly strengthened by recent observations of the range and + potency of instinct in animals. From some passages in his Essay, it + appears that Locke himself had a confused perception of this + distinction,<a id="noteref_136" name="noteref_136" href= + "#note_136"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">136</span></span></a> which + was by no means unknown to previous writers; and after the + publication of the philosophy of Locke it was clearly exhibited by + Shaftesbury and Leibnitz, and incidentally noticed by Berkeley long + before Kant established his distinction between the form and the + matter of our knowledge, between ideas which are received <span lang= + "la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a priori</span></span> and ideas which are + received <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">a posteriori</span></span>. The + existence or non-existence of this source of ideas forms the basis of + the opposition between the inductive philosophy of England and the + French philosophy of the eighteenth century on the one hand, and the + German and <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page124">[pg + 124]</span><a name="Pg124" id="Pg124" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + Scotch philosophies, as well as the French eclecticism of the + nineteenth century upon the other. The tendency of the first school + is to restrict as far as possible the active powers of the human + mind, and to aggrandise as far as possible the empire of external + circumstances. The other school dwells especially on the instinctive + side of our nature, and maintains the existence of certain intuitions + of the reason, certain categories or original conceptions, which are + presupposed in all our reasonings and cannot be resolved into + sensations. The boast of the first school is that its searching + analysis leaves no mental phenomenon unresolved, and its attraction + is the extreme simplicity it can attain. The second school multiplies + faculties or original principles, concentrates its attention mainly + upon the nature of our understanding, and asserts very strongly the + initiative force both of our will and of our intellect.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We find this + connection between a philosophy based upon the senses, and a morality + founded upon utility from the earliest times. Aristotle was + distinguished among the ancients for the emphasis with which he dwelt + upon the utility of virtue, and it was from the writings of Aristotle + that the schoolmen derived the famous formulary which has become the + motto of the school of Locke. Locke himself devoted especial research + to the refutation of the doctrine of a natural moral sense, which he + endeavoured to overthrow by a catalogue of immoral practices that + exist among savages, and the hesitation he occasionally exhibited in + his moral doctrine corresponds not unfaithfully to the obscurity + thrown over his metaphysics by the admission of reflection as a + source of ideas. If his opponent Leibnitz made pleasure the object of + moral action, it was only that refined pleasure which is produced by + the contemplation of the happiness of others. When, however, + Condillac and his followers, removing reflection from the position + Locke had assigned it, reduced the philosophy of sensation to its + simplest expression, and when the Scotch and German writers + elaborated the principles of <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page125">[pg 125]</span><a name="Pg125" id="Pg125" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> the opposite school, the moral tendencies of + both were indisputably manifested. Everywhere the philosophy of + sensation was accompanied by the morals of interest, and the ideal + philosophy, by an assertion of the existence of a moral faculty, and + every influence that has affected the prevailing theory concerning + the origin of our ideas, has exercised a corresponding influence upon + the theories of ethics.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The great movement + of modern thought, of which Bacon was at once the highest + representative and one of the chief agents, has been truly said to + exhibit a striking resemblance, and at the same time a striking + contrast, to the movement of ancient thought, which was effected + chiefly by the genius of Socrates. In the name of utility, Socrates + diverted the intellect of antiquity from the fantastic cosmogonies + with which it had long been occupied, to the study of the moral + nature of man. In the name of the same utility Bacon laboured to + divert the modern intellect from the idle metaphysical speculations + of the schoolmen to natural science, to which newly discovered + instruments of research, his own sounder method, and a cluster of + splendid intellects, soon gave an unprecedented impulse. To the + indirect influence of this movement, perhaps, even more than to the + direct teaching of Gassendi and Locke, may be ascribed the great + ascendency of sensational philosophy among modern nations, and it is + also connected with some of the most important differences between + ancient and modern history. Among the ancients the human mind was + chiefly directed to philosophical speculations, in which the law + seems to be perpetual oscillation, while among the moderns it has + rather tended towards physical science, and towards inventions, in + which the law is perpetual progress. National power, and in most + cases even national independence, implied among the ancients the + constant energy of high intellectual or moral qualities. When the + heroism or the genius of the people had relaxed, when an enervating + philosophy or the lassitude that often accompanies civilisation + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page126">[pg 126]</span><a name="Pg126" + id="Pg126" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> arrived, the whole edifice + speedily tottered, the sceptre was transferred to another state, and + the same history was elsewhere reproduced. A great nation bequeathed + indeed to its successors works of transcendent beauty in art and + literature, philosophies that could avail only when the mind had + risen to their level, examples that might stimulate the heroism of an + aspiring people, warnings that might sometimes arrest it on the path + to ruin. But all these acted only through the mind. In modern times, + on the other hand, if we put aside religious influences, the + principal causes of the superiority of civilised men are to be found + in inventions which when once discovered can never pass away, and the + effects of which are in consequence in a great measure removed from + the fluctuations of moral life. The causes which most disturbed or + accelerated the normal progress of society in antiquity were the + appearance of great men, in modern times they have been the + appearance of great inventions. Printing has secured the intellectual + achievements of the past, and furnished a sure guarantee of future + progress. Gunpowder and military machinery have rendered the triumph + of barbarians impossible. Steam has united nations in the closest + bonds. Innumerable mechanical contrivances have given a decisive + preponderance to that industrial element which has coloured all the + developments of our civilisation. The leading characteristics of + modern societies are in consequence marked out much more by the + triumphs of inventive skill than by the sustained energy of moral + causes.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Now it will appear + evident, I think, to those who reflect carefully upon their own + minds, and upon the course of history, that these three things, the + study of physical science, inventive skill, and industrial + enterprise, are connected in such a manner, that when in any nation + there is a long-sustained tendency towards one, the others will + naturally follow. This connection is partly that of cause and effect, + for success in either of these branches facilitates success in the + others, a <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page127">[pg + 127]</span><a name="Pg127" id="Pg127" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + knowledge of natural laws being the basis of many of the most + important inventions, and being itself acquired by the aid of + instruments of research, while industry is manifestly indebted to + both. But besides this connection, there is a connection of + congruity. The same cast or habit of thought developes itself in + these three forms. They all represent the natural tendencies of what + is commonly called the practical as opposed to the theoretical mind, + of the inductive or experimental as opposed to the deductive or + ideal, of the cautious and the plodding as opposed to the imaginative + and the ambitious, of the mind that tends naturally to matter as + opposed to that which dwells naturally on ideas. Among the ancients, + the distaste for physical science, which the belief in the capricious + divine government of all natural phenomena, and the distaste for + industrial enterprise which slavery produced, conspired to favour the + philosophical tendency, while among the moderns physical science and + the habits of industrial life continually react upon one another.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There can be no + question that the intellectual tendencies of modern times are far + superior to those of antiquity, both in respect to the material + prosperity they effect, and to the uninterrupted progress they + secure. Upon the other hand, it is, I think, equally unquestionable + that this superiority is purchased by the sacrifice of something of + dignity and elevation of character. It is when the cultivation of + mental and moral qualities is deemed the primary object, when the + mind and its interests are most removed from the things of sense, + that great characters are most frequent, and the standard of heroism + is most high. In this, as in other cases, the law of congruity is + supreme. The mind that is concentrated most on the properties of + matter, is predisposed to derive all ideas from the senses, while + that which dwells naturally upon its own operations inclines to an + ideal philosophy, and the prevailing system of morals depends largely + upon the distinction.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the next place, + we may observe that the practical <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page128">[pg 128]</span><a name="Pg128" id="Pg128" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> consequences, so far as ethics are + concerned,<a id="noteref_137" name="noteref_137" href= + "#note_137"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">137</span></span></a> of the + opposition between the two great schools of morals, are less than + might be inferred from the intellectual chasm that separates them. + Moralists grow up in the atmosphere of society, and experience all + the common feelings of other men. Whatever theory of the genesis of + morals they may form, they commonly recognise as right the broad + moral principles of the world, and they endeavour—though I have + attempted to show not always successfully—to prove that these + principles may be accounted for and justified by their system. The + great practical difference between the schools lies, not in the + difference of the virtues they inculcate, but in the different + degrees of prominence they assign to each, in the different casts of + mind they represent and promote. As Adam Smith observed, a system + like that of the Stoics, which makes self-control the ideal of + excellence, is especially favourable to the heroic qualities, a + system like that of Hutcheson, which resolves virtue into + benevolence, to the amiable qualities, and utilitarian systems to the + industrial virtues. A society in which any one of these three forms + of moral excellence is especially prominent, has a natural tendency + towards the corresponding theory of ethics; but, on the other hand, + this theory, when formed, reacts upon and strengthens the moral + tendency that elicited it. The Epicureans and the Stoics can each + claim a great historical fact in their favour. When every other Greek + school modified or abandoned the teaching of its founder, the + disciples of Epicurus at Athens preserved their hereditary faith + unsullied and unchanged.<a id="noteref_138" name="noteref_138" href= + "#note_138"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">138</span></span></a> On the + other hand, in the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page129">[pg + 129]</span><a name="Pg129" id="Pg129" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + Roman empire, almost every great character, almost every effort in + the cause of liberty, emanated from the ranks of Stoicism, while + Epicureanism was continually identified with corruption and with + tyranny. The intuitive school, not having a clear and simple external + standard, has often proved somewhat liable to assimilate with + superstition and mysticism, to become fantastic, unreasoning, and + unpractical, while the prominence accorded to interest, and the + constant intervention of calculation in utilitarian systems, have a + tendency to depress the ideal, and give a sordid and unheroic ply to + the character. The first, dwelling on the moral initiative, elevates + the tone and standard of life. The second, revealing the influence of + surrounding circumstances upon character, leads to the most important + practical reforms.<a id="noteref_139" name="noteref_139" href= + "#note_139"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">139</span></span></a> Each + school has thus proved in some sense at once the corrective and the + complement of the other. Each when pushed to its extreme results, + produces evils which lead to the reappearance of its rival.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Having now + considered at some length the nature and <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page130">[pg 130]</span><a name="Pg130" id="Pg130" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> tendencies of the theories according to which + men test and classify their moral feelings, we may pass to an + examination of the process according to which these feelings are + developed, or, in other words, of the causes that lead societies to + elevate their moral standard and determine their preference of some + particular kinds of virtue. The observations I have to offer on this + subject will be of a somewhat miscellaneous character, but they will + all, I trust, tend to show the nature of the changes that constitute + moral history, and to furnish us with some general principles which + may be applied in detail in the succeeding chapters.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is sufficiently + evident, that, in proportion to the high organisation of society, the + amiable and the social virtues will be cultivated at the expense of + the heroic and the ascetic. A courageous endurance of suffering is + probably the first form of human virtue, the one conspicuous instance + in savage life of a course of conduct opposed to natural impulses, + and pursued through a belief that it is higher or nobler than the + opposite. In a disturbed, disorganised, and warlike society, acts of + great courage and great endurance are very frequent, and determine to + a very large extent the course of events; but in proportion to the + organisation of communities the occasions for their display, and + their influence when displayed, are alike restricted. Besides this + the tastes and habits of civilisation, the innumerable inventions + designed to promote comfort and diminish pain, set the current of + society in a direction altogether different from heroism, and + somewhat emasculate, though they refine and soften, the character. + Asceticism again—including under this term, not merely the monastic + system, but also all efforts to withdraw from the world in order to + cultivate a high degree of sanctity—belongs naturally to a society + which is somewhat rude, and in which isolation is frequent and easy. + When men become united in very close bonds of co-operation, when + industrial enterprise becomes very ardent, and the prevailing impulse + is strongly <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page131">[pg + 131]</span><a name="Pg131" id="Pg131" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + towards material wealth and luxurious enjoyments, virtue is regarded + chiefly or solely in the light of the interests of society, and this + tendency is still further strengthened by the educational influence + of legislation, which imprints moral distinctions very deeply on the + mind, but at the same time accustoms men to measure them solely by an + external and utilitarian standard.<a id="noteref_140" name= + "noteref_140" href="#note_140"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">140</span></span></a> The + first table of the law gives way to the second. Good is not loved for + itself, but as the means to an end. All that virtue which is required + to form upright and benevolent men is in the highest degree useful to + society, but the qualities which constitute a saintly or spiritual + character as distinguished from one that is simply moral and amiable, + have not the same direct, uniform and manifest tendency to the + promotion of happiness, and they are accordingly little valued.<a id= + "noteref_141" name="noteref_141" href="#note_141"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">141</span></span></a> In + savage life the animal <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page132">[pg + 132]</span><a name="Pg132" id="Pg132" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + nature being supreme, these higher qualities are unknown. In a very + elaborate material civilisation the prevailing atmosphere is not + favourable either to their production or their appreciation. Their + place has usually been in an intermediate stage.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">On the other hand, + there are certain virtues that are the natural product of a + cultivated society. Independently of all local and special + circumstances, the transition of men from a barbarous or + semi-civilised to a highly organised state necessarily brings with it + the destruction or abridgment of the legitimate sphere of revenge, by + transferring the office of punishment from the wronged person to a + passionless tribunal appointed by society;<a id="noteref_142" name= + "noteref_142" href="#note_142"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">142</span></span></a> a + growing substitution of pacific for warlike occupations, the + introduction of refined and intellectual tastes which gradually + displace amusements that derive their zest from their barbarity, the + rapid multiplication of ties of connection between all classes and + nations, and also the strengthening of the imagination by + intellectual culture. This last faculty, considered as the power of + realisation, forms the chief tie between our moral and intellectual + natures. In order to pity suffering we must realise it, and the + intensity of our compassion is usually proportioned to the vividness + of our realisation.<a id="noteref_143" name="noteref_143" href= + "#note_143"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">143</span></span></a> The + most frightful catastrophe in South America, an earthquake, a + shipwreck, or a battle, will elicit less compassion than the death of + a single individual who has been brought prominently before our eyes. + To this cause must be chiefly ascribed the extraordinary measure of + compassion usually bestowed upon a conspicuous <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page133">[pg 133]</span><a name="Pg133" id="Pg133" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> condemned criminal, the affection and + enthusiasm that centre upon sovereigns, and many of the glaring + inconsistencies of our historical judgments. The recollection of some + isolated act of magnanimity displayed by Alexander or Cæsar moves us + more than the thought of the 30,000 Thebans whom the Macedonian sold + as slaves, of the 2,000 prisoners he crucified at Tyre, of the + 1,100,000 men on whose corpses the Roman rose to fame. Wrapt in the + pale winding-sheet of general terms the greatest tragedies of history + evoke no vivid images in our minds, and it is only by a great effort + of genius that an historian can galvanise them into life. The + irritation displayed by the captive of St. Helena in his bickerings + with his gaoler affects most men more than the thought of the + nameless thousands whom his insatiable egotism had hurried to the + grave. Such is the frailty of our nature that we are more moved by + the tears of some captive princess, by some trifling biographical + incident that has floated down the stream of history, than by the + sorrows of all the countless multitudes who perished beneath the + sword of a Tamerlane, a Bajazet, or a Zenghis Khan.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If our benevolent + feelings are thus the slaves of our imaginations, if an act of + realisation is a necessary antecedent and condition of compassion, it + is obvious that any influence that augments the range and power of + this realising faculty is favourable to the amiable virtues, and it + is equally evident that education has in the highest degree this + effect. To an uneducated man all classes, nations, modes of thought + and existence foreign to his own are unrealised, while every increase + of knowledge brings with it an increase of insight, and therefore of + sympathy. But the addition to his knowledge is the smallest part of + this change. The realising faculty is itself intensified. Every book + he reads, every intellectual exercise in which he engages, accustoms + him to rise above the objects immediately present to his senses, to + extend his realisations into new spheres, and reproduce in his + imagination <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page134">[pg + 134]</span><a name="Pg134" id="Pg134" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the + thoughts, feelings, and characters of others, with a vividness + inconceivable to the savage. Hence, in a great degree, the tact with + which a refined mind learns to discriminate and adapt itself to the + most delicate shades of feeling, and hence too the sensitive humanity + with which, in proportion to their civilisation, men realise and + recoil from cruelty.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We have here, + however, an important distinction to draw. Under the name of cruelty + are comprised two kinds of vice, altogether different in their causes + and in most of their consequences. There is the cruelty which springs + from callousness and brutality, and there is the cruelty of + vindictiveness. The first belongs chiefly to hard, dull, and somewhat + lethargic characters, it appears most frequently in strong and + conquering nations and in temperate climates, and it is due in a very + great degree to defective realisation. The second is rather a + feminine attribute, it is usually displayed in oppressed and + suffering communities, in passionate natures, and in hot climates. + Great vindictiveness is often united with great tenderness, and great + callousness with great magnanimity, but a vindictive nature is rarely + magnanimous, and a brutal nature is still more rarely tender. The + ancient Romans exhibited a remarkable combination of great + callousness and great magnanimity, while by a curious contrast the + modern Italian character verges manifestly towards the opposite + combination. Both forms of cruelty are, if I mistake not, diminished + with advancing civilisation, but by different causes and in different + degrees. Callous cruelty disappears before the sensitiveness of a + cultivated imagination. Vindictive cruelty is diminished by the + substitution of a penal system for private revenge.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The same + intellectual culture that facilitates the realisation of suffering, + and therefore produces compassion, facilitates also the realisation + of character and opinions, and therefore produces charity. The great + majority of uncharitable judgments in the world may be traced to a + deficiency of <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page135">[pg + 135]</span><a name="Pg135" id="Pg135" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + imagination. The chief cause of sectarian animosity, is the + incapacity of most men to conceive hostile systems in the light in + which they appear to their adherents, and to enter into the + enthusiasm they inspire. The acquisition of this power of + intellectual sympathy is a common accompaniment of a large and + cultivated mind, and wherever it exists, it assuages the rancour of + controversy. The severity of our judgment of criminals is also often + excessive, because the imagination finds it more easy to realise an + action than a state of mind. Any one can conceive a fit of + drunkenness or a deed of violence, but few persons who are by nature + very sober or very calm can conceive the natural disposition that + predisposes to it. A good man brought up among all the associations + of virtue reads of some horrible crime, his imagination exhausts + itself in depicting its circumstances, and he then estimates the + guilt of the criminal, by asking himself, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“How guilty should <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">I</span></em> be, were I to perpetrate such an + act?”</span> To realise with any adequacy the force of a passion we + have never experienced, to conceive a type of character radically + different from our own, above all, to form any just appreciation of + the lawlessness and obtuseness of moral temperament, inevitably + generated by a vicious education, requires a power of imagination + which is among the rarest of human endowments. Even in judging our + own conduct, this feebleness of imagination is sometimes shown, and + an old man recalling the foolish actions, but having lost the power + of realising the feelings, of his youth, may be very unjust to his + own past. That which makes it so difficult for a man of strong + vicious passions to unbosom himself to a naturally virtuous man, is + not so much the virtue as the ignorance of the latter. It is the + conviction that he cannot possibly understand the force of a passion + he has never felt. That which alone renders tolerable to the mind the + thought of judgment by an all-pure Being, is the union of the + attribute of omniscience with that of purity, for perfect + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page136">[pg 136]</span><a name="Pg136" + id="Pg136" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> knowledge implies a perfect + power of realisation. The further our analysis extends, and the more + our realising faculties are cultivated, the more sensible we become + of the influence of circumstances both upon character and upon + opinions, and of the exaggerations of our first estimates of moral + inequalities. Strong antipathies are thus gradually softened down. + Men gain much in charity, but they lose something in zeal.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We may push, I + think, this vein of thought one step farther. Our imagination, which + governs our affections, has in its earlier and feebler stages little + power of grasping ideas, except in a personified and concrete form, + and the power of rising to abstractions is one of the best measures + of intellectual progress. The beginning of writing is the + hieroglyphic or symbolical picture; the beginning of worship is + fetishism or idolatry; the beginning of eloquence is pictorial, + sensuous, and metaphorical; the beginning of philosophy is the myth. + The imagination in its first stages concentrates itself on + individuals; gradually by an effort of abstraction it rises to an + institution or well-defined organisation; it is only at a very + advanced stage that it can grasp a moral and intellectual principle. + Loyalty, patriotism, and attachment to a cosmopolitan cause are + therefore three forms of moral enthusiasm respectively appropriate to + three successive stages of mental progress, and they have, I think, a + certain analogy to idolatrous worship, church feeling, and moral + culture, which are the central ideas of three stages of religious + history.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The reader will + readily understand that generalisations of this kind can pretend to + nothing more than an approximate truth. Our knowledge of the laws of + moral progress is like that of the laws of climate. We lay down + general rules about the temperature to be expected as we approach or + recede from the equator, and experience shows that they are + substantially correct; but yet an elevated plain, or a chain of + mountains, or the neighbourhood of the sea, will often in + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page137">[pg 137]</span><a name="Pg137" + id="Pg137" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> some degree derange our + calculations. So, too, in the history of moral changes, innumerable + special agencies, such as religious or political institutions, + geographical conditions, traditions, antipathies, and affinities, + exercise a certain retarding, accelerating, or deflecting influence, + and somewhat modify the normal progress. The proposition for which I + am contending is simply that there is such a thing as a natural + history of morals, a defined and regular order, in which our moral + feelings are unfolded; or, in other words, that there are certain + groups of virtues which spring spontaneously out of the circumstances + and mental conditions of an uncivilised people, and that there are + others which are the normal and appropriate products of civilisation. + The virtues of uncivilised men are recognised as virtues by civilised + men, but they are neither exhibited in the same perfection, nor given + the same position in the scale of duties. Of these moral changes none + are more obvious than the gradual decadence of heroism both active + and passive, the increase of compassion and of charity, and the + transition from the enthusiasm of loyalty to those of patriotism and + liberty.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Another form of + virtue which usually increases with civilisation is veracity, a term + which must be regarded as including something more than the simple + avoidance of direct falsehood. In the ordinary intercourse of life it + is readily understood that a man is offending against truth, not only + when he utters a deliberate falsehood, but also when in his statement + of a case he suppresses or endeavours to conceal essential facts, or + makes positive assertions without having conscientiously verified + their grounds. The earliest form in which the duty of veracity is + enforced is probably the observance of vows, which occupy a position + of much prominence in youthful religions. With the subsequent + progress of civilisation, we find the successive inculcation of three + forms of veracity, which may be termed respectively industrial, + political, and philosophical. By the first I understand that + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page138">[pg 138]</span><a name="Pg138" + id="Pg138" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> accuracy of statement or + fidelity to engagements which is commonly meant when we speak of a + truthful man. Though in some cases sustained by the strong sense of + honour which accompanies a military spirit, this form of veracity is + usually the special virtue of an industrial nation, for although + industrial enterprise affords great temptations to deception, mutual + confidence, and therefore strict truthfulness, are in these + occupations so transcendently important that they acquire in the + minds of men a value they had never before possessed. Veracity + becomes the first virtue in the moral type, and no character is + regarded with any kind of approbation in which it is wanting. It is + made more than any other the test distinguishing a good from a bad + man. We accordingly find that even where the impositions of trade are + very numerous, the supreme excellence of veracity is cordially + admitted in theory, and it is one of the first virtues that every man + aspiring to moral excellence endeavours to cultivate. This + constitutes probably the chief moral superiority of nations pervaded + by a strong industrial spirit over nations like the Italians, the + Spaniards, or the Irish, among whom that spirit is wanting. The usual + characteristic of the latter nations is a certain laxity or + instability of character, a proneness to exaggeration, a want of + truthfulness in little things, an infidelity to engagements from + which an Englishman, educated in the habits of industrial life, + readily infers a complete absence of moral principle. But a larger + philosophy and a deeper experience dispel his error. He finds that + where the industrial spirit has not penetrated, truthfulness rarely + occupies in the popular mind the same prominent position in the + catalogue of virtues. It is not reckoned among the fundamentals of + morality, and it is possible and even common to find in those + nations—what would be scarcely possible in an industrial society—men + who are habitually dishonest and untruthful in small things, and + whose lives are nevertheless influenced by a deep religious feeling, + and adorned by the consistent practice <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page139">[pg 139]</span><a name="Pg139" id="Pg139" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> of some of the most difficult and most painful + virtues. Trust in Providence, content and resignation in extreme + poverty and suffering, the most genuine amiability and the most + sincere readiness to assist their brethren, an adherence to their + religious opinions which no persecutions and no bribes can shake, a + capacity for heroic, transcendent, and prolonged self-sacrifice, may + be found in some nations in men who are habitual liars and habitual + cheats.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The promotion of + industrial veracity is probably the single form in which the growth + of manufactures exercises a favourable influence upon morals. It is + possible, however, for this virtue to exist in great perfection + without any corresponding growth of political veracity, or in other + words, of that spirit of impartiality which in matters of controversy + desires that all opinions, arguments, and facts should be fully and + fairly stated. This habit of what is commonly termed <span class= + "tei tei-q">“fair play”</span> is especially the characteristic of + free communities, and it is pre-eminently fostered by political life. + The practice of debate creates a sense of the injustice of + suppressing one side of a case, which gradually extends through all + forms of intellectual life, and becomes an essential element in the + national character. But beyond all this there is a still higher form + of intellectual virtue. By enlarged intellectual culture, especially + by philosophic studies, men come at last to pursue truth for its own + sake, to esteem it a duty to emancipate themselves from party spirit, + prejudices, and passion, and through love of truth to cultivate a + judicial spirit in controversy. They aspire to the intellect not of a + sectarian but of a philosopher, to the intellect not of a partisan + but of a statesman.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Of these three + forms of a truthful spirit the two last may be said to belong + exclusively to a highly civilised society. The last especially can + hardly be attained by any but a cultivated mind, and is one of the + latest flowers of virtue that bloom in the human heart. The growth, + however, both of <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page140">[pg + 140]</span><a name="Pg140" id="Pg140" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + political and philosophical veracity has been unnaturally retarded by + the opposition of theologians, who made it during many centuries a + main object of their policy to suppress all writings that were + opposed to their views, and who, when this power had escaped their + grasp, proceeded to discourage in every way impartiality of mind and + judgment, and to associate it with the notion of sin.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To the + observations I have already made concerning the moral effects of + industrial life, I shall at present add but two. The first is that an + industrial spirit creates two wholly different types of character—a + thrifty character and a speculating character. Both types grow out of + a strong sense of the value and a strong desire for the attainment of + material comforts, but they are profoundly different both in their + virtues and their vices. The chief characteristic of the one type is + caution, that of the other enterprise. Thriftiness is one of the best + regulators of life. It produces order, sobriety, moderation, + self-restraint, patient industry, and all that cast of virtues which + is designated by the term respectability; but it has also a tendency + to form contracted and ungenerous natures, incapable of enthusiasm or + lively sympathy. The speculating character, on the other hand, is + restless, fiery, and uncertain, very liable to fall into great and + conspicuous vices, impatient of routine, but by no means unfavourable + to strong feelings, to great generosity or resolution. Which of these + two forms the industrial spirit assumes depends upon local + circumstances. Thriftiness flourishes chiefly among men placed + outside the great stream of commerce, and in positions where wealth + is only to be acquired by slow and steady industry, while the + speculating character is most common in the great centres of + enterprise and of wealth.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the next place, + it may be remarked that industrial habits bring forethought into a + new position in the moral type. In early stages of theological + belief, men regarding <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page141">[pg + 141]</span><a name="Pg141" id="Pg141" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + every incident that happens to them as the result of a special divine + decree, sometimes esteem it a test of faith and a form of duty to + take no precautions for the future, but to leave questions of food + and clothing to Providential interposition. On the other hand, in an + industrial civilisation, prudent forethought is regarded not simply + as lawful, but as a duty, and a duty of the very highest order. A + good man of the industrial type deems it a duty not to marry till he + has ensured the maintenance of a possible family; if he possesses + children, he regulates his expenses not simply by the relation of his + income to his immediate wants, but with a constant view to the + education of his sons, to the portioning of his daughters, to the + future necessities and careers of each member of his family. Constant + forethought is the guiding principle of his whole life. No single + circumstance is regarded as a better test of the civilisation of a + people than the extent to which it is diffused among them. The old + doctrine virtually disappears, and is interpreted to mean nothing + more than that we should accept with resignation what no efforts and + no forethought could avert.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This change is but + one of several influences which, as civilisation advances, diminish + the spirit of reverence among mankind. Reverence is one of those + feelings which, in utilitarian systems, would occupy at best a very + ambiguous position; for it is extremely questionable whether the + great evils that have grown out of it in the form of religious + superstition and political servitude have not made it a source of + more unhappiness than happiness. Yet, however doubtful may be its + position if estimated by its bearing on happiness and on progress, + there are few persons who are not conscious that no character can + attain a supreme degree of excellence in which a reverential spirit + is wanting. Of all the forms of moral goodness it is that to which + the epithet beautiful may be most emphatically applied. Yet the + habits of advancing <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page142">[pg + 142]</span><a name="Pg142" id="Pg142" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + civilisation are, if I mistake not, on the whole inimical to its + growth. For reverence grows out of a sense of constant dependence. It + is fostered by that condition of religions thought in which men + believe that each incident that befalls them is directly and + specially ordained, and when every event is therefore fraught with a + moral import. It is fostered by that condition of scientific + knowledge in which every portentous natural phenomenon is supposed to + be the result of a direct divine interposition, and awakens in + consequence emotions of humility and awe. It is fostered in that + stage of political life when loyalty or reverence for the sovereign + is the dominating passion, when an aristocracy, branching forth from + the throne, spreads habits of deference and subordination through + every village, when a revolutionary, a democratic, and a sceptical + spirit are alike unknown. Every great change, either of belief or of + circumstances, brings with it a change of emotions. The + self-assertion of liberty, the levelling of democracy, the + dissecting-knife of criticism, the economical revolutions that reduce + the relations of classes to simple contracts, the agglomeration of + population, and the facilities of locomotion that sever so many + ancient ties, are all incompatible with the type of virtue which + existed before the power of tradition was broken, and when the + chastity of faith was yet unstained. Benevolence, uprightness, + enterprise, intellectual honesty, a love of freedom, and a hatred of + superstition are growing around us, but we look in vain for that most + beautiful character of the past, so distrustful of self, and so + trustful of others, so simple, so modest, and so devout, which even + when, Ixion-like, it bestowed its affections upon a cloud, made its + very illusions the source of some of the purest virtues of our + nature. In a few minds, the contemplation of the sublime order of + nature produces a reverential feeling, but to the great majority of + mankind it is an incontestable though mournful fact, that the + discovery of controlling and unchanging law deprives phenomena of + their moral significance, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page143">[pg + 143]</span><a name="Pg143" id="Pg143" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> and + nearly all the social and political spheres in which reverence was + fostered have passed away. Its most beautiful displays are not in + nations like the Americans or the modern French, who have thrown + themselves most fully into the tendencies of the age, but rather in + secluded regions like Styria or the Tyrol. Its artistic expression is + found in no work of modern genius, but in the mediæval cathedral, + which, mellowed but not impaired by time, still gazes on us in its + deathless beauty through the centuries of the past. A superstitious + age, like every other phase of human history, has its distinctive + virtues, which must necessarily decline before a new stage of + progress can be attained.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The virtues and + vices growing out of the relation between the sexes are difficult to + treat in general terms, both on account of the obvious delicacy of + the subject, and also because their natural history is extremely + obscured by special causes. In the moral evolutions we have as yet + examined, the normal influences are most powerful, and the importance + of deranging and modifying circumstances is altogether subsidiary. + The expansion of the amiable virtues, the decline of heroism and + loyalty, and the growth of industrial habits spring out of changes + which necessarily take place under almost all forms of + civilisation,<a id="noteref_144" name="noteref_144" href= + "#note_144"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">144</span></span></a> and the + broad features of the movement are therefore in almost all nations + substantially the same. But in the history of sensuality, special + causes, such as slavery, religious doctrines, or laws affecting + marriage, have been the most powerful agents. The immense changes + effected in this field by the Christian religion I shall hereafter + examine. In the present chapter I shall content myself with two or + three very general remarks relating to the nature of the vice, and to + the effect of different stages of civilisation upon its + progress.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page144">[pg + 144]</span><a name="Pg144" id="Pg144" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There are, I + conceive, few greater fallacies than are involved in the method so + popular among modern writers of judging the immorality of a nation by + its statistics of illegitimate births. Independently of the obvious + defect of this method in excluding simple prostitution from our + comparison, it altogether neglects the fact that a large number of + illegitimate births arise from causes totally different from the + great violence of the passions. Such, for example, is the notion + prevailing in many country districts of England, that the marriage + ceremony has a retrospective virtue, cancelling previous immorality; + and such too is the custom so general among some classes on the + Continent of forming permanent connections without the sanction + either of a legal or a religious ceremony. However deeply such facts + may be reprehended and deplored, it would be obviously absurd to + infer from them that the nations in which they are most prominent are + most conspicuous for the uncontrolled violence of their sensual + passions. In Sweden, which long ranked among the lowest in the moral + scale, if measured by the number of illegitimate births, the chief + cause appears to have been the difficulties with which legislators + surrounded marriage.<a id="noteref_145" name="noteref_145" href= + "#note_145"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">145</span></span></a> Even in + displays of actual and violent passion, there are distinctions to be + drawn which statistics are wholly unable to reach. The coarse, + cynical, and ostentatious sensuality which forms the most repulsive + feature of the French character, the dreamy, languid, and æsthetical + sensuality of the Spaniard or the Italian, the furtive and retiring + sensuality of some northern nations, though all forms of the same + vice, are widely different feelings, and exercise widely different + effects upon the prevailing disposition.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In addition to the + very important influence upon public morals which climate, I think, + undoubtedly exercises in <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page145">[pg + 145]</span><a name="Pg145" id="Pg145" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + stimulating or allaying the passions, it has a powerful indirect + action upon the position, character, and tastes of women, by + determining the prevalence of indoor or out-of-door life, and also + the classes among whom the gift of beauty is diffused. In northern + countries the prevailing cast of beauty depends rather on colour than + on form. It consists chiefly of a freshness and delicacy of + complexion which severe labour and constant exposure necessarily + destroy, and which is therefore rarely found in the highest + perfection among the very poor. But the southern type is essentially + democratic. The fierce rays of the sun only mellow and mature its + charms. Its most perfect examples may be found in the hovel as in the + palace, and the effects of this diffusion of beauty may be traced + both in the manners and the morals of the people.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is probable + that the observance of this form of virtue is naturally most strict + in a rude and semi-civilised but not barbarous people, and that a + very refined civilisation is not often favourable to its growth. + Sensuality is the vice of young men and of old nations. A languid + epicureanism is the normal condition of nations which have attained a + high intellectual or social civilisation, but which, through + political causes, have no adequate sphere for the exertion of their + energies. The temptation arising from the great wealth of some, and + from the feverish longing for luxury and exciting pleasures in + others, which exists in all large towns, has been peculiarly fatal to + female virtue, and the whole tendency of the public amusements of + civilisation is in the same direction. The rude combats which form + the chief enjoyments of barbarians produce cruelty. The dramatic and + artistic tastes and the social habits of refined men produce + sensuality. Education raises many poor women to a stage of refinement + that makes them suitable companions for men of a higher rank, and not + suitable for those of their own. Industrial pursuits have, indeed, a + favourable influence in promoting habits of self-restraint, and + especially in checking the licence <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page146">[pg 146]</span><a name="Pg146" id="Pg146" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> of military life; but on the other hand, they + greatly increase temptation by encouraging postponement of marriage, + and in communities, even more than in individuals, moral inequalities + are much more due to differences of temptation than to differences of + self-restraint. In large bodies of men a considerable increase of + temptation always brings with it an increase, though not necessarily + a proportionate increase, of vice. Among the checks on excessive + multiplication, the historical influence of voluntary continence has + been, it must be feared, very small. Physical and moral evils have + alone been decisive, and as these form the two opposite weights, we + unhappily very frequently find that the diminution of the one has + been followed by the increase of the other. The nearly universal + custom of early marriages among the Irish peasantry has alone + rendered possible that high standard of female chastity, that intense + and jealous sensitiveness respecting female honour, for which, among + many failings and some vices, the Irish poor have long been + pre-eminent in Europe; but these very marriages are the most + conspicuous proofs of the national improvidence, and one of the most + fatal obstacles to industrial prosperity. Had the Irish peasants been + less chaste, they would have been more prosperous. Had that fearful + famine, which in the present century desolated the land, fallen upon + a people who thought more of accumulating subsistence than of + avoiding sin, multitudes might now be living who perished by literal + starvation on the dreary hills of Limerick or Skibbereen.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The example of + Ireland furnishes us, however, with a remarkable instance of the + manner in which the influence of a moral feeling may act beyond the + circumstances that gave it birth. There is no fact in Irish history + more singular than the complete, and, I believe, unparalleled absence + among the Irish priesthood of those moral scandals which in every + continental country occasionally prove the danger of vows of + celibacy. The unsuspected purity of the Irish priests in this + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page147">[pg 147]</span><a name="Pg147" + id="Pg147" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> respect is the more + remarkable, because, the government of the country being Protestant, + there is no special inquisitorial legislation to ensure it, because + of the almost unbounded influence of the clergy over their + parishioners, and also because if any just cause of suspicion + existed, in the fierce sectarianism of Irish public opinion, it would + assuredly be magnified. Considerations of climate are quite + inadequate to explain this fact; but the chief cause is, I think, + sufficiently obvious. The habit of marrying at the first development + of the passions has produced among the Irish peasantry, from whom the + priests for the most part spring, an extremely strong feeling of the + iniquity of irregular sexual indulgence, which retains its power even + over those who are bound to perpetual celibacy.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It will appear + evident from the foregoing considerations that, while the essential + nature of virtue and vice is unaltered, there is a perpetual, and in + some branches an orderly and necessary change, as society advances, + both in the proportionate value attached to different virtues in + theory, and in the perfection in which they are realised in practice. + It will appear too that, while there may be in societies such a thing + as moral improvement, there is rarely or never, on a large scale, + such a thing as unmixed improvement. We may gain more than we lose, + but we always lose something. There are virtues which are continually + dying away with advancing civilisation, and even the lowest stage + possesses its distinctive excellence. There is no spectacle more + piteous or more horrible to a good man than that of an oppressed + nationality writhing in anguish beneath a tyrant's yoke; but there is + no condition in which passionate, unquestioning self-sacrifice and + heroic courage, and the true sentiment of fraternity are more grandly + elicited, and it is probable that the triumph of liberty will in + these forms not only lessen the moral performances, but even weaken + the moral capacities of mankind. War is, no doubt, a fearful evil, + but it is the seed-plot of magnanimous virtues, which in a pacific + age must <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page148">[pg + 148]</span><a name="Pg148" id="Pg148" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + wither and decay. Even the gambling-table fosters among its more + skilful votaries a kind of moral nerve, a capacity for bearing losses + with calmness, and controlling the force of the desires, which is + scarcely exhibited in equal perfection in any other sphere.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There is still so + great a diversity of civilisation in existing nations that traversing + tracts of space is almost like traversing tracts of time, for it + brings us in contact with living representatives of nearly every + phase of past civilisation. But these differences are rapidly + disappearing before the unparalleled diffusion and simplification of + knowledge, the still more amazing progress in means of locomotion, + and the political and military causes that are manifestly converting + Europe into a federation of vast centralised and democratic States. + Even to those who believe that the leading changes are on the whole + beneficial, there is much that is melancholy in this revolution. + Those small States which will soon have disappeared from the map of + Europe, besides their vast superiority to most great empires in + financial prosperity, in the material well-being of the inhabitants, + and in many cases in political liberty, pacific tastes, and + intellectual progress, form one of the chief refuges of that spirit + of content, repose, and retrospective reverence which is + pre-eminently wanting in modern civilisation, and their security is + in every age one of the least equivocal measures of international + morality. The monastic system, however pernicious when enlarged to + excess, has undoubtedly contributed to the happiness of the world, by + supplying an asylum especially suited to a certain type of character; + and that vindictive and short-sighted revolution which is extirpating + it from Europe is destroying one of the best correctives of the + excessive industrialism of our age. It is for the advantage of a + nation that it should attain the most advanced existing type of + progress, but it is extremely questionable whether it is for the + advantage of the community at large that all nations <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page149">[pg 149]</span><a name="Pg149" id="Pg149" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> should attain the same type, even when it + is the most advanced. The influence of very various circumstances is + absolutely necessary to perfect moral development. Hence, one of the + great political advantages of class representation, which brings + within the range of politics a far greater variety both of capacities + and moral qualities than can be exhibited when one class has an + exclusive or overwhelmingly preponderating influence, and also of + heterogeneous empires, in which different degrees of civilisation + produce different kinds of excellence which react upon and complete + one another. In the rude work of India and Australia a type of + character is formed which England could ill afford to lose.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The remarks I have + now made will be sufficient, I hope, to throw some light upon those + great questions concerning the relations of intellectual and moral + progress which have of late years attracted so large an amount of + attention. It has been contended that the historian of human progress + should concentrate his attention exclusively on the intellectual + elements; for there is no such thing as moral history, morals being + essentially stationary, and the rudest barbarians being in this + respect as far advanced as ourselves. In opposition to this view, I + have maintained that while what may be termed the primal elements of + morals are unaltered, there is a perpetual change in the standard + which is exacted, and also in the relative value attached to + particular virtues, and that these changes constitute one of the most + important branches of general history. It has been contended by other + writers that, although such changes do take place, and although they + play an extremely great part in the world, they must be looked upon + as the result of intellectual causes, changes in knowledge producing + changes in morals. In this view, as we have seen, there is some + truth, but it can only, I think, be accepted with great + qualification. It is one of the plainest of facts that neither the + individuals nor the ages most distinguished for intellectual + achievements have been <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page150">[pg + 150]</span><a name="Pg150" id="Pg150" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + most distinguished for moral excellence, and that a high intellectual + and material civilisation has often coexisted with much depravity. In + some respects the conditions of intellectual growth are not + favourable to moral growth. The agglomeration of men in great + cities—which are always the centres of progress and enlightenment—is + one of the most important causes of material and intellectual + advance: but great towns are the peculiar seed-plots of vice, and it + is extremely questionable whether they produce any special and + equivalent efflorescence of virtue, for even the social virtues are + probably more cultivated in small populations, where men live in more + intimate relations. Many of the most splendid outbursts of moral + enthusiasm may be traced to an overwhelming force of conviction + rarely found in very cultivated minds, which are keenly sensible to + possibilities of error, conflicting arguments, and qualifying + circumstances. Civilisation has on the whole been more successful in + repressing crime than in repressing vice. It is very favourable to + the gentler, charitable, and social virtues, and, where slavery does + not exist, to the industrial virtues, and it is the especial nurse of + the intellectual virtues; but it is in general not equally favourable + to the production of self-sacrifice, enthusiasm, reverence, or + chastity.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The moral changes, + however, which are effected by civilisation may ultimately be + ascribed chiefly to intellectual causes, for these lie at the root of + the whole structure of civilised life. Sometimes, as we have seen, + intellectual causes act directly, but more frequently they have only + an indirect influence, producing habits of life which in their turn + produce new conceptions of duty. The morals of men are more governed + by their pursuits than by their opinions. A type of virtue is first + formed by circumstances, and men afterwards make it the model upon + which their theories are framed. Thus geographical or other + circumstances, that make one nation military and another industrial, + will produce in each <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page151">[pg + 151]</span><a name="Pg151" id="Pg151" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> a + realised type of excellence, and corresponding conceptions about the + relative importance of different virtues widely different from those + which are produced in the other, and this may be the case although + the amount of knowledge in the two communities is substantially + equal.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Having discussed + these questions as fully as the nature of my subject requires, I will + conclude this chapter by noticing a few very prevalent errors in the + moral judgments of history, and will also endeavour to elucidate some + important consequences that may be deduced from the nature of moral + types.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is probable + that the moral standard of most men is much lower in political + judgments than in private matters in which their own interests are + concerned. There is nothing more common than for men who in private + life are models of the most scrupulous integrity to justify or excuse + the most flagrant acts of political dishonesty and violence; and we + should be altogether mistaken if we argued rigidly from such + approvals to the general moral sentiments of those who utter them. + Not unfrequently too, by a curious moral paradox, political crimes + are closely connected with national virtues. A people who are + submissive, gentle, and loyal, fall by reason of these very qualities + under a despotic government; but this uncontrolled power has never + failed to exercise a most pernicious influence on rulers, and their + numerous acts of rapacity and aggression being attributed in history + to the nation they represent, the national character is wholly + misinterpreted.<a id="noteref_146" name="noteref_146" href= + "#note_146"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">146</span></span></a> There + are also particular kinds both of virtue and of vice which appear + prominently before the world, while others of at least equal + influence almost escape the notice of history. Thus, for example, the + sectarian animosities, the horrible persecutions, the blind hatred of + progress, the ungenerous support of every galling disqualification + and restraint, the intense class selfishness, the obstinately + protracted defence of intellectual <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page152">[pg 152]</span><a name="Pg152" id="Pg152" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> and political superstition, the childish but + whimsically ferocious quarrels about minute dogmatic distinctions, or + dresses, or candlesticks, which constitute together the main features + of ecclesiastical history, might naturally, though very unjustly, + lead men to place the ecclesiastical type in almost the lowest rank, + both intellectually and morally. These are, in fact, the displays of + ecclesiastical influence which stand in bold relief in the pages of + history. The civilising and moralising influence of the clergyman in + his parish, the simple, unostentatious, unselfish zeal with which he + educates the ignorant, guides the erring, comforts the sorrowing, + braves the horrors of pestilence, and sheds a hallowing influence + over the dying hour, the countless ways in which, in his little + sphere, he allays evil passions, and softens manners, and elevates + and purifies those around him—all these things, though very evident + to the detailed observer, do not stand out in the same vivid + prominence in historical records, and are continually forgotten by + historians. It is always hazardous to argue from the character of a + corporation to the character of the members who compose it, but in no + other case is this method of judgment so fallacious as in the history + of ecclesiastics, for there is no other class whose distinctive + excellences are less apparent, and whose mental and moral defects are + more glaringly conspicuous in corporate action. In different nations, + again, the motives of virtue are widely different, and serious + misconceptions arise from the application to one nation of the + measure of another. Thus the chief national virtues of the French + people result from an intense power of sympathy, which is also the + foundation of some of their most beautiful intellectual qualities, of + their social habits, and of their unrivalled influence in Europe. No + other nation has so habitual and vivid a sympathy with great + struggles for freedom beyond its border. No other literature exhibits + so expansive and œcumenical a genius, or expounds so skilfully, or + appreciates so generously, foreign ideas. In hardly any other land + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page153">[pg 153]</span><a name="Pg153" + id="Pg153" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> would a disinterested war for + the support of a suffering nationality find so large an amount of + support. The national crimes of France are many and grievous, but + much will be forgiven her because she loved much. The Anglo-Saxon + nations, on the other hand, though sometimes roused to strong but + transient enthusiasm, are habitually singularly narrow, + unappreciative, and unsympathetic. The great source of their national + virtue is the sense of duty, the power of pursuing a course which + they believe to be right, independently of all considerations of + sympathy or favour, of enthusiasm or success. Other nations have far + surpassed them in many qualities that are beautiful, and in some + qualities that are great. It is the merit of the Anglo-Saxon race + that beyond all others it has produced men of the stamp of a + Washington or a Hampden; men careless, indeed, for glory, but very + careful of honour; who made the supreme majesty of moral rectitude + the guiding principle of their lives, who proved in the most trying + circumstances that no allurements of ambition, and no storms of + passion, could cause them to deviate one hair's breadth from the + course they believed to be their duty. This was also a Roman + characteristic—especially that of Marcus Aurelius. The unweary, + unostentatious, and inglorious crusade of England against slavery may + probably be regarded as among the three or four perfectly virtuous + pages comprised in the history of nations.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Although it cannot + be said that any virtue is the negation of another, it is undoubtedly + true that virtues are naturally grouped according to principles of + affinity or congruity, which are essential to the unity of the type. + The heroical, the amiable, the industrial, the intellectual virtues + form in this manner distinct groups; and in some cases the + development of one group is incompatible, not indeed with the + existence, but with the prominence of others. Content cannot be the + leading virtue in a society animated by an intense industrial spirit, + nor submission nor tolerance of injuries in a society <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page154">[pg 154]</span><a name="Pg154" id="Pg154" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> formed upon a military type, nor + intellectual virtues in a society where a believing spirit is made + the essential of goodness, yet each of these conditions is the + special sphere of some particular class of virtues. The distinctive + beauty of a moral type depends not so much on the elements of which + it is composed, as on the proportions in which those elements are + combined. The characters of Socrates, of Cato, of Bayard, of Fénelon, + and of St. Francis are all beautiful, but they differ generically, + and not simply in degrees of excellence. To endeavour to impart to + Cato the distinctive charm of St. Francis, or to St. Francis that of + Cato, would be as absurd as to endeavour to unite in a single statue + the beauties of the Apollo and the Laocoon, or in a single landscape + the beauties of the twilight and of the meridian sun. Take away pride + from the ancient Stoic or the modern Englishman, and you would have + destroyed the basis of many of his noblest virtues, but humility was + the very principle and root of the moral qualities of the monk. There + is no quality virtuous in a woman that is not also virtuous in a man, + yet that disposition or hierarchy of virtues which constitutes a + perfect woman would be wholly unsuited for a perfect man. The moral + is in this respect like the physical type. The beauty of man is not + the beauty of woman, nor the beauty of the child as the beauty of the + adult, nor the beauty of an Italian as the beauty of an Englishwoman. + All types of character are not good, as all types of countenance are + not beautiful; but there are many distinct casts of goodness, as + there are many distinct casts of beauty.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This most + important truth may be stated in a somewhat different form. Whenever + a man is eminently deficient in any virtue, it, of course, follows + that his character is imperfect, but it does not necessarily follow + that he is not in other respects moral and virtuous. There is, + however, usually some one virtue, which I may term rudimentary, which + is brought forward so prominently before the world, as the first + condition <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page155">[pg + 155]</span><a name="Pg155" id="Pg155" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of + moral excellence, that it may be safely inferred that a man who has + absolutely neglected it is entirely indifferent to moral culture. + Rudimentary virtues vary in different ages, nations, and classes. + Thus, in the great republics of antiquity patriotism was rudimentary, + for it was so assiduously cultivated, that it appeared at once the + most obvious and the most essential of duties. Among ourselves much + private virtue may co-exist with complete indifference to national + interests. In the monastic period, and in a somewhat different form + in the age of chivalry, a spirit of reverential obedience was + rudimentary, and the basis of all moral progress; but we may now + frequently find a good man without it, his moral energies having been + cultivated in other directions. Common truthfulness and honesty, as I + have already said, are rudimentary virtues in industrial societies, + but not in others. Chastity, in England at least, is a rudimentary + female virtue, but scarcely a rudimentary virtue among men, and it + has not been in all ages, and is not now in all countries, + rudimentary among women. There is no more important task devolving + upon a moral historian, than to discover in each period the + rudimentary virtue, for it regulates in a great degree the position + assigned to all others.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">From the + considerations I have urged, it will appear that there is + considerable danger in proposing too absolutely a single character, + however admirable, as the model to which all men must necessarily + conform. A character may be perfect in its own kind, but no character + can possibly embrace all types of perfection; for, as we have seen, + the perfection of a type depends not only upon the virtues that + constitute it, but also upon the order and prominence assigned to + them. All that can be expected in an ideal is, that it should be + perfect of its own kind, and should exhibit the type most needed in + its age, and most widely useful to mankind. The Christian type is the + glorification of the amiable, as the Stoic type was that of the + heroic qualities, and this is <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page156">[pg 156]</span><a name="Pg156" id="Pg156" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> one of the reasons why Christianity is so much + more fitted than Stoicism to preside over civilisation, for the more + society is organised and civilised, the greater is the scope for the + amiable, and the less for the heroic qualities.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The history of + that moral intolerance which endeavours to reduce all characters to a + single type has never, I think, been examined as it deserves, and I + shall frequently have occasion to advert to it in the following + pages. No one can have failed to observe how common it is for men to + make their own tastes or excellences the measure of all goodness, + pronouncing all that is broadly different from them to be imperfect + or low, or of a secondary value. And this, which is usually + attributed to vanity, is probably in most cases much more due to + feebleness of imagination, to the difficulty most men have in + conceiving in their minds an order of character fundamentally + different from their own. A good man can usually sympathise much more + with a very imperfect character of his own type than with a far more + perfect one of a different type. To this cause, quite as much as to + historical causes or occasional divergences of interest, may be + traced the extreme difficulty of effecting cordial international + friendships, especially in those cases when a difference of race + coincides with the difference of nationality. Each nation has a + distinct type of excellence, each esteems the virtues in which it + excels, and in which its neighbours are often most deficient, + incomparably the greatest. Each regards with especial antipathy the + vices from which it is most free, and to which its neighbours maybe + most addicted. Hence arises a mingled feeling of contempt and + dislike, from which the more enlightened minds are, indeed, soon + emancipated, but which constitutes the popular sentiment.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The type of + character of every individual depends partly upon innate temperament + and partly upon external circumstances. A warlike, a refined, an + industrial society each evokes and requires its specific qualities, + and produces its <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page157">[pg + 157]</span><a name="Pg157" id="Pg157" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + appropriate type. If a man of a different type arise—if, for example, + a man formed by nature to exhibit to the highest perfection the + virtues of gentleness or meekness, be born in the midst of a fierce + military society—he will find no suitable scope for action, he will + jar with his age, and his type will be regarded with disfavour. And + the effect of this opposition is not simply that he will not be + appreciated as he deserves, he will also never succeed in developing + his own distinctive virtues as they would have been developed under + other circumstances. Everything will be against him—the force of + education, the habits of society, the opinions of mankind, even his + own sense of duty. All the highest models of excellence about him + being formed on a different type, his very efforts to improve his + being will dull the qualities in which nature intended him to excel. + If, on the other hand, a man with naturally heroic qualities be born + in a society which pre-eminently values heroism, he will not only be + more appreciated, he will also, under the concurrence of favourable + circumstances, carry his heroism to a far higher point than would + otherwise have been possible. Hence changing circumstances produce + changing types, and hence, too, the possibility of moral history and + the necessity of uniting it with general history. Religions, + considered as moral teachers, are realised and effective only when + their moral teaching is in conformity with the tendency of their age. + If any part of it is not so, that part will be either openly + abandoned, or refined away, or tacitly neglected. Among the ancients, + the co-existence of the Epicurean and Stoical schools, which offered + to the world two entirely different archetypes of virtue, secured in + a very remarkable manner the recognition of different kinds of + excellence; for although each of these schools often attained a + pre-eminence, neither ever succeeded in wholly destroying or + discrediting the other.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Of the two + elements that compose the moral condition of mankind, our generalised + knowledge is almost restricted to <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page158">[pg 158]</span><a name="Pg158" id="Pg158" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> one. We know much of the ways in which + political, social, or intellectual causes act upon character, but + scarcely anything of the laws that govern innate disposition, of the + reasons and extent of the natural moral diversities of individuals or + races. I think, however, that most persons who reflect upon the + subject will conclude that the progress of medicine, revealing the + physical causes of different moral predispositions, is likely to + place a very large measure of knowledge on this point within our + reach. Of all the great branches of human knowledge, medicine is that + in which the accomplished results are most obviously imperfect and + provisional, in which the field of unrealised possibilities is most + extensive, and from which, if the human mind were directed to it, as + it has been during the past century to locomotive and other + industrial inventions, the most splendid results might be expected. + Our almost absolute ignorance of the causes of some of the most fatal + diseases, and the empirical nature of nearly all our best medical + treatment, have been often recognised. The medicine of inhalation is + still in its infancy, and yet it is by inhalation that Nature + produces most of her diseases, and effects most of her cures. The + medical power of electricity, which of all known agencies bears most + resemblance to life, is almost unexplored. The discovery of + anæsthetics has in our own day opened out a field of inestimable + importance, and the proved possibility, under certain physical + conditions, of governing by external suggestions the whole current of + the feelings and emotions, may possibly contribute yet further to the + alleviation of suffering, and perhaps to that euthanasia which Bacon + proposed to physicians as an end of their art. But in the eyes both + of the philanthropist and of the philosopher, the greatest of all + results to be expected in this, or perhaps any other field, are, I + conceive, to be looked for in the study of the relations between our + physical and our moral natures. He who raises moral pathology to a + science, expanding, systematising, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page159">[pg 159]</span><a name="Pg159" id="Pg159" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> and applying many fragmentary observations that + have been already made, will probably take a place among the master + intellects of mankind. The fastings and bleedings of the mediæval + monk, the medicines for allaying or stimulating the sensual passions, + the treatment of nervous diseases, the moral influences of insanity + and of castration, the researches of phrenology, the moral changes + that accompany the successive stages of physical developments, the + instances of diseases which have altered, sometimes permanently, the + whole complexion of the character, and have acted through the + character upon all the intellectual judgments,<a id="noteref_147" + name="noteref_147" href="#note_147"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">147</span></span></a> are + examples of the kind of facts with which such a science would deal. + Mind and body are so closely connected that even those who most + earnestly protest against materialism readily admit that each acts + continually upon the other. The sudden emotion that quickens the + pulse, and blanches or flushes the cheek, and the effect of fear in + predisposing to an epidemic, are familiar instances of the action of + the mind upon the body, and the more powerful and permanent influence + of the body upon the disposition is attested by countless + observations. It is probable that this action extends to all parts of + our moral constitution, that every passion or characteristic tendency + has a physical predisposing cause, and that if we were acquainted + with these, we might treat by medicine the many varieties of moral + disease as systematically as we now treat physical disease. In + addition to its incalculable practical importance, such knowledge + would have a great philosophical value, throwing a new light upon the + filiation of our moral qualities, enabling us to treat exhaustively + the moral influence of climate, and withdrawing the great question of + the influence of race from the impressions of isolated observers to + place it on the firm basis of experiment. It <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page160">[pg 160]</span><a name="Pg160" id="Pg160" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> would thus form the complement to the labours + of the historian.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Such discoveries + are, however, perhaps far from attainment, and their discussion does + not fall within the compass of this work. My present object is simply + to trace the action of external circumstances upon morals, to examine + what have been the moral types proposed as ideal in different ages, + in what degree they have been realised in practice, and by what + causes they have been modified, impaired, or destroyed.</p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page161">[pg 161]</span><a name= + "Pg161" id="Pg161" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="toc7" id="toc7"></a> <a name="pdf8" id="pdf8"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Chapter II. The Pagan + Empire.</span></h1> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">One of the first + facts that must strike a student who examines the ethical teaching of + the ancient civilisations is how imperfectly that teaching was + represented, and how feebly it was influenced by the popular creed. + The moral ideas had at no time been sought in the actions of the + gods, and long before the triumph of Christianity, polytheism had + ceased to have any great influence upon the more cultivated + intellects of mankind.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In Greece we may + trace from the earliest time the footsteps of a religion of nature, + wholly different from the legends of the mythology. The language in + which the first Greek dramatists asserted the supreme authority and + universal providence of Zeus was so emphatic, that the Christian + Fathers commonly attributed it either to direct inspiration or to a + knowledge of the Jewish writings, while later theologians of the + school of Cudworth have argued from it in favour of the original + monotheism of our race. The philosophers were always either + contemptuous or hostile to the prevailing legends. Pythagoras is said + to have declared that he had seen Hesiod tied to a brazen pillar in + hell, and Homer hung upon a tree surrounded by serpents, on account + of the fables they had invented about the gods.<a id="noteref_148" + name="noteref_148" href="#note_148"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">148</span></span></a> Plato, + for the same reason, banished the poets from his republic. Stilpo + turned to <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page162">[pg + 162]</span><a name="Pg162" id="Pg162" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + ridicule the whole system of sacrifices,<a id="noteref_149" name= + "noteref_149" href="#note_149"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">149</span></span></a> and was + exiled from Athens for denying that the Athene of Phidias was a + goddess.<a id="noteref_150" name="noteref_150" href= + "#note_150"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">150</span></span></a> + Xenophanes remarked that each nation attributed to the gods its + distinctive national type, the gods of the Æthiopians being black, + the gods of the Thracians fair and blue-eyed.<a id="noteref_151" + name="noteref_151" href="#note_151"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">151</span></span></a> + Diagoras and Theodorus are said to have denied, and Protagoras to + have questioned the existence of the gods,<a id="noteref_152" name= + "noteref_152" href="#note_152"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">152</span></span></a> while + the Epicureans deemed them wholly indifferent to human affairs, and + the Pyrrhonists pronounced our faculties absolutely incapable of + attaining any sure knowledge, either human or divine. The Cynic + Antisthenes said that there were many popular gods, but there was + only one god of nature.<a id="noteref_153" name="noteref_153" href= + "#note_153"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">153</span></span></a> The + Stoics, reproducing an opinion which was supported by Aristotle and + attributed to Pythagoras,<a id="noteref_154" name="noteref_154" href= + "#note_154"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">154</span></span></a> + believed in an all-pervading soul of nature, but unlike some modern + schools which have adopted this view, they asserted in emphatic + language the doctrine of Providence, and the self-consciousness of + the Deity.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the Roman + republic and empire, a general scepticism had likewise arisen among + the philosophers as the first fruit of intellectual development, and + the educated classes were speedily divided between avowed or virtual + atheists, like the Epicureans,<a id="noteref_155" name="noteref_155" + href="#note_155"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">155</span></span></a> and + pure theists, like the Stoics and the Platonists. The first, + represented by such writers as Lucretius and Petronius, regarded the + gods simply as the creations of fear, denied every form of + Providence, attributed the world <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page163">[pg 163]</span><a name="Pg163" id="Pg163" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> to a concurrence of atoms, and life to + spontaneous generation, and regarded it as the chief end of + philosophy to banish as illusions of the imagination every form of + religious belief. The others formed a more or less pantheistic + conception of the Deity, asserted the existence of a + Providence,<a id="noteref_156" name="noteref_156" href= + "#note_156"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">156</span></span></a> but + treated with great contempt the prevailing legends which they + endeavoured in various ways to explain. The first systematic theory + of explanation appears to have been that of the Sicilian Euhemerus, + whose work was translated by Ennius. He pretended that the gods were + originally kings, whose history and genealogies he professed to + trace, and who after death had been deified by mankind.<a id= + "noteref_157" name="noteref_157" href="#note_157"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">157</span></span></a> Another + attempt, which in the first period of Roman scepticism was more + generally popular, was that of some of the Stoics, who regarded the + gods as personifications of the different attributes of the Deity, or + of different forces of nature. Thus Neptune was the sea, Pluto was + fire, Hercules represented the strength of God, Minerva His wisdom, + Ceres His fertilising energy.<a id="noteref_158" name="noteref_158" + href="#note_158"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">158</span></span></a> More + than a hundred years before the Empire, Varro had declared that + <span class="tei tei-q">“the soul of the world is God, and that its + parts are true divinities.”</span><a id="noteref_159" name= + "noteref_159" href="#note_159"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">159</span></span></a> Virgil + and Manilius described, in lines of singular beauty, that universal + spirit, the principle of all life, the efficient cause of all motion, + which <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page164">[pg 164]</span><a name= + "Pg164" id="Pg164" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> permeates and animates + the globe. Pliny said that <span class="tei tei-q">“the world and + sky, in whose embrace all things are enclosed, must be deemed a god, + eternal, immense, never begotten, and never to perish. To seek things + beyond this is of no profit to man, and they transcend the limits of + his faculties.”</span><a id="noteref_160" name="noteref_160" href= + "#note_160"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">160</span></span></a> Cicero + had adopted the higher Platonic conception of the Deity as mind freed + from all taint of matter,<a id="noteref_161" name="noteref_161" href= + "#note_161"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">161</span></span></a> while + Seneca celebrated in magnificent language <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Jupiter the guardian and ruler of the universe, the soul + and spirit, the lord and master of this mundane sphere, ... the cause + of causes, upon whom all things hang.... Whose wisdom oversees the + world that it may move uncontrolled in its course, ... from whom all + things proceed, by whose spirit we live, ... who comprises all we + see.”</span><a id="noteref_162" name="noteref_162" href= + "#note_162"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">162</span></span></a> Lucan, + the great poet of stoicism, rose to a still higher strain, and to one + which still more accurately expressed the sentiments of his school, + when he described Jupiter as that majestic, all-pervasive spirit, + whose throne is virtue and the universe.<a id="noteref_163" name= + "noteref_163" href="#note_163"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">163</span></span></a> + Quintilian defended the subjugation of the world beneath the sceptre + of a single man, on the ground that it was an image of the government + of God. Other philosophers contented themselves with asserting the + supreme authority of Jupiter Maximus, and reducing the other + divinities to mere administrative and angelic functions, or, as the + Platonists expressed it, to the position of dæmons. According to some + of the Stoics, a final catastrophe would consume the universe, the + resuscitated spirits of men and all these minor gods, and the whole + creation being absorbed into the great parent spirit, God + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page165">[pg 165]</span><a name="Pg165" + id="Pg165" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> would be all in all. The very + children and old women ridiculed Cerberus and the Furies<a id= + "noteref_164" name="noteref_164" href="#note_164"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">164</span></span></a> or + treated them as mere metaphors of conscience.<a id="noteref_165" + name="noteref_165" href="#note_165"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">165</span></span></a> In the + deism of Cicero the popular divinities were discarded, the oracles + refuted and ridiculed, the whole system of divination pronounced a + political imposture, and the genesis of the miraculous traced to the + exuberance of the imagination, and to certain diseases of the + judgment.<a id="noteref_166" name="noteref_166" href= + "#note_166"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">166</span></span></a> Before + the time of Constantine, numerous books had been written against the + oracles.<a id="noteref_167" name="noteref_167" href= + "#note_167"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">167</span></span></a> The + greater number of these had actually ceased, and the ablest writers + justly saw in this cessation an evidence of the declining credulity + of the people, and a proof that the oracles had been a fruit of that + credulity.<a id="noteref_168" name="noteref_168" href= + "#note_168"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">168</span></span></a> The + Stoics, holding, as was their custom, aloof from direct religious + discussion, dissuaded their disciples from consulting them, on the + ground that the gifts of fortune were of no account, and that a good + man should be content with his conscience, making duty and not + success the object of his life.<a id="noteref_169" name="noteref_169" + href="#note_169"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">169</span></span></a> Cato + wondered that two augurs could <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page166">[pg 166]</span><a name="Pg166" id="Pg166" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> meet with gravity.<a id="noteref_170" name= + "noteref_170" href="#note_170"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">170</span></span></a> The + Roman general Sertorius made the forgery of auspicious omens a + continual resource in warfare.<a id="noteref_171" name="noteref_171" + href="#note_171"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">171</span></span></a> The + Roman wits made divination the favourite subject of their + ridicule.<a id="noteref_172" name="noteref_172" href= + "#note_172"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">172</span></span></a> The + denunciation which the early Greek moralists launched against the + popular ascription of immoral deeds to the gods was echoed by a long + series of later philosophers,<a id="noteref_173" name="noteref_173" + href="#note_173"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">173</span></span></a> while + Ovid made these fables the theme of his mocking <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Metamorphoses</span></span>, and in his most + immoral poem proposed Jupiter as a model of vice. With an irony not + unlike that of Isaiah, Horace described the carpenter deliberating + whether he should convert a shapeless log into a bench or into a + god.<a id="noteref_174" name="noteref_174" href= + "#note_174"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">174</span></span></a> Cicero, + Plutarch, Maximus of Tyre, and Dion Chrysostom either denounced + idolatry or defended the use of images simply on the ground that they + were signs and symbols of the Deity,<a id="noteref_175" name= + "noteref_175" href="#note_175"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">175</span></span></a> well + suited to aid the devotions <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page167">[pg + 167]</span><a name="Pg167" id="Pg167" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of + the ignorant. Seneca<a id="noteref_176" name="noteref_176" href= + "#note_176"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">176</span></span></a> and the + whole school of Pythagoras objected to the sacrifices.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These examples + will be sufficient to show how widely the philosophic classes in Rome + were removed from the professed religion of the State, and how + necessary it is to seek elsewhere the sources of their moral life. + But the opinions of learned men never reflect faithfully those of the + vulgar, and the chasm between the two classes was even wider than at + present before the dawn of Christianity and the invention of + printing. The atheistic enthusiasm of Lucretius and the sceptical + enthusiasm of some of the disciples of Carneades were isolated + phenomena, and the great majority of the ancient philosophers, while + speculating with the utmost freedom in private, or in writings that + were read by the few, countenanced, practised, and even defended the + religious rites that they despised. It was believed that many + different paths adapted to different nations and grades of knowledge + converge to the same Divinity, and that the most erroneous religion + is good if it forms good dispositions and inspires virtuous actions. + The oracle of Delphi had said that the best religion is that of a + man's own city. Polybius and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who regarded + all religions simply as political agencies, dilated in rapturous + terms upon the devotion of the Romans and the comparative purity of + their creed.<a id="noteref_177" name="noteref_177" href= + "#note_177"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">177</span></span></a> Varro + openly professed the belief that there are religious truths which it + is expedient that the people should not know, and falsehoods which + they should believe to be true.<a id="noteref_178" name="noteref_178" + href="#note_178"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">178</span></span></a> The + Academic Cicero and the Epicurean Cæsar were both high officers of + religion. The Stoics taught that every man should duly perform the + religious ceremonies of his country.<a id="noteref_179" name= + "noteref_179" href="#note_179"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">179</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But the Roman + religion, even in its best days, though an <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page168">[pg 168]</span><a name="Pg168" id="Pg168" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> admirable system of moral discipline, was never + an independent source of moral enthusiasm. It was the creature of the + State, and derived its inspiration from political feeling. The Roman + gods were not, like those of the Greeks, the creations of an + unbridled and irreverent fancy, nor, like those of the Egyptians, + representations of the forces of nature; they were for the most part + simple allegories, frigid personifications of different virtues, or + presiding spirits imagined for the protection of different + departments of industry. The religion established the sanctity of an + oath, it gave a kind of official consecration to certain virtues, and + commemorated special instances in which they had been displayed; its + local character strengthened patriotic feeling, its worship of the + dead fostered a vague belief in the immortality of the soul,<a id= + "noteref_180" name="noteref_180" href="#note_180"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">180</span></span></a> it + sustained the supremacy of the father in the family, surrounded + marriage with many imposing solemnities, and created simple and + reverent characters profoundly submissive to an over-ruling + Providence and scrupulously observant of sacred rites. But with all + this it was purely selfish. It was simply a method of obtaining + prosperity, averting calamity, and reading the future. Ancient Rome + produced many heroes, but no saint. Its self-sacrifice was patriotic, + not religious. Its religion was neither an independent teacher nor a + source of inspiration, although its rites mingled with and + strengthened some of the best habits of the people.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But these habits, + and the religious reverence with which they were connected, soon + disappeared amid the immorality and decomposition that marked the + closing years of the Republic and the dawn of the Empire. The stern + simplicity of life, which the censors had so zealously and often so + tyrannically <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page169">[pg + 169]</span><a name="Pg169" id="Pg169" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + enforced,<a id="noteref_181" name="noteref_181" href= + "#note_181"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">181</span></span></a> was + exchanged for a luxury which first appeared after the return of the + army of Manlius from Asia,<a id="noteref_182" name="noteref_182" + href="#note_182"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">182</span></span></a> + increased to immense proportions after the almost simultaneous + conquests of Carthage, Corinth, and Macedonia,<a id="noteref_183" + name="noteref_183" href="#note_183"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">183</span></span></a> + received an additional stimulus from the example of Antony,<a id= + "noteref_184" name="noteref_184" href="#note_184"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">184</span></span></a> and at + last, under the Empire, rose to excesses which the wildest Oriental + orgies have never surpassed.<a id="noteref_185" name="noteref_185" + href="#note_185"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">185</span></span></a> The + complete subversion of the social and political system of the + Republic, the anarchy of civil war, the ever-increasing concourse of + strangers, bringing with them new philosophies, customs, and gods, + had dissolved or effaced all the old bonds of virtue. The simple + juxtaposition of many forms of worship effected what could not have + been effected by the most sceptical literature or the most audacious + philosophy. The moral influence of religion was almost annihilated. + The feeling of reverence was almost extinct. Augustus solemnly + degraded the statue of Neptune because his fleet had been + wrecked.<a id="noteref_186" name="noteref_186" href= + "#note_186"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">186</span></span></a> When + Germanicus died, the populace stoned or overthrew the altars of the + gods.<a id="noteref_187" name="noteref_187" href= + "#note_187"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">187</span></span></a> The + idea of sanctity was so far removed from the popular divinities that + it became a continual complaint that prayers were offered which the + most depraved would blush to pronounce aloud.<a id="noteref_188" + name="noteref_188" href="#note_188"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">188</span></span></a> Amid + the corruption of the Empire, we meet with many noble efforts of + reform made by philosophers or by emperors, but we find <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page170">[pg 170]</span><a name="Pg170" id="Pg170" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> scarcely a trace of the moral influence + of the old religion. The apotheosis of the emperors consummated its + degradation. The foreign gods were identified with those of Rome, and + all their immoral legends associated with the national creed.<a id= + "noteref_189" name="noteref_189" href="#note_189"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">189</span></span></a> The + theatre greatly extended the area of scepticism. Cicero mentions the + assenting plaudits with which the people heard the lines of Ennius, + declaring that the gods, though real beings, take no care for the + things of man.<a id="noteref_190" name="noteref_190" href= + "#note_190"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">190</span></span></a> + Plutarch tells of a spectator at a theatre rising up with indignation + after a recital of the crimes of Diana, and exclaiming to the actor, + <span class="tei tei-q">“May you have a daughter like her whom you + have described!”</span><a id="noteref_191" name="noteref_191" href= + "#note_191"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">191</span></span></a> St. + Augustine and other of the Fathers long after ridiculed the pagans + who satirised in the theatres the very gods they worshipped in the + temples.<a id="noteref_192" name="noteref_192" href= + "#note_192"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">192</span></span></a> Men + were still profoundly superstitious, but they resorted to each new + religion as to a charm or talisman of especial power, or a system of + magic revealing the future. There existed, too, to a very large + extent, a kind of superstitious scepticism which occupies a very + prominent place in religious history. There were multitudes who, + declaring that there were no gods, or that the gods never interfered + with human affairs, professed with the same breath an absolute faith + in all portents, auguries, dreams, and miracles. Innumerable natural + objects, such as comets, meteors, earthquakes, or monstrous births, + were supposed to possess a kind of occult or magical virtue, by which + they foreshadowed, and in some cases influenced, <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page171">[pg 171]</span><a name="Pg171" id="Pg171" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the destinies of men. Astrology, which is + the special representative of this mode of thought, rose to great + prominence. The elder Pliny notices that in his time a belief was + rapidly gaining ground, both among the learned and among the vulgar, + that the whole destiny of man is determined by the star that presides + over his nativity; that God, having ordained this, never interferes + with human affairs, and that the reality of the portents is due to + this pre-ordainment.<a id="noteref_193" name="noteref_193" href= + "#note_193"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">193</span></span></a> One of + the later historians of the Empire remarks that numbers who denied + the existence of any divinity believed nevertheless that they could + not safely appear in public, or eat or bathe, unless they had first + carefully consulted the almanac to ascertain the position of the + planet Mercury, or how far the moon was from the Crab.<a id= + "noteref_194" name="noteref_194" href="#note_194"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">194</span></span></a> Except, + perhaps, among the peasants in the country districts, the Roman + religion, in the last years of the Republic, and in the first century + of the Empire, scarcely existed, except in the state of a + superstition, and he who would examine the true moral influence of + the time must turn to the great schools of philosophy which had been + imported from Greece.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The vast place + which the rival systems of Zeno and Epicurus occupy in the moral + history of mankind, and especially in the closing years of the empire + of paganism, may <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page172">[pg + 172]</span><a name="Pg172" id="Pg172" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + easily lead us to exaggerate the creative genius of their founders, + who, in fact, did little more than give definitions or intellectual + expression to types of excellence that had at all times existed in + the world. There have ever been stern, upright, self-controlled, and + courageous men, actuated by a pure sense of duty, capable of high + efforts of self-sacrifice, somewhat intolerant of the frailties of + others, somewhat hard and unsympathising in the ordinary intercourse + of society, but rising to heroic grandeur as the storm lowered upon + their path, and more ready to relinquish life than the cause they + believed to be true. There have also always been men of easy tempers + and of amiable disposition, gentle, benevolent, and pliant, cordial + friends and forgiving enemies, selfish at heart, yet ever ready, when + it is possible, to unite their gratifications with those of others, + averse to all enthusiasm, mysticism, utopias, and superstition, with + little depth of character or capacity for self-sacrifice, but + admirably fitted to impart and to receive enjoyment, and to render + the course of life easy and harmonious. The first are by nature + Stoics, and the second Epicureans, and if they proceed to reason + about the <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">summum bonum</span></span> or + the affections, it is more than probable that in each case their + characters will determine their theories. The first will estimate + self-control above all other qualities, will disparage the + affections, and will endeavour to separate widely the ideas of duty + and of interest, while the second will systematically prefer the + amiable to the heroic, and the utilitarian to the mystical.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But while it is + undoubtedly true that in these matters character usually determines + opinion, it is not less true that character is itself in a great + measure governed by national circumstances. The refined, artistic, + sensual civilisations of Greece and Asia Minor might easily produce + fine examples of the Epicurean type, but Rome was from the earliest + times pre-eminently the home of stoicism. Long before the Romans had + begun to reason about philosophy, they had exhibited it in + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page173">[pg 173]</span><a name="Pg173" + id="Pg173" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> action, and in their + speculative days it was to this doctrine that the noblest minds + naturally tended. A great nation engaged in perpetual wars in an age + when success in warfare depended neither upon wealth nor upon + mechanical genius, but upon the constant energy of patriotic + enthusiasm, and upon the unflinching maintenance of military + discipline, the whole force of the national character tended to the + production of a single definite type. In the absolute authority + accorded to the father over the children, to the husband over the + wife, to the master over the slave, we may trace the same habits of + discipline that proved so formidable in the field. Patriotism and + military honour were indissolubly connected in the Roman mind. They + were the two sources of national enthusiasm, the chief ingredients of + the national conception of greatness. They determined irresistibly + the moral theory which was to prove supreme.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Now war, which + brings with it so many demoralising influences, has, at least, always + been the great school of heroism. It teaches men how to die. It + familiarises the mind with the idea of noble actions performed under + the influence, not of personal interest, but of honour and of + enthusiasm. It elicits in the highest degree strength of character, + accustoms men to the abnegation needed for simultaneous action, + compels them to repress their fears, and establish a firm control + over their affections. Patriotism, too, leads them to subordinate + their personal wishes to the interests of the society in which they + live. It extends the horizon of life, teaching men to dwell among the + great men of the past, to derive their moral strength from the study + of heroic lives, to look forward continually, through the vistas of a + distant future, to the welfare of an organisation which will continue + when they have passed away. All these influences were developed in + Roman life to a degree which can now never be reproduced. War, for + the reasons I have stated, was far more than at present the school of + heroic virtues. Patriotism, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page174">[pg + 174]</span><a name="Pg174" id="Pg174" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> in + the absence of any strong theological passion, had assumed a + transcendent power. The citizen, passing continually from political + to military life, exhibited to perfection the moral effects of both. + The habits of command formed by a long period of almost universal + empire, and by the aristocratic organisation of the city, contributed + to the elevation, and also to the pride, of the national + character.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It will appear, I + think, sufficiently evident, from these considerations, that the + circumstances of the Roman people tended inevitably to the production + of a certain type of character, which, in its essential + characteristics, was the type of stoicism. In addition to the + predisposition which leads men in their estimate of the comparative + excellence of different qualities to select for the highest eulogy + those which are most congruous to their own characters, this fact + derives a great importance from the large place which the + biographical element occupied in ancient ethical teaching. Among + Christians the ideals have commonly been either supernatural beings + or men who were in constant connection with supernatural beings, and + these men have usually been either Jews or saints, whose lives were + of such a nature as to isolate them from most human sympathies, and + to efface as far as possible the national type. Among the Greeks and + Romans the examples of virtue were usually their own + fellow-countrymen; men who had lived in the same moral atmosphere, + struggled for the same ends, acquired their reputation in the same + spheres, exhibited in all their intensity the same national + characteristics as their admirers. History had assumed a didactic + character it has now almost wholly lost. One of the first tasks of + every moralist was to collect traits of character illustrating the + precepts he enforced. Valerius Maximus represented faithfully the + method of the teachers of antiquity when he wrote his book giving a + catalogue of different moral qualities, and illustrating each by a + profusion of examples derived from the history of his own or of + foreign nations.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page175">[pg + 175]</span><a name="Pg175" id="Pg175" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Whenever,”</span> said Plutarch, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“we begin an enterprise, or take possession of a charge, + or experience a calamity, we place before our eyes the example of the + greatest men of our own or of bygone ages, and we ask ourselves how + Plato or Epaminondas, Lycurgus or Agesilaus, would have acted. + Looking into these personages as into a faithful mirror, we can + remedy our defects in word or deed.... Whenever any perplexity + arrives, or any passion disturbs the mind, the student of philosophy + pictures to himself some of those who have been celebrated for their + virtue, and the recollection sustains his tottering steps and + prevents his fall.”</span><a id="noteref_195" name="noteref_195" + href="#note_195"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">195</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Passages of this + kind continually occur in the ancient moralists,<a id="noteref_196" + name="noteref_196" href="#note_196"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">196</span></span></a> and + they show how naturally the highest type of national excellence + determined the prevailing school of moral philosophy, and also how + the influence of the heroic period of national history would act upon + the best minds in the subsequent and wholly different phases of + development. It was therefore not surprising that during the Empire, + though the conditions of national life were profoundly altered, + Stoicism should still be the philosophical religion, the great source + and regulator of moral enthusiasm. Epicureanism had, indeed, spread + widely in the Empire,<a id="noteref_197" name="noteref_197" href= + "#note_197"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">197</span></span></a> but it + proved little more than a principle of disintegration or an apology + for vice, or at best the religion of tranquil and indifferent natures + animated by no strong moral enthusiasm. It is indeed true that + Epicurus had himself been a man of the most blameless character, that + his doctrines were at first carefully distinguished from the coarse + sensuality of the Cyrenaic school which had preceded them, that they + admitted in theory almost every form of virtue, and that the school + had produced <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page176">[pg + 176]</span><a name="Pg176" id="Pg176" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + many disciples who, if they had not attained the highest grades of + excellence, had at least been men of harmless lives, intensely + devoted to their master, and especially noted for the warmth and + constancy of their friendships.<a id="noteref_198" name="noteref_198" + href="#note_198"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">198</span></span></a> But a + school which placed so high a value on ease and pleasure was + eminently unfit to struggle against the fearful difficulties that + beset the teachers of virtue amid the anarchy of a military + despotism, and the virtues and the vices of the Romans were alike + fatal to its success. All the great ideals of Roman excellence + belonged to a different type. Such men as a Decius or a Regulus would + have been impossible in an Epicurean society, for even if their + actuating emotion were no nobler than a desire for posthumous fame, + such a desire could never grow powerful in a moral atmosphere charged + with the shrewd, placid, unsentimental utilitarianism of Epicurus. On + the other hand, the distinctions the Epicureans had drawn between + more or less refined pleasures and their elevated conceptions of what + constitutes the true happiness of men, were unintelligible to the + Romans, who knew how to sacrifice <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page177">[pg 177]</span><a name="Pg177" id="Pg177" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> enjoyment, but who, when pursuing it, + gravitated naturally to the coarsest forms. The mission of + Epicureanism was therefore chiefly negative. The anti-patriotic + tendency of its teaching contributed to that destruction of national + feeling which was necessary to the rise of cosmopolitanism, while its + strong opposition to theological beliefs, supported by the genius and + enthusiasm of Lucretius, told powerfully upon the decaying faith.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Such being the + functions of Epicureanism, the constructive or positive side of + ethical teaching devolved almost exclusively upon Stoicism; for + although there were a few philosophers who expressed themselves in + strong opposition to some portions of the Stoical system, their + efforts usually tended to no more than a modification of its extreme + and harshest features. The Stoics asserted two cardinal + principles—that virtue was the sole legitimate object to be aspired + to, and that it involved so complete an ascendancy of the reason as + altogether to extinguish the affections. The Peripatetics and many + other philosophers, who derived their opinions chiefly from Plato, + endeavoured to soften down the exaggeration of these principles. They + admitted that virtue was an object wholly distinct from interest, and + that it should be the leading motive of life; but they maintained + that happiness was also a good, and a certain regard for it + legitimate. They admitted that virtue consisted in the supremacy of + the reason over the affections, but they allowed the exercise of the + latter within restricted limits. The main distinguishing features, + however, of Stoicism, the unselfish ideal and the controlling reason, + were acquiesced in, and each represents an important side of the + ancient conception of excellence which we must now proceed to + examine.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the first we + may easily trace the intellectual expression of the high spirit of + self-sacrifice which the patriotic enthusiasm had elicited. The + spirit of patriotism has this peculiar characteristic, that, while it + has evoked acts of heroism <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page178">[pg + 178]</span><a name="Pg178" id="Pg178" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + which are both very numerous and very sublime, it has done so without + presenting any prospect of personal immortality as a reward. Of all + the forms of human heroism, it is probably the most unselfish. The + Spartan and the Roman died for his country because he loved it. The + martyr's ecstasy of hope had no place in his dying hour. He gave up + all he had, he closed his eyes, as he believed, for ever, and he + asked for no reward in this world or in the next. Even the hope of + posthumous fame—the most refined and supersensual of all that can be + called reward—could exist only for the most conspicuous leaders. It + was examples of this nature that formed the culminations or ideals of + ancient systems of virtue, and they naturally led men to draw a very + clear and deep distinction between the notions of interest and of + duty. It may, indeed, be truly said, that while the conception of + what constituted duty was often very imperfect in antiquity, the + conviction that duty, as distinguished from every modification of + selfishness, should be the supreme motive of life was more clearly + enforced among the Stoics than in any later society.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The reader will + probably have gathered from the last chapter that there are four + distinct motives which moral teachers may propose for the purpose of + leading men to virtue. They may argue that the disposition of events + is such that prosperity will attend a virtuous life, and adversity a + vicious one—a proposition they may prove by pointing to the normal + course of affairs, and by asserting the existence of a special + Providence in behalf of the good in the present world, and of rewards + and punishments in the future. As far as these latter arguments are + concerned, the efficacy of such teaching rests upon the firmness with + which certain theological tenets are held, while the force of the + first considerations will depend upon the degree and manner in which + society is organised, for there are undoubtedly some conditions of + society in which a perfectly upright life has <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page179">[pg 179]</span><a name="Pg179" id="Pg179" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> not even a general tendency to + prosperity. The peculiar circumstances and dispositions of + individuals will also influence largely the way in which they receive + such teaching, and, as Cicero observed, <span class="tei tei-q">“what + one utility has created, another will often destroy.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">They may argue, + again, that vice is to the mind what disease is to the body, and that + a state of virtue is in consequence a state of health. Just as bodily + health is desired for its own sake, as being the absence of a + painful, or at least displeasing state, so a well-ordered and + virtuous mind may be valued for its own sake, and independently of + all the external good to which it may lead, as being a condition of + happiness; and a mind distracted by passion and vice may be avoided, + not so much because it is an obstacle in the pursuit of prosperity, + as because it is in itself essentially painful and disturbing. This + conception of virtue and vice as states of health or sickness, the + one being in itself a good and the other in itself an evil, was a + fundamental proposition in the ethics of Plato.<a id="noteref_199" + name="noteref_199" href="#note_199"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">199</span></span></a> It was + admitted, but only to a subsidiary place, by the Stoics,<a id= + "noteref_200" name="noteref_200" href="#note_200"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">200</span></span></a> and has + passed more or less <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page180">[pg + 180]</span><a name="Pg180" id="Pg180" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + into all the succeeding systems. It is especially favourable to large + and elevating conceptions of self-culture, for it leads men to dwell + much less upon isolated acts of virtue or vice than upon the habitual + condition of mind from which they spring.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is possible, in + the third place, to argue in favour of virtue by offering as a motive + that sense of pleasure which follows the deliberate performance of a + virtuous act. This emotion is a distinct and isolated gratification + following a distinct action, and may therefore be easily separated + from that habitual placidity of temper which results from the + extinction of vicious and perturbing impulses. It is this theory + which is implied in the common exhortations to enjoy 'the luxury of + doing good,' and though especially strong in acts of benevolence, in + which case sympathy with the happiness created intensifies the + feeling, this pleasure attends every kind of virtue.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These three + motives of action have all this common characteristic, that they + point as their ultimate end to the happiness of the agent. The first + seeks that happiness in external circumstances; the second and third + in psychological conditions. There is, however, a fourth kind of + motive which may be urged, and which is the peculiar characteristic + of the intuitive school of moralists and the stumbling-block of its + opponents. It is asserted that we are so constituted that the notion + of duty furnishes in itself a natural motive of action of the highest + order, wholly distinct from all the refinements and modifications of + self-interest. The coactive force of this motive is altogether + independent of surrounding circumstances, and of all forms of belief. + It is equally true for the man who believes and for the man who + rejects the Christian faith, for the believer in a future world and + for the believer in the mortality of the soul. It is not a question + of happiness or unhappiness, of reward or punishment, but of a + generically different nature. Men feel that a certain course + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page181">[pg 181]</span><a name="Pg181" + id="Pg181" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of life is the natural end of + their being, and they feel bound, even at the expense of happiness, + to pursue it. They feel that certain acts are essentially good and + noble, and others essentially base and vile, and this perception + leads them to pursue the one and to avoid the other, irrespective of + all considerations of enjoyment.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I have recurred to + these distinctions, which were more fully discussed in the last + chapter, because the school of philosophy we are reviewing furnishes + the most perfect of all historical examples of the power which the + higher of these motives can exercise over the mind. The coarser forms + of self-interest were in stoicism absolutely condemned. It was one of + the first principles of these philosophers that all things that are + not in our power should be esteemed indifferent; that the object of + all mental discipline should be to withdraw the mind from all the + gifts of fortune, and that prudence must in consequence be altogether + excluded from the motives of virtue. To enforce these principles they + continually dilated upon the vanity of human things, and upon the + majesty of the independent mind, and they indulged, though scarcely + more than other sects, in many exaggerations about the impassive + tranquillity of the sage.<a id="noteref_201" name="noteref_201" href= + "#note_201"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">201</span></span></a> In the + Roman empire stoicism flourished at a period which, beyond almost any + other, seemed unfavourable to such teaching. There were reigns when, + in the emphatic words of Tacitus, <span class="tei tei-q">“virtue was + a sentence of death.”</span> In no period had brute force more + completely triumphed, in none was the thirst for material advantages + more intense, in very few was vice more ostentatiously glorified. Yet + in the midst of all these circumstances the Stoics taught a + philosophy which was not a compromise, or an attempt to moderate the + popular excesses, but which <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page182">[pg + 182]</span><a name="Pg182" id="Pg182" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> was + rather in its austere sanctity the extreme antithesis of all that the + prevailing examples and their own interests could dictate. And these + men were no impassioned fanatics, fired with the prospect of coming + glory. They were men from whose motives of action the belief in the + immortality of the soul was resolutely excluded. In the scepticism + that accompanied the first introduction of philosophy into Rome, in + the dissolution of the old fables about Tartarus and the Styx, and + the dissemination of Epicureanism among the people, this doctrine had + sunk very low, notwithstanding the beautiful reasonings of Cicero and + the religious faith of a few who clung like Plutarch to the mysteries + in which it was perpetuated. An interlocutor in Cicero expressed what + was probably a common feeling when he acknowledged that, with the + writings of Plato before him, he could believe and realise it; but + when he closed the book, the reasonings seemed to lose their power, + and the world of spirits grew pale and unreal.<a id="noteref_202" + name="noteref_202" href="#note_202"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">202</span></span></a> If + Ennius could elicit the plaudits of a theatre when he proclaimed that + the gods took no part in human affairs, Cæsar could assert in the + senate, without scandal and almost without dissent, that death was + the end of all things.<a id="noteref_203" name="noteref_203" href= + "#note_203"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">203</span></span></a> Pliny, + perhaps the greatest of Roman scholars, adopting the sentiment of all + the school of Epicurus, describes the belief in a future life as a + form of madness, a puerile and a pernicious illusion.<a id= + "noteref_204" name="noteref_204" href="#note_204"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">204</span></span></a> The + opinions of the Stoics were wavering and uncertain. Their first + doctrine was that the soul of man has a future and independent, but + not <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page183">[pg 183]</span><a name= + "Pg183" id="Pg183" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> an eternal existence, + that it survives until the last conflagration which was to destroy + the world, and absorb all finite things into the all-pervading soul + of nature. Chrysippus, however, restricted to the best and noblest + souls this future existence, which Cleanthes had awarded to + all,<a id="noteref_205" name="noteref_205" href= + "#note_205"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">205</span></span></a> and + among the Roman Stoics even this was greatly doubted. The belief that + the human soul is a detached fragment of the Deity naturally led to + the belief that after death it would be reabsorbed into the parent + Spirit. The doctrine that there is no real good but virtue deprived + the Stoics of the argument for a future world derived from unrequited + merit and unpunished crime, and the earnestness with which they + contended that a good man should act irrespectively of reward + inclined them, as it is said to have inclined some Jewish + thinkers,<a id="noteref_206" name="noteref_206" href= + "#note_206"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">206</span></span></a> to the + denial of the existence of the reward.<a id="noteref_207" name= + "noteref_207" href="#note_207"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">207</span></span></a> + Panætius, the founder of Roman stoicism, maintained that the soul + perished with the body,<a id="noteref_208" name="noteref_208" href= + "#note_208"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">208</span></span></a> and his + opinion was followed by Epictetus,<a id="noteref_209" name= + "noteref_209" href="#note_209"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">209</span></span></a> and + Cornutus.<a id="noteref_210" name="noteref_210" href= + "#note_210"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">210</span></span></a> Seneca + contradicted himself on the subject.<a id="noteref_211" name= + "noteref_211" href="#note_211"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">211</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page184">[pg 184]</span><a name="Pg184" + id="Pg184" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> Marcus Aurelius never rose + beyond a vague and mournful aspiration. Those who believed in a + future world believed in it faintly and uncertainly, and even when + they accepted it as a fact, they shrank from proposing it as a + motive. The whole system of Stoical ethics, which carried + self-sacrifice to a point that has scarcely been equalled, and + exercised an influence which has rarely been surpassed, was evolved + without any assistance from the doctrine of a future life.<a id= + "noteref_212" name="noteref_212" href="#note_212"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">212</span></span></a> Pagan + antiquity has bequeathed us few nobler treatises of morals than the + <span class="tei tei-q">“De Officiis”</span> of Cicero, which was + avowedly an expansion of a work of Panætius.<a id="noteref_213" name= + "noteref_213" href="#note_213"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">213</span></span></a> It has + left us no grander example than that of Epictetus, the sickly, + deformed slave of a master who was notorious for his barbarity, + enfranchised late in life, but soon driven into exile by Domitian; + who, while sounding the very abyss of human misery, and looking + forward to death as to simple decomposition, was yet so filled with + the sense of the Divine presence that his life was one continued hymn + to Providence, and his writings and his example, which appeared to + his contemporaries almost the ideal of human goodness, have not lost + their consoling power through all the ages and the vicissitudes they + have survived.<a id="noteref_214" name="noteref_214" href= + "#note_214"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">214</span></span></a></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page185">[pg 185]</span><a name="Pg185" id="Pg185" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There was, + however, another form of immortality which exercised a much greater + influence among the Roman moralists. The desire for reputation, and + especially for posthumous reputation—that <span class= + "tei tei-q">“last infirmity of noble minds”</span><a id="noteref_215" + name="noteref_215" href="#note_215"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">215</span></span></a>—assumed + an extraordinary prominence among the springs of Roman heroism, and + was also the origin of that theatrical and overstrained phraseology + which the greatest of ancient moralists rarely escaped.<a id= + "noteref_216" name="noteref_216" href="#note_216"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">216</span></span></a> But we + should be altogether in error if we inferred, as some have done, that + paganism never rose to the conception of virtue concealing itself + from the world, and consenting voluntarily to degradation. No + characters were more highly appreciated in antiquity than those of + men who, through a sense of duty, opposed the strong current of + popular favour; of men like Fabius, who consented for the sake of + their country to incur the reputation that is most fatal to a + soldier;<a id="noteref_217" name="noteref_217" href= + "#note_217"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">217</span></span></a> of men + like Cato, who remained unmoved among the scoffs, the insults, and + the ridicule of an angry crowd.<a id="noteref_218" name="noteref_218" + href="#note_218"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">218</span></span></a> Cicero, + expounding the principles of Stoicism, declared that no one has + attained to true philosophy who has not learnt that all vice should + be avoided, <span class="tei tei-q">“though it were concealed from + the eyes of gods and men,”</span><a id="noteref_219" name= + "noteref_219" href="#note_219"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">219</span></span></a> and + that no deeds are more laudable than those which are done without + ostentation, and far from the sight of men.<a id="noteref_220" name= + "noteref_220" href="#note_220"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">220</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page186">[pg 186]</span><a name="Pg186" + id="Pg186" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> The writings of the Stoics are + crowded with sentences to the same effect. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Nothing for opinion, all for conscience.”</span><a id= + "noteref_221" name="noteref_221" href="#note_221"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">221</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“He who wishes his virtue to be blazed abroad + is not labouring for virtue but for fame.”</span><a id="noteref_222" + name="noteref_222" href="#note_222"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">222</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“No one is more virtuous than the man who + sacrifices the reputation of a good man rather than sacrifice his + conscience.”</span><a id="noteref_223" name="noteref_223" href= + "#note_223"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">223</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“I do not shrink from praise, but I refuse to + make it the end and term of right.”</span><a id="noteref_224" name= + "noteref_224" href="#note_224"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">224</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“If you do anything to please men, you have + fallen from your estate.”</span><a id="noteref_225" name= + "noteref_225" href="#note_225"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">225</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Even a bad reputation nobly earned is + pleasing.”</span><a id="noteref_226" name="noteref_226" href= + "#note_226"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">226</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“A great man is not the less great when he + lies vanquished and prostrate in the dust.”</span><a id="noteref_227" + name="noteref_227" href="#note_227"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">227</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Never forget that it is possible to be at + once a divine man, yet a man unknown to all the world.”</span><a id= + "noteref_228" name="noteref_228" href="#note_228"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">228</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“That which is beautiful is beautiful in + itself; the praise of man adds nothing to its quality.”</span><a id= + "noteref_229" name="noteref_229" href="#note_229"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">229</span></span></a> Marcus + Aurelius, following an example that is ascribed to Pythagoras, made + it a special object of mental discipline, by continually meditating + on death, and evoking, by an effort of the imagination, whole + societies that had passed away, to acquire a realised sense of the + vanity of posthumous fame. The younger Pliny painted faithfully the + ideal of Stoicism when he described one of his friends as a man + <span class="tei tei-q">“who did nothing for ostentation, but all for + conscience; who sought the reward of virtue in itself, and not in the + praise of man.”</span><a id="noteref_230" name="noteref_230" href= + "#note_230"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">230</span></span></a> Nor + were the Stoics less emphatic in distinguishing the obligation from + the attraction of virtue. It was on this point that they separated + from the more refined Epicureans, who were often willing to sublimate + to the highest degree the kind of pleasure they proposed as an + object, provided only it were admitted that pleasure is necessarily + the ultimate end of our actions. But this the Stoics firmly denied. + <span class="tei tei-q">“Pleasure,”</span> they <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page187">[pg 187]</span><a name="Pg187" id="Pg187" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> argued, <span class="tei tei-q">“is the + companion, not the guide, of our course.”</span><a id="noteref_231" + name="noteref_231" href="#note_231"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">231</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“We do not love virtue because it gives us + pleasure, but it gives us pleasure because we love it.”</span><a id= + "noteref_232" name="noteref_232" href="#note_232"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">232</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“The wise man will not sin, though both gods + and men should overlook the deed, for it is not through the fear of + punishment or of shame that he abstains from sin. It is from the + desire and obligation of what is just and good.”</span><a id= + "noteref_233" name="noteref_233" href="#note_233"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">233</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“To ask to be paid for virtue is as if the + eye demanded a recompense for seeing, or the feet for + walking.”</span><a id="noteref_234" name="noteref_234" href= + "#note_234"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">234</span></span></a> In + doing good, man <span class="tei tei-q">“should be like the vine + which has produced grapes, and asks for nothing more after it has + produced its proper fruit.”</span><a id="noteref_235" name= + "noteref_235" href="#note_235"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">235</span></span></a> His + end, according to these teachers, is not to find peace either in life + or in death. It is to do his duty, and to tell the truth.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The second + distinguishing feature of Stoicism I have noticed was the complete + suppression of the affections to make way for the absolute ascendancy + of reason. There are two great divisions of character corresponding + very nearly to the Stoical and Epicurean temperaments I have + described—that in which the will predominates, and that in which the + desires are supreme. A good man of the first class is one whose will, + directed by a sense of duty, pursues the course he believes to be + right, in spite of strong temptations to pursue an opposite course, + arising either from his own passions and tendencies, or from the + circumstances that surround him. A good man of the second class is + one who is so happily constituted that his sympathies and desires + instinctively tend to virtuous ends. The first character is the only + one to which we can, strictly speaking, attach the idea of merit, and + it is also the only one which is capable of rising to high efforts of + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page188">[pg 188]</span><a name="Pg188" + id="Pg188" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> continuous and heroic + self-sacrifice; but on the other hand there is a charm in the + spontaneous action of the unforced desires which disciplined virtue + can perhaps never attain. The man who is consistently generous + through a sense of duty, when his natural temperament impels him to + avarice and when every exercise of benevolence causes him a pang, + deserves in the very highest degree our admiration; but he whose + generosity costs him no effort, but is the natural gratification of + his affections, attracts a far larger measure of our love. + Corresponding to these two casts of character, we find two distinct + theories of education, the aim of the one being chiefly to strengthen + the will, and that of the other to guide the desires. The principal + examples of the first are the Spartan and Stoical systems of + antiquity, and, with some modifications, the asceticism of the Middle + Ages. The object of these systems was to enable men to endure pain, + to repress manifest and acknowledged desires, to relinquish + enjoyments, to establish an absolute empire over their emotions. On + the other hand, there is a method of education which was never more + prevalent than in the present day, which exhausts its efforts in + making virtue attractive, in associating it with all the charms of + imagination and of prosperity, and in thus insensibly drawing the + desires in the wished-for direction. As the first system is + especially suited to a disturbed and military society, which requires + and elicits strong efforts of the will, and is therefore the special + sphere of heroic virtues, so the latter belongs naturally to a + tranquil and highly organised civilisation, which is therefore very + favourable to the amiable qualities, and it is probable that as + civilisation advances, the heroic type will, in consequence, become + more and more rare, and a kind of self-indulgent goodness more + common. The circumstances of the ancient societies led them to the + former type, of which the Stoics furnished the extreme expression in + their doctrine that the affections are of the <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page189">[pg 189]</span><a name="Pg189" id="Pg189" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> nature of a disease<a id="noteref_236" + name="noteref_236" href="#note_236"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">236</span></span></a>—a + doctrine which they justified by the same kind of arguments as those + which are now often employed by metaphysicians to prove that love, + anger, and the like can only be ascribed by a figure of speech to the + Deity. Perturbation, they contended, is necessarily imperfection, and + none of its forms can in consequence be ascribed to a perfect being. + We have a clear intuitive perception that reason is the highest, and + should be the directing, power of an intelligent being; but every act + which is performed at the instigation of the emotions is withdrawn + from the empire of reason. Hence it was inferred that while the will + should be educated to act habitually in the direction of virtue, even + the emotions that seem most fitted to second it should be absolutely + proscribed. Thus Seneca has elaborated at length the distinction + between clemency and pity, the first being one of the highest + virtues, and the latter a positive vice. Clemency, he says, is an + habitual disposition to gentleness in the application of punishments. + It is that moderation which remits something of an incurred penalty, + it is the opposite of cruelty, which is an habitual disposition to + rigour. Pity, on the other hand, bears to clemency the same kind of + relation as superstition to religion. It is the weakness of a feeble + mind that flinches at the sight of suffering. Clemency is an act of + judgment, but pity disturbs the judgment. Clemency adjudicates upon + the proportion between suffering and guilt. Pity contemplates only + suffering, and gives no <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page190">[pg + 190]</span><a name="Pg190" id="Pg190" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + thought to its cause. Clemency, in the midst of its noblest efforts, + is perfectly passionless; pity is unreasoning emotion. Clemency is an + essential characteristic of the sage; pity is only suited for weak + women and for diseased minds. <span class="tei tei-q">“The sage will + console those who weep, but without weeping with them; he will + succour the shipwrecked, give hospitality to the proscribed, and alms + to the poor, ... restore the son to the mother's tears, save the + captive from the arena, and even bury the criminal; but in all this + his mind and his countenance will be alike untroubled. He will feel + no pity. He will succour, he will do good, for he is born to assist + his fellows, to labour for the welfare of mankind, and to offer to + each one his part.... His countenance and his soul will betray no + emotion as he looks upon the withered legs, the tattered rags, the + bent and emaciated frame of the beggar. But he will help those who + are worthy, and, like the gods, his leaning will be towards the + wretched.... It is only diseased eyes that grow moist in beholding + tears in other eyes, as it is no true sympathy, but only weakness of + nerves, that leads some to laugh always when others laugh, or to yawn + when others yawn.”</span><a id="noteref_237" name="noteref_237" href= + "#note_237"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">237</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Cicero, in a + sentence which might be adopted as the motto of Stoicism, said that + Homer <span class="tei tei-q">“attributed human qualities to the + gods; it would have been better to have imparted divine qualities to + men.”</span> The remarkable passage I have just cited serves to show + the extremes to which the Stoics pushed this imitation. And indeed, + if we compare the different virtues that have flourished among Pagans + and Christians, we invariably find that the prevailing type of + excellence among the former is that in which the will and judgment, + and among the latter that in which the emotions, are most prominent. + Friendship rather than love, hospitality rather than charity, + magnanimity rather than tenderness, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page191">[pg 191]</span><a name="Pg191" id="Pg191" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> clemency rather than sympathy, are the + characteristics of ancient goodness. The Stoics, who carried the + suppression of the emotions farther than any other school, laboured + with great zeal to compensate the injury thus done to the benevolent + side of our nature, by greatly enlarging the sphere of reasoned and + passionless philanthropy. They taught, in the most emphatic language, + the fraternity of all men, and the consequent duty of each man + consecrating his life to the welfare of others. They developed this + general doctrine in a series of detailed precepts, which, for the + range, depth, and beauty of their charity, have never been surpassed. + They even extended their compassion to crime, and adopting the + paradox of Plato, that all guilt is ignorance,<a id="noteref_238" + name="noteref_238" href="#note_238"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">238</span></span></a> treated + it as an involuntary disease, and declared that the only legitimate + ground of punishment is prevention.<a id="noteref_239" name= + "noteref_239" href="#note_239"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">239</span></span></a> But, + however fully they might reconcile in theory their principles with + the widest and most active benevolence, they could not wholly + counteract the practical evil of a system which declared war against + the whole emotional side of our being, and reduced human virtue to a + kind of majestic egotism; proposing as examples Anaxagoras, who, when + told that his son had died, simply observed, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“I never supposed that I had begotten an + immortal;”</span><a id="noteref_240" name="noteref_240" href= + "#note_240"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">240</span></span></a> or + Stilpo, who, when his country had been ruined, his native city + captured, and his daughters carried away as slaves or as concubines, + boasted that he had lost nothing, for the sage is independent of + circumstances. The framework or theory of <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page192">[pg 192]</span><a name="Pg192" id="Pg192" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> benevolence might be there, but the animating + spirit was absent. Men who taught that the husband or the father + should look with perfect indifference on the death of his wife or his + child, and that the philosopher, though he may shed tears of + pretended sympathy in order to console his suffering friend, must + suffer no real emotion to penetrate his breast,<a id="noteref_241" + name="noteref_241" href="#note_241"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">241</span></span></a> could + never found a true or lasting religion of benevolence. Men who + refused to recognise pain and sickness as evils were scarcely likely + to be very eager to relieve them in others.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In truth, the + Stoics, who taught that all virtue was conformity to nature, were, in + this respect, eminently false to their own principle. Human nature, + as revealed to us by reason, is a composite thing, a constitution of + many parts differing in kind and dignity, a hierarchy in which many + powers are intended to co-exist, but in different positions of + ascendancy or subordination. To make the higher part of our nature + our whole nature, is not to restore but to mutilate humanity, and + this mutilation has never been attempted without producing grave + evils. As philanthropists, the Stoics, through their passion for + unity, were led to the extirpation of those emotions which nature + intended as the chief springs of benevolence. As speculative + philosophers, they were entangled by the same desire in a long train + of pitiable paradoxes. Their famous doctrines that all virtues are + equal, or, more correctly, are the same, that all vices are equal, + that nothing is an evil which does not affect our will, and that pain + and bereavement are, in consequence, no ills,<a id="noteref_242" + name="noteref_242" href="#note_242"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">242</span></span></a> though + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page193">[pg 193]</span><a name="Pg193" + id="Pg193" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> partially explained away and + frequently disregarded by the Roman Stoics, were yet sufficiently + prominent to give their teaching something of an unnatural and + affected appearance. Prizing only a single object, and developing + only a single side of their nature, their minds became narrow and + their views contracted. Thus, while the Epicureans, urging men to + study nature in order to banish superstition, endeavoured to correct + that ignorance of physical science which was one of the chief + impediments to the progress of the ancient mind, the Stoics for the + most part disdained a study which was other than the pursuit of + virtue.<a id="noteref_243" name="noteref_243" href= + "#note_243"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">243</span></span></a> While + the Epicurean poet painted in magnificent language the perpetual + progress of mankind, the Stoic was essentially retrospective, and + exhausted his strength in vain efforts to restore the simplicity of a + by-gone age. While, too, the school of Zeno produced many of the best + and greatest men who have ever lived, it must be acknowledged that + its records exhibit a rather unusual number of examples of high + professions falsified in action, and of men who, displaying in some + forms the most undoubted and transcendent virtue, fell in others far + below the average of mankind. The elder Cato, who, though not a + philosopher, was a model of philosophers, was conspicuous for his + inhumanity to his slaves.<a id="noteref_244" name="noteref_244" href= + "#note_244"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">244</span></span></a> Brutus + was one of the most extortionate usurers of his time, and several + citizens <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page194">[pg + 194]</span><a name="Pg194" id="Pg194" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of + Salamis died of starvation, imprisoned because they could not pay the + sum he demanded.<a id="noteref_245" name="noteref_245" href= + "#note_245"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">245</span></span></a> No one + eulogised more eloquently the austere simplicity of life which + Stoicism advocated than Sallust, who in a corrupt age was notorious + for his rapacity. Seneca himself was constitutionally a nervous and + timid man, endeavouring, not always with success, to support himself + by a sublime philosophy. He guided, under circumstances of extreme + difficulty, the cause of virtue, and his death is one of the noblest + antiquity records; but his life was deeply marked by the taint of + flattery, and not free from the taint of avarice, and it is unhappily + certain that he lent his pen to conceal or varnish one of the worst + crimes of Nero. The courage of Lucan failed signally under torture, + and the flattery which he bestowed upon Nero, in his <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Pharsalia,”</span> ranks with the Epigrams of Martial as + probably the extreme limit of sycophancy to which Roman literature + descended.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">While, too, the + main object of the Stoics was to popularise philosophy, the high + standard of self-control they exacted rendered their system + exceedingly unfit for the great majority of mankind, and for the + ordinary condition of affairs. Life is history, not poetry. It + consists mainly of little things, rarely illumined by flashes of + great heroism, rarely broken by great dangers, or demanding great + exertions. A moral system, to govern society, must accommodate itself + to common characters and mingled motives. It must be capable of + influencing natures that can never rise to an heroic level. It must + tincture, modify, and mitigate where it cannot eradicate or + transform. In Christianity there are always a few persons seeking by + continual and painful efforts to reverse or extinguish the ordinary + feelings of humanity, but in the great majority of cases the + influence of the religious principle upon the mind, though very real, + is not of a nature <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page195">[pg + 195]</span><a name="Pg195" id="Pg195" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> to + cause any serious strain or struggle. It is displayed in a certain + acquired spontaneity of impulse. It softens the character, purifies + and directs the imagination, blends insensibly with the habitual + modes of thought, and, without revolutionising, gives a tone and bias + to all the forms of action. But Stoicism was simply a school of + heroes. It recognised no gradations of virtue or vice. It condemned + all emotions, all spontaneity, all mingled motives, all the + principles, feelings, and impulses upon which the virtue of common + men mainly depends. It was capable of acting only on moral natures + that were strung to the highest tension, and it was therefore + naturally rejected by the multitude.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The central + conception of this philosophy of self-control was the dignity of man. + Pride, which looks within, making man seek his own approbation, as + distinguished from vanity, which looks without, and shapes its + conduct according to the opinions of others, was not only permitted + in Stoicism, it was even its leading moral agent. The sense of + virtue, as I have elsewhere observed, occupies in this system much + the same place as the sense of sin in Christianity. Sin, in the + conception of the ancients, was simply disease, and they deemed it + the part of a wise man to correct it, but not to dwell upon its + circumstances. In the many disquisitions which Epictetus and others + have left us concerning the proper frame of mind in which man should + approach death, repentance for past sin has absolutely no place, nor + do the ancients appear to have ever realised the purifying and + spiritualising influence it exercises upon character. And while the + reality of moral disease was fully recognised, while a lofty and + indeed unattainable ideal was continually proposed, no one doubted + the essential excellence of human nature, and very few doubted the + possibility of man acquiring by his own will a high degree of virtue. + In this last respect there was a wide difference between the teaching + of the Roman moralists <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page196">[pg + 196]</span><a name="Pg196" id="Pg196" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> and + of the Greek poets.<a id="noteref_246" name="noteref_246" href= + "#note_246"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">246</span></span></a> Homer + continually represents courage, anger, and the like, as the direct + inspiration of Heaven. Æschylus, the great poet of fatalism, regards + every human passion as but a single link in the great chain of causes + forged by the inexorable will of Zeus. There are, indeed, few grander + things in poetry than his picture of the many and various motives + that urged Clytemnestra to the slaughter of Agamemnon—revenge for her + murdered daughter, love for Ægisthus, resentment at past breaches of + conjugal duty, jealousy of Cassandra, all blending in that fierce + hatred that nerved her arm against her husband's life; while above + all this tumult of passion the solemn song of Cassandra proclaimed + that the deed was but the decree of Heaven, the harvest of blood + springing from the seed of crime, the accomplishment of the ancient + curse that was destined to cling for ever to the hapless race of + Atreus. Before the body of the murdered king, and in presence of the + wildest paroxysms of human passion, the bystanders bowed their heads, + exclaiming, <span class="tei tei-q">“Zeus has willed it—Zeus the + supreme Ruler, the God who does all; for what can happen in the world + without the will of Zeus?”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But conceptions of + this kind had little or no place in the philosophy of Rome. The issue + of human enterprises and the disposition of the gifts of fortune were + recognised as under the control of Providence; but man was master of + his own feelings, and was capable of attaining such excellence that + he might even challenge comparison with the gods. Audacious as such + sentiments may now appear, they were common to most schools of Roman + moralists. <span class="tei tei-q">“We boast justly of our own + virtue,”</span> said the eclectic Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“which we could not do if we derived it from the Deity + and not from ourselves.”</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page197">[pg 197]</span><a name="Pg197" id="Pg197" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“All mortals judge that fortune is to be received from + the gods and wisdom from ourselves.”</span><a id="noteref_247" name= + "noteref_247" href="#note_247"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">247</span></span></a> The + Epicurean Horace, in his noblest ode, described the just man, + confident in his virtue, undaunted amid the crash of worlds, and he + tells us to pray only for those things which Jupiter gives and takes + away. <span class="tei tei-q">“He gives life, he gives wealth; an + untroubled mind I secure for myself.”</span><a id="noteref_248" name= + "noteref_248" href="#note_248"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">248</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“The calm of a mind blest in the + consciousness of its virtue,”</span> was the expression of supreme + felicity the Epicureans had derived from their master.<a id= + "noteref_249" name="noteref_249" href="#note_249"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">249</span></span></a> + Lucretius, in a magnificent passage, designates Epicurus as a god, + and boasts that the popular divinities dwindle into insignificance + before him. Ceres, he says, gave men corn, and Bacchus wine, but + Epicurus the principles of virtue. Hercules conquered monsters, + Epicurus conquered vice.<a id="noteref_250" name="noteref_250" href= + "#note_250"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">250</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Pray,”</span> said Juvenal, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“for a healthy mind in a healthy body. Ask for a brave + soul unscared by death.... But there are things you can give + yourself.”</span><a id="noteref_251" name="noteref_251" href= + "#note_251"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">251</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Misfortune, and losses, and calumny,”</span> + said Seneca, <span class="tei tei-q">“disappear before virtue as the + taper before the sun.”</span><a id="noteref_252" name="noteref_252" + href="#note_252"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">252</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“In one point the sage is superior to God. + God owes it to His nature not to fear, but the sage owes it to + himself. Sublime condition! he joins the frailty of a man to the + security of a god.”</span><a id="noteref_253" name="noteref_253" + href="#note_253"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">253</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Except for immortality,”</span> he elsewhere + writes, <span class="tei tei-q">“the sage is like to + God.”</span><a id="noteref_254" name="noteref_254" href= + "#note_254"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">254</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“It is the characteristic of a wise + man,”</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page198">[pg + 198]</span><a name="Pg198" id="Pg198" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + added Epictetus, <span class="tei tei-q">“that he looks for all his + good and evil from himself.”</span><a id="noteref_255" name= + "noteref_255" href="#note_255"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">255</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“As far as his rational nature is concerned, + he is in no degree inferior to the gods.”</span><a id="noteref_256" + name="noteref_256" href="#note_256"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">256</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There were, + however, other veins of thought exhibited in stoicism which greatly + modified and sometimes positively contradicted this view of the + relations of man to the Deity. The theology of the Stoics was an + ill-defined, uncertain, and somewhat inconsistent Pantheism; the + Divinity was especially worshipped under the two aspects of + Providence and moral goodness, and the soul of man was regarded as + <span class="tei tei-q">“a detached fragment of the + Deity,”</span><a id="noteref_257" name="noteref_257" href= + "#note_257"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">257</span></span></a> or as + at least pervaded and accompanied by a divine energy. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“There never,”</span> said Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“was a great man, without an inspiration from on + high.”</span><a id="noteref_258" name="noteref_258" href= + "#note_258"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">258</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Nothing,”</span> said Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“is closed to God. He is present in our conscience. He + intervenes in our thoughts.”</span><a id="noteref_259" name= + "noteref_259" href="#note_259"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">259</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“I tell thee, Lucilius,”</span> he elsewhere + writes, <span class="tei tei-q">“a sacred spirit dwells within us, + the observer and the guardian of our good and evil deeds.... No man + is good without God. Who, save by His assistance, can rise above + fortune? He gives noble and lofty counsels. A God (what God I know + not) dwells in every good man.”</span><a id="noteref_260" name= + "noteref_260" href="#note_260"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">260</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Offer to the God that is in thee,”</span> + said Marcus Aurelius, <span class="tei tei-q">“a manly being, a + citizen, a soldier at his post ready to depart from life as soon as + the trumpet sounds.”</span><a id="noteref_261" name="noteref_261" + href="#note_261"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">261</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“It is sufficient to believe in the Genius + who is within us, and to honour him by a pure worship.”</span><a id= + "noteref_262" name="noteref_262" href="#note_262"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">262</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Passages of this + kind are not unfrequent in Stoical writings. More commonly, however, + virtue is represented as a human act imitating God. This was the + meaning of <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page199">[pg + 199]</span><a name="Pg199" id="Pg199" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the + Platonic maxim, <span class="tei tei-q">“follow God,”</span> which + the Stoics continually repeated, which they developed in many + passages of the most touching and beautiful piety, and to which they + added the duty of the most absolute and unquestioning submission to + the decrees of Providence. Their doctrine on this latter point + harmonised well with their antipathy to the emotional side of our + being. <span class="tei tei-q">“To weep, to complain, to groan, is to + rebel;”</span><a id="noteref_263" name="noteref_263" href= + "#note_263"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">263</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“to fear, to grieve, to be angry, is to be a + deserter.”</span><a id="noteref_264" name="noteref_264" href= + "#note_264"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">264</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Remember that you are but an actor, acting + whatever part the Master has ordained. It may be short, or it may be + long. If He wishes you to represent a poor man, do so heartily; if a + cripple, or a magistrate, or a private man, in each case act your + part with honour.”</span><a id="noteref_265" name="noteref_265" href= + "#note_265"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">265</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Never say of anything that you have lost it, + but that you have restored it; your wife and child die—you have + restored them; your farm is taken from you—that also is restored. It + is seized by an impious man. What is it to you by whose + instrumentality He who gave it reclaims it?”</span><a id= + "noteref_266" name="noteref_266" href="#note_266"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">266</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“God does not keep a good man in prosperity; + He tries, He strengthens him, He prepares him for + Himself.”</span><a id="noteref_267" name="noteref_267" href= + "#note_267"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">267</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Those whom God approves, whom He loves, He + hardens, He proves, He exercises; but those whom He seems to indulge + and spare, He preserves for future ills.”</span><a id="noteref_268" + name="noteref_268" href="#note_268"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">268</span></span></a> With a + beautiful outburst of submissive gratitude, Marcus Aurelius exclaims, + <span class="tei tei-q">“Some have said, Oh, dear city of + Cecrops!—but thou, canst thou say, Oh, dear city of Jupiter?... All + that is suitable to thee, oh world, is suitable to me.”</span><a id= + "noteref_269" name="noteref_269" href="#note_269"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">269</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These passages, + which might be indefinitely multiplied, serve to show how + successfully the Stoics laboured, by dilating upon the conception of + Providence, to mitigate the arrogance which one aspect of their + teaching unquestionably displayed. But in this very attempt another + danger was incurred, upon <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page200">[pg + 200]</span><a name="Pg200" id="Pg200" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + which a very large proportion of the moral systems of all ages have + been wrecked. A doctrine which thus enjoins absolute submission to + the decrees of Providence,<a id="noteref_270" name="noteref_270" + href="#note_270"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">270</span></span></a> which + proscribes the affections, and which represents its disciples as + altogether independent of surrounding circumstances, would in most + conditions of society have led necessarily to quietism, and proved + absolutely incompatible with active virtue. Fortunately, however, in + the ancient civilisations the idea of virtue had from the earliest + times been so indissolubly connected with that of political activity + that the danger was for a long period altogether avoided. The State + occupied in antiquity a prominence in the thoughts of men which it + never has attained in modern times. The influence of patriotism + thrilled through every fibre of moral and intellectual life. The most + profound philosophers, the purest moralists, the most sublime poets, + had been soldiers or statesmen. Hence arose the excessive + predominance occasionally accorded to civic virtues in ancient + systems of ethics, and also not a few of their most revolting + paradoxes. Plato advocated community of wives mainly on the ground + that the children produced would be attached more exclusively to + their country.<a id="noteref_271" name="noteref_271" href= + "#note_271"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">271</span></span></a> + Aristotle may be almost said to have made the difference between + Greek and barbarian the basis of his moral code. <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page201">[pg 201]</span><a name="Pg201" id="Pg201" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> The Spartan legislation was continually + extolled as an ideal, as the Venetian constitution by the writers of + the seventeenth century. On the other hand, the contact of the + spheres of speculation and of political activity exercised in one + respect a very beneficial influence upon ancient philosophies. + Patriotism almost always occupied a prominence in the scale of + duties, which forms a striking contrast to the neglect or discredit + into which it has fallen among modern teachers. We do, indeed, read + of an Anaxagoras pointing to heaven as to his true country, and + pronouncing exile to be no evil, as the descent to the infernal + regions is the same from every land;<a id="noteref_272" name= + "noteref_272" href="#note_272"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">272</span></span></a> but + such sentiments, though not unknown among the Epicureans and the + Cynics, were diametrically opposed to the prevailing tone. Patriotism + was represented as a moral duty, and a duty of the highest order. + Cicero only echoed the common opinion of antiquity in that noble + passage, in which he asserts that the love we owe our country is even + holier and more profound than that we owe our nearest kinsman, and + that he can have no claim to the title of a good man who even + hesitates to die in its behalf.<a id="noteref_273" name="noteref_273" + href="#note_273"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">273</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A necessary + consequence of this prominence of patriotism was the practical + character of most ancient ethics. We find, indeed, moralists often + exhorting men to moderate their ambition, consoling them under + political adversity, and urging that there are some circumstances + under which an upright man should for a time withdraw from public + affairs;<a id="noteref_274" name="noteref_274" href= + "#note_274"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">274</span></span></a> but the + general duty of taking part in political life was emphatically + asserted, and the vanity of the quietist theory of life not only + maintained, but even somewhat exaggerated. Thus <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page202">[pg 202]</span><a name="Pg202" id="Pg202" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> Cicero declared that <span class= + "tei tei-q">“all virtue is in action.”</span><a id="noteref_275" + name="noteref_275" href="#note_275"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">275</span></span></a> The + younger Pliny mentions that he once lamented to the Stoic Euphrates + the small place which his official duties left for philosophical + pursuits; but Euphrates answered that the discharge of public affairs + and the administration of justice formed a part, and the most + important part, of philosophy, for he who is so engaged is but + practising the precepts of the schools.<a id="noteref_276" name= + "noteref_276" href="#note_276"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">276</span></span></a> It was + a fundamental maxim of the Stoics that humanity is a body in which + each limb should act solely and continually with a view to the + interests of the whole. Marcus Aurelius, the purest mind of the sect, + was for nineteen years the active ruler of the civilised globe. + Thrasea, Helvidius, Cornutus, and a crowd of others who had adopted + Stoicism as a religion, lived, and in many cases died, in obedience + to its precepts, struggling for the liberties of their country in the + darkest hours of tyranny.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Men who had formed + such high conceptions of duty, who had bridled so completely the + tumult of passion, and whose lives were spent in a calm sense of + virtue and of dignity, were little likely to be assailed by the + superstitious fears that are the nightmare of weaker men. The + preparation for death was deemed one of the chief ends of + philosophy.<a id="noteref_277" name="noteref_277" href= + "#note_277"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">277</span></span></a> The + thought of a coming change assisted the mind in detaching itself from + the gifts of fortune, and the extinction of all superstitious terrors + completed the type of self-reliant majesty which Stoicism had chosen + for its ideal. But while it is certain that no philosophers + expatiated upon death with a grander eloquence, or met it with a more + placid courage, it can hardly be denied that their constant + disquisitions forced it into an unhealthy prominence, and somewhat + discoloured their whole view of life. <span class="tei tei-q">“The + Stoics,”</span> as Bacon has said, <span class="tei tei-q">“bestowed + too much cost on death, and by their preparations <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page203">[pg 203]</span><a name="Pg203" id="Pg203" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> made it more fearful.”</span><a id= + "noteref_278" name="noteref_278" href="#note_278"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">278</span></span></a> There + is a profound wisdom in the maxims of Spinoza, that <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the proper study of a wise man is not how to die, but + how to live,”</span> and that <span class="tei tei-q">“there is no + subject on which the sage will think less than death.”</span><a id= + "noteref_279" name="noteref_279" href="#note_279"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">279</span></span></a> A life + of active duty is the best preparation for the end, and so large a + part of the evil of death lies in its anticipation, that an attempt + to deprive it of its terrors by constant meditation almost + necessarily defeats its object, while at the same time it forms an + unnaturally tense, feverish, and tragical character, annihilates the + ambition and enthusiasm that are essential to human progress, and not + unfrequently casts a chill and a deadness over the affections.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Among the many + half-pagan legends that were connected with Ireland during the middle + ages, one of the most beautiful is that of the islands of life and of + death. In a certain lake in Munster it is said there were two + islands; into the first death could never enter, but age and + sickness, and the weariness of life, and the paroxysms of fearful + suffering were all known there, and they did their work till the + inhabitants, tired of their immortality, learned to look upon the + opposite island as upon a haven of repose: they launched their barks + upon the gloomy waters; they touched its shore and they were at + rest.<a id="noteref_280" name="noteref_280" href= + "#note_280"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">280</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This legend, which + is far more akin to the spirit of paganism than to that of + Christianity, and is in fact only another form of the myth of + Tithonus, represents with great fidelity the aspect in which death + was regarded by the exponents of Stoicism. There was much difference + of opinion and of certitude in the judgments of the ancient + philosophers <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page204">[pg + 204]</span><a name="Pg204" id="Pg204" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + concerning the future destinies of the soul, but they were unanimous + in regarding death simply as a natural rest, and in attributing the + terrors that were connected with it to a diseased imagination. Death, + they said, is the only evil that does not afflict us when present. + While we are, death is not, when death has come we are not. It is a + false belief that it only follows, it also precedes, life. It is to + be as we were before we were born. The candle which has been + extinguished is in the same condition as before it was lit, and the + dead man as the man unborn. Death is the end of all sorrow. It either + secures happiness or ends suffering. It frees the slave from his + cruel master, opens the prison door, calms the qualms of pain, closes + the struggles of poverty. It is the last and best boon of nature, for + it frees man from all his cares. It is at worst but the close of a + banquet we have enjoyed. Whether it be desired or whether it be + shunned, it is no curse and no evil, but simply the resolution of our + being into its primitive elements, the law of our nature to which it + is our duty cheerfully to conform.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Such were the + leading topics that were employed in that beautiful literature of + <span class="tei tei-q">“Consolations,”</span> which the academic + Crantor is said to have originated, and which occupies so large a + place in the writings of Cicero, Plutarch, and the Stoics. Cicero, + like all the school of Plato, added to these motives a very firm and + constant reference to the immortality of the soul. Plutarch held the + same doctrine with equal assurance, but he gave it a much less + conspicuous position in his <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Consolations,”</span> and he based it not upon + philosophical grounds, but upon the testimonies of the oracles, and + upon the mysteries of Bacchus.<a id="noteref_281" name="noteref_281" + href="#note_281"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">281</span></span></a> Among + the Stoics the doctrine shone with a faint and uncertain light, and + was seldom or never adopted as a motive. But that which is most + impressive to a student who turns from the religious literature of + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page205">[pg 205]</span><a name="Pg205" + id="Pg205" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> Christianity to the pagan + philosophies, is the complete absence in the latter of all notion + concerning the penal character of death. Death, according to + Socrates,<a id="noteref_282" name="noteref_282" href= + "#note_282"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">282</span></span></a> either + extinguishes life or emancipates it from the thraldom of the body. + Even in the first case it is a blessing, in the last it is the + greatest of boons. <span class="tei tei-q">“Accustom + yourself,”</span> said Epicurus, <span class="tei tei-q">“to the + thought that death is indifferent; for all good and all evil consist + in feeling, and what is death but the privation of + feeling?”</span><a id="noteref_283" name="noteref_283" href= + "#note_283"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">283</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Souls either remain after death,”</span> + said Cicero, <span class="tei tei-q">“or they perish in death. If + they remain they are happy; if they perish they are not + wretched.”</span><a id="noteref_284" name="noteref_284" href= + "#note_284"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">284</span></span></a> Seneca, + consoling Polybius concerning the death of his brother, exhorts his + friend to think, <span class="tei tei-q">“if the dead have any + sensations, then my brother, let loose as it were from a lifelong + prison, and at last enjoying his liberty, looks down from a loftier + height on the wonders of nature and on all the deeds of men, and sees + more clearly those divine things which he had so long sought in vain + to understand. But why should I be afflicted for one who is either + happy or is nothing? To lament the fate of one who is happy is envy; + to lament the fate of a nonentity is madness.”</span><a id= + "noteref_285" name="noteref_285" href="#note_285"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">285</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But while the + Greek and Roman philosophers were on this point unanimous, there was + a strong opposing current in the popular mind. The Greek word for + superstition signifies literally, fear of gods or dæmons, and the + philosophers sometimes represent the vulgar as shuddering at the + thought of death, through dread of certain endless sufferings to + which it would lead them. The Greek mythology contains many fables on + the subject. The early Greek vases occasionally <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page206">[pg 206]</span><a name="Pg206" id="Pg206" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> represent scenes of infernal torments, + not unlike those of the mediæval frescoes.<a id="noteref_286" name= + "noteref_286" href="#note_286"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">286</span></span></a> The + rapture with which Epicureanism was received, as liberating the human + mind from the thraldom of superstitious terrors, shows how galling + must have been the yoke. In the poem of Lucretius, in occasional + passages of Cicero and other Latin moralists, above all, in the + treatise of Plutarch <span class="tei tei-q">“On + Superstition,”</span> we may trace the deep impression these terrors + had made upon the populace, even during the later period of the + Republic, and during the Empire. To destroy them was represented as + the highest function of philosophy. Plutarch denounced them as the + worst calumny against the Deity, as more pernicious than atheism, as + the evil consequences of immoral fables, and he gladly turned to + other legends which taught a different lesson. Thus it was related + that when, during a certain festival at Argos, the horses that were + to draw the statue of Juno to the temple were detained, the sons of + the priestess yoked themselves to the car, and their mother, admiring + their piety, prayed the goddess to reward them with whatever boon was + the best for man. Her prayer was answered—they sank asleep and + died.<a id="noteref_287" name="noteref_287" href= + "#note_287"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">287</span></span></a> In like + manner the architects of the great temple of Apollo at Delphi, prayed + the god to select that reward which was best. The oracle told them in + reply to spend seven days in rejoicing, and on the following night + their reward would come. They too died in sleep.<a id="noteref_288" + name="noteref_288" href="#note_288"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">288</span></span></a> The + swan was consecrated to Apollo because its dying song was believed to + spring from a prophetic impulse.<a id="noteref_289" name= + "noteref_289" href="#note_289"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">289</span></span></a> The + Spanish Celts raised temples, and sang hymns of praise to + death.<a id="noteref_290" name="noteref_290" href= + "#note_290"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">290</span></span></a> No + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page207">[pg 207]</span><a name="Pg207" + id="Pg207" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> philosopher of antiquity ever + questioned that a good man, reviewing his life, might look upon it + without shame and even with positive complacency, or that the + reverence with which men regard heroic deaths is a foretaste of the + sentence of the Creator. To this confidence may be traced the + tranquil courage, the complete absence of all remorse, so conspicuous + in the closing hours of Socrates, and of many other of the sages of + antiquity. There is no fact in religious history more startling than + the radical change that has in this respect passed over the character + of devotion. It is said of Chilon, one of the seven sages of Greece, + that at the close of his career he gathered his disciples around him, + and congratulated himself that in a long life he could recall but a + single act that saddened his dying hour. It was that, in a perplexing + dilemma, he had allowed his love of a friend in some slight degree to + obscure his sense of justice.<a id="noteref_291" name="noteref_291" + href="#note_291"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">291</span></span></a> The + writings of Cicero in his old age are full of passionate aspirations + to a future world, unclouded by one regret or by one fear. Seneca + died tranquilly, bequeathing to his friends <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the most precious of his possessions, the image of his + life.”</span><a id="noteref_292" name="noteref_292" href= + "#note_292"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">292</span></span></a> Titus + on his deathbed declared that he could remember only a single act + with which to reproach himself.<a id="noteref_293" name="noteref_293" + href="#note_293"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">293</span></span></a> On the + last night in which Antoninus Pius lived, the tribune came to ask for + the pass-word of the night. The dying emperor gave him <span class= + "tei tei-q">“æquanimitas.”</span><a id="noteref_294" name= + "noteref_294" href="#note_294"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">294</span></span></a> Julian, + the last great representative of his expiring creed, caught up the + same majestic strain. Amid <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page208">[pg + 208]</span><a name="Pg208" id="Pg208" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the + curses of angry priests, and the impending ruin of the cause he + loved, he calmly died in the consciousness of his virtue; and his + death, which is among the most fearless that antiquity records, was + the last protest of philosophic paganism against the new doctrine + that had arisen.<a id="noteref_295" name="noteref_295" href= + "#note_295"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">295</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is customary + with some writers, when exhibiting the many points in which the + ancient philosophers anticipated Christian ethics, to represent + Christianity as if it were merely a development or authoritative + confirmation of the highest teaching of paganism, or as if the + additions were at least of such a nature that there is but little + doubt that the best and purest spirits of the pagan world, had they + known them, would have gladly welcomed them. But this conception, + which contains a large amount of truth if applied to the teaching of + many Protestants, is either grossly exaggerated or absolutely false + if applied to that of the patristic period or of mediæval + Catholicism. On the very subject which the philosophers deemed the + most important their unanimous conclusion was the extreme antithesis + of the teaching of Catholicism. The philosophers taught that death is + <span class="tei tei-q">“a law and not a punishment;”</span><a id= + "noteref_296" name="noteref_296" href="#note_296"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">296</span></span></a> the + fathers taught that it is a penal infliction introduced into the + world on account of the sin of Adam, which was also the cause of the + appearance of all noxious plants, of all convulsions in the material + globe, and, as was sometimes asserted, even of a diminution of the + light of the sun. The first taught that death was the end of + suffering; they ridiculed as the extreme of folly the notion that + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page209">[pg 209]</span><a name="Pg209" + id="Pg209" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> physical evils could await + those whose bodies had been reduced to ashes, and they dwelt with + emphatic eloquence upon the approaching, and, as they believed, final + extinction of superstitious terrors. The second taught that death to + the vast majority of the human race is but the beginning of endless + and excruciating tortures—tortures before which the most ghastly of + terrestrial sufferings dwindle into insignificance—tortures which no + courage could defy—which none but an immortal being could endure. The + first represented man as pure and innocent until his will had sinned; + the second represented him as under a sentence of condemnation at the + very moment of his birth. <span class="tei tei-q">“No funeral + sacrifices”</span> said a great writer of the first school, + <span class="tei tei-q">“are offered for children who die at an early + age, and none of the ceremonies practised at the funerals of adults + are performed at their tombs, for it is believed that infants have no + hold upon earth or upon terrestrial affections.... The law forbids us + to honour them because it is irreligious to lament for those pure + souls who have passed into a better life and a happier + dwelling-place.”</span><a id="noteref_297" name="noteref_297" href= + "#note_297"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">297</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Whosoever shall tell us,”</span> said a + distinguished exponent of the patristic theology, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“that infants shall be quickened in Christ who die + without partaking in His Sacrament, does both contradict the + Apostle's teaching and condemn the whole Church.... And he that is + not quickened in Christ must remain in that condemnation of which the + Apostle speaks, <span class="tei tei-q">‘by one man's offence + condemnation came upon all men to condemnation.’</span> To which + condemnation infants are born liable as all the Church + believes.”</span><a id="noteref_298" name="noteref_298" href= + "#note_298"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">298</span></span></a> The one + school endeavoured to plant its foundations in the moral nature of + mankind, by proclaiming that man can become acceptable to the Deity + by his own virtue, and by this alone, that all sacrifices, rites, and + forms are indifferent, and that the true worship of God is the + recognition and imitation of His <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page210">[pg 210]</span><a name="Pg210" id="Pg210" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> goodness. According to the other school, the + most heroic efforts of human virtue are insufficient to avert a + sentence of eternal condemnation, unless united with an implicit + belief in the teachings of the Church, and a due observance of the + rites it enjoins. By the philosophers the ascription of anger and + vengeance to the Deity, and the apprehension of future torture at His + hands, were unanimously repudiated;<a id="noteref_299" name= + "noteref_299" href="#note_299"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">299</span></span></a> by the + priests the opposite opinion was deemed equally censurable.<a id= + "noteref_300" name="noteref_300" href="#note_300"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">300</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These are + fundamental points of difference, for they relate to the fundamental + principles of the ancient philosophy. The main object of the pagan + philosophers was to dispel the terrors the imagination had cast + around death, and by destroying this last cause of fear to secure the + liberty of man. The main object of the Catholic priests has been to + make death in itself as revolting and appalling as possible, and by + representing escape from its terrors as hopeless, except by complete + subjection to their rule, to convert it into an instrument of + government. By multiplying the dancing or warning skeletons, and + other sepulchral images representing the loathsomeness of death + without its repose; by substituting inhumation for incremation, and + concentrating the imagination on the ghastliness of decay; above all, + by peopling the unseen world with demon phantoms and with + excruciating tortures, the Catholic Church succeeded in making death + in itself unspeakably terrible, and in thus preparing men for the + consolations it could offer. Its legends, its ceremonies, its + art,<a id="noteref_301" name="noteref_301" href= + "#note_301"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">301</span></span></a> its + dogmatic <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page211">[pg + 211]</span><a name="Pg211" id="Pg211" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + teaching, all conspired to this end, and the history of its miracles + is a striking evidence of its success. The great majority of + superstitions have ever clustered around two centres—the fear of + death and the belief that every phenomenon of life is the result of a + special spiritual interposition. Among the ancients they were usually + of the latter kind. Auguries, prophecies, interventions in war, + prodigies avenging the neglect of some rite or marking some epoch in + the fortunes of a nation or of a ruler, are the forms they usually + assumed. In the middle ages, although these were very common, the + most conspicuous superstitions took the form of visions of purgatory + or hell, conflicts with visible demons, or Satanic miracles. Like + those mothers who govern their children by persuading them that the + dark is crowded with spectres that will seize the disobedient, and + who often succeed in creating an association of ideas which the adult + man is unable altogether to dissolve, the Catholic priests resolved + to base their power upon the nerves; and as they long exercised an + absolute control over education, literature, and art, they succeeded + in completely reversing the teaching of ancient philosophy, and in + making the terrors of death for centuries the nightmare of the + imagination.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There is, indeed, + another side to the picture. The vague uncertainty with which the + best pagans regarded death passed away before the teaching of the + Church, and it was often replaced by a rapture of hope, which, + however, the doctrine of purgatory contributed at a later period + largely to quell. But, whatever may be thought of the justice of the + Catholic conception of death or of its influence upon human + happiness, it is plain that it is radically different from that of + the pagan philosophers. That man is not only an imperfect but a + fallen being, and that death is the penal consequence of his sin, + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page212">[pg 212]</span><a name="Pg212" + id="Pg212" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> was a doctrine profoundly new + to mankind, and it has exercised an influence of the most serious + character upon the moral history of the world.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The wide + divergence of the classical from the Catholic conception of death + appears very plainly in the attitude which each system adopted + towards suicide. This is, perhaps, the most striking of all the + points of contrast between the teaching of antiquity, and especially + of the Roman Stoics, on the one hand, and that of almost all modern + moralists on the other. It is indeed true that the ancients were by + no means unanimous in their approval of the act. Pythagoras, to whom + so many of the wisest sayings of antiquity are ascribed, is said to + have forbidden men <span class="tei tei-q">“to depart from their + guard or station in life without the order of their commander, that + is, of God.”</span><a id="noteref_302" name="noteref_302" href= + "#note_302"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">302</span></span></a> Plato + adopted similar language, though he permitted suicide when the law + required it, and also when men had been struck down by intolerable + calamity, or had sunk to the lowest depths of poverty.<a id= + "noteref_303" name="noteref_303" href="#note_303"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">303</span></span></a> + Aristotle condemned it on civic grounds, as being an injury to the + State.<a id="noteref_304" name="noteref_304" href= + "#note_304"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">304</span></span></a> The + roll of Greek suicides is not long, though it contains some + illustrious names, among others those of Zeno and Cleanthes.<a id= + "noteref_305" name="noteref_305" href="#note_305"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">305</span></span></a> In + Rome, too, where suicide acquired a greater prominence, its + lawfulness was by no means accepted as an axiom, and the story of + Regulus, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page213">[pg + 213]</span><a name="Pg213" id="Pg213" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + whether it be a history or a legend, shows that the patient endurance + of suffering was once the supreme ideal.<a id="noteref_306" name= + "noteref_306" href="#note_306"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">306</span></span></a> Virgil + painted in gloomy colours the condition of suicides in the future + world.<a id="noteref_307" name="noteref_307" href= + "#note_307"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">307</span></span></a> Cicero + strongly asserted the doctrine of Pythagoras, though he praised the + suicide of Cato.<a id="noteref_308" name="noteref_308" href= + "#note_308"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">308</span></span></a> + Apuleius, expounding the philosophy of Plato, taught that + <span class="tei tei-q">“the wise man never throws off his body + except by the will of God.”</span><a id="noteref_309" name= + "noteref_309" href="#note_309"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">309</span></span></a> Cæsar, + Ovid, and others urged that in extreme distress it is easy to despise + life, and that true courage is shown in enduring it.<a id= + "noteref_310" name="noteref_310" href="#note_310"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">310</span></span></a> Among + the Stoics themselves, the belief that no man may shrink from a duty + co-existed with the belief that every man has a right to dispose of + his own life. Seneca, who emphatically advocated suicide, admits that + there were some who deemed it wrong, and he himself attempted to + moderate what he termed <span class="tei tei-q">“the passion for + suicide”</span>, that had arisen among his disciples.<a id= + "noteref_311" name="noteref_311" href="#note_311"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">311</span></span></a> Marcus + Aurelius wavers a little on the subject, sometimes asserting the + right of every man to leave life when <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page214">[pg 214]</span><a name="Pg214" id="Pg214" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> he pleases, sometimes inclining to the Platonic + doctrine that man is a soldier of God, occupying a post which it is + criminal to abandon.<a id="noteref_312" name="noteref_312" href= + "#note_312"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">312</span></span></a> + Plotinus and Porphyry argued strongly against all suicide.<a id= + "noteref_313" name="noteref_313" href="#note_313"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">313</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But, + notwithstanding these passages, there can be no question that the + ancient view of suicide was broadly and strongly opposed to our own. + A general approval of it floated down through most of the schools of + philosophy, and even to those who condemned it, it never seems to + have assumed its present aspect of extreme enormity. This was in the + first instance due to the ancient notion of death; and we have also + to remember that when a society once learns to tolerate suicide, the + deed, in ceasing to be disgraceful, loses much of its actual + criminality, for those who are most firmly convinced that the stigma + and suffering it now brings upon the family of the deceased do not + constitute its entire guilt, will readily acknowledge that they + greatly aggravate it. In the conditions of ancient thought, this + aggravation did not exist. Epicurus exhorted men <span class= + "tei tei-q">“to weigh carefully, whether they would prefer death to + come to them, or would themselves <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page215">[pg 215]</span><a name="Pg215" id="Pg215" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> go to death;”</span><a id="noteref_314" name= + "noteref_314" href="#note_314"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">314</span></span></a> and + among his disciples, Lucretius, the illustrious poet of the sect, + died by his own hand,<a id="noteref_315" name="noteref_315" href= + "#note_315"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">315</span></span></a> as did + also Cassius the tyrannicide, Atticus the friend of Cicero,<a id= + "noteref_316" name="noteref_316" href="#note_316"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">316</span></span></a> the + voluptuary Petronius,<a id="noteref_317" name="noteref_317" href= + "#note_317"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">317</span></span></a> and the + philosopher Diodorus.<a id="noteref_318" name="noteref_318" href= + "#note_318"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">318</span></span></a> Pliny + described the lot of man as in this respect at least superior to that + of God, that man has the power of flying to the tomb,<a id= + "noteref_319" name="noteref_319" href="#note_319"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">319</span></span></a> and he + represented it as one of the greatest proofs of the bounty of + Providence, that it has filled the world with herbs, by which the + weary may find a rapid and a painless death.<a id="noteref_320" name= + "noteref_320" href="#note_320"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">320</span></span></a> One of + the most striking figures that a passing notice of Cicero brings + before us, is that of Hegesias, who <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page216">[pg 216]</span><a name="Pg216" id="Pg216" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> was surnamed by the ancients <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the orator of death.”</span> A conspicuous member of + that Cyrenaic school which esteemed the pursuit of pleasure the sole + end of a rational being, he taught that life was so full of cares, + and its pleasure so fleeting and so alloyed, that the happiest lot + for man was death; and such was the power of his eloquence, so + intense was the fascination he cast around the tomb, that his + disciples embraced with rapture the consequence of his doctrine, + multitudes freed themselves by suicide from the troubles of the + world, and the contagion was so great, that Ptolemy, it is said, was + compelled to banish the philosopher from Alexandria.<a id= + "noteref_321" name="noteref_321" href="#note_321"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">321</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But it was in the + Roman Empire and among the Roman Stoics that suicide assumed its + greatest prominence, and its philosophy was most fully elaborated. + From an early period self-immolation, like that of Curtius or Decius, + had been esteemed in some circumstances a religious rite, being, as + has been well suggested, probably a lingering remnant of the custom + of human sacrifices,<a id="noteref_322" name="noteref_322" href= + "#note_322"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">322</span></span></a> and + towards the closing days of paganism many influences conspired in the + same direction. The example of Cato, who had become the ideal of the + Stoics, and whose dramatic suicide was the favourite subject of their + eloquence,<a id="noteref_323" name="noteref_323" href= + "#note_323"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">323</span></span></a> the + indifference to death produced by the great multiplication of + gladiatorial shows, the many instances of barbarian captives, who, + sooner than slay their fellow-countrymen, or minister to the + pleasures of their conquerors, plunged their lances into their own + necks, or found <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page217">[pg + 217]</span><a name="Pg217" id="Pg217" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + other and still more horrible roads to freedom,<a id="noteref_324" + name="noteref_324" href="#note_324"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">324</span></span></a> the + custom of compelling political prisoners to execute their own + sentence, and, more than all, the capricious and atrocious tyranny of + the Cæsars,<a id="noteref_325" name="noteref_325" href= + "#note_325"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">325</span></span></a> had + raised suicide into an extraordinary prominence. Few things are more + touching than the passionate joy with which, in the reign of Nero, + Seneca clung to it as the one refuge for the oppressed, the last + bulwark of the tottering mind. <span class="tei tei-q">“To death + alone it is due that life is not a punishment, that, erect beneath + the frowns of fortune, I can preserve my mind unshaken and master of + itself. I have one to whom I can appeal. I see before me the crosses + of many forms.... I see the rack and the scourge, and the instruments + of torture adapted to every limb and to every nerve; but I also see + Death. She stands beyond my savage enemies, beyond my haughty + fellow-countrymen. Slavery loses its bitterness when by a step I can + pass to liberty. Against all the injuries of life, I have the refuge + of death.”</span><a id="noteref_326" name="noteref_326" href= + "#note_326"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">326</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Wherever you look, there is the end of + evils. You see that yawning precipice—there you may descend to + liberty. You see that sea, that river, that well—liberty sits at the + bottom.... Do you seek the way to freedom?—you may find it in every + vein of your body.”</span><a id="noteref_327" name="noteref_327" + href="#note_327"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">327</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“If I can choose between a death of torture + and one that is simple and easy, why should I not select the latter? + As I choose the ship in which I will sail, and the house I will + inhabit, so I will choose the death by which I will leave life.... In + no matter more than in death should we act according to our desire. + Depart from life as your impulse leads you, whether it be by the + sword, or the rope, or the poison creeping through the veins; go your + way, and break the chains of slavery. Man should seek the approbation + of others in his life; his death <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page218">[pg 218]</span><a name="Pg218" id="Pg218" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> concerns himself alone. That is the best which + pleases him most.... The eternal law has decreed nothing better than + this, that life should have but one entrance and many exits. Why + should I endure the agonies of disease, and the cruelties of human + tyranny, when I can emancipate myself from all my torments, and shake + off every bond? For this reason, but for this alone, life is not an + evil—that no one is obliged to live. The lot of man is happy, because + no one continues wretched but by his fault. If life pleases you, + live. If not, you have a right to return whence you + came.”</span><a id="noteref_328" name="noteref_328" href= + "#note_328"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">328</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These passages, + which are but a few selected out of very many, will sufficiently show + the passion with which the most influential teacher of Roman Stoicism + advocated suicide. As a general proposition, the law recognised it as + a right, but two slight restrictions were after a time imposed.<a id= + "noteref_329" name="noteref_329" href="#note_329"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">329</span></span></a> It had + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page219">[pg 219]</span><a name="Pg219" + id="Pg219" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> become customary with many men + who were accused of political offences to commit suicide before + trial, in order to prevent the ignominious exposure of their bodies + and the confiscation of their goods; but Domitian closed this + resource by ordaining that the suicide of an accused person should + entail the same consequences as his condemnation. Hadrian afterwards + assimilated the suicide of a Roman soldier to desertion.<a id= + "noteref_330" name="noteref_330" href="#note_330"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">330</span></span></a> With + these exceptions, the liberty appears to have been absolute, and the + act was committed under the most various motives. The suicide of + Otho, who is said to have killed himself to avoid being a second time + a cause of civil war, was extolled as equal in grandeur to that of + Cato.<a id="noteref_331" name="noteref_331" href= + "#note_331"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">331</span></span></a> In the + Dacian war, the enemy, having captured a distinguished Roman general + named Longinus, endeavoured to extort terms from Trajan as a + condition of his surrender, but Longinus, by taking poison, freed the + emperor from his embarrassment.<a id="noteref_332" name="noteref_332" + href="#note_332"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">332</span></span></a> On the + death of Otho, some of his soldiers, filled with grief and + admiration, killed themselves before his corpse,<a id="noteref_333" + name="noteref_333" href="#note_333"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">333</span></span></a> as did + also a freedman of Agrippina, at the funeral of the empress.<a id= + "noteref_334" name="noteref_334" href="#note_334"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">334</span></span></a> Before + the close of the Republic, an enthusiastic partisan of one of the + factions in the chariot races flung himself upon the pile on which + the body of a favourite coachman was consumed, and perished in the + flames.<a id="noteref_335" name="noteref_335" href= + "#note_335"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">335</span></span></a> A + Roman, unmenaced in his <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page220">[pg + 220]</span><a name="Pg220" id="Pg220" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + fortune, and standing high in the favour of his sovereign, killed + himself under Tiberius, because he could not endure to witness the + crimes of the empire.<a id="noteref_336" name="noteref_336" href= + "#note_336"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">336</span></span></a> + Another, being afflicted by an incurable malady, postponed his + suicide till the death of Domitian, that at least he might die free, + and on the assassination of the tyrant, hastened cheerfully to the + tomb.<a id="noteref_337" name="noteref_337" href= + "#note_337"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">337</span></span></a> The + Cynic Peregrinus announced that, being weary of life, he would on a + certain day depart, and, in presence of a large concourse, he mounted + the funeral pile.<a id="noteref_338" name="noteref_338" href= + "#note_338"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">338</span></span></a> Most + frequently, however, death was regarded as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the last physician of disease,”</span><a id= + "noteref_339" name="noteref_339" href="#note_339"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">339</span></span></a> and + suicide as the legitimate relief from intolerable suffering. + <span class="tei tei-q">“Above all things,”</span> said Epictetus, + <span class="tei tei-q">“remember that the door is open. Be not more + timid than boys at play. As they, when they cease to take pleasure in + their games, declare they will no longer play, so do you, when, all + things begin to pall upon you, retire; but if you stay, do not + complain.”</span><a id="noteref_340" name="noteref_340" href= + "#note_340"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">340</span></span></a> Seneca + declared that he who waits the extremity of old age is not + <span class="tei tei-q">“far removed from a coward,”</span> + <span class="tei tei-q">“as he is justly regarded as too much + addicted to wine who drains the flask to the very dregs.”</span> + <span class="tei tei-q">“I will not relinquish old age,”</span> he + added, <span class="tei tei-q">“if it leaves my better part intact. + But if it begins to shake my mind, if it destroys its faculties one + by one, if it leaves me not life but breath, I will depart from the + putrid or tottering edifice. I will not escape by death from disease + so long as it may be healed, and leaves my mind unimpaired. I will + not raise my hand against myself on account of pain, for so to die is + to be conquered. But if I know that I must suffer without hope of + relief, I will depart, not through fear of the pain itself, but + because it prevents all for which I would live.”</span><a id= + "noteref_341" name="noteref_341" href="#note_341"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">341</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Just as a landlord,”</span> said Musonius, + <span class="tei tei-q">“who has not received his rent, pulls + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page221">[pg 221]</span><a name="Pg221" + id="Pg221" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> down the doors, removes the + rafters, and fills up the well, so I seem to be driven out of this + little body, when nature, which has let it to me, takes away, one by + one, eyes and ears, hands and feet. I will not, therefore, delay + longer, but will cheerfully depart as from a banquet.”</span><a id= + "noteref_342" name="noteref_342" href="#note_342"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">342</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This conception of + suicide as an euthanasia, an abridgment of the pangs of disease, and + a guarantee against the dotage of age, was not confined to + philosophical treatises. We have considerable evidence of its being + frequently put in practice. Among those who thus abridged their lives + was Silius Italicus, one of the last of the Latin poets.<a id= + "noteref_343" name="noteref_343" href="#note_343"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">343</span></span></a> The + younger Pliny describes in terms of the most glowing admiration the + conduct of one of his friends, who, struck down by disease, resolved + calmly and deliberately upon the path he should pursue. He + determined, if the disease was only dangerous and long, to yield to + the wishes of his friends and await the struggle; but if the issue + was hopeless, to die by his own hand. Having reasoned on the + propriety of this course with all the tranquil courage of a Roman, he + summoned a council of physicians, and, with a mind indifferent to + either fate, he calmly awaited their sentence.<a id="noteref_344" + name="noteref_344" href="#note_344"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">344</span></span></a> The + same writer mentions the case of a man who was afflicted with a + horrible disease, which reduced his body to a mass of sores. His + wife, being convinced that it was incurable, exhorted her husband to + shorten his sufferings; she nerved and encouraged him to the effort, + and she claimed it as her privilege to accompany him to the grave. + Husband and wife, bound <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page222">[pg + 222]</span><a name="Pg222" id="Pg222" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + together, plunged into a lake.<a id="noteref_345" name="noteref_345" + href="#note_345"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">345</span></span></a> Seneca, + in one of his letters, has left us a detailed description of the + death-bed of one of the Roman suicides. Tullius Marcellinus, a young + man of remarkable abilities and very earnest character, who had long + ridiculed the teachings of philosophy, but had ended by embracing it + with all the passion of a convert, being afflicted with a grave and + lingering though not incurable disease, resolved at length upon + suicide. He gathered his friends around him, and many of them + entreated him to continue in life. Among them, however, was one + Stoical philosopher, who addressed him in what Seneca terms the very + noblest of discourses. He exhorted him not to lay too much stress + upon the question he was deciding, as if existence was a matter of + great importance. He urged that life is a thing we possess in common + with slaves and animals, but that a noble death should indeed be + prized, and he concluded by recommending suicide. Marcellinus gladly + embraced the counsel which his own wishes had anticipated. According + to the advice of his friend, he distributed gifts among his faithful + slaves, consoled them on their approaching bereavement, abstained + dining three days from all food, and at last, when his strength had + been wholly exhausted, passed into a warm bath and calmly died, + describing with his last breath the pleasing sensations that + accompanied receding life.<a id="noteref_346" name="noteref_346" + href="#note_346"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">346</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The doctrine of + suicide was indeed the culminating point of Roman Stoicism. The + proud, self-reliant, unbending character of the philosopher could + only be sustained when he felt that he had a sure refuge against the + extreme forms of suffering or of despair. Although virtue is not a + mere creature of interest, no great system has ever yet flourished + which did not present an ideal of happiness as well as an ideal of + duty. Stoicism taught men to hope little, but to fear nothing. + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page223">[pg 223]</span><a name="Pg223" + id="Pg223" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> It did not array death in + brilliant colours, as the path to positive felicity, but it + endeavoured to divest it, as the end of suffering, of every terror. + Life lost much of its bitterness when men had found a refuge from the + storms of fate, a speedy deliverance from dotage and pain. Death + ceased to be terrible when it was regarded rather as a remedy than as + a sentence. Life and death in the Stoical system were attuned to the + same key. The deification of human virtue, the total absence of all + sense of sin, the proud stubborn will that deemed humiliation the + worst of stains, appeared alike in each. The type of its own kind was + perfect. All the virtues and all the majesty that accompany human + pride, when developed to the highest point, and directed to the + noblest ends, were here displayed. All those which accompany humility + and self-abasement were absent.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I desire at this + stage of our enquiry to pause for a moment, in order to retrace + briefly the leading steps of the foregoing argument, and thus to + bring into the clearest light the connection which many details and + quotations may have occasionally obscured. Such a review will show at + a single glance in what respects Stoicism was a result of the + pre-existent state of society, and in what respects it was an active + agent, how far its influence was preparing the way for Christian + ethics, and how far it was opposed to them.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We have seen, + then, that among the Romans, as among other people, a very clear and + definite type of moral excellence was created before men had formed + any clear intellectual notions of the nature and sanctions of virtue. + The characters of men are chiefly governed by their occupations, and + the republic being organised altogether with a view to military + success, it had attained all the virtues and vices of a military + society. We have seen, too, that at all times, but most especially + under the conditions of ancient warfare, military life is very + unfavourable to the amiable, and very favourable to the heroic + virtues. The Roman had learnt to value force <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page224">[pg 224]</span><a name="Pg224" id="Pg224" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> very highly. Being continually engaged in + inflicting pain, his natural or instinctive humanity was very low. + His moral feelings were almost bounded by political limits, acting + only, and with different degrees of intensity, towards his class, his + country, and its allies. Indomitable pride was the most prominent + element of his character. A victorious army which is humble or + diffident, or tolerant of insult, or anxious to take the second + place, is, indeed, almost a contradiction of terms. The spirit of + patriotism, in its relation to foreigners, like that of political + liberty in its relation to governors, is a spirit of constant and + jealous self-assertion; and although both are very consonant with + high morality and great self-devotion, we rarely find that the grace + of genuine humility can flourish in a society that is intensely + pervaded by their influence. The kind of excellence that found most + favour in Roman eyes was simple, forcible, massive, but + coarse-grained. Subtilty of motives, refinements of feelings, + delicacies of susceptibility, were rarely appreciated.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This was the + darker side of the picture. On the other hand, the national + character, being formed by a profession in which mercenary + considerations are less powerful, and splendid examples of + self-devotion more frequent, than in any other, had early risen to a + heroic level. Death being continually confronted, to meet it with + courage was the chief test of virtue. The habits of men were + unaffected, frugal, honourable, and laborious. A stern discipline + pervading all ages and classes of society, the will was trained, to + an almost unexampled degree, to repress the passions, to endure + suffering and opposition, to tend steadily and fearlessly towards an + unpopular end. A sense of duty was very widely diffused, and a deep + attachment to the interests of the city became the parent of many + virtues.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Such was the type + of excellence the Roman people had attained at a time when its + intellectual cultivation produced philosophical discussions, and when + numerous Greek professors, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page225">[pg + 225]</span><a name="Pg225" id="Pg225" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + attracted partly by political events, and partly by the patronage of + Scipio Æmilianus, arrived at Rome, bringing with them the tenets of + the great schools of Zeno and Epicurus, and of the many minor sects + that clustered around them. Epicureanism being essentially opposed to + the pre-existing type of virtue, though it spread greatly, never + attained the position of a school of virtue. Stoicism, taught by + Panætius of Rhodes, and soon after by the Syrian Posidonius, became + the true religion of the educated classes. It furnished the + principles of virtue, coloured the noblest literature of the time, + and guided all the developments of moral enthusiasm.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The Stoical system + of ethics was in the highest sense a system of independent morals. It + taught that our reason reveals to us a certain law of nature, and + that a desire to conform to this law, irrespectively of all + considerations of reward or punishment, of happiness or the reverse, + is a possible and a sufficient motive of virtue. It was also in the + highest sense a system of discipline. It taught that the will, acting + under the complete control of the reason, is the sole principle of + virtue, and that all the emotional part of our being is of the nature + of a disease. Its whole tendency was therefore to dignify and + strengthen the will, and to degrade and suppress the desires. It + taught, moreover, that man is capable of attaining an extremely high + degree of moral excellence, that he has nothing to fear beyond the + present life, that it is essential to the dignity and consistence of + his character that he should regard death without dismay, and that he + has a right to hasten it if he desires.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is easy to see + that this system of ethics was strictly consonant with the type of + character the circumstances of the Roman people had formed. It is + also manifest that while the force of circumstances had in the first + instance secured its ascendancy, the energy of will which it produced + would enable it to offer a powerful resistance to the tendencies of + an altered condition of society. This was pre-eminently <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page226">[pg 226]</span><a name="Pg226" id="Pg226" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> shown in the history of Roman Stoicism. + The austere purity of the writings of Seneca and his school is a fact + probably unique in history, when we consider, on the one hand, the + intense and undisguised depravity of the Empire, and on the other, + the prominent position of most of the leading Stoics in the very + centre of the stream. More than once in later periods did great + intellectual brilliancy coincide with general depravity, but on none + of these occasions was this moral phenomenon reproduced. In the age + of Leo X., in the age of the French Regency, or of Lewis XV., we look + in vain for high moral teaching in the centre of Italian or of + Parisian civilisation. The true teachers of those ages were the + reformers, who arose in obscure towns of Germany or Switzerland, or + that diseased recluse who, from his solitude near Geneva, fascinated + Europe by the gleams of a dazzling and almost peerless eloquence, and + by a moral teaching which, though often feverish, paradoxical, and + unpractical, abounded in passages of transcendent majesty and of the + most entrancing purity and beauty. But even the best moral teachers + who rose in the centres of the depraved society felt the contagion of + the surrounding vice. Their ideal was depressed, their austerity was + relaxed, they appealed to sordid and worldly motives, their judgments + of character were wavering and uncertain, their whole teaching was of + the nature of a compromise. But in ancient Rome, if the teachers of + virtue acted but feebly upon the surrounding corruption, their own + tenets were at least unstained. The splendour of the genius of Cæsar + never eclipsed the moral grandeur of the vanquished Cato, and amid + all the dramatic vicissitudes of civil war and of political + convulsion, the supreme authority of moral distinctions was never + forgotten. The eloquence of Livy was chiefly employed in painting + virtue, the eloquence of Tacitus in branding vice. The Stoics never + lowered their standard because of the depravity around them, and if + we trace in their teaching any reflection <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page227">[pg 227]</span><a name="Pg227" id="Pg227" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> of the prevailing worship of enjoyment, it is + only in the passionate intensity with which they dwelt upon the + tranquillity of the tomb.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But it is not + sufficient for a moral system to form a bulwark against vice, it must + also be capable of admitting those extensions and refinements of + moral sympathies which advancing civilisation produces, and the + inflexibility of its antagonism to evil by no means implies its + capacity of enlarging its conceptions of good. During the period + which elapsed between the importation of Stoical tenets into Rome and + the ascendancy of Christianity, an extremely important transformation + of moral ideas had been effected by political changes, and it became + a question how far the new elements could coalesce with the Stoical + ideal, and how far they tended to replace it by an essentially + different type. These changes were twofold, but were very closely + connected. They consisted of the increasing prominence of the + benevolent or amiable, as distinguished from the heroic qualities, + and of the enlargement of moral sympathies, which having at first + comprised only a class or a nation, came at last, by the destruction + of many artificial barriers, to include all classes and all nations. + The causes of these changes—which were the most important antecedents + of the triumph of Christianity—are very complicated and numerous, but + it will, I think, be possible to give in a few pages a sufficiently + clear outline of the movement.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It originated in + the Roman Empire at the time when the union of the Greek and Latin + civilisations was effected by the conquest of Greece. The general + humanity of the Greeks had always been incomparably greater than that + of the Romans. The refining influence of their art and literature, + their ignorance of gladiatorial games, and their comparative freedom + from the spirit of conquest, had separated them widely from their + semi-barbarous conquerors, and had given a peculiar softness and + tenderness to their ideal <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page228">[pg + 228]</span><a name="Pg228" id="Pg228" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + characters. Pericles, who, when the friends who had gathered round + his death-bed, imagining him to be insensible, were recounting his + splendid deeds, told them that they had forgotten his best title to + fame—that <span class="tei tei-q">“no Athenian had ever worn mourning + on his account;”</span> Aristides, praying the gods that those who + had banished him might never be compelled by danger or suffering to + recall him; Phocion, when unjustly condemned, exhorting his son never + to avenge his death, all represent a type of character of a milder + kind than that which Roman influences produced. The plays of + Euripides had been to the ancient world the first great revelation of + the supreme beauty of the gentler virtues. Among the many forms of + worship that flourished at Athens, there was an altar which stood + alone, conspicuous and honoured beyond all others. The suppliants + thronged around it, but no image of a god, no symbol of dogma was + there. It was dedicated to Pity, and was venerated through all the + ancient world as the first great assertion among mankind of the + supremo sanctity of Mercy.<a id="noteref_347" name="noteref_347" + href="#note_347"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">347</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But while the + Greek spirit was from a very early period <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page229">[pg 229]</span><a name="Pg229" id="Pg229" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> distinguished for its humanity, it was at first + as far removed from cosmopolitanism as that of Rome. It is well known + that Phrynichus was fined because in his <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Conquest of Miletus”</span> he had represented the + triumph of barbarians over Greeks.<a id="noteref_348" name= + "noteref_348" href="#note_348"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">348</span></span></a> His + successor, Æschylus, deemed it necessary to violate all dramatic + probabilities by making the Persian king and courtiers continually + speak of themselves as barbarians. Socrates, indeed, had proclaimed + himself a citizen of the world,<a id="noteref_349" name="noteref_349" + href="#note_349"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">349</span></span></a> but + Aristotle taught that Greeks had no more duties to barbarians than to + wild beasts, and another philosopher was believed to have evinced an + almost excessive range of sympathy when he declared that his + affections extended beyond his own State, and included the whole + people of Greece. But the dissolving and disintegrating philosophical + discussions that soon followed the death of Socrates, strengthened by + political events, tended powerfully to destroy this feeling. The + traditions that attached Greek philosophy to Egypt, the subsequent + admiration for the schools of India to which Pyrrho and Anaxarchus + are said to have resorted,<a id="noteref_350" name="noteref_350" + href="#note_350"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">350</span></span></a> the + prevalence of Cynicism and Epicureanism, which agreed in inculcating + indifference to political life, the complete decomposition of the + popular national religions, and the incompatibility of a narrow local + feeling with great knowledge and matured civilisation, were the + intellectual causes of the change, and the movement of expansion + received a great political stimulus when Alexander eclipsed the + glories of Spartan and Athenian history by the vision of universal + empire, accorded to the conquered nations the privileges of the + conquerors, and <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page230">[pg + 230]</span><a name="Pg230" id="Pg230" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + created in Alexandria a great centre both of commercial intercourse + and of philosophical eclecticism.<a id="noteref_351" name= + "noteref_351" href="#note_351"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">351</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is evident, + therefore, that the prevalence of Greek ideas in Rome would be in a + two-fold way destructive of narrow national feelings. It was the + ascendancy of a people who were not Romans, and of a people who had + already become in a great degree emancipated from local sentiments. + It is also evident that the Greeks having had for several centuries a + splendid literature, at a time when the Romans had none, and when the + Latin language was still too rude for literary purposes, the period + in which the Romans first emerged from a purely military condition + into an intelligent civilisation would bring with it an ascendancy of + Greek ideas. Fabius Pictor and Cincius Alimentus, the earliest native + Roman historians, both wrote in Greek,<a id="noteref_352" name= + "noteref_352" href="#note_352"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">352</span></span></a> and + although the poems of Ennius, and the <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Origines”</span> of Marcus Cato, contributed largely to + improve and fix the Latin language, the precedent was not at once + discontinued.<a id="noteref_353" name="noteref_353" href= + "#note_353"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">353</span></span></a> After + the conquest of Greece, the political ascendancy of the Romans and + the intellectual ascendancy of Greece were alike universal.<a id= + "noteref_354" name="noteref_354" href="#note_354"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">354</span></span></a> The + conquered <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page231">[pg + 231]</span><a name="Pg231" id="Pg231" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + people, whose patriotic feelings had been greatly enfeebled by the + influences I have noticed, acquiesced readily in their new condition, + and notwithstanding the vehement exertions of the conservative party, + Greek manners, sentiments, and ideas soon penetrated into all + classes, and moulded all the forms of Roman life. The elder Cato, as + an acute observer has noticed, desired all Greek philosophers to be + expelled from Rome. The younger Cato made Greek philosophers his most + intimate friends.<a id="noteref_355" name="noteref_355" href= + "#note_355"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">355</span></span></a> Roman + virtue found its highest expression in Stoicism. Roman vice sheltered + itself under the name of Epicurus. Diodorus of Sicily and Polybius + first sketched in Greek the outlines of universal history. Dionysius + of Halicarnassus explored Roman antiquities. Greek artists and Greek + architects thronged the city; but the first, under Roman influence, + abandoned the ideal for the portrait, and the second degraded the + noble Corinthian pillar into the bastard composite.<a id= + "noteref_356" name="noteref_356" href="#note_356"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">356</span></span></a> The + theatre, which now started into sudden life, was borrowed altogether + from the Greeks. Ennius and Pacuvius imitated Euripides; Cæcilius, + Plautus, Terence, and Nævius devoted themselves chiefly to Menander. + Even the lover in the days of Lucretius painted his lady's charms in + Greek.<a id="noteref_357" name="noteref_357" href= + "#note_357"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">357</span></span></a> Immense + sums were given for Greek literary slaves, and the attractions of the + capital drew to Rome nearly all that was brilliant in Athenian + society.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">While the complete + ascendancy of the intellect and manners of Greece was destroying the + simplicity of the old Roman type, and at the same time enlarging the + range of <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page232">[pg + 232]</span><a name="Pg232" id="Pg232" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + Roman sympathies, an equally powerful influence was breaking down the + aristocratic and class feeling which had so long raised an + insurmountable barrier between the nobles and the plebeians. Their + long contentions had issued in the civil wars, the dictatorship of + Julius Cæsar, and the Empire, and these changes in a great measure + obliterated the old lines of demarcation. Foreign wars, which develop + with great intensity distinctive national types, and divert the + public mind from internal changes, are usually favourable to the + conservative spirit; but civil wars are essentially revolutionary, + for they overwhelm all class barriers and throw open the highest + prizes to energy and genius. Two very remarkable and altogether + unprecedented illustrations of this truth occurred at Rome. Ventidius + Bassus, by his military skill, and by the friendship of Julius Cæsar, + and afterwards of Antony, rose from the position of mule-driver to + the command of a Roman army, and at last to the consulate,<a id= + "noteref_358" name="noteref_358" href="#note_358"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">358</span></span></a> which + was also attained, about 40 <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">b.c.</span></span>, by the Spaniard + Cornelius Balbus.<a id="noteref_359" name="noteref_359" href= + "#note_359"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">359</span></span></a> + Augustus, though the most aristocratic of emperors, in order to + discourage celibacy, permitted all citizens who were not senators to + intermarry with freedwomen. The empire was in several distinct ways + unfavourable to class distinctions. It was for the most part + essentially democratic, winning its popularity from the masses of the + people, and crushing the senate, which had been the common centre of + aristocracy and of freedom. A new despotic power, bearing alike on + all classes, reduced them to an equality of servitude. The emperors + were themselves in many cases the mere creatures of revolt, and their + policy was governed by their origin. Their jealousy struck + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page233">[pg 233]</span><a name="Pg233" + id="Pg233" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> down many of the nobles, while + others were ruined by the public games, which it became customary to + give, or by the luxury to which, in the absence of political + occupations, they were impelled, and the relative importance of all + was diminished by the new creations. The ascendancy of wealth began + to pass into new quarters. Delators, or political informers, + encouraged by the emperors, and enriched by the confiscated + properties of those whose condemnation they had procured, rose to + great influence. From the time of Caligula, for several reigns, the + most influential citizens were freedmen, who occupied the principal + offices in the palace, and usually obtained complete ascendancy over + the emperors. Through them alone petitions were presented. By their + instrumentality the Imperial favours were distributed. They sometimes + dethroned the emperors. They retained their power unshaken through a + succession of revolutions. In wealth, in power, in the crowd of their + courtiers, in the splendour of their palaces in life, and of their + tombs in death, they eclipsed all others, and men whom the early + Roman patricians would have almost disdained to notice, saw the + proudest struggling for their favour.<a id="noteref_360" name= + "noteref_360" href="#note_360"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">360</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Together with + these influences many others of a kindred nature may be detected. The + colonial policy which the Gracchi had advocated was carried out at + Narbonne, and during the latter days of Julius Cæsar, to the + amazement and scandal of the Romans, Gauls of this province obtained + seats in the senate.<a id="noteref_361" name="noteref_361" href= + "#note_361"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">361</span></span></a> The + immense extent of the empire made it necessary for numerous troops to + remain during long periods of time in distant provinces, and the + foreign habits that were thus acquired began the destruction of the + exclusive feelings of the Roman army, which the subsequent enrolment + of <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page234">[pg 234]</span><a name= + "Pg234" id="Pg234" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> barbarians completed. + The public games, the immense luxury, the concentration of power, + wealth, and genius, made Rome the centre of a vast and ceaseless + concourse of strangers, the focus of all the various philosophies and + religions of the empire, and its population soon became an amorphous, + heterogeneous mass, in which all nations, customs, languages, and + creeds, all degrees of virtue and vice, of refinement and barbarism, + of scepticism and credulity, intermingled and interacted. Travelling + had become more easy and perhaps more frequent than it has been at + any other period before the nineteenth century. The subjection of the + whole civilised world to a single rule removed the chief obstacles to + locomotion. Magnificent roads, which modern nations have rarely + rivalled and never surpassed, intersected the entire empire, and + relays of post-horses enabled the voyager to proceed with an + astonishing rapidity. The sea, which, after the destruction of the + fleets of Carthage, had fallen almost completely under the dominion + of pirates, had been cleared by Pompey. The European shores of the + Mediterranean and the port of Alexandria were thronged with vessels. + Romans traversed the whole extent of the empire on political, + military, or commercial errands, or in search of health, or + knowledge, or pleasure.<a id="noteref_362" name="noteref_362" href= + "#note_362"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">362</span></span></a> The + entrancing beauties of Como and of Tempe, the luxurious manners of + Baiæ and Corinth, the schools, commerce, climate, and temples of + Alexandria, the soft winters of Sicily, the artistic wonders and + historic recollections of Athens and the Nile, the great colonial + interests of Gaul, attracted their thousands, while Roman luxury + needed the products of the remotest lands, and the demand for animals + for the amphitheatre spread Roman enterprise into the wildest + deserts. In the capital, the toleration accorded to different creeds + was such that the city soon became a miniature of the <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page235">[pg 235]</span><a name="Pg235" id="Pg235" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> world. Almost every variety of + charlatanism and of belief displayed itself unchecked, and boasted + its train of proselytes. Foreign ideas were in every form in the + ascendant. Greece, which had presided over the intellectual + development of Rome, acquired a new influence under the favouring + policy of Hadrian, and Greek became the language of some of the later + as it had been of the earliest writers. Egyptian religions and + philosophies excited the wildest enthusiasm. As early as the reign of + Augustus there were many thousands of Jewish residents at Rome,<a id= + "noteref_363" name="noteref_363" href="#note_363"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">363</span></span></a> and + their manners and creed spread widely among the people.<a id= + "noteref_364" name="noteref_364" href="#note_364"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">364</span></span></a> The + Carthaginian Apuleius,<a id="noteref_365" name="noteref_365" href= + "#note_365"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">365</span></span></a> the + Gauls Floras and Favorinus, the Spaniards Lucan, Columella, Martial, + Seneca, and Quintilian, had all in their different departments a high + place in Roman literature or philosophy.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the slave world + a corresponding revolution was taking place. The large proportion of + physicians and sculptors who were slaves, the appearance of three or + four distinguished authors in the slave class, the numerous literary + slaves imported from Greece, and the splendid examples of courage, + endurance, and devotion to their masters furnished by slaves during + the civil wars, and during some of the worst periods of the Empire, + were bridging the chasm between the servile and the free classes, and + the same tendency was more powerfully stimulated by the vast numbers + and overwhelming influence of the freedmen. The enormous scale and + frequent <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page236">[pg + 236]</span><a name="Pg236" id="Pg236" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + fluctuations of the great Roman establishments, and the innumerable + captives reduced to slavery after every war, rendered manumission + both frequent and easy, and it was soon regarded as a normal result + of faithful service. Many slaves bought their freedom out of the + savings which their masters always permitted them to make. Others + paid for it by their labour after their emancipation. Some masters + emancipated their slaves in order to obtain their part in the + distribution of corn, others to prevent the discovery of their own + crimes by the torture of their slaves, others through vanity, being + desirous of having their funerals attended by a long train of + freedmen, very many simply as a reward for long service.<a id= + "noteref_366" name="noteref_366" href="#note_366"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">366</span></span></a> The + freedman was still under what was termed the patronage of his former + master; he was bound to him by what in a later age would have been + called a feudal tie, and the political and social importance of a + noble depended in a very great degree upon the multitude of his + clients. The children of the emancipated slave were in the same + relation to the patron, and it was only in the third generation that + all disqualifications and restraints were abrogated. In consequence + of this system, manumission was often the interest of the master. In + the course of his life he enfranchised individual slaves. On his + death-bed or by his will he constantly emancipated multitudes. + Emancipation by testament acquired such dimensions, that Augustus + found it necessary to restrict the power; and he made several + limitations, of which the most important was that no one should + emancipate by his will more than one hundred of his slaves.<a id= + "noteref_367" name="noteref_367" href="#note_367"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">367</span></span></a> It was + once proposed that the slaves should be distinguished by a special + dress, but the proposition was abandoned because their number was so + great that to <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page237">[pg + 237]</span><a name="Pg237" id="Pg237" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + reveal to them their strength would be to place the city at their + mercy.<a id="noteref_368" name="noteref_368" href= + "#note_368"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">368</span></span></a> Even + among those who were not slaves, the element that was derived from + slavery soon preponderated. The majority of the free population had + probably either themselves been slaves, or were descended from + slaves, and men with this tainted lineage penetrated to all the + offices of the State.<a id="noteref_369" name="noteref_369" href= + "#note_369"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">369</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“There was,”</span> as has been well said, + <span class="tei tei-q">“a circulation of men from all the universe. + Rome received them slaves, and sent them back Romans.”</span><a id= + "noteref_370" name="noteref_370" href="#note_370"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">370</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is manifest how + profound a change had taken place since the Republican days, when the + highest dignities were long monopolised by a single class, when the + censors repressed with a stringent severity every form or exhibition + of luxury, when the rhetoricians were banished from the city, lest + the faintest tinge of foreign manners should impair the stern + simplicity of the people, and when the proposal to transfer the + capital to Veii, after a great disaster, was rejected on the ground + that it would be impious to worship the Roman deities anywhere but on + the Capitol, or for the Flamens and the Vestals to emigrate beyond + the walls.<a id="noteref_371" name="noteref_371" href= + "#note_371"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">371</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The greater number + of these tendencies to universal fusion or equality were blind forces + resulting from the stress of circumstances, and not from any human + forethought, or were agencies that were put in motion for a different + object. It must, however, be acknowledged that a definite theory of + policy had a considerable part in accelerating the movement. The + policy of the Republic may be broadly described as a policy of + conquest, and that of the Empire as a policy of preservation. The + Romans having acquired a vast dominion, were met by the great problem + which every first-class power is called upon to solve—by what means + many communities, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page238">[pg + 238]</span><a name="Pg238" id="Pg238" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + with different languages, customs, characters, and traditions, can be + retained peaceably under a single ruler. In modern times, this + difficulty has been most successfully met by local legislatures, + which, if they supply a <span class="tei tei-q">“line of + cleavage,”</span> a nucleus around which the spirit of opposition may + form, have on the other hand the priceless advantage of giving the + annexed people a large measure of self-government, a centre and + safety-valve of local public opinion, a sphere for local ambitions, + and a hierarchy of institutions adapted to the distinctive national + type. Under no other conditions can a complex empire be carried on + with so little strain, or effort, or humiliation, or its inevitable + final dissolution be effected with so little danger or convulsion. + But local legislatures, which are the especial glory of English + statesmanship, belong exclusively to modern civilisation. The Roman + method of conciliation was, first of all, the most ample toleration + of the customs, religion, and municipal freedom of the conquered, and + then their gradual admission to the privileges of the conqueror. By + confiding to them in a great measure the defence of the empire, by + throwing open to them the offices of State, and especially by + according to them the right of Roman citizenship, which had been for + centuries jealously restricted to the inhabitants of Rome, and was + afterwards only conceded to Italy and Cisalpine Gaul, the emperors + sought to attach them to their throne. The process was very gradual, + but the whole movement of political emancipation attained its + completion when the Imperial throne was occupied by the Spaniard + Trajan, and by Pertinax, the son of a freedman, and when an edict of + Caracalla extended the rights of Roman citizenship to all the + provinces of the empire.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It will appear + evident, from the foregoing sketch, that the period which elapsed + between Panætius and Constantine exhibited an irresistible tendency + to cosmopolitanism. The convergence, when we consider the number, + force, and harmony of the influences that composed it, is indeed + unexampled <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page239">[pg + 239]</span><a name="Pg239" id="Pg239" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> in + history. The movement extended through all the fields of religious, + philosophical, political, industrial, military, and domestic life. + The character of the people was completely transformed, the landmarks + of all its institutions were removed, the whole principle of its + organisation was reversed. It would be impossible to find a more + striking example of the manner in which events govern character, + destroying old habits and associations, and thus altering that + national type of excellence which is, for the most part, the + expression or net moral result of the national institutions and + circumstances. The effect of the movement was, no doubt, in many + respects evil, and some of the best men, such as the elder Cato and + Tacitus, opposed it, as leading to the demoralisation of the empire; + but if it increased vice, it also gave a peculiar character to + virtue. It was impossible that the conception of excellence, formed + in a society where everything conspired to deepen class divisions and + national jealousies and antipathies, should be retained unaltered in + a period of universal intercourse and amalgamation. The moral + expression of the first period is obviously to be found in the + narrower military and patriotic virtues; that of the second period in + enlarged philanthropy and sympathy.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The Stoical + philosophy was admirably fitted to preside over this extension of + sympathies. Although it proved itself in every age the chief school + of patriots, it recognised also, from the very first, and in the most + unequivocal manner, the fraternity of mankind. The Stoic taught that + virtue alone is a good, and that all other things are indifferent; + and from this position he inferred that birth, rank, country, or + wealth are the mere accidents of life, and that virtue alone makes + one man superior to another. He taught also that the Deity is an + all-pervading Spirit, animating the universe, and revealed with + especial clearness in the soul of man; and he concluded that all men + are fellow-members of a single body, united by participation in the + same Divine Spirit. These two doctrines <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page240">[pg 240]</span><a name="Pg240" id="Pg240" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> formed part of the very first teaching of the + Stoics, but it was the special glory of the Roman teachers, and an + obvious result of the condition of affairs I have described, to have + brought them into full relief. One of the most emphatic as well as + one of the earliest extant assertions of the duty of <span class= + "tei tei-q">“charity to the human race,”</span><a id="noteref_372" + name="noteref_372" href="#note_372"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">372</span></span></a> occurs + in the treatise of Cicero upon duties, which was avowedly based upon + Stoicism. Writing at a period when the movement of amalgamation had + for a generation been rapidly proceeding,<a id="noteref_373" name= + "noteref_373" href="#note_373"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">373</span></span></a> and + adopting almost without restriction the ethics of the Stoics, Cicero + maintained the doctrine of universal brotherhood as distinctly as it + was afterwards maintained by the Christian Church. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“This whole world,”</span> he tells us, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“is to be regarded as the common city of gods and + men.”</span><a id="noteref_374" name="noteref_374" href= + "#note_374"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">374</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Men were born for the sake of men, that each + should assist the others.”</span><a id="noteref_375" name= + "noteref_375" href="#note_375"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">375</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Nature ordains that a man should wish the + good of every man, whoever he may be, for this very reason, that he + is a man.”</span><a id="noteref_376" name="noteref_376" href= + "#note_376"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">376</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“To reduce man to the duties of his own city + and to disengage him from duties to the members of other cities, is + to break the universal society of the human race.”</span><a id= + "noteref_377" name="noteref_377" href="#note_377"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">377</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Nature has inclined us to love men, and this + is the foundation of the law.”</span><a id="noteref_378" name= + "noteref_378" href="#note_378"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">378</span></span></a> The + same principles were reiterated with increasing emphasis by the later + Stoics. Adopting the well-known line which Terence had translated + from Menander, they maintained that man should deem nothing human + foreign to his interest. Lucan expatiated with all the fervour of a + Christian poet upon the time when <span class="tei tei-q">“the human + race will cast aside its weapons, and when all nations will learn to + love.”</span><a id="noteref_379" name="noteref_379" href= + "#note_379"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">379</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“The whole universe,”</span> said + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page241">[pg 241]</span><a name="Pg241" + id="Pg241" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“which you see around you, comprising all things, both + divine and human, is one. We are members of one great body. Nature + has made us relatives when it begat us from the same materials and + for the same destinies. She planted in us a mutual love, and fitted + us for a social life.”</span><a id="noteref_380" name="noteref_380" + href="#note_380"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">380</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“What is a Roman knight, or freedman, or + slave? These are but names springing from ambition or from + injury.”</span><a id="noteref_381" name="noteref_381" href= + "#note_381"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">381</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“I know that my country is the world, and my + guardians are the gods.”</span><a id="noteref_382" name="noteref_382" + href="#note_382"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">382</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“You are a citizen,”</span> said Epictetus, + <span class="tei tei-q">“and a part of the world.... The duty of a + citizen is in nothing to consider his own interest distinct from that + of others, as the hand or foot, if they possessed reason and + understood the law of nature, would do and wish nothing that had not + some relation to the rest of the body.”</span><a id="noteref_383" + name="noteref_383" href="#note_383"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">383</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“An Antonine,”</span> said Marcus Aurelius, + <span class="tei tei-q">“my country is Rome; as a man, it is the + world.”</span><a id="noteref_384" name="noteref_384" href= + "#note_384"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">384</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">So far Stoicism + appears fully equal to the moral requirements of the age. It would be + impossible to recognise more cordially or to enforce more beautifully + that doctrine of universal brotherhood for which the circumstances of + the Roman Empire had made men ripe. Plato had said that no one is + born for himself alone, but that he owes himself in part to his + country, in part to his parents, and in part to his friends. The + Roman Stoics, taking a wider survey, declared that man is born not + for himself but for the whole world.<a id="noteref_385" name= + "noteref_385" href="#note_385"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">385</span></span></a> And + their doctrine was perfectly consistent with the original principles + of their school.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But while Stoicism + was quite capable of representing the widening movement, it was not + equally capable of representing the softening movement of + civilisation. Its condemnation <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page242">[pg 242]</span><a name="Pg242" id="Pg242" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> of the affections, and its stern, tense ideal, + admirably fitted for the struggles of a simple military age, were + unsuited for the mild manners and luxurious tastes of the age of the + Antonines. A class of writers began to arise who, like the Stoics, + believed virtue, rather than enjoyment, to be the supreme good, and + who acknowledged that virtue consisted solely of the control which + the enlightened will exercises over the desires, but who at the same + time gave free scope to the benevolent affections and a more + religious and mystical tone to the whole scheme of morals. Professing + various speculative doctrines, and calling themselves by many + names—eclectics, peripatetics, or Platonists—they agreed in forming + or representing a moral character, less strong, less sublime, less + capable of endurance and heroism, less conspicuous for energy of + will, than that of the Stoics, but far more tender and attractive. + The virtues of force began to recede, and the gentler virtues to + advance, in the moral type. Insensibility to suffering was no longer + professed; indomitable strength was no longer idolised, and it was + felt that weakness and sorrow have their own appropriate + virtues.<a id="noteref_386" name="noteref_386" href= + "#note_386"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">386</span></span></a> The + works of these writers are full of delicate touches which nothing but + strong and lively feelings could have suggested. We find this in the + well-known letter of Pliny on the death of his slaves,<a id= + "noteref_387" name="noteref_387" href="#note_387"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">387</span></span></a> in the + frequent protests against the ostentation of indifference with which + the Stoics regarded the loss of their friends, in many instances of + simple, artless pathos, which strike the finest chords of our nature. + When Plutarch, after the death of his daughter, was writing a letter + of consolation to his wife, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page243">[pg + 243]</span><a name="Pg243" id="Pg243" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> we + find him turning away from all the commonplaces of the Stoics as the + recollection of one simple trait of his little child rushed upon his + mind:—<span class="tei tei-q">“She desired her nurse to press even + her dolls to the breast. She was so loving that she wished everything + that gave her pleasure to share in the best of what she + had.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Plutarch, whose + fame as a biographer has, I think, unduly eclipsed his reputation as + a moralist, may be justly regarded as the leader of this movement, + and his moral writings may be profitably compared with those of + Seneca, the most ample exponent of the sterner school. Seneca is not + unfrequently self-conscious, theatrical, and overstrained. His + precepts have something of the affected ring of a popular preacher. + The imperfect fusion of his short sentences gives his style a + disjointed and, so to speak, granulated character, which the Emperor + Caligula happily expressed when he compared it to sand without + cement; yet he often rises to a majesty of eloquence, a grandeur both + of thought and of expression, that few moralists have ever rivalled. + Plutarch, though far less sublime, is more sustained, equable, and + uniformly pleasing. The Montaigne of antiquity, his genius coruscates + playfully and gracefully around his subject; he delights in + illustrations which are often singularly vivid and original, but + which, by their excessive multiplication, appear sometimes rather the + texture than the ornament of his discourse. A gentle, tender spirit, + and a judgment equally free from paradox, exaggeration, and excessive + subtilty, are the characteristics of all he wrote. Plutarch excels + most in collecting motives of consolation; Seneca in forming + characters that need no consolation. There is something of the woman + in Plutarch; Seneca is all a man. The writings of the first resemble + the strains of the flute, to which the ancients attributed the power + of calming the passions and charming away the clouds of sorrow, and + drawing men by a gentle suasion into the paths of virtue; the + writings of the other are like the trumpet-blast, <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page244">[pg 244]</span><a name="Pg244" id="Pg244" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> which kindles the soul with an heroic + courage. The first is most fitted to console a mother sorrowing over + her dead child, the second to nerve a brave man, without flinching + and without illusion, to grapple with an inevitable fate.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The elaborate + letters which Seneca has left us on distinctive tenets of the Stoical + school, such as the equality of vices or the evil of the affections, + have now little more than an historic interest; but the general tone + of his writings gives them a permanent importance, for they reflect + and foster a certain type of excellence which, since the extinction + of Stoicism, has had no adequate expression in literature. The + prevailing moral tone of Plutarch, on the other hand, being formed + mainly on the prominence of the amiable virtues, has been eclipsed or + transcended by the Christian writers, but his definite contributions + to philosophy and morals are more important than those of Seneca. He + has left us one of the best works on superstition, and one of the + most ingenious works on Providence, we possess. He was probably the + first writer who advocated very strongly humanity to animals on the + broad ground of universal benevolence, as distinguished from the + Pythagorean doctrine of transmigration, and he was also remarkable, + beyond all his contemporaries, for his high sense of female + excellence and of the sanctity of female love.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The Romans had at + all times cared more for the practical tendency of a system of + philosophy than for its logical or speculative consistency. One of + the chief attractions of Stoicism, in their eyes, had been that its + main object was not to build a system of opinion, but to propose a + pattern of life,<a id="noteref_388" name="noteref_388" href= + "#note_388"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">388</span></span></a> and + Stoicism itself was only adapted to the Roman character after it had + been simplified by Panætius.<a id="noteref_389" name="noteref_389" + href="#note_389"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">389</span></span></a> + Although the system could never free itself altogether from that + hardness which rendered it so unsuited for an advanced civilisation, + it <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page245">[pg 245]</span><a name= + "Pg245" id="Pg245" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> was profoundly + modified by the later Stoics, who rarely scrupled to temper it by the + admixture of new doctrines. Seneca himself was by no means an unmixed + Stoic. If Epictetus was more nearly so, this was probably because the + extreme hardship he underwent made him dwell more than his + contemporaries upon the importance of fortitude and endurance. Marcus + Aurelius was surrounded by the disciples of the most various schools, + and his Stoicism was much tinctured by the milder and more religious + spirit of Platonism. The Stoics, like all other men, felt the moral + current of the time, though they yielded to it less readily than some + others. In Thrasea, who occupied in his age a position analogous to + that of Cato in an earlier period, we find little or nothing of the + asperity and hardness of his great prototype. In the writings of the + later Stoics, if we find the same elements as in those of their + predecessors, these elements are at least combined in different + proportions.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the first + place, Stoicism became more essentially religious. The Stoical + character, like all others of a high order, had always been + reverential; but its reverence differed widely from that of + Christians. It was concentrated much less upon the Deity than upon + virtue, and especially upon virtue as exhibited in great men. When + Lucan, extolling his hero, boasted that <span class="tei tei-q">“the + gods favoured the conquering cause, but Cato the conquered,”</span> + or when Seneca described <span class="tei tei-q">“the fortune of + Sulla”</span> as <span class="tei tei-q">“the crime of the + gods,”</span> these sentences, which sound to modern ears grossly + blasphemous, appear to have excited no murmur. We have already seen + the audacious language with which the sage claimed an equality with + the Divinity. On the other hand, the reverence for virtue apart from + all conditions of success, and especially for men of the stamp of + Cato, who through a strong moral conviction struggled bravely, though + unsuccessfully, against force, genius, or circumstances, was perhaps + more steady and more passionate than in any later age. The duty of + absolute <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page246">[pg + 246]</span><a name="Pg246" id="Pg246" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + submission to Providence, as I have already shown, was continually + inculcated, and the pantheistic notion of all virtue being a part or + emanation of the Deity was often asserted, but man was still the + centre of the Stoic's scheme, the ideal to which his reverence and + devotion aspired. In later Stoicism this point of view was gradually + changed. Without any formal abandonment of their pantheistic + conceptions, the language of philosophers recognised with much + greater clearness a distinct and personal Divinity. Every page of + Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius is impregnated with the deepest + religious feeling. <span class="tei tei-q">“The first thing to + learn,”</span> said the former, <span class="tei tei-q">“is that + there is a God, that His knowledge pervades the whole universe, and + that it extends not only to our acts but to our thoughts and + feelings.... He who seeks to please the gods must labour as far as + lies in him to resemble them. He must be faithful as God is faithful, + free as He is free, beneficent as He is beneficent, magnanimous as He + is magnanimous.”</span><a id="noteref_390" name="noteref_390" href= + "#note_390"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">390</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“To have God for our maker and father and + guardian, should not that emancipate us from all sadness and from all + fear?”</span><a id="noteref_391" name="noteref_391" href= + "#note_391"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">391</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“When you have shut your door and darkened + your room, say not to yourself you are alone. God is in your room, + and your attendant genius likewise. Think not that they need the + light to see what you do.<a id="noteref_392" name="noteref_392" href= + "#note_392"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">392</span></span></a> What + can I, an old man and a cripple, do but praise God? If I were a + nightingale, I would discharge the office of a nightingale; if a + swan, that of a swan. But I am a reasonable being; my mission is to + praise God, and I fulfil it; nor shall I ever, as far as lies in me, + shrink from my task, and I exhort you to join in the same song of + praise.”</span><a id="noteref_393" name="noteref_393" href= + "#note_393"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">393</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The same religious + character is exhibited, if possible, in a still greater degree in the + <span class="tei tei-q">“Meditations”</span> of Marcus Aurelius; but + in one respect the ethics of the emperor differ <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page247">[pg 247]</span><a name="Pg247" id="Pg247" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> widely from those of the slave. In + Epictetus we invariably find the strongest sense of the majesty of + man. As the child of the Deity, as a being capable of attaining the + most exalted virtue, he magnified him to the highest point, and never + more so than in the very passage in which he exhorted his disciples + to beware of haughtiness. The Jupiter Olympus of Phidias, he reminds + them, exhibits no arrogance, but the unclouded serenity of perfect + confidence and strength.<a id="noteref_394" name="noteref_394" href= + "#note_394"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">394</span></span></a> Marcus + Aurelius, on the other hand, dwelt rather on the weakness than on the + force of man, and his meditations breathe a spirit, if not of + Christian humility, at least of the gentlest and most touching + modesty. He was not, it is true, like some later saints, who + habitually apply to themselves language of reprobation which would be + exaggerated if applied to the murderer or the adulterer. He did not + shrink from recognising human virtue as a reality, and thanking + Providence for the degree in which he had attained it, but he + continually reviewed with an unsparing severity the weaknesses of his + character, he accepted and even solicited reproofs from every teacher + of virtue, he made it his aim, in a position of supreme power, to + check every emotion of arrogance and pride, and he set before him an + ideal of excellence which awed and subdued his mind.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Another very + remarkable feature of later Stoicism was its increasingly + introspective character. In the philosophy of Cato and Cicero, virtue + was displayed almost exclusively in action. In the later Stoics, + self-examination and purity of thought were continually inculcated. + There are some writers who, with an obstinacy which it is more easy + to explain than to excuse, persist, in defiance of the very clearest + evidence to the contrary, in representing these virtues as + exclusively Christian, and in maintaining, without a shadow of proof, + that the place they undeniably occupy in the later <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page248">[pg 248]</span><a name="Pg248" id="Pg248" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> Roman moralists was due to the direct or + indirect influence of the new faith. The plain fact is that they were + fully known to the Greeks, and both Plato and Zeno even exhorted men + to study their dreams, on the ground that these often reveal the + latent tendencies of the disposition.<a id="noteref_395" name= + "noteref_395" href="#note_395"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">395</span></span></a> + Pythagoras urged his disciples daily to examine themselves when they + retired to rest,<a id="noteref_396" name="noteref_396" href= + "#note_396"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">396</span></span></a> and + this practice soon became a recognised part of the Pythagorean + discipline.<a id="noteref_397" name="noteref_397" href= + "#note_397"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">397</span></span></a> It was + introduced into Rome with the school before the close of the + Republic. It was known in the time of Cicero<a id="noteref_398" name= + "noteref_398" href="#note_398"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">398</span></span></a> and + Horace.<a id="noteref_399" name="noteref_399" href= + "#note_399"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">399</span></span></a> + Sextius, one of the masters of Seneca, a philosopher of the school of + Pythagoras, who flourished chiefly before the Christian era, was + accustomed daily to devote a portion of time to self-examination; and + Seneca, who at first inclined much to the tenets of Pythagoras,<a id= + "noteref_400" name="noteref_400" href="#note_400"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">400</span></span></a> + expressly tells us that it was from Sextius he learnt the + practice.<a id="noteref_401" name="noteref_401" href= + "#note_401"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">401</span></span></a> The + increasing prominence of the Pythagorean philosophy which accompanied + the invasion of Oriental creeds, the natural tendency of the empire, + by closing the avenues of political life, to divert the attention + from action to emotion, and also the increased latitude allowed to + the play of the sympathies or affections by the later Stoics, brought + this emotional part of virtue into great prominence. The letters of + Seneca are a kind of moral medicine applied for the most part to the + cure of different <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page249">[pg + 249]</span><a name="Pg249" id="Pg249" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + infirmities of character. Plutarch, in a beautiful treatise on + <span class="tei tei-q">“The Signs of Moral Progress,”</span> treated + the culture of the feelings with delicate skill. The duty of serving + the Divinity with a pure mind rather than by formal rites became a + commonplace of literature, and self-examination one of the most + recognised of duties. Epictetus urged men so to purify their + imaginations, that at the sight of a beautiful woman they should not + even mentally exclaim, <span class="tei tei-q">“Happy her + husband!”</span><a id="noteref_402" name="noteref_402" href= + "#note_402"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">402</span></span></a> The + meditations of Marcus Aurelius, above all, are throughout an exercise + of self-examination, and the duty of watching over the thoughts is + continually inculcated.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It was a saying of + Plutarch that Stoicism, which sometimes exercised a prejudicial and + hardening influence upon characters that were by nature stern and + unbending, proved peculiarly useful as a cordial to those which were + naturally gentle and yielding. Of this truth we can have no better + illustration than is furnished by the life and writings of Marcus + Aurelius, the last and most perfect representative of Roman Stoicism. + A simple, childlike, and eminently affectionate disposition, with + little strength of intellect or perhaps originally of will, much more + inclined to meditation, speculation, solitude, or friendship, than to + active and public life, with a profound aversion to the pomp of + royalty and with a rather strong natural leaning to pedantry, he had + embraced the fortifying philosophy of Zeno in its best form, and that + philosophy made him perhaps as nearly a perfectly virtuous man as has + ever appeared upon our world. Tried by the chequered events of a + reign of nineteen years, presiding over a society that was profoundly + corrupt, and over a city that was notorious for its license, the + perfection of his character awed even calumny to silence, and the + spontaneous sentiment of his people proclaimed him rather a god than + a man.<a id="noteref_403" name="noteref_403" href= + "#note_403"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">403</span></span></a> Very + few men have ever lived concerning whose <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page250">[pg 250]</span><a name="Pg250" id="Pg250" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> inner life we can speak so confidently. His + <span class="tei tei-q">“Meditations,”</span> which form one of the + most impressive, form also one of the truest books in the whole range + of religious literature. They consist of rude fragmentary notes + without literary skill or arrangement, written for the most part in + hasty, broken, and sometimes almost unintelligible sentences amid the + turmoil of a camp,<a id="noteref_404" name="noteref_404" href= + "#note_404"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">404</span></span></a> and + recording, in accents of the most penetrating sincerity, the + struggles, doubts, and aims of a soul of which, to employ one of his + own images, it may be truly said that it possessed the purity of a + star, which needs no veil to hide its nakedness. The undisputed + master of the whole civilised world, he set before him as models such + men as Thrasea and Helvidius, as Cato and Brutus, and he made it his + aim to realise the conception of a free State in which all citizens + are equal, and of a royalty which makes it its first duty to respect + the liberty of the citizens.<a id="noteref_405" name="noteref_405" + href="#note_405"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">405</span></span></a> His + life was passed in unremitting activity. For nearly twelve years he + was absent with armies in the distant provinces of the empire; and + although his political capacity has been much and perhaps justly + questioned, it is impossible to deny the unwearied zeal with which he + discharged the duties of his great position. Yet few men have ever + carried farther the virtue of little things, the delicate moral tact + and the minute scruples which, though often exhibited by women and by + secluded religionists, very rarely survive much contact with active + life. The solicitude with which he endeavoured to persuade two + jealous rhetoricians to abstain during their debates from retorts + that might destroy their friendship,<a id="noteref_406" name= + "noteref_406" href="#note_406"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">406</span></span></a> the + careful gratitude with which, in a camp in Hungary, he recalled every + moral obligation he <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page251">[pg + 251]</span><a name="Pg251" id="Pg251" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + could trace, even to the most obscure of his tutors,<a id= + "noteref_407" name="noteref_407" href="#note_407"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">407</span></span></a> his + anxiety to avoid all pedantry and mannerism in his conduct,<a id= + "noteref_408" name="noteref_408" href="#note_408"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">408</span></span></a> and to + repel every voluptuous imagination from his mind,<a id="noteref_409" + name="noteref_409" href="#note_409"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">409</span></span></a> his + deep sense of the obligation of purity,<a id="noteref_410" name= + "noteref_410" href="#note_410"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">410</span></span></a> his + laborious efforts to correct a habit of drowsiness into which he had + fallen, and his self-reproval when he had yielded to it,<a id= + "noteref_411" name="noteref_411" href="#note_411"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">411</span></span></a> become + all, I think, inexpressibly touching when we remember that they were + exhibited by one who was the supreme ruler of the civilised globe, + and who was continually engaged in the direction of the most gigantic + interests. But that which is especially remarkable in Marcus Aurelius + is the complete absence of fanaticism in his philanthropy. Despotic + monarchs sincerely anxious to improve mankind are naturally led to + endeavour, by acts of legislation, to force society into the paths + which they believe to be good, and such men, acting under such + motives, have sometimes been the scourges of mankind. Philip II. and + Isabella the Catholic inflicted more suffering in obedience to their + consciences than Nero and Domitian in obedience to their lusts. But + Marcus Aurelius steadily resisted the temptation. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Never hope,”</span> he once wrote, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“to realise Plato's Republic. Let it be sufficient that + you have in some slight degree ameliorated mankind, and do not think + that amelioration a matter of small importance. Who can change the + opinions of men? and without a change of sentiments what can you make + but reluctant slaves and hypocrites?”</span><a id="noteref_412" name= + "noteref_412" href="#note_412"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">412</span></span></a> He + promulgated many laws inspired by a spirit of the purest benevolence. + He <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page252">[pg 252]</span><a name= + "Pg252" id="Pg252" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> mitigated the + gladiatorial shows. He treated with invariable deference the senate, + which was the last bulwark of political freedom. He endowed many + chairs of philosophy which were intended to diffuse knowledge and + moral teaching through the people. He endeavoured by the example of + his Court to correct the extravagances of luxury that were prevalent, + and he exhibited in his own career a perfect model of an active and + conscientious administrator; but he made no rash efforts to force the + people by stringent laws out of the natural channel of their lives. + Of the corruption of his subjects he was keenly sensible, and he bore + it with a mournful but gentle patience. We may trace in this respect + the milder spirit of those Greek teachers who had diverged from + Stoicism, but it was especially from the Stoical doctrine that all + vice springs from ignorance that he derived his rule of life, and + this doctrine, to which he repeatedly recurred, imparted to all his + judgments a sad but tender charity. <span class="tei tei-q">“Men were + made for men; correct them, then, or support them.”</span><a id= + "noteref_413" name="noteref_413" href="#note_413"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">413</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“If they do ill, it is evidently in spite of + themselves and through ignorance.”</span><a id="noteref_414" name= + "noteref_414" href="#note_414"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">414</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Correct them if you can; if not, remember + that patience was given you to exercise it in their + behalf.”</span><a id="noteref_415" name="noteref_415" href= + "#note_415"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">415</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“It would be shameful for a physician to deem + it strange that a man was suffering from fever.”</span><a id= + "noteref_416" name="noteref_416" href="#note_416"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">416</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“The immortal gods consent for countless ages + to endure without anger, and even to surround with blessings, so many + and such wicked men; but thou who hast so short a time to live, art + thou already weary, and that when thou art thyself + wicked?”</span><a id="noteref_417" name="noteref_417" href= + "#note_417"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">417</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“It is involuntarily that the soul is + deprived of justice, and temperance, and goodness, and all other + virtues. Continually remember this; the thought will make you more + gentle to all mankind.”</span><a id="noteref_418" name="noteref_418" + href="#note_418"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">418</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“It is right that man should love those who + have offended him. He will do so when he remembers that all men are + his <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page253">[pg 253]</span><a name= + "Pg253" id="Pg253" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> relations, and that it + is through ignorance and involuntarily that they sin—and then we all + die so soon.”</span><a id="noteref_419" name="noteref_419" href= + "#note_419"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">419</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The character of + the virtue of Marcus Aurelius, though exhibiting the softening + influence of the Greek spirit which in his time pervaded the empire, + was in its essentials strictly Roman.<a id="noteref_420" name= + "noteref_420" href="#note_420"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">420</span></span></a> Though + full of reverential gratitude to Providence, we do not find in him + that intense humility and that deep and subtle religious feeling + which were the principles of Hebrew virtue, and which have given the + Jewish writers so great an ascendancy over the hearts of men. Though + borne naturally and instinctively to goodness, his <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Meditations”</span> do not display the keen æsthetical + sense of the beauty of virtue which was the leading motive of Greek + morals, and which the writing of Plotinus afterwards made very + familiar to the Roman world. Like most of the best Romans, the + principle of his virtue was the sense of duty, the conviction of the + existence of a law of nature to which it is the aim and purpose of + our being to conform. Of secondary motives he appears to have been + little sensible. The belief in a superintending Providence was the + strongest of his religious convictions, but even that was + occasionally overcast. On the subject of a future world his mind + floated in a desponding doubt. The desire for posthumous fame he + deemed it his duty systematically to mortify. While most writers of + his school regarded death chiefly as the end of sorrows, and dwelt + upon it in order to dispel its terrors, in Marcus Aurelius it is + chiefly represented as the last great demonstration of the vanity of + earthly things. Seldom, indeed, has such active and unrelaxing virtue + been united with so little enthusiasm, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page254">[pg 254]</span><a name="Pg254" id="Pg254" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> and been cheered by so little illusion of + success. <span class="tei tei-q">“There is but one thing,”</span> he + wrote, <span class="tei tei-q">“of real value—to cultivate truth and + justice, and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust + men.”</span><a id="noteref_421" name="noteref_421" href= + "#note_421"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">421</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The command he had + acquired over his feelings was so great that it was said of him that + his countenance was never known to betray either elation or + despondency.<a id="noteref_422" name="noteref_422" href= + "#note_422"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">422</span></span></a> We, + however, who have before us the records of his inner life, can have + no difficulty in detecting the deep melancholy that overshadowed his + mind, and his closing years were darkened by many and various + sorrows. His wife, whom he dearly loved and deeply honoured, and who, + if we may believe the Court scandals that are reported by historians, + was not worthy of his affection,<a id="noteref_423" name= + "noteref_423" href="#note_423"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">423</span></span></a> had + preceded him to the tomb. His only surviving son had already + displayed the vicious tendencies that afterwards made him one of the + worst of rulers. The philosophers, who had instructed him in his + youth, and to whom he had clung with an affectionate friendship, had + one by one disappeared, and no new race had arisen to supply their + place. After a long reign of self-denying virtue, he saw the + decadence of the empire continually more apparent. The Stoical school + was rapidly fading before the passion for Oriental superstitions. The + barbarians, repelled for a time, were again menacing the frontiers, + and it was not difficult to foresee their future triumph. The mass of + the people had <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page255">[pg + 255]</span><a name="Pg255" id="Pg255" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + become too inert and too corrupt for any efforts to regenerate them. + A fearful pestilence, followed by many minor calamities, had fallen + upon the land and spread misery and panic through many provinces. In + the midst of these calamities, the emperor was struck down with a + mortal illness, which he bore with the placid courage he had always + displayed, exhibiting in almost the last words he uttered his + forgetfulness of self and his constant anxiety for the condition of + his people.<a id="noteref_424" name="noteref_424" href= + "#note_424"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">424</span></span></a> Shortly + before his death he dismissed his attendants, and, after one last + interview, his son, and he died as he long had lived, alone.<a id= + "noteref_425" name="noteref_425" href="#note_425"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">425</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Thus sank to rest + in clouds and darkness the purest and gentlest spirit of all the + pagan world, the most perfect model of the later Stoics. In him the + hardness, asperity, and arrogance of the sect had altogether + disappeared, while the affectation its paradoxes tended to produce + was greatly mitigated. Without fanaticism, superstition, or illusion, + his whole life was regulated by a simple and unwavering sense of + duty. The contemplative and emotional virtues which Stoicism had long + depressed, had regained their place, but the active virtues had not + yet declined. The virtues of the hero were still deeply honoured, but + gentleness and tenderness had acquired a new prominence in the ideal + type.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But while the + force of circumstances was thus developing the ethical conceptions of + antiquity in new directions, the mass of the Roman people were + plunged in a condition of depravity which no mere ethical teaching + could adequately correct. The moral condition of the empire is, + indeed, in some respects one of the most appalling pictures on + record, and writers have much more frequently undertaken to paint or + even to exaggerate its enormity than to investigate the circumstances + by which it may be explained. Such circumstances, <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page256">[pg 256]</span><a name="Pg256" id="Pg256" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> however, must unquestionably exist. There + is no reason to believe that the innate propensities of the people + were worse during the Empire than during the best days of the + Republic. The depravity of a nation is a phenomenon which, like all + others, may be traced to definite causes, and in the instance before + us they are not difficult to discover.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I have already + said that the virtue of the Romans was a military and patriotic + virtue, formed by the national institutions, and to which religious + teaching was merely accessory. The domestic, military, and censorial + discipline, concurring with the general poverty and also with the + agricultural pursuits of the people, had created the simplest and + most austere habits, while the institutions of civic liberty provided + ample spheres for honourable ambition. The nobles, being the highest + body in a free State, and being at the same time continually + confronted by a formidable opposition under the guidance of the + tribunes, were ardently devoted to public life. The dangerous rivalry + of the surrounding Italian States, and afterwards of Carthage, + demanded and secured a constant vigilance. Roman education was + skilfully designed to elicit heroic patriotism, and the great men of + the past became the ideal figures of the imagination. Religion + hallowed the local feeling by rites and legends, instituted many + useful and domestic habits, taught men the sanctity of oaths, and, by + fostering a continual sense of a superintending Providence, gave a + depth and solemnity to the whole character.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Such were the + chief influences by which the national type of virtue had been + formed, but nearly all of these were corroded or perverted by + advancing civilisation. The domestic and local religion lost its + ascendancy amid the increase of scepticism and the invasion of a + crowd of foreign superstitions. The simplicity of manners, which + sumptuary laws and the institution of the censorship had long + maintained, was replaced by the extravagances of a Babylonian luxury. + The aristocratic <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page257">[pg + 257]</span><a name="Pg257" id="Pg257" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + dignity perished with the privileges on which it reposed. The + patriotic energy and enthusiasm died away in a universal empire which + embraced all varieties of language, custom, and nationality.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But although the + virtues of a poor and struggling community necessarily disappear + before increasing luxury, they are in a normal condition of society + replaced by virtues of a different stamp. Gentler manners and + enlarged benevolence follow in the train of civilisation, greater + intellectual activity and more extended industrial enterprise give a + new importance to the moral qualities which each of these require, + the circle of political interests expands, and if the virtues that + spring from privilege diminish, the virtues that spring from equality + increase.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In Rome, however, + there were three great causes which impeded the normal + development—the Imperial system, the institution of slavery, and the + gladiatorial shows. Each of these exercised an influence of the + widest and most pernicious character on the morals of the people. To + trace those influences in all their ramifications would lead me far + beyond the limits I have assigned to the present work, but I shall + endeavour to give a concise view of their nature and general + character.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The theory of the + Roman Empire was that of a representative despotism. The various + offices of the Republic were not annihilated, but they were gradually + concentrated in a single man. The senate was still ostensibly the + depository of supreme power, but it was made in fact the mere + creature of the Emperor, whose power was virtually uncontrolled. + Political spies and private accusers, who in the latter days of the + Republic had been encouraged to denounce plots against the State, + began under Augustus to denounce plots against the Emperor; and the + class being enormously increased under Tiberius, and stimulated by + the promise of part of the confiscated property, they menaced every + leading politician and <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page258">[pg + 258]</span><a name="Pg258" id="Pg258" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + even every wealthy man. The nobles were gradually depressed, ruined, + or driven by the dangers of public life into orgies of private + luxury. The poor were conciliated, not by any increase of liberty or + even of permanent prosperity, but by gratuitous distributions of corn + and by public games, while, in order to invest themselves with a + sacred character, the emperors adopted the religious device of an + apotheosis.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This last + superstition, of which some traces may still be found in the titles + appropriated to royalty, was not wholly a suggestion of politicians. + Deified men had long occupied a prominent place in ancient belief, + and the founders of cities had been very frequently worshipped by the + inhabitants.<a id="noteref_426" name="noteref_426" href= + "#note_426"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">426</span></span></a> + Although to more educated minds the ascription of divinity to a + sovereign was simply an unmeaning flattery, although it in no degree + prevented either innumerable plots against his life, or an unsparing + criticism of his memory, yet the popular reverence not unfrequently + anticipated politicians in representing the emperor as in some + special way under the protection of Providence. Around Augustus a + whole constellation of miraculous stories soon clustered. An oracle, + it was said, had declared his native city destined to produce a ruler + of the world. When a child, he had been borne by invisible hands from + his cradle, and placed on a lofty tower, where he was found with his + face turned to the rising sun. He rebuked the frogs that croaked + around his grandfather's home, and they became silent for ever. An + eagle snatched a piece of bread from his hand, soared into the air, + and then, descending, presented it to him again. Another eagle + dropped at his feet a chicken, bearing a laurel-branch in its beak. + When his body was burnt, his image was seen rising to heaven above + the flames. When another man tried to sleep in the bed in which the + Emperor had been born, the profane intruder was <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page259">[pg 259]</span><a name="Pg259" id="Pg259" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> dragged forth by an unseen hand. A + patrician named Lætorius, having been condemned for adultery, pleaded + in mitigation of the sentence that he was the happy possessor of the + spot of ground on which Augustus was born.<a id="noteref_427" name= + "noteref_427" href="#note_427"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">427</span></span></a> An + Asiatic town, named Cyzicus, was deprived of its freedom by Tiberius, + chiefly because it had neglected the worship of Augustus.<a id= + "noteref_428" name="noteref_428" href="#note_428"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">428</span></span></a> Partly, + no doubt, by policy, but partly also by that spontaneous process by + which in a superstitious age conspicuous characters so often become + the nuclei of legends,<a id="noteref_429" name="noteref_429" href= + "#note_429"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">429</span></span></a> each + emperor was surrounded by a supernatural aureole. Every usurpation, + every break in the ordinary line of succession, was adumbrated by a + series of miracles; and signs, both in heaven and earth, were + manifested whenever an emperor was about to die.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Of the emperors + themselves, a great majority, no doubt, accepted their divine honours + as an empty pageant, and more than one exhibited beneath the purple a + simplicity of tastes and character which the boasted heroes of the + Republic had never surpassed. It is related of Vespasian that, when + dying, he jested mournfully on his approaching dignity, observing, as + he felt his strength ebbing away, <span class="tei tei-q">“I think I + am becoming a god.”</span><a id="noteref_430" name="noteref_430" + href="#note_430"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">430</span></span></a> + Alexander Severus and Julian refused to accept the ordinary language + of adulation, and of those who did not reject it we know that many + looked upon it as a modern sovereign looks upon the phraseology of + petitions or the ceremonies of the Court. Even Nero was so far from + being intoxicated with his Imperial dignity that he continually + sought triumphs as a singer or an actor, and it was his artistic + skill, not his divine prerogatives, that excited his vanity.<a id= + "noteref_431" name="noteref_431" href="#note_431"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">431</span></span></a> + Caligula, however, who appears to have been literally deranged,<a id= + "noteref_432" name="noteref_432" href="#note_432"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">432</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page260">[pg 260]</span><a name="Pg260" + id="Pg260" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> is said to have accepted his + divinity as a serious fact, to have substituted his own head for that + of Jupiter on many of the statues,<a id="noteref_433" name= + "noteref_433" href="#note_433"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">433</span></span></a> and to + have once started furiously from his seat during a thunderstorm that + had interrupted a gladiatorial show, shouting with frantic gestures + his imprecations against Heaven, and declaring that the divided + empire was indeed intolerable, that either Jupiter or himself must + speedily succumb.<a id="noteref_434" name="noteref_434" href= + "#note_434"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">434</span></span></a> + Heliogabalus, if we may give any credence to his biographer, + confounded all things, human and divine, in hideous and blasphemous + orgies, and designed to unite all forms of religion in the worship of + himself.<a id="noteref_435" name="noteref_435" href= + "#note_435"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">435</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A curious + consequence of this apotheosis was that the images of the emperors + were invested with a sacred character like those of the gods. They + were the recognised refuge of the slave or the oppressed,<a id= + "noteref_436" name="noteref_436" href="#note_436"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">436</span></span></a> and the + smallest disrespect to them was resented as a heinous crime. Under + Tiberius, slaves and criminals were accustomed to hold in their hands + an image of the emperor, and, being thus protected, to pour with + impunity a torrent of defiant insolence upon their masters or + judges.<a id="noteref_437" name="noteref_437" href= + "#note_437"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">437</span></span></a> Under + the same emperor, a man having, when drunk, accidentally touched a + nameless domestic utensil with a ring on which the head of the + emperor was carved, he was immediately denounced by a spy.<a id= + "noteref_438" name="noteref_438" href="#note_438"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">438</span></span></a> A man + in this reign was accused of high treason for having sold an image of + the emperor with a garden.<a id="noteref_439" name="noteref_439" + href="#note_439"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">439</span></span></a> It was + made a capital offence to beat a slave, or to undress, near a statue + of Augustus, or to enter a brothel with a piece of money on which his + head was engraved,<a id="noteref_440" name="noteref_440" href= + "#note_440"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">440</span></span></a> and at + a later period a woman, it is said, was actually <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page261">[pg 261]</span><a name="Pg261" id="Pg261" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> executed for undressing before the statue + of Domitian.<a id="noteref_441" name="noteref_441" href= + "#note_441"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">441</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It may easily be + conceived that men who had been raised to this pinnacle of arrogance + and power, men who exercised uncontrolled authority in the midst of a + society in a state of profound corruption, were often guilty of the + most atrocious extravagances. In the first period of the Empire more + especially, when traditions were not yet formed, and when experience + had not yet shown the dangers of the throne, the brains of some of + its occupants reeled at their elevation, and a kind of moral insanity + ensued. The pages of Suetonius remain as an eternal witness of the + abysses of depravity, the hideous, intolerable cruelty, the hitherto + unimagined extravagances of nameless lust that were then manifested + on the Palatine, and while they cast a fearful light upon the moral + chaos into which pagan society had sunk, they furnish ample evidence + of the demoralising influences of the empire. The throne was, it is + true, occupied by some of the best as well as by some of the worst + men who have ever lived; but the evil, though checked and mitigated, + was never abolished. The corruption of a Court, the formation of a + profession of spies, the encouragement given to luxury, the + distributions of corn, and the multiplication of games, were evils + which varied greatly in their degrees of intensity, but the very + existence of the empire prevented the creation of those habits of + political life which formed the moral type of the great republics of + antiquity. Liberty, which is often very unfavourable to theological + systems, is almost always in the end favourable to morals; for the + most effectual method that has been devised for diverting men from + vice is to give free scope to a higher ambition. This scope was + absolutely wanting in the Roman Empire, and the moral condition, in + the absence of lasting political habits, fluctuated greatly with the + character of the Emperors.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page262">[pg 262]</span><a name="Pg262" id="Pg262" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The results of the + institution of slavery were probably even more serious. In addition + to its manifest effect in encouraging a tyrannical and ferocious + spirit in the masters, it cast a stigma upon all labour, and at once + degraded and impoverished the free poor. In modern societies the + formation of an influential and numerous middle class, trained in the + sober and regular habits of industrial life, is the chief guarantee + of national morality, and where such a class exists, the disorders of + the upper ranks, though undoubtedly injurious, are never fatal to + society. The influence of great outbursts of fashionable depravity, + such as that which followed the Restoration in England, is rarely + more than superficial. The aristocracy may revel in every excess of + ostentatious vice, but the great mass of the people, at the loom, the + counter, or the plough, continue unaffected by their example, and the + habits of life into which they are forced by the condition of their + trades preserve them from gross depravity. It was the most frightful + feature of the corruption of ancient Rome that it extended through + every class of the community. In the absence of all but the simplest + machinery, manufactures, with the vast industrial life they beget, + were unknown. The poor citizen found almost all the spheres in which + an honourable livelihood might be obtained wholly or at least in a + very great degree preoccupied by slaves, while he had learnt to + regard trade with an invincible repugnance. Hence followed the + immense increase of corrupt and corrupting professions, as actors, + pantomimes, hired gladiators, political spies, ministers to passion, + astrologers, religious charlatans, pseudo-philosophers, which gave + the free classes a precarious and occasional subsistence, and hence, + too, the gigantic dimensions of the system of clientage. Every rich + man was surrounded by a train of dependants, who lived in a great + measure at his expense, and spent their lives in ministering to his + passions and flattering his vanity. And, above all, the public + distribution of corn, and occasionally of money, was carried on to + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page263">[pg 263]</span><a name="Pg263" + id="Pg263" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> such an extent, that, so far + as the first necessaries of life were concerned, the whole poor free + population of Rome was supported gratuitously by the Government. To + effect this distribution promptly and lavishly was the main object of + the Imperial policy, and its consequences were worse than could have + resulted from the most extravagant poor-laws or the most excessive + charity. The mass of the people were supported in absolute idleness + by corn, which was given without any reference to desert, and was + received, not as a favour, but as a right, while gratuitous public + amusements still further diverted them from labour.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Under these + influences the population rapidly dwindled away. Productive + enterprise was almost extinct in Italy, and an unexampled concurrence + of causes made a vicious celibacy the habitual condition. Already in + the days of Augustus the evil was apparent, and the dangers which in + later reigns drove the patricians still more generally from public + life, drove them more and more into every extravagance of sensuality. + Greece, since the destruction of her liberty, and also the leading + cities of Asia Minor and of Egypt, had become centres of the wildest + corruption, and Greek and Oriental captives were innumerable in Rome. + Ionian slaves of a surpassing beauty, Alexandrian slaves, famous for + their subtle skill in stimulating the jaded senses of the confirmed + and sated libertine, became the ornaments of every patrician house, + the companions and the instructors of the young. The disinclination + to marriage was so general, that men who spent their lives in + endeavouring by flatteries to secure the inheritance of wealthy + bachelors became a numerous and a notorious class. The slave + population was itself a hotbed of vice, and it contaminated all with + which it came in contact; while the attractions of the games, and + especially of the public baths, which became the habitual resort of + the idle, combined with the charms of the Italian climate, and with + the miserable domestic architecture that was general, to draw the + poor <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page264">[pg 264]</span><a name= + "Pg264" id="Pg264" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> citizens from indoor + life. Idleness, amusements, and a bare subsistence were alone + desired, and the general practice of abortion among the rich, and of + infanticide and exposition in all classes, still further checked the + population.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The destruction of + all public spirit in a population so situated was complete and + inevitable. In the days of the Republic a consul had once advocated + the admission of a brave Italian people to the right of Roman + citizenship, on the ground that <span class="tei tei-q">“those who + thought only of liberty deserved to be Romans.”</span><a id= + "noteref_442" name="noteref_442" href="#note_442"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">442</span></span></a> In the + Empire all liberty was cheerfully bartered for games and corn, and + the worst tyrant could by these means be secure of popularity. In the + Republic, when Marius threw open the houses of those he had + proscribed, to be plundered, the people, by a noble abstinence, + rebuked the act, for no Roman could be found to avail himself of the + permission.<a id="noteref_443" name="noteref_443" href= + "#note_443"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">443</span></span></a> In the + Empire, when the armies of Vitellius and Vespasian were disputing the + possession of the city, the degenerate Romans gathered with delight + to the spectacle as to a gladiatorial show, plundered the deserted + houses, encouraged either army by their reckless plaudits, dragged + out the fugitives to be slain, and converted into a festival the + calamity of their country.<a id="noteref_444" name="noteref_444" + href="#note_444"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">444</span></span></a> The + degradation of the national character was permanent. Neither the + teaching of the Stoics, nor the government of the Antonines, nor the + triumph of Christianity could restore it. Indifferent to liberty, the + Roman now, as then, asks only for an idle subsistence and for public + spectacles, and countless monasteries and ecclesiastical pageants + occupy in modern Rome the same place as did the distributions of corn + and the games of the amphitheatre in the Rome of the Cæsars.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It must be + remembered, too, that while public spirit had <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page265">[pg 265]</span><a name="Pg265" id="Pg265" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> thus decayed in the capital of the + empire, there existed no independent or rival power to reanimate by + its example the smouldering flame. The existence in modern Europe of + many distinct nations on the same level of civilisation, but with + different forms of government and conditions of national life, + secures the permanence of some measure of patriotism and liberty. If + these perish in one nation, they survive in another, and each people + affects those about it by its rivalry or example. But an empire which + comprised all the civilised globe could know nothing of this + political interaction. In religious, social, intellectual, and moral + life, foreign ideas were very discernible, but the enslaved provinces + could have no influence in rekindling political life in the centre, + and those which rivalled Italy in their civilisation, even surpassed + it in their corruption and their servility.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In reviewing, + however, the conditions upon which the moral state of the empire + depended, there are still two very important centres or seed-plots of + virtue to which it is necessary to advert. I mean the pursuit of + agriculture and the discipline of the army. A very early tradition, + which was attributed to Romulus, had declared that warfare and + agriculture were the only honourable occupations for a citizen,<a id= + "noteref_445" name="noteref_445" href="#note_445"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">445</span></span></a> and it + would be difficult to overrate the influence of the last in forming + temperate and virtuous habits among the people. It is the subject of + the only extant work of the elder Cato. Virgil had adorned it with + the lustre of his poetry. A very large part of the Roman religion was + intended to symbolise its stages or consecrate its operations. Varro + expressed an eminently Roman sentiment in that beautiful sentence + which Cowper has introduced into English poetry, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Divine Providence made the country, but human art the + town.”</span><a id="noteref_446" name="noteref_446" href= + "#note_446"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">446</span></span></a> The + reforms of Vespasian consisted chiefly <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page266">[pg 266]</span><a name="Pg266" id="Pg266" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> of the elevation to high positions of the + agriculturists of the provinces. Antoninus, who was probably the most + perfect of all the Roman emperors, was through his whole reign a + zealous farmer.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">As far as the + distant provinces were concerned, it is probable that the Imperial + system was on the whole a good. The scandalous rapacity of the + provincial governors, which disgraced the closing years of the + Republic, and which is immortalised by the indignant eloquence of + Cicero, appears to have ceased, or at least greatly diminished, under + the supervision of the emperors. Ample municipal freedom, good roads, + and for the most part wise and temperate rulers, secured for the + distant sections of the empire a large measure of prosperity. But in + Italy itself, agriculture, with the habits of life that attended it, + speedily and fatally decayed. The peasant proprietor soon glided + hopelessly into debt. The immense advantages which slavery gave the + rich gradually threw nearly all the Italian soil into their hands. + The peasant who ceased to be proprietor found himself excluded by + slave labour from the position of a hired cultivator, while the + gratuitous distributions of corn drew him readily to the metropolis. + The gigantic scale of these distributions induced the rulers to + obtain their corn in the form of a tribute from distant countries, + chiefly from Africa and Sicily, and it almost ceased to be cultivated + in Italy. The land fell to waste, or was cultivated by slaves or + converted into pasture, and over vast tracts the race of free + peasants entirely disappeared.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This great + revolution, which profoundly affected the moral condition of Italy, + had long been impending. The debts of the poor peasants, and the + tendency of the patricians to monopolise the conquered territory, had + occasioned some of the fiercest contests of the Republic, and in the + earliest days of the Empire the blight that seemed to have fallen on + the Italian soil was continually and pathetically lamented. Livy, + Varro, Columella, and Pliny have noticed it in the <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page267">[pg 267]</span><a name="Pg267" id="Pg267" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> most emphatic terms,<a id="noteref_447" + name="noteref_447" href="#note_447"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">447</span></span></a> and + Tacitus observed that as early as the reign of Claudius, Italy, which + had once supplied the distant provinces with corn, had become + dependent for the very necessaries of life upon the winds and the + waves.<a id="noteref_448" name="noteref_448" href= + "#note_448"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">448</span></span></a> The + evil was indeed of an almost hopeless kind. Adverse winds, or any + other accidental interruption of the convoys of corn, occasioned + severe distress in the capital; but the prospect of the calamities + that would ensue if any misfortune detached the great corn-growing + countries from the empire, might well have appalled the politician. + Yet the combined influence of slavery, and of the gratuitous + distributions of corn, acting in the manner I have described, + rendered every effort to revive Italian agriculture abortive, and + slavery had taken such deep root that it would have been impossible + to abolish it, while no emperor dared to encounter the calamities and + rebellion that would follow a suspension or even a restriction of the + distributions.<a id="noteref_449" name="noteref_449" href= + "#note_449"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">449</span></span></a> Many + serious efforts were made to remedy the evil.<a id="noteref_450" + name="noteref_450" href="#note_450"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">450</span></span></a> + Alexander Severus advanced money to the poor to buy portions of land, + and accepted a gradual payment without interest from the produce of + the soil. Pertinax settled poor men as proprietors on deserted land, + on the sole condition that they should cultivate it. Marcus Aurelius + began, and Aurelian and Valentinian continued, the system of settling + great numbers of barbarian captives upon the Italian soil, and + compelling them as slaves to till it. The introduction <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page268">[pg 268]</span><a name="Pg268" id="Pg268" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of this large foreign element into the + heart of Italy was eventually one of the causes of the downfall of + the empire, and it is also about this time that we first dimly trace + the condition of serfdom or servitude to the soil into which slavery + afterwards faded, and which was for some centuries the general + condition of the European poor. But the economical and moral causes + that were destroying agriculture in Italy were too strong to be + resisted, and the simple habits of life which agricultural pursuits + promote had little or no place in the later empire.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A somewhat less + rapid but in the end not less complete decadence had taken place in + military life. The Roman army was at first recruited exclusively from + the upper classes, and the service, which lasted only during actual + warfare, was gratuitous. Before the close of the Republic, however, + these conditions had disappeared. Military pay is said to have been + instituted at the time of the siege of Veii.<a id="noteref_451" name= + "noteref_451" href="#note_451"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">451</span></span></a> Some + Spaniards who were enrolled during the rivalry of Rome and Carthage + were the first example of the employment of foreign mercenaries by + the former.<a id="noteref_452" name="noteref_452" href= + "#note_452"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">452</span></span></a> Marius + abolished the property qualification of the recruits.<a id= + "noteref_453" name="noteref_453" href="#note_453"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">453</span></span></a> In long + residences in Spain and in the Asiatic provinces discipline gradually + relaxed, and the historian who traced the progress of Oriental luxury + in Rome dwelt with a just emphasis upon the ominous fact that it had + first been introduced into the city by soldiers.<a id="noteref_454" + name="noteref_454" href="#note_454"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">454</span></span></a> The + civil wars contributed to the destruction of the old military + traditions, but being conducted by able generals it is probable that + they had more effect upon the patriotism than upon the discipline of + the army. Augustus reorganised the whole military system, + establishing a body of soldiers known as the Prætorian guard, and + dignified with some special privileges, permanently in Rome, while + the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page269">[pg 269]</span><a name= + "Pg269" id="Pg269" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> other legions were + chiefly mustered upon the frontiers. During his long reign, and + during that of Tiberius, both sections were quiescent, but the murder + of Caligula by his soldiers opened a considerable period of + insubordination. Claudius, it was observed, first set the fatal + example of purchasing his safety from his soldiers by bribes.<a id= + "noteref_455" name="noteref_455" href="#note_455"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">455</span></span></a> The + armies of the provinces soon discovered that it was possible to elect + an emperor outside Rome, and Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian + were all the creatures of revolt. The evil was, however, not yet past + recovery. Vespasian and Trajan enforced discipline with great + stringency and success. The emperors began more frequently to visit + the camps. The number of the soldiers was small, and for some time + the turbulence subsided. The history of the worst period of the + Empire, it has been truly observed, is full of instances of brave + soldiers trying, under circumstances of extreme difficulty, simply to + do their duty. But the historian had soon occasion to notice again + the profound influence of the voluptuous Asiatic cities upon the + legions.<a id="noteref_456" name="noteref_456" href= + "#note_456"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">456</span></span></a> Removed + for many years from Italy, they lost all national pride, their + allegiance was transferred from the sovereign to the general, and + when the Imperial sceptre fell into the hands of a succession of + incompetent rulers, they habitually urged their commanders to revolt, + and at last reduced the empire to a condition of military anarchy. A + remedy was found for this evil, though not for the luxurious habits + that had been acquired, in the division of the empire, which placed + each army under the direct supervision of an emperor, and it is + probable that at a later period Christianity diminished the + insubordination, though it may have also diminished the military + fire, of the soldiers.<a id="noteref_457" name="noteref_457" href= + "#note_457"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">457</span></span></a> But + other and still more powerful causes were in <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page270">[pg 270]</span><a name="Pg270" id="Pg270" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> operation preparing the military downfall of + Rome. The habits of inactivity which the Imperial policy had + produced, and which, through a desire for popularity, most emperors + laboured to encourage, led to a profound disinclination for the + hardships of military life. Even the Prætorian guard, which was long + exclusively Italian, was selected after Septimus Severus from the + legions on the frontiers,<a id="noteref_458" name="noteref_458" href= + "#note_458"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">458</span></span></a> while, + Italy being relieved from the regular conscription, these were + recruited solely in the provinces, and innumerable barbarians were + subsidised. The political and military consequences of this change + are sufficiently obvious. In an age when, artillery being unknown, + the military superiority of civilised nations over barbarians was far + less than at present, the Italians had become absolutely unaccustomed + to real war, and had acquired habits that were beyond all others + incompatible with military discipline, while many of the barbarians + who menaced and at last subverted the empire had been actually + trained by Roman generals. The moral consequence is equally + plain—military discipline, like agricultural labour, ceased to have + any part among the moral influences of Italy.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To those who have + duly estimated the considerations I have enumerated, the downfall and + moral debasement of the empire can cause no surprise, though they may + justly wonder that its agony should have been so protracted, that it + should have produced a multitude of good and great men, both + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page271">[pg 271]</span><a name="Pg271" + id="Pg271" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> pagan and Christian, and that + these should have exercised so wide an influence as they + unquestionably did. Almost every institution or pursuit by which + virtuous habits would naturally have been formed had been tainted or + destroyed, while agencies of terrific power were impelling the people + to vice. The rich, excluded from most honourable paths of ambition, + and surrounded by countless parasites who inflamed their every + passion, found themselves absolute masters of innumerable slaves who + were their willing ministers, and often their teachers, in vice. The + poor, hating industry and destitute of all intellectual resources, + lived in habitual idleness, and looked upon abject servility as the + normal road to fortune. But the picture becomes truly appalling when + we remember that the main amusement of both classes was the spectacle + of bloodshed, of the death, and sometimes of the torture, of men.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The gladiatorial + games form, indeed, the one feature of Roman society which to a + modern mind is almost inconceivable in its atrocity. That not only + men, but women, in an advanced period of civilisation—men and women + who not only professed but very frequently acted upon a high code of + morals—should have made the carnage of men their habitual amusement, + that all this should have continued for centuries, with scarcely a + protest, is one of the most startling facts in moral history. It is, + however, perfectly normal, and in no degree inconsistent with the + doctrine of natural moral perceptions, while it opens out fields of + ethical enquiry of a very deep though painful interest.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These games, which + long eclipsed, both in interest and in influence, every other form of + public amusement at Rome,<a id="noteref_459" name="noteref_459" href= + "#note_459"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">459</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page272">[pg 272]</span><a name="Pg272" + id="Pg272" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> were originally religious + ceremonies celebrated at the tombs of the great, and intended as + human sacrifices to appease the Manes of the dead.<a id="noteref_460" + name="noteref_460" href="#note_460"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">460</span></span></a> They + were afterwards defended as a means of sustaining the military spirit + by the constant spectacle of courageous death,<a id="noteref_461" + name="noteref_461" href="#note_461"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">461</span></span></a> and + with this object it was customary to give a gladiatorial show to + soldiers before their departure to a war.<a id="noteref_462" name= + "noteref_462" href="#note_462"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">462</span></span></a> In + addition to these functions they had a considerable political + importance, for at a time when all the regular organs of liberty were + paralysed or abolished, the ruler was accustomed in the arena to meet + tens of thousands of his subjects, who availed themselves of the + opportunity to present their petitions, to declare their grievances, + and to censure freely the sovereign or his ministers.<a id= + "noteref_463" name="noteref_463" href="#note_463"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">463</span></span></a> The + games <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page273">[pg 273]</span><a name= + "Pg273" id="Pg273" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> are said to have been + of Etruscan origin; they were first introduced into Rome, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">b.c.</span></span> 264, when the two sons + of a man named Brutus compelled three pair of gladiators to fight at + the funeral of their father,<a id="noteref_464" name="noteref_464" + href="#note_464"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">464</span></span></a> and + before the close of the Republic they were common on great public + occasions, and, what appears even more horrible, at the banquets of + the nobles.<a id="noteref_465" name="noteref_465" href= + "#note_465"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">465</span></span></a> The + rivalry of Cæsar and Pompey greatly multiplied them, for each sought + by this means to ingratiate himself with the people. Pompey + introduced a new form of combat between men and animals.<a id= + "noteref_466" name="noteref_466" href="#note_466"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">466</span></span></a> Cæsar + abolished the old custom of restricting the mortuary games to the + funerals of men, and his daughter was the first Roman lady whose tomb + was desecrated by human blood.<a id="noteref_467" name="noteref_467" + href="#note_467"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">467</span></span></a> Besides + this innovation, Cæsar replaced the temporary edifices in which the + games had hitherto been held by a permanent wooden amphitheatre, + shaded the spectators by an awning of precious silk, compelled the + condemned persons on one occasion to fight with silver lances,<a id= + "noteref_468" name="noteref_468" href="#note_468"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">468</span></span></a> and + drew so many gladiators into the city that the Senate was obliged to + issue an enactment restricting their number.<a id="noteref_469" name= + "noteref_469" href="#note_469"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">469</span></span></a> In the + earliest years of the Empire, Statilius Taurus erected the first + amphitheatre of stone.<a id="noteref_470" name="noteref_470" href= + "#note_470"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">470</span></span></a> + Augustus <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page274">[pg + 274]</span><a name="Pg274" id="Pg274" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + ordered that not more than 120 men should fight on a single occasion, + and that no prætor should give more than two spectacles in a single + year,<a id="noteref_471" name="noteref_471" href= + "#note_471"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">471</span></span></a> and + Tiberius again fixed the maximum of combatants,<a id="noteref_472" + name="noteref_472" href="#note_472"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">472</span></span></a> but + notwithstanding these attempts to limit them the games soon acquired + the most gigantic proportions. They were celebrated habitually by + great men in honour of their dead relatives, by officials on coming + into office, by conquerors to secure popularity, and on every + occasion of public rejoicing, and by rich tradesmen who were desirous + of acquiring a social position.<a id="noteref_473" name="noteref_473" + href="#note_473"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">473</span></span></a> They + were also among the attractions of the public baths. Schools of + gladiators—often the private property of rich citizens—existed in + every leading city of Italy, and, besides slaves and criminals, they + were thronged with freemen, who voluntarily hired themselves for a + term of years. In the eyes of multitudes, the large sums that were + paid to the victor, the patronage of nobles and often of emperors, + and still more the delirium of popular enthusiasm that centred upon + the successful gladiator, outweighed all the dangers of the + profession. A complete recklessness of life was soon engendered both + in the spectators and the combatants. The <span class= + "tei tei-q">“lanistæ,”</span> or purveyors of gladiators, became an + important profession. Wandering bands of gladiators traversed Italy, + hiring themselves for the provincial amphitheatres. The influence of + the games gradually pervaded the whole texture of Roman life. They + became the common-place of conversation.<a id="noteref_474" name= + "noteref_474" href="#note_474"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">474</span></span></a> The + children imitated them in their play.<a id="noteref_475" name= + "noteref_475" href="#note_475"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">475</span></span></a> The + philosophers drew from <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page275">[pg + 275]</span><a name="Pg275" id="Pg275" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + them their metaphors and illustrations. The artists pourtrayed them + in every variety of ornament.<a id="noteref_476" name="noteref_476" + href="#note_476"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">476</span></span></a> The + vestal virgins had a seat of honour in the arena.<a id="noteref_477" + name="noteref_477" href="#note_477"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">477</span></span></a> The + Colosseum, which is said to have been capable of containing more than + 80,000 spectators, eclipsed every other monument of Imperial + splendour, and is even now at once the most imposing and the most + characteristic relic of pagan Rome.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the provinces + the same passion was displayed. From Gaul to Syria, wherever the + Roman influence extended, the spectacles of blood were introduced, + and the gigantic remains of amphitheatres in many lands still attest + by their ruined grandeur the scale on which they were pursued. In the + reign of Tiberius, more than 20,000 persons are said to have perished + by the fall of the amphitheatre at the suburban town of Fidenæ.<a id= + "noteref_478" name="noteref_478" href="#note_478"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">478</span></span></a> Under + Nero, the Syracusans obtained, as a special favour, an exemption from + the law which limited the number of gladiators.<a id="noteref_479" + name="noteref_479" href="#note_479"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">479</span></span></a> Of the + vast train of prisoners brought by Titus from Judea, a large + proportion were destined by the conqueror for the provincial + games.<a id="noteref_480" name="noteref_480" href= + "#note_480"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">480</span></span></a> In + Syria, where they were introduced by Antiochus Epiphanes, they at + first produced rather terror than pleasure; but the effeminate + Syrians soon learned to contemplate them with a passionate + enjoyment,<a id="noteref_481" name="noteref_481" href= + "#note_481"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">481</span></span></a> and on + a single occasion Agrippa caused 1,400 men to fight in the + amphitheatre at Berytus.<a id="noteref_482" name="noteref_482" href= + "#note_482"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">482</span></span></a> Greece + alone was in <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page276">[pg + 276]</span><a name="Pg276" id="Pg276" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + some degree an exception. When an attempt was made to introduce the + spectacle into Athens, the cynic philosopher Demonax appealed + successfully to the better feelings of the people by exclaiming, + <span class="tei tei-q">“You must first overthrow the altar of + Pity.”</span><a id="noteref_483" name="noteref_483" href= + "#note_483"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">483</span></span></a> The + games are said to have afterwards penetrated to Athens, and to have + been suppressed by Apollonius of Tyana;<a id="noteref_484" name= + "noteref_484" href="#note_484"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">484</span></span></a> but + with the exception of Corinth, where a very large foreign population + existed, Greece never appears to have shared the general + enthusiasm.<a id="noteref_485" name="noteref_485" href= + "#note_485"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">485</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">One of the first + consequences of this taste was to render the people absolutely unfit + for those tranquil and refined amusements which usually accompany + civilisation. To men who were accustomed to witness the fierce + vicissitudes of deadly combat, any spectacle that did not elicit the + strongest excitement was insipid. The only amusements that at all + rivalled the spectacles of the amphitheatre and the circus were those + which appealed strongly to the sensual passions, such as the games of + Flora, the postures of the pantomimes, and the ballet.<a id= + "noteref_486" name="noteref_486" href="#note_486"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">486</span></span></a> Roman + comedy, indeed, flourished for a short period, but only by throwing + itself into the same career. The pander and the courtesan are the + leading characters of Plautus, and the more modest Terence never + attained an equal popularity. The different forms of vice have a + continual tendency to act and react upon one another, and the intense + craving after excitement which the amphitheatre must necessarily have + produced, had probably no <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page277">[pg + 277]</span><a name="Pg277" id="Pg277" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + small influence in stimulating the orgies of sensuality which Tacitus + and Suetonius describe.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But if comedy + could to a certain extent flourish with the gladiatorial games, it + was not so with tragedy. It is, indeed, true that the tragic actor + can exhibit displays of more intense agony and of a grander heroism + than were ever witnessed in the arena. His mission is not to paint + nature as it exists in the light of day, but nature as it exists in + the heart of man. His gestures, his tones, his looks, are such as + would never have been exhibited by the person he represents, but they + display to the audience the full intensity of the emotions which that + person would have felt, but which he would have been unable + adequately to reveal. But to those who were habituated to the intense + realism of the amphitheatre, the idealised suffering of the stage was + unimpressive. All the genius of a Siddons or a Ristori would fail to + move an audience who had continually seen living men fall bleeding + and mangled at their feet. One of the first functions of the stage is + to raise to the highest point the susceptibility to disgust. When + Horace said that Medea should not kill her children upon the stage, + he enunciated not a mere arbitrary rule, but one which grows + necessarily out of the development of the drama. It is an essential + characteristic of a refined and cultivated taste to be shocked and + offended at the spectacle of bloodshed; and the theatre, which + somewhat dangerously dissociates sentiment from action, and causes + men to waste their compassion on ideal sufferings, is at least a + barrier against the extreme forms of cruelty by developing this + susceptibility to the highest degree. The gladiatorial games, on the + other hand, destroyed all sense of disgust, and therefore all + refinement of taste, and they rendered the permanent triumph of the + drama impossible.<a id="noteref_487" name="noteref_487" href= + "#note_487"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">487</span></span></a></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page278">[pg 278]</span><a name="Pg278" id="Pg278" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is abundantly + evident, both from history and from present experience, that the + instinctive shock, or natural feeling of disgust, caused by the sight + of the sufferings of men is not generically different from that which + is caused by the sight of the sufferings of animals. The latter, to + those who are not accustomed to it, is intensely painful. The former + continually becomes by use a matter of absolute indifference. If the + repugnance which is felt in the one case appears greater than in the + other, it is not on account of any innate sentiment which commands us + to reverence our species, but simply because our imagination finds + less difficulty in realising human than animal suffering, and also + because education has strengthened our feelings in the one case much + more than in the other. There is, however, no fact more clearly + established than that when men have regarded it as not a crime to + kill some class of their fellow-men, they have soon learnt to do so + with no more natural compunction or hesitation than they would + exhibit in killing a wild animal. This is the normal condition of + savage men. Colonists and Red Indians even now often shoot each other + with precisely the same indifference as they shoot beasts of prey, + and the whole history of warfare—especially when warfare was + conducted on more savage principles than at present—is an + illustration of the fact. Startling, therefore, as it may now appear, + it is in no degree unnatural that Roman spectators should have + contemplated with perfect equanimity the slaughter of men. The + Spaniard, who is brought in infancy to the bull-ring, soon learns to + gaze with indifference or with pleasure upon sights before which the + unpractised eye of the stranger quails with horror, and the same + process would be equally efficacious had the spectacle been the + sufferings of men.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We now look back + with indignation upon this indifference; <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page279">[pg 279]</span><a name="Pg279" id="Pg279" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> but yet, although it may be hard to realise, it + is probably true that there is scarcely a human being who might not + by custom be so indurated as to share it. Had the most benevolent + person lived in a country in which the innocence of these games was + deemed axiomatic, had he been taken to them in his very childhood, + and accustomed to associate them with his earliest dreams of romance, + and had he then been left simply to the play of the emotions, the + first paroxysm of horror would have soon subsided, the shrinking + repugnance that followed would have grown weaker and weaker, the + feeling of interest would have been aroused, and the time would + probably come in which it would reign alone. But even this absolute + indifference to the sight of human suffering does not represent the + full evil resulting from the gladiatorial games. That some men are so + constituted as to be capable of taking a real and lively pleasure in + the simple contemplation of suffering as suffering, and without any + reference to their own interests, is a proposition which has been + strenuously denied by those in whose eyes vice is nothing more than a + displacement, or exaggeration, of lawful self-regarding feelings, and + others, who have admitted the reality of the phenomenon, have treated + it as a very rare and exceptional disease.<a id="noteref_488" name= + "noteref_488" href="#note_488"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">488</span></span></a> That it + is so—at least in its extreme forms—in the present condition of + society, may reasonably be hoped, though I imagine that few persons + who have watched the habits of boys would question that to take + pleasure in giving at least some degree of pain is sufficiently + common, and though it is not quite certain that all the sports of + adult men would be entered into with exactly the same zest if their + victims were not sentient beings. But in every society in which + atrocious punishments have been common, this side of human nature + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page280">[pg 280]</span><a name="Pg280" + id="Pg280" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> has acquired an undoubted + prominence. It is related of Claudius that his special delight at the + gladiatorial shows was in watching the countenances of the dying, for + he had learnt to take an artistic pleasure in observing the + variations of their agony.<a id="noteref_489" name="noteref_489" + href="#note_489"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">489</span></span></a> When + the gladiator lay prostrate it was customary for the spectators to + give the sign with their thumbs, indicating whether they desired him + to be spared or slain, and the giver of the show reaped most + popularity when, in the latter case, he permitted no consideration of + economy to make him hesitate to sanction the popular award.<a id= + "noteref_490" name="noteref_490" href="#note_490"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">490</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Besides this, the + mere desire for novelty impelled the people to every excess or + refinement of barbarity.<a id="noteref_491" name="noteref_491" href= + "#note_491"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">491</span></span></a> The + simple combat became at last insipid, and every variety of atrocity + was devised to stimulate the flagging interest. At one time a bear + and a bull, chained together, rolled in fierce contest along the + sand; at another, criminals dressed in the skins of wild beasts were + thrown to bulls, which were maddened by red-hot irons, or by darts + tipped with burning pitch. Four hundred bears were killed on a single + day under Caligula; three hundred on another day under Claudius. + Under Nero, four hundred tigers fought with bulls and elephants; four + hundred bears and three hundred lions were slaughtered by his + soldiers. In a single day, at the dedication of the Colosseum by + Titus, five thousand animals perished. Under Trajan, the games + continued for one hundred and twenty-three successive days.<a id= + "noteref_492" name="noteref_492" href="#note_492"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">492</span></span></a> Lions, + tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page281">[pg 281]</span><a name="Pg281" id="Pg281" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> hippopotami, giraffes, bulls, stags, even + crocodiles and serpents, were employed to give novelty to the + spectacle. Nor was any form of human suffering wanting. The first + Gordian, when edile, gave twelve spectacles, in each of which from + one hundred and fifty to five hundred pair of gladiators + appeared.<a id="noteref_493" name="noteref_493" href= + "#note_493"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">493</span></span></a> Eight + hundred pair fought at the triumph of Aurelian.<a id="noteref_494" + name="noteref_494" href="#note_494"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">494</span></span></a> Ten + thousand men fought during the games of Trajan.<a id="noteref_495" + name="noteref_495" href="#note_495"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">495</span></span></a> Nero + illumined his gardens during the night by Christians burning in their + pitchy shirts.<a id="noteref_496" name="noteref_496" href= + "#note_496"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">496</span></span></a> Under + Domitian, an army of feeble dwarfs was compelled to fight,<a id= + "noteref_497" name="noteref_497" href="#note_497"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">497</span></span></a> and, + more than once, female gladiators descended to perish in the + arena.<a id="noteref_498" name="noteref_498" href= + "#note_498"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">498</span></span></a> A + criminal personating a fictitious character was nailed to a cross, + and there torn by a bear.<a id="noteref_499" name="noteref_499" href= + "#note_499"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">499</span></span></a> + Another, representing Scævola, was compelled to hold his hand in a + real flame.<a id="noteref_500" name="noteref_500" href= + "#note_500"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">500</span></span></a> A + third, as Hercules, was burnt alive upon the pile.<a id="noteref_501" + name="noteref_501" href="#note_501"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">501</span></span></a> So + intense <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page282">[pg 282]</span><a name= + "Pg282" id="Pg282" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> was the craving for + blood, that a prince was less unpopular if he neglected the + distribution of corn than if he neglected the games; and Nero + himself, on account of his munificence in this respect, was probably + the sovereign who was most beloved by the Roman multitude. + Heliogabalus and Galerius are reported, when dining, to have regaled + themselves with the sight of criminals torn by wild beasts. It was + said of the latter that <span class="tei tei-q">“he never supped + without human blood.”</span><a id="noteref_502" name="noteref_502" + href="#note_502"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">502</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is well for us + to look steadily on such facts as these. They display more vividly + than any mere philosophical disquisition the abyss of depravity into + which it is possible for human nature to sink. They furnish us with + striking proofs of the reality of the moral progress we have + attained, and they enable us in some degree to estimate the + regenerating influence that Christianity has exercised in the world. + For the destruction of the gladiatorial games is all its work. + Philosophers, indeed, might deplore them, gentle natures might shrink + from their contagion, but to the multitude they possessed a + fascination which nothing but the new religion could overcome.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Nor was this + fascination surprising, for no pageant has ever combined more + powerful elements of attraction. The magnificent circus, the gorgeous + dresses of the assembled Court, the contagion of a passionate + enthusiasm thrilling almost visibly through the mighty throng, the + breathless silence of expectation, the wild cheers bursting + simultaneously from eighty thousand tongues, and echoing to the + farthest outskirts of the city, the rapid alternations of the fray, + the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page283">[pg 283]</span><a name= + "Pg283" id="Pg283" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> deeds of splendid + courage that were manifested, were all well fitted to entrance the + imagination. The crimes and servitude of the gladiator were for a + time forgotten in the blaze of glory that surrounded him. + Representing to the highest degree that courage which the Romans + deemed the first of virtues, the cynosure of countless eyes, the + chief object of conversation in the metropolis of the universe, + destined, if victorious, to be immortalised in the mosaic and the + sculpture,<a id="noteref_503" name="noteref_503" href= + "#note_503"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">503</span></span></a> he not + unfrequently rose to heroic grandeur. The gladiator Spartacus for + three years defied the bravest armies of Rome. The greatest of Roman + generals had chosen gladiators for his body-guard.<a id="noteref_504" + name="noteref_504" href="#note_504"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">504</span></span></a> A band + of gladiators, faithful even to death, followed the fortunes of the + fallen Antony, when all besides had deserted him.<a id="noteref_505" + name="noteref_505" href="#note_505"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">505</span></span></a> + Beautiful eyes, trembling with passion, looked down upon the fight, + and the noblest ladies in Rome, even the empress herself, had been + known to crave the victor's love.<a id="noteref_506" name= + "noteref_506" href="#note_506"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">506</span></span></a> We read + of gladiators lamenting that the games occurred so seldom,<a id= + "noteref_507" name="noteref_507" href="#note_507"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">507</span></span></a> + complaining bitterly if they were not permitted to descend into the + arena,<a id="noteref_508" name="noteref_508" href= + "#note_508"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">508</span></span></a> + scorning to fight except with the most powerful antagonists,<a id= + "noteref_509" name="noteref_509" href="#note_509"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">509</span></span></a> + laughing aloud as their wounds were dressed,<a id="noteref_510" name= + "noteref_510" href="#note_510"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">510</span></span></a> and at + last, when prostrate in the dust, calmly turning their throats to the + sword of the conqueror.<a id="noteref_511" name="noteref_511" href= + "#note_511"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">511</span></span></a> The + enthusiasm that gathered round them was so intense that special laws + were found necessary, and were sometimes insufficient to prevent + patricians from enlisting in their ranks,<a id="noteref_512" name= + "noteref_512" href="#note_512"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">512</span></span></a> while + the tranquil <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page284">[pg + 284]</span><a name="Pg284" id="Pg284" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + courage with which they never failed to die supplied the philosopher + with his most striking examples.<a id="noteref_513" name= + "noteref_513" href="#note_513"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">513</span></span></a> The + severe continence that was required before the combat, contrasting + vividly with the licentiousness of Roman life, had even invested them + with something of a moral dignity; and it is a singularly suggestive + fact that of all pagan characters the gladiator was selected by the + Fathers as the closest approximation to a Christian model.<a id= + "noteref_514" name="noteref_514" href="#note_514"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">514</span></span></a> St. + Augustine tells us how one of his friends, being drawn to the + spectacle, endeavoured by closing his eyes to guard against a + fascination he knew to be sinful. A sudden cry caused him to break + his resolution, and he never could withdraw his gaze again.<a id= + "noteref_515" name="noteref_515" href="#note_515"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">515</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">And while the + influences of the amphitheatre gained a complete ascendancy over the + populace, the Roman was not without excuses that could lull his moral + feelings to repose. The games, as I have said, were originally human + sacrifices—religious rites sacred to the dead—and it was argued that + the death of the gladiator was both more honourable and more + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page285">[pg 285]</span><a name="Pg285" + id="Pg285" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> merciful than that of the + passive victim, who, in the Homeric age, was sacrificed at the tomb. + The combatants were either professional gladiators, slaves, + criminals, or military captives. The lot of the first was voluntary. + The second had for a long time been regarded as almost beneath or + beyond a freeman's care; but when the enlarging circle of sympathy + had made the Romans regard their slaves as <span class="tei tei-q">“a + kind of second human nature,”</span><a id="noteref_516" name= + "noteref_516" href="#note_516"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">516</span></span></a> they + perceived the atrocity of exposing them in the games, and an edict of + the emperor forbade it.<a id="noteref_517" name="noteref_517" href= + "#note_517"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">517</span></span></a> The + third had been condemned to death, and as the victorious gladiator + was at least sometimes pardoned,<a id="noteref_518" name= + "noteref_518" href="#note_518"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">518</span></span></a> a + permission to fight was regarded as an act of mercy. The fate of the + fourth could not strike the early Roman with the horror it would now + inspire, for the right of the conquerors to massacre their prisoners + was almost universally admitted.<a id="noteref_519" name= + "noteref_519" href="#note_519"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">519</span></span></a> But, + beyond the point of desiring the games to be in some degree + restricted, extremely few of the moralists of the Roman Empire ever + advanced. That it was a horrible and demoralising thing to make the + spectacle of the deaths, even of guilty men, a form of popular + amusement, was a position which no Roman school had attained, and + which was only reached by a very few individuals. Cicero observes, + <span class="tei tei-q">“that the gladiatorial spectacles appear to + some cruel and inhuman,”</span> and, he adds, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“I know not whether as they are now conducted it is not + so, but when guilty men are compelled to fight, no better discipline + against suffering and death can be <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page286">[pg 286]</span><a name="Pg286" id="Pg286" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> presented to the eye.”</span><a id= + "noteref_520" name="noteref_520" href="#note_520"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">520</span></span></a> Seneca, + it is true, adopts a far nobler language. He denounced the games with + a passionate eloquence. He refuted indignantly the argument derived + from the guilt of the combatants, and declared that under every form + and modification these amusements were brutalising, savage, and + detestable.<a id="noteref_521" name="noteref_521" href= + "#note_521"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">521</span></span></a> + Plutarch went even farther, and condemned the combats of wild beasts + on the ground that we should have a bond of sympathy with all + sentient beings, and that the sight of blood and of suffering is + necessarily and essentially depraving.<a id="noteref_522" name= + "noteref_522" href="#note_522"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">522</span></span></a> To + these instances we may add Petronius, who condemned the shows in his + poem on the civil war; Junius Mauricus, who refused to permit the + inhabitants of Vienne to celebrate them, and replied to the + remonstrances of the emperor, <span class="tei tei-q">“Would to + Heaven it were possible to abolish such spectacles, even at + Rome!”</span><a id="noteref_523" name="noteref_523" href= + "#note_523"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">523</span></span></a> and, + above all, Marcus Aurelius, who, by compelling the gladiators to + fight with blunted swords, rendered them for a time comparatively + harmless.<a id="noteref_524" name="noteref_524" href= + "#note_524"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">524</span></span></a> But + these, with the Athenian remonstrances I have already noticed, are + almost the only instances now remaining of pagan protests against the + most conspicuous as well as the most atrocious feature of the age. + Juvenal, whose unsparing satire has traversed the whole field of + Roman manners, and who denounces fiercely all cruelty to slaves, has + repeatedly noticed the gladiatorial shows, but on no single occasion + does he intimate that they were inconsistent with humanity. Of all + the great historians who recorded them, not one seems to have been + conscious that he was recording a barbarity, not one appears to have + seen in them <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page287">[pg + 287]</span><a name="Pg287" id="Pg287" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> any + greater evils than an increasing tendency to pleasure and the + excessive multiplication of a dangerous class. The Roman sought to + make men brave and fearless, rather than gentle and humane, and in + his eyes that spectacle was to be applauded which steeled the heart + against the fear of death, even at the sacrifice of the affections. + Titus and Trajan, in whose reigns, probably, the greatest number of + shows were compressed into a short time, were both men of conspicuous + clemency, and no Roman seems to have imagined that the fact of 3,000 + men having been compelled to fight under the one, and 10,000 under + the other, cast the faintest shadow upon their characters. Suetonius + mentions, as an instance of the amiability of Titus, that he was + accustomed to jest with the people during the combats of the + gladiators,<a id="noteref_525" name="noteref_525" href= + "#note_525"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">525</span></span></a> and + Pliny especially eulogised Trajan because he did not patronise + spectacles that enervate the character, but rather those which impel + men <span class="tei tei-q">“to noble wounds and to the contempt of + death.”</span><a id="noteref_526" name="noteref_526" href= + "#note_526"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">526</span></span></a> The + same writer, who was himself in many ways conspicuous for his + gentleness and charity, having warmly commended a friend for acceding + to a petition of the people of Verona, who desired a spectacle, adds + this startling sentence: <span class="tei tei-q">“After so general a + request, to have refused would not have been firmness—it would have + been cruelty.”</span><a id="noteref_527" name="noteref_527" href= + "#note_527"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">527</span></span></a> Even in + the closing years of the fourth century, the præfect Symmachus, who + was regarded as one of the most estimable pagans of his age, + collected some Saxon prisoners to fight in honour of his son. They + strangled themselves in prison, and Symmachus lamented the misfortune + that had befallen him from their <span class="tei tei-q">“impious + hands,”</span> but endeavoured to calm his feelings by recalling the + patience of Socrates and the precepts of philosophy.<a id= + "noteref_528" name="noteref_528" href="#note_528"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">528</span></span></a></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page288">[pg 288]</span><a name="Pg288" id="Pg288" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">While, however, I + have no desire to disguise or palliate the extreme atrocity of this + aspect of Roman life, there are certain very natural exaggerations, + against which it is necessary for us to guard. There are in human + nature, and more especially in the exercise of the benevolent + affections, inequalities, inconsistencies, and anomalies, of which + theorists do not always take account. We should be altogether in + error if we supposed that a man who took pleasure in a gladiatorial + combat in ancient Rome was necessarily as inhuman as a modern would + be who took pleasure in a similar spectacle. A man who falls but a + little below the standard of his own merciful age is often in reality + far worse than a man who had conformed to the standard of a much more + barbarous age, even though the latter will do some things with + perfect equanimity from which the other would recoil with horror. We + have a much greater power than is sometimes supposed of localising + both our benevolent and malevolent feelings. If a man is very kind, + or very harsh to some particular class, this is usually, and on the + whole justly, regarded as an index of his general disposition, but + the inference is not infallible, and it may easily be pushed too far. + There are some who appear to expend all their kindly feelings on a + single class, and to treat with perfect indifference all outside it. + There are others who regard a certain class as quite outside the pale + of their sympathies, while in other spheres their affections prove + lively and constant. There are many who would accede without the + faintest reluctance to a barbarous custom, but would be quite + incapable of an equally barbarous act which custom had not + consecrated. Our affections are so capricious in their nature that it + is continually necessary to correct by detailed experience the most + plausible deductions. Thus, for example, it is a very unquestionable + and a very important truth that cruelty to animals naturally + indicates and promotes a habit of mind which leads to cruelty to men; + and that, on the other hand, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page289">[pg 289]</span><a name="Pg289" id="Pg289" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> an affectionate and merciful disposition to + animals commonly implies a gentle and amiable nature. But, if we + adopted this principle as an infallible criterion of humanity, we + should soon find ourselves at fault. To the somewhat too hackneyed + anecdote of Domitian gratifying his savage propensities by killing + flies,<a id="noteref_529" name="noteref_529" href= + "#note_529"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">529</span></span></a> we + might oppose Spinoza, one of the purest, most gentle, most benevolent + of mankind, of whom it is related that almost the only amusement of + his life was putting flies into spiders' webs, and watching their + struggles and their deaths.<a id="noteref_530" name="noteref_530" + href="#note_530"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">530</span></span></a> It has + been observed that a very large proportion of the men who during the + French Revolution proved themselves most absolutely indifferent to + human suffering were deeply attached to animals. Fournier was devoted + to a squirrel, Couthon to a spaniel, Panis to two gold pheasants, + Chaumette to an aviary, Marat kept doves.<a id="noteref_531" name= + "noteref_531" href="#note_531"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">531</span></span></a> Bacon + has noticed that the Turks, who are a cruel people, are nevertheless + conspicuous for their kindness to animals, and he mentions the + instance of a Christian boy who was nearly stoned to death for + gagging a long-billed fowl.<a id="noteref_532" name="noteref_532" + href="#note_532"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">532</span></span></a> In + Egypt there are hospitals for superannuated cats, and the most + loathsome insects are regarded with tenderness; but human life is + treated as if it were of no account, and human suffering scarcely + elicits a care.<a id="noteref_533" name="noteref_533" href= + "#note_533"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">533</span></span></a> The + same contrast appears more or <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page290">[pg 290]</span><a name="Pg290" id="Pg290" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> less in all Eastern nations. On the other hand, + travellers are unanimous in declaring that in Spain an intense + passion for the bull-fight is quite compatible with the most active + benevolence and the most amiable disposition. Again, to pass to + another sphere, it is not uncommon to find conquerors, who will + sacrifice with perfect callousness great masses of men to their + ambition, but who, in their dealings with isolated individuals, are + distinguished by an invariable clemency. Anomalies of this kind + continually appear in the Roman population. The very men who looked + down with delight when the sand of the arena was reddened with human + blood, made the theatre ring with applause when Terence, in his + famous line, proclaimed the universal brotherhood of man. When the + senate, being unable to discover the murderer of a patrician, + resolved to put his four hundred slaves to death, the people rose in + open rebellion against the sentence.<a id="noteref_534" name= + "noteref_534" href="#note_534"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">534</span></span></a> A + knight named Erixo, who in the days of Augustus had so scourged his + son that he died of the effects, was nearly torn to pieces by the + indignant population.<a id="noteref_535" name="noteref_535" href= + "#note_535"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">535</span></span></a> The + elder Cato deprived a senator of his rank, because he had fixed an + execution at such an hour that his mistress could enjoy the + spectacle.<a id="noteref_536" name="noteref_536" href= + "#note_536"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">536</span></span></a> Even in + the amphitheatre there were certain traces of a milder spirit. + Drusus, the people complained, took too visible a pleasure at the + sight of blood;<a id="noteref_537" name="noteref_537" href= + "#note_537"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">537</span></span></a> + Caligula was too curious in watching death;<a id="noteref_538" name= + "noteref_538" href="#note_538"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">538</span></span></a> + Caracalla, when a boy, won enthusiastic plaudits by shedding tears at + the execution of criminals.<a id="noteref_539" name="noteref_539" + href="#note_539"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">539</span></span></a> Among + the most popular spectacles at Rome was rope-dancing, and then, as + now, the cord being stretched at a great height above the ground, the + apparent, and indeed <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page291">[pg + 291]</span><a name="Pg291" id="Pg291" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + real, danger added an evil zest to the performances. In the reign of + Marcus Aurelius an accident had occurred, and the emperor, with his + usual sensitive humanity, ordered that no rope-dancer should perform + without a net or a mattress being spread out below. It is a + singularly curious fact that this precaution, which no Christian + nation has adopted, continued in force during more than a century of + the worst period of the Roman Empire, when the blood of captives was + poured out like water in the Colosseum.<a id="noteref_540" name= + "noteref_540" href="#note_540"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">540</span></span></a> The + standard of humanity was very low, but the sentiment was still + manifest, though its displays were capricious and inconsistent.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The sketch I have + now drawn will, I think, be sufficient to display the broad chasm + that existed between the Roman moralists and the Roman people. On the + one hand we find a system of ethics, of which when we consider the + range and beauty of its precepts, the sublimity of the motives to + which it appealed, and its perfect freedom from superstitious + elements, it is not too much to say that though it may have been + equalled, it has never been surpassed. On the other hand, we find a + society almost absolutely destitute of moralising institutions, + occupations, or beliefs, existing under an economical and political + system which inevitably led to general depravity, and passionately + addicted to the most brutalising amusements. The moral code, while it + expanded in theoretical catholicity, had contracted in practical + application. The early Romans had a very narrow and imperfect + standard of duty, but their patriotism, their military system, and + their enforced simplicity of life had made that standard essentially + popular. The later Romans had attained a very high and spiritual + conception of duty, but the philosopher <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page292">[pg 292]</span><a name="Pg292" id="Pg292" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> with his group of disciples, or the writer with + his few readers, had scarcely any point of contact with the people. + The great practical problem of the ancient philosophers was how they + could act upon the masses. Simply to tell men what is virtue, and to + extol its beauty, is insufficient. Something more must be done if the + characters of nations are to be moulded and inveterate vices + eradicated.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This problem the + Roman Stoics were incapable of meeting, but they did what lay in + their power, and their efforts, though altogether inadequate to the + disease, were by no means contemptible. In the first place they + raised up many great and good rulers who exerted all the influence of + their position in the cause of virtue. In most cases these reforms + were abolished on the accession of the first bad emperor, but there + were at least some that remained. It has been observed that the + luxury of the table, which had acquired the most extravagant + proportions during the period that elapsed between the battle of + Actium and the reign of Galba, began from this period to decline, and + the change is chiefly attributed to Vespasian, who had in a measure + reformed the Roman aristocracy by the introduction of many + provincials, and who made his court an example of the strictest + frugality.<a id="noteref_541" name="noteref_541" href= + "#note_541"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">541</span></span></a> The + period from the accession of Nerva to the death of Marcus Aurelius, + comprising no less than eighty-four years, exhibits a uniformity of + good government which no other despotic monarchy has equalled. Each + of the five emperors who then reigned deserves to be placed among the + best rulers who have ever lived. Trajan and Hadrian, whose personal + characters were most defective, were men of great and conspicuous + genius. Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius, though less distinguished as + politicians, were among the most perfectly virtuous men who have ever + sat on a throne. During forty years of this period, perfect, unbroken + peace reigned <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page293">[pg + 293]</span><a name="Pg293" id="Pg293" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + over the entire civilised globe. The barbarian encroachments had not + yet begun. The distinct nationalities that composed the Empire, + gratified by perfect municipal and by perfect intellectual freedom, + had lost all care for political liberty, and little more than three + hundred thousand soldiers guarded a territory which is now protected + by much more than three millions.<a id="noteref_542" name= + "noteref_542" href="#note_542"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">542</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In creating this + condition of affairs, Stoicism, as the chief moral agent of the + Empire, had a considerable though not a preponderating influence. In + other ways its influence was more evident and exclusive. It was a + fundamental maxim of the sect, <span class="tei tei-q">“that the sage + should take part in public life,”</span><a id="noteref_543" name= + "noteref_543" href="#note_543"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">543</span></span></a> and it + was therefore impossible that Stoicism should flourish without + producing a resuscitation of patriotism. The same moral impulse which + transformed the Neoplatonist into a dreaming mystic and the Catholic + into a useless hermit, impelled the Stoic to the foremost post of + danger in the service of his country. While landmark after landmark + of Roman virtue was submerged, while luxury and scepticism and + foreign habits and foreign creeds were corroding the whole framework + of the national life, amid the last paroxysms of expiring liberty, + amid the hideous carnival of vice that soon followed upon its fall, + the Stoic remained unchanged, the representative and the sustainer of + the past. A party which had acquired the noble title of the Party of + Virtue, guided by such men as Cato or Thrasea or Helvidius or + Burrhus, upheld the banner of Roman virtue and Roman liberty in the + darkest hours of despotism and of apostasy. Like all men who carry an + intense religious fervour into politics, they were often + narrow-minded and intolerant, blind to the inevitable changes of + society, incapable of compromise, turbulent and inopportune in their + demands,<a id="noteref_544" name="noteref_544" href= + "#note_544"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">544</span></span></a> but + they more <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page294">[pg + 294]</span><a name="Pg294" id="Pg294" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + than redeemed their errors by their noble constancy and courage. The + austere purity of their lives, and the heroic grandeur of their + deaths, kept alive the tradition of Roman liberty even under a Nero + or a Domitian. While such men existed it was felt that all was not + lost. There was still a rallying point of freedom, a seed of virtue + that might germinate anew, a living protest against the despotism and + the corruption of the Empire.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A third and still + more important service which Stoicism rendered to popular morals was + in the formation of Roman jurisprudence.<a id="noteref_545" name= + "noteref_545" href="#note_545"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">545</span></span></a> Of all + the many forms of intellectual exertion in which Greece and Rome + struggled for the mastery this is perhaps the only one in which the + superiority of the latter is indisputable. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“To rule the nations”</span> was justly pronounced by the + Roman poet the supreme glory of his countrymen, and their + administrative genius is even now unrivalled in history. A deep + reverence for law was long one of their chief moral characteristics, + and in order that it might be inculcated from the earliest years it + was a part of the Roman system of education to oblige the children to + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page295">[pg 295]</span><a name="Pg295" + id="Pg295" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> repeat by rote the code of the + decemvirs.<a id="noteref_546" name="noteref_546" href= + "#note_546"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">546</span></span></a> The + laws of the Republic, however, being an expression of the contracted, + local, military, and sacerdotal spirit that dominated among the + people, were necessarily unfit for the political and intellectual + expansion of the Empire, and the process of renovation which was + begun under Augustus by the Stoic Labeo,<a id="noteref_547" name= + "noteref_547" href="#note_547"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">547</span></span></a> was + continued with great zeal under Hadrian and Alexander Severus, and + issued in the famous compilations of Theodosius and Justinian. In + this movement we have to observe two parts. There were certain + general rules of guidance laid down by the great Roman lawyers which + constituted what may be called the ideal of the jurisconsults—the + ends to which their special enactments tended—the principles of + equity to guide the judge when the law was silent or ambiguous. There + were also definite enactments to meet specific cases. The first part + was simply borrowed from the Stoics, whose doctrines and method thus + passed from the narrow circle of a philosophical academy and became + the avowed moral beacons of the civilised globe. The fundamental + difference between Stoicism and early Roman thought was that the + former maintained the existence of a bond of unity among mankind + which transcended or annihilated all class or national limitations. + The essential characteristic of the Stoical method was the assertion + of the existence of a certain law of nature to which it was the end + of philosophy to conform. These tenets were laid down in the most + unqualified language by the Roman lawyers. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“As far as natural law is concerned,”</span> said Ulpian, + <span class="tei tei-q">“all men are equal.”</span><a id= + "noteref_548" name="noteref_548" href="#note_548"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">548</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Nature,”</span> said Paul, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“has established among us a certain + relationship.”</span><a id="noteref_549" name="noteref_549" href= + "#note_549"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">549</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“By natural law,”</span> Ulpian declared, + <span class="tei tei-q">“all men are born free.”</span><a id= + "noteref_550" name="noteref_550" href="#note_550"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">550</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page296">[pg 296]</span><a name="Pg296" + id="Pg296" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Slavery”</span> was defined by Florentinus as + <span class="tei tei-q">“a custom of the law of nations, by which one + man, contrary to the law of nature, is subjected to the dominion of + another.”</span><a id="noteref_551" name="noteref_551" href= + "#note_551"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">551</span></span></a> In + accordance with these principles it became a maxim among the Roman + lawyers that in every doubtful case where the alternative of slavery + or freedom was at issue, the decision of the judge should be towards + the latter.<a id="noteref_552" name="noteref_552" href= + "#note_552"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">552</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The Roman + legislation was in a twofold manner the child of philosophy. It was + in the first place itself formed upon the philosophical model, for, + instead of being a mere empirical system adjusted to the existing + requirements of society, it laid down abstract principles of right to + which it endeavoured to conform;<a id="noteref_553" name= + "noteref_553" href="#note_553"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">553</span></span></a> and, in + the next place, these principles were borrowed directly from + Stoicism. The prominence the sect had acquired among Roman moralists, + its active intervention in public affairs, and also the precision and + brevity of its phraseology, had recommended it to the lawyers,<a id= + "noteref_554" name="noteref_554" href="#note_554"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">554</span></span></a> and the + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page297">[pg 297]</span><a name="Pg297" + id="Pg297" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> union then effected between + the legal and philosophical spirit is felt to the present day. To the + Stoics and the Roman lawyers is mainly due the clear recognition of + the existence of a law of nature above and beyond all human + enactments which has been the basis of the best moral and of the most + influential though most chimerical political speculation of later + ages, and the renewed study of Roman law was an important element in + the revival that preceded the Reformation.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is not + necessary for my present purpose to follow into very minute detail + the application of these principles to practical legislation. It is + sufficient to say, that there were few departments into which the + catholic and humane principles of Stoicism were not in some degree + carried. In the political world, as we have already seen, the right + of Roman citizenship, with the protection and the legal privileges + attached to it, from being the monopoly of a small class, was + gradually but very widely diffused. In the domestic sphere, the power + which the old laws had given to the father of the family, though not + destroyed, was greatly abridged, and an important innovation, which + is well worthy of a brief notice, was thus introduced into the social + system of the Empire.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is probable + that in the chronology of morals, domestic virtue takes the + precedence of all others; but in its earliest phase it consists of a + single article—the duty of absolute submission to the head of the + household. It is only at a later period, and when the affections have + been in some degree evoked, that the reciprocity of duty is felt, and + the whole tendency of civilisation is to diminish the disparity + between the different members of the family. The process by which the + wife from a simple slave becomes the companion and <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page298">[pg 298]</span><a name="Pg298" id="Pg298" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> equal of her husband, I shall endeavour + to trace in a future chapter. The relations of the father to his + children are profoundly modified by the new position the affections + assume in education, which in a rude nation rests chiefly upon + authority, but in a civilised community upon sympathy. In Rome the + absolute authority of the head of the family was the centre and + archetype of that whole system of discipline and subordination which + it was the object of the legislator to sustain. Filial reverence was + enforced as the first of duties. It is the one virtue which Virgil + attributed in any remarkable degree to the founder of the race. The + marks of external respect paid to old men were scarcely less than in + Sparta.<a id="noteref_555" name="noteref_555" href= + "#note_555"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">555</span></span></a> It was + the boast of the lawyers that in no other nation had the parent so + great an authority over his children.<a id="noteref_556" name= + "noteref_556" href="#note_556"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">556</span></span></a> The + child was indeed the absolute slave of his father, who had a right at + any time to take away his life and dispose of his entire property. He + could look to no time during the life of his father in which he would + be freed from the thraldom. The man of fifty, the consul, the + general, or the tribune, was in this respect in the same position as + the infant, and might at any moment be deprived of all the earnings + of his labour, driven to the most menial employments, or even put to + death, by the paternal command.<a id="noteref_557" name="noteref_557" + href="#note_557"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">557</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There can, I + think, be little question that this law, at least in the latter + period of its existence, defeated its own <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page299">[pg 299]</span><a name="Pg299" id="Pg299" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> object. There are few errors of education to + which more unhappy homes may be traced than this—that parents have + sought to command the obedience, before they have sought to win the + confidence, of their children. This was the path which the Roman + legislator indicated to the parent, and its natural consequence was + to chill the sympathies and arouse the resentment of the young. Of + all the forms of virtue filial affection is perhaps that which + appears most rarely in Roman history. In the plays of Plautus it is + treated much as conjugal fidelity was treated in England by the + playwriters of the Restoration. An historian of the reign of Tiberius + has remarked that the civil wars were equally remarkable for the many + examples they supplied of the devotion of wives to their husbands, of + the devotion of slaves to their masters, and of the treachery or + indifference of sons to their fathers.<a id="noteref_558" name= + "noteref_558" href="#note_558"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">558</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The reforms that + were effected during the pagan empire did not reconstruct the family, + but they at least greatly mitigated its despotism. The profound + change of feeling that had taken place on the subject is shown by the + contrast between the respectful, though somewhat shrinking, + acquiescence, with which the ancient Romans regarded parents who had + put their children to death,<a id="noteref_559" name="noteref_559" + href="#note_559"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">559</span></span></a> and the + indignation excited under Augustus by the act of Erixo. Hadrian, + apparently by a stretch of despotic power, banished a man who had + assassinated his son.<a id="noteref_560" name="noteref_560" href= + "#note_560"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">560</span></span></a> + Infanticide was forbidden, though <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page300">[pg 300]</span><a name="Pg300" id="Pg300" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> not seriously repressed, but the right of + putting to death an adult child had long been obsolete, when + Alexander Severus formally withdrew it from the father. The property + of children was also in some slight degree protected. A few instances + are recorded of wills that were annulled because they had + disinherited legitimate sons,<a id="noteref_561" name="noteref_561" + href="#note_561"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">561</span></span></a> and + Hadrian, following a policy that had been feebly initiated by his two + predecessors, gave the son an absolute possession of whatever he + might gain in the military service. Diocletian rendered the sale of + children by the fathers, in all cases, illegal.<a id="noteref_562" + name="noteref_562" href="#note_562"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">562</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the field of + slavery the legislative reforms were more important. This + institution, indeed, is one that meets us at every turn of the moral + history of Rome, and on two separate occasions in the present chapter + I have already had occasion to notice it. I have shown that the great + prominence of the slave element in Roman life was one of the causes + of the enlargement of sympathies that characterises the philosophy of + the Empire, and also that slavery was in a very high degree, and in + several distinct ways, a cause of the corruption of the free classes. + In considering the condition of the slaves themselves, we may + distinguish, I think, three periods. In the earlier and simpler days + of the Republic, the head of the family was absolute master of his + slaves, but circumstances in a great measure mitigated the evil of + the despotism. The slaves were very few in number. Each Roman + proprietor had commonly one or two who assisted him in cultivating + the soil, and superintended his property when he was absent in the + army. In the frugal habits of the time, the master was brought into + the most intimate connection with his <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page301">[pg 301]</span><a name="Pg301" id="Pg301" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> slaves. He shared their labours and their food, + and the control he exercised over them, in most cases probably + differed little from that which he exercised over his sons. Under + such circumstances, great barbarity to slaves, though always + possible, was not likely to be common, and the protection of religion + was added to the force of habit. Hercules, the god of labour, was the + special patron of slaves. There was a legend that Sparta had once + been nearly destroyed by an earthquake sent by Neptune to avenge the + treacherous murder of some Helots.<a id="noteref_563" name= + "noteref_563" href="#note_563"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">563</span></span></a> In + Rome, it was said, Jupiter had once in a dream commissioned a man to + express to the senate the divine anger at the cruel treatment of a + slave during the public games.<a id="noteref_564" name="noteref_564" + href="#note_564"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">564</span></span></a> By the + pontifical law, slaves were exempted from field labours on the + religious festivals.<a id="noteref_565" name="noteref_565" href= + "#note_565"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">565</span></span></a> The + Saturnalia and Matronalia, which were especially intended for their + benefit, were the most popular holidays in Rome, and on these + occasions the slaves were accustomed to sit at the same table with + their masters.<a id="noteref_566" name="noteref_566" href= + "#note_566"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">566</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Even at this time, + however, it is probable that great atrocities were occasionally + committed. Everything was permitted by law, although it is probable + that the censor in cases of extreme abuse might interfere, and the + aristocratic feelings of the early Roman, though corrected in a + measure by the associations of daily labour, sometimes broke out in a + fierce scorn for all classes but his own. The elder Cato, who may be + regarded as a type of the Romans of the earlier period, speaks of + slaves simply as instruments for obtaining wealth, and he encouraged + masters, both by his precept and his example, to sell them as useless + when aged and infirm.<a id="noteref_567" name="noteref_567" href= + "#note_567"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">567</span></span></a></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page302">[pg 302]</span><a name="Pg302" id="Pg302" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the second + period, the condition of slaves had greatly deteriorated. The + victories of Rome, especially in the East, had introduced into the + city innumerable slaves<a id="noteref_568" name="noteref_568" href= + "#note_568"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">568</span></span></a> and the + wildest luxury, and the despotism of the master remained unqualified + by law, while the habits of life that had originally mitigated it had + disappeared. The religious sentiments of the people were at the same + time fatally impaired, and many new causes conspired to aggravate the + evil. The passion for gladiatorial shows had begun, and it + continually produced a savage indifference to the infliction of pain. + The servile wars of Sicily, and the still more formidable revolt of + Spartacus, had shaken Italy to the centre, and the shock was felt in + every household. <span class="tei tei-q">“As many enemies as + slaves,”</span> had become a Roman proverb. The fierce struggles of + barbarian captives were repaid by fearful punishments, and many + thousands of revolted slaves perished on the cross. An atrocious law, + intended to secure the safety of the citizens, provided that if a + master were murdered, all the slaves in his house, who were not in + chains or absolutely helpless through illness, should be put to + death.<a id="noteref_569" name="noteref_569" href= + "#note_569"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">569</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Numerous acts of + the most odious barbarity were committed. The well-known anecdotes of + Flaminius ordering a slave to be killed to gratify, by the spectacle, + the curiosity of <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page303">[pg + 303]</span><a name="Pg303" id="Pg303" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> a + guest; of Vedius Pollio feeding his fish on the flesh of slaves; and + of Augustus sentencing a slave, who had killed and eaten a favourite + quail, to crucifixion, are the extreme examples that are recorded; + for we need not regard as an historical fact the famous picture in + Juvenal of a Roman lady, in a moment of caprice, ordering her + unoffending servant to be crucified. We have, however, many other + very horrible glimpses of slave life at the close of the Republic and + in the early days of the Empire. The marriage of slaves was entirely + unrecognised by law, and in their case the words adultery, incest, or + polygamy had no legal meaning. Their testimony was in general only + received in the law-courts when they were under torture. When + executed for a crime, their deaths were of a most hideous kind. The + ergastula, or private prisons, of the masters were frequently their + only sleeping-places. Old and infirm slaves were constantly exposed + to perish on an island of the Tiber. We read of slaves chained as + porters to the doors, and cultivating the fields in chains. Ovid and + Juvenal describe the fierce Roman ladies tearing their servants' + faces, and thrusting the long pins of their brooches into their + flesh. The master, at the close of the Republic, had full power to + sell his slave as a gladiator, or as a combatant with wild + beasts.<a id="noteref_570" name="noteref_570" href= + "#note_570"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">570</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">All this is very + horrible, but it must not be forgotten that there was another side to + the picture. It is the custom of many ecclesiastical writers to paint + the pagan society of the Empire as a kind of pandemonium, and with + this object they collect the facts I have cited, which are for the + most part narrated by Roman satirists or historians, as examples of + the most extreme and revolting cruelty; they represent them as fair + specimens of the ordinary treatment of the servile class, and they + simply exclude from their consideration <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page304">[pg 304]</span><a name="Pg304" id="Pg304" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> the many qualifying facts that might be + alleged. Although the marriage of a slave was not legally recognised, + it was sanctioned by custom, and it does not appear to have been + common to separate his family.<a id="noteref_571" name="noteref_571" + href="#note_571"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">571</span></span></a> Two + customs to which I have already referred distinguish ancient slavery + broadly from that of modern times. The peculium, or private property + of slaves, was freely recognised by masters, to whom, however, after + the death of the slave, part or all of it usually reverted,<a id= + "noteref_572" name="noteref_572" href="#note_572"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">572</span></span></a> though + some masters permitted their slaves to dispose of it by will.<a id= + "noteref_573" name="noteref_573" href="#note_573"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">573</span></span></a> The + enfranchisement of slaves was also carried on to such an extent as + seriously to affect the population of the city. It appears from a + passage in Cicero that an industrious and well-conducted captive + might commonly look forward to his freedom in six years.<a id= + "noteref_574" name="noteref_574" href="#note_574"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">574</span></span></a> + Isolated acts of great cruelty undoubtedly occurred; but public + opinion strongly reprehended them, and Seneca assures us that masters + who ill-treated their slaves were pointed at and insulted in the + streets.<a id="noteref_575" name="noteref_575" href= + "#note_575"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">575</span></span></a> The + slave was not necessarily the degraded being he has since appeared. + The physician who tended the Roman in his sickness, the tutor to whom + he confided the education of his son, the artists whose works + commanded the admiration of the city, were usually slaves. Slaves + sometimes mixed with their masters in the family, ate habitually with + them at the same table,<a id="noteref_576" name="noteref_576" href= + "#note_576"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">576</span></span></a> and + were regarded by them with the warmest affection. Tiro, the slave and + afterwards the freedman of Cicero, compiled his master's letters, and + has preserved some in which Cicero addressed <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page305">[pg 305]</span><a name="Pg305" id="Pg305" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> him in terms of the most sincere and delicate + friendship. I have already referred to the letter in which the + younger Pliny poured out his deep sorrow for the death of some of his + slaves, and endeavoured to console himself with the thought that as + he had emancipated them before their death, at least they had died + free.<a id="noteref_577" name="noteref_577" href= + "#note_577"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">577</span></span></a> + Epictetus passed at once from slavery to the friendship of an + emperor.<a id="noteref_578" name="noteref_578" href= + "#note_578"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">578</span></span></a> The + great multiplication of slaves, though it removed them from the + sympathy of their masters, must at least have in most cases + alleviated their burdens. The application of torture to slave + witnesses, horrible as it was, was a matter of rare occurrence, and + was carefully restricted by law.<a id="noteref_579" name= + "noteref_579" href="#note_579"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">579</span></span></a> Much + vice was undoubtedly fostered, but yet the annals of the civil wars + and of the Empire are crowded with the most splendid instances of the + fidelity of slaves. In many cases they refused the boon of liberty + and defied the most horrible tortures rather than betray their + masters, accompanied them in their flight when all others had + abandoned them, displayed undaunted courage and untiring ingenuity in + rescuing them from danger, and in some cases saved the lives of their + owners by the deliberate sacrifice of their own.<a id="noteref_580" + name="noteref_580" href="#note_580"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">580</span></span></a> This + was, indeed, for some time the pre-eminent virtue of Rome, and it + proves conclusively that the masters were not so tyrannical, and that + the slaves were not so degraded, as is sometimes alleged.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The duty of + humanity to slaves had been at all times one <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page306">[pg 306]</span><a name="Pg306" id="Pg306" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> of those which the philosophers had most + ardently inculcated. Plato and Aristotle, Zeno and Epicurus, were, on + this point, substantially agreed.<a id="noteref_581" name= + "noteref_581" href="#note_581"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">581</span></span></a> The + Roman Stoics gave the duty a similar prominence in their teaching, + and Seneca especially has filled pages with exhortations to masters + to remember that the accident of position in no degree affects the + real dignity of men, that the slave may be free by virtue while the + master may be a slave by vice, and that it is the duty of a good man + to abstain not only from all cruelty, but even from all feeling of + contempt towards his slaves.<a id="noteref_582" name="noteref_582" + href="#note_582"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">582</span></span></a> But + these exhortations, in which some have imagined that they have + discovered the influence of Christianity, were, in fact, simply an + echo of the teaching of ancient Greece, and especially of Zeno, the + founder of Stoicism, who had laid down, long before the dawn of + Christianity, the broad principles that 'all men are by nature equal, + and that virtue alone establishes a difference between them.'<a id= + "noteref_583" name="noteref_583" href="#note_583"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">583</span></span></a> The + softening influence of the peace of the Antonines assisted this + movement of humanity, and the slaves derived a certain incidental + benefit from one of the worst features of the despotism of the + Cæsars. The emperors, who continually apprehended plots against their + lives or power, encouraged numerous spies around the more important + of their subjects, and the facility with which slaves could discover + the proceedings of their masters inclined the Government in their + favour.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Under all these + influences many laws were promulgated <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page307">[pg 307]</span><a name="Pg307" id="Pg307" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> which profoundly altered the legal position of + the slaves, and opened what may be termed the third period of Roman + slavery. The Petronian law, which was issued by Augustus, or, more + probably, by Nero, forbade the master to condemn his slave to combat + with wild beasts without a sentence from a judge.<a id="noteref_584" + name="noteref_584" href="#note_584"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">584</span></span></a> Under + Claudius, some citizens exposed their sick slaves on the island of + Æsculapius in the Tiber, to avoid the trouble of tending them, and + the emperor decreed that if the slave so exposed recovered from his + sickness he should become free, and also, that masters who killed + their slaves instead of exposing them should be punished as + murderers.<a id="noteref_585" name="noteref_585" href= + "#note_585"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">585</span></span></a> It is + possible that succour was afforded to the abandoned slave in the + temple of Æsculapius,<a id="noteref_586" name="noteref_586" href= + "#note_586"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">586</span></span></a> and it + would appear from these laws that the wanton slaughter of a slave was + already illegal. About this time the statue of the emperor had become + an asylum for slaves.<a id="noteref_587" name="noteref_587" href= + "#note_587"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">587</span></span></a> Under + Nero, a judge was appointed to hear their complaints, and was + instructed to punish masters who treated them with barbarity, made + them the instruments of lust, or withheld from them a sufficient + quantity of the necessaries of life.<a id="noteref_588" name= + "noteref_588" href="#note_588"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">588</span></span></a> A + considerable pause appears to have ensued; but Domitian made a law, + which was afterwards reiterated, forbidding the Oriental custom of + mutilating slaves for sensual purposes, and the reforms were renewed + with great energy in the period of the Antonines. Hadrian and his two + successors formally deprived masters of the right of killing their + slaves; forbade them to sell slaves to the lanistæ, or speculators in + gladiators; destroyed the ergastula, or private prisons; ordered + that, when a master was murdered, those slaves only should be + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page308">[pg 308]</span><a name="Pg308" + id="Pg308" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> tortured who were within + hearing;<a id="noteref_589" name="noteref_589" href= + "#note_589"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">589</span></span></a> + appointed officers through all the provinces to hear the complaints + of slaves; enjoined that no master should treat his slaves with + excessive severity; and commanded that, when such severity was + proved, the master should be compelled to sell the slave he had + ill-treated.<a id="noteref_590" name="noteref_590" href= + "#note_590"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">590</span></span></a> When we + add to these laws the broad maxims of equity asserting the essential + equality of the human race, which the jurists had borrowed from the + Stoics, and which supplied the principles to guide the judges in + their decisions, it must be admitted that the slave code of Imperial + Rome compares not unfavourably with those of some Christian + nations.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">While a + considerable portion of the principles, and even much of the + phraseology, of Stoicism passed into the system of public law, the + Roman philosophers had other more direct means of acting on the + people. On occasions of family bereavement, when the mind is most + susceptible of impressions, they were habitually called in to console + the survivors. Dying men asked their comfort and support in the last + hours of their life. They became the directors of conscience to + numbers who resorted to them for a solution of perplexing cases of + practical morals, or under the influence of despondency or + remorse.<a id="noteref_591" name="noteref_591" href= + "#note_591"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">591</span></span></a> They + had their special exhortations <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page309">[pg 309]</span><a name="Pg309" id="Pg309" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> for every vice, and their remedies adapted to + every variety of character. Many cases were cited of the conversion + of the vicious or the careless, who had been sought out and + fascinated by the philosopher,<a id="noteref_592" name="noteref_592" + href="#note_592"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">592</span></span></a> and + who, under his guidance, had passed through a long course of moral + discipline, and had at last attained a high degree of virtue. + Education fell in a great degree into their hands. Many great + families kept a philosopher among them in what in modern language + might be termed the capacity of a domestic chaplain,<a id= + "noteref_593" name="noteref_593" href="#note_593"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">593</span></span></a> while a + system of popular preaching was created and widely diffused.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Of these preachers + there were two classes who differed greatly in their characters and + their methods. The first, who have been very happily termed the + <span class="tei tei-q">“monks of Stoicism,”</span><a id= + "noteref_594" name="noteref_594" href="#note_594"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">594</span></span></a> were + the Cynics, who appear to have assumed among the later moralists of + the Pagan empire a position somewhat resembling that of the mendicant + orders in Catholicism. In a singularly curious dissertation of + Epictetus,<a id="noteref_595" name="noteref_595" href= + "#note_595"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">595</span></span></a> we have + a picture of the ideal at which a Cynic should aim, and it is + impossible in reading it not to be struck by the resemblance it bears + to the missionary friar. The Cynic should be a man devoting his + entire life to the instruction of mankind. He must be unmarried, for + he must have no family affections to divert or to dilute his + energies. He must wear the meanest dress, sleep upon the bare ground, + feed upon the simplest food, abstain from all earthly pleasures, and + yet exhibit to the world the example of uniform cheerfulness and + content. No one, under pain of provoking the Divine anger, should + embrace such a career, unless he believes himself to be called + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page310">[pg 310]</span><a name="Pg310" + id="Pg310" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> and assisted by Jupiter. It is + his mission to go among men as the ambassador of God, rebuking, in + season and out of season, their frivolity, their cowardice, and their + vice. He must stop the rich man in the market-place. He must preach + to the populace in the highway. He must know no respect and no fear. + He must look upon all men as his sons, and upon all women as his + daughters. In the midst of a jeering crowd, he must exhibit such a + placid calm that men may imagine him to be of stone. Ill-treatment, + and exile, and death must have no terror in his eyes, for the + discipline of his life should emancipate him from every earthly tie; + and, when he is beaten, <span class="tei tei-q">“he should love those + who beat him, for he is at once the father and the brother of all + men.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A curious contrast + to the Cynic was the philosophic rhetorician, who gathered around his + chair all that was most brilliant in Roman or Athenian society. The + passion for oratory which the free institutions of Greece had formed, + had survived the causes that produced it, and given rise to a very + singular but a very influential profession; which, though excluded + from the Roman Republic, acquired a great development after the + destruction of political liberty. The rhetoricians were a kind of + itinerant lecturers, who went about from city to city, delivering + harangues that were often received with the keenest interest. For the + most part, neither their characters nor their talents appear to have + deserved much respect. Numerous anecdotes are recorded of their + vanity and rapacity, and their success was a striking proof of the + decadence of public taste.<a id="noteref_596" name="noteref_596" + href="#note_596"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">596</span></span></a> They + had cultivated the histrionic <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page311">[pg 311]</span><a name="Pg311" id="Pg311" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> part of oratory with the most minute attention. + The arrangement of their hair, the folds of their dresses, all their + postures and gestures were studied with artistic care. They had + determined the different kinds of action that are appropriate for + each branch of a discourse and for each form of eloquence. Sometimes + they personated characters in Homer or in ancient Greek history, and + delivered speeches which those characters might have delivered in + certain conjunctures of their lives. Sometimes they awakened the + admiration of their audience by making a fly, a cockroach, dust, + smoke, a mouse, or a parrot the subject of their eloquent + eulogy.<a id="noteref_597" name="noteref_597" href= + "#note_597"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">597</span></span></a> Others, + again, exercised their ingenuity in defending some glaring paradox or + sophism, or in debating some intricate case of law or morals, or they + delivered literary lectures remarkable for a minute but captious and + fastidious criticism. Some of the rhetoricians recited only harangues + prepared with the most elaborate care, others were ready debaters, + and they travelled from city to city, challenging opponents to + discuss some subtle and usually frivolous question. The poet Juvenal + and the satirist Lucian had both for a time followed this profession. + Many of the most eminent acquired immense wealth, travelled with a + splendid retinue, and excited transports of enthusiasm in the cities + they visited. They were often charged by cities to appear before the + emperor to plead for a remission of taxes, or of the punishment due + for some offence. They became in a great measure the educators of the + people, and contributed very largely to form and direct their + taste.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page312">[pg + 312]</span><a name="Pg312" id="Pg312" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It had been from + the first the custom of some philosophers to adopt this profession, + and to expound in the form of rhetorical lectures the principles of + their school. In the Flavian period and in the age of the Antonines, + this alliance of philosophy, and especially of Stoical philosophy, + with rhetoric became more marked, and the foundation of liberally + endowed chairs of rhetoric and philosophy by Vespasian, Hadrian, and + Marcus Aurelius contributed to sustain it. Discourses of the + Platonist Maximus of Tyre, and of the Stoic Dion Chrysostom, have + come down to us, and they are both of a high order of intrinsic + merit. The first turn chiefly on such subjects as the comparative + excellence of active and contemplative life, the pure and noble + conceptions of the Divine nature which underlie the fables or + allegories of Homer, the dæmon of Socrates, the Platonic notions of + the Divinity, the duty of prayer, the end of philosophy, and the + ethics of love.<a id="noteref_598" name="noteref_598" href= + "#note_598"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">598</span></span></a> Dion + Chrysostom, in his orations, expounded the noblest and purest theism, + examined the place which images should occupy in worship, advocated + humanity to slaves, and was, perhaps, the earliest writer in the + Roman Empire who denounced hereditary slavery as illegitimate.<a id= + "noteref_599" name="noteref_599" href="#note_599"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">599</span></span></a> His + life was very eventful and very noble. He had become famous as a + sophist and rhetorician, skilled in the laborious frivolities of the + profession. Calamity, however, and the writings of Plato induced him + to abandon them and devote himself exclusively to the improvement of + mankind. Having defended with a generous rashness a man who had been + proscribed by the tyranny of Domitian, he was compelled to fly from + Rome in the garb of a beggar; and, carrying with him only a work of + Plato and a speech of Demosthenes, he travelled to the most distant + frontiers of the empire. He gained his livelihood by the work of his + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page313">[pg 313]</span><a name="Pg313" + id="Pg313" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> hands, for he refused to + receive money for his discourses; but he taught and captivated the + Greek colonists who were scattered among the barbarians, and even the + barbarians themselves. Upon the assassination of Domitian, when the + legions hesitated to give their allegiance to Nerva, the eloquence of + Dion Chrysostom overcame their irresolution. By the same eloquence he + more than once appeased seditions in Alexandria and the Greek cities + of Asia Minor. He preached before Trajan on the duties of royalty, + taking a line of Homer for his text. He electrified the vast and + polished audience assembled at Athens for the Olympic games as he had + before done the rude barbarians of Scythia. Though his taste was by + no means untainted by the frivolities of the rhetorician, he was + skilled in all the arts that awaken curiosity and attention, and his + eloquence commanded the most various audiences in the most distant + lands. His special mission, however, was to popularise Stoicism by + diffusing its principles through the masses of mankind.<a id= + "noteref_600" name="noteref_600" href="#note_600"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">600</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The names, and in + some cases a few fragments, of the writings of many other rhetorical + philosophers, such as Herod Atticus, Favorinus, Fronto, Taurus, + Fabianus, and Julianus, have come down to us, and each was the centre + of a group of passionate admirers, and contributed to form a literary + society in the great cities of the empire. We have a vivid picture of + this movement in the <span class="tei tei-q">“Attic Nights”</span> of + Aulus Gellius—a work which is, I think, one of the most curious and + instructive in Latin literature, and which bears to the literary + society of the period of the Antonines much the same relation as the + writings of Helvétius bear to the Parisian society on the eve of the + Revolution. Helvétius, it is said, collected the materials for his + great work on <span class="tei tei-q">“Mind”</span> chiefly from the + conversation of the drawing-rooms of Paris at a time when that + conversation had attained a degree of <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page314">[pg 314]</span><a name="Pg314" id="Pg314" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> perfection which even Frenchmen had never + before equalled. He wrote in the age of the <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Encyclopædia,”</span> when the social and political + convulsions of the Revolution were as yet unfelt; when the first + dazzling gleams of intellectual freedom had flashed upon a society + long clouded by superstition and aristocratic pride; when the genius + of Voltaire and the peerless conversational powers of Diderot, + irradiating the bold philosophies of Bacon and Locke, had kindled an + intellectual enthusiasm through all the ranks of fashion;<a id= + "noteref_601" name="noteref_601" href="#note_601"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">601</span></span></a> and + when the contempt for the wisdom and the methods of the past was only + equalled by the prevailing confidence in the future. Brilliant, + graceful, versatile, and superficial, with easy eloquence and lax + morals, with a profound disbelief in moral excellence, and an intense + appreciation of intellectual beauty, disdaining all pedantry, + superstition, and mystery, and with an almost fanatical persuasion of + the omnipotence of analysis, he embodied the principles of his + contemporaries in a philosophy which represents all virtue and + heroism as but disguised self-interest; he illustrated every + argument, not by the pedantic learning of the schools, but by the + sparkling anecdotes and acute literary criticisms of the + drawing-room, and he thus produced a work which, besides its + intrinsic merits, was the most perfect mirror of the society from + which it sprang.<a id="noteref_602" name="noteref_602" href= + "#note_602"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">602</span></span></a> Very + different, both in form, subject, and tendency, but no less truly + representative, was the work of Aulus Gellius. It is the journal, or + common-place book, or miscellany of a scholar moving in the centre of + the literary society of both Rome and Athens during the latter period + of <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page315">[pg 315]</span><a name= + "Pg315" id="Pg315" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the Antonines, + profoundly imbued with its spirit, and devoting his leisure to + painting its leading figures, and compiling the substance of their + teaching. Few books exhibit a more curious picture of the combination + of intense child-like literary and moral enthusiasm with the most + hopeless intellectual degeneracy. Each prominent philosopher was + surrounded by a train of enthusiastic disciples, who made the + lecture-room resound with their applause,<a id="noteref_603" name= + "noteref_603" href="#note_603"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">603</span></span></a> and + accepted him as their monitor in all the affairs of life. He rebuked + publicly every instance of vice or of affectation he had observed in + their conduct, received them at his own table, became their friend + and confidant in their troubles, and sometimes assisted them by his + advice in their professional duties.<a id="noteref_604" name= + "noteref_604" href="#note_604"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">604</span></span></a> Taurus, + Favorinus, Fronto, and Atticus were the most prominent figures, and + each seems to have formed, in the centre of a corrupt society, a + little company of young men devoted with the simplest and most ardent + earnestness to the cultivation of intellectual and moral excellence. + Yet this society was singularly puerile. The age of genius had + closed, and the age of pedantry had succeeded it. Minute, curious, + and fastidious verbal criticism of the great writers of the past was + the chief occupation of the scholar, and the whole tone of his mind + had become retrospective and even archaic. Ennius was esteemed a + greater poet than Virgil, and Cato a greater prose writer than + Cicero. It was the affectation of some to tesselate their + conversation with antiquated and obsolete words.<a id="noteref_605" + name="noteref_605" href="#note_605"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">605</span></span></a> The + study of etymologies had risen into great favour, and curious + questions of grammar and pronunciation <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page316">[pg 316]</span><a name="Pg316" id="Pg316" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> were ardently debated. Logic, as in most ages + of intellectual poverty, was greatly studied and prized. Bold + speculations and original thought had almost ceased, but it was the + delight of the philosophers to throw the arguments of great writers + into the form of syllogisms, and to debate them according to the + rules of the schools. The very amusements of the scholars took the + form of a whimsical and puerile pedantry. Gellius recalls, with a + thrill of emotion, those enchanting evenings when, their more serious + studies being terminated, the disciples of Taurus assembled at the + table of their master to pass the happy hours in discussing such + questions as when a man can be said to die, whether in the last + moment of life or in the first moment of death; or when he can be + said to get up, whether when he is still on his bed or when he has + just left it.<a id="noteref_606" name="noteref_606" href= + "#note_606"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">606</span></span></a> + Sometimes they proposed to one another literary questions, as what + old writer had employed some common word in a sense that had since + become obsolete; or they discussed such syllogisms as + these:—<span class="tei tei-q">“You have what you have not lost; you + have not lost horns, therefore you have horns.”</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q">“You are not what I am. I am a man; therefore you are not + a man.”</span><a id="noteref_607" name="noteref_607" href= + "#note_607"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">607</span></span></a> As + moralists, they exhibited a very genuine love of moral excellence, + but the same pedantic and retrospective character. They were + continually dilating on the regulations of the censors and the + customs of the earliest period of the Republic. They acquired the + habit of never enforcing the simplest lesson without illustrating it + by a profusion of ancient examples and by detached sentences from + some philosopher, which they employed much as texts of Scripture are + often employed in the writings of the Puritans.<a id="noteref_608" + name="noteref_608" href="#note_608"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">608</span></span></a> Above + all, they <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page317">[pg + 317]</span><a name="Pg317" id="Pg317" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + delighted in cases of conscience, which they discussed with the + subtilty of the schoolmen.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Lactantius has + remarked that the Stoics were especially noted for the popular or + democratic character of their teaching.<a id="noteref_609" name= + "noteref_609" href="#note_609"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">609</span></span></a> To + their success in this respect their alliance with the rhetoricians + probably largely contributed; but in other ways it hastened the + downfall of the school. The useless speculations, refinements, and + paradoxes which the subtle genius of Chrysippus had connected with + the simple morals of Stoicism, had been for the most part thrown into + the background by the early Roman Stoics; but in the teaching of the + rhetoricians they became supreme. The endowments given by the + Antonines to philosophers attracted a multitude of impostors, who + wore long beards and the dress of the philosopher, but whose lives + were notoriously immoral. The Cynics especially, professing to reject + the ordinary conventionalities of society, and being under none of + that discipline or superintendence which in the worst period has + secured at least external morality among the mendicant monks, + continually threw off every vestige of virtue and of decency. Instead + of moulding great characters and inspiring heroic actions, Stoicism + became a school of the idlest casuistry, or the cloak for manifest + imposture.<a id="noteref_610" name="noteref_610" href= + "#note_610"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">610</span></span></a> The + very generation which saw Marcus Aurelius on the throne, saw also the + extinction of the influence of his sect.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The internal + causes of the decadence of Stoicism, though very powerful, are + insufficient to explain this complete <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page318">[pg 318]</span><a name="Pg318" id="Pg318" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> eclipse. The chief cause must be found in the + fact that the minds of men had taken a new turn, and their enthusiasm + was flowing rapidly in the direction of Oriental religions, and, + under the guidance of Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus, of + a mythical philosophy which was partly Egyptian and partly Platonic. + It remains for me, in concluding this review of the Pagan empire, to + indicate and explain this last transformation of Pagan morals.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It was in the + first place a very natural reaction against the extreme aridity of + the Stoical casuistry, and also against the scepticism which Sextus + Empiricus had revived, and in this respect it represents a law of the + human mind which has been more than once illustrated in later times. + Thus, the captious, unsatisfying, intellectual subtleties of the + schoolmen were met by the purely emotional and mystical school of St. + Bonaventura, and afterwards of Tauler, and thus the adoration of the + human intellect, that was general in the philosophy of the last + century, prepared the way for the complete denial of its competency + by De Maistre and by Lamennais.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the next place, + mysticism was a normal continuation of the spiritualising movement + which had long been advancing. We have already seen that the strong + tendency of ethics, from Cato to Marcus Aurelius, was to enlarge the + prominence of the emotions in the type of virtue. The formation of a + gentle, a spiritual, and, in a word, a religious character had become + a prominent part of moral culture, and it was regarded not simply as + a means, but as an end. Still, both Marcus Aurelius and Cato were + Stoics. They both represented the same general cast or conception of + virtue, although in Marcus Aurelius the type had been profoundly + modified. But the time was soon to come when the balance between the + practical and the emotional parts of virtue, which had been steadily + changing, should be decisively turned <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page319">[pg 319]</span><a name="Pg319" id="Pg319" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> in favour of the latter, and the type of + Stoicism was then necessarily discarded.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A concurrence of + political and commercial causes had arisen, very favourable to the + propagation of Oriental beliefs. Commerce had produced a constant + intercourse between Egypt and Italy. Great numbers of Oriental + slaves, passionately devoted to their national religions, existed in + Rome; and Alexandria, which combined a great intellectual development + with a geographical and commercial position exceedingly favourable to + a fusion of many doctrines, soon created a school of thought which + acted powerfully upon the world. Four great systems of eclecticism + arose; Aristobulus and Philo tinctured Judaism with Greek and + Egyptian philosophy. The Gnostics and the Alexandrian fathers united, + though in very different proportions, Christian doctrines with the + same elements; while Neoplatonism, at least in its later forms, + represented a fusion of the Greek and Egyptian mind. A great analogy + was discovered between the ideal philosophy of Plato and the mystical + philosophy that was indigenous to the East, and the two systems + readily blended.<a id="noteref_611" name="noteref_611" href= + "#note_611"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">611</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But the most + powerful cause of the movement was the intense desire for positive + religious belief, which had long been growing in the Empire. The + period when Roman incredulity reached its extreme point had been the + century that preceded and the half century that followed the birth of + Christ. The sudden dissolution of the old habits of the Republic + effected through political causes, the first comparison of the + multitudinous religions of the Empire and also the writings of + Euhemerus had produced an absolute religious disbelief which + Epicureanism represented and encouraged. This belief, however, as I + have already noticed, co-existed with numerous magical and + astrological superstitions, and <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page320">[pg 320]</span><a name="Pg320" id="Pg320" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> the ignorance of physical science was so great, + and the conception of general laws so faint, that the materials for a + great revival of superstition still remained. From the middle of the + first century, a more believing and reverent spirit began to arise. + The worship of Isis and Serapis forced its way into Rome in spite of + the opposition of the rulers. Apollonius of Tyana, at the close of + the Flavian period, had endeavoured to unite moral teaching with + religious practices; the oracles, which had long ceased, were + partially restored under the Antonines; the calamities and visible + decline of the Empire withdrew the minds of men from that proud + patriotic worship of Roman greatness, which was long a substitute for + religious feeling; and the frightful pestilence that swept over the + land in the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and his successor was followed + by a blind, feverish, and spasmodic superstition. Besides this, men + have never acquiesced for any considerable time in a neglect of the + great problems of the origin, nature, and destinies of the soul, or + dispensed with some form of religious worship and aspiration. That + religious instincts are as truly a part of our nature as are our + appetites and our nerves, is a fact which all history establishes, + and which forms one of the strongest proofs of the reality of that + unseen world to which the soul of man continually tends. Early Roman + Stoicism, which in this respect somewhat resembled the modern + positive school, diverted for the most part its votaries from the + great problems of religion, and attempted to evolve its entire system + of ethics out of existing human nature, without appealing to any + external supernatural sanction. But the Platonic school, and the + Egyptian school which connected itself with the name of Pythagoras, + were both essentially religious. The first aspired to the Deity as + the source and model of virtue, admitted dæmons or subordinate + spiritual agents acting upon mankind, and explained and purified, in + no hostile spirit, the popular religions. The latter made the state + of ecstasy or quietism its <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page321">[pg + 321]</span><a name="Pg321" id="Pg321" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + ideal condition, and sought to purify the mind by theurgy or special + religious rites. Both philosophies conspired to effect a great + religious reformation, in which the Greek spirit usually represented + the rational, and the Egyptian the mystical, element.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Of the first, + Plutarch was the head. He taught the supreme authority of reason. He + argued elaborately that superstition is worse than atheism, for it + calumniates the character of the Deity, and its evils are not + negative, but positive. At the same time, he is far from regarding + the Mythology as a tissue of fables. Some things he denies. Others he + explains away. Others he frankly accepts. He teaches for the most + part a pure monotheism, which he reconciles with the common belief, + partly by describing the different divinities as simply popular + personifications of Divine attributes, and partly by the usual + explanation of dæmons. He discarded most of the fables of the poets, + applying to them with fearless severity the tests of human morality, + and rejecting indignantly those which attribute to the Deity cruel or + immoral actions. He denounces all religious terrorism, and draws a + broad line of distinction between both the superstitious and + idolatrous conception of the Deity on the one hand, and the + philosophical conception on the other. <span class="tei tei-q">“The + superstitious man believes in the gods, but he has a false idea of + their nature. Those good beings whose providence watches over us with + so much care, those beings so ready to forget our faults, he + represents as ferocious and cruel tyrants, taking pleasure in + tormenting us. He believes the founders of brass, the sculptors of + stone, the moulders of wax; he attributes to the gods a human form; + he adorns and worships the image he has made, and he listens not to + the philosophers, and men of knowledge who associate the Divine + image, not with bodily beauty, but with grandeur and majesty, with + gentleness and goodness.”</span><a id="noteref_612" name= + "noteref_612" href="#note_612"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">612</span></span></a> On the + other hand, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page322">[pg + 322]</span><a name="Pg322" id="Pg322" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + Plutarch believed that there was undoubtedly a certain supernatural + basis in the Pagan creed; he believed in oracles; he defended, in a + very ingenious essay, hereditary punishment, and the doctrine of a + special Providence; he admitted a future retribution, though he + repudiated the notion of physical torment; and he brought into clear + relief the moral teaching conveyed in some of the fables of the + poets.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The position which + Plutarch occupied under Trajan, Maximus of Tyre occupied in the next + generation. Like Plutarch, but with a greater consistency, he + maintained a pure monotheistic doctrine, declaring that <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Zeus is that most ancient and guiding mind that begot + all things—Athene is prudence—Apollo is the sun.”</span><a id= + "noteref_613" name="noteref_613" href="#note_613"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">613</span></span></a> Like + Plutarch, he developed the Platonic doctrine of dæmons as an + explanation of much of the mythology, and he applied an allegorical + interpretation with great freedom to the fables of Homer, which + formed the text-book or the Bible of Paganism. By these means he + endeavoured to clarify the popular creed from all elements + inconsistent with a pure monotheism, and from all legends of doubtful + morality, while he sublimated the popular worship into a harmless + symbolism. <span class="tei tei-q">“The gods,”</span> he assures us, + <span class="tei tei-q">“themselves need no images,”</span> but the + infirmity of human nature requires visible signs <span class= + "tei tei-q">“on which to rest.”</span> <span class="tei tei-q">“Those + who possess such faculties, that with a steady mind they can rise to + heaven, and to God, are in no need of statues. But such men are very + rare.”</span> He then proceeds to recount the different ways by which + men have endeavoured to represent or symbolise the Divine nature, as + the statues of Greece, the animals of Egypt, or the sacred flame of + Persia. <span class="tei tei-q">“The God,”</span> he continues, + <span class="tei tei-q">“the Father and the Founder of all that + exists, older than the sun, older than the sky, greater than all + time, than every age, and than all the works of nature, whom no words + can express, whom no eye can see.... What can we <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page323">[pg 323]</span><a name="Pg323" id="Pg323" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> say concerning his images? Only let men + understand that there is but one Divine nature; but whether the art + of Phidias chiefly preserves his memory among the Greeks, or the + worship of animals among the Egyptians, a river among these, or a + flame among those, I do not blame the variety of the + representations—only let men understand that there is but one; only + let them love one, let them preserve one in their + memory.”</span><a id="noteref_614" name="noteref_614" href= + "#note_614"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">614</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A third writer + who, nearly at the same time as Maximus of Tyre, made some efforts in + the same direction, was Apuleius, who, however, both as a moral + teacher, and in his freedom from superstition, was far inferior to + the preceding. The religion he most admired was the Egyptian; but in + his philosophy he was a Platonist, and in that capacity, besides an + exposition of the Platonic code of morals, he has left us a + singularly clear and striking disquisition on the doctrine of dæmons. + <span class="tei tei-q">“These dæmons,”</span> he says, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“are the bearers of blessings and prayers between the + inhabitants of earth and heaven, carrying prayers from the one and + assistance from the other.... By them also, as Plato maintained in + his <span class="tei tei-q">‘Banquet,’</span> all revelations, all + the various miracles of magicians, all kinds of omens, are ruled. + They have their several tasks to perform, their different departments + to govern; some directing dreams, others the disposition of the + entrails, others the flight of birds.... The supreme deities do not + descend to these things—they leave them to the intermediate + divinities.”</span><a id="noteref_615" name="noteref_615" href= + "#note_615"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">615</span></span></a> But + these intermediate spirits are not simply the agents of supernatural + phenomena—they are also the guardians of our virtue and the recorders + of our actions. <span class="tei tei-q">“Each man has in life + witnesses and guards of his deeds, visible to no one, but always + present, witnessing not only every act but every thought. When life + has ended and we must return whence we came, the same genius who had + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page324">[pg 324]</span><a name="Pg324" + id="Pg324" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> charge over us, takes us away + and hurries us in his custody to judgment, and then assists us in + pleading our cause. If any thing is falsely asserted he corrects + it—if true, he substantiates it, and according to his witness our + sentence is determined.”</span><a id="noteref_616" name="noteref_616" + href="#note_616"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">616</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There are many + aspects in which these attempts at religious reform are both + interesting and important. They are interesting, because the doctrine + of dæmons, mingled, it is true, with the theory of Euhemerus about + the origin of the deities, was universally accepted by the Fathers as + the true explanation of the Pagan theology, because the notion and, + after the third century, even the artistic type of the guardian + genius reappeared in that of the guardian angel, and because the + transition from polytheism to the conception of a single deity acting + by the delegation or ministration of an army of subsidiary spirits, + was manifestly fitted to prepare the way for the reception of + Christianity. They are interesting, too, as showing the anxiety of + the human mind to sublimate its religious creed to the level of the + moral and intellectual standard it had attained, and to make + religious ordinances in some degree the instruments of moral + improvement. But they are interesting above all, because the Greek + and Egyptian methods of reform represent with typical distinctness + the two great tendencies of religious thought in all succeeding + periods. The Greek spirit was essentially rationalistic and eclectic; + the Egyptian spirit was essentially mystical and devotional. The + Greek sat in judgment upon his religion. He modified, curtailed, + refined, allegorised, or selected. He treated its inconsistencies or + absurdities, or immoralities, with precisely the same freedom of + criticism as those he encountered in ordinary life. The Egyptian, on + the other hand, bowed low before the Divine presence. <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page325">[pg 325]</span><a name="Pg325" id="Pg325" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> He veiled his eyes, he humbled his + reason, he represented the introduction of a new element into the + moral life of Europe, the spirit of religious reverence and awe.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“The Egyptian deities,”</span> it was observed by + Apuleius, <span class="tei tei-q">“were chiefly honoured by + lamentations, and the Greek divinities by dances.”</span><a id= + "noteref_617" name="noteref_617" href="#note_617"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">617</span></span></a> The + truth of the last part of this very significant remark appears in + every page of Greek history. No nation had a richer collection of + games and festivals growing out of its religious system; in none did + a light, sportive, and often licentious fancy play more fearlessly + around the popular creed, in none was religious terrorism more rare. + The Divinity was seldom looked upon as holier than man, and a due + observance of certain rites and ceremonies was deemed an ample + tribute to pay to him. In the Egyptian system the religious + ceremonies were veiled in mystery and allegory. Chastity, abstinence + from animal food, ablutions, long and mysterious ceremonies of + preparation or initiation, were the most prominent features of + worship. The deities representing the great forces of nature, and + shrouded by mysterious symbols, excited a degree of awe which no + other ancient religion approached.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The speculative + philosophy, and the conceptions of morals, that accompanied the + inroad of Oriental religions, were of a kindred nature. The most + prominent characteristic of the first was its tendency to supersede + the deductions of the reason by the intuitions of ecstasy. + Neoplatonism, and the philosophies that were allied to it, were + fundamentally pantheistic,<a id="noteref_618" name="noteref_618" + href="#note_618"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">618</span></span></a> but + they differed widely from the pantheism of the Stoics. The Stoics + identified man with God, for the purpose of glorifying man—the + Neoplatonists for the purpose of aggrandising God. In the conception + of the first, man, independent, self-controlled, and participating in + the highest <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page326">[pg + 326]</span><a name="Pg326" id="Pg326" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + nature of the universe, has no superior in creation. According to the + latter, man is almost a passive being, swayed and permeated by a + divine impulse. Yet he is not altogether divine. The divinity is + latent in his soul, but dulled, dimmed, and crushed by the tyranny of + the body. <span class="tei tei-q">“To bring the God that is in us + into conformity with the God that is in the universe,”</span> to + elicit the ideas that are graven in the mind, but obscured and hidden + by the passions of the flesh—above all, to subdue the body, which is + the sole obstacle to our complete fruition of the Deity—was the main + object of life. Porphyry described all philosophy as an anticipation + of death—not in the Stoical sense of teaching us to look calmly on + our end, but because death realises the ideal of philosophy, the + complete separation of soul and body. Hence followed an ascetic + morality, and a supersensual philosophy. <span class="tei tei-q">“The + greatest of all evils,”</span> we are told, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“is pleasure; because by it the soul is nailed or riveted + to the body, and thinks that true which the body persuades it, and is + thus deprived of the sense of divine things.”</span><a id= + "noteref_619" name="noteref_619" href="#note_619"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">619</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Justice, beauty, and goodness, and all + things that are formed by them, no eye has ever seen, no bodily sense + can apprehend. Philosophy must be pursued by pure and unmingled + reason and with deadened senses; for the body disturbs the mind, so + that it cannot follow after wisdom. As long as it is lost and mingled + in the clay, we shall never sufficiently possess the truth we + desire.”</span><a id="noteref_620" name="noteref_620" href= + "#note_620"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">620</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But the reason + which is thus extolled as the revealer of truth must not be + confounded with the process of reasoning. It is something quite + different from criticism, analysis, comparison, or deduction. It is + essentially intuitive, but it only acquires its power of + transcendental intuition after a <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page327">[pg 327]</span><a name="Pg327" id="Pg327" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> long process of discipline. When a man passes + from the daylight into a room which is almost dark, he is at first + absolutely unable to see the objects around him; but gradually his + eye grows accustomed to the feeble light, the outline of the room + becomes dimly visible, object after object emerges into sight, until + at last, by intently gazing, he acquires the power of seeing around + him with tolerable distinctness. In this fact we have a partial image + of the Neoplatonic doctrine of the knowledge of divine things. Our + soul is a dark chamber, darkened by contact with the flesh, but in it + there are graven divine ideas, there exists a living divine element. + The eye of reason, by long and steady introspection, can learn to + decipher these characters; the will, aided by an appointed course of + discipline, can evoke this divine element, and cause it to blend with + the universal spirit from which it sprang. The powers of mental + concentration, and of metaphysical abstraction, are therefore the + highest intellectual gifts; and quietism, or the absorption of our + nature in God, is the last stage of virtue. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“The end of man,”</span> said Pythagoras, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“is God.”</span> The mysterious 'One,' the metaphysical + abstraction without attributes and without form which constitutes the + First Person of the Alexandrian Trinity, is the acme of human + thought, and the condition of ecstasy is the acme of moral + perfection. Plotinus, it was said, had several times attained it. + Porphyry, after years of discipline, once, and but once.<a id= + "noteref_621" name="noteref_621" href="#note_621"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">621</span></span></a> The + process of reasoning is here not only useless, but pernicious. + <span class="tei tei-q">“An innate knowledge of the gods is implanted + in our minds prior to all reasoning.”</span><a id="noteref_622" name= + "noteref_622" href="#note_622"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">622</span></span></a> In + divine things the task of man is not to create or to acquire, but to + educe. His means of perfection are not dialectics or research, but + long and patient meditation, silence, abstinence from the + distractions and occupations of life, the subjugation of the flesh, a + life of continual discipline, a constant attendance on those + mysterious rites which detach <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page328">[pg 328]</span><a name="Pg328" id="Pg328" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> him from material objects, overawe and elevate + his mind, and quicken his realisation of the Divine presence.<a id= + "noteref_623" name="noteref_623" href="#note_623"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">623</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The system of + Neoplatonism represents a mode of thought which in many forms, and + under many names, may be traced through the most various ages and + creeds. Mysticism, transcendentalism, inspiration, and grace, are all + words expressing the deep-seated belief that we possess fountains of + knowledge apart from all the acquisitions of the senses; that there + are certain states of mind, certain flashes of moral and intellectual + illumination, which cannot be accounted for by any play or + combination of our ordinary faculties. For the sobriety, the + timidity, the fluctuations of the reasoning spirit, Neoplatonism + substituted the transports of the imagination; and, though it + cultivated the power of abstraction, every other intellectual gift + was sacrificed to the discipline of asceticism. It made men + credulous, because it suppressed that critical spirit which is the + sole barrier to the ever-encroaching imagination; because it + represented superstitious rites as especially conducive to that state + of ecstasy which was the condition of revelation; because it formed a + nervous, diseased, expectant temperament, ever prone to + hallucinations, ever agitated by vague and uncertain feelings that + were readily attributed to inspiration. As a moral system it carried, + indeed, the purification of the feelings and imagination to a higher + perfection than any preceding school, but it had the deadly fault of + separating sentiment from action. In this respect it was well fitted + to be the close, the final suicide, of Roman philosophy. Cicero + assigned a place of happiness in the future world to all who + faithfully served the State.<a id="noteref_624" name="noteref_624" + href="#note_624"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">624</span></span></a> The + Stoics had taught that all virtue was vain that did not issue in + action. Even Epictetus, in his portrait of the <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page329">[pg 329]</span><a name="Pg329" id="Pg329" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> ascetic cynic—even Marcus Aurelius, in + his minute self-examination—had never forgotten the outer world. The + early Platonists, though they dwelt very strongly on mental + discipline, were equally practical. Plutarch reminds us that the same + word is used for light, and for man,<a id="noteref_625" name= + "noteref_625" href="#note_625"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">625</span></span></a> for the + duty of man is to be the light of the world; and he shrewdly remarked + that Hesiod exhorted the husbandman to pray for the harvest, but to + do so with his hand upon the plough. Apuleius, expounding Plato, + taught <span class="tei tei-q">“that he who is inspired by nature to + seek after good must not deem himself born for himself alone, but for + all mankind, though with diverse kinds and degrees of obligation, for + he is formed first of all for his country, then for his relations, + then for those with whom he is joined by occupation or + knowledge.”</span> Maximus of Tyre devoted two noble essays to + showing the vanity of all virtue which exhausts itself in mental + transports without radiating in action among mankind. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“What use,”</span> he asked, <span class="tei tei-q">“is + there in knowledge unless we do those things for which knowledge is + profitable? What use is there in the skill of the physician unless by + that skill he heals the sick, or in the art of Phidias unless he + chisels the ivory or the gold.... Hercules was a wise man, but not + for himself, but that by his wisdom he might diffuse benefits over + every land and sea.... Had he preferred to lead a life apart from + men, and to follow an idle wisdom, Hercules would indeed have been a + Sophist, and no one would call him the son of Zeus. For God himself + is never idle; were He to rest, the sky would cease to move, and the + earth to produce, and the rivers to flow into the ocean, and the + seasons to pursue their appointed course.”</span><a id="noteref_626" + name="noteref_626" href="#note_626"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">626</span></span></a> But the + Neoplatonists, though they sometimes spoke of civic <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page330">[pg 330]</span><a name="Pg330" id="Pg330" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> virtues, regarded the condition of + ecstasy as not only transcending, but including all, and that + condition could only be arrived at by a passive life. The saying of + Anaxagoras, that his mission was <span class="tei tei-q">“to + contemplate the sun, the stars, and the course of nature, and that + this contemplation was wisdom,”</span> was accepted as an epitome of + their philosophy.<a id="noteref_627" name="noteref_627" href= + "#note_627"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">627</span></span></a> A + senator named Rogantianus, who had followed the teaching of Plotinus, + acquired so intense a disgust for the things of life, that he left + all his property, refused to fulfil the duties of a prætor, abandoned + his senatorial functions, and withdrew himself from every form of + business and pleasure. Plotinus, instead of reproaching him, + overwhelmed him with eulogy, selected him as his favourite disciple, + and continually represented him as the model of a philosopher.<a id= + "noteref_628" name="noteref_628" href="#note_628"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">628</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The two + characteristics I have noticed—the abandonment of civic duties, and + the discouragement of the critical spirit—had from a very early + period been manifest in the Pythagorean school.<a id="noteref_629" + name="noteref_629" href="#note_629"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">629</span></span></a> In the + blending philosophies of the third and fourth centuries, they became + continually more apparent. Plotinus was still an independent + philosopher, inheriting the traditions of Greek thought, though not + the traditions of Greek life, building his system avowedly by a + rational method, and altogether rejecting theurgy or religious magic. + His disciple, Porphyry, first made Neoplatonism anti-Christian, and, + in his violent antipathy to the new faith, began to convert it into a + religious system. Iamblichus, who was himself an Egyptian priest, + completed the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page331">[pg + 331]</span><a name="Pg331" id="Pg331" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + transformation,<a id="noteref_630" name="noteref_630" href= + "#note_630"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">630</span></span></a> + resolved all moral discipline into theurgy, and sacrificed all + reasoning to faith.<a id="noteref_631" name="noteref_631" href= + "#note_631"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">631</span></span></a> Julian + attempted to realise the conception of a revived Paganism, blending + with and purified by philosophy. In every form the appetite for + miracles and for belief was displayed. The theory of dæmons + completely superseded the old Stoical naturalism, which regarded the + different Pagan divinities as allegories or personifications of the + Divine attributes. The Platonic ethics were again, for the most part, + in the ascendant, but they were deeply tinctured by a foreign + element. Thus, suicide was condemned by the Neoplatonists, not merely + on the principle of Plato, that it is an abandonment of the post of + duty to which the Deity has called us, but also on the quietist + ground, that perturbation is necessarily a pollution of the soul, and + that, as mental perturbation accompanies the act, the soul of the + suicide departs polluted from the body.<a id="noteref_632" name= + "noteref_632" href="#note_632"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">632</span></span></a> The + belief in a future world, which was the common glory of the schools + of Pythagoras and of Plato, had become universal. As Roman greatness, + in which men had long seen the reward of virtue, faded rapidly away, + the conception of <span class="tei tei-q">“a city of God”</span> + began to grow more clearly in the minds of men, and the countless + slaves who were among the chief propagators of Oriental faiths, and + who had begun to exercise an unprecedented influence in Roman life, + turned with a natural and a touching eagerness towards a happier and + a freer world.<a id="noteref_633" name="noteref_633" href= + "#note_633"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">633</span></span></a> The + incredulity of Lucretius, Cæsar, and Pliny had <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page332">[pg 332]</span><a name="Pg332" id="Pg332" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> disappeared. Above all, a fusion had been + effected between moral discipline and religion, and the moralist + sought his chief means of purification in the ceremonies of the + temple.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I have now + completed the long and complicated task to which the present chapter + has been devoted. I have endeavoured to exhibit, so far as can be + done, by a description of general tendencies, and by a selection of + quotations, the spirit of the long series of Pagan moralists who + taught at Rome during the period that elapsed between the rise of + Roman philosophy and the triumph of Christianity. My object has not + been to classify these writers with minute accuracy, according to + their speculative tenets, but rather, as I had proposed, to exhibit + the origin, the nature, and the fortunes of the general notion or + type of virtue which each moralist had regarded as supremely good. + History is not a mere succession of events connected only by + chronology. It is a chain of causes and effects. There is a great + natural difference of degree and direction in both the moral and + intellectual capacities of individuals, but it is not probable that + the general average of natural morals in great bodies of men + materially varies. When we find a society very virtuous or very + vicious—when some particular virtue or vice occupies a peculiar + prominence, or when important changes pass over the moral conceptions + or standard of the people—we have to trace in these things simply the + action of the circumstances that were dominant. The history of Roman + ethics represents a steady and uniform current, guided by the general + conditions of society, and its progress may be marked by the + successive ascendancy of the Roman, the Greek, and the Egyptian + spirit.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the age of Cato + and Cicero the character of the ideal was wholly Roman, although the + philosophical expression of that character was derived from the Greek + Stoics. It exhibited all the force, the grandeur, the hardness, the + practical tendency which Roman circumstances had early created, + combined with that catholicity of spirit which resulted from very + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page333">[pg 333]</span><a name="Pg333" + id="Pg333" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> recent political and + intellectual changes. In the course of time, the Greek element, which + represented the gentler and more humane spirit of antiquity, gained + an ascendancy. It did so by simple propagandism, aided by the long + peace of the Antonines, by the effeminate habits produced by the + increasing luxury, by the attractions of the metropolis, which had + drawn multitudes of Greeks to Rome, by the patronage of the Emperors, + and also by the increasing realisation of the doctrine of universal + brotherhood, which Panætius and Cicero had asserted, but of which the + full consequences were only perceived by their successors. The change + in the type of virtue was shown in the influence of eclectic, and for + the most part Platonic, moralists, whose special assaults were + directed against the Stoical condemnation of the emotions, and in the + gradual softening of the Stoical type. In Seneca the hardness of the + sect, though very apparent, is broken by precepts of a real and + extensive benevolence, though that benevolence springs rather from a + sense of duty than from tenderness of feeling. In Dion Chrysostom the + practical benevolence is not less prominent, but there is less both + of pride and of callousness. Epictetus embodied the sternest Stoicism + in his Manual, but his dissertations exhibit a deep religious feeling + and a wide range of sympathies. In Marcus Aurelius the emotional + elements had greatly increased, and the amiable qualities began to + predominate over the heroic ones. We find at the same time a new + stress laid upon purity of thought and imagination, a growing feeling + of reverence, and an earnest desire to reform the popular + religion.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This second stage + exhibits a happy combination of the Roman and Greek spirits. + Disinterested, strictly practical, averse to the speculative + subtilties of the Greek intellect, Stoicism was still the religion of + a people who were the rulers and the organisers of the world, whose + enthusiasm was essentially patriotic, and who had learnt to sacrifice + everything but pride to the sense of duty. It had, however, become + amiable, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page334">[pg + 334]</span><a name="Pg334" id="Pg334" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + gentle, and spiritual. It had gained much in beauty, while it had + lost something in force. In the world of morals, as in the world of + physics, strength is nearly allied to hardness. He who feels keenly + is easily moved, and a sensitive sympathy which lies at the root of + an amiable character is in consequence a principle of weakness. The + race of great Roman Stoics, which had never ceased during the tyranny + of Nero or Domitian, began to fail. In the very moment when the ideal + of the sect had attained its supreme perfection, a new movement + appeared, the philosophy sank into disrepute, and the last act of the + drama began.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In this, as in the + preceding ones, all was normal and regular. The long continuance of + despotic government had gradually destroyed the active public spirit + of which Stoicism was the expression. The predominance of the subtle + intellect of Greece, and the multiplication of rhetoricians, had + converted the philosophy into a school of disputation and of + casuistry. The increasing cultivation of the emotions continued, till + what may be termed the moral centre was changed, and the development + of feeling was deemed more important than the regulation of actions. + This cultivation of the emotions predisposed men to religion. A + reaction, intensified by many minor causes, set in against the + scepticism of the preceding generation, and Alexandria gradually + became the moral capital of the empire. The Roman type speedily + disappeared. A union was effected between superstitious rites and + philosophy, and the worship of Egyptian deities prepared the way for + the teaching of the Neoplatonists, who combined the most visionary + part of the speculations of Plato with the ancient philosophies of + the East. In Plotinus we find most of the first; in Iamblichus most + of the second. The minds of men, under their influence, grew + introspective, credulous, and superstitious, and found their ideal + states in the hallucinations of ecstasy and the calm of an + unpractical mysticism.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Such were the + influences which acted in turn upon a society which, by despotism, by + slavery, and by atrocious <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page335">[pg + 335]</span><a name="Pg335" id="Pg335" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + amusements, had been debased and corrupted to the very core. Each + sect which successively arose contributed something to remedy the + evil. Stoicism placed beyond cavil the great distinctions between + right and wrong. It inculcated the doctrine of universal brotherhood, + it created a noble literature and a noble legislation, and it + associated its moral system with the patriotic spirit which was then + the animating spirit of Roman life. The early Platonists of the + Empire corrected the exaggerations of Stoicism, gave free scope to + the amiable qualities, and supplied a theory of right and wrong, + suited not merely for heroic characters and for extreme emergencies, + but also for the characters and the circumstances of common life. The + Pythagorean and Neoplatonic schools revived the feeling of religious + reverence, inculcated humility, prayerfulness, and purity of thought, + and accustomed men to associate their moral ideals with the Deity, + rather than with themselves.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The moral + improvement of society was now to pass into other hands. A religion + which had long been increasing in obscurity began to emerge into the + light. By the beauty of its moral precepts, by the systematic skill + with which it governed the imagination and habits of its worshippers, + by the strong religious motives to which it could appeal, by its + admirable ecclesiastical organisation, and, it must be added, by its + unsparing use of the arm of power, Christianity soon eclipsed or + destroyed all other sects, and became for many centuries the supreme + ruler of the moral world. Combining the Stoical doctrine of universal + brotherhood, the Greek predilection for the amiable qualities, and + the Egyptian spirit of reverence and religious awe, it acquired from + the first an intensity and universality of influence which none of + the philosophies it had superseded had approached. I have now to + examine the moral causes that governed the rise of this religion in + Rome, the ideal of virtue it presented, the degree and manner in + which it stamped its image upon the character of nations, and the + perversions and distortions it underwent.</p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page336">[pg 336]</span><a name= + "Pg336" id="Pg336" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="toc9" id="toc9"></a> <a name="pdf10" id="pdf10"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Chapter III. The Conversion Of + Rome.</span></h1> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There is no fact + in the history of the human mind more remarkable than the complete + unconsciousness of the importance and the destinies of Christianity, + manifested by the Pagan writers before the accession of Constantine. + So large an amount of attention has been bestowed on the ten or + twelve allusions to it they furnish, that we are sometimes apt to + forget how few and meagre those allusions are, and how utterly + impossible it is to construct from them, with any degree of + certainty, a history of the early Church. Plutarch and the elder + Pliny, who probably surpass all other writers of their time in the + range of their illustrations, and Seneca, who was certainly the most + illustrious moralist of his age, never even mention it. Epictetus and + Marcus Aurelius have each adverted to it with a passing and + contemptuous censure. Tacitus describes in detail the persecution by + Nero, but treats the suffering religion merely as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“an execrable superstition;”</span> while Suetonius, + employing the same expression, reckons the persecution among the acts + of the tyrant that were either laudable or indifferent. Our most + important document is the famous letter of the younger Pliny. Lucian + throws some light both on the extent of Christian charity, and on the + aspect in which Christians were regarded by the religious jugglers of + their age, and the long series of Pagans who wrote the lives of the + Emperors in that most critical period from the accession of Hadrian, + almost to the eve of the triumph of <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page337">[pg 337]</span><a name="Pg337" id="Pg337" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> the Church, among a crowd of details concerning + the dresses, games, vices, and follies of the Court, supply us with + six or seven short notices of the religion that was transforming the + world.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The general + silence of the Pagan writers on this subject did not arise from any + restrictions imposed upon them by authority, for in this field the + widest latitude was conceded, nor yet from the notions of the dignity + of history, or the importance of individual exertions, which have + induced some historians to resolve their task into a catalogue of the + achievements of kings, statesmen, and generals. The conception of + history, as the record and explanation of moral revolutions, though + of course not developed to the same prominence as among some modern + writers, was by no means unknown in antiquity,<a id="noteref_634" + name="noteref_634" href="#note_634"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">634</span></span></a> and in + many branches our knowledge of the social changes of the Roman Empire + is extremely copious. The dissolution of old beliefs, the + decomposition of the entire social and moral system that had arisen + under the Republic, engaged in the very highest degree the attention + of the literary classes, and they displayed the most commendable + diligence in tracing its stages. It is very curious and instructive + to contrast the ample information they have furnished us concerning + the growth of Roman luxury, with their almost absolute silence + concerning the growth of Christianity. The moral importance of the + former movement they clearly recognised, and they have accordingly + preserved so full a record of all the changes in dress, banquets, + buildings, and spectacles, that it would be possible to write with + the most minute detail the whole history of Roman luxury, from the + day when a censor deprived an elector of his vote because his garden + was negligently <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page338">[pg + 338]</span><a name="Pg338" id="Pg338" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + cultivated, to the orgies of Nero or Heliogabalus. The moral + importance of the other movement they altogether overlooked, and + their oversight leaves a chasm in history which can never be + supplied.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That the greatest + religious change in the history of mankind should have taken place + under the eyes of a brilliant galaxy of philosophers and historians, + who were profoundly conscious of the decomposition around them, that + all of these writers should have utterly failed to predict the issue + of the movement they were observing, and that, during the space of + three centuries, they should have treated as simply contemptible an + agency which all men must now admit to have been, for good or for + evil, the most powerful moral lever that has ever been applied to the + affairs of man, are facts well worthy of meditation in every period + of religious transition. The explanation is to be found in that broad + separation between the spheres of morals and of positive religion we + have considered in the last chapter. In modern times, men who were + examining the probable moral future of the world, would naturally, + and in the first place, direct their attention to the relative + positions and the probable destinies of religious institutions. In + the Stoical period of the Roman Empire, positive religion had come to + be regarded as merely an art for obtaining preternatural assistance + in the affairs of life, and the moral amelioration of mankind was + deemed altogether external to its sphere. Philosophy had become to + the educated most literally a religion. It was the rule of life, the + exposition of the Divine nature, the source of devotional feeling. + The numerous Oriental superstitions that had deluged the city were + regarded as peculiarly pernicious and contemptible, and of these none + was less likely to attract the favour of the philosophers than that + of the Jews,<a id="noteref_635" name="noteref_635" href= + "#note_635"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">635</span></span></a> who + were notorious <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page339">[pg + 339]</span><a name="Pg339" id="Pg339" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> as + the most sordid, the most turbulent,<a id="noteref_636" name= + "noteref_636" href="#note_636"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">636</span></span></a> and the + most unsocial<a id="noteref_637" name="noteref_637" href= + "#note_637"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">637</span></span></a> of the + Oriental colonists. Of the ignorance of their tenets, displayed even + by the most eminent Romans, we have a striking illustration in the + long series of grotesque fables concerning their belief, probably + derived from some satirical pamphlet, which Tacitus has gravely + inserted in his history.<a id="noteref_638" name="noteref_638" href= + "#note_638"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">638</span></span></a> + Christianity, in the eyes of the philosopher, was simply a sect of + Judaism.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Although I am + anxious in the present work to avoid, as far as possible, all + questions that are purely theological, and to consider Christianity + merely in its aspect as a moral agent, it will be necessary to bestow + a few preliminary pages upon its triumph in the Roman Empire, in + order to ascertain how far that triumph was due to moral causes, and + what were its relations to the prevailing philosophy. There are some + writers who have been so struck with the conformity between some of + the doctrines of the later Stoics and those of Christianity that they + have imagined that Christianity had early obtained a decisive + influence over philosophy, and that the leading teachers of Rome had + been in some measure its disciples. There are others who reduce the + conversion of the Roman Empire to a mere question of evidences, to + the overwhelming proofs the Christian teachers produced of the + authenticity of the Gospel narratives. There are others, again, who + deem the triumph of Christianity simply miraculous. Everything, they + tell us, was against it. The course of the Church was like that of a + ship sailing rapidly and steadily to the goal, in direct defiance of + both wind and tide, and the conversion of the Empire was as literally + supernatural as the raising of the dead, or the sudden quelling of + the storm.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">On the first of + these theories it will not, I think, be <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page340">[pg 340]</span><a name="Pg340" id="Pg340" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> necessary, after the last chapter, to expatiate + at length. It is admitted that the greatest moralists of the Roman + Empire either never mentioned Christianity, or mentioned it with + contempt; that they habitually disregarded the many religions which + had arisen among the ignorant; and that we have no direct evidence of + the slightest value of their ever having come in contact with or + favoured the Christians. The supposition that they were influenced by + Christianity rests mainly upon their enforcement of the Christian + duty of self-examination, upon their strong assertion of the + universal brotherhood of mankind, and upon the delicate and expansive + humanity they at last evinced. But although on all these points the + later Stoics approximated much to Christianity, we have already seen + that it is easy to discover in each case the cause of the tendency. + The duty of self-examination was simply a Pythagorean precept, + enforced in that school long before the rise of Christianity, + introduced into Stoicism when Pythagoreanism became popular in Rome, + and confessedly borrowed from this source. The doctrine of the + universal brotherhood of mankind was the manifest expression of those + political and social changes which reduced the whole civilised globe + to one great empire, threw open to the most distant tribes the right + of Roman citizenship, and subverted all those class divisions around + which moral theories had been formed. Cicero asserted it as + emphatically as Seneca. The theory of pantheism, representing the + entire creation as one great body, pervaded by one Divine soul, + harmonised with it; and it is a curious fact that the very + phraseology concerning the fellow-membership of all things in God, + which has been most confidently adduced by some modern writers as + proving the connection between Seneca and Christianity, was selected + by Lactantius as the clearest illustration of the pantheism of + Stoicism.<a id="noteref_639" name="noteref_639" href= + "#note_639"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">639</span></span></a> The + humane character of the later Stoical teaching <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page341">[pg 341]</span><a name="Pg341" id="Pg341" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> was obviously due to the infusion of the + Greek element into Roman life, which began before the foundation of + the Empire, and received a new impulse in the reign of Hadrian, and + also to the softening influence of a luxurious civilisation, and of + the long peace of the Antonines. While far inferior to the Greeks in + practical and realised humanity, the Romans never surpassed their + masters in theoretical humanity except in one respect. The humanity + of the Greeks, though very earnest, was confined within a narrow + circle. The social and political circumstances of the Roman Empire + destroyed the barrier.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The only case in + which any plausible arguments have been urged in favour of the notion + that the writings of the Stoics were influenced by the New Testament + is that of Seneca. This philosopher was regarded by all the mediæval + writers as a Christian, on the ground of a correspondence with St. + Paul, which formed part of a forged account of the martyrdom of St. + Peter and St. Paul, attributed to St. Linus. These letters, which + were absolutely unnoticed during the first three centuries, and are + first mentioned by St. Jerome, are now almost universally abandoned + as forgeries;<a id="noteref_640" name="noteref_640" href= + "#note_640"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">640</span></span></a> but + many curious coincidences of phraseology have been pointed out + between the writings of Seneca and the epistles of St. Paul; and the + presumption derived from them has been strengthened by the facts that + the brother of Seneca was that Gallio who refused to hear the + disputes between St. Paul and the Jews, and that Burrhus, who was the + friend and colleague of Seneca, was the officer to whose custody St. + Paul had been entrusted at Rome. Into the minute verbal criticism + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page342">[pg 342]</span><a name="Pg342" + id="Pg342" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> to which this question had + given rise,<a id="noteref_641" name="noteref_641" href= + "#note_641"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">641</span></span></a> it is + not necessary for me to enter. It has been shown that much of what + was deemed Christian phraseology grew out of the pantheistic notion + of one great body including, and one Divine mind animating and + guiding, all existing things; and many other of the pretended + coincidences are so slight as to be altogether worthless as an + argument. Still I think most persons who review what has been written + on the subject will conclude that it is probable some fragments at + least of Christian language had come to the ears of Seneca. But to + suppose that his system of morals is in any degree formed after the + model or under the influence of Christianity, is to be blind to the + most obvious characteristics of both Christianity and Stoicism; for + no other moralist could be so aptly selected as representing their + extreme divergence. Reverence and humility, a constant sense of the + supreme majesty of God and of the weakness and sinfulness of man, and + a perpetual reference to another world, were the essential + characteristics of Christianity, the source of all its power, the + basis of its distinctive type. Of all these, the teaching of Seneca + is the direct antithesis. Careless of the future world, and + profoundly convinced of the supreme majesty of man, he laboured to + emancipate his disciples <span class="tei tei-q">“from every fear of + God and man;”</span> and the proud language in which he claimed for + the sage an equality with the gods represents, perhaps, the highest + point to which philosophic arrogance has been carried. The Jews, with + whom the Christians were then universally identified, he emphatically + describes as <span class="tei tei-q">“an accursed race.”</span><a id= + "noteref_642" name="noteref_642" href="#note_642"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">642</span></span></a> One + man, indeed, there was <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page343">[pg + 343]</span><a name="Pg343" id="Pg343" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + among the later Stoics who had almost realised the Christian type, + and in whose pure and gentle nature the arrogance of his school can + be scarcely traced; but Marcus Aurelius, who of all the Pagan world, + if we argued by internal evidence alone, would have been most readily + identified with Christianity, was a persecutor of the faith, and he + has left on record in his <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Meditations”</span> his contempt for the Christian + martyrs.<a id="noteref_643" name="noteref_643" href= + "#note_643"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">643</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The relation + between the Pagan philosophers and the Christian religion was a + subject of much discussion and of profound difference of opinion in + the early Church.<a id="noteref_644" name="noteref_644" href= + "#note_644"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">644</span></span></a> While + the writers of one school apologised for the murder of Socrates, + described the martyred Greek as the 'buffoon of Athens,'<a id= + "noteref_645" name="noteref_645" href="#note_645"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">645</span></span></a> and + attributed his inspiration to diabolical influence;<a id= + "noteref_646" name="noteref_646" href="#note_646"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">646</span></span></a> while + they designated the writings of the philosophers as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the schools of heretics,”</span> and collected with a + malicious assiduity all the calumnies that had been heaped upon their + memory—there were others who made it a leading object to establish a + close affinity between Pagan philosophy and the Christian revelation. + Imbued in many instances, almost from childhood, with the noble + teaching of Plato, and keenly alive to the analogies between his + philosophy and their new faith, these writers found the exhibition of + this resemblance at once deeply grateful to themselves and the most + successful way of dispelling the prejudices of their Pagan + neighbours. The success that had attended the Christian prophecies + attributed to the Sibyls and the oracles, the passion for + eclecticism, which the social and commercial position of Alexandria + had generated, and also the example of the Jew Aristobulus, who had + some time before contended that the Jewish <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page344">[pg 344]</span><a name="Pg344" id="Pg344" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> writings had been translated into Greek, and + had been the source of much of the Pagan wisdom, encouraged them in + their course. The most conciliatory, and at the same time the most + philosophical school, was the earliest in the Church. Justin + Martyr—the first of the Fathers whose writings possess any general + philosophical interest—cordially recognises the excellence of many + parts of the Pagan philosophy, and even attributes it to a Divine + inspiration, to the action of the generative or <span class= + "tei tei-q">“seminal Logos,”</span> which from the earliest times had + existed in the world, had inspired teachers like Socrates and + Musonius, who had been persecuted by the dæmons, and had received in + Christianity its final and perfect manifestation.<a id="noteref_647" + name="noteref_647" href="#note_647"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">647</span></span></a> The + same generous and expansive appreciation may be traced in the + writings of several later Fathers, although the school was speedily + disfigured by some grotesque extravagances. Clement of Alexandria—a + writer of wide sympathies, considerable originality, very extensive + learning, but of a feeble and fantastic judgment—who immediately + succeeded Justin Martyr, attributed all the wisdom of antiquity to + two sources. The first source was tradition; for the angels, who had + been fascinated by the antediluvian ladies, had endeavoured to + ingratiate themselves with their fair companions by giving them an + abstract of the metaphysical and other learning which was then + current in heaven, and the substance of these conversations, being + transmitted by tradition, supplied the Pagan philosophers with their + leading notions. The angels did not know everything, and therefore + the Greek philosophy was imperfect; but this event formed the first + great epoch in literary history. The second and most important source + of Pagan wisdom was the Old Testament,<a id="noteref_648" name= + "noteref_648" href="#note_648"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">648</span></span></a> the + influence of which many of the early Christians traced in every + department of ancient wisdom. Plato had <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page345">[pg 345]</span><a name="Pg345" id="Pg345" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> borrowed from it all his philosophy, Homer the + noblest conceptions of his poetry, Demosthenes the finest touches of + his eloquence. Even Miltiades owed his military skill to an assiduous + study of the Pentateuch, and the ambuscade by which he won the battle + of Marathon was imitated from the strategy of Moses.<a id= + "noteref_649" name="noteref_649" href="#note_649"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">649</span></span></a> + Pythagoras, moreover, had been himself a circumcised Jew.<a id= + "noteref_650" name="noteref_650" href="#note_650"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">650</span></span></a> Plato + had been instructed in Egypt by the prophet Jeremiah. The god Serapis + was no other than the patriarch Joseph, his Egyptian name being + manifestly derived from his great-grandmother Sarah.<a id= + "noteref_651" name="noteref_651" href="#note_651"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">651</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Absurdities of + this kind, of which I have given extreme but by no means the only + examples, were usually primarily intended to repel arguments against + Christianity, and they are illustrations of the tendency which has + always existed in an uncritical age to invent, without a shadow of + foundation, the most elaborate theories of explanation rather than + recognise the smallest force in an objection. Thus, when the Pagans + attempted to reduce Christianity to a normal product of the human + mind, by pointing to the very numerous Pagan legends which were + precisely parallel to the Jewish histories, <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page346">[pg 346]</span><a name="Pg346" id="Pg346" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> it was answered that the dæmons were careful + students of prophecy, that they foresaw with terror the advent of + their Divine Conqueror, and that, in order to prevent men believing + in him, they had invented, by anticipation, a series of legends + resembling the events which were foretold.<a id="noteref_652" name= + "noteref_652" href="#note_652"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">652</span></span></a> More + frequently, however, the early Christians retorted the accusations of + plagiarism, and by forged writings attributed to Pagan authors, or, + by pointing out alleged traces of Jewish influence in genuine Pagan + writings, they endeavoured to trace through the past the footsteps of + their faith. But this method of assimilation, which culminated in the + Gnostics, the Neoplatonists, and especially in Origen, was directed + not to the later Stoics of the Empire, but to the great philosophers + who had preceded Christianity. It was in the writings of Plato, not + in those of Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius, that the Fathers of the + first three centuries found the influence of the Jewish Scriptures, + and at the time when the passion for discovering these connections + was most extravagant, the notion of Seneca and his followers being + inspired by the Christians was unknown.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Dismissing then, + as altogether groundless, the notion that Christianity had obtained a + complete or even a partial influence over the philosophic classes + during the period of Stoical ascendancy, we come to the opinion of + those who suppose that the Roman Empire was converted by a system of + evidences—by the miraculous proofs of the divinity of Christianity, + submitted to the adjudication of the people. To estimate this view + aright, we have to consider both the capacity of the men of that age + for judging miracles, and also—which is a different question—the + extent to which such evidence would weigh upon their minds. To treat + this subject satisfactorily, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page347">[pg 347]</span><a name="Pg347" id="Pg347" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> it may be advisable to enter at some little + length into the broad question of the evidence of the miraculous.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">With the exception + of a small minority of the priests of the Catholic Church, a general + incredulity on the subject of miracles now underlies the opinions of + almost all educated men. Nearly every one, however cordially he may + admit some one particular class of miracles, as a general rule + regards the accounts of such events, which are so frequent in all old + historians, as false and incredible, even when he fully believes the + natural events that are authenticated by the same testimony. The + reason of this incredulity is not altogether the impossibility or + even extreme natural improbability of miracles; for, whatever may be + the case with some, there is at least one class or conception of them + which is perfectly free from logical difficulty. There is no + contradiction involved in the belief that spiritual beings, of power + and wisdom immeasurably transcending our own, exist, or that, + existing, they might, by the normal exercise of their powers, perform + feats as far surpassing the understanding of the most gifted of + mankind, as the electric telegraph and the prediction of an eclipse + surpass the faculties of a savage. Nor does the incredulity arise, I + think, as is commonly asserted, from the want of that amount and kind + of evidence which in other departments is deemed sufficient. Very few + of the minor facts of history are authenticated by as much evidence + as the Stigmata of St. Francis, or the miracle of the holy thorn, or + those which were said to have been wrought at the tomb of the Abbé + Paris. We believe, with tolerable assurance, a crowd of historical + events on the testimony of one or two Roman historians; but when + Tacitus and Suetonius describe how Vespasian restored a blind man to + sight, and a cripple to strength,<a id="noteref_653" name= + "noteref_653" href="#note_653"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">653</span></span></a> their + deliberate <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page348">[pg + 348]</span><a name="Pg348" id="Pg348" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + assertions do not even beget in our minds a suspicion that the + narrative may possibly be true. We are quite certain that miracles + were not ordinary occurrences in classical or mediæval times, but + nearly all the contemporary writers from whom we derive our knowledge + of those periods were convinced that they were.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If, then, I have + correctly interpreted the opinions of ordinary educated people on + this subject, it appears that the common attitude towards miracles is + not that of doubt, of hesitation, of discontent with the existing + evidence, but rather of absolute, derisive, and even unexamining + incredulity. Such a fact, when we consider that the antecedent + possibility of at least some miracles is usually admitted, and in the + face of the vast mass of tradition that may be adduced in their + favour, appears at first sight a striking anomaly, and the more so + because it can be shown that the belief in miracles had in most cases + not been reasoned down, but had simply faded away.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In order to + ascertain the process by which this state of mind has been attained, + we may take an example in a sphere which is happily removed from + controversy. There are very few persons with whom the fictitious + character of fairy tales has not ceased to be a question, or who + would hesitate to disbelieve or even to ridicule any anecdote of this + nature which was told them, without the very smallest examination of + its evidence. Yet, if we ask in what respect the existence of fairies + is naturally contradictory or absurd, it would be difficult to answer + the question. A fairy is simply a being <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page349">[pg 349]</span><a name="Pg349" id="Pg349" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> possessing a moderate share of human + intelligence, with little or no moral faculty, with a body pellucid, + winged, and volatile, like that of an insect, with a passion for + dancing, and, perhaps, with an extraordinary knowledge of the + properties of different plants. That such beings should exist, or + that, existing, they should be able to do many things beyond human + power, are propositions which do not present the smallest difficulty. + For many centuries their existence was almost universally believed. + There is not a country, not a province, scarcely a parish, in which + traditions of their appearance were not long preserved. So great a + weight of tradition, so many independent trains of evidence attesting + statements perfectly free from intrinsic absurdity, or even + improbability, might appear sufficient, if not to establish + conviction, at least to supply a very strong <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">primâ facie</span></span> case, and ensure a + patient and respectful investigation of the subject.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It has not done + so, and the reason is sufficiently plain. The question of the + credibility of fairy tales has not been resolved by an examination of + evidence, but by an observation of the laws of historic development. + Wherever we find an ignorant and rustic population, the belief in + fairies is found to exist, and circumstantial accounts of their + apparitions are circulated. But invariably with increased education + this belief passes away. It is not that the fairy tales are refuted + or explained away, or even narrowly scrutinised. It is that the + fairies cease to appear. From the uniformity of this decline, we + infer that fairy tales are the normal product of a certain condition + of the imagination; and this position is raised to a moral certainty + when we find that the decadence of fairy tales is but one of a long + series of similar transformations.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">When the savage + looks around upon the world and begins to form his theories of + existence, he falls at once into three great errors, which become the + first principles of his subsequent <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page350">[pg 350]</span><a name="Pg350" id="Pg350" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> opinions. He believes that this earth is the + centre of the universe, and that all the bodies encircling it are + intended for its use; that the disturbances and dislocations it + presents, and especially the master curse of death, are connected + with some event in his history, and also that the numerous phenomena + and natural vicissitudes he sees around him are due to direct and + isolated volitions, either of spirits presiding over, or of + intelligences inherent in, matter. Around these leading conceptions a + crowd of particular legends speedily cluster. If a stone falls beside + him, he naturally infers that some one has thrown it. If it be an + aërolite, it is attributed to some celestial being. Believing that + each comet, tempest, or pestilence results from a direct and isolated + act, he proceeds to make theories regarding the motives that have + induced his spiritual persecutors to assail him, and the methods by + which he may assuage their anger. Finding numerous distinct trains or + series of phenomena, he invents for each appropriate presiding + spirits. Miracles are to him neither strange events nor violations of + natural law, but simply the unveiling or manifestation of the + ordinary government of the world.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">With these broad + intellectual conceptions several minor influences concur. A latent + fetichism, which is betrayed in that love of direct personification, + or of applying epithets derived from sentient beings to inanimate + nature, which appears so largely in all poetry and eloquence, and + especially in those of an early period of society, is the root of a + great part of our opinions. If—to employ a very familiar + illustration—the most civilised and rational of mankind will observe + his own emotions, when by some accident he has struck his head + violently against a door-post, he will probably find that his first + exclamation was not merely of pain but of anger, and of anger + directed against the wood. In a moment reason checks the emotion; but + if he observes carefully his own feelings, he may easily convince + himself of the unconscious <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page351">[pg + 351]</span><a name="Pg351" id="Pg351" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + fetichism which, is latent in his mind, and which, in the case of a + child or a savage, displays itself without reserve. Man instinctively + ascribes volition to whatever powerfully affects him. The feebleness + of his imagination conspires with other causes to prevent an + uncivilised man from rising above the conception of an + anthropomorphic Deity, and the capricious or isolated acts of such a + being form his exact notion of miracles. The same feebleness of + imagination makes him clothe all intellectual tendencies, all + conflicting emotions, all forces, passions, or fancies, in material + forms. His mind naturally translates the conflict between opposing + feelings into a history of the combat between rival spirits. A vast + accumulation of myths is spontaneously formed—each legend being + merely the material expression of a moral fact. The simple love of + the wonderful, and the complete absence of all critical spirit, aid + the formation.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In this manner we + find that in certain stages of society, and under the action of the + influences I have stated, an accretion of miraculous legends is + naturally formed around prominent personages or institutions. We look + for them as we look for showers in April, or for harvest in autumn. + We can very rarely show with any confidence the precise manner in + which a particular legend is created or the nucleus of truth it + contains, but we can analyse the general causes that have impelled + men towards the miraculous; we can show that these causes have never + failed to produce the effect, and we can trace the gradual alteration + of mental conditions invariably accompanying the decline of the + belief. When men are destitute of critical spirit, when the notion of + uniform law is yet unborn, and when their imaginations are still + incapable of rising to abstract ideas, histories of miracles are + always formed and always believed, and they continue to flourish and + to multiply until these conditions have altered. Miracles cease when + men cease to believe and to expect them. In periods that are equally + credulous, they multiply or <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page352">[pg + 352]</span><a name="Pg352" id="Pg352" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + diminish in proportion to the intensity with which the imagination is + directed to theological topics. A comparison of the histories of the + most different nations shows the mythical period to have been common + to all; and we may trace in many quarters substantially the same + miracles, though varied by national characteristics, and with a + certain local cast and colouring. As among the Alps the same shower + falls as rain in the sunny valleys, and as snow among the lofty + peaks, so the same intellectual conceptions which in one moral + latitude take the form of nymphs, or fairies, or sportive legends, + appear in another as dæmons or appalling apparitions. Sometimes we + can discover the precise natural fact which the superstition had + misread. Thus, epilepsy, the phenomenon of nightmare, and that form + of madness which leads men to imagine themselves transformed into + some animal, are, doubtless, the explanation of many tales of + demoniacal possession, of incubi, and of lycanthropy. In other cases + we may detect a single error, such as the notion that the sky is + close to the earth, or that the sun revolves around the globe, which + had suggested the legend. But more frequently we can give only a + general explanation, enabling us to assign these legends to their + place, as the normal expression of a certain stage of knowledge or + intellectual power; and this explanation is their refutation. We do + not say that they are impossible, or even that they are not + authenticated by as much evidence as many facts we believe. We only + say that, in certain conditions of society, illusions of the kind + inevitably appear. No one can prove that there are no such things as + ghosts; but if a man whose brain is reeling with fever declares that + he has seen one, we have no great difficulty in forming an opinion + about his assertion.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The gradual + decadence of miraculous narratives which accompanies advancing + civilisation may be chiefly traced to three causes. The first is that + general accuracy of observation and of statement which all education + tends more or less to <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page353">[pg + 353]</span><a name="Pg353" id="Pg353" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + produce, which checks the amplifications of the undisciplined + imagination, and is speedily followed by a much stronger moral + feeling on the subject of truth than ever exists in a rude + civilisation. The second is an increased power of abstraction, which + is likewise a result of general education, and which, by correcting + the early habit of personifying all phenomena, destroys one of the + most prolific sources of legends, and closes the mythical period of + history. The third is the progress of physical science, which + gradually dispels that conception of a universe governed by perpetual + and arbitrary interference, from which, for the most part, these + legends originally sprang. The whole history of physical science is + one continued revelation of the reign of law. The same law that + governs the motions of a grain of dust, or the light of the + glowworm's lamp, is shown to preside over the march of the most + majestic planet or the fire of the most distant sun. Countless + phenomena, which were for centuries universally believed to be the + results of spiritual agency, portents of calamity, or acts of Divine + vengeance, have been one by one explained, have been shown to rise + from blind physical causes, to be capable of prediction, or amenable + to human remedies. Forms of madness which were for ages supposed to + result from possession, are treated successfully in our hospitals. + The advent of the comet is predicted. The wire invented by the + sceptic Franklin defends the crosses on our churches from the + lightning stroke of heaven. Whether we examine the course of the + planets or the world of the animalculæ; to whatever field of physical + nature our research is turned, the uniform, invariable result of + scientific enquiry is to show that even the most apparently irregular + and surprising phenomena are governed by natural antecedents, and are + parts of one great connected system. From this vast concurrence of + evidence, from this uniformity of experience in so many spheres, + there arises in the minds of scientific men a conviction, amounting + to absolute moral certainty, that the whole course of physical + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page354">[pg 354]</span><a name="Pg354" + id="Pg354" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> nature is governed by law, + that the notion of the perpetual interference of the Deity with some + particular classes of its phenomena is false and unscientific, and + that the theological habit of interpreting the catastrophes of nature + as Divine warnings or punishments, or disciplines, is a baseless and + a pernicious superstition.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The effects of + these discoveries upon miraculous legends are of various kinds. In + the first place, a vast number which have clustered around the notion + of the irregularity of some phenomenon which is proved to be + regular—such as the innumerable accounts collected by the ancients to + corroborate their opinion of the portentous nature of comets—are + directly overthrown. In the next place, the revelation of the + interdependence of phenomena greatly increases the improbability of + some legends which it does not actually disprove. Thus, when men + believed the sun to be simply a lamp revolving around and lighting + our world, they had no great difficulty in believing that it was one + day literally arrested in its course, to illuminate an army which was + engaged in massacring its enemies; but the case became different when + it was perceived that the sun was the centre of a vast system of + worlds, which a suspension of the earth's motion must have reduced to + chaos, without a miracle extending through it all. Thus, again, the + old belief that some animals became for the first time carnivorous in + consequence of the sin of Adam, appeared tolerably simple so long as + this revolution was supposed to be only a change of habits or of + tastes; but it became more difficult of belief when it was shown to + involve a change of teeth; and the difficulty was, I suppose, still + further aggravated when it was proved that, every animal having + digestive organs specially adapted to its food, these also must have + been changed.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the last place, + physical science exercises a still wider influence by destroying what + I have called the centre ideas out of which countless particular + theories were evolved, of <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page355">[pg + 355]</span><a name="Pg355" id="Pg355" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + which they were the natural expression, and upon which their + permanence depends. Proving that our world is not the centre of the + universe, but is a simple planet, revolving with many others around a + common sun; proving that the disturbances and sufferings of the world + do not result from an event which occurred but 6,000 years ago; that + long before that period the earth was dislocated by the most fearful + convulsions; that countless generations of sentient animals, and + also, as recent discoveries appear conclusively to show, of men, not + only lived but died; proving, by an immense accumulation of evidence, + that the notion of a universe governed by isolated acts of special + intervention is untrue—physical science had given new directions to + the currents of the imagination, supplied the judgment with new + measures of probability, and thus affected the whole circle of our + beliefs.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">With most men, + however, the transition is as yet but imperfectly accomplished, and + that part of physical nature which science has hitherto failed to + explain is regarded as a sphere of special interposition. Thus, + multitudes who recognise the fact that the celestial phenomena are + subject to inflexible law, imagine that the dispensation of rain is + in some sense the result of arbitrary interpositions, determined by + the conduct of mankind. Near the equator, it is true, it is tolerably + constant and capable of prediction; but in proportion as we recede + from the equator, the rainfall becomes more variable, and + consequently, in the eyes of some, supernatural, and although no + scientific man has the faintest doubt that it is governed by laws as + inflexible as those which determine the motions of the planets, yet + because, owing to the great complexity of the determining causes, we + are unable fully to explain them, it is still customary to speak of + <span class="tei tei-q">“plagues of rain and water”</span> sent on + account of our sins, and of <span class="tei tei-q">“scarcity and + dearth, which we most justly suffer for our iniquity.”</span> + Corresponding language is employed about the forms of <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page356">[pg 356]</span><a name="Pg356" id="Pg356" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> disease and death which science has but + imperfectly explained. If men are employed in some profession which + compels them to inhale steel filings or noxious vapours, or if they + live in a pestilential marsh, the diseases that result from these + conditions are not regarded as a judgment or a discipline, for the + natural cause is obvious and decisive. But if the conditions that + produced the disease are very subtle and very complicated; if + physicians are incapable of tracing with certainty its nature or its + effects; if, above all, it assumes the character of an epidemic, it + is continually treated as a Divine judgment. The presumption against + this view arises not only from the fact that, in exact proportion as + medical science advances, diseases are proved to be the necessary + consequence of physical conditions, but also from many + characteristics of unexplained disease which unequivocally prove it + to be natural. Thus, cholera, which is frequently treated according + to the theological method, varies with the conditions of temperature, + is engendered by particular forms of diet, follows the course of + rivers, yields in some measure to medical treatment, can be + aggravated or mitigated by courses of conduct that have no relation + to vice or virtue, takes its victims indiscriminately from all grades + of morals or opinion. Usually, when definite causes are assigned for + a supposed judgment, they lead to consequences of the most grotesque + absurdity. Thus, when a deadly and mysterious disease fell upon the + cattle of England, some divines, not content with treating it as a + judgment, proceeded to trace it to certain popular writings + containing what were deemed heterodox opinions about the Pentateuch, + or about the eternity of punishment. It may be true that the disease + was imported from a country where such speculations are unknown; that + the authors objected to had no cattle; that the farmers, who chiefly + suffered by the disease, were for the most part absolutely + unconscious of the existence of these books, and if they <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page357">[pg 357]</span><a name="Pg357" id="Pg357" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> knew them would have indignantly + repudiated them; that the town populations, who chiefly read them, + were only affected indirectly by a rise in the price of food, which + falls with perfect impartiality upon the orthodox and upon the + heterodox; that particular counties were peculiarly sufferers, + without being at all conspicuous for their scepticism; that similar + writings appeared in former periods, without cattle being in any + respect the worse; and that, at the very period at which the plague + was raging, other countries, in which far more audacious speculations + were rife, enjoyed an absolute immunity. In the face of all these + consequences, the theory has been confidently urged and warmly + applauded.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is not, I + think, sufficiently observed how large a proportion of such questions + are capable of a strictly inductive method of discussion. If it is + said that plagues or pestilences are sent as a punishment of error or + of vice, the assertion must be tested by a comprehensive examination + of the history of plagues on the one hand, and of periods of great + vice and heterodoxy on the other. If it be said that an influence + more powerful than any military agency directs the course of battles, + the action of this force must be detected as we would detect + electricity, or any other force, by experiment. If the attribute of + infallibility be ascribed to a particular Church, an inductive + reasoner will not be content with enquiring how far an infallible + Church would be a desirable thing, or how far certain ancient words + may be construed as a prediction of its appearance; he will examine, + by a wide and careful survey of ecclesiastical history, whether this + Church has actually been immutable and consistent in its teaching; + whether it has never been affected by the ignorance or the passion of + the age; whether its influence has uniformly been exerted on the side + which proved to be true; whether it has never supported by its + authority scientific views which were afterwards demonstrated to be + false, or countenanced and <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page358">[pg + 358]</span><a name="Pg358" id="Pg358" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + consolidated popular errors, or thrown obstacles in the path of those + who were afterwards recognised as the enlighteners of mankind. If + ecclesiastical deliberations are said to be specially inspired or + directed by an illuminating and supernatural power, we should examine + whether the councils and convocations of clergymen exhibit a degree + and harmony of wisdom that cannot reasonably be accounted for by the + play of our unassisted faculties. If institutions are said to owe + their growth to special supernatural agencies, distinct from the + ordinary system of natural laws, we must examine whether their + courses are so striking and so peculiar that natural laws fail to + explain them. Whenever, as in the case of a battle, very many + influences concur to the result, it will frequently happen that that + result will baffle our predictions. It will also happen that strange + coincidences, such as the frequent recurrence of the same number in a + game of chance, will occur. But there are limits to these variations + from what we regard as probable. If, in throwing the dice, we + uniformly attained the same number, or if in war the army which was + most destitute of all military advantages was uniformly victorious, + we should readily infer that some special cause was operating to + produce the result. We must remember, too, that in every great + historical crisis the prevalence of either side will bring with it a + long train of consequences, and that we only see one side of the + picture. If Hannibal, after his victory at Cannæ, had captured and + burnt Rome, the vast series of results that have followed from the + ascendancy of the Roman Empire would never have taken place, but the + supremacy of a maritime, commercial, and comparatively pacific power + would have produced an entirely different series, which would have + formed the basis and been the essential condition of all the + subsequent progress; a civilisation, the type and character of which + it is now impossible to conjecture, would have arisen, and its + theologians would probably have regarded the career of Hannibal as + one <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page359">[pg 359]</span><a name= + "Pg359" id="Pg359" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of the most manifest + instances of special interposition on record.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If we would form + sound opinions on these matters, we must take a very wide and + impartial survey of the phenomena of history. We must examine whether + events have tended in a given direction with a uniformity or a + persistence that is not naturally explicable. We must examine not + only the facts that corroborate our theory, but also those which + oppose it.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That such a method + is not ordinarily adopted must be manifest to all. As Bacon said, men + <span class="tei tei-q">“mark the hits, but not the misses;”</span> + they collect industriously the examples in which many, and sometimes + improbable, circumstances have converged to a result which they + consider good, and they simply leave out of their consideration the + circumstances that tend in the opposite direction. They expatiate + with triumph upon the careers of emperors who have been the + unconscious pioneers or agents in some great movement of human + progress, but they do not dwell upon those whose genius was expended + in a hopeless resistance, or upon those who, like Bajazet or + Tamerlane, having inflicted incalculable evils upon mankind, passed + away, leaving no enduring fruit behind them. A hundred missionaries + start upon an enterprise, the success of which appears exceedingly + improbable. Ninety-nine perish and are forgotten. One missionary + succeeds, and his success is attributed to supernatural interference, + because the probabilities were so greatly against him. It is observed + that a long train of political or military events ensured the triumph + of Protestantism in certain nations and periods. It is forgotten that + another train of events destroyed the same faith in other lands, and + paralysed the efforts of its noblest martyrs. We are told of showers + of rain that followed public prayer; but we are not told how often + prayers for rain proved abortive, or how much longer than usual the + dry weather had already continued when they were <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page360">[pg 360]</span><a name="Pg360" id="Pg360" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> offered.<a id="noteref_654" name= + "noteref_654" href="#note_654"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">654</span></span></a> As the + old philosopher observed, the votive tablets of those who escaped are + suspended in the temple, while those who were shipwrecked are + forgotten.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Unfortunately, + these inconsistencies do not arise simply from intellectual causes. A + feeling which was intended to be religious, but which was in truth + deeply the reverse, once led men to shrink from examining the causes + of some of the more terrible of physical phenomena, because it was + thought that these should be deemed special instances of Divine + interference, and should, therefore, be regarded as too sacred for + investigation.<a id="noteref_655" name="noteref_655" href= + "#note_655"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">655</span></span></a> In the + world of physical science this mode of thought has almost vanished, + but a corresponding sentiment may be often detected in the common + judgments of history. Very many well-meaning men—censuring the + pursuit of truth in the name of the God of Truth—while they regard it + as commendable and religious to collect facts illustrating + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page361">[pg 361]</span><a name="Pg361" + id="Pg361" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> or corroborating the + theological theory of life, consider it irreverent and wrong to apply + to those facts, and to that theory, the ordinary severity of + inductive reasoning.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">What I have + written is not in any degree inconsistent with the belief that, by + the dispensation of Providence, moral causes have a natural and often + overwhelming influence upon happiness and upon success, nor yet with + the belief that our moral nature enters into a very real, constant, + and immediate contact with a higher power. Nor does it at all + disprove the possibility of Divine interference with the order even + of physical nature. A world governed by special acts of intervention, + such as that which mediæval theologians imagined, is perfectly + conceivable, though it is probable that most impartial enquirers will + convince themselves that this is not the system of the planet we + inhabit; and if any instance of such interference be sufficiently + attested, it should not be rejected as intrinsically impossible. It + is, however, the fundamental error of most writers on miracles, that + they confine their attention to two points—the possibility of the + fact, and the nature of the evidence. There is a third element, which + in these questions is of capital importance: the predisposition of + men in certain stages of society towards the miraculous, which is so + strong that miraculous stories are then invariably circulated and + credited, and which makes an amount of evidence that would be quite + sufficient to establish a natural fact, altogether inadequate to + establish a supernatural one. The positions for which I have been + contending are that a perpetual interference of the Deity with the + natural course of events is the earliest and simplest notion of + miracles, and that this notion, which is implied in so many systems + of belief, arose in part from an ignorance of the laws of nature, and + in part also from an incapacity for inductive reasoning, which led + men merely to collect facts coinciding with their preconceived + opinions, without attending to those that were inconsistent with + them. By this method there is no superstition <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page362">[pg 362]</span><a name="Pg362" id="Pg362" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> that could not be defended. Volumes have + been written giving perfectly authentic histories of wars, famines, + and pestilences that followed the appearance of comets. There is not + an omen, not a prognostic, however childish, that has not, in the + infinite variety of events, been occasionally verified, and to minds + that are under the influence of a superstitious imagination these + occasional verifications more than outweigh all the instances of + error. Simple knowledge is wholly insufficient to correct the + disease. No one is so firmly convinced of the reality of lucky and + unlucky days, and of supernatural portents, as the sailor, who has + spent his life in watching the deep, and has learnt to read with + almost unerring skill the promise of the clouds. No one is more + persuaded of the superstitions about fortune than the habitual + gambler. Sooner than abandon his theory, there is no extravagance of + hypothesis to which the superstitious man will not resort. The + ancients were convinced that dreams were usually supernatural. If the + dream was verified, this was plainly a prophecy. If the event was the + exact opposite of what the dream foreshadowed, the latter was still + supernatural, for it was a recognised principle that dreams should + sometimes be interpreted by contraries. If the dream bore no relation + to subsequent events, unless it were transformed into a fantastic + allegory, it was still supernatural, for allegory was one of the most + ordinary forms of revelation. If no ingenuity of interpretation could + find a prophetic meaning in a dream, its supernatural character was + even then not necessarily destroyed; for Homer said there was a + special portal through which deceptive visions passed into the mind, + and the Fathers declared that it was one of the occupations of the + dæmons to perplex and bewilder us with unmeaning dreams.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To estimate aright + the force of the predisposition to the miraculous should be one of + the first tasks of the enquirer into its reality; and no one, I + think, can examine the subject with <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page363">[pg 363]</span><a name="Pg363" id="Pg363" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> impartiality without arriving at the conclusion + that in many periods of history it has been so strong as to + accumulate around pure delusions an amount of evidence far greater + than would be sufficient to establish even improbable natural facts. + Through the entire duration of Pagan Rome, it was regarded as an + unquestionable truth, established by the most ample experience, that + prodigies of various kinds announced every memorable event, and that + sacrifices had the power of mitigating or arresting calamity. In the + Republic, the Senate itself officially verified and explained the + prodigies.<a id="noteref_656" name="noteref_656" href= + "#note_656"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">656</span></span></a> In the + Empire there is not an historian, from Tacitus down to the meanest + writer in the Augustan history, who was not convinced that numerous + prodigies foreshadowed the accession and death of every sovereign, + and every great catastrophe that fell upon the people. Cicero could + say with truth that there was not a single nation of antiquity, from + the polished Greek to the rudest savage, which did not admit the + existence of a real art enabling men to foretell the future, and that + the splendid temples of the oracles, which for so many centuries + commanded the reverence of mankind, sufficiently attested the + intensity of the belief.<a id="noteref_657" name="noteref_657" href= + "#note_657"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">657</span></span></a> The + reality of the witch miracles was established by a critical tribunal, + which, however imperfect, was at least the most searching then + existing in the world, by the judicial decisions of the law courts of + every European country, supported by the unanimous voice of public + opinion, and corroborated by the investigation of some of the ablest + men during several centuries. The belief that the king's touch can + cure scrofula flourished in the most brilliant periods of English + history.<a id="noteref_658" name="noteref_658" href= + "#note_658"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">658</span></span></a> It was + unshaken by <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page364">[pg + 364]</span><a name="Pg364" id="Pg364" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the + most numerous and public experiments. It was asserted by the privy + council, by the bishops of two religions, by the general voice of the + clergy in the palmiest days of the English Church, by the University + of Oxford, and by the enthusiastic assent of the people. It survived + the ages of the Reformation, of Bacon, of Milton, and of Hobbes. It + was by no means extinct in the age of Locke, and would probably have + lasted still longer, had not the change of dynasty at the Revolution + assisted the tardy scepticism.<a id="noteref_659" name="noteref_659" + href="#note_659"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">659</span></span></a> Yet + there is now <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page365">[pg + 365]</span><a name="Pg365" id="Pg365" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + scarcely an educated man who will defend these miracles. Considered + abstractedly, indeed, it is perfectly conceivable that Providence + might have announced coming events by prodigies, or imparted to some + one a miraculous power, or permitted evil spirits to exist among + mankind and assist them in their enterprises. The evidence + establishing these miracles is cumulative, and it is immeasurably + greater than the evidence of many natural facts, such as the + earthquakes at Antioch, which no one would dream of questioning. We + disbelieve the miracles, because an overwhelming experience proves + that in certain intellectual conditions, and under the influence of + certain errors which we are enabled to trace, superstitions of this + order invariably appear and flourish, and that, when these + intellectual conditions have passed, the prodigies as invariably + cease, and the whole fabric of superstition melts silently away.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is extremely + difficult for an ordinary man, who is little conversant with the + writings of the past, and who unconsciously transfers to other ages + the critical spirit of his own, to realise the fact that histories of + the most grotesquely extravagant nature could, during the space of + many centuries, be continually propounded without either provoking + the smallest question or possessing the smallest truth. We may, + however, understand something of this credulity when we remember the + diversion of the ancient mind from physical science to speculative + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page366">[pg 366]</span><a name="Pg366" + id="Pg366" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> philosophy; the want of the + many checks upon error which printing affords; the complete absence + of that habit of cautious, experimental research which Bacon and his + contemporaries infused into modern philosophy; and, in Christian + times, the theological notion that the spirit of belief is a virtue, + and the spirit of scepticism a sin. We must remember, too, that + before men had found the key to the motions of the heavenly + bodies—before the false theory of the vortices and the true theory of + gravitation—when the multitude of apparently capricious phenomena was + very great, the notion that the world was governed by distinct and + isolated influences was that which appeared most probable even to the + most rational intellect. In such a condition of knowledge—which was + that of the most enlightened days of the Roman Empire—the hypothesis + of universal law was justly regarded as a rash and premature + generalisation. Every enquirer was confronted with innumerable + phenomena that were deemed plainly miraculous. When Lucretius sought + to banish the supernatural from the universe, he was compelled to + employ much ingenuity in endeavouring to explain, by a natural law, + why a miraculous fountain near the temple of Jupiter Ammon was hot by + night and cold by day, and why the temperature of wells was higher in + winter than in summer.<a id="noteref_660" name="noteref_660" href= + "#note_660"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">660</span></span></a> + Eclipses were supposed by the populace to foreshadow calamity; but + the Roman soldiers believed that by beating drums and cymbals they + could cause the moon's disc to regain its brightness.<a id= + "noteref_661" name="noteref_661" href="#note_661"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">661</span></span></a> In + obedience to dreams, the great Emperor <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page367">[pg 367]</span><a name="Pg367" id="Pg367" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> Augustus went begging money through the streets + of Rome,<a id="noteref_662" name="noteref_662" href= + "#note_662"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">662</span></span></a> and the + historian who records the act himself wrote to Pliny, entreating the + postponement of a trial.<a id="noteref_663" name="noteref_663" href= + "#note_663"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">663</span></span></a> The + stroke of the lightning was an augury,<a id="noteref_664" name= + "noteref_664" href="#note_664"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">664</span></span></a> and its + menace was directed especially against the great, who cowered in + abject terror during a thunder-storm. Augustus used to guard himself + against thunder by wearing the skin of a sea-calf.<a id="noteref_665" + name="noteref_665" href="#note_665"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">665</span></span></a> + Tiberius, who professed to be a complete freethinker, had greater + faith in laurel leaves.<a id="noteref_666" name="noteref_666" href= + "#note_666"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">666</span></span></a> + Caligula was accustomed during a thunderstorm to creep beneath his + bed.<a id="noteref_667" name="noteref_667" href= + "#note_667"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">667</span></span></a> During + the games in honour of Julius Cæsar, a comet appearing for seven days + in the sky, the people believed it to be the soul of the dead,<a id= + "noteref_668" name="noteref_668" href="#note_668"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">668</span></span></a> and a + temple was erected in its honour.<a id="noteref_669" name= + "noteref_669" href="#note_669"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">669</span></span></a> + Sometimes we find this credulity broken by curious inconsistencies of + belief, or semi-rationalistic explanations. Livy, who relates with + perfect faith innumerable prodigies, has observed, nevertheless, + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page368">[pg 368]</span><a name="Pg368" + id="Pg368" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> that the more prodigies are + believed, the more they are announced.<a id="noteref_670" name= + "noteref_670" href="#note_670"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">670</span></span></a> Those + who admitted most fully the reality of the oracles occasionally + represented them as natural contending that a prophetic faculty was + innate in all men, though dormant in most; that it might be quickened + into action by sleep, by a pure and ascetic life, or in the + prostration that precedes death, or in the delirium produced by + certain vapours; and that the gradual enfeebling of the last was the + cause of the cessation of the oracles.<a id="noteref_671" name= + "noteref_671" href="#note_671"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">671</span></span></a> + Earthquakes <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page369">[pg + 369]</span><a name="Pg369" id="Pg369" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + were believed to result from supernatural interpositions, and to call + for expiatory sacrifices, but at the same time they had direct + natural antecedents. The Greeks believed that they were caused by + subterranean waters, and they accordingly sacrificed to Poseidon. The + Romans were uncertain as to their physical antecedents, and therefore + inscribed no name on the altar of expiation.<a id="noteref_672" name= + "noteref_672" href="#note_672"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">672</span></span></a> + Pythagoras is said to have attributed them to the strugglings of the + dead.<a id="noteref_673" name="noteref_673" href= + "#note_673"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">673</span></span></a> Pliny, + after a long discussion, decided that they were produced by air + forcing itself through fissures of the earth, but he immediately + proceeds to assert that they are invariably the precursors of + calamity.<a id="noteref_674" name="noteref_674" href= + "#note_674"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">674</span></span></a> The + same writer, having recounted the triumph of astronomers in + predicting and explaining eclipses, bursts into an eloquent + apostrophe to those great men who had thus reclaimed man from the + dominion of superstition, and in high and enthusiastic terms urges + them to pursue still further their labour in breaking the thraldom of + ignorance.<a id="noteref_675" name="noteref_675" href= + "#note_675"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">675</span></span></a> A few + chapters later he professes his unhesitating belief in the ominous + character of comets.<a id="noteref_676" name="noteref_676" href= + "#note_676"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">676</span></span></a> The + notions, too, of magic and astrology, were detached from all + theological belief, and might be found among many who were absolute + atheists.<a id="noteref_677" name="noteref_677" href= + "#note_677"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">677</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These few examples + will be sufficient to show how fully the Roman soil was prepared for + the reception of miraculous histories, even after the writings of + Cicero and Seneca, in the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page370">[pg + 370]</span><a name="Pg370" id="Pg370" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + brilliant days of Augustus and the Antonines. The feebleness of the + uncultivated mind, which cannot rise above material conceptions, had + indeed passed away, the legends of the popular theology had lost all + power over the educated, but at the same time an absolute ignorance + of physical science and of inductive reasoning remained. The facility + of belief that was manifested by some of the most eminent men, even + on matters that were not deemed supernatural, can only be realised by + those who have an intimate acquaintance with their works. Thus, to + give but a few examples, that great naturalist whom I have so often + cited tells us with the utmost gravity how the fiercest lion trembles + at the crowing of a cock;<a id="noteref_678" name="noteref_678" href= + "#note_678"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">678</span></span></a> how + elephants celebrate their religious ceremonies;<a id="noteref_679" + name="noteref_679" href="#note_679"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">679</span></span></a> how the + stag draws serpents by its breath from their holes, and then tramples + them to death;<a id="noteref_680" name="noteref_680" href= + "#note_680"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">680</span></span></a> how the + salamander is so deadly that the food cooked in water, or the fruit + grown on trees it has touched, are fatal to man;<a id="noteref_681" + name="noteref_681" href="#note_681"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">681</span></span></a> how, + when a ship is flying before so fierce a tempest that no anchors or + chains can hold it, if only the remora or echinus fastens on its + keel, it is arrested in its course, and remains motionless and rooted + among the waves.<a id="noteref_682" name="noteref_682" href= + "#note_682"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">682</span></span></a> On + matters that would appear the most easily verified, he is equally + confident. Thus, the human saliva, he assures us, has many mysterious + properties. If a man, especially when fasting, spits into the throat + of a serpent, it is said that the animal speedily dies.<a id= + "noteref_683" name="noteref_683" href="#note_683"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">683</span></span></a> It is + certain that to anoint the eyes with spittle is a sovereign remedy + against ophthalmia.<a id="noteref_684" name="noteref_684" href= + "#note_684"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">684</span></span></a> If a + pugilist, having struck his adversary, spits into his own hand, the + pain he caused instantly <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page371">[pg + 371]</span><a name="Pg371" id="Pg371" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + ceases. If he spits into his hand before striking, the blow is the + more severe.<a id="noteref_685" name="noteref_685" href= + "#note_685"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">685</span></span></a> + Aristotle, the greatest naturalist of Greece, had observed that it + was a curious fact that on the sea-shore no animal ever dies except + during the ebbing of the tide. Several centuries later, Pliny, the + greatest naturalist of an empire that was washed by many tidal seas, + directed his attention to this statement. He declared that, after + careful observations which had been made in Gaul, it had been found + to be inaccurate, for what Aristotle stated of all animals was in + fact only true of man.<a id="noteref_686" name="noteref_686" href= + "#note_686"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">686</span></span></a> It was + in 1727 and the two following years, that scientific observations + made at Rochefort and at Brest finally dissipated the delusion.<a id= + "noteref_687" name="noteref_687" href="#note_687"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">687</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Volumes might be + filled with illustrations of how readily, in the most enlightened + days of the Roman Empire, strange, and especially miraculous, tales + were believed, even under circumstances that would appear to give + every facility for the detection of the imposture. In the field of + the supernatural, however, it should be remembered that a movement, + which I have traced in the last chapter, had produced a very + exceptional amount of credulity during the century and a half that + preceded the conversion of Constantine. Neither the writings of + Cicero and Seneca, nor even those of Pliny and Plutarch, can be + regarded as fair samples of the belief of the educated. The Epicurean + philosophy which rejected, the Academic philosophy which doubted, and + the Stoic philosophy which simplified and sublimated superstition, + had alike disappeared. The <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Meditations”</span> of Marcus Aurelius closed the period + of Stoical influence, and the <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Dialogues”</span> of Lucian were the last solitary + protest of expiring scepticism.<a id="noteref_688" name="noteref_688" + href="#note_688"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">688</span></span></a> The aim + of the philosophy of Cicero had been to ascertain truth <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page372">[pg 372]</span><a name="Pg372" id="Pg372" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> by the free exercise of the critical + powers. The aim of the Pythagorean philosophy was to attain the state + of ecstasy, and to purify the mind by religious rites. Every + philosopher soon plunged into magical practices, and was encircled, + in the eyes of his disciples, with a halo of legend. Apollonius of + Tyana, whom the Pagans opposed to Christ, had raised the dead, healed + the sick, cast out devils, freed a young man from a lamia or vampire + with whom he was enamoured, prophesied, seen in one country events + that were occurring in another, and filled the world with the fame of + his miracles and of his sanctity.<a id="noteref_689" name= + "noteref_689" href="#note_689"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">689</span></span></a> A + similar power, notwithstanding his own disclaimer, was popularly + attributed to the Platonist Apuleius.<a id="noteref_690" name= + "noteref_690" href="#note_690"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">690</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page373">[pg 373]</span><a name="Pg373" + id="Pg373" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> Lucian has left us a detailed + account of the impostures by which the philosopher Alexander + endeavoured to acquire the fame of a miracle-worker.<a id= + "noteref_691" name="noteref_691" href="#note_691"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">691</span></span></a> When a + magician plotted against Plotinus, his spells recoiled miraculously + against himself; and when an Egyptian priest endeavoured by + incantations to evoke the guardian dæmon of the philosopher, instead + of a dæmon the temple of Isis was irradiated by the presence of a + god.<a id="noteref_692" name="noteref_692" href= + "#note_692"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">692</span></span></a> + Porphyry was said to have expelled an evil dæmon from a bath.<a id= + "noteref_693" name="noteref_693" href="#note_693"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">693</span></span></a> It was + reported among his disciples that when Iamblichus prayed he was + raised (like the saints of another creed) ten cubits from the ground, + and that his body and his dress assumed a golden hue.<a id= + "noteref_694" name="noteref_694" href="#note_694"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">694</span></span></a> It was + well known that he had at Gadara drawn forth from the waters of two + fountains their guardian spirits, and exhibited them in bodily form + to his disciples.<a id="noteref_695" name="noteref_695" href= + "#note_695"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">695</span></span></a> A woman + named Sospitra had been visited by two spirits under the form of aged + Chaldeans, and had been endowed with a transcendent beauty and with a + superhuman knowledge. Raised above all human frailties, save only + love and death, she was able to see at once the deeds which were done + in every land, and the people, dazzled by her beauty and her wisdom, + ascribed to her a share of the omnipresence of the Deity.<a id= + "noteref_696" name="noteref_696" href="#note_696"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">696</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Christianity + floated into the Roman Empire on the wave of credulity that brought + with it this long train of Oriental <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page374">[pg 374]</span><a name="Pg374" id="Pg374" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> superstitions and legends. In its moral aspect + it was broadly distinguished from the systems around it, but its + miracles were accepted by both friend and foe as the ordinary + accompaniments of religious teaching. The Jews, in the eyes of the + Pagans, had long been proverbial for their credulity,<a id= + "noteref_697" name="noteref_697" href="#note_697"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">697</span></span></a> and the + Christians inherited a double measure of their reputation. Nor is it + possible to deny that in the matter of the miraculous the reputation + was deserved. Among the Pagans the theory of Euhemerus, who believed + the gods to be but deified men, had been the stronghold of the + Sceptics, while the Platonic notion of dæmons was adopted by the more + believing philosophers. The Christian teachers combined both + theories, maintaining that deceased kings had originally supplied the + names of the deities, but that malevolent dæmons had taken their + places; and without a single exception the Fathers maintained the + reality of the Pagan miracles as fully as their own.<a id= + "noteref_698" name="noteref_698" href="#note_698"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">698</span></span></a> The + oracles, as we have seen, had been ridiculed and rejected by numbers + of the philosophers, but the Christians unanimously admitted their + reality. They appealed to a long series of oracles as predictions of + their faith; and there is, I believe, no example of the denial of + their supernatural character in the Christian Church till 1696, when + a Dutch Anabaptist minister named Van Dale, in a remarkable + book,<a id="noteref_699" name="noteref_699" href= + "#note_699"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">699</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page375">[pg 375]</span><a name="Pg375" + id="Pg375" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> which was abridged and + translated by Fontenelle, asserted, in opposition to the unanimous + voice of ecclesiastical authority, that they were simple impostures—a + theory which is now almost universally accepted. To suppose that men + who held these opinions were capable, in the second or third + centuries, of ascertaining with any degree of just confidence whether + miracles had taken place in Judæa in the first century, is grossly + absurd; nor would the conviction of their reality have made any great + impression on their minds at a time when miracles were supposed to be + so abundantly diffused.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In truth, the + question of the reality of the Jewish miracles must be carefully + distinguished from that of the conversion of the Roman Empire. With + the light that is furnished to us by modern investigations and habits + of thought, we weigh the testimony of the Jewish writers; but most of + the more judicious of modern apologists, considering the extreme + credulity of the Jewish people, decline to make the question simply + one of evidence, and occupy themselves chiefly in endeavouring to + show that miracles are possible, that those recorded in the Biblical + narratives are related in such a manner, and are so interwoven with + the texture of a simple and artless narrative, as to carry with them + an internal proof of their reality; that they differ in kind from + later miracles, and especially that the character and destinies of + Christianity are such as to render its miraculous origin antecedently + probable. But in the ages when the Roman Empire was chiefly + converted, all sound and discriminating historical investigation of + the evidence of the early miracles was impossible, nor was any large + use made of those miracles as proofs of the religion. The rhetorician + Arnobius is probably the only one of the early apologists who gives, + among the evidences of the faith, any prominent place to the miracles + of Christ.<a id="noteref_700" name="noteref_700" href= + "#note_700"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">700</span></span></a> When + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page376">[pg 376]</span><a name="Pg376" + id="Pg376" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> evidential reasoning was + employed, it was usually an appeal not to miracles, but to prophecy. + But here again the opinions of the patristic age must be pronounced + absolutely worthless. To prove that events had taken place in Judæa, + accurately corresponding with the prophecies, or that the prophecies + were themselves genuine, were both tasks far transcending the + critical powers of the Roman converts. The wild extravagance of + fantastic allegory, commonly connected with Origen, but which appears + at a much earlier date in the writings of Justin Martyr and Irenæus, + had thrown the interpretation of prophecy into hopeless confusion, + while the deliberate and apparently perfectly unscrupulous forgery of + a whole literature, destined to further the propagation either of + Christianity as a whole, or of some particular class of tenets that + had arisen within its border,<a id="noteref_701" name="noteref_701" + href="#note_701"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">701</span></span></a> made + criticism at once pre-eminently difficult and necessary. A long + series of oracles were cited, predicting in detail the sufferings of + Christ. The prophecies forged by the Christians, and attributed by + them to the heathen Sibyls, were accepted as genuine by the entire + Church, and were continually appealed to as among the most powerful + evidences of the faith. Justin Martyr declared that it was by the + instigation of dæmons that it had been made a capital offence to read + them.<a id="noteref_702" name="noteref_702" href= + "#note_702"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">702</span></span></a> Clement + of Alexandria preserved the tradition that St. Paul had urged the + brethren to study them.<a id="noteref_703" name="noteref_703" href= + "#note_703"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">703</span></span></a> Celsus + designated the Christians Sibyllists, on account of the pertinacity + with which they insisted upon them.<a id="noteref_704" name= + "noteref_704" href="#note_704"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">704</span></span></a> + Constantine the Great adduced them in a solemn speech before the + Council of Nice.<a id="noteref_705" name="noteref_705" href= + "#note_705"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">705</span></span></a> St. + Augustine notices that the Greek word for a fish, which, containing + the initial letters of the name and titles of Christ, had been + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page377">[pg 377]</span><a name="Pg377" + id="Pg377" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> adopted by the Early Church as + its sacred symbol, contains also the initial letters of some + prophetic lines ascribed to the Sibyl of Erythra.<a id="noteref_706" + name="noteref_706" href="#note_706"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">706</span></span></a> The + Pagans, it is true, accused their opponents of having forged or + interpolated these prophecies;<a id="noteref_707" name="noteref_707" + href="#note_707"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">707</span></span></a> but + there was not a single Christian writer of the patristic period who + disputed their authority, and there were very few even of the most + illustrious who did not appeal to them. Unanimously admitted by the + Church of the Fathers, they were unanimously admitted during the + middle ages, and an allusion to them passed into the most beautiful + lyric of the Missal. It was only at the period of the Reformation + that the great but unhappy Castellio pointed out many passages in + them which could not possibly be genuine. He was followed, in the + first years of the seventeenth century, by a Jesuit named Possevin, + who observed that the Sibyls were known to have lived at a later + period than Moses, and that many passages in the Sibylline books + purported to have been written before Moses. Those passages, + therefore, he said, were interpolated; and he added, with a + characteristic sagacity, that they had doubtless been inserted by + Satan, for the purpose of throwing suspicion upon the books.<a id= + "noteref_708" name="noteref_708" href="#note_708"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">708</span></span></a> It was + in 1649 that a French Protestant minister, named Blondel, ventured + for the first time in the Christian Church to denounce these writings + as deliberate and clumsy forgeries, and after much angry controversy + his sentiment has acquired an almost undisputed ascendancy in + criticism.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But although the + opinion of the Roman converts was extremely worthless, when dealing + with past history or with literary criticism, there was one branch of + miracles concerning which their position was somewhat different. + Contemporary <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page378">[pg + 378]</span><a name="Pg378" id="Pg378" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + miracles, often of the most extraordinary character, but usually of + the nature of visions, exorcisms, or healing the sick, were from the + time of Justin Martyr uniformly represented by the Fathers as + existing among them,<a id="noteref_709" name="noteref_709" href= + "#note_709"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">709</span></span></a> and + they continue steadily along the path of history, till in the pages + of Evagrius and Theodoret, in the Lives of Hilarion and Paul, by St. + Jerome, of Antony, by St. Athanasius, and of Gregory Thaumaturgus, by + his namesake of Nyssa, and in the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, + they attain as grotesque an extravagance as the wildest mediæval + legends. Few things are more striking than the assertions hazarded on + this matter by some of the ablest of the Fathers. Thus, St. Irenæus + assures us that all Christians possessed the power of working + miracles; that they prophesied, cast out devils, healed the sick, and + sometimes even raised the dead; that some who had been thus + resuscitated lived for many years among them, and that it would be + impossible to reckon the wonderful acts that were daily + performed.<a id="noteref_710" name="noteref_710" href= + "#note_710"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">710</span></span></a> St. + Epiphanius tells us that some rivers and fountains were annually + transformed into wine, in attestation of the miracle of Cana; and he + adds that he had himself drunk of one of these fountains, and his + brethren of another.<a id="noteref_711" name="noteref_711" href= + "#note_711"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">711</span></span></a> St. + Augustine notices that miracles were less frequent and less widely + known than formerly, but that many still occurred, and some of them + he had himself witnessed. Whenever a miracle was reported, he ordered + that a special examination into its circumstances should be made, and + that the depositions of the witnesses should be read publicly to the + people. He tells us, besides many other miracles, that Gamaliel in a + dream revealed to a priest named Lucianus the place where the bones + of St. Stephen were buried; that those bones, being thus discovered, + were brought to Hippo, the diocese of which St. Augustine was bishop; + that they raised <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page379">[pg + 379]</span><a name="Pg379" id="Pg379" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + five dead persons to life; and that, although only a portion of the + miraculous cures they effected had been registered, the certificates + drawn up in two years in the diocese, and by the orders of the saint, + were nearly seventy. In the adjoining diocese of Calama they were + incomparably more numerous.<a id="noteref_712" name="noteref_712" + href="#note_712"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">712</span></span></a> In the + height of the great conflict between St. Ambrose and the Arian + Empress Justina, the saint declared that it had been revealed to him + by an irresistible presentiment—or, as St. Augustine, who was present + on the occasion, says, in a dream—that relics were buried in a spot + which he indicated. The earth being removed, a tomb was found filled + with blood, and containing two gigantic skeletons, with their heads + severed from their bodies, which were pronounced to be those of St. + Gervasius and St. Protasius, two martyrs of remarkable physical + dimensions, who were said to have suffered about 300 years before. To + prove that they were genuine relics, the bones were brought in + contact with a blind man, who was restored to sight, and with + demoniacs, who were cured; the dæmons, however, in the first place, + acknowledging that the relics were genuine; that St. Ambrose was the + deadly enemy of the powers of hell; that the Trinitarian doctrine was + true; and that those who rejected it would infallibly be damned. The + next day St. Ambrose delivered an invective against all who + questioned the miracle. St. Augustine recorded it in his works, and + spread the worship of the saints through Africa. The transport of + enthusiasm with which the miracles were greeted at Milan enabled St. + Ambrose to overcome every obstacle; but the Arians treated them with + a derisive incredulity, and declared that the pretended demoniacs had + been bribed by the saint.<a id="noteref_713" name="noteref_713" href= + "#note_713"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">713</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Statements of this + kind, which are selected from very <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page380">[pg 380]</span><a name="Pg380" id="Pg380" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> many that are equally positive, though not + equally precise, suggest veins of thought of obvious interest and + importance. We are now, however, only concerned with the fact, that, + with the exception of one or two isolated miracles, such as the last + I have noticed, and of one class of miracles which I shall proceed to + describe, these prodigies, whether true or false, were wrought for + the exclusive edification of confirmed believers. The exceptional + miracles were those of exorcism, which occupied a very singular + position in the early Church. The belief that certain diseases were + inflicted by Divine agency was familiar to the ancients, but among + the early Greeks the notion of diabolical possession appears to have + been unknown. A dæmon, in the philosophy of Plato, though inferior to + a deity, was not an evil spirit, and it is extremely doubtful whether + the existence of evil dæmons was known either to the Greeks or Romans + till about the time of the advent of Christ.<a id="noteref_714" name= + "noteref_714" href="#note_714"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">714</span></span></a> The + belief was introduced with the Oriental superstitions which then + poured into Rome, and it brought in its train the notions of + possession and exorcism. The Jews, who in their own country appear to + have regarded it as a most ordinary occurrence to meet men walking + about visibly possessed by devils, and who professed to have learnt + from Solomon the means of expelling them, soon became the principal + exorcists, accomplishing their feats partly by adjuration, and partly + by means of a certain miraculous root named Baaras. Josephus assures + us that he had himself, in the reign of Vespasian, seen a Jew named + Eleazar drawing by these means a dæmon through the nostrils of a + possessed person, who fell to the ground on the accomplishment of the + miracle; while, upon the command of the magician, the <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page381">[pg 381]</span><a name="Pg381" id="Pg381" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> devil, to prove that it had really left + his victim, threw down a cup of water which had been placed at a + distance.<a id="noteref_715" name="noteref_715" href= + "#note_715"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">715</span></span></a> The + growth of Neoplatonism and kindred philosophies greatly strengthened + the belief, and some of the later philosophers, as well as many + religious charlatans, practised exorcism. But, of all classes, the + Christians became in this respect the most famous. From the time of + Justin Martyr, for about two centuries, there is, I believe, not a + single Christian writer who does not solemnly and explicitly assert + the reality and frequent employment of this power;<a id="noteref_716" + name="noteref_716" href="#note_716"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">716</span></span></a> and + although, after the Council of Laodicea, the instances became less + numerous, they by no means ceased. The Christians fully recognised + the supernatural power possessed by the Jewish and Gentile exorcists, + but they claimed to be in many respects their superiors. By the + simple sign of the cross, or by repeating the name of their Master, + they professed to be able to cast out devils which had resisted all + the enchantments of Pagan <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page382">[pg + 382]</span><a name="Pg382" id="Pg382" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + exorcists, to silence the oracles, to compel the dæmons to confess + the truth of the Christian faith. Sometimes their power extended + still further. Dæmons, we are told, were accustomed to enter into + animals, and these also were expelled by the Christian adjuration. + St. Jerome, in his <span class="tei tei-q">“Life of St. + Hilarion,”</span> has given us a graphic account of the courage with + which that saint confronted, and the success with which he relieved, + a possessed camel.<a id="noteref_717" name="noteref_717" href= + "#note_717"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">717</span></span></a> In the + reign of Julian, the very bones of the martyr Babylas were sufficient + to silence the oracle of Daphne; and when, amid the triumphant chants + of the Christians, the relics, by the command of Julian, were + removed, the lightning descended from heaven and consumed the + temple.<a id="noteref_718" name="noteref_718" href= + "#note_718"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">718</span></span></a> St. + Gregory Thaumaturgus having expelled the dæmons from an idol temple, + the priest, finding his means of subsistence destroyed, came to the + saint, imploring him to permit the oracles to be renewed. St. + Gregory, who was then on his journey, wrote a note containing the + words <span class="tei tei-q">“Satan, return,”</span> which was + immediately obeyed, and the priest, awe-struck by the miracle, was + converted to Christianity.<a id="noteref_719" name="noteref_719" + href="#note_719"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">719</span></span></a> + Tertullian, writing to the Pagans in a time of persecution, in + language of the most deliberate earnestness, challenges his opponents + to bring forth any person who is <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page383">[pg 383]</span><a name="Pg383" id="Pg383" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> possessed by a dæmon or any of those virgins or + prophets who are supposed to be inspired by a divinity. He asserts + that, in reply to the interrogation of any Christian, the dæmons will + be compelled to confess their diabolical character; he invites the + Pagans, if it be otherwise, to put the Christian immediately to + death; and he proposes this as at once the simplest and most decisive + demonstration of the faith.<a id="noteref_720" name="noteref_720" + href="#note_720"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">720</span></span></a> Justin + Martyr,<a id="noteref_721" name="noteref_721" href= + "#note_721"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">721</span></span></a> + Origen,<a id="noteref_722" name="noteref_722" href= + "#note_722"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">722</span></span></a> + Lactantius,<a id="noteref_723" name="noteref_723" href= + "#note_723"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">723</span></span></a> + Athanasius,<a id="noteref_724" name="noteref_724" href= + "#note_724"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">724</span></span></a> and + Minucius Felix,<a id="noteref_725" name="noteref_725" href= + "#note_725"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">725</span></span></a> all in + language equally solemn and explicit, call upon the Pagans to form + their opinions from the confessions wrung from their own gods. We + hear from them, that when a Christian began to pray, to make the sign + of the cross, or to utter the name of his Master in the presence of a + possessed or inspired person, the latter, by screams and frightful + contortions, exhibited the torture that was inflicted, and by this + torture the evil spirit was compelled to avow its nature. Several of + the Christian writers declare that this was generally known to the + Pagans. In one respect, it was observed, the miracle of exorcism was + especially available for evidential purposes; for, as dæmons would + not expel dæmons, it was the only miracle which was necessarily + divine.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It would be + curious to examine the manner in which the challenge was received by + the Pagan writers; but unhappily, the writings which were directed + against the faith having been destroyed by the Christian emperors, + our means of information on this point are very scanty. Some + information, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page384">[pg + 384]</span><a name="Pg384" id="Pg384" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + however, we possess, and it would appear to show that, among the + educated classes at least, these phenomena did not extort any great + admiration. The eloquent silence about diabolical possession observed + by the early philosophers, when discussing such questions as the + nature of the soul and of the spiritual world, decisively show that + in their time possession had not assumed any great prominence or + acquired any general credence. Plutarch, who admitted the reality of + evil dæmons, and who was the most strenuous defender of the oracles, + treats the whole class of superstitions to which exorcism belongs + with much contempt.<a id="noteref_726" name="noteref_726" href= + "#note_726"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">726</span></span></a> Marcus + Aurelius, in recounting the benefits he had received from different + persons with whom he had been connected, acknowledges his debt of + gratitude to the philosopher Diognetus for having taught him to give + no credence to magicians, jugglers, and expellers of dæmons.<a id= + "noteref_727" name="noteref_727" href="#note_727"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">727</span></span></a> Lucian + declares that every cunning juggler could make his fortune by going + over to the Christians and preying upon their simplicity.<a id= + "noteref_728" name="noteref_728" href="#note_728"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">728</span></span></a> Celsus + described the Christians as jugglers performing their tricks among + the young and the credulous.<a id="noteref_729" name="noteref_729" + href="#note_729"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">729</span></span></a> The + most decisive evidence, however, we possess, is a law of Ulpian, + directed, it is thought, against the Christians, which condemns those + <span class="tei tei-q">“who use incantations or imprecations, or (to + employ the common word of impostors) exorcisms.”</span><a id= + "noteref_730" name="noteref_730" href="#note_730"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">730</span></span></a> Modern + criticism has noted a few facts which may throw some light upon this + obscure subject. It has been observed that the <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page385">[pg 385]</span><a name="Pg385" id="Pg385" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> symptoms of possession were for the most + part identical with those of lunacy or epilepsy; that it is quite + possible that the excitement of an imposing religious ceremony might + produce or suspend the disorder; that leading questions might in + these cases be followed by the desired answers; and that some + passages from the Fathers show that the exorcisms were not always + successful, or the cures always permanent. It has been observed, too, + that at first the power of exorcism was open to all Christians + without restraint; that this licence, in an age when religious + jugglers were very common, and in a Church whose members were very + credulous, gave great facilities to impostors; that when the + Laodicean Council, in the fourth century, forbade any one to + exorcise, except those who were duly authorised by the bishop, these + miracles speedily declined; and that, in the very beginning of the + fifth century, a physician named Posidonius denied the existence of + possession.<a id="noteref_731" name="noteref_731" href= + "#note_731"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">731</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To sum up this + whole subject, we may conclude that what is called the evidential + system had no prominent place in effecting the conversion of the + Roman Empire. Historical criticisms were far too imperfect to make + appeals to the miracles of former days of any value, and the notion + of the wide diffusion of miraculous or magical powers, as well as the + generally private character of the alleged miracles of the Patristic + age, made contemporary wonders very unimpressive. The prophecies + attributed to the Sibyls, and the practice of exorcism, had, however, + a certain weight; for the first were connected with a religious + authority, long and deeply revered at Rome, and the second had been + forced by several circumstances into great prominence. But the effect + even of these may be safely regarded as altogether subsidiary, and + the main causes of the conversion must be looked for in another and a + wider sphere.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page386">[pg + 386]</span><a name="Pg386" id="Pg386" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These causes were + the general tendencies of the age. They are to be found in that vast + movement of mingled scepticism and credulity, in that amalgamation or + dissolution of many creeds, in that profound transformation of + habits, of feelings, and of ideals, which I have attempted to paint + in the last chapter. Under circumstances more favourable to religious + proselytism than the world had ever before known, with the path + cleared by a long course of destructive criticism, the religions and + philosophies of mankind were struggling for the mastery in that great + metropolis where all were amply represented, and in which alone the + destinies of the world could be decided. Among the educated a frigid + Stoicism, teaching a majestic but unattainable grandeur, and scorning + the support of the affections, the hope of another world, and the + consolations of worship, had for a time been in the ascendant, and it + only terminated its noble and most fruitful career when it had become + manifestly inadequate to the religious wants of the age. Among other + classes, religion after religion ran its conquering course. The Jews, + although a number of causes had made them the most hated of all the + Roman subjects, and although their religion, from its intensely + national character, seemed peculiarly unsuited for proselytism, had + yet, by the force of their monotheism, their charity, and their + exorcisms, spread the creed of Moses far and wide. The Empress Poppæa + is said to have been a proselyte. The passion of Roman women for + Jewish rites was one of the complaints of Juvenal. The Sabbath and + the Jewish fasts became familiar facts in all the great cities, and + the antiquity of the Jewish law the subject of eager discussion. + Other Oriental religions were even more successful. The worship of + Mithra, and, above all, of the Egyptian divinities, attracted their + thousands, and during more than three centuries the Roman writings + are crowded with allusions to their progress. The mysteries of the + Bona Dea,<a id="noteref_732" name="noteref_732" href= + "#note_732"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">732</span></span></a> the + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page387">[pg 387]</span><a name="Pg387" + id="Pg387" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> solemn worship of Isis, the + expiatory rites that cleansed the guilty soul, excited a very + delirium of enthusiasm. Juvenal describes the Roman women, at the + dawn of the winter day, breaking the ice of the Tiber to plunge three + times into its sacred stream, dragging themselves on bleeding knees + in penance around the field of Tarquin, offering to undertake + pilgrimages to Egypt to seek the holy water for the shrine of Isis, + fondly dreaming that they had heard the voice of the goddess.<a id= + "noteref_733" name="noteref_733" href="#note_733"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">733</span></span></a> + Apuleius has drawn a graphic picture of the solemn majesty of her + processions, and the spell they cast upon the most licentious and the + most sceptical.<a id="noteref_734" name="noteref_734" href= + "#note_734"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">734</span></span></a> + Commodus, Caracalla, and Heliogabalus were passionately devoted to + them.<a id="noteref_735" name="noteref_735" href= + "#note_735"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">735</span></span></a> The + temples of Isis and Serapis, and the statues of Mithra, are among the + last prominent works of Roman art. In all other forms the same + credulity was manifested. The oracles that had been silent were heard + again; the astrologers swarmed in every city; the philosophers were + surrounded with an atmosphere of legend; the Pythagorean school had + raised credulity into a system. On all sides, and to a degree + unparalleled in history, we find men who were no longer satisfied + with their old local religion, thirsting for belief, passionately and + restlessly seeking for a new faith.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the midst of + this movement, Christianity gained its ascendancy, and we can be at + no loss to discover the cause of its triumph. No other religion, + under such circumstances, had ever combined so many distinct elements + of power and attraction. Unlike the Jewish religion, it was bound by + no local ties, and was equally adapted for every nation and for every + class. Unlike Stoicism, it appealed in the strongest manner to the + affections, and offered all the charm of a sympathetic worship. + Unlike the Egyptian religions, it united with its distinctive + teaching a pure and noble system of <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page388">[pg 388]</span><a name="Pg388" id="Pg388" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> ethics, and proved itself capable of realising + it in action. It proclaimed, amid a vast movement of social and + national amalgamation, the universal brotherhood of mankind. Amid the + softening influence of philosophy and civilisation, it taught the + supreme sanctity of love. To the slave, who had never before + exercised so large an influence over Roman religious life, it was the + religion of the suffering and the oppressed. To the philosopher it + was at once the echo of the highest ethics of the later Stoics, and + the expansion of the best teaching of the school of Plato. To a world + thirsting for prodigy, it offered a history replete with wonders more + strange that those of Apollonius; while the Jew and the Chaldean + could scarcely rival its exorcists, and the legends of continual + miracles circulated among its followers. To a world deeply conscious + of political dissolution, and prying eagerly and anxiously into the + future, it proclaimed with a thrilling power the immediate + destruction of the globe—the glory of all its friends, and the + damnation of all its foes. To a world that had grown very weary + gazing on the cold and passionless grandeur which Cato realised, and + which Lucan sung, it presented an ideal of compassion and of love—a + Teacher who could weep by the sepulchre of His friend, who was + touched with the feeling of our infirmities. To a world, in fine, + distracted by hostile creeds and colliding philosophies, it taught + its doctrines, not as a human speculation, but as a Divine + revelation, authenticated much less by reason than by faith. + <span class="tei tei-q">“With the heart man believeth unto + righteousness;”</span> <span class="tei tei-q">“He that doeth the + will of my Father will know the doctrine, whether it be of + God;”</span> <span class="tei tei-q">“Unless you believe you cannot + understand;”</span> <span class="tei tei-q">“A heart naturally + Christian;”</span> <span class="tei tei-q">“The heart makes the + theologian,”</span> are the phrases which best express the first + action of Christianity upon the world. Like all great religions, it + was more concerned with modes of feeling than with modes of thought. + The chief cause of its success was the congruity of its teaching with + the spiritual <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page389">[pg + 389]</span><a name="Pg389" id="Pg389" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + nature of mankind. It was because it was true to the moral sentiments + of the age, because it represented faithfully the supreme type of + excellence to which men were then tending, because it corresponded + with their religious wants, aims, and emotions, because the whole + spiritual being could then expand and expatiate under its influence, + that it planted its roots so deeply in the hearts of men.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To all these + elements of attraction, others of a different order must be added. + Christianity was not merely a moral influence, or a system of + opinions, or an historical record, or a collection of wonder-working + men; it was also an institution definitely, elaborately, and + skilfully organised, possessing a weight and a stability which + isolated or undisciplined teachers could never rival, and evoking, to + a degree before unexampled in the world, an enthusiastic devotion to + its corporate welfare, analogous to that of the patriot to his + country. The many forms of Pagan worship were pliant in their nature. + Each offered certain advantages or spiritual gratifications; but + there was no reason why all should not exist together, and + participation in one by no means implied disrespect to the others. + But Christianity was emphatically exclusive; its adherent was bound + to detest and abjure the faiths around him as the workmanship of + dæmons, and to consider himself placed in the world to destroy them. + Hence there sprang a stern, aggressive, and at the same time + disciplined enthusiasm, wholly unlike any other that had been + witnessed upon earth. The duties of public worship; the sacraments, + which were represented as the oaths of the Christian warrior; the + fasts and penances and commemorative days, which strengthened the + Church feeling; the intervention of religion in the most solemn + epochs of life, conspired to sustain it. Above all, the doctrine of + salvation by belief, which then for the first time flashed upon the + world; the persuasion, realised with all the vividness of novelty, + that Christianity opened out to its votaries eternal happiness, + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page390">[pg 390]</span><a name="Pg390" + id="Pg390" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> while all beyond its pale were + doomed to an eternity of torture, supplied a motive of action as + powerful as it is perhaps possible to conceive. It struck alike the + coarsest chords of hope and fear, and the finest chords of compassion + and love. The polytheist, admitting that Christianity might possibly + be true, was led by a mere calculation of prudence to embrace it, and + the fervent Christian would shrink from no suffering to draw those + whom he loved within its pale. Nor were other inducements wanting. To + the confessor was granted in the Church a great and venerable + authority, such as the bishop could scarcely claim.<a id= + "noteref_736" name="noteref_736" href="#note_736"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">736</span></span></a> To the + martyr, besides the fruition of heaven, belonged the highest glory on + earth. By winning that bloodstained crown, the meanest Christian + slave might gain a reputation as glorious as that of a Decius or a + Regulus. His body was laid to rest with a sumptuous splendour;<a id= + "noteref_737" name="noteref_737" href="#note_737"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">737</span></span></a> his + relics, embalmed or shrined, were venerated with an almost idolatrous + homage. The anniversary of his birth into another life was + commemorated in the Church, and before the great assembly of the + saints his heroic sufferings were recounted.<a id="noteref_738" name= + "noteref_738" href="#note_738"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">738</span></span></a> How, + indeed, should he not be envied? He had passed away into eternal + bliss. He had left upon earth an abiding name. By the <span class= + "tei tei-q">“baptism of blood”</span> the sins of a life had been in + a moment effaced.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Those who are + accustomed to recognise heroic enthusiasm as a normal product of + certain natural conditions, will have no difficulty in understanding + that, under such circumstances <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page391">[pg 391]</span><a name="Pg391" id="Pg391" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> as I have described, a transcendent courage + should have been evoked. Men seemed indeed to be in love with death. + Believing, with St. Ignatius, that they were <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the wheat of God,”</span> they panted for the day when + they should be <span class="tei tei-q">“ground by the teeth of wild + beasts into the pure bread of Christ!”</span> Beneath this one + burning enthusiasm all the ties of earthly love were snapt in twain. + Origen, when a boy, being restrained by force from going forth to + deliver himself up to the persecutors, wrote to his imprisoned + father, imploring him not to let any thought of his family intervene + to quench his resolution or to deter him from sealing his faith with + his blood. St. Perpetua, an only daughter, a young mother of + twenty-two, had embraced the Christian creed, confessed it before her + judges, and declared herself ready to endure for it the martyr's + death. Again and again her father came to her in a paroxysm of agony, + entreating her not to deprive him of the joy and the consolation of + his closing years. He appealed to her by the memory of all the + tenderness he had lavished upon her—by her infant child—by his own + gray hairs, that were soon to be brought down in sorrow to the grave. + Forgetting in his deep anguish all the dignity of a parent, he fell + upon his knees before his child, covered her hands with kisses, and, + with tears streaming from his eyes, implored her to have mercy upon + him. But she was unshaken though not untouched; she saw her father, + frenzied with grief, dragged from before the tribunal; she saw him + tearing his white beard, and lying prostrate and broken-hearted on + the prison floor; she went forth to die for a faith she loved more + dearly—for a faith that told her that her father would be lost for + ever.<a id="noteref_739" name="noteref_739" href= + "#note_739"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">739</span></span></a> The + desire for martyrdom became at times a form of absolute madness, a + kind of epidemic of suicide, and the leading minds of the Church + found it necessary to exert all their authority to prevent their + followers <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page392">[pg + 392]</span><a name="Pg392" id="Pg392" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + from thrusting themselves into the hands of the persecutors.<a id= + "noteref_740" name="noteref_740" href="#note_740"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">740</span></span></a> + Tertullian mentions how, in a little Asiatic town, the entire + population once flocked to the proconsul, declaring themselves to be + Christians, and imploring him to execute the decree of the emperor + and grant them the privilege of martyrdom. The bewildered functionary + asked them whether, if they were so weary of life, there were no + precipices or ropes by which they could end their days; and he put to + death a small number of the suppliants, and dismissed the + others.<a id="noteref_741" name="noteref_741" href= + "#note_741"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">741</span></span></a> Two + illustrious Pagan moralists and one profane Pagan satirist have + noticed this passion with a most unpleasing scorn. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“There are some,”</span> said Epictetus, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“whom madness, there are others, like the Galilæans, whom + custom, makes indifferent to death.”</span><a id="noteref_742" name= + "noteref_742" href="#note_742"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">742</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“What mind,”</span> said Marcus Aurelius, + <span class="tei tei-q">“is prepared, if need be, to go forth from + the body, whether it be to be extinguished, or to be dispersed, or to + endure?—prepared by deliberate reflection, and not by pure obstinacy, + as is the custom of the Christians.”</span><a id="noteref_743" name= + "noteref_743" href="#note_743"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">743</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“These wretches,”</span> said Lucian, + speaking of the Christians, <span class="tei tei-q">“persuade + themselves that they are going to be altogether immortal, and to live + for ever; wherefore they despise death, and many of their own accord + give themselves up to be slain.”</span><a id="noteref_744" name= + "noteref_744" href="#note_744"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">744</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“I send against you men who are as greedy of death as you + are of pleasures,”</span> were the words which, in after days, the + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page393">[pg 393]</span><a name="Pg393" + id="Pg393" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> Mohammedan chief addressed to + the degenerate Christians of Syria, and which were at once the + presage and the explanation of his triumph. Such words might with + equal propriety have been employed by the early Christian leaders to + their Pagan adversaries. The zeal of the Christians and of the Pagans + differed alike in degree and in kind. When Constantine made + Christianity the religion of the State, it is probable that its + adherents were but a minority in Rome. Even in the days of Theodosius + the senate was still wedded to Paganism;<a id="noteref_745" name= + "noteref_745" href="#note_745"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">745</span></span></a> yet the + measures of Constantine were both natural and necessary. The majority + were without inflexible belief, without moral enthusiasm, without + definite organisation, without any of those principles that inspire + the heroism either of resistance or aggression. The minority formed a + serried phalanx, animated by every motive that could purify, + discipline, and sustain their zeal. When once the Christians had + acquired a considerable position, the question of their destiny was a + simple one. They must either be crushed or they must reign. The + failure of the persecution of Diocletian conducted them inevitably to + the throne.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It may indeed be + confidently asserted that the conversion of the Roman Empire is so + far from being of the nature of a miracle or suspension of the + ordinary principles of human nature, that there is scarcely any other + great movement on record in which the causes and effects so + manifestly correspond. The apparent anomalies of history are not + inconsiderable, but they must be sought for in other quarters. That + within the narrow limits and scanty population of the Greek States + should have arisen men who, in almost every conceivable form of + genius, in philosophy, in epic, dramatic and lyric poetry, in written + and spoken eloquence, in statesmanship, in sculpture, in painting, + and probably also in music, should have <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page394">[pg 394]</span><a name="Pg394" id="Pg394" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> attained almost or altogether the highest + limits of human perfection—that the creed of Mohammed should have + preserved its pure monotheism and its freedom from all idolatrous + tendencies, when adopted by vast populations in that intellectual + condition in which, under all other creeds, a gross and material + worship has proved inevitable, both these are facts which we can only + very imperfectly explain. Considerations of climate, and still more + of political, social, and intellectual customs and institutions, may + palliate the first difficulty, and the attitude Mohammed assumed to + art may supply us with a partial explanation of the second; but I + suppose that, after all has been said, most persons will feel that + they are in presence of phenomena very exceptional and astonishing. + The first rise of Christianity in Judæa is a subject wholly apart + from this book. We are examining only the subsequent movement in the + Roman Empire. Of this movement it may be boldly asserted that the + assumption of a moral or intellectual miracle is utterly gratuitous. + Never before was a religious transformation so manifestly inevitable. + No other religion ever combined so many forms of attraction as + Christianity, both from its intrinsic excellence, and from its + manifest adaptation to the special wants of the time. One great cause + of its success was that it produced more heroic actions and formed + more upright men than any other creed; but that it should do so was + precisely what might have been expected.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To these + reasonings, however, those who maintain that the triumph of + Christianity in Rome is naturally inexplicable, reply by pointing to + the persecutions which Christianity had to encounter. As this subject + is one on which many misconceptions exist, and as it is of extreme + importance on account of its connection with later persecutions, it + will be necessary briefly to discuss it.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is manifest + that the reasons that may induce a ruler to suppress by force some + forms of religious worship or opinion, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page395">[pg 395]</span><a name="Pg395" id="Pg395" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> are very various. He may do so on moral + grounds, because they directly or indirectly produce immorality; or + on religious grounds, because he believes them to be offensive to the + Deity; or on political grounds, because they are injurious either to + the State or to the Government; or on corrupt grounds, because he + desires to gratify some vindictive or avaricious passion. From the + simple fact, therefore, of a religious persecution we cannot at once + infer the principles of the persecutor, but must examine in detail by + which of the above motives, or by what combination of them, he has + been actuated.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Now, the + persecution which has taken place at the instigation of the Christian + priests differs in some respects broadly from all others. It has been + far more sustained, systematic, and unflinching. It has been directed + not merely against acts of worship, but also against speculative + opinions. It has been supported not merely as a right, but also as a + duty. It has been advocated in a whole literature of theology, by the + classes that are especially devout, and by the most opposing sects, + and it has invariably declined in conjunction with a large portion of + theological dogmas.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I have elsewhere + examined in great detail the history of persecutions by Christians, + and have endeavoured to show that, while exceptional causes have + undoubtedly occasionally occurred, they were, in the overwhelming + majority of cases, simply the natural, legitimate, and inevitable + consequence of a certain portion of the received theology. That + portion is the doctrine that correct theological opinions are + essential to salvation, and that theological error necessarily + involves guilt. To these two opinions may be distinctly traced almost + all the sufferings that Christian persecutors have caused, almost all + the obstructions they have thrown in the path of human progress; and + those sufferings have been so grievous that it may be reasonably + questioned whether superstition has not often proved a greater curse + than vice, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page396">[pg + 396]</span><a name="Pg396" id="Pg396" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> and + that obstruction was so pertinacious, that the contraction of + theological influence has been at once the best measure, and the + essential condition of intellectual advance. The notion that he might + himself be possibly mistaken in his opinions, which alone could cause + a man who was thoroughly imbued with these principles to shrink from + persecuting, was excluded by the theological virtue of faith, which, + whatever else it might involve, implied at least an absolute unbroken + certainty, and led the devotee to regard all doubt, and therefore all + action based upon doubt, as sin.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To this general + cause of Christian persecution I have shown that two subsidiary + influences may be joined. A large portion of theological ethics was + derived from writings in which religious massacres, on the whole the + most ruthless and sanguinary upon record, were said to have been + directly enjoined by the Deity, in which the duty of suppressing + idolatry by force was given a greater prominence than any article of + the moral code, and in which the spirit of intolerance has found its + most eloquent and most passionate expressions.<a id="noteref_746" + name="noteref_746" href="#note_746"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">746</span></span></a> Besides + this, the destiny theologians represented as awaiting the misbeliever + was so ghastly and so appalling as to render it almost childish to + lay any stress upon the earthly suffering that might be inflicted in + the extirpation of error.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That these are the + true causes of the great bulk of Christian persecution, I believe to + be one of the most certain as well as one of the most important facts + in history. For the detailed proof I can only refer to what I have + elsewhere written; but I may here notice that that proof combines + every conceivable kind of evidence that in such a question can be + demanded. It can be shown that these principles would naturally lead + men to persecute. It can be shown that from the time of Constantine + to the time when the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page397">[pg + 397]</span><a name="Pg397" id="Pg397" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + rationalistic spirit wrested the bloodstained sword from the priestly + hand, persecution was uniformly defended upon them—defended in long, + learned, and elaborate treatises, by the best and greatest men the + Church had produced, by sects that differed on almost all other + points, by multitudes who proved in every conceivable manner the + purity of their zeal. It can be shown, too, that toleration began + with the distinction between fundamental and non-fundamental + doctrines, expanded in exact proportion to the growing + latitudinarianism, and triumphed only when indifference to dogma had + become a prevailing sentiment among legislators. It was only when the + battle had been won—when the anti-dogmatic party, acting in + opposition to the Church, had rendered persecution impossible—that + the great body of theologians revised their arguments, and discovered + that to punish men for their opinions was wholly at variance with + their faith. With the merits of this pleasing though somewhat tardy + conversion I am not now concerned; but few persons, I think, can + follow the history of Christian persecution without a feeling of + extreme astonishment that some modern writers, not content with + maintaining that the doctrine of exclusive salvation <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">ought</span></em> not + to have produced persecution, have ventured, in defiance of the + unanimous testimony of the theologians of so many centuries, to + dispute the plain historical fact that it <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">did</span></em> + produce it. They argue that the Pagans, who did not believe in + exclusive salvation, persecuted, and that therefore that doctrine + cannot be the cause of persecution. The answer is that no sane man + ever maintained that all the persecutions on record were from the + same source. We can prove by the clearest evidence that Christian + persecutions sprang chiefly from the causes I have alleged. The + causes of Pagan persecutions, though different, are equally manifest, + and I shall proceed shortly to indicate them.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">They were partly + political and partly religious. The Governments in most of the + ancient States, in the earlier <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page398">[pg 398]</span><a name="Pg398" id="Pg398" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> stages of their existence, undertook the + complete education of the people; professed to control and regulate + all the details of their social life, even to the dresses they wore, + or the dishes that were served upon their tables; and, in a word, to + mould their whole lives and characters into a uniform type. Hence, + all organisations and corporations not connected with the State, and + especially all that emanated from foreign countries, were looked upon + with distrust or antipathy. But this antipathy was greatly + strengthened by a religious consideration. No belief was more deeply + rooted in the ancient mind than that good or bad fortune sprang from + the intervention of spiritual beings, and that to neglect the sacred + rites was to bring down calamity upon the city. In the diminutive + Greek States, where the function of the Government was immensely + enlarged, a strong intolerance existed, which extended for some time + not merely to practices, but to writings and discourses. The + well-known persecutions of Anaxagoras, Theodorus, Diagoras, Stilpo, + and Socrates; the laws of Plato, which were as opposed to religious + as to domestic freedom; and the existence in Athens of an + inquisitorial tribunal,<a id="noteref_747" name="noteref_747" href= + "#note_747"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">747</span></span></a> + sufficiently attested it. But long before the final ruin of Greece, + speculative liberty had been fully attained. The Epicurean and the + Sceptical schools developed unmolested, and even in the days of + Socrates, Aristophanes was able to ridicule the gods upon the + stage.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the earlier + days of Rome religion was looked upon as a function of the State; its + chief object was to make the gods auspicious to the national + policy,<a id="noteref_748" name="noteref_748" href= + "#note_748"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">748</span></span></a> and its + principal ceremonies were performed at the direct command of the + Senate. The national theory on religious matters was that the best + religion <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page399">[pg + 399]</span><a name="Pg399" id="Pg399" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> is + always that of a man's own country. At the same time, the widest + tolerance was granted to the religions of conquered nations. The + temples of every god were respected by the Roman army. Before + besieging a city, the Romans were accustomed to supplicate the + presiding deities of that city. With the single exception of the + Druids, whose human sacrifices it was thought a matter of humanity to + suppress,<a id="noteref_749" name="noteref_749" href= + "#note_749"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">749</span></span></a> and + whose fierce rebellions it was thought necessary to crush, the + teachers of all national religions continued unmolested by the + conqueror.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This policy, + however, applied specially to religious rites practised in the + countries in which they were indigenous. The liberty to be granted to + the vast confluence of strangers attracted to Italy during the Empire + was another question. In the old Republican days, when the censors + regulated with the most despotic authority the minutest affairs of + life, and when the national religion was interwoven with every detail + of political and even domestic transactions, but little liberty could + be expected. When Carneades endeavoured to inculcate his universal + scepticism upon the Romans, by arguing alternately for and against + the same proposition, Cato immediately urged the Senate to expel him + from the city, lest the people should be corrupted by his + teaching.<a id="noteref_750" name="noteref_750" href= + "#note_750"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">750</span></span></a> For a + similar reason all rhetoricians had been banished from the + Republic.<a id="noteref_751" name="noteref_751" href= + "#note_751"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">751</span></span></a> The + most remarkable, however, and at the same time the extreme expression + of Roman intolerance that has descended to us, is the advice which + Mæcenas is represented as having given to Octavius Cæsar, before his + accession to the throne. <span class="tei tei-q">“Always,”</span> he + said, <span class="tei tei-q">“and everywhere, worship the gods + according to the rites of your country, and compel others to the same + worship. Pursue with your hatred and with punishments <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page400">[pg 400]</span><a name="Pg400" id="Pg400" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> those who introduce foreign religions, + not only for the sake of the gods—the despisers of whom can assuredly + never do anything great—but also because they who introduce new + divinities entice many to use foreign laws. Hence arise conspiracies, + societies, and assemblies, things very unsuited to an homogeneous + empire. Tolerate no despiser of the gods, and no religious juggler. + Divination is necessary, and therefore let the aruspices and augurs + by all means be sustained, and let those who will, consult them; but + the magicians must be utterly prohibited, who, though they sometimes + tell the truth, more frequently, by false promises, urge men on to + conspiracies.”</span><a id="noteref_752" name="noteref_752" href= + "#note_752"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">752</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This striking + passage exhibits very clearly the extent to which in some minds the + intolerant spirit was carried in antiquity, and also the blending + motives that produced it. We should be, however, widely mistaken if + we regarded it as a picture of the actual religious policy of the + Empire. In order to realise this, it will be necessary to notice + separately liberty of speculation and liberty of worship.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">When Asinius + Pollio founded the first public library in Rome, he placed it in the + Temple of Liberty. The lesson which was thus taught to the literary + classes was never forgotten. It is probable that in no other period + of the history of the world was speculative freedom so perfect as in + the Roman Empire. The fearless scrutiny of all notions of popular + belief, displayed in the writings of Cicero, Seneca, Lucretius, or + Lucian, did not excite an effort of repression. Philosophers were, + indeed, persecuted by Domitian and Vespasian for their ardent + opposition to the despotism of the throne,<a id="noteref_753" name= + "noteref_753" href="#note_753"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">753</span></span></a> but on + their own subjects they were wholly untrammelled. <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page401">[pg 401]</span><a name="Pg401" id="Pg401" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> The Greek writers consoled themselves for + the extinction of the independence of their country by the reflection + that in the sphere of intellect the meddling policy of the Greek + States was replaced by an absolute and a majestic freedom.<a id= + "noteref_754" name="noteref_754" href="#note_754"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">754</span></span></a> The + fierceness of the opposition of sects faded beneath its influence. Of + all the speculative conflicts of antiquity, that which most nearly + approached the virulence of later theological controversies was + probably that between the Stoics and the Epicureans; but it is well + worthy of notice that some of the most emphatic testimonies to the + moral goodness of Epicurus have come from the writings of his + opponents.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But the policy of + the Roman rulers towards religious rites was very different from, and + would at first sight appear to be in direct opposition to, their + policy towards opinions. An old law, which Cicero mentions, expressly + forbade the introduction of new religions,<a id="noteref_755" name= + "noteref_755" href="#note_755"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">755</span></span></a> and in + the Republican days and the earliest days of the Empire there are + many instances of its being enforced. Thus, in <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.u.c.</span></span> 326, a severe drought + having led men to seek help from new gods, the Senate charged the + ædiles to allow none but Roman deities to be worshipped.<a id= + "noteref_756" name="noteref_756" href="#note_756"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">756</span></span></a> + Lutatius, soon after the first Punic war, was forbidden by the Senate + to consult foreign gods, <span class="tei tei-q">“because,”</span> + said the historian, <span class="tei tei-q">“it was deemed right the + Republic should be administered according to the national auspices, + and not according to those of other lands.”</span><a id="noteref_757" + name="noteref_757" href="#note_757"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">757</span></span></a> During + the second Punic war, a severe edict of the Senate enjoined the + suppression of certain recent innovations.<a id="noteref_758" name= + "noteref_758" href="#note_758"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">758</span></span></a> About + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.u.c.</span></span> 615 the prætor + Hispalus exiled those who had introduced the worship of the Sabasian + Jupiter.<a id="noteref_759" name="noteref_759" href= + "#note_759"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">759</span></span></a> The + rites of Bacchus, being accompanied by gross and scandalous + obscenity, were suppressed, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page402">[pg + 402]</span><a name="Pg402" id="Pg402" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the + consul, in a remarkable speech, calling upon the people to revive the + religious policy of their ancestors.<a id="noteref_760" name= + "noteref_760" href="#note_760"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">760</span></span></a> The + worship of Isis and Serapis only gained its footing after a long + struggle, and no small amount of persecution. The gross immorality it + sometimes favoured, its wild and abject superstition, so thoroughly + alien to the whole character of Roman life and tradition, and also + the organisation of its priesthood, rendered it peculiarly obnoxious + to the Government. When the first edict of suppression was issued, + the people hesitated to destroy a temple which seemed so venerable in + their eyes, and the consul Æmilius Paulus dispelled their fears by + seizing an axe and striking the first blow himself.<a id= + "noteref_761" name="noteref_761" href="#note_761"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">761</span></span></a> During + the latter days of the Republic, edicts had commanded the destruction + of the Egyptian temples. Octavius, however, in his younger days, + favoured the new worship, but, soon after, it was again + suppressed.<a id="noteref_762" name="noteref_762" href= + "#note_762"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">762</span></span></a> Under + Tiberius it had once more crept in; but the priests of Isis having + enabled a patrician named Mundus to disguise himself as the god + Anubis, and win the favours of a devout worshipper, the temple, by + order of the emperor, was destroyed, the images were thrown into the + Tiber, the priests were crucified, and the seducer was + banished.<a id="noteref_763" name="noteref_763" href= + "#note_763"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">763</span></span></a> Under + the same emperor four thousand persons were exiled to Sardinia, as + affected with Jewish and Egyptian superstitions. They were + commissioned to repress robbers; but it was at the same time + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page403">[pg 403]</span><a name="Pg403" + id="Pg403" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> added, with a characteristic + scorn, that if they died through the unhealthiness of the climate, it + would be but a <span class="tei tei-q">“small loss.”</span><a id= + "noteref_764" name="noteref_764" href="#note_764"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">764</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These measures + represent together a considerable amount of religious repression, but + they were produced exclusively by notions of policy or discipline. + They grew out of that intense national spirit which sacrificed every + other interest to the State, and resisted every form of innovation, + whether secular or religious, that could impair the unity of the + national type, and dissolve the discipline which the predominance of + the military spirit and the stern government of the Republic had + formed. They were also, in some cases, the result of moral scandals. + When, however, it became evident that the internal condition of the + Republic was unsuited for the Empire, the rulers frankly acquiesced + in the change, and from the time of Tiberius, with the single + exception of the Christians, perfect liberty of worship seems to have + been granted to the professors of all religions in Rome.<a id= + "noteref_765" name="noteref_765" href="#note_765"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">765</span></span></a> The old + law upon the subject was not revoked, but it was not generally + enforced. Sometimes the new creeds were expressly authorised. + Sometimes they were tacitly permitted. With a single exception, all + the religions of the world raised their heads unmolested in the + <span class="tei tei-q">“Holy City.”</span><a id="noteref_766" name= + "noteref_766" href="#note_766"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">766</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The liberty, + however, of professing and practising a foreign worship did not + dispense the Roman from the obligation of performing also the + sacrifices or other religious rites of his own land. It was here that + whatever religious fanaticism mingled with Pagan persecutions was + displayed. Eusebius tells us that religion was divided by the Romans + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page404">[pg 404]</span><a name="Pg404" + id="Pg404" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> into three parts—the + mythology, or legends that had descended from the poets; the + interpretations or theories by which the philosophers endeavoured to + rationalise, filter, or explain away these legends; and the ritual or + official religious observances. In the first two spheres perfect + liberty was accorded, but the ritual was placed under the control of + the Government, and was made a matter of compulsion.<a id= + "noteref_767" name="noteref_767" href="#note_767"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">767</span></span></a> In + order to realise the strength of the feeling that supported it, we + must remember that the multitude firmly believed that the prosperity + and adversity of the Empire depended chiefly upon the zeal or + indifference that was shown in conciliating the national divinities, + and also that the philosophers, as I have noticed in the last + chapter, for the most part not only practised, but warmly defended, + the official observances. The love of truth in many forms was + exhibited among the Pagan philosophers to a degree which has never + been surpassed; but there was one form in which it was absolutely + unknown. The belief that it is wrong for a man in religious matters + to act a lie, to sanction by his presence and by his example what he + regards as baseless superstitions, had no place in the ethics of + antiquity. The religious flexibility which polytheism had originally + generated, the strong political feeling that pervaded all classes, + and also the manifest impossibility of making philosophy the creed of + the ignorant, had rendered nearly universal among philosophers a + state of feeling which is often exhibited, but rarely openly + professed, among ourselves.<a id="noteref_768" name="noteref_768" + href="#note_768"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">768</span></span></a> The + religious opinions of men had but <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page405">[pg 405]</span><a name="Pg405" id="Pg405" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> little influence on their religious practices, + and the sceptic considered it not merely lawful, but a duty, to + attend the observances of his country. No one did more to scatter the + ancient superstitions than Cicero, who was himself an augur, and who + strongly asserted the duty of complying with the national + rites.<a id="noteref_769" name="noteref_769" href= + "#note_769"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">769</span></span></a> Seneca, + having recounted in the most derisive terms the absurdities of the + popular worship, concludes his enumeration by declaring that + <span class="tei tei-q">“the sage will observe all these things, not + as pleasing to the Divinities, but as commanded by the law,”</span> + and that he should remember <span class="tei tei-q">“that his worship + is due to custom, not to belief.”</span><a id="noteref_770" name= + "noteref_770" href="#note_770"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">770</span></span></a> + Epictetus, whose austere creed rises to the purest monotheism, + teaches as a fundamental religious maxim that every man in his + devotions should <span class="tei tei-q">“conform to the customs of + his country.”</span><a id="noteref_771" name="noteref_771" href= + "#note_771"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">771</span></span></a> The + Jews and Christians, who alone refused to do so, were the + representatives of a moral principle that was unknown to the Pagan + world.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It should be + remembered, too, that the Oriental custom of deifying emperors having + been introduced into Rome, to burn incense before their statues had + become a kind of test of loyalty. This adoration does not, it is + true, appear to have implied any particular article of belief, and it + was probably regarded by most men as we regard the application of the + term <span class="tei tei-q">“Sacred Majesty”</span> to a sovereign, + and the custom of kneeling in his presence; but it was esteemed + inconsistent with Christianity, and the conscientious refusal of the + Christians to comply with it aroused a feeling resembling that which + was long produced in Christendom by the refusal of Quakers to comply + with the usages of courts.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page406">[pg 406]</span><a name="Pg406" id="Pg406" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The obligation to + perform the sacred rites of an idolatrous worship, if rigidly + enforced, would have amounted, in the case of the Jews and the + Christians, to a complete proscription. It does not, however, appear + that the Jews were ever persecuted on this ground. They formed a + large and influential colony in Rome. They retained undiminished, in + the midst of the Pagan population, their exclusive habits, refusing + not merely all religious communion, but most social intercourse with + the idolaters, occupying a separate quarter of the city, and + sedulously practising their distinctive rites. Tiberius, as we have + seen, appears to have involved them in his proscription of Egyptian + superstitions; but they were usually perfectly unmolested, or were + molested only when their riotous conduct had attracted the attention + of the rulers. The Government was so far from compelling them to + perform acts contrary to their religion, that Augustus expressly + changed the day of the distribution of corn, in order that they might + not be reduced to the alternative of forfeiting their share, or of + breaking the Sabbath.<a id="noteref_772" name="noteref_772" href= + "#note_772"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">772</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It appears, then, + that the old Republican intolerance had in the Empire been so + modified as almost to have disappeared. The liberty of speculation + and discussion was entirely unchecked. The liberty of practising + foreign religious rites, though ostensibly limited by the law against + unauthorised religions, was after Tiberius equally secure. The + liberty of abstaining from the official national rites, though more + precarious, was fully conceded to the Jews, whose jealousy of + idolatry was in no degree inferior to that of the Christians. It + remains, then, to examine what were the causes of the very + exceptional fanaticism and animosity that were directed against the + latter.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The first cause of + the persecution of the Christians was the religious notion to which I + have already referred. The <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page407">[pg + 407]</span><a name="Pg407" id="Pg407" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + belief that our world is governed by isolated acts of Divine + intervention, and that, in consequence, every great calamity, whether + physical, or military, or political, may be regarded as a punishment + or a warning, was the basis of the whole religious system of + antiquity.<a id="noteref_773" name="noteref_773" href= + "#note_773"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">773</span></span></a> In the + days of the Republic every famine, pestilence, or drought was + followed by a searching investigation of the sacred rites, to + ascertain what irregularity or neglect had caused the Divine anger, + and two instances are recorded in which vestal virgins were put to + death because their unchastity was believed to have provoked a + national calamity.<a id="noteref_774" name="noteref_774" href= + "#note_774"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">774</span></span></a> It + might appear at first sight that the fanaticism which this belief + would naturally produce would have been directed against the Jews as + strongly as against the Christians; but a moment's reflection is + sufficient to explain the difference. The Jewish religion was + essentially conservative and unexpansive. Although, in the passion + for Oriental religions, many of the Romans had begun to practise its + ceremonies, there was no spirit of proselytism in the sect; and it is + probable that almost all who followed this religion, to the exclusion + of others, were of Hebrew nationality. The Christians, on the other + hand, were ardent missionaries; they were, for the most part, Romans + who had thrown off the allegiance of their old gods, and their + activity was so great that from a very early period the temples were + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page408">[pg 408]</span><a name="Pg408" + id="Pg408" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> in some districts almost + deserted.<a id="noteref_775" name="noteref_775" href= + "#note_775"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">775</span></span></a> Besides + this, the Jews simply abstained from and despised the religions + around them. The Christians denounced them as the worship of dæmons, + and lost no opportunity of insulting them. It is not, therefore, + surprising that the populace should have been firmly convinced that + every great catastrophe that occurred was due to the presence of the + enemies of the gods. <span class="tei tei-q">“If the Tiber ascends to + the walls,”</span> says Tertullian, <span class="tei tei-q">“or if + the Nile does not overflow the fields, if the heaven refuses its + rain, if the earth quakes, if famine and pestilence desolate the + land, immediately the cry is raised, <span class="tei tei-q">‘The + Christians to the lions!’</span> ”</span><a id="noteref_776" name= + "noteref_776" href="#note_776"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">776</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“There is no rain—the Christians are the + cause,”</span> had become a popular proverb in Rome.<a id= + "noteref_777" name="noteref_777" href="#note_777"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">777</span></span></a> + Earthquakes, which, on account of their peculiarly appalling, and, to + ignorant men, mysterious nature, have played a very large part in the + history of superstition, were frequent and terrible in the Asiatic + provinces, and in three or four instances the persecution of the + Christians may be distinctly traced to the fanaticism they + produced.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There is no part + of ecclesiastical history more curious than the effects of this + belief in alternately assisting or impeding the progress of different + Churches. In the first three centuries of Christian history, it was + the cause of fearful sufferings to the faith; but even then the + Christians usually accepted the theory of their adversaries, though + they differed concerning its application. Tertullian and Cyprian + strongly maintained, sometimes that the calamities were due to the + anger of the Almighty against idolatry, sometimes that they were + intended to avenge the persecution of the truth. A collection was + early made of men who, having been hostile to the Christian faith, + had died by some horrible <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page409">[pg + 409]</span><a name="Pg409" id="Pg409" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + death, and their deaths were pronounced to be Divine + punishments.<a id="noteref_778" name="noteref_778" href= + "#note_778"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">778</span></span></a> The + victory which established the power of the first Christian emperor, + and the sudden death of Arius, were afterwards accepted as decisive + proofs of the truth of Christianity, and of the falsehood of + Arianism.<a id="noteref_779" name="noteref_779" href= + "#note_779"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">779</span></span></a> But + soon the manifest signs of the dissolution of the Empire revived the + zeal of the Pagans, who began to reproach themselves for their + ingratitude to their old gods, and who recognised in the calamities + of their country the vengeance of an insulted Heaven. When the altar + of Victory was removed contemptuously from the Senate, when the + sacred college of the vestals was suppressed, when, above all, the + armies of Alaric encircled the Imperial city, angry murmurs arose + which disturbed the Christians in their triumph. The standing-point + of the theologians was then somewhat altered. St. Ambrose dissected + with the most unsparing rationalism the theory that ascribed the + national decline to the suppression of the vestals, traced it to all + its consequences, and exposed all its absurdities. Orosius wrote his + history to prove that great misfortunes had befallen the Empire + before its conversion. Salvian wrote his treatise on Providence to + prove that the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page410">[pg + 410]</span><a name="Pg410" id="Pg410" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + barbarian invasions were a Divine judgment on the immorality of the + Christians. St. Augustine concentrated all his genius on a great + work, written under the impression of the invasion of Alaric, and + intended to prove that <span class="tei tei-q">“the city of + God”</span> was not on earth, and that the downfall of the Empire + need therefore cause no disquietude to the Christians. St. Gregory + the Great continually represented the calamities of Italy as warnings + foreboding the destruction of the world. When Rome sank finally + before the barbarian hosts, it would seem as though the doctrine that + temporal success was the proof of Divine favour must be finally + abandoned. But the Christian clergy disengaged their cause from that + of the ruined Empire, proclaimed its downfall to be a fulfilment of + prophecy and a Divine judgment, confronted the barbarian conquerors + in all the majesty of their sacred office, and overawed them in the + very moment of their victory. In the conversion of the uncivilised + tribes, the doctrine of special intervention occupied a commanding + place. The Burgundians, when defeated by the Huns, resolved, as a + last resource, to place themselves under the protection of the Roman + God whom they vaguely believed to be the most powerful, and the whole + nation in consequence embraced Christianity.<a id="noteref_780" name= + "noteref_780" href="#note_780"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">780</span></span></a> In a + critical moment of a great battle, Clovis invoked the assistance of + the God of his wife. The battle was won, and he, with many thousands + of Franks, was converted to the faith.<a id="noteref_781" name= + "noteref_781" href="#note_781"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">781</span></span></a> In + England, the conversion of Northumbria was partly, and the conversion + of Mercia was mainly, due to the belief that the Divine interposition + had secured the victory of a Christian king.<a id="noteref_782" name= + "noteref_782" href="#note_782"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">782</span></span></a> A + Bulgarian prince was driven into the Church by the terror of a + pestilence, and he speedily effected the conversion of his + subjects.<a id="noteref_783" name="noteref_783" href= + "#note_783"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">783</span></span></a> The + destruction of so many <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page411">[pg + 411]</span><a name="Pg411" id="Pg411" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + shrines, and the defeat of so many Christian armies, by the followers + of Mohammed; the disastrous and ignominious overthrow of the + Crusaders, who went forth protected by all the blessings of the + Church, were unable to impair the belief. All through the middle + ages, and for some centuries after the middle ages had passed, every + startling catastrophe was regarded as a punishment, or a warning, or + a sign of the approaching termination of the world. Churches and + monasteries were built. Religious societies were founded. Penances + were performed. Jews were massacred, and a long catalogue might be + given of the theories by which men attempted to connect every + vicissitude of fortune, and every convulsion of nature, with the + wranglings of theologians. Thus, to give but a few examples: St. + Ambrose confidently asserted that the death of Maximus was a + consequence of the crime he had committed in compelling the + Christians to rebuild a Jewish synagogue they had destroyed.<a id= + "noteref_784" name="noteref_784" href="#note_784"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">784</span></span></a> One of + the laws in the Justinian code, directed against the Jews, + Samaritans, and Pagans, expressly attributes to them the sterility of + the soil, which in an earlier age the Pagans had so often attributed + to the Christians.<a id="noteref_785" name="noteref_785" href= + "#note_785"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">785</span></span></a> A + volcanic eruption that broke out at the commencement of the + iconoclastic persecution was adduced as a clear proof that the Divine + anger was aroused, according to one party, by the hostility of the + emperor to the sacred images; according to the other party, by his + sinful hesitation in extirpating idolatry.<a id="noteref_786" name= + "noteref_786" href="#note_786"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">786</span></span></a> Bodin, + in a later age, considered that the early death of the sovereign + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page412">[pg 412]</span><a name="Pg412" + id="Pg412" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> who commanded the massacre of + St. Bartholomew was due to what he deemed the master crime of that + sovereign's reign. He had spared the life of a famous sorcerer.<a id= + "noteref_787" name="noteref_787" href="#note_787"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">787</span></span></a> In the + struggles that followed the Reformation, physical calamities were + continually ascribed in one age to the toleration, in another to the + endowment, of either heresy or Popery.<a id="noteref_788" name= + "noteref_788" href="#note_788"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">788</span></span></a> + Sometimes, however, they were traced to the theatre, and sometimes to + the writings of freethinkers. But gradually, and almost insensibly, + these notions faded away. The old language is often heard, but it is + no longer realised and operative, and the doctrine which played so + large a part in the history of the world has ceased to exercise any + appreciable influence upon the actions of mankind.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In addition to + this religious motive, which acted chiefly upon the vulgar, there was + a political motive which rendered Christianity obnoxious to the + educated. The Church constituted a vast, highly organised, and in + many respects secret society, and as such was not only distinctly + illegal, but was also in the very highest degree calculated to excite + the apprehensions of the Government. There was no principle in the + Imperial policy more stubbornly upheld than the suppression of all + corporations that might be made the nuclei of revolt. The extent to + which this policy was carried is strikingly evinced by a letter from + Trajan to Pliny, in which the emperor forbade the formation even of a + guild of firemen, on the ground that they would constitute an + association and hold meetings.<a id="noteref_789" name="noteref_789" + href="#note_789"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">789</span></span></a> In such + a state of feeling, the existence of a vast association, governed by + countless functionaries, shrouding its meetings and some of its + doctrines in impenetrable obscurity, evoking a degree of attachment + and devotion <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page413">[pg + 413]</span><a name="Pg413" id="Pg413" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + greater than could be elicited by the State, ramifying through the + whole extent of the empire, and restlessly extending its influence, + would naturally arouse the strongest apprehension. That it did so is + clearly recognised by the Christian apologists, who, however, justly + retorted upon the objectors the impossibility of showing a single + instance in which, in an age of continual conspiracies, the numerous + and persecuted Christians had proved disloyal. Whatever we may think + of their doctrine of passive obedience, it is impossible not to + admire the constancy with which they clung to it, when all their + interests were the other way. But yet the Pagans were not altogether + wrong in regarding the new association as fatal to the greatness of + the Empire. It consisted of men who regarded the Roman Empire as a + manifestation of Antichrist, and who looked forward with passionate + longing to its destruction. It substituted a new enthusiasm for that + patriotism which was the very life-blood of the national existence. + Many of the Christians deemed it wrong to fight for their country. + All of them aspired to a type of character, and were actuated by + hopes and motives, wholly inconsistent with that proud martial ardour + by which the triumphs of Rome had been won, and by which alone her + impending ruin could be averted.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The aims and + principles of this association were very imperfectly understood. The + greatest and best of the Pagans spoke of it as a hateful + superstition, and the phrase they most frequently reiterated, when + speaking of its members, was <span class="tei tei-q">“enemies”</span> + or <span class="tei tei-q">“haters of the human race.”</span> Such a + charge, directed persistently against men whose main principle was + the supreme excellence of love, and whose charity unquestionably rose + far above that of any other class, was probably due in the first + place to the unsocial habits of the converts, who deemed it necessary + to abstain from all the forms of public amusement, to refuse to + illuminate their houses, or hang garlands from their portals in + honour of the national <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page414">[pg + 414]</span><a name="Pg414" id="Pg414" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + triumphs, and who somewhat ostentatiously exhibited themselves as + separate and alien from their countrymen. It may also have arisen + from a knowledge of the popular Christian doctrine about the future + destiny of Pagans. When the Roman learnt what fate the Christian + assigned to the heroes and sages of his nation, and to the immense + mass of his living fellow-countrymen, when he was told that the + destruction of the once glorious Empire to which he belonged was one + of the most fervent aspirations of the Church, his feelings were very + likely to clothe themselves in such language as I have cited.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But, in addition + to the general charges, specific accusations<a id="noteref_790" name= + "noteref_790" href="#note_790"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">790</span></span></a> of the + grossest kind were directed against Christian morals. At a time when + the moral standard was very low, they were charged with deeds so + atrocious as to scandalise the most corrupt. They were represented as + habitually, in their secret assemblies, celebrating the most + licentious orgies, feeding on human flesh, and then, the lights + having been extinguished, indulging in promiscuous, and especially in + incestuous, intercourse. The persistence with which these accusations + were made is shown by the great prominence they occupy, both in the + writings of the apologists and in the narrations of the persecutions. + That these charges were absolutely false will now be questioned by no + one. The Fathers were long able to challenge their adversaries to + produce a single instance in which any other crime than his faith was + proved against a martyr, and they urged with a just and noble pride + that whatever doubt there might be of the truth of the Christian + doctrines, or of the Divine origin of the Christian miracles, there + was at least no doubt that Christianity had transformed the + characters of multitudes, vivified the cold heart by a new + enthusiasm, redeemed, regenerated, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page415">[pg 415]</span><a name="Pg415" id="Pg415" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> and emancipated the most depraved of mankind. + Noble lives, crowned by heroic deaths, were the best arguments of the + infant Church.<a id="noteref_791" name="noteref_791" href= + "#note_791"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">791</span></span></a> Their + enemies themselves not unfrequently acknowledged it. The love shown + by the early Christians to their suffering brethren has never been + more emphatically attested than by Lucian,<a id="noteref_792" name= + "noteref_792" href="#note_792"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">792</span></span></a> or the + beautiful simplicity of their worship than by Pliny,<a id= + "noteref_793" name="noteref_793" href="#note_793"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">793</span></span></a> or + their ardent charity than by Julian.<a id="noteref_794" name= + "noteref_794" href="#note_794"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">794</span></span></a> There + was, it is true, another side to the picture; but even when the moral + standard of Christians was greatly lowered, it was lowered only to + that of the community about them.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These calumnies + were greatly encouraged by the ecclesiastical rule, which withheld + from the unbaptised all knowledge of some of the more mysterious + doctrines of the Church, and veiled, at least, one of its ceremonies + in great obscurity. Vague rumours about the nature of that + sacramental feast, to which none but the baptised Christian was + suffered to penetrate, and which no ecclesiastic was permitted to + explain either to the catechumens or to the world, were probably the + origin of the charge of cannibalism; while the Agapæ or love feasts, + the ceremony of the kiss of love, and the peculiar and, to the + Pagans, perhaps unintelligible, language in which the Christians + proclaimed themselves one body and fellow-members in Christ, may have + suggested the other charges. The eager credulity with which equally + baseless accusations against the Jews were for centuries believed, + illustrates the readiness with which they were accepted, and the + extremely imperfect system of police which rendered the verification + of secret crimes very difficult, had no doubt greatly enlarged the + sphere of calumny. But, in addition to these considerations, the + orthodox were in some respects exceedingly unfortunate. In the eyes + of the Pagans they <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page416">[pg + 416]</span><a name="Pg416" id="Pg416" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + were regarded as a sect of Jews; and the Jews, on account of their + continual riots, their inextinguishable hatred of the Gentile + world,<a id="noteref_795" name="noteref_795" href= + "#note_795"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">795</span></span></a> and the + atrocities that frequently accompanied their rebellions, had early + excited the anger and the contempt of the Pagans. On the other hand, + the Jew, who deemed the abandonment of the law the most heinous of + crimes, and whose patriotism only shone with a fiercer flame amid the + calamities of his nation, regarded the Christian with an implacable + hostility. Scorned or hated by those around him, his temple levelled + with the dust, and the last vestige of his independence destroyed, he + clung with a desperate tenacity to the hopes and privileges of his + ancient creed. In his eyes the Christians were at once apostates and + traitors. He could not forget that in the last dark hour of his + country's agony, when the armies of the Gentile encompassed + Jerusalem, and when the hosts of the faithful flocked to its defence, + the Christian Jews had abandoned the fortunes of their race, and + refused to bear any part in the heroism and the sufferings of the + closing scene. They had proclaimed that the promised Messiah, who was + to restore the faded glories of Israel, had already come; that the + privileges which were so long the monopoly of a single people had + passed to the Gentile world; that the race which was once supremely + blest was for all future time to be accursed among mankind. It is + not, therefore, surprising that there should have arisen between the + two creeds an animosity which Paganism could never rival. While the + Christians viewed with too much exultation the calamities that fell + upon the prostrate people,<a id="noteref_796" name="noteref_796" + href="#note_796"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">796</span></span></a> whose + cup of bitterness they were destined <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page417">[pg 417]</span><a name="Pg417" id="Pg417" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> through long centuries to fill to the brim, the + Jews laboured with unwearied hatred to foment by calumnies the + passions of the Pagan multitude.<a id="noteref_797" name= + "noteref_797" href="#note_797"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">797</span></span></a> On the + other hand, the Catholic Christians showed themselves extremely + willing to draw down the sword of the persecutor upon the heretical + sects. When the Pagans accused the Christians of indulging in orgies + of gross licentiousness, the first apologist, while repudiating the + charge, was careful to add, of the heretics, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Whether or not these people commit those shameful and + fabulous acts, the putting out the lights, indulging in promiscuous + intercourse, and eating human flesh, I know not.”</span><a id= + "noteref_798" name="noteref_798" href="#note_798"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">798</span></span></a> In a + few years the language of doubt and insinuation was exchanged for + that of direct assertion; and, if we may believe St. Irenæus and St. + Clement of Alexandria, the followers of Carpocrates, the Marcionites, + and some other Gnostic sects, habitually indulged, in their secret + meetings, in acts of impurity and licentiousness as hideous and as + monstrous as can be conceived, and their conduct was one of the + causes of the persecution of the orthodox.<a id="noteref_799" name= + "noteref_799" href="#note_799"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">799</span></span></a> Even + the most extravagant charges of the Pagan populace were reiterated by + the Fathers in their accusations of the Gnostics. St. Epiphanius, in + the fourth century, assures us that some of their sects were + accustomed to kill, to dress with spices, and to eat the children + born of their promiscuous intercourse.<a id="noteref_800" name= + "noteref_800" href="#note_800"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">800</span></span></a> The + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page418">[pg 418]</span><a name="Pg418" + id="Pg418" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> heretics, in their turn, + gladly accused the Catholics;<a id="noteref_801" name="noteref_801" + href="#note_801"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">801</span></span></a> while + the Roman judge, in whose eyes Judaism, orthodox Christianity, and + heresy were but slightly differing modifications of one despicable + superstition, doubtless found in this interchange of accusations a + corroboration of his prejudices.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Another cause of + the peculiar animosity felt against the Christians was the constant + interference with domestic life, arising from the great number of + female conversions. The Christian teacher was early noted for his + unrivalled skill in playing on the chords of a woman's heart.<a id= + "noteref_802" name="noteref_802" href="#note_802"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">802</span></span></a> The + graphic title of <span class="tei tei-q">“Earpicker of + ladies,”</span><a id="noteref_803" name="noteref_803" href= + "#note_803"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">803</span></span></a> which + was given to a seductive pontiff of a somewhat later period, might + have been applied to many in the days of the persecution; and to the + Roman, who regarded the supreme authority of the head of the family, + in <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page419">[pg 419]</span><a name= + "Pg419" id="Pg419" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> all religious matters, + as the very foundation of domestic morality, no character could + appear more infamous or more revolting. <span class="tei tei-q">“A + wife,”</span> said Plutarch, expressing the deepest conviction of the + Pagan world, <span class="tei tei-q">“should have no friends but + those of her husband; and, as the gods are the first of friends, she + should know no gods but those whom her husband adores. Let her shut + the door, then, against idle religions and foreign superstitions. No + god can take pleasure in sacrifices offered by a wife without the + knowledge of her husband.”</span><a id="noteref_804" name= + "noteref_804" href="#note_804"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">804</span></span></a> But + these principles, upon which the whole social system of Paganism had + rested, were now disregarded. Wives in multitudes deserted their + homes to frequent the nocturnal meetings<a id="noteref_805" name= + "noteref_805" href="#note_805"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">805</span></span></a> of a + sect which was looked upon with the deepest suspicion, and was placed + under the ban of the law. Again and again, the husband, as he laid + his head on the pillow by his wife, had the bitterness of thinking + that all her sympathies were withdrawn from him; that her affections + belonged to an alien priesthood and to a foreign creed; that, though + she might discharge her duties with a gentle and uncomplaining + fidelity, he had for ever lost the power of touching <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page420">[pg 420]</span><a name="Pg420" id="Pg420" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> her heart—he was to her only as an + outcast, as a brand prepared for the burning. Even to a Christian + mind there is a deep pathos in the picture which St. Augustine has + drawn of the broken-hearted husband imploring the assistance of the + gods, and receiving from the oracle the bitter answer: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“You may more easily write in enduring characters on the + wave, or fly with feathers through the air, than purge the mind of a + woman when once tainted by the superstition.”</span><a id= + "noteref_806" name="noteref_806" href="#note_806"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">806</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I have already + noticed the prominence which the practice of exorcism had acquired in + the early Church, the contempt with which it was regarded by the more + philosophic Pagans, and the law which had been directed against its + professors. It is not, however, probable that this practice, though + it lowered the Christians in the eyes of the educated as much as it + elevated them in the eyes of the populace, had any appreciable + influence in provoking persecution. In the crowd of superstitions + that were invading the Roman Empire, exorcism had a prominent place; + all such practices were popular with the masses; the only form of + magic which under the Empire was seriously persecuted was political + astrology or divination with a view to discovering the successors to + the throne, and of this the Christians were never accused.<a id= + "noteref_807" name="noteref_807" href="#note_807"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">807</span></span></a> There + was, however, another form of what was deemed superstition connected + with the Church, which was regarded by Pagan philosophers with a much + deeper feeling of aversion. To agitate the minds of men with + religious terrorism, to fill the unknown world with hideous images of + suffering, to govern the reason by alarming the imagination, was in + the eyes of the Pagan world one of the most heinous of crimes.<a id= + "noteref_808" name="noteref_808" href="#note_808"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">808</span></span></a> These + fears <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page421">[pg 421]</span><a name= + "Pg421" id="Pg421" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> were to the ancients + the very definition of superstition, and their destruction was a main + object both of the Epicurean and of the Stoic. To men holding such + sentiments, it is easy to perceive how obnoxious must have appeared + religious teachers who maintained that an eternity of torture was + reserved for the entire human race then existing in the world, beyond + the range of their own community, and who made the assertion of this + doctrine one of their main instruments of success.<a id="noteref_809" + name="noteref_809" href="#note_809"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">809</span></span></a> + Enquiry, among the early theologians, was much less valued than + belief,<a id="noteref_810" name="noteref_810" href= + "#note_810"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">810</span></span></a> and + reason was less appealed to than fear. In philosophy the most + comprehensive, but in theology the most intolerant, system is + naturally the strongest. To weak women, to the young, the ignorant, + and the timid, to all, in a word, who were doubtful of their own + judgment, the doctrine of exclusive salvation must have come with an + appalling power; and, as no other religion professed it, it supplied + the Church with an invaluable vantage-ground, and <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page422">[pg 422]</span><a name="Pg422" id="Pg422" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> doubtless drove multitudes into its pale. + To this doctrine we may also, in a great degree, ascribe the agony of + terror that was so often displayed by the apostate, whose flesh + shrank from the present torture, but who was convinced that the + weakness he could not overcome would be expiated by an eternity of + torment.<a id="noteref_811" name="noteref_811" href= + "#note_811"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">811</span></span></a> To the + indignation excited by such teaching was probably due a law of Marcus + Aurelius, which decreed that <span class="tei tei-q">“if any one + shall do anything whereby the weak minds of any may be terrified by + superstitious fear, the offender shall be exiled into an + island.”</span><a id="noteref_812" name="noteref_812" href= + "#note_812"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">812</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There can, indeed, + be little doubt that a chief cause of the hostility felt against the + Christian Church was the intolerant aspect it at that time displayed. + The Romans were prepared to tolerate almost any form of religion that + would tolerate others. The Jews, though quite as obstinate as the + Christians in refusing to sacrifice to the emperor, were rarely + molested, except in the periods immediately following their + insurrections, because Judaism, however exclusive and unsocial, was + still an unaggressive national faith. But the Christian teachers + taught that all religions, except their own and that of the Jews, + were constructed by devils, and that all who dissented from their + Church must be lost. It was impossible that men strung to the very + highest pitch of religious excitement, and imagining they saw in + every ceremony and oracle the direct working of a present dæmon, + could restrain their zeal, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page423">[pg + 423]</span><a name="Pg423" id="Pg423" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> or + respect in any degree the feelings of others. Proselytising with an + untiring energy, pouring a fierce stream of invective and ridicule + upon the gods on whose favour the multitude believed all national + prosperity to depend, not unfrequently insulting the worshippers, and + defacing the idols,<a id="noteref_813" name="noteref_813" href= + "#note_813"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">813</span></span></a> they + soon stung the Pagan devotees to madness, and convinced them that + every calamity that fell upon the empire was the righteous vengeance + of the gods. Nor was the sceptical politician more likely to regard + with favour a religion whose development was plainly incompatible + with the whole religious policy of the Empire. The new Church, as it + was then organised, must have appeared to him essentially, + fundamentally, necessarily intolerant. To permit it to triumph was to + permit the extinction of religious liberty in an empire which + comprised all the leading nations of the world, and tolerated all + their creeds. It was indeed true that in the days of their distress + the apologists proclaimed, in high and eloquent language, the + iniquity of persecution, and the priceless value of a free worship; + but it needed no great sagacity to perceive that the language of the + dominant Church would be very different. The Pagan philosopher could + not foresee the ghastly histories of the Inquisition, of the + Albigenses, or of St. Bartholomew; but he could scarcely doubt that + the Christians, when in the ascendant, would never tolerate rites + which they believed to be consecrated to devils, or restrain, in the + season of their power, a religious animosity which they scarcely + bridled when they were weak. It needed no prophetic inspiration + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page424">[pg 424]</span><a name="Pg424" + id="Pg424" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> to anticipate the time, that + so speedily arrived, when, amid the wailings of the worshippers, the + idols and the temples were shattered, and when all who practised the + religious ceremonies of their forefathers were subject to the penalty + of death.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There has probably + never existed upon earth a community whose members were bound to one + another by a deeper or a purer affection than the Christians, in the + days of the persecution. There has probably never existed a community + which exhibited in its dealings with crime a gentler or more + judicious kindness, which combined more happily an unflinching + opposition to sin with a boundless charity to the sinner, and which + was in consequence more successful in reclaiming and transforming the + most vicious of mankind. There has, however, also never existed a + community which displayed more clearly the intolerance that would + necessarily follow its triumph. Very early tradition has related + three anecdotes of the apostle John which illustrate faithfully this + triple aspect of the Church. It is said that when the assemblies of + the Christians thronged around him to hear some exhortation from his + lips, the only words he would utter were, <span class="tei tei-q">“My + little children, love one another;”</span> for in this, he said, is + comprised the entire law. It is said that a young man he had once + confided to the charge of a bishop, having fallen into the ways of + vice, and become the captain of a band of robbers, the apostle, on + hearing of it, bitterly reproached the negligence of the pastor, and, + though in extreme old age, betook himself to the mountains till he + had been captured by the robbers, when, falling with tears on the + neck of the chief, he restored him to the path of virtue. It is said + that the same apostle, once seeing the heretic Cerinthus in an + establishment of baths into which he had entered, immediately rushed + forth, fearing lest the roof should fall because a heretic was + beneath it.<a id="noteref_814" name="noteref_814" href= + "#note_814"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">814</span></span></a> All + that fierce hatred <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page425">[pg + 425]</span><a name="Pg425" id="Pg425" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + which during the Arian and Donatist controversies convulsed the + Empire, and which in later times has deluged the world with blood, + may be traced in the Church long before the conversion of + Constantine. Already, in the second century, it was the rule that the + orthodox Christian should hold no conversation, should interchange + none of the most ordinary courtesies of life, with the excommunicated + or the heretic.<a id="noteref_815" name="noteref_815" href= + "#note_815"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">815</span></span></a> Common + sufferings were impotent to assuage the animosity, and the purest and + fondest relations of life were polluted by the new intolerance. The + Decian persecution had scarcely closed, when St. Cyprian wrote his + treatise to maintain that it is no more possible to be saved beyond + the limits of the Church, than it was during the deluge beyond the + limits of the ark; that martyrdom itself has no power to efface the + guilt of schism; and that the heretic, who for his master's cause + expired in tortures upon the earth, passed at once, by that master's + decree, into an eternity of torment in hell!<a id="noteref_816" name= + "noteref_816" href="#note_816"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">816</span></span></a> Even + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page426">[pg 426]</span><a name="Pg426" + id="Pg426" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> in the arena the Catholic + martyrs withdrew from the Montanists, lest they should be mingled + with the heretics in death.<a id="noteref_817" name="noteref_817" + href="#note_817"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">817</span></span></a> At a + later period St. Augustine relates that, when he was a Manichean, his + mother for a time refused even to eat at the same table with her + erring child.<a id="noteref_818" name="noteref_818" href= + "#note_818"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">818</span></span></a> When + St. Ambrose not only defended the act of a Christian bishop, who had + burnt down a synagogue of the Jews, but denounced as a deadly crime + the decree of the Government which ordered it to be rebuilt;<a id= + "noteref_819" name="noteref_819" href="#note_819"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">819</span></span></a> when + the same saint, in advocating the plunder of the vestal virgins, + maintained the doctrine that it is criminal for a Christian State to + grant any endowment to the ministers of any religion but his + own,<a id="noteref_820" name="noteref_820" href= + "#note_820"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">820</span></span></a> which + it has needed all the efforts of modern liberalism to efface from + legislation, he was but following in the traces of those earlier + Christians, who would not even wear a laurel crown,<a id= + "noteref_821" name="noteref_821" href="#note_821"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">821</span></span></a> or join + in the most innocent civic festival, lest they should appear in some + indirect way to be acquiescing in the Pagan worship. While the + apologists were maintaining against the Pagan persecutors the duty of + tolerance, the Sibylline books, which were the popular literature of + the Christians, were filled with passionate anticipations of the + violent destruction of the Pagan temples.<a id="noteref_822" name= + "noteref_822" href="#note_822"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">822</span></span></a> And no + sooner had Christianity mounted the throne than the policy they + foreshadowed became ascendant. The indifference or worldly sagacity + of some of the rulers, and the imposing number of the Pagans, + delayed, no doubt, the final consummation; but, from the time of + Constantine, restrictive laws were put in force, the influence of the + ecclesiastics was ceaselessly exerted in their favour, and no + sagacious man could fail to anticipate the speedy and <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page427">[pg 427]</span><a name="Pg427" id="Pg427" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> absolute proscription of the Pagan + worship. It is related of the philosopher Antoninus, the son of the + Pagan prophetess Sospitra, that, standing one day with his disciples + before that noble temple of Serapis, at Alexandria, which was one of + the wonders of ancient art, and which was destined soon after to + perish by the rude hands of the Christian monks, the prophetic spirit + of his mother fell upon him. Like another prophet before another + shrine, he appalled his hearers by the prediction of the approaching + ruin. The time would come, he said, when the glorious edifice before + them would be overthrown, the carved images would be defaced, the + temples of the gods would be turned into the sepulchres of the dead, + and a great darkness would fall upon mankind!<a id="noteref_823" + name="noteref_823" href="#note_823"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">823</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">And, besides the + liberty of worship, the liberty of thought and of expression, which + was the supreme attainment of Roman civilisation, was in peril. The + new religion, unlike that which was disappearing, claimed to dictate + the opinions as well as the actions of men, and its teachers + stigmatised as an atrocious crime the free expression of every + opinion on religious matters diverging from their own. Of all the + forms of liberty, it was this which lasted the longest, and was the + most dearly prized. Even after Constantine, the Pagans Libanius, + Themistius, Symmachus, and Sallust enforced their views with a + freedom that contrasts remarkably with the restraints imposed upon + their worship, and the beautiful friendships of St. Basil and + Libanius, of Synesius and Hypatia, are among the most touching + episodes of their time. But though the traditions of Pagan freedom, + and the true catholicism of Justin Martyr and Origen, lingered long, + it was inevitable that error, being deemed criminal, should be made + penal. <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page428">[pg 428]</span><a name= + "Pg428" id="Pg428" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> The dogmatism of + Athanasius and Augustine, the increasing power of the clergy, and the + fanaticism of the monks, hastened the end. The suppression of all + religions but one by Theodosius, the murder of Hypatia at Alexandria + by the monks of Cyril, and the closing by Justinian of the schools of + Athens, are the three events which mark the decisive overthrow of + intellectual freedom. A thousand years had rolled away before that + freedom was in part restored.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The considerations + I have briefly enumerated should not in the smallest degree detract + from the admiration due to the surpassing courage, to the pure, + touching, and sacred virtues of the Christian martyrs; but they in + some degree palliate the conduct of the persecutors, among whom must + be included one emperor, who was probably, on the whole, the best and + most humane sovereign who has ever sat upon a throne, and at least + two others, who were considerably above the average of virtue. When, + combined with the indifference to human suffering, the thirst for + blood, which the spectacles of the amphitheatre had engendered, they + assuredly make the persecutions abundantly explicable. They show that + if it can be proved that Christian persecutions sprang from the + doctrine of exclusive salvation, the fact that the Roman Pagans, who + did not hold that doctrine, also persecuted, need not cause the + slightest perplexity. That the persecutions of Christianity by the + Roman emperors, severe as they undoubtedly were, were not of such a + continuous nature as wholly to counteract the vast moral, social, and + intellectual agencies that were favourable to its spread, a few dates + will show.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We have seen that + when the Egyptian rites were introduced into Rome, they were met by + prompt and energetic measures of repression; that these measures were + again and again repeated, but that at last, when they proved + ineffectual, the governors desisted from their opposition, and the + new worship assumed a recognised place. The history of Christianity, + in its relation to the Government, is the reverse of <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page429">[pg 429]</span><a name="Pg429" id="Pg429" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> this. Its first introduction into Rome + appears to have been altogether unopposed. Tertullian asserts that + Tiberius, on the ground of a report from Pontius Pilate, desired to + enrol Christ among the Roman gods, but that the Senate rejected the + proposal; but this assertion, which is altogether unsupported by + trustworthy evidence, and is, intrinsically, extremely improbable, is + now generally recognised as false.<a id="noteref_824" name= + "noteref_824" href="#note_824"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">824</span></span></a> An + isolated passage of Suetonius states that in the time of Claudius + <span class="tei tei-q">“the Jews, being continually rioting, at the + instigation of a certain Chrestus,”</span><a id="noteref_825" name= + "noteref_825" href="#note_825"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">825</span></span></a> were + expelled from the city; but no Christian writer speaks of his + co-religionists being disturbed in this reign, while all, with a + perfect unanimity, and with great emphasis, describe Nero as the + first persecutor. His persecution began at the close of <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 64.<a id="noteref_826" + name="noteref_826" href="#note_826"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">826</span></span></a> It was + directed against Christians, not ostensibly on the ground of their + religion, but because they were falsely accused of having set fire to + Rome, and it is very doubtful whether it extended beyond the + city.<a id="noteref_827" name="noteref_827" href= + "#note_827"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">827</span></span></a> It had + also this peculiarity, that, being <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page430">[pg 430]</span><a name="Pg430" id="Pg430" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> directed against the Christians not as + Christians, but as incendiaries, it was impossible to escape from it + by apostasy. Within the walls of Rome it raged with great fury. The + Christians, who had been for many years<a id="noteref_828" name= + "noteref_828" href="#note_828"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">828</span></span></a> + proselytising without restraint in the great confluence of nations, + and amid the disintegration of old beliefs, had become a formidable + body. They were, we learn from Tacitus, profoundly unpopular; but the + hideous tortures to which Nero subjected them, and the conviction + that, whatever other crimes they might have committed, they were not + guilty of setting fire to the city, awoke general pity. Some of them, + clad in skins of wild beasts, were torn by dogs. Others, arrayed in + shirts of pitch, were burnt alive in <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page431">[pg 431]</span><a name="Pg431" id="Pg431" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> Nero's garden.<a id="noteref_829" name= + "noteref_829" href="#note_829"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">829</span></span></a> Others + were affixed to crosses. Great multitudes perished. The deep + impression the persecution made on the Christian mind is shown in the + whole literature of the Sibyls, which arose soon after, in which Nero + is usually the central figure, and by the belief, that lingered for + centuries, that the tyrant was yet alive, and would return once more + as the immediate precursor of Antichrist, to inflict the last great + persecution upon the Church.<a id="noteref_830" name="noteref_830" + href="#note_830"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">830</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Nero died + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 68. From that time, for + at least twenty-seven years, the Church enjoyed absolute repose. + There is no credible evidence whatever of the smallest interference + with its freedom till the last year of the reign of Domitian; and a + striking illustration of the fearlessness with which it exhibited + itself to the world has been lately furnished in the discovery, near + Rome, of a large and handsome porch leading to a Christian catacomb, + built above ground between the reigns of Nero and Domitian, in the + immediate neighbourhood of one of the principal highways.<a id= + "noteref_831" name="noteref_831" href="#note_831"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">831</span></span></a> The + long reign of Domitian, though it may have been surpassed in + ferocity, was never surpassed in the Roman annals in the skilfulness + and the persistence of its tyranny. The Stoics and literary classes, + who upheld the traditions of political freedom, and who had + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page432">[pg 432]</span><a name="Pg432" + id="Pg432" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> already suffered much at the + hands of Vespasian, were persecuted with relentless animosity. Metius + Modestus, Arulenus Rusticus, Senecio, Helvidius, Dion Chrysostom, the + younger Priscus, Junius Mauricus, Artemidorus, Euphrates, Epictetus, + Arria, Fannia, and Gratilla were either killed or banished.<a id= + "noteref_832" name="noteref_832" href="#note_832"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">832</span></span></a> No + measures, however, appear to have been taken against the Christians + till <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 95, when a short and + apparently not very severe persecution, concerning which our + information is both scanty and conflicting, was directed against + them. Of the special cause that produced it we are left in much + doubt. Eusebius mentions, on the not very trustworthy authority of + Hegesippus, that the emperor, having heard of the existence of the + grandchildren of Judas, the brother of Christ, ordered them to be + brought before him, as being of the family of David, and therefore + possible pretenders to the throne; but on finding that they were + simple peasants, and that the promised kingdom of which they spoke + was a spiritual one, he dismissed them in peace, and arrested the + persecution he had begun.<a id="noteref_833" name="noteref_833" href= + "#note_833"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">833</span></span></a> A Pagan + historian states that, the finances of the Empire being exhausted by + lavish expenditure in public games, Domitian, in order to replenish + his exchequer, resorted to a severe and special taxation of the Jews; + that some of these, in order to evade the impost, concealed their + worship, while others, who are supposed to have been Christians, are + described as following the Jewish rites without being professed + Jews.<a id="noteref_834" name="noteref_834" href= + "#note_834"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">834</span></span></a> + Perhaps, however, the simplest explanation is the truest, and the + persecution may be ascribed to the antipathy which a despot like + Domitian <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page433">[pg + 433]</span><a name="Pg433" id="Pg433" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + must necessarily have felt to an institution which, though it did + not, like Stoicism, resist his policy, at least exercised a vast + influence altogether removed from his control. St. John, who was then + a very old man, is said to have been at this time exiled to Patmos. + Flavius Clemens, a consul, and a relative of the emperor, was put to + death. His wife, or, according to another account, his niece + Domitilla, was banished, according to one account, to the island of + Pontia, according to another, to the island of Pandataria, and many + others were compelled to accompany her into exile.<a id="noteref_835" + name="noteref_835" href="#note_835"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">835</span></span></a> + Numbers, we are told, <span class="tei tei-q">“accused of conversion + to impiety or Jewish rites,”</span> were condemned. Some were killed, + and others deprived of their offices.<a id="noteref_836" name= + "noteref_836" href="#note_836"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">836</span></span></a> Of the + cessation of the persecution there are two different versions. + Tertullian<a id="noteref_837" name="noteref_837" href= + "#note_837"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">837</span></span></a> and + Eusebius<a id="noteref_838" name="noteref_838" href= + "#note_838"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">838</span></span></a> say + that the tyrant speedily revoked his edict, and restored those who + had been banished; but according to Lactantius these measures were + not taken till after the death of Domitian,<a id="noteref_839" name= + "noteref_839" href="#note_839"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">839</span></span></a> and + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page434">[pg 434]</span><a name="Pg434" + id="Pg434" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> this latter statement is + corroborated by the assertion of Dion Cassius, that Nerva, upon his + accession, <span class="tei tei-q">“absolved those who were accused + of impiety, and recalled the exiles.”</span><a id="noteref_840" name= + "noteref_840" href="#note_840"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">840</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">When we consider + the very short time during which this persecution lasted, and the + very slight notice that was taken of it, we may fairly, I think, + conclude that it was not of a nature to check in any appreciable + degree a strong religious movement like that of Christianity. The + assassination of Domitian introduces us to the golden age of the + Roman Empire. In the eyes of the Pagan historian, the period from the + accession of Nerva, in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 96, to the death of + Marcus Aurelius, in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 180, is memorable as a + period of uniform good government, of rapidly advancing humanity, of + great legislative reforms, and of a peace which was very rarely + seriously broken. To the Christian historian it is still more + remarkable, as one of the most critical periods in the history of his + faith. The Church entered into it considerable indeed, as a sect, but + not large enough to be reckoned an important power in the Empire. It + emerged from it so increased in its numbers, and so extended in its + ramifications, that it might fairly defy the most formidable + assaults. It remains, therefore, to be seen whether the opposition + against which, during these eighty-four years, it had so successfully + struggled was of such a kind and intensity that the triumph must be + regarded as a miracle.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Nearly at the + close of this period, during the persecution of Marcus Aurelius, St. + Melito, Bishop of Sardis, wrote a letter of expostulation to the + emperor, in which he explicitly asserts that in Asia the persecution + of the pious was an event which <span class="tei tei-q">“had never + before occurred,”</span> and was the result of <span class= + "tei tei-q">“new and strange decrees;”</span> that the ancestors of + the emperor were accustomed to honour the Christian faith + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page435">[pg 435]</span><a name="Pg435" + id="Pg435" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> <span class="tei tei-q">“like + other religions;”</span> and that <span class="tei tei-q">“Nero and + Domitian alone”</span> had been hostile to it.<a id="noteref_841" + name="noteref_841" href="#note_841"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">841</span></span></a> Rather + more than twenty years later, Tertullian asserted, in language + equally distinct and emphatic, that the two persecutors of the + Christians were Nero and Domitian, and that it would be impossible to + name a single good sovereign who had molested them. Marcus Aurelius + himself, Tertullian refuses to number among the persecutors, and, + even relying upon a letter which was falsely imputed to him, enrols + him among the protectors of the Church.<a id="noteref_842" name= + "noteref_842" href="#note_842"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">842</span></span></a> About a + century later, Lactantius, reviewing the history of the persecutions, + declared that the good sovereigns who followed Domitian abstained + from persecuting, and passes at once from the persecution of Domitian + to that of Decius. Having noticed the measures of the former emperor, + he proceeds: <span class="tei tei-q">“The acts of the tyrant being + revoked, the Church was not only restored to its former state, but + shone forth with a greater splendour and luxuriance; and a period + following in which many good sovereigns wielded the Imperial sceptre, + it suffered no assaults from its enemies, but stretched out its hands + to the east and to the west; ... but at last the long peace was + broken. After many years, that hateful monster Decius arose, who + troubled the Church.”</span><a id="noteref_843" name="noteref_843" + href="#note_843"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">843</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We have here three + separate passages, from which we may conclusively infer that the + normal and habitual condition of the Christians during the + eighty-four years we are considering, and, if we accept the last two + passages, during a much longer period, was a condition of peace, but + that peace was not absolutely unbroken. The Christian Church, which + was at first regarded simply as a branch of Judaism, had begun to be + recognised as a separate body, and the Roman law professedly + tolerated only those religions which were <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page436">[pg 436]</span><a name="Pg436" id="Pg436" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> expressly authorised. It is indeed true that + with the extension of the Empire, and especially of the city, the + theory, or at least the practice, of religious legislation had been + profoundly modified. First of all, certain religions, of which the + Jewish was one, were officially recognised, and then many others, + without being expressly authorised, were tolerated. In this manner, + all attempts to resist the torrent of Oriental superstitions proving + vain, the legislator had desisted from his efforts, and every form of + wild superstition was practised with publicity and impunity. Still + the laws forbidding them were unrevoked, although they were suffered + to remain for the most part obsolete, or were at least only put in + action on the occasion of some special scandal, or of some real or + apprehended political danger. The municipal and provincial + independence under the Empire was, however, so large, that very much + depended on the character of the local governor; and it continually + happened that in one province the Christians were unmolested or + favoured, while in the adjoining province they were severely + persecuted.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">As we have already + seen, the Christians had for many reasons become profoundly obnoxious + to the people. They shared the unpopularity of the Jews, with whom + they were confounded, while the general credence given to the + calumnies about the crimes said to have been perpetrated at their + secret meetings, their abstinence from public amusements, and the + belief that their hostility to the gods was the cause of every + physical calamity, were special causes of antipathy. The history of + the period of the Antonines continually manifests the desire of the + populace to persecute, restrained by the humanity of the rulers. In + the short reign of Nerva there appears to have been no persecution, + and our knowledge of the official proceedings with reference to the + religion is comprised in two sentences of a Pagan historian, who + tells us that the emperor <span class="tei tei-q">“absolved those who + had been convicted <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page437">[pg + 437]</span><a name="Pg437" id="Pg437" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of + impiety,”</span> and <span class="tei tei-q">“permitted no one to be + convicted of impiety or Jewish rites.”</span> Under Trajan, however, + some serious though purely local disturbances took place. The emperor + himself, though one of the most sagacious, and in most respects + humane of Roman sovereigns, was nervously jealous of any societies or + associations among his subjects, and had propounded a special edict + against them; but the persecution of the Christians appears to have + been not so much political as popular. If we may believe Eusebius, + local persecutions, apparently of the nature of riots, but sometimes + countenanced by provincial governors, broke out in several quarters + of the Empire. In Bithynia, Pliny the Younger was the governor, and + he wrote a very famous letter to Trajan, in which he professed + himself absolutely ignorant of the proceedings to be taken against + the Christians, who had already so multiplied that the temples were + deserted, and who were arraigned in great numbers before his + tribunal. He had, he says, released those who consented to burn + incense before the image of the emperor, and to curse Christ, but had + caused those to be executed who persisted in their refusal, and who + were not Roman citizens, <span class="tei tei-q">“not doubting that a + pertinacious obstinacy deserved punishment.”</span> He had questioned + the prisoners as to the nature of their faith, and had not hesitated + to seek revelations by torturing two maid-servants, but had + <span class="tei tei-q">“discovered nothing but a base and immoderate + superstition.”</span> He had asked the nature of their secret + services, and had been told that they assembled on a certain day + before dawn to sing a hymn to Christ as to a god; that they made a + vow to abstain from every crime, and that they then, before parting, + partook together of a harmless feast, which, however, they had given + up since the decree against associations. To this letter Trajan + answered that Christians, if brought before the tribunals and + convicted, should be punished, but that they should not be sought + for; that, if they consented to sacrifice, no inquisition should be + made into their past lives, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page438">[pg + 438]</span><a name="Pg438" id="Pg438" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> and + that no anonymous accusations should be received against them.<a id= + "noteref_844" name="noteref_844" href="#note_844"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">844</span></span></a> In this + reign there are two authentic instances of martyrdom.<a id= + "noteref_845" name="noteref_845" href="#note_845"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">845</span></span></a> Simeon, + Bishop of Jerusalem, a man, it is said, one hundred and twenty years + old, having been accused by the heretics, was tortured during several + days, and at last crucified. Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch, was + arrested, brought to Rome, and, by the order of Trajan himself, + thrown to wild beasts. Of the cause of this last act of severity we + are left in ignorance, but it has been noticed that about this time + Antioch had been the scene of one of those violent earthquakes which + so frequently produced an outburst of religious excitement,<a id= + "noteref_846" name="noteref_846" href="#note_846"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">846</span></span></a> and the + character of Ignatius, who was passionately desirous of martyrdom, + may have very probably led him to some act of exceptional zeal. The + letters of the martyr prove that at Rome the faith was openly and + fearlessly professed; the Government during the nineteen years of + this reign never appears to have taken any initiative against the + Christians, and, in spite of occasional local tumults, there was + nothing resembling a general persecution.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">During the two + following reigns, the Government was more decidedly favourable to the + Christians. Hadrian, having heard that the populace at the public + games frequently called for their execution, issued an edict in which + he commanded that none should be punished simply in obedience to the + outcries against them, or without a formal trial and a conviction of + some offence against the law, and he ordered that all false accusers + should be punished.<a id="noteref_847" name="noteref_847" href= + "#note_847"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">847</span></span></a> His + disposition towards the Christians was so pacific as to give rise to + a legend that he intended to <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page439">[pg 439]</span><a name="Pg439" id="Pg439" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> enrol Christ among the gods;<a id="noteref_848" + name="noteref_848" href="#note_848"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">848</span></span></a> but it + is probable that, although curious on religious matters, he regarded + Christianity with the indifference of a Roman freethinker; and a + letter is ascribed to him in which he confounded it with the worship + of Serapis.<a id="noteref_849" name="noteref_849" href= + "#note_849"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">849</span></span></a> As far + as the Government were concerned, the Christians appear to have been + entirely unmolested; but many of them suffered dreadful tortures at + the hands of the Jewish insurgents, who in this reign, with a + desperate but ill-fated heroism, made one last effort to regain their + freedom.<a id="noteref_850" name="noteref_850" href= + "#note_850"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">850</span></span></a> The + mutual hostility exhibited at this time by the Jews and Christians + contributed to separate them in the eyes of the Pagans, and it is + said that when Hadrian forbade the Jews ever again to enter + Jerusalem, he recognised the distinction by granting a full + permission to the Christians.<a id="noteref_851" name="noteref_851" + href="#note_851"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">851</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Antoninus, who + succeeded Hadrian, made new efforts to restrain the passions of the + people against the Christians. He issued an edict commanding that + they should not be molested, and when, as a consequence of some + earthquakes in Asia Minor, the popular anger was fiercely roused, he + commanded that their accusers should be punished.<a id="noteref_852" + name="noteref_852" href="#note_852"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">852</span></span></a> If we + except these riots, the twenty-three years of his reign appear to + have been years of absolute peace, which seems also to have continued + during several years of the reign of Marcus <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page440">[pg 440]</span><a name="Pg440" id="Pg440" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> Aurelius; but at last persecuting edicts, of + the exact nature of which we have no knowledge, were issued. Of the + reasons which induced one of the best men who have ever reigned to + persecute the Christians, we know little or nothing. That it was not + any ferocity of disposition or any impatience of resistance may be + confidently asserted of one whose only fault was a somewhat excessive + gentleness—who, on the death of his wife, asked the Senate, as a + single favour, to console him by sparing the lives of those who had + rebelled against him. That it was not, as has been strangely urged, a + religious fanaticism resembling that which led St. Lewis to + persecute, is equally plain. St. Lewis persecuted because he believed + that to reject his religious opinions was a heinous crime, and that + heresy was the path to hell. Marcus Aurelius had no such belief, and + he, the first Roman emperor who made the Stoical philosophy his + religion and his comfort, was also the first emperor who endowed the + professors of the philosophies that were most hostile to his own. The + fact that the Christian Church, existing as a State within a State, + with government, ideals, enthusiasms, and hopes wholly different from + those of the nation, was incompatible with the existing system of the + Empire, had become more evident as the Church increased. The + accusations of cannibalism and incestuous impurity had acquired a + greater consistency, and the latter are said to have been justly + applicable to the Carpocratian heretics, who had recently arisen. The + Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius may have revolted from the practices of + exorcism or the appeals to the terrors of another world, and the + philosophers who surrounded him probably stimulated his hostility, + for his master and friend Fronto had written a book against + Christianity,<a id="noteref_853" name="noteref_853" href= + "#note_853"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">853</span></span></a> while + Justin Martyr is said to have perished by the machinations of the + Cynic Crescens.<a id="noteref_854" name="noteref_854" href= + "#note_854"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">854</span></span></a> It must + be added, too, that, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page441">[pg + 441]</span><a name="Pg441" id="Pg441" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + while it is impossible to acquit the emperor of having issued severe + edicts against the Christians,<a id="noteref_855" name="noteref_855" + href="#note_855"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">855</span></span></a> the + atrocious details of the persecutions in his reign were due to the + ferocity of the populace and the weakness of the governors in distant + provinces; and it is inconceivable that, if he had been a very bitter + enemy of the Christians, Tertullian, writing little more than twenty + years later, should have been so ignorant of the fact as to represent + him as one of the most conspicuous of their protectors.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But, whatever may + be thought on these points, there can, unhappily, be no question that + in this reign Rome was stained by the blood of Justin Martyr, the + first philosopher, and one of the purest and gentlest natures in the + Church, and that persecution was widely extended. In two far distant + quarters, at Smyrna and at Lyons, it far exceeded in atrocity any + that Christianity had endured since Nero, and in each case a heroism + of the most transcendent order was displayed by the martyrs. The + persecution at Smyrna, in which St. Polycarp and many others most + nobly died, took place on the occasion of the public games, and we + may trace the influence of the Jews in stimulating it.<a id= + "noteref_856" name="noteref_856" href="#note_856"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">856</span></span></a> The + persecution at Lyons, which was one of the most atrocious in the + whole compass of ecclesiastical history, and which has supplied the + martyrology with some of its grandest and most pathetic figures, + derived its worst features from a combination of the fury of the + populace and of the subserviency of the governor.<a id="noteref_857" + name="noteref_857" href="#note_857"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">857</span></span></a> Certain + servants of the Christians, terrified by the prospect of torture, + accused their masters of all the crimes which popular report + attributed to them, of incest, of infanticide, of cannibalism, of + hideous impurity. A fearful outburst of <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page442">[pg 442]</span><a name="Pg442" id="Pg442" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> ferocity ensued. Tortures almost too horrible + to recount were for hours and even days applied to the bodies of old + men and of weak women, who displayed amid their agonies a nobler + courage than has ever shone upon a battle-field, and whose memories + are immortal among mankind. Blandina and Pothinus wrote in blood the + first page of the glorious history of the Church of France.<a id= + "noteref_858" name="noteref_858" href="#note_858"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">858</span></span></a> But + although, during the closing years of Marcus Aurelius, severe + persecutions took place in three or four provinces, there was no + general and organised effort to suppress Christianity throughout the + Empire.<a id="noteref_859" name="noteref_859" href= + "#note_859"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">859</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We may next + consider, as a single period, the space of time that elapsed from the + death of Marcus Aurelius, in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 180, to the accession + of Decius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 249. During all this + time Christianity was a great and powerful body, exercising an + important influence, and during a great part of it Christians filled + high civil and military positions. The hostility manifested towards + them began now to assume a more political complexion than it had + previously done, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page443">[pg + 443]</span><a name="Pg443" id="Pg443" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + except perhaps in the later years of Marcus Aurelius. The existence + of a vast and rapidly increasing corporation, very alien to the + system of the Empire, confronted every ruler. Emperors like Commodus + or Heliogabalus were usually too immersed in selfish pleasures to + have any distinct policy; but sagacious sovereigns, sincerely + desiring the well-being of the Empire, either, like Marcus Aurelius + and Diocletian, endeavoured to repress the rising creed, or, like + Alexander Severus, and at last Constantine, actively encouraged it. + The measures Marcus Aurelius had taken against Christianity were + arrested under Commodus, whose favourite mistress, Marcia, supplies + one of the very few recorded instances of female influence, which has + been the cause of so much persecution, being exerted in behalf of + toleration;<a id="noteref_860" name="noteref_860" href= + "#note_860"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">860</span></span></a> yet a + Christian philosopher named Apollonius, and at the same time, by a + curious retribution, his accuser, were in this reign executed at + Rome.<a id="noteref_861" name="noteref_861" href= + "#note_861"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">861</span></span></a> During + the sixty-nine years we are considering, the general peace of the + Church was only twice broken. The first occasion was in the reign of + Septimus Severus, who was for some time very favourable to the + Christians, but who, in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 202 or 203, issued an + edict, forbidding any Pagan to join the Christian or Jewish + faith;<a id="noteref_862" name="noteref_862" href= + "#note_862"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">862</span></span></a> and + this edict was followed by a sanguinary persecution <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page444">[pg 444]</span><a name="Pg444" id="Pg444" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> in Africa and Syria, in which the father + of Origen, and also St. Felicitas and St. Perpetua, perished. This + persecution does not appear to have extended to the West, and was + apparently rather the work of provincial governors, who interpreted + the Imperial edict as a sign of hostility to the Christians, than the + direct act of the emperor,<a id="noteref_863" name="noteref_863" + href="#note_863"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">863</span></span></a> whose + decree applied only to Christians actively proselytising. It is + worthy of notice that Origen observed that previous to this time the + number of Christian martyrs had been very small.<a id="noteref_864" + name="noteref_864" href="#note_864"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">864</span></span></a> The + second persecution was occasioned by the murder of Alexander Severus + by Maximinus. The usurper pursued with great bitterness the leading + courtiers of the deceased emperor, among whom were some Christian + bishops,<a id="noteref_865" name="noteref_865" href= + "#note_865"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">865</span></span></a> and + about the same time severe earthquakes in Pontus and Cappadocia + produced the customary popular ebullitions. But with these exceptions + the Christians were undisturbed. Caracalla, Macrinus, and + Heliogabalus took no measures against them, while Alexander Severus, + who reigned for thirteen years, warmly and steadily supported them. A + Pagan historian assures us that this emperor intended to build + temples in honour of Christ, but was dissuaded by the priests, who + urged that all the other temples would be deserted. He venerated in + his private oratory the statues of Apollonius of Tyana, Abraham, + Orpheus, and Christ. He decreed that the provincial governors should + not be appointed till the people had the opportunity of declaring any + crime they had committed, borrowing this rule avowedly from the + procedure <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page445">[pg + 445]</span><a name="Pg445" id="Pg445" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of + the Jews and Christians in electing their clergy; he ordered the + precept <span class="tei tei-q">“Do not unto others what you would + not that they should do unto you”</span> to be engraven on the palace + and other public buildings, and he decided a dispute concerning a + piece of ground which the Christians had occupied, and which the + owners of certain eating-houses claimed, in favour of the former, on + the ground that the worship of a god should be most considered.<a id= + "noteref_866" name="noteref_866" href="#note_866"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">866</span></span></a> Philip + the Arab, who reigned during the last five years of the period we are + considering, was so favourable to the Christians that he was + believed, though on no trustworthy evidence, to have been + baptised.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We have now + reviewed the history of the persecutions to the year <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 249, or about two + hundred years after the planting of Christianity in Rome. We have + seen that, although during that period much suffering was + occasionally endured, and much heroism displayed, by the Christians, + there was, with the very doubtful exception of the Neronian + persecution, no single attempt made to suppress Christianity + throughout the Empire. Local persecutions of great severity had taken + place at Smyrna and Lyons, under Marcus Aurelius; in Africa and some + Asiatic provinces, under Severus; popular tumults, arising in the + excitement of the public games, or produced by some earthquake or + inundation, or by some calumnious accusation, were not unfrequent; + but there was at no time that continuous, organised, and universal + persecution by which, in later periods, ecclesiastical tribunals have + again and again suppressed opinions repugnant to their own; and there + was no part of the Empire in which whole generations did not pass + away absolutely undisturbed. No martyr had fallen in Gaul or in great + part of Asia Minor till Marcus Aurelius. In Italy, after the death of + Nero, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page446">[pg 446]</span><a name= + "Pg446" id="Pg446" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> with the exception of + some slight troubles under Domitian and Maximinus, probably due to + causes altogether distinct from religion, there were, during the + whole period we are considering, only a few isolated instances of + martyrdom. The bishops, as the leaders of the Church, were the + special objects of hostility, and several in different parts of the + world had fallen; but it is extremely questionable whether any Roman + bishop perished after the apostolic age, till Fabianus was martyred + under Decius.<a id="noteref_867" name="noteref_867" href= + "#note_867"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">867</span></span></a> If + Christianity was not formally authorised, it was, like many other + religions in a similar position, generally acquiesced in, and, during + a great part of the time we have reviewed, its professors appear to + have found no obstacles to their preferment in the Court or in the + army. The emperors were for the most part indifferent or favourable + to them. The priests in the Pagan society had but little influence, + and do not appear to have taken any prominent part in the persecution + till near the time of Diocletian. With the single exception of the + Jews, no class held that doctrine of the criminality of error which + has been the parent of most modern persecutions; and although the + belief that great calamities were the result of neglecting or + insulting the gods furnished the Pagans with a religious motive for + persecution, this motive only acted on the occasion of some rare and + exceptional catastrophe.<a id="noteref_868" name="noteref_868" href= + "#note_868"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">868</span></span></a> In + Christian times, the first objects <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page447">[pg 447]</span><a name="Pg447" id="Pg447" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> of the persecutor are to control education, to + prevent the publication of any heterodox works, to institute such a + minute police inspection as to render impossible the celebration of + the worship he desires to suppress. But nothing of this kind was + attempted, or indeed was possible, in the period we are considering. + With the exception of the body-guard of the emperor, almost the whole + army, which was of extremely moderate dimensions, was massed along + the vast frontier of the Empire. The police force was of the + scantiest kind, sufficient only to keep common order in the streets. + The Government had done something to encourage, but absolutely + nothing to control, education, and parents or societies were at + perfect liberty to educate the young as they pleased. The expansion + of literature, by reason of the facilities which slavery gave to + transcription, was very great, and it was for the most part entirely + uncontrolled.<a id="noteref_869" name="noteref_869" href= + "#note_869"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">869</span></span></a> + Augustus, it is true, had caused some volumes of forged prophecies to + be burnt,<a id="noteref_870" name="noteref_870" href= + "#note_870"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">870</span></span></a> and, + under the tyranny of Tiberius and Domitian, political writers and + historians who eulogised tyrannicide, or vehemently opposed the + Empire, were persecuted; but the extreme indignation these acts + elicited attests their rarity, and, on matters unconnected with + politics, the liberty of <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page448">[pg + 448]</span><a name="Pg448" id="Pg448" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + literature was absolute.<a id="noteref_871" name="noteref_871" href= + "#note_871"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">871</span></span></a> In a + word, the Church proselytised in a society in which toleration was + the rule, and at a time when municipal, provincial, and personal + independence had reached the highest point, when the ruling classes + were for the most part absolutely indifferent to religious opinions, + and when an unprecedented concourse of influences facilitated its + progress.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">When we reflect + that these were the circumstances of the Church till the middle of + the third century, we may readily <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page449">[pg 449]</span><a name="Pg449" id="Pg449" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> perceive the absurdity of maintaining that + Christianity was propagated in the face of such a fierce and + continuous persecution that no opinions could have survived it + without a miracle, or of arguing from the history of the early Church + that persecution never has any real efficacy in suppressing truth. + When, in addition to the circumstances under which it operated, we + consider the unexampled means both of attraction and of intimidation + that were possessed by the Church, we can have no difficulty in + understanding that it should have acquired a magnitude that would + enable it to defy the far more serious assaults it was still destined + to endure. That it had acquired this extension we have abundant + evidence. The language I have quoted from Lactantius is but a feeble + echo of the emphatic statements of writers before the Decian + persecution.<a id="noteref_872" name="noteref_872" href= + "#note_872"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">872</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“There is no race of men, whether Greek or + barbarian,”</span> said Justin Martyr, <span class="tei tei-q">“among + whom prayers and thanks are not offered up in the name of the + crucified.”</span><a id="noteref_873" name="noteref_873" href= + "#note_873"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">873</span></span></a> + <span class="tei tei-q">“We are but of yesterday,”</span> cried + Tertullian, <span class="tei tei-q">“and we fill all your cities, + islands, forts, councils, even the camps themselves, the tribes, the + decuries, the palaces, the senate, and the forum.”</span><a id= + "noteref_874" name="noteref_874" href="#note_874"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">874</span></span></a> + Eusebius has preserved a letter of Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, + containing a catalogue of the officers of his Church at the time of + the Decian persecution. It consisted of one bishop, forty-six + presbyters, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, forty-two acolytes, + fifty-two exorcists, readers, and janitors. The Church also supported + more than fifteen hundred widows, and poor or suffering + persons.<a id="noteref_875" name="noteref_875" href= + "#note_875"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">875</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The Decian + persecution, which broke out in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 249, and was probably + begun in hopes of restoring the Empire to its ancient discipline, and + eliminating from it all extraneous <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page450">[pg 450]</span><a name="Pg450" id="Pg450" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> and unpatriotic influences,<a id="noteref_876" + name="noteref_876" href="#note_876"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">876</span></span></a> is the + first example of a deliberate attempt, supported by the whole + machinery of provincial government, and extending over the entire + surface of the Empire, to extirpate Christianity from the world. It + would be difficult to find language too strong to paint its horrors. + The ferocious instincts of the populace, that were long repressed, + burst out anew, and they were not only permitted, but encouraged by + the rulers. Far worse than the deaths which menaced those who shrank + from the idolatrous sacrifices, were the hideous and prolonged + tortures by which the magistrates often sought to subdue the + constancy of the martyr, the nameless outrages that were sometimes + inflicted on the Christian virgin.<a id="noteref_877" name= + "noteref_877" href="#note_877"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">877</span></span></a> The + Church, enervated by a long peace, and deeply infected with the vices + of the age, tottered beneath the blow. It had long since arrived at + the period when men were Christians not by conviction, but through + family relationship; when the more opulent Christians vied in luxury + with the Pagans among whom they mixed, and when even the bishops + were, in many instances, worldly <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page451">[pg 451]</span><a name="Pg451" id="Pg451" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> aspirants after civil offices. It is not, + therefore, surprising that the defection was very large. The Pagans + marked with triumphant ridicule, and the Fathers with a burning + indignation, the thousands who thronged to the altars at the very + commencement of persecution, the sudden collapse of the most + illustrious churches, the eagerness with which the offer of + provincial governors to furnish certificates of apostasy, without + exacting a compliance with the conditions which those certificates + attested, was accepted by multitudes.<a id="noteref_878" name= + "noteref_878" href="#note_878"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">878</span></span></a> The + question whether those who abandoned the faith should afterwards be + readmitted to communion, became the chief question that divided the + Novatians, and one of the questions that divided the Montanists from + the Catholics, while the pretensions of the confessors to furnish + indulgences, remitting the penances imposed by the bishops, led to a + conflict which contributed very largely to establish the undisputed + ascendancy of the episcopacy. But the Decian persecution, though it + exhibits the Church in a somewhat less noble attitude than the + persecutions which preceded and which followed it, was adorned by + many examples of extreme courage and devotion, displayed in not a few + cases by those who were physically among the frailest of mankind. It + was of a kind eminently fitted to crush the Church. Had it taken + place at an earlier period, had it been continued for a long + succession of years, Christianity, without a miracle, must have + perished. But the Decian persecution fell upon a Church which had + existed for two centuries, and it lasted less than two years.<a id= + "noteref_879" name="noteref_879" href="#note_879"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">879</span></span></a> Its + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page452">[pg 452]</span><a name="Pg452" + id="Pg452" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> intensity varied much in + different provinces. In Alexandria and the neighbouring towns, where + a popular tumult had anticipated the menaces of the Government, it + was extremely horrible.<a id="noteref_880" name="noteref_880" href= + "#note_880"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">880</span></span></a> In + Carthage, at first, the proconsul being absent, no capital sentence + was passed, but on the arrival of that functionary the penalty of + death, accompanied by dreadful tortures, was substituted for that of + exile or imprisonment.<a id="noteref_881" name="noteref_881" href= + "#note_881"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">881</span></span></a> The + rage of the people was especially directed against the bishop St. + Cyprian, who prudently retired till the storm had passed.<a id= + "noteref_882" name="noteref_882" href="#note_882"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">882</span></span></a> In + general, it was observed that the object of the rulers was much less + to slay than to vanquish the Christians. <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page453">[pg 453]</span><a name="Pg453" id="Pg453" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> Horrible tortures were continually employed to + extort an apostasy, and, when those tortures proved vain, great + numbers were ultimately released.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The Decian + persecution is remarkable in Christian archæology as being, it is + believed, the first occasion in which the Christian catacombs were + violated. Those vast subterranean corridors, lined with tombs and + expanding very frequently into small chapels adorned with paintings, + often of no mean beauty, had for a long period been an inviolable + asylum in seasons of persecution. The extreme sanctity which the + Romans were accustomed to attach to the place of burial repelled the + profane, and as early, it is said, as the very beginning of the third + century, the catacombs were recognised as legal possessions of the + Church.<a id="noteref_883" name="noteref_883" href= + "#note_883"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">883</span></span></a> The + Roman legislators, however unfavourable to the formation of guilds or + associations, made an exception in favour of burial societies, or + associations of men subscribing a certain sum to ensure to each + member a decent burial in ground which belonged to the corporation. + The Church is believed to have availed itself of this privilege, and + to have attained, in this capacity, a legal existence. The tombs, + which were originally the properties of distinct families, became in + this manner an ecclesiastical domain, and the catacombs were, from + perhaps the first, made something more than places of burial.<a id= + "noteref_884" name="noteref_884" href="#note_884"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">884</span></span></a> The + chapels with which they abound, and which are of the smallest + dimensions and utterly unfit for general worship, were probably + mortuary chapels, and may have also been employed in the services + commemorating the martyrs, while the ordinary worship was probably at + first conducted in <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page454">[pg + 454]</span><a name="Pg454" id="Pg454" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the + private houses of the Christians. The decision of Alexander Severus, + which I have already noticed, is the earliest notice we possess of + the existence of buildings specially devoted to the Christian + services; but we cannot tell how long before this time they may have + existed in Rome.<a id="noteref_885" name="noteref_885" href= + "#note_885"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">885</span></span></a> In + serious persecution, however, they would doubtless have to be + abandoned; and, as a last resort, the catacombs proved a refuge from + the persecutors.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The reign of + Decius only lasted about two years, and before its close the + persecution had almost ceased.<a id="noteref_886" name="noteref_886" + href="#note_886"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">886</span></span></a> On the + accession of his son Gallus, in the last month of <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 251, there was for a + short time perfect peace; but Gallus resumed the persecution in the + spring of the following year, and although apparently not very + severe, or very general, it seems to have continued to his death, + which took place a year after.<a id="noteref_887" name="noteref_887" + href="#note_887"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">887</span></span></a> Two + Roman bishops, Cornelius, who had succeeded the martyred Fabianus, + and his successor Lucius, were at this time put to death.<a id= + "noteref_888" name="noteref_888" href="#note_888"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">888</span></span></a> + Valerian, who ascended the throne <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page455">[pg 455]</span><a name="Pg455" id="Pg455" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 254, at first not only + tolerated, but warmly patronised the Christians, and attracted so + many to his Court that his house, in the language of a contemporary, + appeared <span class="tei tei-q">“the Church of the + Lord.”</span><a id="noteref_889" name="noteref_889" href= + "#note_889"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">889</span></span></a> But + after rather more than four years his disposition changed. At the + persuasion, it is said, of an Egyptian magician, named Macrianus, he + signed in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 258 an edict of + persecution condemning Christian ecclesiastics and senators to death, + and other Christians to exile, or to the forfeiture of their + property, and prohibiting them from entering the catacombs.<a id= + "noteref_890" name="noteref_890" href="#note_890"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">890</span></span></a> A + sanguinary and general persecution ensued. Among the victims were + Sixtus, the Bishop of Rome, who perished in the catacombs,<a id= + "noteref_891" name="noteref_891" href="#note_891"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">891</span></span></a> and + Cyprian, who was exiled, and afterwards beheaded, and was the first + Bishop of Carthage who suffered martyrdom.<a id="noteref_892" name= + "noteref_892" href="#note_892"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">892</span></span></a> At + last, Valerian, having been captured by the Persians, Gallienus, in + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 260, ascended the + throne, and immediately proclaimed a perfect toleration of the + Christians.<a id="noteref_893" name="noteref_893" href= + "#note_893"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">893</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The period from + the accession of Decius, in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 249, to the accession + of Gallienus, in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 260, which I have now + very briefly noticed, was by far the most disastrous the Church had + yet endured. With the exception of about five years in the reigns of + Gallus and Valerian, the persecution was continuous, though it varied + much in its intensity and its range. During the first portion, if + measured, not by the number of deaths, but by the atrocity of the + tortures inflicted, it was probably as severe as any upon record. It + was subsequently directed chiefly against the leading clergy, and, as + we have seen, four Roman bishops perished. In addition to the + political reasons that inspired it, the popular fanaticism + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page456">[pg 456]</span><a name="Pg456" + id="Pg456" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> caused by great calamities, + which were ascribed to anger of the gods at the neglect of their + worship, had in this as in former periods a great influence. + Political disasters, which foreshadowed clearly the approaching + downfall of the Empire, were followed by fearful and general famines + and plagues. St. Cyprian, in a treatise addressed to one of the + persecutors who was most confident in ascribing these things to the + Christians, presents us with an extremely curious picture both of the + general despondency that had fallen upon the Empire, and of the + manner in which these calamities were regarded by the Christians. + Like most of his co-religionists, the saint was convinced that the + closing scene of the earth was at hand. The decrepitude of the world, + he said, had arrived, the forces of nature were almost exhausted, the + sun had no longer its old lustre, or the soil its old fertility, the + spring time had grown less lovely, and the autumn less bounteous, the + energy of man had decayed, and all things were moving rapidly to the + end. Famines and plagues were the precursors of the day of judgment. + They were sent to warn and punish a rebellious world, which, still + bowing down before idols, persecuted the believers in the truth. + <span class="tei tei-q">“So true is this, that the Christians are + never persecuted without the sky manifesting at once the Divine + displeasure.”</span> The conception of a converted Empire never + appears to have flashed across the mind of the saint;<a id= + "noteref_894" name="noteref_894" href="#note_894"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">894</span></span></a> the + only triumph he predicted for the Church was that of another world; + and to the threats of the persecutors he rejoined by fearful menaces. + <span class="tei tei-q">“A burning, scorching fire will for ever + torment those who are condemned; there will be no respite or end to + their torments. We shall through eternity contemplate in their + agonies those who for a short time contemplated us in tortures, and + for the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page457">[pg 457]</span><a name= + "Pg457" id="Pg457" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> brief pleasure which + the barbarity of our persecutors took in feasting their eyes upon an + inhuman spectacle, they will be themselves exposed as an eternal + spectacle of agony.”</span> As a last warning, calamity after + calamity broke upon the world, and, with the solemnity of one on whom + the shadow of death had already fallen, St. Cyprian adjured the + persecutors to repent and to be saved.<a id="noteref_895" name= + "noteref_895" href="#note_895"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">895</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The accession of + Gallienus introduced the Church to a new period of perfect peace, + which, with a single inconsiderable exception, continued for no less + than forty years. The exception was furnished by Aurelian, who during + nearly the whole of his reign had been exceedingly favourable to the + Christians, and had even been appealed to by the orthodox bishops, + who desired him to expel from Antioch a prelate they had + excommunicated for heresy,<a id="noteref_896" name="noteref_896" + href="#note_896"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">896</span></span></a> but + who, at the close of his reign, intended to persecute. He was + assassinated, however, according to one account, when he was just + about to sign the decrees; according to another, before they had been + sent through the provinces; and if any persecution actually took + place, it was altogether inconsiderable.<a id="noteref_897" name= + "noteref_897" href="#note_897"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">897</span></span></a> + Christianity, during all this time, was not only perfectly free, it + was greatly honoured. Christians were appointed governors of the + provinces, and were expressly exonerated from the duty of + sacrificing. The bishops were treated by the civil authorities with + profound respect. The palaces of the emperor were filled with + Christian servants, who were authorised freely to profess their + religion, and were greatly valued for their fidelity. The popular + prejudice seems to have been lulled to rest; and it has been noticed + that the rapid progress of the faith excited no tumult or hostility. + Spacious churches <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page458">[pg + 458]</span><a name="Pg458" id="Pg458" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + were erected in every quarter, and they could scarcely contain the + multitude of worshippers.<a id="noteref_898" name="noteref_898" href= + "#note_898"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">898</span></span></a> In Rome + itself, before the outburst of the Diocletian persecution, there were + no less than forty churches.<a id="noteref_899" name="noteref_899" + href="#note_899"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">899</span></span></a> The + Christians may still have been outnumbered by the Pagans; but when we + consider their organisation, their zeal, and their rapid progress, a + speedy triumph appeared inevitable.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But before that + triumph was achieved a last and a terrific ordeal was to be + undergone. Diocletian, whose name has been somewhat unjustly + associated with a persecution, the responsibility of which belongs + far more to his colleague Galerius, having left the Christians in + perfect peace for nearly eighteen years, suffered himself to be + persuaded to make one more effort to eradicate the foreign creed. + This emperor, who had risen by his merits from the humblest position, + exhibited in all the other actions of his reign a moderate, placable, + and conspicuously humane nature, and, although he greatly magnified + the Imperial authority, the simplicity of his private life, his + voluntary abdication, and, above all, his singularly noble conduct + during many years of retirement, displayed a rare magnanimity of + character. As a politician, he deserves, I think, to rank very high. + Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius had been too fascinated by the + traditions of the Republic, and by the austere teaching and + retrospective spirit of the Stoics, to realise the necessity of + adapting institutions to the wants of a luxurious and highly + civilised people, and they therefore had little permanent influence + upon the destinies of the Empire. But Diocletian invariably exhibited + in his legislation a far-seeing and comprehensive mind, well aware of + the condition of the society he ruled, and provident of distant + events. Perceiving that Roman corruption was incurable, he attempted + to regenerate <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page459">[pg + 459]</span><a name="Pg459" id="Pg459" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the + Empire by creating new centres of political life in the great and + comparatively unperverted capitals of the provinces; and Nicomedia, + which was his habitual residence, Carthage, Milan, and Ravenna, all + received abundant tokens of his favour. He swept away or disregarded + the obsolete and inefficient institutions of Republican liberty that + still remained, and indeed gave his government a somewhat Oriental + character; but, at the same time, by the bold, and, it must be + admitted, very perilous measure of dividing the Empire into four + sections, he abridged the power of each ruler, ensured the better + supervision and increased authority of the provinces, and devised the + first effectual check to those military revolts which had for some + time been threatening the Empire with anarchy. With the same + energetic statesmanship, we find him reorganising the whole system of + taxation, and attempting, less wisely, to regulate commercial + transactions. To such an emperor, the problem presented by the rapid + progress and the profoundly anti-national character of Christianity + must have been a matter of serious consideration, and the weaknesses + of his character were most unfavourable to the Church; for + Diocletian, with many noble qualities of heart and head, was yet + superstitious, tortuous, nervous, and vacillating, and was too + readily swayed by the rude and ferocious soldier, who was impetuously + inciting him against the Christians.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The extreme + passion which Galerius displayed on this subject is ascribed, in the + first instance, to the influence of his mother, who was ardently + devoted to the Pagan worship. He is himself painted in dark colours + by the Christian writers as a man of boundless and unbridled + sensuality, of an imperiousness that rose to fury at opposition, and + of a cruelty which had long passed the stage of callousness, and + become a fiendish delight, in the infliction and contemplation of + suffering.<a id="noteref_900" name="noteref_900" href= + "#note_900"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">900</span></span></a> His + strong attachment to Paganism made him at <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page460">[pg 460]</span><a name="Pg460" id="Pg460" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> length the avowed representative of his party, + which several causes had contributed to strengthen. The philosophy of + the Empire had by this time fully passed into its Neoplatonic and + Pythagorean phases, and was closely connected with religious + observances. Hierocles and Porphyry, who were among its most eminent + exponents, had both written books against Christianity, and the + Oriental religions fostered much fanaticism among the people. + Political interests united with superstition, for the Christians were + now a very formidable body in the State. Their interests were + supposed to be represented by the Cæsar Constantius Chlorus, and the + religion was either adopted, or at least warmly favoured, by the wife + and daughter of Diocletian (the latter of whom was married to + Galerius<a id="noteref_901" name="noteref_901" href= + "#note_901"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">901</span></span></a>), and + openly professed by some of the leading officials at the Court. A + magnificent church crowned the hill facing the palace of the emperor + at Nicomedia. The bishops were, in most cities, among the most active + and influential citizens, and their influence was not always + exercised for good. A few cases, in which an ill-considered zeal led + Christians to insult the Pagan worship, one or two instances of + Christians refusing to serve in the army, because they believed + military life repugnant to their creed, a scandalous relaxation of + morals, that had arisen during the long peace, and the fierce and + notorious discord displayed by the leaders of the Church, contributed + in different ways to accelerate the persecution.<a id="noteref_902" + name="noteref_902" href="#note_902"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">902</span></span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">For a considerable + time Diocletian resisted all the urgency of Galerius against the + Christians, and the only measure taken was the dismissal by the + latter sovereign of a number of Christian officers from the army. In + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 303, however, + Diocletian yielded to the entreaties of his colleague, and a fearful + persecution, which many circumstances conspired to stimulate, began. + The priests, in one of the public ceremonies, <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page461">[pg 461]</span><a name="Pg461" id="Pg461" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> had declared that the presence of + Christians prevented the entrails from showing the accustomed signs. + The oracle of Apollo, at Miletus, being consulted by Diocletian, + exhorted him to persecute the Christians. A fanatical Christian, who + avowed his deed, and expiated it by a fearful death, tore down the + first edict of persecution, and replaced it by a bitter taunt against + the emperor. Twice, after the outburst of the persecution, the palace + at Nicomedia, where Diocletian and Galerius were residing, was set on + fire, and the act was ascribed, not without probability, to a + Christian hand, as were also some slight disturbances that afterwards + arose in Syria.<a id="noteref_903" name="noteref_903" href= + "#note_903"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">903</span></span></a> Edict + after edict followed in rapid succession. The first ordered the + destruction of all Christian churches and of all Bibles, menaced with + death the Christians if they assembled in secret for Divine worship, + and deprived them of all civil rights. A second edict ordered all + ecclesiastics to be thrown into prison, while a third edict ordered + that these prisoners, and a fourth edict that all Christians, should + be compelled by torture to sacrifice. At first Diocletian refused to + permit their lives to be taken, but after the fire at Nicomedia this + restriction was removed. Many were burnt alive, and the tortures by + which the persecutors sought to shake their resolution were so + dreadful that even such a death seemed an act of mercy. The only + province of the Empire where the Christians were at peace was Gaul, + which had received its baptism of blood under Marcus Aurelius, but + was now governed by Constantius Chlorus, who protected them from + personal molestation, though he was compelled, in obedience to the + emperor, to destroy their churches. In Spain, which was also under + the government, but not under the direct inspection, of Constantius, + the persecution was moderate, but in all other parts of the Empire it + raged with <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page462">[pg + 462]</span><a name="Pg462" id="Pg462" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + fierceness till the abdication of Diocletian in 305. This event + almost immediately restored peace to the Western provinces,<a id= + "noteref_904" name="noteref_904" href="#note_904"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">904</span></span></a> but + greatly aggravated the misfortunes of the Eastern Christians, who + passed under the absolute rule of Galerius. Horrible, varied, and + prolonged tortures were employed to quell their fortitude, and their + final resistance was crowned by the most dreadful of all deaths, + roasting over a slow fire. It was not till <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 311, eight years after + the commencement of the general persecution, ten years after the + first measure against the Christians, that the Eastern persecution + ceased. Galerius, the arch-enemy of the Christians, was struck down + by a fearful disease. His body, it is said, became a mass of + loathsome and fœtid sores—a living corpse, devoured by countless + worms, and exhaling the odour of the charnel-house. He who had shed + so much innocent blood, shrank himself from a Roman death. In his + extreme anguish he appealed in turn to physician after physician, and + to temple after temple. At last he relented towards the Christians. + He issued a proclamation restoring them to liberty, permitting them + to rebuild their churches, and asking their prayers for his + recovery.<a id="noteref_905" name="noteref_905" href= + "#note_905"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">905</span></span></a> The era + of persecution now closed. One brief spasm, indeed, due to the Cæsar + Maximian, shot through the long afflicted Church of Asia Minor;<a id= + "noteref_906" name="noteref_906" href="#note_906"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">906</span></span></a> but it + was rapidly allayed. The accession of Constantine, the proclamation + of Milan, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 313, the defeat of + Licinius, and the conversion of <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page463">[pg 463]</span><a name="Pg463" id="Pg463" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> the conqueror, speedily followed, and + Christianity became the religion of the Empire.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Such, so far as we + can trace it, is the outline of the last and most terrible + persecution inflicted on the early Church. Unfortunately we can place + little reliance on any information we possess about the number of its + victims, the provocations that produced it, or the objects of its + authors. The ecclesiastical account of these matters is absolutely + unchecked by any Pagan statement, and it is derived almost + exclusively from the history of Eusebius, and from the treatise + <span class="tei tei-q">“On the Deaths of the Persecutors,”</span> + which is ascribed to Lactantius. Eusebius was a writer of great + learning, and of critical abilities not below the very low level of + his time, and he had personal knowledge of some of the events in + Palestine which he has recorded; but he had no pretensions whatever + to impartiality. He has frankly told us that his principle in writing + history was to conceal the facts that were injurious to the + reputation of the Church;<a id="noteref_907" name="noteref_907" href= + "#note_907"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">907</span></span></a> and + although his practice was sometimes better than his principle, the + portrait he has drawn of the saintly virtues of his patron + Constantine, which we are able to correct from other sources, + abundantly proves with how little scruple the courtly bishop could + stray into the paths of fiction. The treatise of Lactantius, which + has been well termed <span class="tei tei-q">“a party + pamphlet,”</span> is much more untrustworthy. It is a hymn of + exultation over the disastrous ends of the persecutors, and + especially of Galerius, written in a strain of the fiercest and most + passionate invective, and bearing on every page unequivocal signs of + inaccuracy and exaggeration. The whole history of the early + persecution was soon enveloped in a thick cloud of falsehood. A + notion, derived from prophecy, that ten great persecutions must + precede the day of judgment, at an early period stimulated + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page464">[pg 464]</span><a name="Pg464" + id="Pg464" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the imagination of the + Christians, who believed that day to be imminent; and it was natural + that as time rolled on men should magnify the sufferings that had + been endured, and that in credulous and uncritical ages a single real + incident should be often multiplied, diversified, and exaggerated in + many distinct narratives. Monstrous fictions, such as the crucifixion + of ten thousand Christians upon Mount Ararat under Trajan, the letter + of Tiberianus to Trajan, complaining that he was weary of ceaselessly + killing Christians in Palestine, and the Theban legion of six + thousand men, said to have been massacred by Maximilian, were boldly + propagated and readily believed.<a id="noteref_908" name= + "noteref_908" href="#note_908"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">908</span></span></a> The + virtue supposed to attach to the bones of martyrs, and the custom, + and, after a decree of the second Council of Nice, in the eighth + century, the obligation, of placing saintly remains under every + altar, led to an immense multiplication of spurious relics, and a + corresponding demand for legends. Almost every hamlet soon required a + patron martyr and a local legend, which the nearest monastery was + usually ready to supply. The monks occupied their time in composing + and disseminating innumerable acts of martyrs, which purported to be + strictly historical, but which were, in fact, deliberate, though it + was thought edifying, forgeries; and pictures of hideous tortures, + enlivened by fantastic miracles, soon became the favourite popular + literature. To discriminate accurately the genuine acts of martyrs + from the immense mass that were fabricated by the monks, has been + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page465">[pg 465]</span><a name="Pg465" + id="Pg465" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> attempted by Ruinart, but is + perhaps impossible. Modern criticism has, however, done much to + reduce the ancient persecutions to their true dimensions. The famous + essay of Dodwell, which appeared towards the close of the seventeenth + century, though written, I think, a little in the spirit of a special + pleader, and not free from its own exaggerations, has had a great and + abiding influence upon ecclesiastical history, and the still more + famous chapter which Gibbon devoted to the subject rendered the + conclusions of Dodwell familiar to the world.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Notwithstanding + the great knowledge and critical acumen displayed in this chapter, + few persons, I imagine, can rise from its perusal without a feeling + both of repulsion and dissatisfaction. The complete absence of all + sympathy with the heroic courage manifested by the martyrs, and the + frigid and, in truth, most unphilosophical severity with which the + historian has weighed the words and actions of men engaged in the + agonies of a deadly struggle, must repel every generous nature, while + the persistence with which he estimates persecutions by the number of + deaths rather than by the amount of suffering, diverts the mind from + the really distinctive atrocities of the Pagan persecutions. He has + observed, that while the anger of the persecutors was at all times + especially directed against the bishops, we know from Eusebius that + only nine bishops were put to death in the entire Diocletian + persecution, and that the particular enumeration, which the historian + made on the spot, of all the martyrs who perished during this + persecution in Palestine, which was under the government of Galerius, + and was therefore exposed to the full fury of the storm, shows the + entire number to have been ninety-two. Starting from this fact, + Gibbon, by a well-known process of calculation, has estimated the + probable number of martyrs in the whole Empire, during the Diocletian + persecution, at about two thousand, which happens to be the number of + persons burnt by the Spanish Inquisition during the <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page466">[pg 466]</span><a name="Pg466" id="Pg466" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> presidency of Torquemada alone,<a id= + "noteref_909" name="noteref_909" href="#note_909"><span class= + "tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">909</span></span></a> and + about one twenty-fifth of the number who are said to have suffered + for their religion in the Netherlands in the reign of Charles + V.<a id="noteref_910" name="noteref_910" href= + "#note_910"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">910</span></span></a> But + although, if measured by the number of martyrs, the persecutions + inflicted by Pagans were less terrible than those inflicted by + Christians, there is one aspect in which the former appear by far the + more atrocious, and a truthful historian should suffer no false + delicacy to prevent him from unflinchingly stating it. The conduct of + the provincial governors, even when they were compelled by the + Imperial edicts to persecute, was often conspicuously merciful. The + Christian records contain several examples of rulers who refused to + search out the Christians, who discountenanced or even punished their + accusers, who suggested ingenious evasions of the law, who tried by + earnest and patient kindness to overcome what they regarded as insane + obstinacy, and who, when their efforts had proved vain, mitigated by + their own authority the sentence they were compelled to pronounce. It + was only on very rare occasions that any, except conspicuous leaders + of the Church, and sometimes persons of a servile condition, were in + danger; the time that was conceded them before their trials gave them + great facilities for escaping, and, even when condemned, Christian + women had usually full permission to visit them in their prisons, and + to console them by their charity. But, on the other hand, Christian + writings, which it is impossible to dispute, continually record + barbarities inflicted upon converts, so ghastly and so hideous that + the worst horrors of the Inquisition <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page467">[pg 467]</span><a name="Pg467" id="Pg467" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> pale before them. It is, indeed, true that + burning heretics by a slow fire was one of the accomplishments of the + Inquisitors, and that they were among the most consummate masters of + torture of their age. It is true that in one Catholic country they + introduced the atrocious custom of making the spectacle of men burnt + alive for their religious opinions an element in the public + festivities.<a id="noteref_911" name="noteref_911" href= + "#note_911"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">911</span></span></a> It is + true, too, that the immense majority of the acts of the martyrs are + the transparent forgeries of lying monks; but it is also true that + among the authentic records of Pagan persecutions there are histories + which display, perhaps more vividly than any other, both the depth of + cruelty to which human nature may sink, and the heroism of resistance + it may attain. There was a time when it was the just boast of the + Romans, that no refinements of cruelty, no prolongations of torture, + were admitted in their stern but simple penal code. But all this was + changed. Those hateful games, which made the spectacle of human + suffering and death the delight of all classes, had spread their + brutalising influence wherever the Roman name was known, had rendered + millions absolutely indifferent to the sight of human suffering, had + produced in many, in the very centre of an advanced civilisation, a + relish and a passion for torture, a rapture and an exultation in + watching the spasms of extreme agony, such as an African or an + American savage alone can equal. The most horrible recorded instances + of torture were usually inflicted, either by the populace, or in + their presence, in the arena.<a id="noteref_912" name="noteref_912" + href="#note_912"><span class="tei tei-noteref"><span style= + "font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">912</span></span></a> We read + of Christians bound in chairs of red-hot iron, while the stench of + their half-consumed flesh rose in a suffocating cloud to heaven; of + others who were torn to the very bone by shells, or hooks of iron; + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page468">[pg 468]</span><a name="Pg468" + id="Pg468" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of holy virgins given over to + the lust of the gladiator, or to the mercies of the pander; of two + hundred and twenty-seven converts sent on one occasion to the mines, + each with the sinews of one leg severed by a red-hot iron, and with + an eye scooped from its socket; of fires so slow that the victims + writhed for hours in their agonies; of bodies torn limb from limb, or + sprinkled with burning lead; of mingled salt and vinegar poured over + the flesh that was bleeding from the rack; of tortures prolonged and + varied through entire days. For the love of their Divine Master, for + the cause they believed to be true, men, and even weak girls, endured + these things without flinching, when one word would have freed them + from their sufferings. No opinion we may form of the proceedings of + priests in a later age should impair the reverence with which we bend + before the martyr's tomb.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr class="doublepage" /> + + <div class="tei tei-back" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 6.00em"> + <div id="footnotes" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="toc11" id="toc11"></a> <a name="pdf12" id="pdf12"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Footnotes</span></h1> + + <dl class="tei tei-list-footnotes"> + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_1" name="note_1" href= + "#noteref_1">1.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The opinions of Hume on moral + questions are grossly misrepresented by many writers, who persist + in describing them as substantially identical with those of + Bentham. How far Hume was from denying the existence of a moral + sense, the following passages will show:—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“The final sentence, it is probable, which pronounces + characters and actions amiable or odious, praiseworthy or blameable + ... depends on some internal sense or feeling which nature has made + universal in the whole species.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Enquiry Concerning + Morals</span></span>, § 1. <span class="tei tei-q">“The hypothesis + we embrace ... defines virtue to be whatever mental action or + quality gives to the spectator the pleasing sentiment of + approbation.”</span>—Ibid. Append. I. <span class="tei tei-q">“The + crime or immorality is no particular fact or relation which can be + the object of the understanding, but arises entirely from the + sentiment of disapprobation, which, by the structure of human + nature, we unavoidably feel on the apprehension of barbarity or + treachery.”</span>—Ibid. <span class="tei tei-q">“Reason instructs + us in the several tendencies of actions, and humanity makes a + distinction in favour of those which are useful and + beneficial.”</span>—Ibid. <span class="tei tei-q">“As virtue is an + end, and is desirable on its own account without fee or reward, + merely for the immediate satisfaction it conveys, it is requisite + that there should be some sentiment which it touches, some internal + taste or feeling, or whatever you please to call it, which + distinguishes moral good and evil, and which embraces the one and + rejects the other.”</span>—Ibid. The two writers to whom Hume was + most indebted were Hutcheson and Butler. In some interesting + letters to the former (Burton's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Hume</span></span>, vol. i.), he discusses the points on which he + differed from them.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_2" name="note_2" href= + "#noteref_2">2.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“The chief + thing therefore which lawgivers and other wise men that have + laboured for the establishment of society have endeavoured, has + been to make the people they were to govern believe that it was + more beneficial for everybody to conquer than to indulge his + appetites, and much better to mind the public than what seemed his + private interest ... observing that none were either so savage as + not to be charmed with praise, or so despicable as patiently to + bear contempt, they justly concluded that flattery must be the most + powerful argument that could be used to human creatures. Making use + of this bewitching engine, they extolled the excellency of our + nature above other animals ... by the help of which we were capable + of performing the most noble achievements. Having, by this artful + flattery, insinuated themselves into the hearts of men, they began + to instruct them in the notions of honour and shame, + &c.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Enquiry into the Origin of Moral + Virtue.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_3" name="note_3" href= + "#noteref_3">3.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“I conceive + that when a man deliberates whether he shall do a thing or not do + it, he does nothing else but consider whether it be better for + himself to do it or not to do it.”</span>—Hobbes <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On Liberty and + Necessity.</span></span> <span class="tei tei-q">“Good and evil are + names that signify our appetites and aversions.”</span>—Ibid. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Leviathan</span></span>, part i. ch. xvi. + <span class="tei tei-q">“Obligation is the necessity of doing or + omitting any action in order to be happy.”</span>—Gay's + dissertation prefixed to King's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Origin of + Evil</span></span>, p. 36. <span class="tei tei-q">“The only reason + or motive by which individuals can possibly be induced to the + practice of virtue, must be the feeling immediate or the prospect + of future private happiness.”</span>—Brown <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On the + Characteristics</span></span>, p. 159. <span class="tei tei-q">“En + tout temps, en tout lieu, tant en matière de morale qu'en matière + d'esprit, c'est l'intérêt personnel qui dicte le jugement des + particuliers, et l'intérêt général qui dicte celui des nations.... + Tout homme ne prend dans ses jugements conseil que de son + intérêt.”</span>—Helvétius <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De l'Esprit</span></span>, discours ii. + <span class="tei tei-q">“Nature has placed mankind under the + governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for + them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to + determine what we shall do.... The principle of utility recognises + this subjection, and assumes it for the foundation of that system, + the object of which is to rear the fabric of felicity by the hands + of reason and of law. Systems which attempt to question it, deal in + sounds instead of sense, in caprice instead of reason, in darkness + instead of light.”</span>—Bentham's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Principles of Morals + and Legislation</span></span>, ch. i. <span class="tei tei-q">“By + the principle of utility is meant that principle which approves or + disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency + which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of + the party whose interest is in question.”</span>—Ibid. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Je regarde l'amour éclairé de nous-mêmes comme le + principe de tout sacrifice moral.”</span>—D'Alembert quoted by D. + Stewart, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Active and Moral Powers</span></span>, vol. i. + p. 220.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_4" name="note_4" href= + "#noteref_4">4.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Pleasure is + in itself a good; nay, even setting aside immunity from pain, the + only good; pain is in itself an evil, and, indeed, without + exception, the only evil, or else the words good and evil have no + meaning.”</span>—Bentham's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Principles of Morals and + Legislation</span></span>, ch. x.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_5" name="note_5" href= + "#noteref_5">5.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Good and evil + are nothing but pleasure and pain, or that which occasions or + procures pleasure or pain to us. Moral good and evil then is only + the conformity or disagreement of our voluntary actions to some law + whereby good or evil is drawn on us by the will and power of the + law maker, which good and evil, pleasure or pain, attending our + observance or breach of the law by the decree of the law maker, is + that we call reward or punishment.”</span>—Locke's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Essay</span></span>, + book ii. ch. xxviii. <span class="tei tei-q">“Take away pleasures + and pains, not only happiness, but justice, and duty, and + obligation, and virtue, all of which have been so elaborately held + up to view as independent of them, are so many empty + sounds.”</span>—Bentham's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Springs of Action</span></span>, ch. i. § + 15.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_6" name="note_6" href= + "#noteref_6">6.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Il lui est + aussi impossible d'aimer le bien pour le bien, que d'aimer le mal + pour le mal.”</span>—Helvétius <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + l'Esprit</span></span>, disc. ii. ch. v.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_7" name="note_7" href= + "#noteref_7">7.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Even the + goodness which we apprehend in God Almighty, is his goodness to + us.”</span>—Hobbes <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">On Human Nature</span></span>, ch. vii. § 3. + So Waterland, <span class="tei tei-q">“To love God is in effect the + same thing as to love happiness, eternal happiness; and the love of + happiness is still the love of ourselves.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Third Sermon on + Self-love.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_8" name="note_8" href= + "#noteref_8">8.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Reverence is + the conception we have concerning another, that he hath the power + to do unto us both good and hurt, but not the will to do us + hurt.”</span>—Hobbes <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">On Human Nature</span></span>, ch. viii. § + 7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_9" name="note_9" href= + "#noteref_9">9.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“The pleasures + of piety are the pleasures that accompany the belief of a man's + being in the acquisition, or in possession of the goodwill or + favour of the Supreme Being; and as a fruit of it, of his being in + the way of enjoying pleasures to be received by God's special + appointment either in this life or in a life to + come.”</span>—Bentham's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Principles of Morals and + Legislation</span></span>, ch. v. <span class="tei tei-q">“The + pains of piety are the pains that accompany the belief of a man's + being obnoxious to the displeasure of the Supreme Being, and in + consequence to certain pains to be inflicted by His especial + appointment, either in this life or in a life to come. These may be + also called the pains of religion.”</span>—Ibid.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_10" name="note_10" href= + "#noteref_10">10.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“There can be + no greater argument to a man of his own power, than to find himself + able not only to accomplish his own desires, but also to assist + other men in theirs; and this is that conception wherein consisteth + charity.”</span>—Hobbes <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">On Hum. Nat.</span></span> ch. ix. § 17. + <span class="tei tei-q">“No man giveth but with intention of good + to himself, because gift is voluntary; and of all voluntary acts, + the object to every man is his own good.”</span>—Hobbes' + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Leviathan</span></span>, part i. ch. xv. + <span class="tei tei-q">“Dream not that men will move their little + finger to serve you, unless their advantage in so doing be obvious + to them. Men never did so, and never will while human nature is + made of its present materials.”</span>—Bentham's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Deontology</span></span>, vol. ii. p. + 133.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_11" name="note_11" href= + "#noteref_11">11.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Pity is + imagination or fiction of future calamity to ourselves, proceeding + from the sense of another man's calamity. But when it lighteth on + such as we think have not deserved the same, the compassion is + greater, because there then appeareth more probability that the + same may happen to us; for the evil that happeneth to an innocent + man may happen to every man.”</span>—Hobbes <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On Hum. + Nat.</span></span> ch. ix. § 10. <span class="tei tei-q">“La pitié + est souvent un sentiment de nos propres maux dans les maux + d'autrui. C'est une habile prévoyance des malheurs où nous pouvons + tomber. Nous donnons des secours aux autres pour les engager à nous + en donner en de semblables occasions, et ces services que nous leur + rendons sont, à proprement parler, des biens que nous nous faisons + à nous-mêmes par avance.”</span>—La Rochefoucauld, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Maximes</span></span>, 264. Butler has + remarked that if Hobbes' account were true, the most fearful would + be the most compassionate nature; but this is perhaps not quite + just, for Hobbes' notion of pity implies the union of two not + absolutely identical, though nearly allied, influences, timidity + and imagination. The theory of Adam Smith, though closely connected + with, differs totally in consequences from that of Hobbes on this + point. He says, <span class="tei tei-q">“When I condole with you + for the loss of your son, in order to enter into your grief, I do + not consider what I, a person of such a character and profession, + should suffer if I had a son, and if that son should die—I consider + what I should suffer if I was really you. I not only change + circumstances with you, but I change persons and characters. My + grief, therefore, is entirely upon your account.... A man may + sympathise with a woman in child-bed, though it is impossible he + should conceive himself suffering her pains in his own proper + person and character.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Moral Sentiments</span></span>, part vii. ch. + i. §3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_12" name="note_12" href= + "#noteref_12">12.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Ce que les + hommes ont nommé amitié n'est qu'une société, qu'un ménagement + réciproque d'intérêts et qu'un échange de bons offices. Ce n'est + enfin qu'un commerce où l'amour-propre se propose toujours quelque + chose à gagner.”</span>—La Rochefoucauld, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Max.</span></span> + 83. See this idea developed at large in Helvétius.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_13" name="note_13" href= + "#noteref_13">13.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“La science de + la morale n'est autre chose que la science même de la + législation.”</span>—Helvétius <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + l'Esprit</span></span>, ii. 17.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_14" name="note_14" href= + "#noteref_14">14.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This doctrine is expounded at length + in all the moral works of Hobbes and his school. The following + passage is a fair specimen of their meaning:—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“Moral philosophy is nothing else but the science of + what is good and evil in the conversation and society of mankind. + Good and evil are names that signify our appetites and aversions, + which in different tempers, customs, and doctrines of men are + different ... from whence arise disputes, controversies, and at + last war. And therefore, so long as man is in this condition of + mere nature (which is a condition of war), his private appetite is + the measure of good and evil. And consequently all men agree in + this, that peace is good, and therefore also that the ways or means + of peace, (which, as I have showed before) are justice, gratitude, + modesty, equity, mercy, and the rest of the laws of nature are good + ... and their contrary vices evil.”</span>—Hobbes' <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Leviathan</span></span>, part i. ch. xvi. See, + too, a striking passage in Bentham's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Deontology</span></span>, vol. ii. p. + 132.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_15" name="note_15" href= + "#noteref_15">15.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">As an ingenious writer in the + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Saturday + Review</span></span> (Aug. 10, 1867) expresses it: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Chastity is merely a social law created to encourage + the alliances that most promote the permanent welfare of the race, + and to maintain woman in a social position which it is thought + advisable she should hold.”</span> See, too, on this view, Hume's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Inquiry + concerning Morals</span></span>, § 4, and also <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">note</span></span> + x.: <span class="tei tei-q">“To what other purpose do all the ideas + of chastity and modesty serve? Nisi utile est quod facimus, frustra + est gloria.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_16" name="note_16" href= + "#noteref_16">16.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“All pleasure + is necessarily self-regarding, for it is impossible to have any + feelings out of our own mind. But there are modes of delight that + bring also satisfaction to others, from the round that they take in + their course. Such are the pleasures of benevolence. Others imply + no participation by any second party, as, for example, eating, + drinking, bodily warmth, property, and power; while a third class + are fed by the pains and privations of fellow-beings, as the + delights of sport and tyranny. The condemnatory phrase, + selfishness, applies with especial emphasis to the last-mentioned + class, and, in a qualified degree, to the second group; while such + terms as unselfishness, disinterestedness, self-devotion, are + applied to the vicarious position wherein we seek our own + satisfaction in that of others.”</span>—Bain <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On the Emotions and + Will</span></span>, p. 113.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_17" name="note_17" href= + "#noteref_17">17.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Vice may be + defined to be a miscalculation of chances, a mistake in estimating + the value of pleasures and pains. It is false moral + arithmetic.”</span>—Bentham's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Deontology</span></span>, vol. i. p. 131.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_18" name="note_18" href= + "#noteref_18">18.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“La + récompense, la punition, la gloire et l'infamie soumises à ses + volontés sont quatre espèces de divinités avec lesquelles le + législateur peut toujours opérer le bien public et créer des hommes + illustres en tous les genres. Toute l'étude des moralistes consiste + à déterminer l'usage qu'on doit faire de ces récompenses et de ces + punitions et les secours qu'on peut tirer pour lier l'intérêt + personnel à l'intérêt général.”</span>—Helvétius <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + l'Esprit</span></span>, ii. 22. <span class="tei tei-q">“La justice + de nos jugements et de nos actions n'est jamais que la rencontre + heureuse de notre intérêt avec l'intérêt public.”</span>—Ibid. ii. + 7. <span class="tei tei-q">“To prove that the immoral action is a + miscalculation of self-interest, to show how erroneous an estimate + the vicious man makes of pains and pleasures, is the purpose of the + intelligent moralist. Unless he can do this he does nothing; for, + as has been stated above, for a man not to pursue what he deems + likely to produce to him the greatest sum of enjoyment, is, in the + very nature of things, impossible.”</span>—Bentham's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Deontology</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_19" name="note_19" href= + "#noteref_19">19.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“If the effect + of virtue were to prevent or destroy more pleasure than it + produced, or to produce more pain than it prevented, its more + appropriate name would be wickedness and folly; wickedness as it + affected others, folly as respected him who practised + it.”</span>—Bentham's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Deontology</span></span>, vol. i. p. 142. + <span class="tei tei-q">“Weigh pains, weigh pleasures, and as the + balance stands will stand the question of right and + wrong.”</span>—Ibid. vol. i. p. 137. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Moralis philosophiæ caput est, Faustine fili, ut scias + quibus ad beatam vitam perveniri rationibus + possit.”</span>—Apuleius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ad Doct. Platonis</span></span>, ii. + <span class="tei tei-q">“Atque ipsa utilitas, justi prope mater et + æqui.”</span>—Horace, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> I. iii. 98.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_20" name="note_20" href= + "#noteref_20">20.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“We can be + obliged to nothing but what we ourselves are to gain or lose + something by; for nothing else can be <span class= + "tei tei-q">‘violent motive’</span> to us. As we should not be + obliged to obey the laws or the magistrate unless rewards or + punishments, pleasure or pain, somehow or other, depended upon our + obedience; so neither should we, without the same reason, be + obliged to do what is right, to practise virtue, or to obey the + commands of God.”</span>—Paley's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Moral + Philosophy</span></span>, book ii. ch. ii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_21" name="note_21" href= + "#noteref_21">21.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Gassendi <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Philosophiæ Epicuri + Syntagma</span></span>. These four canons are a skilful + condensation of the argument of Torquatus in Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Fin.</span></span> + i. 2. See, too, a very striking letter by Epicurus himself, given + in his life by Diogenes Laërtius.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_22" name="note_22" href= + "#noteref_22">22.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Sanus igitur + non est, qui nulla spe majore proposita, iis bonis quibus cæteri + utuntur in vita, labores et cruciatus et miserias anteponat.... Non + aliter his bonis præsentibus abstinendum est quam si sint aliqua + majora, propter quæ tanti sit et voluptates omittere et mala omnia + sustinere.”</span>—Lactantius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Div. + Inst.</span></span> vi. 9. Macaulay, in some youthful essays + against the Utilitarian theory (which he characteristically + described as <span class="tei tei-q">“Not much more laughable than + phrenology, and immeasurably more humane than + cock-fighting”</span>), maintains the theological form of + selfishness in very strong terms. <span class="tei tei-q">“What + proposition is there respecting human nature which is absolutely + and universally true? We know of only one, and that is not only + true but identical, that men always act from + self-interest.”</span>—Review of Mill's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Essay on + Government</span></span>. <span class="tei tei-q">“Of this we may + be sure, that the words <span class="tei tei-q">‘greatest + happiness’</span> will never in any man's mouth mean more than the + greatest happiness of others, which is consistent with what he + thinks his own.... This direction (Do as you would be done by) + would be utterly unmeaning, as it actually is in Mr. Bentham's + philosophy, unless it were accompanied by a sanction. In the + Christian scheme accordingly it is accompanied by a sanction of + immense force. To a man whose greatest happiness in this world is + inconsistent with the greatest happiness of the greatest number, is + held out the prospect of an infinite happiness hereafter, from + which he excludes himself by wronging his fellow-creatures + here.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Answer to the Westminster Review's Defence of + Mill.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_23" name="note_23" href= + "#noteref_23">23.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“All virtue + and piety are thus resolvable into a principle of self-love. It is + what Scripture itself resolves them into by founding them upon + faith in God's promises, and hope in things unseen. In this way it + may be rightly said that there is no such thing as disinterested + virtue. It is with reference to ourselves and for our own sakes + that we love even God Himself.”</span>—Waterland, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Third Sermon on + Self-love</span></span>. <span class="tei tei-q">“To risk the + happiness of the whole duration of our being in any case whatever, + were it possible, would be foolish.”</span>—Robert Hall's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sermon on + Modern Infidelity</span></span>. <span class="tei tei-q">“In the + moral system the means are virtuous practice; the end, + happiness.”</span>— Warburton's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Divine + Legation</span></span>, book ii. Appendix.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_24" name="note_24" href= + "#noteref_24">24.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“There is + always understood to be a difference between an act of prudence and + an act of duty. Thus, if I distrusted a man who owed me a sum of + money, I should reckon it an act of prudence to get another person + bound with him; but I should hardly call it an act of duty.... Now + in what, you will ask, does the difference consist, inasmuch as, + according to our account of the matter, both in the one case and + the other, in acts of duty as well as acts of prudence, we consider + solely what we ourselves shall gain or lose by the act? The + difference, and the only difference, is this: that in the one case + we consider what we shall gain or lose in the present world; in the + other case, we consider also what we shall gain or lose in the + world to come.”</span>—Paley's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Moral + Philosophy</span></span>, ii. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_25" name="note_25" href= + "#noteref_25">25.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Hence we may + see the weakness and mistake of those falsely religious ... who are + scandalised at our being determined to the pursuit of virtue + through any degree of regard to its happy consequences in this + life.... For it is evident that the religious motive is precisely + of the same kind, only stronger, as the happiness expected is + greater and more lasting.”</span>—Brown's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Essays on the + Characteristics</span></span>, p. 220.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_26" name="note_26" href= + "#noteref_26">26.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“If a + Christian, who has the view of happiness and misery in another + life, be asked why a man must keep his word, he will give this as a + reason, because God, who has the power of eternal life and death, + requires it of us. But if an Hobbist be asked why, he will answer, + because the public requires it, and the Leviathan will punish you + if you do not. And if one of the old heathen philosophers had been + asked, he would have answered, because it was dishonest, below the + dignity of man, and opposite to virtue, the highest perfection of + human nature, to do otherwise.”</span>—Locke's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Essay</span></span>, + i. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_27" name="note_27" href= + "#noteref_27">27.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Thus Paley remarks that—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“The Christian religion hath not ascertained the + precise quantity of virtue necessary to salvation,”</span> and he + then proceeds to urge the probability of graduated scales of + rewards and punishments. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Moral Philosophy</span></span>, book i. ch. + vii.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_28" name="note_28" href= + "#noteref_28">28.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This view was developed by Locke + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Essay on + the Human Understanding</span></span>, book ii. ch. xxi.) Pascal, + in a well-known passage, applied the same argument to Christianity, + urging that the rewards and punishments it promises are so great, + that it is the part of a wise man to embrace the creed, even though + he believes it improbable, if there be but a possibility in its + favour.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_29" name="note_29" href= + "#noteref_29">29.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cudworth, in his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Immutable + Morals</span></span>, has collected the names of a number of the + schoolmen who held this view. See, too, an interesting note in Miss + Cobbe's very learned <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Essay on Intuitive Morals</span></span>, pp. + 18, 19.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_30" name="note_30" href= + "#noteref_30">30.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">E.g. Soame Jenyns, Dr. Johnson, + Crusius, Pascal, Paley, and Austin. Warburton is generally quoted + in the list, but not I think quite fairly. See his theory, which is + rather complicated (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Divine Legation</span></span>, i. 4). + Waterland appears to have held this view, and also Condillac. See a + very remarkable chapter on morals, in his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Traité des + Animaux</span></span>, part ii. ch. vii. Closely connected with + this doctrine is the notion that the morality of God is generically + different from the morality of men, which having been held with + more or less distinctness by many theologians (Archbishop King + being perhaps the most prominent), has found in our own day an able + defender in Dr. Mansel. Much information on the history of this + doctrine will be found in Dr. Mansel's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Second + Letter</span></span> to Professor Goldwin Smith (Oxford, + 1862).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_31" name="note_31" href= + "#noteref_31">31.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Leibnitz noticed the frequency with + which Supralapsarian Calvinists adopt this doctrine. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Théodicée</span></span>, part ii. § 176.) + Archbishop Whately, who from his connection with the Irish Clergy + had admirable opportunities of studying the tendencies of + Calvinism, makes a similar remark as the result of his own + experience. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Whately's Life</span></span>, vol. ii. p. + 339.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_32" name="note_32" href= + "#noteref_32">32.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“God designs + the happiness of all His sentient creatures.... Knowing the + tendencies of our actions, and knowing His benevolent purpose, we + know His tacit commands.”</span>—Austin's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Lectures on + Jurisprudence</span></span>, vol. i. p. 31. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“The commands which He has revealed we must gather from + the terms wherein they are promulgated. The commands which He has + not revealed we must construe by the principle of + utility.”</span>—Ibid. p. 96. So Paley's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Moral + Philosophy</span></span>, book ii. ch. iv. v.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_33" name="note_33" href= + "#noteref_33">33.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Paley's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Moral + Philosophy</span></span>, book i. ch. vii. The question of the + disinterestedness of the love we should bear to God was agitated in + the Catholic Church, Bossuet taking the selfish, and Fénelon the + unselfish side. The opinions of Fénelon and Molinos on the subject + were authoritatively condemned. In England, the less dogmatic + character of the national faith, and also the fact that the great + anti-Christian writer, Hobbes, was the advocate of extreme + selfishness in morals, had, I think, a favourable influence upon + the ethics of the church. Hobbes gave the first great impulse to + moral philosophy in England, and his opponents were naturally + impelled to an unselfish theory. Bishop Cumberland led the way, + resolving virtue (like Hutcheson) into benevolence. The majority of + divines, however, till the present century, have, I think, been on + the selfish side.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_34" name="note_34" href= + "#noteref_34">34.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Moral Philosophy</span></span>, ii. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_35" name="note_35" href= + "#noteref_35">35.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Essay on the Human + Understanding</span></span>, ii. 28.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_36" name="note_36" href= + "#noteref_36">36.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Principles of Morals and + Legislation</span></span>, ch. iii. Mr. Mill observes that, + <span class="tei tei-q">“Bentham's idea of the world is that of a + collection of persons pursuing each his separate interest or + pleasure, and the prevention of whom from jostling one another more + than is unavoidable, may be attempted by hopes and fears derived + from three sources—the law, religion, and public opinion. To these + three powers, considered as binding human conduct, he gave the name + of sanctions; the political sanction operating by the rewards and + penalties of the law; the religious sanction by those expected from + the ruler of the universe; and the popular, which he + characteristically calls also the moral sanction, operating through + the pains and pleasures arising from the favour or disfavour of our + fellow-creatures.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dissertations</span></span>, vol. i. pp. + 362-363.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_37" name="note_37" href= + "#noteref_37">37.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Hume on this, as on most other points, + was emphatically opposed to the school of Hobbes, and even declared + that no one could honestly and in good faith deny the reality of an + unselfish element in man. Following in the steps of Butler, he + explained it in the following passage:—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“Hunger and thirst have eating and drinking for their + end, and from the gratification of these primary appetites arises a + pleasure which may become the object of another species of desire + or inclination that is secondary and interested. In the same manner + there are mental passions by which we are impelled immediately to + seek particular objects, such as fame or power or vengeance, + without any regard to interest, and when these objects are attained + a pleasing enjoyment ensues.... Now where is the difficulty of + conceiving that this may likewise be the case with benevolence and + friendship, and that from the original frame of our temper we may + feel a desire of another's happiness or good, which by means of + that affection becomes our own good, and is afterwards pursued, + from the combined motives of benevolence and + self-enjoyment?”</span>—Hume's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Enquiry concerning + Morals</span></span>, Appendix II. Compare Butler, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“If there be any appetite or any inward principle + besides self-love, why may there not be an affection towards the + good of our fellow-creatures, and delight from that affection's + being gratified and uneasiness from things going contrary to + it?”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Sermon on Compassion.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_38" name="note_38" href= + "#noteref_38">38.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“By + sympathetic sensibility is to be understood the propensity that a + man has to derive pleasure from the happiness, and pain from the + unhappiness, of other sensitive beings.”</span>—Bentham's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Principles of Morals and + Legislation</span></span>, ch. vi. <span class="tei tei-q">“The + sense of sympathy is universal. Perhaps there never existed a human + being who had reached full age without the experience of pleasure + at another's pleasure, of uneasiness at another's pain.... + Community of interests, similarity of opinion, are sources from + whence it springs.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Deontology</span></span>, vol. i. pp. + 169-170.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_39" name="note_39" href= + "#noteref_39">39.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“The idea of + the pain of another is naturally painful. The idea of the pleasure + of another is naturally pleasurable.... In this, the unselfish part + of our nature, lies a foundation, even independently of inculcation + from without, for the generation of moral feelings”</span>—Mill's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dissertations</span></span>, vol. i. p. 137. + See, too, Bain's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Emotions and the Will</span></span>, pp. 289, + 313; and especially Austin's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Lectures on Jurisprudence</span></span>. The + first volume of this brilliant work contains, I think without + exception, the best modern statement of the utilitarian theory in + its most plausible form—a statement equally remarkable for its + ability, its candour, and its uniform courtesy to opponents.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_40" name="note_40" href= + "#noteref_40">40.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a collection of passages from + Aristotle, bearing on the subject, in Mackintosh's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dissertation</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_41" name="note_41" href= + "#noteref_41">41.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Finibus</span></span>, i. 5. This view is adopted in Tucker's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Light of + Nature</span></span> (ed. 1842), vol. i. p. 167. See, too, Mill's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Analysis + of the Human Mind</span></span>, vol. ii. p. 174.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_42" name="note_42" href= + "#noteref_42">42.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Essay</span></span>, book ii. ch. xxxiii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_43" name="note_43" href= + "#noteref_43">43.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Hutcheson <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On the + Passions</span></span>, § 1. The <span class="tei tei-q">“secondary + desires”</span> of Hutcheson are closely related to the + <span class="tei tei-q">“reflex affections”</span> of Shaftesbury. + <span class="tei tei-q">“Not only the outward beings which offer + themselves to the sense are the objects of the affection; but the + very actions themselves, and the affections of pity, kindness, + gratitude, and their contraries, being brought into the mind by + reflection, become objects. So that by means of this reflected + sense, there arises another kind of affection towards those very + affections themselves.”</span>—Shaftesbury's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Enquiry concerning + Virtue</span></span>, book i. part ii. § 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_44" name="note_44" href= + "#noteref_44">44.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the preface to Hartley + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On + Man</span></span>. Gay's essay is prefixed to Law's translation of + Archbishop King <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">On the Origin of Evil</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_45" name="note_45" href= + "#noteref_45">45.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“The case is + this. We first perceive or imagine some real good; i.e. fitness to + promote our happiness in those things which we love or approve + of.... Hence those things and pleasures are so tied together and + associated in our minds, that one cannot present itself, but the + other will also occur. And the association remains even after that + which at first gave them the connection is quite forgotten, or + perhaps does not exist, but the contrary.”</span>—Gay's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Essay</span></span>, p. lii. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“All affections whatsoever are finally resolvable into + reason, pointing out private happiness, and are conversant only + about things apprehended to be means tending to this end; and + whenever this end is not perceived, they are to be accounted for + from the association of ideas, and may properly enough be called + habits.”</span>—Ibid. p. xxxi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_46" name="note_46" href= + "#noteref_46">46.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Principally by Mr. James Mill, whose + chapter on association, in his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Analysis of the Human + Mind</span></span>, may probably rank with Paley's beautiful + chapter on happiness, at the head of all modern writings on the + utilitarian side,—either of them, I think, being far more valuable + than anything Bentham ever wrote on morals. This last writer—whose + contempt for his predecessors was only equalled by his ignorance of + their works, and who has added surprisingly little to moral science + (considering the reputation he attained), except a barbarous + nomenclature and an interminable series of classifications evincing + no real subtlety of thought—makes, as far as I am aware, no use of + the doctrine of association. Paley states it with his usual + admirable clearness. <span class="tei tei-q">“Having experienced in + some instances a particular conduct to be beneficial to ourselves, + or observed that it would be so, a sentiment of approbation rises + up in our minds, which sentiment afterwards accompanies the idea or + mention of the same conduct, although the private advantage which + first existed no longer exist.”</span>—Paley, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Moral + Philos</span></span>. i. 5. Paley, however, made less use of this + doctrine than might have been expected from so enthusiastic an + admirer of Tucker. In our own day it has been much used by Mr. J. + S. Mill.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_47" name="note_47" href= + "#noteref_47">47.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This illustration, which was first + employed by Hutcheson, is very happily developed by Gay (p. lii.). + It was then used by Hartley, and finally Tucker reproduced the + whole theory with the usual illustration without any acknowledgment + of the works of his predecessors, employing however, the term + <span class="tei tei-q">“translation”</span> instead of + <span class="tei tei-q">“association”</span> of ideas. See his + curious chapter on the subject, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Light of + Nature</span></span>, book i. ch. xviii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_48" name="note_48" href= + "#noteref_48">48.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“It is the + nature of translation to throw desire from the end upon the means, + which thenceforward become an end capable of exciting an appetite + without prospect of the consequences whereto they lead. Our habits + and most of the desires that occupy human life are of this + translated kind.”</span>—Tucker's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Light of + Nature</span></span>, vol. ii. (ed. 1842), p. 281.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_49" name="note_49" href= + "#noteref_49">49.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Mill's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Analysis of the Human + Mind</span></span>. The desire for posthumous fame is usually cited + by intuitive moralists as a proof of a naturally disinterested + element in man.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_50" name="note_50" href= + "#noteref_50">50.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Mill's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Analysis</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_51" name="note_51" href= + "#noteref_51">51.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Hartley <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On Man</span></span>, + vol. i. pp. 474-475.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_52" name="note_52" href= + "#noteref_52">52.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Benevolence + ... has also a high degree of honour and esteem annexed to it, + procures us many advantages and returns of kindness, both from the + person obliged and others, and is most closely connected with the + hopes of reward in a future state, and of self-approbation or the + moral sense; and the same things hold with respect to generosity in + a much higher degree. It is easy therefore to see how such + associations may be formed as to engage us to forego great + pleasure, or endure great pain for the sake of others, how these + associations may be attended with so great a degree of pleasure as + to overrule the positive pain endured or the negative one from the + foregoing of a pleasure, and yet how there may be no direct + explicit expectation of reward either from God or man, by natural + consequence or express appointment, not even of the concomitant + pleasure that engages the agent to undertake the benevolent and + generous action; and this I take to be a proof from the doctrine of + association that there is and must be such a thing as pure + disinterested benevolence; also a just account of the origin and + nature of it.”</span>—Hartley <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">On Man</span></span>, vol. i. pp. 473-474. See + too Mill's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Analysis</span></span>, vol. ii. p. 252.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_53" name="note_53" href= + "#noteref_53">53.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Mill's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Analysis</span></span>, vol. ii. pp. + 244-247.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_54" name="note_54" href= + "#noteref_54">54.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“With + self-interest,”</span> said Hartley, <span class="tei tei-q">“man + must begin; he may end in self-annihilation;”</span> or as + Coleridge happily puts it, <span class="tei tei-q">“Legality + precedes morality in every individual, even as the Jewish + dispensation preceded the Christian in the world at + large.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Notes Theological and Political</span></span>, + p. 340. It might be retorted with much truth, that we begin by + practising morality as a duty—we end by practising it as a + pleasure, without any reference to duty. Coleridge, who expressed + for the Benthamite theories a very cordial detestation, sometimes + glided into them himself. <span class="tei tei-q">“The happiness of + man,”</span> he says, <span class="tei tei-q">“is the end of + virtue, and truth is the knowledge of the means.”</span> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + Friend</span></span>, ed. 1850, vol. ii. p. 192.) <span class= + "tei tei-q">“What can be the object of human virtue but the + happiness of sentient, still more of moral beings?”</span> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Notes + Theol. and Polit.</span></span> p. 351.) Leibnitz says, + <span class="tei tei-q">“Quand on aura appris à faire des actions + louables par ambition, on les fera après par inclination.”</span> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sur l' + Art de connaître les Hommes.</span></span>)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_55" name="note_55" href= + "#noteref_55">55.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">E.g. + Mackintosh and James Mill. Coleridge in his younger days was an + enthusiastic admirer of Hartley; but chiefly, I believe, on + account of his theory of vibrations. He named his son after him, + and described him in one of his poems as:—</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“He of mortal kind<br /> + Wisest, the first who marked the ideal tribes<br /> + Up the fine fibres through the sentient brain.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Religious + Musings.</span></span></p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_56" name="note_56" href= + "#noteref_56">56.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This position is elaborated in a + passage too long for quotation by Mr. Austin. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Lectures on + Jurisprudence</span></span>, vol. i. p. 44.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_57" name="note_57" href= + "#noteref_57">57.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Hobbes defines conscience as + <span class="tei tei-q">“the opinion of evidence”</span> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On Human + Nature</span></span>, ch. vi. §8). Locke as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“our own opinion or judgment of the moral rectitude or + pravity of our own actions”</span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Essay</span></span>, + book i. ch. iii. § 8). In Bentham there is very little on the + subject; but in one place he informs us that <span class= + "tei tei-q">“conscience is a thing of fictitious existence, + supposed to occupy a seat in the mind”</span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Deontology</span></span>, vol. i. p. 137); and + in another he ranks <span class="tei tei-q">“love of duty”</span> + (which he describes as an <span class="tei tei-q">“impossible + motive, in so far as duty is synonymous to obligation”</span>) as a + variety of the <span class="tei tei-q">“love of power”</span> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Springs + of Action</span></span>, ii.) Mr. Bain says, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“conscience is an imitation within ourselves of the + government without us.”</span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Emotions and + Will</span></span>, p. 313.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_58" name="note_58" href= + "#noteref_58">58.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“However much + they [utilitarians] may believe (as they do) that actions and + dispositions are only virtuous because they promote another end + than virtue, yet this being granted ... they not only place virtue + at the very head of the things which are good as means to the + ultimate end, but they also recognise as a psychological fact the + possibility of its being to the individual a good in itself.... + Virtue, according to the utilitarian doctrine, is not naturally and + originally part of the end, but it is capable of becoming so.... + What was once desired as an instrument for the attainment of + happiness has come to be desired ... as part of happiness.... Human + nature is so constituted as to desire nothing which is not either a + part of happiness or a means of happiness.”</span>—J. S. Mill's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Utilitarianism</span></span>, pp. 54, 55, 56, + 58.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_59" name="note_59" href= + "#noteref_59">59.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“A man is + tempted to commit adultery with the wife of his friend. The + composition of the motive is obvious. He does not obey the motive. + Why? He obeys other motives which are stronger. Though pleasures + are associated with the immoral act, pains are associated with it + also—the pains of the injured husband, the pains of the wife, the + moral indignation of mankind, the future reproaches of his own + mind. Some men obey the first rather than the second motive. The + reason is obvious. In these the association of the act with the + pleasure is from habit unduly strong, the association of the act + with pains is from want of habit unduly weak. This is the case of a + bad education.... Among the different classes of motives, there are + men who are more easily and strongly operated on by some, others by + others. We have also seen that this is entirely owing to habits of + association. This facility of being acted upon by motives of a + particular description, is that which we call + disposition.”</span>—Mill's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Analysis</span></span>, vol. ii. pp. 212, 213, + &c. Adam Smith says, I think with much wisdom, that + <span class="tei tei-q">“the great secret of education is to direct + vanity to proper objects.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Moral + Sentiments</span></span>, part vi. § 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_60" name="note_60" href= + "#noteref_60">60.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Goodness in + ourselves is the prospect of satisfaction annexed to the welfare of + others, so that we please them for the pleasure we receive + ourselves in so doing, or to avoid the uneasiness we should feel in + omitting it. But God is completely happy in Himself, nor can His + happiness receive increase or diminution from anything befalling + His creatures; wherefore His goodness is pure, disinterested + bounty, without any return of joy or satisfaction to Himself. + Therefore it is no wonder we have imperfect notions of a quality + whereof we have no experience in our own nature.”</span>—Tucker's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Light of + Nature</span></span>, vol. i. p. 355. <span class="tei tei-q">“It + is the privilege of God alone to act upon pure, disinterested + bounty, without the least addition thereby to His own + enjoyment.”</span>—Ibid. vol. ii. p. 279. On the other hand, + Hutcheson asks, <span class="tei tei-q">“If there be such + disposition in the Deity, where is the impossibility of some small + degree of this public love in His creatures, and why must they be + supposed incapable of acting but from + self-love?”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Enquiry concerning Moral Good</span></span>, § + 2.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_61" name="note_61" href= + "#noteref_61">61.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“We gradually, + through the influence of association, come to desire the means + without thinking of the end; the action itself becomes an object of + desire, and is performed without reference to any motive beyond + itself. Thus far, it may still be objected that the action having, + through association, become pleasurable, we are as much as before + moved to act by the anticipation of pleasure, namely, the pleasure + of the action itself. But granting this, the matter does not end + here. As we proceed in the formation of habits, and become + accustomed to will a particular act ... because it is pleasurable, + we at last continue to will it without any reference to its being + pleasurable.... In this manner it is that habits of hurtful excess + continue to be practised, although they have ceased to be + pleasurable, and in this manner also it is that the habit of + willing to persevere in the course which he has chosen, does not + desert the moral hero, even when the reward ... is anything but an + equivalent for the suffering he undergoes, or the wishes he may + have to renounce.”</span>—Mill's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Logic</span></span> + (4th edition), vol. ii. pp. 416, 417.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_62" name="note_62" href= + "#noteref_62">62.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“In regard to + interest in the most extended, which is the original and only + strictly proper sense of the word disinterested, no human act has + ever been or ever can be disinterested.... In the only sense in + which disinterestedness can with truth be predicated of human + actions, it is employed ... to denote, not the absence of all + interest ... but only the absence of all interest of the + self-regarding class. Not but that it is very frequently predicated + of human action in cases in which divers interests, to no one of + which the appellation of self-regarding can with propriety be + denied, have been exercising their influence, and in particular + fear of God, or hope from God, and fear of ill-repute, or hope of + good repute. If what is above be correct, the most disinterested of + men is not less under the dominion of interest than the most + interested. The only cause of his being styled disinterested, is + its not having been observed that the sort of motive (suppose it + sympathy for an individual or class) has as truly a corresponding + interest belonging to it as any other species of motive has. Of + this contradiction between the truth of the case and the language + employed in speaking of it, the cause is that in the one case men + have not been in the habit of making—as in point of consistency + they ought to have made—of the word interest that use which in the + other case they have been in the habit of making of + it.”</span>—Bentham's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Springs of Action</span></span>, ii. § 2.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_63" name="note_63" href= + "#noteref_63">63.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Among others Bishop Butler, who draws + some very subtle distinctions on the subject in his first sermon + <span class="tei tei-q">“on the love of our neighbour.”</span> + Dugald Stewart remarks that <span class="tei tei-q">“although we + apply the epithet selfish to avarice and to low and private + sensuality, we never apply it to the desire of knowledge or to the + pursuits of virtue, which are certainly sources of more exquisite + pleasure than riches or sensuality can bestow.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Active and Moral + Powers</span></span>, vol. i. p. 19.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_64" name="note_64" href= + "#noteref_64">64.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sir W. Hamilton.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_65" name="note_65" href= + "#noteref_65">65.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Fin.</span></span> + lib. ii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_66" name="note_66" href= + "#noteref_66">66.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“As there is + not any sort of pleasure that is not itself a good, nor any sort of + pain the exemption from which is not a good, and as nothing but the + expectation of the eventual enjoyment of pleasure in some shape, or + of exemption from pain in some shape, can operate in the character + of a motive, a necessary consequence is that if by motive be meant + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">sort</span></em> of motive, there is not any + such thing as a bad motive.”</span>—Bentham's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Springs of + Action</span></span>, ii. § 4. The first clauses of the following + passage I have already quoted: <span class="tei tei-q">“Pleasure is + itself a good, nay, setting aside immunity from pain, the only + good. Pain is in itself an evil, and indeed, without exception, the + only evil, or else the words good and evil have no meaning. And + this is alike true of every sort of pain, and of every sort of + pleasure. It follows therefore immediately and incontestably that + there is no such thing as any sort of motive that is in itself a + bad one.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Principles of Morals and + Legislation</span></span>, ch. ix. <span class="tei tei-q">“The + search after motive is one of the prominent causes of men's + bewilderment in the investigation of questions of morals.... But + this is a pursuit in which every moment employed is a moment + wasted. All motives are abstractedly good. No man has ever had, + can, or could have a motive different from the pursuit of pleasure + or of shunning pain.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Deontology</span></span>, vol. i. p. 126. Mr. + Mill's doctrine appears somewhat different from this, but the + difference is I think only apparent. He says: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“The motive has nothing to do with the morality of the + action, though much with the worth of the agent,”</span> and he + afterwards explains this last statement by saying that the + <span class="tei tei-q">“motive makes a great difference in our + moral estimation of the agent, especially if it indicates a good or + a bad habitual disposition, a bent of character from which useful + or from which hurtful actions are likely to + arise.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Utilitarianism</span></span>, 2nd ed. pp. + 26-27.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_67" name="note_67" href= + "#noteref_67">67.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This truth has been admirably + illustrated by Mr. Herbert Spencer (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Social + Statics</span></span>, pp. 1-8).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_68" name="note_68" href= + "#noteref_68">68.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“On évalue la + grandeur de la vertu en comparant les biens obtenus aux maux au + prix desquels on les achète: l'excédant en bien mesure la valeur de + la vertu, comme l'excédant en mal mesure le degré de haine que doit + inspirer le vice.”</span>—Ch. Comte, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Traité de + Législation</span></span>, liv. ii. ch. xii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_69" name="note_69" href= + "#noteref_69">69.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">M. Dumont, the translator of Bentham, + has elaborated in a rather famous passage the utilitarian notions + about vengeance. <span class="tei tei-q">“Toute espèce de + satisfaction entraînant une peine pour le délinquant produit + naturellement un plaisir de vengeance pour la partie lésée. Ce + plaisir est un gain. Il rappelle la parabole de Samson. C'est le + doux qui sort du terrible. C'est le miel recueilli dans la gueule + du lion. Produit sans frais, résultat net d'une opération + nécessaire à d'autres titres, c'est une jouissance à cultiver comme + toute autre; car le plaisir de la vengeance considérée + abstraitement n'est comme tout autre plaisir qu'un bien en + lui-même.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Principes du Code pénal</span></span>, + 2<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "vertical-align: super">me</span></span> partie, ch. xvi. According + to a very acute living writer of this school, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“The criminal law stands to the passion of revenge in + much the same relation as marriage to the sexual appetite”</span> + (J. F. Stephen, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">On the Criminal Law of England</span></span>, + p. 99). Mr. Mill observes that, <span class="tei tei-q">“In the + golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, we read the complete spirit of + the ethics of utility”</span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Utilitarianism</span></span>, + p. 24). It is but fair to give a specimen of the opposite order of + extravagance. <span class="tei tei-q">“So well convinced was Father + Claver of the eternal happiness of almost all whom he + assisted,”</span> says this saintly missionary's biographer, + <span class="tei tei-q">“that speaking once of some persons who had + delivered a criminal into the hands of justice, he said, God + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">forgive</span></em> them; but they have + secured the salvation of this man at <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">the probable risk + of their own</span></em>.”</span>—Newman's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Anglican + Difficulties</span></span>, p. 205.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_70" name="note_70" href= + "#noteref_70">70.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Ordine</span></span>, ii. 4. The experiment + has more than once been tried at Venice, Pisa, &c., and always + with the results St. Augustine predicted.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_71" name="note_71" href= + "#noteref_71">71.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The reader will here observe the very + transparent sophistry of an assertion which is repeated ad nauseam + by utilitarians. They tell us that a regard to the remote + consequences of our actions would lead us to the conclusion that we + should never perform an act which would not be conducive to human + happiness if it were universally performed, or, as Mr. Austin + expresses it, that <span class="tei tei-q">“the question is if acts + of this class were generally done or generally forborne or omitted, + what would be the probable effect on the general happiness or + good?”</span> (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Lectures on Jurisprudence</span></span>, vol. + i. p. 32.) The question is nothing of the kind. If I am convinced + that utility alone constitutes virtue, and if I am meditating any + particular act, the sole question of morality must be whether that + act is on the whole useful, produces a net result of happiness. To + determine this question I must consider both the immediate and the + remote consequences of the act; but the latter are not ascertained + by asking what would be the result if every one did as I do, but by + asking how far, as a matter of fact, my act is likely to produce + imitators, or affect the conduct and future acts of others. It may + no doubt be convenient and useful to form classifications based on + the general tendency of different courses to promote or diminish + happiness, but such classifications cannot alter the morality of + particular acts. It is quite clear that no act which produces on + the whole more pleasure than pain can on utilitarian principles be + vicious. It is, I think, equally clear that no one could act + consistently on such a principle without being led to consequences + which in the common judgment of mankind are grossly and + scandalously immoral.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_72" name="note_72" href= + "#noteref_72">72.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There are some very good remarks on + the possibility of living a life of imagination wholly distinct + from the life of action in Mr. Bain's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Emotions and + Will</span></span>, p. 246.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_73" name="note_73" href= + "#noteref_73">73.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Bentham especially recurs to this + subject frequently. See Sir J. Bowring's edition of his works + (Edinburgh, 1843), vol. i. pp. 142, 143, 562; vol. x. pp. + 549-550.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_74" name="note_74" href= + "#noteref_74">74.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Granted that + any practice causes more pain to animals than it gives pleasure to + man; is that practice moral or immoral? And if exactly in + proportion as human beings raise their heads out of the slough of + selfishness they do not with one voice answer <span class= + "tei tei-q">‘immoral,’</span> let the morality of the principle of + utility be for ever condemned.”</span>—Mill's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dissert</span></span>. vol. ii. p. 485. + <span class="tei tei-q">“We deprive them [animals] of life, and + this is justifiable—their pains do not equal our enjoyments. There + is a balance of good.”</span>—Bentham's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Deontology</span></span>, vol. i. p. 14. Mr. + Mill accordingly defines the principle of utility, without any + special reference to man. <span class="tei tei-q">“The creed which + accepts as the foundation of morals, utility or the great happiness + principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend + to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of + happiness.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Utilitarianism</span></span>, pp. 9-10.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_75" name="note_75" href= + "#noteref_75">75.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The exception of course being domestic + animals, which may be injured by ill treatment, but even this + exception is a very partial one. No selfish reason could prevent + any amount of cruelty to animals that were about to be killed, and + even in the case of previous ill-usage the calculations of + selfishness will depend greatly upon the price of the animal. I + have been told that on some parts of the continent diligence horses + are systematically under-fed, and worked to a speedy death, their + cheapness rendering such a course the most economical.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_76" name="note_76" href= + "#noteref_76">76.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Bentham, as we have seen, is of + opinion that the gastronomic pleasure would produce the requisite + excess of enjoyment. Hartley, who has some amiable and beautiful + remarks on the duty of kindness to animals, without absolutely + condemning, speaks with much aversion of the custom of eating + <span class="tei tei-q">“our brothers and sisters,”</span> the + animals. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">On Man</span></span>, vol. ii. pp. 222-223.) + Paley, observing that it is quite possible for men to live without + flesh-diet, concludes that the only sufficient justification for + eating meat is an express divine revelation in the Book of Genesis. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Moral + Philos.</span></span> book ii. ch. 11.) Some reasoners evade the + main issue by contending that they kill animals because they would + otherwise overrun the earth; but this, as Windham said, + <span class="tei tei-q">“is an indifferent reason for killing + fish.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_77" name="note_77" href= + "#noteref_77">77.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">In commenting upon the French + licentiousness of the eighteenth century, Hume says, in a passage + which has excited a great deal of animadversion:—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“Our neighbours, it seems, have resolved to sacrifice + some of the domestic to the social pleasures; and to prefer ease, + freedom, and an open commerce, to strict fidelity and constancy. + These ends are both good, and are somewhat difficult to reconcile; + nor must we be surprised if the customs of nations incline too much + sometimes to the one side, and sometimes to the + other.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dialogue.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_78" name="note_78" href= + "#noteref_78">78.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There are few things more pitiable + than the blunders into which writers have fallen when trying to + base the plain virtue of chastity on utilitarian calculations. Thus + since the writings of Malthus it has been generally recognised that + one of the very first conditions of all material prosperity is to + check early marriages, to restrain the tendency of population to + multiply more rapidly than the means of subsistence. Knowing this, + what can be more deplorable than to find moralists making such + arguments as these the very foundation of morals?—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“The first and great mischief, and by consequence the + guilt, of promiscuous concubinage consists in its tendency to + diminish marriages.”</span> (Paley's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Moral + Philosophy</span></span>, book iii. part iii. ch. ii.) <span class= + "tei tei-q">“That is always the most happy condition of a nation, + and that nation is most accurately obeying the laws of our + constitution, in which the number of the human race is most rapidly + increasing. Now it is certain that under the law of chastity, that + is, when individuals are exclusively united to each other, the + increase of population will be more rapid than under any other + circumstances.”</span> (Wayland's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Elements of Moral + Science</span></span>, p. 298, 11th ed., Boston, 1839.) I am sorry + to bring such subjects before the reader, but it is impossible to + write a history of morals without doing so.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_79" name="note_79" href= + "#noteref_79">79.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Luther's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Table + Talk</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_80" name="note_80" href= + "#noteref_80">80.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tillemont, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Mém. pour servir à + l'Hist. ecclésiastique</span></span>, tome x. p. 57.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_81" name="note_81" href= + "#noteref_81">81.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Τό τε ἀληθεύειν καὶ τὸ εὐεργετεῖν. + (Ælian, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Var. Hist.</span></span> xii. 59.) Longinus in + like manner divides virtue into εὐεργεσία καὶ ἀλήθεια. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Sublim.</span></span> § 1.) The opposite view in England is + continually expressed in the saying, <span class="tei tei-q">“You + should never pull down an opinion until you have something to put + in its place,”</span> which can only mean, if you are convinced + that some religious or other hypothesis is false, you are morally + bound to repress or conceal your conviction until you have + discovered positive affirmations or explanations as unqualified and + consolatory as those you have destroyed.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_82" name="note_82" href= + "#noteref_82">82.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See this powerfully stated by + Shaftesbury. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Inquiry concerning Virtue</span></span>, book + i. part iii.) The same objection applies to Dr. Mansel's + modification of the theological doctrine—viz. that the origin of + morals is not the will but the nature of God.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_83" name="note_83" href= + "#noteref_83">83.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“The one great + and binding ground of the belief of God and a hereafter is the law + of conscience.”</span>—Coleridge, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Notes Theological and + Political</span></span>, p. 367. That our moral faculty is our one + reason for maintaining the supreme benevolence of the Deity was a + favourite position of Kant.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_84" name="note_84" href= + "#noteref_84">84.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Nescio + quomodo inhæret in mentibus quasi sæculorum quoddam augurium + futurorum; idque in maximis ingeniis altissimisque animis et + exsistit maxime et apparet facillime.”</span>—Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tusc. + Disp.</span></span> i. 14.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_85" name="note_85" href= + "#noteref_85">85.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“It is a + calumny to say that men are roused to heroic actions by ease, hope + of pleasure, recompense—sugar-plums of any kind in this world or + the next. In the meanest mortal there lies something nobler. The + poor swearing soldier hired to be shot has his <span class= + "tei tei-q">‘honour of a soldier,’</span> different from drill, + regulations, and the shilling a day. It is not to taste sweet + things, but to do noble and true things, and vindicate himself + under God's heaven as a God-made man, that the poorest son of Adam + dimly longs. Show him the way of doing that, the dullest day-drudge + kindles into a hero. They wrong man greatly who say he is to be + seduced by ease. Difficulty, abnegation, martyrdom, death, are the + allurements that act on the heart of man. Kindle the inner genial + life of him, you have a flame that burns up all lower + considerations.”</span>—Carlyle's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hero-worship</span></span>, p. 237 (ed. + 1858).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_86" name="note_86" href= + "#noteref_86">86.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Clamat + Epicurus, is quem vos nimis voluptatibus esse deditum dicitis, non + posse jucunde vivi nisi sapienter, honeste, justeque vivatur, nec + sapienter, honeste, juste nisi jucunde.”</span>—Cicero, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Fin.</span></span> i. 18.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_87" name="note_87" href= + "#noteref_87">87.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“The virtues + to be complete must have fixed their residence in the heart and + become appetites impelling to actions without further thought than + the gratification of them; so that after their expedience ceases + they still continue to operate by the desire they raise.... I knew + a mercer who having gotten a competency of fortune, thought to + retire and enjoy himself in quiet; but finding he could not be easy + without business was forced to return to the shop and assist his + former partners gratis, in the nature of a journeyman. Why then + should it be thought strange that a man long inured to the practice + of moral duties should persevere in them out of liking, when they + can yield him no further advantage?”</span>—Tucker's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Light of + Nature</span></span>, vol. i. p. 269. Mr. J. S. Mill in his + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Utilitarianism</span></span> dwells much on + the heroism which he thinks this view of morals may produce.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_88" name="note_88" href= + "#noteref_88">88.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Lactantius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Inst. + Div.</span></span> vi. 9. Montesquieu, in his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Décadence de l'Empire + romain</span></span>, has shown in detail the manner in which the + crimes of Roman politicians contributed to the greatness of their + nation. Modern history furnishes only too many illustrations of the + same truth.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_89" name="note_89" href= + "#noteref_89">89.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“That quick + sensibility which is the groundwork of all advances towards + perfection increases the pungency of pains and + vexations.”</span>—Tucker's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Light of Nature</span></span>, ii. 16, § + 4.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_90" name="note_90" href= + "#noteref_90">90.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This position is forcibly illustrated + by Mr. Maurice in his fourth lecture <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On + Conscience</span></span> (1868). It is manifest that a tradesman + resisting a dishonest or illegal trade custom, an Irish peasant in + a disturbed district revolting against the agrarian conspiracy of + his class, or a soldier in many countries conscientiously refusing + in obedience to the law to fight a duel, would incur the full force + of social penalties, because he failed to do that which was illegal + or criminal.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_91" name="note_91" href= + "#noteref_91">91.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Brown <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On the + Characteristics</span></span>, pp. 206-209.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_92" name="note_92" href= + "#noteref_92">92.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“A toothache + produces more violent convulsions of pain than a phthisis or a + dropsy. A gloomy disposition ... may be found in very worthy + characters, though it is sufficient alone to embitter life.... A + selfish villain may possess a spring and alacrity of temper, which + is indeed a good quality, but which is rewarded much beyond its + merit, and when attended with good fortune will compensate for the + uneasiness and remorse arising from all the other + vices.”</span>—Hume's Essays: <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">The Sceptic</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_93" name="note_93" href= + "#noteref_93">93.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">At the same time, the following + passage contains, I think, a great deal of wisdom and of a kind + peculiarly needed in England at the present day:—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“The nature of the subject furnishes the strongest + presumption that no better system will ever, for the future, be + invented, in order to account for the origin of the benevolent from + the selfish affections, and reduce all the various emotions of the + human mind to a perfect simplicity. The case is not the same in + this species of philosophy as in physics. Many an hypothesis in + nature, contrary to first appearances, has been found, on more + accurate scrutiny, solid and satisfactory.... But the presumption + always lies on the other side in all enquiries concerning the + origin of our passions, and of the internal operations of the human + mind. The simplest and most obvious cause which can there be + assigned for any phenomenon, is probably the true one.... The + affections are not susceptible of any impression from the + refinements of reason or imagination; and it is always found that a + vigorous exertion of the latter faculties, necessarily, from the + narrow capacity of the human mind, destroys all activity in the + former.”</span>—Hume's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Enquiry Concerning Morals</span></span>, + Append. II.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_94" name="note_94" href= + "#noteref_94">94.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“The pleasing + consciousness and self-approbation that rise up in the mind of a + virtuous man, exclusively of any direct, explicit, consideration of + advantage likely to accrue to himself from his possession of those + good qualities”</span> (Hartley <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On Man</span></span>, + vol. i. p. 493), form a theme upon which moralists of both schools + are fond of dilating, in a strain that reminds one irresistibly of + the self-complacency of a famous nursery hero, while reflecting + upon his own merits over a Christmas-pie. Thus Adam Smith says, + <span class="tei tei-q">“The man who, not from frivolous fancy, but + from proper motives, has performed a generous action, when he looks + forward to those whom he has served, feels himself to be the + natural object of their love and gratitude, and by sympathy with + them, of the esteem and approbation of all mankind. And when he + looks backward to the motive from which he acted, and surveys it in + the light in which the indifferent spectator will survey it, he + still continues to enter into it, and applauds himself by sympathy + with the approbation of this supposed impartial judge. In both + these points of view, his conduct appears to him every way + agreeable.... Misery and wretchedness can never enter the breast in + which dwells complete self-satisfaction.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Theory of Moral + Sentiments</span></span>, part ii. ch. ii. § 2; part iii. ch. iii. + I suspect that many moralists confuse the self-gratulation which + they suppose a virtuous man to feel, with the delight a religious + man experiences from the sense of the protection and favour of the + Deity. But these two feelings are clearly distinct, and it will, I + believe, be found that the latter is most strongly experienced by + the very men who most sincerely disclaim all sense of merit. + <span class="tei tei-q">“Were the perfect man to exist,”</span> + said that good and great writer, Archer Butler, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“he himself would be the last to know it; for the + highest stage of advancement is the lowest descent in + humility.”</span> At all events, the reader will observe, that on + utilitarian principles nothing could be more pernicious or criminal + than that modest, humble, and diffident spirit, which diminishes + the pleasure of self-gratulation, one of the highest utilitarian + motives to virtue.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_95" name="note_95" href= + "#noteref_95">95.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Hartley has tried in one place to + evade this conclusion by an appeal to the doctrine of final causes. + He says that the fact that conscience is not an original principle + of our nature, but is formed mechanically in the manner I have + described, does not invalidate the fact that it is intended for our + guide, <span class="tei tei-q">“for all the things which have + evident final causes, are plainly brought about by mechanical + means;”</span> and he appeals to the milk in the breast, which is + intended for the sustenance of the young, but which is nevertheless + mechanically produced. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">On Man</span></span>, vol. ii. pp. 338-339.) + But it is plain that this mode of reasoning would justify us in + attributing an authoritative character to any habit—e.g. to that of + avarice—which these writers assure us is in the manner of its + formation an exact parallel to conscience. The later followers of + Hartley certainly cannot be accused of any excessive predilection + for the doctrine of final causes, yet we sometimes find them asking + what great difference it can make whether (when conscience is + admitted by both parties to be real) it is regarded as an original + principle of our nature, or as a product of association? Simply + this. If by the constitution of our nature we are subject to a law + of duty which is different from and higher than our interest, a man + who violates this law through interested motives, is deserving of + reprobation. If on the other hand there is no natural law of duty, + and if the pursuit of our interest is the one original principle of + our being, no one can be censured who pursues it, and the first + criterion of a wise man will be his determination to eradicate + every habit (conscientious or otherwise) which impedes him in doing + so.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_96" name="note_96" href= + "#noteref_96">96.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">On Human Nature</span></span>, chap. ix. § + 10.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_97" name="note_97" href= + "#noteref_97">97.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Enquiry concerning Good and + Evil.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_98" name="note_98" href= + "#noteref_98">98.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This theory is noticed by Hutcheson, + and a writer in the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Spectator</span></span> (No. 436) suggests + that it may explain the attraction of prize-fights. The case of the + pleasure derived from fictitious sorrow is a distinct question, and + has been admirably treated in Lord Kames' <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Essays on + Morality</span></span>. Bishop Butler notices (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Second Sermon on + Compassion</span></span>), that it is possible for the very + intensity of a feeling of compassion to divert men from charity by + making them <span class="tei tei-q">“industriously turn away from + the miserable;”</span> and it is well known that Goethe, on account + of this very susceptibility, made it one of the rules of his life + to avoid everything that could suggest painful ideas. Hobbes makes + the following very characteristic comments on some famous lines of + Lucretius: <span class="tei tei-q">“From what passion proceedeth it + that men take pleasure to behold from the shore the danger of those + that are at sea in a tempest or in fight, or from a safe castle to + behold two armies charge one another in the field? It is certainly + in the whole sum joy, else men would never flock to such a + spectacle. Nevertheless, there is both joy and grief, for as there + is novelty and remembrance of our own security present, which is + delight, so there is also pity, which is grief. But the delight is + so far predominant that men usually are content in such a case to + be spectators of the misery of their friends.”</span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On Human + Nature</span></span>, ch. ix. § 19.) Good Christians, according to + some theologians, are expected to enjoy this pleasure in great + perfection in heaven. <span class="tei tei-q">“We may believe in + the next world also the goodness as well as the happiness of the + blest will be confirmed and advanced by reflections naturally + arising from the view of the misery which some shall undergo, which + seems to be a good reason for the creation of those beings who + shall be finally miserable, and for the continuation of them in + their miserable existence ... though in one respect the view of the + misery which the damned undergo might seem to detract from the + happiness of the blessed through pity and commiseration, yet under + another, a nearer and much more affecting consideration, viz. that + all this is the misery they themselves were often exposed to and in + danger of incurring, why may not the sense of their own escape so + far overcome the sense of another's ruin as quite to extinguish the + pain that usually attends the idea of it, and even render it + productive of some real happiness? To this purpose, Lucretius' + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Suave + mari</span></span>,”</span> etc. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Law's notes to his + Translation of King's Origin of Evil</span></span>, pp. 477, + 479.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_99" name="note_99" href= + "#noteref_99">99.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See e.g. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Reid's Essays on the + Active Powers</span></span>, essay iii. ch. v.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_100" name="note_100" + href="#noteref_100">100.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The error I have traced in this + paragraph will be found running through a great part of what Mr. + Buckle has written upon morals—I think the weakest portion of his + great work. See, for example, an elaborate confusion on the + subject, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">History of Civilisation</span></span>, vol. + ii. p. 429. Mr. Buckle maintains that all the philosophers of what + is commonly called <span class="tei tei-q">“the Scotch + school”</span> (a school founded by the Irishman Hutcheson, and to + which Hume does not belong), were incapable of inductive reasoning, + because they maintained the existence of a moral sense or faculty, + or of first principles, incapable of resolution; and he enters into + a learned enquiry into the causes which made it impossible for + Scotch writers to pursue or appreciate the inductive method. It is + curious to contrast this view with the language of one, who, + whatever may be the value of his original speculations, is, I + conceive, among the very ablest philosophical critics of the + present century. <span class="tei tei-q">“Les philosophes écossais + adoptèrent les procédés que Bacon avait recommandé d'appliquer à + l'étude du monde physique, et les transportèrent dans l'étude du + monde moral. Ils firent voir que l'induction baconienne, + c'est-à-dire, l'induction précédée d'une observation scrupuleuse + des phénomènes, est en philosophie comme en physique la seule + méthode légitime. C'est un de leurs titres les plus honorables + d'avoir insisté sur cette démonstration, et d'avoir en même temps + joint l'exemple au précepte.... Il est vrai que le zèle des + philosophes écossais en faveur de la méthode d'observation leur a + presque fait dépasser le but. Ils ont incliné à renfermer la + psychologie dans la description minutieuse et continuelle de + phénomènes de l'âme sans réfléchir assez que cette description doit + faire place à l'induction et au raisonnement déductif, et qu'une + philosophie qui se bornerait à l'observation serait aussi stérile + que celle qui s'amuserait à construire des hypothèses sans avoir + préalablement observé.”</span>—Cousin, Hist. de la Philos. Morale + au xviii<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "vertical-align: super">me</span></span> Siècle, Tome 4, p. 14-16. + Dugald Stewart had said much the same thing, but he was a + Scotchman, and therefore, according to Mr. Buckle (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. of + Civ.</span></span> ii. pp. 485-86), incapable of understanding what + induction was. I may add that one of the principal objections M. + Cousin makes against Locke is, that he investigated the origin of + our ideas before analysing minutely their nature, and the propriety + of this method is one of the points on which Mr. Mill (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Examination of Sir W. + Hamilton</span></span>) is at issue with M. Cousin.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_101" name="note_101" + href="#noteref_101">101.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">M. Ch. Comte, in his very learned + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Traité de + Législation</span></span>, liv. iii. ch. iv., has made an extremely + curious collection of instances in which different nations have + made their own distinctive peculiarities of colour and form the + ideal of beauty.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_102" name="note_102" + href="#noteref_102">102.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“How + particularly fine the hard theta is in our English terminations, as + in that grand word death, for which the Germans gutturise a sound + that <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">puts + you in mind of nothing but a loathsome + toad</span></em>.”</span>—Coleridge's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Table + Talk</span></span>, p. 181.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_103" name="note_103" + href="#noteref_103">103.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Mackintosh, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dissert.</span></span> p. 238.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_104" name="note_104" + href="#noteref_104">104.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lord Kames' <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Essays on + Morality</span></span> (1st edition), pp. 55-56.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_105" name="note_105" + href="#noteref_105">105.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Butler's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Three Sermons on + Human Nature</span></span>, and the preface.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_106" name="note_106" + href="#noteref_106">106.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Speaking of the animated statue which + he regarded as a representative of man, Condillac says, + <span class="tei tei-q">“Le goût peut ordinairement contribuer plus + que l'odorat à son bonheur et à son malheur.... Il y contribue même + encore plus que les sons harmonieux, parce que le besoin de + nourriture lui rend les saveurs plus nécessaires, et par conséquent + les lui fait goûter avec plus de vivacité. La faim pourra la rendre + malheureuse, mais dès qu'elle aura remarqué les sensations propres + à l'apaiser, elle y déterminera davantage son attention, les + désirera avec plus de violence et en jouira avec plus de + délire.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Traité des Sensations</span></span>, + 1<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "vertical-align: super">re</span></span> partie ch. x.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_107" name="note_107" + href="#noteref_107">107.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This is one of the favourite thoughts + of Pascal, who, however, in his usual fashion dwells upon it in a + somewhat morbid and exaggerated strain. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“C'est une bien grande misère que de pouvoir prendre + plaisir à des choses si basses et si méprisables ... l'homme est + encore plus à plaindre de ce qu'il peut se divertir à ces choses si + frivoles et si basses, que de ce qu'il s'afflige de ses misères + effectives.... D'ou vient que cet homme, qui a perdu depuis peu son + fils unique, et qui, accablé de procès et de querelles, était ce + matin si troublé, n'y pense plus maintenant? Ne vous en étonnez + pas; il est tout occupé à voir par où passera un cerf que ses + chiens poursuivent.... C'est une joie de malade et de + frénétique.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Pensées</span></span> (Misère de + l'homme).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_108" name="note_108" + href="#noteref_108">108.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Quæ singula + improvidam mortalitatem involvunt, solum ut inter ista certum sit, + nihil esse certi, nec miserius quidquam homine, aut superbius. + Cæteris quippe animantium sola victus cura est, in quo sponte + naturæ benignitas sufficit: uno quidem vel præferenda cunctis + bonis, quod de gloria, de pecunia, ambitione, superque de morte, + non cogitant.”</span>—Plin. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. Nat.</span></span> ii. 5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_109" name="note_109" + href="#noteref_109">109.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Paley, in his very ingenious, and in + some respects admirable, chapter on happiness tries to prove the + inferiority of animal pleasures, by showing the short time their + enjoyment actually lasts, the extent to which they are dulled by + repetition, and the cases in which they incapacitate men for other + pleasures. But this calculation omits the influence of some animal + enjoyments upon health and temperament. The fact, however, that + health, which is a condition of body, is the chief source of + happiness, Paley fully admits. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Health,”</span> he says, <span class="tei tei-q">“is + the one thing needful ... when we are in perfect health and + spirits, we feel in ourselves a happiness independent of any + particular outward gratification.... This is an enjoyment which the + Deity has annexed to life, and probably constitutes in a great + measure the happiness of infants and brutes ... of oysters, + periwinkles, and the like; for which I have sometimes been at a + loss to find out amusement.”</span> On the test of happiness he + very fairly says, <span class="tei tei-q">“All that can be said is + that there remains a presumption in favour of those conditions of + life in which men generally appear most cheerful and contented; for + though the apparent happiness of mankind be not always a true + measure of their real happiness, it is the best measure we + have.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Moral Philosophy</span></span>, i. 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_110" name="note_110" + href="#noteref_110">110.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">A writer who devoted a great part of + his life to studying the deaths of men in different countries, + classes, and churches, and to collecting from other physicians + information on the subject, says: <span class="tei tei-q">“À mesure + qu'on s'éloigne des grands foyers de civilisation, qu'on se + rapproche des plaines et des montagnes, le caractère de la mort + prend de plus en plus l'aspect calme du ciel par un beau crépuscule + du soir.... En général la mort s'accomplit d'une manière d'autant + plus simple et naturelle qu'on est plus libre des innombrables + liens de la civilisation.”</span>—Lauvergne, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De l'agonie de la + Mort</span></span>, tome i. pp. 131-132.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_111" name="note_111" + href="#noteref_111">111.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“I will omit + much usual declamation upon the dignity and capacity of our nature, + the superiority of the soul to the body, of the rational to the + animal part of our constitution, upon the worthiness, refinement, + and delicacy of some satisfactions, or the meanness, grossness, and + sensuality of others; because I hold that pleasures differ in + nothing but in continuance and intensity.”</span>—Paley's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Moral + Philosophy</span></span>, book i. ch. vi. Bentham in like manner + said, <span class="tei tei-q">“Quantity of pleasure being equal, + pushpin is as good as poetry,”</span> and he maintained that the + value of a pleasure depends on—its (1) intensity, (2) duration, (3) + certainty, (4) propinquity, (5) purity, (6) fecundity, (7) extent + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Springs + of Action</span></span>). The recognition of the <span class= + "tei tei-q">“purity”</span> of a pleasure might seem to imply the + distinction for which I have contended in the text, but this is not + so. The purity of a pleasure or pain, according to Bentham, is + <span class="tei tei-q">“the chance it has of not being followed by + sensations of the opposite kind: that is pain if it be a pleasure, + pleasure if it be a pain.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Morals and + Legislation</span></span>, i. § 8. Mr. Buckle (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. of + Civilisation</span></span>, vol. ii. pp. 399-400) writes in a + somewhat similar strain, but less unequivocally, for he admits that + mental pleasures are <span class="tei tei-q">“more + ennobling”</span> than physical ones. The older utilitarians, as + far as I have observed, did not even advert to the question. This + being the case, it must have been a matter of surprise as well as + of gratification to most intuitive moralists to find Mr. Mill fully + recognising the existence of different kinds of pleasure, and + admitting that the superiority of the higher kinds does not spring + from their being greater in amount.—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Utilitarianism</span></span>, pp. 11-12. If it + be meant by this that we have the power of recognising some + pleasures as superior to others in kind, irrespective of all + consideration of their intensity, their cost, and their + consequences, I submit that the admission is completely + incompatible with the utilitarian theory, and that Mr. Mill has + only succeeded in introducing Stoical elements into his system by + loosening its very foundation. The impossibility of establishing an + aristocracy of enjoyments in which, apart from all considerations + of consequences, some which give less pleasure and are less widely + diffused are regarded as intrinsically superior to others which + give more pleasure and are more general, without admitting into our + estimate a moral element, which on utilitarian principles is wholly + illegitimate, has been powerfully shown since the first edition of + this book by Professor Grote, in his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Examination of the + Utilitarian Philosophy</span></span>, chap. iii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_112" name="note_112" + href="#noteref_112">112.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Büchner, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Force et + Matière</span></span>, pp. 163-164. There is a very curious + collection of the speculations of the ancient philosophers on this + subject in Plutarch's treatise, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Placitis + Philos.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_113" name="note_113" + href="#noteref_113">113.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Aulus Gellius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Noctes</span></span>, + x. 23. The law is given by Dion. Halicarn. Valerius Maximus says, + <span class="tei tei-q">“Vini usus olim Romanis feminis ignotus + fuit, ne scilicet in aliquod dedecus prolaberentur: quia proximus a + Libero patre intemperantiæ gradus ad inconcessam Venerem esse + consuevit”</span> (Val. Max. ii. 1, § 5). This is also noticed by + Pliny (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. Nat.</span></span> xiv. 14), who + ascribes the law to Romulus, and who mentions two cases in which + women were said to have been put to death for this offence, and a + third in which the offender was deprived of her dowry. Cato said + that the ancient Romans were accustomed to kiss their wives for the + purpose of discovering whether they had been drinking wine. The + Bona Dea, it is said, was originally a woman named Fatua, who was + famous for her modesty and fidelity to her husband, but who, + unfortunately, having once found a cask of wine in the house, got + drunk, and was in consequence scourged to death by her husband. He + afterwards repented of his act, and paid divine honours to her + memory, and as a memorial of her death, a cask of wine was always + placed upon the altar during the rites. (Lactantius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Div. + Inst.</span></span> i. 22.) The Milesians, also, and the + inhabitants of Marseilles are said to have had laws forbidding + women to drink wine (Ælian, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. Var.</span></span> ii. 38). Tertullian + describes the prohibition of wine among the Roman women as in his + time obsolete, and a taste for it was one of the great trials of + St. Monica (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Aug. Conf.</span></span> x. 8).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_114" name="note_114" + href="#noteref_114">114.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“La loi + fondamentale de la morale agit sur toutes les nations bien connues. + Il y a mille différences dans les interprétations de cette loi en + mille circonstances; mais le fond subsiste toujours le même, et ce + fond est l'idée du juste et de l'injuste.”</span>—Voltaire, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Le + Philosophe ignorant</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_115" name="note_115" + href="#noteref_115">115.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The feeling in its favour being often + intensified by filial affection. <span class="tei tei-q">“What is + the most beautiful thing on the earth?”</span> said Osiris to + Horus. <span class="tei tei-q">“To avenge a parent's + wrongs,”</span> was the reply.—Plutarch <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Iside et + Osiride</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_116" name="note_116" + href="#noteref_116">116.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Hence the Justinian code and also St. + Augustine (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Civ. Dei</span></span>, xix. 15) derived + servus from <span class="tei tei-q">“servare,”</span> to preserve, + because the victor preserved his prisoners alive.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_117" name="note_117" + href="#noteref_117">117.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Les habitants + du Congo tuent les malades qu'ils imaginent ne pouvoir en revenir; + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">c'est, + disentils, pour leur épargner les douleurs de l'agonie</span></em>. + Dans l'île Formose, lorsqu'un homme est dangereusement malade, on + lui passe un nœud coulant au col et on l'étrangle, <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">pour l'arracher à + la douleur</span></em>.”</span>—Helvétius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + l'Esprit</span></span>, ii. 13. A similar explanation may be often + found for customs which are quoted to prove that the nations where + they existed had no sense of chastity. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“C'est pareillement sous la sauvegarde des lois que les + Siamoises, la gorge et les cuisses à moitié découvertes, portées + dans les rues sur les palanquins, s'y présentent dans des attitudes + très-lascives. Cette loi fut établie par une de leurs reines nommée + Tirada, qui, <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">pour dégoûter les hommes d'un amour plus + déshonnête</span></em>, crut devoir employer toute la puissance de + la beauté.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De l'Esprit</span></span>, ii. 14.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_118" name="note_118" + href="#noteref_118">118.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“The contest + between the morality which appeals to an external standard, and + that which grounds itself on internal conviction, is the contest of + progressive morality against stationary, of reason and argument + against the deification of mere opinion and habit.”</span> (Mill's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dissertations</span></span>, vol. ii. p. 472); + a passage with a true Bentham ring. See, too, vol. i. p. 158. There + is, however, a schism on this point in the utilitarian camp. The + views which Mr. Buckle has expressed in his most eloquent chapter + on the comparative influence of intellectual and moral agencies in + civilisation diverge widely from those of Mr. Mill.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_119" name="note_119" + href="#noteref_119">119.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Est enim + sensualitas quædam vis animæ inferior.... Ratio vero vis animæ est + superior.”</span>—Peter Lombard, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sent.</span></span> + ii. 24.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_120" name="note_120" + href="#noteref_120">120.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Helvétius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + l'Esprit</span></span>, discours iv. See too, Dr. Draper's + extremely remarkable <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">History of Intellectual Development in + Europe</span></span> (New York, 1864), pp. 48, 53.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_121" name="note_121" + href="#noteref_121">121.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plutarch, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Cohibenda + Ira.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_122" name="note_122" + href="#noteref_122">122.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lactantius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Div. + Inst.</span></span> i. 22. The mysteries of the Bona Dea became, + however, after a time, the occasion of great disorders. See + Juvenal, Sat. vi. M. Magnin has examined the nature of these rites + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Origines + du Théâtre</span></span>, pp. 257-259).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_123" name="note_123" + href="#noteref_123">123.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The history of the vestals, which + forms one of the most curious pages in the moral history of Rome, + has been fully treated by the Abbé Nadal, in an extremely + interesting and well-written memoir, read before the Académie des + Belles-lettres, and republished in 1725. It was believed that the + prayer of a vestal could arrest a fugitive slave in his flight, + provided he had not got past the city walls. Pliny mentions this + belief as general in his time. The records of the order contained + many miracles wrought at different times to save the vestals or to + vindicate their questioned purity, and also one miracle which is + very remarkable as furnishing a precise parallel to that of the Jew + who was struck dead for touching the ark to prevent its + falling.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_124" name="note_124" + href="#noteref_124">124.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">As for example the Sibyls and + Cassandra. The same prophetic power was attributed in India to + virgins.—Clem. Alexandrin. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Strom.</span></span> iii. 7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_125" name="note_125" + href="#noteref_125">125.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This custom continued to the worst + period of the empire, though it was shamefully and + characteristically evaded. After the fall of Sejanus the senate had + no compunction in putting his innocent daughter to death, but their + religious feelings were shocked at the idea of a virgin falling + beneath the axe. So by way of improving matters <span class= + "tei tei-q">“filia constuprata est prius a carnifice, quasi impium + esset virginem in carcere perire.”</span>—Dion Cassius, lviii. 11. + See too, Tacitus, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> v. 9. If a vestal met a + prisoner going to execution the prisoner was spared, provided the + vestal declared that the encounter was accidental. On the reverence + the ancients paid to virgins, see Justus Lipsius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Vesta et + Vestalibus</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_126" name="note_126" + href="#noteref_126">126.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">See his + picture of the first night of marriage:—</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Tacitè subit ille supremus<br /> + Virginitatis amor, primæque modestia culpæ<br /> + Confundit vultus. Tunc ora rigantur honestis<br /> + Imbribus.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Thebaidos</span></span>, lib. ii. + 232-34.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_127" name="note_127" + href="#noteref_127">127.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Bees (which + Virgil said had in them something of the divine nature) were + supposed by the ancients to be the special emblems or models of + chastity. It was a common belief that the bee mother begot her + young without losing her virginity. Thus in a fragment ascribed + to Petronius we read,</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Sic sine concubitu textis apis excita ceris<br /> + Fervet, et audaci milite castra replet.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Petron. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Varia Animalium Generatione.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">So too + Virgil:—</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Quod neque concubitu indulgent nec corpora + segnes<br /> + In Venerem solvunt aut fœtus nixibus edunt.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Georg.</span></span> iv. 198-99.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Plutarch says + that an unchaste person cannot approach bees, for they + immediately attack him and cover him with stings. Fire was also + regarded as a type of virginity. Thus Ovid, speaking of the + vestals, says:—</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Nataque de fiamma corpora nulla vides:<br /> + Jure igitur virgo est, quæ semina nulla remittit<br /> + Nec capit, et comites virginitatis amat.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“The Egyptians believed that there are no males among + vultures, and they accordingly made that bird an emblem of + nature.”</span>—Ammianus Marcellinus, xvii. 4.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_128" name="note_128" + href="#noteref_128">128.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“La divinité + étant considérée comme renfermant en elle toutes les qualités, + toutes les forces intellectuelles et morales de l'homme, chacune de + ces forces ou de ces qualités, conçue séparément, s'offrait comme + un Être divin.... De-là aussi les contradictions les plus + choquantes dans les notions que les anciens avaient des attributs + divins.”</span>—Maury, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. des Religions de la Grèce + antique</span></span>, tome i. pp. 578-579.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_129" name="note_129" + href="#noteref_129">129.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“The Church + holds that it were better for sun and moon to drop from heaven, for + the earth to fail, and for all the many millions who are upon it to + die of starvation in extremest agony, so far as temporal affliction + goes, than that one soul, I will not say should be lost, but should + commit one single venial sin, should tell one wilful untruth, + though it harmed no one, or steal one poor farthing without + excuse.”</span>—Newman's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Anglican Difficulties</span></span>, p. + 190.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_130" name="note_130" + href="#noteref_130">130.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There is a remarkable dissertation on + this subject, called <span class="tei tei-q">“The Limitations of + Morality,”</span> in a very ingenious and suggestive little work of + the Benthamite school, called <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Essays by a Barrister</span></span> (reprinted + from the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Saturday Review</span></span>).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_131" name="note_131" + href="#noteref_131">131.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The following passage, though rather + vague and rhetorical, is not unimpressive: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Oui, dit Jacobi, je mentirais comme Desdemona + mourante, je tromperais comme Oreste quand il veut mourir à la + place de Pylade, j'assassinerais comme Timoléon, je serais parjure + comme Épaminondas et Jean de Witt, je me déterminerais au suicide + comme Caton, je serais sacrilége comme David; car j'ai la certitude + en moi-même qu'en pardonnant à ces fautes suivant la lettre l'homme + exerce le droit souverain que la majesté de son être lui confère; + il appose le sceau de sa divine nature sur la grâce qu'il + accorde.”</span>—Barchou de Penhoen, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. de la Philos. + allemande</span></span>, tome i. p. 295.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_132" name="note_132" + href="#noteref_132">132.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This equivocation seems to me to lie + at the root of the famous dispute whether man is by nature a social + being, or whether, as Hobbes averred, the state of nature is a + state of war. Few persons who have observed the recent light thrown + on the subject will question that the primitive condition of man + was that of savage life, and fewer still will question that savage + life is a state of war. On the other hand, it is, I think, equally + certain that man necessarily becomes a social being in exact + proportion to the development of the capacities of his nature.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_133" name="note_133" + href="#noteref_133">133.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">One of the best living authorities on + this question writes: <span class="tei tei-q">“The asserted + existence of savages so low as to have no moral standard is too + groundless to be discussed. Every human tribe has its general views + as to what conduct is right and what wrong, and each generation + hands the standard on to the next. Even in the details of their + moral standards, wide as their differences are, there is yet wider + agreement throughout the human race.”</span>—Tylor on Primitive + Society, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Contemporary Review</span></span>, April 1873, + p. 702.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_134" name="note_134" + href="#noteref_134">134.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The distinction between innate + faculties evolved by experience and innate ideas independent of + experience, and the analogy between the expansion of the former and + that of the bud into the flower has been very happily treated by + Reid. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On + the Active Powers</span></span>, essay iii. chap. viii. p. 4.) + Professor Sedgwick, criticising Locke's notion of the soul being + originally like a sheet of white paper, beautifully says: + <span class="tei tei-q">“Naked man comes from his mother's womb, + endowed with limbs and senses indeed well fitted to the material + world, yet powerless from want of use; and as for knowledge, his + soul is one unvaried blank; yet has this blank been already touched + by a celestial hand, and when plunged in the colours which surround + it, it takes not its tinge from accident but design, and comes + forth covered with a glorious pattern.”</span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On the Studies of the + University</span></span>, p. 54.) Leibnitz says: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“L'esprit n'est point une table rase. Il est tout plein + de caractères que la sensation ne peut que découvrir et mettre en + lumière au lieu de les y imprimer. Je me suis servi de la + comparaison d'une pierre de marbre qui a des veines plutôt que + d'une pierre de marbre tout unie.... S'il y avait dans la pierre + des veines qui marquassent la figure d'Hercule préférablement à + d'autres figures, ... Hercule y serait comme inné en quelque façon, + quoiqu'il fallût du travail pour découvrir ces + veines.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Critique de l'Essai sur + l'Entendement.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_135" name="note_135" + href="#noteref_135">135.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The argument against the intuitive + moralists derived from savage life was employed at some length by + Locke. Paley then adopted it, taking a history of base ingratitude + related by Valerius Maximus, and asking whether a savage would view + it with disapprobation. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Moral Phil.</span></span> book i. ch. 5.) + Dugald Stewart (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Active and Moral Powers</span></span>, vol. i. + pp. 230-231) and other writers have very fully answered this, but + the same objection has been revived in another form by Mr. Austin, + who supposes (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Lectures on Jurisprudence</span></span>, vol. + i. pp. 82-83) a savage who first meets a hunter carrying a dead + deer, kills the hunter and steals the deer, and is afterwards + himself assailed by another hunter whom he kills. Mr. Austin asks + whether the savage would perceive a moral difference between these + two acts of homicide? Certainly not. In this early stage of + development, the savage recognises a duty of justice and humanity + to the members of his tribe, but to no one beyond this circle. He + is in a <span class="tei tei-q">“state of war”</span> with the + foreign hunter. He has a right to kill the hunter and the hunter an + equal right to kill him.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_136" name="note_136" + href="#noteref_136">136.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Everyone who is acquainted with + metaphysics knows that there has been an almost endless controversy + about Locke's meaning on this point. The fact seems to be that + Locke, like most great originators of thought, and indeed more than + most, often failed to perceive the ultimate consequences of his + principles, and partly through some confusion of thought, and + partly through unhappiness of expression, has left passages + involving the conclusions of both schools. As a matter of history + the sensual school of Condillac grew professedly out of his + philosophy. In defence of the legitimacy of the process by which + these writers evolved their conclusions from the premisses of + Locke, the reader may consult the very able lectures of M. Cousin + on Locke. The other side has been treated, among others, by Dugald + Stewart in his <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dissertation</span></span>, by Professor Webb + in his <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Intellectualism of Locke</span></span>, and by + Mr. Rogers in an essay reprinted from the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Edinburgh + Review</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_137" name="note_137" + href="#noteref_137">137.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">I make this qualification, because I + believe that the denial of a moral nature in man capable of + perceiving the distinction between duty and interest and the + rightful supremacy of the former, is both philosophically and + actually subversive of natural theology.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_138" name="note_138" + href="#noteref_138">138.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the forcible passage in the life + of Epicurus by Diogenes Laërtius. So Mackintosh: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“It is remarkable that, while, of the three professors + who sat in the Porch from Zeno to Posidonius, every one either + softened or exaggerated the doctrines of his predecessor, and while + the beautiful and reverend philosophy of Plato had in his own + Academy degenerated into a scepticism which did not spare morality + itself, the system of Epicurus remained without change; his + disciples continued for ages to show personal honour to his memory + in a manner which may seem unaccountable among those who were + taught to measure propriety by a calculation of palpable and + outward usefulness.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dissertation on Ethical + Philosophy</span></span>, p. 85, ed. 1836. See, too, Tennemann + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Manuel + de la Philosophie</span></span>, ed. Cousin, tome i. p. 211).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_139" name="note_139" + href="#noteref_139">139.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Thus e.g. the magnificent chapters of + Helvétius on the moral effects of despotism, form one of the best + modern contributions to political ethics. We have a curious + illustration of the emphasis with which this school dwells on the + moral importance of institutions in a memoir of M. De Tracy, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On the + best Plan of National Education</span></span>, which appeared first + towards the close of the French Revolution, and was reprinted + during the Restoration. The author, who was one of the most + distinguished of the disciples of Condillac, argued that the most + efficient of all ways of educating a people is, the establishment + of a good system of police, for the constant association of the + ideas of crime and punishment in the minds of the masses is the one + effectual method of creating moral habits, which will continue to + act when the fear of punishment is removed.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_140" name="note_140" + href="#noteref_140">140.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">An important intellectual revolution + is at present taking place in England. The ascendency in literary + and philosophical questions which belonged to the writers of books + is manifestly passing in a very great degree to weekly and even + daily papers, which have long been supreme in politics, and have + begun within the last ten years systematically to treat ethical and + philosophical questions. From their immense circulation, their + incontestable ability and the power they possess of continually + reiterating their distinctive doctrines, from the impatience, too, + of long and elaborate writings, which newspapers generate in the + public, it has come to pass that these periodicals exercise + probably a greater influence than any other productions of the day, + in forming the ways of thinking of ordinary educated Englishmen. + The many consequences, good and evil, of this change it will be the + duty of future literary historians to trace, but there is one which + is, I think, much felt in the sphere of ethics. An important effect + of these journals has been to evoke a large amount of literary + talent in the lawyer class. Men whose professional duties would + render it impossible for them to write long books, are quite + capable of treating philosophical subjects in the form of short + essays, and have in fact become conspicuous in these periodicals. + There has seldom, I think, before, been a time when lawyers + occupied such an important literary position as at present, or when + legal ways of thinking had so great an influence over English + philosophy; and this fact has been eminently favourable to the + progress of utilitarianism.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_141" name="note_141" + href="#noteref_141">141.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There are some good remarks on this + point in the very striking chapter on the present condition of + Christianity in Wilberforce's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Practical View</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_142" name="note_142" + href="#noteref_142">142.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Reid's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Essays on the Active + Powers</span></span>, iii. i.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_143" name="note_143" + href="#noteref_143">143.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">I say usually proportioned, because it + is, I believe, possible for men to realise intensely suffering, and + to derive pleasure from that very fact. This is especially the case + with vindictive cruelty, but it is not, I think, altogether + confined to that sphere. This question we shall have occasion to + examine when discussing the gladiatorial shows. Most cruelty, + however, springs from callousness, which is simply dulness of + imagination.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_144" name="note_144" + href="#noteref_144">144.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The principal exception being where + slavery, coexisting with advanced civilisation, retards or prevents + the growth of industrial habits.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_145" name="note_145" + href="#noteref_145">145.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Mr. Laing's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Travels in + Sweden</span></span>. A similar cause is said to have had a similar + effect in Bavaria.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_146" name="note_146" + href="#noteref_146">146.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This has been, I think, especially the + case with the Austrians.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_147" name="note_147" + href="#noteref_147">147.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See some remarkable instances of this + in Cabanis, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Rapports du Physique et du Moral de + l'Homme</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_148" name="note_148" + href="#noteref_148">148.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Diog. Laërt. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Pythag.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_149" name="note_149" + href="#noteref_149">149.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plutarch, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Profectibus in + Virt.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_150" name="note_150" + href="#noteref_150">150.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Diog. Laërt. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Stilpo.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_151" name="note_151" + href="#noteref_151">151.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Clem. Alexand. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Strom.</span></span> + vii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_152" name="note_152" + href="#noteref_152">152.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Nat. + Deorum</span></span>, i. 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_153" name="note_153" + href="#noteref_153">153.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lactant. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Inst. + Div.</span></span> i. 5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_154" name="note_154" + href="#noteref_154">154.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Pythagoras + ita definivit quid esset Deus: Animus qui per universas mundi + partes, omnemque naturam commeans atque diffusus, ex quo omnia quæ + nascuntur animalia vitam capiunt.”</span>—Ibid. Lactantius in this + chapter has collected several other philosophic definitions of the + Divinity. See too Plutarch, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Placit. Philos.</span></span> Tertullian + explains the stoical theory by an ingenious illustration: + <span class="tei tei-q">“Stoici enim volunt Deum sic per materiem + decucurrisse quomodo mel per favos.”</span>—Tert. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Anima</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_155" name="note_155" + href="#noteref_155">155.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">As Cicero says: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Epicurus re tollit, oratione relinquit, + deos.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Nat. Deor.</span></span> i. 44.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_156" name="note_156" + href="#noteref_156">156.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sometimes, however, they restricted + its operation to the great events of life. As an interlocutor in + Cicero says: <span class="tei tei-q">“Magna dii curant, parva + negligunt.”</span>—Cic. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Natur. Deor.</span></span> ii. 66. Justin + Martyr notices (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Trypho</span></span>, i.) that some + philosophers maintained that God cared for the universal or + species, but not for the individual. Seneca maintains that the + Divinity has determined all things by an inexorable law of destiny, + which He has decreed, but which He Himself obeys. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Provident.</span></span> v.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_157" name="note_157" + href="#noteref_157">157.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See on this theory Cicero, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Natur. + Deor.</span></span> i. 42; Lactantius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Inst. + Div.</span></span> i. 11.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_158" name="note_158" + href="#noteref_158">158.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Diog. Laërt. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Vit. + Zeno.</span></span> St. Aug. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Civ. Dei</span></span>, iv. 11. Maximus of + Tyre, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dissert.</span></span> x. (in some editions + xxix.) § 8. Seneca, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Beneficiis</span></span>, iv. 7-8. Cic. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Natur. + Deor.</span></span> i. 15. Cicero has devoted the first two books + of this work to the stoical theology. A full review of the + allegorical and mythical interpretations of paganism is given by + Eusebius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Evang. Præpar.</span></span> lib. iii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_159" name="note_159" + href="#noteref_159">159.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Aug. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Civ.</span></span> + vii. 5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_160" name="note_160" + href="#noteref_160">160.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plin. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat</span></span>. ii. 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_161" name="note_161" + href="#noteref_161">161.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Nec vero Deus + ipse qui intelligitur a nobis, alio modo intelligi potest nisi mens + soluta quædam et libera, segregata ab omni concretione mortali, + omnia sentiens et movens, ipsaque prædita motu + sempiterno.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusc. Quæst</span></span>. i. 27.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_162" name="note_162" + href="#noteref_162">162.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Quæst. + Nat.</span></span> ii. 45.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_163" name="note_163" + href="#noteref_163">163.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Estne Dei sedes, nisi terra et pontus et aër.<br /> + Et cœlum et virtus? Superos quid quærimus ultra?<br /> + Jupiter est quodcumque vides, quodcumque moveris.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Pharsal.</span></span> ix. 578-80.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_164" name="note_164" + href="#noteref_164">164.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Quæve anus tam excors inveniri potest, quæ illa, quæ + quondam credebantur apud inferos portenta, + extimescat?”</span>—Cic. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Nat. Deor.</span></span> ii. 2.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Esse aliques Manes et subterranea regna ...<br /> + Nec pueri credunt nisi qui nondum ære lavantur.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Juv. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> ii. 149, 152.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">See on this + subject a good review by the Abbé Freppel, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Les Pères + Apostoliques</span></span>, leçon viii.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_165" name="note_165" + href="#noteref_165">165.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Leg.</span></span> + i. 14; Macrobius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">In. Som. Scip.</span></span> i. 10.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_166" name="note_166" + href="#noteref_166">166.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See his works <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Divinatione</span></span> and <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Nat. Deorum</span></span>, which form a + curious contrast to the religious conservatism of the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Legibus</span></span>, which was written chiefly from a political + point of view.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_167" name="note_167" + href="#noteref_167">167.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Præp. + Evang.</span></span> lib. iv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_168" name="note_168" + href="#noteref_168">168.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The oracles first gave their answers + in verse, but their bad poetry was ridiculed, and they gradually + sank to prose, and at last ceased. Plutarch defended the + inspiration of the bad poetry on the ground that the inspiring + spirit availed itself of the natural faculties of the priestess for + the expression of its infallible truths—a theory which is still + much in vogue among Biblical critics, and is, I believe, called + dynamical inspiration. See Fontenelle, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des + Oracles</span></span> (1st ed.), pp. 292-293.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_169" name="note_169" + href="#noteref_169">169.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the famous description of Cato + refusing to consult the oracle of Jupiter Ammon in Lucan, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Phars.</span></span> ix.; and also Arrian, ii. + 7. Seneca beautifully says, <span class="tei tei-q">“Vis deos + propitiare? bonus esto. Satis illos coluit quisquis imitatus + est.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xcv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_170" name="note_170" + href="#noteref_170">170.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Divin</span></span>. ii. 24.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_171" name="note_171" + href="#noteref_171">171.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Aulus Gellius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Noct. + Att.</span></span> xv. 22.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_172" name="note_172" + href="#noteref_172">172.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a long string of witticisms + collected by Legendre, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Traité de l'Opinion, ou Mémoires pour servir à + l'Histoire de l'Esprit humain</span></span> (Venise, 1735), tome i. + pp. 386-387.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_173" name="note_173" + href="#noteref_173">173.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Natura + Deorum</span></span>; Seneca, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Brev. Vit.</span></span> c. xvi.; Plin. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> ii. 5; Plutarch, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Superstitione</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_174" name="note_174" + href="#noteref_174">174.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum,<br /> + Cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum,<br /> + Maluit esse Deum.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> + I. viii. 1-3.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_175" name="note_175" + href="#noteref_175">175.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There is a very curious discussion on + this subject, reported to have taken place between Apollonius of + Tyana and an Egyptian priest. The former defended the Greek fashion + of worshipping the Divinity under the form of the human image, + sculptured by Phidias and Praxiteles, this being the noblest form + we can conceive, and therefore the least inadequate to the Divine + perfections. The latter defended the Egyptian custom of worshipping + animals, because, as he said, it is blasphemous to attempt to + conceive an image of the Deity, and the Egyptians therefore + concentrate the imagination of the worshipper on objects that are + plainly merely allegorical or symbolical, and do not pretend to + offer any such image (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Philos. Apoll. of Tyana</span></span>, vi. + 19). Pliny shortly says, <span class="tei tei-q">“Effigiem Dei + formamque quærere imbecillitatis humanæ reor”</span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> ii. 5). See too Max. Tyrius, Diss. xxxviii. + There was a legend that Numa forbade all idols, and that for 200 + years they were unknown in Rome (Plutarch, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Numa</span></span>). Dion Chrysostom said that the Gods need no + statues or sacrifices, but that by these means we attest our + devotion to them (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Orat.</span></span> xxxi.). On the vanity of + rich idols, see Plutarch, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Superstitione</span></span>; Seneca, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xxxi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_176" name="note_176" + href="#noteref_176">176.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">1 Lact. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Inst. + Div.</span></span> vi. 25.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_177" name="note_177" + href="#noteref_177">177.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Dion. Halic. ii.; Polyb. vi. 56.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_178" name="note_178" + href="#noteref_178">178.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Aug. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Civ. + Dei</span></span>, iv. 31.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_179" name="note_179" + href="#noteref_179">179.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Epictetus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Enchir.</span></span> + xxxix.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_180" name="note_180" + href="#noteref_180">180.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero, speaking of the worship of + deified men, says, <span class="tei tei-q">“indicat omnium quidem + animos immortales esse, sed fortium bonorumque + divinos.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Leg.</span></span> ii. 11. The Roman + worship of the dead, which was the centre of the domestic religion, + has been recently investigated with much ability by M. Coulanges + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">La Cité + antique</span></span>).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_181" name="note_181" + href="#noteref_181">181.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">On the minute supervision exercised by + the censors on all the details of domestic life, see Aul. Gell. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Noct.</span></span> ii. 24; iv. 12, 20.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_182" name="note_182" + href="#noteref_182">182.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Livy, xxxix. 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_183" name="note_183" + href="#noteref_183">183.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Vell. Paterculus, i. 11-13; Eutropius, + iv. 6. Sallust ascribed the decadence of Rome to the destruction of + its rival, Carthage.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_184" name="note_184" + href="#noteref_184">184.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plutarch, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Adulatore et + Amico</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_185" name="note_185" + href="#noteref_185">185.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There is much curious information + about the growth of Roman luxury in Pliny (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> lib. xxxiv.). The movement of decomposition has + been lately fully traced by Mommsen (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. of + Rome</span></span>); Döllinger (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Jew and + Gentile</span></span>); Denis ( <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des Idées + morales dans l'Antiquité</span></span>); Pressensé (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des trois + premiers Siècles</span></span>); in the histories of Champagny, and + in the beautiful closing chapters of the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apôtres</span></span> + of Renan.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_186" name="note_186" + href="#noteref_186">186.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Aug.</span></span> + xvi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_187" name="note_187" + href="#noteref_187">187.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Calig.</span></span> + v.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_188" name="note_188" + href="#noteref_188">188.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Persius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> + ii.; Horace, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> i. 16, vv. 57-60.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_189" name="note_189" + href="#noteref_189">189.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See, on the identification of the + Greek and Egyptian myths, Plutarch's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Iside et + Osiride</span></span>. The Greek and Roman gods were habitually + regarded as identical, and Cæsar and Tacitus, in like manner, + identified the deities of Gaul and Germany with those of their own + country. See Döllinger, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Jew and Gentile</span></span>, vol. ii. pp. + 160-165.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_190" name="note_190" + href="#noteref_190">190.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Ego deûm genus esse semper dixi et dicam cœlitum; + Sed eos non curare opinor quid agat hominum genus.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Cicero adds: + <span class="tei tei-q">“magno plausu loquitur assentiente + populo.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Divin.</span></span> ii. 50.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_191" name="note_191" + href="#noteref_191">191.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plutarch, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Superstitione</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_192" name="note_192" + href="#noteref_192">192.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Aug. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Civ. + Dei</span></span>, vi. 6; Tertul. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + 15; Arnobius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Adv. Gentes</span></span>, iv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_193" name="note_193" + href="#noteref_193">193.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Pars alia et + hanc pellit, astroque suo eventus assignat, nascendi legibus; + semelque in omnes futuros unquam Deo decretum; in reliquum vero + otium datum. Sedere cœpit sententia hæc pariterque et eruditum + vulgus et rude in eam cursu vadit. Ecce fulgurum monitus, + oraculorum præscita, aruspicum prædicta, atque etiam parva dictu, + in auguriis sternumenta et offensiones pedum.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> ii. 5. Pliny himself expresses great doubt about + astrology giving many examples of men with different destinies, who + had been born at the same time, and therefore under the same stars + (vii. 50). Tacitus expresses complete doubt about the existence of + Providence. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ann.</span></span> vi. 22.) Tiberius is said + to have been very indifferent to the gods and to the worship of the + temples, being wholly addicted to astrology and convinced that all + things were pre-ordained. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Suet. Tib.</span></span> lxix.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_194" name="note_194" + href="#noteref_194">194.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ammianus Marcellinus, xxviii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_195" name="note_195" + href="#noteref_195">195.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Profectibus in Virt.</span></span> It was + originally the custom at Roman feasts to sing to a pipe the actions + and the virtues of the greatest men. (Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tusc. + Quæst.</span></span> iv.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_196" name="note_196" + href="#noteref_196">196.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">E.g. Epictetus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ench.</span></span> + lii. Seneca is full of similar exhortations.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_197" name="note_197" + href="#noteref_197">197.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">According to Cicero, the first Latin + work on philosophy was by the Epicurean Amafanius. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tusc. + Quæst.</span></span> iv.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_198" name="note_198" + href="#noteref_198">198.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See on the great perfection of the + character of Epicurus his life by Diogenes Laërtius, and on the + purity of the philosophy he taught and the degree in which it was + distorted and misrepresented by his Roman followers. Seneca + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Vita + Beata</span></span>, c. xii. xiii. and <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + xxi. Gassendi, in a very interesting little work entitled + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Philosophiæ Epicuri Syntagma</span></span>, + has abundantly proved the possibility of uniting Epicurean + principles with a high code of morals. But probably the most + beautiful picture of the Epicurean system is the first book of the + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Finibus</span></span>, in which Cicero endeavours to paint it as it + would have been painted by its adherents. When we remember that the + writer of this book was one of the most formidable and unflinching + opponents of Epicureanism in all the ancient world, it must be + owned that it would be impossible to find a grander example of that + noble love of truth, that sublime and scrupulous justice to + opponents, which was the pre-eminent glory of ancient philosophers, + and which, after the destruction of philosophy, was for many + centuries almost unknown in the world. It is impossible to doubt + that Epicureanism was logically compatible with a very high degree + of virtue. It is, I think, equally impossible to doubt that its + practical tendency was towards vice.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_199" name="note_199" + href="#noteref_199">199.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Mr. Grote gives the following very + clear summary of Plato's ethical theory, which he believes to be + original:—<span class="tei tei-q">“Justice is in the mind a + condition analogous to good health and strength in the body. + Injustice is a condition analogous to sickness, corruption, + impotence in the body.... To possess a healthy body is desirable + for its consequences as a means towards other constituents of + happiness, but it is still more desirable in itself as an essential + element of happiness <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">per se</span></span>, i.e., the negation of + sickness, which would of itself make us miserable.... In like + manner, the just mind blesses the possessor twice: first and + chiefly by bringing to him happiness in itself; next, also, as it + leads to ulterior happy results. The unjust mind is a curse to its + possessor in itself and apart from results, though it also leads to + ulterior results which render it still more a curse to + him.”</span>—Grote's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Plato</span></span>, vol. iii. p. 131. + According to Plutarch, Aristo of Chio defined virtue as + <span class="tei tei-q">“the health of the soul.”</span> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Virtute Morali.</span></span>)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_200" name="note_200" + href="#noteref_200">200.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Beata est + ergo vita conveniens naturæ suæ; quæ non aliter contingere potest + quam si primum sana mens est et in perpetuâ possessione sanitatis + suæ.”</span>—Seneca, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Vita Beata</span></span>, c. iii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_201" name="note_201" + href="#noteref_201">201.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The famous paradox that <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the sage could be happy even in the bull of + Phalaris,”</span> comes from the writings not of Zeno but of + Epicurus—though the Stoics adopted and greatly admired it. (Cic. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusc.</span></span> ii. See Gassendi, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Philos. + Epicuri Syntagma</span></span>, pars iii. c. 1.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_202" name="note_202" + href="#noteref_202">202.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Sed nescio + quomodo dum lego assentior; cum posui librum et mecum ipse de + immortalitate animorum cœpi cogitare, assensio omnis illa + elabitur.”</span>—Cic. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusc.</span></span> i.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_203" name="note_203" + href="#noteref_203">203.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sallust, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Catilina</span></span>, cap. li.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_204" name="note_204" + href="#noteref_204">204.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">See that most + impressive passage (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. Nat.</span></span> vii. 56). That the + sleep of annihilation is the happiest end of man is a favourite + thought of Lucretius. Thus:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Nil igitur mors est, ad nos neque pertinet + hilum,<br /> + Quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur.”</span>—iii. 842.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This mode of + thought has been recently expressed in Mr. Swinburne's very + beautiful poem on <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">The Garden of Proserpine</span></span>.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_205" name="note_205" + href="#noteref_205">205.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Diog. Laërtius. The opinion of + Chrysippus seems to have prevailed, and Plutarch (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Placit. + Philos.</span></span>) speaks of it as that of the school. Cicero + sarcastically says, <span class="tei tei-q">“Stoici autem usuram + nobis largiuntur, tanquam cornicibus: diu mansuros aiunt animos; + semper, negant.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusc. Disp.</span></span> i. 31.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_206" name="note_206" + href="#noteref_206">206.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">It has been very frequently asserted + that Antigonus of Socho having taught that virtue should be + practised for its own sake, his disciple, Zadok, the founder of the + Sadducees, inferred the non-existence of a future world; but the + evidence for this whole story is exceedingly unsatisfactory. The + reader may find its history in a very remarkable article by Mr. + Twisleton on <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Sadducees</span></span>, in Smith's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Biblical + Dictionary</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_207" name="note_207" + href="#noteref_207">207.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">On the Stoical opinions about a future + life see Martin, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">La Vie future</span></span> (Paris, 1858); + Courdaveaux <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De l'immortalité de l'âme dans le + Stoïcisme</span></span> (Paris, 1857); and Alger's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Critical Hist. of the + Doctrine of a Future Life</span></span> (New York, 1866).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_208" name="note_208" + href="#noteref_208">208.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">His arguments are met by Cicero in the + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusculans</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_209" name="note_209" + href="#noteref_209">209.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a collection of passages from his + discourses collected by M. Courdaveaux, in the introduction to his + French translation of that book.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_210" name="note_210" + href="#noteref_210">210.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Stobæus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Eclog. + Physic.</span></span> lib. i. cap. 52.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_211" name="note_211" + href="#noteref_211">211.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">In his consolations to Marcia, he + seems to incline to a belief in the immortality, or at least the + future existence, of the soul. In many other passages, however, he + speaks of it as annihilated at death.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_212" name="note_212" + href="#noteref_212">212.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Les Stoïciens + ne faisaient aucunement dépendre la morale de la perspective des + peines ou de la rémunération dans une vie future.... La croyance à + l'immortalité de l'âme n'appartenait donc, selon leur manière de + voir, qu'à la physique, c'est-à-dire à la + psychologie.”</span>—Degerando, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. de la + Philos.</span></span> tome iii. p. 56.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_213" name="note_213" + href="#noteref_213">213.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Panætius + igitur, qui sine controversia de officiis accuratissime disputavit, + quemque nos, correctione quadam adhibita, potissimum secuti + sumus.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Offic.</span></span> iii. 2.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_214" name="note_214" + href="#noteref_214">214.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Marcus Aurelius thanks Providence, as + for one of the great blessings of his life, that he had been made + acquainted with the writings of Epictetus. The story is well known + how the old philosopher warned his master, who was beating him, + that he would soon break his leg, and when the leg was broken, + calmly remarked, <span class="tei tei-q">“I told you you would do + so.”</span> Celsus quoted this in opposition to the Christians, + asking, <span class="tei tei-q">“Did your leader under suffering + ever say anything so noble?”</span> Origen finely replied, + <span class="tei tei-q">“He did what was still nobler—He kept + silence.”</span> A Christian anchorite (some say St. Nilus, who + lived in the beginning of the fifth century) was so struck with the + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Enchiridion</span></span> of Epictetus, that + he adapted it to Christian use. The conversations of Epictetus, as + reported by Arrian, are said to have been the favourite reading of + Toussaint l'Ouverture.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_215" name="note_215" + href="#noteref_215">215.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacitus had used this expression + before Milton: <span class="tei tei-q">“Quando etiam sapientibus + cupido gloriæ novissima exuitur.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> + iv. 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_216" name="note_216" + href="#noteref_216">216.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Two remarkable instances have come + down to us of eminent writers begging historians to adorn and even + exaggerate their acts. See the very curious letters of Cicero to + the historian Lucceius (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep. ad Divers.</span></span> v. 12); and of + the younger Pliny to Tacitus (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> vii. 33). Cicero has himself + confessed that he was too fond of glory.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_217" name="note_217" + href="#noteref_217">217.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem;<br /> + Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem.”</span>—Ennius.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_218" name="note_218" + href="#noteref_218">218.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the beautiful description of + Cato's tranquillity under insults. Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Ira</span></span>, + ii. 33; <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Const. Sap.</span></span> 1, 2.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_219" name="note_219" + href="#noteref_219">219.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Officiis</span></span>, iii. 9.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_220" name="note_220" + href="#noteref_220">220.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusc.</span></span> ii. 26.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_221" name="note_221" + href="#noteref_221">221.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Vit. + Beat.</span></span> c. xx.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_222" name="note_222" + href="#noteref_222">222.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + cxiii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_223" name="note_223" + href="#noteref_223">223.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + lxxxi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_224" name="note_224" + href="#noteref_224">224.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Persius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> i. + 45-47.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_225" name="note_225" + href="#noteref_225">225.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Epictetus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ench.</span></span> + xxiii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_226" name="note_226" + href="#noteref_226">226.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Ira</span></span>, + iii. 41.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_227" name="note_227" + href="#noteref_227">227.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Cons. ad + Helv.</span></span> xiii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_228" name="note_228" + href="#noteref_228">228.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Marc. Aur. vii. 67.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_229" name="note_229" + href="#noteref_229">229.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Marc. Aur. iv. 20.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_230" name="note_230" + href="#noteref_230">230.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Pliny, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> i. + 22.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_231" name="note_231" + href="#noteref_231">231.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Non dux, sed + comes voluptas.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Vit. Beat.</span></span> c. viii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_232" name="note_232" + href="#noteref_232">232.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Voluptas non + est merces nec causa virtutis sed accessio; nec quia delectat + placet sed quia placet delectat.”</span>—Ibid., c. ix.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_233" name="note_233" + href="#noteref_233">233.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Peregrinus apud Aul. Gellius, xii. 11. + Peregrinus was a Cynic, but his doctrine on this point was + identical with that of the Stoics.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_234" name="note_234" + href="#noteref_234">234.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Marc. Aurel. ix. 42.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_235" name="note_235" + href="#noteref_235">235.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Marc. Aurel. v. 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_236" name="note_236" + href="#noteref_236">236.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, however, in one of his letters + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> lxxv.), subtilises a good + deal on this point. He draws a distinction between affections and + maladies. The first, he says, are irrational, and therefore + reprehensible movements of the soul, which, if repeated and + unrepressed, tend to form an irrational and evil habit, and to the + last he in this letter restricts the term disease. He illustrates + this distinction by observing that colds and any other slight + ailments, if unchecked and neglected, may produce an organic + disease. The wise man, he says, is wholly free from moral disease, + but no man can completely emancipate himself from affections, + though he should make this his constant object.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_237" name="note_237" + href="#noteref_237">237.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Clem.</span></span> ii. 6, 7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_238" name="note_238" + href="#noteref_238">238.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Peccantes + vero quid habet cur oderit, cum error illos in hujusmodi delicta + compellat?”</span>—Sen. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Ira</span></span>, i. 14. This is a + favourite thought of Marcus Aurelius, to which he reverts again and + again. See, too, Arrian, i. 18.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_239" name="note_239" + href="#noteref_239">239.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Ergo ne + homini quidem nocebimus quia peccavit sed ne peccet, nec unquam ad + præteritum sed ad futurum pœna referetur.”</span>—Ibid. ii. 31. In + the philosophy of Plato, on the other hand, punishment was chiefly + expiatory and purificatory. (Lerminier, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Introd. à l'Histoire + du Droit</span></span>, p. 123.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_240" name="note_240" + href="#noteref_240">240.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Constant. + Sap.</span></span> v. Compare and contrast this famous sentence of + Anaxagoras with that of one of the early Christian hermits. Someone + told the hermit that his father was dead. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Cease your blasphemy,”</span> he answered, + <span class="tei tei-q">“my father is immortal.”</span>—Socrates, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Eccl. + Hist.</span></span> iv 23.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_241" name="note_241" + href="#noteref_241">241.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Epictetus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ench.</span></span> + 16, 18.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_242" name="note_242" + href="#noteref_242">242.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The dispute about whether anything but + virtue is a good, was, in reality, a somewhat childish quarrel + about words; for the Stoics, who indignantly denounced the + Peripatetics for maintaining the affirmative, admitted that health, + friends, &c., should be sought not as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“goods”</span> but as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“preferables.”</span> See a long discussion on this + matter in Cicero (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Finib.</span></span> lib. iii. iv.). The + Stoical doctrine of the equality of all vices was formally + repudiated by Marcus Aurelius, who maintained (ii. 10), with + Theophrastus, that faults of desire were worse than faults of + anger. The other Stoics, while dogmatically asserting the equality + of all virtues as well as the equality of all vices, in their + particular judgments graduated their praise or blame much in the + same way as the rest of the world.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_243" name="note_243" + href="#noteref_243">243.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">See Seneca + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> lxxxix.). Seneca himself, + however, has devoted a work to natural history, but the general + tendency of the school was certainly to concentrate all attention + upon morals, and all, or nearly all the great naturalists were + Epicureans. Cicero puts into the mouth of the Epicurean the + sentence, <span class="tei tei-q">“Omnium autem rerum natura + cognita levamur superstitione, liberamur mortis metu, non + conturbamur ignoratione rerum”</span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Fin.</span></span> i.); and Virgil expressed an eminently + Epicurean sentiment in his famous lines:—</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,<br /> + Quique metus omnes et inexorabile fatum<br /> + Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque<br /> + Acherontis avari.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Georg.</span></span> 490-492.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_244" name="note_244" + href="#noteref_244">244.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plutarch, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Cato + Major</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_245" name="note_245" + href="#noteref_245">245.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ad + Attic.</span></span> vi. 2.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_246" name="note_246" + href="#noteref_246">246.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This contrast is noticed and largely + illustrated by M. Montée in his interesting little work + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Le + Stoïcisme à Rome</span></span>, and also by Legendre in his + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Traité de + l'Opinion, ou Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de l'esprit + humain</span></span> (Venise, 1735).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_247" name="note_247" + href="#noteref_247">247.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Atque hoc + quidem omnes mortales sic habent ... commoditatem prosperitatemque + vitæ a diis se habere, virtutem autem nemo unquam acceptam deo + retulit. Nimirum recte. Propter virtutem enim jure laudamur et in + virtute recte gloriamur. Quod non contingeret si id donum a deo, + non a nobis haberemus.”</span>—Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Nat. + Deor.</span></span> iii. 36.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_248" name="note_248" + href="#noteref_248">248.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> i. 18.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_249" name="note_249" + href="#noteref_249">249.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + lxvi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_250" name="note_250" + href="#noteref_250">250.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lucretius, v. It was a Greek proverb, + that Apollo begat Æsculapius to heal the body, and Plato to heal + the soul. (Legendre, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Traité de l'Opinion</span></span>, tome i. p. + 197.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_251" name="note_251" + href="#noteref_251">251.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano:<br /> + Fortem posce animum, mortis terrore carentem....<br /> + Monstro, quod ipse tibi possis dare.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Juvenal, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> x. 356.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Marcus + Aurelius recommends prayer, but only that we may be freed from + evil desires. (ix. 11.)</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_252" name="note_252" + href="#noteref_252">252.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + lxvi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_253" name="note_253" + href="#noteref_253">253.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + liii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_254" name="note_254" + href="#noteref_254">254.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Const. Sap.</span></span> viii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_255" name="note_255" + href="#noteref_255">255.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ench.</span></span> xlviii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_256" name="note_256" + href="#noteref_256">256.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arrian, i. 12.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_257" name="note_257" + href="#noteref_257">257.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arrian, ii. 8. The same doctrine is + strongly stated in Seneca, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xcii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_258" name="note_258" + href="#noteref_258">258.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Nat. + Deor.</span></span> ii. 66.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_259" name="note_259" + href="#noteref_259">259.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> lxxxiii. Somewhat similar + sentiments are attributed to Thales and Bion (Diog. Laërt.).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_260" name="note_260" + href="#noteref_260">260.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xli. There are some + beautiful sentiments of this kind in Plutarch's treatise, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Sera + Numinis Vindicta</span></span>. It was a saying of Pythagoras, that + <span class="tei tei-q">“we become better as we approach the + gods.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_261" name="note_261" + href="#noteref_261">261.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Marc. Aur. iii. 5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_262" name="note_262" + href="#noteref_262">262.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Marcus Aurelius.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_263" name="note_263" + href="#noteref_263">263.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Præf. Nat. + Quæst.</span></span> iii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_264" name="note_264" + href="#noteref_264">264.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Marc. Aur. x. 25.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_265" name="note_265" + href="#noteref_265">265.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Epict. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ench.</span></span> + xvii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_266" name="note_266" + href="#noteref_266">266.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Epict. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ench.</span></span> + xi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_267" name="note_267" + href="#noteref_267">267.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Prov.</span></span> i.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_268" name="note_268" + href="#noteref_268">268.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. iv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_269" name="note_269" + href="#noteref_269">269.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Marc. Aurel. ii. 2, 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_270" name="note_270" + href="#noteref_270">270.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The language in which the Stoics + sometimes spoke of the inexorable determination of all things by + Providence would appear logically inconsistent with free will. In + fact, however, the Stoics asserted the latter doctrine in + unequivocal language, and in their practical ethics even + exaggerated its power. Aulus Gellius (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Noct. + Att.</span></span> vi. 2) has preserved a passage in which + Chrysippus exerted his subtlety in reconciling the two things. See, + too, Arrian, i. 17.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_271" name="note_271" + href="#noteref_271">271.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">We have an extremely curious + illustration of this mode of thought in a speech of Archytas of + Tarentum on the evils of sensuality, which Cicero has preserved. He + considers the greatest of these evils to be that the vice + predisposes men to unpatriotic acts. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Nullam capitaliorem pestem quam corporis voluptatem, + hominibus a natura datam.... Hinc patriæ proditiones, hinc + rerumpublicarum eversiones, hinc cum hostibus clandestina colloquia + nasci,”</span> etc.—Cicero, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Senect.</span></span> xii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_272" name="note_272" + href="#noteref_272">272.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Diog. Laërt. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Anax.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_273" name="note_273" + href="#noteref_273">273.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Cari sunt + parentes, cari liberi, propinqui, familiares; sed omnes omnium + caritates patria una complexa est; pro qua quis bonus dubitet + mortem oppetere si ei sit profuturus?”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Offic.</span></span> i. 17.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_274" name="note_274" + href="#noteref_274">274.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Consol. ad + Helviam</span></span> and <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Otio Sapien.</span></span>; and Plutarch, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Exilio</span></span>. The first of these works is the basis of one + of the most beautiful compositions in the English language, + Bolingbroke's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Reflections on Exile</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_275" name="note_275" + href="#noteref_275">275.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Officiis</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_276" name="note_276" + href="#noteref_276">276.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Epist.</span></span> i. 10.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_277" name="note_277" + href="#noteref_277">277.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Tota enim + philosophorum vita, ut ait idem, commentatio mortis + est.”</span>—Cicero, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusc.</span></span> i. 30, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">ad + fin</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_278" name="note_278" + href="#noteref_278">278.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Essay on Death.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_279" name="note_279" + href="#noteref_279">279.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Spinoza, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ethics</span></span>, + iv. 67.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_280" name="note_280" + href="#noteref_280">280.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Camden. Montalembert notices a similar + legend as existing in Brittany (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Les Moines + d'Occident</span></span>, tome ii. p. 287). Procopius (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Bello + Goth.</span></span> iv. 20) says that it is impossible for men to + live in the west of Britain, and that the district is believed to + be inhabited by the souls of the dead.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_281" name="note_281" + href="#noteref_281">281.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">In his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Sera Numinis + Vindicta</span></span> and his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Consolatio ad + Uxorem</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_282" name="note_282" + href="#noteref_282">282.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">In the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Phædo</span></span>, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">passim</span></span>. See, too, Marc. + Aurelius, ii. 12.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_283" name="note_283" + href="#noteref_283">283.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a very striking letter of Epicurus + quoted by Diogenes Laërt. in his life of that philosopher. Except a + few sentences, quoted by other writers, these letters were all that + remained of the works of Epicurus, till the recent discovery of one + of his treatises at Herculaneum.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_284" name="note_284" + href="#noteref_284">284.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusc. Quæst.</span></span> i.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_285" name="note_285" + href="#noteref_285">285.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Consol. ad Polyb.</span></span> xxvii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_286" name="note_286" + href="#noteref_286">286.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Maury, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des Religions + de la Grèce antique</span></span>, tom. i. pp. 582-588. M. + Ravaisson, in his Memoir on Stoicism (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Acad. des + Inscriptions et Belles-lettres</span></span>, tom. xxi.) has + enlarged on the terrorism of paganism, but has, I think, + exaggerated it. Religions which selected games as the natural form + of devotion can never have had any very alarming character.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_287" name="note_287" + href="#noteref_287">287.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plutarch, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ad + Apollonium</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_288" name="note_288" + href="#noteref_288">288.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_289" name="note_289" + href="#noteref_289">289.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tusc. + Quæst.</span></span> i.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_290" name="note_290" + href="#noteref_290">290.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Philost. + Apoll. of Tyan. v. 4. Hence their passion for suicide, which + Silius Italicus commemorates in lines which I think very + beautiful:—</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Prodiga gens animæ et properare facillima + mortem;<br /> + Namque ubi transcendit florentes viribus annos<br /> + Impatiens ævi, spernit novisse senectam<br /> + Et fati modus in dextra est.”</span>—i. 225-228.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Valerius + Maximus (ii. vi. § 12) speaks of Celts who celebrated the birth + of men with lamentation, and their deaths with joy.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_291" name="note_291" + href="#noteref_291">291.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Aulus Gellius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Noctes</span></span>, + i. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_292" name="note_292" + href="#noteref_292">292.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacitus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Annales</span></span>, xv. 62.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_293" name="note_293" + href="#noteref_293">293.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Titus</span></span>, + 10.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_294" name="note_294" + href="#noteref_294">294.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Capitolinus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Antoninus</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_295" name="note_295" + href="#noteref_295">295.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the beautiful account of his last + hours given by Ammianus Marcellinus and reproduced by Gibbon. There + are some remarks well worth reading about the death of Julian, and + the state of thought that rendered such a death possible, in Dr. + Newman's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Discourses on University + Education</span></span>, lect. ix.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_296" name="note_296" + href="#noteref_296">296.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Lex non pœna + mors”</span> was a favourite saying among the ancients. On the + other hand, Tertullian very distinctly enunciated the patristic + view, <span class="tei tei-q">“Qui autem primordia hominis novimus, + audenter determinamus mortem non ex natura secutam hominem sed ex + culpa.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Anima</span></span>, 52.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_297" name="note_297" + href="#noteref_297">297.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plutarch, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ad + Uxorem</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_298" name="note_298" + href="#noteref_298">298.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Augustine, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Epist.</span></span> + 166.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_299" name="note_299" + href="#noteref_299">299.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“At hoc quidem + commune est omnium philosophorum, non eorum modo qui deum nihil + habere ipsum negotii dicunt, et nihil exhibere alteri; sed eorum + etiam, qui deum semper agere aliquid et moliri volunt, numquam nec + irasci deum nec nocere.”</span>—Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Offic.</span></span> iii. 28.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_300" name="note_300" + href="#noteref_300">300.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the refutation of the philosophic + notion in Lactantius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Ira Dei</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_301" name="note_301" + href="#noteref_301">301.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Revelation,”</span> as Lessing observes in his essay + on this subject, <span class="tei tei-q">“has made Death the + <span class="tei tei-q">‘king of terrors,’</span> the awful + offspring of sin and the dread way to its punishment; though to the + imagination of the ancient heathen world, Greek or Etrurian, he was + a youthful genius—the twin brother of Sleep, or a lusty boy with a + torch held downwards.”</span>—Coleridge's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Biographia + Litteraria</span></span>, cap. xxii., note by Sara Coleridge.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_302" name="note_302" + href="#noteref_302">302.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Vetat + Pythagoras injussu imperatoris, id est Dei, de præsidio et statione + vitæ decedere.”</span>—Cic. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Senec.</span></span> xx. If we believe the + very untrustworthy evidence of Diog. Laërtius (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Pythagoras</span></span>) the philosopher + himself committed suicide by starvation.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_303" name="note_303" + href="#noteref_303">303.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Laws</span></span>, + lib. ix. In his <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Phædon</span></span>, however, Plato went + further, and condemned all suicide. Libanius says (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Vita + Sua</span></span>) that the arguments of the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Phædon</span></span> + prevented him from committing suicide after the death of Julian. On + the other hand, Cicero mentions a certain Cleombrotus, who was so + fascinated by the proof of the immortality of the soul in the + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Phædon</span></span> that he forthwith cast + himself into the sea. Cato, as is well known, chose this work to + study, the night he committed suicide.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_304" name="note_304" + href="#noteref_304">304.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arist. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ethic.</span></span> + v.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_305" name="note_305" + href="#noteref_305">305.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a list of these in Lactantius' + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Inst. + Div.</span></span> iii. 18. Many of these instances rest on very + doubtful evidence.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_306" name="note_306" + href="#noteref_306">306.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Adam Smith's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Moral + Sentiments</span></span>, part vii. § 2.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_307" name="note_307" + href="#noteref_307">307.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Proxima deinde tenent mœsti loca qui sibi + lethum<br /> + Insontes peperere manu, lucemque perosi<br /> + Projecere animas. Quam vellent æthere in alto<br /> + Nunc et pauperiem et duros perferre labores.”</span><br /> + —<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Æneid</span></span>, vi. 434-437.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_308" name="note_308" + href="#noteref_308">308.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero has censured suicide in his + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Senectute</span></span>, in the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Somn. + Scipionis</span></span>, and in the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusculans</span></span>. Concerning the death + of Cato, he says, that the occasion was such as to constitute a + divine call to leave life.—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusc.</span></span> i.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_309" name="note_309" + href="#noteref_309">309.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Apuleius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Philos. + Plat.</span></span> lib. i.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_310" name="note_310" + href="#noteref_310">310.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Thus + Ovid:—</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Rebus in adversis facile est contemnere vitam,<br /> + Fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">See, too, + Martial, xi. 56.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_311" name="note_311" + href="#noteref_311">311.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Especially <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + xxiv. Seneca desires that men should not commit suicide with panic + or trepidation. He says that those condemned to death should await + their execution, for <span class="tei tei-q">“it is a folly to die + through fear of death;”</span> and he recommends men to support old + age as long as their faculties remain unimpaired. On this last + point, however, his language is somewhat contradictory. There is a + good review of the opinions of the ancients in general, and of + Seneca in particular, on this subject in Justus Lipsius' + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Manuductio ad Stoicam + Philosophiam</span></span>, lib. iii. dissert. 22, 23, from which I + have borrowed much.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_312" name="note_312" + href="#noteref_312">312.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">In his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Meditations</span></span>, ix. 3, he speaks of + the duty of patiently awaiting death. But in iii. 1, x. 8, 22-32, + he clearly recognises the right of suicide in some cases, + especially to prevent moral degeneracy. It must be remembered that + the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Meditations</span></span> of Marcus Aurelius + were private notes for his personal guidance, that all the Stoics + admitted it to be wrong to commit suicide in cases where the act + would be an injury to society, and that this consideration in + itself would be sufficient to divert an emperor from the deed. + Antoninus, the uncle, predecessor, and model of M. Aurelius, had + considered it his duty several times to prevent Hadrian from + committing suicide (Spartianus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hadrianus</span></span>). According to + Capitolinus, Marcus Aurelius in his last illness purposely + accelerated his death by abstinence. The duty of not hastily, or + through cowardice, abandoning a path of duty, and the right of man + to quit life when it appears intolerable, are combined very clearly + by Epictetus, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Arrian</span></span>, i. 9; and the latter is + asserted in the strongest manner, i. 24-25.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_313" name="note_313" + href="#noteref_313">313.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Porphyry, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Abst. + Carnis</span></span>, ii. 47; Plotinus, 1st Enn. ix. Porphyry says + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Plotinus</span></span>) that Plotinus dissuaded him from suicide. + There is a good epitome of the arguments of this school against + suicide in Macrobius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">In Som. Scip.</span></span> 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_314" name="note_314" + href="#noteref_314">314.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Quoted by Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + xxvi. Cicero states the Epicurean doctrine to be, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Ut si tolerabiles sint dolores, feramus, sin minus + æquo animo e vita, cum ea non placet, tanquam e theatro, + exeamus”</span> (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Finib.</span></span> i. 15); and again, + <span class="tei tei-q">“De Diis immortalibus sine ullo metu vera + sentit. Non dubitat, si ita melius sit, de vita + migrare.”</span>—Id. i. 19.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_315" name="note_315" + href="#noteref_315">315.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This is noticed by St. Jerome.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_316" name="note_316" + href="#noteref_316">316.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Corn. Nepos, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Atticus</span></span>. He killed himself when + an old man, to shorten a hopeless disease.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_317" name="note_317" + href="#noteref_317">317.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Petronius, who was called the + arbitrator of tastes (<span class="tei tei-q">“elegantiæ + arbiter”</span>), was one of the most famous voluptuaries of the + reign of Nero. Unlike most of his contemporaries, however, he was + endowed with the most exquisite and refined taste; his graceful + manners fascinated all about him, and made him in matters of + pleasure the ruler of the Court. Appointed Proconsul of Bithynia, + and afterwards Consul, he displayed the energies and the abilities + of a statesman. A Court intrigue threw him out of favour; and + believing that his death was resolved on, he determined to + anticipate it by suicide. Calling his friends about him, he opened + his veins, shut them, and opened them again; prolonged his + lingering death till he had arranged his affairs; discoursed in his + last moments, not about the immortality of the soul or the dogmas + of philosophers, but about the gay songs and epigrams of the hour; + and partaking of a cheerful banquet, died as recklessly as he had + lived. (Tacit. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> xvi. 18-19.) It has been + a matter of much dispute whether or not this Petronius was the + author of the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Satyricon</span></span>, one of the most + licentious and repulsive works in Latin literature.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_318" name="note_318" + href="#noteref_318">318.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Vita + Beata</span></span>, xix.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_319" name="note_319" + href="#noteref_319">319.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Imperfectæ + vero in homine naturæ præcipua solatia, ne Deum quidem posse omnia; + namque nec sibi potest mortem consciscere si velit, quod homini + dedit optimum in tantis vitæ pœnis.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> ii. 5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_320" name="note_320" + href="#noteref_320">320.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. Nat.</span></span> ii. 63. We need not + be surprised at this writer thus speaking of sudden death, + <span class="tei tei-q">“Mortes repentinæ (hoc est summa vitæ + felicitas),”</span> vii. 54.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_321" name="note_321" + href="#noteref_321">321.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusc. Quæst.</span></span> lib. 1. Another + remarkable example of an epidemic of suicide occurred among the + young girls of Miletus. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Aul. Gell.</span></span> xv. 10.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_322" name="note_322" + href="#noteref_322">322.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sir Cornewall Lewis, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On the Credibility of + Early Roman History</span></span>, vol. ii. p. 430. See, too, on + this class of suicides, Cromaziano, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Istorica Critica del + Suicidio</span></span> (Venezia, 1788), pp. 81-82. The real name of + the author of this book (which is, I think, the best history of + suicide) was Buonafede. He was a Celestine monk. The book was first + published at Lucca in 1761. It was translated into French in + 1841.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_323" name="note_323" + href="#noteref_323">323.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Provid.</span></span> ii.; <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xxiv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_324" name="note_324" + href="#noteref_324">324.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See some examples of this in Seneca, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> lxx.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_325" name="note_325" + href="#noteref_325">325.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a long catalogue of suicides + arising from this cause, in Cromaziano, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ist. del + Suicidio</span></span>, pp. 112-114.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_326" name="note_326" + href="#noteref_326">326.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Consol. ad Marc.</span></span> c. xx.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_327" name="note_327" + href="#noteref_327">327.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Ira</span></span>, iii. 15.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_328" name="note_328" + href="#noteref_328">328.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> lxx.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_329" name="note_329" + href="#noteref_329">329.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Donne's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Biathanatos</span></span> (London, 1700), pp. + 56-57. Gibbon's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Decline and Fall</span></span>, ch. xliv. + Blackstone, in his chapter on suicide, quotes the sentence of the + Roman lawyers on the subject: <span class="tei tei-q">“Si quis + impatientia doloris aut tædio vitæ aut morbo aut furore aut pudore + mori maluit non animadvertatur in eum.”</span> Ulpian expressly + asserts that the wills of suicides were recognised by law, and + numerous examples of the act, notoriously prepared and publicly and + gradually accomplished, prove its legality in Rome. Suetonius, it + is true, speaks of Claudius accusing a man for having tried to kill + himself (Claud, xvi.), and Xiphilin says (lxix. 8) that Hadrian + gave special permission to the philosopher Euphrates to commit + suicide, <span class="tei tei-q">“on account of old age and + disease;”</span> but in the first case it appears from the context + that a reproach and not a legal action was meant, while Euphrates, + I suppose, asked permission to show his loyalty to the emperor, and + not as a matter of strict necessity. There were, however, some + Greek laws condemning suicide, probably on civic grounds. Josephus + mentions (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Bell. Jud.</span></span> iii. 8) that in + some nations <span class="tei tei-q">“the right hand of the suicide + was amputated, and that in Judea the suicide was only buried after + sunset.”</span> A very strange law, said to have been derived from + Greece, is reported to have existed at Marseilles. Poison was kept + by the senate of the city, and given to those who could prove that + they had sufficient reason to justify their desire for death, and + all other suicide was forbidden. The law was intended, it was said, + to prevent hasty suicide, and to make deliberate suicide as rapid + and painless as possible. (Valer. Maximus, ii. 6, § 7.) In the + Reign of Terror in France, a law was made similar to that of + Domitian. (Carlyle's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. of the French Revolution</span></span>, + book v. c. ii.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_330" name="note_330" + href="#noteref_330">330.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Compare with this a curious + <span class="tei tei-q">“order of the day,”</span> issued by + Napoleon in 1802, with the view of checking the prevalence of + suicide among his soldiers. (Lisle, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Du + Suicide</span></span>, pp. 462-463.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_331" name="note_331" + href="#noteref_331">331.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">See Suetonius, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Otho.</span></span> c. x.-xi., and the very + fine description in Tacitus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> + lib. ii. c. 47-49. Martial compares the death of Otho to that of + Cato:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Sit Cato, dum vivit, sane vel Cæsare major;<br /> + Dum moritur, numquid major Othone fuit?”</span><br /> + —<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> vi. 32.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_332" name="note_332" + href="#noteref_332">332.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Xiphilin, lxviii. 12.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_333" name="note_333" + href="#noteref_333">333.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> + ii. 49. Suet. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Otho</span></span>, 12. Suetonius says that, + in addition to these, many soldiers who were not present killed + themselves on hearing the news.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_334" name="note_334" + href="#noteref_334">334.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + xiv. 9.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_335" name="note_335" + href="#noteref_335">335.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plin. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> vii. 54. The opposite faction attributed this + suicide to the maddening effects of the perfumes burnt on the + pile.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_336" name="note_336" + href="#noteref_336">336.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + vi. 26.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_337" name="note_337" + href="#noteref_337">337.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plin. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> i. + 12.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_338" name="note_338" + href="#noteref_338">338.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This history is satirically and + unfeelingly told by Lucian. See, too, Ammianus Marcellinus, xxix. + 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_339" name="note_339" + href="#noteref_339">339.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sophocles.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_340" name="note_340" + href="#noteref_340">340.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arrian, i. 24.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_341" name="note_341" + href="#noteref_341">341.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + lviii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_342" name="note_342" + href="#noteref_342">342.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Stobæus. One of the most deliberate + suicides recorded was that of a Greek woman of ninety years + old.—Val. Maxim. ii. 6, § 8.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_343" name="note_343" + href="#noteref_343">343.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plin. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + iii. 7. He starved himself to death.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_344" name="note_344" + href="#noteref_344">344.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> i. 22. Some of Pliny's + expressions are remarkable:—<span class="tei tei-q">“Id ego arduum + in primis et præcipua laude dignum puto. Nam impetu quodam et + instinctu procurrere ad mortem, commune cum multis: deliberare vero + et causas ejus expendere, utque suaserit ratio, vitæ mortisque + consilium suscipere vel ponere, ingentis est animi.”</span> In this + case the doctors pronounced that recovery was possible, and the + suicide was in consequence averted.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_345" name="note_345" + href="#noteref_345">345.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lib. vi. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + xxiv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_346" name="note_346" + href="#noteref_346">346.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> lxxvii. On the former career + of Marcellinus, see <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xxix.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_347" name="note_347" + href="#noteref_347">347.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">See the very + beautiful lines of Statius:—</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Urbe fuit media nulli concessa potentum<br /> + Ara Deum, mitis posuit Clementia sedem:<br /> + Et miseri fecere sacram, sine supplice numquam<br /> + Illa novo; nulla damnavit vota repulsa.<br /> + Auditi quicunque rogant, noctesque diesque<br /> + Ire datum, et solis numen placare querelis.<br /> + Parca superstitio; non thurea flamma, nec altus<br /> + Accipitur sanguis, lachrymis altaria sudant ...<br /> + Nulla autem effigies, nulli commissa metallo<br /> + Forma Deæ, mentes habitare et pectora gaudet.<br /> + Semper habet trepidos, semper locus horret egenis<br /> + Cœtibus, ignotæ tantum felicibus aræ.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Thebaid</span></span>, xii. 481-496.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This altar was + very old, and was said to have been founded by the descendants of + Hercules. Diodorus of Sicily, however, makes a Syracusan say that + it was brought from Syracuse (lib. xiii. 22). Marcus Aurelius + erected a temple to <span class="tei tei-q">“Beneficentia”</span> + on the Capitol. (Xiphilin, lib. lxxi. 34.)</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_348" name="note_348" + href="#noteref_348">348.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Herodotus, vi. 21.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_349" name="note_349" + href="#noteref_349">349.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Arrian's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Epictetus</span></span>, i. 9. The very + existence of the word φιλανθρωπία shows that the idea was not + altogether unknown.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_350" name="note_350" + href="#noteref_350">350.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Diog. Laërt. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Pyrrho</span></span>. + There was a tradition that Pythagoras had himself penetrated to + India, and learnt philosophy from the gymnosophists. (Apuleius, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Florid.</span></span> lib. ii. c. 15.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_351" name="note_351" + href="#noteref_351">351.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This aspect of the career of Alexander + was noticed in a remarkable passage of a treatise ascribed to + Plutarch (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Fort. Alex.</span></span>). <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Conceiving he was sent by God to be an umpire between + all, and to unite all together, he reduced by arms those whom he + could not conquer by persuasion, and formed of a hundred diverse + nations one single universal body, mingling, as it were, in one cup + of friendship the customs, marriages, and laws of all. He desired + that all should regard the whole world as their common country, ... + that every good man should be esteemed a Hellene, every evil man a + barbarian.”</span> See on this subject the third lecture of Mr. + Merivale (whose translation of Plutarch I have borrowed) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On the + Conversion of the Roman Empire</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_352" name="note_352" + href="#noteref_352">352.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">They were both born about <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">b.c.</span></span> 250. See Sir C. + Lewis, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Credibility of Early Roman + History</span></span>, vol. i. p. 82.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_353" name="note_353" + href="#noteref_353">353.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Aulus Gellius mentions the indignation + of Marcus Cato against a consul named Albinus, who had written in + Greek a Roman history, and prefaced it by an apology for his faults + of style, on the ground that he was writing in a foreign language. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Noct. + Att.</span></span> xi. 8.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_354" name="note_354" + href="#noteref_354">354.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a vivid picture of the Greek + influence upon Rome, in Mommsen's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. of + Rome</span></span> (Eng. trans.), vol. iii. pp. 423-426.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_355" name="note_355" + href="#noteref_355">355.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plin. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> vii. 31.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_356" name="note_356" + href="#noteref_356">356.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Friedlænder, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Mœurs romaines du + règne d'Auguste à la fin des Antonins</span></span> (French trans., + 1865), tome i. pp. 6-7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_357" name="note_357" + href="#noteref_357">357.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the curious catalogue of Greek + love terms in vogue (Lucretius, lib. iv. line 1160, &c.). + Juvenal, more than a hundred years later, was extremely angry with + the Roman ladies for making love in Greek (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> + vi. lines 190-195). Friedlænder remarks that there is no special + term in Latin for to ask in marriage (tome i. p. 354).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_358" name="note_358" + href="#noteref_358">358.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Aul. Gell. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Noct.</span></span> + xv. 4; Vell. Paterculus, ii. 65. The people were much scandalised + at this elevation, and made epigrams about it. There is a curious + catalogue of men who at different times rose in Rome from low + positions to power and dignity, in Legendre, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Traité de + l'Opinion</span></span>, tome ii. pp. 254-255.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_359" name="note_359" + href="#noteref_359">359.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Dion Cassius, xlviii. 32. Plin. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> v. 5; vii. 44.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_360" name="note_360" + href="#noteref_360">360.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The history of the influence of + freedmen is minutely traced by Friedlænder, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Mœurs romaines du + règne d'Auguste à la fin des Antonins</span></span>, tome i. pp. + 58-93. Statius and Martial sang their praises.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_361" name="note_361" + href="#noteref_361">361.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ann.</span></span> + vi. 23-25.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_362" name="note_362" + href="#noteref_362">362.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">On the Roman journeys, see the almost + exhaustive dissertation of Friedlænder, tome ii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_363" name="note_363" + href="#noteref_363">363.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Joseph. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Antiq.</span></span> + xvii. 11, § 1) says above 8,000 Jews resident in Rome took part in + a petition to Cæsar. If these were all adult males, the total + number of Jewish residents must have been extremely large.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_364" name="note_364" + href="#noteref_364">364.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the famous fragment of Seneca + cited by St. Augustin (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Civ. Dei</span></span>, vi. 11): + <span class="tei tei-q">“Usque eo sceleratissimæ gentis consuetudo + convaluit, ut per omnes jam terras recepta sit: victi victoribus + leges dederunt.”</span> There are numerous scattered allusions to + the Jews in Horace, Juvenal, and Martial.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_365" name="note_365" + href="#noteref_365">365.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The Carthaginian influence was + specially conspicuous in early Christian history. Tertullian and + Cyprian (both Africans) are justly regarded as the founders of + Latin theology. (See Milman's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Latin Christianity</span></span> (ed. 1867), + vol. i. pp. 35-36.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_366" name="note_366" + href="#noteref_366">366.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Milo had emancipated some slaves to + prevent them from being tortured as witnesses. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Cic. Pro + Milo.</span></span>) This was made illegal. The other reasons for + enfranchisement are given by Dion. Halicarn. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Antiq.</span></span> + lib. iv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_367" name="note_367" + href="#noteref_367">367.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This subject is fully treated by + Wallon, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. de l'Esclavage dans + l'Antiquité</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_368" name="note_368" + href="#noteref_368">368.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Clemen.</span></span> i. 24.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_369" name="note_369" + href="#noteref_369">369.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See, on the prominence and the + insolence of the freedmen, Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + iii. 26-27.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_370" name="note_370" + href="#noteref_370">370.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Montesquieu, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Décadence des + Romains</span></span>, ch. xiii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_371" name="note_371" + href="#noteref_371">371.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the very curious speech attributed + to Camillus (Livy, v. 52).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_372" name="note_372" + href="#noteref_372">372.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Caritas + generis humani.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Finib.</span></span> So, too, he speaks + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Leg.</span></span> i. 23) of every good man as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“civis totius mundi.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_373" name="note_373" + href="#noteref_373">373.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">He speaks of Rome as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“civitas ex nationum conventu constituta.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_374" name="note_374" + href="#noteref_374">374.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Legib.</span></span> i. 7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_375" name="note_375" + href="#noteref_375">375.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Offic.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_376" name="note_376" + href="#noteref_376">376.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. iii. 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_377" name="note_377" + href="#noteref_377">377.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Offic.</span></span> iii. 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_378" name="note_378" + href="#noteref_378">378.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Legib.</span></span> i. 15.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_379" name="note_379" + href="#noteref_379">379.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Tunc genus humanum positis sibi consulat + armis,<br /> + Inque vicem gens omnis amet.”</span><br /> + —<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Pharsalia</span></span>, vi.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_380" name="note_380" + href="#noteref_380">380.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xcv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_381" name="note_381" + href="#noteref_381">381.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xxxi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_382" name="note_382" + href="#noteref_382">382.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Vita Beata</span></span>, xx.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_383" name="note_383" + href="#noteref_383">383.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arrian, ii. 10.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_384" name="note_384" + href="#noteref_384">384.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">vi. 44.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_385" name="note_385" + href="#noteref_385">385.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Hæc duri immota Catonis<br /> + Secta fuit, servare modum, finemque tenere,<br /> + Naturamque sequi, patriæque impendere vitam,<br /> + Nec sibi sed toti genitum se credere mundo.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Lucan, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Phars.</span></span> ii. 380-383.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_386" name="note_386" + href="#noteref_386">386.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There is a passage on this subject in + one of the letters of Pliny, which I think extremely remarkable, + and to which I can recall no pagan parallel:—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“Nuper me cujusdam amici languor admonuit, optimos esse + nos dum infirmi sumus. Quem enim infirmum aut avaritia aut libido + solicitat? Non amoribus servit, non appetit honores ... tunc deos, + tunc hominem esse se meminit.”</span>—Plin. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + vii. 26.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_387" name="note_387" + href="#noteref_387">387.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> viii. 16. He says: + <span class="tei tei-q">“Hominis est enim affici dolore, sentire, + resistere tamen, et solatia admittere, non solatiis non + egere.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_388" name="note_388" + href="#noteref_388">388.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This characteristic of Stoicism is + well noticed in Grant's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Aristotle</span></span>, vol. i. p. 254. The + first volume of this work contains an extremely good review of the + principles of the Stoics.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_389" name="note_389" + href="#noteref_389">389.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cie. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Finib.</span></span> lib. iv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_390" name="note_390" + href="#noteref_390">390.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arrian, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Epict.</span></span> + ii. 14.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_391" name="note_391" + href="#noteref_391">391.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. i. 9.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_392" name="note_392" + href="#noteref_392">392.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. i. 14.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_393" name="note_393" + href="#noteref_393">393.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. i. 16.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_394" name="note_394" + href="#noteref_394">394.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arrian, ii. 8.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_395" name="note_395" + href="#noteref_395">395.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plutarch, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Profect. in + Virt.</span></span> This precept was enforced by Bishop Sanderson + in one of his sermons. (Southey's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Commonplace + Book</span></span>, vol. i. p. 92.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_396" name="note_396" + href="#noteref_396">396.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Diog. Laërt. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Pythagoras</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_397" name="note_397" + href="#noteref_397">397.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Thus Cicero makes Cato say: + <span class="tei tei-q">“Pythagoreorumque more, exercendæ memoriæ + gratia, quid quoque die dixerim, audiverim, egerim, commemoro + vesperi.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Senect.</span></span> xi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_398" name="note_398" + href="#noteref_398">398.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_399" name="note_399" + href="#noteref_399">399.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Sermon</span></span>, i. 4.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_400" name="note_400" + href="#noteref_400">400.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">He even gave up, for a time, eating + meat, in obedience to the Pythagorean principles. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + cviii.) Seneca had two masters of this school, Sextius and Sotion. + He was at this time not more than seventeen years old. (See + Aubertin, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Étude critique sur les Rapports supposés entre + Sénèque et St. Paul</span></span>, p. 156.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_401" name="note_401" + href="#noteref_401">401.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See his very beautiful description of + the self-examination of Sextius and of himself. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Ira</span></span>, + iii. 36.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_402" name="note_402" + href="#noteref_402">402.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arrian, ii. 18. Compare the + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Manual</span></span> of Epictetus, xxxiv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_403" name="note_403" + href="#noteref_403">403.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Quod de + Romulo ægre creditum est, omnes pari consensu præsumserunt, Marcum + cœlo receptum esse.”</span>—Aur. Vict. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Epit.</span></span> + xvi. <span class="tei tei-q">“Deusque etiam nunc + habetur.”</span>—Capitolinus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_404" name="note_404" + href="#noteref_404">404.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The first book of his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Meditations</span></span> was written on the + borders of the Granua, in Hungary.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_405" name="note_405" + href="#noteref_405">405.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">i. 14.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_406" name="note_406" + href="#noteref_406">406.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See his touching letter to Fronto, who + was about to engage in a debate with Herod Atticus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_407" name="note_407" + href="#noteref_407">407.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">i. 6-15. The eulogy he passed on his + Stoic master Apollonius is worthy of notice. Apollonius furnished + him with an example of the combination of extreme firmness and + gentleness.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_408" name="note_408" + href="#noteref_408">408.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">E.g. <span class="tei tei-q">“Beware + of Cæsarising.”</span> (vi. 30.) <span class="tei tei-q">“Be + neither a tragedian nor a courtesan.”</span> (v. 28.) <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Be just and temperate and a follower of the gods; but + be so with simplicity, for the pride of modesty is the worst of + all.”</span> (xii. 27.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_409" name="note_409" + href="#noteref_409">409.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">iii. 4.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_410" name="note_410" + href="#noteref_410">410.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">i. 17.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_411" name="note_411" + href="#noteref_411">411.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">v. 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_412" name="note_412" + href="#noteref_412">412.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">ix. 29.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_413" name="note_413" + href="#noteref_413">413.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">viii. 59.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_414" name="note_414" + href="#noteref_414">414.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">xi. 18.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_415" name="note_415" + href="#noteref_415">415.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">ix. 11.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_416" name="note_416" + href="#noteref_416">416.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">viii. 15.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_417" name="note_417" + href="#noteref_417">417.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">vii. 70.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_418" name="note_418" + href="#noteref_418">418.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">vii. 63.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_419" name="note_419" + href="#noteref_419">419.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">vii. 22.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_420" name="note_420" + href="#noteref_420">420.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Mr. Maurice, in this respect, compares + and contrasts him very happily with Plutarch. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Like Plutarch, the Greek and Roman characters were in + Marcus Aurelius remarkably blended; but, unlike Plutarch, the + foundation of his mind was Roman. He was a student that he might + more effectually carry on the business of an + emperor.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Philosophy of the First Six + Centuries</span></span>, p. 32.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_421" name="note_421" + href="#noteref_421">421.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">vi. 47.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_422" name="note_422" + href="#noteref_422">422.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Capitolinus, Aurelius Victor.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_423" name="note_423" + href="#noteref_423">423.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">M. Suckau, in his admirable + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Étude sur + Marc-Aurèle</span></span>, and M. Renan, in a very acute and + learned <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Examen de quelques faits relatifs à + l'impératrice Faustine</span></span> (read before the Institut, + August 14, 1867), have shown the extreme uncertainty of the stories + about the debaucheries of Faustina, which the biographers of Marcus + Aurelius have collected. It will be observed that the emperor + himself has left an emphatic testimony to her virtue, and to the + happiness he derived from her (i. 17); that the earliest extant + biographer of Marcus Aurelius was a generation later; and that the + infamous character of Commodus naturally predisposed men to imagine + that he was not the son of so perfect an emperor.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_424" name="note_424" + href="#noteref_424">424.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Quid me + fletis, et non magis de pestilentia et communi morte + cogitatis?”</span> Capitolinus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">M. + Aurelius</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_425" name="note_425" + href="#noteref_425">425.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_426" name="note_426" + href="#noteref_426">426.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Many examples of this are given by + Coulanges, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">La Cité antique</span></span>, pp. + 177-178.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_427" name="note_427" + href="#noteref_427">427.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">All this is related by Suetonius, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">August</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_428" name="note_428" + href="#noteref_428">428.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + iv. 36.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_429" name="note_429" + href="#noteref_429">429.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See, e.g., the sentiments of the + people about Julius Cæsar, Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">J. C.</span></span> + lxxxviii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_430" name="note_430" + href="#noteref_430">430.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Vesp.</span></span> + xxiii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_431" name="note_431" + href="#noteref_431">431.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Qualis + artifex pereo”</span> were his dying words.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_432" name="note_432" + href="#noteref_432">432.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Calig.</span></span> + 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_433" name="note_433" + href="#noteref_433">433.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Calig.</span></span> + xxii. A statue of Jupiter is said to have burst out laughing just + before the death of this emperor.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_434" name="note_434" + href="#noteref_434">434.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Ira</span></span>, + i. 46; Sueton. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Calig.</span></span> xxii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_435" name="note_435" + href="#noteref_435">435.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lampridius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Heliogab.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_436" name="note_436" + href="#noteref_436">436.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Clemen.</span></span> i. 18.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_437" name="note_437" + href="#noteref_437">437.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + iii. 36.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_438" name="note_438" + href="#noteref_438">438.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Benefic.</span></span> iii. 26.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_439" name="note_439" + href="#noteref_439">439.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + i. 73. Tiberius refused to allow this case to be proceeded with. + See, too, Philost. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apollonius of Tyana</span></span>, i. 15.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_440" name="note_440" + href="#noteref_440">440.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Suet. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tiber.</span></span> + lviii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_441" name="note_441" + href="#noteref_441">441.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Mulier + quædam, quod semel exuerat ante statuam Domitiani, damnata et + interfecta est.”</span>—Xiphilin, lxvii. 12.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_442" name="note_442" + href="#noteref_442">442.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Eos demum, + qui nihil præterquam de libertate cogitent, dignos esse, qui Romani + fiant.”</span>—Livy, viii. 21.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_443" name="note_443" + href="#noteref_443">443.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Valerius Maximus, iv. 3, § 14.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_444" name="note_444" + href="#noteref_444">444.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the picture of this scene in + Tacitus, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> iii. 83.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_445" name="note_445" + href="#noteref_445">445.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Dion. Halicarnass.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_446" name="note_446" + href="#noteref_446">446.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Divina Natura + dedit agros; ars humana ædificavit urbes.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_447" name="note_447" + href="#noteref_447">447.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a collection of passages from + these writers in Wallon, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. de l'Esclavage</span></span>, tome ii. + pp. 378-379. Pliny, in the first century, noticed (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> xviii. 7) that the <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">latifundia</span></span>, or system of large + properties, was ruining both Italy and the provinces, and that six + landlords whom Nero killed were the possessors of half Roman + Africa.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_448" name="note_448" + href="#noteref_448">448.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + xii. 43. The same complaint had been made still earlier by + Tiberius, in a letter to the Senate. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + iii. 54.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_449" name="note_449" + href="#noteref_449">449.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Augustus, for a time, contemplated + abolishing the distributions, but soon gave up the idea. (Suet. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Aug.</span></span> xlii.) He noticed that it + had the effect of causing the fields to be neglected.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_450" name="note_450" + href="#noteref_450">450.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">M. Wallon has carefully traced this + history. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. de l'Esclav.</span></span> tome iii. pp. + 294-297.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_451" name="note_451" + href="#noteref_451">451.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Livy, iv. 59-60. Florus, i. 12.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_452" name="note_452" + href="#noteref_452">452.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Livy, xxiv. 49.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_453" name="note_453" + href="#noteref_453">453.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sallust, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Bell. + Jugurth.</span></span> 84-86.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_454" name="note_454" + href="#noteref_454">454.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Livy, xxxix. 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_455" name="note_455" + href="#noteref_455">455.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Primus + Cæsarum fidem militis etiam præmio pigneratus.”</span>—Suet. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Claud.</span></span> x.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_456" name="note_456" + href="#noteref_456">456.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Tacitus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + xiii. 35; <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> ii. 69.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_457" name="note_457" + href="#noteref_457">457.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">M. Sismondi thinks that the influence + of Christianity in subduing the spirit of revolt, if not in the + army, at least in the people, was very great. He says: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Il est remarquable qu'en cinq ans, sept prétendans au + trône, tous bien supérieurs à Honorius en courage, en talens et en + vertus, furent successivement envoyés captifs à Ravenne ou punis de + mort, que le peuple applaudit toujours à ces jugemens et ne se + sépara point de l'autorité légitime, tant la doctrine du droit + divin des rois que les évêques avoient commencé à prêcher sous + Théodose avoit fait de progrès, et tant le monde romain sembloit + determiné à périr avec un monarque imbécile plutôt que tenté de se + donner un sauveur.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. de la Chute de l'Empire + romain</span></span>, tome i. p. 221.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_458" name="note_458" + href="#noteref_458">458.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Gibbon, ch. v.; Merivale's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. of + Rome</span></span>, ch. lxvii. It was thought that troops thus + selected would be less likely to revolt. Constantine abolished the + Prætorians.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_459" name="note_459" + href="#noteref_459">459.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The gladiatorial shows are treated + incidentally by most Roman historians, but the three works from + which I have derived most assistance in this part of my subject are + the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Saturnalia</span></span> of Justus Lipsius, + Magnin, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Origines du Théâtre</span></span> (an + extremely learned and interesting book, which was unhappily never + completed), and Friedlænder's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Roman Manners from Augustus to the + Antonines</span></span> (the second volume of the French + translation). M. Wallon has also compressed into a few pages + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. de + l'Esclavage</span></span>, tome ii. pp. 129-139) much information + on the subject.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_460" name="note_460" + href="#noteref_460">460.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Hence the old name of <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">bustuarii</span></span> (from <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">bustum</span></span>, a funeral pile) given to + gladiators (Nieupoort, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Ritibus Romanorum</span></span>, p. 514). + According to Pliny (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. Nat.</span></span> xxx. 3), <span class= + "tei tei-q">“regular human sacrifices were only abolished in Rome + by a decree of the senate, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">b.c.</span></span> 97,”</span> and there + are some instances of them at a still later period. Much + information about them is collected by Sir C. Lewis, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Credibility of Roman + History</span></span>, vol. ii. p. 430; Merivale, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Conversion of the + Roman Empire</span></span>, pp. 230-233; Legendre, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Traité de + l'Opinion</span></span>, vol. i. pp. 229-231. Porphyry, in his + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Abstinentia Carnis</span></span>, devoted considerable research to + this matter. Games were habitually celebrated by wealthy private + individuals, during the early part of the empire, at the funerals + of their relatives, but their mortuary character gradually ceased, + and after Marcus Aurelius they had become mere public spectacles, + and were rarely celebrated at Rome by private men. (See Wallon, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. de + l'Esclav.</span></span> tome ii. pp. 135-136.) The games had then + really passed into their purely secular stage, though they were + still nominally dedicated to Mars and Diana, and though an altar of + Jupiter Latiaris stood in the centre of the arena. (Nieupoort, p. + 365.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_461" name="note_461" + href="#noteref_461">461.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tusc.</span></span> + lib. ii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_462" name="note_462" + href="#noteref_462">462.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Capitolinus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Maximus et + Balbinus</span></span>. Capitolinus says this is the most probable + origin of the custom, though others regarded it as a sacrifice to + appease Nemesis by an offering of blood.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_463" name="note_463" + href="#noteref_463">463.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Much curious information on this + subject may be found in Friedlænder, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Mœurs + romaines</span></span>, liv. vi. ch. i. Very few Roman emperors + ventured to disregard or to repress these outcries, and they led to + the fall of several of the most powerful ministers of the empire. + On the whole these games represent the strangest and most ghastly + form political liberty has ever assumed. On the other hand, the + people readily bartered all genuine freedom for abundant + games.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_464" name="note_464" + href="#noteref_464">464.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Valer. Maximus, ii. 4, § 7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_465" name="note_465" + href="#noteref_465">465.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">On the + gladiators at banquets, see J. Lipsius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Saturnalia</span></span>, lib. i. c. vi., + Magnin; <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Origines du Théâtre</span></span>, pp. + 380-385. This was originally an Etruscan custom, and it was also + very common at Capua. As Silius Italicus says:—</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Exhilarare viris convivia cæde Mos olim, et miscere + epulis spectacula dira.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Verus, the + colleague of Marcus Aurelius, was especially addicted to this + kind of entertainment. (Capitolinus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Verus</span></span>.) See, too, Athenæus iv. + 40, 41.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_466" name="note_466" + href="#noteref_466">466.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Brevit. + Vit.</span></span> c. xiii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_467" name="note_467" + href="#noteref_467">467.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">J. + Cæsar</span></span>, xxvi. Pliny (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> vi. + 34) commends a friend for having given a show in memory of his + departed wife.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_468" name="note_468" + href="#noteref_468">468.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Pliny, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> xxxiii. 16.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_469" name="note_469" + href="#noteref_469">469.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Cæsar</span></span>, + x.; Dion Cassius, xliii. 24.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_470" name="note_470" + href="#noteref_470">470.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Aug.</span></span> + xxix. The history of the amphitheatres is given very minutely by + Friedlænder, who, like nearly all other antiquaries, believes this + to have been the first of stone. Pliny mentions the existence, at + an earlier period, of two connected wooden theatres, which swung + round on hinges and formed an amphitheatre. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> xxxvi. 24.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_471" name="note_471" + href="#noteref_471">471.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Dion Cassius, liv. 2. It appears, + however, from an inscription, that 10,000 gladiators fought in the + reign and by the command of Augustus. Wallon<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">, Hist. de + l'Esclavage</span></span>, tome ii. p. 133.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_472" name="note_472" + href="#noteref_472">472.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tiber.</span></span> + xxxiv. Nero made another slight restriction (Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + xiii. 31), which appears to have been little observed.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_473" name="note_473" + href="#noteref_473">473.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Martial notices (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + iii. 59) and ridicules a spectacle given by a shoemaker at Bologna, + and by a fuller at Modena.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_474" name="note_474" + href="#noteref_474">474.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Epictetus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Enchir.</span></span> + xxxiii. § 2.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_475" name="note_475" + href="#noteref_475">475.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arrian, iii. 15.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_476" name="note_476" + href="#noteref_476">476.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See these points minutely proved in + Friedlænder.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_477" name="note_477" + href="#noteref_477">477.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Suet. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Aug.</span></span> xliv. This was noticed + before by Cicero. The Christian poet Prudentius dwelt on this + aspect of the games in some forcible lines:—</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Virgo modesta jubet converso pollice rumpi<br /> + Ne lateat pars ulla animæ vitalibus imis<br /> + Altius impresso dum palpitat ense secutor.”</span></p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_478" name="note_478" + href="#noteref_478">478.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tiberius</span></span>, xl. Tacitus, who gives + a graphic description of the disaster (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + iv. 62-63), says 50,000 persons were killed or wounded.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_479" name="note_479" + href="#noteref_479">479.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + xiii. 49.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_480" name="note_480" + href="#noteref_480">480.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Joseph. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Bell. + Jud.</span></span> vi. 9.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_481" name="note_481" + href="#noteref_481">481.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the very curious picture which + Livy has given (xli. 20) of the growth of the fascination.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_482" name="note_482" + href="#noteref_482">482.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Joseph. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Antiq. + Jud.</span></span> xix. 7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_483" name="note_483" + href="#noteref_483">483.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lucian, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Demonax</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_484" name="note_484" + href="#noteref_484">484.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Philost. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apoll.</span></span> + iv. 22.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_485" name="note_485" + href="#noteref_485">485.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Friedlænder, tome ii. pp. 95-96. There + are, however, several extant Greek inscriptions relating to + gladiators, and proving the existence of the shows in Greece. + Pompeii, which was a Greek colony, had a vast amphitheatre, which + we may still admire; and, under Nero, games were prohibited at + Pompeii for ten years, in consequence of a riot that broke out + during a gladiatorial show. (Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + xiv. 17.) After the defeat of Perseus, Paulus Emilius celebrated a + show in Macedonia. (Livy, xli. 20.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_486" name="note_486" + href="#noteref_486">486.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">These are fully discussed by Magnin + and Friedlænder. There is a very beautiful description of a ballet, + representing the <span class="tei tei-q">“Judgment of + Paris,”</span> in Apuleius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Metamorph.</span></span> x.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_487" name="note_487" + href="#noteref_487">487.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Pacuvius and Accius were the founders + of Roman tragedy. The abridger, Velleius Paterculus, who is the + only Roman historian who pays any attention to literary history, + boasts that the latter might rank honourably with the best Greek + tragedians. He adds, <span class="tei tei-q">“ut in illis [the + Greeks] limæ, in hoc pœne plus videatur fuisse + sanguinis.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. Rom.</span></span> ii. 9.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_488" name="note_488" + href="#noteref_488">488.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Thus, e.g., Hobbes: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Alienæ calamitatis contemptus nominatur crudelitas, + proceditque a propriæ securitatis opinione. Nam ut aliquis sibi + placeat in malis alienis sine alio fine, videtur mihi + impossibile.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Leviathan</span></span>, pars i. c. vi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_489" name="note_489" + href="#noteref_489">489.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Claudius</span></span>, xxxiv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_490" name="note_490" + href="#noteref_490">490.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Et verso pollice vulgi<br /> + Quemlibet occidunt populariter.”</span>—Juvenal, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> + iii. 36-37.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_491" name="note_491" + href="#noteref_491">491.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Besides the many incidental notices + scattered through the Roman historians, and through the writings of + Seneca, Plutarch, Juvenal, and Pliny, we have a curious little + book, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Spectaculis</span></span>, by Martial—a book which is not more + horrible from the atrocities it recounts than from the perfect + absence of all feeling of repulsion or compassion it everywhere + displays.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_492" name="note_492" + href="#noteref_492">492.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">These are but a few of the many + examples given by Magnin, who has collected a vast array of + authorities on the subject. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Origines du Théâtre</span></span>, pp. + 445-453.) M. Mongez has devoted an interesting memoir to + <span class="tei tei-q">“Les animaux promenés ou tués dans le + cirque.”</span> (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscrip. et + Belles-lettres</span></span>, tome x.) See, too, Friedlænder. Pliny + rarely gives an account of any wild animal without accompanying it + by statistics about its appearances in the arena. The first + instance of a wild beast hunt in the amphitheatre is said to be + that recorded by Livy (xxxix. 22), which took place about 80 + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">b.c.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_493" name="note_493" + href="#noteref_493">493.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Capitolinus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Gordiani</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_494" name="note_494" + href="#noteref_494">494.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Vopiscus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Aurelian</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_495" name="note_495" + href="#noteref_495">495.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Xiphilin, lxviii. 15.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_496" name="note_496" + href="#noteref_496">496.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + xv. 44.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_497" name="note_497" + href="#noteref_497">497.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Xiphilin, lxvii. 8; Statius, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Sylv.</span></span> i. 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_498" name="note_498" + href="#noteref_498">498.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">During the Republic, a rich man + ordered in his will that some women he had purchased for the + purpose should fight in the funeral games to his memory, but the + people annulled the clause. (Athenæeus, iv. 39.) Under Nero and + Domitian, female gladiators seem to have been not uncommon. See + Statius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Sylv.</span></span> i. 6; Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Domitian</span></span>, iv.; Xiphilin, lxvii. + 8. Juvenal describes the enthusiasm with which Roman ladies + practised with the gladiatorial weapons (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> + vi. 248, &c.), and Martial (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Spectac.</span></span> vi.) mentions the combats of women with wild + beasts. One, he says, killed a lion. A combat of female gladiators, + under Severus, created some tumult, and it was decreed that they + should no longer be permitted. (Xiphilin, lxxv. 16.) See Magnin, + pp. 434-435.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_499" name="note_499" + href="#noteref_499">499.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Martial, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Spectac.</span></span> vii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_500" name="note_500" + href="#noteref_500">500.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + viii. 30.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_501" name="note_501" + href="#noteref_501">501.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tertullian, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ad + Nation.</span></span> i. 10. One of the most ghastly features of + the games was the comic aspect they sometimes assumed. This was the + case in the combats of dwarfs. There were also combats by + blind-folded men. Petronius (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Satyricon</span></span>, c. xlv.) has given us + a horrible description of the maimed and feeble men who were + sometimes compelled to fight. People afflicted with epilepsy were + accustomed to drink the blood of the wounded gladiators, which they + believed to be a sovereign remedy. (Pliny, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> xxviii. 2; Tertul. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + ix.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_502" name="note_502" + href="#noteref_502">502.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Nec unquam + sine humano cruore cœnabat”</span>—Lactan. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Mort. + Persec.</span></span> Much the same thing is told of the Christian + emperor Justinian II., who lived at the end of the seventh century. + (Sismondi, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. de la Chute de l'Empire + Romain</span></span>, tome ii. p. 85.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_503" name="note_503" + href="#noteref_503">503.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Winckelmann says the statue called + <span class="tei tei-q">“The Dying Gladiator”</span> does not + represent a gladiator. At a later period, however, statues of + gladiators were not uncommon, and Pliny notices (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> xxxv. 33) paintings of them. A fine specimen of + mosaic portraits of gladiators is now in the Lateran Museum.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_504" name="note_504" + href="#noteref_504">504.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plutarch's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Cæsar</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_505" name="note_505" + href="#noteref_505">505.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Dion Cassius, li. 7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_506" name="note_506" + href="#noteref_506">506.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Faustina, the wife of Marcus Aurelius, + was especially accused of this weakness. (Capitolinus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Marcus + Aurelius</span></span>.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_507" name="note_507" + href="#noteref_507">507.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Provident.</span></span> iv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_508" name="note_508" + href="#noteref_508">508.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arrian's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Epictetus</span></span>, i. 29.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_509" name="note_509" + href="#noteref_509">509.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Provident.</span></span> iii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_510" name="note_510" + href="#noteref_510">510.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Aulus Gellius, xii. 5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_511" name="note_511" + href="#noteref_511">511.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tusc.</span></span> + lib. ii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_512" name="note_512" + href="#noteref_512">512.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Some Equites fought under Julius + Cæsar, and a senator named Fulvius Setinus wished to fight, but + Cæsar prevented him. (Suet. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Cæsar</span></span>, xxxix.; Dion Cassius, + xliii. 23.) Nero, according to Suetonius, compelled men of the + highest rank to fight. Laws prohibiting patricians from fighting + were several times made and violated. (Friedlænder, pp. 39-41.) + Commodus is said to have been himself passionately fond of fighting + as a gladiator. Much, however, of what Lampridius relates on this + point is perfectly incredible. On the other hand, the profession of + the gladiator was constantly spoken of as infamous; but this + oscillation between extreme admiration and contempt will surprise + no one who has noticed the tone continually adopted about + prize-fighters in England, and about the members of some other + professions on the Continent. Juvenal dwells (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> + viii. 197-210) with great indignation on an instance of a patrician + fighting.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_513" name="note_513" + href="#noteref_513">513.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Quis + mediocris gladiator ingemuit, quis vultum mutavit + unquam?”</span>—Cic. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusc. Quæst.</span></span> lib. ii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_514" name="note_514" + href="#noteref_514">514.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">E.g. Clem. Alex. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Strom.</span></span> + iii. There is a well-known passage of this kind in Horace, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ars + Poet.</span></span> 412-415. The comparison of the good man to an + athlete or gladiator, which St. Paul employed, occurs also in + Seneca and Epictetus, from which some have inferred that they must + have known the writings of the Apostle. M. Denis, however, has + shown (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Idées morales dans l'Antiquité</span></span>, + tome ii. p. 240) that the same comparison had been used, before the + rise of Christianity, by Plato, Æschines, and Cicero.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_515" name="note_515" + href="#noteref_515">515.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Confess.</span></span> vi. 8.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_516" name="note_516" + href="#noteref_516">516.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“[Servi] etsi + per fortunam in omnia obnoxii, tamen quasi secundum hominum genus + sunt.”</span>—Florus, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> iii. 20.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_517" name="note_517" + href="#noteref_517">517.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Macrinus, however, punished fugitive + slaves by compelling them to fight as gladiators. (Capitolinus, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Macrinus</span></span>.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_518" name="note_518" + href="#noteref_518">518.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + xii. 56. According to Friedlænder, however, there were two classes + of criminals. One class were condemned only to fight, and pardoned + if they conquered; the others were condemned to fight till death, + and this was considered an aggravation of capital punishment.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_519" name="note_519" + href="#noteref_519">519.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Ad + conciliandum plebis favorem effusa largitio, quum spectaculis + indulget, supplicia quondam hostium artem facit.”</span>—Florus, + iii. 12.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_520" name="note_520" + href="#noteref_520">520.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Tusc. Quæst.</span></span> ii. 17.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_521" name="note_521" + href="#noteref_521">521.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See his magnificent letter on the + subject. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> vii.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_522" name="note_522" + href="#noteref_522">522.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">In his two treatises <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Esu + Carnium</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_523" name="note_523" + href="#noteref_523">523.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Pliny. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> iv. + 22.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_524" name="note_524" + href="#noteref_524">524.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Xiphilin, lxxi. 29. Capitolinus, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">M. + Aurelius</span></span>. The emperor also once carried off the + gladiators to a war with his army, much to the indignation of the + people. (Capit.) He has himself noticed the extreme weariness he + felt at the public amusements he was obliged to attend. (vii. + 3.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_525" name="note_525" + href="#noteref_525">525.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Titus</span></span>, + viii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_526" name="note_526" + href="#noteref_526">526.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Visum est + spectaculum inde non enerve nec fluxum, nec quod animos virorum + molliret et frangeret, sed quod ad pulchra vulnera contemptumque + mortis accenderet.”</span>—Pliny, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Paneg.</span></span> + xxxiii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_527" name="note_527" + href="#noteref_527">527.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Præterea + tanto consensu rogabaris, ut negare non constans sed durum + videretur.”</span>—Plin. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Epist.</span></span> vi. 34.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_528" name="note_528" + href="#noteref_528">528.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Symmach. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Epist.</span></span> + ii. 46.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_529" name="note_529" + href="#noteref_529">529.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Domitian</span></span>, iii. It is very + curious that the same emperor, about the same time (the beginning + of his reign), had such a horror of bloodshed that he resolved to + prohibit the sacrifice of oxen. (Suet. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Dom.</span></span> + ix.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_530" name="note_530" + href="#noteref_530">530.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Pendant qu'il + restait au logis, il n'était incommode à personne; il y passait la + meilleure partie de son temps tranquillement dans sa chambre.... Il + se divertissait aussi quelquefois à fumer une pipe de tabac; ou + bien lorsqu'il voulait se relâcher l'esprit un peu plus longtemps, + il cherchait des araignées qu'il faisait battre ensemble, ou des + mouches qu'il jetait dans la toile d'araignée, et regardait ensuite + cette bataille avec tant de plaisir qu'il éclatait quelquefois de + rire.”</span>—Colerus, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Vie de Spinoza</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_531" name="note_531" + href="#noteref_531">531.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This is noticed by George Duval in a + curious passage of his <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Souvenirs de la Terreur</span></span>, quoted + by Lord Lytton in a note to his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Zanoni</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_532" name="note_532" + href="#noteref_532">532.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Essay on Goodness.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_533" name="note_533" + href="#noteref_533">533.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This contrast has been noticed by + Archbishop Whately in a lecture on Egypt. See, too, Legendre, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Traité de + l'Opinion</span></span>, tome ii. p. 374.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_534" name="note_534" + href="#noteref_534">534.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + xiv. 45.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_535" name="note_535" + href="#noteref_535">535.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Clemen.</span></span> i. 14.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_536" name="note_536" + href="#noteref_536">536.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Val. Max. ii. 9. This writer speaks of + <span class="tei tei-q">“the eyes of a mistress delighting in human + blood”</span> with as much horror as if the gladiatorial games were + unknown. Livy gives a rather different version of this story.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_537" name="note_537" + href="#noteref_537">537.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + i. 76.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_538" name="note_538" + href="#noteref_538">538.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Calig.</span></span> + xi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_539" name="note_539" + href="#noteref_539">539.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Spartian. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Caracalla.</span></span> Tertullian mentions + that his nurse was a Christian.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_540" name="note_540" + href="#noteref_540">540.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Capitolinus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Marcus + Aurelius</span></span>. Capitolinus, who wrote under Diocletian, + says that in his time the custom of spreading a net under the + rope-dancer still continued. I do not know when it ceased at Rome, + but St. Chrysostom mentions that in his time it had been abolished + in the East.—Jortin's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Remarks on Ecclesiastical + History</span></span>, ii. 71 (ed. 1846).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_541" name="note_541" + href="#noteref_541">541.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ann.</span></span> + iii. 55.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_542" name="note_542" + href="#noteref_542">542.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Champagny, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Les + Antonins</span></span>, tome ii. pp. 179-200.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_543" name="note_543" + href="#noteref_543">543.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">πολιτεύεσθαι.—Diog. Laërt. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Zeno</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_544" name="note_544" + href="#noteref_544">544.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Thus Tigellinus spoke of <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Stoicorum arrogantia sectaque quæ turbidos et + negotiorum appetentes faciat.”</span>—Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ann.</span></span> + xiv. 57. The accusation does not appear to have been quite untrue, + for Vespasian, who was a very moderate emperor, thought it + necessary to banish nearly all the philosophers from Rome on + account of their factiousness. Sometimes the Stoics showed their + independence by a rather gratuitous insolence. Dion Cassius relates + that, when Nero was thinking of writing a poem in 400 books, he + asked the advice of the Stoic Cornutus, who said, that no one would + read so long a work. <span class="tei tei-q">“But,”</span> answered + Nero, <span class="tei tei-q">“your favourite Chrysippus wrote + still more numerous books.”</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q">“True,”</span> rejoined Cornutus, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“but then they were of use to humanity.”</span> On the + other hand, Seneca is justly accused of condescending too much to + the vices of Nero in his efforts to mitigate their effects.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_545" name="note_545" + href="#noteref_545">545.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The influence of Stoicism on Roman law + has been often examined. See, especially, Degerando, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. de la + Philosophie</span></span> (2nd ed.), tome iii. pp. 202-204; + Laferrière, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De l'Influence du Stoïcisme sur les + Jurisconsultes romains</span></span>; Denis, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Théories et Idées + morales dans l'Antiquité</span></span>, tome ii. pp. 187-217; + Troplong, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Influence du Christianisme sur le Droit civil + des Romains</span></span>; Merivale, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Conversion of the + Roman Empire</span></span>, lec. iv.; and the great work of + Gravina, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Ortu et Progressu Juris + civilis</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_546" name="note_546" + href="#noteref_546">546.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Legib.</span></span> ii. 4, 23.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_547" name="note_547" + href="#noteref_547">547.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There were two rival schools, that of + Labeo and that of Capito. The first was remarkable for its strict + adherence to the letter of the law—the second for the latitude of + interpretation it admitted.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_548" name="note_548" + href="#noteref_548">548.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dig.</span></span> lib. i. tit. 17-32.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_549" name="note_549" + href="#noteref_549">549.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. i. tit. 1-3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_550" name="note_550" + href="#noteref_550">550.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. i. tit. 1-4.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_551" name="note_551" + href="#noteref_551">551.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dig.</span></span> lib. i. tit. 4-5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_552" name="note_552" + href="#noteref_552">552.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Laferrière, p. 32. Wallon, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. de + l'Esclavage dans l'Antiquité</span></span>, tome iii. pp. 71-80. M. + Wallon gives many curious instances of legal decisions on this + point.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_553" name="note_553" + href="#noteref_553">553.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">To prove that this is the correct + conception of law was the main object of Cicero's treatise + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Legibus</span></span>. Ulpian defined jurisprudence as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“divinarum atque humanarum rerum notitia, justi atque + injusti scientia.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dig.</span></span> lib. i. tit. 1-10. So Paul + <span class="tei tei-q">“Id quod semper æquum ad bonum est jus + dicitur ut est jus naturale.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Dig.</span></span> + lib. i. tit. 1-11. And Gaius, <span class="tei tei-q">“Quod vero + naturalis ratio inter omnes homines constituit ... vocatur jus + gentium.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dig.</span></span> lib. i. tit. 1-9. The + Stoics had defined true wisdom as <span class="tei tei-q">“rerum + divinarum atque humanarum scientia.”</span>—Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Offic.</span></span> i. 43.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_554" name="note_554" + href="#noteref_554">554.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero compares the phraseology of the + Stoics with that of the Peripatetics, maintaining that the + precision of the former is well adapted to legal discussions, and + the redundancy of the latter to oratory. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Omnes fere Stoici prudentissimi in disserendo sint et + id arte faciant, sintque architecti pene verborum; iidem traducti a + disputando ad dicendum, inopes reperiantur: unum excipio + Catonem.... Peripateticorum institutis commodius fingeretur oratio + ... nam ut Stoicorum astrictior est oratio, aliquantoque + contractior quam aures populi requirunt: sic illorum liberior et + latior quam patitur consuetudo judiciorum et + fori.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Claris Oratoribus.</span></span> A very + judicious historian of philosophy observes: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“En général à Rome le petit nombre d'hommes livrés à la + méditation et à l'enthousiasme préférèrent Pythagore et Platon; les + hommes du monde et ceux qui cultivaient les sciences naturelles + s'attachèrent à Épicure; les orateurs et les hommes d'État à la + nouvelle Académie; les juris-consultes au + Portique.”</span>—Degerando, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. de la Philos.</span></span> tome iii. p. + 196.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_555" name="note_555" + href="#noteref_555">555.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a very remarkable passage in Aulus + Gellius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Noct.</span></span> ii. 15.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_556" name="note_556" + href="#noteref_556">556.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Fere enim + nulli alii sunt homines qui talem in filios suos habeant potestatem + qualem nos habemus.”</span>—Gaius.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_557" name="note_557" + href="#noteref_557">557.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">A full statement of these laws is + given by Dion. Halicarn. ii. 4. It was provided that if a father + sold his son and if the son was afterwards enfranchised by the + purchaser, he became again the slave of his father, who might sell + him a second, and, if manumission again ensued, a third time. It + was only on the third sale that he passed for ever out of the + parental control. A more merciful law, attributed to Numa, provided + that when the son married (if that marriage was with the consent of + the father), the father lost the power of selling him. In no other + way, however, was his authority even then abridged.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_558" name="note_558" + href="#noteref_558">558.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Velleius Paterculus, ii. 67. A great + increase of parricide was noticed during the Empire (Senec. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Clem.</span></span> i. 23). At first, it is said, there was no law + against parricide, for the crime was believed to be too atrocious + to be possible.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_559" name="note_559" + href="#noteref_559">559.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Numerous instances of these executions + are collected by Livy, Val. Maximus, &c.; their history is + fully given by Cornelius van Bynkershoek, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“De Jure occidendi, vendendi, et exponendi liberos apud + veteres Romanos,”</span> in his works (Cologne, 1761).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_560" name="note_560" + href="#noteref_560">560.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This proceeding of Hadrian, which is + related by the lawyer Marcian, is doubly remarkable, because the + father had surprised his son in adultery with his stepmother. Now a + Roman had originally not only absolute authority over the life of + his son, but also the right of killing any one whom he found + committing adultery with his wife. Yet Marcian praises the severity + of Hadrian, <span class="tei tei-q">“Nam patria potestas in pietate + debet, non atrocitate, consistere.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Digest.</span></span> + lib. xlviii. tit. 9, § 5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_561" name="note_561" + href="#noteref_561">561.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Valer. Max. vii. 7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_562" name="note_562" + href="#noteref_562">562.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See, on all this subject, Gibbon, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Decline + and Fall</span></span>, ch. xliv.; Troplong, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Influence du + Christianisme sur le Droit</span></span>, ch. ix.; Denis, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des + Idées morales</span></span>, tome ii. pp. 107-120; Laferrière, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Influence + du Stoïcisme sur les Jurisconsultes</span></span>, pp. 37-44.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_563" name="note_563" + href="#noteref_563">563.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ælian, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Var.</span></span> vi. 7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_564" name="note_564" + href="#noteref_564">564.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Livy, ii. 36; Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Divin.</span></span> ii. 26.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_565" name="note_565" + href="#noteref_565">565.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Legibus</span></span>, ii. 8-12. Cato, however, maintained that + slaves might on those days be employed on work which did not + require oxen.—Wallon, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. de l'Esclavage</span></span>, tome ii. + p. 215.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_566" name="note_566" + href="#noteref_566">566.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Saturnalia</span></span> of Macrobius.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_567" name="note_567" + href="#noteref_567">567.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life</span></span> by + Plutarch, and his book on agriculture.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_568" name="note_568" + href="#noteref_568">568.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The number of the Roman slaves has + been a matter of much controversy. M. Dureau de la Malle + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Econ. + politique des Romains</span></span>) has restricted it more than + any other writer. Gibbon (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Decline and Fall</span></span>, chap. ii.) has + collected many statistics on the subject, but the fullest + examination is in M. Wallon's admirable <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. de + l'Esclavage</span></span>. On the contrast between the character of + the slaves of the Republic and those of the Empire, see + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tac. + Ann.</span></span> xiv. 44.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_569" name="note_569" + href="#noteref_569">569.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + xiii. 32; xiv. 42-45. Wallon, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. de l'Esclav.</span></span> ii. 293. I + have already noticed the indignant rising of the people caused by + the proposal to execute the 400 slaves of the murdered Pedanius. + Their interposition was, however (as Tacitus informs us), + unavailing, and the slaves, guarded against rescue by a strong band + of soldiers, were executed. It was proposed to banish the freedmen + who were in the house, but Nero interposed and prevented it. Pliny + notices (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> viii. 14) the banishment of + the freedmen of a murdered man.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_570" name="note_570" + href="#noteref_570">570.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See all this fully illustrated in + Wallon. The plays of Plautus and the Roman writers on agriculture + contain numerous allusions to the condition of slaves.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_571" name="note_571" + href="#noteref_571">571.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Wallon, tome ii. pp. 209-210, 357. + There were no laws till the time of the Christian emperors against + separating the families of slaves, but it was a maxim of the + jurisconsults that in forced sales they should not be separated. + (Wallon, tome iii. pp. 55-56.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_572" name="note_572" + href="#noteref_572">572.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. tome ii. pp. 211-213.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_573" name="note_573" + href="#noteref_573">573.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plin. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Epist.</span></span> + viii. 16. It was customary to allow the public or State slaves to + dispose of half their goods by will. (Wallon, tome iii. p. + 59.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_574" name="note_574" + href="#noteref_574">574.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Wallon, tome ii. p. 419. This appears + from an allusion of Cicero, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Philip.</span></span> viii. 11.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_575" name="note_575" + href="#noteref_575">575.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Clem.</span></span> i. 18.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_576" name="note_576" + href="#noteref_576">576.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + xlvii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_577" name="note_577" + href="#noteref_577">577.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Pliny, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + viii. 16.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_578" name="note_578" + href="#noteref_578">578.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Spartianus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hadrianus</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_579" name="note_579" + href="#noteref_579">579.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Compare Wallon, tome ii. p. 186; tome + iii. pp. 65-66. Slaves were only to be called as witnesses in cases + of incest, adultery, murder, and high treason, and where it was + impossible to establish the crime without their evidence. Hadrian + considered that the reality of the crime must have already acquired + a strong probability, and the jurisconsult Paul laid down that at + least two free witnesses should be heard before slaves were + submitted to torture, and that the offer of an accused person to + have his slaves tortured that they might attest his innocence + should not be accepted.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_580" name="note_580" + href="#noteref_580">580.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Numerous and very noble instances of + slave fidelity are given by Seneca, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Benefic.</span></span> iii. 19-27; Val. Max. vi. 8; and in Appian's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">History + of the Civil Wars</span></span>. See, too, Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> + i. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_581" name="note_581" + href="#noteref_581">581.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Aristotle had, it is true, declared + slavery to be part of the law of nature—an opinion which, he said, + was rejected by some of his contemporaries; but he advocated + humanity to slaves quite as emphatically as the other philosophers + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Economics</span></span>, i. 5). Epicurus was + conspicuous even among Greek philosophers for his kindness to + slaves, and he associated some of his own with his philosophical + labours. (Diog. Laërt. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Epicurus</span></span>.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_582" name="note_582" + href="#noteref_582">582.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Benef.</span></span> iii. 18-28; + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Vita + Beata</span></span>, xxiv.; <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Clem.</span></span> i. 18, and especially + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xlvii. Epictetus, as might + be expected from his history, frequently recurs to the duty. + Plutarch writes very beautifully upon it in his treatise + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Cohibenda Ira</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_583" name="note_583" + href="#noteref_583">583.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Diog. Laërt. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Zeno</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_584" name="note_584" + href="#noteref_584">584.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Bodin thinks it was promulgated by + Nero, and he has been followed by Troplong and Mr. Merivale. + Champagny (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Les Antonins</span></span>, tome ii. p. 115) + thinks that no law after Tiberius was called <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">lex</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_585" name="note_585" + href="#noteref_585">585.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Claud.</span></span> + xxv.; Dion Cass. lx. 29.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_586" name="note_586" + href="#noteref_586">586.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Dumas, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Secours publics chez + les Anciens</span></span> (Paris, 1813), pp. 125-130.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_587" name="note_587" + href="#noteref_587">587.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Clem.</span></span> i. 18.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_588" name="note_588" + href="#noteref_588">588.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Benef.</span></span> iii. 22.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_589" name="note_589" + href="#noteref_589">589.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Spartian. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hadrianus.</span></span> Hadrian exiled a + Roman lady for five years for treating her slaves with atrocious + cruelty. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Digest.</span></span> lib. i. tit. 6, § + 2.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_590" name="note_590" + href="#noteref_590">590.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See these laws fully examined by + Wallon, tome iii. pp. 51-92, and also Laferrière, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sur l'Influence du + Stoïcisme sur le Droit</span></span>. The jurisconsults gave a very + wide scope to their definitions of cruelty. A master who degraded a + literary slave, or a slave musician, to some coarse manual + employment, such as a porter, was decided to have ill-treated him. + (Wallon, tome iii. p. 62.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_591" name="note_591" + href="#noteref_591">591.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Thus, e.g., Livia called in the Stoic + Areus to console her after the death of Drusus (Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ad + Marc.</span></span>). Many of the letters of Seneca and Plutarch + are written to console the suffering. Cato, Thrasea, and many + others appear to have fortified their last hours by conversation + with philosophers. The whole of this aspect of Stoicism has been + admirably treated by M. Martha (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Les Moralistes de + l'Empire Romain</span></span>).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_592" name="note_592" + href="#noteref_592">592.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">We have a pleasing picture of the + affection philosophers and their disciples sometimes bore to one + another in the lines of Persius (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> + v.) to his master Cornutus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_593" name="note_593" + href="#noteref_593">593.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Grant's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Aristotle</span></span>, vol. i. pp. + 277-278.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_594" name="note_594" + href="#noteref_594">594.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Champagny, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Les + Antonins</span></span>, tome i. p. 405.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_595" name="note_595" + href="#noteref_595">595.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arrian, iii. 22. Julian has also + painted the character of the true Cynic, and contrasted it with + that of the impostors who assumed the garb. See Neander's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Julian</span></span> (London, 1850), p. 94.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_596" name="note_596" + href="#noteref_596">596.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Seneca the rhetorician (father of the + philosopher) collected many of the sayings of the rhetoricians of + his time. At a later period, Philostratus wrote the lives of + eminent rhetoricians, Quintilian discussed their rules of oratory, + and Aulus Gellius painted the whole society in which they moved. On + their injurious influence upon eloquence, see Petronius, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Satyricon</span></span>, i. 2. Much curious + information about the rhetoricians is collected in Martha, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Moralistes de l'Empire Romain</span></span>, + and in Nisard, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Etudes sur les Poëtes Latins de la + Dècadence</span></span>, art. Juvenal.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_597" name="note_597" + href="#noteref_597">597.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Cependant ces + orateurs n'étaient jamais plus admirés que lorsqu'ils avaient le + bonheur de trouver un sujet où la louange fut un tour de force.... + Lucien a fait l'éloge de la mouche; Fronton de la poussière, de la + fumée, de la négligence; Dion Chrysostome de la chevelure, du + perroquet, etc. Au cinquième siècle, Synésius, qui fut un grand + évêque, fera le panégyrique de la calvitie, long ouvrage où toutes + les sciences sont mises à contribution pour apprendre aux hommes ce + qu'il y a non-seulement de bonheur mais aussi de mérite à être + chauve.”</span>—Martha, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Moralistes de l'Empire Romain</span></span> + (ed. 1865), p. 275.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_598" name="note_598" + href="#noteref_598">598.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There is a good review of the teaching + of Maximus in Champagny, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Les Antonins</span></span>, tome ii. pp. + 207-215.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_599" name="note_599" + href="#noteref_599">599.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Orat.</span></span> xv.; <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Servitute</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_600" name="note_600" + href="#noteref_600">600.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the singularly charming essay on + Dion Chrysostom, in M. Martha's book.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_601" name="note_601" + href="#noteref_601">601.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Mr. Buckle, in his admirable chapter + on the <span class="tei tei-q">“Proximate Causes of the French + Revolution”</span> (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. of Civilisation</span></span>, vol. i.), + has painted this fashionable enthusiasm for knowledge with great + power, and illustrated it with ample learning.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_602" name="note_602" + href="#noteref_602">602.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The saying of Mme. Dudeffand about + Helvétius is well known: <span class="tei tei-q">“C'est un homme + qui a dit le secret de tout le monde.”</span> How truly Helvétius + represented this fashionable society appears very plainly from the + vivid portrait of it in the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Nouvelle Hèloïse</span></span>, part ii. + letter xvii., a masterpiece of its kind.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_603" name="note_603" + href="#noteref_603">603.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Musonius tried to stop this custom of + applauding the lecturer. (Aul. Gell. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Noct.</span></span> + v. i.) The habits that were formed in the schools of the + rhetoricians were sometimes carried into the churches, and we have + notices of preachers (especially St. Chrysostom) being vociferously + applauded.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_604" name="note_604" + href="#noteref_604">604.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Thus Gellius himself consulted + Favorinus about a perplexing case which he had, in his capacity of + magistrate, to determine, and received from his master a long + dissertation on the duties of a judge (xiv. 2).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_605" name="note_605" + href="#noteref_605">605.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">i. 10.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_606" name="note_606" + href="#noteref_606">606.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Noct. Att.</span></span> vi. 13. They called + these questions <span class="tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-style: italic">symposiacæ</span></span>, as being well fitted + to stimulate minds already mellowed by wine.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_607" name="note_607" + href="#noteref_607">607.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">xviii. 2.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_608" name="note_608" + href="#noteref_608">608.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">We have a curious example of this in a + letter of Marcus Aurelius preserved by Gallicanus in his + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Avidius Cassius</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_609" name="note_609" + href="#noteref_609">609.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Senserunt hoc + Stoici qui servis et mulieribus philosophandum esse + dixerunt.”</span>—Lact. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Nat. Div.</span></span> iii. 25. Zeno was + often reproached for gathering the poorest and most sordid around + him when he lectured. (Diog. Laërt. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Zeno</span></span>.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_610" name="note_610" + href="#noteref_610">610.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This decadence was noticed and rebuked + by some of the leading philosophers. See the language of Epictetus + in Arrian, ii. 19, iv. 8, and of Herod Atticus in Aul. Gell. i. 2, + ix. 2. St. Augustine speaks of the Cynics as having in his time + sunk into universal contempt. See much evidence on this subject in + Friedlænder, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. des Mœurs Romaines</span></span>, tome + iv. 378-385.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_611" name="note_611" + href="#noteref_611">611.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This movement is well treated by + Vacherot, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. de l'École + d'Alexandrie</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_612" name="note_612" + href="#noteref_612">612.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Superstitione.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_613" name="note_613" + href="#noteref_613">613.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dissertations</span></span>, x. § 8 (ed. + Davis, London, 1740). In some editions this is <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Diss.</span></span> + xxix.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_614" name="note_614" + href="#noteref_614">614.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dissert.</span></span> xxxviii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_615" name="note_615" + href="#noteref_615">615.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Dæmone Socratis.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_616" name="note_616" + href="#noteref_616">616.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Dæmone Socratis.</span></span> See, on the + office of dæmons or genii, Arrian i. 14, and a curious chapter in + Ammianus Marcell. xxi. 14. See, too, Plotinus, 3rd <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Enn.</span></span> + lib. iv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_617" name="note_617" + href="#noteref_617">617.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Dæmone Socratis.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_618" name="note_618" + href="#noteref_618">618.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">I should except Plotinus, however, who + was faithful in this point to Plato, and was in consequence much + praised by the Christian Fathers.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_619" name="note_619" + href="#noteref_619">619.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Omnium + malorum maximum voluptas, qua tanquam clavo et fibula anima corpori + nectitur; putatque vera quæ et corpus suadet, et ita spoliatur + rerum divinarum aspectu.”</span>—Iamblichus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Secta + Pythagor.</span></span> (Romæ, 1556), p. 38. Plotinus, 1st + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Enn.</span></span> vi. 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_620" name="note_620" + href="#noteref_620">620.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Sect. Pyth.</span></span> pp. 36, 37.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_621" name="note_621" + href="#noteref_621">621.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Porphyry, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Plotinus</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_622" name="note_622" + href="#noteref_622">622.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Iamblichus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Mysteriis.</span></span> 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_623" name="note_623" + href="#noteref_623">623.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See, on this doctrine of ecstasy, + Vacherot, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. de l'École d'Alexandrie</span></span>, + tome i. p. 576, &c.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_624" name="note_624" + href="#noteref_624">624.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Sic habeto, + omnibus qui patriam conservaverint, adjuverint, auxerint, certum + esse in cœlo ac definitum locum ubi beati ævo sempiterno + fruantur.”</span>—Cic. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Somn. Scip.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_625" name="note_625" + href="#noteref_625">625.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Φῶς, which, according to Plutarch (who + here confuses two distinct words), is poetically used for man + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Latenter Vivendo</span></span>). A similar thought occurs in M. + Aurelius, who speaks of the good man as light which only ceases to + shine when it ceases to be.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_626" name="note_626" + href="#noteref_626">626.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Diss.</span></span> xxi. § 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_627" name="note_627" + href="#noteref_627">627.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Iamblichus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Sect. + Pythagoræ</span></span>, p. 35.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_628" name="note_628" + href="#noteref_628">628.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Porphyry, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Plotinus</span></span>, cap. vii.; Plotinus, 1st <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Enn.</span></span> + iv. 7. See on this subject Degerando, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. de la + Philos.</span></span> iii. p. 383.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_629" name="note_629" + href="#noteref_629">629.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Thus it was said of Apollonius that in + his teaching at Ephesus he did not speak after the manner of the + followers of Socrates, but endeavoured to detach his disciples from + all occupation other than philosophy.—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Philostr. Apoll. of + Tyana</span></span>, iv. 2. Cicero notices the aversion the + Pythagoreans of his time displayed to argument: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Quum ex iis quæreretur quare ita esset, respondere + solitos, Ipse dixit; ipse autem erat + Pythagoras.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Nat. Deor.</span></span> i. 5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_630" name="note_630" + href="#noteref_630">630.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Vacherot, tome ii. p. 66.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_631" name="note_631" + href="#noteref_631">631.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Degerando, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. de la + Philosophie</span></span>, tome iii. pp. 400, 401.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_632" name="note_632" + href="#noteref_632">632.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plotinus, 1st <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Enn.</span></span> + ix.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_633" name="note_633" + href="#noteref_633">633.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a strong passage, on the + universality of this belief, in Plotinus, 1st <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Enn.</span></span> i. + 12, and Origen, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Cont. Cels.</span></span> vii. A very old + tradition represented the Egyptians as the first people who held + the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Cicero (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tusc. + Quæst.</span></span>) says that the Syrian Pherecydes, master of + Pythagoras, first taught it. Maximus of Tyre attributes its origin + to Pythagoras, and his slave Zamolxis was said to have introduced + it into Greece. Others say that Thales first taught it. None of + these assertions have any real historical value.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_634" name="note_634" + href="#noteref_634">634.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">We have a remarkable instance of the + clearness with which some even of the most insignificant historians + recognised the folly of confining history to the biographies of the + Emperors, in the opening chapter of Capitolinus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Macrinus</span></span>.—Tacitus is full of beautiful episodes, + describing the manners and religion of the people.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_635" name="note_635" + href="#noteref_635">635.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The passages relating to the Jews in + Roman literature are collected in Aubertin's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Rapports supposés + entre Sénèque et St. Paul</span></span>. Champagny, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Rome et + Judée</span></span>, tome i. pp. 134-137.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_636" name="note_636" + href="#noteref_636">636.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cicero, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">pro + Flacco</span></span>, 28; Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Claudius</span></span>, 25.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_637" name="note_637" + href="#noteref_637">637.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Juvenal, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> + xiv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_638" name="note_638" + href="#noteref_638">638.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> v.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_639" name="note_639" + href="#noteref_639">639.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lact. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Inst. + Div.</span></span> vii. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_640" name="note_640" + href="#noteref_640">640.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See their history fully investigated + in Aubertin. Augustine followed Jerome in mentioning the letters, + but neither of these writers asserted their genuineness. + Lactantius, nearly at the same time (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Inst. + Div.</span></span> vi. 24), distinctly spoke of Seneca as a Pagan, + as Tertullian (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> 50) had done before. The + immense number of forged documents is one of the most disgraceful + features of the Church history of the first few centuries.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_641" name="note_641" + href="#noteref_641">641.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Fleury has written an elaborate work + maintaining the connection between the apostle and the philosopher. + Troplong (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Influence du Christianisme sur le + Droit</span></span>) has adopted the same view. Aubertin, in the + work I have already cited, has maintained the opposite view (which + is that of all or nearly all English critics) with masterly skill + and learning. The Abbé Dourif (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Rapports du Stoïcisme + et du Christianisme</span></span>) has placed side by side the + passages from each writer which are most alike.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_642" name="note_642" + href="#noteref_642">642.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Quoted by St. Augustine.—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Civ. + Dei</span></span>, vi. 11.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_643" name="note_643" + href="#noteref_643">643.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">xi. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_644" name="note_644" + href="#noteref_644">644.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The history of the two schools has + been elaborately traced by Ritter, Pressensé, and many other + writers. I would especially refer to the fourth volume of + Degerando's most fascinating <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Histoire de la Philosophie</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_645" name="note_645" + href="#noteref_645">645.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Scurra + Atticus,”</span> Min. Felix, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Octav.</span></span> This term is said by + Cicero to have been given to Socrates by Zeno. (Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Nat. + Deor.</span></span> i. 34.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_646" name="note_646" + href="#noteref_646">646.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tertull. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Anima</span></span>, 39.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_647" name="note_647" + href="#noteref_647">647.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See especially his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + ii. 8, 12, 13. He speaks of the σπερματικὸς λόγος.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_648" name="note_648" + href="#noteref_648">648.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See, on all this, Clem. Alex. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Strom.</span></span> v., and also i. 22.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_649" name="note_649" + href="#noteref_649">649.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Clement repeats this twice + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Strom.</span></span> i. 24, v. 14). The + writings of this Father are full of curious, and sometimes + ingenious, attempts to trace different phrases of the great + philosophers, orators, and poets to Moses. A vast amount of + learning and ingenuity has been expended in the same cause by + Eusebius. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Præp. Evan.</span></span> xii. xiii.) The + tradition of the derivation of Pagan philosophy from the Old + Testament found in general little favour among the Latin writers. + There is some curious information on this subject in Waterland's + <span class="tei tei-q">“Charge to the Clergy of Middlesex, to + prove that the wisdom of the ancients was borrowed from revelation; + delivered in 1731.”</span> It is in the 8th volume of Waterland's + works (ed. 1731).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_650" name="note_650" + href="#noteref_650">650.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Clement (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Strom.</span></span> + i.) mentions that some think him to have been Ezekiel, an opinion + which St. Clement himself does not hold. See, on the patristic + notions about Pythagoras, Legendre, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Traité de + l'Opinion</span></span>, tome i. p. 164.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_651" name="note_651" + href="#noteref_651">651.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This was the opinion of Julius + Firmicus Maternus, a Latin writer of the age of Constantine, + <span class="tei tei-q">“Nam quia Saræ pronepos fuerat ... Serapis + dictus est Græco sermone, hoc est Σαρᾶς ἄπο.”</span>—Julius + Firmicus Maternus, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Errore Profanarum Religionum</span></span>, + cap. xiv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_652" name="note_652" + href="#noteref_652">652.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Justin Martyr, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + i. 54; Trypho, 69-70. There is a very curious collection of Pagan + legends that were parallel to Jewish incidents, in La Mothe le + Vayer, let. xciii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_653" name="note_653" + href="#noteref_653">653.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Suet. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Vesp.</span></span> + 7; Tacit. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> iv. 81. There is a slight + difference between the two historians about the second miracle. + Suetonius says it was the leg, Tacitus that it was the hand, that + was diseased. The god Serapis was said to have revealed to the + patients that they would be cured by the emperor. Tacitus says that + Vespasian did not believe in his own power; that it was only after + much persuasion he was induced to try the experiment; that the + blind man was well known in Alexandria, where the event occurred, + and that eyewitnesses who had no motive to lie still attested the + miracle.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_654" name="note_654" + href="#noteref_654">654.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The following is a good specimen of + the language which may still be uttered, apparently without + exciting any protest, from the pulpit in one of the great centres + of English learning: <span class="tei tei-q">“But we have prayed, + and not been heard, at least in this present visitation. Have we + deserved to be heard? In former visitations it was observed + commonly how the cholera lessened from the day of the public + humiliation. When we dreaded famine from long-continued drought, on + the morning of our prayers the heaven over our head was of brass; + the clear burning sky showed no token of change. Men looked with + awe at its unmitigated clearness. In the evening was the cloud like + a man's hand; the relief was come.”</span> (And then the author + adds, in a note): <span class="tei tei-q">“This describes what I + myself saw on the Sunday morning in Oxford, on returning from the + early communion at St. Mary's at eight. There was no visible change + till the evening.”</span>—Pusey's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Miracles of + Prayer</span></span>, preached at Oxford, 1866.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_655" name="note_655" + href="#noteref_655">655.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">E.g.: <span class="tei tei-q">“A + master of philosophy, travelling with others on the way, when a + fearful thunderstorm arose, checked the fear of his fellows, and + discoursed to them of the natural reasons of that uproar in the + clouds, and those sudden flashes wherewith they seemed (out of the + ignorance of causes) to be too much affrighted: in the midst of his + philosophical discourse he was struck dead with the dreadful + eruption which he slighted. What could this be but the finger of + that God who will have his works rather entertained with wonder and + trembling than with curious scanning?”</span>—Bishop Hall, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + Invisible World</span></span>, § vi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_656" name="note_656" + href="#noteref_656">656.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sir C. Lewis <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On the Credibility of + Roman Hist.</span></span> vol. i. p. 50.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_657" name="note_657" + href="#noteref_657">657.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Divin.</span></span> lib. i. c. 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_658" name="note_658" + href="#noteref_658">658.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“The days on + which the miracle [of the king's touch] was to be wrought were + fixed at sittings of the Privy Council, and were solemnly notified + by the clergy to all the parish churches of the realm. When the + appointed time came, several divines in full canonicals stood round + the canopy of state. The surgeon of the royal household introduced + the sick. A passage of Mark xvi. was read. When the words + <span class="tei tei-q">‘They shall lay their hands on the sick and + they shall recover,’</span> had been pronounced, there was a pause + and one of the sick was brought to the king. His Majesty stroked + the ulcers.... Then came the Epistle, &c. The Service may still + be found in the Prayer Books of the reign of Anne. Indeed, it was + not until some time after the accession of George I. that the + University of Oxford ceased to reprint the office of healing, + together with the Liturgy. Theologians of eminent learning, + ability, and virtue gave the sanction of their authority to this + mummery, and, what is stranger still, medical men of high note + believed, or affected to believe, it.... Charles II., in the course + of his reign, touched near 100,000 persons.... In 1682 he performed + the rite 8,500 times. In 1684 the throng was such that six or seven + of the sick were trampled to death. James, in one of his + progresses, touched 800 persons in the choir of the cathedral of + Chester.”</span>—Macaulay's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">History of England</span></span>, c. xiv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_659" name="note_659" + href="#noteref_659">659.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">One of the surgeons of Charles II. + named John Brown, whose official duty it was to superintend the + ceremony, and who assures us that he has witnessed many thousands + touched, has written an extremely curious account of it, called + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Charisma + Basilicon</span></span> (London, 1684). This miraculous power + existed exclusively in the English and French royal families, being + derived, in the first, from Edward the Confessor, in the second, + from St. Lewis. A surgeon attested the reality of the disease + before the miracle was performed. The king hung a riband with a + gold coin round the neck of the person touched; but Brown thinks + the gold, though possessing great virtue, was not essential to the + cure. He had known cases where the cured person had sold, or ceased + to wear, the medal, and his disease returned. The gift was + unimpaired by the Reformation, and an obdurate Catholic was + converted on finding that Elizabeth, after the Pope's + excommunication, could cure his scrofula. Francis I. cured many + persons when prisoner in Spain. Charles I., when a prisoner, cured + a man by his simple benediction, the Puritans not permitting him to + touch him. His blood had the same efficacy; and Charles II., when + an exile in the Netherlands, still retained it. There were, + however, some <span class="tei tei-q">“Atheists, Sadducees, and + ill-conditioned Pharisees”</span> who even then disbelieved it; and + Brown gives the letter of one who went, a complete sceptic, to + satisfy his friends, and came away cured and converted. It was + popularly, but Brown says erroneously, believed that the touch was + peculiarly efficacious on Good Friday. An official register was + kept, for every month in the reign of Charles II., of the persons + touched, but two years and a half appear to be wanting. The + smallest number touched in one year was 2,983 (in 1669); the total, + in the whole reign, 92,107. Brown gives numbers of specific cases + with great detail. Shakspeare has noticed the power (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Macbeth</span></span>, Act iv. Scene 3). Dr. + Johnson, when a boy, was touched by Queen Anne; but at that time + few persons, except Jacobites, believed the miracle.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_660" name="note_660" + href="#noteref_660">660.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Lucretius, + lib. vi. The poet says there are certain seeds of fire in the + earth, around the water, which the sun attracts to itself, but + which the cold of the night represses, and forces back upon the + water.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The fountain + of Jupiter Ammon, and many others that were deemed miraculous, + are noticed by Pliny, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. Nat.</span></span> ii. 106.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Fly not yet; the fount that played<br /> + In times of old through Ammon's shade,<br /> + Though icy cold by day it ran,<br /> + Yet still, like souls of mirth, began<br /> + To burn when night was near.”</span>—Moore's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Melodies</span></span>.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_661" name="note_661" + href="#noteref_661">661.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + i. 28. Long afterwards, the people of Turin were accustomed to + greet every eclipse with loud cries, and St. Maximus of Turin + energetically combated their superstition. (Ceillier, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des Auteurs + sacrés</span></span>, tome xiv. p. 607.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_662" name="note_662" + href="#noteref_662">662.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Suet. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Aug.</span></span> + xci.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_663" name="note_663" + href="#noteref_663">663.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the answer of the younger Pliny + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> i. 18), suggesting that + dreams should often be interpreted by contraries. A great many + instances of dreams that were believed to have been verified are + given in Cic. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Divinatione</span></span>, lib. i.) and + Valerius Maximus (lib. i. c. vii.). Marcus Aurelius (Capitolinus) + was said to have appeared to many persons after his death in + dreams, and predicted the future.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_664" name="note_664" + href="#noteref_664">664.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The augurs had noted eleven kinds of + lightning with different significations. (Pliny, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> ii. 53.) Pliny says all nations agree in + clapping their hands when it lightens (xxviii. 5). Cicero very + shrewdly remarked that the Roman considered lightning a good omen + when it shone upon his left, while the Greeks and barbarians + believed it to be auspicious when it was upon the right. (Cic. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Divinat.</span></span> ii. 39.) When Constantine prohibited all + other forms of magic, he especially authorised that which was + intended to avert hail and lightning. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Cod. + Theod.</span></span> lib. ix. tit. xvi. 1. 3.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_665" name="note_665" + href="#noteref_665">665.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Suet. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Aug.</span></span> + xc.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_666" name="note_666" + href="#noteref_666">666.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tiber.</span></span> + lxix. The virtue of laurel leaves, and of the skin of a sea-calf, + as preservatives against lightning, are noticed by Pliny + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> ii. 56), who also says (xv. 40) that the laurel + leaf is believed to have a natural antipathy to fire, which it + shows by its angry crackling when in contact with that + element.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_667" name="note_667" + href="#noteref_667">667.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Suet. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Calig.</span></span> + ii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_668" name="note_668" + href="#noteref_668">668.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Suet. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Jul. + Cæs.</span></span> lxxxviii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_669" name="note_669" + href="#noteref_669">669.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plin. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> ii. 23.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_670" name="note_670" + href="#noteref_670">670.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Prodigia eo + anno multa nuntiata sunt, quæ quo magis credebant simplices ac + religiosi homines eo plura nuntiabantur”</span> (xxiv. 10). Compare + with this the remark of Cicero on the oracles: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Quando autem illa vis evanuit? An postquam homines + minus creduli esse cœperunt?”</span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Div.</span></span> + ii. 57.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_671" name="note_671" + href="#noteref_671">671.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This theory, which is developed at + length by the Stoic, in the first book of the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Divinatione</span></span> of Cicero, grew out of the pantheistic + notion that the human soul is a part of the Deity, and therefore by + nature a participator in the Divine attribute of prescience. The + soul, however, was crushed by the weight of the body; and there + were two ways of evoking its prescience—the ascetic way, which + attenuates the body, and the magical way, which stimulates the + soul. Apollonius declared that his power of prophecy was not due to + magic, but solely to his abstinence from animal food. (Philost. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ap. of + Tyana</span></span>, viii. 5.) Among those who believed the + oracles, there were two theories. The first was that they were + inspired by dæmons or spirits of a degree lower than the gods. The + second was, that they were due to the action of certain vapours + which emanated from the caverns beneath the temples, and which, by + throwing the priestess into a state of delirium, evoked her + prophetic powers. The first theory was that of the Platonists, and + it was adopted by the Christians, who, however, changed the + signification of the word dæmon. The second theory, which appears + to be due to Aristotle (Baltus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Réponse à l'Histoire + des Oracles</span></span>, p. 132), is noticed by Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Div.</span></span> + i. 19; Plin. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">H. N.</span></span> ii. 95; and others. It is + closely allied to the modern belief in clairvoyance. Plutarch, in + his treatise on the decline of the oracles, attributes that decline + sometimes to the death of the dæmons (who were believed to be + mortal), and sometimes to the exhaustion of the vapours. The + oracles themselves, according to Porphyry (Fontenelle, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des + Oracles</span></span>, pp. 220-222, first ed.), attributed it to + the second cause. Iamblichus (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Myst.</span></span> § iii. c. xi.) combines + both theories, and both are very clearly stated in the following + curious passage: <span class="tei tei-q">“Quamquam Platoni credam + inter deos atque homines, natura et loco medias quasdam divorum + potestates intersitas, easque divinationes cunctas et magorum + miracula gubernare. Quin et illud mecum reputo, posse animum + humanum, præsertim, puerilem et simplicem, seu carminum avocamento, + sive odorum delenimento, soporari, et ad oblivionem præsentium + externari: et paulis per remota corporis memoria, redigi ac redire + ad naturam suam, quæ est immortalis scilicet et divina; atque ita + veluti quodam sopore, futura rerum præsagire.”</span>—Apuleius, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apolog.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_672" name="note_672" + href="#noteref_672">672.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Aul. Gell. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Noct.</span></span> + ii. 28. Florus, however (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> i. 19), mentions a Roman + general appeasing the goddess Earth on the occasion of an + earthquake that occurred during a battle.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_673" name="note_673" + href="#noteref_673">673.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ælian, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Var.</span></span> iv. 17.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_674" name="note_674" + href="#noteref_674">674.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. Nat.</span></span> ii. 81-86.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_675" name="note_675" + href="#noteref_675">675.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. ii. 9.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_676" name="note_676" + href="#noteref_676">676.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. ii. 23.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_677" name="note_677" + href="#noteref_677">677.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">I have referred in the last chapter to + a striking passage of Am. Marcellinus on this combination. The + reader may find some curious instances of the superstitions of + Roman sceptics in Champagny, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Les Antonins</span></span>, tome iii. p. + 46.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_678" name="note_678" + href="#noteref_678">678.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">viii. 19. This is also mentioned by + Lucretius.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_679" name="note_679" + href="#noteref_679">679.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">viii. 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_680" name="note_680" + href="#noteref_680">680.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">viii. 50. This was one of the reasons + why the early Christians sometimes adopted the stag as a symbol of + Christ.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_681" name="note_681" + href="#noteref_681">681.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">xxix. 23.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_682" name="note_682" + href="#noteref_682">682.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">xxxii. 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_683" name="note_683" + href="#noteref_683">683.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">vii. 2.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_684" name="note_684" + href="#noteref_684">684.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">xxviii. 7. The blind man restored to + sight by Vespasian was cured by anointing his eyes with spittle. + (Suet. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Vesp.</span></span> 7; Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> + iv. 81.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_685" name="note_685" + href="#noteref_685">685.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. The custom of spitting in the + hand before striking still exists among pugilists.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_686" name="note_686" + href="#noteref_686">686.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">ii. 101.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_687" name="note_687" + href="#noteref_687">687.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Legendre, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Traité de + l'Opinion</span></span>, tome ii. p. 17. The superstition is, + however, said still to linger in many sea-coast towns.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_688" name="note_688" + href="#noteref_688">688.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lucian is believed to have died about + two years before Marcus Aurelius.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_689" name="note_689" + href="#noteref_689">689.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See his very curious Life by + Philostratus. This Life was written at the request of Julia Domna, + the wife of Septimus Severus, whether or not with the intention of + opposing the Gospel narrative is a question still fiercely + discussed. Among the most recent Church historians, Pressensé + maintains the affirmative, and Neander the negative. Apollonius was + born at nearly the same time as Christ, but outlived Domitian. The + traces of his influence are widely spread through the literature of + the empire. Eunapius calls him <span class="tei tei-q">“Ἀπολλώνιος + ὁ ἐκ Τυάνων, οὐκέτι φιλόσοφος ἀλλ᾽ ἦν τι θεῶν τε καὶ ἀνθρώπου + μέσον.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Lives of the Sophists.</span></span> Xiphilin + relates (lxvii. 18) the story, told also by Philostratus, how + Apollonius, being at Ephesus, saw the assassination of Domitian at + Rome. Alexander Severus placed (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Lampridius + Severus</span></span>) the statue of Apollonius with those of + Orpheus, Abraham, and Christ, for worship in his oratory. Aurelian + was reported to have been diverted from his intention of destroying + Tyana by the ghost of the philosopher, who appeared in his tent, + rebuked him, and saved the city (Vopiscus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Aurelian</span></span>); and, lastly, the + Pagan philosopher Hierocles wrote a book opposing Apollonius to + Christ, which was answered by Eusebius. The Fathers of the fourth + century always spoke of him as a great magician. Some curious + passages on the subject are collected by M. Chassang, in the + introduction to his French translation of the work of + Philostratus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_690" name="note_690" + href="#noteref_690">690.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See his defence against the charge of + magic. Apuleius, who was at once a brilliant rhetorician, the + writer of an extremely curious novel (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The Metamorphoses, or + Golden Ass</span></span>), and of many other works, and an + indefatigable student of the religious mysteries of his time, lived + through the reigns of Hadrian and his two successors. After his + death his fame was for about a century apparently eclipsed; and it + has been noticed as very remarkable that Tertullian, who lived a + generation after Apuleius, and who, like him, was a Carthaginian, + has never even mentioned him. During the fourth century his + reputation revived, and Lactantius, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine + relate that many miracles were attributed to him, and that he was + placed by the Pagans on a level with Christ, and regarded by some + as even a greater magician. See the sketch of his life by M. + Bétolaud prefixed to the Panckoucke edition of his works.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_691" name="note_691" + href="#noteref_691">691.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Life of Alexander.</span></span> There is an + extremely curious picture of the religious jugglers, who were + wandering about the Empire, in the eighth and ninth books of the + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Metamorphoses</span></span> of Apuleius. See, + too, Juvenal, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> vi. 510-585.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_692" name="note_692" + href="#noteref_692">692.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Porphyry's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Plotinus</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_693" name="note_693" + href="#noteref_693">693.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eunapius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Porph.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_694" name="note_694" + href="#noteref_694">694.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Iamb.</span></span> + Iamblichus himself only laughed at the report.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_695" name="note_695" + href="#noteref_695">695.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eunapius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Iamb.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_696" name="note_696" + href="#noteref_696">696.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See her life in Eunapius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Œdescus</span></span>. Ælian and the + rhetorician Aristides are also full of the wildest prodigies. There + is an interesting dissertation on this subject in Friedlænder + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Trad. + Franc.</span></span> tome iv. p. 177-186).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_697" name="note_697" + href="#noteref_697">697.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Credat Judæus + Apella.”</span>—Hor. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> v. 100.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_698" name="note_698" + href="#noteref_698">698.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This appears from all the writings of + the Fathers. There were, however, two forms of Pagan miracles about + which there was some hesitation in the early Church—the beneficent + miracle of healing and the miracle of prophecy. Concerning the + first, the common opinion was that the dæmons only cured diseases + they had themselves caused, or that, at least, if they ever (in + order to enthral men more effectually) cured purely natural + diseases, they did it by natural means, which their superior + knowledge and power placed at their disposal. Concerning prophecy, + it was the opinion of some of the Fathers that intuitive prescience + was a Divine prerogative, and that the prescience of the dæmons was + only acquired by observation. Their immense knowledge enabled them + to forecast events to a degree far transcending human faculties, + and they employed this power in the oracles.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_699" name="note_699" + href="#noteref_699">699.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Origine ac Progressu + Idolatriæ</span></span> (Amsterdam).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_700" name="note_700" + href="#noteref_700">700.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This characteristic of early Christian + apology is forcibly exhibited by Pressensé, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des trois + premiers Siècles</span></span>, 2<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="vertical-align: super">me</span></span> + série, tome ii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_701" name="note_701" + href="#noteref_701">701.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The immense number of these forged + writings is noticed by all candid historians, and there is, I + believe, only one instance of any attempt being made to prevent + this pious fraud. A priest was degraded for having forged some + voyages of St. Paul and St. Thecla. (Tert. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Baptismo</span></span>, 17.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_702" name="note_702" + href="#noteref_702">702.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> i.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_703" name="note_703" + href="#noteref_703">703.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Strom.</span></span> vi. c. 5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_704" name="note_704" + href="#noteref_704">704.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Origen, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Cont. + Cols.</span></span> v.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_705" name="note_705" + href="#noteref_705">705.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Oratio</span></span> (apud Euseb.) xviii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_706" name="note_706" + href="#noteref_706">706.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Civ. Dei</span></span>, xviii. 23.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_707" name="note_707" + href="#noteref_707">707.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Constantine, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Oratio</span></span> + xix. <span class="tei tei-q">“His testimoniis quidam revicti solent + eo confugere ut aiant non esse illa carmina Sibyllina, sed a + nostris conficta atque composita.”</span>—Lactant. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Div. + Inst.</span></span> iv. 15.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_708" name="note_708" + href="#noteref_708">708.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Antonius Possevinus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apparatus + Sacer</span></span> (1606), verb. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Sibylla.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_709" name="note_709" + href="#noteref_709">709.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This subject is fully treated by + Middleton in his <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Free Enquiry</span></span>, whom I have + closely followed.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_710" name="note_710" + href="#noteref_710">710.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Irenæus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Contr. + Hæres.</span></span> ii. 32.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_711" name="note_711" + href="#noteref_711">711.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Epiphan. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Adv. + Hæres.</span></span> ii. 30.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_712" name="note_712" + href="#noteref_712">712.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Aug. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Civ. + Dei</span></span>, xxii. 8.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_713" name="note_713" + href="#noteref_713">713.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This history is related by St. Ambrose + in a letter to his sister Marcellina; by St. Paulinus of Nola, in + his <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life + of Ambrose</span></span>; and by St. Augustine, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Civ. + Dei</span></span>, xxii. 8; <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Confess.</span></span> ix. 7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_714" name="note_714" + href="#noteref_714">714.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plutarch thought they were known by + Plato, but this opinion has been much questioned. See a very + learned discussion on the subject in Farmer's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Dissertation on + Miracles</span></span>, pp. 129-140; and Fontenelle, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des + Oracles</span></span>, pp. 26, 27. Porphyry speaks much of evil + dæmons.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_715" name="note_715" + href="#noteref_715">715.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Josephus, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Antiq.</span></span> + viii. 2, § 5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_716" name="note_716" + href="#noteref_716">716.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This very curious subject is fully + treated by Baltus (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Réponse à l'Histoire des + Oracles</span></span>, Strasburg, 1707, published anonymously in + reply to Van Dale and Fontenelle), who believed in the reality of + the Pagan as well as the patristic miracles; by Bingham + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Antiquities of the Christian + Church</span></span>, vol. i. pp. 316-324), who thinks the Pagan + and Jewish exorcists were impostors, but not the Christians; and by + Middleton (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Free Enquiry</span></span>, pp. 80-93), who + disbelieves in all the exorcists after the apostolic times. It has + also been the subject of a special controversy in England, carried + on by Dodwell, Church, Farmer, and others. Archdeacon Church says: + <span class="tei tei-q">“If we cannot vindicate them [the Fathers + of the first three centuries] on this article, their credit must be + lost for ever; and we must be obliged to decline all further + defence of them. It is impossible for any words more strongly to + express a claim to this miracle than those used by all the best + writers of the second and third centuries.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Vindication of the + Miracles of the First Three Centuries</span></span>, p. 199. So, + also, Baltus: <span class="tei tei-q">“De tous les anciens auteurs + ecclésiastiques, n'y en ayant pas un qui n'ait parlé de ce pouvoir + admirable que les Chrétiens avoient de chasser les démons”</span> + (p. 296). Gregory of Tours describes exorcism as sufficiently + common in his time, and mentions having himself seen a monk named + Julian cure by his words a possessed person. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> + iv. 32.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_717" name="note_717" + href="#noteref_717">717.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Vit. Hilar.</span></span> Origen notices that + cattle were sometimes possessed by devils. See Middleton's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Free + Enquiry</span></span>, pp. 88, 89.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_718" name="note_718" + href="#noteref_718">718.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The miracle of St. Babylas is the + subject of a homily by St. Chrysostom, and is related at length by + Theodoret, Sozomen, and Socrates. Libanius mentions that, by + command of Julian, the bones of St. Babylas were removed from the + temple. The Christians said the temple was destroyed by lightning; + the Pagans declared it was burnt by the Christians, and Julian + ordered measures of reprisal to be taken. Amm. Marcellinus, + however, mentions a report that the fire was caused accidentally by + one of the numerous candles employed in the ceremony. The people of + Antioch defied the emperor by chanting, as they removed the relics, + <span class="tei tei-q">“Confounded be all they that trust in + graven images.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_719" name="note_719" + href="#noteref_719">719.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of Gregory + Thaumaturgus</span></span>, by Gregory of Nyssa. St. Gregory the + Great assures us (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dial.</span></span> iii. 10) that Sabinus, + Bishop of Placentia, wrote a letter to the river Po, which had + overflowed its banks and flooded some church lands. When the letter + was thrown into the stream the waters at once subsided.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_720" name="note_720" + href="#noteref_720">720.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Edatur hic + aliquis sub tribunalibus vestris, quem dæmone agi constet. Jussus a + quolibet Christiano loqui spiritus ille, tam se dæmonem + confitebitur de vero, quam alibi deum de falso. Æque producatur + aliquis ex iis qui de deo pati existimantur, qui aris inhalantes + numen de nidore concipiunt ... nisi se dæmones confessi fuerint, + Christiano mentiri non audentes, ibidem illius Christiani + procacissimi sanguinem fundite. Quid isto opere manifestius? quid + hæc probatione fidelius?”</span>—Tert. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + xxiii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_721" name="note_721" + href="#noteref_721">721.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> i.; <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Trypho</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_722" name="note_722" + href="#noteref_722">722.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Cont. Cels.</span></span> vii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_723" name="note_723" + href="#noteref_723">723.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Inst. Div.</span></span> iv. 27.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_724" name="note_724" + href="#noteref_724">724.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Life of Antony.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_725" name="note_725" + href="#noteref_725">725.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Octavius.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_726" name="note_726" + href="#noteref_726">726.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Superstitione.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_727" name="note_727" + href="#noteref_727">727.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">i. 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_728" name="note_728" + href="#noteref_728">728.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Mort. Peregrin.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_729" name="note_729" + href="#noteref_729">729.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Origen, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Adv. + Cels.</span></span> vi. Compare the curious letter which Vopiscus + (Saturninus) attributes to Hadrian, <span class="tei tei-q">“Nemo + illic [i.e. in Egypt] archisynagogus Judæorum, nemo Samarites, nemo + Christianorum presbyter, non mathematicus, non aruspex, non + aliptes.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_730" name="note_730" + href="#noteref_730">730.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Si + incantavit, si imprecatus est, si (ut vulgari verbo impostorum + utor) exorcizavit.”</span>—Bingham, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Antiquities of the + Christian Church</span></span> (Oxf., 1855), vol. i. p. 318. This + law is believed to have been directed specially against the + Christians, because these were very prominent as exorcists, and + because Lactantius (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Inst. Div.</span></span> v. 11) says that + Ulpian had collected the laws against them.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_731" name="note_731" + href="#noteref_731">731.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Philostorgius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Eccl.</span></span> viii. 10.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_732" name="note_732" + href="#noteref_732">732.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Juvenal, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> + vi. 314-335.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_733" name="note_733" + href="#noteref_733">733.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Juvenal, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> + vi. 520-530.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_734" name="note_734" + href="#noteref_734">734.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Metamorphoses</span></span>, book x.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_735" name="note_735" + href="#noteref_735">735.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See their <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Lives</span></span>, + by Lampridius and Spartianus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_736" name="note_736" + href="#noteref_736">736.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The conflict between St. Cyprian and + the confessors, concerning the power of remitting penances claimed + by the latter, though it ended in the defeat of the confessors, + shows clearly the influence they had obtained.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_737" name="note_737" + href="#noteref_737">737.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Thura plane + non emimus; si Arabiæ queruntur scient Sabæi pluris et carioris + suas merces Christianis sepeliendis profligari quam diis + fumigandis.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> 42. Sometimes the Pagans + burnt the bodies of the martyrs, in order to prevent the Christians + venerating their relics.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_738" name="note_738" + href="#noteref_738">738.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Many interesting particulars about + these commemrative festivals are collected in Cave's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Primitive + Christianity</span></span>, part i. c. vii. The anniversaries were + called <span class="tei tei-q">“Natalia,”</span> or + birth-days.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_739" name="note_739" + href="#noteref_739">739.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See her acts in Ruinart.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_740" name="note_740" + href="#noteref_740">740.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Clem. Alex. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Strom.</span></span> + iv. 10. There are other passages of the same kind in other + Fathers.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_741" name="note_741" + href="#noteref_741">741.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ad Scapul.</span></span> v. Eusebius + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Martyrs + of Palestine</span></span>, ch. iii.) has given a detailed account + of six young men, who in the very height of the Galerian + persecution, at a time when the most hideous tortures were applied + to the Christians, voluntarily gave themselves up as believers. + Sulp. Severus (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> ii. 32), speaking of the + voluntary martyrs under Diocletian, says that Christians then + <span class="tei tei-q">“longed for death as they now long for + bishoprics.”</span> <span class="tei tei-q">“Cogi qui potest, + nescit mori,”</span> was the noble maxim of the Christians.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_742" name="note_742" + href="#noteref_742">742.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Arrian, iv. 7. It is not certain, + however, that this passage alludes to the Christians. The followers + of Judas of Galilee were called Galilæans, and they were famous for + their indifference to death. See Joseph. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Antiq.</span></span> + xviii. 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_743" name="note_743" + href="#noteref_743">743.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">xi. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_744" name="note_744" + href="#noteref_744">744.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Peregrinus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_745" name="note_745" + href="#noteref_745">745.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Zosimus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_746" name="note_746" + href="#noteref_746">746.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Do I not hate + them, O Lord, that hate thee?—yea, I hate them with a perfect + hatred.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_747" name="note_747" + href="#noteref_747">747.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Renan's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apôtres</span></span>, p. 314.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_748" name="note_748" + href="#noteref_748">748.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">M. Pressensé very truly says of the + Romans, <span class="tei tei-q">“Leur religion était + essentiellement un art—l'art de découvrir les desseins des dieux et + d'agir sur eux par des rites variés.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des Trois + premiers Siècles</span></span>, tome i. p. 192. Montesquieu has + written an interesting essay on the political nature of the Roman + religion.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_749" name="note_749" + href="#noteref_749">749.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Claud.</span></span> + xxv.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_750" name="note_750" + href="#noteref_750">750.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Plin. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Nat.</span></span> vii. 31.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_751" name="note_751" + href="#noteref_751">751.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Orat.</span></span> xxxv.; Aul. Gell. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Noct.</span></span> + xv. 11. It would appear, from this last authority, that the + rhetoricians were twice expelled.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_752" name="note_752" + href="#noteref_752">752.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Dion Cassius, lii. 36. Most historians + believe that this speech represents the opinions, not of the + Augustan age, but of the age of the writer who relates it.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_753" name="note_753" + href="#noteref_753">753.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">On the hostility of Vespasian to + philosophers, see Xiphilin, lxvi. 13; on that of Domitian, the + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Letters</span></span> of Pliny and the + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Agricola</span></span> of Tacitus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_754" name="note_754" + href="#noteref_754">754.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a remarkable passage in Dion + Chrysostom, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Or.</span></span> lxxx. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Libertate</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_755" name="note_755" + href="#noteref_755">755.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cic. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Legib.</span></span> ii. 11; Tertull. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + v.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_756" name="note_756" + href="#noteref_756">756.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Livy, iv. 30</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_757" name="note_757" + href="#noteref_757">757.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Val. Maximus, i. 3, § 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_758" name="note_758" + href="#noteref_758">758.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Livy, xxv. 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_759" name="note_759" + href="#noteref_759">759.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Val. Max. i. 3, § 2.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_760" name="note_760" + href="#noteref_760">760.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the account of these proceedings, + and of the very remarkable speech of Postumius, in Livy, xxxix. + 8-19. Postumius notices the old prohibition of foreign rites, and + thus explains it:—<span class="tei tei-q">“Judicabant enim + prudentissimi viri omnis divini humanique juris, nihil æque + dissolvendæ religionis esse, quam ubi non patrio sed externo ritu + sacrificaretur.”</span> The Senate, though suppressing these rites + on account of the outrageous immoralities connected with them, + decreed, that if any one thought it a matter of religious duty to + perform religious ceremonies to Bacchus, he should be allowed to do + so on applying for permission to the Senate, provided there were + not more than five assistants, no common purse, and no presiding + priest.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_761" name="note_761" + href="#noteref_761">761.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Val. Max. i. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_762" name="note_762" + href="#noteref_762">762.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Dion Cassius, xl. 47; xlii. 26; + xlvii. 15; liv. 6.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_763" name="note_763" + href="#noteref_763">763.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Joseph. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Antiq.</span></span> + xviii. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_764" name="note_764" + href="#noteref_764">764.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + ii. 85.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_765" name="note_765" + href="#noteref_765">765.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacitus relates (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ann.</span></span> + xi. 15) that under Claudius a senatus consultus ordered the + pontiffs to take care that the old Roman (or, more properly, + Etruscan) system of divination was observed, since the influx of + foreign superstitions had led to its disuse; but it does not appear + that this measure was intended to interfere with any other form of + worship.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_766" name="note_766" + href="#noteref_766">766.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Sacrosanctam + istam civitatem accedo.”</span>—Apuleius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Metam.</span></span> + lib. x. It is said that there were at one time no less than 420 + ædes sacræ in Rome. Nieupoort, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Ritibus + Romanorum</span></span> (1716), p. 276.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_767" name="note_767" + href="#noteref_767">767.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Euseb. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Præp. + Evang.</span></span> iv. 1. Fontenelle says very truly, + <span class="tei tei-q">“Il y a lieu de croire que chez les payens + la religion n'estoit qu'une pratique, dont la spéculation estoit + indifférente. Faites comme les autres et croyez ce qu'il vous + plaira.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. des Oracles</span></span>, p. 95. It was + a saying of Tiberius, that it is for the gods to care for the + injuries done to them: <span class="tei tei-q">“Deorum injurias + diis curæ.”</span>—Tacit. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> i. 73.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_768" name="note_768" + href="#noteref_768">768.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The most melancholy modern instance I + remember is a letter of Hume to a young man who was thinking of + taking orders, but who, in the course of his studies, became a + complete sceptic. Hume strongly advised him not to allow this + consideration to interfere with his career (Burton, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Hume</span></span>, vol. ii. pp. 187, 188.) The utilitarian + principles of the philosopher were doubtless at the root of his + judgment.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_769" name="note_769" + href="#noteref_769">769.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Divinat.</span></span> ii. 33; <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Nat. + Deor.</span></span> ii. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_770" name="note_770" + href="#noteref_770">770.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Quæ omnia + sapiens servabit tanquam legibus jussa non tanquam diis grata.... + Meminerimus cultum ejus magis ad morem quam ad rem + pertinere.”</span>—St. Aug. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Civ. Dei</span></span>, vi. 10. St. + Augustine denounces this view with great power. See, too, + Lactantius. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Inst. Div.</span></span> ii. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_771" name="note_771" + href="#noteref_771">771.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Enchirid.</span></span> xxxi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_772" name="note_772" + href="#noteref_772">772.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This is noticed by Philo.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_773" name="note_773" + href="#noteref_773">773.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The ship in which the atheist Diagoras + sailed was once nearly wrecked by a tempest, and the sailors + declared that it was a just retribution from the gods because they + had received the philosopher into their vessel. Diagoras, pointing + to the other ships that were tossed by the same storm, asked + whether they imagined there was a Diagoras in each. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Cic. De Nat. + Deor.</span></span> iii. 37.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_774" name="note_774" + href="#noteref_774">774.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The vestal Oppia was put to death + because the diviners attributed to her unchastity certain + <span class="tei tei-q">“prodigies in the heavens,”</span> that had + alarmed the people at the beginning of the war with Veii. (Livy, + ii. 42.) The vestal Urbinia was buried alive on account of a plague + that had fallen upon the Roman women, which was attributed to her + incontinence, and which is said to have ceased suddenly upon her + execution. (Dion. Halicar. ix.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_775" name="note_775" + href="#noteref_775">775.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Pliny, in his famous letter to Trajan + about the Christians, notices that this had been the case in + Bithynia.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_776" name="note_776" + href="#noteref_776">776.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tert. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + xl. See, too, Cyprian, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">contra Demetrian.</span></span>, and Arnobius, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> lib. i.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_777" name="note_777" + href="#noteref_777">777.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Aug. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Civ. + Dei</span></span>, ii. 3.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_778" name="note_778" + href="#noteref_778">778.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Instances of this kind are given by + Tertullian <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ad Scapulam</span></span>, and the whole + treatise <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">On the Deaths of the + Persecutors</span></span>, attributed to Lactantius, is a + development of the same theory. St. Cyprian's treatise against + Demetrianus throws much light on the mode of thought of the + Christians of his time. In the later historians, anecdotes of + adversaries of the Church dying horrible deaths became very + numerous. They were said especially to have been eaten by worms. + Many examples of this kind are collected by Jortin. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Remarks on Eccles. + Hist.</span></span> vol. i. p. 432.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_779" name="note_779" + href="#noteref_779">779.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“It is + remarkable, in all the proclamations and documents which Eusebius + assigns to Constantine, some even written by his own hand, how, + almost exclusively, he dwells on this worldly superiority of the + God adored by the Christians over those of the heathens, and the + visible temporal advantages which attend on the worship of + Christianity. His own victory, and the disasters of his enemies, + are his conclusive evidences of Christianity.”</span>—Milman, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. of + Early Christianity</span></span> (ed. 1867), vol. ii. p. 327. + <span class="tei tei-q">“It was a standing argument of Athanasius, + that the death of Arius was a sufficient refutation of his + heresy.”</span>—Ibid. p. 382.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_780" name="note_780" + href="#noteref_780">780.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Socrates, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Eccl. + Hist.</span></span>, vii. 30.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_781" name="note_781" + href="#noteref_781">781.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Greg. Tur. ii. 30, 31. Clovis wrote to + St. Avitus, <span class="tei tei-q">“Your faith is our + victory.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_782" name="note_782" + href="#noteref_782">782.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Milman's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Latin + Christianity</span></span> (ed. 1867), vol. ii. pp. 236-245.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_783" name="note_783" + href="#noteref_783">783.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ibid. vol. iii. p. 248.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_784" name="note_784" + href="#noteref_784">784.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xl.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_785" name="note_785" + href="#noteref_785">785.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“An diutius + perferimus mutari temporum vices, irata cœli temperie? Quæ + Paganorum exacerbata perfidia nescit naturæ libramenta servare. + Unde enim ver solitam gratiam abjuravit? unde æstas, messe jejuna, + laboriosum agricolam in spe destituit aristarum? unde hyemis + intemperata ferocitas uberitatem terrarum penetrabili frigore + sterilitatis læsione damnavit? nisi quod ad impietatis vindictam + transit lege sua naturæ decretum.”</span>—Novell. lii. Theodos. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Judæis, Samaritanis, et Hæreticis</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_786" name="note_786" + href="#noteref_786">786.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Milman's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Latin + Christianity</span></span> vol. ii. p. 354.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_787" name="note_787" + href="#noteref_787">787.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Démonomanie des Sorciers</span></span>, p. + 152.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_788" name="note_788" + href="#noteref_788">788.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a curious instance in Bayle's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dictionary</span></span>, art. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Vergerius.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_789" name="note_789" + href="#noteref_789">789.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Pliny, Ep. x. 43. Trajan noticed that + Nicomedia was peculiarly turbulent. On the edict against the + hetæriæ, or associations, see <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> x. 97.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_790" name="note_790" + href="#noteref_790">790.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">All the apologists are full of these + charges. The chief passages have been collected in that very useful + and learned work, Kortholt, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Calumniis contra Christianos</span></span>. + (Cologne, 1683.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_791" name="note_791" + href="#noteref_791">791.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Justin Martyr tells us it was the + brave deaths of the Christians that converted him. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + ii. 12.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_792" name="note_792" + href="#noteref_792">792.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Peregrinus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_793" name="note_793" + href="#noteref_793">793.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> x. 97.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_794" name="note_794" + href="#noteref_794">794.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> ii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_795" name="note_795" + href="#noteref_795">795.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Juvenal + describes the popular estimate of the Jews:—</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Tradidit arcano quodcunque volumine Moses;<br /> + Non monstrare vias, eadem nisi sacra colenti,<br /> + Quæsitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos.”</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> + xix. 102-105.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is not true + that the Mosaic law contains these precepts.</p> + </dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_796" name="note_796" + href="#noteref_796">796.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Merivale's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. of + Rome</span></span>, vol. viii. p. 176.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_797" name="note_797" + href="#noteref_797">797.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See Justin Martyr, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Trypho</span></span>, + xvii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_798" name="note_798" + href="#noteref_798">798.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Justin Martyr, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + i. 26.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_799" name="note_799" + href="#noteref_799">799.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius expressly notices that the + licentiousness of the sect of Carpocrates occasioned calumnies + against the whole of the Christian body. (iv. 7.) A number of + passages from the Fathers describing the immorality of these + heretics are referred to by Cave, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Primitive + Christianity</span></span>, part ii. ch. v.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_800" name="note_800" + href="#noteref_800">800.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Epiphanius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Adv. + Hær.</span></span> lib. i. Hær. 26. The charge of murdering + children, and especially infants, occupies a very prominent place + among the recriminations of religionists. The Pagans, as we have + seen, brought it against the Christians, and the orthodox against + some of the early heretics. The Christians accused Julian of + murdering infants for magical purposes, and the bed of the Orontes + was said to have been choked with their bodies. The accusation was + then commonly directed against the Jews, against the witches, and + against the mid-wives, who were supposed to be in confederation + with the witches.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_801" name="note_801" + href="#noteref_801">801.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See an example in Eusebius, iii. 32. + After the triumph of Christianity the Arian heretics appear to have + been accustomed to bring accusations of immorality against the + Catholics. They procured the deposition of St. Eustathius, Bishop + of Antioch, by suborning a prostitute to accuse him of being the + father of her child. The woman afterwards, on her death-bed, + confessed the imposture. (Theodor. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> + i. 21-22.) They also accused St. Athanasius of murder and + unchastity, both of which charges he most triumphantly repelled. + (Ibid. i. 30.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_802" name="note_802" + href="#noteref_802">802.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The great exertions and success of the + Christians in making female converts is indignantly noticed by + Celsus (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Origen</span></span>) and by the Pagan + interlocutor in Minucius Felix (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Octavius</span></span>), and a more minute + examination of ecclesiastical history amply confirms their + statements. I shall have in a future chapter to revert to this + matter. Tertullian graphically describes the anger of a man he + knew, at the conversion of his wife, and declares he would rather + have had her <span class="tei tei-q">“a prostitute than a + Christian.”</span> (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ad Nationes</span></span>, i. 4.) He also + mentions a governor of Cappadocia, named Herminianus, whose motive + for persecuting the Christians was his anger at the conversion of + his wife, and who, in consequence of his having persecuted, was + devoured by worms. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ad Scapul.</span></span> 3.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_803" name="note_803" + href="#noteref_803">803.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Matronarum + Auriscalpius.”</span> The title was given to Pope St. Damasus. See + Jortin's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Remarks on Ecclesiastical + History</span></span>, vol. ii. p. 27. Ammianus Marcellinus notices + (xxvii. 3) the great wealth the Roman bishops of his time had + acquired through the gifts of women. Theodoret (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. + Eccl.</span></span> ii. 17) gives a curious account of the + energetic proceedings of the Roman ladies upon the exile of Pope + Liberius.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_804" name="note_804" + href="#noteref_804">804.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Conj. Præcept.</span></span> This passage has + been thought to refer to the Christians; if so, it is the single + example of its kind in the writings of Plutarch.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_805" name="note_805" + href="#noteref_805">805.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Pliny, in his letter on the + Christians, notices that their assemblies were before daybreak. + Tertullian and Minucius Felix speak frequently of the <span class= + "tei tei-q">“nocturnes convocationes,”</span> or <span class= + "tei tei-q">“nocturnes congregationes”</span> of the Christians. + The following passage, which the last of these writers puts into + the mouth of a Pagan, describes forcibly the popular feeling about + the Christians: <span class="tei tei-q">“Qui de ultima fæce + collectis imperitioribus et mulieribus credulis sexus sui + facilitate labentibus, plebem profanæ conjurationis instituunt: quæ + nocturnis congregationibus et jejuniis solennibus et inhumanis + cibis non sacro quodam sed piaculo fœderantur, latebrosa et + lucifugax natio, in publico muta, in angulis garrula; templa ut + busta despiciunt, deos despuunt, rident sacra.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Octavius.</span></span> Tertullian, in + exhorting the Christian women not to intermarry with Pagans, gives + as one reason that they would not permit them to attend this + <span class="tei tei-q">“nightly convocation.”</span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ad + Uxorem</span></span>, ii. 4.) This whole chapter is a graphic but + deeply painful picture of the utter impossibility of a Christian + woman having any real community of feeling with a <span class= + "tei tei-q">“servant of the devil.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_806" name="note_806" + href="#noteref_806">806.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Civ. Dei</span></span>, xix. 23.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_807" name="note_807" + href="#noteref_807">807.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The policy of the Romans with + reference to magic has been minutely traced by Maury, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. de la + Magie</span></span>. Dr. Jeremie conjectures that the exorcisms of + the Christians may have excited the antipathy of Marcus Aurelius, + he, as I have already noticed, being a disbeliever on this subject. + (Jeremie, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. of Church in the Second and Third + Cent.</span></span> p. 26.) But this is mere conjecture.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_808" name="note_808" + href="#noteref_808">808.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the picture of the sentiments of + the Pagans on this matter, in Plutarch's noble <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Treatise on + Superstition</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_809" name="note_809" + href="#noteref_809">809.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Thus Justin Martyr: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Since sensation remains in all men who have been in + existence, and everlasting punishment is in store, do not hesitate + to believe, and be convinced that what I say is true.... This + Gehenna is a place where all will be punished who live + unrighteously, and who believe not that what God has taught through + Christ will come to pass.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + 1. 18-19. Arnobius has stated very forcibly the favourite argument + of many later theologians: <span class="tei tei-q">“Cum ergo hæc + sit conditio futurorum ut teneri et comprehendi nullius possint + anticipationis attactu: nonne purior ratio est, ex duobus incertis + et in ambigua expectatione pendentibus, id potius credere quod + aliquas spes ferat, quam omnino quod nullas? In illo enim periculi + nihil est, si quod dicitur imminere cassum fiat et vacuum. In hoc + damnum est maximum.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Adv. Gentes</span></span>, lib. i</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_810" name="note_810" + href="#noteref_810">810.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The continual enforcement of the duty + of belief, and the credulity of the Christians, were perpetually + dwelt on by Celsus and Julian. According to the first, it was usual + for them to say, <span class="tei tei-q">“Do not examine, but + believe only.”</span> According to the latter, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the sum of their wisdom was comprised in this single + precept, believe.”</span> The apologists frequently notice this + charge of credulity as brought against the Christians, and some + famous sentences of Tertullian go far to justify it. See + Middleton's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Free Enquiry</span></span>, Introd. pp. xcii, + xciii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_811" name="note_811" + href="#noteref_811">811.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the graphic picture of the agony + of terror manifested by the apostates as they tottered to the altar + at Alexandria, in the Decian persecution, in Dionysius apud + Eusebius, vi. 41. Miraculous judgments (often, perhaps, the natural + consequence of this extreme fear) were said to have frequently + fallen upon the apostates. St. Cyprian has preserved a number of + these in his treatise <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Lapsis</span></span>. Persons, when + excommunicated, were also said to have been sometimes visibly + possessed by devils. See Church, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">On Miraculous Powers + in the First Three Centuries</span></span>, pp. 52-54.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_812" name="note_812" + href="#noteref_812">812.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Si quis + aliquid fecerit, quo leves hominum animi superstitione numinis + terrerentur, Divus Marcus hujusmodi homines in insulam relegari + rescripsit,”</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dig.</span></span> xlviii. tit. 19, l. + 30.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_813" name="note_813" + href="#noteref_813">813.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">A number of instances have been + recorded, in which the punishment of the Christians was due to + their having broken idols, overturned altars, or in other ways + insulted the Pagans at their worship. The reader may find many + examples of this collected in Cave's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Primitive + Christianity</span></span>, part i. c. v.; Kortholt, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Calumniis contra + Christianos</span></span>; Barbeyrac, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Morale des + Pères</span></span>, c. xvii.; Tillemont, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Mém. + ecclésiast.</span></span> tome vii. pp. 354-355; Ceillier, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des + Auteurs sacrés</span></span>, tome iii. pp. 531-533. The Council of + Illiberis found it necessary to make a canon refusing the title of + <span class="tei tei-q">“martyr”</span> to those who were executed + for these offences.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_814" name="note_814" + href="#noteref_814">814.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The first of these anecdotes is told + by St. Jerome, the second by St. Clement of Alexandria, the third + by St. Irenæus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_815" name="note_815" + href="#noteref_815">815.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The severe discipline of the early + Church on this point has been amply treated in Marshall's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Penitential Discipline of the Primitive + Church</span></span> (first published in 1714, but reprinted in the + library of Anglo-Catholic theology), and in Bingham's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Antiquities of the + Christian Church</span></span>, vol. vi. (Oxford, 1855). The later + saints continually dwelt upon this duty of separation. Thus, + <span class="tei tei-q">“St. Théodore de Phermé disoit, que quand + une personne dont nous étions amis estoit tombée dans la + fornication, nous devions luy donner la main et faire notre + possible pour le relever; mais que s'il estoit tombé dans quelque + erreur contre la foi, et qu'il ne voulust pas s'en corriger après + les premières remonstrances, il falloit l'abandonner promptement et + rompre toute amitié avec luy, de peur qu'en nous amusant à le + vouloir retirer de ce gouffre, il ne nous y entraînast + nous-mêmes.”</span>—Tillemont, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Mém. + Ecclés.</span></span> tome xii. p. 367.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_816" name="note_816" + href="#noteref_816">816.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Habere jam + non potest Deum patrem qui ecclesiam non habet matrem. Si potuit + evadere quisquam qui extra arcam Noe fuit, et qui extra ecclesiam + foris fuerit evadit ... hanc unitatem qui non tenet ... vitam non + tenet et salutem ... esse martyr non potest qui in ecclesia non + est.... Cum Deo manere non possunt qui esse in ecclesia Dei + unanimes noluerunt. Ardeant licet flammis et ignibus traditi, vel + objecti bestiis animas suas ponunt, non erit illa fidei corona, sed + pœna perfidiæ, nec religiosæ virtutis exitus gloriosus sed + desperationis interitus. Occidi talis potest, coronari non potest. + Sic se Christianum esse profitetur quo modo et Christum diabolus + sæpe mentitur.”</span>—Cyprian, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Unit. + Eccles.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_817" name="note_817" + href="#noteref_817">817.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius, v. 16.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_818" name="note_818" + href="#noteref_818">818.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Confess.</span></span> iii. 11. She was + afterwards permitted by a special revelation to sit at the same + table with her son!</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_819" name="note_819" + href="#noteref_819">819.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xl.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_820" name="note_820" + href="#noteref_820">820.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xviii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_821" name="note_821" + href="#noteref_821">821.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tertull. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Corona</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_822" name="note_822" + href="#noteref_822">822.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Milman's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. of + Christianity</span></span>, vol. ii. pp. 116-125. It is remarkable + that the Serapeum of Alexandria was, in the Sibylline books, + specially menaced with destruction.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_823" name="note_823" + href="#noteref_823">823.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eunapius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Lives of the + Sophists</span></span>. Eunapius gives an extremely pathetic + account of the downfall of this temple. There is a Christian + account in Theodoret (v. 22). Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, was + the leader of the monks. The Pagans, under the guidance of a + philosopher named Olympus, made a desperate effort to defend their + temple. The whole story is very finely told by Dean Milman. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. of + Christianity</span></span>, vol. iii. pp. 68-72.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_824" name="note_824" + href="#noteref_824">824.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apology</span></span>, v. The overwhelming + difficulties attending this assertion are well stated by Gibbon, + ch. xvi. Traces of this fable may be found in Justin Martyr. The + freedom of the Christian worship at Rome appears not only from the + unanimity with which Christian writers date their troubles from + Nero, but also from the express statement in <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Acts</span></span> + xxviii. 31.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_825" name="note_825" + href="#noteref_825">825.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Judæos, + impulsore Chresto, assidue tumultuantes, Roma + expulit.”</span>—Sueton. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Claud.</span></span> xxv. This banishment of + the Jews is mentioned in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Acts</span></span> xviii. 2, but is not there + connected in any way with Christianity. A passage in Dion Cassius + (lx. 6) is supposed to refer to the same transaction. Lactantius + notices that the Pagans were accustomed to call Christus, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Chrestus</span></span>: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Eum immutata litera Chrestum solent + dicere.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Div. Inst.</span></span> iv. 7.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_826" name="note_826" + href="#noteref_826">826.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This persecution is fully described by + Tacitus (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> xv. 44), and briefly + noticed by Suetonius (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Nero</span></span>, xvi.).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_827" name="note_827" + href="#noteref_827">827.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This has been a matter of very great + controversy. Looking at the question apart from direct testimony, + it appears improbable that a persecution directed against the + Christians on the charge of having burnt Rome, should have extended + to Christians who did not live near Rome. On the other hand, it has + been argued that Tacitus speaks of them as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“haud perinde in crimine incendii, quam odio humani + generis convicti;”</span> and it has been maintained that + <span class="tei tei-q">“hatred of the human race”</span> was + treated as a crime, and punished in the provinces. But this is, I + think, extremely far-fetched; and it is evident from the sequel + that the Christians at Rome were burnt as incendiaries, and that it + was the conviction that they were not guilty of that crime that + extorted the pity which Tacitus notices. There is also no reference + in Tacitus to any persecution beyond the walls. If we pass to the + Christian evidence, a Spanish inscription referring to the Neronian + persecution, which was once appealed to as decisive, is now + unanimously admitted to be a forgery. In the fourth century, + however, Sulp. Severus (lib. ii.) and Orosius (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> + vii. 7) declared that general laws condemnatory of Christianity + were promulgated by Nero; but the testimony of credulous historians + who wrote so long after the event is not of much value. Rossi, + however, imagines that a fragment of an inscription found at + Pompeii indicates a general law against Christians. See his + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Bulletino + d'Archeologia Cristiana</span></span> (Roma, Dec. 1865), which, + however, should be compared with the very remarkable <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Compte + rendu</span></span> of M. Aubé, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Acad. des Inscrip. et + Belles-lettres</span></span>, Juin 1866. These two papers contain + an almost complete discussion of the persecutions of Nero and + Domitian. Gibbon thinks it quite certain the persecution was + confined to the city; Mosheim (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Eccl. + Hist.</span></span> i. p. 71) adopts the opposite view, and appeals + to the passage in Tertullian (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ap.</span></span> v.), in which he speaks of + <span class="tei tei-q">“leges istæ ... quas Trajanus ex parte + frustratus est, vitando inquiri Christianos,”</span> as implying + the existence of special laws against the Christians. This passage, + however, may merely refer to the general law against unauthorised + religions, which Tertullian notices in this very chapter; and + Pliny, in his famous letter, does not show any knowledge of the + existence of special legislation about the Christians.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_828" name="note_828" + href="#noteref_828">828.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Ecclesiastical historians maintain, + but not on very strong evidence, that the Church of Rome was + founded by St. Peter, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 42 or 44. St. Paul + came to Rome <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 61.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_829" name="note_829" + href="#noteref_829">829.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">On this horrible punishment see + Juvenal, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Sat.</span></span> i. 155-157.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_830" name="note_830" + href="#noteref_830">830.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lactantius, in the fourth century, + speaks of this opinion as still held by some <span class= + "tei tei-q">“madmen”</span> (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Mort. Persec.</span></span> cap. ii.); but + Sulp. Severus (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> lib. ii.) speaks of it as + a common notion, and he says that St. Martin, when asked about the + end of the world, answered, <span class="tei tei-q">“Neronem et + Antichristum prius esse venturos: Neronem in occidentali plaga + regibus subactis decem, imperaturum, persecutionem autem ab eo + hactenus exercendam ut idola gentium coli + cogat.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Dial.</span></span> ii. Among the Pagans, the + notion that Nero was yet alive lingered long, and twenty years + after his death an adventurer pretending to be Nero was + enthusiastically received by the Parthians (Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Nero</span></span>, + lvii.).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_831" name="note_831" + href="#noteref_831">831.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the full description of it in + Rossi's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Bulletino d'Archeol. Crist.</span></span> Dec. + 1865. Eusebius (iii. 17) and Tertullian (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + v.) have expressly noticed the very remarkable fact that Vespasian, + who was a bitter enemy to the Jews, and who exiled all the leading + Stoical philosophers except Musonius, never troubled the + Christians.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_832" name="note_832" + href="#noteref_832">832.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a pathetic letter of Pliny, lib. + iii. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> xi. and also lib. i. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> v. and the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Agricola</span></span> of Tacitus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_833" name="note_833" + href="#noteref_833">833.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Euseb. iii. 20.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_834" name="note_834" + href="#noteref_834">834.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Præter + cæteros Judaicus fiscus acerbissime actus est. Ad quem + deferebantur, qui vel improfessi Judaicam intra urbem viverent + vitam, vel dissimulata origine imposita genti tributa non + pependissent.”</span>—Sueton. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Domit.</span></span> xi. Suetonius adds that, + when a young man, he saw an old man of ninety examined before a + large assembly to ascertain whether he was circumcised.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_835" name="note_835" + href="#noteref_835">835.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Euseb. iii. 18.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_836" name="note_836" + href="#noteref_836">836.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the accounts of these transactions + in Xiphilin, the abbreviator of Dion Cassius (lxvii. 14); Euseb. + iii. 17-18. Suetonius notices (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Domit.</span></span> + xv.) that Flavius Clemens (whom he calls a man <span class= + "tei tei-q">“contemptissimæ inertiæ”</span>) was killed + <span class="tei tei-q">“ex tenuissima suspicione.”</span> The + language of Xiphilin, who says he was killed for <span class= + "tei tei-q">“impiety and Jewish rites;”</span> the express + assertion of Eusebius, that it was for Christianity; and the + declaration of Tertullian, that Christians were persecuted at the + close of this reign, leave, I think, little doubt that this + execution was connected with Christianity, though some writers have + questioned it. At the same time, it is very probable, as Mr. + Merivale thinks (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. of Rome</span></span>, vol. vii. pp. + 381-384), that though the pretext of the execution might have been + religious, the real motive was political jealousy. Domitian had + already put to death the brother of Flavius Clemens on the charge + of treason. His sons had been recognised as successors to the + throne, and at the time of his execution another leading noble + named Glabrio was accused of having fought in the arena. Some + ecclesiastical historians have imagined that there may have been + two Domitillas—the wife and niece of Flavius Clemens. The islands + of Pontia and Pandataria were close to one another.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_837" name="note_837" + href="#noteref_837">837.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Tentaverat et + Domitianus, portio Neronis de crudelitate; sed qua et homo facile + cœptum repressit, restitutis etiam quos relegaverat.”</span> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> 5.) It will be observed + that Tertullian makes no mention of any punishment more severe than + exile.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_838" name="note_838" + href="#noteref_838">838.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Euseb. iii. 20.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_839" name="note_839" + href="#noteref_839">839.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Mort. Persec.</span></span> iii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_840" name="note_840" + href="#noteref_840">840.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Xiphilin, lxviii. 1. An annotator to + Mosheim conjectures that the edict may have been issued just before + the death of the emperor, but not acted on till after it.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_841" name="note_841" + href="#noteref_841">841.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Euseb. iv. 26. The whole of this + apology has been recently recovered, and translated into Latin by + M. Renan in the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Spicilegium Solesmense</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_842" name="note_842" + href="#noteref_842">842.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> 5.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_843" name="note_843" + href="#noteref_843">843.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lactant. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Mort. + Persec.</span></span> 3-4.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_844" name="note_844" + href="#noteref_844">844.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Pliny, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> x. + 97-98.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_845" name="note_845" + href="#noteref_845">845.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Euseb. lib. iii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_846" name="note_846" + href="#noteref_846">846.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There is a description of this + earthquake in Merivale's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. of the Romans</span></span>, vol. viii. + pp. 155-156. Orosius (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> vii. 12) thought it was a + judgment on account of the persecution of the Christians.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_847" name="note_847" + href="#noteref_847">847.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius, iv. 8-9. See, too, Justin + Martyr, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> i. 68-69.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_848" name="note_848" + href="#noteref_848">848.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This is mentioned incidentally by + Lampridius in his <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Life of A. Severus</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_849" name="note_849" + href="#noteref_849">849.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See this very curious letter in + Vopiscus, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Saturninus</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_850" name="note_850" + href="#noteref_850">850.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Justin Mart. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ap.</span></span> i. + 31. Eusebius quotes a passage from Hegesippus to the same effect. + (iv. 8.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_851" name="note_851" + href="#noteref_851">851.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Præcepitque + ne cui Judæo introeundi Hierosolymam esset licentia, Christianis + tantum civitate permissa.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Oros.</span></span> + vii. 13.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_852" name="note_852" + href="#noteref_852">852.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">A letter which Eusebius gives at full + (iv. 13), and ascribes to Antoninus Pius, has created a good deal + of controversy. Justin Mart. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> i. 71) and Tertullian + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> 5) ascribe it to Marcus + Aurelius. It is now generally believed to be a forgery by a + Christian hand, being more like a Christian apology than the letter + of a Pagan emperor. St. Melito, however, writing to Marcus + Aurelius, expressly states that Antoninus had written a letter + forbidding the persecution of Christians. (Euseb. iv. 26.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_853" name="note_853" + href="#noteref_853">853.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">It is alluded to by Minucius + Felix.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_854" name="note_854" + href="#noteref_854">854.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius, iv. 16.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_855" name="note_855" + href="#noteref_855">855.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Melito expressly states that the + edicts of Marcus Aurelius produced the Asiatic persecution.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_856" name="note_856" + href="#noteref_856">856.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius, iv. 15.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_857" name="note_857" + href="#noteref_857">857.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the most touching and horrible + description of this persecution in a letter written by the + Christians of Lyons, in Eusebius, v. 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_858" name="note_858" + href="#noteref_858">858.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sulpicius Severus (who was himself a + Gaul) says of their martyrdom (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">H. E.</span></span>, + lib. ii.), <span class="tei tei-q">“Tum primum intra Gallias + Martyria visa, serius trans Alpes Dei religione suscepta.”</span> + Tradition ascribes Gallic Christianity to the apostles, but the + evidence of inscriptions appears to confirm the account of Severus. + It is at least certain that Christianity did not acquire a great + extension till later. The earliest Christian inscriptions found are + (one in each year) of <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 334, 347, 377, 405, + and 409. They do not become common till the middle of the fifth + century. See a full discussion of this in the preface of M. Le + Blant's admirable and indeed exhaustive work, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Inscriptions + Chrétiennes de la Gaule</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_859" name="note_859" + href="#noteref_859">859.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">It was alleged among the Christians, + that towards the close of his reign Marcus Aurelius issued an edict + protecting the Christians, on account of a Christian legion having, + in Germany, in a moment of great distress, procured a shower of + rain by their prayers. (Tert. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> 5.) The shower is + mentioned by Pagan as well as Christian writers, and is portrayed + on the column of Antoninus. It was <span class= + "tei tei-q">“ascribed to the incantations of an Egyptian magician, + to the prayers of a legion of Christians, or to the favour of Jove + towards the best of mortals, according to the various prejudices of + different observers.”</span>—Merivale's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. of + Rome</span></span>, vol. viii. p. 338.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_860" name="note_860" + href="#noteref_860">860.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Xiphilin, lxxii. 4. The most atrocious + of the Pagan persecutions was attributed, as we shall see, to the + mother of Galerius, and in Christian times the Spanish Inquisition + was founded by Isabella the Catholic; the massacre of St. + Bartholomew was chiefly due to Catherine of Medicis, and the most + horrible English persecution to Mary Tudor.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_861" name="note_861" + href="#noteref_861">861.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Euseb. v. 21. The accuser, we learn + from St. Jerome, was a slave. On the law condemning slaves who + accused their masters, compare Pressensé, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hist. des Trois + premiers Siècles</span></span> (2<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="vertical-align: super">me</span></span> + série), tome i. pp. 182-183, and Jeremie's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Church History of + Second and Third Centuries</span></span>, p. 29. Apollonius was of + senatorial rank. It is said that some other martyrs died at the + same time.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_862" name="note_862" + href="#noteref_862">862.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Judæos fieri + sub gravi pœna vetuit. Idem etiam de Christianis + sanxit.”</span>—Spartian. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">S. Severus</span></span>. The persecution is + described by Eusebius, lib. vi. Tertullian says Severus was + favourable to the Christians, a Christian named Proculus (whom he, + in consequence, retained in the palace till his death) having cured + him of an illness by the application of oil. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ad + Scapul.</span></span> 4.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_863" name="note_863" + href="#noteref_863">863.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Of the + persecution under Severus there are few, if any, traces in the + West. It is confined to Syria, perhaps to Cappadocia, to Egypt, and + to Africa, and in the latter provinces appears as the act of + hostile governors proceeding upon the existing laws, rather than + the consequence of any recent edict of the + emperor.”</span>—Milman's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. of Christianity</span></span>, vol. ii. + pp. 156-157.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_864" name="note_864" + href="#noteref_864">864.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Adv. Cels.</span></span> iii. See Gibbon, ch. + xvi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_865" name="note_865" + href="#noteref_865">865.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius, vi. 28.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_866" name="note_866" + href="#noteref_866">866.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lampridius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">A. + Severus</span></span>. The historian adds, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Judæis privilegia reservavit. Christianos esse passus + est.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_867" name="note_867" + href="#noteref_867">867.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Compare Milman's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">History of Early + Christianity</span></span> (1867), vol. ii. p. 188, and his + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">History + of Latin Christianity</span></span> (1867), vol. i. pp. 26-59. + There are only two cases of alleged martyrdom before this time that + can excite any reasonable doubt. Irenæus distinctly asserts that + Telesphorus was martyred; but his martyrdom is put in the beginning + of the reign of Antoninus Pius (he had assumed the mitre near the + end of the reign of Hadrian), and Antoninus is represented, by the + general voice of the Church, as perfectly free from the stain of + persecution. A tradition, which is in itself sufficiently probable, + states that Pontianus, having been exiled by Maximinus, was killed + in banishment.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_868" name="note_868" + href="#noteref_868">868.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacitus has a very ingenious remark on + this subject, which illustrates happily the half-scepticism of the + Empire. After recounting a number of prodigies that were said to + have taken place in the reign of Otho, he remarks that these were + things habitually noticed in the ages of ignorance, but now only + noticed in periods of terror. <span class="tei tei-q">“Rudibus + sæculis etiam in pace observata, quæ nunc tantum in metu + audiuntur.”</span>—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> i. 86.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_869" name="note_869" + href="#noteref_869">869.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">M. de Champagny has devoted an + extremely beautiful chapter (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Les Antonins</span></span>, tome ii. pp. + 179-200) to the liberty of the Roman Empire. See, too, the + fifty-fourth chapter of Mr. Merivale's <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">History</span></span>. It is the custom of + some of the apologists for modern Cæsarism to defend it by pointing + to the Roman Empire as the happiest period in human history. No + apology can be more unfortunate. The first task of a modern despot + is to centralise to the highest point, to bring every department of + thought and action under a system of police regulation, and, above + all, to impose his shackling tyranny upon the human mind. The very + perfection of the Roman Empire was, that the municipal and personal + liberty it admitted had never been surpassed, and the intellectual + liberty had never been equalled.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_870" name="note_870" + href="#noteref_870">870.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Sueton. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Aug.</span></span> + xxxi. It appears from a passage in Livy (xxxix. 16) that books of + oracles had been sometimes burnt in the Republic.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_871" name="note_871" + href="#noteref_871">871.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tacitus has given us a very remarkable + account of the trial of Cremutius Cordus, under Tiberius, for + having published a history in which he had praised Brutus and + called Cassius the last of Romans. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Annal.</span></span> + iv. 34-35.) He expressly terms this <span class="tei tei-q">“novo + ac tunc primum audito crimine,”</span> and he puts a speech in the + mouth of the accused, describing the liberty previously accorded to + writers. Cordus avoided execution by suicide. His daughter, Marcia, + preserved some copies of his work, and published it in the reign + and with the approbation of Caligula. (Senec. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ad. + Marc.</span></span> 1; Suet. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Calig.</span></span> 16.) There are, however, + some traces of an earlier persecution of letters. Under the + sanction of a law of the decemvirs against libellers, Augustus + exiled the satiric writer Cassius Severus, and he also destroyed + the works of an historian named Labienus, on account of their + seditious sentiments. These writings were re-published with those + of Cordus. Generally, however, Augustus was very magnanimous in his + dealings with his assailants. He refused the request of Tiberius to + punish them (Suet. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Aug.</span></span> 51), and only excluded from + his palace Timagenes, who bitterly satirised both him and the + empress, and proclaimed himself everywhere the enemy of the + emperor. (Senec. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Ira</span></span>, iii. 23.) A similar + magnanimity was shown by most of the other emperors; among others, + by Nero. (Suet. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Nero</span></span>, 39.) Under Vespasian, + however, a poet, named Maternus, was obliged to retouch a tragedy + on Cato (Tacit. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Or.</span></span> 2-3), and Domitian + allowed no writings opposed to his policy. (Tacit. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Agric.</span></span>) + But no attempt appears to have been made in the Empire to control + religious writings till the persecution of Diocletian, who ordered + the Scriptures to be burnt. The example was speedily followed by + the Christian emperors. The writings of Arius were burnt in + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 321, those of + Porphyry in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 388. Pope Gelasius, + in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 496, drew up a list + of books which should not be read, and all liberty of publication + speedily became extinct. See on this subject Peignot, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Essai historique sur + la Liberté d'Écrire</span></span>; Villemain, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Études de Littèr. + ancienne</span></span>; Sir C. Lewis on the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Credibility of Roman + Hist.</span></span> vol. i. p. 52; Nadal, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Mémoire sur la + liberté qu'avoient les soldats romains de dire des vers satyriques + contre ceux qui triomphoient</span></span> (Paris 1725).</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_872" name="note_872" + href="#noteref_872">872.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See a collection of passages on this + point in Pressensé, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. des Trois premiers Siècles</span></span> + (2<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "vertical-align: super">me</span></span> série), tome i. pp. + 3-4.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_873" name="note_873" + href="#noteref_873">873.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Trypho.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_874" name="note_874" + href="#noteref_874">874.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> xxxvii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_875" name="note_875" + href="#noteref_875">875.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Euseb. vi. 43.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_876" name="note_876" + href="#noteref_876">876.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius, it is true, ascribes this + persecution (vi. 39) to the hatred Decius bore to his predecessor + Philip, who was very friendly to the Christians. But although such + a motive might account for a persecution like that of Maximin, + which was directed chiefly against the bishops who had been about + the Court of Severus, it is insufficient to account for a + persecution so general and so severe as that of Decius. It is + remarkable that this emperor is uniformly represented by the Pagan + historians as an eminently wise and humane sovereign. See Dodwell, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Paucitate Martyrum</span></span>, lii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_877" name="note_877" + href="#noteref_877">877.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Cyprian (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + vii.) and, at a later period, St. Jerome (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Vit. + Pauli</span></span>), both notice that during this persecution the + desire of the persecutors was to subdue the constancy of the + Christians by torture, without gratifying their desire for + martyrdom. The consignment of Christian virgins to houses of ill + fame was one of the most common incidents in the later acts of + martyrs which were invented in the middle ages. Unhappily, however, + it must be acknowledged that there are some undoubted traces of it + at an earlier date. Tertullian, in a famous passage, speaks of the + cry <span class="tei tei-q">“Ad Lenonem”</span> as substituted for + that of <span class="tei tei-q">“Ad Leonem;”</span> and St. Ambrose + recounts some strange stories on this subject in his treatise + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De + Virginibus</span></span>.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_878" name="note_878" + href="#noteref_878">878.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">St. Cyprian has drawn a very highly + coloured picture of this general corruption, and of the apostasy it + produced, in his treatise <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Lapsis</span></span>, a most interesting + picture of the society of his time. See, too, the <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of St. Gregory + Thaumaturgus</span></span>, by Greg. of Nyssa.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_879" name="note_879" + href="#noteref_879">879.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“La + persécution de Dèce ne dura qu'environ un an dans sa grande + violence. Car S. Cyprien, dans les lettres écrites en 251, dès + devant Pasque, et mesme dans quelques-unes écrites apparemment dès + la fin de 250, témoigne que son église jouissoit déjà de quelque + paix, mais d'une paix encore peu affermie, en sorte que le moindre + accident eust pu renouveler le trouble et la persécution. Il semble + mesme que l'on n'eust pas encore la liberté d'y tenir les + assemblées, et néanmoins il paroist que tous les confesseurs + prisonniers à Carthage y avoient esté mis en liberté dès ce + temps-là.”</span>—Tillemont, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Mém. d'Hist. ecclésiastique</span></span>, + tome iii. p. 324.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_880" name="note_880" + href="#noteref_880">880.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Dionysius the bishop wrote a full + account of it, which Eusebius has preserved (vi. 41-42). In + Alexandria, Dionysius says, the persecution produced by popular + fanaticism preceded the edict of Decius by an entire year. He has + preserved a particular catalogue of all who were put to death in + Alexandria during the entire Decian persecution. They were + seventeen persons. Several of these were killed by the mob, and + their deaths were in nearly all cases accompanied by circumstances + of extreme atrocity. Besides these, others (we know not how many) + had been put to torture. Many, Dionysius says, perished in other + cities or villages of Egypt.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_881" name="note_881" + href="#noteref_881">881.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See St. Cyprian, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + viii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_882" name="note_882" + href="#noteref_882">882.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There was much controversy at this + time as to the propriety of bishops evading persecution by flight. + The Montanists maintained that such a conduct was equivalent to + apostasy. Tertullian had written a book, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Fuga in + Persecutione</span></span>, maintaining this view; and among the + orthodox the conduct of St. Cyprian (who afterwards nobly attested + his courage by his death) did not escape animadversion. The more + moderate opinion prevailed, but the leading bishops found it + necessary to support their conduct by declaring that they had + received special revelations exhorting them to fly. St. Cyprian, + who constantly appealed to his dreams to justify him in his + controversies (see some curious instances collected in Middleton's + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Free + Enquiry</span></span>, pp. 101-105), declared (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + ix.), and his biographer and friend Pontius re-asserted + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Vit. + Cyprianis</span></span>), that his flight was <span class= + "tei tei-q">“by the command of God.”</span> Dionysius, the Bishop + of Alexandria, asserts the same thing of his own flight, and + attests it by an oath (see his own words in Euseb. vi. 40); and the + same thing was afterwards related of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus. (See + his <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Life</span></span> by Gregory of Nyssa.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_883" name="note_883" + href="#noteref_883">883.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“E veramente + che almeno fino dal secolo terzo i fedeli abbiano posseduto + cimiteri a nome commune, e che il loro possesso sia stato + riconosciuto dagl' imperatori, è cosa impossibile a + negare.”</span>—Rossi, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Roma Sotterranea</span></span>, tomo i. p. + 103.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_884" name="note_884" + href="#noteref_884">884.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This is all fully discussed by Rossi, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Roma + Sotterranea</span></span>, tomo i. pp. 101-108. Rossi thinks the + Church, in its capacity of burial society, was known by the name of + <span class="tei tei-q">“ecclesia fratrum.”</span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_885" name="note_885" + href="#noteref_885">885.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See, on the history of early Christian + Churches, Cave's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Primitive Christianity</span></span>, part i. + c. vi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_886" name="note_886" + href="#noteref_886">886.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Dodwell (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Paucit. + Martyr.</span></span> lvii.) has collected evidence of the + subsidence of the persecution in the last year of the reign of + Decius.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_887" name="note_887" + href="#noteref_887">887.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This persecution is not noticed by St. + Jerome, Orosius, Sulpicius Severus, or Lactantius. The very little + we know about it is derived from the letters of St. Cyprian, and + from a short notice by Dionysius of Alexandria, in Eusebius, vii. + 1. Dionysius says, Gallus began the persecution when his reign was + advancing prosperously, and his affairs succeeding, which probably + means, after he had procured the departure of the Goths from the + Illyrian province, early in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 252 (see Gibbon, + chap. x.). The disastrous position into which affairs had been + thrown by the defeat of Decius appears, at first, to have engrossed + his attention.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_888" name="note_888" + href="#noteref_888">888.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lucius was at first exiled and then + permitted to return, on which occasion St. Cyprian wrote him a + letter of congratulation (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> lvii.). He was, however, + afterwards re-arrested and slain, but it is not, I think, clear + whether it was under Gallus or Valerian. St. Cyprian speaks + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> lxvi.) of both Cornelius and + Lucius as martyred. The emperors were probably at this time + beginning to realise the power the Bishops of Rome possessed. We + know hardly anything of the Decian persecution at Rome except the + execution of the bishop; and St. Cyprian says (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + li.) that Decius would have preferred a pretender to the throne to + a Bishop of Rome.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_889" name="note_889" + href="#noteref_889">889.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Dionysius, Archbishop of Alexandria; + see Euseb. vii. 10.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_890" name="note_890" + href="#noteref_890">890.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius, vii. 10-12; Cyprian, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> lxxxi. Lactantius says of + Valerian, <span class="tei tei-q">“Multum quamvis brevi tempore + justi sanguinis fudit.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Mort. + Persec.</span></span> c. v.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_891" name="note_891" + href="#noteref_891">891.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Cyprian. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Ep.</span></span> + lxxxi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_892" name="note_892" + href="#noteref_892">892.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life</span></span> by + the deacon Pontius, which is reproduced by Gibbon.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_893" name="note_893" + href="#noteref_893">893.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius, vii. 13.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_894" name="note_894" + href="#noteref_894">894.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Tertullian had before, in a curious + passage, spoken of the impossibility of Christian Cæsars. + <span class="tei tei-q">“Sed et Cæsares credidissent super Christo + si aut Cæsares non essent seculo necessarii, aut si et Christiani + potuissent esse Cæsares.”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Apol.</span></span> + xxi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_895" name="note_895" + href="#noteref_895">895.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Contra Demetrianum.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_896" name="note_896" + href="#noteref_896">896.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius, vii. 30. Aurelian decided + that the cathedral at Antioch should be given up to whoever was + appointed by the bishops of Italy.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_897" name="note_897" + href="#noteref_897">897.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Compare the accounts in Eusebius, vii. + 30, and Lactantius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Mort.</span></span> c. vi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_898" name="note_898" + href="#noteref_898">898.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the forcible and very candid + description of Eusebius, viii. 1.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_899" name="note_899" + href="#noteref_899">899.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This is noticed by Optatus.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_900" name="note_900" + href="#noteref_900">900.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See the vivid pictures in Lact. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Mort. + Persec.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_901" name="note_901" + href="#noteref_901">901.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Lactant. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Mort. + Persec.</span></span> 15.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_902" name="note_902" + href="#noteref_902">902.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius, viii.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_903" name="note_903" + href="#noteref_903">903.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">These incidents are noticed by + Eusebius in his <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">History</span></span>, and in his <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Life of + Constantine</span></span>, and by Lactantius, <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Mort. + Persec.</span></span></dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_904" name="note_904" + href="#noteref_904">904.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext"><span class="tei tei-q">“Italy, + Sicily, Gaul, and whatever parts extend towards the West,—Spain, + Mauritania, and Africa.”</span>—Euseb. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Mart. + Palest.</span></span> ch. xiii. But in Gaul, as I have said, the + persecution had not extended beyond the destruction of churches; in + these provinces the persecution, Eusebius says, lasted not quite + two years.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_905" name="note_905" + href="#noteref_905">905.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">The history of this persecution is + given by Eusebius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist.</span></span> lib. viii., in his work on + the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Martyrs of Palestine</span></span>, and in + Lactantius, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">De Mort. Persec.</span></span> The persecution + in Palestine was not quite continuous: in <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 308 it had almost + ceased; it then revived fiercely, but at the close of <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 309, and in the + beginning of <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</span></span> 310, there was again + a short lull, apparently due to political causes. See Mosheim, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Eccles. + Hist.</span></span> (edited by Soames), vol. i. pp. 286-287.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_906" name="note_906" + href="#noteref_906">906.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Eusebius.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_907" name="note_907" + href="#noteref_907">907.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See two passages, which Gibbon justly + calls remarkable. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">H. E.</span></span> viii. 2; <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Martyrs of + Palest.</span></span> ch. xii.)</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_908" name="note_908" + href="#noteref_908">908.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">There is one instance of a wholesale + massacre which appears to rest on good authority. Eusebius asserts + that, during the Diocletian persecution, a village in Phrygia, the + name of which he does not mention, being inhabited entirely by + Christians who refused to sacrifice, was attacked and burnt with + all that were in it by the Pagan soldiery. Lactantius (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Inst. + Div.</span></span> v. 11) confines the conflagration to a church in + which the entire population was burnt; and an early Latin + translation of Eusebius states that the people were first summoned + to withdraw, but refused to do so. Gibbon (ch. xvi.) thinks that + this tragedy took place when the decree of Diocletian ordered the + destruction of the churches.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_909" name="note_909" + href="#noteref_909">909.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">Mariana (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">De Rebus + Hispaniæ</span></span>, xxiv. 17). Llorente thought this number + perished in the single year 1482; but the expressions of Mariana, + though he speaks of <span class="tei tei-q">“this + beginning,”</span> do not necessarily imply this restriction. + Besides these martyrs, 17,000 persons in Spain recanted, and + endured punishments less than death, while great numbers fled. + There does not appear to have been, in this case, either the + provocation or the political danger which stimulated the Diocletian + persecution.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_910" name="note_910" + href="#noteref_910">910.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This is according to the calculation + of Sarpi. Grotius estimates the victims at 100,000.—Gibbon, ch. + xvi.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_911" name="note_911" + href="#noteref_911">911.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">See some curious information on this + in Ticknor's <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Hist. of Spanish Literature</span></span> (3rd + American edition), vol. iii. pp. 236-237.</dd> + + <dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_912" name="note_912" + href="#noteref_912">912.</a></dt> + + <dd class="tei tei-notetext">This was the case in the persecutions + at Lyons and Smyrna, under Marcus Aurelius. In the Diocletian + persecution at Alexandria the populace were allowed to torture the + Christians as they pleased. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Eusebius</span></span>, viii. 10.)</dd> + </dl> + </div> + <hr class="doublepage" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <div id="pgfooter" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <pre class="pre tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS FROM AUGUSTUS TO CHARLEMAGNE (VOL. 1 OF 2)*** +</pre> + <hr class="doublepage" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="rightpageheader13" id="rightpageheader13"></a><a name= + "pgtoc14" id="pgtoc14"></a><a name="pdf15" id="pdf15"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Credits</span></h1> + + <table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <th class="tei tei-label tei-label-gloss">March 25, + 2012 </th> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tei tei-item tei-item-gloss"> + <table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" + style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> + <tbody> + <tr class="tei tei-labelitem"> + <th class="tei tei-label"></th> + + <td class="tei tei-item">Project Gutenberg TEI + edition 1</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="tei tei-labelitem"> + <th class="tei tei-label"></th> + + <td class="tei tei-item"><span class= + "tei tei-respStmt"><span class= + "tei tei-name">Produced by Delphine Lettau, David + King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + at <http://www.pgdp.net/>.</span></span></td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + </div> + <hr class="doublepage" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="rightpageheader16" id="rightpageheader16"></a><a name= + "pgtoc17" id="pgtoc17"></a><a name="pdf18" id="pdf18"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">A Word from Project + Gutenberg</span></h1> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This file + should be named 39273-h.html or 39273-h.zip.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This and all + associated files of various formats will be found in: <a href= + "http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/9/2/7/39273/" class= + "block tei tei-xref" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <span style= + "font-size: 90%">http://www.gutenberg.org</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">/dirs/3/9/2/7/39273/</span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Updated + editions will replace the previous one — the old editions will be + renamed.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Creating the + works from public domain print editions means that no one owns a + United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and + you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without + permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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